YTD - 420 km
Yet another long absence from posting but this hasn't been the case for my training. I have been training consistently and although I am struggling with the cooler temps once I am out there I am running well.
I have registered for the City 2 Surf which seems to be a regular routine for me to enter every two years. Not sure why but I ran in 2006 and 2008 and now this year. I am hoping to achieve a PB in this event and is my focus for the next 7 weeks. I hope to get close to 56 mins which is over 2 mins faster than I have ran the event before.
I have also just returned from Canberra after competing in the ADF Cross Country Champs at Stromlo. Great Event, the weather was pretty good although the wind was a little strong which made the event alot tougher than it should have been. I am unsure how I went place wise, certainly not in the podium standings but I ran 29.05 for the 3 x 2.5 km loops of the Stromlo track.
That's all for now
Happy Training!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Sunday, May 09, 2010
4 Month summary!
Mth - 30 k
YTD - 270 k
Wow my life has turned upside down since moving to Victoria. I have been working now for about 4 mths here and on average working 10 hour days. A few times a month I will at least be working a weekend day if not all weekend. That probably doesn't sound like much but when you have worked for 12 years and then move to another place thinking that not much will change it is a rather rude shock.
I have been training but rather sporadically since my last post. I have not been able to get time off for the event I wanted to do in May which was disappointing but in hindsight I wouldn't have been able to train as much as I would have hoped to anyway. At work I have a few students that are pretty keen on running and although some of them are not what you call dedicated to train for events they are dedicated to train for fitness and regularly conduct interval training after work. I have been participating in some of their sessions which has given me some motivation to get back into training.
Over the past few months I have found a few tracks around home that include varying terrain, currently I have two loops that I do on most occassions when I want to see what my fitmess is like. Of the two loops one is about half the distance but has alot of hills. In january when I first discovered it I ran it in around 18.30 now my PB is 16 flat. The second loop which I have measured out is 8.85k, I think my worst time for that was over 44 mins with my best being 38.40. If I can break 40 mins for this I am travelling ok.
The shorter stuff comes alot easier for me and currently I am focussing on trying to get as close to beaking 8 mins for 2.4 k as possible. This is the fitness test for my employment but the track they run on has a long gentle incline that totally destroys you from 1600 - 2100 m. My best so far was in Feb with a 4 min out and a 4.17 back. A recent interval session that I did saw me do 4.03 on the return leg with 1200 m of intervals under 1.20 per 400 m under my belt before that. So I believe I can improve on my 8.17.
Sub 8.10 is my aim for the next one, the over 30 course record currently stands at 8.46 as my 8.17 didn't get recorded, however the under 30 record stands at 8.07. It would be nice to get under my younger competition but in saying that the fella that ran that time is starting to get his fitness back and is capable of sub 7.40 on a flatter track.
Last week saw me run the Nail Can Hill run. 11.3 k up and over the big hill in Albury. Hard work if you don't train on hills which is what I did. I felt good on the flat but the hill killed me. I struggled and had nothing in my legs. I had organised a team from work and even though I had a shocking run I managed 51 mins with another team managing 48. The next two across the line were 52 min and 57 mins which got us 2nd place in the business / corporate category which was a pleasant surprise.
In the coming month or therabouts I have requested leave to compete in the ADF Cross Country Championships in Canberra. If it gets approved then I will be there on the 18 Jun running around Stromlo. In the next fortnight I am thinking of doing the 10 k at Mt Beauty, some of the students at work want me to do the half but I haven't trained for that distnace and I have other things on the go at the moment and 21 k doesn't really benefit them.
Anyway that's all for now.
Happy Training!
YTD - 270 k
Wow my life has turned upside down since moving to Victoria. I have been working now for about 4 mths here and on average working 10 hour days. A few times a month I will at least be working a weekend day if not all weekend. That probably doesn't sound like much but when you have worked for 12 years and then move to another place thinking that not much will change it is a rather rude shock.
I have been training but rather sporadically since my last post. I have not been able to get time off for the event I wanted to do in May which was disappointing but in hindsight I wouldn't have been able to train as much as I would have hoped to anyway. At work I have a few students that are pretty keen on running and although some of them are not what you call dedicated to train for events they are dedicated to train for fitness and regularly conduct interval training after work. I have been participating in some of their sessions which has given me some motivation to get back into training.
Over the past few months I have found a few tracks around home that include varying terrain, currently I have two loops that I do on most occassions when I want to see what my fitmess is like. Of the two loops one is about half the distance but has alot of hills. In january when I first discovered it I ran it in around 18.30 now my PB is 16 flat. The second loop which I have measured out is 8.85k, I think my worst time for that was over 44 mins with my best being 38.40. If I can break 40 mins for this I am travelling ok.
