Warwick woes continue!

Unfortunately this is an injury update which seems to be a frequent occurance nowadays. I must asked my parents if I am really only 27 and not 67 as it seems I cant even get through a weekend of running without falling apart.

My knee pulled up fine with some rest however my foot is a different story. It remained sore even with a strict routine of NSAID's, including Anti Inflam gel and icing. By Wednesday morning it was feeling pretty good and decided try jogging. Not at a cracking pace and no more than 200 -300 metres however I didn't even get that far. It began hurting just as much as the weekend so back to square one.

I consulted the Doc at work and he said that I am doing everything right bar the small jog. He told me to remain doing what I was and come back on Monday if the pain didn't improve.

Monday, today I arrived back at the Docs after some poking and prodding he located the spot of discomfort and gave me 3 injections of cortisone. As this is administered with a local it felt fabulous until about an hour later when it felt worse than ever.

I am off for another week and should notice an improvement in 12-72 hrs. If not another injection next week "should" fix it up.

Below is a pic of a foot, the area around the cuboid and the tarsal-metatarsal joint is the area that is causing the grief. There is a tendon that runs over that region which I am thinking is causing the issue.

Weekend at Warwick

Week - 11.5k
Month - 91.5k
YTD - 390.5k

I have set foot in my door and decided to give hopefully a quick wrap up of the weekends festivities.

Arrived Friday lunchtime and just chilled out for the day at the hotel. Had a awesome dinner at the hotel and spotted everyone else that was doing Warwick having dinner aswell.

The following day, Day 1 of the event I was pretty relaxed. Not sure if my fairly consistent training runs of around 12k was going to work for me or be disastrous.

Anyway

Warwick to Yangan 1/2 Marathon start time 7 am

In the 3 years I have been at this event this year was the warmest by far. It is usually absolutely freezing so I was very grateful. The race started just after 7am and I took off at a faster than normal pace, I wanted to get a clear position rather than pass people on the first section of bike paths before it opens up. This seemed to work for me and I quickly got into a nice pace. I felt really good for the first half of the run, I was by no means pushing it but still maintaining good splits passing 10k in 43.55. At the 12k mark I had Cass stop in the car and she gave me a gel and some powerade. At about the 16k mark I lifted the tempo a bit I felt ordinary up the climbs but the flat I felt strong for the whole run. I ended up crossing the line in 1.32.44 and actually achieved a negative split even with the tougher second half. Now I just had to recover for the next race

Morgan Park 4.6k Cross Country Start time 12pm

I find this race the most difficult, not sure why maybe the combination of the dust and not being used to doing that much off road running. I pulled up pretty well after the 1/2 and had a plan to do 19 mins for this race. The course changes every time I have done this so you don't really know what to expect. This year I liked the course there were a few obstacles such as jumps etc to contend with and some hilly sections that made it pretty tough. I crossed the line in 17.19 which I was pretty happy about.

5k road run Start time 3pm

I was still feeling pretty good but I was glad that this is the last race of the day. I completed a short warm up just conserve what ever energy I had left. I had arrived pretty close to start time so not long after the warm up we where asked to move around to the start area. I good 5 min walk in itself. Got to the start area and conducted a few stretches and telling myself that I will be happy with something around 4min k pace (20mins). The first km was a bit weird I had a niggle in the outside of my left knee which I have had before. An overuse injury ITB friction syndrome, it hurt a little but settled down for the remainder of the run. The last 2k I began to hurt and eased up on the 4k before going a little harder for the finish. Finished in a time of 19.39.

End of day one saw me clock 3 times below my goals by a long way aswell as running PB's for each of the races although race 2 was different.

After the race I noticed that my knee was sore and also the outside section of my right foot just below and a little forward of the ankle. This concerned me a bit because I experienced the same problem last year with my foot after the exact race.

Day 2

Killarney to Queen Mary Falls 10k start time 8am

Woke up with my foot and knee pretty sore. Fairly pissed off to say the least I didn't know how the day was going to pan out. I tried warming up but it was hurting quite alot and felt uncomfortable so I stopped. Not willing to pull out I lined up for the race. Last year with my foot issues this run took me 59.xx. Before I realised I was injured I wanted to achieve what I did in 05 which was 53.xx. The race started and it hurt however after 2k of putting up with it the pain subsided where it was comfortable not perfect but I could maintain a reasonable pace. The first 3k is pretty flat and I passed this mark in 13 mins the next 2.5k is undulating and by the 6k mark the big hill begins. I reached the 6k mark in 27.32. My foot felt good running up the hill however my lungs didn't react the same way. I struggled until it flattened out around the 9k mark, crossing the line in 50.55. I was chuffed to say the least but also pretty sore as soon as I stopped.

