Not Quite To Plan - But!

Friday Morning - Treadmill Fartlek (4)
This morning's treadmill session was meant to be my
usual 14/10/14/10 fartlek with seven reps at 14kph @
a minute each. However after doing 4 of the 14's i then
realised that i was just too tired to do this particular
set properly. I then decided on another 3.5kms of slow
jogging at recovery pace. So the session went like this
Warmup 1.5kms at slow jogging pace then
(actual) 10/14/10/14/10/14/10/14/10 then i decided
on the remainder of 3.5km's at slow jogging pace.
A set of chairdips and pullups to finish of the session.
Total distance 6.5kms.

Thursday Evening - Leg Speed/Drills (3)
Warmup 1400m on the treadmill - various jogging then
5 x 30m high knees
5 x 30m bum kicks
1 x 400m slow jogging pace
3 x 50m strides
5 x double step ladder runs timed at -
12:05/11:61/11:66/11:06/10:49
4 x single step ladder runs
I finished off with a cooldown run for 8mins.
(Total distance 4kms)


Thursday Morning - Medium Recovery Run (4)
This morning's 10km run was slotted as a recovery run.
I was a little surprised by the time at the end which
was 56:42. I did feel for most of the run like my legs
were sore and stiff from Masters so i expected to run
about probably 58:30 or so. This time though the last
10mins or so felt better than all that went before it.

Wednesday Evening - Knox Masters (5)
A very cold night again tonight for Masters.
Warmup 3 laps slow jogging pace then around 4
sets of single grandstand step drills. Then followed
4 x 50m strides and a couple of block starts.
Our relay tonight ended up being a 3 x 100m twice
shuttle run with batons (difficult when running towards
each other!). My team won but i couldn't really
attack the two runs as there wasn't anyone to push
me along. We then had our usual presidents talk
before the main event which was the TT's. I ran the
20mins and managed a PB of 4200m. I'm very happy
with that as i was right on my 3km PB time during
the run and finished with 150m further than the last
TT a month or so ago. To finish off i ran another 3
laps at slow pace to cooldown. (Total 7.5kms)

Tuesday - Rest Day (how could you do anything else after the
tragedy that was Aust V Italy this morning!)

TAGGED
Thanks Spark Driver (i think!)

4 jobs i have done -
Royal Australian Navy (communications)
Tyre Fitter
Sales Rep (many and varied)
Motorcycle Courier

4 movies i watch over and over -
The Deer Hunter
St Elmo's Fire
Running on Empty (River Phoenix - not
the Jackson Browne one)
Roadhouse (Patrick Swayze)

4 places i have lived
Willesden Green (London)
Willoughby (NSW)
Belgrave
Camberwell

4 TV shows i love to watch -
Love My Way
MotoGp's/Superbikes
WWE Raw
Law and Order

4 places i have been on vacation -
New York
Gallipoli
Ios
Munich

4 Websites i visit daily -
Davebeckerman.com (photographer)
Runners World (ausrun forums)
Coolrunning Australia
Bloglines

4 of my favourite foods -
Tomatos
Baby peas
Tuna and salad sandwiches
Double Quarter Pounders

4 places i would rather be right now -
New York
Antigua
The north of England
Birdsville

4 favourite bands/singers -
GooGoo Dolls
Cold Chisel
Midnight Oil
The Pogues

4 Bloggers I am tagging -
Crissy
Stu Mac
Pelagic
Steve

Monday Evening - Leg Speed/Drills (3)
As i wont be running in the morning because of the World Cup
match, I decided to do a session this evening. This session
is very speed intensive but not very taxing or energy sapping.
Warmup around 1.2kms slow jogging pace then
5 x 30m high knees
5 x 30m bum kicks
5 x 50m double step ladder to cone circuit
The times for these are -
12.10/11.79/12.11/11.61/11.33
8 x single step ladder runs
Cooldown jog of around 1.2km to finish off.
This is a great workout to improve leg speed and is
aimed primarily at improving my 200m running.

