June 2007 Running Statistics

June Km's: 290 (last year 312)

Year to Date: 1623 (last year 1493)

Niggles/injury: A bruised lower leg from indoor football. Not an injury but 'aware' of my hip flexors & abductor region, still sore ish since the 16k XC.

Races: 16km XC at Geelong

Upcoming races: Ekiden Relay & State XC Champs

Goals for Jun: consolidate & build for a HM in Sep

General thoughts: It would be nice to feel the sun whilst running, it would also be nice to run without having to do a load of washing everytime, singlets, shorts & socks are so much easier that all of these other items of clothing.

Sat 30 Jun 07, Little Aths rabbit work and a light arvo run

With my mood of last night I tried the concept of 'let the world go by' and I was in bed quite early... :-( OMG what has become of me, Friday night, single and in bed before 10pm! sad


Today Little Aths was at Riverbend, a very flat course, which is great the week after a tough Region XC race. I arrived 8.20ish, so I jogged 2 laps of the 1k course, with a few of the older kids joinging me on the second lap. I picked up C & D's Region Certificates, Declan finished 9th and Connor finished 10th, both were very excited to get a certificate for running, their first! :-)

I chatted with all of the kids & most of the parents from my squad today as a group. I congratulated the kids who raced at Regions and told them all that my 'run of the day' at Regions was Kaitlyn A, she finished 11th in her age group which confused some of the kids as they had finished top 3 etc. Which was a great way for me to explain that winning is NOT everything, effort and exceeding expectations counts for so much! I reminded the kids that Regions were a big thing and today some may struggle for motivation etc, I asked them all to enjoy the flat fast course and not worry about today at all!

I ran as the 'rabbit' for the U6-8's, Connor (the little so & so) started the 'boo chant', all of the kids know me so well they like to get the 'boo chant' going and today Connor started it... :-) AS per normal I stopped around the 3/4 area and then encouraged all of the group I knew by name, which is the large majority.


This arvo I was meeting Clare at Riverbend for a run, hoping that she was fine, but not to be. I arrived early and ran for 10 minutes prior, around the 5 min pace, I then jogged with Clare and did a few stretches.

Fri 29 Jun 07, no run today

Well today started off well, I turned off my alarm last night and allowed myself to wake naturally, 7.30am, nice! I left home right on 8am and was parked in St Kilda Rd at 8:32...wow! But thats where the good part of the day ended!

As well as work being work... I signed all of my Family Court paperwork today, signed over the house etc; sadly annoyed a friend; had a BIG & loud disagreement with my boss, ended up being a rude so & so to the 2IC & my assistant; and then to finish off a day which I would have liked to go home early from I had to endure my quarterly hospital check up and finally got home after 8pm.

Oh well, I suppose it can only get better tmw.

Thu 28 Jun 07, the Tan & faster intervals

With my normal fartlek session cancelled this morning I thought I would stick to doubling up with a very light session and then something a little harder. So I arrived in the city before 6:30am and jogged a slow lap of the Tan in 19 minutes, somehow I dodged all of the rain and it wasn't too cold either, but I did keep my jacket and Skins on, but overall it wasn't too cold.


Throughout the day it became apparent that a few non regular track trainer guys were going to be at the track. Strangely I went from setting my session and expecting to do so by myself, but I ended completing with a group of six. Randall, George (Willi AC), Cam, Luke, Cookie & me, also Darren & Bec were doing 800s. My session was what we went with, 8x400m 82 sec per lap for me with a 200m float.

We all started together, Luke was given retraint orders and I knew I would sit at the back. The float was a good float, but I would have preferred a tad slower, so after 4 reps I changed from the 200m float to a diagonal float as we were running approx 10:15 3k pace but I wanted to take advantage of the pack and stick with them on the reps.

