Sunday, July 24, 2005
Finally - a slow run!
24/07/2005 6:30 am
Workout Type: Endurance - Medium Endurance
Course: St Ives
Distance: 15.1km
Time: 1:17:59
Speed: 5:10 min/km
Average HR: 151
Target Pace: Recovery (5:31 min/km )
Perhaps it was the cold weather (and the poor decision to leave the gloves at home) or the 24 different wines I tasted yesterday, but for once, I had no desire to run quickly, and floated around the course at just over 5min/km. Exactly the sort of run I needed right now, and a confidence booster, as is was the longest run I've done on the road for ages. No problems with the feet, and apart from cold forearms (even though I was wearing a long-sleeve top), it was a very enjoyable run. Average HR was about 6 beats higher than I would have liked, but this is a very hilly course (and despite being a loop, feels like it is uphill all they way).
Today's run made me feel like I had turned the corner, with 44km for the week (I never thought I'd see the day I got excited about a 44km week) - almost a proper training week! Have started planning next week, which is a good sign that I am feeling more confident about my running. Nothing flash - I'll just be adding an 8km run to this week's training, as well as the 5km challenge, but hopefully the start of a good run of training.
Friday, July 22, 2005
A lilttle bit of speed...
22/07/2005
Workout Type: Strength - Tempo Intervals
Course: Loretto
Distance: 9.75
Time: 43:55
Speed: 4:30 min/km
Average HR: 163
Target Pace: Anaerobic Threshold (3:45/km )
Did 3x2km @ threshold pace with a 2 minute walk recovery. 1.5km warm and cool down.
Knocked over the 3 reps in 7:21, 7:18 and 7:11, which was probably a bit quick, but felt very comfortable, and the HR stayed sub 170 for almost the entire session, so a good controlled run. Good to see the reps get quicker, rather than dropping away, indicating I was running within myself. Preloaded this workout into the Garmin, which was fantastic. Spent this morning working with the Garmin software development kit, which is akin to hieroglypics - pre-Rosetta Stone - will definitely put this capability into the next version of RunDiary.net, as it is great to just roll through a workout listening out for beeps, rather than constantly checking your watch.
By way of comparison, a proper session for this would be 4-5 reps with a 1 minute jog recovery - which I will work towards over the next couple of months. Happy that I resisted the urge to do a faster session in preparation for the 5km challenge - until I am running 70+km a week, VO2 max training is not the best use of my time. I will try and put in a tempo session like this once a week as I up my supporting mileage.
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Event 11
20/07/2005 4:30 pm
Workout Type: Endurance - Short Endurance
Course: Loretto
Distance: 6.75
Time: 29:39
Speed: 4:24 min/km
Average HR: 148
Comments: Steady, perhaps not easy enough, but very comfortable. Good to back up from yesterday's run with no ill-effects.
Target Pace: Steady (4:30 min/km)
An easy run today, although a bit faster than I would have liked. Only 6.75km, but nice to back up after yesterdays longer road effort. Barefoot in the park again, with Louis, Amelia, Sally and Bronte (and about 100 hockey-playing school girls) spectating.
Have decided to run the Cool Running 5km challenge on July 30th as my first race this year (my good, has it been that long). With Uncle Dave also making his return, it has developed into some sort of match race, as well as a magnet for people wanting to take our 'scalps' whilst we are coming back from injury. Sub-18 would see me very happy, but I really just want to get back into racing, and make sure the foot stays together. If things continue to stay on track, then I might be able to start training for....
Event 11
110m hurdles
PB
20.14
Background
Dusting off the old spreadsheet, I see that I have run this event exactly twice. My best was on a grass goat track, wirh no hurdles training, in my first ever attempt at the event. Certainly room for improvement.
Potential
I read once that unlike the 110m hurdles, the 400m hurdles could be successfully raced by people a short as 5'11". This just happens to be my height, and therefore is shorthand for "you are not tall enough to be a good 110m hurdler". It is also a technique event, and so some serious training on my hurdling and some strength work should show significant improvements. Being the first event on day 2, it will be interesting to see what the effect of the 10 events on day 1 will be. Some spring will probably be absent from my step. However, I can hurdle and I can run 100m in a respectable time, so whilst this will be the weakest of my running events, it won't be in the same league as the hammer throw.
