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........