The Last Post - Fatass roundup

Week - 31k
Month - 128.5k
YTD - 1203k

Well for this year anyway :-)

Life has been quite hectic lately with family and the like so this a belated recap of the Mt Nebo Fatass event.

Wednesday the 27 Dec, the annual Mt Nebo Fatass event took place again thanks to CR's Fatbloke. In it's 3rd year about 20 of us rocked up bright and early. This was my first ever Fatass event and I must say that it was a great day. I saw some familiar faces and met some new people which is always good.

5 am came around and we all took off in a gaggle, the pace was slow by all but it didn't take long for the speedys to step it up and take off. This left Tesso, Mat and myself amongst a few others who ploddered along at the back.

The day was perfect for running, overcast, slight drizzle of rain and a light breeze. I knew it was a tough track and now that I have done it, I think I would have been in the hurt locker if the sun was out.

The pace was very casual which was helped by the fact that I don't think there was a flat section on the entire course. The company was great with plenty of conversation happening for the entire day.

At around the 14k mark we had a decision to make either turn around or keep running. The problem with continuing on was the transport factor. Our cars are left at the bottom and so it is a bit of a gamble to run to the top knowing that you may not be able to get a seat in someones car.

Anyway we decided to continue on which I am glad we did, it nice finishing an event and catching up with those who were ahead or behind you. It also good for a laugh when people get lost and hearing their excuses.

By the 2 hr mark my legs where starting to become tight, especially my hip flexors. Due to the terrain being so tough it is more of a shuffle than a jog so after a quick stretch and getting onto the last bitumen section I got to stride out and the legs felt good again.

We reached the Cafe and got a bite to eat after about 2.30 and around 23km. After sitting around for 10 minutes or so most people had arrived at the shop. Not long after many were either leaving in their cars or setting off for the return leg keen to get home and relax.

I hung around for a little longer, there was not many spare seats left so I rang Cass up who was fortunately at Arana Hills to come and pick me up. I left a few people at the Cafe and set off for another 3k jaunt down the road to meet Cass at Jollys lookout.

In total close to 26km for the day, by the time I got picked up I was pretty cold and was glad to be in a car heading home for nice hot shower and a rest.

It was a great day and thanks to Tesso and Mat for the company, I will certainly be putting this run in the calender for 07.

Happy new year :-)

BRRC Christmas Eve 10k

Week - 10k

Month - 97.5k

YTD - 1172k

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Brisbane bunged on a cracker of a morning with perfect weather for the last road runners event of the year. On the program was a 10k or a 5k run starting at 6 am or 6.30 am respectively.

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Some of the family came down for a look with Fiona (BIL's fiance) wanting to do some training herself. Not quite up to the distances on offer we had organised that she would join me on my second lap for 2k.

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At the start line Tesso introduced me to a fellow blogger who was visiting from the ACT, Tuggeranong Don. I don't tend to meet alot of interstate bloggers/runners so it was nice to meet him.

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Not long after, the race was about to begin. My plan was to have a solid run but not an all out effort. I decided on around half marathon pace rounding it up to make a nice even figure of 4.20/k. This would equate to a 43.20 run. I have the Mt Nebo Fatass event on Wednesday so this would be a good hitout before then.

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I felt great the entire run and was consistantly clocking splits well under my planned time. Usually I would have been concerned about this but my breathing and legs were coping easy.

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I completed the first lap (5k) in a tad over 21 minutes. Fiona was waiting for me just past the start finish line so I grabbed a drink and then headed off with her for the planned 2k.

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I eased up on the pace, however was later told that I still ran too quick for her. Sorry Fi. She said that she was right to continue on her own and allowed me to take off at about the 1k mark.

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By this stage a few people had caught up which gave me someone to run with. This included Tuggeranong Don who was picking up the pace quite abit for the last lap.

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I probably shouldn't have but I ran with him for a few km before upping the pace again with 2k to go. I didn't check my splits for the last 3k but I am guessing they would have been at or under 4 min/k pace.

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I ended up crossing the line in 42.29, so thanks to Tuggeranong Don for keeping me honest. I was pretty happy with todays effort.

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I had a chat with him after the race before heading back home for some yummy cooked breakfast.

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I am now looking forward although a little nervous to Wednesday, probably going to be my toughest run to date.

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In the mean time I think some upper body activities are in order to celebrate the festive season. Perfect!

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Merry Christmas everyone!

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Oh and if you wondering why there are full stops everywhere, for some reason blogger wouldn't let me have a space between the paragraphs. Maybe the pic has something to do with that.

1 hour local run

This afternoon I was wrecked, and said to Cass that I was going to have a 1/2 hour power nap. Two hours later I woke up feeling pretty ordinary, a slight headache and probably a little dehydrated.

I started to come good after another 1/2 hour after some fluid and decided to go for my planned run. A lot later than usual but perfect weather.

No plans to run a set distance just spend 1hr out there around the streets. I visited alot of parks, aswell as the running track just to keep on the softer stuff for a change.

I felt pretty good and got back home just before it got too dark. I ended up completing 12.16km in the hour so just under 5min/k pace.

Some of the family arrive tonight so tomorrow will more than likely be a run free day or just a shorty. BRRC 10k run on Sunday the last event of the year so I might try and drag some of the rellies down for a jog bright and early along the Brissie river.

I am now on.................

Holidays :-))))

I couldn't stand being at work doing bugger all for the remainder of the week, so yesterday I decided to put in for some more leave to begin my Xmas break today, instead of Friday. Yippee! I am not due back to work until the 10 jan 07 :-)

This morning Sam didn't care that his Dad was now on holidays, he was up at 5am all bright and chirpy. I should use this time more wisely and go for a run with the pram, but I find it hard to become motivated that early.

Instead I just let him crawl all over me for about an hour before he decided to have another sleep.

It was all steam ahead at the household today in preparation for the family & friends coming for the Xmas period. The day was chewed up with cleaning and last minute Xmas shopping. At about 5pm when Cass was leaving for work Sam and I headed out for a casual run.

Nothing special about this run, just around the local area. I ran a different route which was a bad decision especially having the pram. The terrain was a little rough at times however Sam didn't seem to mind. I did slow to a walk on some sections where the footpath seemed to disappear.

I also noticed that every second car seems to stare at me when I run with the pram. It makes me paranoid like I am doing something wrong.

Anyway all up we ran 7km at a nice casual pace finishing in 37 mins.

Week - 17k
Month - 75.5k
YTD - 1150k

I have just realsied that I have only 50k to crack 1200 for the year. I guess this is my last goal for 2006, I have 10 days left, shouldn't be too hard if I get to next weeks Fatass event.

3 x 3000m Track session

I am the type of person who prefers training in the afternoons, especially if it is a solo run. Yesterday was no different, I didn't end up getting the running buddies Regatta session as Cass had a late one at work the night before. It wouldn't have been fair if I up and left at 5am in the morning for her to look after Samuel.

I waited until around 4.30pm before I began to get ready for a run. Just as I was getting my gear together a huge crack of thunder sounded. I looked outside for one of the few times I did that day and noticed the sky was black as and the wind was picking up. Great! I wasn't going out running during a storm, I had already been caught in one a few weeks ago at Mt Coot-tha which wasn't too pleasant.

So there went another day without a training session.

This morning I woke up with all intentions of doing a tough session. My legs had gotten over the shock of the PT sessions a few days ago and I was keen to get out there. The day was overcast however it didn't look as though it was going to storm so I decided to do my session at the preferred time.

4.30pm I left on the pushy and rode to the local 400m grass track. The plan was to run 3 x 3k runs with 10mins recovery between each. I wanted to punish myself for being slack and thought this would be a perfect session to do it.

I had 2 goals in mind, one tough one which I had talked myself out of before I got there and one that wouldn't be to bad. The 1st goal was to run all 3 under 12mins and the 2nd goal was to run under 12, 12.15, 12.30.

When I arrived at the track, I done a thorough warm up with heaps of stretching and even done some strides. I felt good and thought bugger it I am going for the the A goal of all sub 12mins.

The weather was a bit cool to begin with but throughout the session it was almost perfect. A minor headwind on the corners of the track but nothing major.

I set off for the 1st set and realised after the 1st lap that I began at the 400m mark instead of the 200m mark. Not a major problem just that I will finish the 3000m at the 200m mark. I felt good for the majority of the set however towards the end I was pushing a little harder than I would have liked to maintain the same splits. By the end I was puffing pretty hard and knew I was in for a tough day.

The 10 mins went suprisingly slow and I had caught my breath and had time for some stretching and a quick jog. I was a bit sceptical as to how hard I would be able to go. I set off for the 2nd set and felt a little heavy in the legs at first. This eased up quite quickly and was very happy with the way I was feeling. I began in the right spot this time and was under 12 min pace at the first km, the 2nd km I was right on 8mins however I wasn't too concerned and picked the pace up for the next. I finished quite strong and actually felt better at the end of this one.

10 mins later.....

The last set, again the legs felt a little heavy and the mouth was a bit dry. I didn't want to drink too much water in case I got a stitch. I was really concentrating on pacing myself for this one, I was just waiting for my body to say that's it I have had enough and fade but it never happened. I felt great and was easily remaining under pace running very consistant splits. My legs felt better and better, just turning over quite nicely. The last lap I felt like I was pushing a bit harder however my split doesn't really show that. I was glad to finish in what was a tough yet very satisfying session.

