6x1k Reps

Down to the bay run to do my first 1k reps for three weeks.

Reps were 3:34, 3:39, 3:42, 3:42, 3:40, 3:42. All done with a 2min standing recovery.
Pretty humid around there and the Southerly was blowing quite hard as well.

I guess no running for a week took some speed off me. Either that or I just feel tired from all the work I've had to catch up on this week. Bloody holidays!

A lap of Centennial Park-7ks

No time to run tonight. Just did a quick lap of Centennial Park around the outside.
Ran on tar and grass with a bit of sand thrown in and one long hill.

Ran 7.6ks in 34:23. Average pace of 4:31 per klm.

Playing in the sandpit-13ks

A bit longer run tonight and a bit faster as well. Ran around the outside of Centennial Park sticking to as much grass as I could.
While running back home a rock that must have been buried by Blue Dog's Mum in one sandy section leapt out at me and knocked me over. At least I had a soft landing.

Ran 13.3ks in 1:05:02. Average pace of 4:53 per klm. A bit of a strong sea breeze blowing tonight but not too bad.

A short one hour

Ran around Centennial Park, how unsual for me. Stayed mostly on the grass.

Ran 10.6ks in 55:15. Average pace of 5:12 per klm.
Just easing back into after a week off. Reading an old running mag, ok only a few months old. Apparently you lose 10% of your fitness for each week you don't run when injured. Although not injured the only exercise I did last week was one day of hard snow ski-ing.

No rest for the wicked

Straight off the plane from training camp. No unpacking. Just grabbed the shoes and took off in the 30 degree heat at 5pm this afternoon.
Ran into Centennial Park and did a lap. Horrible conditions with that heat and wind. My eyes were cursing me after copping a lot of dirt in them around the park goat track.

Ran 7ks in 37:31. Average pace of 5:21 per klm. Hardly fast enough to burn off the beer, red wine and pizza from the training camp.

Training Camp Photo's

Unfortunately I have been let loose with a camera at the training camp. Many hills here to do some reps on.
One photo is the view from the golf course across the Rakaiia river to Mt Hutt in the background.
The road(in the dry) is going to a place east of Christchurch where an old glacier carved out this bay. Half the street and shop names were french. Very weird in the land of the maori. And how did they get here when the Maori's wouldn't even let the Poms in?
A view of the back country from the top ofMt Hutt. Went heli-skiing in there last year.
The last road is going back through the Alps that I crossed when I drove from the East Coast to the West Coast via Arthurs Pass. A very narrow country!

Training Camp

More photo's when I work out how to download from the new digital camera.

Missed out on a race I could have done on the 30th of September.

Ski 2ks, Mountain Bike 16ks and then run 10ks to a pub. Called the Peak to Pub race.

The Mountain Bike would be very interesting. 1000M vertical over 16ks on a dangerous gravel/shale road that I had trouble driving on. The finish in the pub would be excellent.

Now we could get MPH and FPT to add the Mountain Bike bit into the 20/20 pub crawl somewhere and it would make it interesting.

Ok I'm not actually running, just standing on the top of Mt Hutt.

My Dad's out of hospital

Happy days! My Dad got let out of hospital last night after the wound finally stopped leaking air(lung) on Friday.
I think his five weeks of radiation therapy starts on Monday. Here's hoping that goes well.

Have been given a half gun time of exactly the same as my watch 86:49. That timing clock did work.

Gale force winds at training camp so the ski resort was closed and golf was useless with that wind. Had to resort to a drive to the other side of the country instead. Helps when that is only 3 hrs away.

High Altitude Training Camp

I'm off for a holiday from tomorrow. No running this time just snow ski-ing and golf. It's a hard life!

Sydney Half Marathon

Woke early at 4am to make sure I was fully physically ready, body wise for the race. A long roundabout cab ride at 5:15am due to living on the course route lead to me getting to the start at 5:45am. Spoke to Ellie80, O Runner, Leftie, sfGnome and Team Dog before the start.
Joined the toilet line which took 30 mins leading me to make a very hasty sprint for the clothing truck and then the start line. A bit of a jam trying to get onto the road, eventually followed Leftie to get a good start position, about 10 rows back.
Justified my start position by basically being overtaken by only a handful of runners during the race. Good self seeding is what some race experience does for you.

I was off and running basically 10 seconds after the gun and was into clear space by the turn onto the bridge. Settled into a rythym pretty much straight away and just cruised the race trying to stay as relaxed as possible. I can't remember all my splits but here are a few: 1k-4:15, 2k-8:17, 5k-20:30, 12k-49:00, 13k-52:50. Forgot the rest.
I felt good most of the race but had a struggle coming up to the Glebe Island bridge and into Pyrmont when I felt like crap. Managed to pull myself together as I knew we had the long flat section after that through the Rocks.
Observatory Hill starting from Hickson Rd and the Arygle Cut steep bit nearly killed me. Almost walked at one stage but decided against it. I was given a lift again across the Cahill by the cheersquad to manage a downhill sprint finish in 86:49. 5 seconds off the PB from the flat Lake Macquarie. So I know I will run faster when I get a flat course again.

