Week - 14k
Month - 118k
YTD - 871k
Well it seems that the West End monkey has made a permanent residence on my back. I just dont seem to perform well at these events. As I eluded to in my previous post it has been close to 6 months since I ran a decent race there.
As Cass's surgery was postponed she and Sam along with my Mum were able to come and support the crowd running yesterday. The day began with myself resetting the alarm for another 15 minutes sleep only to find that when I arrived at West End I had all of 8 minutes to register, take my trackies off and complete a warm up. As you can imagine that didn't eventuate.
Lining up for the start the race director announced that it was Clairies birthday and invited us to sing happy birthday to her before the race commenced. Not long after the gun fired and we were off, I started out to what seemed like my pace I had planned on doing, but when I passed 3k in 11.42 I knew that I was running sub 55 pace. A little too quick and gradually slowed down to 4 min k pace.
I wasn't feeling bad but not great either, I think the combination of not doing any kind of warmup and the irregularities of the Km markers made running at a consistant pace seem impossible. By 6k I had enough and slogged the last k of the first lap out to cross the line in 29.03.
Watching fellow runners pass by made me feel like I had given up too easily. I then saw Clairie pass closely followed by Tesso who also declared that she hasn't run well at West End for sometime aswell. So 15 secs or so after they had past I decided to start again just over 3 mins since I stopped.
I aimed to catch up to them which took forever, they must have seen me coming and made it difficult for me :) and about 1.5k later I caught Tesso. A few km's later we caught up to Clairie. From that point on I just tried to maintain a consistant pace, I hope I did. When you are conscious of maintaining a pace it seems like it is up and down like a Yo Yo.
The last few k's were maintained at a good pace, with a slight increase in the last k before the final dash for the line. We all crossed the line within 3 secs of each other in a time of around 63.50. I was glad to re-start the race and enjoyed painting a target on my back for Tesso and Clairie to aim for :)
To cap the day off, both Clairie and Tesso received gold in there respective age groups and I got a silver. Lucky for me there was only two in my age group ;)
Monday, August 28, 2006
Friday, August 25, 2006
Postponed!
Week - 34k
Month - 104k
YTD - 857k
Update on Cass's surgery, as the title suggests the Op has been postponed. The blood condition that made Cass go under general for the birth of Samuel was not a pregnancy related issue as first thought. Her blood count is still low and has now been suggested that she has had this condition for a long time. It is not a major concern until times when you need to have surgery, and in this case the surgeon was not comfortable performing the operation with her count so low. She only found out that the surgery was formally cancelled about 2 hrs before the operation time, and in the time leading up to it she had blood taken from her 10 times :( She also had to remain in hospital for a considerable amount of time after the news until the doctors sorted out what was going on.
Therefore the surgery has been re-scheduled to the 7 Sep, and for 3 days prior to this Cass will be admitted to undergo IV treatment along with oral steroids to raise her platelet count. This should make the surgery much safer and reduce the risk of bleeding considerably. We are now trying to forget about the operation and enjoy the next week or so until she is admitted again.
Thanks very much to everyone for the kind words, they mean alot.
After the hustle and bustle of the previous two days I had to get out for a run. It's a great stress relief and I really enjoy getting out there. The weather felt so much like a late spring afternoon, warm winds and still quite warm. I haven't looked at the BOM website but I would be suprised if it was lower then 24 -25 degrees at 5pm.
I set off and after a km or so I had already worked up a sweat, the mouth was also starting to dry up and was annoyed that I didn't take water for the run. I ended up running to a local school about 2.5k away which has a 400m track. When I got there I decided to run 5k and then run back home rounding it out to 10k for the afternoon.
Apart from the dry mouth which was feeling like a sandpit the run went well. A massive improvement to what I was feeling like on Wednesday. I did end up finding a tap which moistened the pallet and made it more comfortable again. Nothing else really went on and I got home dripping and red faced in a time of 44.18.
BRRC 14k club champs are on this Sunday, im hoping to have a good run there which hasn't really happened since March for the 1/2 champs. Im still sticking to my goal of under an hour that I made a few weeks ago, it's not a hard goal but West End seems to bring the worst out in me so it will be good if I can get a decent result there for a change.