I had worked out my times along the way and realised that my goal of sub 3.20 was easily beat. I therefore dropped it to 3.10 during the first day, and knew what I had to run today to get under it.

1500m road run, Warick main St start time 11.30am

Didn't do any warm up for this run, and just practice a running style that sort of felt alright. A bit disappointed that I couldn't go flat out for this run as I wanted to beat my course PB of 4.55 set i 05. I decided running on my toes was the way to go. The gun fired and I set off, felt the knee complain for the first 400m but it then settled. The foot was still groaning until the turn around I then upped the pace and tried running normal it felt alright and I could stride out a little more. I think at the turnaround I was 2.52 (750) I ended up crossing in 5.26 (2.34 for the second half). Again pretty happy with the outcome and really even if I was not injured I don't think I would have anymore than a minute or so faster over the two events today.

Overall my unofficial time was 3.06.03 for 42.2km. I am very very happy with that, it is actually over 8 mins faster than my previous time of 3.14.xx set in 05.

Update!

Week - 23.5k
Month - 49.5k
YTD - 348.5k


The time has arrived when all my worries etc about the weekend cannot be helped. No matter what I do know my fate has been sealed and I will just have to wait and see what eventuates.

This will be my last post before the Warwick review so here's a quick update

12/5 - I again set out for another 11.5k run not sure what it is about this distance but I seem to finish at that stage. Again a pretty confortable run @ 4.53 pace slightly slower than the previous day.

The following day was Mothers day however I had to work the entire day and night. What I mean is that I don't work for the entire 24hrs but have to remain at work, actually sleep there and then do the day shift on Monday. A bit sucky really especially on the special day. I made Cass breaky in bed etc etc on the Friday on behalf of Sam who is still a bit young to cook as an early Mums day present

Monday I arrived home at 4pm after what felt like an eternity, in saying that not much went on that afternoon.

Tuesday I started work at 1pm which gave me an opportunity to get a small session in ended up doing 7k in just over 4.30 pace. Felt alot harder than that though.

This morning was the next instalment of the competition that the barracks hold. This time a Triathlon with a twist. The workshop entered two teams as many of us are too whimpy to swim in an outdoor pool early in the morning. The sequence for the Tri was a 2k run, 250m swim, 12k bike, 250m swim then a 3k run. I was the runner with my other mates doing the swim and cycle legs.

I set off in the run and was suprised that from the onset was nearing the front. I settled into a nice rhythm early with another fellow and cleared out from the rest of the pack. The last section of the run is a slight uphill which is where I made a move and entered transition in first spot clocking about 7 mins.

Our swimmer entered the pool and got out only moments later, it turns out that he only did 4 laps 200m before handing off to the cyclist. With possible DQ looming we talked to the marshalls and they agreed to our swimmer doing 300m the next time. Our cyclist done a great effort only getting caught by the best rider in the field in the last 2k. Currently in 2nd place our swimmer entered the water and caught the first guy however we still had to do that extra lap. This enabled the team to hand over and clear out and get a good lead on us. We changed over for my 3k leg and I could see the guy in front about 300m ahead. There was no way I would have caught him and just settled in for a good solid run. We ended up 2nd in a time of 48.44, 52 secs behind 1st. Very happy with the result. The only negative was that our rider yes our rider sprained his ankle running his bike into transition. He has had issues with it before and I think even surgery on it so hopefully he hasn't any serious damage.

Anyway that's all for now, I will see some of you at Warwick and to the rest I will catch up with some reading in a few days.

Last thing I will be doing all events, however the longer stuff is going to kill me so a revised goal of sub 3.20 and I will be happy.

Bye for now :-)

First milestone!

Week - 25k
Month -26k
YTD - 325k


I managed only one run whilst staying on Magnetic Island the combination of late nights and days filled with wedding and family stuff pretty much ate up the time to fit any training in. The one run I did do was awesome about 8.5km in what was perfect Townsville Autumn weather on the deserted streets along the water front. Very nice, it is certainly a great place to train with plenty of hills and trails to be found.