Splits:
83 66
82 61
83 65
83 64
82 60
80 62
82 61
78

After we finished I placed on some extra clothing and then ran 4 laps of the track in lane 4/5, some chatting, stretching and then off to a meeting/dinner to organise our Coliban Ekiden Relay teams (good elevation graphs). This year is quite different, normally I just go with the flow, but as one of the 'coaches' now I actually get a say, as well I am the Club Winter Manager and love to be involved.... :-) Due to injuries it looks like I have 'just' squeezed into the Div 6 team, which sadly will mean the easiest leg as that goes to the slowest runner, I was looking forward to be being the number 1 or 2 in Div 7 and getting one of the BIG legs. :-(

Wed 27 Jun 07, indoor football & S2F training group

Funny day here in Melbourne, most of the day the temp gauges showed 12 degrees but Weatherzone was saying the 'feels like' was 7.2 degrees and that was at 2pm! Anyway that's what clothes are for!!!

Played soccer at 12pm, we had no subs and it was a tightly contested game, so a great workout and I was drenched in sweat, thank goodness we were inside.

Left work at 5:15pm, jacket, LS top, singlet and long Skins pants. I jogged a lap of the Tan and then made my way to Fed Square for the Training Group, where I took the 5k group so I could leave early for the AV Summer AGM.

Even with this very ordinary weather I had 12 participants in my 5k group, very surprised. After the run I did some basic stretching and then jogged back to work, showered and changed and then off to Olympic Park to act as a voting delegate for my Club at the Summer AGM.

Tue 26 Jun 07, track session

At the office just before 7am, busy day and only a short break for lunch, thankfully out of the office by 4:30pm. Another cool night and drizzle is on the way, 11 degrees at 4:55pm.

I started off with 2 laps of the Complex in so many clothes I felt like an eskimo, some dynamic stretching, then I dropped some clothes, changed to my flats and did 5x100m strides. I then dropped my jacket and started the session of 4 x 1200m. I was aiming for 92 seconds per lap with a 90 sec recovery, I decided I would have a longer break as the 16k XC wasn't too long ago.

With long skins pants, ls compression top and top & shorts I was all decked out in black, which is not a normal colour for me.

Splits:4:41, 4:41, 4:39 & 4:40 all with 89-90 sec recovery. The session was solid but not hard, but the entire time I felt funny in the hip region, ever since Sat I have noticed that my hips and glutes etc where very tired on Sunday and since have felt 'different', not sore and no pain, but I am aware, esp when running.

I finished off with two slow laps in lane 8 in reverse and then 10-15 minutes of stretching & chatting whilst watching Clare complete her session of 400/600/800/800/600/400, 10 sec per lap faster than her 10k pace with 60 sec recovery, extremely well done tonight and she had the extra hassle of constant drizzle and the wind picking up.

Tagged, bloggers getting to know each other

Well Jo attempted to tag me, but she named me fourth so I refused to respond as everyone was only picking three people, but ajh tagged me fairly and so here are my one word responses (I might cheat and use more than one word) but being true to myself I will not tag anyone.

1. Where is your cell phone? Pocket (vibrate ;-) )
2. Relationship? nup
3. Your hair? messed
4. Work? Administrator
5. Your sister? three
6. Your favourite thing? money
7. Your dream last night? no comment
8. Your favourite drink? Vodka Lime & Soda
9. Your dream car? BMW
10. The room you’re in? lounge
11. Your shoes? Ugg boots
12. Your fears? Failure
13. What do you want to be in 10 years? alive
14. Who did you hang out with this weekend? bestfriend
15. What are you not good at? this
16. Muffin? yuk cake
17. Wish list item? money
18. Where you grew up? nomad
19. The last thing you did? meeting
20. What are you wearing? trackies
21. What are you not wearing? contacts
22. Your pet? none
23. Your computer? HP Notebook
24. Your life? single, separated & divorced
25. Your mood? reserved
26. Missing? ?
27. What are you thinking about? hmmm
28. Your car? Honda Euro
29. Your kitchen? rental
30. Your summer? boring
31. Your favourite colour? purple
32. Last time you laughed? today (not really sure)
33. Last time you cried? no comment
34. School? left 1984
35. Love? Yep

Mon 25 Jun 07, Little Aths coaching & a short run

At the track for coaching at 5pm, a nice easy session for the kids tonight with the majority racing yesterday, so a casual w/up including dynamic stretching and a few strides (which I watched from the side and front on). We played a stack of little games with med balls and then some fun relays, finishing up with some static stretching.

