I Feel Good

With longer measured reps on the pgm we were expecting to head to West End this morning but instead went to New Farm. We had a choice of 1 x 1k and 5 x 500s or 2 x 1k and 5 x 500s. The second option is really just for the faster guys, that way they aren't waiting around at the end for the rest of us.

I didn't feel good in the warm-up strides, the legs just don't seem to want to go to fast. I was expecting to run the 1k rep in somewhere around 4:05. After chasing Clairie the whole way and finally catching her at the end I came in at 3:54, which is around what I run when I'm at my fittest :-)

I couldn't quite match Clairie, or that speed, on my 500s though, they were between 2:01 and 2:06. For me these are usually around 1:55 give or take.

At first I was a little disappointed with the 500s but then thought about it. This is the first time since just before Sydney Marathon (2 1/2 months) that I've been able to do a speed session at 100%. After that I was recovering, then I got injured, then had been easing back into it.

Today I gave it everything, and know I couldn't have cut a second off my times. I am more satisified with how I ran than other days when I have gone faster. What a good feeling :-)

Bat Flattery

I was in two minds about which event to enter at BRRC on Sunday - a 'hurt all the way' 5k or a 'hurt less all the way' 15k. I took the soft option of the 15k.

Not sure why I was expecting to have a lot more energy. In the seven days prior I had done the SMC Half, a double lap of Mt Coot-tha, two speed sessions, and a 23k training run (just the day before). Still, I was surprised at how much of a struggle it actually was.

Nick (Rent Boy), Karen (Karisma) and I stuck together for the first 5k loop (23:18), Nick setting the pace for us and keeping us amused as only he can. He took off ahead after that. At about 6k I could no longer hang in with Karen, so just tried to keep her in my sights.

But it wasn't just me that was flat, what was worse my iPod had died during the very first song. And I had such a good mix on there, including some of CJ's recommendations :-(

At the end of the second loop (10k - 47:58) I knew it was only gonna get tougher and thought about pulling out but with thoughts of February's Caboolture 12 Hour in mind pressed on. At about 13k a guy, Chris, pulled up beside me, he'd run the 5k and was warming down. It forced me to up my pace again and we ran together to the finish as he told me interesting tales of overseas marathons.

Crossed the line in 1:13.08, about 5 minutes slower than my PB set earlier in the year.

I might have had a crap run but afterwards was great. It was the last of the Champs races and the 2006 winners Jodie (CR Chundachick) and Shane were crowned, well, sashed anyway :-)

Lizzle (who's on page 10 of the current issue of R4YL) had done an enormous PB in the 5k, running 20:16 and coming in second lady overall. And whopped all our male running buddies in the process. Woohoo!

And I got to catch up with a happy Graham (Robert Song) again, he won his category in the 5k Champs - another woohoo! We traded music, and I did quite well in the deal.

Topped the morning off with a group of us heading to our favourite post BRRC haunt, Expressohead, at West End. What a sight, about a dozen very shabby looking runners, one of them wearing a gold sash. Wonder if she's taken it off yet ...

After that I had to go straight work for several hours, but the time flew as I had some great new music to keep me company :-)

Running Around With Boys

It was a 6am start at The Regatta. Being a combo of Brisbane Running Buddies and Regatta Runners this morning there must've been around 30 to 40 of us.

Some took off up Sylvan Rd for a Mt Coot-tha assault and the rest of us crossed over to the bikepath. I was about to follow the crowd in to the city but noticed a little breakaway group of Mark (aka Iliketoast, or GPS Boy, or Chilli Pants), Geoff (aka Fat Craig Mottram) and Gerard (aka Gerard) heading towards St Lucia so on the spur of the moment followed them. They were planning a shortened river loop, around 25k. The pace seemed a little faster than I usually do my long run in but Mark's trusty GPS told us otherwise.

Rather than making it a really short loop we turned left into Kadumba St at Yeronga got back to the river there. At Highgate Hill we decided to come back via the Victoria Bridge to cut a little off the course. By the time we go to the bridge Geoff and I were fading, the other two were about 50 meters ahead. Then some of the Mt-Coot-tha crew came towards us, and Mark and Gerard turned and ran to the Gardens and back with them. Geoff and I just kept on going and with 500m to go revved it up put in fast finish.

