PCRG - 3k TT

My 3k TTs have become like a game of snakes and ladders. After landing on four ladders lately today I hit a snake. A big one.

Here's a rundown from the past two years of TT's. I've left a few off the list where I was pacing others.

12.04 - Jan 2005
11.53
12.07
11.55
12.07
12.14
12.10
12.09
12.28
12.15
13.06 (post ITB)
12.49
12.20
12.14
12.07
12:42 - today

I didn't have it in me this morning. A little physically but really it was just lack of ticker. Bad.

On a brighter note it was fantastic to see Mat go flying past me in the final stretch to grab himself not just a PB but also the coveted bling for doing four consecutive faster times. Go Mat!!!!

I Roam Around Around Around...

I had the weekend away in Sydney ... no away from from running though :-)


*****


Saturday - CR 5k Challenge

Even with a minute or two to go I had no idea what I was going to do in this one - really push it, try to do a steady pace, find somebody to run with in a certain time, whatever. Before I knew it JD and Rags stepped up to the start line, I think it was for the 22min group, so I joined them.

We all went through 1k in around the same time, I had 4:21 on my watch. It felt really comfortable, I'd even been holding back a little. The next three kms however got ugly - all over 4:30. I just didn't have it in me to push any harder :-( The final km couldn't come soon enough and I managed to lift my game with a few hundred meters to go and posted another 4:21 for a total time of 22:20. 40 seconds slower than my last 5k a few months ago and almost a minute and a half off my PB.

On the plus side I got to enjoy the company of 2P and Blue Dog on the run back to the start during which The Dog assured me the leach proof fence in New Guinea kept the Kakoda Trail free of the slimey little critters.


*****


Sunday - Long Run

JD and I set off to run the Strider's 'Western Wanderer' course. I didn't think it was a good idea for me to do the whole lot, it was a 3k run to the start point, and the full course measures 32.3k. My longest run since March last year was 28k in November so we figured out where I could drop some kms out and bring it back to 30ish if necessary.

At 8k we were dead on 40 mins, and the next few kms weren't much slower. There was no way I was going to be able to keep this pace up so we both slowed just at bit. At about 21k armed with the trusty directions and map I headed back as JD ran an optional 4k loop.

I had studied the course and knew exactly where I had to go. Pity I didn't go there. Parramatta Rd wasn't supposed to come into the equation, but it did. No wonder they call it the Western Wanderer:-) With around 28k on the Garmin I eventually landed in Timbrell Park and was in familiar territory. I wanted to throw in a strong finish and so ran couple of sub 5 min kms which felt great.

All up 30k in 2h34m, an average of pace of 5:16s. Gotta be happy with that.

Lots of work to be done before Canberra though. Lots and lots.

He Just Smiled And Gave Me A Vegemite Sandwich

For this special public holiday we thought we'd do something a little different. Well, it was different for half the crowd as they'd never run this course before and for the rest of us it had been a while. Starting at St Lucia Golf Club we ran out to Lone Pine and back, 13k all up. Its such a lovely run, hilly though. But all of us were planning an easy day so it didn't matter. I didn't time it though I think Clairie said we averaged around 5:30 pace.

There were a stack of teenagers at Indooroopilly Railway Station, not sure where they were headed. When they spotted us a couple of the lads joined in. Needless to say they lasted about 200m.

I wore my Aussie flag cap. No hint of violence from my fellow runners however a crazy woman in a car did go out of her way to try to run us over as we were leaving Lone Pine. I pity any koalas she cuddles today.

Most of us stayed at the club for brekky afterwards and as tempting as other things on the menu looked I thought it fitting I order the Vegemite toast :-)

A Model Of Consistency

It was another rather warmish morning at Pat's - the real temp was around 25 - 26, the apparent temp 29 - 30. We had a choice of 3 x 1k plus 2 x 500m or 4 x 1k. Recovery between them was supposed to be 75 seconds but Pat was getting our mob to run off after just 60. It was great to have CR Peterhorse along for his first PCRG session. He made the mistake of running way too fast, Pat made him do an extra rep like the rest of the speedy dudes :-)

My time for the first 1k was 4:00, my second one four seconds slower at 4:04, and my third four seconds slower again at 4:08. The fade factor was consistent :-) I opted for the 500s to finish to try to salvage a bit of self pride. I ran both of them in 2:04 (45 second recovery).

