System Check.

THURSDAY 30/6/05, 12.30PM, 11.5K (55.21, 4.49min/km), WEEK TO DATE 35K, 7 HOURS SLEEP

 

Usual office->LCNP 10K reversed->office course. It had been pissing down all morning till about half an hour before, I only got light steady rain but only saw one other runner down there and no cyclists or walkers, usually I see quite a few of each.

 

Felt a bit tired, but encouraged. Stressful, crappy day at work.

Rogaine Recovery.

It's been a pretty tough 5 or 6 weeks. Two rogaines, the flu, and a diet.

After last weekend's rogaine down at Tarlo River, I was absolutely shattered at work on Monday- so tired that I started to fall asleep if I closed my eyes, and the odd spell of light headedness. I walked 5.5K to the station after work Monday and it was very slow and walking uphill was a battle.

Tuesday was better, I went for a slow 35 minute jog which covered about 6K, but it was very hard work. Walked another 6K last night.

Today at lunch I ran my 6.1K course from the office to Waterloo Park and back in 28.28, or 4.40min/km. All uphills were hard work, but I felt better and better on the flats as the run warmed up, and I encountered John Young on his own run and exchanged high fives. I'll walk another 6K tonight.

I want to be properly fresh for a final buildup over about 8 weeks to the Glasshouse 100, so this week and the enxt will be very conservative in training, with lots of walking. I'm racing two 10Ks this weekend and probably cross country the following weekend so will get some quality in. I will race 100K at the Gold Coast in July and the Twelve Foot Track (90K) in August as long training runs.

Targets for September- sub 40 10K at Striders (the weight loss should have kicked in by then) and sub 24 hours at Glasshouse the following weekend.

ACT Rogaine Championship, Tarlo River National Park.

SATURDAY 25/6/05, 12PM- SUNDAY 26/6/05, 12PM, 60K, WEEKLY TOTAL 104.5K, 6 HOURS SLEEP

I teamed with IDW for another 24 hour rogaine. Both of us were looking for this as a long training run for Glasshouse and other commitments later in the year. We were a bit of a mismatch- Ian has an excellent pedigree, with two second places at the Glasshouse 100 miler, fast runs at Bogong-Hotham, Six Foot Track etc, and is one of the fastest walkers I've seen. I knew that I was going to have trouble keeping up with him on this course, and I was right.

Stayed at Ian's place in Canberra Friday night before driving up to Tarlo River National Park (north of Goulburn) on a cold, drizzly Saturday morning. The Hash House (race headquarters) was in a farm paddock, but most of the course was in forest with plenty of gullies and vertical. Thanksfully, there was very little undergrowth so the going wasn't bad, although there were some rocky sections and the amount of vertical involved was fairly taxing. The course elevation varied between about 500m and 750m, with a highpoint of 980m on Mt Cowper.

Ian and I mapped out a course looking like a mutant figure 8, involving some high scoring controls and lots of vertical on the Saturday afternoon (including Mt Cowper), returning to the Hash House for a meal around 8pm, then heading out again for a long, mushroom shaped loop with a stop at the "All Night Cafe" (a meal stop in the northern part of the course) around 3am scheduled in.

Saturday afternoon was reasonable (although we did waste time after somehow crossing the Tarlo once when we were sure we'd crossed it twice) although I was walking more slowly than Ian. In late afternoon the rain started (we had light drizzle/mist most of the event and temps between 4 and 10C) falling more heavily and I got cold- paid the penalty for not bringing more clothes with me, sacrificing that weight as I was coming back to the car that evening anyway.

Our night navigation was not so good, we missed a couple of controls in the late evening, then after leaving the All Night Cafe around 2am we scored a couple more controls before getting lost for three hours in gully country that had us crossing at least four ridges searching for a familiar landmark, before finally stumbling onto a dirt road after 6am with all the fight knocked out of us and ready to toss it in. We wandered back down to the All Night Cafe, had a bite to eat and a coffee before getting reoganised and heading back out for a short loop through the centre of the course to make up the time before the midday cutoff.

We did better on this one, although we still had some navigation problems (we were both very tired at this stage- I got the nods on my feet once or twice, but not as bad as last month's rogaine at Stanthorpe) and the last 90 minutes, as time got short, consisted of very fast walking over a few ridges before running for the last 45 minutes.

Our navigation problems cost us as we finished on 1470 points, 17th of 34 teams. Still, it was a good training hitout, but Ian is a far superior bush athlete to me.