The shorter stuff comes alot easier for me and currently I am focussing on trying to get as close to beaking 8 mins for 2.4 k as possible. This is the fitness test for my employment but the track they run on has a long gentle incline that totally destroys you from 1600 - 2100 m. My best so far was in Feb with a 4 min out and a 4.17 back. A recent interval session that I did saw me do 4.03 on the return leg with 1200 m of intervals under 1.20 per 400 m under my belt before that. So I believe I can improve on my 8.17.
Sub 8.10 is my aim for the next one, the over 30 course record currently stands at 8.46 as my 8.17 didn't get recorded, however the under 30 record stands at 8.07. It would be nice to get under my younger competition but in saying that the fella that ran that time is starting to get his fitness back and is capable of sub 7.40 on a flatter track.
Last week saw me run the Nail Can Hill run. 11.3 k up and over the big hill in Albury. Hard work if you don't train on hills which is what I did. I felt good on the flat but the hill killed me. I struggled and had nothing in my legs. I had organised a team from work and even though I had a shocking run I managed 51 mins with another team managing 48. The next two across the line were 52 min and 57 mins which got us 2nd place in the business / corporate category which was a pleasant surprise.
In the coming month or therabouts I have requested leave to compete in the ADF Cross Country Championships in Canberra. If it gets approved then I will be there on the 18 Jun running around Stromlo. In the next fortnight I am thinking of doing the 10 k at Mt Beauty, some of the students at work want me to do the half but I haven't trained for that distnace and I have other things on the go at the moment and 21 k doesn't really benefit them.
Anyway that's all for now.
Happy Training!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Live to work!
Month - 38k
YTD - 38k
Another hot week and my first week back at work. I have found out that we are losing two staff members so this year is going to be ridiculous. I will be pushing it to have any days off outside of the students vacation time. I will however try but only for the weekend of the GOR marathon.
I am still sticking to my plan in regards to doing only the 1/2 as I had some shin soreness last week. With 6 days rest I went for a run on Friday afternoon. 41 degress during the day so I left at 7.30 pm which was still very hot. I struggled with the heat and the wind but battled around the 8.9 km loop in 42 mins. The last 3 km is the toughest with all but 800m of it a long incline. Not very steep but just that annoying gentle never ending type.
After I recovered my shins felt pretty good, no aching so the rest has achieved something. Instead of pushing it too much and getting a reoccurance of the soreness I dragged the bike out for the first time since I moved to Vic. The wind was still around but the heat was nowhere near as bad. I rode for about 1 hr 20 mins pretty casually achieving 31 - 32 km in distance.
Not sure what the remainder of the week is going to bring but all I know is that work is going to get in the way, which is certainly not how I like to live ;-)
Until next time....
YTD - 38k
Another hot week and my first week back at work. I have found out that we are losing two staff members so this year is going to be ridiculous. I will be pushing it to have any days off outside of the students vacation time. I will however try but only for the weekend of the GOR marathon.
I am still sticking to my plan in regards to doing only the 1/2 as I had some shin soreness last week. With 6 days rest I went for a run on Friday afternoon. 41 degress during the day so I left at 7.30 pm which was still very hot. I struggled with the heat and the wind but battled around the 8.9 km loop in 42 mins. The last 3 km is the toughest with all but 800m of it a long incline. Not very steep but just that annoying gentle never ending type.
After I recovered my shins felt pretty good, no aching so the rest has achieved something. Instead of pushing it too much and getting a reoccurance of the soreness I dragged the bike out for the first time since I moved to Vic. The wind was still around but the heat was nowhere near as bad. I rode for about 1 hr 20 mins pretty casually achieving 31 - 32 km in distance.
Not sure what the remainder of the week is going to bring but all I know is that work is going to get in the way, which is certainly not how I like to live ;-)
Until next time....
Friday, January 15, 2010
Hill Reps = Hell!
Month - 24k
YTD - 24k
Since my last post I have rested a little to get the stiffness and groin strain time to recover. I think it has worked pretty well, I haven't strided out and don't plan to for another week. The two sessions I did though felt good.
I have download the intermediate marathon program that Pat Carroll has written for the GCM. I have modified it slightly so that I can adapt it to the time frame for the Great Ocean Road marathon. I hope that when I commence my job that it will allow me to fit in the training.
What I have done, rather than having set days for training, I have entered the 4 sessions into a diary commencing Monday of the each week. I cannot and will not ever be able to (due to the nature of my work) stick to a fully rigid training program so this is the only way I can see it working. I know what I need to do for the week and will work out a plan on a week to week basis as to how I will tackle those sessions.
Anyway since I have started this week with a slight injury I have only done two sessions.
