A Good Long Run!

I  had such a good long run this morning that I wonder if it's the same person who ran so badly last Sunday!  A world of difference today and I do wonder why?  Last Sunday a terrible struggle with lots of walking;  today almost effortless, though I did take a couple of walk breaks on the steepest hill on Old South Road.

I started from the school at 8:00am; very overcast day, a few drops of rain and a cool breeze; just about perfect for running.  I did the first 5km in and around the school to warm-up, then out onto Bong Bong Road, to Old South Road to Range Road.  It was this first section of Old South Road, about 3km of a winding hill, where I took a couple of walk breaks.  When I can do this steep hill without stopping to walk, I'll know I can handle anything that Canberra half marathon can throw at me!

The rest of the course is one of rolling hills which make for a pretty tough run but this morning I almost breezed through the lot!  What's more....I feel no need to crash on the bed as I did last Sunday....which isn't to say that I won't take a wee kip later this afternoon!

20km 
Time = 2 hours 35 min
5km splits :  39:08;   43:33;   36:59;   35:16

How different is it when a long run feels so good!

Canberra Half Marathon, April 10th

PHEW!  Just by chance I discovered that today is the last day for 'early bird' entries!  Entered!

Now to get a few longer Sunday runs in  to make sure I can go the distance....with a smile .....or a sort of one!

70 & Over, the last category!  I mean to say......!!!!!!   Do they think we're all dead?

A Different Trial Time

Program:
1.5km easy
3.5km @ MT (mid tempo) pace (6:38 min/km)...I ran avg. 7:19pace; (best 5:49)
1.5k easy
3.5k @ MT pace (6:38 min/km)...I ran avg. pace 6:50; (best 5:27)
1.5km easy

I particularly liked being able to have two 'easy' runs between the faster ones!  I haven't done a Time Trial like this before so it was good to have some variety in the program.  However,VP was ahead when I should have been in both 3.5km sections!

I ran ( bare foot) on the grass in Renwick soccer field which had been mowed earlier in the morning, so good to run on.  Being a bit of a sook, I ran the last 3.5km on the road outside the soccer field but with shoes on;  then back on the grass for the last 1.5km and some stretching.

I can't say it was an easy tempo run, just different.  Weather good, but hot running with no shade in the oval.


Total :  11km

Track

I won every repeat!

Program:

 10-20 min warm-up
 2 x 1200m @ 6:07 min/km (7:21)
2 min recoveries
4 x 800m @ 4:50 min/km  (6:02)
2 min recoveries
10 min cool-down.



This is what I did:

15 min warm-up +  drills
2 x 1200m @  5:59 min/km;  5:55 min/km
4 x 800m @  4:47 min/km;  4:48 min/km;  4:49 min/km;  4:46 min/km
10 min cool-down + stretches. 


I let VP get ahead of me at the start of every repeat but kept an eye on him and then put the foot down towards the finish and won every time!  I was so pleased that I patted myself on the back for a change instead of feeling like thumping myself in the head!  I did the session in bare feet as I always do when running on grass.  The entire oval had been mowed yesterday and 'my track and my lane' were in perfect condition.  Very satisfying to have a good day!  About 8km all up.

A Hill Is.....

I suppose anything under one minute would be considered 'short' and one to two minutes as 'long' when it comes to hill repeats.  That's how I'm looking at it for now anyhow but I don't think this one was steep enough to be properly called a 'hill', more like a long 'incline'.


However, I've just looked up the meaning of 'hill' in the dictionary and it says "a naturally raised area of land, not as high or craggy as a mountain', so I guess I could call my session this morning "Hill Repeats", not naturally raised though, but put down by man as a road.  Just rambling on here as was the session...I made it up as I went along:


20 min warm-up on the road
Bong Bong hill repeats  : 8 x 30 seconds hard
Slow walk back to start
10 min cool-down ( bare feet) in the soccer field; the grass was so cool!


That was my first hill running session in a long while and I hope to do one each week.  I'll try anything to improve on the indifferent running I've been doing of late!

A Rest Day

Other than having to do some shopping, I'm taking the remainder of today off from all unnecessary activities, like running!  I still feel far from sprightly! I won't, however, deprive the dogs of their ramble through the paddocks later this afternoon.  That's relaxation for all of us!

I wonder if I'm more than usually tired because of the two days of pool running.  I wouldn't have thought so, though they are quite hard workouts.  Surely age isn't becoming a problem....can't let that happen!  We'll see how this week sorts itself out before I make any drastic and possibly regrettable decisions.

An Ugly Long Run...Very ugly in fact!

The only good thing about this morning's long run is that I like the look of 18km rather than a big fat zero!  I had a terrible run!

