Just a few weeks away from top fitness

Tues - 1k/500/1k/500/1k/1k - 3:25,97,3:24,95,3:40, 3:27 with avg 53 sec SR

With a time trial next Tuesday, it was the usual distance efforts under the Story Bridge. My lungs felt clear and strong but the legs were not quite up to run the sub 3:20's I would have done just before the Gold Coast. The 3:40 penultimate rep was slow as I mistakenly thought we were finishing with a 2k effort. Other than that, a good solid hit out and I hope to improve further on that on Friday

Wed - 90 mins, 18k's @ 4:58 mins/km

Cruisey run along Kedron Brook - finished a little later than normal and it was nice to feel the warmth of the sun - will have to break out the sunscreen in a few weeks.

Thurs - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:11 mins/km

Easy session on tready followed by 10 minutes on exercise bike.

Solid progress as the weight stays down

Fri - 5omins, 10k's @ 4:52 mins/km

Didn't feel quite up to a second speedwork session for the week as the comeback gathers momentum. Did the trusty Kedron Brook run in a pleasant light rain. A bit surreal running through a backburned area near the airport with smell of ashes still fresh whilst it was raining!

Sun - 120 mins, 25k's @ 4:52 mins/km

Longest run since GC Marathon as I did the Brisbane Half Marathon course. Felt good - knees a tad till a tad sore since my trail running through the Noosa National Park last weekend. I've only put back 2kg's since my stomach bug and am feeling good at 75kg.

Progress

Tues - 6x1min, 4 x 30secs with JR, 2 mins

Took my time working my way into this session at the Gardens run a little under four minute pace initially and then working home strongly.

Wed - 90 mins, 19k's @ 4:55 mins/km

Was by myself for the Green Bridge loop with nobody showing on a cold, wet and windy morning. The DOMS from running the trails in the Noosa National Park ensured that the pace was a little slower than normal this morning - probably a good thing I was alone.

Thurs - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:10mins/km

Easy sesh on the tready.

Noosa

Sat - 50 mins, 10k's @ about 5:00 mins/km

After a day in the office, i headed up to Noosa at 3pm and checked into the Hotel Laguna. No sooner had I unpacked then the running gear was being thrown on and I headed down Hastings st. Diverting to the boardwalk along the beach, I followed it to the National Park where I hugged the coast for an enjoyable run taking in gorgeous scenery as dusk set in. First time I've done that run and it won't be the last. Back at the unit, it was a brief shower and then straight of to the Reef Hotel for an enjoyable dinner with the PCRG. Not having a big race the next day helps!

Sun - 80 mins, 16k's @ about 4:50 mins/km

Got up and after getting the running gear on I headed out to the course and set off down the deserted and closed off course ahead of the rest of the field so I could get some splits for my R4YL article. I reached the 3k mark and took some splits before heading back to the start and following the race as I ran. Gees, that old marvel Monas put in a superb run and could have easily won had he taken it seriously from the word go and had it not been for a dodgy calf!! I ended up covering 8k's whilst the Half was being run and after the races were over, I headed into the National Park for another beautiful run hugging the coast. 16k's all up for the day - all junk miles though - I won't call it a real run. Nevertheless its good to be working up a sweat again after a week on the sidelines. I don't feel like I've lost much at all, but time will tell me more!

Wiped out

I've seen so many runners fall into a hole after contesting a marathon whether of their own making or otherwise and after the Gold Coast, I vowed not to fall down that hole, but unfortunately, I've lost considerable momentum now. After a promising first up speed session on Friday, I was looking forward to my first two hour run in a while on Sunday but woke up with an aching body and fever. Not long after that I threw up my breakfast. I've since spent the first half of the week battling a stomach that simply doesn't feel like eating. For example, today I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and couldn't stomach anything else until dinner time!! Coupled with a case of diarrhoea, its been a pretty ordinary couple of days with what I think is a stomach bug of some sort. I've lost 2-3kg's and now tip the scales at a prawn like 74kg - my lightest weight since I started pumping iron seriously at 21.

Midweek happenings

Wed - 90 mins, 19k's @ about 4:50 mins/km

A cruisey and enjoyable 90 mins with Beth and Mike. We were joined by Mike's Border Collie, Tenzing who loped along with us the whole - that was the first time I've ever gone running with a dog! And a very fit dog I should add!!

Thurs - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:10 mins/km

A boring but necessary 50 mins on the tready.

Blowing out the cobwebs

After over a week off with a bad cold I'm back in business:

Thurs - 50 min, 10k's @ about 5:00 mins/km - Joined PCRG for Tesso's farewell run
Fri - 40 mins, 8k's @ 5:10 mins/km - Easy effort on tready
Sat - 85 mins, 17k's @ about 5:00 mins/km - Twilight run from Newstead to Story Bridge after work
Tues - 15 mins hills in Botanic Gardens with PCRG. First speedwork session in five weeks - struggled early but worked home strongly - pleasing effort.