Goal
17 seconds - I think 3 seconds should be easy enough to find
Double Decathlon Goal
17.5 seconds (573 points) - first event of the day, so even with some residual fatigue from the previous day, I would hope to run near a PB. Always a dangerous event, with a fall potentially costing hundreds of points. A safety first approach will take some of the edge off
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Four day weekend
Marge: Speaking of leaving home ... Homer, your supervisor just called in. He says if you don't come in today, don't bother coming in on Monday.
Homer: Woo Hoo! Four-day weekend!
Did a hard session on Thrusday, of 16km, including 15km in about 63 minutes. A bit quick, but felt strong the whole way. Planning on a longer, slower session, but if you've ever tried to run slowly to the B52s, you'll know my dilemma.
A combination of child minding duties, work deadlines and a trip to the emergency ward to have Amelia's finger sewn back on, meant a four-day weekend off running. Came back today with a 12km road run, my longest road run for ages. Cruised at 4:40/km, never entirely comfortable with the pace, but not pushing it - the hills taking the biggest toll. Hoping to alternate on and off road running this week to get up to 4-5 sessions, and start building a consistent base.
Was tempted to do the Cherrybrook 5km on Sunday, and looking at the winning time, felt I could have won it (it was a minute slower than my 2nd place last year). However, I am learning that the things that are important you have to wait for - there will be a time in the future when the timing will be right, and trying to have it all now will probably see me end up with nothing.
14/07/2005 1:30pm
Workout Type: Endurance - Medium Endurance
Course: Loretto
Distance: 16.36
Time: 1:10:35
Speed: 4:19 min/km
Average HR: 161
Comments: Pushed a bit too hard, as this is longer than I have been for a while, but felt really good,falling into a steady pace. Kicked down a bit at the end, which tested a little, but surprised how easy this felt.
19/07/2005 10:30 am
Workout Type: Endurance - Medium Endurance
Course: Pennant Hills Loop
Distance: 12
Time: 55:56
Speed: 4:40 min/km
Average HR: 154
Comments: First long road run for a while, and the hills were testing at times. Foot was sore around the 2nd met. for the first half, but gave no grief over the second. An OK run, without getting too excited.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
A real run!
12/07/2005 4:30 pm
Workout Type: Endurance - Short Endurance
Course: SAN
Distance: 8.25km
Time: 38:48
Speed: 4:42 min/km
Average HR: 158
A real run, in real shoes, on a real road. Headed out the door planning to try for 5km, but the foot was behaving well, so I did one of my standard runs - just over 8km. The out pace was maybe a little quick, about 4:30/km, but it is an out and back course that essentially slopes downhill on the out. Eased back to 5:00/km on the back leg.
HR was high, which is indicative of my low base fitness (yesterday's 3km was more about natural speed than fitness), and as a workout it wasn't that good - too fast to be an easy workout, too easy to be a fast workout. But as a return to proper training, it was very encouraging. Day off tomorrow, and then a longer run (1 hour plus) on Thursday. The foot has been slightly stiff since, but nothing appears out of order.
Monday, July 11, 2005
A quick 3000m - and event 10 - finally...
11/07/2005
Workout Type: Strength - Tempo
Course: Loretto
Distance: 10
Time: 42:04
Speed: 4:12 min/km
Average HR: 158
As usual, I was itching to run today, and decided to throw a quicker 3km into the middle of my session. Pretty please to run 10:46, with splits of 3:36/3:32/3:38 - was tempted to go for 5km and have a crack at sub-18, but intelligence got the better of me. Finished with about 5.5 km of easy running for a neat 10km for the session. Dispensed with the shoes again today, as my feet have remained niggly from Saturday's shoe effort, and it looks like some overtime to pay for new orthotics...