Today (Monday) I am much better than I was after Stanthorpe- no soreness, a little stiffness, a couple of blisters, but damn I am tired, and have three bags of wet gear at home ready for a wash tonight.

This classic photo was taekn by Emma Murray around 6.30 Sunday morning, when Ian and I returned to the cafe after being lost in the gullies for three hours:

Recovery, or Lack Thereof.

FRIDAY 24/6/05, 7.45AM, 11.5K (57.29, 5.00min/km), WEEK TO DATE 54.5K, 6 HOURS SLEEP

 

Felt like utter shit this morning- legs felt tired, heavy and a bit sore right from the start. I thought I might be able to run this feeling out after warming up, but things never improved.

 

I suspect I didn't eat enough carbo yesterday- total food for the day was 4 weebix for breakfast, grapes for MT, medium tub of salad for lunch, tub of yoghurt and an apple for AT, tofu and soup for dinner, more soup for dessert. I'll need to address the carbo content of my lunch a bit- I had less than the meal plan advised. I felt a gnawing hunger when I got up this morning, usually I don't experience that.

 

It rained yesterday afternoon and this morning, and the sun came out just as I started running. Result was I wore a t shirt when it was probably too humid for that, a singlet would have done fine. About 15 degrees.

 

Rogaine tomorrow.

Intervals- 2 x 2K.

THURSDAY 23/6/05, 1PM, 11.5K, WEEK TO DATE 43K, 6.5 HOURS SLEEP

 

Slept in a bit. At lunch I headed up to Dunbar Field to run 2 x 2K on the track there with 3 minute active recovery. Found there was a school athletics carnival on there, so cut through Macquarie Uni campus to the MUSA sports fields, and found a vacant hockey field. I walked out one lap with the GPS as 340m, so satisfied myself that 6 laps would be close enough to 2K, although the right hand turns at the corners were a novelty!

 

8.00

8.14

 

I was breathing hard right from the start and faded after the first couple of laps in both cases. The last time I did 2 x 2K was in May, two days before my 10k PB, and ran 7.55 and 7.47, and in that case felt comfortable until the last few hundred of metres. A couple of weeks afterwards I did 3 x 2K at 7.44, 7.44, 7.41. So I've lost quite a bit of high end aerobic condition, but it'll come back.

 

Ran back to work as warm down. All the "commuting" was at sub 5 minute kilometres.

 

Cold today- about 11 degrees. It was snowing in the Blue Mountains, less than 100k drive away.

Recovery.

WEDNESDAY 22/6/05, 1PM, 11.5K (56.00, 4.52min/km), WEEK TO DATE 31.5K, 5 HOURS SLEEP

Usual route. FOrm felt good but this was harder work than expected- legs felt a bit thrashed and I was breathing fairly hard. Not convinced about the Asics 2100- they seem a lot stiffer than the 1100, not as good at absorbing shock.

Walked from the office to the station (5.5K) each of the last two nights- about 48 minutes each time.

Went to see the Dietician This Morning.

Some sobering news. I assumed I was around 88kg at present, and mentioned to Michael that back in late 2003 my skinfold measurement from 9 points was under 50. Turned out I weighed 91.5kg at present (holy fuck!), and when Michael did a skinfold measurement he mentioned partway through that I wasn't going to be under 50 today. In the end my skinfold from 9 points was 82.8.

 

I'm recording those totals for future reference. They will come down- a lot.

 

The program he outlined for me is pretty tough and he said as much, but hopefully it'll address my "grazing" habit. Of course, this also requires a lot of self discipline on my part. I'm toying with the idea of setting up another blog to use as a food diary- makes me accountable.

 

80kg, here we come.

Hill Reps.

TUESDAY 21/6/05, 5.30AM, 8.5K, WEEK TO DATE 20K, 4 HOURS SLEEP

 

Given Vat has decided to do Tuesday night sessions with SW, given I have some hilly races in the offing, and given I felt like a bit of a change and like running hills, I fronted at Lilyfield Rd this morning for some hill reps. About 12 degrees with a strong, chilly westerly wind.

 

I ran the 5.5K from my place to Action's as warmup, dumped my backpack, then we swung into it. I managed 5 reps before blowing up and quitting partway into rep 7- just not "hill fit" right now. We had a good group, including Fats, KT, Andrew T, guest Minersrun, JD, Andrew FF53, latecomer Action, Eagle, and a few others- the others did 8 or 10.

