Handicap Season

Launceston Athletic Clubs winter season starts on Saturday at Riverside pool. Given that I don't want to venture too far from what our program says, I plan to incorporate the 5km into my tempo run. So, I will run from home and then race the 5k. The trip from home should take about 45 minutes so no doubt the 5k will hurt a little ;-)

On top of that, not only is it a Handicap event but its 4 laps of a 1.25km loop. By the time I get going, the front markers will have already completed their 1st lap. So not only do I have to catch them, I then have to gain another lap as well.

Ran some 1k reps last night with young Patty. Patty is running a 5000m on Friday night out at the track and is aiming to run around 15:40ish solo. Therefore his aim last night was to run 3 x 1k @ 3:08 with 90s recovery. Unfortunately, I had to do 6. Pretty easy session for Patty considering he normally reps in around 3min. His times were 3:07, 3:08 & 3:06. Now he just needs to put it into a race. He is capable but is yet to discover it for himself. He can comfortably run reps at 3min pace (2:40 flat out) but struggles to run to that standard in a race situation. At the moment he is more of a time trialler than racer but his time will come.

The new Saucony kit arrived recently and looks very good. I thought last years was hot but its get better in '09.

Consolidating

A solid week this week with the only hiccup being yesterdays session being skipped in favour of an easy run. I made the mistake of not taking my Ventolin inhaler with me and as a result couldnt manage much more than a jog without difficulty breathing. Silly mistake but what can you do?

I have started back in the gym trying to get a bit of upper body strength happening. Hopefully it will help towards the end of races to maintain form a little more. I plan on running some more XC races this year than in the past year or so and this can only help.

The next 8 weeks will be just sticking to the program and building up a solid base before running the City to Casino on May 17 in Hobart. Last year I ran the 7k event but this year I think I will step up and run the 11km.

I spent some time earlier today looking at the AV calendar and airfares trying to tee up some races in Vic over Winter. Things look promising in this department. Would love to come back and run some relays. Running isnt much of a team sport but I have always found the relays to be a bit of fun.

Will definitely be running the Half at Burnley. A group of us will be coming over and using it as a hitout prior to the Melbourne Marathon in October. Should be a good day out.

Robyn ran a Womens 5k race this morning and pushed jacko the whole way in his pram. The event was to raise money for breast cancer and all competitors wore a pink t-shirt. It was an awesome sight to see just over 2000 ladies cruising the streets of Launceston in pink. The only problem was trying to find Robbie after the race. Its not easy looking for a blonde in a pink t-shirt amongst that crowd!!!!

Politics

I had intended to run the State Champs 5k yesterday but 2 things conspired against me.

Firstly, a bout of Gastro early last week. The 2nd was some good old fashioned bureaucracy.

Apparently as my AT rego had lapsed I had to re register in order to compete. I refused to pay $135 to register for the summer season (in Tas you can register separately for each season, ie: winter or summer) only to have it then expire on March 31!!!!!

I fail to see why I couldnt run as an unregistered athlete and be ineligible for the State Title, yet still run.

I guess it just confirms my theory that athletics in Tasmania is going nowhere fast.

The only thing stopping me from registering with Aths Vic at the moment is the fact I may only be able to run 2 or 3 winter races and the same over summer. With rego about $180, it equates to about $30 a race.

See how we go.

On track

Went to the track tonight to do our monthly track session. All of our quicker sessions are done on bike paths etc but this one is for the track. It is 10 x 400 w/ 200m rec.

Average times tonight were 70.5 which I was very happy with considering I was running solo. Even better when you take into account my 90 minute run last night!!

I wanted to use tonights session to decide whether or not to run the State 5000m Champs in Hobart next weekend. I am still undecided and entries close tomorrow. Will speak to Kim and see what he reckons.

Had Tuesday off this week, felt very tired and had a sore throat so wanted to make sure it didnt get any worse. One day off just in case is better than a week off with the flu me thinks!!

Off to a committee meeting tonight for Riverside Aths Club. Cant wait!!!!!! The club is struggling big time and we are trying to help out. They have about $800 in the bank and are going nowhere fast. We secured a new sponsor who gave us $500 and when I told the current committee about it they said "what are we supposed to do with it?" I can feel a change in the wind. With that attitude, the current committee needs to go.