Saturday, October 29, 2005

Bike again

Another day in the gym at Aussie Stadium.
Pretty well deserted in the gym this afternoon, but the pool was crowded due to the warm temperature. Parents with kids meant I couldn't get into the pool afterwards and didn't want to wait.

Set the bike up on the random hill program with the difficulty set on 10 out of 20.
Did 16ks in the 34 minutes including the cool down program of 2 minutes.
Didn't do the warm up setting this time, just started straight off.

Certainly felt that session after I got off the bike and tried to stand up. The arse hurt like hell for a while. Must be doing me some good.

As I said no swimming was done as I couldn't get in the pool.

CR 5K Challenge

I was the starter I didn't run.
About 40 I would guess took the challenge this morning to get a new PB for 5k.

I did take a few photos but since I was using an old disposable camera that I had lying around the photos won't be up until I get them processed as a CD.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Bike

Another session in the gym on the exercise bike.

Did a 7minute warmup covering 2.4ks during this.

Set the bike up for 25minutes this time with a 2 minue cool down at the end.
Set the bike on setting 10 out of 20, also with the random hill option thrown in.
Covered 12.6ks in the 27 minutes. Heart rate averaged 130 for the whole session. So I probably wasn't pushing hard enough.

Didn't do the swim as the pool was still a little crowded so didn't want to have a crash in the pool by my lack of practice. It's all good anyway.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Bike

Went to the gym for a ride on an exercise bike. I was looking to swim as well, but due to the heat every man and his dog was in the pool. To save having a head-on in the lane I just used the gym instead.

Used a conventional exercise bike this time. Used the same programs as on Saturday.
Which meant a 7 minute warmup in which I covered 2.3ks.
I then did the 20 minute program which throws in an occassional hill, with a 2 minute warm down after that. I covered 9ks during the 22minutes.

I wouldn't have a clue if any of that is good or bad. But it certainly works the legs without getting any impact on the stress fractures. Which is why I am doing this.

Sunday, October 23, 2005

A Swim, a run, and a win

Ventured to my surf club for the sunday races instead of doing the Maroubra fun run.

The club has our usual races held for the life saving club every sunday plus the club next door which you join after you have finished your patrols has their own races but only every 2nd weekend.
We have a swim race about 400metres in total out through the surf and back. A board paddle race which is about 800metres. A ski paddle for 800metres and a hard sand run which is roughly 800metres as well.

It was all of scratch(usually handicap) today as it was the first race of the season. Due to my current swimming ability I think I will be getting a good handicap for the rest of the season as I was 3rd last out of the water in a group of about 30 people. I need practice, but it was also a tactic to get a better handicap as I know I won't win the swims anyway.

I didn't go in the board or ski paddle races. Just watched the spills as the surf was pretty good and there was a hell shore break due to the tide being almost full when we started at 11 am.

The run started after that with about 20 of us running on the hard sand with the water running up the bank. The sand actually was very soft due to the approaching high tide.
Sat on the leader all the way to our turn around point which is a big black rock about 400metres away. Kept about 10 metres distance until I noticed I wasn't putting in any extra effort and the leader was coming back to me. Stayed about 5 metres behind out of ear shot until about 30metres to go when I went past him for the win. Late kicker. The handicapper writing the names down at the finish had my competitors name almost down until I snuck through on the line.

BBQ and beers on the back lawn of our club was to follow and as a winner of one of the races I had to buy half a dozen beers. Gotta love those rules.
I think I'm going to get hammered in the handicap for the next race in 2 weeks.

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Bike and Swim

Yes it is true. This is not a test.

Went to the gym at Aussie Stadium. The closest one to me and free sort of.
Hopped onto what looked like an exercise bike but actually had arm rests and a beer holder.

Not sure how all the buttons worked on the machine. I wasn't asking.
Hit the warmup button and discovered I had a 7 minute warmup. Managed to cover 2.2 klms during the warmup.

The program was then 20 minutes in which I covered 9 klms. I set the machine so it would throw in the occassional hill.
It then went onto a 2minute warm down in which I covered another 600 metres.

So a total of 29 minutes cycling and covered 10.8 klms. I think I had the bike set on 10 out of 20 for hardness. The fat old bloke next to me had his on 7 so not much of an achievement setting it on 10. Discovered muscles in my arse that I didn't know existed. Arghhh.

Then into the 25metre pool for a few laps. Outdoor heated pool which was not crowded so had the lane to myself. Thank god as I had enough trouble going straight.
Did 500metres and it hurt like hell. I think I managed 50metres without stopping once.
Forgot to time this. Best guess is 20minutes total including stopping.
It has been a long time since I did laps in a pool. Maybe 10 years.
Much prefer catching waves in the surf.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Red Wine Therapy

Was this blog about running once?