See you all there, Sam and Cass may also make it there, well if she is feeling good and Sam isn't grumpy :)
Month - 104k
YTD - 857k
Update on Cass's surgery, as the title suggests the Op has been postponed. The blood condition that made Cass go under general for the birth of Samuel was not a pregnancy related issue as first thought. Her blood count is still low and has now been suggested that she has had this condition for a long time. It is not a major concern until times when you need to have surgery, and in this case the surgeon was not comfortable performing the operation with her count so low. She only found out that the surgery was formally cancelled about 2 hrs before the operation time, and in the time leading up to it she had blood taken from her 10 times :( She also had to remain in hospital for a considerable amount of time after the news until the doctors sorted out what was going on.
Therefore the surgery has been re-scheduled to the 7 Sep, and for 3 days prior to this Cass will be admitted to undergo IV treatment along with oral steroids to raise her platelet count. This should make the surgery much safer and reduce the risk of bleeding considerably. We are now trying to forget about the operation and enjoy the next week or so until she is admitted again.
Thanks very much to everyone for the kind words, they mean alot.
After the hustle and bustle of the previous two days I had to get out for a run. It's a great stress relief and I really enjoy getting out there. The weather felt so much like a late spring afternoon, warm winds and still quite warm. I haven't looked at the BOM website but I would be suprised if it was lower then 24 -25 degrees at 5pm.
I set off and after a km or so I had already worked up a sweat, the mouth was also starting to dry up and was annoyed that I didn't take water for the run. I ended up running to a local school about 2.5k away which has a 400m track. When I got there I decided to run 5k and then run back home rounding it out to 10k for the afternoon.
Apart from the dry mouth which was feeling like a sandpit the run went well. A massive improvement to what I was feeling like on Wednesday. I did end up finding a tap which moistened the pallet and made it more comfortable again. Nothing else really went on and I got home dripping and red faced in a time of 44.18.
BRRC 14k club champs are on this Sunday, im hoping to have a good run there which hasn't really happened since March for the 1/2 champs. Im still sticking to my goal of under an hour that I made a few weeks ago, it's not a hard goal but West End seems to bring the worst out in me so it will be good if I can get a decent result there for a change.
See you all there, Sam and Cass may also make it there, well if she is feeling good and Sam isn't grumpy :)
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Restless Times Ahead!!!!!
Today - 3.2k
Month - 94k
YTD -847k
This morning I set out for my first run since Noosa, I like having a few days recovery before I get back into the swing of things. This morning however my body screamed at me as soon as I started running. I was planning to do 3 x 2.4k track that I have at work but only managed 1 lap and 800m. The lap I did do was done at a decent pace and completed it in 9.10. The weather was great nice and warm but my body felt cold like when you get up in the middle of winter and all your joints stiffen up. Weird, So I called it a day with 3.2k under the belt.
I will apologise now, I haven't really had a chance to check up on everyones blog. I appreciate all the comments I have received lately it's great. For the next week to ten days I will be spending most of my time at the Hospital, I wont go into details as it is not appropriate but Cass is having surgery tomorrow, pretty major which is why my Mum and Cass's mum will be alternating time spent in Brisbane to help care for her and Sam over the next 6 - 8 weeks while I work. Im sure everything will work out great, but it is a stressful time, I dont think I will sleep well tonight.
Cass is being pretty strong, she is positive considering she is at a hospital by herself tonight not seeing Samuel. Here's hoping she will get a good night rest.
Month - 94k
YTD -847k
This morning I set out for my first run since Noosa, I like having a few days recovery before I get back into the swing of things. This morning however my body screamed at me as soon as I started running. I was planning to do 3 x 2.4k track that I have at work but only managed 1 lap and 800m. The lap I did do was done at a decent pace and completed it in 9.10. The weather was great nice and warm but my body felt cold like when you get up in the middle of winter and all your joints stiffen up. Weird, So I called it a day with 3.2k under the belt.
I will apologise now, I haven't really had a chance to check up on everyones blog. I appreciate all the comments I have received lately it's great. For the next week to ten days I will be spending most of my time at the Hospital, I wont go into details as it is not appropriate but Cass is having surgery tomorrow, pretty major which is why my Mum and Cass's mum will be alternating time spent in Brisbane to help care for her and Sam over the next 6 - 8 weeks while I work. Im sure everything will work out great, but it is a stressful time, I dont think I will sleep well tonight.
