Big Month

Posted by wombatoutofhell, Jan 31 2010, 10:24 PM

January was supposed to be a quiet month to ease back into regular running. Didn't quite work out that way......

Runs from 17/1/2010 to 31/1/2010

17/1/2010-Lysterfield Lake, 22km, hilly trails. Ave pace 6:23. Great run and alot of fun. Pushed the envelope a bit distance wise and it worked. No pains or anything. Followed up with an 8km walk to find Mrs Wombat.

20/1/2010-Chuchill Park, 13.75km, hilly trail. Ave Pace 6:42. Good run-improved alot since the same run last week with only one hill being too much to run. Groin pain and a little pain in the left shin. Both went away fairly quickly.

24/1/2010-Mansfield to Buller, 50km Ultra, road with mountain. Time 6:48, pace 7:58. I was happy with today. My plan was to run as far as I could, hopefully to the bottom of the mountain (32km I was told although it was 30km) and walk/run the rest. First part went well-ran 31.5km. Second part went ok-mostly walking and very little running. Best part was no injuries or niggles to speak of. I did have some stomach pains for the last 10km or so and I had a dizzy spell while going up the mountain. Small pains in both ITB's, right ankle, left heel, both hips and back but nothing that slowed me and all went away after a few km.

26/1/2010-Ausday Fun Run, Rosebud, 6.2km flat road/trail. Time 29:58, Pace 4:50. Nice run and very gratifying to be able to maintain better than 5 min k's 2 days after an ultra. Bit of pain along the outside of my left foot after but it went away after a bit. Official distance was 6km but general consensus amung runners and my garmin was 6.2km.

27/1/2010-Churchill Park, 13.25km, hilly trail. Ave Pace 7:12. Nice easy run just to work the legs a little. Have had no issues arrising from the 50km last weekend and I think the keeping active has helped. Some pain on the outsides of both feet and I'm starting to think that it's time to retire my beloved Salomons

30/1/2010-Rode bike to work, 14.4km ave speed 22.3kph. Nothing noteworthy.

31/1/2010-Lysterfield lake, small hills trail. Ave Pave 6:40. Bad run-managed only 2km before I had to walk. Not sure of the problem-heat, lack of energy, fatigue-who knows? Some PF pain as well. Was actually 6km in 40 minutes but the garmin went flat before I finished.

Which means January 2010 is my second biggest month ever with about 218km. If todays run had been 20km as planned it would have been my biggest but sadly it wasn't to be. Oh well.
You may have noticed above that I slipped an Ultra into the month. Maybe not to bright but I decided that it would be a good test of where I am fitness wise and I knew I could pull out at any time as my wife was about with the car. The last 4km were killers but other than that I was quite happy. I managed to run the first 31.5km and walked up the mountain with only a couple of bursts of running. I ran the last 500 metres or so-it was downhill. Ok I was 2nd last and my time was ordinary, but I am thrilled to get through it and even more pleased to not have to see my physio after. It is a 50km PB technically, although I've run a longer distance quicker.

February is going to be a little different. After such a good January, I'm inspired to look at other areas. Diet is first and hopefully I'll be reporting some good weight loss next entry. Today I was 88.2kg and 24.7% bodyfat. I'll keep logging my weekly weigh in.

I'll also be riding more.I have a 14.4km ride each way to work which takes about 35 to 40 minutes to work and about 5 minutes slower home.. Normally it takes about 15 to 20 minutes in the car to work and 30 minutes home . So really I'm getting 80 minutes exercise a day for the cost of 30 minutes of my time. There's the added incentive of my bike fund. For those who don't remember I put any saved fuel money (I allow $5 a return trip to work) in a jar to go towards a new bike. I started 4 months ago and I think I have $20 saved now!

Lastly I'll be looking at a gym or something for home. I'd like to get in some weight training.

I'm planning on only light running next week as I've had a hard month. Then a good week followed by Stromlo Running Festival. I'm looking forward to it-last year I missed so much as I was unable to run much.

Train Safe!

So Far So Good!

Posted by wombatoutofhell, Jan 16 2010, 09:30 PM

So here we are 1/2 way through the first month of the year. I've decided to do things a little different in my blog and post all my runs at the start of the entry (including any notes I made) with any other stuff I want to say after. So here goes
Jan 1st to 16th

Jan 2nd, Portsea Twilight, 6.7km, 35:15. No real problems-went a little hard and felt like I was going to run out of steam but it never happened. No niggles or worries.