A red with dinner. Gotta love it. My cupboard has a few red bottles in it that need to be emptied.
I can only help them.

Monday, October 17, 2005

Fool Man Rising-12.5ks

Well there was a full moon out tonight so it was a good night for a run.

But when I run on grass and I can feel pain in my leg from the stress fracture I know I'm an idiot.

Putting it bluntly. I have decided that I won't run until I can't feel the pain when I press on my tibia. Should have done this in the first place.

If anyone spots me running please feel free to pull me over and take my running shoes and give them to Kevin Tiller as recycled shoes. And I'm not joking.

I can't run at the pace I want without feeling some kind of pain, be it a pins and needles feeling or a sore muscle near the bone feeling.

I hate having to do this as I'm such a stubborn bastard but like the Rugby coach said "You can't run without legs".

As for the run tonight I felt tired and slow and it was a struggle.
Ran 12.5ks in 1:12:24. Average pace of 5:47. I knew it was shit.
Right leg hurt occassionally so that it is enough for me to have my dummy spit.

I'll be off to my surf club on Sunday instead for some malibu board therapy and possibly beer.
Sorry Horrie will have to skip Maroubra fun run and Lane Cove and...........

Sunday, October 16, 2005

SMC 10K

Spotted many CR caps and tops when I entered the carpark for the race.
A lot cooler morning than last month and no humidity.

I hadn't decided what pace to run at, just to push as much as the leg and lungs would handle.

Always start a bit too hard at this course, found out first k was about 4mins with the 2.5k coming in about 10:30.

I stopped at every drink station and walked through to give myself a rest.

Ended up running with Papa Luigi from the 5 to 7.5k urging him to go faster. Which he did for a 1 minute PB.

I finished in 44:18 behind Papa and Horrie and Professor.
5 minutes faster than last month without doing an ounce of speed work. And the other race was only 3 weeks ago. Gotta love that.

Still undecided on whether to run the Maroubra Fun Run(8k) as I did it last year.
If the leg is ok I will do it, if not will probably head up to my Surf Club and do the swim/board and run races on the sunday morning.

Friday, October 14, 2005

Rest Day

No running. Right shin feels a bit sore today.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Centennial Park Run 12.5ks

My usual run at the moment.

Very windy tonight as well as being humid.

Ran in only a singlet and shorts.

Ran 12:53ks in a time of 1:05:30. Average pace of 5:13 per klm.

Only drawback was my right stress fracture seems to give me more trouble when I run. And this wasn't the one that I had the swollen leg in the first place. How does that work?

Looks to me like I'll be ripping around the SMC grass course on Sunday.

I have also created myself another blog. Which won't be used until the end of next year. If you click on my profile you can find it. KT may have some issues with the name, I might ask before I start to use the blog too much.
For those interested it is sixfoottrack.blogspot.com. I was surprised no-one had taken it yet.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Faster Centennial Park Run-12.7ks

Ran around the outside of Centennial Park and down to Anzac Pde and then along to Alison Rd.
Then turned around and ran back.

Very humid night. I ran in only shorts and a singlet and was not cold at all.

No pain in the legs at all. Freaked out a few bats in the park as they took off when I ran past.
Scared the crap out of me as well.

Ran 12.7ks in a time of 1:04:20. Average pace of 5:04 per klm.

Monday, October 10, 2005

Recovery Run 12.6ks

In the dark on a very windy night I ran around Centennial Park on the inside on the grass.

Legs felt ok after the half marathon yesterday.

Not much pain other than the quads being a bit sore towards the end.

Ran 12.6ks in 1:07:44. Average pace of 5:22 per klm.

All rebuilding my base stuff at the moment, so I am not worried by any lack of pace in my runs.

Canberra is 6 months away so there is no hurry.

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Striders Internal Half Marathon

The morning is run as a handicap so we all finish at about 8:30am.
The first starters went off at 6am and the last at 7:15am.

I had to start at 6:55am as I was given a revised handicap by O Runner of 95mins.

I knew I wouldn't run to that as I have not run over 13ks since mid July.

True to present fitness I got around in a time of 1:43:30. My watch time which I started a bit late. Happy with that time as running a half in 5 min/ks is a good at the moment for me.

Pace was 4:54 per klm. No apparent soreness with the stress fractures.

Next weekend is SMC 10k. I may run all on tar, I'll see how I feel

Friday, October 07, 2005

Rest Day again

Have brothers wedding tomorrow so decided not to run.

Official ring bearer. I don't get them until the church tomorrow and then hand them over within 5 minutes.

