Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Feelin Good, Getting Psyched

Jun - 168k
YTD - 750.5k


I am looking forward to this weekend now, I have done very little over the past week and a 1/2 which concerns me a little but the good news is that my leg has improved alot.

Apart from a jog here and there I have really only done one decent session since my last post. This was on Saturday Night where I ran for 90 mins around 5 min pace. Still felt some discomfort in my leg but nowhere near as bad as a few days before.

I have discovered that the discomfort I am feeling is referred pain from my hip. I discovered that certain areas when pushed on alleviate the pain to the point where it is not even noticeable. In saying that I have been prodding myself stupid to get it better. It is certainly more of a nerve pain than muscular, but in any case it is not going to stop me on Sunday.

The other day I also mentioned that I won a pair of skins shorts, I picked them up a few days ago but whilst was doing so I found out that the shorts are very short, more like hot pants. Not really a good look with my pegs hanging out of them, so the lady at the shop allowed me to take the 1/2 tights which are the bike short length, alot better. I actually ran with them on Saturday and have to admit that they felt good and will be wearing them for the marathon. I have also decided to wear my water belt, I don't really like wearing it for the faster events but at the pace I will be running the marathon it will not be an issue and in fact I am hoping it assists me getting to that line before I run out of steam.

So not long to go now, the family and I will be heading up later on Saturday Afternoon as Cass is working until 3.30 but we will be staying the night on Sunday aswell. I hope to catch up with those I haven't had the pleasure in meeting before, however if I don't see anyone before the start then good luck I hope you achieve what you are aiming for.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Not the greatest timing!

Month - 147.5k
YTD - 730k

But who cares! Sometimes I loose sight that I run for enjoyment. If things don't go completely the way I planned it doesn't matter, there is always another race.

Anyway I have given myself a time out, my right leg is not right and as previous years have shown I am very susceptible to shin splints.

I think that's the direction I am heading so rather than destroy my chances of finishing the GCM and continuing to train I am having a few days off doing absolutely nothing.

It's not the end of the world and the best thing about doing a distance for the first time is no matter how fast or so slow you go it will be a PB not matter what :-)

So the training since my last post has gone something like this:

Sat 21 - 6.5k slow with Sammy in the pram
Sun 22 - My long run for the week, headed out late around 5.30, already dark was supposed to do 2 hrs, decided to do 21.1k instead at Sub 5 min pace. Completed the run with no stopping just a continuous session, pretty comfortable finishing in 1.42.xx (4.51/k).
Mon 23 - Cross Country run at work, 8k with some tough hills and my last run until at least Thursday.

I have booked in for a massage for tomorrow after work hopefully it will loosen the pegs up and I can run without any issues for the next 12 days. Fingers Crossed.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Update!

Month - 112k
YTD - 694.5k


Well it has been almost 3 weeks since the last write up, so I will endeavour to make it short.

3 Jun - 3K TT, solo run on the marked running track at work - 10.39

4&5 Jun - 10k about 5min pace

7 Jun - Feeling ill this weekend, it was a battle to remain out there and only managed about 2 hrs and 23 k

9 Jun - 8k XC

11 Jun - 14k from the barracks to the Normanby 5 Ways up Kelvin Grove Rd back down Samford Rd finishing with a loop of the ring road on the barracks.

12 - 13 Jun was Touch Football training and competition, our Team won the comp 8 Nil in both games.

14 Jun - Headed to the City and ran with the group training for the GC 1/2. Slightly quicker pace than what I would have liked but managed 28k @ 5.02 pace.

16 Jun - XC 8k

18 Jun - XC 8k

19 Jun - Legs were feeling abit niggly so I done 17k on the Exercise Bike

Today and Tomorrow - Not sure if I will do anything today, Cass is working day shift so I will have to wait until late afternoon or take Sam out in the pram. I will be doing about 2 hrs or so tomorrow, however I did notice that there is a local 8k fun run in the morning, again if I enter I will only be able to do it with Sam in the pram therefore I haven't decided if it will be worth it or not.

My last few runs my right leg has not been feeling great, I have had a fairly easy week to try and sort it out. I am concerned about the race in two weeks I don't think I have done enough with only 2 runs above 30k, with a few above 25k. Anyway I am not too concerned about my time, I just hope to complete the race, cross it off my things to do list and start concentrating on the shorter events again.

I just received my certificate for the Warwick event, my official time for the 42k event was 3.03.50. I also ended up being in the winning team for the event aswell and received a voucher to get a free pair of Skins (shorts) which I don't have which is fantastic.

Change of subject, I received news that I will be posted at the end of the year to Albury/Wodonga on promotion. I will be instructing the trainee Electrical Technicians before they are unleashed to the world. Although it is a good career opportunity, I would prefer to stay in my current position and remain in Brisbane and forfeit my promotion. I have written a letter to reject the offer but haven't found out the news as yet.

