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!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, 29 June 2008
Long slow run. Met up with the guys around 7:30 am. Kicked off at very leisurely pace before entering some national park. We went on dirt trails, through paddocks and even had to negotiate a barb wire fence. Apparently at the highest point, we were 250 feet in elevation from our hotel
Saw some great views of the valley and of eastern Bendigo before scaring a mob of kangaroos and we made our way back to the hotel. As I was going for 100 minutes, I had to add a little extra to my run
After checking out and paying for our minibar bill, pretty much everything in it, we had egg and bacon burgers by Lake Weeroona, something of a Coburg tradition
Kylie took the scenic route home, via McIvor Highway, and we were home at 2:30 pm
Rest day tomorrow
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 20 kilometres
Saw some great views of the valley and of eastern Bendigo before scaring a mob of kangaroos and we made our way back to the hotel. As I was going for 100 minutes, I had to add a little extra to my run
After checking out and paying for our minibar bill, pretty much everything in it, we had egg and bacon burgers by Lake Weeroona, something of a Coburg tradition
Kylie took the scenic route home, via McIvor Highway, and we were home at 2:30 pm
Rest day tomorrow
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 20 kilometres
Saturday, 28 June 2008
AV Harcourt to Bendigo Relays
Had the longest leg (for my team that's 8.4 km), which is also one of the toughest. Has an awesome hill that rises 50 metres in elevation over 400 metres. That's at the 2.5 km mark and after that it's mostly downhill to the finish
Felt like once I had gotten over the hilly first part that I was striding out pretty well and generating a bit of pace. It was about a kilometre out from the finish that I started to drop off a bit and th guy that had been tailing me for about four kilometres started to pull ahead
In the end, 29:55 was the official time which was ten seconds quicker than last year. And it was the 20th fastest time for the blokes overall on that leg. All good
Afterwards I went around the various stage finishes with Sam King (Rohan's wife) and we had a little afternoon tea at the South Bendigo finish. Then off to the hotel where I looked after the children while Kylie kicked back in the spa
Dinner was good as the children generally behaved themselves, then I waited in the room for them to fall asleep, before heading around to Brian's room to kick on a bit. Kylie popped around at 11 pm to come get me and I got an attack of the drunken munchies, eating pringles and chocky bars
Long slow run with clubmates tomorrow
TOTAL DISTANCE : 8.5 kilometres including a little warm up
Had the longest leg (for my team that's 8.4 km), which is also one of the toughest. Has an awesome hill that rises 50 metres in elevation over 400 metres. That's at the 2.5 km mark and after that it's mostly downhill to the finish
Felt like once I had gotten over the hilly first part that I was striding out pretty well and generating a bit of pace. It was about a kilometre out from the finish that I started to drop off a bit and th guy that had been tailing me for about four kilometres started to pull ahead
In the end, 29:55 was the official time which was ten seconds quicker than last year. And it was the 20th fastest time for the blokes overall on that leg. All good
Afterwards I went around the various stage finishes with Sam King (Rohan's wife) and we had a little afternoon tea at the South Bendigo finish. Then off to the hotel where I looked after the children while Kylie kicked back in the spa
Dinner was good as the children generally behaved themselves, then I waited in the room for them to fall asleep, before heading around to Brian's room to kick on a bit. Kylie popped around at 11 pm to come get me and I got an attack of the drunken munchies, eating pringles and chocky bars
Long slow run with clubmates tomorrow
TOTAL DISTANCE : 8.5 kilometres including a little warm up
Friday, 27 June 2008
Rest day today ahead of big AV race tomorrow in Bendigo
Managed to sneak in a couple of pints at the pub before heading off home. bonus!
Managed to sneak in a couple of pints at the pub before heading off home. bonus!
Thursday, 26 June 2008
Training tonight at the track
Brian said he was giving us an "easy" session. This consisted of a five minute, four minute, and three minute effort with only a minute slow jog recovery between each. Then repeat after a break
I tried to do my first five minute stretch nice and comfortable and was getting up around 88 seconds to the lap. Each of my reps I did a little faster which was good
On the second set, the speed of the five minute effort was probably about the same as the middle section of my last set. And yet the pace still felt reasonably comfy
In the end, however, I really had to work that last three minute set. Still, it was a good hitout ahead of a rest day tomorrow and the AV Harcourt to Bendigo Long Road Relays on Saturday. Been running every day since Saturday, so that's six straight which is what I aiming for at the moment
Even scored a lift home with Liam Magee nice and early so I was able to see my bubbies before they went to sleep
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 8 kilometres
Brian said he was giving us an "easy" session. This consisted of a five minute, four minute, and three minute effort with only a minute slow jog recovery between each. Then repeat after a break
I tried to do my first five minute stretch nice and comfortable and was getting up around 88 seconds to the lap. Each of my reps I did a little faster which was good
On the second set, the speed of the five minute effort was probably about the same as the middle section of my last set. And yet the pace still felt reasonably comfy
In the end, however, I really had to work that last three minute set. Still, it was a good hitout ahead of a rest day tomorrow and the AV Harcourt to Bendigo Long Road Relays on Saturday. Been running every day since Saturday, so that's six straight which is what I aiming for at the moment
Even scored a lift home with Liam Magee nice and early so I was able to see my bubbies before they went to sleep
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 8 kilometres
Wednesday, 25 June 2008
Easy 45 minute run into work today
Not much to report except that it wasn't as cold as the last few morning runs to work so that was nice
Was going to attend a committee meeting tonight but decided to give it a miss
TOTAL DISTANCE : about nine kilometres
Not much to report except that it wasn't as cold as the last few morning runs to work so that was nice
Was going to attend a committee meeting tonight but decided to give it a miss
TOTAL DISTANCE : about nine kilometres
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
Training at Coburg today. Nice feeling!
Interesting session, and certainly a tough one. We started with 12 minutes of 200 metre efforts with just jog across infield recovery. I think I managed to rack up 9 or 10 of those. Then five minutes rest
We then had 12 minutes of 300 metre efforts with just 100 metre jog recovery. Think I got through eight of those. at least supercoach brian thought so
Then we had a 1500 metre effort. For that I did 4:50, which I wasn't overly displeased with
TOTAL DISTANCE : about seven kilometres
Interesting session, and certainly a tough one. We started with 12 minutes of 200 metre efforts with just jog across infield recovery. I think I managed to rack up 9 or 10 of those. Then five minutes rest
We then had 12 minutes of 300 metre efforts with just 100 metre jog recovery. Think I got through eight of those. at least supercoach brian thought so
Then we had a 1500 metre effort. For that I did 4:50, which I wasn't overly displeased with
TOTAL DISTANCE : about seven kilometres
Monday, 23 June 2008
Boy am I glad that I didn't go for a long run yesterday!
I have all my long run dates written on a slip of paper pinned to my wall at work. This week is easy week!! So there I was all geared up and ready to go for a 100 minute run and I only need to do a shorter one. Legend!! Bonus!!!
So, I just went for an hour run home. Took the Merri Creek bike path once I had gone down Park Street and up St Georges Road
Madeleine turned one today
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 11 kilometres
I have all my long run dates written on a slip of paper pinned to my wall at work. This week is easy week!! So there I was all geared up and ready to go for a 100 minute run and I only need to do a shorter one. Legend!! Bonus!!!
So, I just went for an hour run home. Took the Merri Creek bike path once I had gone down Park Street and up St Georges Road
Madeleine turned one today
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 11 kilometres
Sunday, 22 June 2008
Was supposed to go for a long run today, but it was after the children had gone to bed at 7:30 pm before I could get out. Given that I had a glass of wine with my tuna pasta bake dinner that I made and had with the children, I thought I better scale back the run a bit
So went out on the Merri Creek bike path and did a tempo session. Did 15 minutes easy, 10 minutes of medium surge, then 15 minutes easy back home again. The medium paced bit I was certainly working a bit but it wasn't the hard grind that it usually feels so must have done it right for a change
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 8.5 kilometres
So went out on the Merri Creek bike path and did a tempo session. Did 15 minutes easy, 10 minutes of medium surge, then 15 minutes easy back home again. The medium paced bit I was certainly working a bit but it wasn't the hard grind that it usually feels so must have done it right for a change
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 8.5 kilometres
Saturday, 21 June 2008
Today was the club's 8 km King & Queen of the Mountain Run at Humevale just outside of Whittlesea. In the end, I got to go on that run which I negotiated a compromise solution. We would only go if the two younger girls had a morning sleep
And in the end, it was a close run thing with leaving the house at 1:10 pm (race start 2:00 pm), having to rely on our memories to get us there along with the GPS in Kylie's phone. We eventually made it at 1:55 pm
Started off at what I thought was a comfortable pace. Pretty early on though I was throwing furtive glances at the watch. I figured it would take me about 32 minutes, the same time as last year. Stopped at the halfway point to have a wee, although it was as much to catch my breath
Could not get a consistent pace going. Had to keep slowing for periods to allow my heart rate to retreat a little, so the last three kilometres was more a surge, then slow, surge again kind of thing
Saw Jackie and Michael walking down from the direction of the finish. Asked them how far to the end, and they said "1 km". Doh! Finally crossed the line in 32:22, so I will take that as being the same as last year when you remove the wee time
The "prince" Josh Traine was about three minutes behind. Waited half an hour by which time a few people had finished and ran back down the mountain at a leisurely pace
TOTAL DISTANCE : 16 kilometres
And in the end, it was a close run thing with leaving the house at 1:10 pm (race start 2:00 pm), having to rely on our memories to get us there along with the GPS in Kylie's phone. We eventually made it at 1:55 pm
Started off at what I thought was a comfortable pace. Pretty early on though I was throwing furtive glances at the watch. I figured it would take me about 32 minutes, the same time as last year. Stopped at the halfway point to have a wee, although it was as much to catch my breath
Could not get a consistent pace going. Had to keep slowing for periods to allow my heart rate to retreat a little, so the last three kilometres was more a surge, then slow, surge again kind of thing
Saw Jackie and Michael walking down from the direction of the finish. Asked them how far to the end, and they said "1 km". Doh! Finally crossed the line in 32:22, so I will take that as being the same as last year when you remove the wee time
The "prince" Josh Traine was about three minutes behind. Waited half an hour by which time a few people had finished and ran back down the mountain at a leisurely pace
TOTAL DISTANCE : 16 kilometres
Friday, 20 June 2008
For the first time in a wee while, I have had two days off from running. We had a very quiet day with the children and I figured it wasn't going to hurt me too much by another day off. Already recorded plenty of km's this month
Kylie and I had a bit of discussion today about whether I was allowed to go on a club run tomorrow. The debate continues ...
Kylie and I had a bit of discussion today about whether I was allowed to go on a club run tomorrow. The debate continues ...
Thursday, 19 June 2008
Flight back today, so run not possible
The children were very good on the plane, although Amelia started to get itchy feet toward the end of it. It was 21 degrees when we left Brisbane and 12 degrees and raining when we landed in Melbourne
Hamish and my mother took the bus and train back to our place, while Amelia and I waited for Kylie to pick the car up from the long term car park
We had a frozen casserole in the freezer so we had that for dinner then put the children in their own beds. I would swear that the baby breathed an audible sigh of relief to be back on her nice soft mattress!
The children were very good on the plane, although Amelia started to get itchy feet toward the end of it. It was 21 degrees when we left Brisbane and 12 degrees and raining when we landed in Melbourne
Hamish and my mother took the bus and train back to our place, while Amelia and I waited for Kylie to pick the car up from the long term car park
We had a frozen casserole in the freezer so we had that for dinner then put the children in their own beds. I would swear that the baby breathed an audible sigh of relief to be back on her nice soft mattress!
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
Recovery session today, so just 40 minutes on the walkway again up to Moffat Beach. My last holiday run ahead of our plane back tomorrow
Today was cold and drizzly but we headed out to Ettamogah Pub (evidently franchised now) for lunch. Very nice and reasonably priced
Next door is "Aussie World" and Hamish went on all the rides. Becasue we came out of school holidays and the inclement weather, we were the only ones in the park, which was a bit surreal. So we had the staff following us around to open the rides. Our own personal park valet service!
Back home after dropping my cousin Rosie off at the station and Kylie and I had a quiet night. The children had leftovers and were packed into bed nice and early
I folded some clothes then finally had an early night
TOTAL DISTANCE : about eight kilometres
Today was cold and drizzly but we headed out to Ettamogah Pub (evidently franchised now) for lunch. Very nice and reasonably priced
Next door is "Aussie World" and Hamish went on all the rides. Becasue we came out of school holidays and the inclement weather, we were the only ones in the park, which was a bit surreal. So we had the staff following us around to open the rides. Our own personal park valet service!
Back home after dropping my cousin Rosie off at the station and Kylie and I had a quiet night. The children had leftovers and were packed into bed nice and early
I folded some clothes then finally had an early night
TOTAL DISTANCE : about eight kilometres
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
A speed session today
Had to do five sets of three minute hard running with two minute slow jog recovery between each. A tough session and one I was glad to have out of the way by the end of it
Almost cleaned up an old guy on my way through as the walkway was pretty packed at that time of the morning, which was just before 9:00 am
We took the children to Underwater World today. Hamish was a bit ragged and he is feeling the effects of a whole week of no afternoon sleeps. A bit of an incident with him throwing a temper tantrum in the Mooloolabah Wharf, but other than that a pretty good day
We picked up some pizza, then headed around to my nana and jack's for tea
TOTAL DISTANCE : about seven kilometres including warm up and down
Had to do five sets of three minute hard running with two minute slow jog recovery between each. A tough session and one I was glad to have out of the way by the end of it
Almost cleaned up an old guy on my way through as the walkway was pretty packed at that time of the morning, which was just before 9:00 am
We took the children to Underwater World today. Hamish was a bit ragged and he is feeling the effects of a whole week of no afternoon sleeps. A bit of an incident with him throwing a temper tantrum in the Mooloolabah Wharf, but other than that a pretty good day
We picked up some pizza, then headed around to my nana and jack's for tea
TOTAL DISTANCE : about seven kilometres including warm up and down
Monday, 16 June 2008
Long run day today. Decided to head out on the walking paths up north before doubling back past our hotel and head on south
Pretty uneventful run although at the most northern point where I had to turn around and come back towards town, I did some beach running which was quite nice. Found some firm sand and it was great. That was at Moffat Beach
Back towards the hotel and I kept on southwards. Pretty soon the path ended, and I had to run on the street to keep going. Luckily, the footpaths soon gave way to more walkway type thoroughfares. Ran through some mangrove forest which was pretty cool and that was near the turnaround point at Golden Beach
All up 95 minutes and the last of my long runs for this four week cycle
Today I am staying home with the two girls who are going to have a quiet day with me, while Kylie takes Hamish to Australia Zoo for the day
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 19 kilometres
Pretty uneventful run although at the most northern point where I had to turn around and come back towards town, I did some beach running which was quite nice. Found some firm sand and it was great. That was at Moffat Beach
Back towards the hotel and I kept on southwards. Pretty soon the path ended, and I had to run on the street to keep going. Luckily, the footpaths soon gave way to more walkway type thoroughfares. Ran through some mangrove forest which was pretty cool and that was near the turnaround point at Golden Beach
All up 95 minutes and the last of my long runs for this four week cycle
Today I am staying home with the two girls who are going to have a quiet day with me, while Kylie takes Hamish to Australia Zoo for the day
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 19 kilometres
Monday, June 23, 2008
Sunday, 15 June 2008
Rest day today. At least it wasn't supposed to be. But after the baby was up yet again before 7:00 am i just did not have the energy or motivation to get out for a run. I was feeling really heavy in the legs and extremely fuzzy in the head from sleep deprivation. I should really try to get to bed before 11:00 pm one of these nights
After having noticed a wet discharge from Amelia's ear last night, we took her to the doctors this morning whereupon we waited 90 minutes to get seen. Our suspicions were realised with ear infection the diagnosis. No wonder she was up bawling the other night! So that took a chunk out of our morning and by the time we had got medicine and did some shopping for that night's dinner, it was after midday
We were supposed to meet up with the family for a 1:00 pm bbq at Happy Valley on Golden Beach. So you can imagine my chagrine when we arrived there at that time to find all the food cooked and everyone had eaten! Not happy Jan.