Set of at 7:50am but right from the start I didn't have what it takes to run well.  I ran 9km out on Old South Road, a fairly hilly road, turned and jogged/walked 9km back.  Thirst was my greatest enemy; I looked everywhere for a tap but none to be seen even though I walked onto a couple of properties hoping to find a tap or even beg at the front door for a glass of water!

Apart from thirst, I was so tired and empty of all energy all over, not just in the legs, the only thing that kept me going slower and slower was the thought of getting back to the school from where I'd started, finding a tap and sinking to the ground....which I did!

I can't account for such terrible inertia in my entire body; at home I showered and collapsed onto the bed where I remained asleep for the next four hours!  This does not bode well for being fit to run a half marathon at the beginning of April.  I am very disappointed and fear ever again feeling as I did today...totally exhausted!

  Here's what I was supposed to do:

Program:

18km @ 7:30 min/km

Here's what I did:

9km on Old South Road (fairly hilly)
Time = 1 hour 13 min
Avg pace = 8:15 min/km

9km back
Time =  1 hour 19
Avg pace =  8:57 min/km

Now, at 6:00 pm I still feel terrible; no appetite and legs like I've run a marathon!  Like I said at the start, the only good thing I can see about this run is that it's better to see 18km in my diary than a big fat zero for the day!

A Rest Day

..and glad of it!  Very humid here today and tomorrow looks like much the same, so... an early start for my long run...but not before daylight!

Time Trials Are Not Easy!

I'm nowhere near the running level I was at this time last year!  So frustratingly slow this morning;  I couldn't keep anywhere near the pace, especially in the second half.  Late start at 10:15 am  - not that that's unusual  - but it was so humid and hot;  I even took a few walk breaks on the return because I started to feel a bit squeamish...possibly the weather and the course was far from flat.  Altogether, I was very disappointed in the results and very cross with myself!

Program:
10km Time Trial  @ 6:47 min/km.

I used the first 2km to warm-up.

5km out from Radio Road to Old South Road
Time =  35:36
Avg. Pace 7:02 min/km 

5km back 
Time = 42:10
Avg. Pace 8:32!!!! This is terrible!

Total  =  10  too slow kilometres!

Cross-training, Day 2.

POOL RUNNING:

5 min warm-up and few drills
4 x 10 min steady running (with hand weights!)
1 min easy recoveries
5 min cool-down and stretches.

A good workout!

On Track

Time was slipping away!


Chev Track Program:

10 - 20 min warm-up
3 x 1600m in 9:56  (6:12 m/k)
1 min recoveries
10 min cool-down.


I did 16 min warm-up
3 x 1600m : 10:12 (6:22m/k);  10:23 (6:29 m/k);  10:01 (6:15 m/k)
10 min cool-down + stretches 


I ran bare foot...no problem with that, but I just couldn't get the pace right as per program.  I was too slow!  These long repeats are hard; much harder than 400s etc.    I don't have the speed ...yet!   The grass needed cutting but that's about the only excuse I can think of!  Cloudy day, so no sun was good and there was a slight breeze.  Not fast enough but it's all good to be back training even though VP wins again!

Total = 8km 

Cross-training, Day One

In the Pool:  Intervals 


5 min warm-up
1 min hard, 1 min easy; 2 min hard, 1 min easy; 3 min hard, 1 min easy; 4 min hard, 1 min easy; 5 min hard, 1 min easy; 4 min hard, 1 min easy; 4 min hard, 1 min easy; 2 min hard, 1 min easy; 1 min hard. 
5 min  cool-down.

Total workout = 43 min

Sleepless in Mittagong

I couldn't stay asleep last night. No reason why; just one of those nights,  I saw just about every hour on the clock so that by 5:00am and anticipating the forecast rain that never came, I got up, dressed, had a cup of tea and set off for my long run in the pitch dark!  There are no street lights out of town and it was so creepy where I parked at Renwick school. I wasn't game to take to the main road until some light came through.  I ran, therefore, up and down Radio Road along side the school for 2km waiting for dawn to appear and give me the courage to set off!  I was even wary of going into the toilet block where I could barely see my hand in front of me...just as well it was my hand and not one belonging to someone else!!

I'd decided Saturday night to run on Range Road where I hadn't been for ages and at the same time get some hill running done.  I won't do this too often though; because of the hills I can't keep anywhere near the pace set down in my program...e.g this morning's long run should have been run at 7:23 min/km.  I was therefore very slow but it was a good hilly run, but only to be run now and again!

Program:
15km @ 7:23 min/km

I did 2km along side the school in 18:15 waiting for dawn!
7km with 2km straight uphill on Old South Road, turned left and still uphill onto Range Road to a turnaround when the Garmin showed 7km.




