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.
