Had to run at lunchtime today and planned to do about 45 minutes easy recovery
Ran to Brian's work on Spring Street (7 minutes). Then we ran down to the Yarra and were averaging around 5:05 to the kilometre. Brian was pacesetting someone for their marathon
Pretty comfortable pace and got back to work feeling nice and fresh
TOTAL DISTANCE : about nine kilometres
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
Training at the track tonight but had to get session out of the way as Kylie had meeting to go to
Got to the track and by the time the regular group was ready to begin, I was finished. Session was four laps of surge bends, medium float the straights. Four minutes break. Then repeat but with three laps. Then four minute break. Then repeat again with three laps
I was pretty tired from being up late doing club stuff on the computer so the session for me was a bit harder than would probably have felt. Plus there was a bit of headwind on the Kodak side of the track, which made things tricky
Off home to put the children to bed
TOTAL DISTANCE : about five kilometres including warm up and down
Got to the track and by the time the regular group was ready to begin, I was finished. Session was four laps of surge bends, medium float the straights. Four minutes break. Then repeat but with three laps. Then four minute break. Then repeat again with three laps
I was pretty tired from being up late doing club stuff on the computer so the session for me was a bit harder than would probably have felt. Plus there was a bit of headwind on the Kodak side of the track, which made things tricky
Off home to put the children to bed
TOTAL DISTANCE : about five kilometres including warm up and down
Monday, 6 October 2008
Rest day today. Plan to run Tuesday through Thursday, Saturday and if I can manage it, a run on Sunday
Had a meeting at North West Region tonight to attend. Very interesting meeting a lot of unhappy campers about some of the new rules and rulings for the new season. Far too tedious to go into
Had a meeting at North West Region tonight to attend. Very interesting meeting a lot of unhappy campers about some of the new rules and rulings for the new season. Far too tedious to go into
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Sunday, 5 October 2008
Supposed to help at club fun run this morning but too tired (and hungover) to drag myself out of bed
Did a hill set just after lunch with 8 x longer runs, five minute break, then 8 x shorter ones
TOTAL DISTANCE : about four kilometres including warm up and down
Did a hill set just after lunch with 8 x longer runs, five minute break, then 8 x shorter ones
TOTAL DISTANCE : about four kilometres including warm up and down
Saturday, 4 October 2008
No run today as waaaay too much to do
Little Aths in the morning to scout for potential new athletes (and got six new ones, which was good)
Then off home to get ready to go out for a kid's birthday party. Get through that then ...
Then off to Harvey Norman to spend 2K on a 1K computer (we got all the bells and whistles), and ...
Then off home to get changed for Winter Presentation Night, stuff Red Rooster into the kids gobs and get driven to the tram
Get through Winter Presentation night and spend a couple of hours until 3 am doing club emails
Little Aths in the morning to scout for potential new athletes (and got six new ones, which was good)
Then off home to get ready to go out for a kid's birthday party. Get through that then ...
Then off to Harvey Norman to spend 2K on a 1K computer (we got all the bells and whistles), and ...
Then off home to get changed for Winter Presentation Night, stuff Red Rooster into the kids gobs and get driven to the tram
Get through Winter Presentation night and spend a couple of hours until 3 am doing club emails
Friday, 3 October 2008
Ran into work today. A bit weary in the legs after last night's session
Got to the office door with 48 minutes on the clock
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 10 kilometres
Got to the office door with 48 minutes on the clock
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 10 kilometres
Thursday, 2 October 2008
Training at Coburg tonight was different. We had to do three sets of 600's. Each set was to consist of a slow, medium, hard 200 and then repeat the process. It sounded a lot easier than it was to actually run it
Liam and I ran together for the first set which was good. Josh seemed to be miles behind and I wondered if he was saving himself. On the second set though, through the last easy, medium, hard, he took the medium pretty hard and I just let him go. In the end, there was not much difference between his medium and hard and I was a bit surprised that he did that
The last one was tough and my legs were feeling pretty weary after the first two sets. Liam and I worked together with Josh for the first 600 in the set, but after Josh pushed the pace too much for himself, he could not stay with us for the second 600. Liam and I had a little sprint finish to the line which I let him because he was wearing spikes and I wasn't
Consumed three too many beers in the clubrooms afterwards
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 5 kilometres including warm up and down
Liam and I ran together for the first set which was good. Josh seemed to be miles behind and I wondered if he was saving himself. On the second set though, through the last easy, medium, hard, he took the medium pretty hard and I just let him go. In the end, there was not much difference between his medium and hard and I was a bit surprised that he did that
The last one was tough and my legs were feeling pretty weary after the first two sets. Liam and I worked together with Josh for the first 600 in the set, but after Josh pushed the pace too much for himself, he could not stay with us for the second 600. Liam and I had a little sprint finish to the line which I let him because he was wearing spikes and I wasn't
Consumed three too many beers in the clubrooms afterwards
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 5 kilometres including warm up and down
Wednesday, 1 October 2008
Rest day today. Not wanting to rush things first week back, even though only had the week off, its going to be a long summer and want to ease myself into things
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
First training session of the summer tonight. First set was five laps of surge every second barrier with float in between. Not my favourite of exercises and glad to get it over and done with
Second set was a steady one kilometre effort. Went through the first lap in 72 seconds and finished up with 3:05
Third set was another one kilometre effort, to be faster than the previous. Had young Josh breathing down my neck for most of it. Went through the first lap same as the first so had to work really hard over the last 600 metres to get the time down. Crossed in 2:55 and thought afterwards that while I was still working pretty hard, I probably wasn't at maximum pace, so that was pleasing
Josh crossed in 3:05 and I am going to have to watch that young whippersnapper. Through the five lapper, he was way behind Liam and myself and he was obviously saving himself for the end
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 5 kilometres including warm up and down
Second set was a steady one kilometre effort. Went through the first lap in 72 seconds and finished up with 3:05
Third set was another one kilometre effort, to be faster than the previous. Had young Josh breathing down my neck for most of it. Went through the first lap same as the first so had to work really hard over the last 600 metres to get the time down. Crossed in 2:55 and thought afterwards that while I was still working pretty hard, I probably wasn't at maximum pace, so that was pleasing
Josh crossed in 3:05 and I am going to have to watch that young whippersnapper. Through the five lapper, he was way behind Liam and myself and he was obviously saving himself for the end
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 5 kilometres including warm up and down
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, 29 September 2008
Well, well, well. A very long week of debauchery and sloth. It is fair to say that that it was like a week long footy trip! Plenty of booze, bad eating and a fuzzy head. So many highlights - the chicken schnitzel, cheese and coleslaw sandwich I had for lunch on Monday, the fried food bonanza at the Show on Friday and the dozen stubbies put away on Saturday from bounce down of the Grand Final to collapsing into bed about nine hours later. But the highlight was last night - I went out with the boys from the VFL goal umpiring squad and downed quite a few ales too many. Must have been a good place to go, because the AFL fieldies gatecrashed - including one of the Grand Final field umpires: very much worse for wear
Anyway, feeling terrible today, which is fitting for my first day back running, a story in itself. Was planning to have a gentle half hour run most of the way home. But in the fun and games, I left my credit card behind the bar of this hotel last night and it only being in Richmond, I ran to the pub to get my card and then back to work
So all up around 40 minutes
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 8 kilometres
Anyway, feeling terrible today, which is fitting for my first day back running, a story in itself. Was planning to have a gentle half hour run most of the way home. But in the fun and games, I left my credit card behind the bar of this hotel last night and it only being in Richmond, I ran to the pub to get my card and then back to work
So all up around 40 minutes
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 8 kilometres
Saturday, 20 September - XCR R10 Tan Relays
Last race of the winter season, although the Burnley Half Marathon for me will always be the nominal end of the season
Got there relatively on time and lined up thinking it would be awesome to go quicker than last year, when I ran 12:30. Felt like I was in just as good shape as 2007
The whistle sounded and suddenly everyone was off running, with the gun firing about three seconds later. Absolute schemozzle and the field should have been called back in my opinion
Got through the first kilometre pretty swiftly and then hit the hill. It seemed a little harder to climb than other years. Started to pass a few people along the back side of the course and really tried to finish off strong
About 400 metres out, I looked at my watch and saw 11:24 on there. In the end, the official time had me at 12:40, but according to my watch 11:37. Either way, I was a bit disappointed with my time. Amazingly, my team finished up in fourth place, which was far better than we had done at this race ever, and the best result for a relay for our division three team also perhaps ever
Afterwards, we all headed over to Brian's house for our now traditional end of winter season bbq. as Kylie was off to the football, I put the children into different beds in Brian's house and we both settled in to watch the football
TOTAL DISTANCE : 4 kilometres
Am having a complete break from running now and next post will be when I return to the training track. I plan to enjoy the next eight days!
Got there relatively on time and lined up thinking it would be awesome to go quicker than last year, when I ran 12:30. Felt like I was in just as good shape as 2007
The whistle sounded and suddenly everyone was off running, with the gun firing about three seconds later. Absolute schemozzle and the field should have been called back in my opinion
Got through the first kilometre pretty swiftly and then hit the hill. It seemed a little harder to climb than other years. Started to pass a few people along the back side of the course and really tried to finish off strong
About 400 metres out, I looked at my watch and saw 11:24 on there. In the end, the official time had me at 12:40, but according to my watch 11:37. Either way, I was a bit disappointed with my time. Amazingly, my team finished up in fourth place, which was far better than we had done at this race ever, and the best result for a relay for our division three team also perhaps ever
Afterwards, we all headed over to Brian's house for our now traditional end of winter season bbq. as Kylie was off to the football, I put the children into different beds in Brian's house and we both settled in to watch the football
TOTAL DISTANCE : 4 kilometres
Am having a complete break from running now and next post will be when I return to the training track. I plan to enjoy the next eight days!
Thursday, 18 September 2008
Training at Coburg tonight with Brian. First off we had to do five laps of the track surging every second barrier
A break and then we finished off with two x 1 km efforts, without the watch. Ran the first one in around 3:10, and the second one in 2:59. Not too displeased with that considering lack of speed at this time of year
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 5 kilometres
A break and then we finished off with two x 1 km efforts, without the watch. Ran the first one in around 3:10, and the second one in 2:59. Not too displeased with that considering lack of speed at this time of year
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 5 kilometres
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
Rest day today. Don't want to overdo things as I wind down towards the off season!
Tuesday, 16 September 2008
Training was up at the track tonight. We had to run two sets with 4 mins, 2 mins slow jog, 3 mins, 2 mins slow jog, then 2 mins to finish off
In the first set, went out at around my 5 km race pace for the first effort, then struggled to push that pace for the 3 minute effort. The last effort was considerably faster
On the second time around, Liam Magee kindly agreed to act as the pacemaker and even though we ran the same distance, the effort seemed easier this time. He dropped off the last two efforts. Like in the first set the 3 mins seemed to be only at the same pace as the first effort. And again the last effort was considerably faster
TOTAL DISTANCE : about six kilometres
In the first set, went out at around my 5 km race pace for the first effort, then struggled to push that pace for the 3 minute effort. The last effort was considerably faster
On the second time around, Liam Magee kindly agreed to act as the pacemaker and even though we ran the same distance, the effort seemed easier this time. He dropped off the last two efforts. Like in the first set the 3 mins seemed to be only at the same pace as the first effort. And again the last effort was considerably faster
TOTAL DISTANCE : about six kilometres
Monday, 15 September 2008
Ran home from work tonight. All up around 47 minutes
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 11 kilometres
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 11 kilometres
Monday, September 15, 2008
Sunday, 14 September 2008
Rest day today. If I had run on Friday this would have been a fair dinkum rest day. Not to worry
Had to spend three hours at Little Aths this morning for their registration day. Coburg Harriers set up a table and we gave away snakes and jelly beans. One parent was MOST displeased that her daughter had won 300 jelly beans, but the other parents took it in the right spirit
The only flaw with my plan was that the whole three hours I was surrounded by kids, so only got to speak to one parent! What a monumental waste of time I could have spent with my own children. I am not even sure most people knew I was from Harriers as I did not have adequate signage up
Next year, I will be doing things a bit differently. Plenty of good signage and no more gimmicks for kids
Had to spend three hours at Little Aths this morning for their registration day. Coburg Harriers set up a table and we gave away snakes and jelly beans. One parent was MOST displeased that her daughter had won 300 jelly beans, but the other parents took it in the right spirit
The only flaw with my plan was that the whole three hours I was surrounded by kids, so only got to speak to one parent! What a monumental waste of time I could have spent with my own children. I am not even sure most people knew I was from Harriers as I did not have adequate signage up
Next year, I will be doing things a bit differently. Plenty of good signage and no more gimmicks for kids
Saturday, 13 September 2008
Club run today at Albert Park. After the shocking realisation that my current pair of running shoes had done over 1000 k's, I went down to Leo Russell's this morning and picked up a pair of 1130's for $130
Got to Albert Park just before the first runner was off. I gave Len Hallett a yellow t-shirt befitting our club winter best athlete award winner and proclaimed that just like the Tour de France on the last day, no-one is allowed to pass Lenny. Lenny had won a handicap race this season and I am told he was leading so its a safe bet he is going to double up on his success from last year
The best athlete award goes to the person who performs best in all our seven handicap runs over the season. Oh, and to win you pretty much have to do all 20 races of the winter season (club and av runs)
I had a 50 second gap to make up on the second last backmarker in Liam Magee. I started off like a rocket and had bridged that gap by the four kilometre mark. I would have caught Liam sooner but for the FIERCE head wind on the St Kilda Rd side of the course as you come back toward the city
I was feeling pretty good once on the tailwind side and thought I might catch Lenny just before the end. I had no idea where anyone else was in the race. Then at the six kilometre mark I caught sight of Lenny further down the path. Took me another kilometre to catch up with him and I figured I better stay true to my word
So the last three kilometres, I ran with Lenny all the way to the finish. We got joined by Liam Magee and we provided Lenny with cover acting as a couple of wind breaks so he wouldn't have to work so hard into it. He picked up a bit of speed toward the finish and we let Lenny cross the line in front of us. He hugged us afterwards and it was warm fuzzies all round
It turns out afterwards thatI could have placed in the event, perhaps even won it, with my having passed the eventual third placegetter at the three kilometre mark!!!
Off home to prepare dinner for the children before Kylie went to the football where St Kilda belted Collingwood
TOTAL DISTANCE : 10 km - 7 kilometres race pace, 3 kilometres at about 5.5 min/km pace
Got to Albert Park just before the first runner was off. I gave Len Hallett a yellow t-shirt befitting our club winter best athlete award winner and proclaimed that just like the Tour de France on the last day, no-one is allowed to pass Lenny. Lenny had won a handicap race this season and I am told he was leading so its a safe bet he is going to double up on his success from last year
The best athlete award goes to the person who performs best in all our seven handicap runs over the season. Oh, and to win you pretty much have to do all 20 races of the winter season (club and av runs)
I had a 50 second gap to make up on the second last backmarker in Liam Magee. I started off like a rocket and had bridged that gap by the four kilometre mark. I would have caught Liam sooner but for the FIERCE head wind on the St Kilda Rd side of the course as you come back toward the city
I was feeling pretty good once on the tailwind side and thought I might catch Lenny just before the end. I had no idea where anyone else was in the race. Then at the six kilometre mark I caught sight of Lenny further down the path. Took me another kilometre to catch up with him and I figured I better stay true to my word
So the last three kilometres, I ran with Lenny all the way to the finish. We got joined by Liam Magee and we provided Lenny with cover acting as a couple of wind breaks so he wouldn't have to work so hard into it. He picked up a bit of speed toward the finish and we let Lenny cross the line in front of us. He hugged us afterwards and it was warm fuzzies all round
It turns out afterwards thatI could have placed in the event, perhaps even won it, with my having passed the eventual third placegetter at the three kilometre mark!!!
Off home to prepare dinner for the children before Kylie went to the football where St Kilda belted Collingwood
TOTAL DISTANCE : 10 km - 7 kilometres race pace, 3 kilometres at about 5.5 min/km pace
Friday, 12 September 2008
Kylie's borthday today and my bad for having to be reminded
Was going to go for a run but was having a washing malfunction in that I had no clean running gear to wear! Good excuse for a rest day and after very big winter workload, I am winding down to my off season anyway
Went down to Olympic Park where two of our athletes were trying out in the Pacific School Games selection trials. Got there about five minutes before the scheduled start of Adrianna Crea's 100 metre heat to find that in fact they were running 15 minutes ahead! That never happens at an AV meet!! So I missed Adrianna's race
Did see Matthew Mifsud run well in his 100 metre heat. He seemed to start well and be about mid field before fading late and finishing last. Nevertheless a new PB of 11.69 for him
Kylie was out for dinner tonight with her old mates so I had to be home by 6:30 pm. I am about to shut down the computer and I got given an urgent job to send out. So all Kylie's plans went out the window and she had to catch a cab to her dinner. Bugger
Was going to go for a run but was having a washing malfunction in that I had no clean running gear to wear! Good excuse for a rest day and after very big winter workload, I am winding down to my off season anyway
Went down to Olympic Park where two of our athletes were trying out in the Pacific School Games selection trials. Got there about five minutes before the scheduled start of Adrianna Crea's 100 metre heat to find that in fact they were running 15 minutes ahead! That never happens at an AV meet!! So I missed Adrianna's race
Did see Matthew Mifsud run well in his 100 metre heat. He seemed to start well and be about mid field before fading late and finishing last. Nevertheless a new PB of 11.69 for him
Kylie was out for dinner tonight with her old mates so I had to be home by 6:30 pm. I am about to shut down the computer and I got given an urgent job to send out. So all Kylie's plans went out the window and she had to catch a cab to her dinner. Bugger
Thursday, 11 September 2008
Training was with Brian tonight. We had to do two 800's, then 3 x 600's, then 3 x 400's
Did the 800's in around 2:40 each. Just 200 metres slow jog recovery between the 2. We then had a short break
For the 600's, was doing those in around 1:55 with just jog across infield recovery for those. Then another very short break - only about three or four minutes
The 400's were reasonably solid. I know one of them was in 71. The last one was much quicker, especially when young John Persson jogged past me on the recovery to start in front. Passed him easily enough and while I didn't set my watch for the last one, it would have been mid to high 60's
We had the footy tipping presentation evening at the club tonight and Kylie won best dressed which was good, considering the same old bat wins it every other year
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 6 kilometres including warm down
Did the 800's in around 2:40 each. Just 200 metres slow jog recovery between the 2. We then had a short break
For the 600's, was doing those in around 1:55 with just jog across infield recovery for those. Then another very short break - only about three or four minutes
The 400's were reasonably solid. I know one of them was in 71. The last one was much quicker, especially when young John Persson jogged past me on the recovery to start in front. Passed him easily enough and while I didn't set my watch for the last one, it would have been mid to high 60's
We had the footy tipping presentation evening at the club tonight and Kylie won best dressed which was good, considering the same old bat wins it every other year
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 6 kilometres including warm down
Wednesday, 10 September 2008
Ran home from work tonight. Had to push things along as Kylie had to get to a meeting.