As a lame segue, my 3000m Steeplechase PB is marginally quicker, at 10:40, and the Steeplechase is Event 10 of the double decathlon:
Event
3000m Steeplechase
PB
10:40
Background
I have done this event once, so I don't have a lot of experience (although I have also done a few 1km and 2km steeples). Given my distance background, and some technique over the hurdles (the steeple hurdles are the same height as the 400m hurdles, although a lot less forgiving if you don't quite clear them), this is not going to be a bad event for me, although as the last event on the first day, it's not one I'm going to look forward to.
Potential
At the world class level, there is about 30 seconds between the 3000m flat and steeple record. For me, it is closer to a minute, although more experience and better hurdling (I seem to recall standing on the hurdles) could possibly narrow this by 10-15 seconds. If I am really flying over 3000m, I could possibly break 10 minutes for this.
Goal
Sub 10 minutes.
Double Decathlon Goal
Forget about sub-10! Sub 10 for 3000m should still be possibly despite the grueling schedule, so adding a minute, sub 11:00 minutes would be a pretty good run - and worth 673 points.
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Keeping podiatrists amused
Thursday 7/07/2005 1:30pm
Workout Type: Endurance - Medium Endurance
Course: Loretto
Distance: 10
Time: 50:24
Speed: 5:02 min/km
Average HR: 137
Saturday 9/07/2005
Workout Type: Endurance - Short Endurance
Course: Loretto
Distance: 6
Time: 28:26
Speed: 4:44 min/km
Average HR: 154
After the theatrics of Tuesday's run, I slammed on the brakes on Thursday's run, and ran my slowest recorded 10km ever. However, with an average HR of 137 at 5:02/km, I was very happy with the session, which was understandably very comfortable. Friday night I visted CoolRunner PodRunner (also known as Andrew Bull at Sportswise) in his professional capacity as a podiatrist. I have this theory that podiatrists use the videos of my feet as after dinner entertainment at conferences. They are so flat that my achilles slope in 10 degrees. Added to this, apparantly I have hyper-flexability - which is one of the contributing factors to my ongoing ankle woes - interesting that this has never been brought to my attention (and that it doesn't extend to useful areas, like my calves and hamstrings). Like all good podiatrists, he prescribed new orthotics, but agreed to have a shot at fixing my existing ones, to take pressure off my 2nd, 3rd and 4th metatarsals (the first metatarsal is apparently shirking its responsibilties, causing the others to bear too much load). A raise under the first metatarsal to try and get it doing more of the work was the handiwork involved.
Ironically, having travelled all the way to Bondi from Wahroonga, I discovered that Andrew lives around the corner from me. When he fixes my feet we will hopefully go for a few runs together.
Having seen what my feet do whilst running in barefeet (it's not pretty), I was keen to try some running in shoes, and headed out in the cold and dark of Saturday night (grass running loses its appeal when you can't really see where you are going). Only 6km at an easy clip, but it felt OK - no feet problems. However, my feet have been a bit niggly today, so I will drop back to barefeet again tomorrow, and slowly build up in the shoes. A definite improvement from previous runs, but still not popping the champagne corks yet. Running in shoes brought back a few niggles, mainly due to my non-existent stretching routine. Still, it would be great to be married to a massage therapist right now.
Popped in to CoolRunning for a couple of hours (OK - seven hours) after my PodRunner appointment. A good night as always, although as my wine drinking partner-in-crime was a late starter, I was forced to drink her half of the bottle as well, and an early peak led to an early trough, which lead to an earlier than usual departure, without so much as a single "Come on Eileen" on the dance floor.
Planning to do four or five runs next week, although aiming to keep the pace easy, and the distance at 8-12 km.
Sally makes her blog debut with Louis...
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Jealousy run
5/07/2005
Workout Type: Strength - Tempo Intervals
Course: Loretto
Distance: 11.88
Time: 52:00
Speed: 4:23 min/km
Average HR: 160
With all the beautiful people up at the Gold Coast this weekend (apologies to any beautiful people reading this who weren't up there), I spent most of yesterday afternoon absorbing race reports and cursing the fact I wasn't there. This separation anxiety joined me in my run today, and my legs demanded that I let them go fast. My brain cut them a deal that we would do one lap fast, and one lap slow, and that the fast stuff would be threshold pace - no faster. With its fingers crossed, my legs agreed. Because the lap distances vary (about 730-760m), I'll use mins/km to step through the workout.