I haven't done a crazy session like this for sometime so it was good to see where I am at for the shorter stuff. My calves were a little tight after the run however the slow ride back home was a good cool down and I feel sweet now. I also achieved my goal of 3 sub 12 min 3000m :-)

****3km SPLITS****
(1)............ (2)............ (3)............
1.30........... 42............. 42.............
1.32........... 1.35........... 1.32...........
1.33........... 1.37........... 1.34...........
1.32........... 1.38........... 1.35...........
1.32........... 1.37........... 1.36...........
1.33........... 1.34........... 1.35...........
1.34........... 1.34........... 1.36...........
47............. 1.31........... 1.35...........

11.38.......... 11.52.......... 11.48...........

Back on the Treadly!

I had another run free day today. I am still a little sore and thought that one more day would do me good. This morning I played a few games of doubles squash with some fairly unco blokes from work, it was quite amusing and not too taxing on the body.

After another quiet day at work, we were knocked off at lunch time. Cass was hosting her mothers group Xmas party/lunch which mean't that I couldn't disrupt her to pick me up from work. I had my bike there so I decided to jump on that and ride home.

It was a fairly leisurely ride, there was no requirement for me to rush things, I had 16 mothers and 17 babies in my house at the time ;-) I still however managed to get home in pretty good time of around 50minutes for 23-24km. I hadn't rode my bike for a while and it actually felt good to get the legs working without the impact.

The weather was quite warm however which was probably the only downside to the ride. I will get out tomorrow for my first training run since Sunday. I would like to get over to the Regatta, however Cass is working till Midnight tonight, so I am unsure if she would to tired to do the morning routine for Sam or not. We will see, if not I will cruise around the area for a boring solo effort :-)

Please Sir no more....

After a few days off work I returned yesterday only to be smashed in probably the hardest PT session of the year. It was a circuit that trashed the whole body. Squats, Lunges push ups, situps, along with heaps of activities involving weights. What tha! we are mean't to be winding down for the festive season.

Well anyway I woke up this morning very sore to say the least. My legs were soooo tender around the groin and quad region that I found it hard to walk without looking like a cowboy from a John Wayne movie.

Arriving at work today I knew the next 1.5 hrs was going to be a struggle. As 90% of the people at work are currently on Xmas leave there is not a great deal of work to be done. So to fill in time we tend to do alot of PT and sporting activities. A tough life I know but this morning I wasn't really feeling like doing much at all.

The PT session ended up being alot easier than yesterday and was helped by the fact that I actually conducted one of the sessions. The soreness did subside a little after the activites and throughout the day but I am still pretty tender.

This afternoon the boss allowed us to go to the pool, just to laze about and cool down. I completed a few laps in hope of feeling a little better, which seemed to work. We spent about an hour there before moving on for the afternoon PT session of volleyball. A nice easy casual game was a perfect way to end the day.

Arriving home, Cass had the whip out and made me mow and whipper snip the lawns, she is a mean nasty women, no sympathy at all :-)

So the last few days have been fairly hectic. Although I haven't done too much running Im hoping that the pain I have inflicted on my body has had a postive effect. I hope to get out for a jog on the weekend.

K2D 2006

Week - 25k
Month - 58.5k
YTD - 1133k

***Warning, quite a long one***

My Kurrawa weekend didn't go exactly to plan and it started to fall to pieces before when even headed down the coast.

On the Friday the day before we were mean't to leave we had a message on our phone saying that the accommodation that we had placed a reservation on was not available over that weekend. The only thing that was available was something that was way too expensive as it was really only to save us from getting up early and driving to the coast from Brisbane on the Sunday.

So Saturday arrived and because we were expecting to be on the coast for the day we had no plans. Basically we hung around the house and veged out. No training took place, as I wanted to feel fresh for the next day.

For some reason we didn't get to bed early at all on Saturday night. There was fire works somewhere close by that were scaring the dogs and Sam was a little grumpy. At around midnight the dogs decided that they would scratch at the door, for what reason I had no idea but I wasn't impressed. I went back to sleep after telling the hounds to shut up (polite version)and within the hour Sam decided he wanted to wake up. When Sam doesn't want to sleep he thinks no-one does either. Cass and I settled him back down and finally got back to bed somewhere around 1-130am. Not too bad really until you know that your alarm is set for 245am

Waking up was a struggle and lucky for me Cass woke up because I didn't even hear the alarm go off. She said she even woke me up twice and I had answered her but I don't even remember that. Anyway 310am I crawled out of bed got dressed and realised that I was going to be pushing it to get to the Gold Coast before the race start.

Lucky for me I was running the second leg and that my partner was more prepared than I. We in fact got there at 450am and when we pulled up there was still a huge number of people registering. In saying that the race was delayed by 35 minutes.

Once the race had started I really had no idea of the course and basically just followed the stream of runners stopping every few k's and helping my partner out with drinks and food. For a person who has never run anywhere near this distance before he was going great. He made the turn around in around 2 hrs 2 to 2 hrs 5mins unsure of the offficial time.

I then set out from Duranbah at approx 7.40am. The run was going great and I was consistantly clocking between 4.30 - 4.50/k. The weather was warm however I really never felt like it was really bothering me that much. I made sure that I was taking enough water and powerade along with my gu and other food.

I passed the 13k mark spot on an hour, I continued to maintain the same pace until about the 16k mark. It was a steady hill that went beside the national park, fairly shady and should have not really been that difficult. This was were the wheels really fell off. I just lost all energy in my legs, I could feel all the liquid and food that I had consumed over the past 1hr 20 or so swishing about in my stomach.

I began to get stomach cramps and was reduced to a walk for a short time. I reached the point a couple of k's before Miami Hill where we had to run up another hill and get our number checked off. By this stage I was hurting pretty bad, my wife and running partner had met me there and gave me another drink and my last bite to eat. I felt better after a short break and began running again. I came good around the 18k mark clocking again around 4.45/k before having another bad episode.

The next 4k saw my splits increase dramatically with two in the high fives and two around 6.30, which included Miami Hill and the stairs. I had told Cass whilst my partner was running that at the bottom of the stairs I would take Sam for the remainder of the race in his pram.

Although I had nothing in the tank, I still took the pram with Sam and ploddered along, I had multiple walk breaks and some uplanned breaks when Sam lost his hat. It was pretty tough, I wanted to go quicker so Sam wasn't in the sun for to long but I just couldn't. He didn't really seem to care though and went to sleep about 5 minutes into the run.

I came up to a marking on the footpath that said 1km, I was hoping that this was for the race I was doing. I continued to follow the path and saw the finish line way up ahead. I then realised that I was not going to get there following the path so it was off the beaten track we went. It was a little on the bumpy side for Sam over the grass however he didn't really wake up until the finish line when those who had finished were cheering everyone in.

I am again unsure of the official time however the Garmin showed 25.2km in 2.06.57 with rest breaks of over two minutes bringing it up to 2.09.05.

Although I was not really interested in what time I did, I was fairly disappointed with how I ran the last 8k. I guess I can't blame anything other than my lack of training which has got me thinking about my plans for next year. I will share this at a later stage.

After the race I felt fairly sick in the stomach, I didn't enjoy the nice food on offer at the BBQ which was a shame. Cass was tired, she had very little to eat as she was helping both myself and my partner out on the course along with looking after Sam who was being a grump, he was starting to get the flu. In saying that we left not long after and headed home, it was unfortunate that we had to but we all felt pretty ordinary by the end of it.

Congrats to everyone out there yesterday, I had a tough one but hopefully everyone else came through it with great results.

I'm not Crazy! although......................

you may think so in a second or two.

I wulod lkie to try an exepriemnt, I saw an emial decsirbnig how yuor brain prcoesosrs olny a few leettrs in ecah wrod wihlst we raed. Msot poelpe wlil be albe to raed tihs as lnog as the frist and lsat leetrs are in the crorcet postioin. I tohught tihs was perety cool and amzanig how our bdoy wokrs.

OK, back to normal, well if you call my ramblings normal I guess. I haven't done anything since Pats TT however I plan to go for probably my last run before Kurrawa on Sunday. I am pretty excited about this weekend which basically begins tomorrow for me. I have taken a few days off work so I don't have to be back until next Wednesday. Yippeeeeeee!!!! Now I can sit back and relax and enjoy my last run. I will then head down the coast on Saturday for what will be a great weekend all round.

With no expectations, no real goals for this event I just hope to get through it in one piece and enjoy the weekend made up of the stuff I love doing.

Oh, and to all my family that read this, I know what you are thinking.....Crazy Fool!

Peace Out!

Next Edition - The Kurrawa Adventure!

3k TT - The last one for 2006

Week - 26.5k
Month - 26.5k
YTD - 1101k

Working the afternoon shift today meant I could make it to Pat's this morning for the monthly TT. I haven't been for a TT for what seems like an eternity, it was actually March the last time I did a TT there so Im glad I got the opportunity to do the last one for the year.

I arrived there 5.40am just in tie to register before heading off to the start line as our warmup. I met up with Clairie and Tesso of whom I haven't seen for a while either which was good.

The atmosphere is always great at these sessions which is why it is always so popular, there is heaps of encouragement from everyone before, during and after the session. Pat had also organised two bongo drummers to play at the startline which added to the atmosphere.

Lining up at the starting line Pat ran through the course, the track had changed since last time I did it with only one turn around at 1500m whereas the last one had a few more, I think 1k loops.

Anyway, I was unsure what time I would like to come in at however I did know that with a big race this weekend that I didn't want to go 100%. The race started and for the first 100-200m it is weaving and dodging until everyone finds their place and it settles down.

I quickly settled into a comfortable pace not long after and never looked at my watch until the turn around where I got there is 5.22. I thought this was a little too quick for what I wanted to achieve today and slowed the pace down for the next half.

