Vatblog - Turning...to the Dark Side

Weekend update

2010-01-23T10:28:00.002+11:00

Thursday
- decided to bring proposed rest day from Monday next week forward to today. Swimming lesson in the evening
Friday
- slow, heavy legged 6.7k run done around the local neighbourhood (so some good climbs) in 35 minutes and little enthusiasm, although seemed to improve as the run went on
Saturday
- total cycled just under 65km in about 2 hours 20, basically rode from home to group ride start, then the group ride, stopped for coffee, and then rode home. Weird combination of legs being tired and yet quite strong.

Total distance cycled this week is around 225k, which is probably my best ever week on the bike.

Also completed three sets of my core exercises during the week (Mon, Wed, Fri). I will post my routines at some point in the not too distant future.

Weight seems to have dropped a little (maybe 1-2kg since 13/1) but body fat % seems to have fallen 2%, which is pleasing and definitely a positive trend. Definitely looking leaner, core exercises definitely producing definition around the ab region which is a nice plus!

Mid week

2010-01-20T20:21:00.002+11:00

Tuesday
- early evening 6.2k run, 2 laps of neighbourhood loop, 29:15 with slightly faster second lap. Pleased I got out, really didn't feel like it, and indeed headed out with the intention of only doing one lap
Wednesday
- morning 51k ride, including failed attempt at Mt Coot-tha (quads still stuffed) and River loop to city, just under two hours
- afternoon, just over 18k straight home from work, fairly grindy, just under 45 minutes

2010

2010-01-18T15:40:00.003+11:00

So, haven't posted. Lazy, busy aaaaaaaaaaand so on. Had considered pulling the pin on this, but might be a good record of thoughts on how things are going.

2010's gradually being planned out. Current schedule
- Brisbane RoadRunners events. Try to do these, for both running and social purposes. So far so good, two for two
- bike events, Mt Coot-tha Challenge and Ipswich 100 (miles) in March
- Glasshouse, most likely the 50k in May and possibly the 100k in September. Sadly our team won't be appearing at the Kokoda Challenge this year. Having a bit of a sniff around for potential teams, but a bit unfussed about it at the moment
- Brisbane to Gold Coast 100 bike event in October. Managed to crack 3 hours for this in '09 which was pleasing as I didn't think I was in particularly good shape
- possibly some triathlon club events late in the year

Accordingly, decided to really hammer myself in January to set up a bit of a platform for planned events in March (two bike rides) and May (Glasshouse 50k). Haven't had a drink since Jan 2, been working hard on core strength. Back/hip are still playing up when I run, but have a bit more control over it now - just a fact of life, suck it up.

Looking at the training diary, done the following this year:
Sun Jan 3 - 5k road race (run) Brisbane Road Runners 21:49. Pleasing, thought I might have been around 22:30 shape
Mon Jan 4 - 77k bike ride, just under 3 hours. Yes, I stopped for coffee (at 56k)
Tue Jan 5 - short running intervals session (about 4k, 20 minutes all up), kind of 100-200-300 pyramid thing. Long grass, just mucking around really.
Wed Jan 6 - a bit over 30k on the bike first thing in the morning around the local suburbs, for about an hour and quarter, including some good climbs
Thu Jan 7 - 6.2k run around the local neighbourhood, just under half an hour. Got a good little 3.1k circuit with some good climbs
Fri Jan 8 - (well earned) rest day
Sat Jan 9 - 86k on the bike (broken into four rides with short breaks in between), just under 3 1/4 hours, including my cycling group
Sun Jan 10 - Just under 8k trail run in a bit under 45 minutes (hilly) at the back of the Enoggerra Reservoir
Mon Jan 11 - rest day
Tue Jan 12 - rode 38k to work including climbing Mt Coot-tha in just under 1h45m, then 22k home in a little under an hour
Wed Jan 13 - 6.2k run around the local neighbourhood, bit quicker than the previous week
Thu Jan 14 - rode just under 50k to work in just under 2h, then 19k home in a little over an 50 minutes. Swimming lesson early evening
Fri Jan 15 - short running intervals session (about 3.2k, 15minutes all up), just 100-200s
Sat Jan 16 - just under 29k on the bike in a little under an hour with my cycling group (easy ahead of a race on Sunday)
Sun Jan 17- 7.5k race (was meant to be 7, but there was a problem with the course) in just under 32 minutes. Was about 30 seconds faster through 5k than a fortnight prior and just under half an hour through 7 which was my target. Swimming in the afternoon - just repeating some drills from the lesson on Thursday.
Mon Jan 18 - 110k on the bike in a little over 4 hours, including 91k around Brisbane's River Loop at just over 28km/h all by myself. Was wrecked on the 20k ride home, quads started playing up at about 80k or so. Quite hot late in the ride.

This will the basic two week structure for a while, working around my fortnightly RDO. It will basically look like this:
M (RDO) - Long ride M Rest Day
T Interval or 3-9k run T Ride to work/home (inc Mt Coot-tha)
W Ride to work/home (inc Mt Coot-tha) W Interval or 3-9k run
T Interval or 3-9k run. Swimming T Ride to work/home. Swimming
F Rest day F Interval or 3-9k run/swimming
S Long ride including group ride S Group ride only
S Trail run, add10-20m each run. Swim S BRRC race

Mods will need to be made as weeks vary, but that's basically the structure.
So yeah, been smashing it a bit. Feeling better and leaner for it, be interesting to see where we are at the end of January.

100 in the Bank

2009-10-03T08:59:00.002+10:00

Must confess I didn't do anything through the week - combination of sinus troubles after the dust storms that hit most of the Australian east coast, plus a change in work locations/duties.

Anyway, got up at some FMS-forsaken hour on Saturday morning, got ready and after wandering around aimlessly for half an hour or so finally forced myself out the door, into a dark and humid Brisbane morning.

Actually felt okay, and had a fairly strong morning. Pretty similar to last week, except the group ride was a bit shorter and the ride home was a bit longer, so I managed to clock up just over 100k averaging a little over 29km/h. Last 20k was a bit of a struggle, every time I stood up it felt like the quads wanted to cramp, although they never did.

So, longer than last week and the speed up a bit. The Gold Coast 100k ride is next week, and the course basically flat, so it should be a good solid ride. I managed to ride the Ipswich 100 at just under 31km/h over a harder course and I was probably a little heavier and less fit, so something a little faster than that would be good, although there around 10 times the number of riders so the start will be congested!

Pre-Gold Coast 100 cram

2009-09-26T11:31:00.002+10:00

Back to the usual Saturday morning ride, trying to cram some miles in before the Gold Coast ride on October 11.

Usual format - leave at some absurd early morning hour, ride to Toowong to meet a mate, ride a loop around the uni and Chelmer, back to meet the main grop at Indooroopilly/St Lucia, do the group ride (lap of Chelmer, Tennyson, Yeerongpilly, Yeronga, up the Corso to Dutton Park and then up Highgate Hill and then down to Hill End, up to Montague Road and finishing up at the cafe strip at Southbank. Rode home through Highgate Hill, Dutton Park and Fairfield before cutting west through Tennyson to hit Oxley Road and make my way down to Oxley and across to home.

Covered around 88km for the morning at around 28km/h average or so. Quads pretty much shut down at about 80km, making the last of the ride a bit uncomfortable, but overall went okay.

Tossing up whether to go for a ride or run tomorrow. Heck, might even be both.

After the dust clears...

2009-09-24T17:02:00.002+10:00

Was planning to run on Wed afternoon, but with the dust storm rolling through Brisbane there was no way I was going to head out in that - memories of January 2004 in Sydney when bushfire smoke shrouded the city. I went out for a run in that and was coughing up soot for a week - no thanks.

So, back on the indoor trainer this evening, resting HR 42, weight 82.8 (down a kilo on Tuesday?). Pretty similar session to Tuesday, with a couple of little variations - just wante to spend a little more time on Level 5, rather than spin myself silly @ 120 on 4 and 5:
Time Interval Level Cadence
0:00:00 0:05:00 1 Easy
0:05:00 0:05:00 2 Easy
0:10:00 0:01:00 3 90
0:11:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:12:00 0:01:00 3 100
0:13:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:14:00 0:01:00 3 110
0:15:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:16:00 0:01:00 4 90
0:17:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:18:00 0:01:00 4 100
0:19:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:20:00 0:01:00 4 110
0:21:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:22:00 0:01:00 5 90
0:23:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:24:00 0:01:00 5 100
0:25:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:26:00 0:01:00 5 110
0:27:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:28:00 0:01:00 4 90
0:29:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:30:00 0:01:00 4 100
0:31:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:32:00 0:01:00 4 110
0:33:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:34:00 0:01:00 3 90
0:35:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:36:00 0:01:00 3 100
0:37:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:38:00 0:01:00 3 110
0:39:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:40:00 0:01:00 3 120
0:41:00 0:03:00 2 Easy
0:44:00 0:02:00 2 Easy
0:46:00 Total

28.15k according to the bike computer, average HR 125 (down a bit on Tuesday, cooler conditions I suspect), peak HR 170. Good hit out.

On The Road To Nowhere

2009-09-22T17:26:00.003+10:00

Well, 45 minutes on the indoor bike trainer in the garage, which amounts to the same thing.

I've abandoned plans to do long, steady state sessions on the indoor mag trainer - I just can't do it, even with some sort of video distraction. I find it even worse than the treadmill in terms of boredom factor. Doubtless, if there is an afterlife, there is an indoor trainer sitting in a particularly airless and hot part of hell with my name on it. Probably with an uncomfortable seat.

Anyway, with the Gold Coast 100 coming up in a couple of weeks, thought I'd keep the theme of crammed preparations going by restarting my interval training on the aforementioned indoor trainer. I find I can do up to about an hour of these sessions, as long as I keep the reps between 1 to 5 minutes.

Took a quick resting heart rate (43 - good, considering it's late afternoon after a day at work on my feet), weight (83.8kg. Oops), so as to establish a baseline for the coming months. Whacked on the heart rate monitor and fired up the trainer.

I use the fifth gear on the rear derailleur, and the big cog on the front - a cadence of 90 gives around 30km/h. Effort at a cadence works out to low 40's or so, which feels commensurate with the effort.

So, the session went as follows (level refers to the level on the mag trainer:
Time Interval Level Cadence
0:00:00 0:05:00 1 Easy
0:05:00 0:05:00 2 Easy
0:10:00 0:01:00 3 90
0:11:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:12:00 0:01:00 3 100
0:13:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:14:00 0:01:00 3 110
0:15:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:16:00 0:01:00 3 120
0:17:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:18:00 0:01:00 4 90
0:19:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:20:00 0:01:00 4 100
0:21:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:22:00 0:01:00 4 110
0:23:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:24:00 0:01:00 4 120
0:25:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:26:00 0:01:00 5 90
0:27:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:28:00 0:01:00 5 100
0:29:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:30:00 0:01:00 4 90
0:31:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:32:00 0:01:00 4 100
0:33:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:34:00 0:01:00 4 110
0:35:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:36:00 0:01:00 3 90
0:37:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:38:00 0:01:00 3 100
0:39:00 0:01:00 2 Easy
0:40:00 0:01:00 3 110
0:41:00 0:04:00 2 Easy
0:45:00 Finish

Average heart rate 133 (inc warm up and cool down), peak 173. Pretty warm in Brisvegas today, so sweated up a storm.

We're on our way.

Oh yeah, the massage went okay. Hips are a little rotated and the right hammie niggle was a little more serious than I initially thought, but feels like it's sorted. Back in three weeks.

I use Kath Phillips at Toowong Village Physiotherapy Centre (but she also practices in the city now), in case anyone was wondering.

Back in the saddle

2009-09-20T20:27:00.002+10:00

Had a pretty self-indulgent week post-Glasshouse. Oh well.

Intended to ride Saturday, but ended up staying in Toowong on Friday night, and was all set to go, to the extent of being dressed and poised with the bike at 4:50am, when I realised I felt a bit 'exposed'. No helmet! Frak!

So, after an offer from my usual riding companion on Saturday afternoon, I lined up at about 6:30 Sunday morning for what had been promised as a 'long slow ride' of around 2 hours. A couple of the Saturday group somehow got involved, so the long slow ride involved leaving Toowong for an immediate attack on Mt Coot-tha (failed to make it to Channel 10 by about 400 metres) and then a lap of the river loop - basically back to Indooroopilly via the NE end of Chapel Hill, over the bridge to Chelmer and then Tennyson, and up the east bank of the river to West End for coffee (as you do) and then back to the start at Toowong. Did a touch over a marathon (42.2k) at reasonable pace considering the mountain climb at the start.

Got a few niggles (left hammie, quads, etc) and a massage lined up tomorrow that will hurt. Oh well, suck it up. Back on track now.

Glasshouse 50k (east course)

2009-09-13T12:56:00.004+10:00

Off to Beerburrum State School for the 50k run of the big weekend of the Glasshouse Trails calendar, which includes the main event, the 100 miler, a 100km, the 50, and on Sunday a 30 and a 12. I was travelling with the leader of our Kokoda Challenge, who although training well of late had copped a stomach bug during the week, and a friend from her gym who had never gone past 21km. They would be in for an interesting day!

There had been a fair bit of toing and froing the week prior about the start time and location, which was originally intended to be at Checkpoint 8 at 10am, about 11km WSW of the school which was the finish point. It was a little inconvenient but we had planned appropriately, but it became apparent that the beleagured race director was under considerable pressure to change the start time and location.

I'll refer to the checkpoints, which can be accessed here (PDF file). Note this shows the original 50k course. The new one went Checkpoint 2, 2A, 3A, 4, 5, 6 (via south route), 5 (via north loop), 1A, 3A, 2. This is my Garmin plot.

So, the start time was changed to 7am, now starting and finishing at the school. This was a better solution for a number of reasons - earlier start, interaction between us and the 100km/100 milers, start and finish at the same location, good tour of the east course, which means between this event and May's 50k I've seen almost the whole course - but I'm a little annoyed that some people appear to have entered the event without planning transport to Checkpoint 8, and making plans to get back to that transport after finishing, and then managed to get the event changed to suit their needs, adding further load to the race director's already heavy workload and forcing those who had planned appropriately to change their plans.

To be fair and honest, it ended up being a lot more convenient, and to be frank, better, but the circumstances leading to the changes were not what I'd call ideal.

Anyway, caught up with a few people I knew at the start, and got ready. I wasn't taking the event super-seriously, feeling that I was a bit underdone post-Kokoda, but had trained well in the couple of weeks leading up to the event, and had had a good carb-load. I hadn't really formulated a race-plan, but thought something under 6 would be nice, and that something between 6 and 7 would be satisfactory.

So, after watching a few of 100 mile boys come through, we started. From the start at Checkpoint 2 (?!) it was up the concrete path to the top of Mt Beerburrum. This was horribly steep, and my legs were fearfully stiff. On the way down, dumb-dumb here stood on some leaves on the inside of one of the hairpins and become very unbalanced, and after stumbling down the path for 20 metres, finally managed to fall. Fortunately I was wearing gloves and fell forwards, but one of my bottles came out and fell into the scrub, so I had to get that as well as endure the humliation of falling on the only paved section of a 50k trail run. I'm fine, but I do look like I've been in a fight with a small wildcat, perhaps a serval. Hands are fine, though, thanks to the gloves.

I won't go into too much detail about the course, but it is generally flatish to rolling, except for the horror sections in the loop from Checkpoint 5 to 6 and back to 5, which were steep, in very broken up condition with huge ruts, mud in a lot of places and rocks in others - really jungle like in a few places.

In terms of the event itself, I felt in great shape pretty much up until Checkpoint 5, where I'd been holding between 9.5 to 10km/h very comfortably. I was thinking sub 6 was in the bag.

