Dee Why STaR.

SUNDAY 30/1/05, 6.20am- 25.5K

A ridiculous 96% humidity and 21 degrees at the Star this morning; everyone was complaining about the conditions, I hung onto the back of the "second" 6.20 group (after a bunch of guys took off at the start) averaging around 5.10- 5.12min/km over the first 5K feeling not particularly sharp after only 3.5 hours sleep and still tired from the previous few days. I elected to slow down a bit and run with a new Strider, Angela, who had lobbed in Sydney not long before, didn't know the city, had no map and who was being dropped from the bunch. Not good form to leave people alone out there. We ended up doing a slightly shorter option (25.5K) averaging 5.24min/km. A bit slower than I preferred, but what the hell, I was feeling distinctly uninspired today and still suffering from the antibiotics I'm on.

SUNDAY 30/1/-5, 4.30PM- 6K

I elected to do another 6K on hilly bike path up near Mum's this afternoon. No particular reason except that I enjoy running and wanted to get 30K for the day in. Humid, light drizzle, fairly cool. Just jogged along at about 5 and a half minute kms.

I think next week will include a lot of walking to try and freshen up for the Saturday 10K at Lane Cove....

January Bay Challenge 5K.

SATURDAY 29/1/05, 7.20AM, 10K.

 

Fronted for yet another CR handicap 5K after 5 hours sleep (the Australian Open tennis coverage is really screwing my sleep patterns up; I'll be completely useless in winter with the Ashes Tour and with SBS covering the entire Tour de France live). 21 degrees, 90% humidity.

 

Not a good run at all. My GPS died in the arse after 20 metres but my splits were something like 3.44, 4.00, 4.07, 4.07, wheeeezzzze.... for a final time of 20.32. After Wednesday's 10K at Penrith I'd projected a 19.30 for this so I can't really explain it. I recall turning to Tom at about 3K and telling him to get going because he wasn't going to break 20 if he followed me. He did 19.51. Good on him. We then ran back to the start along the course in 27 minutes for a total of 10K in (for me) around 47 and a half minutes.

 

I was thinking before this morning that a PB at the Lane Cove 10K next Saturday was a distinct possibility but I have no idea now. When I decided late last year that I wanted to have a shot at a sub 3 hour marathon at Gold Coast after years of specialising in bush ultras, I was acutely aware that I had to make some rapid gains in speed over the shorter distances at the start of 2005. At the moment, that's not happening consistently or quickly enough and I can't point to any particular reason why this would be the case- I'm actually almost a minute slower over 5K than I was in November, with a little jaunt up Mt Kosciuszko in between there. If I can't start consistently meeting my speed benchmarks in the next month or two, I'll patently not be able to go under 3 at GC, in which case I'm not going to bother going up there, I think.

 

Someone asked this morning if I was over the Coast-Kosci yet. I replied I wasn't sure, although it's been about seven weeks now, so by rights it SHOULD be out of the system. You hear about people at the elite and sub elite levels turning in one particularly gruelling race or string of races and never reaching the same levels again, or at least not doing so for months if not years. I don't know if Coast-Kosci was that debilitating, but the way my running is right now is very reminiscent of how my running was two years ago when I came off Bogong-Hotham in January and was fired up as a result of my performance there, thinking a massive PB at 6FT in March was on the cards. After a couple of easy weeks I got back into training there and my performances were all over the place, as well as having to deal with a few minor illnesses. At the Striders 10K the week before the 2003 6FT I missed my PB by only two seconds and thought I'd finally got it together in time, but got the flu a day or two later and had a disaster at 6FT. My running right now reminds me of those two months, but I can't explain why it should be in that state. (After a few weeks off after the 2003 6FT, I got back into training, did a 10K PB in early June, ran Western States not long after, did another 10K PB in September and did my 100 mile PB at Glasshouse a few weeks after that. So managed to turn the year around quite well. However, I have a tighter schedule in 2005 and more ground to make up.)

 

I heard Kim Beazley say on the TV last night that you can't just tell members of a political party to be unified and expect it to happen. Political unity came out of having a common direction and developing momentum. I think there's something in that. You could stretch the analogy a bit (just stay with me here folks) and rationalise that you can't just tell yourself to have a good mental approach to your running. That positive outlook comes more often from having an acheivable (but ambitious) goal and developing some training momentum. Got to say, at the moment my mental outlook on running- at least when it comes to the speed stuff- is not particularly good, given I'm not running that well (but I'm not even consistently bad!) and my goal for July is looking a bit further out of reach now than it did a few months ago.