At about the 2k mark there is a little hill that I usually gets me especially at the BRRC runs but this morning it wasn't that bad. I got over that and enjoyed the last 1k, I stepped the pace up a little towards the end to come in at 11.05.

It was a good 30 secs outside my time done in march, but it made for a good solid session. I was certainly puffing at the end but recovered pretty quickly.

We all hung around and cheered those left out on the course, some louder than others, Clairie ;-) before heading back to the Ship Inn for a nice cold drink and fruit.

At the time I didn't realise but Tesso actually ran her fastest 3k this year, not a PB but a Season Best, so it was a good end to the year and some ominous signs for this weekend. Nice one Tesso!

****Edit****
Oh I almost forgot it was my first blogging anniversary yesterday, and I thought I would never continue to do it - It's addictive, at least it's a healthy habit however maybe Cass has a different opinion :-)

Regatta - Mt Coot-tha loop

Week - 19.5k
Month - 19.5k
YTD - 1094k

Still had a bit of the guilts today so this afternoon I rang my Kurrawa partner and asked if he would be interested in doing the loop starting from the regatta. It is close to 15k and a fairly tough run with plenty of hills......obviously.

We arrived at the regatta about 4.45pm and after a quick stretch we headed off. A fairly sedate pace to begin with. My partner has never ran more than 12k so I thought it was a good idea for him to be acquainted with a longer distance especially when he will be required to run 25k in a weeks time.

We were chatting most part of the first section however I did warn him that the conversation will stop once we hit the hills. We encoutered the first hill near the Botanic gardens and got through this pretty well, we had a quick break at the next water tap before tackling the main hill. This winds up for about 2.2k and is fairly constant, at times the hill eases up but the last section is probably the worst.

My mate was going really well for a virgin Mt Coot-thanite he remained close to me until the last 500m or so when he said his legs had a turn for the worst and he needed to walk.

We arrived at the picnic area just after the climb, I was feeling great I had never down that climb that easy before and while I was waiting for my partner the weather took a turn for the worst. Large lightning bolts, heavy range and heaps of thunder saw both of us stuck under a shed for the next 1/2 hour. Im not keen running when there is heaps of lightning especially when there are huge Tv antenna's around.

The rain never really cleared but the lightning eased up so we headed off. It was quite cold to begin with and the wind was strong. Visibility was down to about 50m due to the low level cloud so we had to be mindful of the traffic coming up the mountian.

Due to the delay we automatically increased the pace, we were keen to get home now, we were drenched and the legs felt a little drained. We had a quick drink at the lookout before the downhill section back to the regatta.

I was pretty impressed with how my mate went, considering he hasn't done that sort of distance before he seemed to cope well. Overall the distance was 14.59k and we completed the loop in 1.14.44 (5.07/k), obviously this doesn't include our break.

This will probably be my last long-ish run before the big day, I was pretty happy with how I went today, I seemed to run that pretty easy which is a great confidence booster. I will do another couple of shorter ones, not the greatest lead up to a big race but I rather be under cooked than over trained risking injuries.

Hopefully next post I will have some pics and the story of the Go kart race. All I can say is that is didn't go quite as planned :-)

Happy Training!!!!

Seedy Saturday!

Week - 5k
Month - 5k
YTD - 1079.5k


I never made it to the Mount Coot-tha run yesterday as planned, instead the night before Cass and I went to Arana Hills leagues club with a few mates and wives for some dinner and drinks. It turned out bigger than I had planned with far too many beverages going down range. In saying that I woke up feeling very ordinary and didn't really come good all day.

I ended up dragging my seedy feeling body out around 6pm for a short run. I was feeling guilty but I wasn't real sure how my body would react to running after lounging around all day. The run actually felt pretty good although I think I was still dehydrated as it took a while before a drop of sweat formed.

I think it was a good decision just going for the 5k. Along the way I saw a koala with a little one on it's back in a fork of a tree. There are koala signs around my area but I have never seen one, until today.

Around the 3k mark I was feeling great and my pace kept creeping up, I had started with a 5.21 min/k and by the end of the run I had made up that time to clock under 5min/k pace. I completed the run in 24.55. Not long after, I started to feel ordinary again, I was glad to go to bed that night, hoping that I would better this morning.

I am pleased to say that I feel good today, I am just writing this quickly as I am going to the Australian Swimming Champs this morning for Day 1 heats at Chandler. I am looking forward to it should be a good few hours. I might try and get out this afternoon for another run.

1 week to Kurrawa :-)

The wheels are in motion

Week - 23.5k
Month - 88k
YTD - 1074.5k

Cass is working tonight so usually on these nights I give training a miss as I have the little Sammy to look after. Tonight however I tried something new. I have a pram that is sort of in between a jogging pram and one that is built entirely for smooth surfaces. It has pump up tyres however it has a far amount of bells and whistles that make it not very suitable for running.

Now Samuel is 7 months old he is strong enough to support himself pretty good so I thought I would take this opportunity to conduct a few modifications to the pram and give it crack running with it.

After about ten minutes I was happy with the outcome, a little air was placed in the tyres before putting the little man in to make it roll a bit better. I strapped him up waited for the garmin to lock on and then we were off. To begin with it felt a bit weird having only one arm at a time swinging but it was much easier than I thought. Sam was enjoying it alot however it was a little chilly and quite windy. The pram went great it rolled straight and was easily handing the pace, the only negative point which is minor is going up and down gutters and driveways was that I had to slow right down.

About 3k into the run Sam feel asleep and remained that way for the next 1/2 an hour. At around the 7k mark I knew I was working a bit harder just to maintain around 5min/k pace especially when I encountered hills around this point. I continued on for another 3k or so rounding the session off with 10.2k in 51.48.

I really enjoyed running with the pram, I think I will add this to my training a bit more. It will also give Cass a break aswell. I was considering buying a proper jogging pram however I am satisfied with how this one went so I may hold out and see if this one holds up with a few more k's. Along the way I was even thinking about pushing Sam for the last 10k of Kurrawa. I will have Cass meet me at some point and will take him. I will have to make sure that he is well covered and have a heap of sunscreen applied, especially if he is anything like Cass and I, we get burn't from the moons rays ;-)

Tomorrow will be a rest day, it is my Corps birthday so we have a sports day and a billy cart race. Being a light weight with a bone structure similar to a coat hanger I am behind the wheel. It should be fun, we also have a secret weapon if we are losing, we have built a canon that is attached to the cart. It is fueled by aerosol and has a ignition button that makes whatever is up the spout come out, pretty fast when it is pressed. So we don't hurt anyone we will be only using soft objects and the occasional tennis ball. I will take some pics of it and post them in the next few days.

Depending on how I feel I would like to make it to the Regatta for Hannah's monthly Mt Coot-Tha run. I have not had much sleep lately so it will be struggle but it will be my last chance to cram in a decent run before the 10 Dec.

Dorrigo Fun Run

Week - 13.5k
Month - 78k
YTD - 1064.5k


Sunday morning arrived and it was time to start the journey to Dorrigo. We had spent the night in Coffs Harbour with friends so the trip was only about 40k away. They also decided to come and watch the race, I couldn't convince them that it would be a nice way to begin the day.

Travelling there I had always heard about the Dorrigo range, but I was very suprised as to how beautiful the area is. I was also amazed as to how high it is, we had to travel 14km up the range before entering the township.

We arrived at the starting/rego area about 8am, I was initially told that the run began at 9 but further investigation the day before saw the time change to 8.30am.

Once I registered I found out that the race distance had also changed. An increase of 500m to 13.5k. So after getting over the shock of this I went for my normal lackluster 5 min warm up ;-)

Not long after this the huge field of 9 lined up for the 13 and a HALF km race. The race was started by an old bloke with a whip which was something different.

I set off pretty casual with the three young blokes in the field hooting along. I covered the first k in a very suprising 4 mins and the front runners had already gained about 100m on me. They continued to pull away never to be seen again.

On the way out to the race start I noticed that the road back into town was quite hilly, however nothing prepared me for the little out and back detour that we had to do before heading back into town.

The race was constant up and down with very few flat areas. Nothing like I expected or had the fitness for. To cut a long story short I suffered for the remainder of the run.

The combination of the hills along with the heat, broke me. I was reduced to a walk on many occassions. It was the worst I have ever felt on a run for a long time, I don't think it was the toughest run I have done but at the time it sure felt like it.

The last few k's enabled me to get my splits back down, helped very kindly by some long down hill sections. I ended up passing this guy around this point for the last time, we were swapping positions every k or so for much of the run. He certainly ran a more consistent race just plodding along whereas I was up and down like a yoyo. I ended up getting about 30 secs on him to claim 5th (Woohoo) finishing the 13.5k run in 1.06.09 (4.54/k)

In hindsight I do wish I listened to my friends when they just laughed when I said it would be a great way to start the morning :) No, just kidding, it was a good gauge of where and I am currently. It also gave me a taste of what it is like to run in the heat. Although a disappointing result it was only ever a training run and I definetly got a good work out and learn't a few things along the way.

*Edit* I also checked the BOM website and although it was only 26.2 degress at 9am it was the hottest and driest (39% RH) for the month for that time.

I shouldn't have written that, all that bleeting for........ 26 deg, what a whimp, it sure felt like 40 ;-)

Wounded but still willing!

Week - 21k
Month - 64.5k
YTD - 1051k


I found another injury caused by those damn battons, my wrist feels as though it is broken. This and the leg didn't stop me from doing a pretty good training session today however.