Great to see all the Cool Runners and Striders out in force in all the events on the day.
The Cheer Squad by the time I left at the Marathon 4hr stage wouldn't have been about 50 people. Awesome.

Some great marathon runs by Glenn Guzzo getting 3rd overall and 1st Aussie, Uncle Dave 5th,
26 Miles going sub 3hr and Blue Dog belting out a 3:09 after some 100 miler 2 weeks ago.

Thanks for everyones support on the course. The guys that I was running near for most of the race were amazed at how many people yelled out to me, including a mate from my Surf Club at that coffee shop in Prymont before you cross Darling Harbour.

I am still amazed at the pack mentality of runners who play follow the leader. I followed the racing blue line all the way and when it wasn't I ran gutter to gutter. Saved heaps of leg work.
Took a photo of the male winner and Jenny Wickham the lead female Strider(5th I think).

15x 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off

Found a relatively flat area to run this. Pretty heavily lit, so very easy to see the watch while running. About 1.2ks each loop with not too much traffic to contend with.

Goal was 30 seconds hard and then 30 seconds float. And do that 15 times for a total of 15 mins.
Ran 3.65ks in the 15 minutes. Average pace of 4:06 per klm.

Did a 1.5k warmup and then a 2.5 cool down after the session.
Legs feel very good after the session, as it wasn't too long.

One Hour Easy 10.5ks

A nice cool night for a run. Ran around Centennial Park down to Fox Studios and back again. Mostly ran on the grass to save the legs.
Ran into Gronk down near Queens Park having a run in the skins.

I ran 10.5ks in 57:30. Average pace of 5:28 per klm.
Took the run nice and easy and didn't try and push it.

It seems my Dad will be starting 5 weeks of radiation late September. Hopefully that will have him feeling well for Christmas.

Half Marathon Pace Run-7ks

Looking for a flat place to run this I headed down to the Bay again. Starting from Drumoyne Rowers and running down the 5k course until the end. And then turned and ran back up to the 3k marker. Broke a bit of rythym doing it that way. After finishing did a 3k cool down back to the car.

Ran 7ks in 27:46. Average pace of 3:58 per klm. I was aiming at 4 minute ks so a bit quick for the purpose of the session. But satisfying as it felt good to keep that pace on the flat.

Lets see how I go with the hills and crowd added in on Sunday morning. Feels good anyway.

My Half Marathon PB has now been fixed up by the race organisers from the Lake Macquarie Half. I've now been given 86:44 as the PB. So a 32 second PB for the race. Now I have a faster time to beat at Sydney Half.

A lap of the lake

An easy run tonight around Centennial Park. The run had that much water on the ground it felt like I should have had the flippers out. I was also showered on for a couple of minutes during the run plus that great Southerly wind is still blowing strong.

Ran 7.35ks in 37:11. Average pace of 5:03 per klm.

Talked to my Dad tonight and he said they had results back about the pieces they took out of his lung, artery and lymph gland. It was Cancer unfortunately.
Hopefully that will be the last of it. But he does now have to have radiation for it. Don't understand the last bit, but there you go.

Looks like he may be out by the weekend which is great. Might have to run fast for him on Sunday in the half. Go hard or go home for me!

Magpies R Us

A 7am start this morning as I ran into Centennial Park. A howling southerly was blowing as I made my way around the park. Getting up to the ovals up at Oxford St I was dive bombed by 3 magpies on the 2nd lap of the park. Not one when I ran the oval on the first lap around the park. They do nest in the pine trees next to the oval so I was asking for trouble.
Luckily I managed some pace as I ran down one side of the oval to escape them. I just saw Birds again on foxtel and was thinking of a Hitchcock moment for a while.

Plenty of water in the lakes which are over flowing at the moment so the big storm water drain on Alison Rd is flowing like the Snowy River should be.
I thought I would have a non CR day until right near the end I saw Kit, Razor, and Roses with two other ladies about to start their runs.

Run was 18ks in 1:34:03. Average pace of 5:13 per klm. Didn't push it too hard today. Really tired after watching the Swans match and then the Rugby debacle last night.

Full Moon Fever- a 1 hour program

Still very windy tonight and quite cold when I ran. Went into Centennial Park and around and down to Anzac Pde and back again. Just stayed on the grass mostly to save the legs.

Ran 11.5ks in 1:00:35. Average pace of 5:16 per klm. Just took the run easy and didn't push too hard.

Found out when the Doctor was in checking on my Dad's lung they found the growth had gone into his pulmonary artery so they took part of that out as well. Surely you could have seen that from the tests before opening him up.

The photo from a couple of posts ago was taken in Adelaide at my fathers first communion.

I'll wait and see how the weather is Sunday morning on whether I do the 10k at Putney or just do a run in Centennial Park.

A quick run

Not a lot of time to go for a run tonight. Very windy but with no rain at all. Did a lap of Centennial Park the same as last night. Hard work in the howling wind.
Ran 7.66ks in 35:06. Average pace of 4:34 per klm.

