All the roads on which I usually run Friday's Tempo Run are either being repaired, widened or in some way dug up.  A change of plans was in order, so after 1.5km warm-up I headed for Old South Road, which wasn't being dug up,  where I ran hill repeats.

Without having any idea of its gradient, I ran 9 x 90 seconds uphill and walked down after each.  Garmin says 200m.  It wasn't too difficult and in fact I enjoyed the change.  Next time I decide to do this I'll go further up the hill where it gets much steeper, but today was OK for starters!  I finished with 1.5km cool-down and some stretches on the grass in the soccer field.

A very satisfying session......for me, I thought!

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A MAGICAL MOMENT!

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 These beautiful twin lambs were born a few minutes before I took these pictures!  I've come to know the staff, students and farm animals at this school very well over the years that I've been running and taking my dogs for their daily walk there and in the surrounding paddocks..  I see new calves arrive, but never on the day they're born.  The two most recent calves I've named "Fred" and "Ginger" (!) and I feed them bread by hand each afternoon.  As soon as they see me or the dogs, they come galloping across the paddock, knowing well what I have for them!

This afternoon, a very happy teacher called to me that twin lambs had just been born.  Well,  I was never so excited and, forgetting about the dogs, rushed to the paddock to see them.  They were so tiny and stumbling to get on their feet, with mum nudging & licking them upwards!  I think that was when I started to cry and didn't stop until the teacher asked me if I'd like to come with him and pick up one of  the lambs and, with their mother following and bleating loudly, carry it to a shed where they would be safe and warm for the night.

I picked up this tiny, still wet little thing and held it close all the way to the shed! It was just one of those beautiful, never-to-be-forgotten moments!

In today's mail!  The certificate for my Canberra Half Marathon Australian Record, 2nd May 2010 at the ACTCCC Road Running Festival.  I am so excited and proud to have achieved this recognition!  My third Australian Record too!

..........finishing with today's long hilly run of  32km in 4 hours 12 minutes.  All going slowly but well so far!

  If there's one single thing that I've felt with every marathon I've ever run,  it's that I feel I've never run enough long runs in training and the long runs have never been long enough.  In other words, not enough kilometres in the legs.

......and that's what I'm especially concentrating on this time round.

So.....36km yesterday!

3 x 12km loop : the first on Old South Road, 7:15am before the traffic started; second, to Inkerman Road and the third loop on Diamond Fields Road.

This took me just about 5 hours.  A gel, water and sports drink at the car after each of the first 2 loops. Lots of hills and quite 'done in' by the finish.  Yes, I did have a nap after that one!  Feel good today though, Monday.

32km today to finish off Week 4 of my marathon training program.  I can't remember when I last ran so far and for so long, so it's worthy of a mention here!

I ran 3 loops of 10km (+2km), all in different directions and on different surfaces : 2 on dirt roads and 1 sealed and  it took me 4 hours 12 minutes to complete!  I then lay on the grass in warm sunshine, did a few stretches and felt very pleased with myself!

Surprisingly, I felt quite good after finishing and didn't need the usual  nap that used follow a long run.  The pace was a bit slower than it should have been, but I hope that will improve as the weeks progress.  50km this week.

My new Garmin 310xt arrived at 8:00am today, less thant 24 hours after ordering it from 'Highly Tuned Athletes' in Melbourne!  Now, I'm putting it together (wish they'd label the bits and pieces for the technology challenged!).  Finally worked out which bit goes where and have it charging the battery right now.  This 'Getting Started' section is quite different from my recently and sadly departed 305.

Hopefully I'll take it with me on Sunday's 21km long run which marks the end of week 1 of 16 towards the Sydney Marathon on September 19th.

For this morning's  tempo run I ran by time using an ordinary watch : 25 minutes warm-up; 20 minutes all uphill and breathing hard!  25 minutes cool down, down hill.  I chose an uphill section  in the middle so as to get some hill training done and it was slower, but much harder than the usual flattish roads I use on Fridays for a tempo run.

 Have entered Blackmores Sydney Running Festival...for the marathon!  Crazy!  My 11th....one each year starting in 2000AD!

....My poor old  much loved Garmin 305 died on Monday.  Died, good and proper! Now I have to get a new one and it's going to be the 310xt as it has pretty much the same features as the 305 plus a few extras.  I bought the 305 from the US when they first became available about 4 or 5 years ago I think. It has been a very close friend and has never let me down.  I will be sad.... until the new one arrives!

