Monday morn - treadmill workout
warmup 1km at jogging pace
1 x 1000m @15kph - 3mins walking recovery
1 x 600m @ 17.5kph/inc 2deg - 3mins walking rec
1 x 400m @ 20kph/inc 6deg - 1.5mins walking rec
cooldown 1km at jogging pace
10mins of various medicine ball exercises
(probably enough after very hard workout yesterday
in hot sun) - total workout of 4kms

Monday eve - various medicine ball exercises
skipping and about 5 sets of tuck jumps.

Sunday afternoon - very warm at the track (sunny)
amazingly still feel a little soreness from wednesday.
warmup 2laps jogging
lots of 60m run-throughs gradually building speed.
2 sets of 300/100/200/60 with 90 secs between runs
and 10 mins between sets. Then another rest of
about 15 mins before a couple of run-throughs to
bring the heartrate up followed by 3 x grandstand
steps drills. Then cooldown 2 laps jogging.
I'm not sure that the 60m at the end of the sets is
of much use as i couldn't run them at speed."

PB again !!

Saturday morn - 5:00:41 for the lap of the lake (1170m) which
betters my previous of 5:03:11 - very pleased this morning!
Now i'm off to help setup for the Knox Open Twilight Little Aths.

A New Phase

Friday - A humid morning and a run for an hour or so.
About 10km's and a bit of a stuggle to start with but i
got through it ok. I'm not good with hot weather and
i could really feel it at about the 53min mark.

After a lot of thinking/reading/talking with others, i'm
changing the focus of my training and concentrating on
speed and speed endurance. My main goals are really
from 100m - 1km (i'm going to put off thinking about
doing the Half for a couple of years i think) so i'm
going to work on running at high speed and also
improve my ability to back up and do repeated efforts
again and again after a short rest.
I will now only be doing one long run each week which
at the moment will be on each Friday morning (10km's).
The rest of the week will be working on reps of assorted
distances from 30m all the way up to 1km. I will also be
increasing my focus on core strength and insuring that i
get enough rest. 400m is my number one priority and i
have been studying how to break down the distance into
various sections and how best to attack each one.
I do feel that lately i have lost the edge off my maximum
speed so i will be doing lots of short sharp explosive runs
and step drills to regain that.

Wednesday Evening - Very warm night at the Masters.
A warmup of a couple of laps and then some 60m run-throughs.
3 x 200m x 6mins relay in which our team came second. I
thought i paced it quite well.
Followed that up with 1 x grandstand steps to show the new
guy (Doug). After that the sprinters got together and ran
some 150m reps in about :27 with walking recovery with
100m reps in about :16 in between each 150. I started to
fade out a bit doing these and had to have a break.
Then a couple of laps with one of the distance guys while
chatting about training etc. Finished up with several 60m
run-throughs before calling it a night.
About 2 and a half hours of training/racing which was a bit
unorganised this evening possibly because of the heat.

Back from the country

Wednesday - Just got back from the country a couple
of hours ago and i'm trying to relax a little on this very
hot Australia Day. I have to head down to the track
in a couple of hours for the Masters so i'm trying not
to overheat too much but it's not easy!
I managed to get in a couple of very high quality runs
while away over some testing terrain indeed!
Sunday morning was to begin with a warmup of about
1km followed by 10 x 100m hill repeats up quite a
decent incline. I walked to the bottom after each run
before beginning the next. Then a cooldown of about
1km for a total workout of 3km's (very solid).
Monday morning was a distance run of around 10km's
following a very undulating gravel road. I did this in
around 63 mins and it was very testing and very
worthwhile. Nothing from then until tonight at the
Masters so even though it's extremely humid, i should
be somewhat fresh.

Saturday - a quick post before going away for a few days.
I ran a timed lap of the lake this morning as i haven't done
it in a while. Ran 1170 in 5:08:86 which i'm quite pleased
with. I felt good during the run (which is quite unusual for
this course) and had the ability to quicken over the last
250. I should have gone a little quicker in the middle
stages which would have taken me under my PB i feel.
It was still the second quickest for the trip (5:03PB).

Next post probably Wed or Thurs.

Away

I won't be posting for a few days as i'll be away with
the family having a short break. Hopefully i'll get a
couple of runs in so stay tuned.

Friday - went for an easy run this morning again without
the Garmin. Ran for 62 mins which would be about 10km's.
I felt a little sore for the first 10 mins or so, which is still a
leftover from the hard session on Wednesday night at the
Masters.

