5 x 1k @ 4:30 mins/km, 2k WU, 3k WD
I managed to get through Boxing Day at Big Rob's unscathed. Quite fortunate considering the massive quantity of XXXX's tinnies and BBQ fare that was available for the guests to feast upon. Waking up without the usual post Boxing Day hangover of previous years, I then put in a solid session on the tready.
Shins pulled up a little sore as the day wore on, but no major dramas. I'm attributing it to the 50 mins at UQ on Sunday. FF was closed so I had no choice but to do my run somewhere.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Sunday - Christmas Run at UQ
50 mins, 10k's at about 5:00 mins/km
MJ and I were up bright and early and headed out to UQ for the annual Xmas run on the Athletics track. Most of the attendees had a modest speedwork session in the warm and humid conditions but Sunday is not my speedwork day, so I just cruised along for my Sunday long run and visualised racing at the track in the UQ Alumni 1500m heats that are held at the Bank of Qld Classic meet each November. Its a race that I have penned down in my 2006 program.
The rest of the day was a good old fashioned family Xmas with plenty of time in the pool indulging in XXXX's and prawns. MJ possibly came up with the present of the day giving me Tim Noakes The Lore of Running - 900+ pages of everything the serious runner needs to know! It'll be fun ploughing through it!!
MJ and I were up bright and early and headed out to UQ for the annual Xmas run on the Athletics track. Most of the attendees had a modest speedwork session in the warm and humid conditions but Sunday is not my speedwork day, so I just cruised along for my Sunday long run and visualised racing at the track in the UQ Alumni 1500m heats that are held at the Bank of Qld Classic meet each November. Its a race that I have penned down in my 2006 program.
The rest of the day was a good old fashioned family Xmas with plenty of time in the pool indulging in XXXX's and prawns. MJ possibly came up with the present of the day giving me Tim Noakes The Lore of Running - 900+ pages of everything the serious runner needs to know! It'll be fun ploughing through it!!
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Thursday - Pat Carroll Running Group Xmas Session
Surge and Hills
With the sore left foot a distant memory, I ran steadily thoughout today's session - this fortnight's allocated non treadmill session. Christmas cheer was the order of the day with everyone wearing Xmas gear and yours truly adorned in Xmas Boxers and Santa's cap. It was also open day for kids of group members to come along and they spent the session squirting us with water pistols.
I cruised along at around 4:20's for the session and experienced no discomfort.
With the sore left foot a distant memory, I ran steadily thoughout today's session - this fortnight's allocated non treadmill session. Christmas cheer was the order of the day with everyone wearing Xmas gear and yours truly adorned in Xmas Boxers and Santa's cap. It was also open day for kids of group members to come along and they spent the session squirting us with water pistols.
I cruised along at around 4:20's for the session and experienced no discomfort.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Tuesday - Back on track!!
40 mins, 8k's @ 5:00min k's
Did an easy 40 mins on tready on the way home from work without missing a beat. The inflammation and swelling are already a distant memory. I think the experiences of the past few days have me well equipped knowledge wise to handle similar incidents in future.
Busy start to the morning chaperoning photographer Glen Eaton around to catch shots of the PCRG in action. Glen is pretty happy with the shots he got and coupled with the shots Pat has taken over the year, we should have some nice ones for R4YL mag. I've only gotta caption them and my work for this issue will be over.
When I started writing for R4YL I told publisher Daniel Green that I would not be after remuneration in the early days as we lifted the mag off the ground. But Greeny suggested that I invoice him $200 for my efforts on the upcoming issue which I will!! Could this be the first remuneration of a long journalistic career - who knows? One thing I do know is that I need further remuneration in order to silence my brother Adam. He bragged tonight that he raked in $250 for reading his Wallabies poem at a corporate function prior to the 2003 Rugby World Cup. His 'career artistic earnings' lead mine by $50 and of course, I have to overtake that figure!!
Did an easy 40 mins on tready on the way home from work without missing a beat. The inflammation and swelling are already a distant memory. I think the experiences of the past few days have me well equipped knowledge wise to handle similar incidents in future.
Busy start to the morning chaperoning photographer Glen Eaton around to catch shots of the PCRG in action. Glen is pretty happy with the shots he got and coupled with the shots Pat has taken over the year, we should have some nice ones for R4YL mag. I've only gotta caption them and my work for this issue will be over.