SOMETHING SURPRISING!

How do I spend this $50 for Half Marathon Masters W80 winner?


In today's mail a gift voucher that can be redeemable only at "The Runners Shop", Canberra!


Guess I'll have to make a trip to the ACT or perhaps I can use it on line or keep it till next year.

...Yes, almost ran a 10km PB at SMC 10km this morning....but not quite!

Best 10km at SMC was in January when I ran 1:02:46.  Today, I ran 1:02:49!  Where did those few seconds escape to?  Must have been when I grabbed a few jelly beans on the way back!

In any case, I was very pleased with my time : I had run only two very easy 5k runs since the SMH Half Marathon last Sunday and the CRRF Half Maraton a couple of weeks before that, so I was expecting around 65 minutes this morning ....those are my excuses and I'm stcking to them!

Perfect running conditions : very cool, slight breeze and completely overcast.

10km in 1:02:49.
Avg. Pace 6:15
AHR 135 (85%);  MHR 150 (94%)...that was a stampede to the finish line heart rate with a young man who was finishing the 25k race!  We had a good laugh about who got there first.

5km Splits 32:36; 30:06....the hills on the way out are what slow me down.  I'll have to conquer them!

Age Category results for SMH Half Marathon are out!  I got first place in W70 to 99!!


There was another runner in my age category but, from the results page, she was a non-starter.  I can only hope the results would have been the same  .... cool and funny!

Something Exciting!

....so it's worth blogging about!

I ran the SMH Half Marathon yesterday through the streets of Sydney.  It was a perfect morning, even quite cool when I got out for a warm-up at 6:30am and Hyde Park was already abuzz with hundreds of runners going about their pre-race rituals!


I came to Sydney on Saturday, stayed overnight and returned home on Sunday afternoon.  I love this SMH run!  Probably my favourite run.

There's something special about runners having the city roads to themselves for those few hours.  I always get a thrill running down Hunter Street  - and any other downhills for that matter - when I think about how they're crammed during the week with people, cars, buses, etc.  Even running up Hunter Street  - and the Argyle Cut too  - has something for me to enjoy including the encouragement from other Cool Runners  - CR Thomo especially, who all but stopped the run when he bellowed while running down Pitt Street: "Go Norma!"  Sook54 caught up near the Art Gallery and ran a couple of kilometres with me until she headed off at a faster pace.

I didn't expect to run faster than at the CRRF HM....and I didn't!  In fact, 4 minutes slower.  I set a pace on the Garmin to get me in by 2hours 25 minutes allowing for a tough, hilly course, but for the first time the Garmin must have cut out for about 7 minutes in the high rise areas and I didn't bother too much  about looking at it during the second loop.

So...............
I was astonished to see the finishing clock at the Archibald Fountain say 2:21:16.....5 minutes faster than last year's time of 2:26:09....and that for me was exciting and worth blogging about!

Updating My Blog....

I've decided to update my blog in future only after having taken part in a race or some special event or if something really exciting, funny or interesting happens.  Training will remain the same i.e. 3 days running, 2 days cross training.

Typing the same training week after week has become boring for both myself and Virtual Partner!!

Longish Run

A shorter 'long' run this morning before SMH Half Marathon next Sunday.  Another perfect Autumn day and a joy to be out running.

I chose running around to Inkerman Road and back to get more hills in before meeting Hunter Street next  weekend!  I kept the hardest and steepest hill - on Old South Road -  till last when I was feeling tired, just as I will be during the second time running up Hunter Street or out of the Domain at the finish of the SMH Half, though I hope not feeling as leg weary as I was at the finish of today's run.

Program: 13km.... slower than half marathon pace @ 6:35 to 6:50 min/km.

13km in 1 hour 35 minutes.
Avg. Pace 7:18 slow on the hills!
AHR 124 (78%);  MHR 141 (89%)...effort on the hills!

Thrashed by Virtual Partner!

What a perfect Autumn day!  Just sheer pleasure to be out today : no wind, warm sun and Autumn colours everywhere and VP took advantage of the conditions to give me a good thrashing!

 10km Tempo Run.

3.5km easy.
5km with VP set to run 6:12min/km.
1.5km easy.