In total it was about 23km in dead on 2 hours. It was a pretty humid day and I was struggling at times. If not for the guys I reckon I would have taken longer to run less. And I would have avoided hills, the one up past the cemetery almost killed me :-)

Coach Clairie

After giving away the Wednesday night Intraining group there was no replacement available this week so I went along. It had been raining all afternoon and I was secretly hoping that would keep people away. Just two of the regulars turned up and so off we went to Suncorp Stadium. I told them I'd had a big run in the morning so if they didn't mind I'd be doing a bit of standing around. Got them to do some shorter efforts, then several hill reps, then some more short efforts. I joined in at times, usually just in their recovery phase. It didn't rain a drop while we were out but both were drenched from putting in 110% in very humid conditions.

I was on day shift Thursday I parked the car at work early and jogged over to The Ship Inn for the start of Pat's session. Met up with Jonesy on the city side of the Goodwill Bridge and we decided we had enough time to walk the rest of the way. Then it was off to the amphitheatre in the Gardens. Clairie was in a particularly jovial mood. Just moments earlier she had stolen and hidden Pat's "runners ahead" type signs from outside the loo while he was in there. And now she was shouting at everyone to get in line for some strides. What else could Pat do but hand the session over to her to take :-)

So I was hoping her next command would be "lets stroll to the cafe for brekky" but alas we had to do two sets of 4 min fast, 30 sec slow, 2 min fast, 30 sec standing recovery, then one final 4 min effort (luckily that's exactly what was on the pgm). I had to be at work by 7am so with that final 4 mins I just kept on going right out of the Gardens and continued up through town towards work.

Got the usual strange looks from my workmates as I arrived at the desk red-faced, huffing and puffing, and sweating like a pig. Wonder why they don't all take up running???

Multiple Mountains and Mark the Massage Man

A group of about 10 of us met at JC Slaughter Falls car park at 5am Wednesday for a mid-week Mt Coot-tha run. Clairie and I had talked about doing a double lap, but the way my legs felt on the first I wasn't sure if it was going to happen. Just put the head down and tried thinking about all sort of other things other than the pain in the legs and lungs. Then I got the Grandaddy song "The Nature Anthem" stuck in my head ...

I wanna walk up the side of a mountain
I wanna walk down the other side of the mountain
I wanna swim in the river and lie in the sun
I wanna try to be nice to everyone

Of course I substituted the word 'run' for 'walk' :-)

Finished the first of the 9.6km circuits in 53:08, and didn't really feel like doing another lap. Had a chat to Clairie, and although everyone else was either heading off or doing an easy warmdown, the keen little bugger wanted to go around the mountain again. Ah, why the hell not. Couldn't ask for much better company I suppose :-)

The second time up the big hill was just as tough (hmmm, was I really expecting it to be easier???), and what a welcome sight the ABC TV tower at the top was. Still, this lap seemed to go quicker. In reality it didn't, amazingly our time was within a second of the first! Hats of to Clairie, it was only a couple of weeks ago she ran her first ever lap of the mountain, and here she was doing a double, and doing it with ease.

Spent the next four or five hours in my long Skins :-)

Then it was off to my first real runner's massage (though they will become a regular thing for a while at least). The physio had recommended his colleague Mark Smoothy. Over the years I've heard nothing but praise for Mark, so knew I'd be in good hands. I was expecting it to hurt somewhat, and I wasn't disappointed. He is an incredible athlete, having done 18 Ironman Triathlons. run a marathon PB of 2:52 (in a crowded London mara no less). He is now into adventure racing, stepping up from 24 and 48 hour events to a 10 day one next year! So at least there was lots to talk about.

The massage was awfully painful. Mark spent 10 minutes on my left hammy and it didn't loosen one iota. Another ten minutes and it finally did, I think I actually felt it 'go'. I'm not even gonna mention the pressure point stuff he did, I don't want to be reminded of it.

Anyway I felt pretty good afterwards .... probably because he stopped :-)

Worth The Effort

I sure felt sluggish on the warmup at Pat's this morning. I think it was a combination of the after effects of the SMC Half on Sunday, the humidity and basically lack of sleep. Not being on a program anymore I had no idea what was in store, the way I was feeling whatever it was I knew it was gonna be tough. I suppose it was one of those rare days that I really didn't want to be there. To make it worse both Clairie and Min were missing in action .... hmmm, were they saving themselves for our mid week Mt Coot-tha assault tomorrow?