At Checkpoint 5, I made mistakes. I took a mouthful of Endura (mistake) and half a cup of Coke (huge mistake). I came out of the checkpoint and within 5 minutes felt oversugared and like my heart was racing. I felt nauseous pretty much all the way through the 5-6-5 loop, and coming out of the off-road loop on to Connection Road I was pretty much out on my feet, and had resigned myself to pulling out on my return visit to Checkpoint 5. My legs were gone, I felt crook, I was done. The final climb up on to the road felt like my final effort - I had to stop twice on the way up.

I managed to self-talk myself into thinking that once I got on to the road (unsealed) I'd probably feel a bit better, and logically it had to be downhill for a while (going on the profile of the ridge I could see as I climbed) so I might be able to get it together. Not far behind me, Tuttle emerged as well - he'd been 3-400 metres in front between Checkpoints 3 and 4 and disappeared - I'd assumed he'd gone ahead during a section in deep scrub, but he'd missed a left turn that I must confess I nearly missed, so had done about an extra 1 - 1.5k or so in getting back on track.

He said he was stuffed as well, also being underprepared after Comrades. I think the combination of seeing a friendly face and getting back on the roadway lifted me to the point where I could see myself finishing, and so off we trudged, walking punctuated with stiff little jogs here and there.

We ground it out and managed to jog the last 500 metres or so to preserve some dignity, crossing the line in just over 6 hours 31 minutes.

I guess the time was pretty much what I'd expected, but I'm disappointed in how it was achieved - some dumb errors plus falling for the sucker punch of feeling good early.

Having had a good carb-load I really should have laid off any additional sugar sources until much later in the event. The Endura they serve doesn't agree with me, I mixed my Staminade too richly (although you can get around that with appropriate supplementary water) and I should have gone with my small Camelbak rather than my Fuel Belt. The Coke was a massive error, and is now banned.

I was underdone, but I knew that. I don't know that going out more slowly in the first 20 would have made much of a difference - I don't know how much energy I would have conserved, although I could have walked some of the uphills early on.

In terms of training and preparation for next year:
- lose 10kgs. Seriously.
- try to do more 'solid state', constant running. Training at Gold Creek Reservoir is well and good, but from a running point of view it becomes an interval session. Looking at the area, South Boundary Road seems to be a better bet to actually run on, and I need to look at doing actual long runs there rather than just time on feet/distance covered.
- continue with one speed session a week, plus an interval session on the bike just for cardio fitness
- for future events, take a few days annual leave beforehand, and get a massage. I think half the reason I felt tight, and later quite weary in the legs was that I'd been on my feet on concrete surfaces in the week prior. My calves were particularly tight.
- think a bit more about my nutritional strategy through the event.

Oh well, two finishes at Glasshouse know I've seen most of the course. Two coffee mugs, I won a watch in the lucky dip, I learned some things and have some things to address. A mixed day for my travelling companions - my Kokoda leader had her stomach bug catch up with her at about 25k or so, and she had to DNF, whilst our 'anything north of 21k debutant' did very well, finishing in around 7 1/2 hours, and was rightly quite pleased with himself. It'll make his first road marathon a doddle!

Mid-week bash

2009-09-09T20:18:00.002+10:00

Haven't done much since Sunday's run. Back's been a bit angry, probably as a result of smashing the downhills in my vain attempt to catch my training partner. Did some exercises on Tuesday which seemed to help.

Also started carb-loading as per the AIS plan, and feel enormous. And gassy. So very gassy.

Finally got out for a bit of a run around my 8k or so course around the back of Mt Coot-tha. I'd meant to go yesterday, but forgot my runners. D'oh. Finall got out there this afternoon around 4, in very pleasant conditions.

My little course starts at the Bielby Road entrance to the Mt Coot-tha west trail section, and heads west along the Bellbird Trail to Gap Creek Road Reserve, through the everpresent dust cloud that covers Gap Creek Road and into the trail complex there, towards the Boscombe Road exit where you pick up the Curlew Circuit Trail and then head immediately left into the Ironbark Trail, which you continue to follow north until it dips into a little bridge over a creek and cut left up the hill on to the Coucal Trail which takes you to the northern most part of the gravel section of Gap Creek Road. You follow the now sealed Gap Creek Road up two particularly nasty hills into Highwood Road and then hook left into the 1 mile predominantly downhill Quail Trail which plugs into the north end of the grassed section of Gap Creek Reserve. You run south through the reserve, resume the Quail Trail except now you're heading east, back to Bielby Road.

The Garmin typically reads around 8.2k or so. It has some good climbs, but is runnablem, and indeed I 'ran' the whole lot of it tonight. Managed a little under 44 minutes tonight, which is my best time around there, but I haven't done this course since before Kokoda.

Truth be told this was kind of a conscience thing - I was feeling a bit guilty about not doing that much in recent weeks. So we're going okay, just a bit concerned about what the back 15k or so will be like at Glasshouse on Saturday.

A PB, and still beaten home...

2009-09-06T11:15:00.003+10:00

Little to report over the last week - took the week off after smashing myself up last weekend, and work was pretty physical which didn't help much. Still, felt like I had earned it.

Last week, my training partner proposed a challenge - I would give her a 45 minute start, and we would see who would complete the anti-clockwise version of Pinnacles first. Her best time around there is about 2:42, mine 1:54. So, basically, to be first home, you had to do a PB. Seemed a good race simulation, with the added bonus of not knowing where the other was.

We were joined by the third member of our Kokoda Challenge squad, who was the one who actually completed the event with me. I think she'd been suffering a bit with the old post-event let down, but news during the week that she was pretty much qualified for Six Foot has apparently perked her up and given her new focus. She is very strong and should go very well there - some work to do, but we're six months away...

So, they set off at 5:30, which is when I was getting up. I arrived a bit after 6 on a slightly overcast, cool and humid morning, got set up and did some stretching, and at pretty much 6:15 on the dot, I went.

Managed to jog the first mile or so of what is basically all climbing from the start. The first target is the old gate at around 10.3k or so, and when pushing I'm generally looking to hit this gate in under 65 minutes - today it was about mid 63, which is a touch outside my best to this point (long term goal is to get through there in under an hour) but I knew was only a matter of seconds, so well in touch.

The next target is the second gate, at around 12.6 or so. There are some nasty climbs, and some good downhills through this short stretch, and I'd normally be a little over 16 minutes through here, today it was a bit under 15 minutes as I was starting to imagine catching my quarry. Amazing what a little competition will do.

From there, the course pitches and rolls a lot, with some of the tougher climbs, but also with some of the sharper downhills. The good thing today was that with the rain on Friday and Saturday the surface was much more stable so I was able to attack the downhills much more confidently, even sections I'd normally crab down.

So, on top of the 2 minutes I'd gained between gates 1 and 2 on my best around here, I picked up another 3 1/2 minutes over the last 5 1/2 km, desperately pushing to see if I could run down my opponents. I feel a lot faster on good quality downhills now - even the small amount of speedwork seems to have helped my form here.

Into the last stretch it became apparent the girls had beaten me home but it was still all to play for, with a major personal goal of sub 1:50 around here attainable. I made it home with a bit to spare, at 1:49:22, so a great result, the outcome of the handicap race notwithstanding. Credit where credit's due - the two girls had huge PBs today and should be very pleased with themselves. The comment was made that they were dawdling along at one point when one of them raised the spectre of my bearing down on them (must have been around when I was starting) and mentioned that I wouldn't be slowing to chat or showing any mercy. So they motored off...

Which I wouldn't have, and didn't. That's the point, right? Competition improves the breed.

This should become a regular part of our training - it worked really well, and to be frank I'm not 5 minutes faster than 10 days ago. Just properly motivated!

The compulsory faith-tester

2009-08-30T15:38:00.002+10:00

At about the 5k point of the second lap I knew it was going to really, really suck. Problem was, there was still around two hours to go, I'd made an error just taking a bottle of sports drink and leaving the Camelbak in the car after the first lap and I suspected I was dehydrated...

It all started out well enough - met the leader of our Kokoda Challenge team at around 5am to start a pretty relaxed anticlockwise lap of the Pinnacles course at Gold Creek Reservoir. It was very humid at the start, and it seemed as if heat was radiating from the very earth itself. I was immediately sweaty on the initial climb.

The norwester was very strong along the top of the course, the leaf litter on the trails a testament to how strong the winds have been during the past week - if you're out on the Coo-tha or Brisbane Forest Trails in the next week, I'd be very wary of branches coming down - the breeze was just cooling, but was strong enough to prevent conversation as it blew threw the trees. There is plenty of scorched earth about after burning off in the past fortnight.

We got through the lap in comfortably under three hours. I said farewell to my training partner, dropped my Camelbak at the car and headed out to do an anticlockwise lap (basically the other way). I was strugging after the initial climb, and the legs were as dead as wood. I started wanting water rather than sports drink, and kicked myself for leaving the bladder behind.

At about 4k in saw my first snake for the season - I think it was a black snake, with a black back and around 3 metres long, but had really unusual side markings that were a really bright/yellow green. He was crossing the trail, draped almost completely crossing, and it was with mild interest he watched me run around the back of him.

Black snakes are pretty easy to deal with - just don't go near the pointy end.

It pretty much got worse from there and even the gentle jogs down hill became hard work. Funnily enough, the climbs weren't too bad but I suspect it was the complete lack of attack on my part doing that.

To give some perspective I finished the second lap about a minute quicker than I've walked it in. I was just grateful to get in the car and go.

On the plus side, I've knocked over a hard 54k in less than twenty four hours, so hopefully that'll cap off what I need for Glasshouse.

Cramming...

2009-08-29T18:02:00.002+10:00

So begins the last weekend of serious effort before Glasshouse in a fortnight's time. With recovery from Kokoda taking a little longer than it probably needed to [:)] it's been the training equivalent of cramming before final exams.

After a physically hard week of work, which including a full day Wednesday, then backing up from 10pm to 4am packing up a job in Fortitude Valley, a day recovering (in total zombie mode) Thursday and then moving the office on Friday, it's been a weird few days.

Hit the Gold Creek Reservoir at around 3pm in warm conditions and pounded around the clockwise course, as opposed to the usual anticlockwise course we've been doing. I'm of the opinion that the clockwise version is harder than the clockwise, as the longer gentle downhill sections you get going anticlockwise aren't quite runnable (well, in my current state) and I think at my present level of fitness it's 5 to 7 minutes slower.

Pushed reasonably hard for a couple of minutes over 2 hours, which is about 10 minutes slower than my best going anticlockwise.

Pulled up okay, and heading out at sparrow's tomorrow morning to do 36.

Like I said, cramming...

Two wheel commute

2009-08-26T19:29:00.003+10:00

As mentioned, no running/hiking today, 'just' the commute to and from work. Left at some ridiculous hour, covered the just over 30k distance in about 1:06 and felt reasonably decent. Roads are reasonably quiet at that time, mostly just buses and tradies, and everyone pretty much keeps to themselves. S'good.

The afternoons, however...gah. After a pretty physically tough day I gave up on alternative routes and just took Sandgate Road, which provided a rolling fest of trucks, buses, Mum's in 4WD's, utes, vans and so on. The added bonus was riding pretty much into a headwind the whole way and it was with much relief that I finally rolled into the driveway.

Still, 60k and 2+ hours on the bike - good base. Problem is, I've got to head out at about 9:30pm to go back to work for a few hours.

Hot Rep

2009-08-25T18:07:00.002+10:00

Ducked into Chapel Hill Park, just off the Western Freeway, on the way home for a few 'experimental' shorter reps. Experimental for a few reasons:
- I'd not run there before, so had no idea of the surface condition. It was actually pretty decent, and not too hard despite a near complete absence of rain for a few months
- I had a feeling I could set up reps of around 400 metres in a straight line if I went diagonally across the three rugby/soccer grounds and cricket oval. Went pretty close, think around 360-370 metres
- I wasn't sure if I could get a little session before the soccer kids started practice. They were starting to mass as I left
- I'm not fit, so I knew there wouldn't be many reps, and they would suck.

I did a short warm up, and then four reps. The first and third reps were into a pretty strong wind, and were pretty ordinary, the second and fourth not so bad. Did a little cool down, and went home. Very warm conditions, around 35 according to the car, but at least the humidity was down.

My hip/back was pretty grumpy initially but seemed better after the session, and seems okay right now. Plan is to swap between longer reps up at Bielby Road and this session, and gently build the number of reps up, just to see how the back responds.

The cardio won't go astray in any event.

Tomorrow's challenge - commute across Brisbane by bicycle. Done it before, the tricky bit is working out how to get home without using Sandgate Road or Gympie/Lutwyche Road.

So - a bunch of stuff happened....

2009-08-24T16:50:00.003+10:00

Been a lot happening on the home front, so that combined with laziness basically meant the blog fell to the backburner...and then down the back of the stove...where it sat for a while...and I knew it was there the whole time but never quite got around to fishing it out from there...and now I have...

Gah.

Okay - Kokoda was an interesting experience. As per what I put up at Coolrunning:

Yeah, pleased to have got home before the sun came up again! I reckon if I'd been solo, I'd have given 20 hours a big fright, but it's a team event and I think a certain spirit needs to be maintained. As I mentioned above my remaining team member (Claire, who could make a really good ultra-runner if she decided to - she should do around 6 hours at Six Foot if she decides to give it a go) and I made a big effort to help the two members of our 'adopted' team get to the end as a thank you for letting us join them at the environmental centre after the loop. I must admit I got a bit teary when Matt, who had really been struggling, put his hand on my shoulder to say thanks and that there was no way he'd have finished if we hadn't stayed with them.

Long and boring story follows...

We lost two of our team members, one at about midday and the other mid-evening. First to drop out at about 25k or so, our team leader, seemed to get really knocked about by the first couple of big climbs - very pale, and a lot sweatier than you'd have thought in the circumstances. She'd been diagnosed with very low iron levels during the week and said later she hadn't had a great week physically, so whether that was playing on her mind I don't know. She had certainly been doing the training and indeed had completed the event the previous year.

The second to drop out was her husband, mid-evening (at around 55-60km), had been battling with stomach issues for a while. He has had a bit of a battle with stomach dramas since the start of the year, but I suspect he may have made some nutritional errors, using a slightly diluted sports drink in his bladder pack (e.g. Camelback) rather than plain water with sports drink supplementing fluid intake - i.e. I think he may have been oversugared. You could probably make an argument he was underprepared - it had been a concern of mine that he hadn't done enough specific training, even though as a gym owner/fitness instructor he has excellent fitness/endurance and kicks my arse on a road bike.

We'd been on target for something around the 20-21 hour mark, and if it had just been the other girl and I, we would have done it, but you can't have two on a team out in the field, has to be a minimum of three (safety reasons - if something happens, one stays with the person in trouble while the other goes and gets help. Very sensible, and it is worth remembering the background to the event). We managed to join up with another team who had lost their team leader at the point where we lost our second team member, so there was the five of us.

These guys had a similar target but seemed to get slower as the event wore on - suspect they were probably a bit underdone for the time they were targetting. Over the last stage one guy in particular started to get into a bit of strife and we think vomited a couple of times, so we were in a position where we were trying to keep them moving, and also keep on eye on him. He seemed to come good over the last hour or so, and they were very grateful for the assistance.

So, the remaining team member and I finished feeling very strong, indeed I think could have done another 20 or 30 after the finish. I had a couple of wobbly moments out there (as you will over 23 hours!) - the hills were quite a bit steeper and longer than I expected (the first two were a real "holy crap, what have I got myself into?!?"), and I had a moment around mid-race distance between the hall and the environmental centre where I didn't think I could make it to the top of one hill, and felt like I couldn't do another if I'd had to, and another stint at around 3 in the morning where I was almost asleep on my feet and felt quite light headed - took a punt that it was lowish blood sugar, had a muesli bar and was as good as gold almost immediately.

Great experience, though, and a very well run event for a very worth cause. Worth a look for someone looking to dabble in ultras (ahem, uh, yeah...).