 

Anyway, I still have a bit of time. Let's see if I can get it right for the Lane Cove 10K next Saturday. I know I'm better than I was this morning.

Discretion, the Better Part of Valour, and All That.

FRIDAY 28/1/05, 8AM- 7.5K

 

Only 4.5 hours sleep thanks to the Federer-Safin match, dammit! I only did 5 x 400 today for a few reasons. First, so I could be fresh tomorrow. Second, because my legs felt a bit wanky from last night's run (LCNP 10K course at 4.45min/km- a bit too hard the day after racing a 10K) and there was no point trying to bash through that in a week where I was racing twice anway; and thirdly because the antibiotics are still wreaking havoc with my guts (could feel it already during the warmup) and the bathrooms at the track were locked.

 

2.5km warm up run from the office to Dunbar Field (I felt VERY wanky on the way to the track!), and 2.5km warm down on the way back. 21 C, 91% humidity, steady light rain.

 

87 (I thought "oh no!" and set about rectifying the situation)

83

82

83

84

 

Still got a few things to work out regarding "average pace" of non specific runs.

Australia Day 10K, Penrith.

WEDNESDAY 7.30AM, 26/1/05- 10K

 

5 hours sleep. Got a lift with Dave and Luigi out to the Penrith Regatta Centre for their 10K race- two laps on the bike path around the rowing course. Pancake flat.

 

At 7.30am the temperature was 21 degrees and it was a very damp 96% humidity.

I went out a bit too fast- went through 2K (according to the GPS) in 7.50 or so. Should have slowed down (Colin was telling me to "put on the brakes") but I figured I'd already ruined any even pacing plan and I might as well see what transpired- either a massive PB or a horrible blowup.

Started to suffer a bit after 4K, went through halfway in 20.05, the GPS beeped 5K in 20.20, and then I wheezed into a 41.54 finish, which showed up as 9.827km on the watch, average pace 4.15min/km.

I like the course, but it's surprisingly tough mentally- it's basically 2K along one side, turn, 2K back, turn, repeat it all. Running 2K in a straight line with the finish line visible in the far distance through the haze is more difficult than you'd think!

 

Pretty happy with that, given how I felt recently, although a bit narked that I didn't pace it better- might have given my PB a shake on "equivalent" pace.

 

THURSDAY 6PM, 27/1/05- 11.5K

 

7 hours sleep. Ran from work and did the "reverse" Striders 10K course in 47.30- 4.45min/km. Felt reasonable going "down" but on the return I felt a little wanky, especially on the last big uphill- no doubt from yesterday's race. 23 degrees, 80% humidity. Probably a bit too hard, but what the hell, I'm training to run fast 10K/marathon so got to lift my average pace. At the weir turnaround my time was 21.08 and at the bottom of Scribbly Gum after coming off the hill was 35 flat.

 

I had to make a couple of emergency pit stops during this run- I imagine a side effect of the antibiotics I'm on- I'd been told this might be a sideeffect. I also wore padded bike shorts as an experiment, to see how comfortable they were for running. Answer- not too bad. I bodyglided one or two spots that seemed might possibly rub, but had no problems with discomfort, although I certainly knew they were there. Given the shorts are a lairy red colour, maybe they'll make me run faster...?

 

Decided I'm not happy with the NB856s. Not sure what it is, but it seems to be a foot for a forefoot striker- if you land on your heel and roll along the outside of the foot, it goes WHACK WHACK WHACk with every stride and beats the legs up after a while. So they're consigned to lawnmowing duty, or equivalent thereof. Damn NB for scrapping the 1220. My other shoes at the moment are Asics 1090s and they're quite good, but a bit bulky and, like all Asics, the heel cup is too narrow for my chunky foot. Anyone else got suggestions for a decent trainer in that style...?

Getting Over the Bug.

Missed Sunday's STaR- My head was pounding badly enough that I didn't get to sleep till after 5am, which was about the time I should have gotten up to run. Doing 30K off no sleep and in that sort of discomfort didn't seem smart.

