A Mixed Bag ~~~~~

In order to keep Thursday easier, I set off to do a MHR test instead of the usual tempo run.  This involved a thorough warm-up, 3 minutes hard running, 3 minutes easy, 3 minutes hard running; take the highest reading from the 2nd 3 minutes as MHR.  Bowral parkrun course.  Beautiful morning!

3.5km warm-up .. starting from Briars

First fast 3km :  118 -127 bpm

3 mins. easy

Second fast 3km : 125-132 bpm

5.7km Run/walk 30/60 incl. 10 x 30 secs. strides.  Finishing at Briars; stretches on the grass.

Total 10.4km

And that was it!  Test shows MHR of 132bpm, added on 4 more for good measure making MHR 136 bpm, which is exactly what I've been using as MHR before doing the test!

Road Repeats ~~~~~~~

Today's session:

10-20 min warm-up
4 x 1000m (400m RI)
7:45m/k (pace in my program based on 40min finish time for parkrun 5km)
Cool-down

I did 2.6km warm-up + Few strides/drills

7:49;  AHR 122 bpm/90% of max. TE 2.3
7;42;  AHR 116 bpm/85% of max.  TE 2.1
7:33;  AHR 117 bpm/86% of max.  TE 2.1
7:45;  AHR 117 bpm/86% of max.  TE 2.2

Pleasantly warm morning for a change!

Saturday and Sunday ~~~~~

I'd like nothing better than to forget both days! 

Bowral parkrun on Saturday with temperatures below zero and thick white frost like snow all over the grassed areas, wasn't any way comfortable for me to even think about running and so I chose to run/walk, 30/30 seconds, but still felt positively done in at the finish!

5k in 40:52
Age graded 82:10%

Last night, Saturday, I must have slept for best part of 10 hours and woke looking forward to the Sunday long run/walk of 14km which my 10km program told me I was to do!  An unwise decision, in hindsight, was I changed the usual 30/30 run/walk I've been incorporating into long runs, to 60/30.   After just a few minutes I could see and feel the folly of my thinking!  Dead legs!  Not just dying, but dead and 14km to go!

While I could still think straight, I kept 60/30 going but, with 6km still to go, I was feeling nauseous and unsteady on the rough dirt road.  Of course, something more than a mug of coffee before leaving home, would have been a sensible thing to do!  Made a switch in the run/walk scenario from 60/30 run/walk to 30/60 run walk!  That way I made it back to where I started, a sad and sorry mess!  In the p.m. slept, exhausted for nearly 2 hours, falling asleep stretched out on the lounge with 'Amy' comfortably asleep on my stomach!

I may have to 're-design' the coming week's program to better suit my enfeebled state of mind and body!

13.5km in 2 hrs 20 mins.
AHR 98-118bpm (72-87% of max.)

TE 2.3 ...  Maintaining Fitness!  I was dying on my feet!

Tempo Run in Wicked Wind!

1st 3km @ ST pace.

Horrible conditions on Bowral cycle path this morning!  Unbelievably windy everywhere but especially going down the grassy hill where it felt like trying to go down on an escalator that's going up!

1.5km warm-up
3km @ ST pace VP 8:10m/k)
1.5k easy
3km @ ST pace
1.5km easy .... skipped this!

First 3km OK and ahead of VP.  

AHR 112-121 bpm =  82-89% of max.

TE 3.1 Improving!

Second 3km not so good!  Garmin battery went flat at 2.2km but I knew it would be 3km once I got back to the top of the hill at Briars.  VP was in front .... just!

AHR 117-134bpm = 86-99% of max.

TE 2.9  Maintaining 

No cool-down!  Too darned cold and windy!

Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Today ~~~~~

Saturday and Sunday : 5km and 6km respectively, run/walk

Monday : Nothing!

Tuesday :  Starting up 10km program with 8 weeks till Blackmores Harbour Bridge 10km

10-20 min warm-up

400m 600m, 800m, 800m, 600m, 400m

3:03;  4:37;  6:10 etc......

I did 20 mins warm-up, then

400m (2:46);  600m (4:35);  800m (6:00);  400m (3:03)

I skipped the second 800m and 600m because I was out of energy!

A-CHOO! AAAA-CHOO!

Laid up all week so far with the doozy of a head cold that I brought back from Sydney last weekend after running the Real Sydney Harbour 10km. Coughing, sneezing, nose blowing - in short, I feel lousy!  One thing that knocks me down is the common cold and  I always feel like I'm about to die!

