Thursday, April 20, 2006
Quick, but not strong...
A bit of a wakeup call this morning - although not a real surprise.
Consciously skipped a run yesterday as I had two solid runs in the previous two day and my foot was a bit tender - did a bike ride to Lady Macquarie's Chair and home to compensate.
Arrived almost on time this morning, with a few obviously quick runners I hadn't seen before there. Good warm-up (something I am really relishing training with SWEAT), and then into the main session, which was a set of 5x600m loops with a hard uphill (150m) and a longer downhill, with about 2:30 recovery. This is a good session, as you work hard on the hills, but rather than stopping at the top, you push yourself for another 400m or so.
The first 50m or so was a sharp downhill - not my strong suit, and I found myself working the uphill immediately afterwards to catch the leaders. This worked OK for this first one (2:18) and the second (2:15), where I was only just off the pace. However, whilst I can hide my lack of form in a session like Tuesday's, where speed was more of a virtue, a test of strength like this session found my sorely wanting, and I dropped off the pace in the last three, running 2:20, 2:22 and 2:22 (the last one saved by a desperate sprint to avoid being caught by Vespa).
A good honest session, and looking at the times, not as bad as I thought straight afterwards. But the fact remains that my fitness is nowhere near what it should be, and sessions like this are a far better gauge of my current form then short sessions, where my natural speed can hide these weaknesses. Assuming my feet hold together OK, I will try and run every day, and gradually build my longer run up from 1 to 2 hours. I am away at camp next week, so Sean has scheduled two tempo runs for Tuesday and Thursday.
Consciously skipped a run yesterday as I had two solid runs in the previous two day and my foot was a bit tender - did a bike ride to Lady Macquarie's Chair and home to compensate.
Arrived almost on time this morning, with a few obviously quick runners I hadn't seen before there. Good warm-up (something I am really relishing training with SWEAT), and then into the main session, which was a set of 5x600m loops with a hard uphill (150m) and a longer downhill, with about 2:30 recovery. This is a good session, as you work hard on the hills, but rather than stopping at the top, you push yourself for another 400m or so.
The first 50m or so was a sharp downhill - not my strong suit, and I found myself working the uphill immediately afterwards to catch the leaders. This worked OK for this first one (2:18) and the second (2:15), where I was only just off the pace. However, whilst I can hide my lack of form in a session like Tuesday's, where speed was more of a virtue, a test of strength like this session found my sorely wanting, and I dropped off the pace in the last three, running 2:20, 2:22 and 2:22 (the last one saved by a desperate sprint to avoid being caught by Vespa).
A good honest session, and looking at the times, not as bad as I thought straight afterwards. But the fact remains that my fitness is nowhere near what it should be, and sessions like this are a far better gauge of my current form then short sessions, where my natural speed can hide these weaknesses. Assuming my feet hold together OK, I will try and run every day, and gradually build my longer run up from 1 to 2 hours. I am away at camp next week, so Sean has scheduled two tempo runs for Tuesday and Thursday.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Surges
After catching up on some blogs (sad Marty, happy Uncle Dave) and watching my most excellent new Elvis Costello DVD, went to bed fairly early, and actually slept till my alarm went off at 5:30am. Still managed to turn up late to SWEAT, but jumped on the end of the warm-up (I'd had the good sense to stretch at home), and felt pretty good.
Today sessions was 4000m - 10 laps made up of surging the straights and easing back on the bends. The pace differential was not meant to be too great, and my understanding of sessions like these is that you are getting yourself just above threshold on the straights, and then dropping just below on the bends.
Was planning to tuck in behind some of the better runners, but found myself on my own after 200m, so just aimed to run a controlled session, assuming they would pick me up towards the end, because I had gone out too fast. Anyway, my pacing was pretty good today, as I put together the following sequence:
83/82/82/82/84/82/82/82/82/77
for a total time of 13:43. Pretty happy with the session, and came in about 45 seconds quicker than the others, which surprised me. Also, my average HR was only 161, so it was more comfortable than I thought.
A 2km cool-down with Vespa, and a 2km run home with Don Juan, plus 2km there gave me a nice round 10km for the morning.