When I started writing for R4YL I told publisher Daniel Green that I would not be after remuneration in the early days as we lifted the mag off the ground. But Greeny suggested that I invoice him $200 for my efforts on the upcoming issue which I will!! Could this be the first remuneration of a long journalistic career - who knows? One thing I do know is that I need further remuneration in order to silence my brother Adam. He bragged tonight that he raked in $250 for reading his Wallabies poem at a corporate function prior to the 2003 Rugby World Cup. His 'career artistic earnings' lead mine by $50 and of course, I have to overtake that figure!!
Monday, December 19, 2005
Miraculous recovery!!!
RICE!!!! Isn't it a wonderful thing? Late Saturday arvo and evening, I altered my self treatment to include more compression and elevation as compared to the previous treatment where ice dominated the proceedings. I wore a very tight foot/ankle compression garment that my brother Adam wore in his recovery from a badly swollen ankle every time I finished icing and then elevated. I then slept the first half of the night with my left leg elevated on cushions. Upon wakening on Sunday, swelling was significantly reduced and I could almost walk normally. Continued RICE throughout the day kept improving my condition and by late arvo I was in reasonable shape to do a 10k run!! Common sense however dictates that I will make my return to running on Tuesday.
I think what I've learnt out of this experience is that its very easy to get carried away with the icing and necglect the R, C and E in RICE, which is what I did. With the injury I had, the compression and elevation were clearly the key recovery factors.
On the writing side, I've finally wrapped up my 4500 word, four article contribution to the next issue of Run For Your Life. Am looking forward to a little break from writing!!
I think what I've learnt out of this experience is that its very easy to get carried away with the icing and necglect the R, C and E in RICE, which is what I did. With the injury I had, the compression and elevation were clearly the key recovery factors.
On the writing side, I've finally wrapped up my 4500 word, four article contribution to the next issue of Run For Your Life. Am looking forward to a little break from writing!!
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Can't walk, let alone run!
The past 36 hours has been quite disturbing for me. After blogging the early details of my sore foot yesterday morning , the problem continued to worsen. I then remembered that I took a nasty stumble to my left on the tready on Thursday AM whilst talking to someone next to me, but with absolutely no discomfort evident, I contined my session - later, I rode over to Mum's place down the road, cycling barefoot. I think one or both of those events combined with sleeping with my feet hanging over the edge of the bed has created the problem. As Ally said in the comment section yesterday - its 'ice ice, baby!' and rest assured that I was applying plenty of crushed ice in a towel. In fact I even took a hot/cold gel pack when MJ and I went to dinner at her mate's place. I asked the hosts if I could borrow their freezer to keep chilling the gel pack to place on my foot. I think we can file that one away under "Crazy things runners do # 798"
Unfortunately, the foot was even worse this morning and showing signs of swelling for the first time. I then recalled my connective tissue inflammation in the same four weeks prior to the Gold Coast Marathon last year - this was now starting to feel similar and like the inflammation, the swelling arrived some time after the initial trauma. In that instance, lots of ice over a 3-5 day period before resuming running ASAP even with a little discomfort(to increase blood flow to the area) helped me get to the starting line 100%.
Today after six hours in the office and lots of ice, the swelling seemed to be getting even worse and I was positive I could feel my left calf and lower limb swelling up also. With visions of Clairie's Baker' s Cyst drama going through my mind, I swore I could feel extra blood and fluid swelling my leg up even further! I immediately lay down on the floor next to my desk and elevated my leg onto my chair and proceeded to do that every couple of hours for the rest of the day.
I'm currently dragging my left leg behind me when I walk as if I'm carrying a ball and chain. Running will be out of question for a few days. What started out as a minor discomfort has ballooned into a fully blown issue requiring constant RICE. If only the swelling had commenced immediately that I had suffered the trauma then I may have been able to knock it on the head quicker!
Unfortunately, the foot was even worse this morning and showing signs of swelling for the first time. I then recalled my connective tissue inflammation in the same four weeks prior to the Gold Coast Marathon last year - this was now starting to feel similar and like the inflammation, the swelling arrived some time after the initial trauma. In that instance, lots of ice over a 3-5 day period before resuming running ASAP even with a little discomfort(to increase blood flow to the area) helped me get to the starting line 100%.
