Week - 13.5k
Month - 78k
YTD - 1064.5k
Sunday morning arrived and it was time to start the journey to Dorrigo. We had spent the night in Coffs Harbour with friends so the trip was only about 40k away. They also decided to come and watch the race, I couldn't convince them that it would be a nice way to begin the day.
Travelling there I had always heard about the Dorrigo range, but I was very suprised as to how beautiful the area is. I was also amazed as to how high it is, we had to travel 14km up the range before entering the township.
We arrived at the starting/rego area about 8am, I was initially told that the run began at 9 but further investigation the day before saw the time change to 8.30am.
Once I registered I found out that the race distance had also changed. An increase of 500m to 13.5k. So after getting over the shock of this I went for my normal lackluster 5 min warm up ;-)
Not long after this the huge field of 9 lined up for the 13 and a HALF km race. The race was started by an old bloke with a whip which was something different.
I set off pretty casual with the three young blokes in the field hooting along. I covered the first k in a very suprising 4 mins and the front runners had already gained about 100m on me. They continued to pull away never to be seen again.
On the way out to the race start I noticed that the road back into town was quite hilly, however nothing prepared me for the little out and back detour that we had to do before heading back into town.
The race was constant up and down with very few flat areas. Nothing like I expected or had the fitness for. To cut a long story short I suffered for the remainder of the run.
The combination of the hills along with the heat, broke me. I was reduced to a walk on many occassions. It was the worst I have ever felt on a run for a long time, I don't think it was the toughest run I have done but at the time it sure felt like it.
The last few k's enabled me to get my splits back down, helped very kindly by some long down hill sections. I ended up passing this guy around this point for the last time, we were swapping positions every k or so for much of the run. He certainly ran a more consistent race just plodding along whereas I was up and down like a yoyo. I ended up getting about 30 secs on him to claim 5th (Woohoo) finishing the 13.5k run in 1.06.09 (4.54/k)
In hindsight I do wish I listened to my friends when they just laughed when I said it would be a great way to start the morning :) No, just kidding, it was a good gauge of where and I am currently. It also gave me a taste of what it is like to run in the heat. Although a disappointing result it was only ever a training run and I definetly got a good work out and learn't a few things along the way.
*Edit* I also checked the BOM website and although it was only 26.2 degress at 9am it was the hottest and driest (39% RH) for the month for that time.
I shouldn't have written that, all that bleeting for........ 26 deg, what a whimp, it sure felt like 40 ;-)
Monday, November 27, 2006
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Wounded but still willing!
Week - 21k
Month - 64.5k
YTD - 1051k
I found another injury caused by those damn battons, my wrist feels as though it is broken. This and the leg didn't stop me from doing a pretty good training session today however.
My mate and I received an email stating that 7/11 were doing some promotion deal at the barracks today. They were giving away ice coffee's and sandwiches so we decided to check it out. After grabbing a box full of goodies for the fellows back at the workshop we decided to stop in at the gym seeing that it was close by.
No plans just jumped on the tready and gradually increased the pace. We came to a point that it was getting so damn hot and stffy in the cardio room that 5k would be it before heading back to work. With 2k to go I began bumping up the pace every few hundred metres and finished the last 500m @ 3.30 pace. My mate on the other hand just ran a constant speed and finished about a minute after me. I completed 5k in 22.58 red faced and very sweaty.
After I finished work I again headed out for another run which ended up being about 3hrs later. 8k was on the agenda, the heat was still high so I just remained at 5min/k pace or there abouts. I completed the session in 39.28 and was very happy with the way I was feeling. Besides being hot my legs were only slightly fatigued and the calves a little tight.
I am feeling alot more confident about Kurrawa which is just over 2 weeks away. I am also noticing my fitness is becoming a little better, however this weekend will be a good test for it. Sunday will be my longest run in a while (13k) but I have no idea what lies ahead in this run. My mate that I am visting says there is a range at Dorrigo so maybe some hills will be involved. I also found out from the race director that every particpant in the 13k event receives 2 entry passes to the Dorrigo show. Talk about country hospitality :)
Month - 64.5k
YTD - 1051k
I found another injury caused by those damn battons, my wrist feels as though it is broken. This and the leg didn't stop me from doing a pretty good training session today however.