Today sessions was 4000m - 10 laps made up of surging the straights and easing back on the bends. The pace differential was not meant to be too great, and my understanding of sessions like these is that you are getting yourself just above threshold on the straights, and then dropping just below on the bends.
Was planning to tuck in behind some of the better runners, but found myself on my own after 200m, so just aimed to run a controlled session, assuming they would pick me up towards the end, because I had gone out too fast. Anyway, my pacing was pretty good today, as I put together the following sequence:
83/82/82/82/84/82/82/82/82/77
for a total time of 13:43. Pretty happy with the session, and came in about 45 seconds quicker than the others, which surprised me. Also, my average HR was only 161, so it was more comfortable than I thought.
A 2km cool-down with Vespa, and a 2km run home with Don Juan, plus 2km there gave me a nice round 10km for the morning.
Monday, April 17, 2006
Heartbreak hill
Have made the commitment to start blogging daily, as the running picks up again. Good news for those who enjoy my babble, but for those who don't... well why are you reading this then?
Friday saw a rare sleep-in (courtesy of Louie's 7:30 lie in), and lunch with Amelia's family with some nice fresh seafood. To ensure this wasn't misconstrued as religious observance, I also had shared a devon sandwich with Louis (and meatlovers pizza for dinner). A few nice wines at lunch ruled out a run later in the day (actually the trip to the beach that afternoon was the main culprit - including a $100 swim (my mobile phone was in my pocket!)). Amelia took some classic video that I will post up when I got my fast internet connection (Wednesday - fingers crossed).
Saturday morning (and afternoon) was taken with a client meeting, and then I managed to slip out for an easy 10km. Just rambled through Centennial for a couple of laps - thought things were a bit off, as it took my 51 minutes, but then realised that I had run an extra km. Still 4:42/km with a 147 HR was a nice easy one.
Sunday saw me finishing two uni exams (and being tempted to drop one of the subjects altogether), and then a trip to the city for an early dinner in Chinatown (preceded by Louie's first monorail ride). Chinatown has really gone downhill, with all the restaurants having touts out the front, and offering $15 specials - certainly a case of getting what you pay for. The highlight was Louis using chopsticks for the first time - balancing a solitary Singapore noddle on the end and transporting it to his mouth. A rare night without work or study, spent listening to the directors commentary on the newly acquired Simpsons series 5 and 6 box sets. Cape Feare (Sideshow Bob episode) - the favourite episode of both of us - was the highlight.
As usual, I was awake early this morning (haven't slept properly since I broke my wrist), so did the right thing and got up and worked, before heading out the door for a trip up Heartbreak Hill. Just rolled through the kms, but a still morning just before sunrise was a great backdrop, and I felt like I was getting back into the groove. The hill itself felt very comfortable, although I have always felt that Heartbreak Hill is overated (the hill out of Double Bay coming back is another story altogether). As I want to run a good City To Surf this year (I have never really had a good run there), I will try and run this once a week, and incororate it into the ood long run from time to time. 54:53 for 12km - 4:34/km @ 152 bpm - a pretty pleasing run, without taking much out of me.
SWEAT training tomorrow morning.
Friday saw a rare sleep-in (courtesy of Louie's 7:30 lie in), and lunch with Amelia's family with some nice fresh seafood. To ensure this wasn't misconstrued as religious observance, I also had shared a devon sandwich with Louis (and meatlovers pizza for dinner). A few nice wines at lunch ruled out a run later in the day (actually the trip to the beach that afternoon was the main culprit - including a $100 swim (my mobile phone was in my pocket!)). Amelia took some classic video that I will post up when I got my fast internet connection (Wednesday - fingers crossed).
Saturday morning (and afternoon) was taken with a client meeting, and then I managed to slip out for an easy 10km. Just rambled through Centennial for a couple of laps - thought things were a bit off, as it took my 51 minutes, but then realised that I had run an extra km. Still 4:42/km with a 147 HR was a nice easy one.