Cold struggles continue

My cold shows no signs of ending - I've endured particularly bad watery eyes, a runny nose and persistent coughing fits over the weekend. In hindsight, returning to the office on Saturday and spending a long day at work in our sub arctic air conditioning was a mistake. I was in poor shape on Sunday morning and did not make the drive to Ipswich to cover the Park to Park Half Marathon for R4YL.

I have not run since last Tuesday and coupled with my other 13 day break its looking increasingly likely that I will have to drop down in distance at Noosa and do the 5k.

I've taken the day off work and hopefully I can get things right in the next 24-48hours.

Still not over cold

Am slowly getting over the cold which features a nasty cough and aches throughout my body. Won't run today which is a little concerning as I have one eye on the Noosa Half in three weeks time.

Felled

Tues - 50 mins, 10k's @ 4:50 mins/km

Enjoyed an easy run yesterday on the Kedron Brook path aka Jim Soorley Bikeway. The Gateway arterial duplication is certainly hotting up as there were 15 trucks crossing the bikeway as I went past the roadworks for the first time.

Have picked up a cold/sore throat today so no running. From memory, its my first cold in around four months so am pretty pleased with the way my health has held up during Autumn/Winter. Interestingly, prior to the three colds I have had this year, my shins have not ached once - previously any cold I got was preceded by aching shins. I'm pretty confident in saying that my shins are no longer the weakest part of my body. Alas, it was an aching lower back that preceded this cold so I'll have to work on that now!!

PCRG Formal

Fri - 30 mins, 6k's @ 5:15 mins/km
Sun - 70 mins, 14k's @ about 5::00mins/km

Its been good to get back into the running as the skin on my foot slowly heals. 30 mins on the tready on Friday was followed by a 70 minute 'long run' at dusk as I cruised from my place at Wavell Heights, through Marchant Park to Aspley and back. Its all good - prior to that, MJ and I had taken our new Japanese homestayer Nao out to Pinkeba to check out the USS Kitty Hawk. It was an impressive sight - but would have been even better if it was berthed on our side of the river. I was truly stunned at how many Brisbanite's had decided to take a Sunday arvo drive out to see her. We were in bumper to bumper traffic for 30 mins to get there and when we left, cars were backed up 5k's.

No doubt the highlight of the weekend however was the PCRG Formal at the Rydges Rooftop - you'd be hard pressed to find many better functions rooms with a better view in town. A nice meal and plenty of drinks were enjoyed and it was great to catch up with everyone's Gold Coast stories after not having attended training since. I was relatively well behaved (I didn't even harass, limiting the damage to about eight drinks. Andy S was a deserving winner of the Group member of the year for mine although I'm not sure about Keith winning the best shirt off look :) Perky's experience was upsetting but he's a tough lad and I'm sure he'll bounce back - get well soon, Mate!

Finally!!

30 mins, 6k's @ about 5:00 mins/km

It was with a fair degree of apprehension that I dropped my car of at the mechanic this morning and then set off for the run back to my place. The slowly healing cut on my foot had been uncomfortable just squeezing it into my shoe, so how was I going to get through a run? I need not have worried though for their was no discomfort whatsoever once I started. The only discomfort was from my slightly laboured breathing as I blew out the cobwebs after 13 days without running - the longest break since my January 2004 comeback. Best of all, their was no broken skin when I took my shoe off to inspect the cut and only a smidgeon of bleeding.

I plan to do some easy running every day till Sunday and then do 70 kilometres of easy running for next week. Then its back to Pat's for three weeks of speedwork before the Noosa Half. Other than that, I have still not finalised my direction beyond the next month but hope to resolve that shortly.

Comeback delayed

Unfortunately, the new skin on my left foot where I had the growth removed is not growing as quickly as I would have liked. Compounding that, the location of the offending area is slightly on the outside of my left foot and is an area that tends to rub on the shoe when in motion. As such, I refrained from running on Sunday and will take things on a day to day basis from here on.

To help speed up the healing process, I'm trying to wear shoes as infrequently as possible including walking around the office in my socks. On the brighter side, I'm no longer wearing a bandage on the back of my neck and am showing off my stitches to the world whilst the eyes are going well.

All going well, I lace up the runners in a couple of days and maybe, just maybe have a crack at the Jetty to Jetty 3k on Sunday. I really need to get back into the running ASAP - I've been having a couple of rum and cokes most nights and also far too much chocolate and too many deserts!

Clean up surgery

Here's an unofficial photo of the sub 3hr pack at the Gold Coast Marathon probably around the 16-20k mark heading north. You can't miss Monas at the front and next to him is B pacer, Dennis Fitzgerald looking at his watch. I'm in the middle of the road about 10m behind Monas, and I appear to be looking forlornly at the personal refreshment tables!!!

