Run 40 minutes

A late afternoon run in windy and humid conditions.
I ran around the outside fence of Centennial Park on the grass.
Had a sun shower during the run which only lasted a couple of minutes. Quite refreshing but then very humid straight after.

Ran 7.92ks in the 40 minutes of the program. Pretty slow run due to running on the grass and having to avoid tree roots etc around the park.

Roughwater 2k Ocean Swim tomorrow at Nth Bondi. Should be fun.

Run 30 mins

A wild and Woolly night greeted me in Centennial Park. Between thoughts of a cold southerly rain or a warm northerly thunderstorm I headed out for a run.

Lots of niggles in the legs tonight, especially the right thigh and shin. Didn't last too long just slowed me down during the run.

Ran 6.13 ks in the 30 minutes of the program. Not worried about speed at the moment, just about getting some sort of base back for Canberra Marathon.

Run 30 mins + 6x100m Strideouts

A fantastic night to run. A very empty Centennial Park with the bats coming home and water all around, and the occasional runner passing by and a light drizzle falling. Sensational!

Ran 6.21ks in the 30 minutes. Felt very easy moving tonight.

Forgot to read up on what a 'Strideout' was supposed to be. So basically sprinted for 100m and then stopped.
I got through the 6x100m in 2:00. Which I guess means average of 20 seconds per 100m.

Must read up on what you are to do when doing them.

Legs felt a bit sore after doing the Strideouts but are ok now.

2006 Goals

The purpose toward which an endeavour is directed; an objective.

Hard to work out what I wanted for 2006 as the second half of 2005 knocked me about with the two stress fractures.
It really meant I had to decide if I wanted to have a crack at Canberra Marathon as a time goal or lower my sights and finish with a time that I would be happy with.
Can't hide now since I have a blog so it is all out there anyway.
These are in no particular order or preference just goals.

1. Sub 3hr Marathon at Canberra if not just PB it which would be under 3:16:32 and qualify for Boston Marathon(under 3:20 for age at start 2007).
2. Sub 4min per k Marathon at the Gold Coast.
3. Sub 4 min per k Half Marathon (current PB of 87:16).
4. Sub 38 min 10k. (current PB of 39:11).
5. Sub 18 min 5k (current PB of 19:03).
6. Win one of my Surf Clubs trophies. March 5th is deadline.
7. Yet again Sub 55 min City to Surf.
8. Fitzroy Falls Marathon on the road to the Dark side that is Six Foot 2007 and that has it's own blog. http://sixfoottrack.blogspot.com
9. Run Cross Country for the Striders during winter. I'm assured more slow old buggers are needed. haha.
10. Run for fun because there is nothing else.

I would say most of these goals are achieveable. The 4min/k Marathon is definitely the hardest but you need at least one goal that is way out there.

Rest Day

Couldn't get into the car park at the SCG so just decided to forget the gym and have a day off.

Run 35 mins

A humid and windy day greeted me as I started this session.
Ran into Centennial Park and I must say the talent was quite good tonight.

Ran past Vat and Bright Shoes doing sessions with Sean Williams squad.

Got through 7.13ks in the 35 minutes. Tried to push this session a bit faster than the 5 mins per klm. Seemed to work ok, didn't trouble me too much to go faster.

Stay tuned as program changes a fair bit on Thursday.

I get to run three days in a row starting Thursday. Woohoo.

And for punishment on my non-running day I will try and do the 2k Roughwater Swim at Bondi on Sunday. Hopefully the swell will go down from the current 3.0m levels.

Run 30 mins

The program was to run for 30 minutes.

Did this after getting back from my surf club and having a lunch of beers and a barbie.

Ran into Centennial Park this afternoon. Very humid and about 23 degrees.

Got through exactly 6ks in the 30 minutes. So much for good pacing.

Surf Club Swim and Run

Decidely different conditions from Sunday. A pretty big swell coming onto the beach made for a very choppy swim. Swim was not too long in wet humid conditions. Still need a lot of practice or is just that I'm trying to get a better handicap?

As the tide was high and the swell big the hard sand conditions from Sunday had changed a faie bit as the waves were constantly washing over our feet as we ran to Black Rock and back.

After my win yesterday I had been given a bigger handicap so was now off 60 seconds with my nearest rival in the comp off 65 seconds.
A couple were off a dubious scratch handicap which gave me no hope of catching them. In the end I did get third with the two off scratch getting 1st and 2nd. My rival came in 4th which means after the weekend I am now 3 points ahead in the run after 8 rounds and only four rounds to go for the season. Timed the run as 2:49. Which was pretty fast with the soft wet sand we had today.
Next race is Australia Day which will mean a run in the OZ Day fun run and then up to my surf club straight after.

BBQ was on afterwards which I had to buy beers for as I won yesterday. BBQ and beers and a surf movie tonight. It's all good mate!

A New Year and a Win

Small crowd in my surf club events this morning. Must be the hangovers?

The swell was quite good enabling a fast swim out the rip around the Buoys and then back in catching waves to the beach. Just cruised around the swim slowly.

The sand was that hot my feet were burning if I walked too slow. The grass and road were not much better.

Found during the week that I was even on points with my closest challenger in the run.
Was given an extra 5 seconds on my handicap to move me out to 50 after my 2nd last week. My rival who was third was given 5 more so he started off 65 seconds.

Small field today which I had caught most of by the rurnaround at Black Rock.
I reeled in the last one after about 50metres after the turn and then tried to keep myself in front. Timed it as 2:45. My quickest yet.
I did manage another win and my closest rival came 3rd so I am now ahead by 2 points.