Sunday saw me finishing two uni exams (and being tempted to drop one of the subjects altogether), and then a trip to the city for an early dinner in Chinatown (preceded by Louie's first monorail ride). Chinatown has really gone downhill, with all the restaurants having touts out the front, and offering $15 specials - certainly a case of getting what you pay for. The highlight was Louis using chopsticks for the first time - balancing a solitary Singapore noddle on the end and transporting it to his mouth. A rare night without work or study, spent listening to the directors commentary on the newly acquired Simpsons series 5 and 6 box sets. Cape Feare (Sideshow Bob episode) - the favourite episode of both of us - was the highlight.
As usual, I was awake early this morning (haven't slept properly since I broke my wrist), so did the right thing and got up and worked, before heading out the door for a trip up Heartbreak Hill. Just rolled through the kms, but a still morning just before sunrise was a great backdrop, and I felt like I was getting back into the groove. The hill itself felt very comfortable, although I have always felt that Heartbreak Hill is overated (the hill out of Double Bay coming back is another story altogether). As I want to run a good City To Surf this year (I have never really had a good run there), I will try and run this once a week, and incororate it into the ood long run from time to time. 54:53 for 12km - 4:34/km @ 152 bpm - a pretty pleasing run, without taking much out of me.
SWEAT training tomorrow morning.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
More steps in the right direction
a lame pun, but I only realised this after I wrote it, so it can stand for the time being...
Followed last Wednesday's first-up run around the inside of Centennial Park with a more adventurous effort around the outer boundaries of the park, a good 1500m longer. Enjoyed the whole cross-country feel, but a much more controlled effort - 7.6 km in just over 36 minutes - a gentle 4:47/km.
A busy schedule, including riveting uni essays on nucleosynthesis and martian meteorites, a training day for the upcoming Young Carers' camp, dinner with family, a combined second birthday party for Louis' mothergroup chums, and a truck load of work meant any further runs for the week went out the window. On the positive side, a massage from CoolRunning' s Easy Tiger sorted out a few weak spots, and gave me some feedback on areas I need to focus on.
As always, Monday morning arrived with the endless possibilities a new week brings, and I headed out the door bright and early (although with my current sleeping patterns, I had already done a couple of hours work by then). 10km at 4:20/km, with my average heart rate a quite acceptable (for this point in time) 156 bpm. Two laps of Centennial, plus there and back (and half a lap around the block to get it to an even 10). Felt really good, but with three days off, I'd want to!
Tuesday was the big day. One of the attractions of moving to the East was being able to train with others, and I was keen to hook up with the Sean Williams squad. Headed down bright and early on Tuesday morning to discover that half of CoolRunning also trains with Sean - such illustrious figures as Don Juan, Amjan, Elle80 (a first timer like me), long-lost Vespa, Winetrailrunner and Lulu, plus no doubt a couple of lurkers, or people I can't put handles to faces for.
The session was great - a structured warm-up with drills (although I was underdone in the streching department), and some run-throughs, followed by 10x400m with about 90 seconds recovery. 400m was a rough (and under) approximation, but the session was a good one to get back into faster work. Ran relaxed near the front of the group, and never felt like I was pushing it, which was good. Gradually increased my pace throughout the session, for the following:
76/78/74/74/73/72/68/71/71/66.
Spoke to Sean afterwards about coaching, which he was more than happy to help me out with. I am pretty excited about having taken this step, and look forward to some professional input into my training. My training goal at the moment is to get back under 33 minutes for 10km, but I am not worried about reaching this level until September or so. Later that day, I rode down to Bondi Beach to have lunch with Louis and Amelia, who had taken the bus down earlier. I am really loving the freedom of the bike, although the discovery of what goes down must come up (like the road to Bondi) is a sweaty lesson to learn.
Wednesday saw my legs quite ginger from the previous day's session, and once again workload prohibited any running, even if I had have wanted to. With Amelia heading to Wahroonga to collect the last of our crap, I got to take Louis to day-care, which is still a bit of an iffy proposition in his mind. He had a better day than last week, and appears to be settling in, although I think it will be a few months yet before he is pushing us out the door.
This morning (Thursday) was supposed to be another squad session, and I was up bright and early. However, a bit of urgent work had come in overnight, so I needed to focus on that, and by the time I headed out the door, it was nearly 6:30. Sure enough when I arrived at the meeting spot, everyone had left, Burke and Wills style. Originally, I headed off to do a lap of the park to find them, but remembering that Sean had said they were doing hills, I went looking for hills. Unfortunately, the hills I went looking for where a long way from the hills I should have been looking for, and by the time I finally found the group, they were just finishing their alloted workout. With 35 minutes already under my belt, I joined Cindy and Vespa on their cooldown run, and then jogged back home with Don Juan, for a 65 minute run in total - my longest since New Years Day from memory.