Can't say I'm entirely happy with today's results. Looks like next week's TT could be a bit sad for me. At least Lou and Big Stevie, two of my partners in crime chasing the sub 12, are in great form.

I'm not blaming the weather for today's results, though I do wonder if last night's dessert had more to do with it ;-)

Had an appointment with Adam (physio) later in the morning. He's given me the all clear to run on consecutive days, but to ensure at least every second day is an easy one, making a point that they must be much easier than normal. He even gave me a name for the gammy right hammy I've been putting up with for months now. And its not Sammy or Tammy :-) He says its tendonopathy ( as opposed to tendonitis).

So there's even more strengthening stuff on the list. If this continues I'll be spending all my time doing the exercises and have no time left to run.

Record Numb3rs

My 300th post :-)

Yesterday at Pat's we had a 92 participants - the most ever for a normal training session. Funny thing is that at no stage at all did I find it too crowded or anyone getting in my way. Dang! I was all ready to practice some argy bargy.

We had to do 6 x 500m reps (or 8 for the fasties), with a 45 second recovery. Being under instructions from the physio to still take it a bit easy I held back ever so slightly on the first one and was surprised to come in just under 2 minutes. I tried to run sub 2 minutes for all six, and only failed on one. We had a nice little pack going, all working off eachother. Its amazing how much that helps.

Last time we did 500s my times were about 4 seconds a rep faster, so I guess three weeks of no speedwork and almost two weeks of no running took its toll. I'm not complaining though, I thought I'd be slower.

For those of us who were finished before others after the reps it was one minute out and one minute back. I did the one minute back with one of the new girls who was finishing her last rep. I got in her ear and encouraged her to really kick it in the guts and not let those behind catch up ... its a wonder she didn't kick me in the guts :-)

Monday Music - 22nd January 2007

Herman Dune - I Wish That I Could See You Soon (2006)

It can be annoying waiting for YouTube clips to download, but trust me, this is worth the wait. They look like they're having so much fun, and that little dude in the blue t-shirt is a pretty good dancer :-) You can find another version of the clip on YouTube, and it shows these green men moving green props around - its all the stuff that is edited out.

When I first heard Herman Dune I thought it was one guy, but a bit of googling revealed this ...

The Herman Düne family has roots in Sweden, France and New York. The brothers David-Ivar ('Ya Ya') - guitar, bass & vocals and André - guitar, sax & vocals - have played together since early childhood with Néman on drums and recent addition, younger sister Lisa, backing vocals. They now live variously in Berlin, New York & Paris and gather to tour and record as often as possible.

This song was recorded last year though its not due for release in the UK until this month. I'm predicting this will be a huge hit here. I read one review describing the song as "infectious". I just hope I don't get sick of it when the radio stations give it a hammering.

Here It Goes Again

I told myself on my non running days I will walk and today I did just that. I bussed it in to work last night so I could walk home - 4.5ks or thereabouts. Then I just put in another 7.5k at the gym.

I'm almost starting to enjoy it. Can't have that. The physio had better give me the okay to go back to running six days a week. Or seven. Might be pushing it if I ask for eight.

Australia Day is approaching, and so the announcement of the Hottest 100 on triplej. Toasty and I are having our annual little comp, known as the Frappe Five. Each of us picks five songs and whoever gets the most in the top 10 scores a fruit frappe. He has gone public with his picks so I guess I should too ...

OK GO - Here Its Goes Again
AFI - Love Like Winter
Eskimo Joe - Black Fingernails, Red Wine
My Chemical Romance - Welcome To The Black Parade
Darren Hanlon - Happiness Is A Chemical

I'm pretty confident about the first two, not so much the second two.

