Another good week under the belt

4 x 1km along the river on Thursday night with Kim and the gang. Recovery after each rep was roughly 2:30, but handicapped so that if you finished the previous rep 5 seconds back then you got a 5 second head start next time around. Good idea, kept everyone honest.

My times were all within 5 seconds so thats a good sign that I am moving ok. A drastic drop off in times towards the end would have been disappointing but it wasnt the case.

A longer session today at Heritage Forest. 1500m with 10 minutes recovery followed by 3000m. Times were ok but the last 1600m of the 3km was into a pretty stiff head wind, and it didnt help. 3:10 thru the km and turned at about 1400m into the wind and almost stopped!!! Still, another good session under the belt.

Interesting session, I guess if you wanted a different effect you could run the 1500 last therefore running at a faster pace while fatigued from the 3km. Either way, its still a tough session.

Its been a good week training wise. Feeling a little tired now but a couple of easy days now until my next effort so hopefully I will pull up ok. In fact due to Xmas Parties etc this week it may just be easy running until Thursday night.

Young guns

Decided that I liked punishment so I met up again last night with Kim Gillards group. The menu featured 6 x 1 minute with a minute float in between.

The idea was to run out and back turning after the 3rd float and see how close you got to the starting point at the end. The run obviously ended with a float and I missed the starting point by about 50 metres. Close but no cigar. Very tough session though.

Still, I felt good and thats all that matters right now.

I have now put together 12 days straight which is the most in a very long time. Best of all, I am feeling stronger everyday.

Kim is coaching a group of junior runners and theres some serious talent there. One dude just set a State junior record for his age group over 300om, and 2 others have run close to 2 minutes for 800. All are 17 or younger. Young guns.

Easy 40 minutes tonight at Heritage Forest and apart from feeling a little tired all is good.

Whos been a busy boy then?

Me of course!!

The last few weeks have been very busy. I have a new role at work which means I no longer have to sit in a car all day long. The down side is I am on my feet all day instead. Of well, some you win some you lose right? Still, a change is as good as a holiday and I am enjoying it.

From a running point of view things have not progressed at all. I have had 2 very ordinary races and a week off with some calf soreness. The calf was fine after a few days but as work was busy I took a whole week off just to be sure.

Last Sunday saw the inaugural running of the "Run the Ridge" fun run at Tamar Ridge Winery just outside Launceston. 10km all within a Winery. The course was awesome. All off road on grass and dirt roads weaving in and out of the grapevines. Magnificent. Next time however I will drink more fluid in the days leading up to the race. When you're standing on the start line feeling thirsty, and the temp is in the low 20's, its gunna be a very long day!

I backed up last night and ran a 3000m at Interclub and decided the only thing to do was go balls to the wall from the gun. First km was quick, the next 2........ not so quick! Still, its all part of growing up. I did however manage to finish 2nd overall, so I guess theres some consolation. Did I mention there were only 6 in the race?????? I will say that I beat Kim Gillard though, even if he was just pacing a junior!!!!! Sorry dude, but I guess a win is a win ;-)

Kim was telling me during our cool down run about an incident at Falls Creek a couple of years back involving a dead snake in the bed of a certain star middle distance runner. No names will be mentioned but I can say that if it were my bed then I'd have been sleeping in my car!!!!

Bye for now

Smokin'

Arrived at the track tonight at 5pm only to find that one of the local Private schools were in the midst of their aths carnival.

I had spent all day thinking about running some 400's off 2 minutes only to have to think of something new to do.

So, off to heritage Forest for a tempo run. The plan was to do 5km with the HR around 175bpm. I did this 2 weeks ago and was surprised to see how much fitter and stronger I am now.

My ave HR tonight was only 1 bpm higher than last time yet I ran 40 seconds quicker. VERY HAPPY. 40 seconds faster in 2 weeks with the same amount of effort. Cant complain about that.

Given that Interclub and Little Aths will take up the track on Saturday, it looks like some 500's are the order of the day @ Heritage.

Sad to read that a runner (Ryan Shay) died during the US Olympic Marathon Trials on Saturday in New York. Just goes to show that it doesn't matter who you are or how fit you are, when its time to go........