It didn't quite turn out like that though!  Where I'd been doing most runs on flattish roads in the lead up to CRRF, it was time now to attack the hills before SMH Half Marathon on May 16th.  With that in mind I set off, after the warm-up, to Diamond Fields Road where there are hills aplenty and it was there VP had his 34 minutes of glory!

The flat and downhills were OK, but I couldn't keep up with Virtual Partner running up the hills.  He sprinted away keeping the same pace throughout and, to add insult to injury, finished the 5km nearly 600m in front of me!

5km in 34:30
Avg. Pace 6:54! 
AHR 129 (81%);  MHR 138 (87%) 

 

A Bit of This and That.....

I skipped, as in didn't do, today's track session; I also took Monday and Tuesday as rest days after my Canberra RRF Half Marathon effort which is in the process of being recorded as an Australian age category record and 3rd fastest world same age category!

Today I did 4.5km which included :  some drills & strides, jogging, walking and a few sprints uphill...keeping in mind that the SMH Half Sunday week is a hilly course.  All easy!

It wasn't very nice out either; rain to start with, then wind and finally some sun.  Autumn is here!

I'll do some cross training tomorrow, stationary bike if the weather stays bad, and a tempo run on Friday by which time I should be back to normal 3-day running program.

Canberra Road Running Festival Half Marathon

Well.....I had a very happy run today!  The weather was absolutely perfect;  I didn't feel it at all cold as I walked less than 10 minutes to the oval and did a short wam-up at 6:30am and then lined up for the start of both the marathon and half marathon runners at 7:00am.

My plan was to start at 6:38 min/km which would have me finish in 2 hours 20 minutes......one minute faster that my recent best half marathon of 2 hours 21 minutes at SMC on April 18th!  I kept at this pace in the early stages despite the urge to go faster, telling myself that if I did, I'd slow down towards the finish.  Experience is a great teacher!

The plan was a good one, because I had plenty of energy in the second half and was able to draw on the very last of my reserves to finish 4 minutes faster than the SMC half  last month!

Time 2:17:25(official).
Avg. Pace 6:28 min/km
AHR 133 (84%);  MHR 153 (96%)
5km splits     33:57;    32:33;    32:51;    30:40;    (7:25 for 1.1km)

The day was a tremendous success for the ACTCCC who put on a brilliant day, a fast course, great volunteers everywhere encouraging each runner often by name and  finishing,  where again each runner was called by name wherever possible, by doing a round of Manuka Oval.  This was a very special thrill!  Was I the only one whose age was also announced as I ran down the finish chute?  That was another special thrill!!    


While talking of thrills....another was 1st place in age category,  a kiss from & photo taken with Rob de Castella!  I'll put the photo here when it comes up on the website.

Altogether, a great weekend catching up with friends and spending up at the Expo! Now, to get ready for the SMH Half Marathon in two weeks' time!

Enquiries are being made to see if this is a W80 age-category Australian Record for the half marathon  & the likihood of it also being  the world's third fastest of all time W80 half marathon!  Will update when I find out how to do all this and what the results are.

Easy & Relaxed

....that just about describes this morning's run, the last before Sunday's CRRF Half Marathon.

5km including 6 x 100m surges in 38:04
Avg. pace 7:36 min/km
AHR 112 ( 70%);  MHR 139 (87%) 

Leaving for Canberra mid-morning tomorrow; returning Sunday afternoon.  Should be another good fun weekend!

Against the Wind, Virtual Partner & the Grass Cutting Machine!

A short session at Chev track today :  6 x 400m @ 5:42 min/km (2:17 lap).

2km warm-up; few drills & strides.

1) 2:17.  Avg. pace 5:42; AHR 78%;  MHR 86%.
2) 2:13.  Avg. pace 5:33; AHR 77%;  MHR 83%.
3) 2:15.  Avg. pace 5:36; AHR  76%; MHR 84%.
4) 2:15.  Avg.pace 5:36;  AHR 77%;  MHR 84%.
5) 2:13.  Avg. pace 5:31; AHR 78%;  MHR 86%.
6) 2:16.  Avg. pace 5:39; AHR 77%;  MHR 87%.

1.6km warm-down.  


Except for the wind, this was a good session I think.  I managed to stay ahead of Virtual Partner easily but a huge grass cutting machine was another matter, hence the zig-zag up, down and across the lines of the soccer field for a warm-down!