Cass is being pretty strong, she is positive considering she is at a hospital by herself tonight not seeing Samuel. Here's hoping she will get a good night rest.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Noosa 1/2
Week - 21.1k
Month - 91k
YTD - 844k
Firstly it was a shame that I missed catching up with people at the C2S, but it is just so damn busy it makes it that much harder to find people. In saying that I spent almost an hour looking for Cass at Bondi after the race before we caught the bus back the city. We when arrived there and went back to the car which was parked in a underground carpark Cass realised that she didn't have the car keys. We searched for them but no luck, to cut a long story short we had to catch a train back to Gosford, get our spare keys sent from Brisbane to my parents then catch a train back to Sydney a few days later to get our car. We finally got it on Tuesday and a $129 later is car parking fees.
Alright back to business, Noosa today, I have never done this race before but it seems to be very popular with some big names turning up. The weather was perfect and the organisation was excellent from what I experienced.
Lining up at the start I briefly saw Tesso and Clairie who seemed to be her jovial self :) I had lined up behind the 90 min pace group and decided to hang on as long as possible. I knew I was a little under done when it comes to anything over 15k so I wasn't expecting too much.
The gun went and we were off, I didn't start my watch until I went under the starting banner which would have been all of 10 secs at the most. From the onset I felt good and had to make up some distance on the pacer who must have got a clear path through the crowd. I eventually caught him and settled into a controlled pace.
Early on the group was crowded and at times felt to cramped but it began to thin out around the 5-7k mark. The course was flat apart from the occassional small bridge and I was thinking that it would make for a fast time if the right prep was done.
The 1/2 way mark came around pretty quickly and we passed the 10k mark in low 42's, I was feeling good still and wasn't struggling at all. By the 14k mark (59.12) I began feeling like I was in a race. The one thing I forgot was my Gu, I always take one for an event longer than 15k because I always seem to loose energy at the 17+ mark.
This event was no different, my legs began to fatigue, my cardio was still good but the legs didn't have much left. I slowed a bit and the pacer began to creep away but I reeled him back, I got a second wind. This lasted for all of 500m when the feeling of nothing came back.
The 18k mark hit and the pacer said we were running a little behind and sped up I did the same but knew I was struggling. I grabbed a drink in desperation that it would help me get to the end. Just over 2k to go, I was telling myself it's only 10 mins it's not far.
The 19k marker was in sight and then I heard the sound which broke me mentally more than anything, the pacers split alarm going off, we still had 75-100m to go. My spirit just shattered I had nothing, I still tried but the pace was well outside what was required. The last little bridge before the finish felt like Heart Break, the crowd was massive lining the streets and it would have been great to run strong through the finish but it wasn't to be.
I saw Cass, Sam and my Mum just before I crossed the line in my watch time of 91.19. Suprisingly I pulled up well, the legs were weary after the race but have recovered great throughout the day.
We hung around to watch the finishers of the 1/2, and first few palce getters of the 10k and 5k before heading off to shower and check out of the accommodation. It would have been good to hang around and catch up but we didn't organise a later check out.
Congrats to everyone who ran today, until next time......
Month - 91k
YTD - 844k
Firstly it was a shame that I missed catching up with people at the C2S, but it is just so damn busy it makes it that much harder to find people. In saying that I spent almost an hour looking for Cass at Bondi after the race before we caught the bus back the city. We when arrived there and went back to the car which was parked in a underground carpark Cass realised that she didn't have the car keys. We searched for them but no luck, to cut a long story short we had to catch a train back to Gosford, get our spare keys sent from Brisbane to my parents then catch a train back to Sydney a few days later to get our car. We finally got it on Tuesday and a $129 later is car parking fees.
Alright back to business, Noosa today, I have never done this race before but it seems to be very popular with some big names turning up. The weather was perfect and the organisation was excellent from what I experienced.
Lining up at the start I briefly saw Tesso and Clairie who seemed to be her jovial self :) I had lined up behind the 90 min pace group and decided to hang on as long as possible. I knew I was a little under done when it comes to anything over 15k so I wasn't expecting too much.