 

MONDAY MORNING 24/1/05- 14.5K

 

Fortified by half a dozen Nurofen Plus (which reduced the pounding in my head to a dull moan) I ran from the office through LCNP to Bradfield Rd hill and back again, before work. Naturally I wasn't feeling very sharp so shuffled round averaging 5.31min/km. It was raining on and off (21 degrees and a remarkable 98% humidity) during the run.

 

Another "mental health session" I suppose.

 

I left work early later that day and got myself looked at by the quack, who diagnosed an ear infection as the cause of my headaches and put me on a few drugs, although it will take a couple of days to clear up.

 

TUESDAY MORNING, 25/1/05- 15.5K

 

Another half dozen Nurofen Plus and I fronted at Action's at 6am in the rain. 5K warm up (including 2K on the dog loop with Action and Skyrunner) then we did 5 minutes hard around the Bay (starting from the CR 3K marker), 90 seconds rest, another 5 minutes hard, then swung into 8 x 45 seconds hills, and 3K warm down. Tough session this one- I was covering about 20 metres less on the hills than I was last week when I didn't have the 2 x 5 minutes beforehand. In particular my calves were killing me.

 

20 degrees, 94% humidity.

 

Didn't feel particularly sharp, but when you're full of drugs, I suppose that's no surprise.

Just Get Out There.

SATURDAY EVENING, 22/1/05- 5K

I'd planned to do this week's Bay Run TT today, but when I woke up (around 10am- was out late and had a couple of drinks) I'd developed some sort of ear infection and as a result had a pounding headache.

I kept waiting throughout the day- mostly reading, dozing and watching the tennis- hoping that the pain would die away and I could do my planned workout, but it never happened (got worse actually), so around 8pm I just got out for a 30 minute jog- 15 minutes out, turnaround, 15 minutes back. I didn't have the GPS but was only jogging easily, so I'm assuming around 6min/km.

Coolish- around 21 degrees- but uncomfortably humid (95%)- there was a little drizzle at the start, some lightning around and I was dripping with sweat within seven or eight minutes and hence took off my singlet to cool off a bit. Every time my foot hit the ground, the pounding in my head seemed to indicate my skull was actually affixed to the sole of my shoe and was being thumped into the footpath. Not good.

I didn't get anything concrete out of this run, but it was the kind of humbling experience that this sport seems to serve up every now and then. I've come to the conclusion that long distance running- especially the ultras- is an intrinsically humbling experience or lifestyle. It requires years of dedication to build the sort of base fitness required and in that time there are plenty of bad days and bad races that prevent those involved from getting big egoes. I've met plenty of high acheivers in ultra and there is a distinct lack of big heads, even for those who have running CVs that would deserve being shouted from a loudspeaker in the middle of Martin Place. They may be self confident, and indicate (when asked the right questions) that they've given their preparation (and their opponents) a great deal of thought, but not too much self aggrandisement.

Ahh, too much rambling. Let's just describe tonight's shuffle as a "mental health run".

I'm off. If I feel all right when I get up, I'll run with the Striders at Balmain....

A Morning Stroll in the Park.

Slept about 7 hours each of the last two nights, although last night (20-21/1/05) my sleep was fairly poor quality- woke up several times.

 

THURSDAY LUNCHTIME, 20/1/05- 3K

 

Ambled up to the park again for some drills. Hot- 30 degrees.

 

FRIDAY MORNING, 21/1/05- 14.5K

 

Got up at 5.45 and was in the office just after 7, then set off for a run along the course I did on Wednesday- into LCNP, then the Striders 10K course plus an additional 3km or so across the weir and up Bradfield Rd hill. A pleasant run surrounded by bush, with plenty of hills, and (once I get to the gates on Lane Cove Rd) no traffic crossings. 

 

Damned uncomfortable weather- 19 C and 90% humidity as a result of last night's rain, although the sky was clear and the sun strong. The breaths of some of the walkers I saw in the park were fogging in the morning air and mist was rising off the surface of the Lane Cove River, which was very pleasant to see.

 

Felt pretty damned ordinary for about 11.5K, then in the last 3K I suddenly started feeling good. Somehow reduced my average pace from 5.21min/km to 5.16min/km between Scribbly Gum and the return to the office, a course which is mostly uphill. Weird. I had trouble breathing at times as well- not sure if that was because of the humidity, or whether I'm just shit.

More 400s.

