I've taken an eight count, but am slowly rising to my feet. This flu has been frustrating. By no means is it an extremely bad flu, but my condition has remained unchanged since Sunday. Pissed off about ending my streak of 27 consecutive attendances at speedwork. All day yesterday, I was committed to keeping the streak intact, even if I delayed my recovery in the process. Fortunately, sanity finally prevailed last night!
As is usually the case when I'm sick, I took the opportunity to read a novel that will inspire my own attempt at writing a novel some years down the track. This I did by re-reading John Grisham's The Pelican Brief for the umpteenth time.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Flu strikes
Woke up this morning with a sore throat and by the time I had finished breakfast, I was down for the count as other flu symptoms took hold. Had an easy day from the comfort of a mattress thrown on the floor of my loungeroom as I watched the footy and finished reading the Deek biography. Not too upset about missing my Sunday long run, given the concerns I had with my shins on Friday - my body needs a rest and I should be right for Tuesday speedwork. Not sure whether I should be blaming Tesso or Langy for passing the lurgy on.
My brother Adam came 5th in the Binna Burra to O'Reilly's leg of the Lamington Classic on Saturday running the 25k in over the trails in 1:53:12. Good to see a second top ten finish for the family in less than a week. Benno, any chance of you finding a suitable race in the UK to make it 3/3? :)
As an interesting aside, Adam only runs for fitness and the occasional adventure race and his 5k PB is currently only a minute behind mine. Last year we staked a $50 bet, each betting the other that he would have the best PB over 10k by the age of 40. Given that I'm 30 and the young fella is 23, I've got ten years to set a 10k PB, preferably something intimidating and distant like sub 32 mins. Adam then has seven years remaining to beat the time and win the bet!! May the best man win!!
My brother Adam came 5th in the Binna Burra to O'Reilly's leg of the Lamington Classic on Saturday running the 25k in over the trails in 1:53:12. Good to see a second top ten finish for the family in less than a week. Benno, any chance of you finding a suitable race in the UK to make it 3/3? :)
As an interesting aside, Adam only runs for fitness and the occasional adventure race and his 5k PB is currently only a minute behind mine. Last year we staked a $50 bet, each betting the other that he would have the best PB over 10k by the age of 40. Given that I'm 30 and the young fella is 23, I've got ten years to set a 10k PB, preferably something intimidating and distant like sub 32 mins. Adam then has seven years remaining to beat the time and win the bet!! May the best man win!!
Friday, August 26, 2005
Skipped Friday recovery run
My shins still haven't quite recovered from my hard 5k at Noosa so I've just made the descision to skip this arvo's 40 min, 8k Friday Recovery Run. Gees, its never easy to skip a run even though deep down, you know its probably the right thing to do. Believe me when I say it takes more discipline and committment for me to skip a run and rest my body than it does to do the hard yards and go out on a run. Skipping a recovery run will not harm my chances of a PB in the Brisbane River Run 5k in three weeks, but missing a week if the shins flare up badly after a run this afternoon would most certainly harm my chances! Its tough when your heart and soul wants to train like an animal and run 17ok's a week and your body is only ready to do 50k a week at the moment!
Rest assured that the shins are not feeling that bad - and certainly, they are no where near what they were feeling like at the height of my shins splints. I'm really taking the resting of my legs to extremes - I'm going to spend the rest of the arvo lying down, watching a DVD, before heading off to the Broncos tonight. I'm in the process of accumulating a collection of the entire James Bond series so will watch From Russia With Love.
Rest assured that the shins are not feeling that bad - and certainly, they are no where near what they were feeling like at the height of my shins splints. I'm really taking the resting of my legs to extremes - I'm going to spend the rest of the arvo lying down, watching a DVD, before heading off to the Broncos tonight. I'm in the process of accumulating a collection of the entire James Bond series so will watch From Russia With Love.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Maintaining the momentum
2min/30 sec JR/1min/30 sec JR/2min/30 sec SR, Repeat, 5 mins, one hill
Today, I maintained the momentum I have gained over the past three months by attending my 27th consecutive speedwork session, dating back to May. There is no doubt that this consistency is the prime reason behind my good form of late. Because I spent six months doing very little running when battling shin splints, my enthusiasm and motivation are currently sky high. I really find it difficult to imagine my current levels of enthusiasm and motivation subsiding. Touch wood that my body stays injury free!!
Today's session saw us tap into our endurance bases a little, running a little short of top speed whilst we did very short jogging recoveries following most of our efforts. With Slash absent on a work junket and no doubt sampling fine reds whilst at it, Aaron and I led from the front. We put in an honest and satisfying session that should stand us in good stead for an important week of training to come next week. Jodie, Glenda and the improving Langy put in sharp efforts not far behind us. I'm really envious of Glenda at the moment - she's qualified for the National Cross Country Champs to be held in Adelaide this weekend and will be pulling on a beautiful maroon Queensland race singlet! Go get 'em Mate!! I'll have to add that feat to my list of goals - wear the Qld singlet in a race, perhaps if I nominate for the Australian Marathon Championship, that is incorporated into the Gold Coast Marathon?
Just received a copy of the 1984 bio of "Deek" in the mail from Coolrunner, Sparkie. Those who know me well will be surprised to know that I have not yet read a bio of Deek, simply because they are out of publication, hard to find and not available in most libraries. I was fortunate that Sparkie happened to stumble across this copy in a second hand book store and as he already had it, he generously put it up on CoolRunning available to the first repondant which happened to be yours truly. Read the first chapter in the pool after training, during my standing water cold recovery and the book doesn't waste any time painting a picture of Deek as possibly the most disciplined and driven athlete ever to represent Australia! Can't wait to get stuck into the rest of this book!
Today, I maintained the momentum I have gained over the past three months by attending my 27th consecutive speedwork session, dating back to May. There is no doubt that this consistency is the prime reason behind my good form of late. Because I spent six months doing very little running when battling shin splints, my enthusiasm and motivation are currently sky high. I really find it difficult to imagine my current levels of enthusiasm and motivation subsiding. Touch wood that my body stays injury free!!
Today's session saw us tap into our endurance bases a little, running a little short of top speed whilst we did very short jogging recoveries following most of our efforts. With Slash absent on a work junket and no doubt sampling fine reds whilst at it, Aaron and I led from the front. We put in an honest and satisfying session that should stand us in good stead for an important week of training to come next week. Jodie, Glenda and the improving Langy put in sharp efforts not far behind us. I'm really envious of Glenda at the moment - she's qualified for the National Cross Country Champs to be held in Adelaide this weekend and will be pulling on a beautiful maroon Queensland race singlet! Go get 'em Mate!! I'll have to add that feat to my list of goals - wear the Qld singlet in a race, perhaps if I nominate for the Australian Marathon Championship, that is incorporated into the Gold Coast Marathon?
Just received a copy of the 1984 bio of "Deek" in the mail from Coolrunner, Sparkie. Those who know me well will be surprised to know that I have not yet read a bio of Deek, simply because they are out of publication, hard to find and not available in most libraries. I was fortunate that Sparkie happened to stumble across this copy in a second hand book store and as he already had it, he generously put it up on CoolRunning available to the first repondant which happened to be yours truly. Read the first chapter in the pool after training, during my standing water cold recovery and the book doesn't waste any time painting a picture of Deek as possibly the most disciplined and driven athlete ever to represent Australia! Can't wait to get stuck into the rest of this book!
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Easy hitout at Speedwork
6 x 1min, 1 x 3min, 45 sec Standing Recovery
With my legs still stiff and sore from Sunday's hard 5k run, I didn't get out of third gear this morning. A year ago, I might have pushed myself to the brink with a hard session, but I'm a smarter runner now and my focus this week is all directed at having a strong session on Thursday. I believe that following a hard race on a Sunday, its better to have an easy session on the Tuesday, continue to recover and then have a high quality session on the Thursday. The alternative of pushing it too hard on Tuesday could result in a Thursday session lacking in quality work, if I have not recovered by then.
The Group was light on numbers this morning, with many Noosa participants resting their weary legs and our new champion, Jodie taking it easy with a jogging recovery session. Aaron recovered far better from his sub 82 half than I did from a mere 5k run. I'll be looking forward to doing likewise when I get my mileage up. Strong session from Langy today, in the thick of the action with the A-Team as his comeback gathers momentum.