I had successful clean up surgery first thing on Monday morning. A lump of scar tissue was removed from the back of my neck by my dermatologist, Dr Robert Sinclair. I first noticed the lump around 10 years ago when it was the size of a sultana. Five years ago it was the size of a marble and recently, it has been venturing towards golf ball proportions! I was surprised at the size of the ugly, bloody, messy lump of tissue when the Doc showed me afterwards - like an iceberg, it was bigger than I thought! I was hoping to bring it home so I could post a picture here but unfortunately, the Doc sent it off to the pathology lab for testing :( Six stitches were required to close me up afterward and the removal of a benign growth from my foot was also successful. The doctor reiterated that I should take a week off running - but I'm not sure I heard him properly. I could have sworn he said 'working week'. In that case, I might resume running in five days ;-)

Still mulling over the future short term direction of my running and will post my thoughts soon.

Successful laser eye surgery!!

Wed 30 mins, 6k's @ 5:10 mins/km
Thurs 40 mins, 8k's @ 5:00 mins/km

Much of the week has been spent contemplating how a promising Gold Coast Marathon unravelled so abruptly and brutally. I've identified some flaws in my make up that I need to address and will reveal shortly. Managed two easy runs in the middle of the week, shuffling on both occasions early in the run till my DOMS affected quads warmed up.

Much of my attention this week however was geared towards my long awaited laser eye surgery yesterday which proved successful. The procedure, coupled with another procedure on Monday to remove a benign growth from my left foot will cost me 7-10 days of running. I'll spend that time doing light stuff in the gym and extra stretching.

Laser Eye Surgery


I went to the operating theatre at Laser Sight late yesterday to be given a valium tablet and a gown. After the valium kicked in, I was then laid down on a dentist style chair and swivelled under an intimidating looking machine. A clamp was placed around my eyelids to hold them open and then I felt the slightly uncomfortable sensation of my cornea being lasered open - it felt like someone was firmly but not uncomfortably pressing their thumb on my eyeballs. It was pretty hairy when the machine moved to the left eye because all I could see out of the right eye now was a blinding white light. After the left eye was done, the nurse said 'We've lifted your cornea flap - could you please move to the next bed' - Aargh, shit!!

Here, my right eye was again clamped open and I was swivelled under the laser machine, staring up into the red beam of the laser. Because I was looking directly into the red beam, it got larger and it felt like I was actually looking up at a starry night with hundreds of red dots of light replacing the stars. Nevertheless, I felt strangely calm as I followed instructions and stared intently at the red light while the acrid smell of my burning flesh permeated the air Dr Peter Stewart and his laser did its job. The second eye followed and it was all over in about 10-15 minutes.

I then went into the recovery room and there I had the first brief indication that my eyesight had improved as I could see fairly well across the room before I had clear plastic eye protecters taped over my eyes and then large dark sunnies placed over them. The eyes were pretty uncomfortable as MJ drove me home as they were quite watery and somewhat grainy. I had two sleeping tablets as soon as I got home and a quick dinner and then hit the sack at 7pm and quickly fell asleep. Woke up in the middle of the night still feeling uncomfortable and very groggy from the drugs and MJ said I was speaking gibberish, but I quickly fell back asleep again.

Woke up at 7am and it was quite a revelation to remove the plastics eye protectors and look outside to see a beautiful day with my 'new' eyes and see it clearly!! I was grinning like a kid after opening their best Christmas present! A follow up visit to the clinic this morning confirmed that I now had better than 20-20 vision in both eyes and can see better than I did yesterday with the specs! My right eye has about 5% better vision than my left but this is normal as the human body is not symetrical. The only slight drawback is that things such as newsprint get blurry if I look at them from closer than 10cm. Overall, I'm thrilled with the results and am happy to recommend the procedure to anyone and to refer them to my doctor who is the best in the business and a pioneer of the procedure - just let me know.


Life's good.....sensational even!!

Gold Coast DNF disappointment

I added another entry to my list of disappointing races in 2007 yesterday when i withdrew from the GC Marathon at the 28k mark after running out of fuel. My day began badly when I regurtitated the contents of my breakfast of porridge and bannana(same as before every long run) just as I was leaving the apartment. This came as a shock as I've never thrown up before a race before - even with the usual butterflies. At this point, I had no choice but to go ahead with what I had already planned and hope that the carbo load had left enough fuel in me. I took my usual GU an hour before the race and another 15 minutes before the race. I felt ok for the first 10k and was running comfortably 10-15m behind Monas and Dennis Fitzgerald in the three hour pack. I felt very good from the 10-20k and got in the zone a couple of times where it felt very easy. I then worked my way up to the front of the pack running just behind Mona's for a few k's - inspirational stuff as we went through the half way in 88:03.