The gun went and we were off, I didn't start my watch until I went under the starting banner which would have been all of 10 secs at the most. From the onset I felt good and had to make up some distance on the pacer who must have got a clear path through the crowd. I eventually caught him and settled into a controlled pace.
Early on the group was crowded and at times felt to cramped but it began to thin out around the 5-7k mark. The course was flat apart from the occassional small bridge and I was thinking that it would make for a fast time if the right prep was done.
The 1/2 way mark came around pretty quickly and we passed the 10k mark in low 42's, I was feeling good still and wasn't struggling at all. By the 14k mark (59.12) I began feeling like I was in a race. The one thing I forgot was my Gu, I always take one for an event longer than 15k because I always seem to loose energy at the 17+ mark.
This event was no different, my legs began to fatigue, my cardio was still good but the legs didn't have much left. I slowed a bit and the pacer began to creep away but I reeled him back, I got a second wind. This lasted for all of 500m when the feeling of nothing came back.
The 18k mark hit and the pacer said we were running a little behind and sped up I did the same but knew I was struggling. I grabbed a drink in desperation that it would help me get to the end. Just over 2k to go, I was telling myself it's only 10 mins it's not far.
The 19k marker was in sight and then I heard the sound which broke me mentally more than anything, the pacers split alarm going off, we still had 75-100m to go. My spirit just shattered I had nothing, I still tried but the pace was well outside what was required. The last little bridge before the finish felt like Heart Break, the crowd was massive lining the streets and it would have been great to run strong through the finish but it wasn't to be.
I saw Cass, Sam and my Mum just before I crossed the line in my watch time of 91.19. Suprisingly I pulled up well, the legs were weary after the race but have recovered great throughout the day.
We hung around to watch the finishers of the 1/2, and first few palce getters of the 10k and 5k before heading off to shower and check out of the accommodation. It would have been good to hang around and catch up but we didn't organise a later check out.
Congrats to everyone who ran today, until next time......
Friday, August 18, 2006
C2S 2006
Week - 14k
Month - 62k
YTD - 815k
Arrived home last night after deciding to drive from Sydney to Brisbane in one day instead of two. It was a nice relief to wake up this morning knowing that I didn't have to drive another few hours today.
So what has been going on in the last week or so. The days leading up to the C2S were very casual only one run along the beach of Terrigal was done before the race. I dont know what possessed me in running 10k on sand but I did, and my legs complained about it that night and on Saturday.
Anyway we arrived in Sydney on Saturday afternoon after driving down from the Central Coast. After checking in to our hotel, Cass and I went for a walk around Darling harbour and the like for a few hours. After returning to the hotel we were a bit tired and remained there until the race the next day.
Waking up I was quite excited about running the C2S for the first time since 97. I had forgotten about how big this race actually is, the A1 starting area quite early in the morning contained more runners than the usual races I have been doing over the past few years.
After standing around for what felt like an eternity the crowd shifted forward and then the gun fired, I was cold and stiff and didn't feel like getting straight into it at all. I didn't start my watch until I passed the line and even at that stage it wasn't for a few more seconds that I could actually get some speed.
Everyone took off like gazelles and I tried not to get too caught up with everyone but knew that I was running way too fast. I had a guy take a face plant in front of me at high speed and slowed to help him up but he seemed ok. About 1k into the run it settled down a bit and some normal running took place.
I couldn't remember any of the course and the amount of hills suprised the hell out of me, even before heartbreak I was struggling up the hills which wasn't a good sign. I reached HB and put the head down and pumped the arms, the only thing was the legs didn't want to go, I was tired, the breathing was heavy and I was feeling hot.
The little guy in my head told me to stop and reassess the goals but I pushed on and tried to keep in contact with those around me. I reached the top and was exhausted, I ran until the drink station at the top and took a drink and walked for about ten metres and then set off. The clock at the top was just over 30 minutes so I was still on good time but I was hurting.
I wanted to break 60 mins, but thought, 61-62 mins was still a good effort. I continued and every hill I died on there was no steam left. I had to make the time up somewhere so I pushed a little harder on the downhill sections. By the 10km mark (41.28) I was starting to struggle even on the flat and was hanging out for the long downhill section into Bondi. I knew I could recover there a bit and battle on for the last km.