Today after six hours in the office and lots of ice, the swelling seemed to be getting even worse and I was positive I could feel my left calf and lower limb swelling up also. With visions of Clairie's Baker' s Cyst drama going through my mind, I swore I could feel extra blood and fluid swelling my leg up even further! I immediately lay down on the floor next to my desk and elevated my leg onto my chair and proceeded to do that every couple of hours for the rest of the day.
I'm currently dragging my left leg behind me when I walk as if I'm carrying a ball and chain. Running will be out of question for a few days. What started out as a minor discomfort has ballooned into a fully blown issue requiring constant RICE. If only the swelling had commenced immediately that I had suffered the trauma then I may have been able to knock it on the head quicker!
Friday, December 16, 2005
Freak injury!!!
Last night, I hit the sack shortly after midnight, exhausted after a few hours of solid writing and editing to wrap up a very busy day. After putting on my Skins, I fell onto the bed and dropped off to sleep pretty quickly. After a few hours I woke up with discomfort in my left foot where it was hanging slightly over the end of the bed. I hauled myself closer to the head of the bed so I could rest my foot on the mattress and promptly went back to sleep. After getting out of bed this morning I was in immediate discomfort when standing up and pushing off from the foot when trying to walk. I can't even put a name to the part of the foot that is bothering me but the dicomfort is located one to two inches back from the big toe and on the inside of the foot. Its definitely not anything to do with the ligaments that run along the metatarsals to the toes, nor is it plantar fascitis.
A run today is definitely out of question as right now I sitting here typing whilst dipping my foot into the dreaded ice buckets for one minute intervals...Owwww!!!!! I'm not too worried about a long term prob as I imagine this is just a silly thing that will clear up quickly.
Fingers crossed!
A run today is definitely out of question as right now I sitting here typing whilst dipping my foot into the dreaded ice buckets for one minute intervals...Owwww!!!!! I'm not too worried about a long term prob as I imagine this is just a silly thing that will clear up quickly.
Fingers crossed!
Thursday - The busy life of a writer
5 x 1k @ 4:30 mins/km
On Wednesday night, I was in the zone and wrote 1500 words in two hours by hand for my Pat Carroll Running Group 'Club of the Month' feature in R4YL. In some ways, writing is a lot like running - If you get into the zone, you can just write at full pelt with words easily blending into sentences and sentences seamlessly blending into paragraphs. Today was also dominated by writing and proofreading my work for R4YL as the deadline looms tomorrow.
I enjoyed a good hitout on the tready after lunch and am looking forward to starting to pick up my mileage again following the recovery week last week.
On Wednesday night, I was in the zone and wrote 1500 words in two hours by hand for my Pat Carroll Running Group 'Club of the Month' feature in R4YL. In some ways, writing is a lot like running - If you get into the zone, you can just write at full pelt with words easily blending into sentences and sentences seamlessly blending into paragraphs. Today was also dominated by writing and proofreading my work for R4YL as the deadline looms tomorrow.
I enjoyed a good hitout on the tready after lunch and am looking forward to starting to pick up my mileage again following the recovery week last week.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Tuesday - The Christmas present dilemna
3 x 2k @ 4:30 mins/km, 2k WU and WD.
Had a nice hitout on the treadmill this morning, running smoothly and evenly. Unfortunately, not everything else went smoothly. Benno's Mazda 323 which I'm driving whilst he is overseas wouldn't start and I ended up driving Adam's Holden Astra to gym and work. As the Astra was sans aircondtioning, I walked into the office soaked in sweat. Surely this is not how Clairie does her secret heat training sessions?
The afternoon saw me dash out to the Uni of Qld to see my sprint coach and occasional podiatrist Ashley Mahoney. After Ash flimed me front on, rear on and side on doing 5:00, 4:15 and top pace, he was very pleased with the improvements in my gait which is a great stride towards more speed and eliminating shin splints. Ash is expecting the still frames from the film to quantify my progress shortly. We ended the session discussing my 400m speed. Coach Pat has told me he has a 400m PB of 52 secs and on the basis of this, I would like to be able to run a 55 sec 400m which I believe will give me the raw speed that I need to be able to run faster accross the board at all distance. Ash reckons I can run 57-58 pretty easily but hard work will be required to get down to 55.
