Saturday, October 29, 2005
"I hate myself and want to die" - part 2
After an easy 11.5km in 51 minutes on Thursday with no problems (apart from some residual flatness from the previous day), I decided on Friday to test the right hamstring to see if racing InterClub on Saturday was an option. After a LONG strech and 2km warm-up, I did 4x40m run throughs, then 4x60, with the last two basically at full speed. So far so good. Then 4x20m starts, then 4x40m starts. Everything holding together nicely. I decided to do a full 100m run-through. 30m into it - BANG - my left hamstring goes. Down I went, in a LOT more pain than when I did the right one. Could barely walk on it and limped back to the car in a mood not unlike the title of this post.
This is very different - can't walk properly, and much, much sorer. On the plus side, there was no tearing sensation, and instead it felt like a massive cramp (and I once ran the last 10km of a marathon feeling similar). Off to the physio today - they're starting a college trust fund for their kids in my name soon - where the verdict was actually not too bad. No major damage, just some localised hardness from the leg's cramp mechanism. The usual drill - massage, ultra-sound, electro-shock therapy, bike, stretching, ice. Was able to get a pretty good range of motion (for me) in the stretching, and the bike was pain free, so things aren't looking as bad as they appeared yesterday.
However, my body IS trying to tell me something. I actually attribute the weakness to my recent leap into strecthing - that for a while the stretched muscles will be more susceptible to injury before the acquired flexibility renders them more resillient (my physio concurred with my amatuer exercise physiology theory), and like all distance runners, my hamstrings are the weak link strength-wise in my legs. So before I test them at full-speed again, I will be engaging in about a month's strength training, as well as my current stretching regime.
This has pretty much ruled out the State 3000m champs, and probably any serious racing for the rest of the year. Ironically, I finally got some details on Pole Vault coaches this week!
I was seriously debating packing-in the whole double decathlon lark yesterday - 12 months of sacrifice and hard work, and I could turn-around and do this again the week before. Better to stick to what I know best and am fairly good at...
Then it occurred to me that once you make a commitment to something, you don't turn away at the first or second (or even tenth) hurdle - it ceases to be a commitment, and just becomes a bit of wishful thinking. The purpose of setting your sights on something big is to carry you through the tough times, when you want to give it all away, or wish you could just click your fingers and make it happen instantly - rather than earn it. Even when there is a fallback option (sticking with something that whilst it doesn't inspire you, isn't too bad), you still need to by unswerving in your focus, as though the fall-back option doesn't exist. I could easily drop the whole idea, jump back into fun runs, and derive some level of satisfaction from it.
But I am committed, and every setback is just a lesson I need to learn. More strength training, more supplemental work, MORE PATIENCE. The rest of the year will be about getting myself to a point where I can start doing the work I need, rather than chasing short-term rewards and distractions. What I am capable of now is irrelevent - it's what I am capable of in twelve months time that is important, and the best way to maximise that is to focus on the complete picture now.
So 6:00am Monday I will be at the gym (although no leg work for a while), as part of a '3 days a week' program. Once I am back running, I will spend a month on easier longer runs, to get my base fitness back, and not overtax my system whilst I am working on leg strength. With the State Decathlon championships also looking extremely doubtful, the pressure on acquiring Pole Vault skills rapidly is gone, which means I can get into this properly, rather than rushing to meet a deadline. Essentially, I will spend the next two months getting myself sorted out, and kick off the campaign proper in January. Two months of hard work with no reward - I'm looking forward to it already.
This is very different - can't walk properly, and much, much sorer. On the plus side, there was no tearing sensation, and instead it felt like a massive cramp (and I once ran the last 10km of a marathon feeling similar). Off to the physio today - they're starting a college trust fund for their kids in my name soon - where the verdict was actually not too bad. No major damage, just some localised hardness from the leg's cramp mechanism. The usual drill - massage, ultra-sound, electro-shock therapy, bike, stretching, ice. Was able to get a pretty good range of motion (for me) in the stretching, and the bike was pain free, so things aren't looking as bad as they appeared yesterday.