Finishing just after 6:10pm, quickly home, dropped my track pants and went for a casual stroll from home, just over 6k in 30 minutes, shower, soup for dinner and then off for a committee meeting.

A very easy night, actually much easier than what I set the ladies I coach, hmmm maybe I needed to do a bit more.

Sun 24 Jun 07, recovery

Today was another trip out to Geelong Eastern Park Gardens, watching Little Aths Region XC racing, in particular C & D but also another 10 kids from my squad who were racing. From yesterday's race (finished 68th in the O40 category & much further down the overall) I was a little stiff, especially in the hip region. My legs were ok, a tad sore in the knees but nothing much really, butoverall I was tired and I knew I wouldn't be wanting to run hills today, so no YY.

Watching races and moving back and forth for a few hours involved a bitof running and that was enough to loosen the legs and for me to realise I was tired, overall I would have easily run 3-5km.

The kids ran well, as a group they all ran very well and I think they all walked away very happy!

The AV results have been posted, I finished last out of the Western Aths runners, 235th overall, 68th in the O40s. But best of all my Club had a good day out, Men Div 3 5th, Div 6 1st (that was my team), 5th in Div 2 women and 2nd in the U20 women. :-)

Sat 23 Jun 07, AV 16km XC @ Geelong

I arrived nice and early today because I wanted to watch the Western Aths U20 girls, we had four starters, one making her return after a 9-10 month rest due to injury. Western Aths is a bit like a family, we all know each other well and as a general rule we seem to provide a lot of encouragement to each other, enough for some of our new members to actually make a big mention of it at the past race.

Whilst I would have loved to watch the women's race and see how they are all going, I needed to start my own preparations, which is a bit sad as it would be great to just sit back and watch a complete race of our Club mates, I watched the start and watched the final 500m or so. Narz finished 6th behind some great runners who have International experience and it was great to see Georgie Clarke finish 2nd.


Strangely for an AV race we started 10-15 minutes late, I intended to run a comfortable first lap (4km) and thankfully David had the same intention so we ran together and chatted a bit and caught up on the general goss.All up I tried to maintain a constant pace and work the hills as I seemed to catch people on the hills. Overall a tough day at the 'running' office and I'm not a real XC fan, so I was happy to break my PB from 2005.

Splits:
18:04
17:57
18:12
18:13
Time 1h 12m 26s (PB 18 sec)




The graph doesn't show the actual elevation heights but it does show that the course had rolling hills.

Thu 21 Jun 07, morning fartlek & indoor football

This morning I jogged for ten minutes before meeting up for a light fartlek session which involved hill work. A fairly light session for me but it is a great way for me to loosen up and add a few kms to the training schedule.

A lunchtime game of indoor soccer, 2nd Vs 5th (that's us), a tight first half we were just behind 2-1, but early in the second half I started to become annoyed with one of the opposition who had been constantly acting as an 'unofficial' referee and so I told him to shut the f.up, well that went down like a lead balloon and within a few minutes the game became a 'heated' affair, he got red carded and I was asked to sit out and cool down, but could return. I came back on for the final 10 minutes and then got my legs taken out, it was crude but an accident, I know the guy, he was so apologetic but the game became 'heated' again until I calmed it down. But ouch my right shin was hurting a lot, so back off the pitch. Anyway, we got thrashed 9-2 we lost complete control of the match. Straight after the game I iced my shin, some big scratches and a definite bruise will appear, slightly swollen within 10 minutes.

Now 6 hours later I can see some discolouration and swelling, but I am sure I will be fine for Sat's 16km XC.

Wed 20 Jun 07, the shortest day (or is that tmw?)

Jogged for 15 minutes prior to arriving at Fed Square for the S2F Training Group, with a reduction in the running groups we were only offering one pace for the 5k, 2 groups for the 10k and the speed group. I took the 5k group, 12 participants tonight, with 2 who were obviously doing it easy and one who struggled BIG time, the rest were in a tight group for the majority of the time.

I took the group around Fitzroy Gardens, over to the MCG, the faster ones in one direction and the slower ones in a different angle, this helped to regroup everyone at the 3.5k mark. When we returned I took the group for a stretching session, which seemed to surprise the group, so I found out later from the girl who manages the desk the majority of the 5k leaders don't bother with the stretching afterwards, she said "they liked you", funny what I think is normal, others find it a chore.