I passed the 12k sign and knew that I didn't have long to go before the end. I just needed to keep the legs turning over, however once I hit the flat just opposite the shops I had nothing left, I reckon I was running around 5 min/k pace and even that was hurting me. Reaching the big left hand turn for the run down to the finish I gritted my teeth and at times closed my eyes and dug deep I heard the announcer saying something about sub 60 and knew that I still had a chance. I passed a few people on the way down and crossed the line in 58.4x however I must have taken my time to get my time card so my official time was 58.52, my watch time was 58.27. I was also quite impressed about my position making it into the top 1000, #897
I was pretty happy about my time, I reached my goal but am bit disappointed as to how I ran it. I ran horrible and looking back I could have taken alot of time off that. Maybe next year!
Anyway, Noosa in two days and I haven't ran since the C2S. I am going for a jog today and leave tomorrow for the trip up there. Im not sure how I will go, I wish I had done some more training so I could have a shot at my PB but I dont think that will happen. I will just enjoy the weekend and see what comes from it.
Month - 62k
YTD - 815k
Arrived home last night after deciding to drive from Sydney to Brisbane in one day instead of two. It was a nice relief to wake up this morning knowing that I didn't have to drive another few hours today.
So what has been going on in the last week or so. The days leading up to the C2S were very casual only one run along the beach of Terrigal was done before the race. I dont know what possessed me in running 10k on sand but I did, and my legs complained about it that night and on Saturday.
Anyway we arrived in Sydney on Saturday afternoon after driving down from the Central Coast. After checking in to our hotel, Cass and I went for a walk around Darling harbour and the like for a few hours. After returning to the hotel we were a bit tired and remained there until the race the next day.
Waking up I was quite excited about running the C2S for the first time since 97. I had forgotten about how big this race actually is, the A1 starting area quite early in the morning contained more runners than the usual races I have been doing over the past few years.
After standing around for what felt like an eternity the crowd shifted forward and then the gun fired, I was cold and stiff and didn't feel like getting straight into it at all. I didn't start my watch until I passed the line and even at that stage it wasn't for a few more seconds that I could actually get some speed.
Everyone took off like gazelles and I tried not to get too caught up with everyone but knew that I was running way too fast. I had a guy take a face plant in front of me at high speed and slowed to help him up but he seemed ok. About 1k into the run it settled down a bit and some normal running took place.
I couldn't remember any of the course and the amount of hills suprised the hell out of me, even before heartbreak I was struggling up the hills which wasn't a good sign. I reached HB and put the head down and pumped the arms, the only thing was the legs didn't want to go, I was tired, the breathing was heavy and I was feeling hot.
The little guy in my head told me to stop and reassess the goals but I pushed on and tried to keep in contact with those around me. I reached the top and was exhausted, I ran until the drink station at the top and took a drink and walked for about ten metres and then set off. The clock at the top was just over 30 minutes so I was still on good time but I was hurting.
I wanted to break 60 mins, but thought, 61-62 mins was still a good effort. I continued and every hill I died on there was no steam left. I had to make the time up somewhere so I pushed a little harder on the downhill sections. By the 10km mark (41.28) I was starting to struggle even on the flat and was hanging out for the long downhill section into Bondi. I knew I could recover there a bit and battle on for the last km.
I passed the 12k sign and knew that I didn't have long to go before the end. I just needed to keep the legs turning over, however once I hit the flat just opposite the shops I had nothing left, I reckon I was running around 5 min/k pace and even that was hurting me. Reaching the big left hand turn for the run down to the finish I gritted my teeth and at times closed my eyes and dug deep I heard the announcer saying something about sub 60 and knew that I still had a chance. I passed a few people on the way down and crossed the line in 58.4x however I must have taken my time to get my time card so my official time was 58.52, my watch time was 58.27. I was also quite impressed about my position making it into the top 1000, #897
I was pretty happy about my time, I reached my goal but am bit disappointed as to how I ran it. I ran horrible and looking back I could have taken alot of time off that. Maybe next year!
Anyway, Noosa in two days and I haven't ran since the C2S. I am going for a jog today and leave tomorrow for the trip up there. Im not sure how I will go, I wish I had done some more training so I could have a shot at my PB but I dont think that will happen. I will just enjoy the weekend and see what comes from it.
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