Dunno how people can be out there for over 36 hours, though - frak me, that is a long time to be out there. I really didn't want to see the dawn again while we were still on the track. The night does seem to pass quickly, though - I reckon after going all day, the night goes quickly because your world is limited to the extent of your headlamp and there's much less visual information to process. There were some stunning views of the entire Gold Coast suburban strip lit up, though.

So, that was that. The pain in my foot turned out to be strained extensor ligaments, and that took a couple of weeks to come good.

So, next event is the Glasshouse 50k on September 12. I feel underprepared, although I did manage to get a couple of laps of the 18k Pinnacles course at Gold Creek Reservoir, Brookfield in last Thursday and Saturday (including cycling the 40k round trip on Saturday) plus another 14k hike/jog from Gold Creek Reservoir up to Mt Nebo Rd to the lookout, and back via Hell Hole Break (which includes a horrific climb up out of the river...).

Felt a little beaten up today so have given myself a day off. I'll endeavour to get up to the trails, possibly at Bielby Road, Kenmore Hills, and belt out some longer reps. Tried it last week and it seemed to free up some speed without too much drama for my back. Planning to commute to work (about 30k) on the bike on Wednesday, which gives some good impact-free endurance background, and possibly a lap of Pinnacles on Thursday evening. Planning 8k on Saturday (wil probably ride with my cycling group on Saturday morning) and a 36k hike/run (probably two laps of Pinnacles, one clockwise one anticlockwise) as a final smash up ahead of Glasshouse.

I should come clean now and admit a few things:
- my road running career is probably over. I'm finding that if I run more than twice in three days it is murder on my back, and I get bad referred pain into my right hip. I could probably get away with the odd road event here and there, but there's no way I could withstand ongoing road training
- I'm really loving the trail running
- I can feel the lure of ultras calling me (curse you Blue Dog!)

I have a few targets for 2010 - a return to Six Foot Track, the Glasshouse May 80k event, and a 100km TBA. I probably won't be fast, but I must admit the race element isn't particularly important at the moment - it's more about getting out there and taking on challenges.

Fragged

2009-05-25T20:39:00.002+10:00

RDO today, so I got out just before lunch to do a lap of the Pinnacles course around Gold Creek Reservoir. Well, that was the plan.

I hadn't done anything on the weekend. It was too wet and rain affected to ride on Saturday, and my back/hip were still pretty angry after Tuesday and Thursday's run, plus three straight days on my feet. Interesting how the back flares up if I'm just standing around - jumping in and out of cars, up and down ladders and general movement doesn't seem to worry it, improves it if anything.

The day was quite cool, and underfoot was still damp with the terrain showing signs of high volumes of flowing water having been through and quite a bit of land slip on the edges of the trail. I'd be very wary of going through there after high winds as it's more than likely a few gums are going to come down.

So, headed out, thinking maybe 2 hours would be okay. That was of course until I went straight on instead of left at about 2.25k, and didn't realise the error until I was almost at Mount Nebo Road. I had a couple of goes at trying to find the correct place to turn which generally involved side tracks down to piles of gravel under the two high voltage lines that run through the area. My little transgression ended up adding another eight kilometres to my hike.

Of course, since I'd planned to be out for two hours, I only had a 750ml bottle of sports drink (which in hindsight I mixed a bit rich) and a muesli bar with me, so things started to get a bit grim over the last hour or so and it went from a pleasant hike/jog to a seemingly endless death march, where every turn revealed yet another impossibly steep climb.

It was with more than a little relief I finally staggered to the gate, covering 26.64k in a bit over three and a quarter hours averaging around 8km/h. I was utterly spent, my legs quite painful, which made for an unpleasant drive back through Kenmore to the freeway and home (especially with wretched Moggill Road traffic and the kids coming home from school). I'm guessing I'm not quite as recovered from the two 50km's in two weeks as I thought I might have been last week.

I did console myself with the thought that this was one of those days you remember during the event you were training for, so that you can convince yourself you deserve a good result. It's worked before, it can work again.

Grinder

2009-05-22T06:12:00.002+10:00

With Brisbane having been inundated this week, and the area I would normally go trail running particularly affected, I haven't had a chance to hit the trails. I had visions of getting out for an hour last (Thu) night, but after being on my feet all day (which usually doesn't help the ol' back/nerve compression/hip thing, and yesterday was no exception) I really felt flat, disinterested and my legs felt lifeless and grindy. Turned around early to just do around 4k in a bit under 20 minutes - effort was fine, just felt like I was damaging myself.

Pretty much recovered

2009-05-19T15:54:00.002+10:00

I had vague aspirations of a short spin session on the indoor trainer on Monday as some sort of recovery, but was pretty much exhausted during the day, to the extent that I was using the drives between jobs to snatch little 10 minute naps. Fortunately I wasn't driving. So I opted for a 45 minute nap instead. Slept like the dead Monday night.

Which reminds me of an old joke - I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming in terror like his passengers. Badoom tish.

I digress.

I was pretty stiff in the legs during Monday, but had no soreness, and my feet, which were a bit blistered up on Sunday afternoon, actually came up pretty well and indeed today didn't really need the tape I put on them.

Felt pretty good today. Work involved a pretty big job plodding around a muddy construction site (kudos to the inventor of gumboots) but wasn't too strenuous. Felt pretty good on returning home and decided to bolt on the ol' Brooks Infinitis (in case anyone is wondering what road shoes I'm using at the moment) and do the "run for an hour but actually it's out for half an hour and see if I can negative split it home and usually I do so it isn't really" thing.

My usual route out from home to the Centenary Bike path is straight out the door and into an immediate 300 metre drag up a fairly steep climb (probably explains the negative split home). Felt pretty good on the climb and pushed reasonably hard to cover a bit over 6.4k in the first 30 minutes, turning around just after Counihan Road in Sinnamon Park (basically follow the bike path to the Brisbane River, then follow the river east). Pushed hard along the river and the bike path to Sinnamon Road to put some time in the bank before the tough climbs to Dandenong Road and Sumner Road. Managed to knock over 12.87k in 58:47, 4:34 pace according to the Garmin.

Pretty hard work coming home but just kept pushing. Funny how old memories return. Had some level of low grade pain in the hip on the way out, but it seemed to abate going up the hill. Bit hobbly now, but nothing unusual.

I'm currently having a think about medium to long term goals, and putting together some ideas about a running regimen, and how to fit cycling in around it. I'm convinced the long cycling rides have helped me retain endurance and some leg speed, and during this seeming return phase I would definitely like to keep it in there as it helps with both fitness and weight loss, and, I think, some injury prevention as it provides those benefits whilst not impacting too severely on the running muscles and back. Not to mention the social aspects.

Insert pun about stones and Glasshouses here

2009-05-18T21:09:00.002+10:00

Well, that was a lot of fun.

After arising at an obscene 1:15am, I headed over to meet my fellow team members a bit before 2, and then headed north for Woodford. We had one drop out after copping the flu during the week, so it was just the two girls and myself. Eh, could be worse.

We arrived wide-eyed (coffee is awesome when you don't drink it much) and nervous at the Woodford pool a bit after three, registered, weighed in and got ready. There was a bit of a chat about directions (most of which went in one ear and out the other), and just after 4 am, under half a moon, Mars, a very bright Venus and the Milky Way, we plunged into the forest. Conditions were still, clear and quite cool (around 8-9 degrees).

I won't go into too much detail about the course and the race, since it was a training run. It is quite flat and sandy initially, working its way through the Beerburrum West State Forest to Glasshouse Woodford Road where the road rolls up and down to the first checkpoint and turn around on Millwood Road. You then head back down Glasshouse Millwood Road and head on to the path under the high voltage lines, where it starts to get interesting - or 'shiatty technical' as trail runners would describe it.

You then head down to McConnell Road and down to the twin loops around checkpoint 8, where we inadvertantly reversed them, doing the short 8b loop (with the big climb) first, then the long, 'technical' loop 8a second. It was a popular error!

From there, back up McConnell Road heading north into the forest and east for home.

We just had two goals for the day - stick together as a team, and finish under 8 hours (7:47 for the record). I felt very strong throughout the day, all the work around Mt Coot-tha paying off, with just some soreness in the last 7 or 8km (the sand not helping!). Of the two girls (Kokoda Challenge veterans) one finished very strongly, the second had to work hard in the last 20k but did a great job and finished well - she will take a lot mentally and physically from the event. I'll put it this way - she'll probably be back in September.

As, indeed, will I. I really enjoyed it. A great, well run event.

Early or late?

2009-05-17T01:39:00.001+10:00

This brings back memories...

Is 1:40am early or late? I am insane.

So, uh yeah....a 50k 'race' in the morning

2009-05-16T17:05:00.003+10:00

Well, it's pretty much public knowledge that I make my long delayed return to racing with the Glasshouse 50k event tomorrow morning. It all began so innocently....(cue flashback sequence)

Background summary - joined gym in Brisbane, joined cycling group through invite of gym owner. Left gym but remained friends with gym owner through cycling. Gym owner's wife bit of a runner and knows of my running background (also works at gym), did Kokoda Challenge in 2008 in 29 hours, targetting 24 hours in 2009. Team member drops out in late March due to injury, I get a call from said gym owner asking if I'd be interested in joining the team. I say I'll try a couple of walks and hikes and see how it goes. Walks and hikes go okay, I accept. Subsequent training draws me in like a moth to a flame.

So, as part of training, she suggests doing the Glasshouse 50k as a team. I'm of course suffering delusions of potentially taking up ultra-marathoning, and think 'hey, this could be a great way to ease my way in' and approve.

So, there we go.

Much of my training has been focussed around Mt Coot-tha and the Gold Creek Reservoir. A visual summary would look like this:

So far so good. Highlights so far have included a 51k hike in about 7 1/2 hours, a 33k effort in 5:20 that finished in darkness, and a tour of the Pinnacles course. I hadn't done a lot of running, just some downhills and flats during hikes, but as part of 'sharpening' this week managed to push out a 10k in just under 50 minutes from home along the Centenary bike path to Jindalee and back, negative splitting up the hill, which was pleasing. The hip didn't really play up, I was kind of just aware of it. Seem to be reasonably strong at the moment, just need to lose some weight and work on the abs and lower back.

I think I had some good endurance and strength from the bike - I'd been average around 100-140k a week, including a 80-110k effort on Saturdays (although somewhat broken up) - so that's probably provided a good lead-in.

On the Kokoda Challenge: this event is coming up in mid-July, and is a 4 person 96k hike/run/whatever, Queensland's equivalent to the Oxfam Trailwalker I guess. The team's name is 16 Feet (I believe a reference to last year's 8 Feet team name).

We do need to raise some money, and I could really do with a hand here - just go here to donate. We'd really appreciate it - it is a very good cause. From their website:

Our Mission:

To promote the Kokoda Spirit, especially to the benefit of the youth of Australia.

Our Major Goals:

Raise public awareness of the importance of the 1942 Kokoda campaign to the Australian people.

Identify young Australians at a crossroads in their life and provide support to help them reach their potential.

Support the Kokoda community and the descendants of the Fuzzy Wuzzy angels.

Our Values:

Endurance: We believe that tests of endurance are a way to promote personal growth.

Courage: We support and encourage our people to stay the course even when times are tough.

Sacrifice: We are an organisation that is built on the sacrifice of volunteers and the community spirit this inspires.

Mateship: We believe in the value of teamwork and of providing support for each other.

Environment: We value the natural environment and aim for all our activities to have a minimal environmental impact.

Youth: We believe in the potential of our youth to create a positive future.

Our background

The Kokoda Challenge Association is a not for profit organisation that was formed by founder and Chairman, Doug Henderson in January 2005.

In July 2004, Doug was at an RSL conference when a guest speaker spoke of Australia's military history, in particular the battle of the Kokoda Track and the Pacific Campaign.

Doug, who has been at the forefront of Veterans issues for the past decade, was profoundly affected by what he heard and overcome by shame about the fact that so few Australians knew the real story of how significant the Kokoda military campaign was to Australia's history.

Doug was compelled to be involved in promoting awareness of the Kokoda Track and believed that incorporating young Australians was the key to raising the profile of the history of Kokoda.

The Kokoda Challenge Association was established in January 2005 with two main aims;

1. To educate youth and raise general public awareness of the gallant victory by Australian soldiers in 1942 on the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea – a victory which undoubtedly saved Australia from Japanese occupation.

2. To identify young Australians who are at a crossroad and support them through a 12 month community counsel – The Kokoda Challenge Youth Program. This requires the participants selected to undertake a 12 month commitment to a community program, designed and supported by the Kokoda Challenge Association, which encourages participants to develop self-awareness within the wider community and prepare them for the challenges of life. The Kokoda Challenge Youth Program culminates in the participants using the skills and training to undertake the challenge of walking the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea.

To enable to Kokoda Challenge Association to achieve these main aims it was decided that funds would be raised by conducting a yearly Queensland Kokoda Challenge Event – to be held in the Gold Coast Hinterland.

Funds raised from this event finance the cost of the Kokoda Challenge Youth Program, which includes training and bush camps and the associated costs of travel to Papuan New Guinea to walk the Kokoda Track.

Working in collaboration with

The Kokoda Challenge Association developed early ties with the Gold Coast Bushwalking Club to design the route for the Kokoda Challenge Event and gather volunteer support. The Kokoda Challenge Association support and endorse the Bushwalkers Code of Conduct and the protection of the environment for the enjoyment of future generations.

The Gold Coast State Emergency Services work closely with the Kokoda Challenge Association and indeed provide upwards of 100 volunteers on the weekend of the Kokoda Challenge.

The Gold Coast City Council, the Department of Main Roads and the State Parks and Wildlife Services all provide the vital support necessary for the success of to the Kokoda Challenge.

The RSL’s, Police Citizen Youth Centres and High Schools and a number of youth support organizations contribute to identifying young people to be participants of the Kokoda Challenge Youth Program.

Wesley Mission Brisbane has also provided vtial support to the Kokoda Challenge Youth Program and have assisted the Kokoda Challenge Association to develop best practices for managing the youth program.

Whilst the Kokoda Challenge is currently managed entirely by volunteers and accordingly the operational cost are able to be kept to a minimum, however this will not always be the case. As the Challenge grows and demand is placed for access to the Kokoda Challenge Youth Program the administrative and management needs will of course grow. Like any professional organisation professional staff will need to be engaged.

The Kokoda Challenge Association however is working towards establishing strong corporate partnerships which will eventually cover the operational and management costs of the Kokoda Challenge and the Kokoda Challenge Youth Program.

Once these goals have been achieved the Kokoda Challenge Association will be able to allocate all of the funds raised through the Kokoda Challenge directly to youth orientated programs.

I'll let you know how it goes and provide updates (for real this time) on how training progresses.

Oops! Catch up

2009-01-21T22:42:00.002+11:00

Sorry for the delay in posting - got a bit busy, fell behind, and so on. I have been good, though.

First things first - I have decided to stop running for the moment, until I get the weight down to a certain target and build up core strength. It's not a six/twelve month thing, the weight goal's only 4 kilo or so away (and have already lost 3 since mid December), and I'm attacking it with being a bit more sensible about food, doing two 40 to 45 minutes (will get longer) interval sessions on the bike and indoor trainer in addition to the Saturday 100k+ ride, plus a weights session three times a week which includes a good abs and back workout (which I hate, but eh, gotta do it). Plus work's a bit more physically active at the moment, which helps.

The reason for the little delay is I felt I was kind of getting nowhere, with treatment (physio and massage) doing little but keeping me rolling along semi-okay, and that there fundamental issues there that needed to be addressed - i.e. weight and core strength. I'm only two weeks into the weights regime but it does seem to have helped - tone is improved, at any rate.