I took Amelia to the playground while my mother took the baby in the pram for her sleep and Hamish for a walk. Amelia at least had a good time as the below pics show :
After everyone left, we invited my cousin to stay with us in the apartment. She was keen to do so, but unknown to us her mother my auntie Heather and the rest of her party had already made plans to depart. So Rosie went back to Brisbane
In the meantime, we spent some time on the beach with the children, then I cooked spaghetti bolognaise for the children's dinner
Long slow distance run tomorrow
After having noticed a wet discharge from Amelia's ear last night, we took her to the doctors this morning whereupon we waited 90 minutes to get seen. Our suspicions were realised with ear infection the diagnosis. No wonder she was up bawling the other night! So that took a chunk out of our morning and by the time we had got medicine and did some shopping for that night's dinner, it was after midday
We were supposed to meet up with the family for a 1:00 pm bbq at Happy Valley on Golden Beach. So you can imagine my chagrine when we arrived there at that time to find all the food cooked and everyone had eaten! Not happy Jan.
I took Amelia to the playground while my mother took the baby in the pram for her sleep and Hamish for a walk. Amelia at least had a good time as the below pics show :
After everyone left, we invited my cousin to stay with us in the apartment. She was keen to do so, but unknown to us her mother my auntie Heather and the rest of her party had already made plans to depart. So Rosie went back to Brisbane
In the meantime, we spent some time on the beach with the children, then I cooked spaghetti bolognaise for the children's dinner
Long slow distance run tomorrow
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Saturday, 14 June 2008
Our first full day in Caloundra. This time Amelia was up during the night from 4 am, beside herself and utterly inconsolable which my mother dealt with for 90 minutes before shoving her into our room at 5:30 am. We struggled with her until about 6:30 am whereupon we all got up
My run today I wanted to do as an easy 40 minute run after yesterday's abysmal effort. I got out onto the paths next to the Kings Beach and headed north. Much to my non delight, I found that the paths (aka Des Dwyer Walkway) to be quite undulating with plenty more uphill sections than there were down. Indeed, it seemed to be in a mostly uphill gradient before a sharp downhill bit near Moffat Beach about sixteen minutes into the run
I got to where i decided i wanted to turn back in 19:24. After so many disappointing sessions in Brisbane during the week, i decided to make my penance by turning this recovery run into an easy out, steady back. Then again, that wasn't really that hard to do, given it was mostly downhill on the way back. And so it proved with 17:36 on the return leg
Saw Hamish and my mother Catherine at the beach and we walked back to the apartment together. We were fortunate enough to see the first mullet catch of the season. Kylie took Catherine and Hamish around to my nana's as soon as I got back and she brought back my cool cousin Rosie
After the girls had woken up from their morning sleep, we headed into Caloundra for brunch then went around to my nana's to catch up with my grandpa Jack, auntie Margaret and Heather any my Uncle Brian. My cousin Ben was there too but he didn't say boo to us the whole time
We ended up staying there so long, we had to get chinese food on the way home for the children's dinner
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 9 kilometres
My run today I wanted to do as an easy 40 minute run after yesterday's abysmal effort. I got out onto the paths next to the Kings Beach and headed north. Much to my non delight, I found that the paths (aka Des Dwyer Walkway) to be quite undulating with plenty more uphill sections than there were down. Indeed, it seemed to be in a mostly uphill gradient before a sharp downhill bit near Moffat Beach about sixteen minutes into the run
I got to where i decided i wanted to turn back in 19:24. After so many disappointing sessions in Brisbane during the week, i decided to make my penance by turning this recovery run into an easy out, steady back. Then again, that wasn't really that hard to do, given it was mostly downhill on the way back. And so it proved with 17:36 on the return leg
Saw Hamish and my mother Catherine at the beach and we walked back to the apartment together. We were fortunate enough to see the first mullet catch of the season. Kylie took Catherine and Hamish around to my nana's as soon as I got back and she brought back my cool cousin Rosie
After the girls had woken up from their morning sleep, we headed into Caloundra for brunch then went around to my nana's to catch up with my grandpa Jack, auntie Margaret and Heather any my Uncle Brian. My cousin Ben was there too but he didn't say boo to us the whole time
We ended up staying there so long, we had to get chinese food on the way home for the children's dinner
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 9 kilometres
Friday, 13 June 2008
We were off to Caloundra today and Kings Beach in particular but a training session to get out of the way first
Again up at the crack of dawn with the children. They are getting up a tad earlier than usual up here while we are on holiday and its beginning to take a toll. Particularly after getting in so "late" last night
Off to the park where the set session was 3 x 2 km efforts increasing in difficulty, ie easy, medium, hard. Well, I had no idea where the 2 km marker was so had to estimate
The first one felt like it should have been my medium one. I was huffing and puffing quite a bit afterwards. Got in the four minutes recovery, then did the second one, which in the end I ended up stopping about 100 metres short, which was naughty. On reflection. that one felt like what I should have done for the last set
So you can imagine what happened on the third two kilometre effort. I blew up big time. Didn't even finish it and probably covered only 1400 to 1500 metres before I gave it away for being too hard. What an idiot!
After what I felt was a pretty ordinary fartlek session on Wednesday, this is yet another pretty slackarse effort that i am not particularly proud of. Hopefully I will run better up north
The van arrived, an 8 seater that was flasher than i expected. We just had enough room for our 11 bags and suitcases plus all the children. We arrived in Caloundra around 4:00 pm. The apartment was gorgeous, despite being one of the cheapest we could find on the internet. Three bedrooms, with an ensuite bathroom to the master bedroom, and another bathroom and toilet at the other end of the apartment. A dishwasher was awesome as was the balcony and the great view. albeit of the other apartment blocks on the other side of the street. Even then, we did get a few glimpses of the ocean through all the high rises
My nana and Granpa Jack arrived at 5 pm with a tummy casserole dinner. which was perfect as we were able to give the children an early dinner and put them down to bed after their big day. Tomorrow we plan to head around there for lunch if things work out with Amelia and Madeleine's morning sleep
TOTAL DISTANCE : about ten kilometres
Again up at the crack of dawn with the children. They are getting up a tad earlier than usual up here while we are on holiday and its beginning to take a toll. Particularly after getting in so "late" last night
Off to the park where the set session was 3 x 2 km efforts increasing in difficulty, ie easy, medium, hard. Well, I had no idea where the 2 km marker was so had to estimate
The first one felt like it should have been my medium one. I was huffing and puffing quite a bit afterwards. Got in the four minutes recovery, then did the second one, which in the end I ended up stopping about 100 metres short, which was naughty. On reflection. that one felt like what I should have done for the last set
So you can imagine what happened on the third two kilometre effort. I blew up big time. Didn't even finish it and probably covered only 1400 to 1500 metres before I gave it away for being too hard. What an idiot!
After what I felt was a pretty ordinary fartlek session on Wednesday, this is yet another pretty slackarse effort that i am not particularly proud of. Hopefully I will run better up north
The van arrived, an 8 seater that was flasher than i expected. We just had enough room for our 11 bags and suitcases plus all the children. We arrived in Caloundra around 4:00 pm. The apartment was gorgeous, despite being one of the cheapest we could find on the internet. Three bedrooms, with an ensuite bathroom to the master bedroom, and another bathroom and toilet at the other end of the apartment. A dishwasher was awesome as was the balcony and the great view. albeit of the other apartment blocks on the other side of the street. Even then, we did get a few glimpses of the ocean through all the high rises
My nana and Granpa Jack arrived at 5 pm with a tummy casserole dinner. which was perfect as we were able to give the children an early dinner and put them down to bed after their big day. Tomorrow we plan to head around there for lunch if things work out with Amelia and Madeleine's morning sleep
TOTAL DISTANCE : about ten kilometres
Thursday, 12 June 2008
A long day yesterday, given the baby woke at 6:00 am. Today was a little better with the baby up at 6:30 am!
Am trying to keep my training as normal as possible in that it reflects what I would do at home, so today the plan was for an easy 40 minute run. Something I would normally do after a Tuesday/Thursday training session
Was feeling reasonably good, so I decided to push ten minutes through the middle of the run. While I though the pace was just a gentle surge on what I had been doing for the first part of the run, I am sure I must have subconsciously upped the pace somewhere through that ten minute spurt. It ended up being a very solid pace by the end of it. The sort that had me looking at my watch every other minute
An easy 15 minutes home for a shower and to see what lay ahead. My mother took my son into the city for a presentation on Gondwana and a visit to the museum. We met her for lunch with my cool cousin Rosie aka black sheep of the family. After lunch Rosie went with Catherine my mother, and Hamish, to the museum, while Kylie and I looked for somewhere to buy sausages for the children's dinner. While in the supermarket, my middle child finally had an afternoon sleep in her pram, however unconventional as the below pic taken at the bottom of the Queen Street Mall attests :
After hitting an internet cafe to do some banking and email checking and not wanting the snags to get warm, we headed back to my aunts. My mother Catherine and my aunt kindly decided to look after the children while they decreed we hit the town, which was nice
We went out to Fortitude Valley and had dinner at a okay pizzeriea. We both had these huge steaks which was great but we were still a bit hungry. Onto dessert and we could decide between three of them so we ordered all three!
Off to the Elephant & Wheelbarrow afterwards which had pokies attached. After listening to a really ordinary band in the half empty venue we hit the pokies and lost some pocket change
Back home and tucked in by midnight
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 9 kilometres
Am trying to keep my training as normal as possible in that it reflects what I would do at home, so today the plan was for an easy 40 minute run. Something I would normally do after a Tuesday/Thursday training session
Was feeling reasonably good, so I decided to push ten minutes through the middle of the run. While I though the pace was just a gentle surge on what I had been doing for the first part of the run, I am sure I must have subconsciously upped the pace somewhere through that ten minute spurt. It ended up being a very solid pace by the end of it. The sort that had me looking at my watch every other minute
An easy 15 minutes home for a shower and to see what lay ahead. My mother took my son into the city for a presentation on Gondwana and a visit to the museum. We met her for lunch with my cool cousin Rosie aka black sheep of the family. After lunch Rosie went with Catherine my mother, and Hamish, to the museum, while Kylie and I looked for somewhere to buy sausages for the children's dinner. While in the supermarket, my middle child finally had an afternoon sleep in her pram, however unconventional as the below pic taken at the bottom of the Queen Street Mall attests :
After hitting an internet cafe to do some banking and email checking and not wanting the snags to get warm, we headed back to my aunts. My mother Catherine and my aunt kindly decided to look after the children while they decreed we hit the town, which was nice
We went out to Fortitude Valley and had dinner at a okay pizzeriea. We both had these huge steaks which was great but we were still a bit hungry. Onto dessert and we could decide between three of them so we ordered all three!
Off to the Elephant & Wheelbarrow afterwards which had pokies attached. After listening to a really ordinary band in the half empty venue we hit the pokies and lost some pocket change
Back home and tucked in by midnight
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 9 kilometres
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
The first of what I hope to be six consecutive training sessions in a row. Brian had texted me six programs to do, which I would intersperse with recovery and long runs. My aunt showed me on a map this park which was only a short distance from her house. Upon arriving there I found it to be 2.2 kilometres in length, or so this sign stated. Actually, it said 2200 metres to Spencer Park
The first of his sessions was a 40 minute fartlek with at least 4 x 2 minute slow jogs. I did the ten minute easy run he prescribed as the warm up, then began fartleking. I must point out here that the head was not quite as clear as it could have been after the bottle and a half of fine red wine I had consumed the night before. In fact, on beginning the run I wasn't sure I wasn't still a little inebriated
I kinda alternated between one minute hard, one minute medium and one minute easier over a course of 8 to 9 minutes and then put in that two minute easy jog. In the end, I was alternating 30 to 40 seconds between each of the different paces
The last eight minute stretch I did on the way home which was interesting, as it incorporated a long, long hill about 400 metres in length. I was quite puffed afterwards so I at least managed to finish strong
Sightseeing that day was in Brisbane where we saw a demonstration of aboriginal dancing, before hopping on the ferry to a park to have a late lunch. Kylie took Amelia back for a sleep while I pushed the baby Madeleine who was sleeping in her pram, and my son, my mother and I visited the museum next to the park. The adults had a coffee while my son Hamish played
I had to catch the ferry and train back to my aunt's as she she did not have a baby seat in her car. An interesting experience on the night of Rugby League State of Origin 2! The baby was a bit cranky but she perked up a bit and we had a most enjoyable 40 minute trip back. Pic below is taken at Central Station while we wait for our Ferny Grove train
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 10 kilometres including warm up
The first of his sessions was a 40 minute fartlek with at least 4 x 2 minute slow jogs. I did the ten minute easy run he prescribed as the warm up, then began fartleking. I must point out here that the head was not quite as clear as it could have been after the bottle and a half of fine red wine I had consumed the night before. In fact, on beginning the run I wasn't sure I wasn't still a little inebriated
I kinda alternated between one minute hard, one minute medium and one minute easier over a course of 8 to 9 minutes and then put in that two minute easy jog. In the end, I was alternating 30 to 40 seconds between each of the different paces
The last eight minute stretch I did on the way home which was interesting, as it incorporated a long, long hill about 400 metres in length. I was quite puffed afterwards so I at least managed to finish strong
Sightseeing that day was in Brisbane where we saw a demonstration of aboriginal dancing, before hopping on the ferry to a park to have a late lunch. Kylie took Amelia back for a sleep while I pushed the baby Madeleine who was sleeping in her pram, and my son, my mother and I visited the museum next to the park. The adults had a coffee while my son Hamish played
I had to catch the ferry and train back to my aunt's as she she did not have a baby seat in her car. An interesting experience on the night of Rugby League State of Origin 2! The baby was a bit cranky but she perked up a bit and we had a most enjoyable 40 minute trip back. Pic below is taken at Central Station while we wait for our Ferny Grove train
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 10 kilometres including warm up
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
Rest day today
Had to get up at 6:30 am to get all children ready and pack car. Got underway for airport only to hit horrendous traffic jam. In the end, Kylie made it to check in after placing car in Long Term car park with 20 minutes before our 10:15 am lift off. Luckily our flight was delayed on account of fog at Sydney Airport affecting all flights
Try to keep the children occupied while we wait by reading a few stories. This older lady comes over and tells me I am reading the stories too loudly!! Can you believe it?? I was stunned. All the moms around me come over in a real spirit of solidarity and say good on you, keep on reading. Legendary!! Anyway, we are finally in the plane and lifting off at 11:45
The children were fantastic during the flight and I was very pleased and thankful there were no major frights or tantrums. Even on the very bumpy landing my middle child laughed with glee while the rest of us gritted our teeth
We just missed the airport train, so another delay while we wait half an hour for the next one. Then we finally get to my aunts and she has put on this opulent spread and its only 4 pm on the afternoon. Anyway, it was a good excuse to pack the kids into bed early, before my aunty treated us to a couple of yummy bottles of wine with our dinner. Perfect end to a stressful day
Had to get up at 6:30 am to get all children ready and pack car. Got underway for airport only to hit horrendous traffic jam. In the end, Kylie made it to check in after placing car in Long Term car park with 20 minutes before our 10:15 am lift off. Luckily our flight was delayed on account of fog at Sydney Airport affecting all flights
Try to keep the children occupied while we wait by reading a few stories. This older lady comes over and tells me I am reading the stories too loudly!! Can you believe it?? I was stunned. All the moms around me come over in a real spirit of solidarity and say good on you, keep on reading. Legendary!! Anyway, we are finally in the plane and lifting off at 11:45
The children were fantastic during the flight and I was very pleased and thankful there were no major frights or tantrums. Even on the very bumpy landing my middle child laughed with glee while the rest of us gritted our teeth
We just missed the airport train, so another delay while we wait half an hour for the next one. Then we finally get to my aunts and she has put on this opulent spread and its only 4 pm on the afternoon. Anyway, it was a good excuse to pack the kids into bed early, before my aunty treated us to a couple of yummy bottles of wine with our dinner. Perfect end to a stressful day
Monday, 9 June 2008
Queen's Birthday Holiday. As I am not at work today, I had to amuse myself with a hill session. Kylie wanted to put some hours in at work today, so I had to get my session out of the way early
Headed out just before 9 am to the back of the Coburg track. Was planning to run six sets of a long and a short hill. In the end, I felt pretty good so I did eight of each instead
Back home for more child minding. My mother is coming to stay tonight ahead of our nine day holiday in Queensland. We fly out early tomorrow
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 7 kilometres
Headed out just before 9 am to the back of the Coburg track. Was planning to run six sets of a long and a short hill. In the end, I felt pretty good so I did eight of each instead
Back home for more child minding. My mother is coming to stay tonight ahead of our nine day holiday in Queensland. We fly out early tomorrow
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 7 kilometres
Sunday, 8 June 2008
Long slow distance run today
Supposed to go for 90 minutes and not at all enjoyable! Decided to try a different route today. Headed up Bell Street to the Upfield bike path. Wanted to see where the connection was at the Zoo to the bike path that supposedly begins at Docklands
In the end, I found that path and ran along the bike path to Docklands, which comes out near the football stadium. With 55 or so minutes on the clock, I had 40 minutes to kill. Not in a position to go back the way I came, I ran through the city. Big mistake! I ran up this long street (Dudley St?) up a big hill and I was virtually hyperventilating at the top.