7km return mainly downhill...during which I could feel some knee pain!  Downhill running was how I tore the medial meniscus last year so I walked down the steepest sections.  I was quite shocked to have some pain reappear.  Warning heeded!

All up, 16km in 2 hours 14 min.

I was back and showered before the rest of the household had even stirred!

A Not So Good TT!

Decided on Iron Mines Oval as the venue for today's Time Trial because it has two football fields and thus gives a larger area to run around.  I want to run on grass whenever possible and this was the ideal location.  However, the grass was so spongy, the humidity so high and with no breeze at all, I found the session extremely difficult; I had to stop several times in order to get my breath and, worst of all, VP won!  It was not the Time Trial I had been expecting in which I saw myself racing past VP at every round!

Program:
1.5km easy
5km @ 6:29 min/km
1.5km easy.

This is how it turned out:

1.5km easy...ok
5km in 33:07
Avg. Pace =6:36 min/km


1km Splits = 6:42;  6:45;  6:26;  6:29;  6:40

1.5km easy...ok

Room for improvement here for sure!

Rest tomorrow to get ready for a long run on Sunday....when rain is forecast!

Cross Training Day 2

Pool :  5 min warm-up Incl drills
           70 min steady running.........down, across, up, across, repeat ad infinitum!
            5 min cool-down.

A Sleuth at Work!

This morning I drove to the track at Chevalier College as I did every Wednesday in 2010 but this was for the first time this year.  I had completed the warm-up and was about to start a few drills and strides when I noticed a lone male stranger walking around the outside of the field, heading in my direction but looking around elsewhere.

Ah Ha, I thought!  "I wonder who this can be?"   Have to say here that the track is way down at the bottom of the school grounds, far away from everyone and everything so I'm always wary of strangers in or out of cars hanging around. To this guy, from a distance, thought I,  I might look like a lone, attractive, fragile, young thing!

It was at this precise moment then that amateur 'Detective LL'  took over!  I continued to jog towards where I'd left my gear near the fence, bent down and retrieved my mobile phone from my bag.  I thought with glee : if that guy comes any closer, I'll spring a surprise on him by whipping out the phone and, with camera turned on, snap him before he has time to run! I said to myself : In case he's going to flash 'it', I'm going to snap 'it' and head for the nearest police station!  I turned around, camera at the ready, only to find no one in sight; he'd done a runner!  The bugger! He'd probably assumed, wrongly, that at close inspection, I the vic* had had all the 'thrills' one can expect to have in a lifetime.  I was furious and determined to get this 'perp* and finish him off once and for all!

This amateur sleuth was not to be put off so easily so it was then that 'Chief Superintendent LL'  took charge, determined to flush out this possible perp*; and so, with "Smith & Wesson  Fox 3.6 M & P 15-22  .22LR" rifle (aka mobile phone) extended and tightly grasped in both hands  - as they do in the movies and all good crime fiction (or is that only with revolvers?) - anyhow,  I crept towards where the stranger had been near my car  which was parked at the corner of the equipment/toilets block just outside the track (see above pic.)  "Please God," I said over and over to myself, " if he's going to flash "it" don't let it happen till I get close enough to take the photo!" 

I crouched low while passing the car, turned the corner of the building, Smith & Wesson aimed steadily at where the vital area would be, ready to yell, "Stop or I'll shoot the thing into a million pieces and then blow your head off to make sure you don't ever do this again and while you lie in agony in a prison hospital tonight you'll be able to watch the whole incident on UTube!"   I'd forgotten he wouldn't have eyes or a head to watch with since I'd have blown him all over the place!

Fortune was not with me this time, however.  Not a sole in sight...not anywhere as I turned 360 degrees with my S & W Fox 3.6 hunting rifle still holding steady.  "Bugger," I thought.  "The perp* has got away!"  There wasn't much else I, the possible vic**,  could do other than keep my eyes peeled as I strode back towards the track and went on to finish what I'd come to do...a track training  session!

* cop lingo for perpetrator!
** cop lingo for victim!

I know....he might have been quite innocent, a member of staff, someone out for a stroll;  it's just that I read far too much Crime Fiction!  Imagine if I'd lost my cool and blown him to pieces without any warning!

The Program:  In bare feet.

10-20 min warm-up
 5 x 1km @ 6:04 min/km
400m recoveries
10 min cool-down
7km total.

I did :  1km warm-up jog
4 x drills & strides
1km laps :  6:04;  5:59;  6:01;  6:01;  5:59  Joy of joys, I beat VP in each one!!
1km cool-down & stretches.