Arrived home on Monday which ended up being a wind down day. I had Tuesday off work so the next day I managed only 4k, not sure why I cut it so short.

The following day I arrived at work to find out that we had a running type session involving the beep test and a run around the roads of the barracks (4.5k). The session was for everyone to get to level 8 which to my surprise most people got to. We then headed off around the ring road, running as a group accommodating for the slower runners. I found this difficult running at a pace I am not used to, just the weird stride I had to perform to remain at that pace.

We arrived back to the spot where the beep test was held and we were straight into it starting the test again. This time it was maximum effort, the purpose was to beat your level from the previous month. I made a decision to stop at level 12 if no one was still in the test. By the time we got to level 10 there was 5 remaining, 3 of those dropped out during this level which left my Boss and me. He still looked strong and we entered level 11 this however didn't last long and after a few stages he dropped out, I kept to my promise and stopped at level 12.

Yesterday it was my son Sam's 1st birthday, the past year has seemed to go so fast although at times late at night when everyone else is asleep it didn't seem that way. He is at a pretty cool age now where he is walking and is showing his personality, very cheeky, ignorant and doesn't stop talking, just like his mother ;-)

It was a fairly low key day as Sam had some celebrations last weekend with Cass's side of the family and my parents will see him next weekend at Warwick. At the end of the day Sam was racked out which gave myself an opportunity to go for a run. 11.5k @ 4.45 pace. The weather was crappy, raining and a little cold although I did feel pretty good during the session.

I posted my entry form for Warwick a few days ago. I was and still am unsure if I should do the 1/2. I have not been dong any longer sessions, however it is not the same competing at Warwick and not doing them all. This will be my 3rd year and I had expectations on some good results but I just don't think it will happen this year. I have entered all events and will make my mind up on the day, whatever I decide I am still looking forward to this great weekend.

5 X 1Km Relay

Yesterday around Lunch time I was asked if I wanted to be a part of the relay team my unit had put together for a race that was programmed for this morning. It was a race against all members of the barracks around a 1km cct comprising of 5 members per team. I couldn't compete in it last year as I had shin splints but this time jumped at the chance to be apart of it.

It began at 7.30 this morning and the weather was fresh, we were all very relaxed and to be honest I really didn't think we had a chance. There we 35 teams of 5 runners so the start was going to be caos. Our 1st runner made his way to the front of the start line which was a good move. The gun went and they were off, one fellow took off very fast and everyone thought he would blow up half way round, this wasn't the case and he continued to pull away from everyone establishing a handy 100m lead on the rest. We were 8th at the first change.

The next runner ran a good even run nothing outstanding and just maintained our position. The group had now strung out alot and it ws much easier to run. Our third runner set a good pace and put in one last effort to gain a few places. On the next change we were now around 6th place.

The 4th runner took off and decided to take the first 500m steady and come home strong. We had been noticing that alot of ground is made up in the latter stages of the leg. It proved to be a success for him changing over to me in 4th spot very close to 2nd and 3rd. I took off pretty quick and sat right on the 3rd place runner we quickly swallowed up the 2nd placed runner and started thinking on how I was going to get passed this bloke. He was running well and we were pretty even, then all of a sudden the fellow we just passed came sprinting passed us like we were standing still.

I thought there is no way we can catch him at that pace, but 100m up the road he blew a head gasket and slowed right down. So it was back to the battle of two, about 300m to go just before we entered the carpark I upped the pace and I could see his technique faultering a bit. He heard me coming and tried to speed up and that's were I broke him, you could see that he just had nothing left and was now just focussing on hanging onto third place. I was still keeping an eye on him but he wasn't gaining, with a hundred to go I had it in the bag. We crossed the line in 15.42 in 2nd place 7 secs in front of third and 15 secs behind 1st I ended up with a k split of 2.50 odd. We were pretty chuffed with the result, not bad for a team that was put together at the last minute. The record still stands for another year at 14.27 which was set by the PTI's, the physical training instructors which of course is there job to train all day every day.

I will be away for a few days, heading up to the old stomping ground,Townsville for a wedding on Magnetic Island. Fly out tomorrow and will be back on Monday afternoon, should be a good few days. Hopefully I can get some training in up there before the bevvies start flowing ;-)

Happy Training :-)