However, my body IS trying to tell me something. I actually attribute the weakness to my recent leap into strecthing - that for a while the stretched muscles will be more susceptible to injury before the acquired flexibility renders them more resillient (my physio concurred with my amatuer exercise physiology theory), and like all distance runners, my hamstrings are the weak link strength-wise in my legs. So before I test them at full-speed again, I will be engaging in about a month's strength training, as well as my current stretching regime.
This has pretty much ruled out the State 3000m champs, and probably any serious racing for the rest of the year. Ironically, I finally got some details on Pole Vault coaches this week!
I was seriously debating packing-in the whole double decathlon lark yesterday - 12 months of sacrifice and hard work, and I could turn-around and do this again the week before. Better to stick to what I know best and am fairly good at...
Then it occurred to me that once you make a commitment to something, you don't turn away at the first or second (or even tenth) hurdle - it ceases to be a commitment, and just becomes a bit of wishful thinking. The purpose of setting your sights on something big is to carry you through the tough times, when you want to give it all away, or wish you could just click your fingers and make it happen instantly - rather than earn it. Even when there is a fallback option (sticking with something that whilst it doesn't inspire you, isn't too bad), you still need to by unswerving in your focus, as though the fall-back option doesn't exist. I could easily drop the whole idea, jump back into fun runs, and derive some level of satisfaction from it.
But I am committed, and every setback is just a lesson I need to learn. More strength training, more supplemental work, MORE PATIENCE. The rest of the year will be about getting myself to a point where I can start doing the work I need, rather than chasing short-term rewards and distractions. What I am capable of now is irrelevent - it's what I am capable of in twelve months time that is important, and the best way to maximise that is to focus on the complete picture now.
So 6:00am Monday I will be at the gym (although no leg work for a while), as part of a '3 days a week' program. Once I am back running, I will spend a month on easier longer runs, to get my base fitness back, and not overtax my system whilst I am working on leg strength. With the State Decathlon championships also looking extremely doubtful, the pressure on acquiring Pole Vault skills rapidly is gone, which means I can get into this properly, rather than rushing to meet a deadline. Essentially, I will spend the next two months getting myself sorted out, and kick off the campaign proper in January. Two months of hard work with no reward - I'm looking forward to it already.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Back to reality
It's actually been a long time since I've had a training session that didn't feel great, so I headed out this morning fflippantly thinking "oh - I'll run 16km, with the middle 10km in around 39 minutes". After the 5th km, the last 3 of which were sub-4:00, it became evident that I was not going to sustain this pace for the rest of the workout. Dropped back to 4:10/km to recover, but my heart rate was still elevated (and if I'm honest with myself, it was before I even started - about 10 bpm higher than normal while I waited for my Garmin to lock in), and so I ran the last 8km at 4:30-4:40, which wasn't bad, but is much slower than I am used to. I was actually feeling a bit dehydrated, and did notice that is was 31 degrees when I finished, so there were a few contributing factors, but mostly 3 weeks of missed or choppy training was rearing its head.
I will try and keep to my program, maybe dropping the pace slightly, but just resigning myself to some tougher sessions to get things back on track. I really want to run well at the State 3000m champs, which means I really can't afford to miss any training between now and then. I will be slightly adjusting my track workouts to focus more on 3000m speed, although I will still be keeping the training in the VO2 max range.
A parcel of running books from Amazon lifted my spirits a bit this afternoon, as did an unexpected email from a friend. Just 200 situps, and I can call it a night.
I will try and keep to my program, maybe dropping the pace slightly, but just resigning myself to some tougher sessions to get things back on track. I really want to run well at the State 3000m champs, which means I really can't afford to miss any training between now and then. I will be slightly adjusting my track workouts to focus more on 3000m speed, although I will still be keeping the training in the VO2 max range.