Out for informal CoolRunning drinks tonight, and then Good Friday (I didn't even know it was a holiday) with Amelia's family (being the devout religious types we all are). Work, running and 2 uni exams this weekend ensure that I won't be getting off the treadmill my life currently is any time soon.
Followed last Wednesday's first-up run around the inside of Centennial Park with a more adventurous effort around the outer boundaries of the park, a good 1500m longer. Enjoyed the whole cross-country feel, but a much more controlled effort - 7.6 km in just over 36 minutes - a gentle 4:47/km.
A busy schedule, including riveting uni essays on nucleosynthesis and martian meteorites, a training day for the upcoming Young Carers' camp, dinner with family, a combined second birthday party for Louis' mothergroup chums, and a truck load of work meant any further runs for the week went out the window. On the positive side, a massage from CoolRunning' s Easy Tiger sorted out a few weak spots, and gave me some feedback on areas I need to focus on.
As always, Monday morning arrived with the endless possibilities a new week brings, and I headed out the door bright and early (although with my current sleeping patterns, I had already done a couple of hours work by then). 10km at 4:20/km, with my average heart rate a quite acceptable (for this point in time) 156 bpm. Two laps of Centennial, plus there and back (and half a lap around the block to get it to an even 10). Felt really good, but with three days off, I'd want to!
Tuesday was the big day. One of the attractions of moving to the East was being able to train with others, and I was keen to hook up with the Sean Williams squad. Headed down bright and early on Tuesday morning to discover that half of CoolRunning also trains with Sean - such illustrious figures as Don Juan, Amjan, Elle80 (a first timer like me), long-lost Vespa, Winetrailrunner and Lulu, plus no doubt a couple of lurkers, or people I can't put handles to faces for.
The session was great - a structured warm-up with drills (although I was underdone in the streching department), and some run-throughs, followed by 10x400m with about 90 seconds recovery. 400m was a rough (and under) approximation, but the session was a good one to get back into faster work. Ran relaxed near the front of the group, and never felt like I was pushing it, which was good. Gradually increased my pace throughout the session, for the following:
76/78/74/74/73/72/68/71/71/66.
Spoke to Sean afterwards about coaching, which he was more than happy to help me out with. I am pretty excited about having taken this step, and look forward to some professional input into my training. My training goal at the moment is to get back under 33 minutes for 10km, but I am not worried about reaching this level until September or so. Later that day, I rode down to Bondi Beach to have lunch with Louis and Amelia, who had taken the bus down earlier. I am really loving the freedom of the bike, although the discovery of what goes down must come up (like the road to Bondi) is a sweaty lesson to learn.
Wednesday saw my legs quite ginger from the previous day's session, and once again workload prohibited any running, even if I had have wanted to. With Amelia heading to Wahroonga to collect the last of our crap, I got to take Louis to day-care, which is still a bit of an iffy proposition in his mind. He had a better day than last week, and appears to be settling in, although I think it will be a few months yet before he is pushing us out the door.
This morning (Thursday) was supposed to be another squad session, and I was up bright and early. However, a bit of urgent work had come in overnight, so I needed to focus on that, and by the time I headed out the door, it was nearly 6:30. Sure enough when I arrived at the meeting spot, everyone had left, Burke and Wills style. Originally, I headed off to do a lap of the park to find them, but remembering that Sean had said they were doing hills, I went looking for hills. Unfortunately, the hills I went looking for where a long way from the hills I should have been looking for, and by the time I finally found the group, they were just finishing their alloted workout. With 35 minutes already under my belt, I joined Cindy and Vespa on their cooldown run, and then jogged back home with Don Juan, for a 65 minute run in total - my longest since New Years Day from memory.
