I was planning to update my training yesterday and the day before but never got around to it.Yesterday i was painting my backyard fence and fell over rolling my ankle.I immediately knew my race on Sunday was in serious doubt as i double rolled down the backyard hill.
I got "ice" on it straight away,if you can call cubes of frozen mash potato ice!My father in law was helping me do the painting and i didn't want to let him do it all so i iced and hobbled,iced and hobbled through it.It hurt but wasn't excruciating....when we had finished my wife wanted to go for coffee at a cafe so i decided as we were about to leave that i would put Voltarin on the affected area.Now straight after we left it just started to swell up and ache like it had been the victim of a sledgehammer blow.I did my best to not complain but damn it hurt.We came home and i promptly took Panadol which i never normally do.I elevated my leg,iced it and after another twenty minutes the edge had come off the pain.I stayed in that position for the rest of the night and went to bed with my foot raised by two pillows.

In the morning i went to the doctor and he examined it and said that i had torn the ligaments and it was badly bruised.He gave me seven days off work, though i hope it will recover before then!

Well there's nothing like a setback to get you thinking so i am going to have to find another 5km race in at least two weeks to test my training out on assuming i am 100% fit by then.

It's been over a week since i last posted and i'm a little apprehensive.You see the webmaster at my club put the link to my blog on the club website!I came home from afternoon shift friday at about 11pm and went to the website to check the start time for Saturdays 8km race.I nearly fell off my chair when i saw the link near the top of the home page just below the congratulations to Kerryn McCann pictures! www.kemblajoggers.org.au
I was so embarrassed that i wrote an email to the webmaster asking him if he would take it off.

I wrote:

Hi B,
I wrote you an email after discovering (almost fell off my chair!) the link to my blog on the website.
I wrote that although i know it is in the www domain and available for anyone who knows where to look i felt embarrassed to share it with people that know me more personally.I feel sharing with an audience of fellow bloggers less threatening and a nice way to express my small triumphs and failures amongst this supportive audience.

I actually wrote a page long email but i must have stuffed up sending it.In it i just explained why i took this position.I know that i could provide some small inspiration for others and maybe even the occasional laugh but im not ready to share to a wider audience at this stage.

To which he replied:
Thanks A - my apologies - I should have asked your permission first - I certainly understand your position. My thoughts were "this is terrific, really inspirational, and certainly the type of thing that so many of our members will get something from - just one member sharing his joys at running, his struggles, his triumphs ..." - I hope one day you will email me to ask to have it put back on ... the first of many KJ Member Blogs ... ... hope to see you at the race today. Regards, B

The link was up for probably only a day and i'm not sure how many people saw it,but the one person who i asked had seen it and thought that i put it on the website!
I am not upset with the webmaster at all because after all it is out there, though like a small town newspaper not everyone wants to read this stuff and being a newer member of a 500+ strong club it unsettles me a little.
I have a question...am i being a little sissy about this whole thing?

quick post
wednesday easy 4km with Basil
thursday 3km at track new pb 11.40!
friday rest
saturday finished night shift and went straight for run with friends
aprox. 12km in aprox 1:05 hr
sunday plan to make my mileage add to at least 42.2km.
will edit this later to talk of 3km pb
training going really well i now believe i can run 5km in 20 mins!

Edit:Achieved 46 km mileage woohoo!
close to double my previous highest ...touch wood for injury i am aware of 10% rule and keeping a close eye out as i havent yet been injured in the 2 years i've been running and i don't want to start now.
The easy runs i've been doing are also quiet enjoyable so that helps add mileage easily.

decided on the starting line of 3km race that i would try to run with Witold who was still sore from Canberra half so only planned to run about 12 mins well this is my goal pace so i thought i'd stick with him.

I must be getting fitter because i just spent most of my time tailgating him and trying not to step on his feet as he has a much longer stride then I.

My splits were
400m 92 1.32
800m 94 3.06
1200m 94 4.41
1600m 94 6.15
2000m 95 7.50
2400m 96 9.27
2800m 92 10.59
3000m 40 11.39 Average pace 3.53min/km
finished feeling good but with a little gasping for about 1min due to sprint finish.

This run has given me a strong reference that given the right conditions i can run my 5km goal race in 20mins and i'm stoked to keep training up until it on 2nd April!

Well its been a few days since i last posted so first i will cover my training program so i'm up to date on that as promised.

Mondays Easy 5km
Tuesdays 400m intervals 60sec rest increasing from 4 to 8 reps
Wednesday optional 5km or rest
Thursday 15-25 mins tempo
Friday rest
Saturday 6.5km easy
Sunday long run 6.5km increasing to 11km

This is the actual program but as i am keen (lol!) i have been doing more.
Paces are Supposed to be 5.30 for easy runs
96 second 400m
and 4.22 tempo runs

So Saturday i was supposed to do 6.5km easy but never got round to it until late at night.

On Sunday the program called for 8km easy and i was going to do 10km but ended up doing 14.6km.This was broken into 3 sections.
Out 7.59km in 36.17 (4.46 pace)
Middle 5.03km 26.52 (5.20 pace)
Up hill coming back 2.01km 11.06 (5.32 pace)

Monday 5.1km easy.(4.58 pace)
Tuesday 2km warmup @4.35 pace, intervals 7 * 400m
88/3.40
98/4.04
93/3.52
92/3.50
93/3.52
100/4.09 (with 2 big hills)
106/4.24 (with one big hill)

I was a bit like goldilocks went too fast slowed to proper pace (4.00) then sped up again...at least intervals 3,4 and 5 were at the same pace!
Its hard to run slower than i want so that i can stick to the program.