My mate and I received an email stating that 7/11 were doing some promotion deal at the barracks today. They were giving away ice coffee's and sandwiches so we decided to check it out. After grabbing a box full of goodies for the fellows back at the workshop we decided to stop in at the gym seeing that it was close by.

No plans just jumped on the tready and gradually increased the pace. We came to a point that it was getting so damn hot and stffy in the cardio room that 5k would be it before heading back to work. With 2k to go I began bumping up the pace every few hundred metres and finished the last 500m @ 3.30 pace. My mate on the other hand just ran a constant speed and finished about a minute after me. I completed 5k in 22.58 red faced and very sweaty.

After I finished work I again headed out for another run which ended up being about 3hrs later. 8k was on the agenda, the heat was still high so I just remained at 5min/k pace or there abouts. I completed the session in 39.28 and was very happy with the way I was feeling. Besides being hot my legs were only slightly fatigued and the calves a little tight.

I am feeling alot more confident about Kurrawa which is just over 2 weeks away. I am also noticing my fitness is becoming a little better, however this weekend will be a good test for it. Sunday will be my longest run in a while (13k) but I have no idea what lies ahead in this run. My mate that I am visting says there is a range at Dorrigo so maybe some hills will be involved. I also found out from the race director that every particpant in the 13k event receives 2 entry passes to the Dorrigo show. Talk about country hospitality :)

What a riot

Cass is doing a few hours work tonight so I am on supervisory duties thus unable to complete any training. Probably the best for me anyhow as I am quite sore from work today.

Over the past few days I have been involved in a scenario based exercise for the infantry. They were practicing crowd control such as protests and riots etc so I had to act like those at the G20 summit last week. It was pretty fun annoying the blokes throwing stuff like rotten fruit and water bombs at them. Some of them got pretty serious, taking the insults that we were dishing out personally.

At times the scenarios involved physical contact with our protest group tormenting the infantry holding battons and shields. I along with others were trying to grab their battons which we suceeded in getting about twelve of them. This didn't come without a cost I copped a few blows to the forearms and a nice one just below the knee which opened me up and is quite sore now.

Anyway that was the last day today so back to normal work tomorrow. I will get out tomorrow afternoon for a hit out probably my last longer session before the weekends fun run at Dorrigo.

Training with a Difference!

Week - 8k
Month - 51.5
YTD - 1038k


Headed out today after having a rest day yesterday. My legs felt great and what I thought would be a tough afternoon turned out to be an enjoyable one. I am starting to feel that my fitness is moving in the right direction although I am a long way off what I was 2 months ago.

I really wasn't in the mood to be out there for too long today although I was keen to run I figured around 8k would be enough. I decided to do a differential run where I would do the return leg quicker, in otherwords I was aiming to achieve a negative split.

A 4k out and back course with the return leg having a few inclines to contend with. I intended to maintain 5min/k pace for the first 4k which seemed to go well for the majority of the leg. At times I noticed my pace creeping up which has always been a bad habit of mine, and with a few hundred metres to go I eased up quite abit to reach the turn around spot on 20 minutes.

I quickly increased the pace and realised that my pacing is all over the shop. I began way to fast with my intention to maintain 4.30 pace for the return leg, I was sitting on 4.15. Slowing down I quickly got a feel for the pace and began clocking splits a little under 4.30 pace.

I generally felt ok, however the last incline did hurt a little pushing the HR and breathing up quite a bit. Once back on level ground the last 500m back home I felt great maintaining the pace very easily. I reached home in 37.38 making it a 17.38 (4.25/k) for the return leg.

Off the topic my mate at work has committed himself to running the first leg of the Kurrawa race. Although he is a bit concerned about the distance and his time I have reassured him that I don't care how long it takes him and that he will be fine, well maybe quite stiff the next day. I will be sending the application off within the next day or so. Pretty exciting.

In the mean time I am visiting a mate who has just had his first baby at Coffs Harbour this weekend, I have also noticed in the RW events calender that there is a fun run at Dorrigo which I am lead to believe is not too far away. It is a 9k or 13k race on Sunday morning so I might enter that as part of my training. Should be interesting Dorrigo is not a big place, but I do like the smaller events.

18 Nov 06

Week - 30k
Month - 43.5k
YTD - 1030k


The little bloke had come down with the flu on Thursday, that night after a few hours sleep I woke up with a very sore throat and runny nose aswell. The throat eased up alot on Friday after taking some medicine however it did lay me up from doing any training until today.

I still feel drained and it was a huge task for me to get out there today. I had fallen to sleep during a DVD and woke up feeling even worse 1/2 an hour later. I slowly got ready and headed out just after 5pm. On the the agenda was to remain out there for 1 hour.

I have recently been running around 10k between 45-50 minutes so the extra time on the legs is certainly needed. I settled into the run after a few k and felt alot better. I maintained around 5.10 pace for the majority of the hour and finished up with 11.85k.

After I stopped I could really feel the difference in my legs. Although I only ran around 2k more than usual they felt alot tighter just from being on them for longer. Im hoping that I become used to this over the next few weeks, I want to at least be able to walk during my days off after the event :)

Just a Quickie!

Week - 18k
Month - 31.5k
YTD - 1018k


Just a quick update, I have one more weekend that requires quite a bit of travelling and that's it for the remainder of the year so it's time to get back into some sort of routine and get on with training. I haven't even really had a chance to catch up on any blogs and currently bloglines is screaming at me with close to 70 posts to read.

Anyway, the training has been going well, although not many k's have been covered those that have clicked over have been without any hassles.

On Sunday the last day in Gladstone before travelling back home I hit the quite streets. The weather is a little different up there with a bit more humidity and even at 6pm it was still rather warm. I took it easy for the first k as a warm up and then maintained 4.30 pace for the remainder of the run covering the 8k in 36.29. Along the way I had some company when two staffies decided to chase after me and then stay with me for around a km before I told them to go home.

Monday I was travelling so no run.

Tuesday, headed out after work and felt great, had to hold myself back for the first couple of k before the lack of fitness took care of that. I am covering 10k now pretty easily and will ramp up the distance over the next few weeks. If I can cram in a couple of runs before Kurruwa of around 20k I will be happy and be more confident that I will be able to plod along and make the finish line. All up 10k in a tad under 46 mins.

Today, was no running but a circuit at work that involved alot of activities that hurt the legs. My next outing will either be tomorrow or Friday, somwhere in the vincinity of 60-70 mins.

I will endeavour to catch up on the blogs over the next few days and the weekend.

Until next time, Happy training :)

Milestone reached!

Week - 13.5k
Month - 13.5k
YTD - 1000k

I have finally done it, cracked the 1000k for the year. Woo Hoo!

I headed out today at 5pm after finishing work, for what I thought needed to be a 13.5k run to pass the 1000k mark. Setting out around the neighbourhood the weather was still and warm which quickly heated my body up. I was running a very easy pace but was really feeling it. So much so that I eased up on the pace even more just to make things a little more comfortable.

At around the 8k mark I was close to home and decided the 1000k target would have to wait until next run and would call it quits at 10k.

I was happy to finish, I was hot, sweaty and quite tired. Apart from the fatigue caused by the lack of training I got through the session with no niggles in just over 53 minutes. I even happier when I realised that the 10.5k was enough to get me to triple figures.

Off the subject;

Today I asked my work mate if he would like to be my partner in the Kurruwa relay. I am in no condition to get involved in being competitive for this event, so to pair up and run with someone who has never ran that sort of distance before would be a good option. He hasn't agreed to it 100% but he will come around, the only thing I haven't told him is that I have two days off work after this event and he doesn't :) I might tell him on the morning of the race ;)

Family, Fitness and Fatigue

Week - 3k
Month - 3k
YTD - 989.5k


My schedule for hectic weekends again saw this one disappear before my eyes. There is no letting up either and just looking at the calender for the Brisbane road runners I have just realised that there is a slim chance that I can make only one more race this year and that is on Xmas eve.

The weekend saw the family travel up to Gladstone again for Cass's grandads suprise 80th birthday bash. I was unable to go to this up until mid last week when I wasn't required to work this weekend. Alot of organising went into this event with around 50 family members from all over Australia congrigating in the quite place of Happy rock. I had met only a small proportion of Cass's family so this was going to be a weekend full of introductions. By the end of the day I had forgotten most peoples names, had a sore hand from doing the manly ' look how hard I can squeeze your hand' shake thing, a wrinkled up face from the moist lips of old people kissing my cheek and sore ribs from being hugged by more than my fair share of people.

Overall it was a good weekend however quite exhausting considering I then had to drive home again this afternoon (600k). Next week will be much the same, I work for two days and then back again on Wednesday for a wedding that weekend.

I knew that training is going to be the thing that suffers so yesterday before the party I dragged out Cass's brothers fiance (fi) for a 30 minute session. It was a slow jog with some walking broken up at the 1/2 mark of three hill repeats. This hill is quite steep, it is just a side street but it climbs quickly over about 100m. So much so that the residents that live up top have to wear jumpers compared to the stubbies and singlets the residents wear living at base camp.

After two repeats Fi had enough and while I ran to the top she walked. On my way down we met up and turned around and continued for another 10 minuts or so doing a fartlek session between the power poles.

Overall an easy session, the man thing was making it a tough session for Fiona who has been improving her fitness in the last 6 months or so.

I wanted and needed to go for a run this afternoon after my drive but I had a headache from driving and fell asleep for an hour or so. I will get out tomorrow afternoon for a jaunt. I also have PT in the morning for work so hopefully I will get something out of that aswell.