An inbetween first lap (4:22/km) whilst the aforementioned negotations were taking place, and then an easy but brisk 4:01 pace lap. After dropping back to 4:46 for my easy lap, things got a bit out of hand, with successive quick laps as follows (the slow laps were all about 5min/km):
3:42 min/km
3:43 min/km
3:39 min/km
3:34 min/km
3:36 min/km
3:28 min/km
The good thing was that these were all really controlled, and felt nothing like a race effort. My breathing was deep and easy, and my HR never got much above 170. To be running 36:00 10km pace so easily was a great boost to my morale.
A couple of caveats though. Firstly, there was only a little over 5km of fast running - so extrapolating 10km times is silly. Secondly, the recoveries were around 3:40-3:50. Normally in a session like this, I would be running 1-2km reps with 30-60 second recoveries (although more at 3:40-3:45 pace than the quicker stuff at the end)., and would do 8-10km of fast running. Thirdly, when I finshed my second quick interval in 3:42, I remembered that in September last year I ran an entire half marathon at this pace. The conclusion from this is that I have a long way to go, and sessions like this are an indulgence while I am building my mileage. However, with nearly 12 km of running, and over 5km at a solid pace, I felt really good at the end of the session, and walked away very encouraged.
Went to the zoo with Louis, Amelia, my sister and my niece yesterday afternoon, which was fantastic. Louis is just at an age where he is starting to get a thrill out of things like this - although pigeons turned out to be his favourite animal, as he chased them around the food court. A historical shot today, as we forgot to take the camera.
Sunday, July 03, 2005
Shoes AND cement
3/07/2005 9:00am
Workout Type: Endurance - Short Endurance
Course: Normanhurst
Distance: 5
Time: 23:25
Speed: 4:41 min/km
Average HR: 151
Given the success of barefeet, and the fact that my orthotics and normal trainers are still giving me slight pain when I walk, I did a little experiment the other day, and walked the dogs in my lightweight trainers (ASIC DS Trainers for those interested). This felt much better than normal shoes, and so today I decided to try a short run on the footpath wearing these.
The 5km was much hillier than the Loretto Oval, and my low fitness levels became more apparant. However, the run went pretty well, with only some slight twinges in my foot. I certainly won't be jumping onto the hard stuff full-time, but will try and have one session a week off-grass, working up to 10-12km by the end of June.
With everything going pretty well in my comeback, I am going to pull together a schedule (in RunDiary.net, of course) so that there is less guesswork in my training. Given the double decathlon is my main aim, it will be about getting to a good mileage by the end of September, with some capacity to start speed work. Given the fact I have been getting over-excited reading posts about other races, it will also hold me back and prevent me rushing into anything that is likely to give my traiining a setback. And as I haven't been to the gym once this week, I need to start actively scheduling that (and strecthing - I felt stiff this morning for the first time).
Friday, July 01, 2005
Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins. Homer Simpson, smiling politely
1/07/2005 12:45 pm
Workout Type: Endurance - Medium Endurance
Course: Loretto
Distance: 12.65 km
Time: 1:01:31
Speed: 4:52 min/km
Average HR: 152
After the couple of "Revenge of the Nerds" references my last post generated, I dropped the Smashing Pumpkins into my MP3 player, and set out to redeem my cred (although this usually involves having some in the first place). Anyway, I can now tell you that "Siamese Dream" is 61 minutes and 31 seconds long, as was my run today. I had originally planned a shorter run, but with Amelia and Louis on their way to Bondi for the night, I thought I would take the chance for a longer run today. Decided to run for the duration of the album, hence the obscure time and distance.
Running felt good, although I found myself unconciously picking up the pace at times (usually when I was thinking about racing again). I am debating whether to have a run tomorrow - it suits my schedule much better than Sunday, but I don't want to push things.
If any of the kiddies on the Gold Coast are reading this, have a brilliant run on Sunday (and get a life - who reads someone's blog while they are on holiday!) I might do a run on Sunday at the same time, to send speedy thoughts to those in need.
Meanwhile, Louis has began to show aptitude in the haircare field...