With my legs still stiff and sore from Sunday's hard 5k run, I didn't get out of third gear this morning. A year ago, I might have pushed myself to the brink with a hard session, but I'm a smarter runner now and my focus this week is all directed at having a strong session on Thursday. I believe that following a hard race on a Sunday, its better to have an easy session on the Tuesday, continue to recover and then have a high quality session on the Thursday. The alternative of pushing it too hard on Tuesday could result in a Thursday session lacking in quality work, if I have not recovered by then.
The Group was light on numbers this morning, with many Noosa participants resting their weary legs and our new champion, Jodie taking it easy with a jogging recovery session. Aaron recovered far better from his sub 82 half than I did from a mere 5k run. I'll be looking forward to doing likewise when I get my mileage up. Strong session from Langy today, in the thick of the action with the A-Team as his comeback gathers momentum.
Monday, August 22, 2005
Back to earth with a thud.
Well, my fears expressed in yesterday's post appear to have been confirmed, with mounting evidence growing that the Noosa 5k course was short. Fellow participants have discussed the situation the on CoolRunning website and its pretty unamious from them and others that the course is short. I spent some time making calculations with my Timex, pen and paper and calculated that assuming the course is 150-200m short, I ran somewhere between 17:15 to 17:25. Ironically, I would have been absolutely thrilled with this time prior to Sunday, but after thinking that I had ventured into sub 17 territory, it has come as a bit of a let down. So, I won't be posting a 16:36 on my PB's listed to the right of this page, but I will be claiming the 7th place - no one can take it away from me!!
I'm really looking forward to going sub 17 for real and boy, its gonna be a sweet moment when I do!!
I'm really looking forward to going sub 17 for real and boy, its gonna be a sweet moment when I do!!
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Noosa 5k - The race of my life.....so far!!
Noosa 5k 16:36 - 7th of 692
At about 8:51am this morning, I lunged across the finish line to just pip a rival in a desperate battle for 7th place and looked at my watch like a stunned mullet to see 16:36 staring up at me. A massive 69 second PB - how the hell did I manage that??
The training for my first serious race in nine months has been outstanding but my preparation in the final 24 hours wasn't too flash. I drove up to Noosa with MJ after a long day at work on Saturday and realised that I had forgotten my contacts and sunnies, meaning that I would have to race in my 3rd option, wearing my specs. As both MJ and I were late booking accomodation for Noosa, we ended up at the Tewantin Caravan Park in a cabin. As I drifted of to sleep amidst a coughing fit in the dusty cabin, I suggested to MJ that we would have been better of emulating Coach Pat who in his younger days, had been known to pitch a tent in the Noosa National Park the night before a race.
Race morning dawned and I felt good. Did a 2k warmup and watched the Half Marathon from various vantage points as part of my duties in reporting the race for Run For Your Life magazine, for whom I am compiling race reports. I also cheered on MJ and my team mates and really got fired up when team mate Jodie scored a stunning surprise win in the Half. If Jodie could push it to the brink for 21.1 k's then I would have no excuses for not doing likewise over 5k.
I took a position on the front row of the grid for the race and shortly prior to the horn, locked eyes with Coach Pat who was MC'ing the events and as we nodded to each other, Pat's instructions rang through my brain one more time "Treat Sunday more like a race than a Time Trial. Once the fields settles, your aim from this point is to either stick with the pack or pass them. Run aggressive and try and work you way through the field."
The horn sounded and I immediately took a prominent position near the head of the field and after two minutes, I was in a pack of five who were jostling for third with two leaders 20 metres further in front. With my legs feeling light and fresh and turning over quickly, the first k passed in 3:17, which was ten seconds faster than the plan and I eased off the gas just a touch, to avoid blowing up. The field began to string out in the second k and I was in ninth position, drafting behind two blokes running side by side. The second k went by in 3:34 and at this point the race really began. Cheered on by team mate Peter H at the turnaround, I surged into 8th position, but the pace was too hot to hold and I dropped back to 9th shortly after. With no three and four k signs for the 5k race contestants, I only had a rough idea of my pace at this point of the race, but I was more concerned with keeping in touch with 7th and 8th, bowling along five metres in front of me. The pain really started to set in 12 minutes into the race when I looked at my watch and thought "five minutes to go". The weak side of my brain tried to intervene at this point saying "You've done really well so far. You can slow down a little and almost certainly still get a PB. Take a look over your shoulder and see where 10th and 11th position are. If they are a long way back, you can slow down just a bit and still get a PB and top ten finish." The strong side of my brain shut down those thoughts - I honestly can't remember how though, as things became a bit blurry at this point as I fought to remain in touch with 7th and 8th, still five metres in front of me.
With about a kilometre to go, the fog in my brain cleared and my thought process became analytical and calculating - 7th place was the 17yo #3 runner for the GPS winning Nudgee College Cross Country Team - "He's faster than me, but I'm a Marathoner and I can go harder, longer and I'll get him". 8th place had a Domino's logo on the back of his singlet and was running well but with a loping stride - "Hang onto him - with that stride of his, you'll be able to outkick him at the end." I plumbed the depths of my stamina and tried to increase the pace just a little more. As we approached the bridge about 400m out from the finish line, the Nudgee runner faded a little from 7th and was passed by Domino's. I increased my speed even more, caught up to the Nudgee runner, dropped him straight away and approached a flat out sprint as cheering crowds and the finish chute loomed in sight. Domino's glanced over his shoulder and managed to increase his speed as I loomed two metres behind. I found one more gear (surely I didn't have any left?) and remained two metres behind Domino's as we rounded the bend of the finish chute, 50 metres from the line. Domino's didn't slow down and I didn't have another gear to overtake him but I said to myself "keep the foot down in case something happens". Almost as soon as I said that Domino glanced over his shoulder again, saw me still there, had a brain explosion and headed left for the 10k race finish line whilst I veered inside him to the correct finish line. Domino's realised his error and veered to the right, back inside but it was too late and I flashed across the line in 7th place with a sprinters finishing lunge. You bloody bewdy!!!!!
It took me ages to recover after the race and I was still wandering around in a bit of a daze, with weak legs for five minutes afterward. My team mates were as stunned as I was with my 16:36 time and the magnitude of the achievement began to sink in everytime a team mate congratulated me but I kept a lid on my excitement convinced that the time was too good to be true and something had gone wrong such as accidentally stopping my watch too early. However, there was no mistake with the time and the USM results confirmed it when released later in the afternoon. Still, until I run that time again or go over the course and measure it myself, a small part of me will keep saying "the course must have been short"' because a 69 second PB from a pretty fair 17:45 previous PB isn't supposed to happen.
This was the greatest run of my career to date because its the first time I believe that I've run a race to my potential and the effort has confirmed that my career goal of a national Marathon ranking and sub 2:43-45 marathon is not a pipe dream. A huge thanks to all my team mates, I can't possibly thank the many of you individually, but I'd like to offer a special thanks to Coach Pat for his guidance - you're an inspiration, Mate! Thanks to Aaron and Slash for pushing me in training the last two months. Thanks to my fellow shin splints sufferer, Jodie, for inspiring me with your Half Marathon win! Thanks to Tesso, Clairie and Chelle for the never ending encouragement. Thanks to MJ for the support and being there for me. And finally, a big thanks to Langy for his belief in my ability and for telling me several times over the last year "You're going to be a great runner one day, Mate".
As Jeff Fenech says, "I love you'se all."
At about 8:51am this morning, I lunged across the finish line to just pip a rival in a desperate battle for 7th place and looked at my watch like a stunned mullet to see 16:36 staring up at me. A massive 69 second PB - how the hell did I manage that??
The training for my first serious race in nine months has been outstanding but my preparation in the final 24 hours wasn't too flash. I drove up to Noosa with MJ after a long day at work on Saturday and realised that I had forgotten my contacts and sunnies, meaning that I would have to race in my 3rd option, wearing my specs. As both MJ and I were late booking accomodation for Noosa, we ended up at the Tewantin Caravan Park in a cabin. As I drifted of to sleep amidst a coughing fit in the dusty cabin, I suggested to MJ that we would have been better of emulating Coach Pat who in his younger days, had been known to pitch a tent in the Noosa National Park the night before a race.