I ran into the Flagstaff Gardens in search of a tap and had a nice long drink of water before getting underway again. I was then following my usual route home from work which includes the back of the Vic Market. Well, you can imagine how crowded it was there!
So after getting stopped by about four traffic lights from lonsdale street all the way up to Royal Parade, I was not in a good humour
In the end, I made it out to St Georges Road before time ran out and I caught a tram the rest of the way home. As soon as I get there, I am lumped with child minding duties as Kylie is off to visit a friend. The perfect conclusion to a crappy run ... not!
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 18 kilometres
Supposed to go for 90 minutes and not at all enjoyable! Decided to try a different route today. Headed up Bell Street to the Upfield bike path. Wanted to see where the connection was at the Zoo to the bike path that supposedly begins at Docklands
In the end, I found that path and ran along the bike path to Docklands, which comes out near the football stadium. With 55 or so minutes on the clock, I had 40 minutes to kill. Not in a position to go back the way I came, I ran through the city. Big mistake! I ran up this long street (Dudley St?) up a big hill and I was virtually hyperventilating at the top.
I ran into the Flagstaff Gardens in search of a tap and had a nice long drink of water before getting underway again. I was then following my usual route home from work which includes the back of the Vic Market. Well, you can imagine how crowded it was there!
So after getting stopped by about four traffic lights from lonsdale street all the way up to Royal Parade, I was not in a good humour
In the end, I made it out to St Georges Road before time ran out and I caught a tram the rest of the way home. As soon as I get there, I am lumped with child minding duties as Kylie is off to visit a friend. The perfect conclusion to a crappy run ... not!
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 18 kilometres
Saturday, 7 June 2008
Club ran today at Waringal Park in Heidelberg. A mostly flat 8 km out and back course mostly on gravel path. This has been a tough run for me in the past and not one I have enjoyed very much at all
Started off comfortably enough but from the 2 km mark things started to feel a bit tough and I was glad to see the turnaround mark with Neville Wilson of Coburg Masters offering words of encouragement
I passed my first competitor at about the five kilometre mark and was grimly trying to hang on. Last year, I had to check my pace quite a bit at about 5.5 kilometres and this year was a little bit the same. However, I continued to pick up quite a few runners and ended up finishing in fifth place, which I was pretty happy with. If the race had been a kilometre longer, I probably would have placed
In the end it was 28.21, which I think is a personal best time for the distance. Certainly it is better than the 28.50 I recorded last year and 28.34 in 2006. A good sign heading towards Bendigo for the AV relays
TOTAL DISTANCE : 8 kilometres (yes, naughty me no warm up or down)
Started off comfortably enough but from the 2 km mark things started to feel a bit tough and I was glad to see the turnaround mark with Neville Wilson of Coburg Masters offering words of encouragement
I passed my first competitor at about the five kilometre mark and was grimly trying to hang on. Last year, I had to check my pace quite a bit at about 5.5 kilometres and this year was a little bit the same. However, I continued to pick up quite a few runners and ended up finishing in fifth place, which I was pretty happy with. If the race had been a kilometre longer, I probably would have placed
In the end it was 28.21, which I think is a personal best time for the distance. Certainly it is better than the 28.50 I recorded last year and 28.34 in 2006. A good sign heading towards Bendigo for the AV relays
TOTAL DISTANCE : 8 kilometres (yes, naughty me no warm up or down)
Friday, June 6, 2008
Friday, 6 June 2008
Very easy thirty minute run towards work today that wasn't. Easy, that is
Felt crap, sore feet and just a struggle to get through - at least for the first half or so. Strange, because I usually feel really good coming down St Georges Road, which is the start of my run, and don't feel good through Park Street which I turn right into and head towards the Zoo under Princes Park
And yet this time, it was the opposite. A real effort down to Park Street, even though I can assure you I was running slow, and then kinda breezed through that last bit. Well, I was running a little easier at any rate
Caught the train the rest of the way to work. As the day wore, I started to feel really good and once we return from holiday in a couple of week's time, I am going to start doing this half hour towards work on a Thursday and then train that night with Brian. Should be interesting!
TOTAL DISTANCE - about six kilometres
Felt crap, sore feet and just a struggle to get through - at least for the first half or so. Strange, because I usually feel really good coming down St Georges Road, which is the start of my run, and don't feel good through Park Street which I turn right into and head towards the Zoo under Princes Park
And yet this time, it was the opposite. A real effort down to Park Street, even though I can assure you I was running slow, and then kinda breezed through that last bit. Well, I was running a little easier at any rate
Caught the train the rest of the way to work. As the day wore, I started to feel really good and once we return from holiday in a couple of week's time, I am going to start doing this half hour towards work on a Thursday and then train that night with Brian. Should be interesting!
TOTAL DISTANCE - about six kilometres
Thursday, 5 June 2008
Training with Brian tonight. I forgot to pack my running shoes, so after Kylie had gone home to get them and dinner for the children, I missed the entire warm up set
Interesting session tonight. There were five reps of a two-pronged set. Each set would be a cross country circuit on the infield, then 100 metres walk recovery, then a 300 metre rep on the track, then walk back to infield circuit start. Repeat five times
Not sure how quick I was going but it was pretty solid. Probably just one or two sets short of a really tough little session. Then again, after yesterday's stupidity in treating my recovery session like a race, I was feeling very heavy in the legs. Also, I didn't do myself any favours by getting to bed very late
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 4.5 kilometres
Interesting session tonight. There were five reps of a two-pronged set. Each set would be a cross country circuit on the infield, then 100 metres walk recovery, then a 300 metre rep on the track, then walk back to infield circuit start. Repeat five times
Not sure how quick I was going but it was pretty solid. Probably just one or two sets short of a really tough little session. Then again, after yesterday's stupidity in treating my recovery session like a race, I was feeling very heavy in the legs. Also, I didn't do myself any favours by getting to bed very late
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 4.5 kilometres
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
Went for a run at lunchtime today with boundary Shane Jansen and his entourage. I arrived there a few minutes late to find Scotty already there - he had been late every other time I had met Shane for a run
We ran out to the Tan and met up with Ian Burrows. There was also a guy I hadn't met before in John Morris (?). We completed the first lap in a relatively comfortable 16 minutes for the 3.83 kilometre circuit. Certainly it was on the upper end of comfortable
I was feeling pretty good, nevertheless, so upped the pace a little through the second lap. I was trying out what worked for me so well at La Trobe, in that up the tortuous Anderson St hill, I was going for balls of the feet, high knee's sort of stuff
Felt pretty good, but halfway through the lap I was starting to fatigue and the pace was starting to tell a bit. Johnny Morris started to "stride" out at this point, so I tried to slot in behind him for the rest but he maintained a comfortable twenty metre gap. Not sure what I was thinking really, considering this was supposed to be an easy recovery session. In the end, Johnny and I completed the second lap in around 14:15. Thinking about it later, I realised that was pretty much my race pace from Sunday's road race, so it was stupid to replicate that in what was supposed to be a recovery run
Still, it was a solid hitout - the sort of ones Brian likes me to do with two paced sessions in between training night. I am feeling pretty heavy in the legs and hopefully will pull up alright tomorrow
TOTAL DISTANCE - about 11 kilometres including distance to Tan to and from work
We ran out to the Tan and met up with Ian Burrows. There was also a guy I hadn't met before in John Morris (?). We completed the first lap in a relatively comfortable 16 minutes for the 3.83 kilometre circuit. Certainly it was on the upper end of comfortable
I was feeling pretty good, nevertheless, so upped the pace a little through the second lap. I was trying out what worked for me so well at La Trobe, in that up the tortuous Anderson St hill, I was going for balls of the feet, high knee's sort of stuff
Felt pretty good, but halfway through the lap I was starting to fatigue and the pace was starting to tell a bit. Johnny Morris started to "stride" out at this point, so I tried to slot in behind him for the rest but he maintained a comfortable twenty metre gap. Not sure what I was thinking really, considering this was supposed to be an easy recovery session. In the end, Johnny and I completed the second lap in around 14:15. Thinking about it later, I realised that was pretty much my race pace from Sunday's road race, so it was stupid to replicate that in what was supposed to be a recovery run
Still, it was a solid hitout - the sort of ones Brian likes me to do with two paced sessions in between training night. I am feeling pretty heavy in the legs and hopefully will pull up alright tomorrow
TOTAL DISTANCE - about 11 kilometres including distance to Tan to and from work
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
Kylie my partner had a meeting to go to tonight, so had to train on my own
Did a session at Princes Park on the way home. As warm up, I ran from work to the park. Session was a 2 km, 1.5 km and a 0.5 kilometre with 500 metre recovery between each set
I was going to try to manage it so I started in the reverse direction from the Park Street end, back around to the cemetery side and south toward the city. In the end, I started on the bottom side of the park at Gatehouse St (?), so that my 2 km effort took in the uphill incline at the top of the park. not to worry, at least I know I will have worked
Knocked over the 2 km effort in a touch over 7 mins, which is a little slower than I would have liked. Had to use the loo on that side, so had to guestimate my recovery. I think I did my 1500 metre effort after 2.5 minutes recovery
This effort was really hard and I was having to push pretty hard to finish it off. Was not much fun from about 1 km on. Managed a proper 500 metre recovery this time, which I clocked at three minutes so probably stung myself thirty seconds recovery after that first set. Still, the 1.5 km effort was a touch over 5 minutes which pleasingly was quicker paced than the first (I guess it should have been)
Cranked out the 1 km effort in 3:16 which does not sound much but I will take it on account of running on gravel in my heavy asics uphill for over half the distance
A ten minute run along Park St though to St Georges Rd where I hopped on the tram for home
TOTAL DISTACNCE = 9 kilometres including warm up and down
Did a session at Princes Park on the way home. As warm up, I ran from work to the park. Session was a 2 km, 1.5 km and a 0.5 kilometre with 500 metre recovery between each set
I was going to try to manage it so I started in the reverse direction from the Park Street end, back around to the cemetery side and south toward the city. In the end, I started on the bottom side of the park at Gatehouse St (?), so that my 2 km effort took in the uphill incline at the top of the park. not to worry, at least I know I will have worked
Knocked over the 2 km effort in a touch over 7 mins, which is a little slower than I would have liked. Had to use the loo on that side, so had to guestimate my recovery. I think I did my 1500 metre effort after 2.5 minutes recovery
This effort was really hard and I was having to push pretty hard to finish it off. Was not much fun from about 1 km on. Managed a proper 500 metre recovery this time, which I clocked at three minutes so probably stung myself thirty seconds recovery after that first set. Still, the 1.5 km effort was a touch over 5 minutes which pleasingly was quicker paced than the first (I guess it should have been)
Cranked out the 1 km effort in 3:16 which does not sound much but I will take it on account of running on gravel in my heavy asics uphill for over half the distance
A ten minute run along Park St though to St Georges Rd where I hopped on the tram for home
TOTAL DISTACNCE = 9 kilometres including warm up and down
Monday, 2 June 2008
Long slow run today
Had to go for 85 minutes, so took in three laps of Princes Park on my way home. Was a nice easy pace until stupid male ego took over and pushed away from this idiot who was "tailgating" me for a kilometre or so. He was fair dinkum close enough to lick the back of my neck for about ten minutes. Creepy
Finished the third lap and realised that I would over by about five minutes if I took the normal long run route home. Ran down Park Street to St Georges Rd and up to the Merri Creek bike path. Traversed this up towards home, whereupon I hopped off at Normanby Road and took a more direct route home
In the end 87 minutes all up. A very enjoyable run, and my heart rate was really low at the finish. It wasn't too cold, although there was a lot of frigid air off the Merri Creek
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 17 kilometres
Had to go for 85 minutes, so took in three laps of Princes Park on my way home. Was a nice easy pace until stupid male ego took over and pushed away from this idiot who was "tailgating" me for a kilometre or so. He was fair dinkum close enough to lick the back of my neck for about ten minutes. Creepy
Finished the third lap and realised that I would over by about five minutes if I took the normal long run route home. Ran down Park Street to St Georges Rd and up to the Merri Creek bike path. Traversed this up towards home, whereupon I hopped off at Normanby Road and took a more direct route home
In the end 87 minutes all up. A very enjoyable run, and my heart rate was really low at the finish. It wasn't too cold, although there was a lot of frigid air off the Merri Creek
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 17 kilometres
Sunday, 1 June 2008 - AV 15 km Road Race
A bit of a sleep in this morning, and with the race starting at 10:00 am it was probably not a good idea to only be getting up at 8:45 am. Gave the children their breakfast and then we were out the door at 9:20
After some very cool mornings over the past few weeks and the last two rounds of the AV season being cold and wet, I was hopeful this day might be different. All good when I got out of bed and my feet weren't scalded by a frozen kitchen floor. But boy did I get a rude shock when I opened the front door to pack the car. A biting cold and I thought it's Sandown all over again
Arrived with twenty minutes to race time so not the ideal preparation and did a short warm up. Last year at this race I went out way too hard and had nothing left in the tank with still a lap to go. As a result I walked for short periods in two sections and crashed and burned my way to 55:56. I was determinted not to let that happen this year
Plopped myself near the front of the pack and waited nervously for the gun to go off. It had warmed up a bit but it was still only eleven degree's. After setting myself up to not run well at Sandown with some negative thinking, I did not place any expectations on myself for this race, other than to pace myself at the start - like I do for HM's - and try to hold onto that, rather than last year's strategy. I did have a goal in mind of 54 minutes, or 18 minutes to each 5 km lap. I would have been satisfied with that (3:40 min/km), given I had barely managed 3:30 min to the kilometre at Sandown
All according to plan through the first two kilometres, with 3:38, then 3:30 - a bit of downhill section on the second km. Went through 5 km in 17:52 and was feeling pretty good. I remember someone shouting out I was on track for 54, and that gave me a bit of a boost. After the horror of last year, I was pleased with the way the km markers seemed to be flying by.
Get to the top of the course and the halfway mark, feeling strong and suddently I feel like I want to push the pace a bit. Surged for about two kilometres or so, but then felt ordinary and wondered if that had been such a good idea. Nevertheless went through 10 km in 35:56 for an 18:04 lap
Things started to feel a bit tough from here, although I was still generating a reasonable pace. Once I had got all the hills out of the way, the 13 km marker seemed to lift my spirits a bit and I tried to push for home. With 47:04 on the clock I remember thinking that sub 54 was now out of the question. In the end, I passed a runner in the home straight to cross the line in 54:05 and had done the last two km in 3:30 k's for an 18:09 last lap, so very, very pleased about that
All in all, I was rapt with that run. A strategy of easy paced start, getting up on the balls of my feet in the hill sections, and trying to push the downhill/straight sections worked a treat and is just the confidence builder I needed after the last two AV runs, which I thought were pretty ordinary
As the yardstick, I did check Shane Jansen's time from last year to see how mine rated and I would only have been 20 seconds behind him, so another thing to be pleased about. He will be happy that he still holds the Coburg Harriers course record at La Trobe, after I knocked off his Jell's Park course record this year by one second!! Bring on the Sandown relays, I say!
We had roast beef for lunch at my mother's, then as we got home late Red Rooster for dinner, which is the only takeaway fast food I let my kids eat (other than fish n' chips, of course)
TOTAL DISTANCE = 15 kilometres
After some very cool mornings over the past few weeks and the last two rounds of the AV season being cold and wet, I was hopeful this day might be different. All good when I got out of bed and my feet weren't scalded by a frozen kitchen floor. But boy did I get a rude shock when I opened the front door to pack the car. A biting cold and I thought it's Sandown all over again
Arrived with twenty minutes to race time so not the ideal preparation and did a short warm up. Last year at this race I went out way too hard and had nothing left in the tank with still a lap to go. As a result I walked for short periods in two sections and crashed and burned my way to 55:56. I was determinted not to let that happen this year
Plopped myself near the front of the pack and waited nervously for the gun to go off. It had warmed up a bit but it was still only eleven degree's. After setting myself up to not run well at Sandown with some negative thinking, I did not place any expectations on myself for this race, other than to pace myself at the start - like I do for HM's - and try to hold onto that, rather than last year's strategy. I did have a goal in mind of 54 minutes, or 18 minutes to each 5 km lap. I would have been satisfied with that (3:40 min/km), given I had barely managed 3:30 min to the kilometre at Sandown
All according to plan through the first two kilometres, with 3:38, then 3:30 - a bit of downhill section on the second km. Went through 5 km in 17:52 and was feeling pretty good. I remember someone shouting out I was on track for 54, and that gave me a bit of a boost. After the horror of last year, I was pleased with the way the km markers seemed to be flying by.