THURSDAY MORNING, 20/1/05- 8K

 

I've shuffled the sequence of my workouts this week to try and give me a few hours extra sleep during the week. So I'll do the Bay TT on Saturday and brought 400s forward to today, Thursday, so I didn't have three hard days in a row, Friday- Sunday.

 

Anyway, 2.5km warm up run from the office to Dunbar Field, and 2.5km warm down on the way back. 22 C and 80% humidity.

 

84

84

84

83

83

83

82

84

 

So marginally better than last week. However I didn't feel as good, form-wise, compared to last week. Coming round the back curve on the last rep I was at almost jogging speed, so pumped the arms and sprinted down the straight. Damned hard work.

 

Since C2K I've been doing 400s by myself up at Dunbar, in contrast to the previous sessions, which I did at Rotary Field with Vat and occasionally others. Vat's schedule and mine have diverged- I'm focussing on the 10K, he's preparing for 6FT and utilising longer intervals. It has advantages in that I can get up over an hour later, but I wonder at the effect doing these sessions alone, rather than having someone else to push me, is having. I DID run a good session at Rotary one time when Vat didn't make it, but I think we all prefer having someone to chase and to exhort each other on. I suppose I know that if I can push myself very hard with no support, that's a good builder of mental strength. Hell, getting up early to run without having someone else to meet is pretty empowering by my usual standards! 

An Evening Stroll in the Park.

WEDNESDAY EVENING, 19/1/05- 14.5K

 

Slept 10-odd hours- from around 9pm last night to 7.30 this morning. Didn't feel much better when I got up though. Legs still a little sore.

 

Because I slept in, and because of a lunchtime meeting, I only got to run after work. I ran from the office into Lane Cove National Park, along Riverside Drive (the Striders 10K course), across the weir, up Bradfield Rd hill, turned around and came back, via Scribbly Gum hill. 5.36min/km average. Felt very uninspired indeed.

 

21 C, 80% humidity, clear sky.

Short Hills Go Long.

TUESDAY MORNING, 18/1/05- 11K

 

4 hours sleep.

 

Fronted at Lilyfield Rd this morning for hills once more. The regular squad were drilling away as usual, I ended up doing a shorter variation with Stephen and Cam- 15 minutes of 45 second hills.

 

The extra 15 seconds actually makes quite a difference compared to the 30 second hills session I did last week. It feels more like a "proper session" to my mind (speaking as someone who loves running uphills, anyway) whereas the 30 second hills seemed to be over almost as soon as I started.

 

I elected to stick with Stephen as we banged out 8 reps. The first 5 were around 200m each and I managed to finish with (or even ahead of!) Stephen, but I then faded (pushed it a bit too hard) and did mind 170s for reps 6 and 7, then for the last we decided to run all the way to the top and Cam (mountain goat) and Stephen left me well behind as I completed the 300 in 81 seconds. Ugly, but I was not unhappy with the session. 5K warm up and 3K warm down.

 

Reasonable conditions this morning- 16 degrees, 80% humidity and clear sky.

 

Oddly, legs were still trashed from Sunday. Something must have gone VERY wrong there. Might shift my Bay TT from Wednesday to Thursday this week- I'll make a decision when I get up in the morning.

EDIT- TUESDAY LUNCHTIME, 18/1/05- 3K

Ambled up to the park and did drills. Legs very stiff and somewhat sore.

SMC 10K- Very, Very Bad.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON, 15/1/05- 13K

Slept in till midday.

Walked 13K including some drills. Humid and stormy weather.

SUNDAY MORNING, 16/1/05- 10K

Only three hours sleep.

Went to Smithfield for the SMC 10K. I was thinking I'd come close to my PB given the workouts of the last few days, although the weather wasn't the best- 23 C and 91% humidity.

Horrie told me he was going to aim for sub 42 so I followed him through 2K in 8.19- on pace to match my PB. I'd had to turn off my GPS as his was interfering with mine. I started to fade a bit before the first aid station- actually, the first km felt too fast for me (4.09) so I kind of knew early on that I wasn't in for a great day. After Horrie left me behind it was a pretty lonely run- I passed one guy on the long uphill heading out and was passed int he last 500m of the race- otherwise I was totally by myself.

Reached the turnaround in a bit over 21 minutes. I never drank from the aid stations but did tip water from each over my head to cool off. My feet were squelching in sweat not long after the turnaround.