I felt really good for each of these 1km repeats; strong & ran well...I thought so anyway!  Of course, I realize that's because I was still carrying my Smith & Wesson M&P 15-22 Rifle  until I'd finished the session!

Showing a Far Superior Command of Mathematics!

 

What a Change!

Just over a couple of hours what joy!  The cool change came through yesterday afternoon; the dogs went for their usual walk for the first time in a week; Mr LL and I had a smile on our faces.....also for the first time in a week!  I had, not one, but two blankets on the bed last night to snuggle down under; the fan was turned off and the most wonderful cool breeze came through the windows all night!  Oh joy!  Oh bliss!  And all day I've had to wear a pullover, socks instead of bare feet and long pants instead of shorts.  Oh Bliss!  Oh Joy!

May it stay at 16 degrees, as it is now, forever!  Shame today was a non-running day for me.  However, it was a profitable day in another way: being taught how to use our new TV!!  I didn't realize I was quite so dumb until we bought this at the weekend!

Here's hoping for the remainder of the week to stay cool!

Early Long Run....

Yes, It was an early start!  When the alarm rang at 5:00am I thought I was in the middle of a horrible nightmare in which a loud evacuate the house alarm - like it's burning down  - was loudly sounding out!  You can't imagine my fright!

No wonder that I bounded out, almost awake and stumbled blindly to where I had laid out my running gear the night before.  This must not happen too often or else my heart may have an attack!

I dressed quickly while having a cup of tea, did the bathroom thing(!) and drove to Renwick school and began  my run at exactly 5:45am.  It was pitch dark when I left home but enough light to begin my run by the time I'd done the usual 'loosening up' exercises.

As last week, I'd decided on the Inkerman Road loop where there is plenty of shade and no traffic to speak of, certainly not at that hour!  There was a coolish breeze so running was pleasant even though the real cool change hadn't come through at that time.  It did later and now the temperature is a glorious 15 degrees!

I had no trouble with my run....knee seems to be all good!

Program:
15km @ 7:23 min/km

What I did:

15km @ Avg. 7:40 min/km in 1:55:20
Best pace 5:49 min/km
5km laps = 39:59;  38:00;  37:17 
Last 3km on grass in the soccer field in bare feet.....lov-er-ly!


When it came to transferring the run to the computer, Garmin sent a message saying there was a problem with the ANT application and to go to the clipboard, paste in the error and then e-mail it to them!

CLIPBOARD?  Never heard of it!  Googled how to find it; that worked; then couldn't paste error onto stupid clipboard; some time later it appeared on stupid clipboard, then couldn't copy it to e-mail, so I made up my own procedure by sending the stupid clipboard message to the desktop and from there sent, what I hope was on the stupid clipboard message, to Garmin!  Never had this happen before so I had to manually upload my run to the computer and some data eg HR is missing.

HOWEVER......I had a good 15km run which is all that matters I suppose! 

Edit: 6:22 pm : OOPS!  Having just looked at GC again, I now find my long run is there in its entirety!


 

Nothing Doing!

 Right now,  I'd prefer winter snow!

Rest day; 35 degrees!  Tomorrow's forecast looks better...only 26 degrees and rain. Even so,  I have every intention of starting my long run at 5:30am.  I hope this best of intentions doesn't go astray as some of mine have been known to do!


I hate this stinking hot weather and the sooner it ends the better for me and all around me!

Time Trial....Cancelled!

Too hot again for me to run outdoors....Henley Brae pool session:

5 min warm-up
1 hour steady running
5 min cool-down.

I don't like missing training like I've been doing this week but I simply could not have done even a half-hearted session in this sort of heat; today 32 degrees.  I think/hope I achieve more benefit from pool running!  Looks like Sunday will be cooler for a long run;  whatever it is on Sunday, I will be aiming for an early start.

The Pool.....

After a rest day yesterday, I was looking forward to my Wednesday track session.  However, the continuing horribly high temperatures put an end to that.  No way was I going to risk being out running in 32 degrees!  Not any more!

Instead, I took myself across to Henley Brae pool for this intervals session:

5 min warm-up
1 min hard, 1 min easy;  2 min hard, 1 min easy;  3 min hard, 1 min easy;  4 min hard, 1 min easy;  5 min hard, 1 min easy; 4 min hard, 1 min easy;  3 min hard, 1 min easy;  2 min hard, 1 min easy;  1 min hard.
5 min cool-down 

Total
Time 43 min.

I used foam dumbells -  which become quite heavy under water - for an upper body workout at the same time.

Probably not as productive a session as when done on the track, but better than nothing and certainly so much more pleasant in the water on such a hot day.  I can't recall a week such as this and  I'll be so glad when 'normal' temperatures return to the Southern Highlands.