The last week of January

.
Well, I'm pretty happy with January's effort. My first month of proper training for the Comrades. My target was to end up with 271km under my belt. Thankfully I completed 281km and feeling very good about it, all fairly long slow distance type of running.

There's plenty of room for improvement, like fewer unscheduled days off and more strict diet control but as Clint said in dirty harry "man's got to know his limitations". And my limitation is the ability to make more than one major change to my life at a time. So I'll make diet control a focus for February.

The new Comrades training schedule is out for February. Looks like I need to find a full marathon to run in the third week, ugh!

Sunday 30th January - Long Run 32km
Last night I entertained the idea of going to Mansfield and running the "Mansfield to Buller Ultra" After seeing the course elevation profile I decided that I need a lot more preparation before taking on a hill like that. Not to mention losing 200kg.

Why is it so much harder running by yourself? Last week's run with the Sydney Striders was a harder course but it seemed to slip by. Today I went out along the foreshore on Port Philip Bay and ran from St Kilda down past Brighton, Sandringham, Black Rock and turned at Beaumauris.

Plenty of trailwalker people training this morning in formation fours with heavy backpacks on.

My HR Average for the first Half was 137 and my HR average for the return trip was 157. In terms of speed the split was even. But the extra effort to stay on the same pace on the way back really seemed to take it out of me. Left knee injury ached the whole way but didn't get worse which is good. All in All a great day out, albeit harder than last Sunday. Next week I'll run with Schepisi's group out at Ivanhoe for 28km Along the Yarra River.

Saturday 29th January - 10km Easy
Went out from Elwood along the bay towards Port Melbourne in the rain. That's twice in 6 days I've been absolutely drenched. Ran into a mate half way and yakked on for 8 mins. Felt full of beans and was ready to go much faster but held back for the long run tomorrow.

Friday 28th January - 0km No Run
An unscheduled day off. Slack! Lacking motivation used the old lame excuse of being too busy at work to worm out of my run. Was only supposed to do an easy run of 6km.

Thursday 27 January - 10km Easy but felt hard
Ran from home to work with a 10kg back pack full of laptops, clothes, RM Williams boots etc... Maybe this is the reason it was so hard???

Wednesday 26 January - 9km Easy
Went out with my mate and had a good yak fest. Down past the Spirit of Tasmania and along the bay.

Tuesday 25 January - 9km (7.74km Time Trial)
Embarasingly my weekly 8km timetrial is only 7.74km. I noticed that the go the tan event being held around Melbourne's botanical gardens this weekend is only 3.87km for one lap. So my 8km timetrial has been roughly 250m shorter. My time this week was 40min 50sec which was slower than the last time I did it two weeks ago, hopefully I have not peaked yet. Wouldn't that be tragic?

A Blogless Week

I can't believe it's been a blogless week. Is my interest waning? Week total was 60km with three day's off!!! Spent most of the week up in Sydney for work and time for training (and blogs) was extremely short. I'll work backwards from yesterday:

Sunday 24/1 - Balmain Bungle STaR
Stayed on in Sydney and ran with the Sydney Striders for the Sunday Training Run (STaR). (well, as a financial member I am part of the small elite group "Sydney Striders - Melbourne Chapter"). I arrived a little late from Avalon, where I was staying. I left with the 6:05am group which is well within my abilities and decided to try for the whole 30km at whatever pace they wanted to run. The first few km was hilly, we don't have hills in Melbourne. There was a rather steep hill which I felt a knife go into my right calf so decided to power walk the rest. I ran along with a small group and the pain didn't seem to get worse so continued on.

As we got to Victoria Road the 6:10 group, which I used to run with when I lived in Sydney, came through at a fair clip, according to Dave they were running slow, eeek! I do have a lot to do..

I decided to try for the distance and latched onto a group of four who were running at a strong steady pace. To be joined by the familiar shuffles of Charles soon after. The rain by this stage was absolutely bucketing down like cats and dogs. The gutters were a torrent and everyone was soaked to the bone. The pace was in the order of 5:40km/min.