Yesterday I headed out for a 30 min comfortable pace run, I have been finding the running routes that I used to run which entail some hilly sections. A 15 minutes out and back route where I maintained a consistent pace and got back home with 10 secs to spare so I ran past my house just to make that up ;-)
Today I decided to give the hill repeats a crack. I have moved to a house that is on the base of a hill called Federation hill. There are a whole heap of walking tracks comprising of single trail and fire trail that are very steep. I have been walking the dogs and walking up the trails with my wife but never attempted running as yet. Today was the day......and well it was an experience to say the least.
On the cards was 8 x 300 m repeats. I chose a point along the track which was probably less than 300 m maybe 220 - 250m but the second half is very steep and loose under foot. The last 30 m kicks up again so it was a very difficult session.
The sets were done between 1.01 and 1.07 for the first 6, then on the 7th I absolutely died, I felt as though I was having a heart attack. I just couldn't get the air in and then the legs just ran out of steam. I was proud that I didn't stop running but that one rep was a 1.22. The last one I went as hard as I could and managed 1.05. I was absolutely shattered, everytime I finished the rep I had to walk back down a single trail which took about 2 - 3 mins. My legs were all jelly like and I felt really uncoordinated. It was only a few days ago that I was infact laughing at my wife for the same reason when we were coming back down from the top of the hill, I think this is a perfect example of Karma.
I must say this was one of the hardest sessions I have done for a very long time. I am not sure when the next week is that has hill repeats but hopefully it is not for a while. I do remember though writing in my diary a hill session that has 10 repeats.....Nooooooooo!
**EDIT**
Since this write up I completed a 5000m on a grass track. Very difficult conditions, very hot and windy up the back straight. I had nothing in my legs from the start due to the hill session the day before. During the run I also experience some shin pain, so I slowed and completed it in a time of 21.40. My shins have not faired too well, and due to this fact I am reassessing my goals.....already. I have been planning to do the GOR marathon but with 17 weeks to go I cannot afford to have anytime off and training would have to be smooth sailing. This is not the case so I think I will have a short break get the shins healthy again and do the half. With the fitness I have established a week or two off won't hurt too much. I don't think I have ever trained for a solid 3 months for any half I have completed so even if I have a month off I should be fit to run the half on the same day. If I can get a solid 3 months of training in specifically for this event I will try for a PB, that is if it not too hilly. Sub 1.27 and I will be happy.
In regards to a marathon maybe the Melbourne Marathon in Oct if I decide not to compete in the Shepparton Half IM in Nov.
YTD - 24k
Since my last post I have rested a little to get the stiffness and groin strain time to recover. I think it has worked pretty well, I haven't strided out and don't plan to for another week. The two sessions I did though felt good.
I have download the intermediate marathon program that Pat Carroll has written for the GCM. I have modified it slightly so that I can adapt it to the time frame for the Great Ocean Road marathon. I hope that when I commence my job that it will allow me to fit in the training.
What I have done, rather than having set days for training, I have entered the 4 sessions into a diary commencing Monday of the each week. I cannot and will not ever be able to (due to the nature of my work) stick to a fully rigid training program so this is the only way I can see it working. I know what I need to do for the week and will work out a plan on a week to week basis as to how I will tackle those sessions.
Anyway since I have started this week with a slight injury I have only done two sessions.
Yesterday I headed out for a 30 min comfortable pace run, I have been finding the running routes that I used to run which entail some hilly sections. A 15 minutes out and back route where I maintained a consistent pace and got back home with 10 secs to spare so I ran past my house just to make that up ;-)
Today I decided to give the hill repeats a crack. I have moved to a house that is on the base of a hill called Federation hill. There are a whole heap of walking tracks comprising of single trail and fire trail that are very steep. I have been walking the dogs and walking up the trails with my wife but never attempted running as yet. Today was the day......and well it was an experience to say the least.
On the cards was 8 x 300 m repeats. I chose a point along the track which was probably less than 300 m maybe 220 - 250m but the second half is very steep and loose under foot. The last 30 m kicks up again so it was a very difficult session.
The sets were done between 1.01 and 1.07 for the first 6, then on the 7th I absolutely died, I felt as though I was having a heart attack. I just couldn't get the air in and then the legs just ran out of steam. I was proud that I didn't stop running but that one rep was a 1.22. The last one I went as hard as I could and managed 1.05. I was absolutely shattered, everytime I finished the rep I had to walk back down a single trail which took about 2 - 3 mins. My legs were all jelly like and I felt really uncoordinated. It was only a few days ago that I was infact laughing at my wife for the same reason when we were coming back down from the top of the hill, I think this is a perfect example of Karma.