 

74

78

77

76

78

 

A quick review of my blog shows me that 74 seconds is equal to my PB on this hill, and my best sessions include 8 reps at 77, and 16 reps at 83. In that light, 5 reps at 77 is not too bad, considering what I've been up to lately, or rather not up to. Should improve fairly quickly.

Start of a New Week.

MONDAY 20/6/05, 1PM, 11.5K (57.07, 4.58min/km), 7 HOURS SLEEP

 

Usual route. Mixture of clouds and strong sun, 18 degrees. I was slow, just had nothing beyond first gear, but at least I didn't fade at the end of the run or on the uphills, which has been the case recently. Reached the weir in low 26s and came off Scribbly in 40.40 odd. So almost over this virus, I think.

 

Might try a few hill reps tomorrow morning. I am also seeing a dietician on Wendesday morning about a serious weight loss program.

Bush Run.

SATURDAY 18/6/05, 4PM, 11K, WEEKLY TOTAL 49K, 6 HOURS SLEEP

I was up the mountains, so did a the Shaws Ridge trail loop in late afternoon. Moved along quite well, although noticeably tired on uphils still, and got around the 11.15K in 57.01, 5.07min/km. I was around 4.50min/km until I hit the big hill after halfway, which dropped me to around 5.12min/km, then I slowly brought that average back until the finish. Cool clear afternoon, around 12 degrees probably.

Didn't end up running Sunday, but did help out at Poor Man's Comrades, which was some small compensation for having to pull out of it. Some very good runs on the day.

Another week which has been ruined by this bug, but I'm noticeably much better now I think.

Hoping to put together some consistent running this week in the lead up to the ACT Rogaine this weekend where I'll partner IDW.

Recovery.

FRIDAY 17/6/05, 6PM, 6K (29.39, 4.52min/km), WEEK TO DATE 38K, 7 HOURS SLEEP

Usual route office->Waterloo Park->return after work. Cold evening, still felt a bit tired on uphills but probably the most promising run this week.

Persistent Bug.

THURSDAY 16/6/05, 1PM, 6.5K, WEEK TO DATE 32K, 7 HOURS SLEEP

 

Decent sleep, woke up feeling a bit better, still congested though.

 

Ran up to Dunbar Field at lunch to see if I could do some "easy" intervals- hold 4min/km for 2K- to see if I would be fit to run AMRC at Mt Majura this weekend. I was well off the pace required after two laps so stopped, then ran a flat out 400m from curiosity. I ran 92 seconds. A few weeks ago I ran a 77 as the last rep of an 8 x 400 workout.

 

So I'm out of the Australian Mountain Running Champs on Saturday (not that I was ever a contender for anything but DFL, but it would have been fun anyway). Poor Man's Comrades is in doubt too. Going to try to replace exercise with sleep for the next few days and hope I'm recovered by Sunday.

 

Not feeling too impressed.

Still Recovering From the Bug.

WEDNESDAY 15/6/05, 1PM, 11.5K (56.52, 4.57min/km), WEEK TO DATE 25.5K, 5 HOURS SLEEP

 

Lunch run, usual course in LCNP. Feeling a bit better flu-wise, but my breathing passages are still full of crap and this translated into a very uncomfortable run. Went well at first, reached the weir in 24.52, then died in the arse and it was a real slog back.

 

Cool clear day.

 

Starting to wonder if AMRC and Poor Man's Comrades are feasible this weekend, or whether DNSing would be more prudent.

Bay Run Again.

TUESDAY 14/6/05, 5PM, 7K (32.06, 4.35min/km), WEEK TO DATE 14K, 5 HOURS SLEEP

 

Still got this stupid bug, left work a bit early as they were getting sick of me coughing and sneezing. Stopped by the Bay Run on my way home and peeled off one lap. Again, I thought about the unicycle analogy as I ran. Felt a bit stiff in the hamstrings but they soon warmed up. Had some breathing problems but ran a fairly decent-paced 7K. Form felt good.

Recovery From Bug: Bay Run

SUNDAY 12/6/05, 4PM, 7K (34.11, 4.51min/km), WEEKLY TOTAL 62K, 6 HOURS SLEEP

Missed two days, and a STaR, before finally getting out for a lap of the Bay Run on Sunday afternoon. Felt bloody awful for the first 3K before getting into rhythm a bit.

WEEKLY TOTAL 62K

A week best forgotten really. Hopefully next week will be better.