A parcel of running books from Amazon lifted my spirits a bit this afternoon, as did an unexpected email from a friend. Just 200 situps, and I can call it a night.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
"I hate myself and want to die"
This is the upbeat title of a book my friend gave me for my birthday*. Unfortunately, the sentiment is totally wasted on me at the moment, as I have just got back from my first proper run in a week, and feel fantastic. The hammie held up admirably, and the tightness actually decreased as the run went on. Had originally planned on going for 5km, but felt so good that I ran an easy 8km in 34:34. Preceeded it with 30 minutes of stretching, and did an abdominal strength session this morning, so nearly all my training boxes have been ticked for the day (highly unlikely that I will make it to the gym). This makes a dramatic change from yesterday (supposedly day 1 of the new training regime), where 11.5 hours straight at work, followed by 1.5 hours at the physio left no time for anything more than some icing and a few hamstring stretches.
Hopefully a fairly normal week's training after the disurption of the last 3 weeks. Will stay away from the really quick stuff till next Monday, which probably rules at Interclub on Saturday.
* it's actually a very funny look at the 52 most depressing songs of all time
Non-running aside
Computer dramas have dominated the weekend, and I have actually been brought unstuck by outstanding customer service. My laptop hard drive went AWOL last week, and like the good IT professional I am, my backups were way out of date. A fairly sleepless night last Thursday as I sweated on being able to recover my client files (rewriting the lost work would cost me in the order of $20,000), but fortunately Friday I was able to recover everything, and the good folk at Dell came and picked it up Friday afternoon, citing a 7-10 day turnaround time. This is way too long to for me to be without a machine, so the rest of the weekend was spent trying to cobble together a replacement machine from spare parts lying round. This proved unsuccessful, so I bit the bullet Monday, and bought a cheap replacement machine, which I spent the next 24 hours restoring with all my software. Sure enough, an hour later, Dell knock on my door with my fixed laptop! Which is wonderful, except now I have to repeat the process over again on the returned laptop. So 5 days later I am back to the exact same position I was, with a new $1300 computer sitting idle and not a billable hour to show for it. Gotta love technology. On the upside, I now have a system in place that I can be up and running from a similar disaster in about 20 minutes, so probably worth it in the long run.
Hopefully a fairly normal week's training after the disurption of the last 3 weeks. Will stay away from the really quick stuff till next Monday, which probably rules at Interclub on Saturday.
* it's actually a very funny look at the 52 most depressing songs of all time
Non-running aside
Computer dramas have dominated the weekend, and I have actually been brought unstuck by outstanding customer service. My laptop hard drive went AWOL last week, and like the good IT professional I am, my backups were way out of date. A fairly sleepless night last Thursday as I sweated on being able to recover my client files (rewriting the lost work would cost me in the order of $20,000), but fortunately Friday I was able to recover everything, and the good folk at Dell came and picked it up Friday afternoon, citing a 7-10 day turnaround time. This is way too long to for me to be without a machine, so the rest of the weekend was spent trying to cobble together a replacement machine from spare parts lying round. This proved unsuccessful, so I bit the bullet Monday, and bought a cheap replacement machine, which I spent the next 24 hours restoring with all my software. Sure enough, an hour later, Dell knock on my door with my fixed laptop! Which is wonderful, except now I have to repeat the process over again on the returned laptop. So 5 days later I am back to the exact same position I was, with a new $1300 computer sitting idle and not a billable hour to show for it. Gotta love technology. On the upside, I now have a system in place that I can be up and running from a similar disaster in about 20 minutes, so probably worth it in the long run.