Jan 3rd, Two Bays Trail Fatass, 28km, 3:29. Tough run and another where my lack of fitness showed. I had trouble early on with my right foot-it felt painful across the top of my foot, but my laces seemed loose. Eventually I found a way of making it work and I could run again. I walked up alot of the hills and ran when it was downhill and sometimes when level. Finished alot quicker than I expected-I was thinking about 4 hours. Normal soreness afterwards-soles of feet and a little thigh pain. No pain in the top of my foot oddly enough.

Jan 6th, Churchill Park, 13.1km, 1:37:10. Trail with hills. Hills still kill me but no real problems. Walked most of the uphills and had a wild sprint at the top. No aches or pains so all good.

Jan 8th, Local road run, 3.44km, 17:09, mostly flat. First run in new shoes (Nike Lunar Racers) -very comfortable but had a pain in the back of my left thigh and back of right knee. I doubt it's anything serious and may have been caused by pushing a little hard at one point.

Jan 10th, Lysterfield Lake Park, 14.41km, 1:29:44. CR group run. Slow and easy-not as much walking as usual so maybe I'm getting better. No problems with injuries although the back of my left knee was sore. I've also been getting a pain in my groin after a run-will mention to the physio.

Jan 12th, Churchill Park, 10.87km, 1:04:24. Trail with hills. This run was after a physio visit. Walked a little on the Tramline Track on the steepish uphill but otherwise ran it all with no problems. A little groin pain after I stopped but gave it a massage and seems ok now. I can feel a little fitness returning.

Jan 13th, Churchill Park, 13.50km, 1:36:10. Trail with hills. Great run-one of the best since I took up running. Weather perfect, some trails I haven't run before and some good company with Soy Latte joining me. Normally we'd be with the regular Wedesday group but SL couldn't make it early enough and it suited me to have a later run. No problems apart from groin pain for a little after.

Jan 15th, Track (grass), 8km consisting of 1.5 warm up, 5km @ 4:59 pace (was pleased about this as I was aiming for 5:00) and 1.5km cool down.Tempo run-right on the pace I was after with the aid of my garmin. New shows Nike Lunar Trainers)which seemed ok-were uncomfortable when I started the warm up but got better. I struggled to maintain pace early but seemed to fall into my stride about 1/2 way through-felt strong from then on. No niggles or pains, even from the current problem areas. I remembered to massage the groin and stretch the hamstrings which seems to have helped.

Ok-if I keep doing it like this I will have to post more often!

Obviously it's all going well. I've managed to clock up 97km thereabouts this month without any real problems. The groin issue (which my physio massaged for me-possibly the most painful experience I've had) is really minor as I've caught it and got advice and treatment early. All I have to do at this stage is massage it regularly and after a run and not run on sealed surfaces for a while. Easy!

2 new pairs of shoes were tried this month. What happened was I went to the Nike factory outlet to get some Lunar Trainers as I wanted to give them a go. As a laugh (given my lack of speed) I tried on the Lunar Racers as well. I went for a run around the store and found them to be sooooo comfortable and light. I doubt they are quite right for my feet, but I bought them anyway-as well as the trainers. We'll see how they both are after some use.

I am really enjoying my running again at the moment. I may be slower and fatter than I was, but I can feel some fitness coming back and I'm not putting too much pressure on myself to perform. There's nearly 6 months still to Gold Coast so lots of time. I may do an Ultra or 2 or maybe a Marathon along the way, but these will all be treated as long training runs.

Thats about it for now-happy trails!

Happy New Year!

Posted by wombatoutofhell, Jan 1 2010, 09:31 PM

Firstly, Happy new year to everyone. I hope you all meet your goals and challenges for 2010.

As mentioned in my last entry, Mrs Wombat and I were doing the Oxfam Trailwalker course over 4 weeks. We've finished it and I have to say while some parts are easy, some are the most difficult trail I've been on-and I was walking. I pity and respect the people tackling the Backstairs Trail after allready doing 93km or so-inspirational. I'm thinking of having a go myself in the future, although the fundraising part worries me. I might just train as if I'm doing it and step in if someone needs an emergency runner/walker at zero hour!