Saturday, May 31, 2008

My biggest month!

Month - 227 k
YTD - 582.5


It seems as though I had a pretty casual sort of week this week however I pretty much did everything on the program besides one speed session. I cut that away as I played a game of touch footy which is a speed session of sorts.


Anyway, during the week I completed about 11k picking the little bloke up from day care. It was pretty weird and a little embarrassing as I drove home from work, grabbed the running pram and ran to day care without anything in the pram. I made sure I had the weather shield down and I had a blanket stuffed in the seat so it would have seemed that there was somone in there :-) The weather was cold at the time and Sam was like an iceberg when we got home, he enjoyed it but so that's the main thing.

I was going to do the scheduled 4 x 1k reps on Thursday at work but the heavens opened up for most of the day so I ditched that idea and caught a break in the rain last night to complete them. I am liking the ease I am able to run 3.30 - 3.40 for the kilometre, however probably not the greatest thing to be proud of when you are training for a marathon. I ran two of the reps at around 3.45 pace and two at low 3.30 pace.


Cass had is working all weekedn which meant I wasn't able to make it into the city for the long run. This meant I had to find something from deep within to get me out the door and actually do the 3 hrs that was on the program by myself. She was due home about 4.30 but if I left then I would be running in darkness for the majority of the run. Instead I asked Sam if he wanted to go for a run, he was pretty keen to jump in his pram so I took off an hour or so before. About 20 mins into the run Sam fell asleep so I decided to get as much training in as possible before heading home to drop him off. I got 16k in before he woke up and started to get sick of the pram which was about 10 mins shy of 1/2 way. I grabbed a quick drink and then took off without the pram this time.

They are not the easiest things to run with and you really feel it when a hill comes up. I decided that instead of 3 hrs I would stop at 30k, my ankle is a little sore from last weekend due to the slant of the road in the half so rather than risk an injury I cut it short while it was feeling ok still.


I completed the 30k in a little over 2.40 ( 5.22/k). Felt Ok a the legs are a little stiff but I'm sure the skins will sort them out.

Honestly I cant wait until the 6 Jul, I want to get this race over with. I am not liking the 2.30 + training sessions too much so I dont think I will thinking about doing another marathon in the near future.

On a lighter note I cracked 200 km for the month of May, 227 km infact, my biggest month ever!

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Warwick Pentath 2008

Month - 182k
YTD - 537.5k


I just saw Ewens comment and I feel like I have let him down ;-) not only that I have cost him a 6 pack, so it's not hard to guess I didn't break 3 hrs unfortunately but I gave it ago and just wasn't up to it on the 2 days of racing.

I wont draw this out but this was once again a great weekend, my 4th time this year at completing all 5 events. Next year I will inducted into the Pentath Hall of fame completing 5 events every year for 5 years, Pretty special :-)

Anyway here is a somewhat brief outline on the what went on at Warwick 2008.

The first race of Day 1 is the 1/2 Marathon. I felt pretty good in this race, not the easiest course to run on but still managed sub 90, crossing the line in 1.29.35.

The next race the 4.6k cross country, notorious for giving me a stitch and totally wrecking me and this year was no different. I gained a stitch and just had nothing in the legs. Recorded a time about a minute slower than what I wanted which didn't help the Sub 3 assault. I crossed the line in 19.22.

The final race of the day, the 5k road race. A new course this year which I enjoyed thoroughly, flat as a tac which agreed with my legs alot more. I never want to go over 20 minutes for 5k and thankfully the course allowed me to achieve this again. To my suprise after 25 odd km's I still managed to do 19.08 for the race.

Day 2, saw the 10km hill climb to Queen Mary Falls from Killarney. I wasn't looking forward to this event as my legs were not liking any sort of hill this weekend. I wanted to clock 4.30 km over the first 6k of undulating terrain before the main hill started. I achieved this just, but from then onwards I couldn't stick with the 5.30/k plan for the remainder of the race. I clocked again about a minute and a 1/2 slower than what I wanted and about the same time as last year in 50.23.

The last event of the weekend, the 1500m dash up the main street of Warwick. I usually run about 5 minutes for ths race and today was no different, I wanted to get a win over a friend of ours that was kicking my behind in every other race over the weekend. I knew the shorter events was my only chance but he made it tough for me but I got him with 300m to go and crossed the line about 7 secs in front of him in around 5.11.

So that's about it, I managed to do a course PB over the 1/2 and an overall PB finishing the event in 3.03.40 approximately, I will wait for the official results to come through but that is an improvement of about 2.30. A bit of a shame that I didn't run better over the hilly events, if I did maybe a Sub 3 would have been on the cards. I guess I need to get my half time down on this course and then it will make it alot easier.

Overall pretty chuffed, not even sore which is suprising, I can now look forward to a 2 day break before getting back into the assault on the GCM.