Delays

Instead of sitting here writing this Blog entry, I should be at the airport about to board a flight home to Melbourne. However, the lovely folks at Jetstar rang to say that there is a delay and that my 6:40pm flight is now not scheduled to leave at 10:25pm. Nice one.

So, here's how it works. I fly out at 10:25pm, land in Melbourne at 11:25pm, jump in a car and drive an hour across town to Mum & Dads. Therefore all going well I should be tucked up in bed just before 1am. Nice one.

Poor old Robbie now has to kill time between her landing in Melbourne @ 4pm (I got a later flight due to work commitments) and me @ 11:30ish. She is currently battling the Flu so I can only imagine that this has made her feel heaps better!!!!!!!

The work commitments I mentioned early were in the form of a "State Sales Conference". I had originally booked on the same flight as Robbie, but when I heard about the Conference I was forced to change my flight.

The 2 days spent at the Conference was very beneficial. Hopefully we can put our new skills to practice, and more importantly, Management will offer the support required to do so.

Managers should be leaders and motivators. Just once I would like to walk out of a Sales meeting and be looking forward to getting amongst it. Instead all we ever hear are negatives. Margin is down, sales are down. Why, why, why??

Enough said me thinks............

Chewing the Fat with "Rev Rick"

Its been a good week. In fact the best in a long time.

Whilst I still had 2 days off running, the other days were very good. The 2 days off weren't planned but at the end of the day definitely did no harm. My mileage for the week was slightly more then 10% greater than last week so the rest helped in that it stopped me from doing too much too soon in terms of k's. I want to stick to the 10% per week increase, so if that means a day off then so be it. Naturally I want to get back to running everyday but easy does it.

I used a local 6km fun run this morning as my weekly tempo run. The idea was to run at a solid pace keeping my HR below 175. My average ended up being 176 so spot on. It also earned me 7th place. I felt pretty comfortable and felt that I could have kicked it down toward the end if need be but I was pretty well clear of the dude in 8th so no need.

Looking forward to running a 3km on the track next week in Melbourne and again wont be going all out. Just trying to get some rhythm happening and gain some strength by running at tempo but feeling strong as opposed to busting my balls and feeling like crap. The body's not ready for that yet.

Robbie dragged me along to her Church on Friday night for a little gathering they call "Friday Night Church". Its aimed at, as they say, "Those that hate Church!" I cant say I hate Church but wasnt brought up in that environment. It was a relaxed setting just chatting, some music, lattes, and a good feed.

I spent most of the night chatting to "Rev Rick". It turns out that we have a bit in common. Both Geelong supporters, both lived in Geelong at some stage in our lives, and both enjoy cycling. He has invited me out for a ride sometime and given my habit of hitting the deck I'm not too sure if its a good idea!!

I must admit it was weird sitting there "chewing the fat" with a Minister of Religion. I even swore in front of him and he didn't bat an eyelid. In fact he later referred to someone as a "bastard". As soon as he said it he looked at me and said "Am I allowed to say that?" To which I replied "you tell me?" He justified it by saying "Hey, I used to be a builder". Fair enough.

This guys alright me thinks. Apart from a mate of mine who is now a Minister himself, I guess I always thought that people in that position were squeaky clean. Maybe they're are human too!!!! ;-)

New Boots

Got some new shoes in the post today. Saucony Grid Type A. They are supposed to be a racing shoe but more like a lightweight trainer. I guess if you were gunna run a half marathon or go the full 42k, then they would be an awesome alternative to a pure racing flat.



Im gunna use them for longer reps off track and tempo runs.

Decided on an easy 20 minutes thru the Gorge this arvo to try them out and I am impressed. Lots of cushioning and VERY bright too!!!

The only problem with tonights run was some soreness in my calf. I had wanted to do about 35 minutes but cut it short instead. It seems I am cutting a few sessions short lately for one reason or another.

Otherwise things are progressing nicely. The Cadbury Half Marathon is coming up in January in Hobart and Im thinking that entering would not be such a bad idea. The theory is that by having to train for a half means that I need to get some mileage happening therefore building a solid base in which to progress off at the start of next year.

Once the race is out of the way then it would only take 4 - 6 weeks to get some speed in the legs before events such as the Nationals and State Champs.

I will see how the next few weeks go training wise before committing to it.