I have tried a couple of short runs. 1 was 5km with the dog-she tired after 3 km so we went to a walk then. I had no issues with anything so that was a good sign. The other was a trail run at Churchill Park with a few other coolrunners. It was pretty hot-about 32 degrees so it was always going to be hard. It was also the day after the last 28km of our trailwalker walk.

It started ok-until the first hill. This is where my lack of fitness shone through-I was stuffed and slowing the group down. Upon seeing how badly I was coping I planned to stop after 6km rather than do the full 12 that we were going to. Stupidly where I was going to turn, the path on went downhill-I can cope with downhill. I kept my pace back a bit to make sure i was ok.

We got to the drinks stop which didn't worry me as I had a 2ltr backpack on. I thought I'd check my water though and foiund I only had about 200ml left. In 7km I'd drunk 1.8 litres! I did say it was hot.

We carried on with Baz and Tony going ahead and Soy Latte and myself going a bit slower. We all met again-funnily as we'd lost the faster runners we made our own way to the meeting point and got there first. After that it's a simple downhill to the carpark-or would have been if we didn't lose the leaders again and then get lost ourselves. So we ended up with nearly 15km. Oh well. I went through another nearly 2 litres of water as well.

The good thing about these run/walks is I felt no pain, niggles, discomfort or anything, at the time or after. Even the 28km walk which was about 8 hours on my feet was fine apart from sore feet-and they were fine for the 15km the next day. So all good.

Since I feel so healthy (although not fit) I'll be easing back into a steady training routine. I'll be having a gentle run at Portsea twilight tomorrow (6.7km) and the following day will do the Two Bays Fatass as a walk/run as I doubt I could run 28km at the moment. Monday I'll start a proper program-most likely with a rest day. For some reason all my programs start with a rest!

Big goal remains sub 3:45 at Gold Coast marathon-and at this stage I'm pretty confident. I'm hoping to take in a couple of 1/2 marathons along the way and may even consider running the full at Williamstown as a tune up race. Time will tell what I do. I do know that if I feel anything that doesn't feel right I will stop. I'm not taking chances with a repeat of last year.

That's about it for now-enjoy your running everyone!

Plodding Along.

Posted by wombatoutofhell, Dec 13 2009, 06:09 PM

A couple of little issues since my last entry. Firstly I've hurt my back-and it's actually not a running injury! A little embarrassing but I was standing up off the toilet when I felt something go. It was nearly 20 minutes before I could walk upright after that. My physio says it's a bulged disc. I did all the exercises and took all her advice and it seems ok now. I'm not supposed to run much so apart from 10km at Williamstown today I've been walking.

The other issue is my left knee isn't tracking properly. I have exercises for that as well, which I've actually been doing! Hopefully it comes good soon.

As mentioned last entry I did the Olympic Dream run. I had a surprisingly good day, recording about 48:50 for the 10km. No issues to speak off so I was pretty happy.

Today I did the 10km run at Williamstown. I was hoping for about 50 minutes but I started getting knee pain at 6.3km. It was odd-sort of a dull stabbing sensation on the front of my kneecap. I'm too close to being uninjured to take a risk so I slowed to a walk. Aftter 500metres I tried running only to have the same problem. I tried again after another 500 and found it to be ok. I jogged out the rest. A PW but I'm pretty pleased that I backed off when something wasn't right. Seems I'm learning!

Mrs Wombat and myself have taken to long walks on a Saturday. We decided to follow the Oxfam Trailwalker course over a period of 4 weeks. We are at almost the 1/2 way point now. Last week we went from the start to checkpoint 2, yesterday we went from CP2 to CP4. Some pretty hard trails in there and it's slow work-but I'm enjoing it. Walking only. The knee is clicking a little at times but genearlly there's no problems with walking any distance.

I was planning on entering 6 foot next year. Due to my back and being unsure how it would heal, I didn't bother jumping online as soon as entries opened, even though I was up still. As a result I missed out, which might seem like a shame as I feel I'd be able to do it. I was dissapointed at first, but after all the rather unfair backlash on a couple of CR threads and the nastiness that came with it, I'm glad I'm not going. I'll find a friendlier event. We'll see about 2011, but at the moment I've really lost interest.

For 2011, my wife has decided she wants to do the Goofy Challenge in Florida. For those who don't know, this is at Disney world over a weekend. On the Saturday there's a 1/2 marathon and those who finish get a Donald Duck medal. On the Sunday a full marathon which finishes getting a Mickey Mouse medal. Anyone finishing both events gets a Goofy medal, hence the name Goofy Challenge. Could be fun!

