Running around the Riverbend Reserve

I decided no running this morning, I decided to enjoy a sleep in, all the way until 7am...and you just have to love school holidays, there are so less idiots on the road. I left home at 7:40 and was at my desk in St Kilda Rd at 8:10.... :)

This evening I met my squad at Riverbend at 4:45pm, a longer w/up than normal, then stretching, then we did 5x45 sec with a 30 sec float, before we made our river crossing and ran as a group for 2km before re-crossing the river. I then split the group, the younger ones run the short way back and I took the faster group the long way home... :)

All up just over 6k of running and then 2x1 min planks, max push ups (62, the kids were impressed, so was I) and then a slow jog back to the kids mums & dads.
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Monthly Stats:

241kms of running, by far the biggest month for the year and I actually felt like a runner this month.

614km YTD, which is still very sad as I would have been hoping to hit this number in the first or second week of Mar, but still it is moving in the right direction.

I still haven't introduced 'real'interval work yet, but that will be returning VERY soon. A few good long runs are becoming the norm again :)

No injures and a few kg have been moved and clothes are starting to fit better! :)

A morning run in Bendigo

From the Cathedral Hotel at 7:30pm a small group of Western Aths runners went for a 60 min stroll along High St, past the lake and then followed bike trails, hit 30 minutes and then turned back.

I knew this would be a bit harder than I would normally do, in the group I was the slowest runner, I was up late (but so were the others). Still 12k on a cold Sunday morning with Club mates was good.

My legs were tired from my attempted racing yesterday, some of my joints were very aware of the terrain and of course I was just tired from lack of racing fitness and still carrying a few extra kgs, but at least I am starting to feel a little fitter.

Coliban Ekiden Relay

A great event, a five person relay event from Harcourt to the Bendigo Aths track. I was selected (just) in the Western Aths 5th men's team, in Div 7 running the second leg. Starting with a BIG downhill and then 4k on a trail, sometimes dirt, sometimes rocks. The run finishes with a horrible uphill which I have never managed to run up (3rd time) and I knew with my current fitness and no racing since last November I would struggle BIG time.

And I was right, I walked, not once but many times, 29:19, but somehow not the slowest Div 7 runner and the team I ran in finished 7th/11.

As a Club we had a good day, Men Div 3 - 2nd, Men Div 5 - 4th, Men Div 6 - 3rd, Men Div 7 - 4th & 7th, Wmn Div 2 - 6th, Wmn Div 3 - 3rd, Wmn Div 4 - 3rd & 5th.

Aths Victoria decided to follow two teams with their You Tube camera crew, Western Aths we the chosen Club, so check it out, my head gets there a fair bit and even my son is interviewed too, AthsVic TV


The overnight trip in Bendigo was a great time to get to know some of the new guys who stayed and also catch up with lots of good friends. Home just after 1am after a good meal & a few beers.

A gym session

No running now until Sat afternoon, tired and feeling my joints so a few easy days.

Instead I meet a friend in the gym for a 50 min session, whilst she was on the tready I did 12 min on a bike, then lots of upper back, shoulders, arms, abs & core with some running on the basketball court and some push ups just for fun... :-)

Short 30 min run, indoor football & some stuff in the evening

I decided I would sleep in until 6am, so no morning run, but at my desk just after 7. An extended lunch meant I could run 30 min prior to football which was our first win for the season to go with our 2/3 draws.


In the evening I ran a 2k warm up with some of the kids and then drills and then 6x100m strides with the wind. I didn't involve myself during the reps tonight, I watched.

The Tan only

This morning I jogged a cruisy lap of the Tan and finished off with some push ups, tri dips on a bench, max push ups & 2 x 1 min planks.

After the Tan I did 15/12/10 sets of push ups & tricep dips on a park bench. Then with a 2 min break I decided I would have a go at maximum pushups after reading AJHs blog...sorry Andrew....54 and then the planks.

Albert Park Lake in the am & Wyndham Park in the pm

This morning I parked in the street behind work and started my run upto St Kilda Rd towards Albert Park. I ran around the Lake anti-clockwise, noting my speed going past the km markers. I would question the positioning of some of the markers, that is unless I can run 2:20 for 500m and then without slowing down run 3:05 for the next 500m???