Race morning dawned and I felt good. Did a 2k warmup and watched the Half Marathon from various vantage points as part of my duties in reporting the race for Run For Your Life magazine, for whom I am compiling race reports. I also cheered on MJ and my team mates and really got fired up when team mate Jodie scored a stunning surprise win in the Half. If Jodie could push it to the brink for 21.1 k's then I would have no excuses for not doing likewise over 5k.
I took a position on the front row of the grid for the race and shortly prior to the horn, locked eyes with Coach Pat who was MC'ing the events and as we nodded to each other, Pat's instructions rang through my brain one more time "Treat Sunday more like a race than a Time Trial. Once the fields settles, your aim from this point is to either stick with the pack or pass them. Run aggressive and try and work you way through the field."
The horn sounded and I immediately took a prominent position near the head of the field and after two minutes, I was in a pack of five who were jostling for third with two leaders 20 metres further in front. With my legs feeling light and fresh and turning over quickly, the first k passed in 3:17, which was ten seconds faster than the plan and I eased off the gas just a touch, to avoid blowing up. The field began to string out in the second k and I was in ninth position, drafting behind two blokes running side by side. The second k went by in 3:34 and at this point the race really began. Cheered on by team mate Peter H at the turnaround, I surged into 8th position, but the pace was too hot to hold and I dropped back to 9th shortly after. With no three and four k signs for the 5k race contestants, I only had a rough idea of my pace at this point of the race, but I was more concerned with keeping in touch with 7th and 8th, bowling along five metres in front of me. The pain really started to set in 12 minutes into the race when I looked at my watch and thought "five minutes to go". The weak side of my brain tried to intervene at this point saying "You've done really well so far. You can slow down a little and almost certainly still get a PB. Take a look over your shoulder and see where 10th and 11th position are. If they are a long way back, you can slow down just a bit and still get a PB and top ten finish." The strong side of my brain shut down those thoughts - I honestly can't remember how though, as things became a bit blurry at this point as I fought to remain in touch with 7th and 8th, still five metres in front of me.
With about a kilometre to go, the fog in my brain cleared and my thought process became analytical and calculating - 7th place was the 17yo #3 runner for the GPS winning Nudgee College Cross Country Team - "He's faster than me, but I'm a Marathoner and I can go harder, longer and I'll get him". 8th place had a Domino's logo on the back of his singlet and was running well but with a loping stride - "Hang onto him - with that stride of his, you'll be able to outkick him at the end." I plumbed the depths of my stamina and tried to increase the pace just a little more. As we approached the bridge about 400m out from the finish line, the Nudgee runner faded a little from 7th and was passed by Domino's. I increased my speed even more, caught up to the Nudgee runner, dropped him straight away and approached a flat out sprint as cheering crowds and the finish chute loomed in sight. Domino's glanced over his shoulder and managed to increase his speed as I loomed two metres behind. I found one more gear (surely I didn't have any left?) and remained two metres behind Domino's as we rounded the bend of the finish chute, 50 metres from the line. Domino's didn't slow down and I didn't have another gear to overtake him but I said to myself "keep the foot down in case something happens". Almost as soon as I said that Domino glanced over his shoulder again, saw me still there, had a brain explosion and headed left for the 10k race finish line whilst I veered inside him to the correct finish line. Domino's realised his error and veered to the right, back inside but it was too late and I flashed across the line in 7th place with a sprinters finishing lunge. You bloody bewdy!!!!!
It took me ages to recover after the race and I was still wandering around in a bit of a daze, with weak legs for five minutes afterward. My team mates were as stunned as I was with my 16:36 time and the magnitude of the achievement began to sink in everytime a team mate congratulated me but I kept a lid on my excitement convinced that the time was too good to be true and something had gone wrong such as accidentally stopping my watch too early. However, there was no mistake with the time and the USM results confirmed it when released later in the afternoon. Still, until I run that time again or go over the course and measure it myself, a small part of me will keep saying "the course must have been short"' because a 69 second PB from a pretty fair 17:45 previous PB isn't supposed to happen.
This was the greatest run of my career to date because its the first time I believe that I've run a race to my potential and the effort has confirmed that my career goal of a national Marathon ranking and sub 2:43-45 marathon is not a pipe dream. A huge thanks to all my team mates, I can't possibly thank the many of you individually, but I'd like to offer a special thanks to Coach Pat for his guidance - you're an inspiration, Mate! Thanks to Aaron and Slash for pushing me in training the last two months. Thanks to my fellow shin splints sufferer, Jodie, for inspiring me with your Half Marathon win! Thanks to Tesso, Clairie and Chelle for the never ending encouragement. Thanks to MJ for the support and being there for me. And finally, a big thanks to Langy for his belief in my ability and for telling me several times over the last year "You're going to be a great runner one day, Mate".
As Jeff Fenech says, "I love you'se all."
Friday, August 19, 2005
A massage at last!!!
Friday Recovery Run - 40 mins, 8k's @ 4:55 mins/km
Everything continues to fall into place for Noosa after I enjoyed a nice solid recovery run this morning in warm conditions at 10am. I then got my first massage in three weeks and I swear that my legs were craving a rub as this is the first time in six months that I have missed my fortnightly Friday massage. However, I didn't have much choice in the matter as my masseuse, Bruno was in Helsinki rubbing the likes of Craig Mottram and Patrick Johnson at the World Athletics Championship. Now, I always put my country first, so Bruno didn't get any complaints from me that I had to miss a week!!
Three hours after the massage, the legs are feeling great. My only worry in the leadup to Sunday is yet another flare up in my upper back neck region with some minor trigger point pain from C5 in the spine. Bruno gave that region a good going over and coupled with the exercises I'm doing for it, it should hopefully go away soon.
Everything continues to fall into place for Noosa after I enjoyed a nice solid recovery run this morning in warm conditions at 10am. I then got my first massage in three weeks and I swear that my legs were craving a rub as this is the first time in six months that I have missed my fortnightly Friday massage. However, I didn't have much choice in the matter as my masseuse, Bruno was in Helsinki rubbing the likes of Craig Mottram and Patrick Johnson at the World Athletics Championship. Now, I always put my country first, so Bruno didn't get any complaints from me that I had to miss a week!!
Three hours after the massage, the legs are feeling great. My only worry in the leadup to Sunday is yet another flare up in my upper back neck region with some minor trigger point pain from C5 in the spine. Bruno gave that region a good going over and coupled with the exercises I'm doing for it, it should hopefully go away soon.
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Easy Thursday hitout
Speedwork - 15 mins of fartlek, 4 x 1min with JR, then 30 sec efforts with SR
With the popular Noosa Half/10k/5k just three days away, the air was lively with talk of ambitious goals, PB's to be broken and team mates PB's to beat(Can you hear me Langy/Davo!) Most of the squad took it easy today and just concentrated on turning the legs over at a reasonable speed and working up a mild sweat. I was no different, cruising through the session at about 80% effort with just one flat out sprint on the penultimate 30 sec effort.
The legs felt good and I'm really looking forward to Noosa - I will finalise my race plan over the next day or so in consultation with Coach Pat and after carefully perusing my training times.
As most of you know, i'm a big fan of the cold water wading/standing recovery after a long run or hard speedwork session. After Tuesday's hard session, I did my normal recovery at South Bank's Breaka Beach but 12 hours later, the legs were feeling a tad sorer than usual, not helped by a long day in the office. So, I arrived home at 9:30 pm, switched on the outdoor spotlight, grabbed the paper and a XXXX and stepped into the pool, staying there for ten minutes until I could barely feel my feet anymore. Whether it was the second cold water recovery or something else, I do not know, but I definitely pulled up a lot better than normal on Wednesday and have decided to continue the evening cold water recoveries where appropriate and perhaps even when I've simply got nothing better to do!
With the popular Noosa Half/10k/5k just three days away, the air was lively with talk of ambitious goals, PB's to be broken and team mates PB's to beat(Can you hear me Langy/Davo!) Most of the squad took it easy today and just concentrated on turning the legs over at a reasonable speed and working up a mild sweat. I was no different, cruising through the session at about 80% effort with just one flat out sprint on the penultimate 30 sec effort.
The legs felt good and I'm really looking forward to Noosa - I will finalise my race plan over the next day or so in consultation with Coach Pat and after carefully perusing my training times.