Jogged for 15 minutes afterwards to add in a few extra kms.

Tue 19 Jun 07, Declan's 6th birthday

Finished work a little early so I could spend some time with Declan on his birthday, as per normal a little boy with a BIG family circle got lots of toys, so boring old dad got him a spiderman hoody, some Transformer undies and some Aussie Rules collector cards.

Melbourne are having a cold snap at the moment and whilst the majority of us are complaining that it is 'freezing' I think all we need to do is look at an European winter to realise its cold but not to bad. But saying that I arrived at the track just after 5pm and it was 8.5 degrees and the wind was picking up. Training by myself I decided I would do my warm up on the track tonight in lane 8 and I ran clockwise for 6 laps.

Tonight I wore my new shoes, nice weight and not a bad feel for a first time wear, I did my reps tonight with them on. Reps were 400/400/600/600/800/800/600/600/400/400 @ 95 sec per lap with 1 min recovery (30 sec walk, 30 sec jog).



Splits:(all recoveries between 55-60 sec)
1:34
1:33
2:23
2:22
3:15
3:15
2:21
2:21
1:29 (starting to build)
1:19 (deliberately faster, but still controlled)

Finished with a few laps of the track, happy with the session, controlled pace and no probs with the wind or cold.

Mon 18 Jun 07, a recovery run

Hmmmm a little bit cool today, not sure of the top temp in Melb today, but it was cold. I checked Weatherzone at 3pm and it was 9 degrees in the city and 9.2 at Hoppers.

I arrived at the track at 5pm to coach the Little Aths kids in my group, after a long warm up I took them through a running circuit with hopping, jumping, hurdling and bounding.

After this I took C & D home and went over to Clare's place, we ran together for 35 minutes, a great recovery run, bloody cold!!! And then had dinner at Clare's whilst watching her husband & mate set up the new plasma screen.

Legs were a little tired from yesterday, but not to bad. Very happy I made the decision that I made.

Sun 17 Jun 07, Run to the G events

An early start arriving at Fed Square at 6:45am, a quick chat with a few friends and on the line to see how I would go, the intent was to run well but not hurt myself (not very well thought out really). Of course if you want to run lots of kms at a pace between 4:08-12, you will eventually be working and I had talked myself out of the race before it had even started according to some smart people.

I started well but withdrew early, splits; 4:05, 4:05, 4:08, 4:08, 4:07, 4:08, 4:09. Deciding that it was more work than I really wanted I pulled off the course and walked for a while, but as I got cool I decided I would jog, go in various directions I ran for 35 more minutes before returning back to Fed Square. Changed into my sponsored uniform for Pacing duties. Then caught up with ads (his g.f ran the 5k event) and we took off for a 30min run, which was along the river and a lap of the Tan.

Next up was the 10km race at 10am (started 10 min late), I took up my position at the front of the 50 min sign, too bad 1000s of others didn't look at the signs and gauge their own pace. Without going on too much about this, lets just leave it at, "if I was chasing a time, I would not be using a big event to do so". I did my duties with a handful of people running alongside and following me, our pacing was all over the place, but it wasn't my fault (IMHO), I crossed the line on 49:42.




Caught up with friends afterwards, Narelle (2nd in the 10km), Tegan who PBed and Clare who was also happy with her run.

Fri 15 Jun 07, a prelude to the Run to the G

Yep an Undies Race at Fed Square! For whatever reason S2F decided they would organise an Undies race on the Friday night before the Run to the G, all donated monies went to Oxfam. Over the past week or so I ummed & arhed over this, would or wouldn't I??? To be honest I always guessed I would chicken out and not worry about it, typically I would come up with an excuse and find something more important.

Friday night comes, I have fav pair of boxers on and I have a LS Adidas top and runners and go to Fed Square (everything in a back pack), but I am still not confident on starting, I wander past the gathering place and instead of chatting with Terry O'H I move up to Fed Square. Eventually there are a few faces I know and I moved over to the spot, a phone call from Clare (who I'm meeting up with later for a beer before her dinner date) suggests to break out of my comfort zone (which is true) and then a couple of other pace leaders rock up, but I discover they are viewing not running.

