Sunday mornin’

Sunday, February 27, 2005
15km easy |1:32:23 Ran cross country again this morning. Beautiful weather for running. Started with a few niggles: left archilles, right knee. By 7km all were calm and I picked it up to about 6:00/km pace. I felt good for the remainder of the run. Attacked the hills and ran strong on the flats. I will take a bit easy this week leading up to the Striders Rce 2 on Saturday at Homebush.

Niggles

Friday, February 25, 2005
86 days to go. 7.5km easy | 55.03 Ran the outside fence of Centennial Park plus a bit more to make up the 7.5km on my 1/2M program. Calves were fine but I felt a slight niggle in my left archiles. I must have over stretched it at one point. I'll give it a workout on the bike tonight and try and ease the tension. Sunday Run has me doing 15km easy. Rather than easy pace, I'm thinking of ramping it up a bit to a touch under 10km race pace (5:10) to about 6:00. I just feel like this program has me bludging a bit and I need to go out there and push myself. After that I will have a quiet week leading up to the Striders Rce 2 next Saturday at Homebush. I'm starting to question this 1/2M program. Whilst I guess the goal is 1/2M, its not doing me any favours with my 10km time. I might have a look at the whole thing on the weekend and see if I can include some 500m or 1km intervals as recommeded by Superflake. I think that I might combine an intermediate 10km program and just bump up my Sunday long runs. After all my goals are two-fold. Improve my 10km time and compete in my first 1/2M. Its seems that my current program is centered on the 1/2M and neglecting the 10km aspect.

The Hills are alive ...

Tuesday, February 22, 2005
88 days to go. 5 x 300m hills | jog back recovery Ran 3 km warm up then did hill reps on Ruthven Street, Bondi Junction. As this was my first hill session ever, I can't really say if it was hard or easy. I ran each hill at (around) my 10km pace and reached the top strong, albeit gasping for air and totally pooped. A short, but good night (I think).

I'm back baby !

Sunday, February 20, 2005
12.62km easy | 1:23:43 Cross country again this afternoon around Queens Park as part of my soft terrain calves therapy. No problems at all. No pain, no strain ! Loved the run. Loved the rain ! A big thanks to Horrie and LuckyLegs for your help & support !

Early Evening

Friday, February 18, 2005
8km easy | 50:21 Ran the Centennial Park outside fence run plus a bit more to make up the 8kms required by my program. Mostly grass dirt but with a few footpaths. Calves hurt for most of the way. I stretched and applied ice once I got home. I'm hoping that this problem clears up by next week otherwise I'll need to visit the physio. :(

Speed (bwhahaha) Session

Thursday, February 17, 2005
94 days to go ... 10 mins warmup | 10 x 100m (walk back recovery) | 10 mins warmdown Well I'm glad this is the last week of sprints for a while. I tell ya I'm sick of running about in the dark like a tosser . Next week I start 300m hills. Thank you ! I'm thinking that I've got to improve my core fitness . This 3 day a week program has me feeling like I'm bludging. So each (running) day off for the next month I will do an hour on our trendy static bike. There, not feeling as guilty now.

Listen to your body.

Sunday, February 13, 2005
12.45km ( easy) | 80:31 Well, CR Horrie said listen to your body. So I did and it wasn't happy. Ice and massage on sore shins and calves was the order for Friday/Saturday. Today I ran on grass only and boy did my legs enjoy it. The perimeter run of Queens Park is about 2.5km long and is mainly flat with a steep rise at the eastern (Waverley) end. I have finished fresh and strong without any pain. I think I will stick with the grass runs until the next Striders race in March. With a bit of luck by then my calves would have strengthened and the inflamation/soreness issues resolved.

Pain in the ...

Thursday, February 10, 2005
12km - 71:12 Easy run was on the menu tonight. Ran the long way down to Bondi Beach in light rain. By half way down my calves, quads and any other muscle down there was having a winge. No cramping, just stiff and sore. Not too bad up hills or on the flat, but I ran like an old man down. Must have looked a sight. Will ice anything sore tomorrow and try and stretch them out. Self -massage after that. How these people can race on a saturday then run 35kms the next is beyond me ...