In terms of work done, I've kind of been alternating weeks of 210k+ (generally doubling up with 100k on Sat and Mon when I have an RDO, including a ride to Nudgee and back) with weeks of 110k+. The last couple of weeks has seen the introduction of interval sessions on the indoor trainer, which are basically a 5 minute warm up, then a minute at 90 cadence, a minute easy, a minute at 100 cadence, a minute easy, and then a minute at 110 cadence with a another easy minutes, before repeating the process at a higher level for the work periods. I have a rough session mapped out which goes level 2, 3, 4, then 3 and 2 on the wind down for a 45 minute session. I'm interested to try doubling up on that, might give that a go next week.

It's made a surprising difference on the road with the Saturday group - I'm actually able to keep up with a couple of guys I'd been battling to stay with, so fitness is coming along quite nicely (plus a little weight loss helping too, no doubt). I'm a firm believer interval sessions are great for weight management too, so they should help.

So far, so good.

Afternoon into town

2008-12-23T18:49:00.002+11:00

Decided to roll over and go back to sleep when the alarm went. Seemed to be pretty tired through the morning and after a massage and some errands grabbed a quick nap before lunch. Good to be on holidays!

After some self-conjoling managed to drag myself out the door a bit before 4pm into a bright and fairly warm afternoon. Rode into town via the Centenary Bike Path and Coro, turned around at the Botanical Gardens end of the Goodwill Bridge and back home again. Didn't push particularly hard, and seemed to catch every single set of lights at the worst possible time. 36.26km in just over 1:24 - would have been stopped a couple of minutes at least.

Still, glad I got out.

A tour of the NSW North Coast

2008-12-22T21:55:00.004+11:00

Down to Kingscliff Sunday afternoon. Very easy drive - from our place, quick tour down to the Bogan, sorry Logan Motorway, right at the Pacific Motorway, through the brilliant Tugun Bypass and you're pretty much there. Highlight of the drive was the motorbike copper with the lidar as you went through the first of the tollgates - cruise control plus 60km/h on the GPS = me giving a smile and a wave as I glide past unmolested.

My mate and I hit the road at pretty much spot on 6:30am NSW time and basically rode down the Pacific Highway to Brunswick Heads, had coffee, and then rode back to Kingscliff. Only events of interest were a puncture to my back tyre (who the hell leaves brass staples by the side of the road?) and a self induced 3.9km induced penalty on the return journey as dumb-dumb here, who decided to finish on a bit of a time trial, for some reason decided to ride to Tweed Heads under the impression that it was Kingscliff. As I approached the Tweed River I realised my error, scooted over the roadside barrier and on to the footpath that lead back to Kingscliff.

Funny thing with the puncture - I was looking at the back tyre on Friday as I got the bike ready for Saturday morning and was concerned with the number of nicks in it, and just had a feeling I was going to cop a puncture today. Stupid thing is, the puncture had nothing to do with the nicks, none of which had penetrated the carcass of the tyre - that staple would have gotten into a new tyre and caused a flat anyway.

The ride was pretty even with a few gentle hills along the way (nothing really requiring getting out of the saddle, but you would on occasion just to vary the muscle workload), but quite noisy with a host of trucks and cars flashing past. Ended up doing just short of 100k in a bit under 3 1/2 hours, but to be honest I took it pretty easily, leading my mate most of the way - he's making a bit of a return after a bit of a work induced lull in training.

I'd also had a little fiddle with my seating position, bringing the seat forward a couple of millimetres as I'd felt like I was continuously edging forward into the front of the seat. Seemed to work pretty well, felt a bit more comfortable.

Good to be out somewhere different, and there certainly is excellent scenery with the mountains providing an excellent background. I'll get down there again in the new year - it would be good to do something different and get up into the hills (although I'll no doubt be singing a different tune afterwards).

A couple of guys from the Saturday group were planning to get out tomorrow morning at 6 - I'm hoping to get out and join them for a shortish ride.

I might try and get out for a run at some point before Xmas - I had my third physio session in a week which has helped free my back up quite a bit.

Short Saturday morning

2008-12-20T14:41:00.002+11:00

Ah, 9 days in a row off! RDO Monday, and public holidays on Thursday and Friday meant taking Tuesday and Wednesday to give a full week off was a no-brainer, even over Christmas.

Have done nothing this week - combination of being busy and some back trouble, which two physio sessions have helped considerably. Oops - not the ideal lead in to Xmas.

That said, with the week off, have arranged to head down to Kingscliff on Sunday afternoon, stay overnight with friends and get out on the bike early Monday morning and do a bit of an epic. With that in mind, decided to keep it fairly short this morning, got up at 5, cycled to the start of the group ride (a bit over 14.5k), did the group ride of a bit over 21k in 39:02 (I was hoping for a time, but no-one went with me after Highgate Hill and I had to do the last 6.5k on my own! The bulk of which was into the wind!) and a pretty gentle cruise home of a bit over 26.5k to give about 58.2k in around 2 hours. Legs felt fresh throughout, but a week off and doing the group ride not having already done 40k or so helps, I guess.

Oh yeah, and the location's fixed - ta, David.

90k in the morning

2008-12-13T09:41:00.002+11:00

Out the door at 4:20am for the usual Saturday activities - ride to meet a mate in Toowong, cruise around for an hour to the start of the group ride, do the group ride, have a coffee, cruise home. Total today was about 90k (good progression from last week) in a little over 3 hours, so the average speed was about half a km/h quicker than last week.

Group ride started from a slightly different place this morning as we went to the aid of a group member who had suffered a flat on the way to the start. So the ride was about 400 meters longer, but only took 2 seconds longer - 21.5km in 38:29, compared to 38:27 for 21.04, so the average speed was 0.6km/h higher, and I probably spent more time in front or leading today as the groups broke into two pretty early and I was the strongest of the second group.

Took Friday off as I was still pretty beaten up. I also weighed myself during the week and was pleased to see weight and body fat % moving in the right directions, albeit slowly.

Beating the storm home

2008-12-11T19:09:00.001+11:00

Got home from work and managed to talk myself into getting into my bike gear and going for a ride. It was a warm afternoon in Brisbane with storms closing in from the south, but it looked like they were going to miss Centenary....

Headed west and followed the river about as closely as you can through the Centenary estate, joining the Centenary bike path at Jindalee. Rode into town, and along the river (well, as much as you can with part of the river walk being out of action at the moment in a stupendous piece of civil engineering) through the Botanical Gardens to the Storey Bridge, over to the Goodwill Bridge and back home.

From Toowong onwards it became apparent I was racing the storm home, and it got uglier, greener and more mottled as we went. It had just started with winds and big rain drops when I got home, and about 30 seconds after I got inside it started to rain heavily. Fortunately we missed the worst of it, but I've no doubt someone's getting smashed somewhere.

Still, 50k in a bit under two hours, so well worth the effort of getting out.

Tuesday and Wednesday

2008-12-10T22:00:00.001+11:00

Got out for a spectacularly ordinary swim on Tuesday after work. Got some work to do on that front, oh yes. Won't tell you how far I swam or how long it took - far too embarrassing. Still, if memory serves the distance comes up pretty quickly if you keep at it.

Went for a run after work this evening - just a slow plod in the mid-afternoon heat (low to mid 30s - at least there was a breeze) basically up Sumner Road and through some parks and reserves in a hilarious failed attempt to follow the river north from the end of Sumner Road. I had visions of running for a bit longer but finding myself back on Sumner Road heading back home proved too tempting and I just did about 9.5k in just under 50 minutes. It's over 4 hours and a shower later and I'm still sweating.

Bike tomorrow. Probably. Depends on the weather.

Catch up

2008-12-08T22:11:00.003+11:00

Quick catch up:
- took an easy week last week, the long ride and the run on Monday seeming to knock me around a bit (well, and probably the heat as well) plus we had a couple of things happening at home. My bike came back from warranty repairs on Thursday, so did about 5k or so doing a system check and a first pass at a set up.
- did about 80k or so on Saturday, including a new 1 minute or so PB for the Saturday group ride that felt pretty easy on my bike compared to the elderly Cannondale I had borrowed whilst mine was being repaired

After seeing the tracks set out in the '09 UBD (or Refidex as it's called up here) in the Mt Cootha Forest (the area west of Mt Cootha and south of the Enoggera Reservoir) I spent a fair chunk of Saturday afternoon wandering around Brookfield and surrounds picking out where the tracks met the main roads and marking points on the Garmin.

Took it easy on Sunday (had a few home tasks to catch up on), but today took advantange of my RDO (gotta love the nine day fortnight) to follow some of the trails.

Started at the Gap Creek Picnic Area and followed the Bellbird Trail to the Kokoda Trail which is very steep (almost can't get up due to lack of traction!) and comes out on the Sir Samuel Griffith Drive near the Channel 9 studios (you can see them at the top right above), then down the Highwood Road trail (I did turn around here and go to the Moggill Road trail, which was almost impassable due to the sheer number of trees brought down in November's storm). Back to the bottom of the Highwood Road trail, up Highwood Road to Gap Creek Road to the Quail Trail which brought me back to the Gap Creek Picnic Area.

Good fun - they're good quality trails, you could probably get a 4WD up them (although they would struggle on the really steep sections due to the slippery surfaces, and some of the bridges have been damaged in the storms). I'd like to check out the trails west of Gap Creek Road in the coming weeks, to get a further feel for the area and see what loops can be made up. The area's surprisingly tight (I was out for less than an hour) but with great variation in elevation and terrain, so a great asset for anyone wanting to dabble in some offroad stuff.

Senator Conroy's Internet Filter

2008-12-07T10:01:00.001+11:00

I don't generally do politics, but this is one of the more oppressive and technically stupid proposals I've ever come across.

I actually think it's a ploy to keep Family First Senator Steven Fielding happy, but this can't be allowed to even be credibly evaluated.

Make your voice heard.

Run and a walk

2008-12-01T22:04:00.002+11:00

Ended up taking Sunday off. It was warm and I couldn't be bothered - we're not playing for sheep stations here. Caught up with a few Coolrunners at Xmas drinks at Tuttle's place - good to meet some old friends, meet some new people and renew some old acquaintances.

Got out at about 3:30pm after work today (Monday) intending to do around an hour ten or so. Settled into 4:50 pace or so, no real spring in the legs but rolling along okay. Climbing hills was problematic. The sun was hot, but it was fine in the shade, air temp wasn't too bad and humidity was down on what we'd seen in recent days.

Ran up the Centenary Bike Path and along the path from Amazons Park that runs alongside the river, to the park in the middle of Sinnamon Park, looping around to return home.

It started to get a bit ordinary as I felt more fatigued and at 11.24k in 55:24 I just kind of wound down to a walk. I walked/jogged the rest of the course home (more walked) to end up covering 14.38km in 1:24:28. Guess Saturday took a bit more out of me than I realised. I also accept we're at the start of the come-back process, so there's no hurry to suddenly get out there and belt out 2 hours at 4:15 pace.

Massage tomorrow, and I'm thinking of commuting on the bike on Wednesday - we'll see what the weather holds...

101k and a sore....

2008-11-29T12:25:00.010+11:00

Had a phone call late yesterday afternoon from a mate (who runs Riverside Fitness at Milton, behind the Regatta Hotel) announcing he had made his comeback ride after a fairly comprehensive stack at the right hander on the road under the Queensland Art Gallery) and asking if I was riding early on Saturday. We teed up meeting at 5 at his gym, on the proviso that it was dry (we have both suffered recent good sized bike crashes and have little appetite for slippery conditions) and that we would text advising abandonment should it be wet. We would then ride for an hour or so before meeting the main group in St Lucia at 6 for the usual ride to South Bank for coffee.

So, up at 4, and it was with some surprise given the forecast that I drew back the curtains to find the roads dry. Quick check of the BOM's weather radar showed no nearby rain, so started preparations. Out the door at 4:20am to a very humid and overcast morning with a touch of light coming through, and the nasty little climb out of the estate to Sumners Road showed the legs were as dead as wood after four days of reasonably solid effort.

Made my way to Milton via Seventeen Mile Rocks, Oxley, up Oxley Road through Corinda, Sherwood, Graceville and Chelmer to the hilarious assortment of four bridges that cross the Brisbane River into Indooroopilly, right to head down into St Lucia, and up and over the ridge into Toowong and Milton with a couple of loops to kill some time. Arrive at the gym with a minute or two to spare before five, and my mates not there.

Pull out the mobile and send an SMS. Get a fairly prompt reply that he slept in but would meet me at the group start at six, sent a mildly abusive respsonse and continued on my way, heading into town via the Coro 'bike' path, over the Victoria Bridge, and worked my way down to the green bridge over to UQ via Montague Road, Highgate Hill and Gladstone Road. I then made my up Sir Fred Schonell Drive to St Lucia, back over the ridge past the St Lucia Golf Course and made my way down to Long Pocket and then back up the hill to St Lucia for the group start.

The group ride basically follows the bottom half of the fairly well known Brisbane River Ride, heading from St Lucia to South Bank via Tennyson, Yeerongpilly and Yeronga West to the Brisbane Corso which takes us to Dutton Park and that wretched double climb to Gladstone Road and up Highgate Hill. You then have the high speed section down Dornoch Terrace down to Ganges Street and the fast left hander to the ferry stop to Orleigh Street and then right into Montague Road, past the West End Markets (which provides no end of laughs with inattentive traffic) into Brisbane South and the cultural district before finishing up at the cafes at South Bank.

The ride was pretty fast this morning with a couple of the quicker guys pushing each other along at the front. I slipped off the back of the lead group through Tennyson as we worked our way through another group and some traffic lights, and worked hard with another fellow to get within sight of them. I had to work hard by myself through the climb from Dutton Park to keep in touch, and then really pushed hard down Highgate Hill to the river before finally getting on to the back of the group just after turning into Montague Road. As always, they started a sprint just after I got on to them, but traffic lights seemed to favour me and another guy and we stayed in touch. I think I finished fourth or fifth out the group of fourteen, in a time of 39:22 for the 21k (which includes a long climb). Always pleased to be under 40, especially having already done a bit over 40k before the start.

Had my sole cup of coffee for the week (trying to cut caffeine out at the moment) before heading home. I had about 37 to 38k to make up to crack the ton, so followed my usual route home, pretty much the reverse of the group ride to Chelmer, where I head south to Oxley, over to Seventeen Mile Rocks and Jindalee to join the Centenary Bike Path and then home. It got pretty ugly over the last ten k or so, every time I'd squeeze the quads to get some more speed or to clear a hill it hurt and felt like the last one they'd give, and the whole bike seat region was, well, to quote Zap Branigan, "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy and bruised". A legacy of the prior four days, I guess

Figures were as follows:

Date	Distance (km)	Time	Avg (km/h)	Calories
Saturday	100.98	03:36:35	28	4529
04:19:00	17.73	00:39:07	27.2	743
05:01:00	24.51	00:54:21	27.1	1108
06:04:00	21.02	00:39:23	32	992
07:11:00	37.71	01:23:44	27	1686

Neat - I just worked out how to copy from SportTracks into OpenOffice Calc! I learnt a new thing - I wonder what old thing I forgot as a result.

And here's what it looks like in Google Earth:

Given the current mix of activities, I'm using calories burned as a measure of how much work I've done during the week. I've had good progression each week this month, so hopefully I won't be too beaten up to get out for an hour's run late tomorrow.

A quick tour

2008-11-28T22:45:00.003+11:00

Had an appointment after work and managed to finally get out at about twenty to five. It was still pretty humid with the temp approaching 30.

Today was the shortest of the three runs I had planned this week and I just did a 5.16k loop of the southern part of the estate. After an overall decline there are six or so solid climbs over the rest of the run which sting a bit. I wanted to push a bit today to see how the legs were after yesterday, and managed 23:02 for 4:28 pace.

It felt like hell, and I was still sweating 40 minutes later. Running in warmer climes is something else!

So...

2008-11-27T22:15:00.003+11:00

Yeah, so it's been an eternity since I posted. A lot has happened - bought a house, change of career, EliseS now working up here full time, yada yada yada....it's been pretty full on.