Out for informal CoolRunning drinks tonight, and then Good Friday (I didn't even know it was a holiday) with Amelia's family (being the devout religious types we all are). Work, running and 2 uni exams this weekend ensure that I won't be getting off the treadmill my life currently is any time soon.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Back on the blocks
A busy few weeks, with little (OK no) running, so lack of time and interesting running stuff has seen me absent. Fortunately, dedicated souls like Austin Danger Powers used this downtime to persue my back-catalouge - guilty as charged on the nerd alert front.
Personal crap to follow, but so the next little bit makes sense, just know that we moved to a brilliant terrace in down-town Paddington 11 days ago.
Today was a big one for me activity wise. Although I ran on Monday (20 minutes going round in circles at Trumper Park), this was my first run in about 3 weeks, and highlighted the biomechanical dramas that have kept me away. However, a trip to my podiatrist (the very cool PodRunner - disappointed there are no photos of Marnie and Jo on the WEB site) last week saw a new set of orthotics on order, which arrived today - apparantly made of materials the astronauts used (which makes them about 45 years old!).
Two things prevented me heading straight out the door as soon as I got home - firstly the slight matter of a 4 hour client meeting, and secondly, the lack of shoes that haven't had the life run out of them. Once aforementioned client had departed (leaving a request list that will easily finance my inner-city lifestyle for a few more months yet), I WALKED (gotta love this place) to the Sydney Running Centre in Edgecliff, and bought a new pair of shoes. Looking for light-weight trainers, I grabbed a pair of Asics Speedstars (yes they are that yellow - although quite subdued next to my Nike Frees), which were some of the most comfortable shoes I have ever tried on - even with orthotics that still literally smelt like a shoe repair shop. As a plus, they were about 50 bucks cheaper than the Asics DS Trainers I had my eye on (and 23 grams lighter), and being served by fellow Strider Damian Tancred was a bonus (as was the pair of racing socks he threw in).
Some minor assistance at home with the finishing touches to some Scandivnavian modular furniture, then it was out the door and across to Centennial Park. This was my first run through the park - a mere 900m from my door to its front gate (all uphll however), and it was absolutely fantastic - I equate running with boring laps of an oval, but this was something else altogether. Only did the grass main loop, but know there is a lot more of the park I can explore (not to mention Queens Park next door, if I am yearning to run around a sports oval). Look forward to doing the bulk of my training there, and hopefully running into a few CoolRunners.
The run itself was a typical first run back - too fast, and a reminder of lost fitness. After easing into the first km in 4:50 (my target pace), exhilaration kicked in, and 3 quicker kms followed (4:19, 4:14, 4:17), before finishing an uphill km in 4:37 and a downhill one in 4:17. All up, 6km in 27 minutes (4:30/km), with an average heart-rate of 158 (found my HR strap today after mislocating it 3 months ago). Much slower for the next few runs as I build up to 12km or so at a time.
But wait, there's more. Having finally dumped the Alfa, and having not driven since the move, it was time to take the next step to car independance and join the bicycle brigade. I have not owned a bike in probably 20 years, and my cycle savy was on full-display as I asked the salesman for a recommendation. Although suffering a bit of sticker shock ($790 - although a third of that was things for Louis - seat and helmet), some consultation with a number of CoolRunners convinced me that doing things properly was the way to go, so a shiny red Giant Elwood will be mine and Louie's tomorrow afternoon - which coincides with a babysitting shift, so it's off the Centennial again.
And just when you thought it wasn't possible to spend any more money (I can see the triathletes laughing now), I have arranged an appointment with CoolRunning's EasyTiger for a massage and general evaluation of my tight bits this Friday, along with a complementary stretching and strength training program. Even had an email discussion with the infamous Rudolf about training philosophies, so with the Double Decathlon 193 days away, today was definitely day one.
OK - that's enough for a first post back. But the really big news of the day was Louis's first trip to Day Care today. Although I was dying to take him, I'm kinda glad I didn't as it took Amelia 40 minutes to build up to leave, and I'd probably still be there. Some tears and trauma on departure, but no phone calls during the day, and a glowing report when we went to pick him up (although he started crying as soon as he saw us). As well as a break for Amelia, it will be good socialisation for him (one day a week at this stage), particularly as his mother's group friends are now on the other side of town.
The little man turned two last week, so here are some shots of daddy's favourite boy:
Never too full for cake...