As most of you know, i'm a big fan of the cold water wading/standing recovery after a long run or hard speedwork session. After Tuesday's hard session, I did my normal recovery at South Bank's Breaka Beach but 12 hours later, the legs were feeling a tad sorer than usual, not helped by a long day in the office. So, I arrived home at 9:30 pm, switched on the outdoor spotlight, grabbed the paper and a XXXX and stepped into the pool, staying there for ten minutes until I could barely feel my feet anymore. Whether it was the second cold water recovery or something else, I do not know, but I definitely pulled up a lot better than normal on Wednesday and have decided to continue the evening cold water recoveries where appropriate and perhaps even when I've simply got nothing better to do!
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Noosa.....Here I come!!!
3 x 2k, 90 sec Standing Recovery - 6:57, 87, 7:01, 84, 6:55 - avg 6:57:66
My preparation for one of the longest and hardest speedwork sessions on our program was hardly ideal. The rot set in soon after arriving home late from work last night, but just in time for the start of play from Old Trafford. My brother Adam and I proceeded to argue for no less than 45 minutes on the best tactics for the Aussies to adopt for the final day of the test match. Adam argued that the batsmen should play their normal game as adopting an overly defensive mindset could be their undoing. I argued that our batsmen should be capable of reining in their natural games and shutting up shop like Dizzy has done at times and added that conceding the match at finishing at 2/180 would be just as demoralizing for the Pommie bowlers as going close to the out of reach target and losing most of our wickets would be. An old adage in warfare is that you can recover lost ground and lost time - you can not recover lost men. Transposed to cricket, this reads you can recover from a drawn match or a lost innings - you may not recover from one test down in a series. Anyway, neither man budged and inch and we ended in a stalemate. As such, I ended up not eating dinner till 9:30pm - discipline, Matty, discipline!!!
Hit the sack at 10:30 and was up again at 2:10 to watch the Aussies hold out over the last 17 nerve wracking overs, whilst I swore repeatedly at the television and the lamentable efforts of our top 7, Punter excluded.
So, it was on five hours sleep and a protesting stomach, that I attacked the first 2k rep at West End this morning. The A goal was to average 7:05's and the B goal was to better my avg of 7:11:33 that I achieved in my last crack at this session shortly before breaking down last year. Once I started running, I felt much better and it was just as well as the competition was fast and furious this morning with Phil K and Peter J running hard up front with the usual suspects Aaron, Slash and myself with Glenda not far away. With Coach Pat runnning hard up front all five of us went sub seven minutes for the first rep with myself at the back of the five man pack in 6:57. This was a small pyschological breakthrough for me, being the first time I had gone sub seven at this session. The pack got away from me in the second rep and I finished ten metres adrift, but with a very good time of 7:01. It would have been easy at this point in time to put in a 7:15 effort for the last leg which is always a brutal test of intestinal fortitude and still smash my PB for this session, but taking the easy way out is not my forte. I held with the pack for 200m at the start of the last rep and it quickly became apparent that the pace had slowed and I pushed forward alongside Aaron, determined to be on 7:00 pace at least for the first 500m and then I would see how I felt. As it turned out, I felt strong, so I tacked onto Aaron who was bowling along in front and the two of us cleared out from the pack. I turned strongly at the 1k and really put the pedal to the metal in the last 500 with the lungs screaming for oxygen as I just kept telling myself - "not much longer!". I was totally stoked at finishing in 6:55 for my fastest rep of the day. Whilst Phil K and Peter J hit the wall a tad in this last rep, Slash did nothing of sort, screaming past me in the last 200 and rocketing to the line impressively. Its very rare that someone goes past me and gives me windburn at the end of a race or tough session, but Slash did just that today - well done Mate - you're gonna kill them in Noosa!!
I'm absolutely thrilled at smashing my PB for this session by more than 13 secs for the 2k average and I'm confident that if I have a good preparation in the next few days, I will have every chance of breaking my 17:45 5kPB at Noosa. Bring it on!!!
My preparation for one of the longest and hardest speedwork sessions on our program was hardly ideal. The rot set in soon after arriving home late from work last night, but just in time for the start of play from Old Trafford. My brother Adam and I proceeded to argue for no less than 45 minutes on the best tactics for the Aussies to adopt for the final day of the test match. Adam argued that the batsmen should play their normal game as adopting an overly defensive mindset could be their undoing. I argued that our batsmen should be capable of reining in their natural games and shutting up shop like Dizzy has done at times and added that conceding the match at finishing at 2/180 would be just as demoralizing for the Pommie bowlers as going close to the out of reach target and losing most of our wickets would be. An old adage in warfare is that you can recover lost ground and lost time - you can not recover lost men. Transposed to cricket, this reads you can recover from a drawn match or a lost innings - you may not recover from one test down in a series. Anyway, neither man budged and inch and we ended in a stalemate. As such, I ended up not eating dinner till 9:30pm - discipline, Matty, discipline!!!
Hit the sack at 10:30 and was up again at 2:10 to watch the Aussies hold out over the last 17 nerve wracking overs, whilst I swore repeatedly at the television and the lamentable efforts of our top 7, Punter excluded.
So, it was on five hours sleep and a protesting stomach, that I attacked the first 2k rep at West End this morning. The A goal was to average 7:05's and the B goal was to better my avg of 7:11:33 that I achieved in my last crack at this session shortly before breaking down last year. Once I started running, I felt much better and it was just as well as the competition was fast and furious this morning with Phil K and Peter J running hard up front with the usual suspects Aaron, Slash and myself with Glenda not far away. With Coach Pat runnning hard up front all five of us went sub seven minutes for the first rep with myself at the back of the five man pack in 6:57. This was a small pyschological breakthrough for me, being the first time I had gone sub seven at this session. The pack got away from me in the second rep and I finished ten metres adrift, but with a very good time of 7:01. It would have been easy at this point in time to put in a 7:15 effort for the last leg which is always a brutal test of intestinal fortitude and still smash my PB for this session, but taking the easy way out is not my forte. I held with the pack for 200m at the start of the last rep and it quickly became apparent that the pace had slowed and I pushed forward alongside Aaron, determined to be on 7:00 pace at least for the first 500m and then I would see how I felt. As it turned out, I felt strong, so I tacked onto Aaron who was bowling along in front and the two of us cleared out from the pack. I turned strongly at the 1k and really put the pedal to the metal in the last 500 with the lungs screaming for oxygen as I just kept telling myself - "not much longer!". I was totally stoked at finishing in 6:55 for my fastest rep of the day. Whilst Phil K and Peter J hit the wall a tad in this last rep, Slash did nothing of sort, screaming past me in the last 200 and rocketing to the line impressively. Its very rare that someone goes past me and gives me windburn at the end of a race or tough session, but Slash did just that today - well done Mate - you're gonna kill them in Noosa!!
I'm absolutely thrilled at smashing my PB for this session by more than 13 secs for the 2k average and I'm confident that if I have a good preparation in the next few days, I will have every chance of breaking my 17:45 5kPB at Noosa. Bring it on!!!
Monday, August 15, 2005
Sunday 14/8 Brisbane Road Runners 10 Mile
Sunday Long Run, 100mins, 20k, avg 4:55mins/km
Got up at 5:30am and headed out to West End for my first Brisbane Road Runners race. The club conducts 25 races each year ranging from 5km to marathons and these events are held on a loop course at West End taking in Brisbane's scenic Riverside Drive. I arrived with less than one minute to the gun for the 10 Mile race, which for those of you born after 1972, is 16.09 k's. I then calmly proceeded to sign up for Club membership, pay my race fee, stretch and have a chat with Pat Carroller team mate Peter, who was on marshalling duties. Four minutes after the gun, I finally started the race and set off after the field in last place. Oh yeah, I should have mentioned that I was not racing and was simply taking the opportunity to do a training run on a accurately measured course. Secondly, I wanted to scout the course and familiarise myself with it in anticipation of the odd 5k race I will participate in over the Summer.
I enjoyed the experience and ended up passing a third of the field as I ran my usual Sunday long run pace, taking care not to accelerate as I ran down contestant after contestant. I must confess at this point that I often take sadistic pleasure in overtaking another huffing and puffing runner be they a backmarker I am lapping or someone I am overtaking. Often, no matter how tired I am or how much I'm hurting, I will pass the runner and try and pysch them out by putting a relaxed and serene expression on my face and keep my breathing very normal. Its a tactic that can pyschologically demoralise an opponent and may come in handy a few years down the track if I'm in a head to head duel to win a big race.