Running at a manageable pace with Charles and the discussion on how to spend the Striders healthy bank balance was all I needed to take my mind off the weather. Unfortunately my suggestions were rejected in the nicest possible way. Suggestion 1 was a clubhouse with free beer for members and free accommodation for interstate members. At about the 25km mark I suggested that all financial members should get a free Garmin Forerunner 301 for the upcoming Striders 25th birthday celebrations.

I finished the run with a sore and inflexible right calf but feeling very happy to have completed the 30km course. I took a couple of Voltarin tablets which made all the difference and took the pain away. Stop Press: Monday, Back in Melbourne and calf is sore but ok, easy running this week.

Saturday 22/1
Zero kilometers because Toby tried to poison me with Gewurtztraminer last night, a type of sweet weed killer.

Friday 21/1
12km nice and easy from the Hotel in Sydney City down and around Centennial Park. Felt strong but held back.

Thursday 20/1
No running too busy at work. Ugh!

Wednesday 19/1
8km in the Blue Mountains. Beautiful clean air of Wentworth Falls. Only problem was the Hills.

Tuesday 18/1
10km in Centennial Park after work. Felt flat, no energy. Obviously not recovered from the hard 15km on Sunday.

Olinda Long Run Killer

Sunday January 16 15km Hard

This week's long run was only 15km but very hard fire trail stuff. I was supposed to do 21km this week but I excused myself from the balance because the 15km was very hard. I guess I realised how unfit I am, and how much work I need to do. Decided to run with Schepisi's group and ran the trails in Olinda which is up in Mount Dandenong just out of Melbourne. Strapped on the heart rate monitor. I knew I was in trouble when the HRM was reading 160bpm about 30mins into the run. The last hill was an absolute killer and about 5km long where the HR was in the 170bpm range. The difficulty matches some of the challenges that the six foot track offers esp considering my present state of fitness. Or lack.

Monday January 17 Day Off

Sore legs, not surprising really. Did a stretching session this morning and entered the Canberra Marathon (actually the Ultramarathon 50km option) to be held in Canberra on Sunday April 10 2005. Staying at the Rydges Capital Hill. Picking up my number will be a bit of a pain because I don't arrive until 8pm on the Saturday. I'll worry about that later. Just happy to have a meduim term goal.

It's been a few days and I'm well overdue for a post. I'm off to do a long run this morning. The plan was to venture out and test part of the Commonwealth Games 2006 marathon course. I thought I'd better do something a bit more demanding like runnning with a group. So I'm off to the mountains this morning.

Interms of Comrades preparation. I have been asking two ex Sth Africans lots of questions about P,Maritzburg and Durban. It looks like it might be best to travel by road or rail from my arrival destination Joburg to the race start at Pmaritzburg. I'll be in Sth Africa for a short time and flying on domestic flights seems like such a waste of an opportunity to admire the country.

I've eliminated rail because the trains travel overnight and I'd prefer to do it during the day so I can admire the scenery. I'll investigate buses (Greyhound?). Otherwise I'll just rent a car from our friends at Hertz.

Here is what happened last week. Back to the training diary...

Wednesday January 12 11km

Steady Day. Two laps of Albert Park lake. Felling good, conditions perfect. Nothing to report but lots of Swans. (Did you know that the Sydney Swans AFL team got their name from the swans on Albert Park Lake when they were based in South Melbourne?). The New fourth pool at the Melbourne Aquatic Centre which is being built for the 2006 Commonwealth Games is making great progress.

Thursday January 13 8km

Easy Day, Met up with the training partner and ran easy along the foreshore down to Brighton. Absolutely perfect conditions.

Friday January 14 9km Steady

The trusty Comrades plan says do 6km but I faffed around at home for too long and the only opportunity to get a morning run was to run to work. Felt flat because I haven't been eating properly lately and working too late.

Saturday January 15 8km Steady

Arthur Lydiard the famous coach who recently died promoted lots of Long Slow Distance as a key component of his program. That's what I'm doing. But the thing that I didn't realise is that it is BORING. Ran along the yarra river this morning with the trusty training partner. Lots of rowing going on and plenty of drunks still out after big nights out at the various night clubs in the Crown Casino complex. The drunks were cheering us along and generally encourging us to greater effort. Comments like...

"You're All Winners"

" Go Forest!"