5 weeks till Kurruwa and I still haven't done much it is looking like 20k of walking and 5k of running :)

The week that was..........

Week - 0k
Month - 26.5k
YTD - 986.5k


Pretty Good!

Since the last time I posted just over a week ago I have ventured out for three runs. Although the longest was 5k, it was over three consectuive days and I got through it without a hitch.

After the 5k run I did 10 days ago I pulled up a little uncomfortable in regards to the hip. I took 8 days off only doing upper body stuff and walking. So the time came when I decided that I should get out there and give it another go.

Thursday, after work, I walked over to the rugby fields and set off for a 3k hit out. I extended my usual laps to include half bitumen half grass just to get a feel for the harder surface. It was an easy pace of around 4.50 av. and finished with no signs of soreness, which was a relief.

Friday, having a nice relaxing day off work I headed out for a 5k run entirely on road and footpaths. After some stretching I set off. Nice and easy for the first kilometre to warm up which ended up being 5.35. The humidity was high and even after a km I was sweating alot, I didn't take any water and was greatful that it was only another 20 mins or so before I could stop.

I gradually increased the pace through the next 4k. I wanted a time under 25 mins so I had to make up the 35 secs from the 1st km to do this. The track I ran was a new route with some slight hills. I was pleased to get home in just over 24.30, with again no signs of the injury.

Yesterday, the monthly TT at Shorncliffe. I haven't been fo a long time and forgot about the work the council was doing to the footpaths which changed the track. Just by chance I stumbled across everyone at the new starting area by taking a newly discovered shortcut.

The area where we conduct this TT is a great spot. It is a bikepath at the waters edge of Moreton Bay which looks awesome on a clear day early in the morning. Yesterday was one of those days however the wind was blowing. I have done a few TT there and at times the wind is strong but it was always a cross wind. I'm unsure if it was a change in location but the out leg of the run was into a massive head wind and was very difficult to run in.

At the start there were a few prams to contend with so for the first 200m I was allocated to the grass. From the onset I knew that with the head wind it was going to be a tough day. I had no goal in mind just run as hard but as sensible as possible and see what comes from it.

Running a foreign course aswell I think I was a bit hesitant, however having some familiar faces around me was a good sign, or was it?? considering that they have been running every week and I haven't, maybe I had gone out to hard for my current fitness level.

Getting to the turn around was a great relief and it felt great to now cruise along but still able to maintain the same speed. It was good until probably a k into the return loop when the absence of wind was causing my body to become very hot. The fellows around me where breathing heavy aswell so I wasn't the only one now feeling the effects.

I could now see the finish line and noticed that those ahead of me continued to run past it....Noooooo. It was not good for the morale as I could see that there was another witches hat further down that we had to run around and run back to the start line. This meant the last 300m was again into the head wind. I let those around me go past as I had been doing all the work up front for the entire race and just slipped in behind them.

By this stage I was puffed but kept with them, the witches hat come up and I increased the pace and past the blokes I could hear there breathing slowly get softer and knew that I had gapped them. I maintained this pace up until I finished crossing the line 20.10.

I was quite happy with the time considering the wind, some say that the wind would have added 10 secs to there time but I think 10 secs per km for 1/2 the race would have been more accurate. To be able to still nudge sub 20 after running a total of 26k in the last 5 weeks I couldn't ask for anything more. I felt a slight niggle from the hip after the run but disappeared about an hour later and never returned.

Later that day I headed up to Noosa to watch the Asics Bolt amongst other events. It was a good day.

Not quite ready yet!

Arriving home from work I was in no mood to do the chores that need to be done around the house, mainly the front lawn. Instead I opted to prepare tea and go for a run. Another 5k on the agenda this time back on the hard stuff and another increase in pace.

It was about 5pm before I had started to get my gear organised and set off. The afternoon had really heated up so this was perfect time to head out. I was searching for my shoes when I realised I had left them at work, both pairs! and the only other runners I had where my flogged out Asics.

I was all keen by this stage so I decided to put them on and do what I had planned. The first few metres when pretty ordinary, the cushioning was about as good as a set of double pluggers from woolies.

I planned to do the 5k in 22.30 so a solid training run. I was a bit sceptical about the cardio but I seemed to handle it without a problem. The cycling and swimming must be doing something I guess.

Throughout the run my right leg never felt good, not so much the hip but the whole upper leg in general. I wasn't in any pain just somewhat unsettling. I reached the 2.5k mark in 11 min and returned in 11.12 making the 5k run in 22.12.

I think that my body is still not ready to begin training, I will lay off again for a bit and stay on the softer stuff aswell. I know the shoes wouldn't have helped but I don't think it was the cause of the discomfort. Right now I need to face reality and focus on recovery rather than getting excited about events. As much as it hurts I think that Kurruwa is now 50/50, I won't even bother about searching for a partner, the odds on letting that person down is far too great.

Like I need more time off!

I had the worst sleep last night, tossed and turned all night only to wake up this morning to the beginnings of the flu. I wont mention any names but a certain person who just returned from Sydney must of brought the lurgy back with her........Ooops did I say her, I mean't to say back with them, and infected the Brisbane area :-)

I have been reading a few blogs and it seems that it is the time for sore throats and runny noses. I think I caught it early and have been taking some tablets to clear it up. I need to get rid of it, Cass and Sam are away at the moment so I dont wont to infect them especially the little man when we meet up in a few days.

Not alot has been going on in terms of running. A bit of cycling along with some strength stuff but that's it. I am pretty busy at the moment and so desperately want and need to go for a run, but I just run out of hours. I have a wedding also this weekend which is a 6hr drive away so I need to manage my time to get some training in.

Anyway that's enough whinging, I thought I would add a couple of photos aswell. I have been missing the little man and Cass so if I can't see them, then this is the next best thing.























This is Cass and Sam at a Wedding in Jun. He was almost 6 weeks old. The other is Samuel about 3 weeks ago being his cheeky self.

Lapping it up

Week - 8.5
Month - 8.5
YTD - 964.5


Headed over to the pool this morning around 9am. The weather was perfect not a cloud in the sky and not too hot, although I knew it wouldn't be too much longer before my fluro white body turned a nasty shade of red. In saying that I lubed up with the sunscreen and jumped into the pool.

It was suprisingly quiet and I had a lane to myself, which does wonders for my confidence. Nothing crushes you like being over taken by a senior citizen that has been swimming laps since dawn. I had no real plan of attack which is highly unlike me ;-) however I like to swim no less than a Km.

I set off and felt pretty good, I was experiment with different strokes which didn't seem to help me a great deal. Last time I was at the pool I concentrated on longer reps whereas today I opted for shorter intervals. The longest I swam was a 200m rep and apart from a 150m the remainder where all 100. Fatigue wasn't an issue and I was very happy with consistently clocking under the minute per lap for the entire session. I ended with a 50m rep to round the day out to spot on a km.

Arriving back home I had a quick bite to eat and some fluid and headed out for my second run in as many days. The hip was perfect all day yesterday and so I thought I would up the pace and distance a little but remain on the grass. By now the temp was creeping higher, but I was only running 5k so it wouldn't affect me too much.

The track is just two rugby fields side by side so I just run the boundry. It works out to be very close to 500m per lap, which also means that this run was very boring. 10 laps, my only form of entertainment was a ride on mower cutting the fields. Every now and then we would enter the straight together so I just tried to run faster than it which wasn't particularly hard.

The last k I was strating to notice the heat and was pretty much jack of it. Overall just on 5 min/k pace, no problems with the hip either.

It feels great to be running again and cant wait to begin some serious training for Kurruwa..................well maybe I can wait till tomorrow there is still 8 weeks left :)

Right now it's time to relax :)

14 OCT 06 - 3.5k

Week - 3.5k
Month - 3.5k
YTD - 959.5k

After having a pretty ordinary sleep I woke up thinking about attempting my run today. I hopped out of bed and wouldn't you know it my hip was slightly sore. I stretched and walked around for a while and thought stuff it Im going.

10.30am I put the runners on and walked over to the rugby fields that are near by. I walked the long way about a 1k as a warm up purposely striding long just to stretch it out a bit. The temp was already high and I can see that the heat from the southern states is going to reach Queensland very soon.

I got onto the fields and began verrrrry cautiously, the grass was nice and soft, good advice Lulu :) I initially thought that I would just run 3k but after the 1st km I thought 20mins would be a better option.

The run went well, a couple of twinges here and there but nothing that hung around or got worse. I will continue this for a few days and slowly increase the intensity and duration.

3.47k in 20mins (5.45 pace) at the completion I walked another k back home.

Tomorrow will more than likely be the same and will probably head to the pool for some laps in the morning.

Right now I off to the kitchen to cook up a feast for lunch, grilled fish with some salad is on the agenda.

In two minds

It's been quiet on the blog front lately. To my defence I have been reading a few just not commenting, which is slack I know.

The end of year is coming pretty quickly now and for some of us there are not many big races to enter. In fact apart from the Bernie 10 coming up, last week saw the last of the big city events take place. In saying that, I should mention and congratulate Steve http://www.superjacent.net/blog/ on an awesome PB in the Melbourne Marathon.

There are still quite a few regional events kicking about however and I really need to get my act together if I want to compete in my last plan event for the year.

It has been 19 days now since I ran, and to be honest I am a little worried to get the runners back on and do some training. You may recall that I had a pinched nerve sort of feeling in my hip about 3 weeks and is the main reason why I have stopped running. I have been doing other activities such as riding and swimming but haven't even attempted to run.

It feels fine walking around, I just dont know how it will be running. I am worried that as soon as I begin to run it will return. I am in two minds. Rest up for another few days/week or attempt a run and see what comes of it.