I'm not doing any major training or runs until January. Hopefully I'll be fresh and injury free by then. Then the long slow slog to Gold Coast marathon-my goal event for 2010. Other events I'm hoping to do are Run For the Kids, The Great Train Race, Williamstown, Sandy Point and Run Melbourne 1/2 marathons, Frankston to Portsea ultra, Melbourne Marathon and the You Yangs 50/50. Maybe City to Surf as well. And the Warwick Pentath Run. And Stromlo Running Festival. And Frankston to Melbourne Fatass. Could be a busy year!

And that brings me to the biggest news. Late April I'm becoming a grandfather. My middle daughter-the only one still living at home-is having a girl. For the first year or so they'll (along with the father) will be staying with us. Anyone have a jogging pram they're not using?

Things Are Starting To Go My Way

Posted by wombatoutofhell, Nov 20 2009, 10:53 PM

Hopefully this will be shorter than the last entry. I even have a tiny bit of running!

I have cautiously started doing a little running. Not alot-just a couple of trail runs at Churchill Park, but so far no trouble apart from a disturbing lack of fitness. Heat might be a contributor as well. I did about 14km in a run last week and a 10km run tonight through some pretty horrendous hills. So slow going as I walked most of the ups-for some reason I don't have the energy to run up. Pleasing though was I ran down all hills-in some cases as fast as I thought I could without going arse over tit and there was nothing from the ITB. Nor from the Tib Post (Tibialis posterior) which is what my physio diagnosed the pain in my other leg as. In fact I've had no pain anywhere apart from a small one in my knees. Nothing to worry about.

With this in mind I'm going to run the 10km Olympic Dream on Sunday. It wont be fast, it wont be pretty but it should help me assess where I'm currently at. I'll slip in a few more runs during the week and possibly a 2 hour or so walk at Churchill/Lysterfield Park (hills and trails) next Saturday. These will form the basis on whether or not I do Six Foot. My feelings at the moment are yes but we'll put the body to the test first.

My goal event for 2010 is Gold Coast marathon. I know I said I'll never run the full there again-but I lied. To myself as much as anyone else. Goal time is 3:45 for a B time and 3:40 for an A. If I beat 3:52 I'll be happy-PB's have been hard to come by lately.

Other Stuff. I'm now well into the first module of my PT course. I'm learning alot about diet and what I'm doing wrong. I am struggling with finding motivation to sit and read stuff that is pretty boring after a while, but I'm getting there.

One of the side effects of this course is I finally have my eating under control. I still eat some junk, but it's a deliberate choice, not an uncontrollable urge. I don't have alot save for Thursdays fish and chips-and even then I had grilled fish and cut out my regular fish cake. I'm eating alot of low fat yoghurt (something I'm not keen on but I'm trying to develope a taste for it) which I've never done, more fruit (mostly bananas), snacking on dried fruit or nuts during the day, lots of salads and, most importantly, I've tripled my water intake-which in turn has cut back how much tea/coffee I drink. I'm drinking about 3 litres of water a day-when it was really hot last week I had over 4 litres. I have no idea why, after so many months trying to control my food problem, it's suddenly clicked into my tiny head to change. I have to put it down to the knowlege I'm getting from my studying. All I know is now I have no problem walking into any shop and buying a skinny cappuccino and ignoring the potato cakes, donuts and the like. I've lost 1/2 a kg this week.

I haven't seen anyone about my running "style" yet but I have had a pilates assessment. It turns out that I have a good core but I don't use it as I should. We're working on it. I also bought a back brace to try and straighten my posture. It's bloody uncomfortable, but it seems to be working. I'm trying to get used to wearing it all day-I can only do 8 hours or so at the moment. Haven't tried it running.

I forgot to mention in my last entry that I had an incentive plan to get me to ride to work. Every time I ride instead of drive I put the mony I would have spent (about $3 but I round up to $5) on fuel in a jar. That's my new bike saving fund. I've been doing it for nearly 2 months now-I have $15 saved. The incentive isn't working!

So that's where I'm at right now-hopefully in 2010 I'm at my best.

A New Beginning-again

Posted by wombatoutofhell, Nov 4 2009, 09:23 PM

Well it's been a while-so much has happened and I'm at a crossroads-so time to dust off the old blog and put everything down. Be warned there's not alot about running here.