My mate and I received an email stating that 7/11 were doing some promotion deal at the barracks today. They were giving away ice coffee's and sandwiches so we decided to check it out. After grabbing a box full of goodies for the fellows back at the workshop we decided to stop in at the gym seeing that it was close by.
No plans just jumped on the tready and gradually increased the pace. We came to a point that it was getting so damn hot and stffy in the cardio room that 5k would be it before heading back to work. With 2k to go I began bumping up the pace every few hundred metres and finished the last 500m @ 3.30 pace. My mate on the other hand just ran a constant speed and finished about a minute after me. I completed 5k in 22.58 red faced and very sweaty.
After I finished work I again headed out for another run which ended up being about 3hrs later. 8k was on the agenda, the heat was still high so I just remained at 5min/k pace or there abouts. I completed the session in 39.28 and was very happy with the way I was feeling. Besides being hot my legs were only slightly fatigued and the calves a little tight.
I am feeling alot more confident about Kurrawa which is just over 2 weeks away. I am also noticing my fitness is becoming a little better, however this weekend will be a good test for it. Sunday will be my longest run in a while (13k) but I have no idea what lies ahead in this run. My mate that I am visting says there is a range at Dorrigo so maybe some hills will be involved. I also found out from the race director that every particpant in the 13k event receives 2 entry passes to the Dorrigo show. Talk about country hospitality :)
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
What a riot
Cass is doing a few hours work tonight so I am on supervisory duties thus unable to complete any training. Probably the best for me anyhow as I am quite sore from work today.
Over the past few days I have been involved in a scenario based exercise for the infantry. They were practicing crowd control such as protests and riots etc so I had to act like those at the G20 summit last week. It was pretty fun annoying the blokes throwing stuff like rotten fruit and water bombs at them. Some of them got pretty serious, taking the insults that we were dishing out personally.
At times the scenarios involved physical contact with our protest group tormenting the infantry holding battons and shields. I along with others were trying to grab their battons which we suceeded in getting about twelve of them. This didn't come without a cost I copped a few blows to the forearms and a nice one just below the knee which opened me up and is quite sore now.
Anyway that was the last day today so back to normal work tomorrow. I will get out tomorrow afternoon for a hit out probably my last longer session before the weekends fun run at Dorrigo.
Over the past few days I have been involved in a scenario based exercise for the infantry. They were practicing crowd control such as protests and riots etc so I had to act like those at the G20 summit last week. It was pretty fun annoying the blokes throwing stuff like rotten fruit and water bombs at them. Some of them got pretty serious, taking the insults that we were dishing out personally.
At times the scenarios involved physical contact with our protest group tormenting the infantry holding battons and shields. I along with others were trying to grab their battons which we suceeded in getting about twelve of them. This didn't come without a cost I copped a few blows to the forearms and a nice one just below the knee which opened me up and is quite sore now.
Anyway that was the last day today so back to normal work tomorrow. I will get out tomorrow afternoon for a hit out probably my last longer session before the weekends fun run at Dorrigo.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Training with a Difference!
Week - 8k
Month - 51.5
YTD - 1038k
Headed out today after having a rest day yesterday. My legs felt great and what I thought would be a tough afternoon turned out to be an enjoyable one. I am starting to feel that my fitness is moving in the right direction although I am a long way off what I was 2 months ago.
I really wasn't in the mood to be out there for too long today although I was keen to run I figured around 8k would be enough. I decided to do a differential run where I would do the return leg quicker, in otherwords I was aiming to achieve a negative split.
A 4k out and back course with the return leg having a few inclines to contend with. I intended to maintain 5min/k pace for the first 4k which seemed to go well for the majority of the leg. At times I noticed my pace creeping up which has always been a bad habit of mine, and with a few hundred metres to go I eased up quite abit to reach the turn around spot on 20 minutes.
I quickly increased the pace and realised that my pacing is all over the shop. I began way to fast with my intention to maintain 4.30 pace for the return leg, I was sitting on 4.15. Slowing down I quickly got a feel for the pace and began clocking splits a little under 4.30 pace.
I generally felt ok, however the last incline did hurt a little pushing the HR and breathing up quite a bit. Once back on level ground the last 500m back home I felt great maintaining the pace very easily. I reached home in 37.38 making it a 17.38 (4.25/k) for the return leg.