Oh well, jeans off, runners on and wearing my boxers I hit the start line with another 15 or so people. We had to run about 150m along the river and then turn back, we took off as a group, turned and then about 80m away a couple of the guys took off, so I chased and moved up into third and one myself some boxers (fitting) and had my jeans on within 30 seconds, well it was cold.. :-)

Thu 14 Jun 07, a morning run and indoor football

Thursday mornings I normally meet Clare for a fartlek session, but she is off colour so she cancelled last night, which was a good idea, running when unwell generally makes the prob last longer.

I decided I would stick to the norm and went into the city just before 6am parked my car and took off for a run just before 6:30am. A little bit chilly (understatement), according to my car temp gauge it was 3 degrees. I had a stack of clothes and they were all needed, even a beanie this morning, but no gloves. I ran from work up to Fawkner Park and then strolled around on the paths until I hit 15 minutes. I then stopped and did some dynamic stretching and some drills, high knees, bummies etc and then 4 lots of strides (20 sec).

I then decided I would do some longer strides (reps), not knowing any markers I decided I would run at approx 1k pace for 2 min x 4 with 60 sec of gentle running in between, all on the paths in various directions. After the last rep I jogged back to Vic Barracks and then did some stretching in the gym. By the time I got back I was just starting to feel warm, looking in the mirror it looked like I was sun burnt, my face was sooooo cold. :-)


Indoor soccer at lunchtime, finally a win, 9-3 :-))

Wed 13 Jun 07, S2F group

I left work at 5:10pm, dropped my bag at my car and then ran easy for 30 minutes before arriving at Fed Square to take the medium 10km group. Tonight Rupert & I took the group over the official course, my group finished the 10k comfortably in 53 minutes. The Nylex clock said it was 9 degrees at 6:30pm, so a cool evening here in Melbourne.

I stayed for the stretching session with Randall and then stayed around chatting with some of the participants who use to train in my group but predominantly do the speed session nowadays. Jogged back to my car afterwards. 17-18k for the evening.

Tue 12 Jun 07, track session

At the track tonight to train by myself, but at least I had someone to warm up with. Starting my warm up right on 5pm, 11 degrees... I took off for 3 laps of the Complex with young Justin joining me for the final two. I did some dynamic stretching whilst chatting with Burkie about my plan for the upcoming w/e, then onto the track for some drills and then 4x90m strides, where I started at 10k pace and continued to get faster every 10m, jogging back and then turning immediately.

Quite cool tonight I kept my jacket on for the first rep, 4x1000m was the plan, but I decided after 200m I would do 5x800m instead (no real reason, just did). Rep times were excellent; 3:05, 3:05, 3:05, 3:05, 3:06 & 92. Yep I decided to do a final 400m, no real reason and no real purpose, just did. I then completed a lap of the complex with Clare for my c/d and her w/up.

Then changed and sat down to stretch for 10 min whilst watching Clare completed my set session (600/500/400/300/200 all the same pace with 90 sec recovery).

Mon 11 Jun 07, recovery run

Enjoyed a sleep in until 8am, then read for 60 minutes and then finally out of for a recovery run on the local roads, 20 minutes out and then return in 19:55, good pacing. :-) According to Google maps I ran 9.2km, so maybe not a great recovery run, a tad quick.

This morning I counted my paces for one minute on three occasions, 175/178/176. Stretched for 15 minutes whilst watching the morning news, you just have to love public holidays and the extra time it gives you.

Sun 10 Jun 07, You Yangs & Hoppers

A very cool morning, 4 degrees when meeting at the front gate of the You Yangs at 8am, I had a car load of girl/women who all believed that it should be against the law to run in this weather, but of course they were all there voluntarily :-)

Clare & Michelle took off with Lexie & Allison fo 45 minutes, myself, Tegan, Adam, Bec & Darren took off to the Turntable CP, so tackling the gentle grind of a hill for 2.8km, then all of us went down onto the Branding Trail Loop. Back at the car park we all regroup, toilet, drinks etc and then strolled along Rushworth Rd which has some small rolling hills that build after a few kms, but myself, Bec & Tegan took the turn off to Big Rock and allowed Adam & Darren to continue on for 90 and we made our way back to the front gate, arriving mid 58s Bec then continued on for 20 minutes on the horse trails as she wasn't in the mood for tackling big hills.

