Float like a Butterfly and stung by a Bee!!!

A weekend spent in Melbourne catching up with family and friends.

Headed to Jells Park on Saturday to do my Tempo run and cut it short after 13 minutes. Feeling very flat I figured by finishing the session I was only asking for trouble later on. I felt terrible in the warm up and worse in the effort.

Sunday was a trip to the You Yangs for my long run. I managed to get out the required 2 hours but made a few trips back to the car for water. A very warm day.

Today was another right off. An easy 20 minutes that felt more like a cool down run after a tough session. Robbie woke up sick this morning and maybe I had some of what she had.

Called in to see a mate today whom I havent seen since I moved to Tassie. His son, Lachlan, warned me as we headed out the back to watch out for Bees. 5 Minutes later I felt a sharp pain in the bottom of my heal....... BEE STING! Could have been worse however, earlier in the week they found a 5ft Brown Snake in their yard. Give me a Bee anyday.

On the track tomorrow for some rep 400's.

Going Long

The k's are starting to stack up a bit.

1hr and 50 minutes on Sunday followed by another 60 minutes Monday night, Mona fartlek last night and 70 minutes tonight.

The best part is I am feeling strong. As with all my fartlek sessions I ran Mona last night out and back, turning at 10 minutes, and making it back to the start point with 10 seconds to spare. It seems I am making a habit of getting back with 10 seconds up my sleeve. The last 3 or 4 sessions have all been back within 10 seconds. Spooky.

I was planning on running the State 3000 on Feb 9, but I think I will bypass it and concentrate on getting some miles in the legs and building a base to build on later. Still undecided about the State 5000 in March but will see how training is going a little closer to the date.

Off to Melbourne this weekend and hoping to catch up with a few people. Planning on doing my long run at the You Yangs on Sunday morning. I have never run there and definitely looking forward to it.

35/25

Suffered a bit this morning.

The rules of the game were: you run out in one direction for 35 minutes, then turn around and try to come back in 25. There is actually a marker at the turning point so the time out can vary a little. Its 8km in each direction.

I made it back in 28:26 with a very bad patch about half way back. Finished with very tight calves and heavy legs in general.

I was driving home thinking about it and realised that all of my sessions have been over within 40 minutes (15-20 min WU and then session). So to run for 35 minutes and then start the hard part was always going to be a shock to the system.

Still, a very good session for gaining some strength and next time should be a little quicker.

Will do an easy 20 minutes later today to keep the legs loose before tomorrows long run (1:40).

Off down to the bakery now for a coffee and a feed and a read of the papers.

4 x 3min w/ 2min float

Another solid session tonight.

Covered 5.5kms in 20 minutes (about 21:50 6km pace) and felt strong.

As I was warming up I saw a guy on a Mountain Bike coming towards me so I moved over to the left of the path. As he went past I heard him say "Hey Willo". The mountain biker was none other than Steve Brown.

Father Steve is here on holiday and is competing in the Wildside Mountain Bike event on Tassies West Coast this weekend. He was heading up into The Gorge for a ride and luckily we crossed paths.

Looking very fit the boy is too!!!!

Hopefully we can catch up before he returns to Melbourne at the end of the month. Lots to talk about.

8 x 400m w/ 60s rec

Back on the track tonight.

8 x 400m with 60s recovery.

Times as follows:
71.9, 71.5, 69.6, 71.9, 70.4, 69.4, 71.9, 66.5

Very good session. Felt strong the whole way thru which was surprising considering I cut short an easy run last night due to fatigue. Was meant to do an hour and only ran for 43 minutes. Didnt back up too well after 90 minutes in the hills on Sunday.

Another hour tomorrow night and hopefully there wont be any problems from tonight. Quads were a bit tight during the cool down but plenty of stretching should fix that pretty easily.

Tonight was definitely a good confidence booster.

Long run in the hills

Decided it was time to broaden my horizons and explore Launceston some more.

My long run has gone well over the hour now and I was starting to get bored with the regular Sunday running route so I headed for the hills around Trevallyn Dam and Hoo Hoo Hut.

90 minutes after I started I found my way back to my car feeling awesome. Felt as though I had only been out for about 30 minutes.

The last 20 minutes or so was all down hill and I thought that was a bit of a waste, but then I realised that if I was running down hill back to my car then at some stage I had obviously spent a bit of time climbing!!!!! Not such a waste after all!

Its been another good week. The k's are steadily increasing, with 88 travelled this week.

I ran a 10km tempo yesterday and was pretty happy with my time. 37:30 to be precise. Average HR was 172. Felt comfortable which was the main thing.

Robbie heads to Melbourne on Thursday for a couple of weeks, and I will head over for the long weekend. Other than that its all pretty quite in Tassie town.

Cadbury 5km

A mixed bag in Hobart this weekend. Happy with place, but disappointed with time.



The start of the race was pretty quick and I settled into the 2nd group which contained 3 of us. The 2 leaders were way out of sight by the km mark. About 1.5km in, one guy shot off and I tried to go with him but couldnt. I settled into 4th about 30 metres behind 3rd place thinking my training would help me come home quick over the last k or so. I eventually moved into 3rd place with just under 2km to go and held it to the finish.



In the end I was 62s behind 1st and 40s behind 2nd place.

My feet were good during the race, but VERY sore afterwards. Standing still was not an option as the throbbing in my feet made it feel like someone was dropping sledgehammers on them. At least Im back on the move.

Had a good time in Hobart with Jacko and Robbie. Stayed in a "Cosy Cabin" out in Bowen, which as we found out when we arrived was directly over the road from Risdon Prison home to the likes of Martyn Bryant and once home to Chopper Read!!!!!

A very warm night saw very little sleep had by all. In fact I was still driving around at 11pm trying to get Jack off to sleep. Poor little bugga, he would go to sleep then wake up in a pool of sweat 5 minutes after we put him to bed. I think I slept a total of 2 or 3 hours myself. Had to take my little man for a walk at 6am this morning so his Mum could have a sleep in. Very uncomfortable night.

Cruised up Mt Wellington this afternoon before we came home. A few cyclists out and about and given the descent down the mountain I am not surprised. Looks like a ripper!!! Still, given my form, a Paramedic would need to follow me down just in case!

5 weeks now until the State 3000m Champs and I am very much looking forward to it. Some speed work on the track between now and then should see an improvement in form.

Fingers crossed.

Feet Improving

Things are looking good in the foot department, it no longer hurts to stand up for a start!! I also slept better last night.

I am also keeping the Aloe Vera industry in business at the moment too.

Still, I have no one to blame but myself, sunscreen is a wonderful thing if applied to the right places.

Running may not happen until at least Saturday but we will see what happens.

Remember folks, slip slop slap...... AND DONT FORGET YOUR FEET.



Cheers

A Scorcher!!!

Where is the one place we often neglect to apply sunscreen when at the beach???? And I wasnt at a nudist beach either!!!

The tops of both my feet are now very burnt. So burnt in fact that I have the rest of the week off work as I am unable to wear shoes. Silly boy me is.

Definitely wont be running today but fingers crossed for tomorrow. Things were starting to look good from a training perspective. I had only missed 1 day in the last 35 and I could feel myself benefiting from the consistency. Times were coming down nicely.

At least Jacko had a good time, even if the waves did take some getting used to at first.

I built him a nice little sand castle that took me about 45 minutes to complete, and less the 2 for him to destroy.



Hopefully my feet recover quickly and down time is at a minimum.