Monday Morning - Medium Recovery (4)
Well this morning was a real struggle! I set out for my
10kms around the local street circuit that i normally do
and found that i just felt dog tired and a little sore in
places. I'm still not getting enough sleep and that's not
going to change much at least while the World Cup is
on. Anyway i got through the run in 58:11 which wasnt
too bad considering.

Sunday Morning - Long Run ESRG (4)
A long run this morning with the ESRG at Wandin.
This run goes from Wandin along the Warby Trail to
Lilydale where we turn around and head back to the cars.
A few kept on going for some more distance but 19kms
would do me for today. Better to quit while i'm ahead!
We got through 19kms with an average of 5:50 pace
and i seem to have pulled up ok with no soreness other
than the usual stuff you get after a long run! I did stop
a couple of times for short breaks but that's ok on a
training run (isn't it?). Now for an afternoon of rest.

Weekly Roundup

An unusual week for me this past one! Partly by design as
i wanted to get rid of a few niggles, and of course there
was the World Cup games which i just had to watch!
Sun - Rest
Mon - Treadmill Hills 6 x 150m (6km)
Tue - Morning 10kms easy
- Evening boxing bags 6 x 3mins
Wed - Masters Racing 400m/6km (9km)
Thu - Rest (sick)
Fri - Treadmill Reps 5 x 400m (5km)
Sat - Morning Leg Speed Various drills/ladders etc (3km)
- Late Afternoon 7kms a little quicker than easy pace
Total for the week - 40kms
While it seems like too much emphasis on speed and intervals,
I didn't want to run more than 10kms at a time. I've been
getting some discomfort during my longer runs recently so i
wanted to just back off the distance for a week or so.
Back to a long run again tomorrow!

2nd Run Today!

Saturday Afternoon - 7km Street Run (4)
I decided to add in another run this afternoon to make
up some of the mileage that i have missed over the
past days. On with the Garmin 205 and off i went with
the idea that it was going to be just an easy run to add
some k's. I soon realised that my pace was more than
usual for an easy run so i just went with it making sure
not to labour too much. I finished the 7kms in 37:08 with
an average pace of 5:18. Here are the splits -
1. 5:36
2. 5:22
3. 5:14
4. 5:20
5. 5:24
6. 5:13
7. 4:56
Hopefully i don't struggle too much during tomorrow's long
run. I will be taking it pretty easily i imagine!

Time To Get Serious

Saturday Morning - Leg Speed (3)
This morning's session was purely for improving my leg
speed and is mostly aimed at improving my 200m sprint time.
Warmup on the treadmill of 1.5kms various pace then -
5 x 30m High Knees
5 x 30m Bum Kicks
5 x 50m Strides
10 x Step Ladder Circuits - last 5 fast and timed at
12.34/11.56/11.32/11.23/11.11 - These involve an up and
back run through a 10m step ladder with a short run to a
cone in the middle. You must move your feet very quickly
to get through the ladder without stepping on anything.
5 x 10m Step Ladder (very quick single runs)
1km cooldown on the treadmill followed by a set of
chairdips and pullups to finish off.

Just 5kms Today!

Friday Evening - Treadmill Interval 400s (4)
Warmup 1.5kms various jogging pace then
5 x 400m on the treadmill with 2min walk recoveries.
The first three were run at 4:00 pace and the last two
at 3:45 pace. I followed this up with a cooldown run
of 1km and a set of chairdips and pullups to finish off.
I will probably do this session weekly and will work
towards speeding up the reps and then eventually
reducing the intervals gradually over the coming
months.
EDIT: Later on in the evening at around 10pm i was
feeling a bit inspired and i don't like to waste that
feeling so i decided to do 2 rounds of 3mins on the
heavy bag with a minutes break. I must say that i did
work the bag with more intensity than usual probably
as i knew there would be only 2!