Get to the top of the course and the halfway mark, feeling strong and suddently I feel like I want to push the pace a bit. Surged for about two kilometres or so, but then felt ordinary and wondered if that had been such a good idea. Nevertheless went through 10 km in 35:56 for an 18:04 lap
Things started to feel a bit tough from here, although I was still generating a reasonable pace. Once I had got all the hills out of the way, the 13 km marker seemed to lift my spirits a bit and I tried to push for home. With 47:04 on the clock I remember thinking that sub 54 was now out of the question. In the end, I passed a runner in the home straight to cross the line in 54:05 and had done the last two km in 3:30 k's for an 18:09 last lap, so very, very pleased about that
All in all, I was rapt with that run. A strategy of easy paced start, getting up on the balls of my feet in the hill sections, and trying to push the downhill/straight sections worked a treat and is just the confidence builder I needed after the last two AV runs, which I thought were pretty ordinary
As the yardstick, I did check Shane Jansen's time from last year to see how mine rated and I would only have been 20 seconds behind him, so another thing to be pleased about. He will be happy that he still holds the Coburg Harriers course record at La Trobe, after I knocked off his Jell's Park course record this year by one second!! Bring on the Sandown relays, I say!
We had roast beef for lunch at my mother's, then as we got home late Red Rooster for dinner, which is the only takeaway fast food I let my kids eat (other than fish n' chips, of course)
TOTAL DISTANCE = 15 kilometres
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Saturday, 31 May 2008
Rest day today, perhaps more accurately a lazy day today. Pretty much spent most of it in front of the television when I wasn't chasing after two toddlers. Hamish was at my mother's house for the weekend
Kylie left just before lunch to get a spa treatment with a friend of hers as part of a radio competition she won before christmas. she had only just this weekend got a chance to use the voucher
So I was home all day with the kiddies which was interesting. Kylie did not get home from dropping off her friend until after the children had gone to sleep for the night. I had a little trouble with the kiddies while I tried to get dinner ready so Kylie kindly bought me a bottle of red so I could relax a bit after the little mites were in bed. A little bit stressed daddy Grey was
Had a few glasses of that, and some chocolate some kids sold me when they came to our door earlier in the evening, and we had a very relaxing evening. Even went to bed earlier so all in all, good preparation for the big 15 km road race tomorrow
Kylie left just before lunch to get a spa treatment with a friend of hers as part of a radio competition she won before christmas. she had only just this weekend got a chance to use the voucher
So I was home all day with the kiddies which was interesting. Kylie did not get home from dropping off her friend until after the children had gone to sleep for the night. I had a little trouble with the kiddies while I tried to get dinner ready so Kylie kindly bought me a bottle of red so I could relax a bit after the little mites were in bed. A little bit stressed daddy Grey was
Had a few glasses of that, and some chocolate some kids sold me when they came to our door earlier in the evening, and we had a very relaxing evening. Even went to bed earlier so all in all, good preparation for the big 15 km road race tomorrow
Friday, 30 May 2008
My last day of running for the month - a 30 minute recovery run, which takes me from home to the zoo, where I can hop the train or tram to work
Felt really good all the way down St Georges Rd, but started to feel heavy from Park Street on. Could feel myself surging a little when I wasn't concentrating on slowing my pace. In the end, pretty glad to finish
Running under Royal Parade, I could hear the city train heading towards Royal Park station. In the end, I missed it by about 30 seconds, which was frustrating. Hopped on the tram, which luckily came straight away
TOTAL DISTANCE = about six kilometres
Felt really good all the way down St Georges Rd, but started to feel heavy from Park Street on. Could feel myself surging a little when I wasn't concentrating on slowing my pace. In the end, pretty glad to finish
Running under Royal Parade, I could hear the city train heading towards Royal Park station. In the end, I missed it by about 30 seconds, which was frustrating. Hopped on the tram, which luckily came straight away
TOTAL DISTANCE = about six kilometres
Thursday, 29 May 2008
Looking forward to an easy session on the track tonight ahead of the AV 15 km road race at La Trobe University, Bundoora on Sunday morning. Brian may have said it was going to be an easy night but certainly didn't feel that way
The first set was a steady five lapper, and the legs felt pretty heavy after last night's run home. Didn't feel like I had much drive
A good recovery and the second set was 4 reps of easy 200, surge 200, then medium 200. I felt like I was working pretty hard on these, probably harder than Brian intended but he seemed happy. Had Josh Persson on my tail for a lot of it, but he dropped off a bit through the last two
I was pretty stuffed at the end of it all and was glad to head into the clubrooms where it was a bit warmer. A few beers then off home thanks to a lift from Rey
TOTAL DISTANCE = about five kilometres including warm up and down
The first set was a steady five lapper, and the legs felt pretty heavy after last night's run home. Didn't feel like I had much drive
A good recovery and the second set was 4 reps of easy 200, surge 200, then medium 200. I felt like I was working pretty hard on these, probably harder than Brian intended but he seemed happy. Had Josh Persson on my tail for a lot of it, but he dropped off a bit through the last two
I was pretty stuffed at the end of it all and was glad to head into the clubrooms where it was a bit warmer. A few beers then off home thanks to a lift from Rey
TOTAL DISTANCE = about five kilometres including warm up and down
Wednesday, 28 May 2008
Run home from work tonight. Wanted to get home in time to spend at least an hour with the children before my Coburg Harriers commitee meeting. Had to push the run a bit, which made things interesting
Still, a reasonably comfortable 45 minutes and will be interesting to see how I pull up tomorrow
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 9 kilometres
Still, a reasonably comfortable 45 minutes and will be interesting to see how I pull up tomorrow
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 9 kilometres
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Tuesday, 27 May 2008
Interesting session with Brian tonight. Again late to the track, having to jog the 8 minutes from the station. This actually adds 2 km to my total distance on training days, but i never record it
Three sets in the session tonight - a 3 km, 2 km and 1 km. The 3 km set was just a straight out 7.5 lap run with two laps to be run quicker on Brian's whistle. The first quick lap for me came after 900 metres. It was hard to settle back into the steady rhythm I had before the whistle and I suspect it was a tad slower. The second whistle happened when I was 2.5 kilometres in, so almost made it into that last lap. Brian must have been watching! Didn't take times for the quicker laps, except to say they were definitely quicker than the steady pace sections. On the watch I had 10:34 at the finish, so probably doing around 86's for the steady pace bits
Having been the first to finish the first set, my recovery was a bit longer than everyone elses at around seven minutes, so pretty fresh for the second set, which was five laps of float 100 metres, then steady 300 metres. Brian's idea of float this time was a bit different from mine in that float was just backing off the pace a tad. I know Brian knows what float means but i guess he was trying to make it easier for our fun runners. My "float" was getting slower through the five efforts. I only timed the last three for 56, 56 and 54 on the last one. Noice!
About five minutes recovery and we were over at the 200 for the 1 km start. The legs were feeling lactic after that second set. This set was 1 lap easy, 1 lap medium, 200 metres hard. Brazza very kindly said to Josh, "you stick with Jeremy". Just great! Mind you, the kid stuck to the game plan until with 250 metres to go he thought he had a sniff of outsprinting me to the finish. He cut on the inside of one of the slower runners (while I did the right thing by going on the outside) and went for broke. I got the arms moving, made sure I was running high on the balls of my feet and left him behind with 150 metres left. To his credit he kept having a crack and kept me honest to the end. Congratulations were forthcoming from Brian for Josh for the way he kept coming - in the past he has preferred to drop off and I think is a coming of age thing for Josh
TOTAL DISTANCE = 7 kilometres (including warm up and jelly legged warm down)
Three sets in the session tonight - a 3 km, 2 km and 1 km. The 3 km set was just a straight out 7.5 lap run with two laps to be run quicker on Brian's whistle. The first quick lap for me came after 900 metres. It was hard to settle back into the steady rhythm I had before the whistle and I suspect it was a tad slower. The second whistle happened when I was 2.5 kilometres in, so almost made it into that last lap. Brian must have been watching! Didn't take times for the quicker laps, except to say they were definitely quicker than the steady pace sections. On the watch I had 10:34 at the finish, so probably doing around 86's for the steady pace bits
Having been the first to finish the first set, my recovery was a bit longer than everyone elses at around seven minutes, so pretty fresh for the second set, which was five laps of float 100 metres, then steady 300 metres. Brian's idea of float this time was a bit different from mine in that float was just backing off the pace a tad. I know Brian knows what float means but i guess he was trying to make it easier for our fun runners. My "float" was getting slower through the five efforts. I only timed the last three for 56, 56 and 54 on the last one. Noice!
About five minutes recovery and we were over at the 200 for the 1 km start. The legs were feeling lactic after that second set. This set was 1 lap easy, 1 lap medium, 200 metres hard. Brazza very kindly said to Josh, "you stick with Jeremy". Just great! Mind you, the kid stuck to the game plan until with 250 metres to go he thought he had a sniff of outsprinting me to the finish. He cut on the inside of one of the slower runners (while I did the right thing by going on the outside) and went for broke. I got the arms moving, made sure I was running high on the balls of my feet and left him behind with 150 metres left. To his credit he kept having a crack and kept me honest to the end. Congratulations were forthcoming from Brian for Josh for the way he kept coming - in the past he has preferred to drop off and I think is a coming of age thing for Josh
TOTAL DISTANCE = 7 kilometres (including warm up and jelly legged warm down)
Monday, 26 May 2008
Was hoping to leave work a little earlier than usual today, but yet again got stuck with something
A very ordinary run today for two reasons. One, was that i didn't set my watch properly at the start and the other was soreness. Near the start of my run I could feel my right foot was sore with every stride.
And then halfway through the run my shins got very, very sore. And wouldn't you know, just when you need to hit a few red traffic lights to stretch I got green lights all the way through. Managed a little stretch at Lygon Street on my way through Park Street. Felt like there was a lot of resistance there in the muscle. Had a longer stretch at Merri Parade before the long climb up St Georges Rd. This worked an absolutely treat and I was able to finish the rest of the run (another 12 minutes) almost pain free
So don't know the run time all up but I would guess at around 45 minutes. Not quite the 50 minutes I was supposed to go for, but then halfway through my run it didn't look like I was going to finish at all
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 9 kilometres
A very ordinary run today for two reasons. One, was that i didn't set my watch properly at the start and the other was soreness. Near the start of my run I could feel my right foot was sore with every stride.
And then halfway through the run my shins got very, very sore. And wouldn't you know, just when you need to hit a few red traffic lights to stretch I got green lights all the way through. Managed a little stretch at Lygon Street on my way through Park Street. Felt like there was a lot of resistance there in the muscle. Had a longer stretch at Merri Parade before the long climb up St Georges Rd. This worked an absolutely treat and I was able to finish the rest of the run (another 12 minutes) almost pain free
So don't know the run time all up but I would guess at around 45 minutes. Not quite the 50 minutes I was supposed to go for, but then halfway through my run it didn't look like I was going to finish at all
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 9 kilometres
Sunday, 25 May 2008
Rest day today. At least it should have been a 50 minute medium run with fartlek sections in it, but we had a bit to do in the house then we had Kylie's brother Andrew and his long term squeeze over for what turned out to be a late lunch and then dinner. So will have to get to it tomorrow
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Saturday, 24 May 2008
We had a club run today - an 11.2 km Handicap run with Collingwood Harriers. I know this run fairly well as have run it the last three years. The first time I ran I did 39:13, the second time it was 40:28 so I was keen to try to get closer to that first year's effort. Also, Collingwood have a very well stocked beer fridge and i was looking forward to a can or three as a reward
By 2:30 pm when I started the weather was beautiful and you would not have known we had our coldest May morning for 20 years. Tried to start off nice and steady and not run my race in the first couple of kilometres.
However after about a kilometre it was clear that I did not prepare as well as I should have and needed to go to the toilet. I came across one at the two kilometre mark and wasted 30 seconds having a wee and washing my hands. Then it was off again
Reached the first nasty hill just over the river and did not attack it, rather just went for a nice steady rythm up to the top. It was pretty steep. And so it went on. An extremely undulating course but nice in that for all the long uphills there were long downhills
About 20 minutes out from home and I see the bridge going over the Eastern Freeway. Alarm bells ring as I know there is a very long uphill to get to the crest whereupon you go down towards that bridge. Pass a few runners near the top of the hill and spend a few seconds shortening the stride to recover from the effort once over it
So we get to the bridge over the Eastern and I remember that once over the bridge there is another long uphill section before you get to Chandler Highway. Doh! Luckily this is the last major hill to speak of, and I work my way past more runners up towards Heidelberg Road.
Things move pretty quick from here. Its about three kilometres to the finish, but as a backmarker suddenly you are encountering packs of front and middle markers. As I knew it was pretty flat to the finish, I force myself to keep a good pace going even though I just want to ease off a bit. Pushed all the way through and passed quite a few burgers on the way including 2006 and 2006 winner Diane Brimacombe. Finally get to the line and see about five Harriers already there.
My official finish time was around 40:44, but considering the 30 second loo break it was closer to 40:15, so I'll take that. Three beers afterwards plus a bonus can while I pretended to Kylie that I was saying goodbye to people while she put the pram in the car. Maybe long run tomorrow. Need to keep the miles up and these consecutive days of running. Plus, with La Trobe 15km next Saturday, I want to be as fresh as possible
TOTAL DISTANCE = 11.2 kilometres - yep, no warm up or down
By 2:30 pm when I started the weather was beautiful and you would not have known we had our coldest May morning for 20 years. Tried to start off nice and steady and not run my race in the first couple of kilometres.
However after about a kilometre it was clear that I did not prepare as well as I should have and needed to go to the toilet. I came across one at the two kilometre mark and wasted 30 seconds having a wee and washing my hands. Then it was off again
Reached the first nasty hill just over the river and did not attack it, rather just went for a nice steady rythm up to the top. It was pretty steep. And so it went on. An extremely undulating course but nice in that for all the long uphills there were long downhills
About 20 minutes out from home and I see the bridge going over the Eastern Freeway. Alarm bells ring as I know there is a very long uphill to get to the crest whereupon you go down towards that bridge. Pass a few runners near the top of the hill and spend a few seconds shortening the stride to recover from the effort once over it
So we get to the bridge over the Eastern and I remember that once over the bridge there is another long uphill section before you get to Chandler Highway. Doh! Luckily this is the last major hill to speak of, and I work my way past more runners up towards Heidelberg Road.
Things move pretty quick from here. Its about three kilometres to the finish, but as a backmarker suddenly you are encountering packs of front and middle markers. As I knew it was pretty flat to the finish, I force myself to keep a good pace going even though I just want to ease off a bit. Pushed all the way through and passed quite a few burgers on the way including 2006 and 2006 winner Diane Brimacombe. Finally get to the line and see about five Harriers already there.
My official finish time was around 40:44, but considering the 30 second loo break it was closer to 40:15, so I'll take that. Three beers afterwards plus a bonus can while I pretended to Kylie that I was saying goodbye to people while she put the pram in the car. Maybe long run tomorrow. Need to keep the miles up and these consecutive days of running. Plus, with La Trobe 15km next Saturday, I want to be as fresh as possible
TOTAL DISTANCE = 11.2 kilometres - yep, no warm up or down
Friday, 23 May 2008
A 30 minute recovery run today to work - and pay day. yay!!
Got out around 8:00 am and it was cold, cold, cold! Luckily the first thing i did when i got out of bed was put my running socks on and shoes. and clothes of course!
Ran from home, along the normal route down St Georges Road, then across Park Street. While I had been enjoying the run to this point, suddenly I kind of felt like I was pushing a little. Really tried to slow things down a bit and I am not sure but its possible I was surging in sections so really have to concentrate on keeping things nice and slow for these runs
Got to Royal Parade but instead of heading for the city, I went under the road along the bike path through to the Zoo and the station. I stopped here for 32 minutes on the watch which was all I wanted to do. At the station, find the next train had been cancelled! So onto the tram and into work by 9:10 am which wasn't bad going
Kylie was off to the movies tonight so I had to make sure I was home by 6:00 pm, so unlike last Friday night those two pints I had tonight really WERE just two pints!!
TOTAL DISTANCE = about six kilometres
Got out around 8:00 am and it was cold, cold, cold! Luckily the first thing i did when i got out of bed was put my running socks on and shoes. and clothes of course!
Ran from home, along the normal route down St Georges Road, then across Park Street. While I had been enjoying the run to this point, suddenly I kind of felt like I was pushing a little. Really tried to slow things down a bit and I am not sure but its possible I was surging in sections so really have to concentrate on keeping things nice and slow for these runs
Got to Royal Parade but instead of heading for the city, I went under the road along the bike path through to the Zoo and the station. I stopped here for 32 minutes on the watch which was all I wanted to do. At the station, find the next train had been cancelled! So onto the tram and into work by 9:10 am which wasn't bad going
Kylie was off to the movies tonight so I had to make sure I was home by 6:00 pm, so unlike last Friday night those two pints I had tonight really WERE just two pints!!