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Commitment
No running since Tuesday's folly (hence a more philisophical post) - two physio sessions have things back on track, but predictions that I would be back running today were a little optimistic. I did head out for a run around the block this afternoon, but called it quits after a couple of minutes - no pain, but the feeling that pushing on would have set something off. Obviously I am disappointed not to be running, particularly with important races scheduled today and tomorrow. But as I advised someone recently, you should treat downtime as an opportunity - a chance to focus on the important things. Besides, nearly every double decathlon event, particularly the jumps and hurdles, requires a strong right hamstring, so trying to rush back into things is likely to bring the whole show undone. Big picture time.
Speaking of the big picture, it is a time of big change in my life - all of it positive. As work from one client has eased up, another client has requested a full-time commitment for the next few months. As this client pays nearly 50% more, and allows me to work from home, this has given me several extra hours a day - not travelling to MonaVale gives me an extra hour and the higher rate means less working time to make ends meet. Providing I have the discipline to continue to get up at 5:30, two workouts a day will be managable, with the added bonus of seeing Louis each morning. More importantly, by working at home, I have much more flexibility with my time, ideally allowing me to slot into training squads to work on my technical events.
However, I have been in this position in the past, and have squandered the opportunities it has presented. A good friend recently inspired me with the words of von Goethe on commitment "Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now." One of my key reflections on turning 35 was a prominent gap between what I say I am going to do, and what actually gets done - a source of great frustration to me personally. So today saw me commit to several things that are important to me. Apart from a big personal one, and a few financial and household ones, the State Decathlon Championships are on January 7th - a date strongly burnt into my brain, and the next few weeks will revolve around preparing for these.
Getting out of bed and finishing my first lot of training before 7:00 is another, as is the commitment to performing my stretching and core strengthening routine every day. Taking RunDiary.net to the next level and doing one thing a day to promote it is a major priority, and to make room in the schedule, I will be stepping down from being President of the wine club (although I will be putting in a lot of work to hand things over better than I found them). I will be kick-starting my Masters Degree next year (one year to go) - don't know exactly where the time for that is going to come from - surely there is a market for an invention that allows you to study and stretch at the same time! And with an Australian recently taking out the World Double Decathlon Championships - this is a bigger goal than ever.
Currently sitting watching "Pride and Prejudice" for the umpteenth time - Lizzie thinks she is never going to see Darcy again. Mr Darcy's patience and perserverence would be very handy right now (and looking like Colin Firth couldn't do any harm). "I cannot bear to think that he is alive in the world and thinking ill of me"
Speaking of the big picture, it is a time of big change in my life - all of it positive. As work from one client has eased up, another client has requested a full-time commitment for the next few months. As this client pays nearly 50% more, and allows me to work from home, this has given me several extra hours a day - not travelling to MonaVale gives me an extra hour and the higher rate means less working time to make ends meet. Providing I have the discipline to continue to get up at 5:30, two workouts a day will be managable, with the added bonus of seeing Louis each morning. More importantly, by working at home, I have much more flexibility with my time, ideally allowing me to slot into training squads to work on my technical events.
However, I have been in this position in the past, and have squandered the opportunities it has presented. A good friend recently inspired me with the words of von Goethe on commitment "Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now." One of my key reflections on turning 35 was a prominent gap between what I say I am going to do, and what actually gets done - a source of great frustration to me personally. So today saw me commit to several things that are important to me. Apart from a big personal one, and a few financial and household ones, the State Decathlon Championships are on January 7th - a date strongly burnt into my brain, and the next few weeks will revolve around preparing for these.
Getting out of bed and finishing my first lot of training before 7:00 is another, as is the commitment to performing my stretching and core strengthening routine every day. Taking RunDiary.net to the next level and doing one thing a day to promote it is a major priority, and to make room in the schedule, I will be stepping down from being President of the wine club (although I will be putting in a lot of work to hand things over better than I found them). I will be kick-starting my Masters Degree next year (one year to go) - don't know exactly where the time for that is going to come from - surely there is a market for an invention that allows you to study and stretch at the same time! And with an Australian recently taking out the World Double Decathlon Championships - this is a bigger goal than ever.