After the warm-up and our strides Pat announced we were doing sets of 1min fast, 30 sec jog, 30 sec fast, 15 seconds jog, 15 seconds fast. Then he added that his watch was still playing up :-) I think maybe one of the 15 second efforts was actually only 15 seconds, most of the others seemed to be closer to 45 seconds. I'm sure one was even over a minute! As my 'fasts' weren't quite 100% (still a little cautious with the injury) I tried Matty's trick of not slowing down too much on the recoveries when you can't go full bore on the efforts.

As always I felt great afterwards and was so glad I went along.

PS I compiled this post on email and did a spell check. It suggested I change "1min" to "urine" :-)

SMC Half

After suffering a couple of weeks of the running doldrums I figured anything under 1:45 for the Sydney Marathon Clinic Half would be okay, sub 1:42 would be good, and sub 1:40 would be great.

The first half of the race felt good, except for a mild case of Delhi Belly from Surjits Indian Restaurant the night before. But the food was so good it was worth a little suffering. Way before the first turnaround at the 5k mark I saw Silverfox was having a great day as he flew past in the other direction. After I turned I realised the 'Ray Train' was just a couple of hundred meters behind - on it were passengers JD, the Prof and Aunty Karin. As much as I love all their company I was now determined to stay in front of them!

I hit the 10k mark in 46:38 which co-incidentally is the exact time I ran at the 10k race at BRRC last Sunday. That gave me a boost, as last weekend I don't think I could've run another step. A km or so later Truckie and Horrie, who were doing the 10k, passed in the other direction and called out "hi Tess, hi JD". What?!?!?! With a quick glance over the left shoulder I realised JD had quietly snuck up on me! We ran alongside eachother long enough for him to encourage me to catch up to the girl in front who was in second place, but it was taking all I had just to keep her in my sights. He picked up the pace and urged me to keep up. I tried to hang on but was starting to die so could only watch as he started to chase her down.

From then on I tried to keep an eye on both of them. As the time wore on they got further and further in front. Oh well, at least he managed to pass her!

Checking the watch at 20k I figured I had a slight chance of going under the 1:40 mark and so gritted the teeth and gave it everything I had left. With a 'sprint' to the line I managed a finish time of 1:39.58 :-) It was almost 6 minutes slower than my PB (1:34.03) which I did in March but still I was pretty happy with the result. I feel I've turned a corner and am on the improve finally.

More good news was to come. At the finish line was a very happy Go Girl who had smashed her PB in the 10k to run 48:16 - woohoo! I had a chat to a not so happy Benny who wasn't impressed with his 10k but I reckon in two weeks time at the CC Half it will be a different story.

To top off a great morning I picked up a random draw prize of a purple portable fold up bucket. Hmmm, what the heck I'll use it for I don't know but at least it fit in my suitcase. Then again, if I hopped on the plane carrying a regular bucket maybe I would have got a whole row to myself :-)

Catching Up

Thursday 17th Nov

Wednesday, for some strange reason my quads were really sore, as if I'd done a tough hill session the day before. They weren't much better Thursday. It was as if Saturday's Mt Coot-tha run had finally caught up with me. Talk about DOMS!

On the pgm at Pat's was 2 x 5 ninute efforts and then about 10 minutes of Goodwill Bridge reps. Though I wasn't 'flying' in the 5 minute efforts I felt a little better than I did Tuesday,

Running up to the crest of the bridge and back again the group gets pretty spread out and on the last one I found myself in the lead with the nearest runner about 10 meters behind. So the goal was to totally bust a gut and get to the top without anyone passing me. Almost did it, Gary got me with a few meters to go.

The final rep was all the way over the bridge and up the little hill past the Ship Inn to the traffic lights. Amazing how by adding just that little bit to it wiped everyone out!


*******


Friday 18th Nov

After flying in to Sydney the previous night I was tempted to have a little trot down to Darling Harbour and back but the quads were still a little sore so decided a rest day was in order. Did lots and lots of walking though.

Met up with Sydney CRs Jen, Owly, Lulu and Mark (CR Don Juan) at the Lindt Cafe for arvo tea so that to me counts as a running activity :-) Sadly I'm on this stupid 'no chocolate in November' thing so there wasn't much on the menu that I could have other than a choc sprinkle free cappucino. Next time I'm there I think I'll work my way through the menu to make up for it.