But the real big news came yesterday when MJ texted me to say that she had won the Fitness First promo where a new member(me!!) is referred by a current member (her!!). The prize - A super duper fancy BBQ with all the works!!! I had to laugh when MJ told me about the big win because she was pretty insistent that I not sign up for membership unless I negotiated the price down to exactly what she is paying. I ended up negotiating the price down as you might recall, but was unable to get it all the way down to what she pays, courtesy of signing up five years ago, but signed up anyway. Gees, MJ's a lucky gal, don't you think!!!! The big question now is - am i excused from having to get MJ an Xmas present??? After all, how can I top that BBQ??? ;-)
Had a nice hitout on the treadmill this morning, running smoothly and evenly. Unfortunately, not everything else went smoothly. Benno's Mazda 323 which I'm driving whilst he is overseas wouldn't start and I ended up driving Adam's Holden Astra to gym and work. As the Astra was sans aircondtioning, I walked into the office soaked in sweat. Surely this is not how Clairie does her secret heat training sessions?
The afternoon saw me dash out to the Uni of Qld to see my sprint coach and occasional podiatrist Ashley Mahoney. After Ash flimed me front on, rear on and side on doing 5:00, 4:15 and top pace, he was very pleased with the improvements in my gait which is a great stride towards more speed and eliminating shin splints. Ash is expecting the still frames from the film to quantify my progress shortly. We ended the session discussing my 400m speed. Coach Pat has told me he has a 400m PB of 52 secs and on the basis of this, I would like to be able to run a 55 sec 400m which I believe will give me the raw speed that I need to be able to run faster accross the board at all distance. Ash reckons I can run 57-58 pretty easily but hard work will be required to get down to 55.
But the real big news came yesterday when MJ texted me to say that she had won the Fitness First promo where a new member(me!!) is referred by a current member (her!!). The prize - A super duper fancy BBQ with all the works!!! I had to laugh when MJ told me about the big win because she was pretty insistent that I not sign up for membership unless I negotiated the price down to exactly what she is paying. I ended up negotiating the price down as you might recall, but was unable to get it all the way down to what she pays, courtesy of signing up five years ago, but signed up anyway. Gees, MJ's a lucky gal, don't you think!!!! The big question now is - am i excused from having to get MJ an Xmas present??? After all, how can I top that BBQ??? ;-)
Monday, December 12, 2005
Sunday - Reporting duties at Kurrawa 50k
Sunday Long Run, 45 mins, 9k's @ 5:00mins/km
I had a verrrrry busy weekend. After putting in a shift at work on Saturday, I headed to Strike Bowling Centre at the Wintergarden for my staff Xmas Party. I had an enjoyable time in my three hours there winning the bowling with a score of 156, from 23 other contestants. Perhaps more importantly, I managed to restrict the damage from the tasty(and free!!) amber fluid to just nine XXXX Golds - I think!!! Then it was off to the Bookmaker's Club to put in an appearance at my mate Johnno's surprise 30th Birthday Party, where again, I restricted the damage to just a few Goldies. Rest assured when I say that a few years ago, a night like this saw me still going strong at 5am, having long lost track of the quantity of alcohol consumed!
Three and a half hours sleep(wearing my new Skins for the first time!) later, Langy rocked up to SportsCentre at 3am and after picking up Slash, we headed down the highway for the Kurrawa to Duranbah 50k and 2 x 25k relay, which Langy and Slash were competing in as a team. A record field of around 150 lined up and I had a lot of fun helping Slash crew for Langy as we drove down the Gold Coast towards Duranbah, stopping every few k's to supply Langy with water and gels whilst also barracking for the likes of fellow Pat Carrollers, MJ, Clarie, Tesso, Jess, Daniel and Tara. The format of the race and the crewing for Langy provided me with a perfect opportunity to follow the race for my Run For Your Life reporting duties. Langy did us proud, covering more ground than any other contestant in the first leg and becoming the first person in the history of the race to get lost inside the first 5k's!!! Onya Mate!! To his credit, Langy finished strongly and Slash then ran a strong second leg in warming conditions as the boys finished sixth. Whilst I was sceptical about the value of participating in an event like this, I enjoyed myself immensely and will probably do the race as a Sunday Long Run next year. Whilst there are know spectators, the support of enthusiastic crew driving down the Coast alongside the runners more than makes up for their absence.