Currently sitting watching "Pride and Prejudice" for the umpteenth time - Lizzie thinks she is never going to see Darcy again. Mr Darcy's patience and perserverence would be very handy right now (and looking like Colin Firth couldn't do any harm). "I cannot bear to think that he is alive in the world and thinking ill of me"
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
On turning 35
Birthday's tend to creep up on you at this age - work deadlines and fitting in training are far greater priorities for me at the moment, but the big 35 arrived today, which should give me some license to ramble. I have never been one to worry about getting one year older - and tend to roll my eyes at those that make a fuss over it. However, going through the ANSW club championship results from the weekend, I was a little intimidated by the results - present form would have me finishing further down most lists than I would like. Then I noticed a section at the bottom call "OVER 35's". Suddenly my times were competitive (and then some), so now I say "35 - bring it on!". As Lisa says:
Skinner: And Lisa, you have a choice. You may continue to be challenged in third grade, or you may return to second grade and be merely a big fish in a small pond...
Lisa: Big fish! Big Fish!
Training has been challenging for the last week. The sore throat I was feeling during last Tuesday's track session turned into a fully blow cold, knocking 4 days out of my schedule. Probably could have toughed my way through it, but Monday's track session indicated that taking a few days off was probably the smarter course of action. Spent the weekend in the Hunter Valley, eating and drinking - our first weekend away from Louis thanks to Nona.
Saturday afternoon I put together a training schedule for the next 2 months, incorporating a second supplemental training session each day for weights, stretching, plyometrics, drills, etc. On Saturday it was an inspiring document (if a little hard to read), but by Sunday it had become a bit of a millstone around my neck, and I began to be overwhelmed by the goal I had set myself. I now had to find an additional hour a day, with none of the existing demands on my time going away, and I found myself wondering whether I was doing anything in my life well enough to justify spending so much time on something so selfish and trivial. In situations like this, I've always found a run is the best answer, and so headed out for an easy 8km to get back into things. My 4:20/km pace soon gave way to 3:56 then 3:51 then 3:37, until I realised that no amount of speeding up was going to solve my non-running problems, and so settled back into an easier pace, finishing with 9.25km in 38 minutes. No solution to the problem, but the arrival home of King Louis kick-started my mood, as he gave me the tour of the house pointing out cobwebs and spiders. His vocabulary is picking up pace, although you have to be his mum or dad to differentiate between 'star' and 'car' (and it helps to be able to see what he is pointing at). He really is the best kid a parent could want - I never thought I could love someone so much.
Monday was a mixed bag. After two days of sleeping in, the 5:30 start was a bit of a jolt to the system, and a full day till 3:30 wore me out. I had a meeting with another client at 5:30, so I had a small window to fit in my scheduled track session. After a 2km warm-up jog, I launched into my run throughs. Halfway through the first one, my right hamstring gave a twinge, and I pulled up. Belatedly, I launched into a stretching routine, but a second run through yielded similar results, and good sense told me to pack it in and head home. This should be the end of the entry, but pig-headedness kicked in, and I discovered that a slower pace wasn't hurting, so I decided an easy session of 8x800 in 2:40 would salvage the session. Two consecutive 74 second laps (2:29) showed that I was back running well. The next was 2:28 (72/76), followed by 2:28 (74/74), then 2:26 (72/74). At this point my hamstring started protesting more vocally, and I called it quits, with great regret as I felt fantastic. Two weeks ago, 72 second laps on their own were a challenge, but today the first laps were at this pace, but felt very comfortable, and I actually had to force myself to ease back on the second laps.