There have been a few events since my last entry. I did my second ultra (the Tan-53.5km, 5:49xxreport here) and Melbourne Marathon (4:22:06, report here). Also in that time frame, I did City to Surf in Sydney (right on target with 1:09:32, report here) and City to Bay in Adelaide (1:02:07 report here)

Unfortunately I somehow injured myself yet again between the Tan and Adelaide events so didn't do alot of running leading into City to Bay or Melbourne Marathon. And it shows by my times although Melbourne was alot better than last year. For those interested the injuries are ITBS in the right leg and something my physio called "tib Post" in my left. I haven't run since Melbourne apart from 1 lap of the Tan.

Other factors have come into it as well-I'll expain in a tick but first a little history.

4 or 5 years ago I was in a bad way. I was miserable, overweight, borderline depressed (Berny thinks I was clinically depressed I'm not willing to concede to that opinion), not happy in my marraige, no idea what I wanted from life-fairly common sort of story I guess. I was like that for years. But I managed to drag myself back from that by accident when I decided to try and shift some weight and found exercise and running. I had no self confidence and was very shy (2 things I bought with me from childhood). I'm in a much better place now.

Lately I've found myself slipping. With the running injuries keeping me from what I like doing, the junk food addiction kicking back in, the weight gain, the dealing with lousy teenagers, the job getting to me (again) and the general lack of motivation to do anything has all contributed to my sliding back into oblivion.

Luckily this time I see it coming while there's something I can do about it. Melbourne Marathon was beautifully timed and made me feel really good about life again. I started taking notes about what I was feeling, what I didn't like about myself and what I could do about it. I've never really been one to talk about my issues so I kept all this to myself.

I might have given a little to much background there-no matter.

Anyway one of the things on my list was my job. I've decided it's time (at 42) to find something I want to do. I looked at my lifestyle and decided something in the fitness industry might work. First I thought of a sports store, bike shop, running shoe store or something like that but realised I didn't have the expertise to do it properly. I kept researching and ended up leaning towards massage or personal training.

So what did I do? I've enrolled in an online course to get my certificates 3 and 4 in fitness. The first will qualify me as a gym instructor, the second as a Personal Trainer. What I decided was there are alot of people in similar situations to the one I was in-and maybe with my own experience I can help them get fitter, lose weight and maybe feel better about life and themselves. I found going to a gym very daunting-all those fit people working out and here’s slobby fat old me puffing on a tready. Worse still is they get (or at least I did) a trainer who’s never carried an ounce of extra lard in their lives. These things put me off and I’m tipping put others off as well.

My plan is to qualify and eventually start my own PT studio. My target clientele are the people who want to improve but lack motivation and are intimidated by going to a gym or boot camp. As time goes on I’d run some classes and maybe a boot camp. I’d also like to do some training runs for those after a 4 to 6 hour marathon-there’s no training groups for back of packers at the moment. I’m still working on details but that’s the gist of it. Any ideas for a name?

Of course it may be that I do the course and go nowhere with it-that's fine too as I'm learning something that will help me with my own personal developement both as a person and an athlete. I might even have to shelve the idea of my own studio/gym and base myself in a public gym for a bit. Rome wasn't created in a day.

The other thing is I've decided to go right back to basics with my running. My form is shocking, I get way too many injuries, I push myself too hard and as a result don't enjoy it as much as I used to. The slower Melbourne Marathon was a real eye opener-I was well off the pace I would like to keep as I accepted right from the start there was no way I could do it and so paced accordingly. Yes I walked quite a bit and that was fine. I had a really good day-and that's what's important. But I also want to reach my full potential as a runner, so I'll be looking at drills, strengthening exercises and short runs to start and build slowly back up to distance. I was planning on running 6 foot next year-I'll see where I'm at when entries open before I decide. If I can't do it justice than I won't be doing it at all-it will still be there in 2011.

So that's where I'm at. I'll keep you all updated.

David.

From Gold Coast To The Dark Side.

Posted by wombatoutofhell, Jul 28 2009, 12:24 PM

That's how I finished my last entry. Now for the belated sequel!