TOTAL DISTANCE = about six kilometres
Thursday, 22 May 2008
Training was with Brian tonight. I was pretty late as I had to get a few things done at work. We have got quite a bit on with some workers in Bendigo getting screwed over with their entitlements only to find out their jobs are about to be shipped off shore! And of course we are bargaining at the moment with one of Australia's largest employers who are also very anti-union and have had AWA's in place since 1999
Anyhoo, enough of the politics. Got to training just in time to do the run throughs part of the night and was happy to get there even in time for that. Pretty easy session tonight, on what was a very cold evening - the sort where mist shrouds the track and your hands are numb
We had 3 x 600's with 200 recovery then a break. After that we had 3 x 600's with 200 easy, 200 medium, 200 steady and jog recovery between each. I managed to knock over the first set in consistent times (i think all around 1:57 from memory)
After that a short break and straight into the second set. I was glad to get those out of the way so I could head straight inside where it was warm and the beer was cold. I selfishly drank four of the last eight beers before I got a lift home with Rey
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 6 kilometres including warm up and down
Anyhoo, enough of the politics. Got to training just in time to do the run throughs part of the night and was happy to get there even in time for that. Pretty easy session tonight, on what was a very cold evening - the sort where mist shrouds the track and your hands are numb
We had 3 x 600's with 200 recovery then a break. After that we had 3 x 600's with 200 easy, 200 medium, 200 steady and jog recovery between each. I managed to knock over the first set in consistent times (i think all around 1:57 from memory)
After that a short break and straight into the second set. I was glad to get those out of the way so I could head straight inside where it was warm and the beer was cold. I selfishly drank four of the last eight beers before I got a lift home with Rey
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 6 kilometres including warm up and down
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
Long run home tonight. Was on the clock as Kylie had to leave at 7:00 pm for a meeting
Did not end up leaving until 6:15 pm and then I fair dinkum got caught at every red light on the way home except I think for four - and two of those were the last two
Thought I was running reasonably strongly without really overdoing it. Got to Park St & Royal Pde with 19:30 on the watch. Ended up running 45 odd minutes overall. Feeling more confident now about running consecutive days if I can keep feeling good like this
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 9 kilometres
Did not end up leaving until 6:15 pm and then I fair dinkum got caught at every red light on the way home except I think for four - and two of those were the last two
Thought I was running reasonably strongly without really overdoing it. Got to Park St & Royal Pde with 19:30 on the watch. Ended up running 45 odd minutes overall. Feeling more confident now about running consecutive days if I can keep feeling good like this
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 9 kilometres
Tuesday, 20 May 2008
Training with Brian today. Interesting session this one, in that the lights went off halfway through
It called for 4 minutes with two minutes recovery, repeated three times. Then a break and the same again but with 3 minute intervals
After my disappointing run at Sandown I was keen to have a good training session. Managed a consistent distance for all of the 4 min efforts at around my 5 km pace. Then, on the last effort all the lights went out and we were dodging each other in the dark!
After a bit of stuffing around Brian says do six easy laps. But i thought stuff that I have amends to be made. So I called a core group of us together and we finished off the set as described but in the outside three lanes of the track.
I must admit, while we were organising all that, we did end up with more recovery before starting the second set than what Brian would have planned. Still, I really tried to push the second set and certainly didn't leave much out there
I was rapt that one of the dads of the little aths girls with us trained tonight with us, which was great to see
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 6.5 kilometres including warm up and down
It called for 4 minutes with two minutes recovery, repeated three times. Then a break and the same again but with 3 minute intervals
After my disappointing run at Sandown I was keen to have a good training session. Managed a consistent distance for all of the 4 min efforts at around my 5 km pace. Then, on the last effort all the lights went out and we were dodging each other in the dark!
After a bit of stuffing around Brian says do six easy laps. But i thought stuff that I have amends to be made. So I called a core group of us together and we finished off the set as described but in the outside three lanes of the track.
I must admit, while we were organising all that, we did end up with more recovery before starting the second set than what Brian would have planned. Still, I really tried to push the second set and certainly didn't leave much out there
I was rapt that one of the dads of the little aths girls with us trained tonight with us, which was great to see
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 6.5 kilometres including warm up and down
Monday, 19 May 2008
Rest day today. Not much to report except that hammies are still sore. And that I caught up with an ex-umpiring mate from my days at the VFL. Turns out the VFL are promoting guys to the AFL who are struggling to meet the minimum fitness requirement of 4 km in 18 minutes. yikes!
So the boss of the AFL put a rocket up the boss of the VFL who in turn placed that rocket fairly and squarely up the goalies boss. The result? The VFL time trial is now 4 km instead of 3 km and only guys who have a proven fitness record are umpiring senior football. About time!!
While I had a good run at the VFL, it is my belief that had that policy been in place while I was there, I could possibly have racked up close to 50 VFL senior matches rather than the 30 odd that I did over four seasons. Not to worry, I enjoyed my time there but gee I enjoy my running more
So the boss of the AFL put a rocket up the boss of the VFL who in turn placed that rocket fairly and squarely up the goalies boss. The result? The VFL time trial is now 4 km instead of 3 km and only guys who have a proven fitness record are umpiring senior football. About time!!
While I had a good run at the VFL, it is my belief that had that policy been in place while I was there, I could possibly have racked up close to 50 VFL senior matches rather than the 30 odd that I did over four seasons. Not to worry, I enjoyed my time there but gee I enjoy my running more
Sunday, 18 May 2008
The club had a fun run on this morning, so we (the family) all went down and helped out. Kylie looked after the computer stuff while I made sure the children ate their breakfast. My hammies were a bit sore, which was odd
Once all the runners were off and I had started the clock. I went out for my own run. I went out on the Merri Creek bike path for 20 minutes south towards the city. This took me to the "Golden Domes" which is an orthodox church around the corner from CERES near Separation Street in Thornbury
Then a 40 minute run back which was 20 minutes to the club rooms then as much again on the bike path. From here just 20 minutes back to the club rooms
Great to get the long run out of the way early. Fell asleep on the couch at home
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 17 kilometres
Once all the runners were off and I had started the clock. I went out for my own run. I went out on the Merri Creek bike path for 20 minutes south towards the city. This took me to the "Golden Domes" which is an orthodox church around the corner from CERES near Separation Street in Thornbury
Then a 40 minute run back which was 20 minutes to the club rooms then as much again on the bike path. From here just 20 minutes back to the club rooms
Great to get the long run out of the way early. Fell asleep on the couch at home
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 17 kilometres
Saturday, 17 May - AV Winter Round 3
Round 3 of the Winter Season today with a 10 km road race at Sandown. After training fairly strongly during the week, I was fairly confident of a good time. Alas, that's not how things transpired
Did not get to bed until 12:30 that morning so not a great start. The morning dawned and it rained, and it rained, then it rained some more. In fact it did not let up the whole morning. John Braszell picked me up promptly at 12:30 pm and we were off to Sandown
On Springvale Road and we're listening to the weather reprt on the radio and they say it is 7 degrees! Yikes!!
A short warm up in the rain and we go to the start line. So many bodies there, that it is actually quite warm amongst all the body warmth, although not very sweet smelling. after pushing really hard at the start last year, this year i wanted a nice steady start with as even a split as possible. Maybe 3:18 through the first km was not the way to go.
Felt reasonably strong on the second lap, and kinda felt like I was really pushing up that front straight. Still, went through 5 km in 17:24 when I was hoping for something closer to 17:10. Really started to feel the pace from hereon in and did the last 5 km in 17:43, so only about 19 seconds difference. didn't have much left at the end for what I reckon is the longest finishing straight in AV running - all 800 odd metres of it
i was a bit disappointed with my 35:07, but its probably not that bad. After going through my blog entries I see I have only been back in full training for about five weeks following my two week break after Stawell. Which in itself I only had three full months training for after being injured for half the summer
Coburg Harriers had arguably their strongest ever winter season women's team competing on Saturday, so that was pretty exciting, although they finished third last. One of our 16 year old boys ran 39:30, a massive PB for him. And one of our other juniors did a massive PB in the 3 km race and we had a 16th in the U14 girls race. Some very postitive signs for the club
So I look ahead to an 11.2 km run at Collingwood next weekend and the 15 km AV Road Race the week after. And more immediately, an 80 minute run tomorrow morning
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 11.5 kilometres including warm up and down
Did not get to bed until 12:30 that morning so not a great start. The morning dawned and it rained, and it rained, then it rained some more. In fact it did not let up the whole morning. John Braszell picked me up promptly at 12:30 pm and we were off to Sandown
On Springvale Road and we're listening to the weather reprt on the radio and they say it is 7 degrees! Yikes!!
A short warm up in the rain and we go to the start line. So many bodies there, that it is actually quite warm amongst all the body warmth, although not very sweet smelling. after pushing really hard at the start last year, this year i wanted a nice steady start with as even a split as possible. Maybe 3:18 through the first km was not the way to go.
Felt reasonably strong on the second lap, and kinda felt like I was really pushing up that front straight. Still, went through 5 km in 17:24 when I was hoping for something closer to 17:10. Really started to feel the pace from hereon in and did the last 5 km in 17:43, so only about 19 seconds difference. didn't have much left at the end for what I reckon is the longest finishing straight in AV running - all 800 odd metres of it
i was a bit disappointed with my 35:07, but its probably not that bad. After going through my blog entries I see I have only been back in full training for about five weeks following my two week break after Stawell. Which in itself I only had three full months training for after being injured for half the summer
Coburg Harriers had arguably their strongest ever winter season women's team competing on Saturday, so that was pretty exciting, although they finished third last. One of our 16 year old boys ran 39:30, a massive PB for him. And one of our other juniors did a massive PB in the 3 km race and we had a 16th in the U14 girls race. Some very postitive signs for the club
So I look ahead to an 11.2 km run at Collingwood next weekend and the 15 km AV Road Race the week after. And more immediately, an 80 minute run tomorrow morning
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 11.5 kilometres including warm up and down
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Friday, 16 May 2008
Rest day today ahead of Sandown tomorrow The most exciting thing that happened was that while Kylie was waiting for me to come home so that she could go out for her borther's girlfriend's birthday dinner, I was continually getting shouted pints at the pub The game plan was to buy two pints straight off the bat, drink those two and leave at 5:50 pm to catch the tram. A further three pints later its 6:40 pm and Kylie is already ten minutes into the time she was supposed to leave. My bad! Ignoring my phone I rockup on the doorstep at 7:15 pm. She left, I had dinner, hopped onto the computer, finished my bottle of red from last night and fell into bed at 12:30 am
Not the ideal preparation for Sandown, but this is a tried and true method. i generally PB on this sort of prep. Don't ask me why, but it works and who am I to change a winning forumla
TOTAL DISTANCE - the 500 metre sprint from the tram stop to the door step
Not the ideal preparation for Sandown, but this is a tried and true method. i generally PB on this sort of prep. Don't ask me why, but it works and who am I to change a winning forumla
TOTAL DISTANCE - the 500 metre sprint from the tram stop to the door step
Thursday, 15 May 2008
Training tonight with Brian. Thought it was going to be an easy session and if I had run it as he intended, it probably would have been
We had to do 3 x 500's, 4 x 300's, then 6 x 150's to finish off. Did the 500's a bit too quick at 3 min/km a pace and I deviated from the game plan even further after that. Did the 300's at just under my 5 km race pace and didn't bother timing the 150's
And even with all of that, I was not alone. Liam Magee our new guy pretty much pushed me the whole session, and I was happy to sit behind him for a few of those reps
Young Josh Persson was funny though. I could tell he was running within himself on the first four 150's. On the fifth one on the back straight he put in a strong effort and I thought that was cool. On the last one, like the true hero that I am, I showed him the sort of effort he will need if he wants to try that sort of stuff on me. Left all comers in my mighty wake. What a man!
A relaxing beer or two afterwards than a couple glasses of red as we toasted Harold Steven's 80th birthday with a function at the track. All the children in bed after 9:30 and they were pretty ratty on the way home
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 4 kilometres including warm up and down
We had to do 3 x 500's, 4 x 300's, then 6 x 150's to finish off. Did the 500's a bit too quick at 3 min/km a pace and I deviated from the game plan even further after that. Did the 300's at just under my 5 km race pace and didn't bother timing the 150's
And even with all of that, I was not alone. Liam Magee our new guy pretty much pushed me the whole session, and I was happy to sit behind him for a few of those reps
Young Josh Persson was funny though. I could tell he was running within himself on the first four 150's. On the fifth one on the back straight he put in a strong effort and I thought that was cool. On the last one, like the true hero that I am, I showed him the sort of effort he will need if he wants to try that sort of stuff on me. Left all comers in my mighty wake. What a man!
A relaxing beer or two afterwards than a couple glasses of red as we toasted Harold Steven's 80th birthday with a function at the track. All the children in bed after 9:30 and they were pretty ratty on the way home
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 4 kilometres including warm up and down
Wednesday, 14 May 2008
Ran into work today. Brian wanted me to do 45 minute run with 10 minute surge through the middle
Set off from home and like all the other runs to work recently it took a good 17 minutes for my feet to warm up and not feel like I was hitting the pavement with bare feet. Still not sure about those shoes
When it came to push time after 25 minutes, it was hard going at first but got easier once I'd worked my way into it. It started pretty much at Park Street (at Lygon Street), continued along Park Street, left into Royal Parade (alongside Princes Park) and I had got to the end of Princes Park (and 7 minutes into my run) when I hit a red traffic light. So that was the end of that
All up 45 minutes into work. Felt really good that night and might not be long before I started training twice a day a couple times a week
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 9 kilometres
Set off from home and like all the other runs to work recently it took a good 17 minutes for my feet to warm up and not feel like I was hitting the pavement with bare feet. Still not sure about those shoes
When it came to push time after 25 minutes, it was hard going at first but got easier once I'd worked my way into it. It started pretty much at Park Street (at Lygon Street), continued along Park Street, left into Royal Parade (alongside Princes Park) and I had got to the end of Princes Park (and 7 minutes into my run) when I hit a red traffic light. So that was the end of that
All up 45 minutes into work. Felt really good that night and might not be long before I started training twice a day a couple times a week
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 9 kilometres
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
Training at the track tonight was a 6 km time trial, which I was a bit surprised at and a little aggrieved considering I could have done that on the way to or from work
It is in preparation for Saturday's AV 10 km winter season round 3 race at Sandown
Did 3 km splits of 10:18 and 10:23 so hopefully that puts me in good stead for Saturday
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 7 kilometres including warm up and down
It is in preparation for Saturday's AV 10 km winter season round 3 race at Sandown
Did 3 km splits of 10:18 and 10:23 so hopefully that puts me in good stead for Saturday
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 7 kilometres including warm up and down
Monday, 12 May 2008
Long run home tonight from work. After last Monday's slip up with the timing I was better prepared this time around
Got to Princes Park where I did a complete loop, then did a little out and back to add what I thought was the extra time I needed
Got to St Georges Road and headed off down the Merri Creek bike path from there. Got to where I needed to turn off for the road home (about six minutes from my door) and I still needed to make up four minutes. A couple laps of the footy oval there and I was right
All up 75 minutes and it felt reasonably comfortable. Pleased with that
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 16 kilometres
Got to Princes Park where I did a complete loop, then did a little out and back to add what I thought was the extra time I needed
Got to St Georges Road and headed off down the Merri Creek bike path from there. Got to where I needed to turn off for the road home (about six minutes from my door) and I still needed to make up four minutes. A couple laps of the footy oval there and I was right
All up 75 minutes and it felt reasonably comfortable. Pleased with that
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 16 kilometres
Sunday, 11 May 2008
Rest day as mother's day today. Kylie's present from me was a sleep in. What a guy!