Well i didn't end up running today. I tried to do
as little as possible even once my headache went away.
I will be getting up very early in the morning to
watch the soccer so there won't be time for a run then.
In all likelihood my next run won't be until Saturday
morning and probably on the treadmill but we'll see
what eventuates. I should be doing a long run on
Sunday.

Thoughts

After experiencing a headache last night that just got
worse and worse, I've had to take the day off work today.
I normally do a 10km run on Thursday mornings which is
usually just a slow recovery jog. Of course that didn't
happen and my recent mileage has really taken a bit of a
dive. I don't want to become a slave to the numbers (km's)
but it is something you keep looking at and i suppose it
does sometimes keep you going. I have stepped up my kms
in recent months so having a easier one is quite probably
a good thing. I know that soon i will again start to really
target my training for the 800m while continuing to do my
long runs on the weekend. I imagine that i will still do
one long run of 20k+, probably 2 x 10km medium runs. The
rest of my training will be more sprint and interval run
based. Currently my favourite distance is the 200m and i
feel good about it because i can almost go the whole trip
flat out which i couldn't do 12 months ago. Now i need to
work on my top speed so i can bring my sprint times down.
The challenge for me will be to get the balance of speed and
distance right and to manage to fit it in to my awkward time
frame. Watch this space!

Wednesday Evening - Knox Masters (5)
I drove down to the track again tonight so i started my
warmup with a couple of laps and then some strides.
I also did a few various start drills and tuck jumps and
just generally kept warm then until the first of my races.
400m Hcp in which i had to start off 32secs. I ended
up running 3rd in an actual time of 65 which is ok
but i would like it to be better. This was followed by
the usual talk by the club president about all the
current happenings etc. Then to the 6km Hcp in
which i was given 2:35 and finished somewhere in
an actual time of 29:17. That wasn't a PB but wasn't far
off. I have been suffering with a rather bad headache
since about 3pm which while being quite annoying,
probably hasn't affected my running today. I finished off
with a couple of slow laps and then to the coffee and snacks!

Masters tonight and i will be entering the 400m Hcp
and the 6km Hcp. Looking forward to it.

Tuesday Evening - Boxing Bags 6 x 3min Rnds
6 rounds on the boxing bags this evening followed by
a little medicine ball work.


Tuesday Morning - Medium Street Run - 10kms (4)
A very very cold morning and of course i forgot my
gloves didn't i. It was even T-shirt and shorts to run in
but after a few minutes i was warm enough - well most
of me anyway! I must have been going along quite well
as i passed my usual marker a little quicker than usual
I decided to just keep the pressure on a little but not too
much. I ended up covering the distance in 54:19
which at 5:26 pace is a bit quicker than i normally
train at. I'm quite happy with the run though, my
legs must have been a bit fresher than they have
been for a while.

Monday Evening - Treadmill Hill/Tempo (3.5)
A slightly different session on the treadmill this evening
A warmup of around 1.5kms slow jogging pace then
6 x 150m hills @ 10kph/8degs on the treadmill with
150m @ 10kph/2degs in between. Followed this up
with about 2kms at threshold pace before a cooldown
jog for the last 1200 or so. To finish i did a set of chairdips
and pullups on the Power Tower . Total Running
about 6kms. (The session was probably a little too easy
really but i didn't want to push my luck straight away!)

Jack at the Gymkhana yesterday 

Fleur at the Gymkhana 

Fleur 

Fleur and Keira with a victory salute 

Sunday - Rest Again!
I decided not to give in this time so i rested yet again!
To make sure i get rid of any niggles i have with my legs
etc i may as well do it properly and have a few days off.
It's been a big sporting weekend for Australia and i'm
always up for watching good sport on TV so that's what i
have been doing. Added to that the MotoGP and i'm finding
myself pretty tired at the moment. So no running until
Tuesday morning at this stage although i may throw something
in on Monday perhaps - We'll see!