Work has been horrific this week and have been kept back each night so far to get things out for people. Today was more of the same and yet again I left late
Tried a little short cut through a few side streets closer to home but it made no difference whatsoever with 47 minutes on the clock at the finish
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 10 kilometres
Work has been horrific this week and have been kept back each night so far to get things out for people. Today was more of the same and yet again I left late
Tried a little short cut through a few side streets closer to home but it made no difference whatsoever with 47 minutes on the clock at the finish
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 10 kilometres
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
Training was with Brian up at Coburg today
I think I was still in party mode from Sunday morning, as I completely stuffed up the first set of what we were supposed to be doing. Brian split the group up into guys who had done the HM and those that hadn't
The others were doing 12 minutes of 200;s with jog across infield recovery, while we had to do easy, medium, easy, steady. I thought that meant doing that with 200's, but in fact it was supposed to be that with 400's. oops, my bad
the second set we did with the main group which for us was the 12 minutes of 200's to join the other group's second set
Was doing 38's or so for each one and hope that will be able to reel off reps a little faster than that as the season progresses!
TOTAL DISTANCE : about seven kilometres including warm up and down
I think I was still in party mode from Sunday morning, as I completely stuffed up the first set of what we were supposed to be doing. Brian split the group up into guys who had done the HM and those that hadn't
The others were doing 12 minutes of 200;s with jog across infield recovery, while we had to do easy, medium, easy, steady. I thought that meant doing that with 200's, but in fact it was supposed to be that with 400's. oops, my bad
the second set we did with the main group which for us was the 12 minutes of 200's to join the other group's second set
Was doing 38's or so for each one and hope that will be able to reel off reps a little faster than that as the season progresses!
TOTAL DISTANCE : about seven kilometres including warm up and down
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Monday, 8 September 2008
Came to earth with a bit of a crash today, which was just as well given its a rest day
Felt a bit sore in various spots and did not feel like moving around too much. Even caught the tram from the station just the one stop to my work
Met the children at child care with Kylie, which was nice as would normally be running home on a Monday. Almost felt like an ordinary day - the sort that normal people who don't run enjoy
Felt a bit sore in various spots and did not feel like moving around too much. Even caught the tram from the station just the one stop to my work
Met the children at child care with Kylie, which was nice as would normally be running home on a Monday. Almost felt like an ordinary day - the sort that normal people who don't run enjoy
Sunday, 7 September - AV Half Marathon
Got the usual pre HM jitters overnight and woke up a few times - 2 am, 3 am - before springing up out of bed with my alarm going off at 6:25 am. Having meticulously packed my bag and laid out my things, I only needed the five minutes to get ready before Liam picked me up at 6:30 am
Got a drink of water, then slowly got dressed as I pondered what the day would bring. I was on my way out the door to wait outside my house when Liam pulled up. Great timing. Hopefully a good sign of things to come
We picked up Brian from his house and took City Link into town, going through the Burnley tunnel and out onto Burnley Street and we were very soon at Kevin Bartlett Reserve. All up the journey took less than half an hour, which was very quick! Was very pleased with that as it allowed plenty of time to mingle and chat before doing my warm up
Did not want to leave a thing to chance. Went for a ten minute warm up and thought the body felt a bit heavy, not altogether that fresh. Then went for a nervous wee before going through a proper stretching routine - something I usually skimp on before a race. Was in the middle of that when Allan Cook from Western A's came over. He runs pro's like me and is also an ex-AFL boundary umpire so we have umpiring in common. Finished stretching and it was only five minutes to the start
Removed the rest of my warm up gear then wandered over to the start line. Pushed my way as close to the front as I could. The worst part about these races is sometimes I get caught at the back (usually because I am gas bagging) and have to work too hard to get clear. Not this time. So the starter gives a little spiel about the race and I am fiddling with my watch when ... BANG, the gun goes off. No warning. Shit! Start running but also fiddle with my watch for ten seconds befire I can get the thing started
So far as I could tell, through the first couple of kilometres in 3:35, which was a little quicker than I had intended. Still it felt reasonably comfortable and I tried to hang onto that pace. Went through the 5 km mark in 18:05 or thereabouts. It was in this period that I started to feel that things were starting to get a little tougher and I hit a flat spot. I had been keeping in tough with a group through these early stages and they started to pull ahead of me and I lost contact
Perhaps I was thinking too far ahead, with the 10 kilometre marker a psychological marker for me. From about the 7 kilometre mark, all I could think about was getting to that 10 km point, which seemed in my mind far away. Not sure why this point was so hard but I started to feel good again at around the 11 km mark. Also, it was a little windy through this first half of the race and when I lost contact with that group I was running mostly on my own. And it was on this section that the winner of the women's section passed me like I was standing still, which did not help my mood at that point. Even less the team mate of hers that was so obviously pacing her
Anyhoo, at the 10 km stage I was on 36:30 or just under. Pretty close to that anyway. From here on in, I started to pick up individual runners and started to drop those that had been around me intermittently including my track nemesis Dave Ulbrick from Melbourne Uni. Up to the Bridge Road turnaround for the second last time (13.5 kilometre mark) and I knew that crucial 15 km mark was coming up. In other races, I have hit the wall at this point, which has prompted a big increase in mileage these last two winter seasons
I tried to focus hard on the road in front of me and to put everything else out of my mind. And it seemed to work as the going seemed to get easier. Not sure what i went through the 15 km marker in, but I knew from about this point that I was on track for a personal best it was just a matter of by how much. I did have an idea there might even be a 76 in front of it.
Down to the Monash Freeway end for the last time and I saw one of our club members Margaret Cassidy ride by on her bike. She yelled out to me and I yelled out to her, "I'm going to do a PB here!" I must have been feeling good. I tend to do that - stupid banter - when I am feeling good in a race. Adrenalin fueled stupidity. Just one complete three kilometre stretch to the last turnaround and then home!
Tried to push the pace here and as this last up and back bit progressed I noticed that I was starting to pick up the runners I had let go in that group from earlier in the race. By this time, however they were all strung out. Went through the 18 kilometre mark and on the river path I saw AFL goalie Michael Hammond who had trained with Coburg a few years ago in order to get fit enough to make the fitness requirements the AFL demands. Hammo is now training for his first marathon! He was out on his long slow distance run for the week
Up to the last turnaround and I really tried to push even harder for that last 1600 metres home. Did take in my 20 km split as being 73:13. As I got closer to the finish, I could see on my watch that I was a chance to break 77 minutes, of course forgetting in my fatigue that I had to add ten or so seconds to the time. So as I crossed the line, I had in fact broken 77 minutes on the watch, but in the end officially credited with a time of 77:05. That was good enough for 46th place (or 52nd overall if you include invites, but I don't). My best ever placing in an AV event and a massive personal best by 42 seconds
So mission accomplished and those many long runs over the course of the winter, including three two hours runs in the last two months, made all the difference. A fitting reward for a winter of hard work. Our top team finished third - our second third placing of the year, so proud of the boys for that and even happier for our second men's team who also placed third and their second third placing for the year. And the women's team had their best result for the year with ninth place. Remarkable when you consider they had the ninth placed female and one of the last placed females in that team
Afterwards I enjoyed a hot shower in the skanky clubrooms - it's a shared facility with football and cricket. And while we waited for the pub to open that we had booked lunch at, we had a beer at the Royal Oak and that first taste was heaven! Then we went over to the Granf Hotel for a meal. We were in the beer garden, which was great as it had turned into a gorgeous September day. We were very fortunate
Enjoyed a very nice lunch on my brother-in-law who not only paid for my lunch but drinks as well and then he drove me and the children home. Bought some beers on the way, tucked the children into bed, and we settled in to watch the footy. Kylie went to the game and not a great result for her or my brother in law
Threw a couple of things together for the children's dinner and once they had wolfed that down, got them down to bed nice and early as Kylie and I settled in to watch Dr Who - me with a couple of glasses of red wine. The perfect end to what was a perfect day
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 23 kilometres including warm up
Got a drink of water, then slowly got dressed as I pondered what the day would bring. I was on my way out the door to wait outside my house when Liam pulled up. Great timing. Hopefully a good sign of things to come
We picked up Brian from his house and took City Link into town, going through the Burnley tunnel and out onto Burnley Street and we were very soon at Kevin Bartlett Reserve. All up the journey took less than half an hour, which was very quick! Was very pleased with that as it allowed plenty of time to mingle and chat before doing my warm up
Did not want to leave a thing to chance. Went for a ten minute warm up and thought the body felt a bit heavy, not altogether that fresh. Then went for a nervous wee before going through a proper stretching routine - something I usually skimp on before a race. Was in the middle of that when Allan Cook from Western A's came over. He runs pro's like me and is also an ex-AFL boundary umpire so we have umpiring in common. Finished stretching and it was only five minutes to the start
Removed the rest of my warm up gear then wandered over to the start line. Pushed my way as close to the front as I could. The worst part about these races is sometimes I get caught at the back (usually because I am gas bagging) and have to work too hard to get clear. Not this time. So the starter gives a little spiel about the race and I am fiddling with my watch when ... BANG, the gun goes off. No warning. Shit! Start running but also fiddle with my watch for ten seconds befire I can get the thing started
So far as I could tell, through the first couple of kilometres in 3:35, which was a little quicker than I had intended. Still it felt reasonably comfortable and I tried to hang onto that pace. Went through the 5 km mark in 18:05 or thereabouts. It was in this period that I started to feel that things were starting to get a little tougher and I hit a flat spot. I had been keeping in tough with a group through these early stages and they started to pull ahead of me and I lost contact
Perhaps I was thinking too far ahead, with the 10 kilometre marker a psychological marker for me. From about the 7 kilometre mark, all I could think about was getting to that 10 km point, which seemed in my mind far away. Not sure why this point was so hard but I started to feel good again at around the 11 km mark. Also, it was a little windy through this first half of the race and when I lost contact with that group I was running mostly on my own. And it was on this section that the winner of the women's section passed me like I was standing still, which did not help my mood at that point. Even less the team mate of hers that was so obviously pacing her
Anyhoo, at the 10 km stage I was on 36:30 or just under. Pretty close to that anyway. From here on in, I started to pick up individual runners and started to drop those that had been around me intermittently including my track nemesis Dave Ulbrick from Melbourne Uni. Up to the Bridge Road turnaround for the second last time (13.5 kilometre mark) and I knew that crucial 15 km mark was coming up. In other races, I have hit the wall at this point, which has prompted a big increase in mileage these last two winter seasons
I tried to focus hard on the road in front of me and to put everything else out of my mind. And it seemed to work as the going seemed to get easier. Not sure what i went through the 15 km marker in, but I knew from about this point that I was on track for a personal best it was just a matter of by how much. I did have an idea there might even be a 76 in front of it.
Down to the Monash Freeway end for the last time and I saw one of our club members Margaret Cassidy ride by on her bike. She yelled out to me and I yelled out to her, "I'm going to do a PB here!" I must have been feeling good. I tend to do that - stupid banter - when I am feeling good in a race. Adrenalin fueled stupidity. Just one complete three kilometre stretch to the last turnaround and then home!
Tried to push the pace here and as this last up and back bit progressed I noticed that I was starting to pick up the runners I had let go in that group from earlier in the race. By this time, however they were all strung out. Went through the 18 kilometre mark and on the river path I saw AFL goalie Michael Hammond who had trained with Coburg a few years ago in order to get fit enough to make the fitness requirements the AFL demands. Hammo is now training for his first marathon! He was out on his long slow distance run for the week
Up to the last turnaround and I really tried to push even harder for that last 1600 metres home. Did take in my 20 km split as being 73:13. As I got closer to the finish, I could see on my watch that I was a chance to break 77 minutes, of course forgetting in my fatigue that I had to add ten or so seconds to the time. So as I crossed the line, I had in fact broken 77 minutes on the watch, but in the end officially credited with a time of 77:05. That was good enough for 46th place (or 52nd overall if you include invites, but I don't). My best ever placing in an AV event and a massive personal best by 42 seconds
So mission accomplished and those many long runs over the course of the winter, including three two hours runs in the last two months, made all the difference. A fitting reward for a winter of hard work. Our top team finished third - our second third placing of the year, so proud of the boys for that and even happier for our second men's team who also placed third and their second third placing for the year. And the women's team had their best result for the year with ninth place. Remarkable when you consider they had the ninth placed female and one of the last placed females in that team
Afterwards I enjoyed a hot shower in the skanky clubrooms - it's a shared facility with football and cricket. And while we waited for the pub to open that we had booked lunch at, we had a beer at the Royal Oak and that first taste was heaven! Then we went over to the Granf Hotel for a meal. We were in the beer garden, which was great as it had turned into a gorgeous September day. We were very fortunate
Enjoyed a very nice lunch on my brother-in-law who not only paid for my lunch but drinks as well and then he drove me and the children home. Bought some beers on the way, tucked the children into bed, and we settled in to watch the footy. Kylie went to the game and not a great result for her or my brother in law
Threw a couple of things together for the children's dinner and once they had wolfed that down, got them down to bed nice and early as Kylie and I settled in to watch Dr Who - me with a couple of glasses of red wine. The perfect end to what was a perfect day
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 23 kilometres including warm up
Saturday, 6 September 2008
Rest day today ahead of the big race tomorrow morning
We had to go to a children's party at one of those Play Centre places, this time in Hawthorn. In fact, next door to my old kindergarten and across the road from the house where I spent that part of my childhood
I don't usually socialise well at these things - don't find that I have that much in common with the other parents. So I was quite happy to keep the baby entertained in the toddler's play area.
The children were quite ratty after a long play so we took them home after 2:00 pm for a sleep.
Cooked up my now traditional spaghetti bolognaise for pre-race dinner. I know the pasta theory was debunked long ago but it seems to work for me. Packed my bag and a couple of glasses of red wine later, I was ready for the big race
Even went to bed early, well earlier than usual anyway. Have a 6:30 am start with Liam picking me up, then super coach Brian in Pascoe Vale
TOTAL DISTANCE : short sprint to the bookcase to stop baby pulling off all the books
We had to go to a children's party at one of those Play Centre places, this time in Hawthorn. In fact, next door to my old kindergarten and across the road from the house where I spent that part of my childhood
I don't usually socialise well at these things - don't find that I have that much in common with the other parents. So I was quite happy to keep the baby entertained in the toddler's play area.
The children were quite ratty after a long play so we took them home after 2:00 pm for a sleep.
Cooked up my now traditional spaghetti bolognaise for pre-race dinner. I know the pasta theory was debunked long ago but it seems to work for me. Packed my bag and a couple of glasses of red wine later, I was ready for the big race
Even went to bed early, well earlier than usual anyway. Have a 6:30 am start with Liam picking me up, then super coach Brian in Pascoe Vale
TOTAL DISTANCE : short sprint to the bookcase to stop baby pulling off all the books
Friday, 5 September 2008
A very easy run toward work was the order of the day. Just a little thirty minute run today
Wanted to be close to a train station at the end of my run, so popped down to the Merri Creek bike path but hopped off at Bell Street where I crossed the road and ran up to Coburg Station. At that stage fifteen minutes had already elapsed
Managed to run from Coburg, past Moreland station and just past Anstey station before my time was up. My last run before Sunday's half marathon
Bought myself a bottle of wine on the way home, but wanted to make sure I had enough left over to have my traditional two glasses on the pre-HM night
TOTAL DISTANCE : about six kilometres
Wanted to be close to a train station at the end of my run, so popped down to the Merri Creek bike path but hopped off at Bell Street where I crossed the road and ran up to Coburg Station. At that stage fifteen minutes had already elapsed
Managed to run from Coburg, past Moreland station and just past Anstey station before my time was up. My last run before Sunday's half marathon
Bought myself a bottle of wine on the way home, but wanted to make sure I had enough left over to have my traditional two glasses on the pre-HM night
TOTAL DISTANCE : about six kilometres
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Thursday, 4 September 2008
Last training session before Sunday's Half Marathon. Training with Brian tonight with Kylie and the children there as I was not anticipating it would a long night. I was wrong
Tonight's session was a three setter starting with a 2 km set, 600 m slow lap and short break. Then a 1 km set, 200 m slow lap and short break, then another 1 km set. These all had to be at Half Marathon pace
Did the 2 km set in 7:17 (3:39 and 3:38). The first 1 km set was at 3:32, the second set at 3:30
Had a few beers in the clubrooms and some of the children's leftover cold fish n chips before heading home to put grumpy children to bed
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 6 kilometres including warm up and down
Tonight's session was a three setter starting with a 2 km set, 600 m slow lap and short break. Then a 1 km set, 200 m slow lap and short break, then another 1 km set. These all had to be at Half Marathon pace
Did the 2 km set in 7:17 (3:39 and 3:38). The first 1 km set was at 3:32, the second set at 3:30
Had a few beers in the clubrooms and some of the children's leftover cold fish n chips before heading home to put grumpy children to bed
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 6 kilometres including warm up and down
Wednesday, 3 September 2008
Run home from work tonight, or at least part of the way
The brief was to do a very easy, very slow thirty minute run. I made a really conscious effort to slow the pace down and as I ran through Princes Park I guaged my pace from the kilometre markers as at 4:45 pace
Given all my long runs should have been at this pace, I can see now that alot of my slow runs this winter should have been a lot easier than what they were, that I have been running at far too quick a pace
Anyhoo, got to St Georges road in a new personal worst time of 31:30 which is considerably slower than any time I have ever done to that point and that suited me just fine
Had some dinner, put the children to bed and then had to head over to the track for a meeting to discuss Moreland Council's plans for the track and the implications for our club into the future
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 6.5 kilometres
The brief was to do a very easy, very slow thirty minute run. I made a really conscious effort to slow the pace down and as I ran through Princes Park I guaged my pace from the kilometre markers as at 4:45 pace
Given all my long runs should have been at this pace, I can see now that alot of my slow runs this winter should have been a lot easier than what they were, that I have been running at far too quick a pace
Anyhoo, got to St Georges road in a new personal worst time of 31:30 which is considerably slower than any time I have ever done to that point and that suited me just fine
Had some dinner, put the children to bed and then had to head over to the track for a meeting to discuss Moreland Council's plans for the track and the implications for our club into the future
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 6.5 kilometres
Tuesday, 2 September 2008
Training was with Brian up at the track tonight and again Brian gave us an interesting session
There were two sets. The first set was a three kilometre continuous run with each kilometre to increase in intensity. However the first km had to be very easy, the second one slightly quicker and the third km quicker again but at half marathon pace
My first kilometre was easy enough at 4:10 pace, but the second one was way to quick at 3:40 and the last kilometre not too bad at 3:30. John Braszell was running with me through the first km, but he finished the set as we were supposed to
After a slow lap recovery and a very short break, we finished with a two kilometre set. Brazza paced me through 3:45 for the first kilometre, before I finished off with 3:15 for the second kilometre. Again way too fast, given it was supposed to be only a slight quickening of pace
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 6.5 kilometres including warm up and down
There were two sets. The first set was a three kilometre continuous run with each kilometre to increase in intensity. However the first km had to be very easy, the second one slightly quicker and the third km quicker again but at half marathon pace
My first kilometre was easy enough at 4:10 pace, but the second one was way to quick at 3:40 and the last kilometre not too bad at 3:30. John Braszell was running with me through the first km, but he finished the set as we were supposed to
After a slow lap recovery and a very short break, we finished with a two kilometre set. Brazza paced me through 3:45 for the first kilometre, before I finished off with 3:15 for the second kilometre. Again way too fast, given it was supposed to be only a slight quickening of pace
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 6.5 kilometres including warm up and down
Monday, 1 September 2008
Run home from work today
Tried to go for yet another of my fruitless attempts at a tempo run. Did 13 minutes easy and was hoping to go twenty minutes steady.