I am about 60/40 for testing it either tomorrow or Sunday for a slow jog rather than more rest.

I have also made the first step in trying to convince myself in going to a stroke correction swimming squad, it's fairly daunting just thinking about it. I have found one on the net at the Uni of Qld that is run on Mon and Wed nights. I now know how it feels for those new to running wanting to join a club. I am just picturing the instructor going " there's no helping you Shane you are destined to be a shit swimmer"

Ahh well, it seems as though I have a few decisions to make over the weekend.

Will keep you posted.

Cogs are turning!

So far 10 days with no running and to be honest I really haven't felt that bad about it. Unsure when I will get back into it, I have no races coming up so I might take this opportunity to focus on some cross training.

In saying that I have been doing a bit of cycling, nothing outstanding but certainly giving the legs and lungs a good going over. I have clocked around 70k since Sunday, if I can continue this along with some swimming I'm sure that the Cardio fitness wont disappear too quickly.

The cross training will help get rid of the niggles I have before my training begins for Kurrawa. About 68 days till the gun is fired for this race, but whose counting :) I'm not sure if I will bother about a partner, I would hate to become injured in the lead up and leave my relay partner stranded just weeks out from the race. The way my year has gone it would probably happen. I was thinking of just entering the race solo (50k) and dropping out when I feel like I have had enough. Who knows everything may go great and I complete more than 30k. Ha! we can dream but.

Till next time........

Back to the Pool

A spur of the moment decision saw the clan pack our bongos and head to the pool. It was Samuels second experience at the local water hole, where the first time he didn't care much for it and fell asleep. I hung around for a while and watched him kick around and then swooped on a free lane in the lap pool, while Cass and her mum played with Sam.

On the agenda was 1k broken down into 400, 300, 200, 100 with around 3 or so minutes rest. I haven't swam since last year while I was recovering from my knee operation . Rumaging through my blog archives around the 15 Dec 05 was the last time a swim was mentioned.

In saying that my main objective was to complete the distance, nothing more was programmed nor expected. I had a 50m warm up :) and then I was straight into it.
I started off with the 400m, it's a 25m pool so 16 laps, I am also quite un-co so at each end I grab onto the edge and turn around, no tumble turns here so my time per lap is slowed considerably.

Anyway I felt pretty good the whole session, but basically realised that I am just not built for the water. I have suggested on many peoples blogs to get to a session with a coach for stroke correction but have never gotten around to it myself. I must do it, I would love to do a few Tri's and one of my goals this year which I dismissed a few months back was to compete in the Noosa Tri. Cycling and running is not an issue but I find swimming so hard.

I ended the session clocking around 1min 5 secs per 50m on average which I was happy with. I also finished the session without rest breaks during each of the intervals which suprised me alot. I am just not looking forward to tomorrow when my upper body will feel like it has been in the ring with Kostya Tszyu.

Getting into the spirit!

Month - 87k
YTD - 956k


Nothing exciting to write about really, I had physio again today which is progressing well, the physio has said that I can cycle if I am getting the DT's from not exercsing which I will probably do. I will dust off the wind trainer so while Cass is having her tupperware/mothers group gathering I dont have to be anywhere near all those babies and plastic utensils.

It really heating up now and the triathlon season is gearing up so I might even get back in the water and make my swimming comeback aswell. The running has ceased for the time being so maybe I can maintain my fitness doing other stuff.

The next few weeks are caos for me in the next 6 weekends, we are having our 1st wedding anniversary this weekend, working the following weekend, then a wedding on the 21st oct. The 27-29th is the Noosa multisport festival, then I am working again followed by another wedding. It is certainly begining to wind up for the festive season. With the lack of training and the massive amount of food and beverages consumed I a going to struggle when it comes time to getting my rear end out the door again.

During that time I will also need to find a partner for the Kurruwa run in Dec, and actually convince them that I will be in some sort of condition by then :)

Happy Training.

Weird and very unexpected

Firstly probably no-one will even read this blog now because they wont be able to find it. The reason why I changed the title will become clearer throughout this report, hopefully anyway.

A few days ago I had a specialist appointment with a surgeon that works at the base hospital. My GP at work wanted him to look at my recent bone scans just to get another opinion. A few weeks ago I had a similar pain to what I experienced six months ago around the shin area. Not as bad but it came all of a sudden and only lasted for two days and hasn't returned since. My legs feel great in regards to this injury which is why the surgeons outlook on my progress and recovery was a massive shock.

From the onset of the appt, I didn't really have anytime for him. He came in his office with another person a physio and didn't acknowledge me and continued to talk like I wasn't even in the room for a good 2 minutes. He then asked me about my history, when I was talking he would cut me off and talk over me, it wouldn't have made any sense to him as I didn't get to finish many of my sentences. He then pulled my scans out not sure which one and looked at it for maybe 10 secs at the most. I had two bone scans 5 months apart and he didn't even compare them.

I was then asked to show him where I had been getting the pain in which I identified the areas. At this stage I was laying on his bed he then pressed into my shins and said " ok, im not happy with your scans, they still show signs of stress" I said to him that I hadn't had any pain for weeks and that my weekly K's had been increasing with no negative results. He didn't even comprehend what I was saying to him, and stated that he was overuling what the other Dr's have said to me and that I am not to run for 3 months.

What a complete dickhead, I hated every minute I was in that office, it wasn't so much what the result was it was the way he conducted himself and the way he showed no respect to what I was saying.

Anyway I now have a review with him in Dec a good three weeks before the 3 months is up with ANOTHER bone scan before I see him. He wants the scan to be totalling clear before he will release me to conduct my normal duties at work. I cant see this happening, I have been running since I was 5 years, in my opinion I dont think I will ever has a perfect scan, so it will be interesting to see what happens in 2 or so months.

In the mean time, I am still going to do my training. I would understand if I was experiencing pain but to sit around and do nothing when I have no pain is ridiculous. I am thinking that I might even get a second opinion, dont know the avenues to do this as this is the on barracks hospital and that there aren't many specialist that work there. Dont know, I dont want to open a can of worms really, I want to remain a grey man and do my normal routine.

Alright, enough of that, like I said in my last post I was having a pinched nerve feeling in the hip area, well this has been giving me some grief. I haven't ran so at this stage I am following the Dr's advice :) In the meantime I have felt like a sports star as I have been to the physio counting tomorrows appt 4 out of the 5 days this week. My nerve feeling is not nerve related and is just a tight group of muscles that has been copping a hiding. Elbows and electric currents have been applied trying to relieve this which is working SLOWLY.

To that end I am taking it easy until I am better and obviously not running the Bribie run this weekend. It doesn't concern me too much, that is not a goal race and I just want to be fit for Kurrawa in Dec so I have plenty of time.

That's it for now, thank god, that was way longer than expected. Oh and the reason for the address change is paranoia really. When I do go out for some training runs and I blog them, there is a risk that someone from work may stumble across the blog. Highly unlikely but still.. I dont want anyone that I work with know that I am running just in case........ So with a new title with no link to my name I should have no worries :)

BRRC - 10k Handicapped race

Week - 10k
Month - 87k
YTD - 956k


I have never ran a 10k handicapped race at West end before and was really undecided if I wanted to. I was starting 29 mins 30 secs behind the first person, not that I minded about the time difference but today was said to be quite a warm one nudging 30 degrees and it would be good to begin earlier just to finsh before it was too hot. Secondly a few fellows from Pat's group had organised a couple of speedy people including Pat to pace a sub 40 min group, which would be good to be apart of.

6 am come around and I decided that I didn't feel like I was ready to run, lack of warm up and stretching so I decided that I would run off my handicap and see what would come off it. Hanging around it seemed like an eternity but it was good to not rush doing a warm up and enabled me to have a pit stop and watch how everyone was travelling.

My time was called with 30 secs to go, I retied the shoelaces and then I was off. I settled quickly into a nice relaxed stride and was feeling fresh. I passed the person who started 30 secs before me within 500m so obviously he wasn't going hard today.

For the first k I was unsure of my exact pace, I didn't wear the garmin as I tend to concentrate on it far too much so the stop watch was worn instead. I arrived at the first k marker in 3.52 and was happy with this. Now that I had a feel for the pace I could try and set an even pace and hopefully go under 40 mins.

The remainder of the first lap went well I was feeling relaxed but knew that the mean little man in my head that always talks me out of keeping up the pace would come in the next 2k. I find the 7 and 8k the toughest in a 10 k run and knew that it would be no different today.

Coming the down the long straight passing the start/finish line I grabbed my last drink just 200m before the 7k mark. I concentrated on keeping my pace, breathing properly and not much else. With the handicapped event I always had runners in front of me that I could maintain focus on which I felt helped alot.

I could feel along the back straight that my upper body was tensing up, and those negative thoughts were entering my mind. I was trying to remain positive and saying to myself that I only had ten minutes to go, all the hard work has been done just relax.

Hitting the 8k mark I started to feel good again, I was focussed on what was up ahead and not at the ground 10m in front of me. There is a slight incline just after the 8k mark that slows alot of people down, myself included, this time I exaggerated my arm swing and pushed through it, getting onto the flat quicker I could ease a little and recover for the final 1500m.

The back straight is usually a mental barrier for me , you can see almost 1k to where the last turns are before finishing but today I just focussed on those ahead of me trying to catch them. I reached the 9k mark and knew that I had been running my best most consistent race and that I only had 4 minutes or so before I was finished.