As Clare & Michelle had appointments, I decided 60 at the YY would be suffice and then I planned to run 60 in the evening, but on return to Hoppers I decided I would be guaranteed if I did it know and only a maybe for the arvo, so I strolled my 10k course in 48 min and then ran for 6 min away from home and then back to make the hour, so over 23k for the morning. Today was my first run in my Skins for the winter, its officially cold.... :-)

Sat 09 Jun 07, Little Aths & a couple of runs

Little Aths were at Wyndham Park, chatted with nearly everyone in my squad before their race and a couple after their race, some very happy runners. I ran as the rabbit for the U6-8 race, as per normal I ran until the 750m mark and then pulled off the course to provide encouragement for the finale, I then followed the last two girls into the finish.

After all of the races I went for a 35 min run with Clare along the river from Wyndham Park, running along the trails and on the grass to keep off the paths. From there I drove home and then took off for a 10k run from home, cruising pace and finishing in exactly 45 min. A nice morning for a run, 12 degrees, no wind and lots of sunshine.

Fri 08 Jun 07, I changed template

A month or so ago I changed over to the Beta format because Blogger.com made me but honestly there was little change and and a few tweaks were actually an improvement, BUT, today with too much time on my hands I decided I would change the template and as a result I lost my kilometres table and I haven't worked out how to place it into the new blog template....

Until I sort it out (I have my previous code saved on my laptop) I will update this table to keep my tally up to date and move it to each Sunday's posts.

Edit Note: the monthly tally has gone and has been succesfully moved over to the -->
After wondering why I couldn't see the icon onhow to post more page elements I discovered via the help page that my blog template was appearing in the www2 and some icons don't work there, delete the 2 and all is fixed. So I actually now like the beta system heaps more than the previous, a lot more user friendly and I have discovered reading the help page there are a lot of other things I can do, so lets see where I can go over the next few weeks. :-)

______________________________________________________

I forgot to post my Fri run, I took off from home 10 min gentle, 10 min at HM pace, 10 min at 10k pace, 5 min at 5k pace & finished with 8 min gentle to cool down. Then 10 minutes of stretching inside.

Thu 07 Jun 07, light fartlek & indoor football

I ran from work to Fawkner Park (over 1km) to meet Clare for her fartlek session, a good solid session for her, improving each week. Of course this gives me a few kms in the legs in the morning which should be a part of doubling up, but with a game of indoor soccer at lunch (only 4/5 players) and a big few days before I have found that I was very tired and I skipped tonight's track session.

Legs tired, knees tired, a few sore spots in the hip region and just overall tiredness. And with work shitting me off it makes one upset Stu.

Wed 06 Jun 07, S2F Training Group

I left work at 5:30pm and jogged around for 17 minutes on the grass around the gardens between work and Fed Square and then made my way to Fed Square for my group. Tonight's run I thought was a touch too long, I suspect the course was closer to 11.5km, but google maps has the course at 10.8km. My group finished in 65 minutes and I don't think we were running 6 min pace. All four ladies managed well and all stayed for a good 10 min stretching session. All four are running their first HM or first 10km race next Sunday so they really enjoyed listening to my opinion about what to do between now and Sun week.

Tue 05 Jun 07, a shit track session

Warm up on the track tonight, 4 laps in in lane 8 in reverse, a few drills and then some light stretching. Session with Adam K, hoping to run 600/800/1000/800/600, 90 sec per lap with 45 sec break (with a plan to let that out to 60). In hindsight, some strides would have been good.

Within 400m I knew my legs were still VERY heavy and hitting 90 sec per lap was not going to happen tonight and completing my set session wasn't happening either.

Splits:
2:17 (600)
2:56 (800)
1:29 (400), rested 30 sec then ran 200m in 46
2:20 (600)
2:20 (600)

Finished off with 4 laps and 10 minutes of stretching whilst watching Clare & Carly complete the session that I set.