Had to push a few red lights, but finally at Glenlyon Road I could not across and the clock stopped at 16 minutes. I was on the new (old) course of up Lygon Street from Park Street
Got home with 47 minutes on the watch so 13 easy, 16 steady, 18 easy in the end
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 9.5 kilometres
Tried to go for yet another of my fruitless attempts at a tempo run. Did 13 minutes easy and was hoping to go twenty minutes steady.
Had to push a few red lights, but finally at Glenlyon Road I could not across and the clock stopped at 16 minutes. I was on the new (old) course of up Lygon Street from Park Street
Got home with 47 minutes on the watch so 13 easy, 16 steady, 18 easy in the end
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 9.5 kilometres
Sunday, 31 August 2008
Rest Day Today
Hamish had a birthday party to go to at lunchtime, so in the morning I took him over to the old house and we did some cleaning up together. When it was time for the party, Kylie dropped me at our new house and I had some lunch
Once the party was over, Kylie dropped me at the old house and I finished up with the tidying as best I could. Then I was back home and feverishly trying to make sure the children were fed, washed and ready for bed before Dr Who
Got the last child into bed, just as the opening title sequence began. Kylie was over at my mothers watching Dr Who having just dropped her off. A pretty good episode
TOTAL DISTANCE : about ten metres sprinting from the baby's room to the couch before I missed any Dr Who
Hamish had a birthday party to go to at lunchtime, so in the morning I took him over to the old house and we did some cleaning up together. When it was time for the party, Kylie dropped me at our new house and I had some lunch
Once the party was over, Kylie dropped me at the old house and I finished up with the tidying as best I could. Then I was back home and feverishly trying to make sure the children were fed, washed and ready for bed before Dr Who
Got the last child into bed, just as the opening title sequence began. Kylie was over at my mothers watching Dr Who having just dropped her off. A pretty good episode
TOTAL DISTANCE : about ten metres sprinting from the baby's room to the couch before I missed any Dr Who
Saturday, 30 August 2008
My last very long slow boring run of the season. hooray!
Saw Kylie and the children off as they left to go shopping and watched a little cricket - Austalia v Bangladesh ODI - and played on the computer a bit before working up the courage to go for my run
From home, I ran down to the bike path and went for half an hour up towards Campbellfield. Quite a bit of that was running into a headwind, Then turned around and headed back towards the city for an hour, which took me from Fawkner down to Clifton Hill (or thereabouts)
Then there was just half an hour left of my last slow run of the season! In my enthusiasm I made the half hour trip back with a minute left so had to do a little bit extra at the finish
Had to do some work on getting our old rental ready for inspection so spent the rest of the day mowing, cleaning, shifting and throwing stuff into a skip. I didn't feel too bad after my run but as always it really hit me later that night. Rest day tomorrow
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 25 kilometres
Saw Kylie and the children off as they left to go shopping and watched a little cricket - Austalia v Bangladesh ODI - and played on the computer a bit before working up the courage to go for my run
From home, I ran down to the bike path and went for half an hour up towards Campbellfield. Quite a bit of that was running into a headwind, Then turned around and headed back towards the city for an hour, which took me from Fawkner down to Clifton Hill (or thereabouts)
Then there was just half an hour left of my last slow run of the season! In my enthusiasm I made the half hour trip back with a minute left so had to do a little bit extra at the finish
Had to do some work on getting our old rental ready for inspection so spent the rest of the day mowing, cleaning, shifting and throwing stuff into a skip. I didn't feel too bad after my run but as always it really hit me later that night. Rest day tomorrow
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 25 kilometres
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Friday, 29 August 2008
Brian wanted me to go for a forty minute easy run today. So after giving Madeleine her two weetbix for breakfast, I pulled the shorts on and began the run into work
Went onto the Merri Creek bike path and calculated that at the forty minute mark, I should be pretty close to Rushall station. Got to St Georges Road and realised that if I had continued on the bike path I would probably run over. So I ran down St Georges Rd to the Capital City Trail and ran to the station from there. All up 39 minutes
Felt fantastic for the rest of the day. Treated myself to a chicken schnitzel, cheese and coleslaw roll for lunch
TOTAL DISTANCE : about eight kilometres
Went onto the Merri Creek bike path and calculated that at the forty minute mark, I should be pretty close to Rushall station. Got to St Georges Road and realised that if I had continued on the bike path I would probably run over. So I ran down St Georges Rd to the Capital City Trail and ran to the station from there. All up 39 minutes
Felt fantastic for the rest of the day. Treated myself to a chicken schnitzel, cheese and coleslaw roll for lunch
TOTAL DISTANCE : about eight kilometres
Thursday, 28 August 2008
Training was with Brian tonight. A pretty easy session which was surprising as I thought our easy week on the track would be next week. A very different session too. I did this one when I came down to the club the first time about five years ago, but we haven't done it too often since
We jogged from the track and over to the back of Coburg Lake for a hill set on the bike path. There is an awesome hill there that goes up at about thirty degrees for some 150 metres or so. Brian put some flashing lights on the bike path (which was quite dark with no lighting there) and we were right to go
We did four long hills of about 120 metres with slow jog back down recovery. We then had a five minute slow jog and very short rest. The next set was four short hills of about 100 metres with slow jog back down recovery
Then it was jog back to the track. I found that I was able to maintain a strong pace for each effort and could probably have handled six repeats rather than four
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 5.5 kilometres including warm up and down
We jogged from the track and over to the back of Coburg Lake for a hill set on the bike path. There is an awesome hill there that goes up at about thirty degrees for some 150 metres or so. Brian put some flashing lights on the bike path (which was quite dark with no lighting there) and we were right to go
We did four long hills of about 120 metres with slow jog back down recovery. We then had a five minute slow jog and very short rest. The next set was four short hills of about 100 metres with slow jog back down recovery
Then it was jog back to the track. I found that I was able to maintain a strong pace for each effort and could probably have handled six repeats rather than four
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 5.5 kilometres including warm up and down
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Had a committee meeting tonight so wanted to get home at 6:30 pm to spend an hour with the children before they went to bed. Alas, I got an urgent work request right before I was about to leave so did not depart the office until almost 6:00 pm
This was the first run home to the new house, a back to the future as I would be taking the course I used to run when we lived in Coburg two years ago. I had to push the pace a bit as I wanted to make sure I spent some time at home. And I got stopped at every red light between work and Melbourne University
Took the usual course up behind the Vic Market, along Royal Pde to the other end of Princes Park and then hang a right into Park Street. Only at Lygon Street, I turned left and headed north towards Coburg
At Bell Street I went right and then left into Elizabeth, across Murray Road and up to my street. All told it was 46 minutes, but if I had done a proper slow run, probably would have been around 50 minutes
Quick dinner with the children, popped them down to bed and I was off to my meeting, albeit 15 minutes late
TOTAL DISTANCE : about ten kilometres
This was the first run home to the new house, a back to the future as I would be taking the course I used to run when we lived in Coburg two years ago. I had to push the pace a bit as I wanted to make sure I spent some time at home. And I got stopped at every red light between work and Melbourne University
Took the usual course up behind the Vic Market, along Royal Pde to the other end of Princes Park and then hang a right into Park Street. Only at Lygon Street, I turned left and headed north towards Coburg
At Bell Street I went right and then left into Elizabeth, across Murray Road and up to my street. All told it was 46 minutes, but if I had done a proper slow run, probably would have been around 50 minutes
Quick dinner with the children, popped them down to bed and I was off to my meeting, albeit 15 minutes late
TOTAL DISTANCE : about ten kilometres
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Training was with Brian today and the second last week before the Half Marathon. An interesting set today with three sets of five laps
The first set was supposed to be steady 150 metres at no more than 10 km pace, with easy jog 50 metre recovery. John Braszell and I worked together for this one and for a lark I decided to time one of our efforts on the second lap. Shocked to discover it was at 24 seconds for the 150. While we seemed to be pushing the pace a bit, I didn't think it was that fast - basically equal to a 64 second 400 metre lap. I timed another effort in lap 4 with the same result. So at the end of that set, I was certainly maintaining my 800 metre pace, and John Braszell was on his 400 metre pace! We had a few minutes break and then back into it
The next set was a little tougher, at least for me. We had to do five laps of surging every second lane barrier, but only float between each effort so no slow jog. Managed to pull consistent 85 second laps for these which I think was fairly good, although i think the float should have felt a tad easier than it did. We had a few minutes break and then back into it
The last set run the bends and slow jog the straights. We have long bends at Coburg, so this works out at being 120 metre efforts with only 80 metres recovery. A few laps slow jog and it was off home to the new house. It's now a ten minute walk home
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 7.5 kilometres including warm up and down
The first set was supposed to be steady 150 metres at no more than 10 km pace, with easy jog 50 metre recovery. John Braszell and I worked together for this one and for a lark I decided to time one of our efforts on the second lap. Shocked to discover it was at 24 seconds for the 150. While we seemed to be pushing the pace a bit, I didn't think it was that fast - basically equal to a 64 second 400 metre lap. I timed another effort in lap 4 with the same result. So at the end of that set, I was certainly maintaining my 800 metre pace, and John Braszell was on his 400 metre pace! We had a few minutes break and then back into it
The next set was a little tougher, at least for me. We had to do five laps of surging every second lane barrier, but only float between each effort so no slow jog. Managed to pull consistent 85 second laps for these which I think was fairly good, although i think the float should have felt a tad easier than it did. We had a few minutes break and then back into it
The last set run the bends and slow jog the straights. We have long bends at Coburg, so this works out at being 120 metre efforts with only 80 metres recovery. A few laps slow jog and it was off home to the new house. It's now a ten minute walk home
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 7.5 kilometres including warm up and down
Friday, August 29, 2008
Monday, 25 August 2008
The move went exceedingly well today. Only took them two hours to pack the truck, but boy will there be quite the clean up of all the stuff left behind that we did not have time to pack
I procrastinated in the house after everyone left before I went for my run. I just tidied things here and there, put things in bins and generally did bits and pieces to put my run off as long as I could
Finally off and I was going to try for 10 minutes easy, 20 minutes steady, 10 minutes easy to finish off. Not quite the way it panned out however. In the end, I did about 11 minutes easy, 17 minutes hard, and 12 minutes easy to finish off. On sitting down and evaluating that, I think I started off steady off but finished off way too hard.
The first half of the steady didn't feel too bad but I think if I had kept going for the full ten minutes on the way back, I would have finished closer to home than when I started. I suspect I did the last half of the steady way too fast and definitely explains why I woosed out at the 17 minute mark.
Went back and did some more cleaning up before Kylie and I picked up the children from child care and we went to our new local pizza restaurant on Murray Road
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 9 kilometres
I procrastinated in the house after everyone left before I went for my run. I just tidied things here and there, put things in bins and generally did bits and pieces to put my run off as long as I could
Finally off and I was going to try for 10 minutes easy, 20 minutes steady, 10 minutes easy to finish off. Not quite the way it panned out however. In the end, I did about 11 minutes easy, 17 minutes hard, and 12 minutes easy to finish off. On sitting down and evaluating that, I think I started off steady off but finished off way too hard.
The first half of the steady didn't feel too bad but I think if I had kept going for the full ten minutes on the way back, I would have finished closer to home than when I started. I suspect I did the last half of the steady way too fast and definitely explains why I woosed out at the 17 minute mark.
Went back and did some more cleaning up before Kylie and I picked up the children from child care and we went to our new local pizza restaurant on Murray Road
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 9 kilometres
Sunday, 24 August 2008
Rest day today and a big packing effort ahead of moving day tomorrow
Spent the morning at the club assisting with the fun run, then it was off home to put tired children to bed just after their lunch
I bathed them while Kylie cooked them dinner and they were all in their beds for the evening with barely enough time to spare before Dr Who. Phew!
Going for a forty minute run tomorrow after the removalists have finished loading up their truck and are off unloading it at our new premises
Spent the morning at the club assisting with the fun run, then it was off home to put tired children to bed just after their lunch
I bathed them while Kylie cooked them dinner and they were all in their beds for the evening with barely enough time to spare before Dr Who. Phew!
Going for a forty minute run tomorrow after the removalists have finished loading up their truck and are off unloading it at our new premises
Saturday, 23 August 2008
Was supposed to go for a long run today - a two hour slow run. After six days straight of running tomorrow was to be a rest day
I wanted to coincide my run with the Princes Park club run, but left home a little late (as usual). Got to the start line at Princes Park about ten minutes after my scheduled start time. It was tough going for the next half or so and I just couldn't relax or get into a good rhythm
I did a couple laps of Princes Park and lost count after a while. Started to feel good through the start of the second hour until about 20 minutes from the end, which I think was just the anticipation of finishing making the seconds and minutes drag along
As I was going I timed every kilometre or so and was stunned to find I was running between 4:05 - 4:25 per kilometre. I was bitterly disappointed to find I was running at such a "cracking" slow run pace, as I should really have been around the 4:40 mark.
Still, it felt just this side of comfortable without feeling like I was pushing too hard. But there was definitely a feeling of push there. Nevertheless, I ran a PB last year running a two hour run beforehand at this pace, so hopefully that's a good sign for two week's time
And boy was I glad to finish. Picked up a few flags from the club run and stopped for a bit of a chat with the guys and Liam gave me a lift home. A lighter moment towards the end of my run where he decided to tag along as part of his warm down and the pace was too hot for him. Funny, in a sad kinda way I guess. I really should have been running much slower. At least with all the pace verifying I was able to do, this slow run's total kilometres will be much more accurate rather than just my averaging it out at 5 min/km which does understate the distance
Off home to do some more packing and cook the children their dinner
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 27 kilometres
I wanted to coincide my run with the Princes Park club run, but left home a little late (as usual). Got to the start line at Princes Park about ten minutes after my scheduled start time. It was tough going for the next half or so and I just couldn't relax or get into a good rhythm
I did a couple laps of Princes Park and lost count after a while. Started to feel good through the start of the second hour until about 20 minutes from the end, which I think was just the anticipation of finishing making the seconds and minutes drag along
As I was going I timed every kilometre or so and was stunned to find I was running between 4:05 - 4:25 per kilometre. I was bitterly disappointed to find I was running at such a "cracking" slow run pace, as I should really have been around the 4:40 mark.
Still, it felt just this side of comfortable without feeling like I was pushing too hard. But there was definitely a feeling of push there. Nevertheless, I ran a PB last year running a two hour run beforehand at this pace, so hopefully that's a good sign for two week's time
And boy was I glad to finish. Picked up a few flags from the club run and stopped for a bit of a chat with the guys and Liam gave me a lift home. A lighter moment towards the end of my run where he decided to tag along as part of his warm down and the pace was too hot for him. Funny, in a sad kinda way I guess. I really should have been running much slower. At least with all the pace verifying I was able to do, this slow run's total kilometres will be much more accurate rather than just my averaging it out at 5 min/km which does understate the distance
Off home to do some more packing and cook the children their dinner
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 27 kilometres
Friday, 22 August 2008
Easy run into work today. Was debating all the way into town whether to extend the run a bit given this was a lighter week in terms of mileage. But I got to near the train station and decided to hop on there instead. So just under thirty minutes all up
Got to Park Street and again it seemed a little quicker than usual. Suddenly I was pushing the pace a bit for some reason. Got to Royal Parade and kept on going through to Jewell station where I just made the train
Very busy day at work, but had long lunch to go to. Consumed more than a few glasses of red and stumbled back to work to put in a few more hours. In the end, the others left the restaurant to go on a pub crawl so I missed out big time. Bugger!