35.35, was the time at 9k and I had 4.24 to go sub 40 minutes. This eased the pressure alot, I knew that I would break 40 minutes, something I haven't done in over 10 years since my school days. I was tiring and was having a bit of a tussle with another guy who helped me maintain my pace. In the end he had the legs over me but it didn't matter, I had just broken 40 minutes and that's all that counted.

The finishing time was 39.39, with both 5k loops coming within 3 secs of one another, 19.48 and 19.51. What I am most happy about is that I had done this by myself no pacers, no help from anyone, a tough way to do it but a much more satisfying result.

After the race speaking to Owen who I met today ran a PB also of 40.30 which was a great time. Clairie had a tough day but still managed a credible time clocking around 4.30 pace. The only negative to come from this is my right leg, I have been battling with a pinched nerve in my hip since Tuesday when I woke up with it. Waking around it hurts abit and the first few steps during running it is uncomfortable but after that I dont notice it. After the event today it was painful feeling like a needle is stabbing me and has not eased up even now. I am taking a few days off maybe till Wednesday before testing it out again. If there is no improvement I will see the Doc, maybe I just slept the wrong way, who knows, all I know is that it is quite painful at the moment.

Splits
3.52, 3.55, 3.53, 3.56, 4.12?? (19.48), 3.57, 3.51, 3.57, 4.02, 4.04 (19.51)

8k with a Difference

Week - 43k
Month - 77k
YTD - 946k

I thought I might add some pics to spice up my blog. Although not entirely exercise related this is my little man in his new walker. As you can see he is in hard training, eating, however plastic is probably not the best diet and trying to get about the dining room. His feet barely touch the ground which is probably why the walls are still in one piece, but it wont be long before the caos and vandalism begins :)

This morning I met up with the Regatta crowd for their customary friday session. Cass also come along for a small walk along the river, she also heard that there were pancakes on offer which she couldn't pass up :)

The group set off about 6 am however not as one gaggle. Smaller groups headed off at slightly different times and ran at different paces. This eased the congestion alot on the river path, where there are quite a few bikes whizzing past.

Clairie, Ironbee, myself and another lady just ahead of us set off at a steady pace, I was feeling a little drained from the onset but felt gradually better as time went on. Suprising, I purposely had a rest day yesterday to get my energys level back from having a heavier training week.

The 8k run is 4k steady out to a turn around point then pick the pace up and come home for a negative split. The purpose is to get used to lifting at the latter stages of a race and come home strong. I wasn't really wanting to simulate race conditions this morning, but I wanted to come home strong and push it a little. The first 4k was done is just over 5min/k pace reaching the turnaround in 20.31. I then instantly increased the pace and just wanted to return in under 16 mins for the 4k.

I felt pretty good for the run back and was happy how well my body adapted to the increase in pace. Towards the end around the 1k to go I was feeling a bit fatigued which showed in the split for that section. My recovery after I had finished was quite speedy, I am usually huffing and puffing but felt good within 30 secs and decided to have a recovery jog back down the path until I met with Clairie.

After a stretch, the group headed back over to the Regatta for some breaky and a chinwag. It was a enjoyable morning and more so an enjoyable week of training, something I will miss when I return to work again next week.

*Splits*
1k - 5.07
2k - 5.02
3k - 4.56
4k - 5.26 (20.31)
5k - 3.45
6k - 3.52
7k - 3.55
8k - 4.00 ( 15.32)

Early morning long run

Today - 15k
Month - 69k
YTD - 938k


These early morning starts are tough, not so much getting up but around 10am Im buggered. Lucky I have this week off, I usually grab Sam and lay down and have a nana nap for an hour or so.

5.30am this morning I arrived at the Regatta to run with Clairie and Mark. As I said yesterday the usual group starts at 6am but we ran a little loop before heading off with them just to add a few extra k's.

The weather is perfect for running this time of year and it is amazing that just a month ago I would have not even considered getting out for a run in the morning due to the cold.

The 3 of us headed off at a casual pace, I had no idea where we were but was happy to be running somewhere new. We basically followed bike paths and side streets that were at times hilly, I was also suprised as to how many people kick about in the city doing exercise. Im usually an afternoon person and dont usually venture far away from my home and generally see no-one, it was a pleasing site.

We arrived back at the Regatta around 27 minutes later and 5.37k down. We waited around for a few minutes for the last people to arrive which gave me the opportunity to grab the hat and sunnies before heading off again.

Amongst others Tesso had joined us at 6am, she is heading to Sydney for a holiday and is running a 1/2 of Sunday so this was her easy mid sized run. We headed on to the river path and ran until the 5k turn around which is in the Botanical gardens. The pace was very consistent clocking slightly over 5 min/k's for the majority of the run.

It was great to have some company, and run at a casual pace. Whenever I do my long runs it is generally alone and I tend to get bored. When this happens I increase the pace making it more of a tempo run. This is why I think I have been getting injured more often this year.

Anyway on the way back the pace started to lift slightly and with about 500m to go Clairie unleashed and took off, she was setting a great pace to finish so I just stuck with her. Overall we ran 15.37k in a little over 77 minutes.

After finishing I did somewhat of a stretch but just got chatting before heading off. Clairie and Tesso also told me about Fridays run, an 8k differential run followed by a nice greasy breakfast which sounds awesome.

Sprints at Pats

Week - 20k
Month - 54k
YTD - 923k

I had the alarm set for 4.25am to get up and ready for my first training session with the Pat Carroll group. It was all going well until at 4.25 when I heard that dreaded alarm noise, instead of getting up like a normal person I rolled over and turned the alarm off. I must of instantly fallen back to sleep because at 4.58am I woke up startled, flipping myself out of bed so fast it was a miracle that I didn't pull a hammy or something more serious.

The session doesn't start until 5.40 according to Pat's website but I live quite a drive from the City. I got ready in a flash showered for no reason other than taming down the bed hair, dressed and out the door is less than ten minutes. I knew there was a reason why the Army trained me to get ready and change uniforms in a matter of minutes :)

Anyway to cut my dribbled down I broke all speed records and made it with a good 10 minutes to spare. I arrived to see Tesso and Clairie, met Pat again (obviously my outstanding TT I did at his session 6 months ago didn't make an impact on him as he didn't remember my name ;) and was also introduced to Anna Bligh the politician.

Pat announced that todays session was 1 min efforts at New Farm. We headed off to the start which is also the warm up. The warm up was the longest I have ever done, unsure of the distance but we ran probably 2.5 - 3k to the start where conducted the sprints.

During the session there were quite a few people which took some time to get used to especially if you start behind people running a bit slower than you. Although it went very quick, the 8 x 1 min efforts with Pat's '30 sec' recovery did give an excellent workout.

Before heading off, Pat got us to run up this hill which was about 0.5k away. I have heard about the 'hill' and when I got there I knew it was going to hurt. So much so that it made me delirious, not thinking straight, I ended up going down and back up again.

We then headed off back to the Ship Inn where we started, another 3k or so as a cool down. It was a fun morning, hard work but that's what I need. I just wish I could make it more often, if only I started work 15 minutes later I could go every week.

Tomorrow, I will be doing a run starting from the Regatta, Thanks Tess for the reply, maybe to run with Clairie and Mark for an earlier start to get some extra k's under the belt. If not I will certainly be there at 6am. Between 12 -18k is on the agenda.

Sunday Evening Long(ish) run

Week - 14k
Month - 48k
YTD - 917k

It has been hard to not get out and begin training like a man possessed after my great training session on Thursday. Instead I resisted the urge and made sure that I recovered properly before heading out again, that and it was great weather to curl up under the quilt and watch TV over the past few days aswell. The only disappointing thing, much to the delight of Tesso was that the Broncos won their game last night.

I set off at 5pm this evening thinking that I wanted to do a long run, well longish and probably a regular training run to most of you. Anyway I had a track in mind, I had run parts of this before but instead extended it somewhat to make a big loop. Unsure of the distance I was hoping it would exceed 15k which would be my longest training session since a few days prior to Warwick in May.

With my longer training sessions I always end up running way too fast, more like a Tempo session than a easy slow day. Today however I made a conscious effort to remain at a comfortable pace for the entire run. Apart from being swooped by a magpie which scared the shit out of me and made me high tail it focussing on my pace worked a treat.

I enjoyed the session and got to listen to more tracks on the Ipod than usual, the weather was great and the streets quiet. My only negative point was that my track ended up being quite a bit shorter than predicted, next time I will head down to the next block which will certainly rectify that.

Overall I returned home in 71 mins 6 secs a total distance of 14.23k which worked out to be spot 5 min/k pace. Here is the run down of the splits, boring I know but I am proud that I didn't kill myself for a training run; 5.47, 4.47, 4.50, 4.59, 5.01, 5.11, 4.58, 4.58, 4.53, 4.52, 5.04, 4.54, 4.55, 4.48, 1.06 (231m)

I have the next week off work, my Mum left yesterday so there ended up being a gap of a week between now and when Cass's mum comes down to help out with Cass. In saying that I am planning to head to Pat's session on Tuesday. I dont get many opportunities to get there very often in fact I have only been there for a TT in March. It is very early so Cass and hopefully Samuel will remain sleeping while Im away. I was checking Pats website today and couldn't find any details of what is palnned for Tuesday, does anyone know( Brisbane folk of course) or is it kept a secret till the day.