Since this is allegedly a running blog, I should bring you up to speed on what's been happening on that front.

I ride with a cycling group on Saturdays which includes a physiotherapist who has worked with national, state and professional teams. I was chatting about what had been going on and he put forward a theory that my ongoing hip issue is in fact related to a back problem around L1-L2. I went and saw him, we worked out that the osteitis pubis has passed, and started to delve into the back.

We've had some good results, to the extent that I'm starting to get a little structure happening now and am reasonably comfortable to run for up to an hour. A fairly slow hour, it must be said (I am some way over racing weight at present), but sub 5 minute km pace nonetheless.

So, at present, I'm kind of working between the bike and running. I'm currently at 5 activities a week (much easier now the Garmin is working properly again), which has been two to three sessions on the bike (with a longish ride on Saturdays building up to around 100k, which does compromise the Sunday run a bit, but I find it a bit better in the morning) and one to three runs a week. Mileage on the bike is up to around 130 to 140k a week, and running will hopefully edge over 30k this week with three sessions for the first time.

So, starting from Saturday:
Sat - bike, 94.27k (into town and back to St Lucia to meet my cycling group, then to Southbank for coffee, and then home via Tennyson and Oxley)
Sun - run, 11.85k (a lap of the north part of the Centenary suburbs)
Mon, Tue - off (bit beaten up)
Wed - run, 12.48k (got completely drenched, just up the Centenary Bike Path to the edge of Seventeen Mile Rocks Park)
Thu (today) - bike, 38.3k (Botanical Gardens return via Centenary Bike Path)

I'm continuing with physio and massage plus assigned back mobilisation exercises - they do seem to be helping. I'm still aware of the hip, but we're getting there.

I have some longer term goals, but the main thing at the moment is to build endurance (hence the long rides), strength, and get some weight off.

Putting down roots

2008-02-24T22:09:00.003+11:00

A solid week, which was follows:
Mon: 35km on the bike in the AM. Got drenched for my trouble.
Tue: Weights in the AM. Run in the evening, guessing 5-6km
Wed: Weights in the AM. Was hoping to get out for some drills in the evening, didn't have time.
Thu: Weights in the AM. Was hoping to get out for a run, but bought a house instead. As you do.
Fri: 35km on the bike in the AM. Solid ride, felt pretty decent.
Sat: 42km on the bike in the AM with my riding group. Weights in the evening.
Sun: Run in the morning, guessing around 12km or so. Got a big ugly late in the run.

Hip was pretty ordinary late in the Sunday run - I think it was a combination of doing legs weights late on Saturday and 12km being about as far as I can manage before things tighten up. I also wore the Skins shorts which seem to give a bit of trouble.

It was damned hot here over the weekend and the Sunday morning run was fairly uncomfortable. Pace is also very ordinary - a couple of runners I'd normally cruise past are just easing away from me. No point worrying about it at the moment, just gotta get out there and enjoy it.

As mentioned we bought a place down in Brisbane's Centenary suburbs. We're really happy with the place, it was pretty much what we were looking for, and although it needs work the exterior is in great condition.

Brisbane...

2008-02-18T15:16:00.002+11:00

Yeah, so it's been a while since I posted. It's been an interesting time...

As you all no doubt know we made the move to Brisbane in mid-November. I took some time off knowing I would start my new career on Jan 14, getting out on the bike and doing some gym work. I've attended a CR drinks here, caught up with CR Tuttle (congrat on the marathon PB, champ), Tesso, Clairie and others, got to know a bit about the town and settled in.

I like it here. Brisbane has a good, relaxed friendly vibe about it, something Sydney always seemed to lack. It's more of a Melbourne feel for mine. We're gradually finding the good eating areas - the Emporium complex up the east end of the Valley, and the various spots around West End and Rosalie count as highlights.

Traffic is fine here, if you're avoiding Coronation Drive, the Inner City Bypass (which normally works very well) and Kingsford Smith Drive - the city's big issue is this whole link, it just completely shuts down at the height of the peak. I can't for the life of me work out why you need to drive into town from Coronation Drive to get on to the Riverside Expressway, and cop two sets of lights - surely you should be able to drive straight through once you're past Hale Street. As for Kingsford Smith Drive - numerous traffic lights + high volumes of large trucks = bumper to bumper crawling.

Red light running is a bit of a past-time here, particularly amongst the 4WD set. Trucks are out of control here, it amazes me there aren't more accidents around the suburbs involving trucks - there are plenty on the highways and freeways. People actually behave themselves in the rain here, too, slowing a little and leaving appropriate room, unlike Sydney's descent into Death Race 2000 the moment roads look wet.

We're sniffing around a few areas for a house at the moment, but there isn't much stock around so it's just a matter of being patient. The recent rate rises seem to have taken some of the frenzy out of the market, fortunately.

EliseS continues to commute to Sydney for work but things are looking a bit more hopeful on that front.

The career change has been very interesting. I had four weeks at my employer's training facility in the southern suburbs, which included some classroom based stuff and some practical stuff, including climbing poles, descending into a confined space on the end of a rope and so on. I'm at TAFE at the moment, which is proving....interesting. Let's just say I never thought my home study would seem organised...

On the physical activity front, I've been out on the bike a bit (and managed to join a cycling group within a week of arriving here!), but the big news is I've made a very tentative 'return' to running. The hip has been alternating between okay and a bit ordinary, but had been borderline good last week. I got home from TAFE on Tuesday and for some reason was busting to get out for a jog, and with the hip thing feeling pretty good got out for just under 6k. Managed to back that up with around 8 or so on Thursday, and then just under 12 on Sunday, all along the Coronation Drive bikepath, for a stunning 26km for the week. The 12 seems to be about as far as I can go for the moment, it started to get a bit grindy over the last few km and it was a relief to get it done. No idea of the pace, guessing around 5 min per km. My 205 appears to have died, and frankly at this point it's just nice to be out, so who gives a rat's about the pace?

I'm trying to work in some sessions alternating between running and the bike. We'll see how it goes - I got out for an hour or so on the bike this morning and got drenched for my trouble - getting mighty sick of riding in the rain...

Everything in place

2007-10-19T09:47:00.000+10:00

Got some good news during the week that meant that everything is in place for the move now.

As part of the move north I've been working on a career change. After doing a fair bit of research, thinking about what interested me and where societal needs are going to lie in the coming years, I decided to start a pre-vocation certificate with OTEN (TAFE by correspondence) in electrotechnology.

So, I applied to join the apprenticeship intake program of a major power supplier in Brisbane in August, flew up and did their aptitude tests, did a phone interview last month plus a medical, and on Tuesday they rang me and told me I'm in. So, we've got somewhere to live, and I've got a job. I start Jan 14, so eight glorious weeks break in Brisbane - woo hoo! Poor Darth is going to get hammered...

The date of the move is November 15. There's a lot to do between now and then - I've got three exams, friends to catch up with, complete the packing (not so bad since most of our stuff went before putting the house on the market) and doubtless a few other things to deal with.

So - it's all go. Well, it will be in four weeks...

Our big news - moving on

2007-09-22T17:22:00.000+10:00

We've been busy the last month or so, working on a bit of a project that I'm now able to reveal.

Today, we sold the Gladesville Estate at auction, and we're off to Brisbane in mid-November!

Many of you will know we've been planning this for a while, and today was kind of the key event in this process. We have a date, most of what we need to do is locked in, and it's a matter of working through what needs to be done.

There's more parts of the project to come, but they'll be revealed as they're achieved.

Not a lot happening on the training front, I've been at the gym a bit doing some upper body weights, and haven't been out on the bike as much as I'd like, but did the M7 last Sunday.

Back to the physio

2007-08-09T13:32:00.000+10:00

Not a lot happening on the training front, although I'm hitting the weights at the moment for another little side-project I've got on the go.

Saw my physio, Susie Bond, for the first time in ages. Didn't realise I hadn't seen her since I'd broken down late last year, but her disappointment was lessened by my bringing in all of my scans for her to look at and a final explanation as to what the problems had been, plus the good news that her fear that the right hip joint may have been (Darth Vader voice) permanently damaged (/(Darth Vader voice) was unfounded.

After going through the data, she had a bit of a feel of where everything was sitting in the pelvis and upper legs. The good news is everything's sitting pretty much where it should be, with no obvious imbalances.

I went through a couple of one legged squats shows the right leg wobble hopeless out of track, with the knee twisted in. We had a bit of a chat, and I mentioned my infamous left arm flare (refer my profile photo), and then reasoning it through thought about the flare compensating for something happening in the lower right leg.

So, now we think we have a working hypothesis on how all this happened. We think the left arm flare compensates for the lower right leg describing an outer arc at the top of the cycle into footstrike, which is placing pressure on the upper right leg and putting a twist through the pelvis, or more specifically the pubic symphisis.

We went through some very basic pelvis stability type exercises (so easy even I can do them!) which I've done a couple of times already and felt some benefit from. I'm fine to ride Darth, but I'm not to stand up in the saddle, which is a PITA around Gladesville - suspect my rides will be based around Centennial Park for a while.

Back to her in two weeks for an evaluation of progress, but I feel like I'm starting to get back on track...

Resuming after the bug

2007-08-05T19:27:00.000+10:00

Nice to feel well again after nearly 3 weeks with this wretched bug, but still, I got off lightly compared to some at work (especially the guy who went to hospital with blood clots in his lungs, but that's bordering on self inflicted wounds).

Got out for 30.6km around Centennial Park (eight laps, I guess) in 53 minutes on Saturday afternoon (how can it be into the wind the whole way around a circular course?), and got out mid-afternoon for just over 40km in about an hour twenty, heading from home to Parramatta, up Pennant Hills Road and then right at the M2 to head back home. Felt okay, fitness has dropped back a bit but that's just a matter of regular work.

A quick update

2007-07-31T10:02:00.000+10:00

Just a quick update - did nothing over the weekend, a combination of wanting to let things settle post-cortisone shot, and the lingering effects of the virus I picked up.

The cortisone shot's given considerable relief - once the discomfort of the shot itself passed, it would seem fair to say the pelvis feels about 80-90%, with just a little bit of a feeling of 'not sitting quite right' on the right side. Of more importance is that both this and Monday morning I woke just before the alarm feeling refreshed, without the usual waking at around 4 - 4:30 and trying to get into a position to accomodate the aching pelvis and trying to get back to sleep. I didn't realise yesterday, but this morning it was really apparent. The virus receding is doubtless helping on this front as well.

In terms of plotting a return, well, not so fast there, young man. I'm doing a little bit of background research into pelvis stability core exercises, for which I'll be speaking to a friend who's a pilates instructor (a proper one, not a gym class instructor who kind of does it on the side) and going back to the physio next week to get some guidance. I don't particularly want this to flare back up again, so I'm keen to look into anything that can prevent that.

Shooting up

2007-07-27T13:42:00.000+10:00

Action was right - I should have sold tickets...

Off to the North Shore Ortho & Sports Med centre for my cortisone shot into my pubic symphysis. I'll spare you the complete details, suffice to say it was fairly humiliating and quite uncomfortable, although nowhere near as bad as I was expected, nor as suggested by the doctor. Fairly messy business with the ultrasound and iodine, too.

So, we'll see how it goes. I walked back to St Leonards from Crows Nest and it was surprising the effect the local had - the pelvis felt like it was 'on straight' again. Bizarre.

This wretched bug's continuing along, too - throat's still pretty sore. I got off lightly compared to some, though.

Update

2007-07-24T10:13:00.000+10:00

The household has been devastated by the bug going around Sydney and Melbourne at the moment, EliseS getting it a week before I did. Saw the GP last Friday (I was off work Tues, Thurs and Fri), he said it was a virus but pretty much everyone was getting a secondary respiratory bacterial infection along with it, so I got a little course of antibiotics for my trouble. Still pretty clogged up, with a very strained voice which is gradually improving.

I get my cortisone shot on Friday - the GP said based on the MRI report I should see a good result from it, although it will sting for about 10 seconds. Oh well, considering the trouble it's caused me over the last 18 months, a ten second sting seems like a pretty good investment.

Weekend summary

2007-07-15T18:58:00.000+10:00

A busy Saturday, didn't get out until a bit after 3. Hadn't felt fantastic all day - one of those days you don't feel quite 'all there'. Decided not to push too hard, so decided to take the opportunity to check out the bike path they put in alongside the Gore Hill Freeway.

It's useless - the Pacific Highway end comes off the footpath there at Lane Cove, but goodness knows how a cyclist coming up Epping Road is supposed to get on to it easily. Coming outbound, it just ends in a useless T-junction.

The path starts with some very tight corners and drops down to a path that rolls, ducks and weaves - visibility isn't great. You arrive at the shops at Narremburn, and goodness knows how you're supposed to find your way to town from there.

Anyway, waddled around the north shore for a while and headed home for just under 25km in just under an hour.

Got up at sparrow's on a fracking cold Sunday morning (3 or 4 degrees) to meet up at Colin's to do the M7. Out and back from his place for 71.95km in two and a half hours - good fun, with good company and entertainment. Amazing how you can wear full length Skins, running tights and bike pants and your legs are on the cold side of comfortable. Forget about feet - two pairs of socks and they went numb.

An interesting afternoon

2007-07-10T20:41:00.001+10:00

Off to see Dr Rooney this afternoon.

Good news from the MRI is the right joint is fine. In fact, the area all looks okay, except for some drama in the bottom right of the symphysis pubis. Plan of attack at this point to get a specific X-Ray with a Dr Linklater at the North Shore Sports Medicine Centre, with an eye to a cortisone steroid injection directly into the little bugger. Sounds like fun! Right up there with being set on fire, I imagine, but without the horrible burning. Still, Dr Rooney reckons if I'm a candidate for that, I should see results within a week. We'll see - hopefully I'll see him next week.

Got out on the bike in the evening for a little half hour blat from home down to Onion Point at Woolwich and back. Had a little bonus this evening, I acquired a Sigma BC 1606L with cadence (thought I'd got the wireless one - no such luck) which I set up on the bike last night, so it was a chance to get out and try it out against the Garmin.

Interestingly, the Garmin gave 12.85km (Sportstrack adjusted) versus 13.03km on the Sigma. Checked the circumference of the wheel when I got home, and it was spot on (2.133 metres), so I guess the Garmin robs me a bit over my old Hunter's Hill course. Average cadence was 73, top speed was 61.7km/h (in a 50 zone past the Hunter's Hill Post Office - oops). Nice little toy. Nice to be out.

A pleasant Sunday morning

2007-07-08T13:06:00.000+10:00

Out the door just before 7:30am to meet up with two mates over at St Peters. Pretty comfortable cruise in fresh conditions (including the usual 60km/h run off the Drummoyne side of the Gladesville Bridge) and ended up over there for 13.9k in just under 29 minutes.

We headed off a couple of minutes later, working our way through the back of Erskinville and Alexandria, up to Centennial Park to circulate with the multitudes - certainly a stark contrast to my solo run on the M7 last week. We cruised through around 25.8km in a few minutes under an hour before the boys stopped for a coffee and I took the opportunity to catch up with Mohammed, Craig Dunn and Sean Williams. Rolled around to meet back up with the lads for the final instalment of the morning.

Did a couple more laps of Centennial Park before we started back home - back to St Peters, and back up through Newton. I farewelled the lads and decided to head back to Gladesville via the north shore to get the miles in, and came up through Broadway and Ultimo into the CBD, over the Harbour Bridge, up the Pacific Highway to plug into Epping Road, and down Centennial Avenue to Victoria Road and home. Final instalment of the day, 41.4km in 1:38:35 (including EVERY red light on the Pacific Highway - aaarrgh!) to give a total of 81.08km in a couple of minutes over 3 hours. Exactly what I was looking for, a good mileage accumulation morning with some good company.

Back to the M7 next week, I think, to aim for a solid 3 hours rather than the disjointed riding you get around town.

Up and down, and up, and down, and up, and down....