Reached the 7.5K aid station still thinking a 42 was possible. I tipped water on myself again and flicked the cup one handed at the aid station guy. He didn't have to move his hands at all to catch the cup and complimented me on my throw. Ricky Ponting move over. Highlight of my run.

After that I folded pretty badly. Heard someone come up behind me in the last 500m and didn't care about it, as long as it wasn't Spud- thankfully it wasn't. Finished in 43.55- slower than last month, and this time didn't have Coast-Kosci as an excuse.

I was gutted. Still am. Never thought I'd go over 42. No idea why I ran so bad, although Stephen pointed out that big guys like me tend to be affected by the humidity worse than others. There were some good runs regardless of the conditions. Funny thing was, form-wise I felt it was a quite good run- just didn;t go fast.

I'm running out of time to be in shape for Gold Coast.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON, 16/1/05- 6K

Went home, had an early lunch and slept for four hours. Work up with a headache and went to Mum's. Did 6km on a bike path at easyish pace to loosen the legs and butrn extra calories. Instead, today (Monday) my legs are quite trashed. Not good.

TOTAL FOR THE WEEK- 79.5K

I know I'm better than my SMC time indicates so I'm going to continue this week as the last one. Mix in a fair bit of walking just to ensure I'm fresh. Might start jacking up the running, rather than walking, the following week.

That's More Like It II.

THURSDAY LUNCHTIME, 13/1/05- 5K

Got 10 hours sleep! This meant sleeping in, so I did nothing before work. Walked at lunch in LCNP. Hot- 29 degrees.

FRIDAY MORNING, 14/1/05- 8K

Only 5 hours sleep, alas. 25 degrees and 80% humidity at 8am when I did my 400s at Dunbar. 2.5km warm up (jog from the office to the track), and warm down.

84
84
86
82
84
83
86
84

Felt pretty reasonable, although when I tried to bash the back half of the last couple of reps I had no sprint to speak of. Damned uncomfortable weather. At least I didn't blow out in the back half, which is a DEFINITE good sign.

Between Wednesday morning's run and this one, I'm starting to feel a bit better about the SMC 10K this Sunday.

That's More Like It.

TUESDAY EVENING, 11/1/05- 3.5K

Trotted up to the park after work, did some drills and trotted back.

WEDNESDAY MORNING, 12/1/05- 13K

Battled with the alarm after another late night (Channel 9's programming of The West Wing for 10.30 Monday and 11pm Tuesday is giving me serious sleep deprivation) but finally got down to the Bay a bit after 6am for a 7K time trial. 3K warm up, then knocked out the time trial in 29.40- 4.14min/km, quite pleased with that. The pacing was pretty uneven- I was 30 seconds off the pace at 2K, and somehow did the last km in 3.47. I didn't have the GPS this morning, perhaps that explains the uneveness. 3K warm down.

Meant to be a hot day today- it was 18C and 73% humidity at 6.30, but the sun was relentless even at that hour.

More drills later today, another walking day tomorrow.

EDIT: WEDNESDAY LUNCH, 12/1/05- 3.5K

Ambled up to the park for some drills. Sunny and 28 degrees.

Hills With A Difference.

MONDAY EVENING, 10/1/05- 8K

Walked 8K with 2K of that being form drills up at the Macquarie Uni Sports Fields. Trying to construct a longer, smoother stride and make some postural improvements, rather than the stuttery, short-striding form I have at the moment with no knee lift and no back kick. The 400s and other short, fast intervals are good for this sort of thing as well- I've noticed some substantial differences with my arm carriage, for example- I drive a lot more with the elbows rather than the wrists compared to a few months ago, and the arms are closer into the body.

Glutes were a bit sore from Saturday's walking, but they felt okay when I got up Tuesday morning.

TUESDAY MORNING, 11/1/05- 9.5K

A "Pat Carroll special" courtesy of Mister Jackson. 20 minutes of 30 second hills with jog down as recovery. I did this at Lilyfield Rd where the usual hill repeats squad does its stuff. Where they would start at the "zero" marker and charge 300m to the top of the hill, I started at the "50 metre" marker so I didn't have any flat, ran 30 seconds all out, noted where I stopped, and tried to beat that distance. I ended up doing about 15 reps, mostly in the range 120-130m according to the GPS- the longest was 139m.