Instead, I went to the pub after work and downed a few pints before going home to find the mother-in-law in residence. Not a great way to end the day
TOTAL DISTANCE : about six kilometres
Got to Park Street and again it seemed a little quicker than usual. Suddenly I was pushing the pace a bit for some reason. Got to Royal Parade and kept on going through to Jewell station where I just made the train
Very busy day at work, but had long lunch to go to. Consumed more than a few glasses of red and stumbled back to work to put in a few more hours. In the end, the others left the restaurant to go on a pub crawl so I missed out big time. Bugger!
Instead, I went to the pub after work and downed a few pints before going home to find the mother-in-law in residence. Not a great way to end the day
TOTAL DISTANCE : about six kilometres
Friday, August 22, 2008
Thursday, 21 August 2008
Very interesting session with Brian tonight. The instruction was to run 200 metres solid with your choice of recovery in between over a period of 12.5 minutes. That was the first set and then to repeat for the second set
I started out doing 200 metre efforts with 100 metres recovery but when it became apparent that Liam Magee was doing shorter recoveries, I shortened mine to about 80 metres
We had a long break in between and then it was into the second set with more of the same. This time, I decided I would go 200 metre efforts with 100 metres recovery and Liam evidently thought this was a good idea as he did the same
Not sure how many laps I did all up, but it kinda averaged out to around 38 seconds for the 200 and about 80 seconds for the recovery
Had dinner afterwards with Liam which was great and we chatted about an opportunity for recruitment through the local African population. Definitely something worth chasing up through the city of darebin or moreland through the refugee centre off Sydney Road
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 7.5 kilometres including warm down
I started out doing 200 metre efforts with 100 metres recovery but when it became apparent that Liam Magee was doing shorter recoveries, I shortened mine to about 80 metres
We had a long break in between and then it was into the second set with more of the same. This time, I decided I would go 200 metre efforts with 100 metres recovery and Liam evidently thought this was a good idea as he did the same
Not sure how many laps I did all up, but it kinda averaged out to around 38 seconds for the 200 and about 80 seconds for the recovery
Had dinner afterwards with Liam which was great and we chatted about an opportunity for recruitment through the local African population. Definitely something worth chasing up through the city of darebin or moreland through the refugee centre off Sydney Road
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 7.5 kilometres including warm down
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
Ran home from work tonight
It was just an easy 45 minute run that didn't feel very easy. Felt a bit sick in the tummy and my shin was a bit sore so took ages to get into it
Was running a bit late to get home by the 6:15 pm I said I would be home, so had to push it all the way up St Georges Rd
Got home to see my Uncle Chris visiting from London which was nice. Less nice was seeing my mother-in-law also visiting, to help Kylie with packing for our move
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 9 kilometres
It was just an easy 45 minute run that didn't feel very easy. Felt a bit sick in the tummy and my shin was a bit sore so took ages to get into it
Was running a bit late to get home by the 6:15 pm I said I would be home, so had to push it all the way up St Georges Rd
Got home to see my Uncle Chris visiting from London which was nice. Less nice was seeing my mother-in-law also visiting, to help Kylie with packing for our move
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 9 kilometres
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Training was with Brian at the track tonight. Similar session to one we did a while ago, with a bit of a twist at the start
First set was a five lap effort where we had to increase the pace each lap. Brian said he wanted us to be at our ten kilometre race pace for the fastest lap. While I did start nice and slow with a 90 second first lap, by the end of it I was really having to push to increase the pace. Ended up with a 79 second last lap, which was actually my 3 km race pace. I am sure Brian sets these sessions for a good reason and like an idiot I always seem to ignore the instruction. Had a one lap recovery and a bit of rest before the next stanza
The second set was a steady one kilometre effort. I wanted to go at my five kilometre pace which was the ultimate aim, but in reality I just wanted to run a nice, steady consistent effort. Tried to run just a little within myself with nice loose arms and a good stride. Ended up with 3:13 which is on my 3 km PB pace. A lap recovery before wandering over to the start of our next effort
The last set Brian wanted us to meet our 1 km race pace but maintain it for five laps to give a 2 km effort. I decided to give my watch to Brian for this set as I didn't want to get distracted from my goal of just running that consistent effort
It turned out to be a good idea. I went through the first kilometre in 3:09, still feeling good and had a bit left to try to finish strong. When I crossed the line I had 6:18, which would be a 2 km PB and I was very pleased that I had doubled up on a pair of 3:09's. If I can carry that kind of form into the summer, hopefully I can break my 3 km PB and even think about giving the 5 km PB a bit of a crack
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 8 kilometres including warm down
First set was a five lap effort where we had to increase the pace each lap. Brian said he wanted us to be at our ten kilometre race pace for the fastest lap. While I did start nice and slow with a 90 second first lap, by the end of it I was really having to push to increase the pace. Ended up with a 79 second last lap, which was actually my 3 km race pace. I am sure Brian sets these sessions for a good reason and like an idiot I always seem to ignore the instruction. Had a one lap recovery and a bit of rest before the next stanza
The second set was a steady one kilometre effort. I wanted to go at my five kilometre pace which was the ultimate aim, but in reality I just wanted to run a nice, steady consistent effort. Tried to run just a little within myself with nice loose arms and a good stride. Ended up with 3:13 which is on my 3 km PB pace. A lap recovery before wandering over to the start of our next effort
The last set Brian wanted us to meet our 1 km race pace but maintain it for five laps to give a 2 km effort. I decided to give my watch to Brian for this set as I didn't want to get distracted from my goal of just running that consistent effort
It turned out to be a good idea. I went through the first kilometre in 3:09, still feeling good and had a bit left to try to finish strong. When I crossed the line I had 6:18, which would be a 2 km PB and I was very pleased that I had doubled up on a pair of 3:09's. If I can carry that kind of form into the summer, hopefully I can break my 3 km PB and even think about giving the 5 km PB a bit of a crack
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 8 kilometres including warm down
Monday, 18 August 2008
Had to stay home from work this morning, so Kylie could get half a day in at her own work
We did the switch at kunchtime and I went into work for a half day. Problem was, I am so busy at work, that I did not get to leave until 7:30 pm
Decided on a 75 minute or roughly 15 kilometre run home. I am pretty certain that my slow runs are generally in the 4:30 - 4:45 range, but it just makes it easier to average it out at 5 min/km pace
Ran the usual route, but added a loop of Princes Park and also went onto the Merri Creek bike path from St Georges Rd
All up about 74 minutes and job done. While I probably should have done a two hour run, I stuffed up my program whereby, I have ended up with five weeks of long runs before the Half Marathon. So have decided to split this up with three long run weeks, one shorter run week, then two longer runs into the HM. So this Saturday will do two hours, the following weekend two hours and then the following weekend is the Half. I did do a 26 km run on the Sunday before the Half last year and ran a PB, so hopefully this will work again. Have looked at two Advanced HM training programs and they both have 2 hour runs the weekend before the race. Hopefully this short week won't cost me
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 15 kilometres
We did the switch at kunchtime and I went into work for a half day. Problem was, I am so busy at work, that I did not get to leave until 7:30 pm
Decided on a 75 minute or roughly 15 kilometre run home. I am pretty certain that my slow runs are generally in the 4:30 - 4:45 range, but it just makes it easier to average it out at 5 min/km pace
Ran the usual route, but added a loop of Princes Park and also went onto the Merri Creek bike path from St Georges Rd
All up about 74 minutes and job done. While I probably should have done a two hour run, I stuffed up my program whereby, I have ended up with five weeks of long runs before the Half Marathon. So have decided to split this up with three long run weeks, one shorter run week, then two longer runs into the HM. So this Saturday will do two hours, the following weekend two hours and then the following weekend is the Half. I did do a 26 km run on the Sunday before the Half last year and ran a PB, so hopefully this will work again. Have looked at two Advanced HM training programs and they both have 2 hour runs the weekend before the race. Hopefully this short week won't cost me
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 15 kilometres
Sunday, 17 August 2008
Was supposed to go for a slow run today, but after getting home very late last night with the children after the Trivia Night I was very tired and surprisingly sore. I was one of the organising committee for the night - a committee consisting of me, Kylie and Brian. I entertained the children briefly and made sure they were all being good while Kylie and Brian got on with the business of making oodles of money for the club.
And we raised quite a bit of cash so very pleased about that despite the disappointing turn out of only four tables - and one of those from little aths, so pretty poor performance from our club members
Anyhoo, I was feeling pretty dispirited and low due ot the tiredness and very heavy legs that I was feeling. The course yesterday was very heavy and parts of it were under water, so must have taken more out of me than I had expected. No wonder I spent parts of last night just crumpled into a chair. A big day
So after the big night before where two children did not sleep until almost midnight, we made sure all the children had morning sleeps to try to catch up, which they did. Unfortunately, Amelia was sick on the kitchen floor after breakfast so she will have to stay home from child care tomorrow
And we raised quite a bit of cash so very pleased about that despite the disappointing turn out of only four tables - and one of those from little aths, so pretty poor performance from our club members
Anyhoo, I was feeling pretty dispirited and low due ot the tiredness and very heavy legs that I was feeling. The course yesterday was very heavy and parts of it were under water, so must have taken more out of me than I had expected. No wonder I spent parts of last night just crumpled into a chair. A big day
So after the big night before where two children did not sleep until almost midnight, we made sure all the children had morning sleeps to try to catch up, which they did. Unfortunately, Amelia was sick on the kitchen floor after breakfast so she will have to stay home from child care tomorrow
Saturday, 16 August - Club XC Champs
The Championships
Felt a bit tired today which did not bode well for the big race. We did some shopping for the club Trivia Night to be held later in the evening and headed round to the track
Did a little warm up as I helped to flag the course and in no time at all race time was at hand. I had been very nervous about this all week as Liam Magee was also taking part and he had had a strong week on the track
Bolted from the gun and tried to get into an easy rhythm. From the start I established a break on Liam and after the first lap, which was 12:23 on the watch, I had about a 40 second gap.
Started to struggle on the second lap and I was starting to worry about the distance between Liam and myself. Did a quick check at the four kilometre mark and could just see him coming through the trees about 400 metres away. From here I just tried to go steady up the hills and push the flat and downhill sections. At the two kilometre mark of each lap there is a loop section where you can guage how far you are from other runners. I reached this point and was gratified to see that Liam had fallen a little bit further behind
Went through the bell lap recording 12:53 on the watch for the third lap and 25:16 race time. An anxious look behind me and I saw that Liam was now about 1:15 in arrears. Either I was feeling like I was home at this point, or the course was starting to take a toll on the legs, but for whatever reason I took the hills a little easier this time while still trying to stride out the flats and downhills
Came home recording 13:15 for the last lap and finish in 38:31 with Liam only 1:15 behind and it appears we may have recorded the same time over the last lap
So in the end another of my goals accomplished for the season and I have now won four Club Cross Country Championships in a row. Somehow, I don't think that at the age of 34 next time this race is run I will have things all my own way with Liam having a full year of training under his belt and the ever improving Josh Traine and Josh Persson getting fitter and stronger. But number 5 is definitely one to try for in 2009
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 11 kilometres including warm up and down
Felt a bit tired today which did not bode well for the big race. We did some shopping for the club Trivia Night to be held later in the evening and headed round to the track
Did a little warm up as I helped to flag the course and in no time at all race time was at hand. I had been very nervous about this all week as Liam Magee was also taking part and he had had a strong week on the track
Bolted from the gun and tried to get into an easy rhythm. From the start I established a break on Liam and after the first lap, which was 12:23 on the watch, I had about a 40 second gap.
Started to struggle on the second lap and I was starting to worry about the distance between Liam and myself. Did a quick check at the four kilometre mark and could just see him coming through the trees about 400 metres away. From here I just tried to go steady up the hills and push the flat and downhill sections. At the two kilometre mark of each lap there is a loop section where you can guage how far you are from other runners. I reached this point and was gratified to see that Liam had fallen a little bit further behind
Went through the bell lap recording 12:53 on the watch for the third lap and 25:16 race time. An anxious look behind me and I saw that Liam was now about 1:15 in arrears. Either I was feeling like I was home at this point, or the course was starting to take a toll on the legs, but for whatever reason I took the hills a little easier this time while still trying to stride out the flats and downhills
Came home recording 13:15 for the last lap and finish in 38:31 with Liam only 1:15 behind and it appears we may have recorded the same time over the last lap
So in the end another of my goals accomplished for the season and I have now won four Club Cross Country Championships in a row. Somehow, I don't think that at the age of 34 next time this race is run I will have things all my own way with Liam having a full year of training under his belt and the ever improving Josh Traine and Josh Persson getting fitter and stronger. But number 5 is definitely one to try for in 2009
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 11 kilometres including warm up and down
Friday, 15 August 2008
Rest day today ahead of the Club's Cross Country Championships tomorrow
We had a farewell at work today, so drank about six stubbies before stumbling onto the tram and didn't get home until 7:45 pm
Ate some dinner, and settled in front of the television for the night with a long neck
We had a farewell at work today, so drank about six stubbies before stumbling onto the tram and didn't get home until 7:45 pm
Ate some dinner, and settled in front of the television for the night with a long neck
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Training was with Brian up at the track today
Interesting little session this one. We had to do two sets. Each consisted of run 2 minutes, 1 minute rest, run 1.5 minutes, 1 minute rest, 1 minute run, 1 minute rest, then repeat. A short break and we were straight into the second set
In the first set, pretty sure my repeated efforts were further than the first half. As for the second set, I went out way too hard in the first two minute effort and had to pull back a bit. I was trying for 80 seconds a lap and ripped out 72 through the first lap. Very silly
The last half of that second set was pretty hard and had to dig deep a bit to finish it off. I almost walked the recovery before that last one minute effort
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 7.5 kilometres
Interesting little session this one. We had to do two sets. Each consisted of run 2 minutes, 1 minute rest, run 1.5 minutes, 1 minute rest, 1 minute run, 1 minute rest, then repeat. A short break and we were straight into the second set
In the first set, pretty sure my repeated efforts were further than the first half. As for the second set, I went out way too hard in the first two minute effort and had to pull back a bit. I was trying for 80 seconds a lap and ripped out 72 through the first lap. Very silly
The last half of that second set was pretty hard and had to dig deep a bit to finish it off. I almost walked the recovery before that last one minute effort
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 7.5 kilometres
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
Ran home from work tonight. Pretty uneventful run, except that it was pretty cold
Turned it into a semi-tempo run with a ten minute surge from the start of Princes Park, up to Park Street then along to Nicholson Street
Got home in around 45 minutes or so, a couple of minutes quicker than normal
Total Distance : about nine kilometres
Turned it into a semi-tempo run with a ten minute surge from the start of Princes Park, up to Park Street then along to Nicholson Street
Got home in around 45 minutes or so, a couple of minutes quicker than normal
Total Distance : about nine kilometres
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Kylie had a meeting to go to tonight, so I had to train at work today. Work has been really busy lately so I have been coming in earlier to keep up with it all. As a result, only got six hours sleep last night, which was not ideal after having gone for a two hour run earlier that day
The day at least started well with my morning scales ritual revealing I am the lightest I have been since I was in my early twenties, with a reading of 60.4 kg. Bit of a surprise considering how much after dinner cheese and bikkies I consumed last night
Met up with Brian at Exhibition St and we jogged over to the Tan for some 500's. We were to have 250 metres recovery between each one. My legs were feeling pretty heavy and a bit sore after yesterday's run so I wasn't sure how I would go with seven of these to do. Actually, I think I got off pretty easy as Brian usually makes us do eight when at the track and with much less recovery
Peeled off the first one at 1:33 and had a bit of extra recovery while I waited for Brian to finish his rep. The next rep started about 100 metres from the corner and then up Anderson Street - all the way to the top! That one understandably was around the 1:43 mark
Waited for Brian to catch up (and scored a little extra recovery) and then we jogged to the next start. From here I didn't wait for Brian and did the last five with just very slow jog recovery between each.
Missed the next couple on the watch, but the fifth one was 1:37 (strange, I must have slacked off there), and I scored some extra recovery because that fifth rep started at the 3 kilometre marker for the effort, finished at 3.5 km, then it was 330 metres back to the start post. Recorded 1:27 on the sixth one and the last one I did about 1:29
So happy with those reps, but the session was all over the place in terms of recovery so not sure if it was a beneficial session. I guess the consistent times tell the story. Jogged back in pouring rain and had a nice hot shower
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 7 kilometres including warm up and down
The day at least started well with my morning scales ritual revealing I am the lightest I have been since I was in my early twenties, with a reading of 60.4 kg. Bit of a surprise considering how much after dinner cheese and bikkies I consumed last night
Met up with Brian at Exhibition St and we jogged over to the Tan for some 500's. We were to have 250 metres recovery between each one. My legs were feeling pretty heavy and a bit sore after yesterday's run so I wasn't sure how I would go with seven of these to do. Actually, I think I got off pretty easy as Brian usually makes us do eight when at the track and with much less recovery
Peeled off the first one at 1:33 and had a bit of extra recovery while I waited for Brian to finish his rep. The next rep started about 100 metres from the corner and then up Anderson Street - all the way to the top! That one understandably was around the 1:43 mark
Waited for Brian to catch up (and scored a little extra recovery) and then we jogged to the next start. From here I didn't wait for Brian and did the last five with just very slow jog recovery between each.
