Sparkie's rundiary

OK, right now I am exhausted. The training schedule looks impressive on paper, but when it comes to actually doing it, it's just hard work. Despite feeling fine after Saturday's effort, a sore throat I had been fighting all week decided to kick-in, and most of Sunday was spent sleeping (and therefore not training).

Monday 9th January 2006
Monday morning's gym/run was posponed, as my sore throat decided to visit Amelia, and I took the morning Louis shift. Took him and Sally for a walk, despite the fact it started pouring about 3 seconds after I walked out the door. Without Bronte to compete with, Sally and the pram becomes manageable, although I was saddled with a wet smelling dog under my desk for the rest of the day.

Was going to have another rest day altogether, but felt better at lunch time, so decided to stick to the program - a 9km steady run and a weight session at the gym - back-to-back for time saving reasons. Sure enough, as I headed out the door, it began to pour again. Because the thing below my left knee is still giving me a bit of grief, I drove to Loretto to do the 9km on grass.

Unfortunately, the rain didn't stick around, and the sun came out to make things VERY steamy. I have been a bit worried of late that focusing on the shorter events, jumps and throws was affecting my longer running, so I was interested to see how this session felt. Because Loretto is flat (actually, it's half uphill and half downhill, but the gradients are very manageable), my pace was a bit quicker than normal, and after a 4:09 warm-up km, the next 7km averaged about 3:43, but felt pretty comfortable (probably more comfortable than my equivalent road run, which is about 10-15 seconds a km slower), and then a 4:45 cool down. Given the humidity, this was an encouraging run.

Jumped into the car and headed to the gym (a shower was called for), then kicked off my standard weight program. A bit of a back soreness on the squats (javelin possibly the culprit) - will probably move to legs presses for a while, as I work on back strength with other exercises.

Two hours training.

Tuesday 10th January 2006
Although not training at 5:30am every morning, I am forcing myself to get up at this time each day (working on the non-training mornings, to reduce the guilt of heading out for 2 hours in the middle of the day). Headed down to Lane Cove to do a track session before throws training at 11:00. Had originally planned 4x800 in 2:24 with 2 minute recovery. However, an enthusiastic first lap of the second interval (68 seconds) threw things astray, and I dropped back to 400s in 72 with a 90 second recovery. Did one 800 and six 400s, but felt flat, and the humidity was a killer - not a great session. Might have to move this to earlier in the morning over summer.

Throws training was pretty ordinary - discus dominated, but nothing seemed to work properly (best throw 23.56m). Then we moved to throwing a 2.5 barbell weight (very unaerodynamic), and the penny dropped - lead with the hips, then the shoulder, then arm (I had been throwing with my arm and waiting for my body to catch up). Shot put was a mixed bag, with a best throw of 8.22m, consistent but plateauing. By now it was approaching "where have you been" time, so just a couple of javelin throws to finish with. Nothing spectacular, but consistent throws and a better feel for my release.

With so much time on discus, by the time shot and javelin come around, my arms are starting to tire, with results reflecting this. I will need to start rotating these events in my training to allow a fresh shot at each. The other option is to add one of each throw to an alternate day, which I am starting to consider (what better way to warm-up for a series of 400m intervals than 20 javelin throws).

Two and a half hours training.

As I sat barely able to stay awake at my desk this afternoon, I thought about another 10 months of this, and whether I was up to it. Then a short-term goal jumped up and grabbed me, which I will share tomorrow.