Thursday - Rest day 

Wednesday - This morning i went for a cycle around
the lake for about 35mins (13kms). Today was very
very hot so i was wondering how i would go tonight.

Tonight at the Knox Masters -
A warm night and a tough night of racing/training.
warmup consisting of 2 laps of the track plus lots
of run-throughs gradually building speed over about
60m.
800m Hcp race with me running off 40secs finishing
second on the track in an actual 2:51. This would
easily be a PB for me by a long margin.
After a brief break an 80sec NOSP where i ran from
about 460m and was going quite well until about
150m out when i had to pull out due to extreme
fatigue. Simply not enough recovery time after the
800 for me.
Around 20mins later together with another runner,
completed 3 sets of 200/150/100 with walking in
between. Then 2 x grandstand steps in fast time.
Total for the evening around 5km's - very solid.

Tuesday - back on the boxing bags this morning!
I haven't done these for a few weeks and i feel it's important
that i do. I need to do more cross-training to break up the
running. I need to increase the cycling and the work on the
boxing bags to give myself time to recover from my running.
This should give me a good balance and keep me fresh.

Monday - Interval training on the treadmill.
warmup around 7 or 8 mins jogging
5 x 250m @ 20kph/inc 14degs
solid pace walk between each rep of 200m
cooldown around 7 or 8 mins jogging.
Not a bad workout but would prefer to do these
at the track.

As you can see, i have added a photo using "Hello". My favourite pastime is photography so from time to time i will be posting a photo or two for your viewing pleasure!

My current pile of runners! 

Sunday - I decided to change things around a bit due to
a change in my wife's working hours. I went for my long
run this afternoon instead of on Monday morning. I left
the garmin and the mp3 player at home and tried to relax
and enjoy it. Still a bit of a struggle but felt good after
around 50mins. On recent efforts i estimated about 10.5
km's in a bit over 63mins today.
Tomorrow morning i will have to do my speed session on
the treadmill.

Saturday - The end of another training week and as
i mentioned in an earlier post, i have cut back severely
on my training in the past few days. Today i was going
to do something but i spent a lot of time working on my
motorbike so it ended up a day of rest (training wise).
Looking back at my week, it shows only 24km's of running.
This was made up of one intense speed/interval session
and two easy distance runs. I did cycle once during the
week, but only for about 12km's. I ended up with four
complete rest days out of seven but still not enough sleep.

Friday - After a rest day yesterday, i was ready to
go on my usual 10km run this morning. It all started
out well with the first 5km passing in under 30mins.
From then on, i started to struggle more and more
the further i ran. Possible the humid conditions and
the fact that i'm still not getting enough sleep - i dont
know. Anyway i pulled up after 9km's (56mins) and
called it a day. Not sure now about tomorrow morning.
I may go cycling instead of a run - we'll see!

UPDATE - Friday evening - i have felt pretty ordinary
all day (upset stomach) so i guess that would at least
partly explain this morning's struggle during my run.
I'll have to wait now to see if i do any training tomorrow.

Wednesday - a good hard speed session at the athletics
track tonight -
warmup 2 laps
60m run-throughs about 10 gradually building speed
10 x 150m reps with walking recovery
30m reps running on balls of the feet/knees raised (spikes)
more 60m run-throughs about 6.
Around 4.5kms all up - good session.
Rest day again tomorrow.

Wednesday - Went for a cycle around the lake this morning.
A little restricted by time so around 12km's in a little over
half an hour just to get the legs going again!

Tuesday - a rest day today, tomorrow morning i will
cycle around the lake for 40 mins. In the evening i'm
doing a speed session which will be 10 x 150m.

Monday - I decided to leave the Garmin at home and
just run for an hour or so at easy pace. Actually ran
for 64 mins so probably about 10.5 km's. I'm pulling
back the training somewhat for a little while to see how
that works for me!

Rest Rest Rest

Sunday - decided to have a complete weekend free of training.
Hopefully that will freshen me up to begin again on Monday
morning (long run 10km's).

Saturday - I'm having today off from running.
I may also have tomorrow off but we'll see.

