Wednesday, October 31, 2007

The Attack of the Killer Rooster!


I hardly ever think about what might be the way I die even though I realize it's a definite at some stage! But today, I truly believed I saw it coming in the form of a big, bloody killer rooster!

This morning, as I usually do after my run, I lay on the grass in the soccer field where I've parked the car, in order to do some stretching. For several weeks there's been a rooster wandering the nearby street & field pecking for food. Never bothered me & I love all animals anyhow, so as it came closer to where I was lying, I started up a friendly conversation, still lying on my back with feet up on a railing, doing the right thing & draining away all the bad blood from my legs & renewing them with good blood when I stood up.

However, before that happened, this huge, bloody rooster flew straight for my face!! I had my cap in hand - my nice new Melbourne Marathon one - & used it to keep whacking the monster over the head as I struggled to my feet.

Well, that was the signal for the killer teenage chook to begin combat - the beastly thing kept on flying at my legs while I screamed at the top of my voice - to no avail I might add - & belting it over the head with my lovely new cap! After about 3 minutes of this I thought 'my time has come; I'm about to leave this world having been shredded by a chook! I didn't know what else to do but edge towards the road & make a dash for the car, which I did but with the terminator in full flight after me!

Like I said, I seldom think about the way I'll exit this planet, but never in my wildest dreams did I think it might be at the hands/claws of a big, fat, ugly, bastard of a rooster! The rooster might crow, but I wish it would croak. Give me the Killer Tomatoes any day, especially if George Clooney is the star!

I think I deserved the good news delivered by the mailman later in the day : I'd won a Polar FS1 heart rate monitor - valued at $109 - for 1st Place in Age Category, Blackmore's Half Marathon!
I may need it in case my Forerunner 305 died of shock during the rooster attack!


Finally, today's run : 10km. 5km out from the car in 42:20; AHR 111; Pace 8:23.

5km back to the car in 40:46; AHR 112; Pace 8:03


Monday, October 29, 2007

This Week: Do as I like! Next Week: Do as I'm told!


For this week, anything that's comfortable, so today I returned to Diamond Fields Road for a very easy 8km run.


4km out in 32:41; 4km back in 32:40. Almost even splits! AHR = 108bpm; Pace = 8:06. Good to be back on the road again!

Monday, October 22, 2007

Rather Boring Stuff.....


......is this jog/walk routine around all the various Mittagong soccer fields so that I can stay on flat & grass surfaces, giving the tear in my tensor fasciae latae muscle every opportunity to heal itself.


So......I'll leave my blog on hold until 'real training' begins in a couple of weeks.


Till then........happy & safe running to all!


Saturday, October 20, 2007

Another Grasshopper Day.....




.....but not cycling like this handsome fella!


While in "repair" mode I went to another soccer field where the grass was thick & spongy. This seems to make jogging a little more difficult when feet sink into the grass & having to lift legs more than usual, but I imagine it would be good exercise for ankles. Wore #3 Frees so practically barefeet.


Program : For 40 minutes, Walk/Jog : 1/3 minutes .

AHR = 110bpm (74%). Distance = 4km.

Friday, October 19, 2007

A Day Off....


Instead of running 5 or 6k today, I took the whole day off to attend to some chores in the garden. Several hours of that were quite enough for this grasshopper................

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Still Just Grasshopping....



Program: Walk/Jog : 2 /4 for 42 minutes.

This was OK with a little less walking & a little more jogging!

After some Google searching, I've found a couple of exercises for the micro-tear in my tensor fascias latae muscle. I like the sound of that diagnosis....sounds like something real runners get! I've been doing these & another suggestion made on the message board, but I can't remember who wrote it or where it is!

Anyhoo, as 2P says in his blog, as soon as I get home from training I lie on the floor & have my legs raised onto the bed until my feet begin to tingle. If I remember rightly, this sends all the 'bad' blood back to the heart which then immediately starts to pump 'good' blood back to the legs when I stand up! What a clever thing the body is!

I can do a short run tomorrow ......5 or 6k! Goodbye grasshoppers!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Another Walk/Jog Day.....



.....with the grasshoppers in the oval!

Program : Walk/Jog : 2/3 .....for 45 minutes....yesterday was 3:2, so moving along!

No pain in my thigh muscle where the tear is, but the swelling hasn't gone right down yet.....continuing with ice & Voltarin.

AHR = 99 (66%); MHR = 125 (84%). Distance = 4.5km.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Back in Business.....


Over to Ironmines Oval to have a flat & grassy surface for my first little bit of running since Melbourne Marathon.

Program : 3 minutes walking/2 minutes jogging : for 45 minutes.

Easy! No pain where the micro tear is, but continuing to use ice & use Voltarin during the day.

AHR = 80 (60%); MHR = 110 (74%). 4.34km....WOW! Almost in shape for Canberra!

An awfully strong westerly wind blowing & 25 degrees, but it felt good to be out again!

Monday, October 15, 2007

The News Is Good!


It's taken a few days but I finally know what the injury is that showed up under ultrasound last Friday.


After seeing my GP this afternoon for results:-


Firstly : Not bursitis!


Secondly : Small haematoma & micro-tear of the tensor fasciae latae muscle....whatever that is!

Thirdly & most importantly to me: I can resume jogging and/or walking! Keeping up fitness & movement very important.....continue icing & using anti-inflammatory gel....return to see GP in 1 week for discussion & review.

I've already sent news on to Ewen who will tell me what to do .....& where to go!!
Thanks you so very much for all your good wishes & kind thoughts about Melbourne Marathon..........Canberra Marathon, 2008, here I come!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Melbourne Marathon, 2007.