Went and saw my Dad tonight at the hospital. He has been taken out of intensive care already and to me looks like he did before going in for surgery. The Doctors are impressed at his recovery. He's already giving me a hard time about work, so that is good.
Says he has no pain now. He did forget to mention that he is hooked up to a morphine drip.
No mention yet of when he gets to go home. They did have him wearing the nana socks ala Paula Radcliffe except they have holes in the toe areas. Very funny.

Tears for Fears

I had no time tonight to do anything longer so just did a lap of Centennial Park the long way round. Including going down to Anzac Pde and back home.

Ran 7.6ks in 36:11. Average pace of 4:45 per klm. Felt really good running in the rain, although thinking about my Dad a bit too much doesn't help keep dry.

I had a phone call from my mother after the run and she said my Dad was in intensive care still and in a lot of pain. Kept asking the nurses to take the weight off his shoulder. That could be the drugs talking though. He is talking and breathing without oxygen which is fantastic.
The Doctor was very happy with how he responded to the surgery. They took a piece of one lung so hopefully he won't be too restricted when he gets out. Early days yet.

Thank you for everyone's kind thoughts, very much appreciated. I try to keep this blog running/injury related mostly but even though I have had a good run in the last 2 weeks with training my Dad has been on my mind since he first went into hospital on Tuesday last week.

Little boy goes to Hospital

The little boy is now 69 and is in the middle of the back row.

Right now he is in hospital about to have a tumour removed from one of his lungs.

Hope it goes well and he can still do everything he did before the surgery.

I spoke to him about 2 hours ago and asked him if he was nervous. He said he wasn't but he was scared but there was nothing he could do about it.

I'm scared too. More like I'm crying but not much I can do about it as he said.

Just try and keep the other wolves of my so called relations at bay if anything does happen.

Love you Dad.

6x1k Reps, with a PB thrown in

This is not a test. Yes it is true. After a crappy 10k I run a fast 1k rep. Go figure.
Egged on by Easy Tiger yesterday who said I should be able to run faster, I had a go.
The North East Se Breeze blowing tonight dictated how I decided to run the reps.
Basically no warmup and start from the 0 marker on the bay run and ran down to the 5k mark.
I then jogged back to the 4k mark and ran back to the 3k. Then did a 3k cool down back to the car.
The run goes into the wind during the 3-4k leg hence the slow time.

Reps were 3:29, 3:32, 3:31, 3:42, 3:35, 3:35. All done with a 2 minute walk recovery.
The 3:42 rep was into the wind for about 800metres. The first three reps were equal to or faster than the 3:32 PB from last week.
Now just have to keep some of this pace for the Half Marathon next week.

The trail beyond

After a massage from the Tiger this afternoon the legs felt pretty sore to me. Maybe I'm just soft, who knows?

Anyway I ran into Centennial Park along the grass trail avoiding tree roots and possum mating rituals.

Ran 10.61ks in 58:45. Average pace of 5:32 per klm.

Easy Tiger was baiting me to run a quick 1k rep this week. I thought I did that last week? There is always room for improvement. Might make it hard with the forecast showers from Wednesday. We'll see how it goes.

Centennial Park 31ks

The run was in two parts today due to Fathers Day commitments at the SCG watching the swans win. Love you Dad.
The morning part started about 6:30 am with a couple of laps and a bit extra making it 15ks in 1:18:22. Average pace of 5:13 per klm.It was 17 degrees when I started but started to get very humid by the time I finished. Then it was off to the footy.

Second part started about 4:30 pm after lunch and beers and the footy. Glorious warm day for a run, with it being 24 degrees at 6:30 pm after I finished.
The run was 16ks in 1:27:22. Average pace of 5:27 per klm. Too much lunch and beers I think.

Total was 31ks in 2:45:44. Average pace of 5:20 per klm. All run on the grass and dirt trail in Centennial Park.

Next weekend I might do the Bridge to Bridge 10k fun run at Putney. A nice hilly course to work my legs over for the half the week after.

Striders North Head 10k Race

Under promise and under deliver. Done on both fronts.

Arrived very early 6:20am and did a bit of a warmup with 26 miles up to the roundabout and back. It this stage I already wasn't feeling confident about the race.

Started out really well and was at the 2k mark in 7:30, so looking good.
Well after that it was all mud. Found it very hard to get any rythym and felt like I was struggling just to run in any decent form. I proceeded to then go through every k in 4minute pace and eventually get to the 9k mark at 35:40.

Managed to crank out a 3:41 last k. Well that one is downhill partially to finish in 39:21.

Good points. Yes I do have some, besides missing the PB by 10 seconds.

Fastest 10k in 14 months.
An improvement of 1:14 over 10k since Homebush in July.
A course PB by 1:36 from May last year.
2nd Fastest 10k ever for me.

I know I can run better than this, just not today.
Much to work on before the year is out. I am as keen as mustard to knock off the 5 and 10k PB's this year. Plus knock the Half PB down to sub 84.

Thanks for everyone's support in the last month, much appreciated.