I'm putting Darren Hanlon in as he is a Queenslander, and is very talented, and funny, and cool in an uncool sort of way. I don't think he stands a chance. But you never know, maybe if all of his home town Gympie voted for him .... :-)

BRRC 14k

Today's race was really just going to be a training run, I went in there intending to go around 5 minute pace for the 14k. I started running 4:45s to 4:50s and didn't feel too uncomfortable so I just stuck to that.

Got through the first loop (7k) in 33:27 but about 1k on from that started to feel crook and wanted to slow down. Well to be honest I wanted to stop. But I told myself to keep up the pace until reaching blogger Shane who was marshalling about 1k up the road. After seeing him my goal was to get to the 10k mark, and then to the water table just before 11k. This table is right at the start/finish and I came pretty close to pulling the pin, but instead walked for about 30 seconds and then dropped back to around 5 minute pace for the remainder of the race. Finished in 68:22.

Not sure why I wasn't feeling well, my energy levels were low. Probably didn't eat enough last night. And it was quite humid out there. I spoke to three people who bailed mid race because of it, there could have been more.

Excuses aside, there's a fair bit of work to be done if I'm going to survive 6 hours at Caboolture in three weeks time.

In-Between Days

I went to Pat's yesterday for my first run back after 12 days, 22 hours and 40 minutes of no running. On the pgm was efforts - 5 mins, 4 mins, 5 mins, 4 mins. As I was only supposed to do a short run and no speed work I just did the warm up, the two five minute efforts and a shortened warmdown, about 6k all up.

As (bad) luck would have it Clairie was under similar instructions from the foot doctor :-) .... or should that be :-(

We cruised at the back of the pack for the 5 min efforts. While the others were busting a gut on the 4 minute ones we just walked a little and stretched. And almost got run over by a council truck.

I saw the physio later and he says my SIL joint is no longer dysfunctional! But rather than get back into training full bore he suggested running every second day, and no more than about 15k. I'll keep up the walking on the alternate days, aiming for at least 90 mins. I did 2 hours this morning.

I go back and see him next Thursday for a final (hopefully) check-up, he reckons by then he should be able to give me the all clear to resume normal training again. Yay!

Coupla Days

I was expecting a good report from the physio yesterday as I knew the SIL was feeling way better. After putting me through a few little tests he gave me the go ahead to run in a couple of days time. Then he said "Friday". Hmmm, I thought a couple of days time would be Thursday? But I wasn't going to argue ... much ;-)

Anyway, we agreed on Friday morning.

After this is over and done with I'm going to see Adam (physio) regularly, maybe every six weeks, for preventative maintenance. Thanks for the suggestion Matty.

Headed to the gym afterwards and was thinking about doing Haydon's spin class as I knew so many of the girls in there (Clairie, Susan, Lara, Madonna). But my glutes really were way too sore, even moreso after the pummelling I got at the physio. So just did some weights and stretching while they all suffered.

I'm going to incorporate walking into my running program, might throw in a 10k walk on my rest day. If its working my glutes that much that they hurt it must be doing me a lot of good.

Monday Music - 15th January 2007

M. Ward - Chinese Translation (2006)

I was hooked on this song after the first time I heard it. Its one of those that gets stuck in your head ... but you don't mind.

And what a cute film clip, it makes the song even more appealing.

Don't tell Toasty but I'm putting this in my top 10 list for our annual TripleJ Hottest 100 comp. The prize (a fruit frappe from The Regatta) will be mine for sure!

I Don't Wanna Be A Cowboy

I'd been warned by Jonesy about getting sore glutes from lots of walking, but I had no idea it would be this bad. I pulled up okay from the 2 1/2 hrs on Saturday, and after doing 7k on Sunday morning (Cribb St up to Kelvin Grove for the Walk Without Fear rally and then from there over to West End). I think it was the walk up to the top of the hill at Mt Coot-tha and back that afternoon that did me in.

I felt okay at the time, it wasn't until Monday morning the pain hit. Still I did 6k on the bikeway and then was planning another 4k on the treddy at the gym in the arvo to make it a nice round 10k for the day. But after 2k I'd had enough and had to resort to the bike to see me through to the end of The Bold & The Beautiful.

I'm walking like John Wayne ..... well, like he used to walk when he was alive.