Off the topic my mate at work has committed himself to running the first leg of the Kurrawa race. Although he is a bit concerned about the distance and his time I have reassured him that I don't care how long it takes him and that he will be fine, well maybe quite stiff the next day. I will be sending the application off within the next day or so. Pretty exciting.
In the mean time I am visiting a mate who has just had his first baby at Coffs Harbour this weekend, I have also noticed in the RW events calender that there is a fun run at Dorrigo which I am lead to believe is not too far away. It is a 9k or 13k race on Sunday morning so I might enter that as part of my training. Should be interesting Dorrigo is not a big place, but I do like the smaller events.
Month - 51.5
YTD - 1038k
Headed out today after having a rest day yesterday. My legs felt great and what I thought would be a tough afternoon turned out to be an enjoyable one. I am starting to feel that my fitness is moving in the right direction although I am a long way off what I was 2 months ago.
I really wasn't in the mood to be out there for too long today although I was keen to run I figured around 8k would be enough. I decided to do a differential run where I would do the return leg quicker, in otherwords I was aiming to achieve a negative split.
A 4k out and back course with the return leg having a few inclines to contend with. I intended to maintain 5min/k pace for the first 4k which seemed to go well for the majority of the leg. At times I noticed my pace creeping up which has always been a bad habit of mine, and with a few hundred metres to go I eased up quite abit to reach the turn around spot on 20 minutes.
I quickly increased the pace and realised that my pacing is all over the shop. I began way to fast with my intention to maintain 4.30 pace for the return leg, I was sitting on 4.15. Slowing down I quickly got a feel for the pace and began clocking splits a little under 4.30 pace.
I generally felt ok, however the last incline did hurt a little pushing the HR and breathing up quite a bit. Once back on level ground the last 500m back home I felt great maintaining the pace very easily. I reached home in 37.38 making it a 17.38 (4.25/k) for the return leg.
Off the topic my mate at work has committed himself to running the first leg of the Kurrawa race. Although he is a bit concerned about the distance and his time I have reassured him that I don't care how long it takes him and that he will be fine, well maybe quite stiff the next day. I will be sending the application off within the next day or so. Pretty exciting.
In the mean time I am visiting a mate who has just had his first baby at Coffs Harbour this weekend, I have also noticed in the RW events calender that there is a fun run at Dorrigo which I am lead to believe is not too far away. It is a 9k or 13k race on Sunday morning so I might enter that as part of my training. Should be interesting Dorrigo is not a big place, but I do like the smaller events.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
18 Nov 06
Week - 30k
Month - 43.5k
YTD - 1030k
The little bloke had come down with the flu on Thursday, that night after a few hours sleep I woke up with a very sore throat and runny nose aswell. The throat eased up alot on Friday after taking some medicine however it did lay me up from doing any training until today.
I still feel drained and it was a huge task for me to get out there today. I had fallen to sleep during a DVD and woke up feeling even worse 1/2 an hour later. I slowly got ready and headed out just after 5pm. On the the agenda was to remain out there for 1 hour.
I have recently been running around 10k between 45-50 minutes so the extra time on the legs is certainly needed. I settled into the run after a few k and felt alot better. I maintained around 5.10 pace for the majority of the hour and finished up with 11.85k.
After I stopped I could really feel the difference in my legs. Although I only ran around 2k more than usual they felt alot tighter just from being on them for longer. Im hoping that I become used to this over the next few weeks, I want to at least be able to walk during my days off after the event :)
Month - 43.5k
YTD - 1030k
The little bloke had come down with the flu on Thursday, that night after a few hours sleep I woke up with a very sore throat and runny nose aswell. The throat eased up alot on Friday after taking some medicine however it did lay me up from doing any training until today.
I still feel drained and it was a huge task for me to get out there today. I had fallen to sleep during a DVD and woke up feeling even worse 1/2 an hour later. I slowly got ready and headed out just after 5pm. On the the agenda was to remain out there for 1 hour.
I have recently been running around 10k between 45-50 minutes so the extra time on the legs is certainly needed. I settled into the run after a few k and felt alot better. I maintained around 5.10 pace for the majority of the hour and finished up with 11.85k.
After I stopped I could really feel the difference in my legs. Although I only ran around 2k more than usual they felt alot tighter just from being on them for longer. Im hoping that I become used to this over the next few weeks, I want to at least be able to walk during my days off after the event :)
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