Missed the next couple on the watch, but the fifth one was 1:37 (strange, I must have slacked off there), and I scored some extra recovery because that fifth rep started at the 3 kilometre marker for the effort, finished at 3.5 km, then it was 330 metres back to the start post. Recorded 1:27 on the sixth one and the last one I did about 1:29
So happy with those reps, but the session was all over the place in terms of recovery so not sure if it was a beneficial session. I guess the consistent times tell the story. Jogged back in pouring rain and had a nice hot shower
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 7 kilometres including warm up and down
Monday, August 11, 2008
Monday, 11 August 2008
Long slow run today
It was eleven degrees when I started out and from early on I was getting pain in my shin. Stopped at the 25 minute mark to stretch it out and after a further 15 minutes, the pain had all but dissipated. Got to the turn around point and had to do a little extra to make sure the return journey would see me complete the two hours
Upon running back, it soon became apparent that I was going to fall up to five minutes short of my two hour goal. So at the bridge across to Anderson Street at the Tan, I turned left and right to run on the opposite side of the river
Still a minute short approaching my building so had to run two blocks to complete the session. The anticipation of finishing made the last ten minutes pretty tough. I am usually very keen to get these sessions out of the way and I wasn't really feeling that great near the end so just had to suck it up and put the clock out of my mind
After a brief shower I started to feel human again, and once I'd had some lunch - yummy spaghetti bolognaise that I had made on Saturday night - thoughts were turning to tomorrow's session
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 24 kilometres
It was eleven degrees when I started out and from early on I was getting pain in my shin. Stopped at the 25 minute mark to stretch it out and after a further 15 minutes, the pain had all but dissipated. Got to the turn around point and had to do a little extra to make sure the return journey would see me complete the two hours
Upon running back, it soon became apparent that I was going to fall up to five minutes short of my two hour goal. So at the bridge across to Anderson Street at the Tan, I turned left and right to run on the opposite side of the river
Still a minute short approaching my building so had to run two blocks to complete the session. The anticipation of finishing made the last ten minutes pretty tough. I am usually very keen to get these sessions out of the way and I wasn't really feeling that great near the end so just had to suck it up and put the clock out of my mind
After a brief shower I started to feel human again, and once I'd had some lunch - yummy spaghetti bolognaise that I had made on Saturday night - thoughts were turning to tomorrow's session
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 24 kilometres
Sunday, 10 August 2008
Was going to go for a two hour run today, but there was just no window of oppoerunity so will go tomorrow at work
We took Hamish and the children to the museum today and I think Hamish got a lot out of it, wihch was good
We put them to ned when we got home and trip must have tuckered them out, as they all slept in excess of two hours
I had to wake them all up to bathe them while Kylie cooked dinner. Got them into bed only just before Dr Who
Have to get up early tomorrow if I am going to run for two hours during my extended lunch break
We took Hamish and the children to the museum today and I think Hamish got a lot out of it, wihch was good
We put them to ned when we got home and trip must have tuckered them out, as they all slept in excess of two hours
I had to wake them all up to bathe them while Kylie cooked dinner. Got them into bed only just before Dr Who
Have to get up early tomorrow if I am going to run for two hours during my extended lunch break
Saturday, 9 August AV R8 - 6.2 km Road Relays
Woke up feeling sore and sorry for myself this morning. Probably should not have stayed up to fnish off that bottle of red wine while watching the Olympics Opening Ceremony. Would not have been so bad if they had not been running an hour over time. Worth staying up for though
Got a lift to Sandown with Liam Magee, and we arrived about forty minutes before race time. I was off first so wentr for a ten minute warm up and then lined up with the other boys from Division 3, including Adam Clarke from Western A's and one of the talented Toomey boys from Knox
Started off pretty solid and with a nastywind down the back straight, I sat behind a couple of runners in order to conserve a bit of energy. Pushed down the Princes Highway side and worked all the way up the front straight to find I had run 10:12 for the first 3.1 km lap. In my fatigued state I put that together to make 20:24. Yeah right! Nevertheless, that was pretty close to my track PB for a straight 3000 m track race
The second time up the back straighy was hard. The fast start really found me out and I reckon all the time I lost was in getting to the summit of that back straight into the wind. Was feeling pretty ordinary over the last two kilometres but just kept on pushing to the finish
In the end, a 10:33 second lap so a positive split by 20 seconds. Probably not flash on a 3.1 km curcuit, but still enough to record a personal best by 15 seconds and take back the record Shane Jansen stole off me last year ;0)
When I handed over we were in third place and I thought that would be as good as it would get for our team. But Liam I would find out later actually passed two Division 3 runners and when he handed over wr were in first. Alas, we dropped two spots on the third leg, the fourth leg and the last leg. The last one was Philip van Dueren's fault as we wasted 18 seconds looking for him with our fourth runner Ken Souyave waiting on the finish line with no one to tag to. That would end up costing us a place
So in the end pretty pleased with my run. Roll on Club Cross Country Championships next week
TOTAL DISTANCE : 8 kilometres including warm up and down
Got a lift to Sandown with Liam Magee, and we arrived about forty minutes before race time. I was off first so wentr for a ten minute warm up and then lined up with the other boys from Division 3, including Adam Clarke from Western A's and one of the talented Toomey boys from Knox
Started off pretty solid and with a nastywind down the back straight, I sat behind a couple of runners in order to conserve a bit of energy. Pushed down the Princes Highway side and worked all the way up the front straight to find I had run 10:12 for the first 3.1 km lap. In my fatigued state I put that together to make 20:24. Yeah right! Nevertheless, that was pretty close to my track PB for a straight 3000 m track race
The second time up the back straighy was hard. The fast start really found me out and I reckon all the time I lost was in getting to the summit of that back straight into the wind. Was feeling pretty ordinary over the last two kilometres but just kept on pushing to the finish
In the end, a 10:33 second lap so a positive split by 20 seconds. Probably not flash on a 3.1 km curcuit, but still enough to record a personal best by 15 seconds and take back the record Shane Jansen stole off me last year ;0)
When I handed over we were in third place and I thought that would be as good as it would get for our team. But Liam I would find out later actually passed two Division 3 runners and when he handed over wr were in first. Alas, we dropped two spots on the third leg, the fourth leg and the last leg. The last one was Philip van Dueren's fault as we wasted 18 seconds looking for him with our fourth runner Ken Souyave waiting on the finish line with no one to tag to. That would end up costing us a place
So in the end pretty pleased with my run. Roll on Club Cross Country Championships next week
TOTAL DISTANCE : 8 kilometres including warm up and down
Friday, August 8, 2008
Friday, 8 August 2008
Easy half hour run today that wasn't. Was running literally against the clock as I had left myself very little time to catch my train from Royal Park, so couldn't go too easy
Made it down the hill to Park Street in under 17 minutes, and was feeling okay. I wasn't overly pushing the pace but it didn't feel like an easy run
So I am running down Park Street and I thinking that I am not going to run well tomorrow unless I go for an easy run. Well, I am already two thirds of the way through the run and there is nothing for it but to finish it off
Made it to the station with two minutes to spare
TOTAL DISTANCE ; about six kilometres
Made it down the hill to Park Street in under 17 minutes, and was feeling okay. I wasn't overly pushing the pace but it didn't feel like an easy run
So I am running down Park Street and I thinking that I am not going to run well tomorrow unless I go for an easy run. Well, I am already two thirds of the way through the run and there is nothing for it but to finish it off
Made it to the station with two minutes to spare
TOTAL DISTANCE ; about six kilometres
Thursday, 6 August 2008
Training was with Brian tonight and I made it a little tougher than it should have been. We were supposed to be doing steady efforts, which I evidently took to mean go solid. I was wrong
The first set was 5 x 300's with just a 100 metre float recovery. A five minute break, then 6 x 200's with 100 metres slow jog recovery. This second set was tough going from about the halfway point
The last set at least felt alright with 50 metre walk, 150 metre stride out. Did three laps warm down to finish
Pigged out on supper afterwards and then had chips when I came home. Not a great day diet wise
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 6.5 kilometres
The first set was 5 x 300's with just a 100 metre float recovery. A five minute break, then 6 x 200's with 100 metres slow jog recovery. This second set was tough going from about the halfway point
The last set at least felt alright with 50 metre walk, 150 metre stride out. Did three laps warm down to finish
Pigged out on supper afterwards and then had chips when I came home. Not a great day diet wise
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 6.5 kilometres
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
Tempo run into work this morning. A bit cool at the start but not as bad as other mornings this winter
Decided to surge ten minutes in the middle, and got a good run with traffic lights so got the full whack in there. Certainly helped that I ran a pretty gentle pace leading up to the start of the tempo bit at where I turned off St Georges Road, right into Park Street
Didn't try to overdo the tempo, rather tried to concentrate on a solid surge that I could sustain for the full ten minutes. Could not say the same for previous attempts at this sort of exercise. Nevertheless, I was pretty happy when the ten minutes were up just before the main Princes Park football ground
Very easy run after that to recover a bit and then a full on day at work before leaving early to go sign the lease to our new rental property in Preston, only a few minutes walk from the track. Awesome! Hopefully we can base ourselves there for a few years. Moving is getting tiresome
TOTAL DISTANCE : about nine kilometres
Decided to surge ten minutes in the middle, and got a good run with traffic lights so got the full whack in there. Certainly helped that I ran a pretty gentle pace leading up to the start of the tempo bit at where I turned off St Georges Road, right into Park Street
Didn't try to overdo the tempo, rather tried to concentrate on a solid surge that I could sustain for the full ten minutes. Could not say the same for previous attempts at this sort of exercise. Nevertheless, I was pretty happy when the ten minutes were up just before the main Princes Park football ground
Very easy run after that to recover a bit and then a full on day at work before leaving early to go sign the lease to our new rental property in Preston, only a few minutes walk from the track. Awesome! Hopefully we can base ourselves there for a few years. Moving is getting tiresome
TOTAL DISTANCE : about nine kilometres
Tuesday, 5 August 2008
We had a 5 km time trial tonight at the track and I was not looking forward to it. Especially as I only had about five hours sleep, having had to be at work at 7:15 am
I lined up nervously on the start line and thought a good time would be sub 17:30. Wasn't sure of my form and hadn't done much speed stuff on the track recently. Liam helpfully suggested that I try to slot in behind him, as the time I was looking for was about his goal time too
We started off at a steady pace and through the first kilometre we recorded 3:29. It felt very comfortable, which was probably why the second km was 3:23 and we had 6:52 after two kilometres. For these five laps I was kinda testing the waters running up alongside Liam every now and then to see if I felt good enough to take over
With six laps to go, I felt the time was right to push a bit and help Liam out by taking the front position. It felt good to get out there and begin really pushing and I went through the third kilometre in 3:18, with 10:10 on the clock. Liam was trying hard and was only a few seconds behind
I was really striding out now and the laps were just peeling off so easily. I was a bit surprised at being able to maintain this kind of pace. Not sure what the fourth kilometres was but crossed the finish line in 16:55 with Liam a further 22 seconds back. A big surprise for one thing, that time being only about 20 seconds off the PB. Still can't believe how comfortable that first 2.4 kilometres felt and still do that kind of time
So in the end, 6:45 for the last two kilometres which is a touch surprising given that it felt like I was working a bit harder than that
However Liam's 17:17 was very good and our middle distance squad this summer is going to be very interesting. Liam did that off virtually no work so I reckon he will have the mantle of best middle distance Harrier within eight to twelve months. Will be good to chase someone for a change
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 6.5 kilometres including warm down
I lined up nervously on the start line and thought a good time would be sub 17:30. Wasn't sure of my form and hadn't done much speed stuff on the track recently. Liam helpfully suggested that I try to slot in behind him, as the time I was looking for was about his goal time too
We started off at a steady pace and through the first kilometre we recorded 3:29. It felt very comfortable, which was probably why the second km was 3:23 and we had 6:52 after two kilometres. For these five laps I was kinda testing the waters running up alongside Liam every now and then to see if I felt good enough to take over
With six laps to go, I felt the time was right to push a bit and help Liam out by taking the front position. It felt good to get out there and begin really pushing and I went through the third kilometre in 3:18, with 10:10 on the clock. Liam was trying hard and was only a few seconds behind
I was really striding out now and the laps were just peeling off so easily. I was a bit surprised at being able to maintain this kind of pace. Not sure what the fourth kilometres was but crossed the finish line in 16:55 with Liam a further 22 seconds back. A big surprise for one thing, that time being only about 20 seconds off the PB. Still can't believe how comfortable that first 2.4 kilometres felt and still do that kind of time
So in the end, 6:45 for the last two kilometres which is a touch surprising given that it felt like I was working a bit harder than that
However Liam's 17:17 was very good and our middle distance squad this summer is going to be very interesting. Liam did that off virtually no work so I reckon he will have the mantle of best middle distance Harrier within eight to twelve months. Will be good to chase someone for a change
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 6.5 kilometres including warm down
Monday, August 4, 2008
Monday, 4 August 2008
Rest day today, after six continuous days of running last week
Things have suddenly got very busy at work and this morning we found out that we had been accepted for a property to rent about 500 metres from the track. Sweet! But we sign the lease to begin our tenancy on Monday, which leaves us three weeks to move (until the expiry of our current tenancy). Between now and then are two club runs (including club XC Champs), an AV run, club trivia night, and a club meeting. Horror month ahead
Aside from all that, had lunch with my mother to give her the good news
Met the children at child care, then Kylie drove us home for our casserole dinner. Have a 7:15 am start tomorrow morning for work, which is not ideal before the big time trial. Hoping to at least get under 17:15. Not sure what to expect
Things have suddenly got very busy at work and this morning we found out that we had been accepted for a property to rent about 500 metres from the track. Sweet! But we sign the lease to begin our tenancy on Monday, which leaves us three weeks to move (until the expiry of our current tenancy). Between now and then are two club runs (including club XC Champs), an AV run, club trivia night, and a club meeting. Horror month ahead
Aside from all that, had lunch with my mother to give her the good news
Met the children at child care, then Kylie drove us home for our casserole dinner. Have a 7:15 am start tomorrow morning for work, which is not ideal before the big time trial. Hoping to at least get under 17:15. Not sure what to expect
Sunday, 3 August 2008
Long slow boring run today. Had to get it out of the way in the morning so Kylie could go to the football. Today it was the first two hour run of the winter. Yikes! Coach Brian wanted me to go for a shorter 1 hour run as we have a 5 km time trial on Tuesday. However, I had had an easy week only two weeks ago and every advanced Half Marathon program I researched online had two hour runs in the last month of the program. So on this occaision I went against coaches advice
Pushed off at 10:30 am and decided to run up to the Ring Road in Campbellfield and back. Was feeling good and comfortable, despite the headwind on various parts of the outbound section. Started to feel a bit flat from about 45 minutes on. Bit of a struggle to get to the turnaround point, which was somewhere in Thomastown
It wasn't until about the 80 minute mark that I started to feel like I was getting back into a rhythm and with 15 minutes to run I stopped for a few squirts of water. Back onto the bike pathand the sun was out and I thought I'd take the shirt off which I never do!
Tucked it into the shorts and it was kinda nice as I didn't really feel the cold even though it was only about 12 degrees. And about ten minutes out from home, just near Bell Street on the bike path, I see this figure in a race walk coming towards me and its Adrianna Crea, our junior 16 year old walker from the Harriers. Doh! How embarassment. Not to worry
Finish the run and my heart rate was a touch under 156, so a bit high. Perhaps I was working a bit too hard in my enthusiasm to get home
Kylie felt sick after her own late night pizza last night so didn't go to football and she spent the afternoon looking online for a new place for us to live. I bathed the children while Kylie did a pork stir fry. Then it was rush the children into bed before Dr Who started
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 24 kilometres
Pushed off at 10:30 am and decided to run up to the Ring Road in Campbellfield and back. Was feeling good and comfortable, despite the headwind on various parts of the outbound section. Started to feel a bit flat from about 45 minutes on. Bit of a struggle to get to the turnaround point, which was somewhere in Thomastown
It wasn't until about the 80 minute mark that I started to feel like I was getting back into a rhythm and with 15 minutes to run I stopped for a few squirts of water. Back onto the bike pathand the sun was out and I thought I'd take the shirt off which I never do!
Tucked it into the shorts and it was kinda nice as I didn't really feel the cold even though it was only about 12 degrees. And about ten minutes out from home, just near Bell Street on the bike path, I see this figure in a race walk coming towards me and its Adrianna Crea, our junior 16 year old walker from the Harriers. Doh! How embarassment. Not to worry
Finish the run and my heart rate was a touch under 156, so a bit high. Perhaps I was working a bit too hard in my enthusiasm to get home
Kylie felt sick after her own late night pizza last night so didn't go to football and she spent the afternoon looking online for a new place for us to live. I bathed the children while Kylie did a pork stir fry. Then it was rush the children into bed before Dr Who started
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 24 kilometres
Saturday, 2 August 2008
Club handicap run today. Got a haircut in Coburg, signed a petition on a sensitive political issue, and got a lift to the run. The event was at the Coburg Lake with myself and club president mark kelly putting together the course
After I gave Mark some stick last year over a coure at Fairfield that i thought was long, I decided to put my money where my mouth is and see if I could do a better job (with Mark's help)
Mark rode the course during the week with his GPS and I ran the course with the wheel to make sure it was accurately measured. In the end, two 3.91 km laps from the lake, along Murray Rd, around the back of the Olympic Swimming Pool, back around up to Murray Rd, then back down acorss the creek to the bike path and follow the bike path to the third bridge on the wrong side of the creek (non-bike path side) and back to the lake
I started off too hard and at the halfway point, had recorded 14 minutes flat. We then run the course in reverse, which is an easier loop that the outbound one. At the five kilometre mark and the fast early pace was starting to tell and I was doing it tough. For about 500 metres or so I didn't feel like I had any drive in the legs until my feet came off the grass track and hit the concrete bike path. From here I got a second wind and managed to reel in a few runners and finished strongly to do two even splits of 14 minutes
Kylie arrived to pick me up and distribute some Boags to Mark and myself. Then off home to give the children their dinner and put them into bed.
And all that good work was undone with a midnight snack of mushroom pizza about an hour before I went to bed myself
TOTAL DISTANCE : about ten kilometres including warm up
After I gave Mark some stick last year over a coure at Fairfield that i thought was long, I decided to put my money where my mouth is and see if I could do a better job (with Mark's help)
Mark rode the course during the week with his GPS and I ran the course with the wheel to make sure it was accurately measured. In the end, two 3.91 km laps from the lake, along Murray Rd, around the back of the Olympic Swimming Pool, back around up to Murray Rd, then back down acorss the creek to the bike path and follow the bike path to the third bridge on the wrong side of the creek (non-bike path side) and back to the lake
I started off too hard and at the halfway point, had recorded 14 minutes flat. We then run the course in reverse, which is an easier loop that the outbound one. At the five kilometre mark and the fast early pace was starting to tell and I was doing it tough. For about 500 metres or so I didn't feel like I had any drive in the legs until my feet came off the grass track and hit the concrete bike path. From here I got a second wind and managed to reel in a few runners and finished strongly to do two even splits of 14 minutes
Kylie arrived to pick me up and distribute some Boags to Mark and myself. Then off home to give the children their dinner and put them into bed.