Went over to my mother's and took her out for lunch. We rather overspent at a little place on Canterbury Road. Then it was off to see Kylie's grandmother. Father and children were getting quite grump with each other at this late stage so off home we all went at 4:00 pm
Hamish fell asleep in the car close to home and he slept right through to the next morning
Went over to my mother's and took her out for lunch. We rather overspent at a little place on Canterbury Road. Then it was off to see Kylie's grandmother. Father and children were getting quite grump with each other at this late stage so off home we all went at 4:00 pm
Hamish fell asleep in the car close to home and he slept right through to the next morning
Saturday, 11 May 2008
My club hosted the Athletics Victoria All Schools Cross Country relays today, although it was more like an All Private Schools event. Very few government schools represented unfortunately - I think I counted too and even one of those was Melbourne High School
Afterwards we had a hill session and a tough one at that. We had to do three long hills at kodak hill, three medium length hills back closer to the track and then three short hills from the pylon
Philip ignored Brian's instruction and had everyone start a quarter way up the hill. Brian set the session out so that we were supposed to start at the bottom and work up for 200 metres. In the end Liam, Warren and I did the longer hill. My legs were feeling very heavy from the start and the last two reps were hurting quite a bit. Liam finished far stronger than I and he was ahead on the last two reps
Then we moved back to the hill at the back of the track outside the fence. Three of the longer ones and I seemed to go better on those and on the three smaller ones
To finish Brian wanted a 3 km warm down. Liam, Bernie Ledden and I turned that into a 3 km medium effort. Funny, as there was no talking for all of those 7.5 laps, just grim determination to finish
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 5.5 kilometres including warm up and down
Afterwards we had a hill session and a tough one at that. We had to do three long hills at kodak hill, three medium length hills back closer to the track and then three short hills from the pylon
Philip ignored Brian's instruction and had everyone start a quarter way up the hill. Brian set the session out so that we were supposed to start at the bottom and work up for 200 metres. In the end Liam, Warren and I did the longer hill. My legs were feeling very heavy from the start and the last two reps were hurting quite a bit. Liam finished far stronger than I and he was ahead on the last two reps
Then we moved back to the hill at the back of the track outside the fence. Three of the longer ones and I seemed to go better on those and on the three smaller ones
To finish Brian wanted a 3 km warm down. Liam, Bernie Ledden and I turned that into a 3 km medium effort. Funny, as there was no talking for all of those 7.5 laps, just grim determination to finish
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 5.5 kilometres including warm up and down
Friday, 10 May 2008
Woke up feeling very sore and sorry for myself this morning after last night's session
Helped Kylie drop older child off at Kinder, then it was a thirty minute run towards work. Took me ages to get into the run and only in the last ten minutes or so did I feel comfortable
Followed the Upfield bike path from Batman station (on Gaffney Street), and a nice straight run to where I finished just outside the zoo
Although I got to work quite late, it was nice to start off the day with a run and not have to stress about what time I am leaving for home
TOTAL DISTANCE = about six kilometres
Helped Kylie drop older child off at Kinder, then it was a thirty minute run towards work. Took me ages to get into the run and only in the last ten minutes or so did I feel comfortable
Followed the Upfield bike path from Batman station (on Gaffney Street), and a nice straight run to where I finished just outside the zoo
Although I got to work quite late, it was nice to start off the day with a run and not have to stress about what time I am leaving for home
TOTAL DISTANCE = about six kilometres
Monday, May 19, 2008
Thursday, 9 May 2008
Training with Brian tonight at the track
Main set was reasonably tough. Funny, as when Brian was describing the session to the group there were loud moans and groans. Surprising, as we'd done a session similar to this a few weeks ago
It called for 200 metres easy, 200 metres medium, 200 metres hard with walk across infield recovery. To do seven times. My were remarkably consistent at just a touch under 2 minutes for each rep.
Unfortunately Josh Persson was all over the joint, wanting to run faster or keep up with me. His first four were okay, but he must have thought he felt good on the fifth one and wanted to push the easy part of that set. I finished a bit ahead of him. The sizth one was better, but again on the last one, he wanted to push the easy part. I was way ahead at the finish, which was really disappointing for him as you have to question what benefot he got from the session. Had a chat to him afterwards and will send him an email tomorrow
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 6 kilometres including warm up and down
Main set was reasonably tough. Funny, as when Brian was describing the session to the group there were loud moans and groans. Surprising, as we'd done a session similar to this a few weeks ago
It called for 200 metres easy, 200 metres medium, 200 metres hard with walk across infield recovery. To do seven times. My were remarkably consistent at just a touch under 2 minutes for each rep.
Unfortunately Josh Persson was all over the joint, wanting to run faster or keep up with me. His first four were okay, but he must have thought he felt good on the fifth one and wanted to push the easy part of that set. I finished a bit ahead of him. The sizth one was better, but again on the last one, he wanted to push the easy part. I was way ahead at the finish, which was really disappointing for him as you have to question what benefot he got from the session. Had a chat to him afterwards and will send him an email tomorrow
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 6 kilometres including warm up and down
Wednesday, 7 May 2008
Am certainly looking forward to returning to the traing track tomorrow night. Third day in a row today of running home from work
Thought that given I had missed out on a track session yesterday, that today I should try to push things a bit, so did a 30 minute fartlek. After running easy - medium for 15 minutes, the last 15 minutes I did long surges (about 500 metres), with only short recoveries of about 200 metres. In all, there were about five of these
Hopped on the tram the rest of the way home
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 7 kilometres
Thought that given I had missed out on a track session yesterday, that today I should try to push things a bit, so did a 30 minute fartlek. After running easy - medium for 15 minutes, the last 15 minutes I did long surges (about 500 metres), with only short recoveries of about 200 metres. In all, there were about five of these
Hopped on the tram the rest of the way home
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 7 kilometres
Tuesday, 6 May 2008
Kyle had yet another meeting to get to tonight, so decided to run home from work
All up a 45 minute run
TOTAL DISTANCE = about nine kilometres
All up a 45 minute run
TOTAL DISTANCE = about nine kilometres
Monday, 5 May 2008
Long slow run home from work today and on the clock as Kylie had a meeting to go to, for which she had to leave home at 7:00 pm. This slow run is the start of a long journey up to a couple of 2 hour slow runs in August in preparation for the Burnley half marathon
Today's run was supposed to be sixty-five minutes. Usually I would run on the Merri Creek bike path south towards the city once I had reached St George's Road as a little out and back loop to add the extra time to what is usually a 55 minute run when taking the Merri Creek bike path from the same point direct to home
Today, I decided to do a lap of Princes Park as the extra loop and that seemed to work quite well, so might do that again in future. Unfortunately, the closer I got to home I realised that I would struggle to get there by 7:00 pm, so had to push the last three kilometres or so. Even with that, I ended up doing a 70 minute run so was out with the run length as well.
Oh well, with my plan which worked out well last year of increasing the time by 5 mins per week, I guess I am one week advanced in my Half Marathon prep
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 15 kilometres
Today's run was supposed to be sixty-five minutes. Usually I would run on the Merri Creek bike path south towards the city once I had reached St George's Road as a little out and back loop to add the extra time to what is usually a 55 minute run when taking the Merri Creek bike path from the same point direct to home
Today, I decided to do a lap of Princes Park as the extra loop and that seemed to work quite well, so might do that again in future. Unfortunately, the closer I got to home I realised that I would struggle to get there by 7:00 pm, so had to push the last three kilometres or so. Even with that, I ended up doing a 70 minute run so was out with the run length as well.
Oh well, with my plan which worked out well last year of increasing the time by 5 mins per week, I guess I am one week advanced in my Half Marathon prep
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 15 kilometres
Sunday, 4 May 2008
Rest day today
We went over to my mother Catherine's house for lunch as Hamish stayed there for the weekend. And as usual, whenever we need to go somewhere for lunch is when one of my children decide they want to have a long sleep for the morning nap
Very nice lunch at Catherine's, although neither of the children really wanted to eat that much. Watched a bit of Doctor Who and then it was off home. The first of longer slow distance runs for the season tomorrow
We went over to my mother Catherine's house for lunch as Hamish stayed there for the weekend. And as usual, whenever we need to go somewhere for lunch is when one of my children decide they want to have a long sleep for the morning nap
Very nice lunch at Catherine's, although neither of the children really wanted to eat that much. Watched a bit of Doctor Who and then it was off home. The first of longer slow distance runs for the season tomorrow
Saturday, 3 May - AV XCR08 Round 2
Well today was a comedy errors and no mistake!
First off, we were very late leaving because I kinda mis-judged how long it would take us to get there and dawdles throughout the morning without giving any thought to the time
The, because I had run to work yesterday some of my gear was there - including phone and running shoes so we had to stop in the city on the way through to Warragul
We get onto the South Eastern and they are doing road works, so it's 80 km/hour pretty much all the way through to near the Dandenong turn off
So we are approaching Drouin (where the run is take place, but everyone calls the race "Warragul" for some reason) and I realise I had left the directions at work. So have to get onto the blower where luckily Dan Norris is actually carrying his mobile. So he gives us awesome directions
End result - we get there with ten minutes to spare. Phew!!
The actual run was pretty much as I expected having done this in 2004 - one of my first AV winter runs. Very hard hill, which I nicknamed "Anderson Street" virtually right from the very start then a welcome little bit of downhill before you meander your way slowly uphill for about 500 metres and hit a gate, which you have to steeple.
Then a little bit more downhill and a series of ditches you have to jump over. Then a sharp uphill section which both laps i figured not try to attack it but just get the knees high and "bounce" up it. Then a welcome flat stretch before a little uphill, more flat then at the top of the course a long downhill bit before sweepting to a hard right and almost smashing ones body into some fencing. Have successfully avoided that, you run throough to the finish and repeat
I didn't feel that good from the get go and just tried to muddle my way through the race. By the end, I was just happy to get over the line and a time of 29:50 odd for the 8 km probably indicates how underwhelmed I was in my performance. When does track season start?
Afterwards a few of us went back to the clubrooms and we went out for dinner. The highlight of the day being that the unlicensed halal venue said it was okay for us to nip around to the bottle shop and scull beers at the table
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 9 kilometres including warm down
First off, we were very late leaving because I kinda mis-judged how long it would take us to get there and dawdles throughout the morning without giving any thought to the time
The, because I had run to work yesterday some of my gear was there - including phone and running shoes so we had to stop in the city on the way through to Warragul
We get onto the South Eastern and they are doing road works, so it's 80 km/hour pretty much all the way through to near the Dandenong turn off
So we are approaching Drouin (where the run is take place, but everyone calls the race "Warragul" for some reason) and I realise I had left the directions at work. So have to get onto the blower where luckily Dan Norris is actually carrying his mobile. So he gives us awesome directions
End result - we get there with ten minutes to spare. Phew!!
The actual run was pretty much as I expected having done this in 2004 - one of my first AV winter runs. Very hard hill, which I nicknamed "Anderson Street" virtually right from the very start then a welcome little bit of downhill before you meander your way slowly uphill for about 500 metres and hit a gate, which you have to steeple.
Then a little bit more downhill and a series of ditches you have to jump over. Then a sharp uphill section which both laps i figured not try to attack it but just get the knees high and "bounce" up it. Then a welcome flat stretch before a little uphill, more flat then at the top of the course a long downhill bit before sweepting to a hard right and almost smashing ones body into some fencing. Have successfully avoided that, you run throough to the finish and repeat
I didn't feel that good from the get go and just tried to muddle my way through the race. By the end, I was just happy to get over the line and a time of 29:50 odd for the 8 km probably indicates how underwhelmed I was in my performance. When does track season start?
Afterwards a few of us went back to the clubrooms and we went out for dinner. The highlight of the day being that the unlicensed halal venue said it was okay for us to nip around to the bottle shop and scull beers at the table
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 9 kilometres including warm down
Friday, 2 May 2008
First time ever (I think) I have done this but today I ran even though I have an AV race tomorrow
Did an easy 45 mins into work. Was a little bit cold and took a while for my feet to warm up. I noticed that I could really feel the pounding on the soles of my feet against the bike path and beginning to wonder if my shoes are right and perhaps not defective on the gel cushion
Nevertheless, once warmed up was okay and felt in good shape afterwards and hopefully that's a good sign for tomorrow
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 9 kilometres
Did an easy 45 mins into work. Was a little bit cold and took a while for my feet to warm up. I noticed that I could really feel the pounding on the soles of my feet against the bike path and beginning to wonder if my shoes are right and perhaps not defective on the gel cushion
Nevertheless, once warmed up was okay and felt in good shape afterwards and hopefully that's a good sign for tomorrow
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 9 kilometres
Thursday, 1 May 2008
Couldn't get to training tonight, as Kylie had to go to a Committee Meeting to go to
Instead, I decided to do a half hour run to the child care centre where I would help Kylie in picking up the children
I was very late leaving work, and only left myself about 40 minutes to get there. So in the end it was a pretty solid fartlek session around the back of the Vic Market, up to the top of Elizabeth Street, then along Royal Parade and straight up Sydney Road to the child care centre just past Moreland Road. Made it with four minutes to spare and was very pleased with myself
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 6.5 kilometres
Instead, I decided to do a half hour run to the child care centre where I would help Kylie in picking up the children
I was very late leaving work, and only left myself about 40 minutes to get there. So in the end it was a pretty solid fartlek session around the back of the Vic Market, up to the top of Elizabeth Street, then along Royal Parade and straight up Sydney Road to the child care centre just past Moreland Road. Made it with four minutes to spare and was very pleased with myself
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 6.5 kilometres
Wednesday, 30 April 2008
Foot was still pretty sore when I got up this morning, but not so that I could not run. Still, I thought it best to rest it, especially ahead of AV Round 2 at Warragul this weekend
Tuesday, 29 April 2008
Training at the track tonight and a relatively easy night. After foot problems the last two weeks, tonight things took an ominous turn. Again, during the warm up I felt pain in my left foot, only this was a pin prick type pain on the side of my foot. Gonna have to monitor that one closely
Anyhoo, after the usual warm ups, we had to do a 2 km effort surging the straights and floating the bends
Then the instruction was a medium 1 km effort, and a hard 1 km effort to finish off. I was very cranky with myself for ripping out a 3:12 on what was supposed to be the "medium" effort
As a result, I had to work pretty hard on the hard effort and managed a 2:59 so very pleased with that
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 5 kilometres including warm up and down
Anyhoo, after the usual warm ups, we had to do a 2 km effort surging the straights and floating the bends
Then the instruction was a medium 1 km effort, and a hard 1 km effort to finish off. I was very cranky with myself for ripping out a 3:12 on what was supposed to be the "medium" effort
As a result, I had to work pretty hard on the hard effort and managed a 2:59 so very pleased with that
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 5 kilometres including warm up and down
Monday, 28 April 2008
Long slow distance run home from work today
Felt pretty good for most of it, although about 10 mins from home it suddently got very chilly and it started to rain. Very, very cold and a sign of things to come. I seem to remember last Autumn was much colder at night than winter turned out to be
TOTAL DISTANCE = about nine kilometres
Felt pretty good for most of it, although about 10 mins from home it suddently got very chilly and it started to rain. Very, very cold and a sign of things to come. I seem to remember last Autumn was much colder at night than winter turned out to be
TOTAL DISTANCE = about nine kilometres
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Sunday, 27 April - Open Day
It was Coburg Harriers Open Day today where we invited people from our fun run database to see what running at an athletics club was all about. We had six people turn up and three good prospects for the club
We did the usual warm up and then five of the six elected to do the track session, while the rest of us - as there were a couple of club members - did a pack run
The instruction was 3 km out easy and then back at quicker pace. Felt pretty good for most of that and joined in the last half set of the other guys sessions. Some interesting characters in the bunch and will be interesting to see how that develops
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 7.5 kilometres including warm up and down
We did the usual warm up and then five of the six elected to do the track session, while the rest of us - as there were a couple of club members - did a pack run
The instruction was 3 km out easy and then back at quicker pace. Felt pretty good for most of that and joined in the last half set of the other guys sessions. Some interesting characters in the bunch and will be interesting to see how that develops
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 7.5 kilometres including warm up and down
Saturday, 26 April 2008
Went for a long slow run today. Wanted to go for an hour and did so. I started mid-way through the 10 km handicap race and guess I should have let people know what I was doing. Some vert startled athletes who thought that I had caught them up already
The race was won by 12 year old Leah Polycarpou who the handicapper thought was doing 5 km, even though Brian had told her only to do 3 km. So she ran her 3 km with a 5 km handicap. Little wonder she dominated. Oopsies!
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 13 kilometres
The race was won by 12 year old Leah Polycarpou who the handicapper thought was doing 5 km, even though Brian had told her only to do 3 km. So she ran her 3 km with a 5 km handicap. Little wonder she dominated. Oopsies!
