The only way is up!

Month - 62k
YTD - 452.5k

It has been a very good week this week with respect to my training. As many of you know I am pretty slack when it comes to training and I must admit I do like my rest days however I managed to achieve 4 solids runs and 48km.The start on the week saw me having a nice cruisy recovery run after my effort at BRRC. I generally have a total rest day so this was something out of the norm. I did however have an agenda which was to take some videos back so the route was to the local store and back a total of about 5k.

Thursday I finished work a little later than normal which cut my run short. I'm not a fan of the cold at all so the plan to run about 10k ended up being 7k. There were a few people out doing some of their own training which is unusual for my neighborhood, however there is a local fun run planned for next weekend so they must be trying to get fit for that.

Friday the workshop planned a day out, the destination was the Glasshouse Mountains, more accurately Mt Beerwah. It is the largest of the GHM at 556m and has a grade 5 walking track 2.6k long. The walk was pretty tough for the first half it is on all fours actually scaling a rock face. If it was any steeper you would require ropes, in saying that I certainly didn't want to slip as it wouldn't have been pretty. Some sections had some large drop offs and if you were to fall it would be a fairly bleak outcome.

Anyway it was very enjoyable and challenging more mentally I guess than physically for me as, I wouldn't say I have a fear of heights but I do get heightened sense of self preservation when I am dong activities like that. When we hit the summit it was an awesome view we stayed up there for about 20 mins and then returned. The descent was pretty harsh on the knees, so at times I was sliding on my butt to give them a break. Overall we completed the trip in 1.45.

I was expecting to be sore from the climb yesterday morning when I woke up the next morning. I had been tossing up all week to either do the group run or run in the Lake Manchester trail race planned for today. I decided to head into the city and run with the Running Buddies.I wanted to run around 18k, and as a group of about 8 of us we headed around the river paths. Some left and headed back early and others continued after I stopped but most of us managed to achieve what we wanted. I stopped at 19.25k in about 1.40 (approx 5.12/k).

I woke up this morning feeling fantastic, no soreness and really looking forward to another good week of training. To answer a few peoples questions about my goal for GC, something around 90 mins will be great. I don't think I am the shape to go sub 90. I also just found out the 1.30 pace group is led by the man himself Pat Carroll so I am really looking forward to this .

BRRC - 10.69 miles

Week - 17k
Month - 31k
YTD - 421.5k

It was an early morning for the family today. At about 4am we were up getting ready to take my mum to the airport for what would be the flight of her life. She was flying into Newcastle and after the wild weather they have experienced in the last 72 hrs it should have been interesting.

Got to the Airport before 5.30am said my goodbyes and headed straight over to the city for the club race at West End. It was still dark and pretty early when we arrived. I had planned to run the 10k event but this started at 7am and then run a few extra k's to make it a long'ish' type session. However when we arrived an hour before the event I decided to tag along with the serious ones and enter the 20 mile event.

Before you all start to freak out, I had no intention or inclination on running the whole race instead opting for my own 10 mile event. After the course was explained it worked out that I would have been 1.1k away from the start/finsih line if I ran 10 miles so it got extended to 17.2k

The run itself wasn't very exciting, the first 3k was run alone before I caught up with two runners doing the whole race. They were running a pace that I was content with so I sat behind them for the majority of the run. I think I made them uneasy at times as they kept looking over their shoulder to see what I was doing. It wasn't until the 11k mark where I took a stint up the front I explained that I wasn't running the whole race.

I began to tighten up during the last 5k of the race. My calves made their presence felt but I am taking this as not being used to my new shoes rather than the distance itself. Speaking of which the new shoes went well, they are a little chunkier than my last pair which will take some time to get used to however overall I am happy with them. To boost my confidence even more the race was pretty consistant which can be seen from the splits below

Run Splits
1st 5k - 22.21 ( 4.24, 4.31, 4.28, 4.30, 4.28)
2nd 5k - 22.15 ( 4.27, 4.31, 4.23, 4.24, 4.30)
3rd 5 k -22.02 ( 4.17, 4.23, 4.25, 4.22, 4.35)

Last 2.25k - 9.42 ( 3.34, 5.08, 1.00(254m) weird splits but I think they evened themselves out.

Overall 17.25k in 1.16.20 (4.25/k)

Post run, I have some tight bits, my quads and calves are a little sore. Nothing a massage from my lovely wife wont fix - Now I just have to get her to read this :-)

Feelin Fresh

Week - 14k
Month - 14k
YTD - 404.5k

In more ways than one!

Headed out about 5.30 tonight, dark and pretty chilly to say the least. I have been sticking to short sessions just to ensure my foot is ok, not going over around 30 mins and Im glad I did. It took almost the whole session to work up a bead of sweat.

A change of subject, I paid my entry fee for the GC half, pretty exciting. I also convinced my mate from work to do it with me aswell. Last time I invited this fellow he kicked my butt at Kurruwa :-)

This weekend after I dropp my mother off at the airport I'm heading to BRRC for the club event which is 20 miles, 10k or 5k. Planning to do the 10k with maybe an extra few k at the end of the race.

Tomorrow the family is off to Movie World, Sammy's first trip to an amusement park - should be fun, hopefully I don't die of a heart attack on the crazy rides there.

New Shoes Sunday

After spending another hour or so at the shops I finally made a decision and bought a new pair of shoes. It all began this morning when I decided that I would make a trip to Intraining, quite a drive from where I live but I was having no luck at the other stores.

Anyway half way there I realised I forgot the street directory and was only going off memory of the address for the store. I hadn't been there before and after cutting a few laps of Milton I still haven't been to the store.

I drove back to Chermside a rather large shopping centre and visited the same shops, taking my adventure a bit more serious now. I wasn't leaving until I had a pair. After walking around I realised that getting another pair of Adidas was near impossible, the stores are only stocking the base models which is no good for me.

I tried on a pair of New Balance and although I liked how they are made they are a little chunky. I arrived at a smaller sports shop which was my last resort. I noticed yesterday that they had one pair of Adidas I liked but when I asked for my size they only had a pair 1/2 a size larger. Doh! I then spotted a pair of Saucony's, I had forgotten about this brand and I really liked the look of them. I tried them on.....Perfect!

So I am now a proud owner of Saucony Triumph 3 in green/white/silver. Here's a pic of them however the colour is different.

The last time I had a pair of Saucony's was when I first joined the Army almost 10 years ago. Back then I broke 8 mins for the first time for my 2.4km fitness assessment running 7.55. 12 months later I beat that time running 7.49 in the same pair of shoes. Hopefully I will get the same luck out of these ones :-)

Update!

After my injections on Monday my foot felt 100% better the following day. Although I have hated sitting around giving it another week I'm hoping that it will be worth it. Walking around I feel no signs of the soreness I experienced almost 2 weeks ago.

The first test will be at work on Monday where we will be doing some sort of running cct relay. Not sure what it involves but I am looking forward to getting back into some training.

Between now and then I need to find a new pair of shoes, so far I have had no luck in finding a pair that really appeals to me. I am looking for another pair of Adidas as I have liked every pair I have owned. The problem is just finding a store that stocks a large range of them, otherwise it might be mizuno's. Lets hope I find some tomorrow.

Good luck to those running in the Qld Half or 10k run tomorrow.