It was great to catch up with the gang. Seeing Jen and Owly's 2006 race calendars really blew me away. Those girls are so organinsed and have got some very exciting plans, very inspiring. Must sit down and do something similar myself I think.


*******


Saturday 19th Nov

Quads were feeling almost normal again so after about an hour of procrastinating about it finally went out for a little trot around 8.30am. All up did about 6k at a very cruisey pace. Didn't want to do too much with the SMC half the next morning.

First I ran across to Victoria Park and around there a little then down Glebe Pt Rd. The plan was to run through Bi-Centennial Park but rather than go left I followed the path to the right for a while.

It was great coming back up through the back streets of Glebe and checking out all the old houses, we just don't see places like that in Brisbane. Funny, the really interesting ones were on uphills - I just had to stop running and walk past these to get a better look :-)

Somethings Gotta Give

Back to physio on Wednesday arvo when, for the first time, Adam thought he'd get stuck into my hammies - I'll swear I saw a glint in his eye when he realised how tight they were and how much pain he was about to inflict. He says I need a real massage and so lined my up with the very reputable Mark Smoothy, a top notch triathlete (he's done 18 time ironman tris!). I see him next Wednesday - now that's gonna hurt :-(

Had the Intraining Beginners (aka School of Pain) at 6pm so it was a rush after physio to prepare food and pack clothes and shower stuff for work that night before getting to Milton. Also had to take running gear for Pat's the next morning as I go straight there when I finish my shift.

It was then I told myself its all too much, I couldn't really keep this up any longer. Unfortunately it also often made me late for work, or maybe that's fortunate ;-) It was after a similar routine that I got injured, and although a lot of things contributed to it, I think running tired was a major factor.

As it turned out Chris wasn't expecting Clairie or me to be there, and had lined up a 'real' coach, Barry, for the night. I wasn't gonna hang around but decided to for a while just to see how Barry ran the session. It was interesting to see how another coach (other than Pat) operates. I just did the warmup with them and the start of the reps before heading off.

Not surprisingly Clairie was feeling the exact same way about giving the class up, especially as she is revving up for her first marathon. We had both planned to hang in until Christmas but now hope Chris can find somebody to take over before then, fingers crossed from next week.

It really was fun to do, and they're a truly great bunch of people. Its been fantastic to work with them and see the massive improvements they have all made. Gonna miss 'em.

You Can't Always Get What You Want

The Kurrawa to Pt Danger relay is less than four weeks away and my team-mate Nick is in great form. So its time for me to get some speed back, I don't want to let him down on the big day.

On the pgm at Pat's this morning was 8 x 1min efforts, with a 45 sec recovery. Well, just one of the recoveries was 45 secs, after that they got increasingly shorter and the final one was 31 secs.

As hard as I tried I just had no speed at all today. We do these at the same location each time and I know the spot I usually get to in 1 minute, but each time fell way short of it. Not to mention others who I can keep up with or stay ahead of were way in front. Oh well, I guess my reps were consistent ... consistently bad.

Busted a gut on the 8th and 'last' one only to have Pat tell us there was one more, this time not just one minute, but right to the end of the walkway we were on. Dang, I can't believe I forgot about it again. He always does that!

Clairie had a brilliant session, so much so that she was one of four runners Pat nominated for a prize of a Runners World subscription. It was up to the rest of the group to choose, biggest cheer got it. Despite my loud 'woohoo' for her, not surprisingly, she put in an even louder 'woohoo' for Nicky and so missed out. Though Nicky certainly earned it, after a great PB at Noosa Tri (2:15 I think it was).

On a positive note I got to chat to ultra runner Min on the warm down and after the session and pumped her for info on preparing for the 12 hours at Caboolture. I'm feeling pretty good about tackling it and really looking forward to training for it too.

On a negative note I just feel so slow at the moment. I know I'll never be 'fast', never have been. I suppose I'm more suited to the longer stuff, seems the further I run the better I do in comparison. I'm really happy with that, cos I love the long runs and long races. But .....

The Dog Ate My Homework

For some strange reason I thought I'd feel like doing a long run today and so arranged to meet up with Tara on the bike path at 5.15am. From there we were going to run the 5k to West End for the BRRC 10k and then either run back home or get a lift with Ciaran (which we ended up doing).