Funny workout- I suppose like the 30/30 session on the flat, it can be a bit disheartening at the halfway point, but it's a quick session so doesn't smash you for hours afterwards, as a "standard" Lilyfield Rd hill session would do.

Felt pretty good- first time since Christmas that I didn't start the run feeling tired. But I won't count my chickens yet- until at least after the SMC 10K this Sunday.

Great conditions. 15 C, clear, not too humid. The last few weeks of summer in Sydney have been mostly clear (in contrast to the misty days we had for the few weeks before that) but cooler than recent summers in Sydney- apparently the high pressure systems over SE Australia of late have been weaker than usual, according to a recent discussion on Weatherzone.

Pymble STaR.

SATURDAY 8/1/05- 12K

No running (see previous post) but did do two 6km walks. Bugger it, I'm counting it towards my mileage tally for the week and I don't care what you lot say. It burns calories, works the legs and gets the heartrate up (a little bit).

SUNDAY 9/1/05- 16.5K

Very hilly course on a surprisingly cold day (16 C at 6am with a southerly wind). Went hard for the first 5K with the 6.20 group (almost all of it uphill!) and was feeling very under-the-weather. I did the short course 16K (was going to do this anyway) and ran with Tom Silk. We took it pretty easy, particularly on the last section on the Great North Walk- pretty slow going. Averaged 5.40min/km. Didn't feel too good.

Tomorrow will be more walking, then 30-second hills Tuesday.

TOTAL FOR THE WEEK- 69km. Probably a little less than it would have been- had a zero day Monday and cut Friday's session short. Given I'm in recovery (I suppose) and my focus is on the 10K, the fact that my miles are fairly low doesn't bother me too much, as long as I avoid putting weight on and the miles that I DO do are good quality. Normally I'd not say I was training seriously until I was over 120km/week, but that's with different priorities......

Bugger.

FRIDAY MORNING, 7/1/05- 8K

Dirty Harry famously said "a man's got to know his limitations", and, after this morning's shocking effort at 5 x 1K reps with Vat and Action, I suppose I've got to face up to mine.

After a 4km warm up, we got down to business at Timbrell Park. I opened up with a reasonably promising 3.50, but after that it went to shit.

3.50
3.53
3.56
4.09

so I stopped after that fourth rep, the big blowout. Even before he saw my watch Vat commented "that last 400m looked really ugly..."

So, what does this tell me? Confirms what I've suspected for the last week but wouldn't admit- the blowouts at the end of hard sessions, the need to walk steep hills after running a while, the distrupted sleep (only 3 hours last night, again) all point to my body still not recovered from Coast-Kosci. I allow three weeks to recover from a 100 miler, but, as I say to others, when you step up to a new distance, recovery from the first such race is always the worst, so I was probably optimistic in giving myself three weeks recovery after my first 150 miler. Probably should have been five or six weeks, but I have a tight timetable and, well, an obsessive personality that just doesn't handle particularly well the concept of taking things easy.

So, I'm going to cut back for a couple of weeks. Alternate walking days with running days, just so I'm still burning calories and assuaging my guilt somewhat. Take a few days totally off. I'm mentally fresh and eager to return to the fray but not physically up for the task, but, who said life was easy, eh?

Filler.

THURSDAY LUNCHTIME, 6/1/05- 11.5K

Another shitty night's sleep (what's going on?) so I didn't run before work. At lunch I jogged the 750m from my office to the top gates of Lane Cove National Park, then ran the Striders 10K course in 48.57, so I suppose that's about 4.54min/km, then jogged back to the office. For future reference, my turnaround at the weir was 22.01 and I got off Scribbly Gum hill in the low 37s. About 27 degrees and clear and sunny with a light, cooling southerly breeze, although you couldn't feel the breeze along the river. You could feel the sun though.

I felt a little rough- perhaps a combination of lack of sleep, the last two days hard running, and lingering Coast-Kosci fatigue. My upper quads were a bit sore from the last two days hard running.

Interesting feature was the behaviour of the GPS- it dropped out about six times, I assume something to do with the thick tree canopy and the escarpment on one side. It was amusing to see my avg pace was faster after I'd gotten to the top of Scribbly Gum hill, than it was at the bottom. It only registered 9.8km as total distance, but I know the course is accurately measured.

Time Trial at the Bay.