I'm feeling pretty confident that the physio will give me the go-ahead this arvo to start running again. The SIJ pain has almost disappeared, or maybe its just the gluteus hurteus has taken my mind off it.

Bob Dylan Told Me Never To Name Drop

Did another 4k walk late yesterday as I had to go to the city for something. I was tempted to walk home again but wanted to be back in time for my new favourite TV show Corner Gas (SBS 7.30pm Fridays). It has to be the funniest thing on TV in a while, but I'm yet to find anyone else who watches it!


*****


This morning in lieu of the Saturday long run I did a Saturday long walk :-) With some of the runners doing 24k to 30k I figured I could be out there for 2 1/2 hours and be back in time to join them for brekky afterwards.

I got as far as Healthwork's at Teneriffe before turning back, probably about a 16 1/2 to 17k round trip. As always when you can't run and have to walk, and hope nobody sees you, just about every runner you know does! Even Krishna Stanton ran by and kindly inquired if I was injured :-)

With the number of reported attacks on women now at 38 (I know of at least one that hasn't been reported, there's likely to be more), and me walking on my own, I got a couple of glances from people. Somebody even asked if I was on my own today. Everyone is looking out for eachother. But where I went was pretty safe, there were lots of others around.

The whole nasty business is front page news up here, and our Lizzle got herself in today's paper.

Tomorrow morning there is a rally being led by our PCRG training buddy and Acting Premier Anna Bligh. Most of us girls will be there, and maybe some of the guys too. I'm wondering if it will lure the offenders (there's more than one) out to have a look at the fuss they've created.

Reporting Back

I knew even before I saw the physio yesterday arvo that it was likely I wouldn't be running for a few days. Though the lower back felt better, it certainly didn't feel 100%. The real test is standing on one leg - standing on the right is fine, but on the left I'm not as steady and get a bit of back pain. So I wasn't too surprised or disappointed when he said no running until my next visit on Tuesday.



As the sacroiliac joint dysfunction is acute, as opposed to chronic, and was caused by trauma (the fall) and not overuse, the recovery is coming along really well. And if I do everything I'm told then I should be fine next week sometime. Gotta be happy about that.

He also told me I can do lots of walking, and even walk fast enough to work up a sweat. And I can cycle and water run. Yesterday I did a 5k walk on the treddy at the gym while I watched the tele. Not sure if it was the walking itself or Bert's Family Feud, but gee it was boring.

This morning I did just over 8k - listened to some new music so the time (1h20m) went sort of quickly. Tomorrow will be a long walk, up to 3 hours, and I'll try to go a bit faster than today.

With all the walking and the exercises, plus doing stretching, weights etc at the gym (been there four days in a row now) I think I will be okay to do the 6 hours at Caboolture on Feb 10th.

Getting happier Jan :-)

Monday Music - 8th January 2007

Willy Mason - Oxygen (2005)



I was tempted to go with Elvis or Bowie, as both were born on January 8th. But I couldn't decide between them. Instead I followed Scott's lead and picked one of my current favourite singer/songwriters.

Here is a snippet from the Wikipedia entry on Willy.

In 2004, he toured the United States, driving and sleeping in a diesel-powered camper van. In November of that year, it broke down in Death Valley. He paid a local mechanic $1500 to repair the van and flew to England for some scheduled tour dates. Upon his return he found the mechanic's garage locked up and the mechanic himself long gone. The van was tracked down to a street parking space a couple of blocks away, missing most of its key components, including the radiator. The engine block itself was sitting on the sidewalk. In an April 26th, 2006 radio session, Willy says he is hoping to invest in a 15-passenger school bus.

Now I know where he got the idea for the clip :-)


PS Its still Monday in some parts of the world.

CJ and The Spit

I arrived a little early Saturday morning so did 2 kms before the rest of the group arrived. Most did a river loop, some the 18k option via the Go-Betweens Bridge while seven us ran a bit further on to the Indooroopilly Bridge to make it closer to 24k. We were travelling just seconds over 5 minute pace. I felt it a bit of a struggle, actually more than a bit, mostly because the pain from my little tumble down the stairs the other day hasn't eased.