Can't see that I'll do any running this week for sure, but I was hoping, that by next week, I'd feel well enough to ease back into something short and easy.  At the moment, even that looks doubtful.  Nothing much I can do about it so no point in fretting; just do what I've been doing - rest, sitting in the sun, keep up fluids etc.

Saturday and Sunday ~~~~~

Saturday, I caught the train to Sydney for Sunday's Sydney Harbour 10km run.

Sunday:  Sydney Harbour 10km

10km  (1:18:33)

Flat, scenic course and happy to go under 80 minutes!

Next ... prepare for Blackmore's 10km Bridge Run, September 16.  I needed to take a few walk breaks during Sunday's 10km; must do something about this before Blackmore's!

Walking Up and Jogging Down ~~~~~

I've heard about the hills on Oxley Drive, Mt Gibraltar, but never ventured there until this morning and might be a while before I go there again!  Starting at the bottom of Oxford Street, it was all up steep hill, all the way!  Never levelled out at all, and after seeing that it just kept on going up and up into the unknown, I turned back -  jogging downhill all the way to where I started.

I don't think I could ever run these uphills; just walking had me puffing and panting for breath and hair-pin bends make it virtually impossible to see on-coming cars;  dangerous!  Anyhow, I only wanted a short walk today - and that's what I got - a tough one nevertheless!

Puffing My Way Up Oxley Drive - and Jogging Down!  4km

Googling reasons for 620 stopping/starting mid activity ~~~~~

After a good deal of Googling I've come across a couple of suggestions to try:  (1)  If I have 'auto pause' on, which I do, start moving just before pressing 'start'; it seems that if pressing 'start' standing still, auto pause kicks in. Poor Garmin - it's only doing what it's been told to do! I doubt this is the cause for me as the Garmin stops/starts recording when well into run  ....  OR (2) try turning off  'auto pause' which apparently works for some.  I've decided on the latter suggestion and will see what happens during tomorrow's easy run.  In the meantime I'll do some further searching.

I have doubts that this will get rid of this recent problem but worth a try ... before Sydney Harbour 10km on Sunday!

About 'auto pause' - it's possible, with auto pause on, that the Garmin thinks I've stopped running when it's because I'm running so slowly it believes I've stopped!!

Intervals that Garmin messed up! ~~~~~

Messed up big time and I was so cross I could've screamed with annoyance!  If I mess up, that's OK but Garmin?  No siree!  The awful thing kept freezing up in the middle of the activity and all I could do was stop/start the thing and hope it got moving again.  Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn't, so I cursed and swore, got myself into a thoroughly bad mood and for most of the workout I had very little idea of what I was doing!

What I set out to do was:

12 mins warm-up  .... I did 14mins.

Set 1:

6 x 30 seconds. 30 secs RI .. did these on long incline Renwick Drive

Renwick Drive

Set 2

4 x 3.5 minutes hard  .. did these on level ground in Scarlet Street

RI 90 secs to 4 minutes

8min cool-down

Scarlet Street

I will have to look into why Garmin is refusing to work; cold weather?  I need it to work properly on Sunday!   Hope to find out because this morning's activities sent my blood pressure sky high for sure!

Saturday and Sunday ~~~~~

I missed Bowral parkrun on Saturday; a few reasons: I need to stay off concrete for a while because (a)  I've felt some niggles, due to extra running I'd say, in the hamstring I tore completely off the bone about a year ago; (b) I didn't want to do anything too hard before next Sunday's 10km and I'm always completely 'wasted' after parkrun! (c)  I'd decided on an intervals session instead of parkrun;   (d) It was too darn cold and I succumbed to the temptation to stay in my lovely warm bed and that's the truth of the matter!

Intervals:  VO2max workout
12 mins warm-up

1st Set:  6 x 30 sec;  30 sec RI

2nd Set:   4 x 3.5min hard!  RI from 90 sec to 4mins.

8 minute cool-down.

This seemed to go OK and wasn't easy by any means!

Sunday Long Run/Walk
10.5km 
Jog/walk 30/30 seconds

This was OK too.  Every second jog segment I used for a 30 second stride ...to while away the time!  Pretty tired at finish; cold, heavy frost; that's about it till next Sunday's Sydney Harbour 10km!