YAY's all round

Week - 24k
Month - 34k
Month - 903k


First things first, Cass was discharged from hospital yesterday YAY! Everything is going good it will just take some time before she is back feeling herself. In the meantime we will be living a casual life just kicking back and relaxing around the house, something im not going to complain about :)

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I had a reoccurance of pain in my shins again certainly not as bad as before but pain nonetheless. I ended up getting two scans which were done last week. Basically they seem to show minor signs of what could be shin splints, so no compartment syndrom and no stress fractures. YAY again. I did rest for a week when I saw the Doc, then got back into some training, they are feeling brand new now so hopefully they will stay that way.

Yesterday I arrived at work thinking that for PT I would go for a jog, 10k was on the cards and was glad I had the opportunity to get it done in the morning as it was Cass's first day back. The day was slightly chilly to begin with but heated up to a nice warm morning perfect for a slow session. I ran the track that we get our fitness test done on, so knew that each lap was 2.4k. I also wore the Garmin so I could make up the extra after completing 4 laps. I must admit it was the most boring run I have done in a while, apart from doing the session alone the barracks also look like a ghost town no-one was out doing anything. I completed the session,battling to remain awake :) in 47 mins 13 secs. Next time I will choose somewhere with scenery.

At the start of the week I had decided that I would like to make my much awaited return to the track. This was up in the air as I didn't want to leave Cass alone for too long if she was feeling unwell. However after returning home from work she was bright eyed and bushy tailed and didn't mind if I deserted her for an hour, YAY (last one I promise)

I had forgotten how much I enjoy these sessions, hard work but very rewarding. The turn out was a good size with 10 or so members. Phil split us up into two groups and said the session was 10 x 400m with a minute jog recovery. Great I thought, what a session to return on, our group was also under strict instructions to remain at 1.20 per lap (3.20/k).

From the onset I felt awesome the legs had heaps of energy and I was easily sticking on pace. Every lap I consistently got within 1-2 secs either side of the 1.20. I hope I don't sound full of myself but this is the first time in ages that I actually ran well and felt great for a session. I concentrated on my technique rather than focussing on getting as much oxygen as possible before keeling over like I normally am. Overall I am obviously very happy with the way I went tonight.

I am feeling a little tired now writing this and stiffening up a little, but there is no way I will complain about a little soreness especially if I can feel like I did tonight for every session.

BRRC - 10k

Week - 10k
Month - 20k
YTD - 891k


To you all, Cass and I has really appreciated all the kind words and offers that have been given over the past few days,it means alot.
Cass is recovering fairly well with some issues with a fever however it has seemed to remain steady over the past 48 hrs. Apart from that everything seems like it is moving in the right direction, maybe abit slower than Cass would hope for, but it would seem that way when you are stuck in a hospital unable to do much. Maybe another week before she will be discharged depending on how everything is going of course.

On to today before heading to the hospital bright and early, giving Cass her rest I headed to West end for the club race. It was the 25k champs however I am by no means in any sort of condition to do that distance and opted for the 10k run instead.

No goals this morning just got out there and turned the legs over, I also decided to try the fuel belt which worked pretty good. I dont normally wear it when racing but I was suprised that it was ok at a higher intensity.

The lack of training really showed, it suprises the hell out of me how 3 weeks ago I was comfortably running 4.18 pace or there abouts for the Noosa half and struggled today maintaining a similar pace for 10k.

The fisrt 5k was done at a reasonable pace however I knew that I couldn't sustain that pace and slowed down to a point of feeling comfortable. I didn't want to exhaust myself as I was heading over to the hospital straight after and would be there for most of the day.

The weather was good slightly overcast but a warm sun, the only negative point was the wind on the back straight, close to 1k in distance. A nasty in your face type which made the course a little more difficult.

It was good to get out there today and take my mind away from all that been happening, although my mum said I looked as though I didn't have my heart in it today, maybe so but I certainly felt it beating, trying to escape my chest.

Anyway, total time was 42.28, 20.21 for the first 5k, then 22.07 an average of 4.14/k.

Oh and I have just cracked the Century for posts this being #101, 9 months on, I thought it would never last :)

Success! Here's to a new life.

Wow, what a week!

After the lows of last fortnight, Cass's surgery was a go ahead last night. The process started on Monday when she was admitted to the Wesley Hospital. Three days of treatment to raise her platelet count was conducted, however it did come with an experience that wasn't pleasant for her. The amount of blood tests she had took a toll on her vascular system to an extent that all her veins would collapse as soon as a needle or canular was placed in them. A fairly major concern as the treament was time critical. The doctors had to perform a procedure where they place a line and tube into the Chest and tap into the vein of the heart called a center line. This was a success, however suffice to say a fairly painful experience. The treatment continued which raised her platelet count to a very safe level which eased our minds a great deal.

Yesterday 4pm Cass was wheeled into the operating theatre, a worrying and stressful time my mum, Cass's mum, Samuel and I couldn't stand hanging around the hospital waiting. We decided to ease the mind a bit with a stroll around the shops. This gave us the opportunity to grab a bite to eat, it actually made the time pass by very quickly.

We returned to the hospital almost three hours later to find out that Cass was still in theatre unsure on how much longer and with no feedback on the progress of the Op it was tense times. An hour later we were notified that she was now in recovery but would be down there for quite a while. Just after 9pm Cass was back in her room, 5 hrs later, very sore, very drowsy but happy to see us. We left not long after to allow her to get some well earned rest.

Today arriving at the hospital Cass's condition was very good considering what she had gone through. Although we knew in great detail what the operation involved the surgeon was still unsure on the extent of damage. He couldn't give us complete answers as the only was they could be explained was after he started the surgery. This morning the surgeon visited Cass before I arrived and detailed what he had done.

Just to give a brief insight into what Cass has gone through without going into too much detail the last 12 months has been a tough time. July last year she was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, this was caught early, however this still required Chemo and still requires regular testing and treatment. The reason for this surgery was indirectly related to this, Cass has had some digestive issues for some time but these have been getting worse over the years. Due to this Dr's had said that due to her Cancer if it did become aggressive again apart from reoccuring in the same spot it will attack the weakest organ in her body. This being her intestine (large), after a considerable amont of testing we decided that surgery was the only option which was what was performed last night. 26cm of her large intestine was removed and tested for cancer, the result's came back negative, an awesome result and a massive relief.

The road to recovery will be long but Cass is the most positive person I know. Through all the highs and lows she has never had a negative outlook and has never once complained about how life has dealt her an unfair hand. Here's hoping that we can now put this last 12 months behind us. Although you can never be too careful with cancer there is now one major concern that we can leave behind and begin living a somewhat less stressful existance.

Fathers Day

Week - 7k
Month - 10k
YTD - 881k

My first fathers day, Sam greeted me twice before 5 am this morning :( he has been having some restless sleeps over the past few days. At a more reasonable hour I got a present from him delivered by Cass as the package was twice the size of him with some goodies inside which was nice.

Anyway after feeling a little depressed about the legs I did end up going for a quick jog around the block yesterday to see how they were feeling after a few days rest. It wasn't the most pleasant run but there was no aching afterwards which was good, however I did only run 3k at 4.45 pace.

So on to today, a fairly casual day relaxing, Cass goes into hospital again tomorrow for take two of the surgery that will be performed on Thursday, so it was nice to spend some time just kicking back watching TV together.

About 4.30pm I headed out for another run. On the cards was between 5 -10k depending on how I was feeling. The first two km was tough going the lower legs felt horrible but they began to warm up and by 5k I was running pretty comfortable at a good pace. I wanted a good hit out, I also swapped shoes for something different, a pair that has a bit more cushion and just placed my orthotics inside them.

Overall the run went better than I expected, slight aching afterwards but I just iced up and now they feel pretty good. I ended up completing 7k in 30.48.

The Week in Review

I haven't posted for a few days, mainly due to the lack of physical activity that has taken place. So I will quickly update what's been going on.

The start of the working week, on the agenda was a small cct with some hill sprints for PT. I pulled up a little stiff and sore after Sundays run which wasn't normal. During the cct this didn't get any better and started to become uncomfortable, to the extent where I asked to be excused from the session to rest up. It was the same ache that I had experienced a few months ago only on a less painful scale. I iced up, massaged the area and took anti-inflam's hoping that it was just a freak thing.

Tuesday I woke up feeling pretty good, however area's along my shins were painful to put pressure on. I also noticed it was uncomfortable to squat whilst doing my job which caused me concern. I decided to make an appointment to see the Doc...

Wednesday 1030, seated in the Dr's office explaining my dilemma. I explained that it wasn't as painful as what I had earlier in the year but very similar. The difference being there was no indication, no signs of this coming on. I knew this was strange and the Doc agreed. He wasn't sure what was going on, he could understand if it was one leg but both, it just didn't add up so......

I am once again booked in for some more scans. I might aswell utilise my free medical and see what is causing this reoccuring injury. He has booked me in for a muscle perfusion scan which is an injection of a radioactive isotope into the muscle. I then have to run on a treadmill and then have a scan which will indicate blood flow through the problem area's. The purpose of this is to rule out Compartment Syndrome, the downside to this can is that if I dont experience the pain or discomfort when I run on the tready then it will not detect the cause.

The next scan is another bone scan just to compare the scan that I had earlier in the year. The two scans have to be performed on seperate days, the muscle one is first next wednesday the bone scan is on the 11 Sep.

Due to the fact that there is quite a few days between now to the scan I am still going to do some training. I am not going to be stupid about it but I want to find out what is going on. If I rest up the discomfort will subside and the scans will not detect anything. I know it sounds weird but I want the pain present at the scans, that way if there is something wrong I will give it the best chance to rear it's ugly head during the scans.

It is by no means as bad as before, but if I continued with my training for a few more weeks without seeing the Doc I would be out of action again for some time.

Will keep updating on how the training goes between now and the scans.