*****


CJ was visiting the Gold Coast from Canberra so a few of us headed down on Sunday morning to meet up with her. It was perfect as Clairie and Lizzle were going to be there doing their beach running session with Chris's group, we could hook up with them afterwards.

We ran a lovely 10k round trip from Main Beach up to The Spit and back, all along trails. The view when we got to the end was fantastic, the sky was clear and the surf was raging. We ran at a very cruisey pace, CJ and I chatting the whole way about the important things in life like chocolate, running, chocolate, travel, chocolate, family, chocolate, shopping, and chocolate.

Everybody got together at the surf club afterwards for a long brekky. There was quite a crew as the Clairie Clan were in attendance, as were Toasty, 'Katy And Her Krutches' and The Croutons. Got a lots of happy snaps, might post a couple later.


*****


The weekend runs both hurt just a bit too much, I knew I had to do something about it. So much for my 'no physio visits' in 2007.

I have sacroiliac joint (SIJ) dysfunction from the fall down the stairs. The pounding action of running wasn't helping that one at all.

For some months I've had on ongoing pain in my right hammy/glute which I thought might be sciatica. It hurt more sitting than running so I wasn't too concerned :-) Seems its a lumbar disk injury (kind of an overuse injury) that caused some muscle spasming. Its something that can be fixed with exercises, stretches, heat packs etc.

I see the physio again Thursday and its not running before then. So much for my sub 12 assualt at the time trial tomorrow.

Not happy Jan.

Two Steps Forward

Each morning before or after my run I take my upstairs neighbours newspaper to their front door. Well, like most runners, I'm awake before everyone else ... except for the guy who delivers the paper :-)

Yesterday the steps were really wet from the rain and so no prizes for guessing what happened as I merrily trotted back down, high from both the great big run and the great big mug of coffee. At least it was only two or three steps I 'missed'. Still, I reckon I hadn't even landed and thoughts of not being able to run for a while flashed through my head. All things considered I came out of it lightly - a bit of skin off my lower back, a bruised elbow, and another huge bruise on the left side of my even lower back (er, butt).

This morning I was a little stiff and sore and wondered how Pat's session would go. The warm-up down to West End didn't hurt too much but the fast strides we had to do once we got there did .

On the pgm was 2 x 1500m, with a 45 sec recovery, and 2 x 500m (same recovery). I started off slowly and just increased my speed to something that felt okay. As it turned out I was running a consistent 4:30 pace. To make up for it I reduced the recoveries to either a few seconds or nothing at all.

Actually, it was only when I landed on my left foot that it was uncomfortable. As Anna said I shouldn't complain as it only hurt 50% of the time. No wonder she's such a great politician :-)

Don't Mention The Cricket

It was pouring with rain about 10mins before we were due to start running at 5.30 this morning Clairie was already at The Regatta and rang me. We decided a gym workout was a better option. But we were expecting a visiting runner from England and joked that he was likely to be there as it was his sort of weather. So we fronted up to the meeting point and, yes, there was Nic looking very much at home :-) Phil was there too, he'd run from the city to meet us and was absolutely drenched.

Luckily the rain started to clear just we took off, though returned a few times during the run. The pace was pretty comfortable until Flashandy joined in about 3k down the path and then it suddenly got faster. Phil left us in The Gardens, and Andy after the Story Bridge. Andy might have had us running a bit quicker than we'd planned, but as Nic said in his Bristawl accent "it won't do us any arrrrm" :-)

Finished the 16.3k loop in 1:19.24 (av pace 4:52) and then did (the obligatory when running with Clairie) 20 pushups before settling in for a hot mug of coffee and a chat with Clairie, Nic and his g'friend Janelle. Noice :-)

2006 In Review

2006 was a year of ups and downs. Well lots of ups and only one real down, that being the ITB injury which caused me much grief through most of March, all of April and May.

I started the year with a 3k Time Trial time of 12:15, it went up to 13:09 (post ITB), and by year's end I managed to get it down to 12:07. Gotta be happy about that! My half marathon times never came too close to my 94:03 PB, the best being the BRRC event in early March where I ran 96:30.