I had missed my bottle of Gatorade and GU at the 15k and 20k personal drink stops and I was stunned to discover that the personal drink tables were not marked with head high signs eg #0-500 and so on. Fortunately, I had two GU's in my pockets and was able to take one to keep the energy levels up along with cups of Endura. At the 25k mark, I sacrificed my position at the head of the pack to stop and search for my drink bottle but was unable to locate it. It was a sickening feeling to resume running now 50m behind the pack and without my much needed personal drink. I immediately put the foot down to make up the lost ground and covered the next 3k's at around 4:00 mins/km pace and got to within 10m of the pack before bonking badly - suffering from energy depletion.

I was on pace for a 2:56-2:57 when I stepped off the course, but had used up all my reserves of energy to get there basically covering 28k's on just three GU's and five or six cups of Endura. It was just a very disappointing day with things going wrong from the word go and it was extremely difficult to remain mentally positive. Yet at the same time, I am instilled with confidence as I was well on track to achieve my goal until the inevitable depletion occured. There is little doubt in my mind that had I kept breakfast down and been able to get my personal drinks and GUs whenever I wanted them, I would have nailed the bloody thing.

More thoughts and assessments to come.

D-Day looms as the carbo load begins

Wed - 50 mins, 10k's @ 4:57 mins/km
Thurs - 30 sec efforts with JR, 3k WU, 3k CD

An easy run yesterday went well.

A good turnout at PCRG this morning for our final session before the Coast - I did most of the 30 second efforts at about 60-80% intensity with two efforts at 100% intensity. Its a funny session and its hard to have a clear purpose for the session when you are doing little more than holding your fitness.

Had a nice breakfast of fruit and pancakes at the Ship Inn afterwards - the first time I've made this breakfast as I normally train on Friday instead. Because Clairie was taking the piss out of me pretending to have an infectious disease, I think its only fair that I reveal that whilst I had two pancakes and Big Dan had three pancakes, Clairie had four pancakes :)

Race pace trial

4k's in 16:58 - 4:19, 4:15, 4:12, 4:11, 3k WU, 3k CD

Went to the Broncos last night taking great care to keep out of the breathing range of everyone on the train and at the game - most enjoyable game too belting the Tigers 48-18 and giving big Petero a standing ovation after he was dispatched to the sin bin for being third man into a biff - love it!!

4k's at race pace this morning which I did with Damian, David and Coach Pat with all the splits being around the 4:13 pace i'm aiming for on Sunday. Felt tired, lethargic and sluggish - a normal taper run. Hardly felt the adductor at all though - a big positive!!

Woke up with a bit of a sore back - probably slept on the wrong side last night but saw Shane Lemcke today for my final physio maintenance and he did some work on the back - not too much to worry about there. Shane pronounced the adductor nearly healed.

I've picked up a minor niggle in the left ankle that I'm paying attention too- typical taper week!!

A relaxed run

90 mins, 18k's @ 5:00 mins/km

Was at Orleigh Park, West End at 6am to help out the Running for Research race with some volunteering. After assisting the set up, my biggest task then was to fix the portaloos after it was discovered that both the portaloos sent out by City Hire were not flushing!! It was discovered that there was no water in the portaloos so I used a 10L bottle of drinking water to fill up the water tank so the toilets would flush and then refilled the bottle with water from the Brisbane River - gees, where's Kenny when you need him!!!

Started my 90 min run from Orleigh Park just before 9am and it was over in the blink of eye! Its amazing how short the run felt after several runs of just under three hours recently. I was relaxed and comfortable throughout again taking care not to go too fast.

The taper continues

Thurs - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:05 mins/km
Fri - 6x2min with 30 sec JR

It was only last week that I was boasting to my brothers Benno and Adam that our winter weather was t-shirts, stubbies and thongs weather and far better than their UK working holiday weather!! Naturally, we are now in the grip of a helluva cold snap. I have since discovered that the windchill factor for my Wednesday run was a temp of 0 deg!!

Thankfully a tready run was scheduled yesterday and I had an easy session at 5:05 pace.

This morning, it was 2 min efforts in the Gardens and Pat asked me to ease off the accelerator from 3:20-3:25 pace to 3:25-3:30 pace which i did. A few of the Friday regulars must have trained yesterday and Glenda has sadly succumbed to a stressie of the posterior tibia so I ended up running by myself this morning. It was a solid session and I pulled up ok after being late to bed last night - it was Langy's 40th at Earth n Sea at Bulimba with a bunch of the PCRG guys. Naturally, I washed down my pasta and pizza with water!! Nearly froze my legs off in the South Bank pool for this mornings wading recovery with the water easily the coldest I can remember it being. My feet were in real pain until they got used to the temp and strangely enough my thighs felt like they were on fire by the time my 10 minutes was up. Still, I swear by it, no matter how uncomfortable it is!!