Good Grief Charlie Brown

The huge announcement to the family that I want to do the Comrades Marathon was a bit of a fizzer. So I built it up, we're in the restaraunt, in Sorrento, I've already informed my brother in law and, and the announcement is made with a glass of fizz raised. Reaction? well nothing. Excitement, no. Approval was at best apathetic. More like "good grief Charlie Brown" or OK if you must, just don't hurt yourself! So I guess that means I'm off to South Africa. Yippeeee! Flight is booked to Joburg, need to figure out what the flight to Durban will cost. SAA tells me it's 500 Rand. ?? I think that's about A$150?. Who cares about the details. Back to the diary.

Thanks for the comments.

----------------------------------------------------

Tuesday January 11 - 8km Time Trial
Today I did a 8km time trial in 40min 28sec which was almost 4 minutes faster than last week and felt better doing it. Well as times go it wasn't particularly fast it was pleasing to knock out a faster one. Funny the quads were still sore from Sunday. Just pacing meant that my time was almost even for both halves rather than going out too quick. Hot today here in Melbourne 37 degrees Celsius not very conducive to enjoyable running.

Monday January 10 - Day Off
I was so happy to have got through yesterday's session in one piece but I've been paranoid about my injured (but recovering) left knee and the old injury in the reconstructed right ankle. So I went to see a physio at Olympic park. Apparently both injuries are in good shape and not being too damaged by the training. He gave me a program that will improve strength and flexibility and told me to stay away from interval work and racing. Phew!!

Sunday January 9 - 25km Long Run (Week total 65km)
The long run this week was 25km down around the mornington peninsular. Started at Blairgowrie and ran to Portsea via the bay and then back up the back beach road where I stumbled upon the famous Portsea oval where Percy Cerruty once trained John Landy and Herb Elliot, after a victory lap then off to the portsea ocean beach and down the old melbourne road to Rye then home. I kept it slow at around 6min/km pace and focused on getting through in one piece. Ended taking water and drinking two bottles and ate three GU energy gels. Really happy to complete this.

Saturday January 8 - 6km
An easy 6km out and back. Ran a bit quick on the way back. Must focus on getting miles into the legs before trying any running at intensity..

What Summer?

Despite my father’s representations I will not see him into a grave earlier than he because a well prepared organism will easily satisfy the requirements of the challenge at hand. This is what training is all about. The unprepared are the ones that fall over and have heart attacks by the side of the road at events like City to Surf. Getting to the starting line is 100% of the battle, once that gun goes off it’s the months of preparation that gets you through to the finish. Then it’s the deep vein thrombosis that gets you on the plane home. That reminds me I must invest in a pair of those very attractive compression socks. Ok I’ll get off the soapbox for now.

What summer? It was 11 degrees Celsius this morning in Melbourne and I can’t believe where Summer has gone, bloody terrible. The plan says do 6km easy but I think we ended up doing 8km. Just didn’t have the heart to make my training partner turn around after 15min. The pace was relaxed and the wind was blowing a gale. Ran from Port Melbourne where the ferry that goes to Tasmania docks and all the cars etc drive out of its nose. Couldn’t help noticing one rather large back packer, just off the boat from Tassie, sitting at a bench with a copy of the Lonely Planet guide to Australia not sure where or what to do. Poor bugger he probably packed a summer wardrobe into that backpack. The other interesting event in the area was the realisation that the Hobie Cat world sailing championships have just been held off Port Melbourne, what a cosmopolitan and interesting international city Melbourne is.

So, as Rod Stewart once said, tonight’s the night. I’m heading down to the Mornington Peninsular for the weekend and I’ll be announcing over dinner to my wife and other assorted participants that I have aspirations to compete in the Comrades Marathon in June in Sth Africa this year. Watch this space for the huge positive reaction and offers of support.

The knee seems to be holding up, I must say that I am very nervous about Sunday’s long run of 25km, also next week’s long run of 21km at race pace. I’m thinking of cutting the distance.
Finally, in the “I must have it” gadget department I was eyeing off the latest in fitness technology on the web yesterday. The Garmin ForeRunner 301 to be released in the USA sometime this month http://www.garmin.com/products/forerunner301/ One of the problems with the existing Garmins is the lack of the Heart rate function, which forces you to wear a Polar HRM as well. Anyhow, I’ll dream on that purchase can wait.