I recorded a DNF in Canberra but went into it knowing that I was going to pull out at some stage of the race. Even though it set my recovery back a little it was worth it to get to the point in the race where Pat's partner Susan had put up personal signs for all PCRG members who were racing.

The injury also saw me struggling badly at the Warwick Pentath-Run (42.2k over 5 races in one weekend), but I was going to do all five events there if it killed me. It didn't :-)

The biggest up has to be my result at the 12 hour event at the Caboolture Dusk to Dawn in February. I had a pie in the sky goal of 100k and so was totally shocked when I hit that mark after just 10 hours and 58 minutes. I went on to notch up 105.5kms by 6am, obviously there was more than a little walking in that last hour.

Many people contribute my ITB injury to this race. I think the real culprit was way too many laps of Mt Coot-tha in the weeks that followed. I'm always warning people about feeling too good after a big race like a marathon, pity I didn't warn myself ;-)

I'm working on setting goals for 2007, but after reflecting back on 2006 I realised just how much I enjoyed Caboolture and what an incredible experience it was. Now I'm thinking I might have to sneak in a 'decent' ultra in sometime this year. Watch this space :-)

So, how do I rate the running year? I think I'll give it 3 1/2 stars.

Holy Fade Factor

It certainly was a tough one at Pat's this morning, or perhaps it just seemed that way because most of us are still in holiday mode and were expecting something a little easy. We had to do 1k, 500m, 1k, 500m, 1k - with just 45 seconds recovery between each one - I think that was the killer!

My times were 3:54, 2:00, 4:05, 1:57, 4:10. I was happy with how I started but not so with how I finished. The legs were hurting towards the end, I think Sunday's Mt Coot-tha run was coming back to haunt me. On the bright side we had a nice little pack going. That helped heaps as we really worked off eachother and doing that made it kind of fun .... she says that now :-)

I'd driven to work and ran to The Ship Inn from there for the start of the session so I'm guessing the total kms would be 11 or so.

Monday Music - 1st January 2007

The Mavericks - Dance The Night Away



A great party song to ring in the new year! If only grocery shopping really was this much fun. As one of the comments suggests "pure cruise ship classic" :-)

I love running to this as it always takes my mind back to the film clip. Think it will have go on the iPod for around the dreaded 3 hour mark of the next marathon.

Finishing The Year On A High

Saturday we were doing the Go-Betweens Bridge 18k loop again, heading out via Coro Dve first this time though. As well as most of the usual crew we had a few newbies (to the group) plus out-of-towners Tuggeranong Don and Kelvin.

I was traveling along just over 5 minute pace, and feeling very good. I held back deliberately though, taking the opportunity to run with some of those who were first timers to our group. And I was still a little cautious after Wednesday's speed bump (23k up Mt Nebo), which by the way, looks like this ....


I stole the elevation chart for Wednesday's run from Mat - thanks mate :-)

Most of us jumped in the pool at South Bank afterwards before heading off to Poppy's for brekky and a chat. It turns out that Haydon, one of our newcomers, takes RPM classes at my gym. So that's it, one New Year's Resolution sorted.


*****


Sunday was our traditional New Year's Eve Mt Coot-tha run and barby brekky. Just five brave souls made it for the 5.30am start. Six if you count Geoff on his bike.

Robbie took off at his usual cracking pace with Clairie, Lizzle, Glenno and I in not so hot pursuit. After a few minutes I thought I'd rev it up just a little and something weird happened, I just kept going.

I hit the first re-group point about a minute behind Robbie (my time 20:49). After that is the undulations and so I tried to stick with him and managed to be just a few seconds when we stopped at The Summit (31:07).

I saw the opportunity to finish the 9.6km loop under 50 minutes. My best training run time from back in 2001 is just over 47 minutes. The one and only time I've raced it was King Of The Mountain in 2002 where I did 45:29. As the name suggests its downhill all the way from The Summit so I hit the straps. Got to the carpark and stopped the clock - 46:36. Woohoo!!!!

What a way to end the year, notching up a training PB and hanging out with the gang for a relaxing brekky. Well, it was relaxing for the runners as Clairie's hubby did all the cooking :-)