After completing the 16k's of the race, I immediately continued on and added another 4k's to the tally before heading to work. After the shoe debacle on Tuesday, this time I forgot to bring a fresh shirt to wear so I had to wear my warmup jumper around the office instead. Fortunately, its casual wear on the weekend's.
After work, I was off to the Broncos and watched referee Tim Mander butcher yet another Broncos game. Whilst the Broncos were outplayed for most of the part, they gutsed it out and hung in there for most of the game despite a misfiring backline and despite being given no favours by Mander. I've been convinced for a number of years that the Broncos win-loss record is significantly better under other referees that it is under Mander as is the penalty count and I'm now going to research these figures to prove my point!
Got up at 5:30am and headed out to West End for my first Brisbane Road Runners race. The club conducts 25 races each year ranging from 5km to marathons and these events are held on a loop course at West End taking in Brisbane's scenic Riverside Drive. I arrived with less than one minute to the gun for the 10 Mile race, which for those of you born after 1972, is 16.09 k's. I then calmly proceeded to sign up for Club membership, pay my race fee, stretch and have a chat with Pat Carroller team mate Peter, who was on marshalling duties. Four minutes after the gun, I finally started the race and set off after the field in last place. Oh yeah, I should have mentioned that I was not racing and was simply taking the opportunity to do a training run on a accurately measured course. Secondly, I wanted to scout the course and familiarise myself with it in anticipation of the odd 5k race I will participate in over the Summer.
I enjoyed the experience and ended up passing a third of the field as I ran my usual Sunday long run pace, taking care not to accelerate as I ran down contestant after contestant. I must confess at this point that I often take sadistic pleasure in overtaking another huffing and puffing runner be they a backmarker I am lapping or someone I am overtaking. Often, no matter how tired I am or how much I'm hurting, I will pass the runner and try and pysch them out by putting a relaxed and serene expression on my face and keep my breathing very normal. Its a tactic that can pyschologically demoralise an opponent and may come in handy a few years down the track if I'm in a head to head duel to win a big race.
After completing the 16k's of the race, I immediately continued on and added another 4k's to the tally before heading to work. After the shoe debacle on Tuesday, this time I forgot to bring a fresh shirt to wear so I had to wear my warmup jumper around the office instead. Fortunately, its casual wear on the weekend's.
After work, I was off to the Broncos and watched referee Tim Mander butcher yet another Broncos game. Whilst the Broncos were outplayed for most of the part, they gutsed it out and hung in there for most of the game despite a misfiring backline and despite being given no favours by Mander. I've been convinced for a number of years that the Broncos win-loss record is significantly better under other referees that it is under Mander as is the penalty count and I'm now going to research these figures to prove my point!
Friday, August 12, 2005
Another "ho hum" Friday
Friday Recovery Run - 40mins, 8k, 4:58 mins/km
Its official, I'm struggling to make constructive use of my Friday's. Since taking a Weekend Supervisor's role at work two months ago(work Sat to Wed), I've generally enjoyed productive and fulfilling Thursday's after the endorphin rush of Thurs AM speedwork. However, on Friday's I tend to be lazy and sluggish until mid afternoon and am in dire need of something to kick start my day. As I do not do my Fri run till late afternoon to give my shins maximum recovery time, I've decided to start each Friday with a decent hitout in my home gym - from next week, that is.
In bitterly cold and overcast conditions this afternoon, I toddled along for a standard recovery run, then jumped straight into the car to defrost with the heater on high.
I should add that I started my day in a foul mood after logging on to see the progression made since the middle of the night. For what its worth, my thoughts on the cricket are:
- Dizzy - has to go. Kaspa back in to give us options with the old ball.
- Fielding - perhaps its time to bring back Simmo to run some drills. I think we've gotten a little too comfortable with the view from the top and the fielding has declined
- Batting - the moment of truth later tonight, with Clarkey(43) our only batsman averaging over 40 this tour.
Despite my criticisms, watch us hit back hard tonight though - never ever underestimate the heart of a Champion!!
Its official, I'm struggling to make constructive use of my Friday's. Since taking a Weekend Supervisor's role at work two months ago(work Sat to Wed), I've generally enjoyed productive and fulfilling Thursday's after the endorphin rush of Thurs AM speedwork. However, on Friday's I tend to be lazy and sluggish until mid afternoon and am in dire need of something to kick start my day. As I do not do my Fri run till late afternoon to give my shins maximum recovery time, I've decided to start each Friday with a decent hitout in my home gym - from next week, that is.
In bitterly cold and overcast conditions this afternoon, I toddled along for a standard recovery run, then jumped straight into the car to defrost with the heater on high.
I should add that I started my day in a foul mood after logging on to see the progression made since the middle of the night. For what its worth, my thoughts on the cricket are:
- Dizzy - has to go. Kaspa back in to give us options with the old ball.
- Fielding - perhaps its time to bring back Simmo to run some drills. I think we've gotten a little too comfortable with the view from the top and the fielding has declined
- Batting - the moment of truth later tonight, with Clarkey(43) our only batsman averaging over 40 this tour.
Despite my criticisms, watch us hit back hard tonight though - never ever underestimate the heart of a Champion!!
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Conquering the weak side of my brain
10 min, 1 min SR, 5 min
Pat introduced a new session today - either it was new or I missed it previously during my enforced absence with shin splints. Anyway, starting at the QUT Ampitheatre, the session called for a hard 5 mins outbound on the paths of the Botanic Gardens, turn around and then run back to the starting point even faster, arriving before the 10 mins was up. Following a 1 min standing recovery, the rep was repeated, this time over 2.5 mins out and back.
As has been the case for the last month now, Aaron, myself and Slash led the way up front. I chased Aaron all the way and never let him put more than 7-8 metres on me arriving back at the starting point with half a second to spare. There was a weak moment about two minutes into the start of the session when the weak side of my brain said to me "You don't need to chase Aaron, nor run this hard. You can afford to ease off just a little and still finish in the top three. Wouldn't that be something to be satisfied about?" I managed to quickly erase these negative thoughts by repeating the magic word "Noosa" to myself several times - a reminder of both the Noosa 5k next weekend and the big goal this year - the Noosa Tri 10k run leg. The magic word reminded me that the hard yakka was only going to last 15 mins and that I wouldn't be achieving any goals unless I embraced the pain - so I did! The fear of letting down my Northies team mates in the Noosa Tri is also a very powerful motivating factor. I ended up finishing the last minute of the 2.5 min out and back very strongly. As is the norm for sessions finishing at the QUT Amphitheatre, Coach Pat sent us straight up the steep 50m grass hill without a recovery. I love it! There's nothing like being totally spent, but knowing you only have to dig in for another 20 seconds and charging up that hill yelling "C'mon" to everyone!
Today saw an improved session from my good mate, Langy. A man who was a permanent fixture in the Top 3 runners earlier this year, Langy has been battling some injuries, followed by ill health and more recently the after effects of a procedure involving the cessation of his reproductive capacity. Despite this Langy never ceases to jump into the car brimming with optimism when he bums a lift from me on the way to speedwork. Today, he finally showed us just a little flash of his old dash. Keep it up Mate - the more competition in the Group, the merrier!
So, another satisfying session is in the bank. Less satisfying will be having to organise my tax return this afternoon, even though I am expecting a nice return. Oh well, we can't have everything.
Pat introduced a new session today - either it was new or I missed it previously during my enforced absence with shin splints. Anyway, starting at the QUT Ampitheatre, the session called for a hard 5 mins outbound on the paths of the Botanic Gardens, turn around and then run back to the starting point even faster, arriving before the 10 mins was up. Following a 1 min standing recovery, the rep was repeated, this time over 2.5 mins out and back.