I did the right thing Monday night, and iced and stretched my hamstring, and felt quite good on Tuesday. But in a move that summed up a day in which everything I attempted turned into a complete fuck-up, I headed out for an 'easy' run just to loosen up. Unfortunately, these days this is something in the realm of 3:55/km, and although I felt very comfortable with the pace, about 1km in my leg began to protest. However, because I felt so easy with the pace, I persevered, and it was only 3.5kms into the run that I finally heeded my body's feedback, which unforunately meant I was 3.5kms from home. Technically 6.5km in 27 minutes, but in reality a stupid display of self-destructive behaviour. Spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on 5kg pack of ice, and cursing my stupidity. Still, were this to have been my worst judgement call of the afternoon I would have been much happier. Headed home in a despondant state, as injuries tend to bring out in me. Not a good end to my days as a non-veteran runner.
Awoke this morning and decided to put things right, so grabbed an early physio appointment, which although running into nearly 2 hours, delivered a very positive verdict - a minor grade 1 tear affecting only a few threads - in fact the physio wasn't able to elicit a painful response despite vigourous poking and strecthing. So he plugged me into the machine that goes 'ping' and the most expensive machine in the hospital. Saturday's track debut is out the window, and the fallback plan of the SAN fun run on Sunday is 'under negotiation' at the next physio appointment (the race is not a priority, but I am keen to support a local races to encourage their survival and proliferation). The physio believes I will be back running on the weekend, and back in speed training next week, so it's probably best to learn the strecthing/warm-up lesson at this point in the season with no real loss. Enjoyed the rest of my birthday, with a yum-cha lunch with Amelia and Louis (who confines himself to prawn chips), and the realisation that things of real substance don't disappear overnight.
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Events 12 and 13 and a big catch up
A big catch up, and some exciting developments, so bear with me.
Although Monday 3rd was a public holiday, I had arranged to hook up with a throws coach at Narabeen, and duly headed over in the afternoon. Spent about 45 minutes working with the discus, and although I am still crap, managed one throw out about 25 meters - a distinct improvement on my 17.8 meter existing PB. Threw a monster throw which got Des very excited, until I told him it was a 1kg discus (2kg is competition weight). Lots of work needed on technique and strength, but I was happy to see that even some basic technical advice was able to yield improvements. My goal is to get over 30m (500 points), which I thought was a bit of a pipe dream, but now think is achievable. However, the real trick will be to consistently throw legally in this range, as you only have three throws in competition (I don't think I managed to get half my throws to land legally!). Still - 136 extra points from one afternoon as pretty pleasing.
I have decided to put off getting into hammer throw till next year, as this requires the greatest strength, and so a few months of weights will help. Also, by improving my discus technique I should be better equipped to get my head around the hammer throw technique. And as hammer throw is not part of a standard decathlon, I don't need to get up to speed in time for the State champs in January (see below). Shot put is the least technique-oriented of the four throws, and requires the least training, so javelin will be my next focus, along with discus.
Just as an aside - how expensive is throwing equipment! A basic package of the four throwing implements is nearly $500, and you can spend nearly $2000 on a javelin if you are keen (I am not!). Add a pole vault pole ($500) and some practise hurdles ($250), and I may aswell just become a triathlete! Then there are the various shoes (all $150-200 - if you are keen you could get a separate pair for spints, mid-distance, distance, long jump, high jump, javelin and the circle throws - another $1000!). Still - no one is making me do this...
After the discus session, a did a set of 5x400 in 72 with a 200 jog recovery. Was planning to do eight, but the third one was in 69 seconds, which left me a bit lactic, and so I decided not to push it. Instead I did 5x200, aiming for around 32 seconds. Hovered around the 30-31 second mark for all of them, except the 4th one, which I decided to push a bit, and ran 26.7. Although nowhere near my PB of 23.86, this was very encouraging, and I think I can go close to sub-25 right now, as this wasn't an all-out effort (and was preceeded by 2.6km of pretty fast running!). All in all, a very encouraging session on the track.
Tuesday 4th I decided to give my new Nike Frees a workout, and did an easy 8km to follow the three previous hard days. Shoes felt fantastic, and dipped down to 4min/km very easily, before easing back to finish the workout in 35:10.