A long drive home, followed by a ninety minute nap in my Skins followed by an easy run on the tready before another shift at work left me ready for a good night's sleep!!
I had a verrrrry busy weekend. After putting in a shift at work on Saturday, I headed to Strike Bowling Centre at the Wintergarden for my staff Xmas Party. I had an enjoyable time in my three hours there winning the bowling with a score of 156, from 23 other contestants. Perhaps more importantly, I managed to restrict the damage from the tasty(and free!!) amber fluid to just nine XXXX Golds - I think!!! Then it was off to the Bookmaker's Club to put in an appearance at my mate Johnno's surprise 30th Birthday Party, where again, I restricted the damage to just a few Goldies. Rest assured when I say that a few years ago, a night like this saw me still going strong at 5am, having long lost track of the quantity of alcohol consumed!
Three and a half hours sleep(wearing my new Skins for the first time!) later, Langy rocked up to SportsCentre at 3am and after picking up Slash, we headed down the highway for the Kurrawa to Duranbah 50k and 2 x 25k relay, which Langy and Slash were competing in as a team. A record field of around 150 lined up and I had a lot of fun helping Slash crew for Langy as we drove down the Gold Coast towards Duranbah, stopping every few k's to supply Langy with water and gels whilst also barracking for the likes of fellow Pat Carrollers, MJ, Clarie, Tesso, Jess, Daniel and Tara. The format of the race and the crewing for Langy provided me with a perfect opportunity to follow the race for my Run For Your Life reporting duties. Langy did us proud, covering more ground than any other contestant in the first leg and becoming the first person in the history of the race to get lost inside the first 5k's!!! Onya Mate!! To his credit, Langy finished strongly and Slash then ran a strong second leg in warming conditions as the boys finished sixth. Whilst I was sceptical about the value of participating in an event like this, I enjoyed myself immensely and will probably do the race as a Sunday Long Run next year. Whilst there are know spectators, the support of enthusiastic crew driving down the Coast alongside the runners more than makes up for their absence.
A long drive home, followed by a ninety minute nap in my Skins followed by an easy run on the tready before another shift at work left me ready for a good night's sleep!!
Friday, December 09, 2005
Recovery Week continues
35mins, 7k's @ 5:00 mins/km
Another easy run today with the DOMS now a distant memory. Then got a massage from Bruno during which we discussed my possible race targets for next year. Isn't it exciting when you map out your races for the coming year on a Calender? I'll be sure to reveal my race calender shortly.
Right now, I'm more concerned with trying to work out how to get through the weekend. I have two shifts to work and sandwiched in between that will be a work Xmas Party at 4pm tomorrow arvo, followed immediately by a birthday party and then I'll have to try and snatch 3-5 hours of sleep before a 3am wake up call on Sunday morning to go down the Gold Coast to report on the Kurrawa 50k. Ouch!!
Langy has offered to give me a lift and I could see myself sleeping in the back of his truck on the way down.....In the old days, I probably would have asked Langy to pick me up from outside a nightclub at 3am and then gone straight down the Coast :)
Another easy run today with the DOMS now a distant memory. Then got a massage from Bruno during which we discussed my possible race targets for next year. Isn't it exciting when you map out your races for the coming year on a Calender? I'll be sure to reveal my race calender shortly.
Right now, I'm more concerned with trying to work out how to get through the weekend. I have two shifts to work and sandwiched in between that will be a work Xmas Party at 4pm tomorrow arvo, followed immediately by a birthday party and then I'll have to try and snatch 3-5 hours of sleep before a 3am wake up call on Sunday morning to go down the Gold Coast to report on the Kurrawa 50k. Ouch!!
Langy has offered to give me a lift and I could see myself sleeping in the back of his truck on the way down.....In the old days, I probably would have asked Langy to pick me up from outside a nightclub at 3am and then gone straight down the Coast :)
Thursday, December 08, 2005
"Its all good."
5 x 1k's @ 4:30 mins/km
A late night last night as I went to the Bullets to watch us extend our winning streak to three games with an exciting 110-107 victory over Cairns. Then it was back to SportsCentre for a few more beers and a coupla games of pool with RooBoy. Since getting a pool table for my 30th, I've been making the effort to play several games each week, even when I don't feel like it. After years of being an average player, come 2007, I wanna be an unbeatable pool whiz!!! Laid some early groundwork with a 3-1 defeat of RooBoy last night!