Nationalistic ferver kicks in...
You weren't thinking of putting books on these were you?
Louis and Sally make themselves at home...
Our new place...
Personal crap to follow, but so the next little bit makes sense, just know that we moved to a brilliant terrace in down-town Paddington 11 days ago.
Today was a big one for me activity wise. Although I ran on Monday (20 minutes going round in circles at Trumper Park), this was my first run in about 3 weeks, and highlighted the biomechanical dramas that have kept me away. However, a trip to my podiatrist (the very cool PodRunner - disappointed there are no photos of Marnie and Jo on the WEB site) last week saw a new set of orthotics on order, which arrived today - apparantly made of materials the astronauts used (which makes them about 45 years old!).
Two things prevented me heading straight out the door as soon as I got home - firstly the slight matter of a 4 hour client meeting, and secondly, the lack of shoes that haven't had the life run out of them. Once aforementioned client had departed (leaving a request list that will easily finance my inner-city lifestyle for a few more months yet), I WALKED (gotta love this place) to the Sydney Running Centre in Edgecliff, and bought a new pair of shoes. Looking for light-weight trainers, I grabbed a pair of Asics Speedstars (yes they are that yellow - although quite subdued next to my Nike Frees), which were some of the most comfortable shoes I have ever tried on - even with orthotics that still literally smelt like a shoe repair shop. As a plus, they were about 50 bucks cheaper than the Asics DS Trainers I had my eye on (and 23 grams lighter), and being served by fellow Strider Damian Tancred was a bonus (as was the pair of racing socks he threw in).
Some minor assistance at home with the finishing touches to some Scandivnavian modular furniture, then it was out the door and across to Centennial Park. This was my first run through the park - a mere 900m from my door to its front gate (all uphll however), and it was absolutely fantastic - I equate running with boring laps of an oval, but this was something else altogether. Only did the grass main loop, but know there is a lot more of the park I can explore (not to mention Queens Park next door, if I am yearning to run around a sports oval). Look forward to doing the bulk of my training there, and hopefully running into a few CoolRunners.
The run itself was a typical first run back - too fast, and a reminder of lost fitness. After easing into the first km in 4:50 (my target pace), exhilaration kicked in, and 3 quicker kms followed (4:19, 4:14, 4:17), before finishing an uphill km in 4:37 and a downhill one in 4:17. All up, 6km in 27 minutes (4:30/km), with an average heart-rate of 158 (found my HR strap today after mislocating it 3 months ago). Much slower for the next few runs as I build up to 12km or so at a time.
But wait, there's more. Having finally dumped the Alfa, and having not driven since the move, it was time to take the next step to car independance and join the bicycle brigade. I have not owned a bike in probably 20 years, and my cycle savy was on full-display as I asked the salesman for a recommendation. Although suffering a bit of sticker shock ($790 - although a third of that was things for Louis - seat and helmet), some consultation with a number of CoolRunners convinced me that doing things properly was the way to go, so a shiny red Giant Elwood will be mine and Louie's tomorrow afternoon - which coincides with a babysitting shift, so it's off the Centennial again.
And just when you thought it wasn't possible to spend any more money (I can see the triathletes laughing now), I have arranged an appointment with CoolRunning's EasyTiger for a massage and general evaluation of my tight bits this Friday, along with a complementary stretching and strength training program. Even had an email discussion with the infamous Rudolf about training philosophies, so with the Double Decathlon 193 days away, today was definitely day one.
OK - that's enough for a first post back. But the really big news of the day was Louis's first trip to Day Care today. Although I was dying to take him, I'm kinda glad I didn't as it took Amelia 40 minutes to build up to leave, and I'd probably still be there. Some tears and trauma on departure, but no phone calls during the day, and a glowing report when we went to pick him up (although he started crying as soon as he saw us). As well as a break for Amelia, it will be good socialisation for him (one day a week at this stage), particularly as his mother's group friends are now on the other side of town.
The little man turned two last week, so here are some shots of daddy's favourite boy:
Never too full for cake...
Nationalistic ferver kicks in...
You weren't thinking of putting books on these were you?
Louis and Sally make themselves at home...
Our new place...