As has been the case for the last month now, Aaron, myself and Slash led the way up front. I chased Aaron all the way and never let him put more than 7-8 metres on me arriving back at the starting point with half a second to spare. There was a weak moment about two minutes into the start of the session when the weak side of my brain said to me "You don't need to chase Aaron, nor run this hard. You can afford to ease off just a little and still finish in the top three. Wouldn't that be something to be satisfied about?" I managed to quickly erase these negative thoughts by repeating the magic word "Noosa" to myself several times - a reminder of both the Noosa 5k next weekend and the big goal this year - the Noosa Tri 10k run leg. The magic word reminded me that the hard yakka was only going to last 15 mins and that I wouldn't be achieving any goals unless I embraced the pain - so I did! The fear of letting down my Northies team mates in the Noosa Tri is also a very powerful motivating factor. I ended up finishing the last minute of the 2.5 min out and back very strongly. As is the norm for sessions finishing at the QUT Amphitheatre, Coach Pat sent us straight up the steep 50m grass hill without a recovery. I love it! There's nothing like being totally spent, but knowing you only have to dig in for another 20 seconds and charging up that hill yelling "C'mon" to everyone!
Today saw an improved session from my good mate, Langy. A man who was a permanent fixture in the Top 3 runners earlier this year, Langy has been battling some injuries, followed by ill health and more recently the after effects of a procedure involving the cessation of his reproductive capacity. Despite this Langy never ceases to jump into the car brimming with optimism when he bums a lift from me on the way to speedwork. Today, he finally showed us just a little flash of his old dash. Keep it up Mate - the more competition in the Group, the merrier!
So, another satisfying session is in the bank. Less satisfying will be having to organise my tax return this afternoon, even though I am expecting a nice return. Oh well, we can't have everything.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Solo speedwork session........sort of
Speedwork - 15 mins of hills in Botanic Gardens
Today's session was voted both the "favourite" and "most painful" session at the recent Pat Carroll Running Group Formal night which is clearly indicative of the masochistic streak that prevails withing many of my team mates. My masochistic streak is quite healthy also, thank you. Sadly, I was unable to directly share today's "stretcher session" with my team mates. The last time I participated in this particular session and another similar one, both of which are run on the grass of Brisbane's beautiful Botanic Gardens, I suffered a very mild relapse of my shin splints. So, today I took the conservative option of staying off the uneven grass and running a loop of the Botanic Gardens' paved paths taking in a similar hill and one not to far away from the one which my team mates were throwing themselves up and down. Its one thing to do a long run by yourself at an easy pace, but its another thing to run hard and fast by yourself without the benefit of running in a pack or with another runner in front of you to chase. Fortunately, I was able to apply myself mentally and put in a solid session and wrapped it up with a good flogging all the way over the Goodwill Bridge at top speed with the in form Aaron and Slash.
Moving on, I had one of those runner's tunnel vision incident last night. I was preparing my running gear and work clothes for today's activities and whilst doing so, I was stretching repeatedly and really thinking deeply about today's speedwork session and my path to the Noosa 5k. That probably explains why I neglected to pack my black dress shoes. I didn't even contemplate taking an extra 25 minutes to drive home and pick up the shoes on the way to work. Instead, I casually strolled into the office in neatly pressed grey slacks, a sharp light blue business shirt with red and black checks and a matching pair of battered light blue shower thongs with the soles almost worn through. I didn't wear shoes for a few days after my debut Marathon last year due to blistered toes, so rest assured that my work colleagues have seen far worse! And besides, there was no way I was wasting 25 minutes in the car when I should be getting plenty of breakfast into me, quick smart! Nothing gets in the way of a good recovery!
Today's session was voted both the "favourite" and "most painful" session at the recent Pat Carroll Running Group Formal night which is clearly indicative of the masochistic streak that prevails withing many of my team mates. My masochistic streak is quite healthy also, thank you. Sadly, I was unable to directly share today's "stretcher session" with my team mates. The last time I participated in this particular session and another similar one, both of which are run on the grass of Brisbane's beautiful Botanic Gardens, I suffered a very mild relapse of my shin splints. So, today I took the conservative option of staying off the uneven grass and running a loop of the Botanic Gardens' paved paths taking in a similar hill and one not to far away from the one which my team mates were throwing themselves up and down. Its one thing to do a long run by yourself at an easy pace, but its another thing to run hard and fast by yourself without the benefit of running in a pack or with another runner in front of you to chase. Fortunately, I was able to apply myself mentally and put in a solid session and wrapped it up with a good flogging all the way over the Goodwill Bridge at top speed with the in form Aaron and Slash.
Moving on, I had one of those runner's tunnel vision incident last night. I was preparing my running gear and work clothes for today's activities and whilst doing so, I was stretching repeatedly and really thinking deeply about today's speedwork session and my path to the Noosa 5k. That probably explains why I neglected to pack my black dress shoes. I didn't even contemplate taking an extra 25 minutes to drive home and pick up the shoes on the way to work. Instead, I casually strolled into the office in neatly pressed grey slacks, a sharp light blue business shirt with red and black checks and a matching pair of battered light blue shower thongs with the soles almost worn through. I didn't wear shoes for a few days after my debut Marathon last year due to blistered toes, so rest assured that my work colleagues have seen far worse! And besides, there was no way I was wasting 25 minutes in the car when I should be getting plenty of breakfast into me, quick smart! Nothing gets in the way of a good recovery!
Monday, August 08, 2005
Sunday 7/8 - Bridge to Brisbane Sunday Long Run
Sunday Long Run - 70 mins/15km's
A simply gorgeous Brisbane morning greeted 21,100 runners for the annual Bridge to Brisbane. My proper comeback race is the Noosa 5k in two weeks time, but that wasn't going to stop me participating in this event, which slowly continues to grow in stature, despite occasional organisational hiccups. I had planned to just enjoy a cruisey run with MJ but that went out the window last week when her back started playing up. So, I looked for a team mate who would be running splits around my normal Sunday Long Run pace and whom I could pace and settled on Chelle. I figured that given a multitude of injury problems of late, Chelle would be slightly short of her best and right on my pace. Wrong! Chelle ended up running a 10k PB on her way to a 56:20 and we went a little over 4.40's the whole way, but fortunately, my body was comfortable at that pace and I didn't over exert myself. Way to go, Chelle!! It could have been worse, however. I could have run with Tesso who had run 3 hours on Saturday AM and pre race, announced an intention to run an easy race in "around 4:45's". That didn't last too long as Tesso took off at speed and ran a blistering low 53 race - onya Champ!!
After the race, I excused myself from my team mates in the Recovery Area and did a bit of a loop back to my car for 17 minutes to complete the 70 minutes needed for my Sunday Long Run. Fortunately, its a Recovery Week on my program so I only needed to do 70 minutes instead of the 100 minutes I am currently peaking at. The Recovery Week has come as a big relief as my legs have been feeling the effects of some very fast recent speedwork and in particular, Tuesday's 3K Time Trial. Hopefully, the legs will be right to start firing again come Tuesday.
Chelle and I then stopped off at MJ's for a nice breakfast before I went to work. For dinner, MJ, my brother Adam and I all enjoyed a large and tasty rump cooked on the BBQ. I've really enjoyed a rump on the BBQ for many years, but its only very recently that I've started to get more scientific about the cooking of that perfect steak. By scientific, I mean cooking the steak according to a specific plan as opposed to looking for visual indicators such as the blood seeping through the surface. So, I strapped on my Timex brought the BBQ to maximum temperature in six minutes before easing it down to medium-high temperature for two minutes and then throwing on the pepper laced rump. I ended up cooking the rump for 4:30 minutes on the first side and 4:00 on the second and the medium to medium-well done result was satisfactory. In the meantime, to quote Lexus, I'll continue the relentless pursuit of perfection in the perfectly barbequed rump. Hhhmm, lets see - maybe I'll leave the BBQ on for 12 minutes next time and the rumps on for less? Whatever, I'll let you know when I've found the specifications for perfection, Matty style!!
A simply gorgeous Brisbane morning greeted 21,100 runners for the annual Bridge to Brisbane. My proper comeback race is the Noosa 5k in two weeks time, but that wasn't going to stop me participating in this event, which slowly continues to grow in stature, despite occasional organisational hiccups. I had planned to just enjoy a cruisey run with MJ but that went out the window last week when her back started playing up. So, I looked for a team mate who would be running splits around my normal Sunday Long Run pace and whom I could pace and settled on Chelle. I figured that given a multitude of injury problems of late, Chelle would be slightly short of her best and right on my pace. Wrong! Chelle ended up running a 10k PB on her way to a 56:20 and we went a little over 4.40's the whole way, but fortunately, my body was comfortable at that pace and I didn't over exert myself. Way to go, Chelle!! It could have been worse, however. I could have run with Tesso who had run 3 hours on Saturday AM and pre race, announced an intention to run an easy race in "around 4:45's". That didn't last too long as Tesso took off at speed and ran a blistering low 53 race - onya Champ!!