I must say this was one of the hardest sessions I have done for a very long time. I am not sure when the next week is that has hill repeats but hopefully it is not for a while. I do remember though writing in my diary a hill session that has 10 repeats.....Nooooooooo!
**EDIT**
Since this write up I completed a 5000m on a grass track. Very difficult conditions, very hot and windy up the back straight. I had nothing in my legs from the start due to the hill session the day before. During the run I also experience some shin pain, so I slowed and completed it in a time of 21.40. My shins have not faired too well, and due to this fact I am reassessing my goals.....already. I have been planning to do the GOR marathon but with 17 weeks to go I cannot afford to have anytime off and training would have to be smooth sailing. This is not the case so I think I will have a short break get the shins healthy again and do the half. With the fitness I have established a week or two off won't hurt too much. I don't think I have ever trained for a solid 3 months for any half I have completed so even if I have a month off I should be fit to run the half on the same day. If I can get a solid 3 months of training in specifically for this event I will try for a PB, that is if it not too hilly. Sub 1.27 and I will be happy.
In regards to a marathon maybe the Melbourne Marathon in Oct if I decide not to compete in the Shepparton Half IM in Nov.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
A return to Athletics
Month - 17k
YTD - 17k
This week I made my much awaited return to the track. Not sure if there was any hype about my presence, in fact I guarantee that there wasn't and it was just my imagination and excitement that created this. However I was happy that I could dust the spikes off and stretch and stride out the pins.
Thursday was a 5000m handicap series, not having run a great deal and certainly not on the track I predicted 20 - 21 mins. This gave me a handicap of 8.10. This felt like an eternity and when the gun went and the first group headed off I wondered if in fact they had made a mistake. The first runner that took off ran the first lap in 1.45 which is not much slower than my predicated pace, however I waited to see the next lap and almost got hit by the wheels that fell off him which made me feel a little better (not in a nasty way). The excitement and the glory must have gotten the better of him.
The race was at 7pm but the temp was still very high. I cannot believe how different the heat is here compared to Brisbane. It's so difficult to breathe when your mouth is soooo dry after 5 mins. I suppose I will get used to it.
When it was my time to set off I felt good, not feeling like I was going to hard. The first km was completed in 3.49 so I was a little under my prediction. I have been struggling with anything over 4k I think due to the weather so even though I felt like I could go harder I didn't. As predicted I did start to slow but not dramatically and by the final km I still had 19 secs up my sleeve to break 20 mins. I completed the last km in 4.01 stopping the clock in 19.42. I even ended up finishing 4th overall which was a shock as you don't have a clue who is in front of you.
Saturday was the day for the shorter distance. There was a 1500 and 3000 but the weather was just extreme that I just didn't feel the need to do these events. I stuck with the 400 and 100 with a couple of field events.
I hadn't raced a 400m since probably last time I lived here which was 2000. So it's been 10 years. I was asked what I was looking at doing so I could be placed in a heat. I said probably over the minute which relegated me to the 2nd heat. I was fine with that and was not going to kill myself anyway. I haven't sprinted or ran in spikes since Oct 2007 when I raced 2 x 100m events. So, lining up I was surrounded by a mixture of ages and genders, a few young blokes and a fella that was a little older than me but not quite in the veteran age group yet. The female was looking at sub 1.05 - 10 not quite sure but a decent time nonetheless.
The gun went and although I didn't feel like I was running that quick I had established a lead by the first corner. I didn't push the back straight and then just tried to maintain my form for the remainder of the race. There was a stiff cross / head wind down the home straight which made it a little tougher but I was very pleased as to how good I felt. As you may be aware the 400 m is a horrible event and those of us that don't train specifically for it usually bugger the pace up and die on the home straight. Thankfully I made a wise choice and crossed the line in 57.xx secs which I am pretty chuffed about as my PB is only 53 odd.
The next event was the 100m, the last time was like I said earlier in Oct 07 where I ran 11.59 and 11.68. I was hoping of a sub 12 but wasn't sure. I was placed in the first heat with the oldest being over 10 years younger and representing state comps. I was a little scared but am pleased that I came 4th in 11.64 just being pipped by a 16 year old for 3rd who ran 11.51.
I think I over strided towards the end and strained my groin so after 1 attempt in the long jump I decided to call it a night. No serious damage done just the body telling me that I need to progress slowly into these events. Not as nimble as I used to be.
My wife came to watch and was playing with her new camera and filmed the events. I have posted the 400 m event. I am in the white shirt and to give an indication of the standard the 2nd and 3rd place getter's ran 1.01.
That's all for now, back to resting my legs that are still stiff, feels like I just ran a marathon. Pretty sad that I ran for a total of 1 min and 8 secs and feel like this :-)
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