And all that good work was undone with a midnight snack of mushroom pizza about an hour before I went to bed myself
TOTAL DISTANCE : about ten kilometres including warm up
Friday, 1 August 2008
Nice, slow recovery run today. At least, it was supposed to be
Got to Park Street at the bottom of St Georges Rd and there was only 18 odd minutes on my watch, which was about a minute quicker than normal. And yet, I didn't feel like I was working that hard
Motored my way along Park Street to try to make sure I made it to Royal Station in time for the train. I still must have been moving reasonably swiftly as I had to make up a little at the station to bring it up to an even thirty minutes. A journey that would normally take me around 32 minutes slow run pace
Felt good afterwards, not like I had overdone things. And wouldn't you know it - the train was five minutes late!
TOTAL DISTANCE : about six kilometres
Got to Park Street at the bottom of St Georges Rd and there was only 18 odd minutes on my watch, which was about a minute quicker than normal. And yet, I didn't feel like I was working that hard
Motored my way along Park Street to try to make sure I made it to Royal Station in time for the train. I still must have been moving reasonably swiftly as I had to make up a little at the station to bring it up to an even thirty minutes. A journey that would normally take me around 32 minutes slow run pace
Felt good afterwards, not like I had overdone things. And wouldn't you know it - the train was five minutes late!
TOTAL DISTANCE : about six kilometres
Friday, August 1, 2008
Thursday, 31 July 2008
Training was with Brian tonight. We are wanting to move, so looked at a rental property not 500 metres away from the track. Unfortunately the bedrooms were a bit small, so we did not put an application in
Good session tonight, and one of my favourites. We had two continuous running sets. The first was an 8 lapper, broken up into mini-sets of two. It was jog 100, steady 300, jog 50 with solid 150, then jog 100 and solid 100 to finish off. This was times four
The second set was times three for six laps. It was on this second set, I was starting to struggle through the last couple of laps. I timed the 300 metre efforts at 50, 52 and 50 seconds. Nice finish - must have known I was near the end
Drank far too much beer and ate far too much of the vets supper before running for the bus around 9:00 pm
TOTAL DISTANCE : about seven kilometres including warm up and down
Good session tonight, and one of my favourites. We had two continuous running sets. The first was an 8 lapper, broken up into mini-sets of two. It was jog 100, steady 300, jog 50 with solid 150, then jog 100 and solid 100 to finish off. This was times four
The second set was times three for six laps. It was on this second set, I was starting to struggle through the last couple of laps. I timed the 300 metre efforts at 50, 52 and 50 seconds. Nice finish - must have known I was near the end
Drank far too much beer and ate far too much of the vets supper before running for the bus around 9:00 pm
TOTAL DISTANCE : about seven kilometres including warm up and down
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Run into work today. Set off a good clip, but didn't realise I was going quite so quickly until I saw that I got to Park Street around a minute quicker than usual
I had wanted to turn this into a tempo with ten minutes through the middle, but from the get go it was feeling really hard and after seven minutes I decided that was quite enough. I would probably have only been able to eke out another thirty seconds before I got stopped at the lights in front of me. Excuse, I know
Got to work about two minutes quicker than usual so quite a solid "recovery" run
Wanted to get home by 6:00 pm, as I had a committee meeting tonight at the club. The meeting dragged on forever as we had quite a few issues to discuss. Didn't get home until almost 11:00 pm
TOTAL DISTANCE : about nine kilometres
I had wanted to turn this into a tempo with ten minutes through the middle, but from the get go it was feeling really hard and after seven minutes I decided that was quite enough. I would probably have only been able to eke out another thirty seconds before I got stopped at the lights in front of me. Excuse, I know
Got to work about two minutes quicker than usual so quite a solid "recovery" run
Wanted to get home by 6:00 pm, as I had a committee meeting tonight at the club. The meeting dragged on forever as we had quite a few issues to discuss. Didn't get home until almost 11:00 pm
TOTAL DISTANCE : about nine kilometres
Tuesday, 29 July 2008
Training was with Brian tonight. With the Sandown 6.2 kilometre Relays coming up in a fortnight, Brian wanted us to work on our speed endurance
So, tonight we had a 2 km effort, then a 1 km effort, then a 2 km effort to finish off. The mandate was steady, medium, solid
Had Liam for company on the first 2 km effort and after 3:17 on the first kilometre, we knocked that effort over with 6:40 on the clock. I was a bit cranky at that because I thought it was a bit too fast for just a steady effort. Liam and hit the finish line and straight into a 1 km slow recovery
The 1 km effort was certainly medium paced but we still felt we were working and not sure what Liam did, but I recorded 3:15 and then straight into another 1 km slow recovery
Brian gave us a pep talk before the last set and said this was going to be a test of our mental strength. Went through the first kilometre in 3:07 and wondered how on earth I was going to maintain such a crazy pace. In myself I felt that I was pushing way too hard. Still, on the last kilometre, I didn't drop off too much and finish up with 6:20
Very pleased with that, and a sign off good things to come for the summer fingers crossed!
TOTAL DISTANCE : about eight kilometres including warm up and down
So, tonight we had a 2 km effort, then a 1 km effort, then a 2 km effort to finish off. The mandate was steady, medium, solid
Had Liam for company on the first 2 km effort and after 3:17 on the first kilometre, we knocked that effort over with 6:40 on the clock. I was a bit cranky at that because I thought it was a bit too fast for just a steady effort. Liam and hit the finish line and straight into a 1 km slow recovery
The 1 km effort was certainly medium paced but we still felt we were working and not sure what Liam did, but I recorded 3:15 and then straight into another 1 km slow recovery
Brian gave us a pep talk before the last set and said this was going to be a test of our mental strength. Went through the first kilometre in 3:07 and wondered how on earth I was going to maintain such a crazy pace. In myself I felt that I was pushing way too hard. Still, on the last kilometre, I didn't drop off too much and finish up with 6:20
Very pleased with that, and a sign off good things to come for the summer fingers crossed!
TOTAL DISTANCE : about eight kilometres including warm up and down
Monday, 28 July 2008
Rest day today. Felt pretty good despite near two hour run and almost felt guilty on the tram home that I didn't at least go for a half hour run.
Still, some big runs coming up and I don't want to overdo things. Some very important races now on the horizon with our club X-C Championships and AV Burnley Half Marathon - the reason why I am doing such longer runs
I wonder what my longest run should be during the summer season?
Still, some big runs coming up and I don't want to overdo things. Some very important races now on the horizon with our club X-C Championships and AV Burnley Half Marathon - the reason why I am doing such longer runs
I wonder what my longest run should be during the summer season?
Sunday, 27 July 2008
The club staged their annual Half Marathon at the track today. Kylie helped with the entries while I baby sat the children. Then after the 10 km winners came through, I went on my run
It was 7 degrees when I started and headed south towards the city. I was going to head south for 30 minutes, then run back along the bike path, past the club and further up north for an hour, before the 30 minute return journey to the track
It rained for about ten minutes early on in my rain and was bitterly cold. My clothes were damp but the rain cleared up and the sun came out, albeit a weak and watery one
But I just kept pushing on the bike path through Collingwood and Clifton Hill until you get to that large bridge you need to cross over to continue on the Yarra Trail. It was 57 minutes to that point and I turned around for the long journey home
Finally made my way back to the track and had to do a little extra at the finish to complete my 1 hour, 55 minute run. Thank goodness only three more to go
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 23 kilometres
It was 7 degrees when I started and headed south towards the city. I was going to head south for 30 minutes, then run back along the bike path, past the club and further up north for an hour, before the 30 minute return journey to the track
It rained for about ten minutes early on in my rain and was bitterly cold. My clothes were damp but the rain cleared up and the sun came out, albeit a weak and watery one
But I just kept pushing on the bike path through Collingwood and Clifton Hill until you get to that large bridge you need to cross over to continue on the Yarra Trail. It was 57 minutes to that point and I turned around for the long journey home
Finally made my way back to the track and had to do a little extra at the finish to complete my 1 hour, 55 minute run. Thank goodness only three more to go
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 23 kilometres
Saturday, 26 July - AV 12 km X-C
Big race today up at Bundoora with the 12 km Cross Country event. It was accurately measured this year after someone lopped 150 metres off the 4 km loop last year
Went out reasonably hard but settled into a bit of a rhythm. Went through the first lap in 10:35 or so, but it was a slightly shorter lap than the last three laps
The second lap was 10:55 and I was starting to struggle a bit. Went through at the "bell lap" with an 11:04 split on the clock. Picked up a bit from here and tried to push for the finish. With 1500 metres to go I tried to surge right through to the end and coming into the finishing straight, I sprinted for the line.
The last lap was 10:55 which was good and overall consistent laps either mean I am running well, or not pushing hard enough and just "cruising". It did feel like a comfortable run and afterwards I pulled up really well withhardly any tiredness in the legs
So in the end 43:35, when I was hoping to go sub 44 so very pleased at that performance. And it helped my team to third place, which is their best result for the season
I was on pack up crew so had to go pick up all the flags. Off home to give the children their dinner. Kylie helped me put the children to bed, then she went out to vist a sick friend. Long slow boring run tomorrow morning
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 13 kilometres including warm up
Went out reasonably hard but settled into a bit of a rhythm. Went through the first lap in 10:35 or so, but it was a slightly shorter lap than the last three laps
The second lap was 10:55 and I was starting to struggle a bit. Went through at the "bell lap" with an 11:04 split on the clock. Picked up a bit from here and tried to push for the finish. With 1500 metres to go I tried to surge right through to the end and coming into the finishing straight, I sprinted for the line.
The last lap was 10:55 which was good and overall consistent laps either mean I am running well, or not pushing hard enough and just "cruising". It did feel like a comfortable run and afterwards I pulled up really well withhardly any tiredness in the legs
So in the end 43:35, when I was hoping to go sub 44 so very pleased at that performance. And it helped my team to third place, which is their best result for the season
I was on pack up crew so had to go pick up all the flags. Off home to give the children their dinner. Kylie helped me put the children to bed, then she went out to vist a sick friend. Long slow boring run tomorrow morning
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 13 kilometres including warm up
Thursday, 24 July 2008
Training was with Briab tonight anf I got held back at work so did not make it until quite late. Luckily they had not started the main session yet
And what a strange one it was. We had three five lap efforts with two little surges built into each lap of each set
So on the first one the cone was set 100 metres from the finish and 200 metre start
On the second set, the cone was set about 50 metres from the finish and 200 metre start
And on the third set, the cone was set about 30 metres from the finish and 200 metre start
It was much tougher than I expected, but an interesting sesison nevertheless
TOTAL DISTANCE : about seven kilometres including warm down
And what a strange one it was. We had three five lap efforts with two little surges built into each lap of each set
So on the first one the cone was set 100 metres from the finish and 200 metre start
On the second set, the cone was set about 50 metres from the finish and 200 metre start
And on the third set, the cone was set about 30 metres from the finish and 200 metre start
It was much tougher than I expected, but an interesting sesison nevertheless
TOTAL DISTANCE : about seven kilometres including warm down
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
I would normally do a run all the way home (about 45 minutes) mid-week, but happily tonight I only did thirty minutes as part of my continuing easy week
Went the usual way and hopped onto a tram just after the Merri Parade roundabout
TOTAL DISTANCE : about six kilometres
Went the usual way and hopped onto a tram just after the Merri Parade roundabout
TOTAL DISTANCE : about six kilometres
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
Training was with Brian tonight. Feeling really good after shorter run last night. Which was just as well with a tough session tonight
It was broken up into three sets. First set was 2 x 800 metre efforts with 30 seconds recovery. Knocked both of those over in around the 2:40 mark with the second one quicker
We then only had sixty seconds recovery before doing 3 x 600's. Again, only thirty seconds recovery between each and I was doing a touch under two minutes for each
We were supposed to have only sixty seconds recovery again, but Brianhad me wait for the other guys before starting again, so probably got more than double that
Last set was 4 x 400's with thirty seconds recovery between each. I did 75 seconds for the first three and around 70 seconds for the last. So a tough session, but pleased with the strong finish
TOTAL DISTANCE : about six kilometres including warm up and down
It was broken up into three sets. First set was 2 x 800 metre efforts with 30 seconds recovery. Knocked both of those over in around the 2:40 mark with the second one quicker
We then only had sixty seconds recovery before doing 3 x 600's. Again, only thirty seconds recovery between each and I was doing a touch under two minutes for each
We were supposed to have only sixty seconds recovery again, but Brianhad me wait for the other guys before starting again, so probably got more than double that
Last set was 4 x 400's with thirty seconds recovery between each. I did 75 seconds for the first three and around 70 seconds for the last. So a tough session, but pleased with the strong finish
TOTAL DISTANCE : about six kilometres including warm up and down
Friday, July 25, 2008
Monday, 21 July 2008
A shortened long slow distance rum today in keeping with my easy week
Did an hour on the way home from work and boy was it cold! Went along the Merri Creek once I had hopped off St George's Road and got home in time to see Kylie off for her meeting
It wfelt like an easy run, although I was sweating a little and I reckon I was keeping a fairly medium pace steady rhythm going. Think I can feel in myself that I am getting into the sort of form I was approaching at the end of last winter and if so, hopefully my goal of a good time at Burnley will ve very achievable. Fingers crossed the injury monster stays away
Popped the children into bed after reading them a story, pigged out on some bread (sandwich, and a roll!) before having some pasta in front of the television
TOTAL DISTANCE : about twelve kilometres - probably more
Did an hour on the way home from work and boy was it cold! Went along the Merri Creek once I had hopped off St George's Road and got home in time to see Kylie off for her meeting
It wfelt like an easy run, although I was sweating a little and I reckon I was keeping a fairly medium pace steady rhythm going. Think I can feel in myself that I am getting into the sort of form I was approaching at the end of last winter and if so, hopefully my goal of a good time at Burnley will ve very achievable. Fingers crossed the injury monster stays away
Popped the children into bed after reading them a story, pigged out on some bread (sandwich, and a roll!) before having some pasta in front of the television
TOTAL DISTANCE : about twelve kilometres - probably more
Sunday, 20 July 2008
Rest day today
Went to a house warming party in Warrandyte which was awesome. We were supposed to be there at 1:00 pm, but as usual youngest daughter slept until that time and we didn't get to Warrandyte until 2:00 pm
It was a beautiful home, great company and just a very relaxing way to spend a Sunday afternoon, and my birthday to boot
The children were all in bed by 7:00 pm, and I settled in with a glass of red wine to watch Dr Who with a 20 minute post mortem with my mother on the phone afterwards
Going for an hour run tomorrow as this coming week is an "easy" week
Went to a house warming party in Warrandyte which was awesome. We were supposed to be there at 1:00 pm, but as usual youngest daughter slept until that time and we didn't get to Warrandyte until 2:00 pm
It was a beautiful home, great company and just a very relaxing way to spend a Sunday afternoon, and my birthday to boot
The children were all in bed by 7:00 pm, and I settled in with a glass of red wine to watch Dr Who with a 20 minute post mortem with my mother on the phone afterwards
Going for an hour run tomorrow as this coming week is an "easy" week
Saturday, 19 July 2008
Club Handicap run today with a 10 km race at Princes Park. Kylie had to take the children to a kids party so I took the tram down St Georges Road and jogged the ten minutes to the start line
The nearest competitor to me was Liam Magee who had a minute head start with me as the backmarker. Tried to start off steady but a check of the watch saw that I was doing 3.5 min km's through the first kilometre. Still, it was a pretty fast course
It started on the playground/bbq side and went north and around the top, before you go under Royal Parade and head toward the zoo as a little out and back loop before going back onto the course proper
At the four kilometre mark, I had cut Liam's one minute lead down to thirty seconds. And at the halfway mark I had bang on 18:00 on the watch. From here, I got into a nice steady ryhthm and didn't worry too much how far Liam was in front as me, as I knew I would easily be able to overtake him at the time of my choosing, especially as that gap was closing pretty rapdly through the next two kilometres
Finally, on the cemetery side and into a strong headwind, I passed Liam about 500 metres from the finish with a good sustained kick to the finish. In the end, eighth place overall
Out for dinner tonight with some people I used to work with. We went to Thy Thy's on Victoria St and I managed to work myway through a bottle of red wine. But it was the pint at the pub near the train station that had me feeling very light headed
A party to go to tomorow, so no chance of going for a run. Oh yeah, and it's my birthday as well
TOTAL DISTANCE : about twelve kilometres including warm up
The nearest competitor to me was Liam Magee who had a minute head start with me as the backmarker. Tried to start off steady but a check of the watch saw that I was doing 3.5 min km's through the first kilometre. Still, it was a pretty fast course
It started on the playground/bbq side and went north and around the top, before you go under Royal Parade and head toward the zoo as a little out and back loop before going back onto the course proper
At the four kilometre mark, I had cut Liam's one minute lead down to thirty seconds. And at the halfway mark I had bang on 18:00 on the watch. From here, I got into a nice steady ryhthm and didn't worry too much how far Liam was in front as me, as I knew I would easily be able to overtake him at the time of my choosing, especially as that gap was closing pretty rapdly through the next two kilometres
Finally, on the cemetery side and into a strong headwind, I passed Liam about 500 metres from the finish with a good sustained kick to the finish. In the end, eighth place overall
Out for dinner tonight with some people I used to work with. We went to Thy Thy's on Victoria St and I managed to work myway through a bottle of red wine. But it was the pint at the pub near the train station that had me feeling very light headed
A party to go to tomorow, so no chance of going for a run. Oh yeah, and it's my birthday as well
TOTAL DISTANCE : about twelve kilometres including warm up
Friday, July 18, 2008
Friday, 18 July 2008
Easy thirty minute run today to Royal Park station. During the run and especially near the start I was listening to the cadence of my feet hitting the bike path to make sure it was a nice slow steady rythm. Once I hit Park Street,I seemed to get into this zone. The run wasn't slow, but still steady and just this side of comfortable
Really had to push the last five minutes, as I could hear the train up the railway line and knew I only had a few minutes to get to the station before the train, which I just managed to accomplish
Felt really good after my run and the legs felt nice and fresh tonight when I came home from work. Kylie has gone to a friends house for the evening so after we ate out at a chinese take away for dinner and we put the kids to bed, Kylie was off
Big day tommorrow as I look after the children in the morning while Kylie shops, then 10 km club run at Princes Park then out for dinner that night with some old work friends
TOTAL DISTANCE : about six kilometres
Really had to push the last five minutes, as I could hear the train up the railway line and knew I only had a few minutes to get to the station before the train, which I just managed to accomplish
Felt really good after my run and the legs felt nice and fresh tonight when I came home from work. Kylie has gone to a friends house for the evening so after we ate out at a chinese take away for dinner and we put the kids to bed, Kylie was off
Big day tommorrow as I look after the children in the morning while Kylie shops, then 10 km club run at Princes Park then out for dinner that night with some old work friends
TOTAL DISTANCE : about six kilometres
Thursday, 17 July 2008
Training was with Brian tonight. He had us doing an easier session and in the end it didn't prove to be overly tough, but still reasonably hard
The first set was 5 x 300's. Not to sure the timing of them, but Liam was keeping pace with me and he said they were pretty consistent. The next set was 6 x 200's amd for these he was slotting in behind me.