Shooting for 271km this month

Wednesday, 6 January (10km)

Decided to run to work. So I printed the map from whereis which tels me that it is 9.11km from home to work. In order to do the required 10km I did a few laps of an oval (where the Melbourne Storm Rugby League team train) along the way. The run takes me from home through St Kilda past all the junkies who are quite amused to see runners, one even ran beside me for 70 metres to prove he could keep up. I just give them a friendly wave and trudged on.

Towards the end of last year I splurged out and bought two new pairs of shoes. A pair of Brooks Addiction 5 and a pair of Asics Gel Kayano X. Both extremely good shoes for different reasons. I'll do most of my training in the Brooks because they are very stable, well supported shoes with a fairly large footprint, one down side is they feel a bit like flippers. The Asics feel faster, are very comfortable and actually feel a bit more cushioned. The Asics were very cheap because I bought them off ebay for US$75 plus $20 delivery.

Thursday, 7 January (8km)

Woke up late, couldn't seem to get going and rolled over when the alarm went off. Went out after work and ran down to Brighton at a slow, relaxed pace, the wind was quite strong and blowing off the bay so I had to work a bit on the way out but I flew home. Ran in the Asics which are wearing in nicely and strapped on the Heart rate monitor. The HR stayed around 70% to 75% which is an easy run. When I returned I typed up my training schedule for the month. Looks like I am shooting for 271km this month which will be quite big for me. I'll need to do some intensive work but getting the miles in the legs is the major goal for the month.

Running in the rain!

There are three schedules on the Comrades website. The hardest is for people training to complete the 89km marathon in under 9 hours, the second is for those who think they can do it in less than 11hrs and the third schedule is for those who aim to complete the run in under 12hrs.

According to the programs, if you can run the Tuesday 8km time trial in less than 37mins then you are on the sub 9hr program. This morning I did the 8km time trial in 44 mins, which is a bit slow. But that puts me on the sub 11hr-training program.

I am happy to be on the 11hr program because I’m also nursing a recovering left knee. The lower intensity and distance will help the knee fully recover. I guess I can jump onto the quicker program later if I want to.

For those of you in Melbourne you would have trained in the thunder and squall this morning, not very pleasant. The venue for the 8km time trial was “The Tan” a hard sand and gravel track of 4km around the Botanical Gardens. As a result I have a bag with filthy and wet running gear. Mind you the satisfaction of completing required training in terrible weather makes it worthwhile.

I have three relatively easy days coming up followed by a 25km run on Sunday. Also, today I need to select my target races. Apparrently I need to select three ultra marathons and two standards as preparation for this 89km Marathon. Eeek!

PS. the weight is moving in the right direction (finally)....

2005 is Comrades year

Hi All,

Welcome to my blog. I'm doing it to train for the 2005 Comrades Marathon in Sth Africa. www.comrades.com Just recovering from a small injury to my left Medial Collateral Ligament which still aches a bit if I sit down for too long.

After a fairly indulgent Christmas & New Year I decided to follow the training plan on the Comrades website. Which had me doing an easy 8km on New Years day.

Diary Entry: Jan 1, 2005 (8km, month cumulative 8km)

I decided to run out along the foreshore here in Melbourne for 4km out and back. There had been much partying and the stench of stale beer near the various marquees was probably the last thing I needed because I had consumed my share of NY cheer the night before.

Jan 2, 2005 (16km, month cumulative 24km)

Trusty Comrades training plan says do a long run. http://www.comrades.com/home.asp?id=404

Decided not to over do it given that the L knee has been a bit ill of late and stayed on flat ground. Total coverage was in the vicinity of 16km (10 miles) and feeling pretty chuffed. Wore the heart rate monitor so I could focus on keeping the HR above 70% (144 beats per min). I also took a strap on water bottle to get used to carrying water. I ate one gel at 40min.

The Deaf Olympics are in town http://www.deaflympics.com/ and there was plenty of activity down on the beach at St Kilda with the USA and German beach volley ball teams training and popping that volley ball around. The wind was blowing hard and the teams were having a few probs keeping the ball in court.

January 3, 2005 Rest Day...
I rode the bike for 1hr in the interests of weight loss..