54kms For The Week

Saturday - A Day Of Rest
No running or any sort of exercise today and i'm
still undecided about tomorrow. Should i rest or
should i do a long run or should i do a medium run
or even just a very easy 3km or so just to move the
legs etc?? I don't know, I think about it some
more later.
Anyway 54kms for the week so a light one when compared
to some recently. The week looked like this -

1 x Long Run - 20kms
2 x Treadmill Long Reps - Total 13kms
1 x Racing/Speed Track - 6kms (including a 3km PB)
1 x Medium Recovery - 10kms
1 x Treadmill Fartlek - 5kms
1 x Boxing Bags 6 x 3min rounds - 30mins
Total Running - 54kms

Looking at the week there was probably too much work
in the "Threshold" zone really but that won't happen
every week. I will be starting to do one session per
week that will be purely devoted to pure speed or a
session to increase top end speed. This will be only
short and sharp but trying to find the correct time
and day to do it is the difficulty!

Friday Morning - Treadmill Fartlek (4)
I just knew this session was going to be hard the
moment i started jogging on my warmup! The first
5mins or so were at very slow pace just to get my
legs turning over. Eventually though they did ease
up a bit and then i was ok (kinda!) I'm just tired
at the moment and my body is begging for rest so
unless something changes between now and Sunday rest
is what it's gonna get! This morning's session was -
Warmup 1.5kms slow jogging pace then followed a
series of 14/10/14/10kph runs each of one minute for
15mins. Then a shortish cooldown jog of around 500m
which brought up the distance to 5kms for the session.
To finish off a set of chairdips and pullups on the Power
Tower.

Thursday Evening - Boxing Bags
A set of 6 x 3min rounds on the boxing bags tonight.
A note to myself here that i must make sure to do these
as often as i can. They really are beneficial.


Thursday Morning - Medium Recovery Run (3.5)
Worked my way throught this mornings 10k run. I was
a bit sore in the knees from Masters last night and as
i expected the upper left leg/groin soreness came in
again later on. This time though it was at about 7kms
and wasn't too bad i guess. I got through the run in
58:19 and as soon as i'd finished the soreness was all
but gone! During the day today though my legs have
been very stiff.

Wednesday Evening - Knox Masters (5)
Warmup consisting of laps/strides/steps/starts to get
ready for the evenings racing. 1 x 200m (1st in 29s).
Again i managed to hit the front before the 100m mark
so i didn't have anyone to chase home. I'm happy with
that run though as i think it's my strongest distance.
Very quickly after that i ran in the 90m which i wasn't
going to do (2nd in 12.6s). I really hit the wall with
about 20m to go but only got beaten by an eyelash.
We all went inside to watch a quick video on CPR
before the distance event started. 1 x 3k (13:56PB).
800m slow jogging to cooldown before some
coffee, snacks, a birthday cake kindly made by
Anne and a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday for
my upcoming birthday on Friday!

Tuesday Evening - Treadmill Reps (3)
Well i kinda made this session up as i went along as
i didn't run this morning and i wasn't sure whether i was
going to get the upper leg/groin soreness or not.
It's sometimes difficult to know what to do. Do you
rest completely or do you do some lighter running or??
Most of the time i have found that i get the soreness/
discomfort after around 10kms or so. My thinking is
that for a few days i may just keep my running to less
than that and see how we go. Of course that will mean
missing out on the Coburg Bluestone Classic on Saturday
which i was keen on entering. Oh well - maybe next time!
Warmup 1.3km slow jogging pace then 2 x 1000m reps
with a 200m walk between followed by 1 x 400m.
These reps were done at 5km pace and mile pace and
were followed up by a cooldown jog of around 800m
and a set of chairdips and pullups to finish off.
Tomorrow is Masters again and what i think i will do is
to drive to the track this time. Do my warmups mainly
consisting of strides this time. I will race the 200m
and then do either the 3k or 5k to finish off with.
I do want to return to a little speed now but keep up
the long runs as much as my system will allow.