MONDAY 13/6/05, 7PM, 7K (33.51, 4.48min/km), 6.5 HOURS SLEEP

Felt a lot better than yesterday's effort, at least for the first 3K, then faded a bit. Cool, drizzly evening. I was thinking about something Phibes told me during the week, that good running form feels "like you're riding a unicycle". So I focused on this: hips forward, feet already moving backwards as they strike the ground directly underneath said hips, then kicking up. Form felt the best it had been for a couple of weeks, but I was battling to breathe at times, very blocked up.

Bug.

Woke up this morning with a sore and swollen throat. I'm talking like Neville Wran. I suppose that explains why my running has been what it has been for the last few days....

Recovery (Or Lack Thereof).

THURSDAY 9/6/05, 6PM, 8.5K (45.21, 5.14min/km), WEEK TO DATE 55K, 6 HOURS SLEEP

 

Worked right through the day, so had to run after work- office->Crimea Rd->office. Very ugly- tired, battled on all uphills, no form. Lost interest in the last 2K and basically didn't want to be out there. Normally I do this run 2.5- 3 minutes quicker.

Recovery.

WEDNESDAY 8/6/05, 7.30AM, 11.5K (56.25, 4.54min/km), WEEK TO DATE 48.5K, 6 HOURS SLEEP

 

Work-> LCNP 10K reversed-> Work. Foggy morning, single digit temperatures, my hands got painfully cold as I forgot gloves. Felt tired, particularly in the legs- I've found going up stairs to be hard work in the last few days.

Intervals- 800s.

TUESDAY 7/6/05, 5.30AM, 14K, WEEK TO DATE 25.5K, 6.5 HOURS SLEEP

 

Felt refreshed a bit after a decent sleep. Met Vat at Rotary Field (cold, about 5 or 6 degrees) for a repeat of last week's 7 x 800m with 90 seconds jogging recovery.

 

5K warmup, then into the session. Very ugly- forget about not having a top gear, I could never shift out of bottom gear and was considerably slower than last week.

 

3.11

3.09

3.07

3.10

Did the first 400 of rep 5 in 96 seconds and stopped. Just didn't see the point, it was going to be even slower than the reps before it. Ran a few laps while Vat finished his own session, then we warmed down together.

 

Suspect I might be in the same situation Ray James found himself earlier this year, having peaked, plateaued and now performance is dropping off. A couple of months ago my interval sessions were almost all aerobic, I'd only be really breathing hard in the back half of the last one or two reps. At the moment I'm breathing hard from the start- Saturday's 10K, for example.

 

Suspect I need to back off the high end intensity for a while and focus on getting more sleep. I'm going backwards at the moment.

EDIT- TUESDAY 7/6/05, 12.30PM, 11.5K (55.21, 4.49min/km), WEEK TO DATE 37K

Another run over the LCNP 10K course. Tired. About 20 degrees. Reached the weir in 25.30 or so, came off Scribbly in 39.40 odd. My quads feel surprisingly beaten up.

Recovery.

MONDAY 6/6/05, 12.30PM, 11.5K (55.02, 4.47min/km), 7 HOURS SLEEP

 

Was going to run before work but felt buggered so went back to sleep. Still felt tired when I got up. Finally got out at lunch for my usual work->LCNP10K reversed->work course. Felt buggered from the start although my form felt fine, mechanically everything seemed to be okay, just tired. My stomach was churning too, felt quite ill physically. Gradually warmed into things and hit the weir in 24.52, came off Scribbly in 39.10, then started to feel tired again on the last hills, which persisted until the end. About 19 degrees and cloudy outside.

 

Second run in my new Asics 2100s- they tend to rub on the inside of both arches. At the moment they don't quite feel as good as the 1100s I picked up about six weeks ago, but I'll give them a few weeks to break in before making up my mind on them.

LCNP 10K and Davidson STaR.

SATURDAY 4/6/05, 7AM, 13K (3K warmup and 10K race), WEEK TO DATE 83.5K, 4.5 HOURS SLEEP

Sigh... my second fastest 10K ever, but after last month's 40.25, I was primed today for a shot at sub 40. On a day when so many others set PBs, I missed the bus. Tried to follow MPHaz, Podrunner, Roland, Sue Kelly and co, but gradually slipped off the back and faded after the turnaround, only picking it up in the last kilometre when MikeF and Overthehill went past as I was trying to save the sub 41 and the three of us raced it in.

Splits:

4.05 (a bad sign: felt like hard work)
3.58
4.04
4.02
4.26 (halfway 20.37)
4.09
4.08
4.09
4.13
3.42 (41.00 by my watch, 41.03 officially)

Felt quite gutted afterwards.