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 13 kilometres
Friday, 25 April 2008
Rest Day Today ahead of club's 10 km Westerfold's Park run tomorrow afternoon. Haven't done a longer run for a wee while, so might use that as my LSD for the week, particularly given Sunday is the club's Open Day that we are holding for people on our fun run database
Thursday, 24 April 2008
Interesting session today with Brian. He set out a circuit through the grassy infield and we were to run that, move onto the track to do a lap and then back through that infield circuit
We had to do five of those in lots of three minutes with two minutes slow jog recovery
Enjoyed an ale or five in the clubrooms afterwards. Might be my turn to buy the next slab
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 4.5 kilometres including warm up and down
We had to do five of those in lots of three minutes with two minutes slow jog recovery
Enjoyed an ale or five in the clubrooms afterwards. Might be my turn to buy the next slab
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 4.5 kilometres including warm up and down
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
Very easy 30 minute run today from work to St Georges Road via Princes Park and Park Street. Hopped on the tram for the rest of the journey, which is only marginally quicker than if I had actually run the rest of the way
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 6 kilometres
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 6 kilometres
Tuesday, 22 April 2008
Training with Brian today
We had to do 6 x 600's with jog across infield recovery for first three, walk across for last three
Not sure the timings on them, but felt pretty good for most of them
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 4.5 kilometres including warm up and down
We had to do 6 x 600's with jog across infield recovery for first three, walk across for last three
Not sure the timings on them, but felt pretty good for most of them
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 4.5 kilometres including warm up and down
Monday, 21 April 2008
Long slow run home tonight. Took 46 minutes all up and the foot felt pretty good
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 9 kilometres
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 9 kilometres
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Sunday, 20 April 2008
Rest day today. Couldn't go for a run anyway as wanting to rest foot which actually felt better today after running yesterday than it did after the rest day on Friday. Go figure
Also couldn't get out for run as had to assist at the Coburg 24 Hour Ultra Carnival. Saw a woman complete the last of her 180 kilometre to qualify for the Australian squad. She was only supposed to do 12 hours but asked if she could keep going for 24!
Pub afterwards where all the overnighters were falling asleep at the table - Mark, Brian and Kylie
Also couldn't get out for run as had to assist at the Coburg 24 Hour Ultra Carnival. Saw a woman complete the last of her 180 kilometre to qualify for the Australian squad. She was only supposed to do 12 hours but asked if she could keep going for 24!
Pub afterwards where all the overnighters were falling asleep at the table - Mark, Brian and Kylie
Saturday, 19 April 2008
First round of the AV winter season today, re-branded as the AV XCR08 series
Bit of an issue in the warm up in that my foot was so sore, i could only do a couple minutes warm up before I gave up. Was confident however that I could get through the actual race okay
I was first off for my team and my run went pretty much as I expected. Very tough going with all the hills and the zig-zagging around the park. Went through the first 3 km lap in 10:13 and was doing it hard, with the prospect of a repeat of all those hills
On the second lap, although I wasn't feeling that good I seemed to pick up a couple of runners so that was pleasing although I did have a touch of tunnel vision where I only realised this much later, having been so focused on getting through the run
Second lap was 10:36 so not a bad blow out considering and actually thought it would be much worse. It was 20 seconds quicker than last year and is now also the Coburg Harriers course record, having knocked off Shane's time from last year. One down, Bundoora and Sandown Relay's to go
Highlight of the day was seeing Craig Mottram run for Geelong Region. He took the best time on the course for the day and beat it by a minute. What a legend! Got one of my minions to go get his autograph in the course of getting her own from Buster
TOTAL DISTANCE = 7 kilometres (including aborted warm up and down)
Bit of an issue in the warm up in that my foot was so sore, i could only do a couple minutes warm up before I gave up. Was confident however that I could get through the actual race okay
I was first off for my team and my run went pretty much as I expected. Very tough going with all the hills and the zig-zagging around the park. Went through the first 3 km lap in 10:13 and was doing it hard, with the prospect of a repeat of all those hills
On the second lap, although I wasn't feeling that good I seemed to pick up a couple of runners so that was pleasing although I did have a touch of tunnel vision where I only realised this much later, having been so focused on getting through the run
Second lap was 10:36 so not a bad blow out considering and actually thought it would be much worse. It was 20 seconds quicker than last year and is now also the Coburg Harriers course record, having knocked off Shane's time from last year. One down, Bundoora and Sandown Relay's to go
Highlight of the day was seeing Craig Mottram run for Geelong Region. He took the best time on the course for the day and beat it by a minute. What a legend! Got one of my minions to go get his autograph in the course of getting her own from Buster
TOTAL DISTANCE = 7 kilometres (including aborted warm up and down)
Friday, 18 April 2008
Rest day today, which is just as well as woke up with very sore foot. Not good. Have had something like this a few years ago and will require a few physio sessions to get right. Just an annoying soft tissue niggle
Went to pub after work to drown sorrows
Went to pub after work to drown sorrows
Thursday, 17 April 2008
Traning with Brian today and a session for the winter season with solely infield circuit work
We had to do this little meandering circuit from the 1500 metre start running one long side to the other, u turn around the discus cage, back towards the start, turn right, then up the short side, turn right again, run the long side on the other side, then u turn around the sand pit to the finish at the start line (so opposite where we started). About a 300 metre circuit in all with 100 metre slow jog recovery
I had an issue though in that through the warm up I noticed my foot was a bit sore. It seemed to come good for the main set, but was a bit sore again afterwards. Hopefully a good night's sleep and I'll be right tomorrow ahead of Saturday opening AV winter round
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 3 kilometres including warm up
We had to do this little meandering circuit from the 1500 metre start running one long side to the other, u turn around the discus cage, back towards the start, turn right, then up the short side, turn right again, run the long side on the other side, then u turn around the sand pit to the finish at the start line (so opposite where we started). About a 300 metre circuit in all with 100 metre slow jog recovery
I had an issue though in that through the warm up I noticed my foot was a bit sore. It seemed to come good for the main set, but was a bit sore again afterwards. Hopefully a good night's sleep and I'll be right tomorrow ahead of Saturday opening AV winter round
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 3 kilometres including warm up
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Training with Brian today. Interesting little session for various reasons, not the least of which was that it was a reasonably light session but at good intensity
We had to do a 2 km run, 1 km run and a 500 metre runs. Very good recovery between each
Forget how much I did each one in. Pretty sure the 1 km effort was 3:02 or something similar. Very amusing in the 500 in that the two Josh's set themselves to sprint it out. I figured that I wouldn't have the speed to go with them, so just sat off the back for the first 300 metres. With 200 to go I noticed Josh Persson start to drop off and I passed him. Then macho pride started to take over and I figured I could drop the other Josh as well. Got him with 100 metres to go and powered home
The time was pretty good, considering Brian brought us up about 15 metres from where he had had us do 500's for the last 4 years. Evidently the last four years whenever we had done 500's, they were always long. Would explain a few things
TOTAL DISTANCE = 4.5 including warm up and down
We had to do a 2 km run, 1 km run and a 500 metre runs. Very good recovery between each
Forget how much I did each one in. Pretty sure the 1 km effort was 3:02 or something similar. Very amusing in the 500 in that the two Josh's set themselves to sprint it out. I figured that I wouldn't have the speed to go with them, so just sat off the back for the first 300 metres. With 200 to go I noticed Josh Persson start to drop off and I passed him. Then macho pride started to take over and I figured I could drop the other Josh as well. Got him with 100 metres to go and powered home
The time was pretty good, considering Brian brought us up about 15 metres from where he had had us do 500's for the last 4 years. Evidently the last four years whenever we had done 500's, they were always long. Would explain a few things
TOTAL DISTANCE = 4.5 including warm up and down
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Sunday, 13 April 2008
Rest Day today - decided not to go for a run after all
We had to go over to Kylie's mothers flat to assist with moving stuff so didn't have time in the morning. Come the afternoon everyone was really tired so we went home. Might run home from work tomorrow. Can you tell how high my motivation factor is right now?
We had to go over to Kylie's mothers flat to assist with moving stuff so didn't have time in the morning. Come the afternoon everyone was really tired so we went home. Might run home from work tomorrow. Can you tell how high my motivation factor is right now?
Saturday, 12 April 2008
Rest Day today, well of sorts.
Hopped on the scales this morning to find that yesterday's excursion with junk food had me put on a kilo. oopsie
Went down to Little Aths this morning to assist with their cross country day. Did up some great flyers last night and while I was waiting for them to finish printing I hopped ontot he Little Aths website to see when their cross country ones were on
Well ... bugger me if all their competition dates co-incided with runs on the AV calendar. What a shocker! So no Little Aths available to run for the club this winter. Deplorable situation
I got roped in to being the "hare" for a couple of the runs, which were only 1500 metres - 2000 metres in length. I under-estimated how hard they go at the start and really had to work at getting away from a couple of 11 and 12 year olds. how embarrassing
Anyway, good time had by all and it was off shopping in Coburg before a restful afternoon at home - as much as you can with three children. Might go for a long run tomorrow. might not
TOTAL DISTANCE (however unintended) = 3 kilometres
Hopped on the scales this morning to find that yesterday's excursion with junk food had me put on a kilo. oopsie
Went down to Little Aths this morning to assist with their cross country day. Did up some great flyers last night and while I was waiting for them to finish printing I hopped ontot he Little Aths website to see when their cross country ones were on
Well ... bugger me if all their competition dates co-incided with runs on the AV calendar. What a shocker! So no Little Aths available to run for the club this winter. Deplorable situation
I got roped in to being the "hare" for a couple of the runs, which were only 1500 metres - 2000 metres in length. I under-estimated how hard they go at the start and really had to work at getting away from a couple of 11 and 12 year olds. how embarrassing
Anyway, good time had by all and it was off shopping in Coburg before a restful afternoon at home - as much as you can with three children. Might go for a long run tomorrow. might not
TOTAL DISTANCE (however unintended) = 3 kilometres
Friday, April 11, 2008
Friday, 11 April 2008
Another rest day today, although the body feels alright. This time next week I may well be running to work
Decided to treat my body to some real good junk food so had a classic bacon and egg sandwich - heavy on the bacon - for breakfast, and a chicken schnitzel, cheese and coleslaw roll for lunch. Its going to be a long winter season and plenty of time to shed any excess kilo's this might put on
Gave RunJaneRun a call on the way home and she seems fine altough very sore. Poor thing, she's unco enough in normal situations without having to deal with submerged objects in the dark. A bit rough? Her night out stories are peppered with feeling over here or falling over there and I know she won't mind me saying this. So to cop bad luck like this after all she's been through with her injuries really suck. Perhaps she was a really nasty person in a former life? That karma monster will get you every time
TOTAL DISTANCE = tram stop to bottle shop and off home
Decided to treat my body to some real good junk food so had a classic bacon and egg sandwich - heavy on the bacon - for breakfast, and a chicken schnitzel, cheese and coleslaw roll for lunch. Its going to be a long winter season and plenty of time to shed any excess kilo's this might put on
Gave RunJaneRun a call on the way home and she seems fine altough very sore. Poor thing, she's unco enough in normal situations without having to deal with submerged objects in the dark. A bit rough? Her night out stories are peppered with feeling over here or falling over there and I know she won't mind me saying this. So to cop bad luck like this after all she's been through with her injuries really suck. Perhaps she was a really nasty person in a former life? That karma monster will get you every time
TOTAL DISTANCE = tram stop to bottle shop and off home
Thursday, 10 April 2008
Absolutely wrecked today, so much so that gave a moments consideration to not training. Whole body was drained of energy this morning and throughout most of the day. Kylie was doing it much harder though surviving just on caffeine
I had to pick up Hamish from child care her I would take him to the track until Kylie could pick him up. He was such a good boy and played quietly while I trained until Chris Harrap's children Nicholas and Patrick showed up
Session tonight was 4 x 1 km efforts with 200 metre walk recovery between each one. I decided that there was no point going hard with 3 min efforts if all I was going to do all winter was 3:20 - 3:30's at the fastest. So decided to try for 3:20 and work down from there
Blew that plan out of the water with 3:11 on the first rep, although pleasingly the next reps were all quicker - 3:09, 3:05 and 3:02. Happy with that but not sure its the sort of pacing I need to do for the winter season
New guy Liam Magee had an excellent session after 15 years out from being a very good runner at High School. He was just behind me and will be one to watch - six months from now he may well have mantle of best Coburg runner and that would be awesome. Someone to push with
Just before we began training a friend of ours RunJaneRun decided to run on the grassy surrounds outside the track. She said if she was not back in 40 minutes, send out a search party. Well we finished our session and it was like 7:35 pm and we were kinda concerned we had not seen her back yet. I should have checked my phone as at 7:20 pm RJR had left a message to say she was at hospital!! She badly gashed her knee in a story that only she can tell - check it out : http://jojo-runjanerun.blogspot.com/
Anyhoo, Kylie stayed on the track with the children, so had several beers, and it was off home to tuck the kidlets in bed. Amelia seemed cherry ripe today although you could tell she was slightly off. Still, amazing turnaround from last night's very sick and sorry child
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 5.5 kilometres
I had to pick up Hamish from child care her I would take him to the track until Kylie could pick him up. He was such a good boy and played quietly while I trained until Chris Harrap's children Nicholas and Patrick showed up
Session tonight was 4 x 1 km efforts with 200 metre walk recovery between each one. I decided that there was no point going hard with 3 min efforts if all I was going to do all winter was 3:20 - 3:30's at the fastest. So decided to try for 3:20 and work down from there
Blew that plan out of the water with 3:11 on the first rep, although pleasingly the next reps were all quicker - 3:09, 3:05 and 3:02. Happy with that but not sure its the sort of pacing I need to do for the winter season
New guy Liam Magee had an excellent session after 15 years out from being a very good runner at High School. He was just behind me and will be one to watch - six months from now he may well have mantle of best Coburg runner and that would be awesome. Someone to push with
Just before we began training a friend of ours RunJaneRun decided to run on the grassy surrounds outside the track. She said if she was not back in 40 minutes, send out a search party. Well we finished our session and it was like 7:35 pm and we were kinda concerned we had not seen her back yet. I should have checked my phone as at 7:20 pm RJR had left a message to say she was at hospital!! She badly gashed her knee in a story that only she can tell - check it out : http://jojo-runjanerun.blogspot.com/
Anyhoo, Kylie stayed on the track with the children, so had several beers, and it was off home to tuck the kidlets in bed. Amelia seemed cherry ripe today although you could tell she was slightly off. Still, amazing turnaround from last night's very sick and sorry child
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 5.5 kilometres
Wednesday, 9 April 2008
Rest day today. Part of that whole easing myself back in
Kylie had a meeting to get to tonight, so I looked after the children once I got home from work. They seemed fine although Amelia was a little cranky so I put her down early. Read Hamish a story then put him down a little earlier
Amelia kept on waking up and crying every half hour. Managed to cuddle her back to sleep at one point, and she slept another 40 minutes. She woke up again at 10:20 pm just as Kylie got home. We called the night nurse hotline and they suggested it would be safer if we took her to the hospital for a look over. That was at 11:15 pm
So poor Kylie was at the hospital until 4:30 am where they diagnosed her with an ear infection
Training tomorrow is going to be fun but poor Kylie is going to have a tough day of things, being so tired and having to do a few hours at work to finish off the business BAS statement
Kylie had a meeting to get to tonight, so I looked after the children once I got home from work. They seemed fine although Amelia was a little cranky so I put her down early. Read Hamish a story then put him down a little earlier
Amelia kept on waking up and crying every half hour. Managed to cuddle her back to sleep at one point, and she slept another 40 minutes. She woke up again at 10:20 pm just as Kylie got home. We called the night nurse hotline and they suggested it would be safer if we took her to the hospital for a look over. That was at 11:15 pm
So poor Kylie was at the hospital until 4:30 am where they diagnosed her with an ear infection
Training tomorrow is going to be fun but poor Kylie is going to have a tough day of things, being so tired and having to do a few hours at work to finish off the business BAS statement
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Tuesday, 8 April 2008
Run home from work tonight
Got that familiar soreness that you get after a tough session when you haven't done one for a while. Sore all over
Decent pace on the run tonight, but decided I wanted to ease myself into full training so just did 30 minutes
Ate dinner with the children and put them to bed as Kylie left as soon as I got home to go to a meeting
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 7 kilometres
Got that familiar soreness that you get after a tough session when you haven't done one for a while. Sore all over
Decent pace on the run tonight, but decided I wanted to ease myself into full training so just did 30 minutes
Ate dinner with the children and put them to bed as Kylie left as soon as I got home to go to a meeting
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 7 kilometres
Monday, 7 April 2008
Had a meeting at Aberfeldie tonight so posted a letter off to RunJaneRun and then left work to head off to Essendon for a track session devised by Brian
The session called for 3 sets of 5 x 300's with 100 m job between each effort and 5 mins between the sets. Was running short on time so only had 4 mins break between 1 and 2 and 4.5 minbs break before set 3
Not sure what I was doing the first set in becuase i set off with the 300 first only to find the 300 is not marked on the track like at Coburg! doh!! But in set's two and three I started off the 100 jog recovery and started at the 1500 metre start with the finish on the finish line
Very pleased to run through each of those at 53 seconds each, with barely a second in deviation. Last one I pumped out in 51 seconds. Very pleased with myself but with it having been two weeks essentially since my last real competition run, I should be able to pump out good 300's with such fresh legs
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 6.5 kilometres including warm up and down
The session called for 3 sets of 5 x 300's with 100 m job between each effort and 5 mins between the sets. Was running short on time so only had 4 mins break between 1 and 2 and 4.5 minbs break before set 3
Not sure what I was doing the first set in becuase i set off with the 300 first only to find the 300 is not marked on the track like at Coburg! doh!! But in set's two and three I started off the 100 jog recovery and started at the 1500 metre start with the finish on the finish line
Very pleased to run through each of those at 53 seconds each, with barely a second in deviation. Last one I pumped out in 51 seconds. Very pleased with myself but with it having been two weeks essentially since my last real competition run, I should be able to pump out good 300's with such fresh legs
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 6.5 kilometres including warm up and down
Monday, 31 March 2008
Rest Day Today. The second and last week of my summer season break. No more running until next week, so will start blogging again then
Sunday, 30 March 2008
Rest Day
Today was the club's 6 Hour Track Race. I stupidly asked Mark for a lift and he picked me up at 6:50 am. Helped set up and after the race starred at 9:00 am did some recording for 2 hours before taking a break to look after the children
Took over the race call with two hours to go and had a bit of fun with the microphone as I always do
We went out to the pub for dinner that night with the 24 Hour Organising Crew - all the usual suspects : Chris & Deb, Brian & Jo, Mark & Charlotte - and we got home at 9:00 pm after being pretty much out all day. So no chance of a run, even if I had wanted to
Today was the club's 6 Hour Track Race. I stupidly asked Mark for a lift and he picked me up at 6:50 am. Helped set up and after the race starred at 9:00 am did some recording for 2 hours before taking a break to look after the children
Took over the race call with two hours to go and had a bit of fun with the microphone as I always do
We went out to the pub for dinner that night with the 24 Hour Organising Crew - all the usual suspects : Chris & Deb, Brian & Jo, Mark & Charlotte - and we got home at 9:00 pm after being pretty much out all day. So no chance of a run, even if I had wanted to
Saturday, 29 March 2008
First run of the club's 2008 winter calendar today with the club's AGM to be held afterwards. Had been waiting for this day for over six months, since I made the decision to have a stab at becoming President
As for the run, well our winter captain wasn't there so it was up to me to announce the vourse and at 2:00 pm off we went. We had a couple of new fellows with us in Wes and Liam Magee and the return of marathon specialist Sam Tabit. Last year he ran 3:13 for the marathon, so hopefully he will give our top team a bit of grunt
My job was to take the fast group and unfortunately I went out too fast, although that wasn't apparent until I had got about 1 km in. Had to stop to go to the loo after 10 mins in and spent the rest of the first half of the event catching up to the lead runners. Managed to overtake Liam at the half way point and lead the rest of the way to the finish but there was only 300 metres in it, so look for big things from Liam. And Sam Tabit came home third so a very promising beginning to the winter. I was absolutely rooted afterwards and yet again I did not take this as easily as I should have. Stupid really, becuase all week I had been saying I was going to treat this as an easy run
What was disappointing was the reasonably small turn up for the first winter race of the season. And that meant not as many AV forms submitted as last year. Hopefully numbers will pick up a bit as we near the season start in two weeks
The AGM was an absolute bust. No-one nominated me for President so Kylie rescued me and then there was this huge pause as everyone looked around, but no-one seconded. Luckily someone finally came to my second rescue. I was up against Mark Kelly and he won convincingly. So I lick my wounds until next year and thank the six people who did vote for me - it was a secret ballot but I found out later who my real friends were
TOTAL DISTANCE = 6.5 kilometres
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Friday, 28 March 2008
Rest day again today
Scored an awesome coupla hours at the pub after work with Kylie at her aunity's with the children
Stopped off on the way home to get her some bourbon and went to this pub that is all pokies and TAB with nothing else to offer. What a shocker!