WEDNESDAY MORNING, 5/1/05- 13K

Jogged the 6km to Action's, dumped my bag, then ran one fast lap of the Bay Run.

I did the first 4km at sub 4.15 pace, but faded and ended up finishing in 30.20, so 4.20min/km. The intention is to lower this to sub 3 marathon pace (4.15min/km) and I'll get there in the next week or two- still getting used to speed again. Then I'll extend the length of the run. Funny run, I had periods of several hundred metres where I felt I was flying, then stretches where it was arms and legs all over the place, then things clicked again....

Bloody unpleasant this morning- 19 C but 90% humidity. I was completely drenched in my own sweat. Took my singlet off after the run and wrung it out several times....

Yuck.

TUESDAY LUNCHTIME, 4/1/05- 8K

Ran up to Dunbar Field at lunch to try 8 x 400 again after a 6 week hiatus. 2.5km run to the track as warm up, then....

85
86
86
86
90
91
92
93

and 2.5km run back to work.

Form was non existent really, short stride, arms everywhere. It was pretty humid (23 C, 87% humidity) and the surface at Dunbar is softer and rougher than Rotary Field, but that wouldn't make more than a second or so's difference. I was going to do this at King George Park this morning, but had a bad night's sleep so decided to sleep in instead.

Oh well, I'll be back to pre-C2K form by the end of the month.

Zero.

MONDAY 3/1/05- 0K

Had a bunch of travelling and things to do today and didn't run. Yes, I know. About 10pm I was thinking about ducking out, then thought about how ordinaey I'd felt the last few days and rationalised "ahh, bugger it" then started eating a lot of "mental health food". Very bad....

However, I did pick up a toy today- a Goretex jacket for $219, 50% discount. I've been thinking about getting a Goretex for a while but never got round to it, however using Lawrence's jacket during Coast-Kosci convinced me that these things are actually pretty good, so rationalised that 50% was as good a bargain as I was ever going to get on these things. I'll probably spend a few weeks in NZ late this year, wrapping up with the Kepler, so I suppose such a garment would be useful when I'm up in the mountains of the South island at least. And of course the return to Coast-Kosci....

Maybe I should have bought a new pair of shoes or a Garmin Forerunner instead...?

Coast to Kosciuszko Report.

This is now online here.

Wrapping up 2004.

Been up the mountains since the afternoon of the 28th- Mum's been ill so I've been doing carer duties. Here's a quick wrap up of the last week.

WEDNESDAY MORNING, 29/12/04- 7K

Ran down to the local High School and did 30/30s on the oval there, plus some form drills. Felt reasonable considering it was the first time I'd done that workout in about 6 weeks.

THURSDAY NIGHT, 30/12/04- 10K

Finally got out at 10pm and did 10K out and back on a hilly bike path (about 90m climb to the halfway point). Pushed pretty hard to average 4.34 min/km.

FRIDAY MORNING, 31/12/04- 7K

Down to the High School again for more drills and 30/30s. Felt decidedly ordinary and after blowing out following rep 6 I jogged some laps slowly then did 5 more reps for a total of 11- again, I blew out on the last couple. This workout on the last day of 2004 kind of summed up my year.

The mountains weather had been quite pleasant up to and including the 31st- no more than about 20 C and overcast most of the time. I quite like that kind of weather.

SATURDAY MORNING, 1/1/05- 14K

Bush run, out and back to Grose Head South lookout. Felt awful when I got up at 9am (hit the sack about 2am after a BBQ dinner and 5 glasses of wine over about 4 hours, but I don't think that was my problem) and on the return leg had to walk the last uphill. I was physially ill not long afterwards, so I suspect my bad workouts the last couple of days are the result of some stomach bug or dodgy food. Very, very humid and warm today also.

SUNDAY EVENING, 2/1/05- 18K

Back in Sydney this afternoon, so missed the Star. I jogged from my place to Timbrell Park (4K) then ran an extended lap of the Bay Run (including Dog Loop and Leichhardt Oval loop) hard- 10.02K in 45.11, averaging 4.30min/km. Still felt a bit unpleasant in the guts- was burping up bile on and off during the run. Jogged back to my place slowly. Weather was humid and overcast with a cool and persistent south easterly- about 21 C.

TOTAL FOR WEEK- 89km. Pity I've been unwell the last few days, but slowly easing back into doing the quicker stuff.