Gold Coast didn't go exactly to plan. My full report is here but here's a short version. I was very happy with the first 1/2 which I did in about 1:53, well on track for a 3:45. at about 25km I got stomach cramps (same as last year) and at 28 thereabouts I started having problems with my right foot. I almost quit at 30km, I was in so much pain. I experimented by taking my orthotics out and putting them back and even ran (walked) in just socks for a bit. In the end I went with orthotics out and at about 40km my foot had settled enough for me to run the last couple of km. My Gun time was 4:43 something and my net time 4:41:59.

I'm not overly upset by this poor run-I've worked out the problem and chalked it up to experience. On to the next one!

I had a couple of short runs but I'm not going to bother detailing them. I tried a 30km run with the CR group on Sunday the 19th where alot went wrong. We went out a little faster than I'd hoped but no real problems and I had a nice time running along chatting to Peekie. After our first drinks break I slowed down a bit and moved to the back of the group running with Go4it. I think this suited both of us nicely.

Tigerboy took us on a really nice course with some "undulating" areas. I was fine until about 27km when I started to feel tired. At 29km when we were crossing the William Barrack Bridge I was walking. I ran/walked the rest of the way.

What happened? I think I simply ran out of fuel. I got back to the car ok and accross to the Cafe but in the queue I was having trouble standing and as one stage actually sat on the counter. I bought scones and coffee but found I couldn't eat-i managed a bite or 2. Luckily others were able to look after the rest of my scones. I managed the coffee. I was feeling very light headed and I think I was close to passing out. Luckily I didn't and after a rest I felt better.

Thinking about it later, I did it all very badly. I had a heavy dinner the night before (lots of carbs though) I only had a couple of bits of toast with jam for breakfast, I didn't use any gels even though I had a few on my, I drank only water and possibly not enough given the conditions. I should know better-obviously I still have alot to learn.

I had to do some shopping on the way home so had another coffee with a couple of cinnamon donuts and a good walk around the shopping centre. I also got a bag of salty chips and some gatorade-this all made a huge difference!

On the credit side I had no foot pain except normal tiredness. My inner thighs are very sore today-something I haven't had before and my hips are a little sore. Nothing too bad though.

In spite of my wooziness and inability to eat I enjoyed the chat after the run. Maggot gave me some great advice on nutrition during ultra's which as it turns out was to be very useful.

Now something that I haven't mentioned in my blog-I have moved to the dark side. I was intending to do the Tan Ultra as my first but that was cancelled-so to cut a long stroy short I entered the 50km option of the You Yangs 50/50. I entered 4 days before the event so gave myself very little time to prepare. All very silly but strangly exciting-for me at least.

The full report is here but briefly I had an absolute blast. Not alot went wrong and none of my regular injuries caused any trouble-I was worried about my achillies as I came thudding down the big stairs at around 49km's but there was nothing. The trails were fantastic, but alot more difficult that I'd anticipated. However I got through it in pretty good shape and then earlier today did possibly the longest race report I've ever written! So far my biggest achievment in running. For once I am very proud of myself.

So now what? Melbourne marathon training will be starting very soon-a 36km run along the Warburton trail this Sunday in fact. I don't have a program as yet and am thinking of going without one-so far they haven't worked as planned. I'm thinking of just going out and doing my thing. One thing the ultra taught me is running can be alot more fun than I've been having! So I'm getting out, running and enjoying. I'll keep you posted.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly-again

Posted by wombatoutofhell, Jul 1 2009, 10:36 PM

The good:
The week after my last entry was great. I didn't really do alot of running-5km on Sunday and 7.6km (5:30) on Tuesday. I'll get to my long run in a minute. I also did an hour of swimming, 2 pilates sessions and a group personal training session. All good.
Sunday (21st) I went on a lap of the Capital City Trail with Luckyguy. My aim was 30km at about 5:30 pace. This was to be my last long run before Gold Coast so I was keen to have a good run.

And a good run we had. The weather was kind and we managed a good pace. We did get slightly lost a couple of times trying to find the way around places where the track was closed (they'll finish the works one day) but that added to the fun. We caught and chatted with Mrs Wombat at one stage and also Solace a little later. At the end were were a few hundred metres shy of 30km so we over ran our finish point to bring it to 30. Average pace was 5:29 so dead on what I was after. Later on when I analysed the data, I realised that that time was including drink breaks-once I took them out it was 5:24 pace. There were some slow km's as well which I wouldn't normally have-when we slowed to chat, when we were unsure of where we were going-realistically I think we could have been even quicker.