The last set was 6 x 150's. On the last one, Josh jogged up from behind us and floated to the start so that he could finish the last 150 in front of us. He laid down the challenge, with a ten metre head start on Liam and I. Josh ran it out really well, and I only got him on the line because he was slowing up near the finish. Should be an interesing summer
A couple of green can's from the replenished bar fridge and I was off home for chillie con carne on a bed of palenta. yummo
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 5.5 kilometres including warm down
The first set was 5 x 300's. Not to sure the timing of them, but Liam was keeping pace with me and he said they were pretty consistent. The next set was 6 x 200's amd for these he was slotting in behind me.
The last set was 6 x 150's. On the last one, Josh jogged up from behind us and floated to the start so that he could finish the last 150 in front of us. He laid down the challenge, with a ten metre head start on Liam and I. Josh ran it out really well, and I only got him on the line because he was slowing up near the finish. Should be an interesing summer
A couple of green can's from the replenished bar fridge and I was off home for chillie con carne on a bed of palenta. yummo
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 5.5 kilometres including warm down
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
Decided to run home from work tonight, as I was having lunch with my mother, whose birthday it is today. Not the healthiest of lunch. dip platter for startes and a shared oily vegetarian pizza for main. And a cascade light beer
And hard session yesterday, body was still feeling sore and sorry for itself. I have noticed that when I am feeling that way, I generally eat crappy food and today seemed to be no exception. had a very ordinary chicken avacado wrap for morning tea. there seems to be no inbetween with wraps. they are either really nice, or fairly ordinary
The run home tonight was a bit strange. I started off at a pretty easy, gentle pace given that I was still feeling pretty heavy in the legs from yesterday. Once I got to Princes Park and knew I had a long stretch before the next traffic light, i decided to turn my easy run into a tempo session. Intending to run for 10 minutes, I pushed the pace to about a steady intensity and was pleasantly surprised to find I could maintain it. I got to Lygon Street with eight minutes on the clock where I had to stop at a red light. Frustrating
Still, after not feeling that great at the start of the run, I was very pleased to be able to push through and do that steady effort. What's more, after I finished that effort my body felt really refreshed and I was able to maintain a good steady rhythm run all the way up St Georges Road to home. This was appreciably quicker than when I set out for home, but still at an easy pace
Pigged out a bit for dinner with yummy tuna pasta and cheese on salada biscuits for after. And then settled down for my second favourite television night of the week, with Spicks & Specks, followed by Gruen Transfer and Hollowmen to finish off. What a great line up
TOTAL DISTANCE : about nine kilometres
And hard session yesterday, body was still feeling sore and sorry for itself. I have noticed that when I am feeling that way, I generally eat crappy food and today seemed to be no exception. had a very ordinary chicken avacado wrap for morning tea. there seems to be no inbetween with wraps. they are either really nice, or fairly ordinary
The run home tonight was a bit strange. I started off at a pretty easy, gentle pace given that I was still feeling pretty heavy in the legs from yesterday. Once I got to Princes Park and knew I had a long stretch before the next traffic light, i decided to turn my easy run into a tempo session. Intending to run for 10 minutes, I pushed the pace to about a steady intensity and was pleasantly surprised to find I could maintain it. I got to Lygon Street with eight minutes on the clock where I had to stop at a red light. Frustrating
Still, after not feeling that great at the start of the run, I was very pleased to be able to push through and do that steady effort. What's more, after I finished that effort my body felt really refreshed and I was able to maintain a good steady rhythm run all the way up St Georges Road to home. This was appreciably quicker than when I set out for home, but still at an easy pace
Pigged out a bit for dinner with yummy tuna pasta and cheese on salada biscuits for after. And then settled down for my second favourite television night of the week, with Spicks & Specks, followed by Gruen Transfer and Hollowmen to finish off. What a great line up
TOTAL DISTANCE : about nine kilometres
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Kylie had a meeting tonight so training was with Brian, my coach, at lunchtime. We jogged across to Yarra Park, which surrounds the MCG. Brian chose the Punt Road side in the North East corner (up the hill from Punt Rd Oval). for a cross country hill session
It followed the fenceline in this corner of the park with the first 50 metres flat, then a left turn and 175 metres up a hill before turning right and 175 metres along what seemed flat terrain but was in fact a gentle uphill gradient. Recovery was to be back along the straight 175 metre section and then diagonally down to the start, so about 300 metres recovery in all. Brian wanted us to do easy first part recovery, gentle push the middle recovery and slow down recovery for the last bit leading into the next effort
Brian did four sets, while I did six. And they were ahrd work. I recorded the first one at 83 seconds. Didn't do the next two, but the last three were all around the 76-77 mark so happy with that, but bpy the last two I felt like I was pushing with concrete shoes on
After that was over, we jogged over to Treasury Gardens where Brian had us do two 150 metre downhills with fast short leg turnovers to generate some speed
Slow jog back to work and I was buggered for the rest of the day! Spent some quality time with my bubbies before I put them down to bed
TOTAL DISTANCE : about six kilometres including run to park, then session, then run to Treasury Gardens, then run back to work
It followed the fenceline in this corner of the park with the first 50 metres flat, then a left turn and 175 metres up a hill before turning right and 175 metres along what seemed flat terrain but was in fact a gentle uphill gradient. Recovery was to be back along the straight 175 metre section and then diagonally down to the start, so about 300 metres recovery in all. Brian wanted us to do easy first part recovery, gentle push the middle recovery and slow down recovery for the last bit leading into the next effort
Brian did four sets, while I did six. And they were ahrd work. I recorded the first one at 83 seconds. Didn't do the next two, but the last three were all around the 76-77 mark so happy with that, but bpy the last two I felt like I was pushing with concrete shoes on
After that was over, we jogged over to Treasury Gardens where Brian had us do two 150 metre downhills with fast short leg turnovers to generate some speed
Slow jog back to work and I was buggered for the rest of the day! Spent some quality time with my bubbies before I put them down to bed
TOTAL DISTANCE : about six kilometres including run to park, then session, then run to Treasury Gardens, then run back to work
Monday, 14 July 2008
Long slow boring run today. I had to go to a meeting tonight, so had to get to work very early to accommodate the 1:50 run and shower I was going to have to do. Mission accomplished, in work at 8:00 am
Had a meeting at 11:30 am so it was almost 1:00 pm before I could get out for my run. Went along the Yarra for 56 minutes, following it all the way through the City. Richmond, West Hawthorn, Kew and Collingwood (where I would normally hop off the bridge onto the Merri Creek bike path). Then it was all the way back to work
My shin and ankle was a bit sore for the first thirty minutes but seemed to come good. The trip back to work was okay, except that I started to feel the pinch with about thirty minutes to go. I worked through that and the last ten minutes wasn't that bad
Not sure if it was the uphill Market Street finish but the heart rate was up around 160 when I finally staggered to a stop. Thank good ness only four of these left before the Half Marathon and an easy week coming up. But all that means is a shorter long run
In order that I could spend SOME time with my children, we had dinner in Moonee Ponds before I got dropped off at Aberfeldie for the meeting. An interesting meeting where a vote to include the Meadowglen track in Epping as a North West Region venue got defeated despite my besr efforts. Flirted with the idea of withdrawing Coburg as a venue, except we need the good points a home meet produces
A fifteen minute power walk to Essendon station to find I had just missed the train so managed to fit in four pots at the Royal (?) next to the station before catching the train into the city where I treated myself to a long neck for the long tram journey home. All in all an excellent day
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 22 kilometres (and my second half marathon of the season)
Had a meeting at 11:30 am so it was almost 1:00 pm before I could get out for my run. Went along the Yarra for 56 minutes, following it all the way through the City. Richmond, West Hawthorn, Kew and Collingwood (where I would normally hop off the bridge onto the Merri Creek bike path). Then it was all the way back to work
My shin and ankle was a bit sore for the first thirty minutes but seemed to come good. The trip back to work was okay, except that I started to feel the pinch with about thirty minutes to go. I worked through that and the last ten minutes wasn't that bad
Not sure if it was the uphill Market Street finish but the heart rate was up around 160 when I finally staggered to a stop. Thank good ness only four of these left before the Half Marathon and an easy week coming up. But all that means is a shorter long run
In order that I could spend SOME time with my children, we had dinner in Moonee Ponds before I got dropped off at Aberfeldie for the meeting. An interesting meeting where a vote to include the Meadowglen track in Epping as a North West Region venue got defeated despite my besr efforts. Flirted with the idea of withdrawing Coburg as a venue, except we need the good points a home meet produces
A fifteen minute power walk to Essendon station to find I had just missed the train so managed to fit in four pots at the Royal (?) next to the station before catching the train into the city where I treated myself to a long neck for the long tram journey home. All in all an excellent day
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 22 kilometres (and my second half marathon of the season)
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Sunday, 13 July 2008
Rest day today. Sunday is one of those days where I can either do my long run for the week or opt out and do it on Monday. So I opted out. I was feeling reasonably heavy legged anyway and yesterday's race evidently took a bit out of me
We went over to my mother's for lunch as my eldest boy Hamish had stayed there the weekend. We had a lavish lunch, then Kylie went to work for a couple of hours while I watched Dr Who DVD's with my mother who is a big Dr Who fan - even without David Tennant!
We fed the children their dinner then headed home to put the children to bed. They were naughty in their room but the new Dr Who was far more important, so they had free rein for an hour
TOTAL DISTANCE : about twenty metres running from the car to the television to see if Dr Who had started yet
We went over to my mother's for lunch as my eldest boy Hamish had stayed there the weekend. We had a lavish lunch, then Kylie went to work for a couple of hours while I watched Dr Who DVD's with my mother who is a big Dr Who fan - even without David Tennant!
We fed the children their dinner then headed home to put the children to bed. They were naughty in their room but the new Dr Who was far more important, so they had free rein for an hour
TOTAL DISTANCE : about twenty metres running from the car to the television to see if Dr Who had started yet
Saturday, 12 July - AV 16 km X-C
Slept in a bit this morning, so it was all a bit of a rush to get ready. Madeleine had to go to the hospital for an x-ray at 11:00 am and rather than risk getting to Geelong late for my race, I decided to hitch a lift with John Braszell
Madeleine had been keeping her arm limp since yesterday and the doctor sent us to the hospital for the x-ray as a precaution. He said he couldn't feel any break but that if children hurt their arm, they just stop using it. Hope she is going to be okay
We got to Geelong at 12:30 pm and as we are getting out of the car Brazza says he thought the race started at 1:00 pm! So we had plenty of time to prepare and we killed most of that time by walking a lap of the course
We were to do four laps of the four kilometre circuit and a nice 500 metre steady downhill start gives way to 500 metres of climb, albeit the first half of it pretty gentle. The last half of the climb is tough before you hit some relief with long downhill and straight section. Then another climb about 300 metres further on. The next kilometre or so is all winding flats and slight uphills before you reach the peak and you are less than a kilometre from the finish. Some nice downhill lets you build up some speed before the last climb up and over to the finish
We were all chinwagging on the start line and almost missed the gun. I set my watch and then joined in the mad dash that was the start. Great thing about this race is the start line is strung out over about 100 metres so plenty of room at the front
Went down that first part and thought I was going a little too fast. As I would throughout the race, I sacrificed some speed on the first big hill to make sure it didn't take too much out of me. After about two kilometres, I was feeling the pace and wondering if I was going to blow out. Plus you would think with all that time before the race, I would have gone to the loo when I had to. I spent the first lap looking for good places to wee
Went through the first lap in 14:23 and wondered what my next splits would look like against that. And half way through the second lap, I found that I no longer had the urge to wee, which made things more comfortable. Some parts of the course were starting to get a bit heavy underfoot
Don't know my split as I didn't hit my watch properly but I would guestimate it to be around 14:40. Started to feel like I was getting into a real rythm here and the plan of slower hills meant I could really push on the downhills on the flats. As a result, I felt alternately like a snail and a road runner. But what a great feeling to go from small steps to bloody great big strides and some decent speed!
The last lap was a bit of a struggle and while I did hit my watch right as I began the lap, I forgot to stop it when I finished! But it would have been around the 14:50 mark. In the end, I did 58:36, so an average 14:39 per lap and well inside the 59 minutes that I thought would have been a par performance
Not sure how to rate it alongside my 54:05 at La Trobe for the 15 km Road Race. I was happy with that road run, but cross country is supposed to slow you up and I was only a little bit slower here at Geelong compared to Bundoora
All in all, I liked the course. It has great views of the bay on one side of the course, winds through trees in other parts so you almost feel you're in the bush, and parts of the course are covered in pine needles and what not. Plus I just felt that while the hills were tough, you could recover sufficiently and really attack the "easier" parts of the course
A good day's work and off to Sofia's Restaurant in Preston for dinner
TOTAL DISTANCE : 16 kilometres (walking the course was a good warm up, though)
Madeleine had been keeping her arm limp since yesterday and the doctor sent us to the hospital for the x-ray as a precaution. He said he couldn't feel any break but that if children hurt their arm, they just stop using it. Hope she is going to be okay
We got to Geelong at 12:30 pm and as we are getting out of the car Brazza says he thought the race started at 1:00 pm! So we had plenty of time to prepare and we killed most of that time by walking a lap of the course
We were to do four laps of the four kilometre circuit and a nice 500 metre steady downhill start gives way to 500 metres of climb, albeit the first half of it pretty gentle. The last half of the climb is tough before you hit some relief with long downhill and straight section. Then another climb about 300 metres further on. The next kilometre or so is all winding flats and slight uphills before you reach the peak and you are less than a kilometre from the finish. Some nice downhill lets you build up some speed before the last climb up and over to the finish
We were all chinwagging on the start line and almost missed the gun. I set my watch and then joined in the mad dash that was the start. Great thing about this race is the start line is strung out over about 100 metres so plenty of room at the front
Went down that first part and thought I was going a little too fast. As I would throughout the race, I sacrificed some speed on the first big hill to make sure it didn't take too much out of me. After about two kilometres, I was feeling the pace and wondering if I was going to blow out. Plus you would think with all that time before the race, I would have gone to the loo when I had to. I spent the first lap looking for good places to wee
Went through the first lap in 14:23 and wondered what my next splits would look like against that. And half way through the second lap, I found that I no longer had the urge to wee, which made things more comfortable. Some parts of the course were starting to get a bit heavy underfoot
Don't know my split as I didn't hit my watch properly but I would guestimate it to be around 14:40. Started to feel like I was getting into a real rythm here and the plan of slower hills meant I could really push on the downhills on the flats. As a result, I felt alternately like a snail and a road runner. But what a great feeling to go from small steps to bloody great big strides and some decent speed!
The last lap was a bit of a struggle and while I did hit my watch right as I began the lap, I forgot to stop it when I finished! But it would have been around the 14:50 mark. In the end, I did 58:36, so an average 14:39 per lap and well inside the 59 minutes that I thought would have been a par performance
Not sure how to rate it alongside my 54:05 at La Trobe for the 15 km Road Race. I was happy with that road run, but cross country is supposed to slow you up and I was only a little bit slower here at Geelong compared to Bundoora
All in all, I liked the course. It has great views of the bay on one side of the course, winds through trees in other parts so you almost feel you're in the bush, and parts of the course are covered in pine needles and what not. Plus I just felt that while the hills were tough, you could recover sufficiently and really attack the "easier" parts of the course
A good day's work and off to Sofia's Restaurant in Preston for dinner
TOTAL DISTANCE : 16 kilometres (walking the course was a good warm up, though)
Friday, July 11, 2008
Friday, 11 July 2008
Rest day today ahead of the big AV 16 km XC in Geelong tomorrow
Got to work nice and early today, so was able to get quite a bit done including a couple of things I had been working on all week
Hamish is staying with my mother over the weekend so we had dinner there. Still a bit peckish afterwards so pigged out when we got home, which is going to cost me tomorrow!
Got to work nice and early today, so was able to get quite a bit done including a couple of things I had been working on all week
Hamish is staying with my mother over the weekend so we had dinner there. Still a bit peckish afterwards so pigged out when we got home, which is going to cost me tomorrow!
Thursday, 10 July 2008
Training was up at the Coburg track tonight. I wasunder the mistaken impression that we would have an easy night ahead of the AV 16 km cross country on Saturday. Well, I was wrong!