Monday Morning - Long Reps on the Treadmill (4)
As i had the kids this morning my session had to be
on the treadmill. For something a little different for me
I decided on some long reps.
Warmup 1.8kms slow jogging pace then 3 x 1600m
reps @ 5:00min per km pace. Between each rep was
a walking recovery of 200m. That may seem like a fairly
easy pace for those reps, but i have always felt that
this treadmill runs a little faster than the pace shown.
The pace i was running at feels like about 4:40 pace so
i guess that's all that matters! To finish up - a cooldown
jog of 800m and a set of chairdips and pullups.
The discomfort at the top of my left leg/groin area is now
there from pretty much the word go. I will see what happens
over the next day or two.

The ESRG - Tigerboy, Jaykay, Eat Em, Michelled and Clarkey this morning. 

After our return to Croydon Aths this morning 

Sunday Morning - Long Run (5)
I met up with the ESRG this morning at 7am for our
Sunday long run. This time it was a loop starting at
the Croydon Aths Track and taking in some of the
Dandy Creek Trail and the Mullum Mullum Creek Trail.
After returning to Croydon Aths i continued on for a
couple of laps of the track to make the distance up to
20kms. My average pace for the run was 6:14 with
the first 6 or 7k all under 6min pace. As has been
happening lately, i started to experience discomfort
at the top of my left leg at about the 10k mark and
this continued on until about 17k where it seemed
to improve just slightly. By the time i was running
around the track at Croydon the discomfort was gone.
Overall though this was quite a struggle for me today!

Boronia played Richmond away this morning and dominated but still ended with a 0-0 draw! 

Soccer at Kevin Bartlett Reserve Richmond 

Rest - It's About Time I Think!

Friday Morning - Rest Day
I decided late last night that i would now have 2 days of rest
from running. It's been quite some time since i had 2 days in
a row of no running and i think my system needs it now. I have
a slight cold coming on i think although i have been battling to
keep it at bay. Also my heart rate has been up for a day or two
so it's definately a sign that i'm getting a little run down.
I want to do a good long run again on Sunday so i'll rest up for
that now.

71.7kms So Far This Week.........

Thursday Morning - Medium Recovery (3.5)
I might have to start calling the Thursday (and Monday)
runs the Rollover Recovery Runs because they are just
at an easy pace to roll the legs over and iron out the
kinks etc. 10kms this morning in 58:34 (5:51 pace).
Not too difficult except perhaps the last 10mins or so.

Wednesday Evening - Knox Masters (5)
I decided to run from home to the track again tonight
and i decided to rug up! On went the skins tights, the
new Linebreak sleeveless top (purchased yesterday),
bike gloves, beanie, t-shirt and fleecy jumper. Then
i added my fuel belt, mini back pack and garmin and
off i went. I thought i would leave the garmin on all
evening and use my normal timex ironman watch
to do any individual timing i might need.
So i arrived at the track and continued to do warm
ups with a couple of others (Wilco included) and
a few strides with John. Then it was time for the
1609m (mile) race in which i came in somewhere
near the back in 6:27 (5secs outside PB). I did
manage to finish hard but still struggle with the 2nd
and 3rd laps like usual. I followed this up with a
short jog to recover and then to the 100m sprint
which i won in a rather pedestrian 14:29 i think. I
guess without any competition and without spikes
i shouldn't be too disappointed but i am anyway!
I followed that up with some rep/interval work as i
think i need to revisit some more speed for a bit of
a change. I was quite pleased with it even though
on paper it doesn't look that impressive. It felt like
it should do me some good and i found that my
200s got a little quicker the more i got into it. I did
5 x 200m at a fast relaxed pace with 200m slow jog
recoveries between each. The approximate splits
were - 52/90/50/90/49/100/47/98/48. I followed this
up with 4 x 100m strides at a fast relaxed pace with
walk back recoveries and slow jogging to finish off.
Of course i then had some coffee and biscuits and
ran (slow jog) home.