It was wierd, there was hardly a soul out there this morning, not even cyclists. There was one girl walking the other way all dressed up and carrying her high heels. Not long after that there was a discarded bong! And a little further down we passed a cyclist who had stopped to light a rolly. Hmmmm.

We were a bit deep in conversation I guess and forgot to take the William Jolly Bridge and so decided just to run on and cross at the Victoria Bridge. So our 5k warmup became more like 6 1/2k.

For me the race itself can only be described as a shocker. I was kinda hoping to go around the 45 minute mark, and said I'd be happy to go sub 46. Watching my km splits I knew it wasn't gonna happen right from the start. Went through 5k in 23:08 and crossed the line in 46:37. That's more than 3 minutes slower than my PB which I did in June.

I never really intended to 'race' this one, but still I'm not sure if I could've gone much faster even if I wanted to. But wait, I have a stack of (feeble) excuses. It was pretty humid out there, most people I spoke to ran a couple of minutes slower than expected. And we'd done a rather long warm-up. And I've only done four or five speed sessions in the last two months. And I ran over Mt Coot-tha yesterday. And and and .... there's lots of work to be done.

Running 'round the Mountain

There was a huge turnout for our Saturday morning run from The Regatta, probably 35 or more. About 15 or so headed for Mt Coot-tha, while the rest went into the city and beyond.

Clairie and Tara were 'Mt Coot-tha virgins' and both were determined to make it up there non-stop, a fear rarely achieved on one's first attempt. The bulk of the pack took off ahead while the three of us, plus Rachel, who was only doing part of the journey, just took it nice and easy. Nick had started early and already done a lap and met us on the long climb past the Planetarium.

Nick and Clairie moved ahead and I hung back with the other girls. About 1k or so into the real climb Rachel turned for home. Not sure if its because I was going just a little slower than usual or because I was more interested in seeing somebody make it up there for the first time, but the Channel 10 tower seemed to come around quickly and before we knew it we'd made it to the top ... non stop! Clairie, Nick, Sheryl and Mark (wearing these great, colourful, traffic stopping long tights he picked up in the States) were waiting at that point and made a little guard of honour for Tara to run through.

Clairie had made it up there non stop as well, though anyone living within cooee of Mt Coot-tha would've known that :-)

Two Tenners

Pat's on Thursday morning was two 10 minute efforts. Dunno why (well, actually I think I do) but this has to be my least favourite session, though the Gardens are my favourite place to run. The legs were feeling a little sore from the previous nights race, so I knew it wasn't going to be a brilliant.

Starting at the amphitheatre and it was 5 mins out and 5 mins back, rest 1 1/2 mins, then out and back again. The second trip out I got to about 20 meters short of where I had first time, not good. So I really pushed it coming back, getting to the start with 8 seconds to spare. I was happy with that until I thought about it. This exercise is all about pacing, we should arrive back at the start dead on the 5 minutes. So all it proved was I was slacking off on the way out! And I realised I've been away too long, I totally forgot about the 'surprise' run up the killer grassy slope that Pat always makes us do at the end of our last effort.

On a cheerful note it was Kate's last Pat class before getting married next Friday, so we organised something special for her wear. And every now and then Clairie would burst into a chorus of 'Going to the Chapel' :-) Lots of laughs on an otherwise painful morning.

Cool Night Classic

Felt sluggish the entire day Wednesday so it took what seemed like a mammoth effort the walk the few blocks from work to the Riverside Centre to meet up with Clairie and check my bag in for the annual Cool Night Classic ... or Nerd Night Classic as one of my workmates called it :-)

The plan was to take the 5.13k easy. There were four starts - fast runners, other runners, brisk walkers, other walkers. All the runners were bundled together at the start, with just a strip of plastic tape separating the two groups. We were at the front of the second group but cheekily slipped under the tape it to be in the back line of the fast runners.

The gun went and we were off. It was pretty crowded out there, and at least the first half was spent either dodging people or just slowing down as you couldn't pass them on the narrow pathways.

I suppose we took the first half easy, had no choice really, but then the excitement took over and we revved it up a bit after that. Also there were people we just had to pass! I told Clairie it was okay if she wanted to take off but she kindly ran beside me or just in front the whole way, even giving up her usual sprint finish. Crossed the line in 23:43, which was a little faster than the 25 minutes I had in mind.

We realised later we should have stayed at the front of the second pack, it started three minutes after the first one. Imagine the nice clear run we would have had for at least the first couple of kms. Idiots!