Better luck at Homebush perhaps.

Foggy morning, quite cold, probably about 5 degrees.

SUNDAY 5/6/05, 6AM, 30K (2.35, 5.08min/km), WEEKLY TOTAL 113.5K, 4 HOURS SLEEP

Another cold morning, a hilly 30.2K course in the northern suburbs. Started with the 6.20 group but gradually slipped off the back and ended up going round pretty much all the way with Barry, Dawn and MPHaz. Felt quite ordinary at the start but gradually got better and was moving reasonably well by the end. Not a great run, not bad either. Pace was okay given terrain and that I was backing up from the 10K race.

WEEKLY TOTAL 113.5K

Some good numbers but not the consistent pacing in workouts that I was producing a few weeks ago and a disappointing 10K; also didn't feel too sharp on the Sunday run.

Perhaps some delayed fatigue from the rogaine. Perhaps something else. The recent 10K results of Vat and I correspond strongly to the times we produce in the Bay 5K Challenge the week before; all this week I was dubious about my prospects of running under 40 in the 10K after my poor 5K the previous Saturday, but everyone else seemed to think I had a chance, especially after Thursday morning's session. But the first kilometre (4.05) of last Saturday's 10K felt like hard work, which was not a good sign; last month I ran a 3.58 for the first kilometre and it felt comfortable, then I followed on to a 40.25.

High volume week this week. Could be tricky given current workload.

Pre-10K Loosener.

FRIDAY 3/6/05, 8AM, 6K (29.03, 4.46min/km), WEEK TO DATE 70.5K, 6 HOURS SLEEP

Given I have another busy day ahead at the office and am going out tonight I did a quick 6.1K shuffle up to Waterloo Park and back before hitting the desk. Cold, about 9 degrees.

Felt noticeably tired on all uphills but otherwise held up quite well- pace was good. Hoping a decent sleep tonight will freshen the legs up somewhat.

Intervals- 2K and 1K.

THURSDAY 2/6/05, 6.30AM, 11.5K, WEEK TO DATE 56K, 4 HOURS SLEEP

 

Cold this morning, about 5 or 6 degrees.

 

Came into the office early and then ran up to Dunbar to meet Spud for a session- 2 x 2K and 1 x 1K with 3 minute jogging recoveries.

 

2.7K warmup to the track in 12.59 (4.49min/km).

 

1st 2K- 7.39 (88, 92, 92, 94, 92)- first 400 definitely too fast, and I paid for it in the second rep....

2nd 2K- 7.47(90, 93, 93, 95, 95)- died a bit in the back half as you can see

 

Took off shoes (toes went numb very quickly in the wet, cold grass!).

 

1K- 3.42 (91, 89, 42)

 

Shoes back on, ran back to work in 13.14 (2.7K in 4.54min/km).

 

I did a 3 x 2K session a couple of weeks ago in 7.44, 7.44, 7.41, all of it barefoot. This session was probably as good as that, although the second half of the second 2K was ordinary.... I think you're better off running barefoot on grass than in shoes.

 

Suppose I'd better try to get on the 39.59 bus at Lane Cove on Saturday.

 

I'll try to do a few more Ks later today to get the crap out of my legs.

 

EDIT: THURSDAY 2/6/05, 5.30PM, 8.5K (41.40, 4.51min/km), WEEK TO DATE 64.5K

Got out for the 8.6K office->Crimea Rd->office route after work. Cold, about 12 degrees or so. My form felt quite good, but I was noticeably tired on the uphills- logical give the pounding I dished out this morning.

Recovery.

WEDNESDAY 1/6/05, 3.30PM, 11.5K (55.19, 4.49min/km), WEEK TO DATE 44.5K, 5.5 HOURS SLEEP

 

Went to see Martin Horne this morning about my soleus and lower back pain. I ended up with many cracked joints, and lying face down with a small forest of acupuncture needles projecting from my back and legs.

 

That ruled out a morning run, and I had some work thing on at lunch, and a meeting tonight after work, so ducked out in the late afternoon. Did the usual office->LCNP 10K reversed->office route. I was feeling great for the first 3K or so when I started to feel dizzy and disoriented, which went on for about 5K before going away. Lost pace a bit as a result, and ended up going round in an okay time but not as good as it might have been. Not sure what the story was there.

 

It was clear and about 15 degrees.

 

Soleus felt sore, but I suspect that had a bit to do with the fact that they had needles in them this morning. Let's see how they feel tomorrow after a sleep- should feel better.