My post Bribie recovery week continued with an easy session today. Fortunately, I have shaken the last remnants of DOMS and am feeling pretty good.
A late night last night as I went to the Bullets to watch us extend our winning streak to three games with an exciting 110-107 victory over Cairns. Then it was back to SportsCentre for a few more beers and a coupla games of pool with RooBoy. Since getting a pool table for my 30th, I've been making the effort to play several games each week, even when I don't feel like it. After years of being an average player, come 2007, I wanna be an unbeatable pool whiz!!! Laid some early groundwork with a 3-1 defeat of RooBoy last night!
My post Bribie recovery week continued with an easy session today. Fortunately, I have shaken the last remnants of DOMS and am feeling pretty good.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Post race recovery run
40 mins, 8k's @ 5:00 min/km
Gingerly worked my DOMS affected muscles through an easy 40 minute recovery run this AM. The DOMS is worse than normal, given my race effort came off a fairly low mileage base and little speedwork. Importantly, the shins have pulled up good again.
I've taken a coupla days leave so its a good chance to put the feet up and relax here and there. Will also find time to write a few thousand words for R4YL.
Life's good and motivation is high at the moment. Bring on 2006!!
Gingerly worked my DOMS affected muscles through an easy 40 minute recovery run this AM. The DOMS is worse than normal, given my race effort came off a fairly low mileage base and little speedwork. Importantly, the shins have pulled up good again.
I've taken a coupla days leave so its a good chance to put the feet up and relax here and there. Will also find time to write a few thousand words for R4YL.
Life's good and motivation is high at the moment. Bring on 2006!!
Monday, December 05, 2005
Bribie Island Tri Race 2 - 1/30/8, Sunday
8k's in 30:58 - 2nd fastest runner out of 18. Northies 3rd out of 18
After about five hours restless sleep, my mobile's vibrating alarm jolted me out of my slumber at 4:50am and then I proceeded to go through my normal pre race organised chaos of getting ready. Drove out to Bribie with MJ and after I watched her start her Just Tri It 300/13/3 event, I headed further down the passage to get ready for Northies' start. With RooBoy's back problems ruling him out of a Bribie race for the first time, we had recruited the Big Fella to fill in for him. Whilst Big Fella was a handy swimmer in his day, he only had two weeks to prepare for this event and 115kg to carry so the pressure was on!! As expected, the Big Fella acquitted himself admirably and came out of the water after his 1k swim, 12th out of 18 teams and a few minutes off the pace. In warming temperatures, Matt then put in another slick effort on the bike with the 4th fastest time and when he tagged me I thought we were in 2nd or 3rd and definitely around three minutes off the lead as the temperature headed into the thirties. I knew the lead runner was capable of a 30 min effort or thereabouts for the 8k, so it was going to take sub 28 run or so to get him which is clearly beyond me at the moment given my shin probs and low training mileage. Instead, I concentrated on running steadily and protecting our position. Going past the boys after completing the first four k lap, RooBoy confirmed that we were in third place and about three minutes behind second place. I continued to run in a steady fashion and with a controlled stride and was shocked when at the 4.5k mark, another team runner loomed up alongside me, venturing onto the grass to overtake me and looking fresh and strong. I instinctively matched his pace for fifty metres or so to make him work hard at running on the softer surface of the grass before he pulled ahead of me and opened up a two metre gap. This was the first time in five races at Bribie that I had been overtaken by another team runner. While all this sank in, the weak side of my brain quickly came to the fore saying "You're not going 100% today because of your shins and its not your fault that the team lost time on the swim leg, so nobody will blame you if we miss a placing, because even at this steady pace, you will still be a top three runner and will have done your job." These thoughts circulated through my mind for about thirty seconds as I continued to stay in touch with the bloke now in third place. Then the strong side of my brain came to the fore suggesting "Look - just draft this bloke for the rest of the race and then outkick him in the last 400m with a sprint finish. Only very good runners can outsprint you and this bloke is probably not one of them." I pondered the tactical implications of this option for a few moments before the sadistic side of my brain cut in, hissing "Put on a surge right now and BREAK this bastard!!! Matty can endure more pain than anyone else!"