Fit To Govern

Tuesday morning it was back to Pat's for my first 'speed' session in over four weeks. On the pgm just happened to be my favourite, hills in the City Botanic Gardens.

Taking heed of the physio's advice from the previous day I was probably working at about 80% on the uphills. But rather than jog recover I kept up the pace a little. I figure if I can't to the speed work at full throttle for a while, this would sort of make up for it. Even if physically I don't get as good a workout at least mentally I'll feel a little better.

In the time I've been away a few new people have joined in, including ultra runner Min. She's done a couple of 100km events and is in training for next year's Comrades (the real one). She wasn't aware of the Caboolture Dusk to Dawn run in February, and I might have just convinced her to come along for the 12 houry.

Also thinking about Caboolture, as a team entrant, is Deputy Premier Anna Bligh who trains with us at Pat's. During the warm up she was just behind me in our little group. Next thing a familiar face overtook us - it was Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg, also an avid runner. I felt like yelling to him "we're just warming up, you should see her when she puts the foot down!" :-)))

Sunshine and Pain

After lots of rain on the Sunday woke up at Sunshine Beach on Monday morning to, well, sunshine :-)

Hit the road about 6am for a bit of a run through some local streets then headed up to the end of The Spit at Noosa. Couldn't resist the urge to run back along the sand from there up to the end of Noosa Beach. Funny, considering the number of athletes that must be around, I didn't see many other runners at all, and only a few cyclists. Guess they were all recovering from the forth leg - the party :-) Though Pat was out there kayaking, he told me this morning he saw me running while he was having a paddle. And I did bump into Intraining's Robson and Debbie, they were off for a run in the National Park. I was tempted to join them as I could run right through it back to Sunshine but thought it might be a bit slushy so stuck with the bitumen. All up about 12k.

My leg felt perfectly okay on the run, on the drive back to Brisbane it didn't. Strange that it hurts more when I sit then when I run!

I told Adam the physio all this when I saw him that afternoon. He says my hips are still tight and did some excruciatingly painful pressure point massage as well as a normal (but equally painful) massage of my sore leg. He also gave me some new exercises to do and altered some existing ones after I told him about the pain I was getting in my good leg.

Good news is he's given me the go-ahead to resume speed work, as long as I don't do any fast sprinting. Easy, I'm incapable of that the best of times. I was sure that after I groaned 'that really really hurts' about 100 times during the session that he was going to suggest more time off. He didn't. He just kept apologising .... and massaging.

Love The Skins I'm In

On Saturday morning Nick and I met up early and did just under 10k before joining the rest of the crew at 6am. The run out took 27 mins then upped the pace and came back in 24 mins. It was overcast at first and by the time we returned to base the rain had started.

After that my plan was to just run 45 mins with the main group, who were doing a 25k river loop, then turn around for home. Even though their pace was slightly faster than what Nick and I had done I felt okay and forged on. After 50 mins I declared I was turning for home, I wanted to slow down. Clairie and Sheryl wanted to slow down as well. I knew of a way I could make the 25k loop a 20k loop so forged on with them. I knew it meant I'd be running further than planned but, heck, the company was great.

It rained almost the whole way, in fact it poured at times. There was so much water everywhere that we gave up dodging puddles early in the piece and just ran right through them. After one particularly deep one Clairie looked at my leg and let out a scream - there was a leaf doing a brilliant impersonation of a leach :-)

Did around 29k to 30k all up I guess, and only really felt twinges in my leg a few times. I had a physio appointment booked for 11am but postponed it until Monday, I thought it might be a little too painful after such a long run. Also on Saturdays Adam is just so busy, week days are quieter and one gets much more attention.

Donned my new long Skins post run for four or five hours, including for the drive up to Noosa (went for the rest of the weekend to watch the triathlon). I reckon they must have helped somewhat as I had very little muscle fatigue or soreness that evening or on Sunday. In fact I've been so happy with the long ones that I bought a pair of short ones at the expo - $20 off the usual price too :-)

Never Say Never

Thursday morning I was on the road, well, the bikepath, at 5am. Still I only had time to do 6km and then follow it up with the physio exercises and stretches as I had to be at work at 7am.

The abductor pain isn't getting any worse, though it doesn't seem to be getting any better. Well, I don't think so. Maybe I'm expecting too much. Anyway, decided after that to cancel the planned Friday morning run altogether and just did my exercises.