Mind you, it wasn't a gut busting session, but still fairly solid. As we lined up in Antarctic temperatures Brian cut short our usual warm so that we just did our back straight strides and then straight onto run throughs
The main session was a nine minute, eight minute and seven minute set with five minutes break between each one. The sets were to consist of comfortable paced running with a 150 metre surge on each lap
I got through six laps on the first set, five on the second and almost five on the last for about 16.5 laps all up (once all the little added bits are included). Pretty happy with that as I was feeling less than fresh after a late night last night and the tempo session yesterday
Two laps warm down before I grabbed the last two cold green cans from the fridge and headed home for some Osso Bucco and cous cous. Perfect winter fare and helped me to thaw out a little. Tonight was one of the coldest nights of the year
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 7.5 kilometres including warm up and down
Mind you, it wasn't a gut busting session, but still fairly solid. As we lined up in Antarctic temperatures Brian cut short our usual warm so that we just did our back straight strides and then straight onto run throughs
The main session was a nine minute, eight minute and seven minute set with five minutes break between each one. The sets were to consist of comfortable paced running with a 150 metre surge on each lap
I got through six laps on the first set, five on the second and almost five on the last for about 16.5 laps all up (once all the little added bits are included). Pretty happy with that as I was feeling less than fresh after a late night last night and the tempo session yesterday
Two laps warm down before I grabbed the last two cold green cans from the fridge and headed home for some Osso Bucco and cous cous. Perfect winter fare and helped me to thaw out a little. Tonight was one of the coldest nights of the year
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 7.5 kilometres including warm up and down
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Wednesday, 9 July 2008
Slow recovery run into work this morning. It was very chilly when I started off at about 9:00 am and given it had been 3.6 degrees about an hour earlier, I am sure it was still only a few degrees warmer
Tried to really regulate a nice slow pace through the first part. I was feeling fairly good for a slow run for a change. Got to Park Street and decided change the recovery session to a tempo session. So from the 20 minute mark, I decided to do a ten minute surge
All was going well until I hit bang on the five minute mark and I got stopped at a traffic light. So a short respite before I was off again. Managed another five minute stretch with heavy legs and was glad to finish off
Then I was having one of those days. For the last ten minutes of my run, I was getting caught at every traffic light that I came to. So while I did complete a 45 minute run (pleasingly two minutes faster than usual), a lot of the last part was virtually every two minutes getting stopped
TOTAL DISTANCE : about nine kilometres
Tried to really regulate a nice slow pace through the first part. I was feeling fairly good for a slow run for a change. Got to Park Street and decided change the recovery session to a tempo session. So from the 20 minute mark, I decided to do a ten minute surge
All was going well until I hit bang on the five minute mark and I got stopped at a traffic light. So a short respite before I was off again. Managed another five minute stretch with heavy legs and was glad to finish off
Then I was having one of those days. For the last ten minutes of my run, I was getting caught at every traffic light that I came to. So while I did complete a 45 minute run (pleasingly two minutes faster than usual), a lot of the last part was virtually every two minutes getting stopped
TOTAL DISTANCE : about nine kilometres
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
Training was with Brian tonight. A testing little session. We were to do a 2000 metre, 1500 metre and a 1000 metre effort. It rained through the warm up and was quite cold by the time we started
Not overly impressed with any of the times. The 2,000 metre effort was a bit of a struggle through the last three laps and completed that in 6:45. So just over what I would normally do for 5 km race pace
A 600 metre slow jog recovery, and a three minute rest and we were into the 1500 metre set. Very disappointed with this one at 4:53 and was hoping it would at least be quicker than that 1500 metre effort I did a few weeks ago
A 500 metre recovery this time and we were into the 1000 metre effort. A pushed this one a bit through the last two laps with 77 and a 73 to finish off,which was pleasing for 3:00. By far my best effort of the night but I would still have hoped for at least 6:30 on the 2 km effort and 4:45 on the 1500 metre effort
Off home for my favourite meal of maccaroni cheese. yummy yum!!
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 6.5 kilometres including warm down and recoveries
Not overly impressed with any of the times. The 2,000 metre effort was a bit of a struggle through the last three laps and completed that in 6:45. So just over what I would normally do for 5 km race pace
A 600 metre slow jog recovery, and a three minute rest and we were into the 1500 metre set. Very disappointed with this one at 4:53 and was hoping it would at least be quicker than that 1500 metre effort I did a few weeks ago
A 500 metre recovery this time and we were into the 1000 metre effort. A pushed this one a bit through the last two laps with 77 and a 73 to finish off,which was pleasing for 3:00. By far my best effort of the night but I would still have hoped for at least 6:30 on the 2 km effort and 4:45 on the 1500 metre effort
Off home for my favourite meal of maccaroni cheese. yummy yum!!
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 6.5 kilometres including warm down and recoveries
Monday, 7 July 2008
Lost my watch at home yet again, but it had a broken band anyway so at lunchtime I hopped into Bourke St to buy a new one. At the same place I bought Kylie's engagement ring, they had sports watches at 60 per cent off. Sweet! So picked one up for just $20
It came in perfect for the run home. While I was planning to run four laps of Princes Park as part of my run, I gambled that my Yarra Trail/Merri Creek run might just fit the bill. And so it came to pass ...
It was 8 degrees on the Nylex clock as I passed through Richmond, along the Burnley Half Marathon course, then up through Hawthorn West and Kew. Got onto some boulevard then veered off to head to the bridge that would take me to the path towards Dight's Falls. A nice part of the run this was you pass through surreal farmland at the Collingwood Children's Farm. Surreal in that you are still virtually in the middle of the city really
Then up through Dight's Falls, pass under the Eastern Freeway and you are on the Merri Creek bike path. Made it home, or at least within two minutes of home with 1:46 on the clock and I rewarded myself by walking rest of the way home
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 21 kilometres and if true my first half marathon of the year
It came in perfect for the run home. While I was planning to run four laps of Princes Park as part of my run, I gambled that my Yarra Trail/Merri Creek run might just fit the bill. And so it came to pass ...
It was 8 degrees on the Nylex clock as I passed through Richmond, along the Burnley Half Marathon course, then up through Hawthorn West and Kew. Got onto some boulevard then veered off to head to the bridge that would take me to the path towards Dight's Falls. A nice part of the run this was you pass through surreal farmland at the Collingwood Children's Farm. Surreal in that you are still virtually in the middle of the city really
Then up through Dight's Falls, pass under the Eastern Freeway and you are on the Merri Creek bike path. Made it home, or at least within two minutes of home with 1:46 on the clock and I rewarded myself by walking rest of the way home
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 21 kilometres and if true my first half marathon of the year
Sunday, 6 July 2008
No run today, as we were at the Moreland Hotel for Madeleine's first birthday. They have a huge children's playground there
Some very tired bubbies when we got home, but thankfully they all ate their spaghetti bolognaise that I unwittingly cooked with hamburger mince. that is, until i put it in the pot. it all looks the same in the freezer!
The children had a bath and it was off to bed with a story. Long slow, water torture, interminable boring run tomorrow of 1 hour, 45. i think only four more long runs left to the Half Marathon after this when you take into account the two easy weeks in my program i set for myself. So that's one shining light, I guess
Some very tired bubbies when we got home, but thankfully they all ate their spaghetti bolognaise that I unwittingly cooked with hamburger mince. that is, until i put it in the pot. it all looks the same in the freezer!
The children had a bath and it was off to bed with a story. Long slow, water torture, interminable boring run tomorrow of 1 hour, 45. i think only four more long runs left to the Half Marathon after this when you take into account the two easy weeks in my program i set for myself. So that's one shining light, I guess
Saturday, 5 July 2008
Club 10 km Cross Country handicap today. Woke up feeling a bit tired and thought this would be the day I just take it easy on a club run
With the children all in different states of readiness to go, Kyle decided to come down a bit later so I ran the 2 km or so to the track. A nice warm up!
I was last off of the 10 km runners with three juniors doing the shorter 6.6 kilometre course. For some silly reason the handicapper had poor Liam Magee, returning from injury, only ten seconds in front of me. While he did finish 30 secs behind me at Sandown, this was not the right handicap to have after a bit of a layoff and he would finish about two minutes behind me
Liam stayed with me for two kilometres, but after that I was on my own until the four kilometre mark where I passed the first back marker. I wasn't feeling that great through the first lap, but started to feel a bit better as I steadily picked up runners. Felt like I had a little bit left in the tank for the third lap and tried to push it out a bit
About two kilometre out from the finish, I passed a host of runners and saw with about 750 metres to go there was only one runner in front of me. While I was able to pick up a little bit, I finished in second place by about 200 metres. In the end, I was kinda happy to place and did not really run hard to try to overtake the winner who was Ken Souyave, who has had a tough time of it with injuries and it was nice for him to win
So happy to achieve one of my stated goals for the season, but not happy with the time of 38:44 and I am going to have to run heaps better than that if I am to defend my XC Championship crown next month
A couple of beers afterwards then off home to give the children their dinner. Kylie was off at a club function tonight. The greyhounds. So i fed the children and was about to put them down when the power went out. That was at 7:00 pm. It was 9:30 pm before the power was back up again following a visit from the electrician and the power company. Only my house was affected
No run tomorrow as we celebrate baby Madeleine's first birthday party at the Moreland Hotel
TOTAL KILOMETRES : about 13 kilometres including warm up and down
With the children all in different states of readiness to go, Kyle decided to come down a bit later so I ran the 2 km or so to the track. A nice warm up!
I was last off of the 10 km runners with three juniors doing the shorter 6.6 kilometre course. For some silly reason the handicapper had poor Liam Magee, returning from injury, only ten seconds in front of me. While he did finish 30 secs behind me at Sandown, this was not the right handicap to have after a bit of a layoff and he would finish about two minutes behind me
Liam stayed with me for two kilometres, but after that I was on my own until the four kilometre mark where I passed the first back marker. I wasn't feeling that great through the first lap, but started to feel a bit better as I steadily picked up runners. Felt like I had a little bit left in the tank for the third lap and tried to push it out a bit
About two kilometre out from the finish, I passed a host of runners and saw with about 750 metres to go there was only one runner in front of me. While I was able to pick up a little bit, I finished in second place by about 200 metres. In the end, I was kinda happy to place and did not really run hard to try to overtake the winner who was Ken Souyave, who has had a tough time of it with injuries and it was nice for him to win
So happy to achieve one of my stated goals for the season, but not happy with the time of 38:44 and I am going to have to run heaps better than that if I am to defend my XC Championship crown next month
A couple of beers afterwards then off home to give the children their dinner. Kylie was off at a club function tonight. The greyhounds. So i fed the children and was about to put them down when the power went out. That was at 7:00 pm. It was 9:30 pm before the power was back up again following a visit from the electrician and the power company. Only my house was affected
No run tomorrow as we celebrate baby Madeleine's first birthday party at the Moreland Hotel
TOTAL KILOMETRES : about 13 kilometres including warm up and down
Friday, July 4, 2008
Friday, 4 July 2008
Slow easy 30 minute run today
Felt ordinary through the early part, but finished off well at the end. Again with these I can't get the speed right. Through the early part I could feel myself surging and yet depressingly again having to tell myself to slow down
Had lunch with my mother, which came with all the attendent and unsolicited parenthood advice. Got to work very late today, so could not leave until almost 6:00 pm
Off home to have dinner with children and put them down to bed
Realise with shock that if do same kilometres as last month, I will have to change my shoes in four week's time. When I have a bit of spare cash, I really must buy two pairs so I can rotate them. We did a few random sums for our wedding tonight (October 2009 is the date), and I think I will be wanting to put all my spare pennies away for that
TOTAL DISTANCE : about five kilometres
Felt ordinary through the early part, but finished off well at the end. Again with these I can't get the speed right. Through the early part I could feel myself surging and yet depressingly again having to tell myself to slow down
Had lunch with my mother, which came with all the attendent and unsolicited parenthood advice. Got to work very late today, so could not leave until almost 6:00 pm
Off home to have dinner with children and put them down to bed
Realise with shock that if do same kilometres as last month, I will have to change my shoes in four week's time. When I have a bit of spare cash, I really must buy two pairs so I can rotate them. We did a few random sums for our wedding tonight (October 2009 is the date), and I think I will be wanting to put all my spare pennies away for that
TOTAL DISTANCE : about five kilometres
Thursday, 3 July 2008
Woke up with a bit of a sore head this morning. Wonder why ...?
After not seeing my children last night, I met them at Child Care tonight and Kylie bought them fish 'n' chips which they ate down at the track
One of Brian's wacky cross country courses tonight consisting of some infield reps. A bit different, in that there was a 100 metre effort with 20 metres recovery, then a 75 metre effort with 35 metres recovery, then a 170 metre effort to finish off. A 400 metre course. And we were to do ten of them with just jog recovery for the 80 or so metres back to the start. Walk recovery back to the start after the first five
Warren Burke thought we were racing, so he was ahead of me on the second rep but true to form he soon dropped off after the third rep. Thoughout the middle stages I was about fifty metres ahead of Josh Persson
Then, I had company on the last two from young Josh Persson. On the last one, he bolted off about ten metres before the start cone, then on the first recovery he was floating, rather than saving himself for the oncoming effort. As a result, while he was ahead of me half of the way, I was way ahead of him on that last longer effort, which was a shame. He did push me to finish off the session pretty solidly, but I am not sure once I had passed him whether he was doing the same
A couple of cans in the clubrooms afterwards and it was off home to put cranky children to bed
TOTAL DISTANCE : about five kilometres including warm down
After not seeing my children last night, I met them at Child Care tonight and Kylie bought them fish 'n' chips which they ate down at the track
One of Brian's wacky cross country courses tonight consisting of some infield reps. A bit different, in that there was a 100 metre effort with 20 metres recovery, then a 75 metre effort with 35 metres recovery, then a 170 metre effort to finish off. A 400 metre course. And we were to do ten of them with just jog recovery for the 80 or so metres back to the start. Walk recovery back to the start after the first five
Warren Burke thought we were racing, so he was ahead of me on the second rep but true to form he soon dropped off after the third rep. Thoughout the middle stages I was about fifty metres ahead of Josh Persson
Then, I had company on the last two from young Josh Persson. On the last one, he bolted off about ten metres before the start cone, then on the first recovery he was floating, rather than saving himself for the oncoming effort. As a result, while he was ahead of me half of the way, I was way ahead of him on that last longer effort, which was a shame. He did push me to finish off the session pretty solidly, but I am not sure once I had passed him whether he was doing the same
A couple of cans in the clubrooms afterwards and it was off home to put cranky children to bed
TOTAL DISTANCE : about five kilometres including warm down
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
With my staying at home yesterday, I was unable to leave the stuff at work I would need to run into work with today. So I hooked up with Shane Jansen and friends at lunchtime and we did a session around the Tan
Shane's mate Scotty wanted to do a fartlek session, so I stupidly agreed to do it with him. We did 250 metre hard efforts with 250 metre recovery. What I didn't realise was that the recoveries were just float, so not a slow jog
The first one felt pretty solid and the third one started near the base of Anderson Street and ended near the top. Not surprisingly, that was our slowest one. Scotty and I were pretty even paced for all of them, and by the end of it we were pretty stuffed. He was clocking the reps on his watch. We were averaging 47 seconds for the 250's and 62 seconds for the float
We only did the one lap, then it was back to work. So not the long slow 40 minute recovery run that I was looking for, but it was nice to do some speed work for a change. I am sure I will make the k's up later in the week
We had a work function on tonight and it was supposed to go for 90 minutes. The organiser only bought a slab of heavy, one of light, three bottles of champers and six bottles of wine. Surprisingly, that was enough with bottles of wine and champagne left over! I was planning to leave at 5:45 but as usual left much later. In my defence, I was cleaning up from about 6:00 pm onwards, but getting home at 8:30 pm was not a good look.
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 7 kilometres
Shane's mate Scotty wanted to do a fartlek session, so I stupidly agreed to do it with him. We did 250 metre hard efforts with 250 metre recovery. What I didn't realise was that the recoveries were just float, so not a slow jog
The first one felt pretty solid and the third one started near the base of Anderson Street and ended near the top. Not surprisingly, that was our slowest one. Scotty and I were pretty even paced for all of them, and by the end of it we were pretty stuffed. He was clocking the reps on his watch. We were averaging 47 seconds for the 250's and 62 seconds for the float
We only did the one lap, then it was back to work. So not the long slow 40 minute recovery run that I was looking for, but it was nice to do some speed work for a change. I am sure I will make the k's up later in the week
We had a work function on tonight and it was supposed to go for 90 minutes. The organiser only bought a slab of heavy, one of light, three bottles of champers and six bottles of wine. Surprisingly, that was enough with bottles of wine and champagne left over! I was planning to leave at 5:45 but as usual left much later. In my defence, I was cleaning up from about 6:00 pm onwards, but getting home at 8:30 pm was not a good look.
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 7 kilometres
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Tuesday, 1 July 2008
Kylie wasn't feeling very well today, so took Carer's Leave given the children were at home today also. not one of their child care days
Cooked dinner for the children, did the dishes, some washing, fed the children lunch, and put them down to sleep. Took out the rubbish, had the older ones clean up their room and after doing all that today i was ready to hit the training track
Ran from home, which took about twelve minutes. A testing session this one. Brian had us do a pyramid set. It would consist of a steady 600, 800, 1000, 1200, then back down as 1000, 800, 600 with the recovery between all of those an across infield recovery
As expected, felt strong through the first effort, but that second effort, the 800, felt quite solid. The 1000 metre effort felt pretty hard and I was wondering how I was possibly going to finish off this long session.
So, with the 1200 I decided to try to run comfortable at a steady pace. So I was pretty surprised to look at my watch and see that at least after two laps of the 1200 I was on my 5 km pb pace, ie 80 second laps
Not sure whaqtr my times were for the downward part of the pyramid but foe the last effort, 600 metres, I did 1:55. Very pleased with that given the first 600 effort was 2:00
Off home for the chicken pasta I had cooked two hours before
TOTAL DISTANCE : about eight kilometres including warm up
Cooked dinner for the children, did the dishes, some washing, fed the children lunch, and put them down to sleep. Took out the rubbish, had the older ones clean up their room and after doing all that today i was ready to hit the training track
Ran from home, which took about twelve minutes. A testing session this one. Brian had us do a pyramid set. It would consist of a steady 600, 800, 1000, 1200, then back down as 1000, 800, 600 with the recovery between all of those an across infield recovery
As expected, felt strong through the first effort, but that second effort, the 800, felt quite solid. The 1000 metre effort felt pretty hard and I was wondering how I was possibly going to finish off this long session.
So, with the 1200 I decided to try to run comfortable at a steady pace. So I was pretty surprised to look at my watch and see that at least after two laps of the 1200 I was on my 5 km pb pace, ie 80 second laps
Not sure whaqtr my times were for the downward part of the pyramid but foe the last effort, 600 metres, I did 1:55. Very pleased with that given the first 600 effort was 2:00
Off home for the chicken pasta I had cooked two hours before
TOTAL DISTANCE : about eight kilometres including warm up
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