2007-07-07T16:32:00.000+10:00

I've decided to make July my month of getting back into regular exercise, and cleaning my diet up. I was fairly good on both fronts, and managed to hit the exercise bike each week day, alternating a fairly easy 20 minutes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday with a 25 minute hill sessions increasing in intensity, with level 17 on Thursday. Also did some weights and core work each day.

Today, Saturday, I had intentions of heading down to the Striders at Lane Cove but I completely failed to get out of bed.

So, as punishment, off to Lane Cove in the afternoon, and smashed out 3 laps of the Striders 10k course in 1 hour 3:53, with the laps going 21:04, 21:18 and 21:30. Still feeling pace out on the bike. Last lap stung a bit, especially the last climb to Lane Cove Road, but eh, ya gotta work for these things.

M7 Out & Back

2007-07-01T21:12:00.000+10:00

Out to lovely Glenwood, home of the McMansion, at around 2pm to hit the M7 again. It's not scenic, but it's great to be able to do two to three hours unmolested by traffic. I can actually ride with the iPod there, which is a big help on the long rides (as, indeed, it has been on long runs).

Where I park is not quite at the start of the bike track, rather it's about 1.5km in from the start. I got kitted up, called Mohammed about his efforts at GC (next time, mate), and then cruised down to Old Windsor Road to the start of the track - I wanted to get a GPS plot on the full track.

Felt okay early on, much stronger than last week, despite a strong headwind. I was hoping to do about another 20 minutes over last week, with a turnaround of about 1 hour 15 or so. As I continued, I decided to go the whole way, and made the turnaround at Cambden Valley Way, 38.6km, in 1:15:58, and pushed hard from there.

It was tough work heading home from there, but managed to grind it out. Reminded me of some of my long runs - it was good, I felt strong, had some up and down periods, but managed to finish the whole course in 2:36:14, 77.19km (by the Garmin) at an average speed of 29.6km/h. Pleasing, as I'd wanted to cover the M7 in less than three hours, and the next goal from there was 2:45. I'd like to cover it in better than 30km/h average speed, and then under 2:30.

Fitness is coming along nicely. Felt much stronger than previously.

Dragging out an old favourite

2007-06-30T17:29:00.001+10:00

Finished mid-year exams on Monday night, which was a load off my mind. I managed two 25 minute hill sessions on the exer-cycle at the gym on Tuesday and Wednesday, with a little core work thrown in. July will be better.

Got out this afternoon at around 3:30pm, and dragged out an old favourite - basically a loop into town via Victoria Road, the Anzac Bridge, Pyrmont, the city, over the Harbour Bridge and along the Pacific Highway to Epping Road, left at Centennial Avenue and down to Victoria Road and home again. Made a point of using the road, rather than the footpaths - much quicker, indeed, I was well over 60km/h coming down the east side of the Gladesville Bridge (which was pretty hairy in the strong wind!), and down Burns Bay Road.

Managed 25.1km in 58:22 including stoppages at red lights (I was a good boy). Had one near disaster at the Epping Road/Longueville Road intersection, which I'd unclipped the left boot and overbalanced to the right, just managing to get my foot out of the right clip in time, much to the amusement of an elderly lady in a Corolla to my right.

Good to be out in lovely, if somewhat windy conditions.

A damp M7

2007-06-24T16:06:00.000+10:00

Out again just after midday on Sunday, hitting the M7 bike path from a park at Glenwood, near Old Windsor Road. Targeted 2 hours as the session today, and ended up doing 2:06:22 for 58.82. Once again battled in the last quarter, the climbs before the M4 crossing heading north knocking me around a bit.

Track was fairly damp in places, and got some rain in a couple of places. Temp definitely dropped in the last 20 minutes. Good to get home and get into a hot shower.

An hour in the afternoon

2007-06-24T08:48:00.001+10:00

With the weather and exams, I haven't had the opportunity to get out since last I posted.

Learnt a valuable lesson with the presta valves - don't buy cheap pumps. I've always been fussy with tyre pressures, and was trying to get the tyres pumped back up. The poor finish of the pump head managed to rip the heads off both valves, so it was off to the bike shop to buy some tubes and a decent pump.

After some mucking around, got both tubes changed over - hate doing that, I'm a bit prone to pinching tubes, so I was super-careful to make sure the tubes were seated properly in the tyres. Back on the bike, full pressure and no sign any bubbles or hissing, so good signs.

I'd picked up a couple of things for the bike - small saddle pack to hold a puncture repair kit, some tire irons, an Allen key, my phone and some money, plus a water bottle holder (with water bottle) and a pump - so took the opportunity to set the bike up in said 'touring' configuration

Got out just after 3:30 Saturday afternoon for pretty close to bang on an hour, heading out from home to Pittwater Road, over to Lane Cove National Park for a lap of the Striders 10k course (well, if you started from the top of Scribblys) and back home.

Gears were playing up a bit - I think the derailleur took a bit of a knock when I had my second tumble last ride - especially the lower gears, which was a pain in the backside on the climbs with the chain slipping. After I got home I made a quick adjustment, and the moment I released the pressure of the chain the derailleur clicked back into place, so hopefully that's fixed.

So, the hour covered 25.6km, which included some good climbs. Fitness is definitely suffering - last exam is Monday night, so hopefully I can start getting out a bit more regularly. Need an indoor trainer, too.

Darth 2 - Vat 0

2007-06-10T22:25:00.000+10:00

Well, I've lost my cherry on the falling over with cleats thing. Twice, no less, once in the drive-way in front of home before I'd even started, when I fell harmlessly onto my right side (lesson - work out your route before you leave, rather than making it up as you go along), and again on my left side (scrape on the left knee, chain bite on the lower right leg) on Epping Road, on the lane you take to get on to Lane Cove Road.

Hadn't ridden for a week - tough week at work, exam on Thursday, not feeling great etc., so dragged Darth out for a while in the afternoon, for about 19.3k in a bit over 45 minutes, from Gladesville, up Pittwater Road to Epping Road, down through Eastwood into Ryde and back up Victoria Road to home. Falls aside, good ride, although a lady in a black Jazz needs to have a think about illegal U-Turns in front of oncoming traffic.

My tip - get something with side and curtain airbags.

Oh yeah, and big shout-out to Silver Fox, who finally went sub 3 hours in the Macleay River Marathon (2:55 something, and fourth outright!) - great job, mate, and well deserved.

The weekend

2007-06-03T18:27:00.000+10:00

Had a big meal at La Sala in Surrey Hills on Friday night, and was still feeling the effects of it on Saturday morning. I had grand visions of riding over to the Striders 10k, but ended up driving, and only wandered around on the bike, doing maybe 6km.

Headed out at about 7 on Sunday morning to ride around with some mates, path attached. Good morning, some solid climbs and some good company. Covered a bit over 60km in three hours or so, and bumped into CR Running Wolf at Centennial Park.

Had the Garmin but lost signal over in Campberdown and it never picked back up properly again, but did see 62km/h coming off the Gladesville Bridge into Drummoyne.

Bay Run in the dark

2007-05-31T21:48:00.000+10:00

Decided to tag along with EliseS as she went to Run Club this evening, and did about an hour ten or so, for I'm guessing around 25km or so. The lap was kind of the Bay Run, but I cut up through Rozelle Hospital (where it's dark and the road surface is dreadful) rather than take on the 'earth' section between the rowing club and the soccer ground, and worked my way down through Balmain Shores rather than dismount and cut under the Iron Cove Bridge.

The lack of lighting around there, especially on the Leichhardt Council side, makes things a little fraught, and I need to upgrade Darth's lighting.

It was pretty fresh out there, and my toes went numb - guess my shoes are well ventilated!

Still, nice to be out.

Midweek, midday

2007-05-30T12:54:00.000+10:00

Home studying today, but took an hour and a half to duck out and go for a ride. Covered just over 36km in pretty much bang on 90 minutes (my old talent of going very close to judging time and distance coming through), riding from Gladesville to Concord, over to Homebush for a lap of Olympic Park, back over the river and across to Huntleys Point, then home. Just getting a feel for time and distances to and from various places for a few training things I'm looking into at the moment.

Beautiful day to be out. Discovered two things today:
- I do love my bike. Really, really pleased with it
- I now know why people on decent bikes run reds. It's not to save time, it because they're clipped in. It's the biggest pain in the arse to pull the feet out of the clips, and then slot them back in again, ugh.

A black flash in the night

2007-05-29T19:53:00.000+10:00

Did an easy 15 minutes on the bike at the gym on Monday, plus some core work. Pulled up pretty well from the long ride, apart from feeling like I'd be squarely kicked in the crotch. Oh yeah, that aspect of long bike rides...

Tuesday was a tough one at work, and I made arrangements to drop the car at the ferry stop at Huntleys Point. So, at about 5:45pm, pulled Darth out of the wagon, rode the length of the Hunter's Hill peninsula and back home again. Just under 11km in a little over 24 minutes with a couple of solid climbs. Good to be out.

There was a scary moment, though - heading down Manning Road, which has little to no lighting, Darth put on quite a lot of speed. It was pitch black, and he is fairly twitchy - it got pretty scary through there, I gotta say.

Oh yeah...

2007-05-27T15:31:00.000+10:00

I know Easter has passed, but couldn't resist sharing this:

A freeway too far

2007-05-27T14:38:00.000+10:00

Off to the M7 cycleway this morning to give Darth a proper run.

Jumped off the M2 at the Abbott Road exit, and took the first left into a cul-de-sac that seemed to have a park with a bike path that ran off it that looked like it might plug into the M7 cycleway.

It didn't.

After following the path around for 10 minutes or so, and then ducking under the expressway, I appeared back on Old Windsor Road. I made my way down the road towards the M7 and noticed the footpath next to the T-Way was marked as a footpath/cycleway. This looked promising! And, sure enough, a left turn after going under the twin elevated roads and we were on our way!

I was pretty keen to get a feel for the bike and this probably saw me go out pretty hard, something that would become an issue later. There were a few cyclists out and about, and it was quite social, with pretty much everyone nodding or waving a greeting.

I caught up to and passed another fellow who was rolling along fairly well, and on passing a slower cyclist I noticed he was sitting just behind me. I invited him to join me and we had a bit of a chat, during which I completely missed we'd crossed the M4 overpass. He turned around not long after this, and I was planning to turn around around 10 minutes later (at about the hour mark).

Then, I noticed the M5 interchange was only 13km away. A seed was planted in my mind.

At the designated turnaround time, I saw a sign indicating the M5 interchange was 9km away. Eh, stuff it, come this far, may as well make a morning of it.

Got to Camden Valley Way at Prestons, and felt okay. I stopped and had some water and some nuts & dried fruit I had with me, and turned around.

From there, the successive solid climbs leading up to the M4 overpass tore my quads to shreds, and the hills became long, grimb efforts as my thighs screamed in protest. It was one of those classic times you're stuck and the quickest way to get it over is to finish the damned run/ride.

I finally managed to get back to Old Windsor Road in a bit over 3 hours but was utterly smashed. Worse, I knew I had to find my way back to the car, and that involved yet another climb to the Seven Hills Road intersection!

It was with no small measure of relief that I finally got back to the car, and I had a little lie in the tailgate to get my composure. And people wonder why we have a wagon...

Still, a good ride and I'm looking forward to riding regularly. You forget how good it feels to be tired after training - it's a good, wholesome tiredness, unlike work stress!

The bike itself is awesome - its ability to maintain momentum, and to pick up speed when commanded is brilliant, completely different to my Giant mountain bike, but I guess it's like comparing, say, a 350Z with a Pathfinder (no reason for the Nissan reference, just two cars that seemed a handy relative comparison). The mountain bike's great for the commute to and from work, through Lane Cove, with its low gearing (both because of the hills, and I'm loaded up) and front shocks, but in the long open spaces of the M7 Cycleway Darth's in his element. Love the cleats, too - they seem to introduce a discipline in producing power, I think because they removed the variability of foot position from pedalling. And it's so easy to drag up hills!

I look forward to being able to do it justice at some point!

My bike shoves your bike over when no-one's around

2007-05-26T21:00:00.000+10:00

EliseS, bless her, agreed to me purchasing a decent road bike on Friday night. We negotiated a budget, so after a bit of a surf on the web on Saturday, I came across Cell Bikes in Stanmore, who import their own frames. I had my choices narrowed down to two (and hilariously, the first result for a search for feedback on their road bikes turned up a Coolrunning thread), but when I pottered into the store mid-afternoon, I saw the matt-black finished Cell Triumph and fell in love.

So, I present Darth...

How cool is the black? With the carbon bars and forks, it looks like it could seriously kick your arse.

Specifications

FRAME	7005 Alloy with carbon seat stays and replaceable drop
FRAME SIZE	50 53 56 59 cm
FORK	Carbon Integrated
HANDLE BAR	XVX Carbon/Alloy composite 31.8mm
HEAD STEM	XVX Carbon/Alloy composite
SEATPOST	Carbon/Alloy composite 27.2x300mm
BOTTOM BRACKET	Shimano 105 Hollowtech II
STI SHIFTER	Shimano 105
FRONT DERAILUER	Shimano ULTEGRA
REAR DERAILUER	Shimano ULTEGRA
CRANKSET	Shimano 105 Hollowtech II 39-52T
CASSETTE	Shimano 105 10sp 12-25T
CHAIN	Shimano HG
BRAKE CALIPER	Shimano 105
WHEEL	Shimano R-550
HEADSET	Integrated CANE CREEK US PAT.5095770
SEAT	VELO PLUSH Leather Sports PAT.No.5.348.369
TYRES	MAXXIS DEUX CATEGORIE 130PSI 700X23C
Weight	approximately 8.7kg

I dealt with a guy named Brett at Cell who spent about an hour with me, getting me properly set up on the bike with the seat height and position, bars, and gave me a heap of great tips on personalising my set-up, maintenance, gear selection and so on. The guys there were really good - can't speak highly enough of them.

I got out for a quick 10 minute ride when I got home - very nimble and light thing, much easier to drag up hills than my beloved tractor, my Giant MTB.

There's been some concern about me retiring from running and joining the cycling latte (or more precisely, macchiatto) set - let me assure, you, kind reader, that this is merely a plan to get me out of my current funk and active again, and a possible step in the "might try an Ironman after I'm 40" plan.

Off to the M7 tomorrow morning to stretch his legs.

Striders Award Night

2007-05-26T08:29:00.000+10:00

Managed to come aware with some silverware/woodwork on Friday night at the Striders 2006 Presentation Night, with second in the Sub 3 Hour Improver (eh, already have my name on that one!) to a deserving (and in the run-up, forgotten!) 26miles for his great sub 3 at Sydney, and win in the Most Improved, over 26miles.

The irony of winning Most Improved when I've hardly run since September 2006 was not lost on me, and indeed was mentioned. Eh, it was a pretty good year until I broke down...

A curse upon my no-swearing policy

2007-05-25T13:49:00.001+10:00

Unremarkable my arse. Why do I hobble around like an old man in the morning? Why does it kill me to get out of the car after driving for an hour? What the frakkin' hell is going on with this thing?!?

I'm tempted to just go out on to the Great North Walk and frak it up properly.

35 minutes in a tube, and waiting....waiting

2007-05-24T12:09:00.000+10:00

Didn't realise how long it was since I'd updated.

Decided to bite the bullet a month or so ago and go and see Dr John Rooney, an orthopaedic surgeon over at St Vincents Private. After some prodding and manipulation of the area, a labral tear seems to be the diagnosis. That, or wear of the joint, which would not be cool. At all.

I used Dr Tom Cross of the Sydney Sports Medicine Centre at Crows Nest/North Sydney as a second opinon, and he thought much the same thing.

Both felt the osteitis pubis had moderated considerably.

A labral tear would actually be a decent result, as it's just a hip arthroscopy, and a six to eight week recovery before I'm back on the road. Then, another six months to get the weight I've put on back off!