Headed off to Young Carers Camp on Wednesday, with a few doubts as to how much running I would get in. Managed an easy 13km or so on Thursday in just under an hour - ran with one of the other leaders - a 92 minute half marathon runner, who appeared to be keeping up, but upon arrival home confessed he was running almost flat out. Friday morning I got up early and did 4x1km on the road. Unfortunately, I choose a fairly hilly section, so the splits were way out - 3:34/3:13/3:33/3:13. Still very happy to be running so quickly in a comfortable fashion. Unfortunately, some minor rib bruising I incurred in a trampoline mishap on Wednesday (don't ask) was flaired up in an incident involving crawling around on the floor like a cat (don't ask). This prevented me from running on Saturday (I lasted 400m), and meant I didn't bother on Sunday.
The camp itself was a great experience - I came back feeling good about myself, knowing I had done something really worthwhile. Not great epiphanys - no desire to pack in my day job and become a social worker, but definitely something I will stay involved with in the future. Got a scary crystal ball look at what Louis may be like in 7 years! The Owl's blog has some more details, as well as a few embarassing stories about yours truly.
Monday 10th, as well as being my 6th wedding anniversay, saw me back into the swing of things, and hammered out 12km in just over 48 minutes, with the middle 10km in about 39 minutes. Threw in a hill at 5-6km, which made the rest of the session tougher than I would have liked. Need to either slow down the pace, or stick to the flat, as I tend to use this session as a bit of a rythym/running economy session, which I can't do if I am working the hills. Once again ran in the Frees - these are the most comfortable shoes I have ever run in.
Tuesday 11th saw me back at Narabeen, but no throwing due to ongoing rib soreness. Was planning a session of 2x3 km in 10:00, to give myself a bit of a kick, but had been suffering with a sore throat, and turned it into a 3x2km in 6:40. The first one was tough (hence why I dropped the last km), but as I am finding with these longer interval sesssions, the next two were far more comfortable. Managed 6:36, 6:38, 6:37, so pretty pleased with that, although still quite a way to go. My plan is to have a 4 week cycle of long intervals that looks a bit like this:
Week 1 - 6x1km @ 3000m pace (current target 3:10/km)
Week 2 - 4x1500m @ 5000m pace (current target 3:15/km)
Week 3 - 3x2km @ 5000m pace (current target 3:15/km)
Week 4 - 2x3km @ 10000m pace (current target 3:20)
By early next year I would like to have the 1km reps down below 3 minutes, and the 3km reps around 9:40. However, reducing recovery (currently a 200-400m walk) times will be a greater priority than reducing interval times. Ideally down to a 200m jog in about 60 seconds.
Finished the session with 4 fast 200s in about 28 seconds, which felt pretty good, although the last 20m or so was a bit tough in the last few.
The discus session has given my double decathlon focus a real boost, and put it at the forefront of my mind. This week I will DEFINITELY be hooking up with a Pole Vault coach (although with my ribs, it will probably be next week before I can do a training session), which is the major short-coming at the moment. Planning to make my track racing debut on the 22nd at ES Marks, where I plan to go in the 200m, 400m, shot put, long jump and 5000m. The 800m is also on the program, but I am still scared of that event, so I will delay tackling it at the moment (I am not at the point where I can run an 800 and 5000 in the one afternoon). Given that I suffered no will effects from going public with my 10km goal, here are my targets:
200m - sub 25 seconds
400m - sub 55 seconds
5000m - sub 16:30
Long jump - 5.50m
Shot put - 8.00m
This meet should give me some benchmarks as to where my fitness is at, and allow me to plot my progress over the next few months. I will be doing the next three meets to play with a variety of events, and then targetting a PB for 3000m at the State Champs on the 12th November. After this, my plan is to compete in the State decathlon championships (ironically in Melbourne) in January, where I have set a big private goal, depending on how my Pole Vault is going. Then I will be focusing on the State and National Masters Champs in April, doing as many meets as I can in between. The State Champs I plan to enter EVERYTHING, but what events I will target at the Nationals I won't decide until March.