After the race, I excused myself from my team mates in the Recovery Area and did a bit of a loop back to my car for 17 minutes to complete the 70 minutes needed for my Sunday Long Run. Fortunately, its a Recovery Week on my program so I only needed to do 70 minutes instead of the 100 minutes I am currently peaking at. The Recovery Week has come as a big relief as my legs have been feeling the effects of some very fast recent speedwork and in particular, Tuesday's 3K Time Trial. Hopefully, the legs will be right to start firing again come Tuesday.
Chelle and I then stopped off at MJ's for a nice breakfast before I went to work. For dinner, MJ, my brother Adam and I all enjoyed a large and tasty rump cooked on the BBQ. I've really enjoyed a rump on the BBQ for many years, but its only very recently that I've started to get more scientific about the cooking of that perfect steak. By scientific, I mean cooking the steak according to a specific plan as opposed to looking for visual indicators such as the blood seeping through the surface. So, I strapped on my Timex brought the BBQ to maximum temperature in six minutes before easing it down to medium-high temperature for two minutes and then throwing on the pepper laced rump. I ended up cooking the rump for 4:30 minutes on the first side and 4:00 on the second and the medium to medium-well done result was satisfactory. In the meantime, to quote Lexus, I'll continue the relentless pursuit of perfection in the perfectly barbequed rump. Hhhmm, lets see - maybe I'll leave the BBQ on for 12 minutes next time and the rumps on for less? Whatever, I'll let you know when I've found the specifications for perfection, Matty style!!
Friday, August 05, 2005
Friday Blues
Friday Recovery Run - 40 mins, 8km's @ 5:02 per/km
Started the day by driving MJ to her physio at the Qld Sports Medicine Clinic at the Gabba. MJ's back had seized up following an innocous bend over whilst performing a CPR exercise at a training course yesterday. Watching her sprawled accross the back seat and grimacing as I tried to drive as smoothly as possible was a potent reminder that the Grim Reaper of injury is always lurking and looking to impede our windows of opportunity. I made a silent pact to really step up my core strengthening exercises which have fallen off the pace since I had my own back problems with trigger point pain from C5 in the spine a few months ago. Get well soon, MJ , you gutsy gal!!!
Was pretty lethargic most of the day and would like to have gone for my recovery run early in the morning to kick start my day with some feel good endorphins. However, where possible, I'm currently trying to keep at least 36hrs between my runs in order to give my shins maximum recovery time between sessions. So, at 4:30pm, I finally got out to my favourite route starting from the Nundah Criterium and following the bitumen path along the Kedron Brook. Racked up an easy 8k's and the body felt ok.
I can't sign off for the day without adding that Brett Lee's bowling was disgraceful last night and I've been saying for years that he's not up to test cricket. There! I feel better already for getting that off my chest!!
Started the day by driving MJ to her physio at the Qld Sports Medicine Clinic at the Gabba. MJ's back had seized up following an innocous bend over whilst performing a CPR exercise at a training course yesterday. Watching her sprawled accross the back seat and grimacing as I tried to drive as smoothly as possible was a potent reminder that the Grim Reaper of injury is always lurking and looking to impede our windows of opportunity. I made a silent pact to really step up my core strengthening exercises which have fallen off the pace since I had my own back problems with trigger point pain from C5 in the spine a few months ago. Get well soon, MJ , you gutsy gal!!!
Was pretty lethargic most of the day and would like to have gone for my recovery run early in the morning to kick start my day with some feel good endorphins. However, where possible, I'm currently trying to keep at least 36hrs between my runs in order to give my shins maximum recovery time between sessions. So, at 4:30pm, I finally got out to my favourite route starting from the Nundah Criterium and following the bitumen path along the Kedron Brook. Racked up an easy 8k's and the body felt ok.
I can't sign off for the day without adding that Brett Lee's bowling was disgraceful last night and I've been saying for years that he's not up to test cricket. There! I feel better already for getting that off my chest!!
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Sunday and Tuesday take their toll
6 x 500's - "ample" recovery.
500's/recovery - 95/57/98/65/107/37/107/54/110/36/107/end.
500's avg 104 secs/recovery avg 49.8 secs
By Tuesday night, I knew that the exertions of Sunday and the 3K TT had taken their toll, so I treated my body to a ten hour sleep and found time for some extra stretching on Wednesday. Alas, it was not enough and this morning I rocked up to speedwork with my legs suffering from a pretty fair case of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness(DOMS). Still, its pretty normal for me not to "red line" it at the Thursday session after the monthly 3K TT and I was happy to resign myself to a solid hitout instead.
6 x 500's under the Story Bridge with "ample" recovery was on the program. As this is not a regular session, there was some banter about what Coach Pat's definition of "ample" would be with 30 secs being a popular tip. The cynics ended up with egg on their faces as Pat announced recoveries of around one minute.
I took out the first two reps a few secs behind my behind my normal pace in the low 90's before easing off. Finishing well behind the A-Team in the 500's and starting each new rep with them ensured that my recoveries were shortened allowing me a solid cardio hitout to make up for my slower running.
With Thursday being my day off, I went straight home and stood thigh deep in my icy cold pool for 15 minutes, penning entries in my diary whilst doing so. I'm a great believer in cold water wading recoveries, especially salt water and find that they really speed up my recovery from muscle soreness and/or prevent muscle soreness. A wading recovery is practically mandatory for me following any run over 90 minutes and any extremely hard speedwork session.
500's/recovery - 95/57/98/65/107/37/107/54/110/36/107/end.
500's avg 104 secs/recovery avg 49.8 secs
By Tuesday night, I knew that the exertions of Sunday and the 3K TT had taken their toll, so I treated my body to a ten hour sleep and found time for some extra stretching on Wednesday. Alas, it was not enough and this morning I rocked up to speedwork with my legs suffering from a pretty fair case of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness(DOMS). Still, its pretty normal for me not to "red line" it at the Thursday session after the monthly 3K TT and I was happy to resign myself to a solid hitout instead.
6 x 500's under the Story Bridge with "ample" recovery was on the program. As this is not a regular session, there was some banter about what Coach Pat's definition of "ample" would be with 30 secs being a popular tip. The cynics ended up with egg on their faces as Pat announced recoveries of around one minute.
I took out the first two reps a few secs behind my behind my normal pace in the low 90's before easing off. Finishing well behind the A-Team in the 500's and starting each new rep with them ensured that my recoveries were shortened allowing me a solid cardio hitout to make up for my slower running.
With Thursday being my day off, I went straight home and stood thigh deep in my icy cold pool for 15 minutes, penning entries in my diary whilst doing so. I'm a great believer in cold water wading recoveries, especially salt water and find that they really speed up my recovery from muscle soreness and/or prevent muscle soreness. A wading recovery is practically mandatory for me following any run over 90 minutes and any extremely hard speedwork session.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Pat Carroll Running Group 3K Time Trial - August
After the emotional high last Thursday of averaging a 3:19:75 PB for 4 x 1k reps on an average 58 second Standing Recovery(SR), I was wildy optimistic of breaking my 9:55 3K TT PB set on Melbourne Cup day last year, shortly before I broke down. However, come this morning, I knew there was a better than 50% chance that my 36k's on the bike on Sunday would take its toll. The enormity of taking a massive 30 seconds off last months lung busting 10:24 TT also sank in.
So, I took the rare step of setting a B goal of 10:10 but resolved to go out at 9:54 PB pace to see how the legs held up. On another perfect Winter morning, I bounced straight to the front and felt ok in clocking a 3:16 effort for the first k as Aaron drew alongside me and clocked an identical split. A small pack of Slash, Daniel, Aaron and myself then formed until the 1400m mark when my legs went dead and heavy - no mistaking the feeling - too much time on the bike on Sunday! At this point Daniel surged and Aaron responded immediately with the two proceeding to go hammer and tongs the rest of the way pushing each other under sub 10 with Aaron just pipping Daniel 9:52 to 9:54. Not far behind, Slash and I were in a duel of our own. We swapped the lead 3 times and managed to push each other to a PB for Slash and under my B goal time. Slash nudged ahead of me in the shadows of the Moreton Bay figs recording 10:04 to my 10:08. The beneficial effects of running closely to a team mate in a race or training cannot be underestimated. Slash probably ensured that I went 5 seconds faster than would have been the case if I was running solo. Hitting the line behind us was an "eyecatching" Phil K wearing the pink melon dress as punishment from Coach Pat for his sitting recovery during 1k's last Thursday - Being a past wearer of that infamous pink dress myself(voted the "honour" by my team mates) , my sympathy for Phil was non-existent!