I've copied my thoughts from the thread on the Message Board.......telling it twice is too boring! Maybe a few photos taken from the hotel room at night are more interesting. They're all practically the same, but I just loved the spectacle!




Not on the Message Board is that the day after Blackmore's Half Marathon I found a large & painful swelling at the top of my left thigh. With icing & Voltaren I kept training for the marathon & it improved. However, it came back with a vengeance during the marathon & luckily I had put a couple of Panadol in my pocket with the gels, etc. Hardly able to walk without pain ever since, today I saw my GP who has diagnosed it as severe bursa inflammation. Tomorrow, an ultrasound to make sure nothing more is wrong & then complete rest, not even walking, until it repairs itself....possible cortisone injection depending on results over the next few days. The timing is OK though..... a few weeks rest & still time to be ready for Canberra Marathon...I hope!

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4190028

I returned from Melbourne late last night, Tuesday...giving myself a couple of extra days to recover...and I needed them more than I'd expected!

I now realize that, for me personally as an ever-increasing septuagenarian, I must not in the future enter marathons where the course is opened to traffic etc.. within a time frame I am no longer able to meet.

Out to the turnaround point was a wonderful experience & even though I was running alone & used to that, I thoroughly enjoyed the course, the scenery around the bay and most especially, the continual encouragement from runners already coming in the opposite direction on their way to the finish....thank you so much...you lifted my spirits more than you could know! I was thinking how 'cool' it'll be to be running down hill just like that on my own return! Wrong, it would not happen that way! Cato and his dog, a cool duo, both wearing cool running t-shirts, waiting for me at the turnaround were the highlight of the first half of the marathon.

But after the turnaround point...and I'm speaking only for myself...was a nightmare! Running on the footpath meant watching that I didn't trip over tree roots; the cycle path became a dodging competition to see how quickly I could hop out of the way of cyclists...once I nearly didn't move quickly enough & was almost clipped by the bicycle. Please remember these are just my feelings & emotional reactions......others may not have been bothered by any of this at all.

I began to feel totally depressed as I tired more & more & could see that all the barriers, flags & directions had been removed, the traffic was flowing & the footpaths filled with people, children, dogs etc. At around 25km I realized I would be completely lost unless I could keep 2 runners in sight... way up ahead, one wearing a white singlet, the other a red one. From there, it became a frustrating & almost tearful battle to pick them out from others on the footpath which kept changing from bitumen, to grass, to dirt, rough patches.... and the pain in my quads from stepping up & down the curbs was difficult enough, but how painful was it to have to wait at all the traffic lights to change to green!

That was until at around 35 or 36km I saw Ewen, Eagle & Horrie waiting for me! From there to the finish, Ewen would run ahead & have the lights change to green by the time our trio reached the crossing! Has anyone ever heard of someone doing that for a tired & ready-to-give-up runner? I never have & will forever be grateful!

The cheer squad where Courtley Love & others waited? What can I say? I had yet to meet up with Eagle & Co. & I was fading fast, but you cheered me up & had even kept an icy pole & some snakes to keep me going!

Horrie & Ray warned me of any dangers they saw at every curb crossings - including an approaching tram - so I really didn't have to do any thinking for myself...just keep lifting one foot after the other & listen to their on-going encouragement. How truly I love these three great friends who have so often 'brought me home'!

Sounds like I had a bad day & didn't enjoy it at all? Not quite true & anyone who is still running at 78 will one day face these formerly unknown frustrations for themselves....maybe try it now so as to know what's ahead in the future!

However, I'd do it all again, the same way as Sunday, just to experience what I felt when I turned at the "Transport Hotel" & heard the cheering from all the Cool Runners who had assembled on the deck waiting for this Cool Running quartet to come by! You brought me completely undone & all the emotions I'd been holding back came pouring out... I broke down there & continued to sob all the way to the finish!

Coming into the completely empty MCG meant little if anything...it was just where I could stop running! Sorry if that offends anyone, but that's the truth; that's how I felt ...it was finished!

Melbourne Marathon 2007 will not be remembered by me for the marathon event only ...Net 5:58:00.

Melbourne 2007 will continue on in my memory for as long as I live as how blessed I've been to have Cool Runners, who have always been there to 'rescue' me on so many occasions, as an integral part of my life..... and you did it again on October 7th, 2007. That I will never forget!

I re-read what I wrote before going to Melbourne : "I expect the very best of myself and the very best is coming to me".............and it all happened exactly as I said it would!

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Up, Up and Away!






<................one way or the other.............>





to Melbourne tomorrow for the Marathon on Sunday! Thanks for all good wishes....I need them! But I expect the very best of myself and the very best is coming to me!


Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow....

.... finishing Blackmores Half Marathon, Sept. 23rd.!!

........and that's just about all the training done before leaving for Melbourne on Friday!
Program for yesterday, Tuesday :
Walk & easy drills & strides.
I changed this to 4km with the last 2km at 7:15mpk pace + drills & strides.

Program for today, Wednesday :
45 minutes with middle 15 minutes at 7:15mpk pace.
I didn't change ths one!

I went to Ironmines Oval both days to run on grass & avoid hills.....5.6km today.

Monday, October 01, 2007

Count down......

6 days to Melbourne Marathon!

Program : 8 - 10km at a comfortable pace...finish stronger.

A very windy day & into a headwind on the return, but still finished strongly in spite of the wind & hills on which I tried not to slow down!

AHR 115; MHR 138. Avg Pace = 7:19; Max. Pace =5:12

Km Splits : (out) 7:06; 11:08; 7:51; 8:34
(back) 7:38; 6:24; 6:26; 7:20
Negative split of almost 10 minutes! WOW!

Total = 8km