There's already talk of the 2006 Caboolture Dusk to Dawn (early Feb) on CoolRunning. In one message there was a reference back to the thread about this years race. I ran the 6 hours then and also in 2004 and enjoyed both very much. In the thread about this years race CR Eddie suggested I will probably want to do the 12 hours next year to which I replied "Eddie, the 12 hours ... NEVER!!!!!!!!"

Well, doing the 12 hours there is my first major goal of 2006 :-)

Still trying to decided on exactly how far I'd like to cover in that time, though 100k is a nice round figure.

In Training?

I spent Tuesday at the Gold Coast after being at the races there all day. I'd taken my running gear with me as Chris had me lined up to take the Intraining ladies group the following morning and I thought I could go straight there from the coast. But Tuesday evening he SMS'd to say I wasn't required.

So here I was Wednesday, awake at 5.30 on a beautiful morning, no need to get back to Brissie until late afternoon, all the running gear with me, not 20 meters from part of the Kurrawa course at Mermaid Beach. I am supposed to be training for this, my only 'serious' race left for the year. But I didn't have my iPod with me and really couldn't bear the thought of running without it. I think I have a problem :-(

I went to the gym that afternoon. I've discovered a couple of abductor machines so have been using them. They seem to give me the same benefit as the physio's rubber band exercises without the strain on my good leg so I'll stick with them.

That evening I was back helping Clairie with the Intraining beginners. Actually, when I think about the kind of sessions they are doing we really do need to stop calling them beginners. My Kurrawa relay partner Rent Boy (Nick) lives right near Suncorp Stadium where we train. He's just back from an injury layoff and he came over and joined in with us which was great as he ran at the front with the faster ones and encouraged them.

They did about 12 minutes of speedwork and then the monthly 'guess your 1k time'. Most ran about 20 seconds or so faster than they thought they'd predicted. Even though the point is to practice how a certain pace feels they'd pushed themselves so hard how could we not congratulate them on a job well done.

Something For Kate

After Monday's gym workout I was feeling a little less apprehensive about starting to run again. So set the alarm to get up early and headed to the monthly 3k TT at Pat's.

Not that I was planning to push it at all, just I figured if I was going to run it would be nice to go and see the crowd there again. I've missed them, and any wonder. When I arrived I got a great big welcome back hug from Clairie - gee, we hadn't seen eachother in over a week! Then Glenda (CR Casper) sneaks up and gives me the old 'pinch and a punch' - damn, beat me to it. After the session Jonesy showed me some of the stretches and exercises he's been doing after his abductor tear, including one "that's best not done naked" :-)

The highlight of the session though was the encouragement the whole group gave to Kate. She's getting married and moving to Townsville so this was her last 3k TT with us. We all wanted to help her to a PB. Her previous best was 14:23. I decided I'd run with her. Its out and back and out again and so you get to pass people all the time. Just about everybody was calling out to her as they went by, it was fantastic.

We ran the first km in 4:36 so she was on target for a good one. The second km is always tough, there's a couple of slight uphills. MJ joined us about halfway through it. Although we weren't saying a lot to Katie I hoped just having us along for the ride helped her out. Though when we got to the final km I told her to make the most of the slight downhills, and she did just that. Then about 200 meters or so from the finish I reminded her of her speed when we do our 30 second reps, she such a great little sprinter, she kills me! So she and MJ took off and bolted for home and crossed in 14:12 - woohoo!

The leg felt okay. Only just a little sore on the slower warm up run but not really much at all during the TT. Next physio appointment is Saturday so by then I should have another couple of runs under the belt, which is what he wanted before seeing me again.

Waits at the Gym

Although, according to the physio, I could actually have a run Monday I decided to give it a miss and hit the gym instead.

Got there around 3.30pm and expected it would be a little on the quiet side but walked in to find is was 'open day'. I guess this meant anyone could come in and do a workout for free. The place was chockers. And it got more crowded as time wore on.

There wasn't even a free bench for the first half hour or so. And although I did other excercises while waiting to snaffle machines etc, I felt like a stalker at times, watching people, and throwing my towel on the seat almost before they'd taken theirs off.

Saw the Bee just before I left. He's still waiting on his new suit from Suzanne and Bern at Scody. Can't wait to see what its like, though I can hazard a guess that its black and yellow with little antennas :-)