Matty can endure more pain than anyone else!
Matty can endure more pain than anyone else!
Matty can endure more pain than anyone else!
Matty can endure more pain than anyone else!
Matty can endure more pain than anyone else!
Matty can endure more pain than anyone else!
Matty can endure more pain than anyone else!
I promptly stepped up the pace from a little faster than 4:00's to around 3:40 min/km pace, quickly overtook the bloke to recapture third place and proceeded to put ten metres on him before resuming my steady speed, just under 4:00's. It was no contest and a knockout win to Matty as the challenger surrended and quickly continued to fall further and further off the pace to the extent that he dropped out of sight in the last two k's. I hit the line in third place for Northies with an 8k PB of 30:58. It shows how far I have come in the last 18 months when I look back to my comeback race in the Lest We Forget 8k in April of 2004 where I gutted myself in running 32:15 in perfect racing conditions. To do 30:58 today in fourth gear was immensely satisfying!
I finished off the morning with a 2.5k warm down run and felt strong throughout and could have done another 10k's easy. Importantly, there was no shin discomfort throughout the race and I pulled up well as the day and evening went by. When the results came out I didn't know whether to laugh or swear!! We officially came thiird beating the fourth place team by seven and a half minutes prompting the penny to drop. It meant that the bloke I had a dogfight for "third place" with at the 4.5k mark was actually a fresh runner in his first lap and just 500m into his run!!! What can you say - "that's racing!" MJ's results were also favourable in her debut tri with the second fastest run for her category so it was a great day all round!
After about five hours restless sleep, my mobile's vibrating alarm jolted me out of my slumber at 4:50am and then I proceeded to go through my normal pre race organised chaos of getting ready. Drove out to Bribie with MJ and after I watched her start her Just Tri It 300/13/3 event, I headed further down the passage to get ready for Northies' start. With RooBoy's back problems ruling him out of a Bribie race for the first time, we had recruited the Big Fella to fill in for him. Whilst Big Fella was a handy swimmer in his day, he only had two weeks to prepare for this event and 115kg to carry so the pressure was on!! As expected, the Big Fella acquitted himself admirably and came out of the water after his 1k swim, 12th out of 18 teams and a few minutes off the pace. In warming temperatures, Matt then put in another slick effort on the bike with the 4th fastest time and when he tagged me I thought we were in 2nd or 3rd and definitely around three minutes off the lead as the temperature headed into the thirties. I knew the lead runner was capable of a 30 min effort or thereabouts for the 8k, so it was going to take sub 28 run or so to get him which is clearly beyond me at the moment given my shin probs and low training mileage. Instead, I concentrated on running steadily and protecting our position. Going past the boys after completing the first four k lap, RooBoy confirmed that we were in third place and about three minutes behind second place. I continued to run in a steady fashion and with a controlled stride and was shocked when at the 4.5k mark, another team runner loomed up alongside me, venturing onto the grass to overtake me and looking fresh and strong. I instinctively matched his pace for fifty metres or so to make him work hard at running on the softer surface of the grass before he pulled ahead of me and opened up a two metre gap. This was the first time in five races at Bribie that I had been overtaken by another team runner. While all this sank in, the weak side of my brain quickly came to the fore saying "You're not going 100% today because of your shins and its not your fault that the team lost time on the swim leg, so nobody will blame you if we miss a placing, because even at this steady pace, you will still be a top three runner and will have done your job." These thoughts circulated through my mind for about thirty seconds as I continued to stay in touch with the bloke now in third place. Then the strong side of my brain came to the fore suggesting "Look - just draft this bloke for the rest of the race and then outkick him in the last 400m with a sprint finish. Only very good runners can outsprint you and this bloke is probably not one of them." I pondered the tactical implications of this option for a few moments before the sadistic side of my brain cut in, hissing "Put on a surge right now and BREAK this bastard!!! Matty can endure more pain than anyone else!"
Matty can endure more pain than anyone else!
Matty can endure more pain than anyone else!
Matty can endure more pain than anyone else!
Matty can endure more pain than anyone else!
Matty can endure more pain than anyone else!
Matty can endure more pain than anyone else!
Matty can endure more pain than anyone else!