Feeling good about the Striders half on Sunday. Won't be a fast run, lucky to be under 5min/ks.

Just want to get through in one piece.

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Rest Day

Actually fell asleep in front of the TV watching the news in my running gear.

Woke up an hour later. So decided to forget the run.

I have the half on Sunday so it won't matter missing a run.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Hard and Soft-12.8ks

Half run on the tar/concrete and half on the grass.

Happy to report no sign of pain so far with the stress fractures.

It was 22 degrees when I started so ran in a singlet and shorts. Very humid.

Ran the usual circuit I have been running around Centennial Park via Queens Park, up to Oxford St and then down to Anzac Pde and along to Alison Rd and then back.

Ran 12.8ks in a time of 1:06:35. Average pace of 5:12 per klm.

Quite happy with that, legs are still sore from the weekend.
And I have run three days in a row now. The first time since late July.

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Going Soft again-12.6ks

Ran into and out of Centennial Park tonight on the grass.

Wanted to run this faster than I did on Monday.

Hard to go faster when it was dark and the footing underneath is pretty rough.
The grass track around the fence of Centennial Park does cross a lot of tree roots so have to look out for my footing.

Ran 12.6ks in a time of 1:06:51. Average pace of 5:18 per klm.

I wanted to run it faster but the body is still sore from the beating from the Go Karts on Sunday and two days of drinking.

Much to do before the Striders half on Sunday.

Monday, October 03, 2005

A hot morning in the Park-12.6ks

After two dirty hangovers in 2 days it was time to do some running.

Woke up this morning with bruises all over my body. The go karting was excellent yesterday but hell on the body. I have bruises on my back and hips plus an elbow.

Finally started out at 9 am and it was already 25 degrees. Thats hot.

Ran up to Centennial Park and ran around on the grass. A bit cooler in there with the tree shade.
Ran 12.60 ks in a time of 1:10:01. Average pace of 5:33 per klm.

Very hot morning. Legs felt good, as for the rest of the body. I feel like crap. I need a sleep now.

Aim for the rest of the week is to get in 2 more faster runs and then the half on Sunday after a wedding Saturday. Could be ugly. Get the buckets ready.

Sunday, October 02, 2005

Brothers Bucks party

Nothing dirty. Don't fear.

Started at 9am with a hangover still going from the previous night. My bus driver picked me up to take me across to Manly to pickup my brother and his friends for the rest of the day.

The drinking started at 9:30 going to the go kart track. Excellent fun the 11 of us had the track to ourselves for 2 X 22min stints.

Very hot, hard work and lots of crashes and bruises later we piled back onto the bus for a ride to Doyles at Watsons Bay. Plenty of eye candy for us to look at on the beach. Summers coming so the girls were working on their tans.

A leisurely 2 hr lunch with much alocohol consumed and the waitress was quite happy with the by now 16 of us handing over $1100. $500 of that in alcohol. It was a great lunch.

Then caught the ferry back to the Quay. A few departed here but the rest of us crawled up the hill to the Australian hotel in the Rocks for the boutique beer festival.
Buy a tasting glass for $5 and then buy $1 tickets for your choice of about ten different breweries.
One of the guys knew someone who worked for the Blue Tongue brewery so we got some free samples before starting.
Listened and half watched the Tigers victory during the time at the pub.

We left the pub about 8 and the guys headed back to manly and I finally got home and passed out with the lights on. Not a good thing. Woke up at 1 am wondering how the lights got on.

An excellent day. And no damage done done to the buck apart from an alcohol induced sore head.

Owl and Tesso's birthday dinner

Went to the restaurant Hannibals in Surry Hills with about 30 people turning up to celebrate.

We were stationed in the cushion room, through the kitchen, downstairs, past the toliets.

The food was excellent and the company was first class. All lounging on cushions and dreaming of arabian nights.

The belly dancer turned up and all hell broke loose. Or was that truckie. I'm not sure.

When it was all over about half of us made it the the Retro nightclub at Darling Harbour. Dancing to 80's music to the small hours. I had to bale early, 1am, as I had my brothers bucks the next day.

The night was excellent, Uncle Dave cutting up the dance floor. Woohoo!

Saturday, October 01, 2005

Striders Homebush 10k race

Ventured out to homebush to help as a marshall at the 10k.

I figured that the hard concrete would be no good for the stress fractures. Unsure of that, but better to not chance it.

I was stationed at the wentworth common area which was about 3ks into the race and then 8ks as the runners all came around again.

Had a good time urging on all the runners I know to go faster.

By the time I got back to the start they had almost packed up and left without me. How rude.
I should be ok to race at Lane Cove for the next 10k.