Looking back

Having a look back at the last week i can see that to
begin with i overdid things on Wednesday!
Four speed/interval sessions in the last week is
obviously too much and will need to be cut back to
probably two per week.
I am perhaps expecting a bit too much too soon and
should probably remember that i've only really been
back running seriously since the end of September.
The one major change that i made in the last week
or two was the introduction of 1km reps. As a sprinter
these have been quite difficult for me and perhaps
they have been the cause of my tiredness(???).

Run down again!

Friday - this mornings run was meant to be for an hour.
It was pretty clear shortly into it that i was struggling to
keep a pace so i cut it short after 6km's. On arriving home
i had to run to the toilet which didn't help and my stomach
hasn't been right since then.
(Ended up with 6.12km's in 39:21 for av pace of 6:27/km
- clearly something wrong!)
I'm pretty sure that i've done too many speed sessions in
the past week or so. As these need more recovery than
long runs, my lack of adequate sleep etc. has weakened me
to the point where i need more rest again.
Once again i'm going to have to rethink my training as far
as speed/interval sessions go and obviously cut back on them.

Wednesday morn - 10km's on the treadmill this morning.
Tonight - Knox Masters at the athletics track followed by
10 x150m reps.

Tonight at the Masters - I arrived to a very wet track but
that dried out quite quickly for some nice cool conditions.
I warmed up for at least a good half an hour with a couple
of laps and lots of run-throughs.
2 x 400m as part of a relay race (81 and 75). I tried to save
something for the second 400 but really these times were
just too slow really! Followed up with a bit of a break before
10 x 150m reps (approx 27, 28) then a walk back to around
the 220m mark to start off again. About a 5 min or so cool-
down before heading off home. A good solid evenings racing/
training interval session of around 2 hours.
Tomorrow will be a scheduled rest day.

Tuesday - an interval workout on the treadmill.
Due to not being able to leave home to go running
on Tuesday mornings, i must make use of the
treadmill. This was the first of my interval
workouts where i keep the distances and pace
separate. Today is slotted for 1km reps x 3.
Wednesday night will be around 10 x 150m reps
after the Masters races. Saturday aft/evenings
will be reps of 500m x 4 or 5.
Tomorrow morning will be another 60min easy run.

Breakthrough

Monday morn - Just as i was starting to wonder about
my training, a breakthrough - 10km's in under 60 mins.
In fact 59:06 and an average pace of 5:54/km which for
me is very reassuring!

???

After sitting down and having a bit of a redo of my
weekly training (on paper), i have 3 longish easy
runs, 3 interval sessions and a couple of cycling
sessions. I'm just wondering if 3 interval sessions
is too much in a week? Also during each week, there
is a session of the Masters which includes a race or two
for me and also intervals (my choice) to round out the
evening. In my interval sessions i will be trying to
cover all the bases. One will be just short sprints like
say 10 x 150m (completed after Masters races).
Another will be say 5 x 400m and another 2 or 3 x 1km.
The last one which i now doon Sunday afternoon/evenings
is the 3 x grandstand steps/400m at the track. (It actually
makes 4 sessions). My question is - am i doing too many
interval sessions? Should my long easy runs be at least
75% of my training? I am mostly a sprinter though but
i'm trying the longer stuff out pretty much for the first
time in my life.

First session for 2005

Sunday - Once again this morning's cycling session did not
happen! I find it quite difficult to get motivated while i'm
on holidays (i.e. get out of bed).
I headed down to the athletics track very late this afternoon
after spending most of the day doing odd jobs in the garden.
Another interval session but the first at the track for a couple
of weeks.
warmup of 2 laps and several sprint run-throughs starting
very slow and building gradually to solid(ish) pace.
Then a set of 3 x grandstand steps drill with a 400m half pace
lap in between each one. I havent done this one for about a
month and i managed a PB of 8:58 which is quite an improvement
over my previous 9:57
This was followed by a full recovery and then 1 x 1km in 4:57
and full recovery for a 1 x 400m in 76:16 and a cooldown of
2 laps. Total of around 5 km's and an hour on the track.

From what i have been doing in the past week or so i will
definately have to revise one of my goals for 2005. My goal
for 1 km is now going to be 4 mins by the end of June and
3:30 by the end of 2005. The 3mins that i had previously
stated is just biting off way too much at this stage.
Updated goals list for 2005 is now -
400m in 58
1km in 3:30
half in 2 hrs

Sunday - I've borrowed the weekly kilometre table
from Mister G's blog and adapted it for my own use
here - nothing yesterday as i was recovering from
NYE celebrations.