Mon 04 Jun 07, the Tan

Out for an easy run of the Tan at lunchtime, the first lap was right on 18:00, legs surprisingly felt good, but today was just about letting the legs roll over. I looked at my watch after 1km to make sure I was still on time for a similar lap, as I wanted no stress, finished my second in 18:01, freaky.


Tonight I coached my Little Aths group, then home to eat and then off to a Werribee Little Aths meeting, knowing it would be a long one as it was the first meeting after our AGM, back home after 11pm. A long day.

Sun 03 Jun 07, You Yangs

I arrived at the You Yangs just before 8:30 with a car load, Cam, Luke & Michelle (first timer at YY & with my group), as we were driving down the road I saw Troopy and a few of his normal group strolling along the dirt trail back towards the car park. After a few minutes the Geelong group came into the car park and picked up the 8:30 runners.

We waited for 10 minutes until all of the expected 60+ min runners arrived, I left after introducing Michelle to Clare and confirming with her that its an easy 45 min run, very easy.

Six of us made the trek up to the Flinders Peak cp, a tad too fast for me, 65 sec faster than last week and I already knew I was going to struggle today, but I decided I would reduce from 90 to 75 but I would walk up some of the big hills as I wanted time on my feet and wasn't to worried about anything else. With a cold onset and yesterdays run I knew this was a good idea. After a toilet break at the the top CP we turned left and ran along Rushford, instead of turning right towards the 'saddle' we went left and made our way to the Stockyards. I struggled on any hill longer than 200m and was using a run/walk process to keep some form of good feeling in my quads. I continued on and finished off the final 30 min along the dirt trails near the Toyne Rd area and back to the front gate with Adrian, all up 75 minutes of good distance running.

Sat 02 Jun 07, Sherbrooke (Dandenongs)

I started the day early watching some Little Aths XC races and happily nearly every kid I coach, ran faster today than they did the last time they ran this course. Whilst I am not taking all of the credit for this as this was Rd 7, the last time at Presidents Park was Rd 1, so of course naturally everyone has got fitter. But the part that really pleased me was a lot of the kids beat other kids who were beating them a month ago. Also a break through, two who were not interested in running at the Regions in 3 weeks have now changed their mind and I have convinced (encouraged) one of the U14 girls to start with some gentle runs on Sundays to help her improvement. :-)


Today Western Aths made the trek (60+) to the Dandenong Ranges for our 'pack run'. Last night at our Coliban Relay planning meeting myself John & Burkie (3 coaches) decided we would force everyone to run together, enforcing pacing rules, which will help to teach the young ones how to pace and enjoy a gentle easy run. The plan was to pick a leader who would control the front and place the two who we think are having lots of 'going too fast' issues at the back. 10 min at 6 min pace and then slowly build into 5:30 and it was my job to ensure we never ran faster than 5 min pace.

Meeting at 2pm, I drove with three of the open women's team (Bel, Tegan & Clare). Due to a few later arrivals and then ensuring that everyone understood what we were doing and why, we took off at 2:30pm, a pack of 14 (noting I was the 2nd fastest in this pack). We started at the Sherbrooke Picnic Grounds and then run into the park. For anyone who has run the Dandy's before will now the surface, soft trails which can be muddy as there is a lack of sunlight due to the dense foliage, probably the second most popular running location in Melbourne (behind the Tan). A great run that went for 90 minutes and I think everyone was very happy, due to the early pace everyone (esp the juniors) were able to achieve the times that there coaches asked of them which was approx 15 min more than normal. :-)


You have to love it when a plan works..

Fri 01 Jun 07, indoor football

Another game of soccer during my lunch break, we missed the game last week so we had a catch up. To warm up before the game 3 of us decided to jog a lap of the Tan and then played. We played really well, but sadly we still lost, 5-4 :-(

Measurements to come tmw when I have a bit more time, off for dinner and a planning meeting for the Coliban Relays in Jul, my Club make this one a BIG thing and we have dinner and overnight accn in Bendigo to organise.

Blood tests came back all very good, iron, sugar, cholesterol (sp), everything all good...maybe it was just one of those things.