Both recommended an MRI, which I had at the Mater on Tuesday night (they bulkbill, so I had to wait a while for an appointment) - basically 35 minutes in a tube surrounding by banging and electrical noises. As always, I dozed off - awoke about 2 minutes before the end, not realising I'd been asleep, thinking I still had ages to go, and my right hip was killing me. It was a huge relief to feel the sled I was lying on lift up and slide out of the machine.

Had a bit of a squiz at the scan with the operator - nothing immediately apparent in the joint, but the osteitis pubis appears to still have some presence.

I get the results on Friday, so will report back then. Or next month. It's all good.

In the meantime, I've been amusing myself with a new digital camera. You can see race galleries for April's NSW State 10k Novice, and last Sunday's SMH Half Marathon here:
- http://picasaweb.google.com/craig.d.brown/28407StateNovice
- http://picasaweb.google.com/craig.d.brown/SMHHalf07

Oh yeah, and a shout out to Unc - sorry to hear about your foot, mate.

Update

2007-04-13T12:30:00.000+10:00

Sorry for the delay in updating.

Pain the top right leg hasn't gone away, if anything, it's been worsening.

Went and saw Cr Brizza a few weeks ago who suspected bursitis and referred me to a doctor he works with. Saw that doctor last week.

After a fairly thorough examination at both his hands and those of a doctor being taught his specialisation, current thinking is:
- osteitis pubis has basically cleared (this was tested by pressing on the pubis, and I didn't spontaneously combust..)
- current suspects are either a psoas or labral tear.

I've sent over the reports from the scans I had done in October last year, and the doctor will call me regarding where we go from here. The three potential options are:
- if it's a minor tear, take a year off running (swimming only), it should heal itself
- if it's a moderate tear, a possible cortisone injection into the affected area, under a CT scan (it would need to go in quite deep into the joint)
- if it's more than that, potential surgery to repair the tendons

None are particularly attractive options, but at this point, the surgery looks attractive, if only to get some friggin' resolution on this. Gah.

Good luck to those running Canberra this Sunday. I was hoping to head down and watch, but extended periods in the car seem to aggravate the injury, plus we've got a bit happening on the home front. Have faith in your training....

Yeah, yeah, two posts in two days

2007-03-15T09:00:00.000+11:00

So, did the pilates class yesterday (substitute instructor who wasn't quite as tough as the usual one, but certainly very easy to look at) which was fine, considering I hadn't been for two weeks while we were interstate. The real trick is going to be getting myself there on Saturday morning to double up.

Also walked the around 8km home from St Leonards, which included some very limited jogging. I use River Road, and cut through Hodgson Park, which cuts through to the top of Tambourine Bay (veterans of the Striders' Ten Bridges run will know it). Hodgson Park has a great little technical single track through it, with a nice soft leaf surface with rocks and tree roots to make sure you're paying attention. It's only 700 metres or so, but I can never help myself through there, I have to run it - it's great fun. Part of the thing that's really got me ticked off with not running is not being able to get out and do some trail running - always puts a smile on my face. I live pretty close to the Great North Walk, where it starts to get interesting, and I've really been hanging out to put on a backpack and disappear up there for a few hours.

Got on the scales - 82.4kg. Work to be done there, but I just need to be disciplined with food and stay off the grog. I need to be under 75kg before I start up again, the less weight the better.

Woke up this morning with some pain at the top of the right femur - it's interesting that I'm not getting the pain or 'unstable' feeling through the right adductor or down the centre of the right thigh anymore. I think the osteitis pubis has backed off considerably, but there is another problem in the right hip joint, either in the joint itself or the surrounding connective tissue.

I'll start back on the joint food tonight, and see how that goes. Can't hurt.

Get back into it, ya sook

2007-03-14T13:44:00.000+11:00

As you've probably gathered by the lack of posting, the recovery's not been going so well. Still getting pain, but it seems quite localised to the right hip joint now. Colin from CR has referred me to Brizza, a physio who does biomechanical work, to see if we can't get to the root cause. I see him on Monday.

Must admit I have kind of withdrawn from the running community over the last few months - it's been hard knowing we're heading into another road running season and I still don't have much clue as to when I'll be back out there. I've tried the old 3 to 4km run here and there, but still get this issue come up after about 10 minutes or so - nowhere near as bad, but enough to suggest I'm probably worsening things.

The other bonus item is that I've stacked on a heap of weight - about 10kg since September. I was probably going okay until the wedding, but that combined with Christmas really did me in. I've made a resolution that I'm not to have another beer until I get back under 75kg, and to be really careful with my eating.

I've started doing some pilates classes at the gym next to work, which seem to be helping, and using the elliptical trainer to build some basic cardio fitness. I guess where I go with that depends on the discussion with Brizza next week, but I would like to be in reasonable trim when I do actually hit the road again.

Catching up with a heap of the crew at Six Foot Track on Saturday has given me a bit of a taste of things again - truth be told I was very close to putting in a late entry on Friday, as I reckoned I could have bludgeoned a 6:59, but do so would have been madness, probably set me back another six months - and it was good to see everyone. You'll probably see me around CR a bit more, at a few more events and I will endeavour to post a bit more often, if only to whinge and carry on (so, much like before, but without the running details...for a while).

Prelude to return

2006-12-06T08:54:00.000+11:00

Here we are at the start of December!

Quick update:
- osteitis pubis is slowly improving. It's still not fantastic with the odd bad day, but it's notably better
- we have a new kitten, Beatrice. She's a domestic shorthair, but apparently of the Friesian variety, as her markings resemble those of a Friesian cow. I have a theory that she's made of the left overs of a production run of black and white cats, where they had enough bits left to make up one more cat. One black ear, one white ear, white body with large black spots, black tail with white tip. She is a very active and funny little thing, though.
- EliseS finally made an honest man of me on November 17. There's no truth that I specifically put the date here so I had a handy reference in case I forgot. That date again, Friday, November 17, 2006
- some may know that I had a second blog going detailling some of the hilarity of cycling on Sydney roads, specifically http://vatsridetoandfromwork.blogspot.com/ - this has been reactivated, for reasons I shall outline below. Just be aware, I tend to be a little more explicit in my commentary there (it's not called the Cycling Hate blog for nothing).

To be frank, I've let the whole exercise and diet thing go since mid-September, and it's starting to show. I'm anticipating returning (gently) to running in late December, and realised it might be prudent to get off my fat backside and do something about. So, I finally got some road tyres for the mountain bike, and resumed riding to work today.

In hand with that, I joined the gym downstairs from work (not a certain well known chain that everyone thinks of Fir$t). We don't have showers at work, and I'm not going to spongebath myself in the bathrooms here. The theory is that the money saved from not taking public transport will more than cover the membership fee. Since I'm going to the gym anyway, it's a very good opportunity to do my core work (something I've always been really poor at doing). Today was the first day, and I feel better for it.

So, that's the news.

Farewell, Tabcat

2006-10-26T21:59:00.000+10:00

EliseS and I lost our Tabby today. She'd only just turned 9, and was diagnosed with a huge tumour last Saturday. We took the decision to relieve her suffering today - she'd battled on, and was still herself, but it was obvious she was battling. It was very peaceful, she literally just went straight to sleep.

She was a great cat - very much her own animal, but capable of great affection when it was just EliseS and I. We got her from the Lort Smith Animal Hospital in Melbourne at about 10 weeks old. She's been around for just over a year short of all of EliseS's and my relationship, so it's kind of hard to imagine life without her.

See ya, mate.

Osteitis pubis

2006-10-12T10:17:00.000+10:00

We're about 75% of the way to a diagnosis, and this looks to be it. At this point, minimum four weeks off with a course of anti-inflammatories, but I can swim or cycle (provided I don't get up out of the saddle). Will probably get an MRI next week to confirm.

An update

2006-10-10T09:54:00.000+10:00

Things are looking a little on the grim side at the moment, although I'm a bit down right now which is probably flavouring my view of the world.

I've hardly run in the last five weeks, and not at all for a few weeks, since I broke down about 2.5k into a run around the Bay a few Sundays back, same issue in the upper right leg. The issue continues to make itself felt when walking down hill.

At this stage, possible culprits include a stress fracture in the right pelvis or neck of the right femur, osteo pubitis or other similar issue (apparently they're diagnosing thigh splints now), or, worst of all, wear and tear in the cartilege/tendons around the right hip joint. If it's the last option, my running career might be finished. I'm currently in 'worst case scenario mode' so things aren't pretty on that front.

So, I had a bone scan Friday last week that I should have results of tomorrow. It's not a good sign when the preferred outcome is a stress fracture. I'll post again when I have news.

Yeah, so I haven't blogged in a while...

2006-08-29T10:02:00.000+10:00

Yeah, you probably noticed I haven't blogged in a while.

Still running, just battling mentally a bit at the moment - sort of feels like running's getting in the way of life, rather than the other way around, and when it's like this the blog tends to drop off my radar.

So, I might give the ol' Vatblog a bit of a rest for a while. I'll come back to it in a while, but would like to reclaim the 'mental space' it fills at the moment.

Cheers

In the wake of the storm

2006-08-15T18:52:00.000+10:00

Another easy 35 minutes around Bedlam Bay Oval after work, after a storm with spectacular lightning and hail (in the Sydney CBD). A little tight in the right upper leg.

Scales - 73.8kg. Guess there was a bit left over from Sunday yesterday. Apologies to people who battle to shift a couple of hundred grams over months...

Okay, back to work

2006-08-15T12:42:00.000+10:00

Right - time to focus on the next target.

Aths NSW has announced a provisional calendar for the summer track season, with the State 10k champs on October 28. So, focus shifts to my sub 35 minute 10k goal.

Got out on Monday evening for 35 minutes. Felt a little sore and beaten up, but was moving okay, with a little tightness in the right hip, but nothing more than that.

At physio last week I was given a left heel lift to fool around with - have had it in my day shoes (my 'dress' Frees) and tried it in my running shoes for the first time last night. Wasn't aware of it being there, which I guess is a good thing. Also have a strengthening exercise to do.

I'll also now log my weight, as I want that under 70kg by the end of the year. I'll weigh myself on getting home before eating, even if it's just after a run. Last night was 75.4kg - put a bit of weight on post Gold Coast. Too much chocolate. Will stick strictly to diet.

I'll also log when I do my strength work. The only time I really get to do it is in the morning, and I need to get up a bit earlier to do so, but this hip thing has driven home that in order to cope with training loads I really need to do it.

City 2 Surf 2006

2006-08-15T12:38:00.000+10:00

So, I managed to justify my preferred status and run 53:22.

Pretty meh about the whole race. It was a good, fun day, but as mentioned previously I've been pretty flat the last three weeks mentally and physically, and while you might be able to bluff your way through a flat 10k, C2S is a different matter entirely.

Still, it was a good, solid run. I was through 10 in around 38:30, figured 4 minute ks would do it from there, and just let the hills do the work. Some good runs from Mohammed, 26 Miles, Uncle Dave, Sailaway and a few others I forget.

To be honest, I was glad to get the event out of the way. Feel like the deck is clear for other projects now.

Saturday in the sun

2006-08-12T21:17:00.000+10:00

Out at about 1:00 for an easy 20-25 minutes, was supposed to be half an hour but all of the local ovals were being used for sport so there was nowhere soft to run. Plus I was hungry.

Leg felt the best it has in weeks, a little tight and restricted, but no actual pain, even on a couple of solid climbs and descents. I missed it, in the way that a cancer patient misses a tumour after surgery, grateful for its absence, but watchful for its return.

Friday night cruise

2006-08-11T22:11:00.000+10:00

Started the day with a physio session. Felt much better after quite a bit of manipulation around the hip and upper leg, picked up a little heel lift for my left leg to try out. Have some exercises to do, and some thoughts on running pose to think about.

Got out for 9.08k in 44:27 - again, fairly constant low level of pain, but no twinges, which was pleasing, as I ran from home after work along my old Hunter's Hill course, which includes some fairly steep ups and downs. Nice night to run - clear, cool (but fine in a singlet), little wind.

6 x 400

2006-08-11T07:04:00.000+10:00

Acupuncture and some manipulation at the Horned one this morning.

6 x 400, run clockwise for a change. Times went 80, 76, 76, 77, 76, 77.

Leg felt stable, with a constant, slightly lower level of pain. Running form felt good, with some more 'on toes' running through the first three reps.

Post-treatment

2006-08-10T06:02:00.000+10:00

Home from work, bit over 45 minutes for a bit over 9k. Would be more precise but Gaf had a bit of a fit at the start and the plot shows me starting at The Rocks and performing a deity-like water crossing to McMahons Point and then teleporting to Gore Hill. Still somewhat restricted, although hip/pelvis was better. Legs were as dead as wood, though, combination of Tuesday night's session and the massage.

3 x 2k

2006-08-09T09:15:00.000+10:00

3 x 2km reps. Right leg pretty proppy through the warm up, and pretty tentative through the reps, which went 7:16, 7:16 and 7:11. Leg felt a bit better in the third rep, I had considered pulling out in the second.

Thoughts on Saturday - I was a bit disappointed with the time, but cast my mind back to Scarborough Park on the first weekend in June where I ran 14:05 for my 4k leg of the relays. So I guess I'm not travelling too badly.

Fairly painful massage with Easy Tigert this morning which seemed to free things up again. Day 2 of treament continues tomorrow.

King of pain

2006-08-07T18:18:00.000+10:00

Just short of 9km in 42:34, home from work. Upper right leg hurt pretty well the whole way, with some nice twinges.

Ow.

Update

2006-08-07T06:57:00.000+10:00

Wed - hip/pelvis very grindy, attempted run home via CBD, pulled up in Pyrmont after about 8k or so in around 35 or so minutes
Thu, Fri - off
Sat - ANSW Short Course Relays. First leg for Striders B team, 4km in just over 14 minutes, hip/pelvis fairy sore
Sun - home to 5k mark of Bay Run CR course around lunch time, a touch over 19k in around 1 hour 25 minutes. Hip/pelvis not too bad apart from two quite painful twinges, one at around 6.5k and a longer one at about 10k.

Massage, chiro and physio appointments this week.

5 x 1200

2006-08-02T06:54:00.000+10:00

Physio in the morning - issue seems to relate to glutes allowing the right hip to rotate forward and down during footfall. Result is weird leg angles and adductor doing much more work than it should. Got some exercises to deal with it, and have to focus on the lower abs by drawing the belly button to the spine to keep the hips level and not 'dip' as weight shifts from one leg to the other.

Session was down as 5 x 1600, but there was too much of a gap between me and the front lads, which combined with the short recoveries meant I would have pretty well had an 8k tempo session (that would be Thursday's session), so at the 1200 point of the first rep, went to 5 x 1200. Times went 4:16 (feeling leg out), 4:11, 4:06, 4:02 and 4:05. Times were pretty solid once I was confident on the right leg.

Short cool down as the right leg got sorer.

Move aside, and let the man go through

2006-07-31T20:46:00.000+10:00

Ran home from St Leonards via the CBD, 16.16km in 1:13:22, in around 4:30 something pace. Just kept it controlled, aware of right hip/pelvis but not a big problem. Felt pretty comfortable. Nice night to run, just a bit breezy up on the Gladesville Bridge.

Catch up

2006-07-30T13:58:00.000+10:00

Yeah, so I haven't blogged. Been pretty flat this week, probably a combination of the bug and the post-marathon 'blehs' finally hitting. Life goes on.

Got back on the road on Wednesday. Very grindy run home from via the city that I pulled the pin on about 12.2km in, 55 minutes or so (so, I'd been rattling along reasonably quickly), getting the bus home from there. Big problems in the right hip/pelvis, felt like the femur was being driven into the pelvis, very painful on up and particularly down hills, so if you think of the profile from the Shell at Drummoyne to Gladesville you can see what I stopped.

Am seeing an Easy Tiger recommended physio Tuesday morning.