From the five rounds I have competed in I have 3 wins and 2 seconds.
Beer buying was delayed until tomorrow due to the smaller crowd of competitors.
Another race tomorrow so I will try to go back to back.

Great way to start the year with a win. Gotta love it.

2005 End of Year Review

Injuries:
A back injury on January 2nd was not a good way to start, losing ten days training in the process.
An Achillies injury in late February while in Melbourne left my right foot pretty tender for a week.
Hurt the top of my left foot whilst doing Canberra Marathon in April which took me a month to get rid of.
Then in late July the big one floored me until now. Stress fractures in both lower legs. Missed C2S which really killed me. It was one of my main goals for the year.

Goals for 2005 were:
5k 18:30- did 19:03 at my only attempt at a 5k for the year down from 19:18.
10k 38:30- got the PB down to 39:11 in July from start of 40:41.
Half Marathon Sub 85mins- Ran 87:16 in June at Kembla half. PB at the start of the year was 91:09.
C2S Sub 55min-DNS Injured
Canberra Marathon 3:30:00- Ran 3:16:32 so very happy with that. First Marathon.

Now to 2006 on another post.

Run 35 mins-Late Afternoon Run

After doing some work today for end of month I finally got out for a run at 6:00pm.

It was still 27 degrees and 77% humidity and the afternoon seabreeze was really strong.

I ran into Centennial Park again and ran around the track. Not many people out as it is New Years Eve. Got through 7.05 klms in the 35 minutes.

Felt ok even with the crappy conditions. It's a happy new year and a better 2006 for running at least.

And tomorrow is a day off running so I'll be heading up the coast to my Surf Club to do some events in the water. Yeehah.

Run 25 mins

Started at 7:00pm with a temp of 25 degrees and 83% humidity.

Ran into Centennial Park and ran around the running track.
Very humid, very wet clothes. Within 500m the sweat was pouring off me.

Got through 4.8klms in the 25 minutes. Much better pace than Wednesday.
Just want to keep the runs easy and do all the sessions as the program states.

Bike 10ks

The gym was shutting early today. 7pm so had to get over there quick after work to do this session.

Put the bike on the hills setting. Managed to get through 10.5ks in the 22 minutes.
Had no energy in the legs at all. Heart rate average was 142BPM with a max of 169BPM.

Back to running tomorrow.

Run 30 mins

First time on the program for running two days in a row. Finally I'm getting somewhere.

Into Centennial Park again with a very humid 25 degrees tonight.
Managed to get through 6.23klms in the 30 minutes.
I feel I may have run it a bit quick. Will have to slow it down so I don't hurt myself again.

Legs felt ok during the run. Due to the humidity and the pace I was pushing I did feel out of breath.

I think I'm a long way off beating Horrie at SMC next month unless he does the 5klm.

Run 25Mins

The program today was Run 25 Minutes.
Set out at 6:30pm and ran into Centennial Park. Temp was 25 degrees with 78% humidity and windy with the North East seabreeze blowing.
No wonder I felt like I was running in a swimming pool.

Got through 4.81ks in the 25 minutes. Legs felt ok but pretty slow after a heavy night on the grog. Probably ran past Vat_Man and Mohammad doing 400's with Sean Williams but they were on the other side of the oval.

Surf Club Swim and Run

With a dirty hangover from our Boxing Night party still ringing in my head I plunged into the surf for a welcome swim. There was a race on but I was in no condition to be swimming that fast.

Waited for the two other races to be finished and then the run came up.
After winning the last Round my handicap increased from 35 seconds to 45 seconds. My closest rival in the comp was still off 60 second handicap.

Legs felt very heavy as they would after a big night of beers and Rums and Loud music and 5 hours sleep. Tried to catch the front runner by half way but he had about 50 metres on me which I managed to whittle down to 5 metres by the finish. Timed it as 2:56 for the distance.

My closest competitor in the points finished one place behind me so I think that now makes us even after 6 rounds. Next race is January 1st and 2nd. Should be interesting.

Santa's Naughty or Nice List

Superflake
Nice, but has been naughty at times. Neatness and politeness have been very good over the last two weeks. Shows proper respect for others. Shares well, but could always be better. With a little more effort could be near top of "nice" list.

Christmas Day around the Bay

Met up with a dozen cool runners doing laps of the Bay Run at Drumoyne.

I started on the 'last lap' at 6:15 am and jogged around it easy on the concrete and tar.

I was supposed to do 30 mins today but ended up doing 36 mins to finish a lap of the bay which came out as 6.82klms for me.

Then had a champagne breakfast with chocolate provided by Aunty K and Truckie.
Great way to start the day.

Merry Christmas everyone hope Santa gets you something good.

Row 2000m + Bike 10ks

Late morning headed off to the gym to do some exercise.
Gym was closing at 2 pm. Every man and his rugrat was in the pool so had no chance of a swim.

Started off on the rowing machine and did 2000m in a time of 8:02. Still trying to get this under 8 minutes.

Bike on the hills setting. I had no power in the legs at all today.
Got through 10.6 ks in the 22 minutes. Very slack. Average heart rate of 147BPM with a max of 171BPM.

Glad that the gym was air-conditioned as a 37 degree outside temp was not a place to be running in.

Bike 11ks

Legs were very tired tonight. Almost felt like not doing this session at all.

Bike on the hills setting again. Got through 11.03ks in the 22 minutes of the program.
Average heart rate of 144BPM with a max of 171BPM.

That's it I've got nothing else. Can't wait for a beer tomorrow with a few Cool Runners.