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
Friday, July 25, 2008
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
Monday, 30 June 2008
Rest day today
Got to work pretty late today, which meant I had to work until almost 6 pm to work up my hours
Very happy that I don't need to do a long run today and looking forward to hitting the track tomorrow nice and fresh!
Got to work pretty late today, which meant I had to work until almost 6 pm to work up my hours
Very happy that I don't need to do a long run today and looking forward to hitting the track tomorrow nice and fresh!
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