Afterwards we joined a few other CR's for coffee. That's usually the best part of a run!

The Bad
After Sundays long run I had foot pains-in my right foot. The PF was also sore (left foot) but that I pay no attention to. The right foot pain was sort of in the heel/ankle area and was quite painful-however it went away in a couple of days. I had some bad thigh pains as well so couldn't run for a couple of days. That's Ok-I'm in taper.

I managed to pilates classes-and that was it for the week. I had a sore throat for my 30km run which got steadily worse and the week went on. It developed into a pretty bad cold which killed any hopes of training at all.

The Ugly
I've mentioned a few times about my plans to pace Dizzey in ethe Run Melbourne 1/2. Well that was last Sunday. I spent all Saturday in bed hoping for a miracle cure but was still feeling a bit seedy when I got to the event. I thought I'd be Ok for a 2 hour 1/2 though.

After the first couple of km, it was evident Dizzey wasn't up for a quick run either. We settled into a pace that felt ok for her. She told me to go run my own race as she wasn't up for the PB but I stayed with her and the way I felt later I'm glad I did. I was fine for the first 1/2 but started to lose in in the 2nd. To make matters worse I was getting a very sore right foot-a different pain from last week though. I kept going but found I was really struggling. My time was 2:26:20-Dizzey was 1 second faster.

The rest of the day my foot was killing me-I have no idea what caused it but it felt like if was being folded in 1/2. And then it went from bad to worse. I was limping out to the car when I slipped in the edge of the concrete path, twisting my right foot. As a result the sole of my foot hurt right down the full length of the outside. I iced both injuries and massaged but no good-I was more than a little worried.

It was still killing me the next morning so I tried something different-I took my orthodics out and used my current runners. This worked pretty well so I used my boots without as well. I did this for 3 days and have only just put my orthotics back in tonight. So far so good.

As a result, I haven't run at all this week either, although I have done a couple of pilates classes. Worse than that is I have no time left to work out what my problem is-is it a one off or is something wrong? Should I run with or without orthotics? Should I go back to my Nikes and if so use my old worn ones or get a new pair? I guess I'll decide by Sunday.

That's it for now-next entry will either be the triumph of Gold Coast or the failure. Stay tuned!

All Is Well

Posted by wombatoutofhell, Jun 14 2009, 07:24 PM

Another good week for me. I'm feeling better as each week passes and as such my enthusiasm for running increases. So does my enthusiasm for blogging-it's not even a week since my last entry!

Thursday I went out for an easy 10km. My program called for intervals but I'm not really ready for dedicated speed training yet. I actually called it a fast/easy run in my training diary as I ran 10km in 51:25 minutes at 5:08 pace. Alot faster than planned but I was feeling good. I did have a little shin pain in my right leg-hopefully not a return of the shin splints I had last year. Also a new pain in the arch of my left foot-something to keep an eye on.

Saturday afternoon I had my long run. I was curious as to how I'd go being I was pretty tired allready-I had about 5 hours sleep the night before, was up at 5:00am, worked from 6 till 12:30, watched a bit of tv and left for my run at 3:30pm. I'd worked out a route of 34 to 36km depending on which options I used. I hadn't run this before-and alot of the route I had never been on but I assumed it was fairly flat. Slight miscalculation there. I was aiming at around 5:30 pace.

My first few km were a little quick-5:20, 5:15, 5:20, 5:28 (this was better), 5:23, 5:25. After that I settled and the next 18km were all between 5:25 and 5:35 apart from km 8 which was slower at 5:38. All good and felt fine. The 1/2 marathon distance was at just under 1:55:00 (good news for Dizzey-I can do it!).

After that I slowed a little. I was getting fatigued but still felt pretty good. I knew there was a slight uphill at this point and thought that might be why I was slower-the effort felt the same. The next 4km were 5:42, 5:29 (on pace) 5:38, 5:38. That takes me to 28km. At this point I found a hill I hadn't realised was there. I also know I was starting to struggle-and I was getting some annoying stomach churning which felt like going to dangerous mode. So I chose my shorter option and kept going. My last splits were 5:53, 5:58, 6:00, 5:50 and 6:03. I really lost it towards the end. It's funny because at 27km I really felt like I could finish a marathon distance. That seemed less likely towards the end. My time was 3:04:03 for 33.06km @ 5:34 average pace. Not bad.