Thursday was squad training, 35 minutes at half marathon pace (3:47). We formed little running groups which swapped leaders much in the style of the track based team pursuit cycle races, which alleviated some of the boredom of running around in circles. I pulled out at about two thirds distance, the last remnants of the sinus conditon making me light headed and eventually dizzy. Hip/pelvis was bearable, not great.

Friday. Gave up on my 30 minute easy run at Bedlam Bay oval 19 minutes, citing boredom.

Saturday, 7km Randwick Botany Harriers event at Sir Joseph Banks Park at Botany. Didn't feel great in the warm up. Out too hard chasing people who were quicker than I recalled, ended up doing the distance in 25 minutes flat, a 40 second improvement on the same event back in April. Since I ran 18 minutes for 5km the following weekend in April, guess it means I'm probably in 17:20-30 5km shape at the moment, which is good.

Sunday. Two hours at Centennial Park. Gaf had a fit after a toilet stop half an hour in and gave increasingly bizarre readings. Guessing around 25-26km, felt okay, hip/pelvis was okay, conscious of it but never really threatened to curtail the run.

So, there. You're up to date.

Lost Weekend (and beyond)

2006-07-25T08:23:00.000+10:00

Well, two glasses of sparkling rosé on Friday night, and woke up on Saturday morning with a recurrence of my anti-body issue. So, no running Saturday through to today. Planning a return tomorrow.

Gah. Fine...............

Cold and wet

2006-07-21T22:29:00.000+10:00

Got out after work and did a cold and wet 6.2k in 30 minutes around Bedlam Bay Oval. It tipped down there for a while. Nice.

Somewhere in an alternative universe, another vat is sitting at the Welcome Hotel in Rozelle, enjoying a quiet Friday night James Squire Amber Ale in front of the open fire...

4 x "800"

2006-07-20T22:48:00.000+10:00

Rained pretty well all day in Sydney today, so it was no surprise to arrive at Kensington this evening to find the ground soaking. Not quite as bad as that night in June, although it should be noted there were two ducks on the field. It was cold, and we had a couple of light showers through the session. Numbers were very limited with most of the juniors running in a school event on Friday.

Got through a pretty damp warm up. SW shortened the track a bit to protect the usual line, which with the heavy ground (it was quite muddy through the 'front' straight) probably ended up about square.

Felt okay through the the drills. Reps went 2:40. 2:41, 2:40 and 2:38. Tried to push hard on the last rep, but there wasn't a lot there for the last lap, suspect the heavy ground and lingering effects of Gold Coast combined there.

Glad to get through the cool down and get some dry clothes on. Looking forward to some dry sessions, I can tell you.

Damp and calm

2006-07-19T21:52:00.000+10:00

Another relaxed 12k in an hour this evening. Well, a touch over 12k in 55:20, so between 4:30 and 4:40 pace, same route as Monday.

The afternoon did not look promising, with regular grey outs of the view from our 8th floor vantage point. Heading outside just after 5 showed it to be a little drizzly, but nothing serious, and that's pretty much how it stayed through the run, although it was certainly wet under foot.

Felt fine, although I probably went a little harder on the climb to Lane Cove from St Leonards than was appropriate, and felt pretty flat once I got to the Fig Tree Bridge after the long descent down Epping Road and Centennial Avenue. Touch of stiffness in the right adductor, but it was better than it was initially this morning. I shut myself into one of the conference rooms and did some stretching and work on it just before lunch, which did it wonders.

Wet and wild

2006-07-18T22:28:00.000+10:00

Started the day with a massage with Easy Tiger in town. Wasn't too bad, although I seem to be tending toward some issues with the inside of the calves, which may be following on from some slight weakness in the adductors - imagine slight bowlegedness, if you will. Suggestion - plenty of squats, particularly one legged and on the bosu board. Been meaning to drag that back out, tough with these cold mornings, though...

Shocker of an evening for training over at Kensington, with wind and light rain that eventually turned pretty heavy. Considering the rain during the day it wasn't too bad underfoot, although there is a patch at the north end that is starting to get gooey under foot.

Got through a cool and breezy warm up, and feel particularly wooden through the drills. Schedule was 3 x 1200, which went 4:18, 4:14 and 4:08. Slower than the last 12oos I ran which were off the back of a 2400, but given the proximity to Gold Coast and the atrocious conditions, to be expected, I guess, and it was good to push home in the last rep.

It proceeded to absolutely tip down two laps into the cool down. Mohammed and I had finished earlier than most of the squad, who whilst they had completed their intervals, were condemned to a very wet cool down. Kids, this is why you do your cool down as soon as you can...

Cruising home

2006-07-17T22:11:00.000+10:00

A relaxed hour for 12km in the schedule today saw me run the 12k variation of the run home from work - basically up the Pacific Highway, down Epping Road and left into Centennial Avenue and all the way along to Huntley's Point, a loop under the Gladesville Bridge and over the pedestrian bridge near the school, up Victoria Road to a little loop at the finish.

Quite painful to start - almost like the pain I get when I haven't run on grass for a while. Psoas/adductor were fine. Suspect a lot of muscle fibres got recruited on Saturday and Sunday and it was payback time. Really didn't go away for quite a while. Not a bad night to run, though, with the predicted late showers holding off.

Still, had a good relaxed lope going, and knocked over a bit over 12km in 57:43, so comfortably under 5 min per km pace, and once the abovementioned pain went, felt fine.

Stiff and sore Sunday

2006-07-16T12:04:00.000+10:00

SW's parting words to me on Sunday were that I was to do a VERY easy hour on Sunday.

Pottered down to Centennial Park just before 7:30am to run with the squad. I was a little cloudy-headed after a party on Saturday night (where, gasp, I'd had a few beers) but figured an hour of 5 minute pace would be a perfect sharpener.

Saw Don Juan heading up from Anzac Parade so knew at least one person would be there.

Parked and pottered over to the squad's meeting point near Mackay Oval, did some stretches. Don Juan turned up, as did Knoxy, and we did a couple of laps of the oval in case anyone else fronted. It was immediately apparent the psoas/illiacus/hip adductor was very angry, and plagued me through the run. Still, it eased off a bit as the hour wore on, and I ended up doing 13.24km in 1:06:47, so just a touch over 5 minute per km pace. The rest of the squad joined in around 8am, and we ended up with a pretty big group.

Sorry to bang on about this, but I was very impressed with the quality of the plotting from the 205. The 301 used to have some shockers around Centennial Park, but you can't argue with the quality of the plot here...

ANSW Short Course XC - The Crest

2006-07-16T11:34:00.000+10:00

First race back from GC is the Aths NSW Short Course XC event at The Crest, in Bankstown. The course is as per below:

The event was two four km laps. I hitched a lift down with Mohammed and Jim from the squad, and later learned that we managed to avoid a major hold up on the M5 East due to a truck breakdown that delayed a few people.

Felt fine throught the warm-up, although a bit stiff through the drills and stride outs. Went with spikes - the course was very slick in places with a shallow layer of mud through some sections, particularly one fairly steep downhill bit, and with only a 100 metre or so tarmac section it was a simple choice.

The course started from the grass infield of the athletics track, used the outside bend and headed on the grass alongside the main straight, out the back gate and headed out beside the soccer grounds. It cut back on to the path, then turned left into the carpark for the only tarmac section, which quickly became gravel/soil/mud. A right turn saw the course run down the back fences of some homes bordering the course, and this was a quite treacherous slick section, fairly steeply downhill - there were falls in the women's race through here.

A right turn brought you alongside a road bordering the south edge of the course, and along here the course would rise and fall. The surface varied in quality, runners needing to be watchful of damp and muddy sections, and in places the camber combined with the lack of grip often saw you nearly forced over to run on the road, which of course invited disqualification. There was a right kink, before a 90 degree right and a short, sharp climb before ducking through a gate to continue north east within the boundaries of the park, where the surface became your more traditional trail.
At the northwest corner of the park there was a right turn and a short, nasty little climb up on the edge of a rugby field before we diverted off into the bush section again where the course dived downhill into a gentle left turn. This headed up hill and doubled back on to itself with a left turn heading back to the athletics track. We trailed along the south edge, between the athletics field and the hockey grounds, with a diversion around a grass square, a short sharp climb and hard off camber left turn to re-enter the athletics field.

Do that twice, the second time, finishing on the track, and you had 8km. The Garmin said 7.96, so I'd say it was pretty darned close to 8km.

Race was fairly straightforward. I settled in behind Royworlds, and we swapped positions here and there through the first lap. He got past me early in the second lap and eased away with a strong back half to the event. I ran pretty close to even splits, making up a few positions through the last two km (although one RBH runner I had passed beat me with a sprint in the last hundred metres - nothing I could do about it). I really fought it out on the last lap, the marathon apparent in the uphills. The spikes were a big help, as I could run pretty well any line, rather than being forced into picking dry lines like the flat shod runners. Finished in 29:31, which was pleasing as I was really only looking for sub 30 minutes, and underlined how well the recovery from Gold Coast has been going. Finished 52nd, and eighth Strider home. I think we ended up with silver in the open men and women and the men's 45+. Not sure on the others, I think we would have had a pretty strong B-Grade result if we had enough numbers.

An enjoyable run. We were all mud-spattered at the end - some people's new shoes ended up pretty filthy! SW was very pleased with my performance backing up from Gold Coast, saying it looked like I was in the middle of moving up a level, which is probably true.

Easy half hour

2006-07-14T23:13:00.000+10:00

Just cruised over to Bedlam Bay Oval after dropping the car at the ferry stop for an easy half hour (I think it was around 4:54 pace) after work. Quite fresh out there, the cloud drowing out any hint of lingering twilight.

Cracked it with the shoes I was wearing. If anyone wants a pair of 10.5 mens Reebok Road Lights let me know. They'd be lucky to have 50km on them, 45 of which would be on grass. Pain on the inside of both feet and it seemed to anger up the psoas/illie. Gave up after 10 minutes and did the rest of the run barefooted, despite it being cold and wet underfoot. Something about them seems to be completely at odds with my running - I know Luke Skyrunner's been very happy with his, and Vlad from the squad likes his as well, so I guess it's just me. EliseS doesn't like 'em either (EDIT - so I guess it isn't just me), so let me know.

Didn't feel particularly good out there, but I guess it's good to get a 'grinder' out of the way before the short course XC tomorrow.

Back to work

2006-07-13T21:22:00.000+10:00

I didn't run on Wednesday - did some gutbusters, but that was it. These things happen. I only had a swim scheduled.

So, Thursday night and back to squad training. Good to catch up with everyone, and a short session tonight ahead of the Aths NSW Short Course XC on Saturday, only 5 x 400. Have a little niggle in the left calf that Martin Horne had some acupuncture in this morning (helped), had Easy Tiger take a quick look at it but he didn't seem overly concerned about it. Wasnt a hindrance when running.

Solid warm up, and then into the (relaxed) reps. They went 81, 79, 79, 78 and 76. Didn't feel like there was a lot of speed to be had there, almost like breaking out of a locked pattern - guess 42km of 4 minute k pace is probably going to affect your pace.

Felt fine otherwise.

Cruising home

2006-07-11T19:20:00.000+10:00

Packed my bag with some running kit, planning to run laps of Gore Hill Oval at lunch. Alas, the changerooms were locked, so a quick fiddle with arrangements saw me cruise home.

Nice night for a run, quite mild, if a little breezy. I only had a singlet, so was grateful it wasn't cold. Just loped along very comfortably and kept it relaxed. Took the shortest route home, 9.13km in 42:33 for 4:39 per km - hey, it's downhill!

Been pretty impressed with the 205. Getting a satellite lock in front of work takes about a third of the time, and the plots are far more accurate. Had to laugh when the watch, close to getting a plot, figured out it was in front of work, something it announced seemingly with great pleasure.

A visit to Run Club

2006-07-10T21:29:00.000+10:00

I decided this morning that I could not face the prospect of another 20 minutes of swimming, and decided, after a small amount of persuasion from EliseS, to attend the Freespirit Fitness Run Club with her. Legs had felt basically back to normal on Friday and Sunday, so figured it would be a good sighter as to how the recovery was going so I could make a decision on the Aths NSW XC event this Saturday.

Caught up with Tim and 26 miles before getting into the session proper on a very cool, still and clear evening at about 6:40pm, with a group of 25 -30. We did a fairly short warm-up, some stretches and some drills before heading over to the shoreside path in front of Balmain Shores. The session was 3 x 2km, the course being two laps of a straight out and back course. Gaf had the course slightly short, running between 1.9 and 1.94km, probably exacerbated by the 180 degree turns.

Reps went:
6:52 - just settled into a rhythm and get some feel for form, plus do enough to keep 26 at bay.
6:41 - pushed a bit harder, looking for a 10 second or so improvement, although did the first km a little harder than I really wanted and copped a slight positive split for my trouble
6:29 - decided to stretch out and push harder for a time, although I again probably overcooked the first 500, with the legs going a little dead from around 1200 to 1600. Bigger positive split, but pushed hard in the last couple of hundred metres.

Good fun session with a big group, and nice to catch up with a few people. No real feeling of the marathon still in the legs, although not having run on tarmac for a week the energy return from the surface probably helped a bit. Be interesting to see how I pull up.

I've got an easy half hour tomorrow, and a swim is scheduled for Wednesday before returning to squad on Thursday evening.

A quiet weekend

2006-07-10T07:07:00.000+10:00

Had a very quiet weekend activity-wise. Caught up with a heap of CRs at drinks at the Sackville on Friday night, as always you don't get to chat to everyone you want to. Keep an eye out for Springer on the pool table, too.

Basically didn't end up doing anything on Saturday. Was hoping to get to have a look at the Mutch Park race but with other arrangements it just didn't end up happening.

Got up and did a pretty relaxed 25 minutes at about 8am Sunday morning. Pretty darn cold down there, the half of the oval still in shade had frost and I ran in gloves. Managed 5.27km in 4:44 pace, felt fine.

Had vague aspirations of getting out on the bike in the afternoon but they didn't quite pan out.

Eh, if I hadn't earned a bludge weekend after GC, then I never will.

Interesting to note I did suffer some mild repercussions from the alcohol on the weekend. I was fairly congested on Saturday morning, but it did clear pretty quickly, and I could feel it come on immediately after a glass of red on Saturday night. So, I'm going to have to keep pretty tight discipline on this.

More circle work...

2006-07-07T13:36:00.000+10:00

...although thankfully in a different location today.

With post-GC drinks tonight, I had planned to do my 25 minute relaxed run this morning, but simply couldn't get up. I packed my running kit and threw it in the car, the plan being to either run from the ferry stop in the evening, or try my luck that the change rooms were open at the Gore Hill Oval, in front of RNS. Readers of silver fox's blog would know it well.

As it turned out, they were, so I changed into my running kit. Beautiful lunch time, cool air but bright, warm sunshine. The oval was generally pretty good, but a touch muddy and slippery in the north west corner.

Felt pretty comfortable cruising around and was quite surprised to see Gaf work his way down to 4:28 per km pace. Aside from a little pain in the right hip and right arch that went away after 15 minutes really felt little to no discomfort and was really just cruising along in the relaxed manner suggested in the program. I'll check the plot, maybe the pace wasn't quite that, but who knows?

Nice afternoon to be out, and quite enjoyed the run. Recovery is going very well.

Another swim

2006-07-06T21:47:00.000+10:00

Had a quick chat to the crew at Run Club this evening before heading over to Leichhardt Pool for a 20 minute swim. It was outside in the 50m pool, so fewer turns, cold, and periodic views of airliners.

Bumped into Aunty Karin and Eagle in Rozelle as hunger drove me to get something to eat, so we had a nice chat.

Legs are fine, left foot is clearing up nicely.

Some good news

2006-07-06T09:14:00.000+10:00

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, got some good news yesterday afternoon when it was confirmed, courtesy of Sunday's effort, I had re-earned my preferred start for the City 2 Surf. So, I get a sleep-in on August 13.