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Good as my word!
Striders 10km
For once the curse of going public with a goal didn't bite me, and I managed to hit my sub-35 10km target by the barest of margins - 1 second! Still 34:59 for 10km is now sitting in black and white, and I am pretty happy. Last time I broke 35 minutes was in 1996 (and then only by 5 seconds or so), and we have to go back to 1992 to the last time I was in shape to consistently beat this time. Felt pretty good the entire race, and although my Garmin and the course markings were having a disagreement, I was consistenly hitting 3:30/km and feeling comfortable. Went through halfway in 17:25. which was cutting things a bit fine, but didn't drop off the pace, and managed to put in a 33 second last 200m to drag me under.
Most importantly for me was being able to go a bit lactic, and not ease off - getting used to that short, sharp breathing the body initiates. It has been a long time since I have been able to run at this intensity over the longer distances, and it was very mentally reassuring to be able to handle this. Not sure how my body will cope with 19 events under my belt beforehand.
Thursday I opted out of my threshold session, and did an easy 15km in 67 minutes, and took Friday off for a mini-taper. This will be my last serious crack at 10km for a long time, although I will still run Lane Cove next month. However, despite the temptation to go chasing sub-34, other training needs are going to have to take precedence - and my new motto is "Don't get Greedy!"
Joined a host of CoolRunners at The Owl and Tesso's birthday bash in fine Lebanese style on Saturday night - one of the best night's out I have had for a long time. Despite a lot of wines and a post-midnight bed time, I managed to front up at the Strider's STaR (it was only 5 minutes jog from my house), and ran an easy 26km in 1:56, having a good old chat with Leftie the whole way. This run felt ridiculously comfortable (135 average HR, despite a 4/5 hill rating), and I could have easliy done more. Very encouraging run.
A disrpupted week ahead as I head off to Young Carers Camp for 5 days, helping look after sixty 8-12 year olds. Not sure how much running I will get in, so I will play it by ear. Hopefully I will get in a couple of threshold sessions in lieu of a long run. Off to the track tomorrow afternoon, but that will get a post all of its own.
29/09/2005 2:30 pm
Workout Type: Endurance - Medium Endurance
Course: St Ives
Distance: 15.2km
Time: 1:07:03
Speed: 4:25 min/km
Average HR: 150
Comments: Decided to do an easy 15km instead of the scheduled Threshold session to rest up for Saturday. Felt very comfortable, even if the early split were a bit quick.
Target Pace: Easy (4:37 min/km )
1/10/2005 7:00 am
Workout Type: Race -
Course: Homebush
Distance: 15km
Time: 55:00
Speed: 3:40 min/km
Average HR:
Comments: A solid run on a tougher than expected course - sharp corners made for a slight drop in pace, but none-the-less happy to run so solidly - kept under 3:30kms the whole way. VO2 work starting to show through, but still running comfortably - not getting the shredded lung feeling of hard efforts in years gone by. Will run Lane Cove in November, but this will be my last serious crack at 10km this year.
Target Pace: 10km Race Pace (3:40/km )
2/10/2005 6:20 am
Workout Type: Endurance - Long Endurance
Course: Wahroonga Wobble
Distance: 28
Time: 2:05:00
Speed: 4:28 min/km
Average HR: 135
Comments: Felt ridiculously comfortable - despite the fact that this is considered a hilly course. Garmin was playing up, so no useful statistics on the run, although HRaveraged 135 - some sort of record for a long run. Good to run so comfortably after yesterday's race. Nice to run at a more leisurely pace, given the faster average pace I am now running. All in all a great run - still had plenty left in me at the end.
Target Pace: Easy (4:37 min/km )