Starry starry night

Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Starry, Starry night. Paint your palette blue and grey. Look out on a summer's day. With eyes that know the darkeness of my soul. Shadows on the hills, sketch the trees and daffodills etc Speedwork - 10 x 100m walk back recovery A beautiful still summers night with the stars sparkling over Bondi/Bronte way. Ran down to Queens Park for these speedwork sessions that my program requires. Felt like a tosser doing these 100m sprints then walking back. I guess its all about getting used to running fast. Anyway ran the sprints, ran home the longway (turned 300m into 5000m) then stretched for 15 mins. Cant wait till Thursday so I can actually go for a run !

1/2M Shuffle

103 Days to go. I was worried that the Gold Coast 1/2M training program (novice) mucked about with too many speed and interval sessions midweek and that I wouldn't be able to maintain a decent base. So I merged it with another two programs and came up with my own. I dropped the Thursday interval session and replaced it with a 45min easy run and bumped up the Sunday run from a max of 15km to 23km (thanks Horrie). Sunday runs creep up gradually by a km or so each week and drop back every now and then. I have also incorporated the Striders 10k Series and the Nail Can Hill Race in May. Ok, I'm happy now.

Striders virgin run.

Saturday, February 05, 2005
10km PB today ! Well all my races so far have been PB's actually. I guess thats the benefit of being a new runner :) . Boy what a turn out ! I couldn't believe the number of people at Lane Cove this morning. I had to park 500m up Lady Game Drive at 6.40am ! I had no real expectations this morning. I have been training well, however December/January were disrupted so I was a bit stop start. Lane Cove sure has some hills. Up and up and up and up again till Ryde Road at about 5km. Then pretty much downhill from there. I felt OK and ran within myself for at least 7km mark and then put the foot down to finish. Managed 51:00 (my watch) which I am very happy about. OK, I have taken 5 mins off my 10km time, but it was expected considering my 45:21 at The Entrance over 9km just before Xmas. The pleasing thing for me is that The Entrance course is dead flat, so running 5:10/km pace on a hilly course like Lane Cove means that my times are still on the slide.

Spinning out.

Friday, February 04, 2005
My program called for Wed as a rest day. Did that. Thursday was a 30 min tempo run. But with sore shins I decided to cross train and do some spinning instead. In an attempt to mimick the tempo training, I used the trendy static bike we have at home as follows:-
  • 10 mins warmup (HR 105 av)
  • 10 mins slowly cranking the resistance up (HR reached 145).
  • 10 mins recovery.
I enjoyed the session and will probably include spinning more often in my program.

First signs of insanity.

Wednesday, February 02, 2005
108 Days to go. I have adopted the Half Marathon Training Guide for beginners from the Gold Coast Marathon website . Today is the first training day of the 16 week program before the SMH 1/2M. I must admit that I have resevations about the program. To put it simply, the longest run in the program is 1h 40m in week 10 before the taper commences. I really think that I should be running at least close to the distance before the race. Surely it would remove any doubt on race day about finishing the race. I downloaded the intermediate program as well, but found that the load was too much. I seriously dont think that my legs could manage 5 out of 7 days running. So I will place my trust in whoever drafted the beginners program (Pat Carroll ?) and press on. Day 1 - Speedwork 10 x 100m at moderate pace. Walk back in between. I ran the long way down to Queens Park to comply with the 10mins warm up and then started my "sprints". I can only assume that when the program states "easy" or "moderate" or "race" then they refer to my 10km pace. Well thats what I'll do anyway. Running in Queens Park in the pitch black is quite odd. The grass has been hacked by the summer tip footy comps and was quite lumpy. I ran from one footy goalpost to the other. Not that I could see a thing mind you. I ran at the moderate pace suggested and found that my hammies were quite sore even after 2 reps. Must spend more time stretching on the rest days. I finished the 10 reps quite quickly and managed a good sweatup. Mind you, I feel like somewhat of an imposter doing "speedwork" as none of my reps had any real speed about them. On the run home I felt odd that my Tuesday session was over so quickly. Much different to the usual bust-a-gut run into Sydney CBD and back.