Tuesday Morning - Medium Street Run (3)
A very cold morning so the long sleeve top together
with gloves and the second day of using my red bike
light so i can be seen. Again i wanted to take it very
easy and get through the run with as little soreness as
possible. I opted for my Mizuno Nirvana's today as i
think my Kayanos are now well past their best. As i
write this now i have no real pain or soreness but i
did notice again that at about 10k the tops of my
legs at the pelvis felt sore again. Anyway a slow
one this morning 13km in around 87mins.



Monday Evening - Boxing Bags/Core
A set of boxing bags tonight 6 x 3min rounds followed
by a good session with both the 3 and 5kg med balls.
It felt good and i'm sure this session is giving me lots
of core benefit.

Monday Morning - Medium Recovery (3)
10km's this morning trying to run through the jarring
soreness that came on during my long run yesterday.
I guess the feeling got a little better during the run but
it took about 20mins to start to improve. I have been
doing most of my running on pavement and my long
run shoes (Kayano's) are now over 700k's old. I will
be using my Mizuno Nirvana's tomorrow and see
how they go. (10km - 59:12 easy).

Sunday Morning - 26kms - Dandy Creek Trail (5)
A very cold morning today and wouldn't you know it -
I forgot my gloves again! Anyway i didn't think anyone
else was going to turn up for the long run today so i
started off by myself at a nice slow even pace. I had
decided that unlike the last time i did this run, I would
just take it really easy and just make sure finishing
it. I had a quick fuel stop at Jells park and again at
about 18kms. This is a really hard run to do alone
and just like last time, I had to really talk myself
into getting through the last 3 or 4 kms. In the end
i was really quite happy with my time of 2.31:56
which is less than 2 mins longer than last time. It's
not important though as i wanted to start slow and
hopefully feel good throughout. Unfortunately i felt
crap for most of the last half and now have a little
lower back pain which i hope will not get any worse.
I did actually have to stop for a minute or so at 22k
as i was really stuggling.

Courtesy of Steve's blog

SlowJo, SlowSue and Me at Willi last Sunday 

Saturday - Rest Day
After much deliberation and much talk with others
that would know much more about fun runs and general
organisation of them, i have decided to reinstate my
time/distance from the Williamstown 10km last Sunday.
10.31kms in 50:06 being from the time i crossed the
start line. I now believe that the only distances
that were accredited were the Marathon and Half M
distances and the others were just close approximations.
I was approached by others on Wednesday night at Knox
Masters who questioned me about the distance also and
one or two of them have been doing these things for
many years (one a respected member of several commitees).
Anyway my goal to beat now for a 10k race has changed to
48mins and i intend to do this possibly at Princes Park.

60k's for the week

Friday Morning - Treadmill Fartlek (4)
Warmup around 2kms slow jogging pace then
Fartlek running with a minute each at 14 and 10kph
continuously for 15mins or around 3kms. Following
this a cooldown run of around 1km and a set of
chairdips and pullups to finish. That will be
my last run for the week. I will rest tomorrow
and run again on Sunday morning on the DCT.

Tired!

Thursday Morning - Recovery Run (4)
The intention was to do a 10k recovery this morning.
After running for a little while i knew it was really going
to be a struggle this morning. It didn't seem to matter
how much i tried to run it "easy", it just wasn't easy
at all. I just decided to continue on home when i got
to a point fairly close to home. That made the run
about 6kms and it had taken 39mins to do it.
I really must have run hard last night in my races
and i know i did so i must rest up a little more for
the rest of the week. I won't do a boxing bag set
tonight but i may still do a treadmill fartlek in the
morning. I'll see how i feel. I think at this stage i
will have a complete rest day on Saturday now and be
ready for a good 26k long run on Sunday.