So, I'm a satisfied man at the moment. I think I got everything there was out of myself today in clocking 3:16, 3:28 and 3:23 on the way to 10:08. Importantly, I've preserved my proud record of never doing one of my TT's slower than the previous month. I clocked 10:19, 10:05 and 9:55 in consecutive months last year. This year its 10:24 and now 10:08. History suggests I'll be ready for sub 10 next start!
Recovered from the session with a wading recovery in thigh deep water at South Bank's Breaka Beach before bouncing into the office with far too much enthusiasm and vigour for some of my colleagues to handle :-)
So, I took the rare step of setting a B goal of 10:10 but resolved to go out at 9:54 PB pace to see how the legs held up. On another perfect Winter morning, I bounced straight to the front and felt ok in clocking a 3:16 effort for the first k as Aaron drew alongside me and clocked an identical split. A small pack of Slash, Daniel, Aaron and myself then formed until the 1400m mark when my legs went dead and heavy - no mistaking the feeling - too much time on the bike on Sunday! At this point Daniel surged and Aaron responded immediately with the two proceeding to go hammer and tongs the rest of the way pushing each other under sub 10 with Aaron just pipping Daniel 9:52 to 9:54. Not far behind, Slash and I were in a duel of our own. We swapped the lead 3 times and managed to push each other to a PB for Slash and under my B goal time. Slash nudged ahead of me in the shadows of the Moreton Bay figs recording 10:04 to my 10:08. The beneficial effects of running closely to a team mate in a race or training cannot be underestimated. Slash probably ensured that I went 5 seconds faster than would have been the case if I was running solo. Hitting the line behind us was an "eyecatching" Phil K wearing the pink melon dress as punishment from Coach Pat for his sitting recovery during 1k's last Thursday - Being a past wearer of that infamous pink dress myself(voted the "honour" by my team mates) , my sympathy for Phil was non-existent!
So, I'm a satisfied man at the moment. I think I got everything there was out of myself today in clocking 3:16, 3:28 and 3:23 on the way to 10:08. Importantly, I've preserved my proud record of never doing one of my TT's slower than the previous month. I clocked 10:19, 10:05 and 9:55 in consecutive months last year. This year its 10:24 and now 10:08. History suggests I'll be ready for sub 10 next start!
Recovered from the session with a wading recovery in thigh deep water at South Bank's Breaka Beach before bouncing into the office with far too much enthusiasm and vigour for some of my colleagues to handle :-)
Monday, August 01, 2005
Volunteering - Park to Park, Ipswich, Sun 31/7
It was a HUUUUGE weekend. I enjoyed a Saturday night at the Broncos with MJ, team mate Chelle and her boyfriend Shane along with the usual suspects in attendance. A nice come from behind win by the Broncs despite not quite playing our best continued to establish the team's premiership credentials.
An obscenely short four hours sleep followed before I got up at 2:55 am on Sunday AM and drove out to Limestone Park at Ipswich to help set up the course for the inagural Park to Park Half Marathon/10k/5k. Fortunately I heeded my mate RooBoy's advice to keep all the car doors locked when driving through Ipswich as I had 4 drunks run out at the car in the middle of the road when I was doing 50km's per hour! And there were two paddy wagons waiting for the inevitable arrests outside Players Nightclub when I drove through the main street. Aaah, Ipswich - it hasn't changed at all!!!
Course set up proceeded relatively smoothly compared with some of my past experiences at this activity and then I spent the duration of the 3 races assuming the role of lead bike after the original volunteer failed to show. This involved riding 36k's in total and lots of hills, probably about 5k worth when I really had to dig into the pedals to get up. After not being on the bike for a few months, hopefully the DOMS from this activity won't curtail my aspirations of a fast 3K TT on Tuesday morning. Still it was a great experience being lead bike, particularly in the Half when I led this years Gold Coast 10k winner, Chris Reeves around the course. What a runner! Afterward, I put on my journo's cap and proceeded to interview the Half winners, Reeves and Helen Stanton for the Race Reports I am compiling for the new Run For Your Life magazine. It was a treat to pick the brains of these elite runners and get a feel for their mindsets. I've still got a lot to learn about interviewing techniques but I think I've made progress in my short time in this game. My shorthand definitely needs a lot of work though!
So, on four hours sleep, a woeful food intake and 36k's on the bike, it stands to reason that I might have struggled a little with my Sunday long run after getting home from Ippy, right? Wrong! I got out to the Nundah Criterium around 11:30am and set off along the path next to the Kedron Brook in warm 25 degrees plus weather, wearing sunscreen for the first time in a while. From the word go, I settled into a comfortable and relaxed rythm of low 4:40 k's which didn't let up even when I finally started to bonk with 15 minutes to go. The end result: 100mins of running for 21k's at 4:42 k's. I want to stress that I was not pushing it hard and was really surprised that I was running 10 secs faster than my usual low 4:50's long run pace. Who know's why I ran so well? Perhaps it was:
a) The hard work with my glute firing exercises starting to pay dividends?
b) The new Brooks Glycerin 4's I was wearing?
c) My body was really warmed up after a morning of vigorous activity?
d) I'd accidentally swapped my watch with the one Coach Pat uses when 60 sec Standing Recoveries mysteriously become 50 secs?
Anyway, a shift at work followed and it was a pleasure to hit the sack genuinely exhausted after getting the most out of the day!
An obscenely short four hours sleep followed before I got up at 2:55 am on Sunday AM and drove out to Limestone Park at Ipswich to help set up the course for the inagural Park to Park Half Marathon/10k/5k. Fortunately I heeded my mate RooBoy's advice to keep all the car doors locked when driving through Ipswich as I had 4 drunks run out at the car in the middle of the road when I was doing 50km's per hour! And there were two paddy wagons waiting for the inevitable arrests outside Players Nightclub when I drove through the main street. Aaah, Ipswich - it hasn't changed at all!!!
Course set up proceeded relatively smoothly compared with some of my past experiences at this activity and then I spent the duration of the 3 races assuming the role of lead bike after the original volunteer failed to show. This involved riding 36k's in total and lots of hills, probably about 5k worth when I really had to dig into the pedals to get up. After not being on the bike for a few months, hopefully the DOMS from this activity won't curtail my aspirations of a fast 3K TT on Tuesday morning. Still it was a great experience being lead bike, particularly in the Half when I led this years Gold Coast 10k winner, Chris Reeves around the course. What a runner! Afterward, I put on my journo's cap and proceeded to interview the Half winners, Reeves and Helen Stanton for the Race Reports I am compiling for the new Run For Your Life magazine. It was a treat to pick the brains of these elite runners and get a feel for their mindsets. I've still got a lot to learn about interviewing techniques but I think I've made progress in my short time in this game. My shorthand definitely needs a lot of work though!
So, on four hours sleep, a woeful food intake and 36k's on the bike, it stands to reason that I might have struggled a little with my Sunday long run after getting home from Ippy, right? Wrong! I got out to the Nundah Criterium around 11:30am and set off along the path next to the Kedron Brook in warm 25 degrees plus weather, wearing sunscreen for the first time in a while. From the word go, I settled into a comfortable and relaxed rythm of low 4:40 k's which didn't let up even when I finally started to bonk with 15 minutes to go. The end result: 100mins of running for 21k's at 4:42 k's. I want to stress that I was not pushing it hard and was really surprised that I was running 10 secs faster than my usual low 4:50's long run pace. Who know's why I ran so well? Perhaps it was:
a) The hard work with my glute firing exercises starting to pay dividends?
b) The new Brooks Glycerin 4's I was wearing?
c) My body was really warmed up after a morning of vigorous activity?
d) I'd accidentally swapped my watch with the one Coach Pat uses when 60 sec Standing Recoveries mysteriously become 50 secs?
Anyway, a shift at work followed and it was a pleasure to hit the sack genuinely exhausted after getting the most out of the day!
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