I'm not dissapointed in the run-in fact I'm pretty happy with it. There were alot of things against me as allready mentioned but also I didn't take any gels, I didn't hydrate or fuel very well in the morning, I only drank about 800ml of sports drink while running and I'd run 42km less than a week earlier. I also had alot of pain in my left glute and my feet were killing me. I think the glute was caused by the severe camber in the road as if I ran on the other side of the road it lessened. Pity it was dark and no paths so I was running on the right so I could see what was coming.

Tonight I decided to do a slow recovery run-I've been stiff all day. I went out and did 5km @ 5:40 pace. A little faster than I'd wanted but everything seemed fine and I thought I was running slower. None of the pains that got me yesterday were a problem today but I did have a little pain in my right ankle.

Including Tuesdays run that I had in my last entry, my weeks kms were 54.5. I'm feeling good and confident. I'm not in my best shape yet but I'm getting there. Taking into account everything that happened on my long run and the underprepared way I went into it, I'm starting to think that a sub 4 might be possible at Gold Coast. I'll see how next weeks long run goes (about 33km again) and decide on my marathon plan then. I also realised that this long run was my longest without a stop since Auckland so maybe if I allow walking through drink stations it might help. Who knows, maybe I'll aim for a PB-what have I got to lose?

It's All Coming Together

Posted by wombatoutofhell, Jun 10 2009, 12:06 AM

Another good week. The plantar fasciitis no longer bothers me when I run although I am still aware of it. Even when not running it's mostly under control-hopefully it wont be long before it's gone altogether.

Training is going well. Tuesday I ran 10.7km @ 5:16 in my new shoes (New Balance 1223) but without my orthotics just to see how it went. There were various little niggles along the way but I think if I ran without the orthitics all the time these would go away. However, these shoes are way to big without-my foot was sliding about quite a bit. A good run.

Thursday I decided to do a faster run so 5km @ 4:46. This time I tried the 1223's with the cheap of the shelf orthotics I use in my workboots. This actually worked pretty well once I got used to it-the first km was a bit uncomfortable. Finished in good shape, although I doubt I could have gone much further.
Sunday was the Old Melbourne Marathon Fat Ass. It was a small group but that suited us fine. I'll spare all the boring details-I have a report on the thread if anyone's interested. Briefly I was planning on running as much as I could. I would have been happy with 30 km or so but due to the easy pace I managed to go the full distance-42.85km on my Garmin. Average pace was 6:32 so pretty easy. The last 850 metres was done at 5:08 pace so had a bit left. The time was 4:40:21 with a further 36 minutes or so stopped for drinks and snacks. A total of 5:16 on my feet. The hardest part was the stopping and starting-it's very hard to start again after a 5 minute break. Once moving again I was fine. I had hip flexor pain for most of the run but it never got to painful so I just put up with it. No PF pain at all-at times I forgot it was there. I wore the 1223's again with my normal orthotics. Recovery has been good-some upper thigh pain yesterday and today but that's it. This is the first long run I haven't worn my skins for since I started training again as well.

That run has done wonders for my confidence. I now know I can go marathon distance again, I know I can spend over 5 hours on my feet (remember I'm hoping to do an ultra later in the year) and I know my new shoes are working for me over a long distance. I also know that my speed is coming back although I doubt It will be back in time for Gold Coast. I'll be happy with about 4:15 there.

Tonight I went for a quickish 6.7km @ 5:12 pace. It was pouring rain for much of it with an ice cold wind and some hail. The temp was 6 degrees according to the screen in the real estate window-but that wouldn't take the wind into account. Now while this might seem like a nasty run, I actually loved it. I wore my old shoes (Nike Structure Triax) this time. Stepping back into the Triax after the 1223's made me realise just how much the cushioning had gone in the former. I looked it up earlier-they've done just over 400km -I didn't realise I'd been running that much. I've retired them for short runs only.

Only 3 1/2 weeks until Gold Coast. I have 2 30km runs planned for before then as well as a 1/2 marathon the week before. I'll be running with Dizzey for the 1/2 trying to get her to her goals. She thinks I'm doing her a favour but really it's the other way around. By running with her it will keep me from going to hard so I'm fresh for the marathon. So I get to run an event I love without risking the white line fever I get everytime I see a start line.
I'm really looking forward to Gold Coast now!