I promptly stepped up the pace from a little faster than 4:00's to around 3:40 min/km pace, quickly overtook the bloke to recapture third place and proceeded to put ten metres on him before resuming my steady speed, just under 4:00's. It was no contest and a knockout win to Matty as the challenger surrended and quickly continued to fall further and further off the pace to the extent that he dropped out of sight in the last two k's. I hit the line in third place for Northies with an 8k PB of 30:58. It shows how far I have come in the last 18 months when I look back to my comeback race in the Lest We Forget 8k in April of 2004 where I gutted myself in running 32:15 in perfect racing conditions. To do 30:58 today in fourth gear was immensely satisfying!
I finished off the morning with a 2.5k warm down run and felt strong throughout and could have done another 10k's easy. Importantly, there was no shin discomfort throughout the race and I pulled up well as the day and evening went by. When the results came out I didn't know whether to laugh or swear!! We officially came thiird beating the fourth place team by seven and a half minutes prompting the penny to drop. It meant that the bloke I had a dogfight for "third place" with at the 4.5k mark was actually a fresh runner in his first lap and just 500m into his run!!! What can you say - "that's racing!" MJ's results were also favourable in her debut tri with the second fastest run for her category so it was a great day all round!
Friday, December 02, 2005
Spirit is willing but body is tired
30 mins, 6k's at 5:00 mins/km
Whilst the spirit was tempted to push it and run 45 mins today, the body was tired from Tuesday's and Thursday's sessions plus a ninety minute bike ride with MJ into the Boondall wetlands yesterday to help her prepare for her first individual tri on Sunday at Bribie. Even nine and half hours sleep last night couldn't freshen me up. The last 24 hours is an example of the period of time when I could possibly benefit from Skins. Had I worn Skins to bed and again for the recovery run, perhaps the legs would have been fresher for the run this morning. I'm looking forward to finding out for myself when I get the Skins next week.
Other than the tiredness, the legs got through the session well, with little discomfort and I got through another session without the ankle tape. I've been working hard on my foot strengthening exercises of late and feel ready to try a Sunday long run next week without the ankle tape.
Its all good!!
Whilst the spirit was tempted to push it and run 45 mins today, the body was tired from Tuesday's and Thursday's sessions plus a ninety minute bike ride with MJ into the Boondall wetlands yesterday to help her prepare for her first individual tri on Sunday at Bribie. Even nine and half hours sleep last night couldn't freshen me up. The last 24 hours is an example of the period of time when I could possibly benefit from Skins. Had I worn Skins to bed and again for the recovery run, perhaps the legs would have been fresher for the run this morning. I'm looking forward to finding out for myself when I get the Skins next week.
Other than the tiredness, the legs got through the session well, with little discomfort and I got through another session without the ankle tape. I've been working hard on my foot strengthening exercises of late and feel ready to try a Sunday long run next week without the ankle tape.
Its all good!!
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Late session, Great session
5 x 1k's @ 4:15 mins/km, 2k warm up, 3k warm down
A late night last night led to a late trip to Fitness First this morning. Went to the Bullets and watched our boys put in their best performance of the year torching the Sixers 130-109. Now if only we can get a streak going! Should have been in bed earlier but made the mistake of popping a DVD of the first episode of Without a Trace into the DVD player. I was impressed by the good scripting, tight storyline and strong characters and ended up watching two episodes.
Got through another discomfort free run at the gym this morning and I'm just stoked with how things are going on the tready so far. I'm really looking forward to seven to eight weeks of solid volume training after Bribie this weekend and easing my way up to 70k's a week. I also can't wait for the results of my next gait analysis to see how much my stride has improved!
A late night last night led to a late trip to Fitness First this morning. Went to the Bullets and watched our boys put in their best performance of the year torching the Sixers 130-109. Now if only we can get a streak going! Should have been in bed earlier but made the mistake of popping a DVD of the first episode of Without a Trace into the DVD player. I was impressed by the good scripting, tight storyline and strong characters and ended up watching two episodes.
Got through another discomfort free run at the gym this morning and I'm just stoked with how things are going on the tready so far. I'm really looking forward to seven to eight weeks of solid volume training after Bribie this weekend and easing my way up to 70k's a week. I also can't wait for the results of my next gait analysis to see how much my stride has improved!
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