Scored an awesome coupla hours at the pub after work with Kylie at her aunity's with the children
Stopped off on the way home to get her some bourbon and went to this pub that is all pokies and TAB with nothing else to offer. What a shocker!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Thursday, 27 March 2008
Rest day
Went to training today if only to watch. They had the same session as me last Thursday, except that they were doing 1 easy, 1 medium, 1 hard x 1 km time trial. Josh and Luong did 3:02 for their last 1 km effort. I think the young lad will be one to watch this winter
The children and I had fish n' chips for dinner
Went to training today if only to watch. They had the same session as me last Thursday, except that they were doing 1 easy, 1 medium, 1 hard x 1 km time trial. Josh and Luong did 3:02 for their last 1 km effort. I think the young lad will be one to watch this winter
The children and I had fish n' chips for dinner
Wednesday, 26 March 2008
Rest Day
Last committee meeting for the 2007 committee ahead of our 2008 AGM on Saturday
Last committee meeting for the 2007 committee ahead of our 2008 AGM on Saturday
Tuesday, 25 March 2008
Time for some time off - Rest day today
Kinda - went to the park with the children, and Charlotte's children. A pleasant afternoon followed by pizza for dinner. Tasty!
Kinda - went to the park with the children, and Charlotte's children. A pleasant afternoon followed by pizza for dinner. Tasty!
Monday, 24 March 2008 - Stawell Gift Day 3
While this was "Finals" day at the Stawell Gift the only thing on my mind was the two mile race
After my usual warm up, I lined up next to a veteran of pro running Greg Barton. As is usual in pro running, my competitor was going to snub me - so I shook his hand instead and wished him the best of luck
The race had a big field of thirty runners with some real quality. I started off far too quick and went through the first lap in 72 seconds. I know this because some naughty person was calling out lap ratings on the bend. Was feeling like I was pushing the pace hard and 75 second laps through the next two was a pretty good indication
Neverthrless, this tactic of a hard start was paying off - I was working in with my fellow starter Greg Barton and together we were about to overhaul the last two frontmarkers and take the lead. This was just as we were starting our fourth lap. Suddenly I was going head over heals and some prick had tripped me up from behind. I rolled over on the ground and one of my shoes had fallen off. I was thnking get my shoes back on before I wiselyt decided instead to rip the other one off and continue running
I had no idea where I was now placed in the field, assuming I was middle of the race. Just tried to finish off as best I could and 200 metres out from home I could see there weren't that many in front me. So I somehow found this kick that I hadn't had all season and past two runners to finish in sixth place and take home $80
Given it was my last run for the season, I indulged myself in a couple of VB's and a meat pie afterwards
A steak sandwich for dinner and once the children were settled, I skived off to the Stawell Gift Hotel for a couple of stubbies,. Stumbled in the motel door around midnight
And thus ends my summer season
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 7 kilometres
After my usual warm up, I lined up next to a veteran of pro running Greg Barton. As is usual in pro running, my competitor was going to snub me - so I shook his hand instead and wished him the best of luck
The race had a big field of thirty runners with some real quality. I started off far too quick and went through the first lap in 72 seconds. I know this because some naughty person was calling out lap ratings on the bend. Was feeling like I was pushing the pace hard and 75 second laps through the next two was a pretty good indication
Neverthrless, this tactic of a hard start was paying off - I was working in with my fellow starter Greg Barton and together we were about to overhaul the last two frontmarkers and take the lead. This was just as we were starting our fourth lap. Suddenly I was going head over heals and some prick had tripped me up from behind. I rolled over on the ground and one of my shoes had fallen off. I was thnking get my shoes back on before I wiselyt decided instead to rip the other one off and continue running
I had no idea where I was now placed in the field, assuming I was middle of the race. Just tried to finish off as best I could and 200 metres out from home I could see there weren't that many in front me. So I somehow found this kick that I hadn't had all season and past two runners to finish in sixth place and take home $80
Given it was my last run for the season, I indulged myself in a couple of VB's and a meat pie afterwards
A steak sandwich for dinner and once the children were settled, I skived off to the Stawell Gift Hotel for a couple of stubbies,. Stumbled in the motel door around midnight
And thus ends my summer season
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 7 kilometres
Sunday, 23 March 2008 - Stawell Gift Day 2
I was pretty fatigued last night after my race, but luckily the motel has an outdoor pool and I was able to spend 20 minutes doing some cold water recovery. It helped immensely!
I was in a race today - the Novice 1600 - which I was probably more chance to pick up some money in
Felt like I was pushing pretty hard through the race, but in the end could manage only 11th place and a slightly slower time than yesterday. This time around 4:11 and an equivalent time of 4:24 over 1500 metres
Perhaps I was not running as relaxed as yesterday but still the Stawell carnival is a big step up in standard so a pretty satisfactory performance to finish 11th ahead of 14 other runners. With a bit of luck and a better mark I can set my sights on this race for next year
Another cold water recovery should see me right for my 2 mile race tomorrow. Not sure how I will go but think I have a reasonable chance of another top 10 finish off my mark of 260 metres
TOTAL DISTANCE = 5.5 kilometres including warm up and warm down
I was in a race today - the Novice 1600 - which I was probably more chance to pick up some money in
Felt like I was pushing pretty hard through the race, but in the end could manage only 11th place and a slightly slower time than yesterday. This time around 4:11 and an equivalent time of 4:24 over 1500 metres
Perhaps I was not running as relaxed as yesterday but still the Stawell carnival is a big step up in standard so a pretty satisfactory performance to finish 11th ahead of 14 other runners. With a bit of luck and a better mark I can set my sights on this race for next year
Another cold water recovery should see me right for my 2 mile race tomorrow. Not sure how I will go but think I have a reasonable chance of another top 10 finish off my mark of 260 metres
TOTAL DISTANCE = 5.5 kilometres including warm up and warm down
Saturday, 22 March - Stawell Gift Day 1
Got woken up four times last night. Twice to go to the baby, once to help Amelia back into bed (she had fallen out) and once to go to the toilet to take the longest wee I have ever taken. Must have been the gallons of water I drank before lights out to offset the inevitable morning hangover
My race was at 11:00 am, so we had to get to Central Park nice and early. Kylie wanted to walk for exercise so we walked the 20 minutes to the venue from our motel room
I started off my race alright and was feeling good. Didn't really make up much ground until the thid lap, but was really moving the pack in the last 300 metres or so. Got caught on a big pack with 150 metre left. One of the backmarkers went with me and he eased off and mentally I did the same, so wasn't real pleased with that when analysing my race later
There was drama aplenty when runners placed first and second with 40 metres to go both spectacularly tripped over each other and fell to the ground in a heap. The girl involved was staying in my motel. I was in the pack behind them and we all ran around them!
Afterwards, I was the first person to go over and see if she was okay. She was still in the hands of the trainer 20 minutes later
Got really cranky with the admin people as it was not until after 4 pm that they posted the results of my race. Yes, my 11 am race! Shocked to find that I had run 4:09, which was equivalent to 4:22 for a 1500 race. Didn't think I was in that sort of form after only three months and looking forward to tomorrow
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 5.5 kilometres
My race was at 11:00 am, so we had to get to Central Park nice and early. Kylie wanted to walk for exercise so we walked the 20 minutes to the venue from our motel room
I started off my race alright and was feeling good. Didn't really make up much ground until the thid lap, but was really moving the pack in the last 300 metres or so. Got caught on a big pack with 150 metre left. One of the backmarkers went with me and he eased off and mentally I did the same, so wasn't real pleased with that when analysing my race later
There was drama aplenty when runners placed first and second with 40 metres to go both spectacularly tripped over each other and fell to the ground in a heap. The girl involved was staying in my motel. I was in the pack behind them and we all ran around them!
Afterwards, I was the first person to go over and see if she was okay. She was still in the hands of the trainer 20 minutes later
Got really cranky with the admin people as it was not until after 4 pm that they posted the results of my race. Yes, my 11 am race! Shocked to find that I had run 4:09, which was equivalent to 4:22 for a 1500 race. Didn't think I was in that sort of form after only three months and looking forward to tomorrow
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 5.5 kilometres
Friday, 21 March - Good Friday
Rest Day Today
The long drive up to Stawell. Arrived there to find our name on a list with our room number next to it. Sweet! Drove to our room and the door is unlocked with the key inside
Go out for dinner and try to have something light ahead of my first race of the weekend tomorrow. So had a very tasty Thai Chicken Salad
Two light beers and we go back to the motel where I proceed to consume almost a full bottle of red wine. Not to worry - ran 34.08 for a 10 km after getting shitfaced on red wine the night before so should be an interesting result tomorrow!
The long drive up to Stawell. Arrived there to find our name on a list with our room number next to it. Sweet! Drove to our room and the door is unlocked with the key inside
Go out for dinner and try to have something light ahead of my first race of the weekend tomorrow. So had a very tasty Thai Chicken Salad
Two light beers and we go back to the motel where I proceed to consume almost a full bottle of red wine. Not to worry - ran 34.08 for a 10 km after getting shitfaced on red wine the night before so should be an interesting result tomorrow!
Thursday, 20 March 2008
Brian wasn't at training tonight so he set me a session
The main group had 8 x 600's with easy, medium, hard every 200. While I was preparing for my session I had to have a word to young Josh Persson who went out way too hard for his first two sets. He finished off really well and is looking in good shape
As for my session, it was five laps of surge the barrier, then a break and a set of 6 x 200's. The 5 lapper was pretty tough as I was probably doing the easy bits at about my 5 km/10 km pace. Had worked up a bloody good sweat by the end of it
The 200's I did at a good clip and felt in good shape as they didn't get much tougher as I completed each one. Sometimes these can seem pretty tough but evidently the taper is working beautifully
A few beers while I waited for Kylie before going home to do some more packing for tomorrow - the Good Friday drive up to Stawell
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 4 kilometres including warm up and down
The main group had 8 x 600's with easy, medium, hard every 200. While I was preparing for my session I had to have a word to young Josh Persson who went out way too hard for his first two sets. He finished off really well and is looking in good shape
As for my session, it was five laps of surge the barrier, then a break and a set of 6 x 200's. The 5 lapper was pretty tough as I was probably doing the easy bits at about my 5 km/10 km pace. Had worked up a bloody good sweat by the end of it
The 200's I did at a good clip and felt in good shape as they didn't get much tougher as I completed each one. Sometimes these can seem pretty tough but evidently the taper is working beautifully
A few beers while I waited for Kylie before going home to do some more packing for tomorrow - the Good Friday drive up to Stawell
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 4 kilometres including warm up and down
Tuesday, 18 March 2008
Training with Brian today and probably the last hard track session before the weekend
Felt quite smug as Brian outlined an arduous hill training session for the main group and they were headed out the back gate, this is until ...
Brian said I had 3 x 1 km time trial runs at race pace. doh! the one saving grace was that I had ten minutes recovery between each
Unfortuantely, with no watch I have no idea how fast I ran them. Had to head into the clubrooms after each one so I could watch the clock in there to get my ten minute recovery in
The last one I did pretty tough, but it still felt reasonably strong. Was pretty stuffed afterwards
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 4 kilometres including warm up and down
Felt quite smug as Brian outlined an arduous hill training session for the main group and they were headed out the back gate, this is until ...
Brian said I had 3 x 1 km time trial runs at race pace. doh! the one saving grace was that I had ten minutes recovery between each
Unfortuantely, with no watch I have no idea how fast I ran them. Had to head into the clubrooms after each one so I could watch the clock in there to get my ten minute recovery in
The last one I did pretty tough, but it still felt reasonably strong. Was pretty stuffed afterwards
TOTAL DISTANCE = about 4 kilometres including warm up and down
Monday, 17 March 2008
With the final week now heading into Stawell and the culmination of three months of relatively hard work, wanted everything to go right to ensure I was as fresh as possible for the weekend
Still had a sore throat from yesterday, which was odd. Hopefully that will go away as the day progresses
The plan was for a very easy 30 - 35 minute run. Unfortunately, after giving my watch to Kylie yesterday to time my daughter in the naughty spot she misplaced my watch! So today I had to guess the time spent running
Wanted to make this as comfortable as possible and so it turned out to be, with a very pleasant feeling of plenty in the tank when I hopped onto the tram on St Georges Rd
Very happy with that and looking forward to seeing what Brian has in store for me tomorrow
DISTANCE = about 6 kilometres
Still had a sore throat from yesterday, which was odd. Hopefully that will go away as the day progresses
The plan was for a very easy 30 - 35 minute run. Unfortunately, after giving my watch to Kylie yesterday to time my daughter in the naughty spot she misplaced my watch! So today I had to guess the time spent running
Wanted to make this as comfortable as possible and so it turned out to be, with a very pleasant feeling of plenty in the tank when I hopped onto the tram on St Georges Rd
Very happy with that and looking forward to seeing what Brian has in store for me tomorrow
DISTANCE = about 6 kilometres
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