Then as a bonus i treated my self to 3*450m hill repeats
and 800m cooldown @4.47pace

Tommorow i have an optional 5km and i am going to take my Cocker Spaniel "Basil" out with me.
Thursday 3km at the track...i am undecided how to run this one....either TT or tempo?

Thats it for now!

Well i had Wednesday off so as to not overdo it besides it was in my program to have an optional!

I went to the track on Thursday night and Jimmy Hennessy said he would take my lap splits for me, very kind!

I told him i wasn't going to go flat out only running a tempo at 4:22 pace for 15 minutes well it was a 1/3/5km race so i thought i might stop at 3km but as i got behind Kerry at the start and knew she usually runs about 22mins for 5km i thought she would be a good pacer for me.After about 1 1/2 laps of tailing her i thought i'd better ask if it was ok but she was cool.

I ran right on her tail for 11 1/2 laps for quicker or slower but mostly she was even paced on the final lap i took off for a sprint finish.

Normally after a run like that i would be gasping for a while but i wasn't and felt like it was only a 85-90% effort!

here are my splits for the 5km tempo run
Distance Time Lap
200m 0047 102
600m 002.29 106
1000m 04.15 106
1400m 06.01 106
1800m 07.47 106
2200m 09.33 106
2600m 11.19 106
3000m 13.05 106
3400m 14.54 109
3800m 16.43 109
4200m 18.32 109
4600m 20.24 112
5000m 21.49 86

My Pb for this distance is 21:30 so this was a great training run!
As you can see after 3km if i knew was falling off pace so much i could have picked it up a little with the SIX STEP SHUFFLE and shaved 6 seconds on the 90% sprint finish too.

I will post the full program later as i don't have time tonight.
But i am feeling good!

PS Go The Six Footers!

Well thats 3 days of running in a row!
A raw occurrence for me. (i meant rare haha!)
The schedule 6.5km easy Sunday
5km easy monday
and today 9.5km comprising of 5 * 610m intervals on undulating circuit at around 3:44 av. pace
and 90 second recoveries and 2*450m hill climbs plus about 4km of warmup (4:45) and cool down (5:30).

This was more than my training plan called for (4*400m at 4min pace)
though i was training with a group so i didn't get to pick!
Besides the plan may be too easy anyhow.... i will post it tomorrow for comment.

All in all things are going well (no time to jinx myself!)

My Boy rolled over on his own for the first time today! We caught it on video and Mummy and Daddy are so proud!

Got another new job interview on Friday also...
Cheers R2B

In the last two weeks i have Orienteered for the first time,and i have Rogained for the second time.
Despite this good stuff including the continuing joy of my baby son and wife, i am feeling a little sorry for myself after not getting the job i interviewed for last week.This is the first time i havn't secured the job i tried to get in over 10 years.
Perhaps that is a little melodramatic as i've had the same job for nearly 10 years now,but i really wanted this one and tried really hard in the interview.The interviewer called me on Thursday while i was out running and when i called him back he said that i'd done really well but i missed out 74 points to 77 for the guy who got it i guess i should fairly pleased after he said he wouldn't bother with interviews if someone else left the department in the next 3 months but that is only small consolation.

Decided City 2 Surf is my main goal race this year tossing up the idea of a marathon in September to Qualify for 6' Track next year. The idea of a road Marathon doesn't really excite me though.

City 2 surf in 60 mins tough but cool!
SMH half in 90 mins quite tough but cool!

Road Mara...not so cool
6' would be more fun.... i have mountain biked it so i know it would be tough but a huge challenge!

Also i have put my 20min 5km goal back a week so it will fall in an official race "The Fitness Five" on the 9th April (5 weeks).I am commencing training tonight using the program in July 2005 Runner's World.

Tonight 6.5km easy (5:29 pace)

Any thoughts?

Course 2-Mar-06 Handicap Rel. H/c Km Rate New H/c Pts

Reserve Andrejs Klavins 0:43:58 0:46:24 -0:02:26 0:06:19 0:45:11 15

Reserve David Griffith 0:38:20 0:38:44 -0:00:24 0:05:30 0:38:42 14

Reserve George Takacs 0:34:15 0:34:20 -0:00:05 0:04:55 0:34:26 13

Gardens Trevor Gollan 0:28:39 0:28:32 0:00:07 0:06:52 0:28:34 9

Reserve Nick Deutscher 0:35:35 0:35:24 0:00:11 0:05:07 0:35:42 11

Reserve Phil Whitten 0:28:41 0:28:06 0:00:35 0:04:07 0:28:23 10

Reserve Ray Wales 0:35:56 0:35:10 0:00:46 0:05:10 0:35:38 9

Reserve Karl Heys 0:31:03 0:29:56 0:01:07 0:04:27 0:30:06 8

Reserve Peter Roope 0:35:55 0:34:27 0:01:28 0:05:09 0:34:27 7

Gardens Run 2 Become 0:23:12 0:20:27 0:02:45 0:05:33 0:21:49 3

Reserve Doug Simpson 0:43:45 0:40:43 0:03:02 0:06:17 0:42:02 5

Gardens Fred Reich 0:28:39 0:22:06 0:06:33 0:06:52 0:21:42 1

Handicappers comments:

Didn't seem like we had this many people out there. Perhaps I should
remind that the handicap works best if people start on time - then
people tend to help each other.

My comments:

I arrived later than expected due to a "baby explosion" at home!It was hot and humid and i got lost as i tried to remember the course route... doh!Hence 2:45 slower than last week.


Next week: GARDENS course