A good run all up, good conditions, warm and not windy. According to MapMyRun I ran just over 9km in a pace of 4:40 per km.
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This evening I ran a lot with my group, we ran from the lake (empty) at Wyndham Park upto the bridge, crossed the river and we grouped, I sent the slower group off in one direction with one of the mum's and I took the faster group on the bike path past the bowling Club, then past the pool and then back to Chrinside Oval. All up an extra 1.5km longer warm up than normal.

We then ran 2 laps of a 900m loop course at a fast rate with a 3 min break, an easy jog and then some repeats on a short hilly course.

All up I ran just short of 6km tonight.
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Finally the Western Aths Team Manager (me) has released the teams and orders for this Saturday's race.

Geelong Eastern Gardens

I woke up feeling very good in the legs today after my 24k of running yesterday, happy. This morning I made the trek to Geeeeelong for the Western Metro Region Little Aths Champs with Connor & Declan and about 15 kids from my squad, ranging from an U6 to U15, many in the U8-12 group.

Basically for the 3 hours + that I was there, I was jogging with kids, running from vantage spot to spot, heaps of running. Lots of good results, many podiums, even a 1,2 & 3 in the U8 girls. Many will go on to the States in Warragul.

So lots of k's in the legs this weekend again, very happy with how the legs feel.

Woodlands Park Club run

I arrived at the Woodlands Historic Park (800ha park), just past the Melb A/port for a Sat afternoon Club run. We meet at 2pm, I arrived early & decided to do a 20 min loop to get a few extra k's into the legs and also it beat sitting in my car doing nothing.

Once all of the runners had organised what they were upto, chatting with their coaches, and we organised ourselves into like paced groups and took off. I was running 90 minutes with Michael, an U20 boy and a couple others decided to come for the ride. Michael was running VERY easy as he was preparing for the Western Region Vic State Secondary XC Champs on Wed at Ballarat.

An enjoyable run, generally chatting with Bel & Bec, we easily sat together as a pack of 6 for 90 min, lots of rises and hills, lots of BIG kangaroos today.

VPSSA State XC Champs

Five kids (not six) from my squad and my niece (11 year old) all ran great races today, all of the kids from my squad were experiencing there first Primary State XC Champs, Claire in Grade 6 was very excited to make it into the B race.

For those readers who don't know, each Region have 6 kids who progress to the States, the first 3 are in the A race and 4-6th are allocated into the B race, of course the flaw is, if you are from a very strong Region, then it is tough work.

I had three girls in the 9/10 A race, one in the 12/13 B race & one in the 9/10 B race. The best result on paper was Natalie in the 9/10 race, she finished 25th, but she was very much over-awed by the occasion, just over 100 kids on the start line in the A race and a sharp corner 150m into the race, she got knocked around and took some time to get going and then found herself in VERY unfamiliar territory and was back in around 50th after 500m.

All of the girls had various reasons for not running perfect races, but I am so proud of their achievements and I hope they continue to learn and grow. :-)
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I got a few km of running in, warm ups with kids and then jogging around from vantage point to the next vantage point.

NOTE: This was my 1000th post on my Blog...

Happy birthday Declan

7 years old today! A fish tank from mum, a scooter from dad and some Beanie kids from Connor & Kaelan, very happy and excited.
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I started the day in the gym at 6:30 with Tania, whilst she started with 12 min of stu torture on the the tready, I warmed the legs up on the bike for 10 minutes. Lots of shoulder and upper back work this morning, then lunges 3x15, with 3x12 single leg squats. Finished off with some glute, abdominal and core work. 50 min session which was felt great as an overall workout.
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No running today and no coaching tonight, I organised all of my athletes to have the night off or to do tempo runs away from the track. This meant I could spend a few hours with Declan and the boys on his birthday. I picked them up from school, this meant NO after school care. I took them for ice cream and we hung out in the warmth of the shopping centre, visiting the pet shop and the toy areas of Big W & K Mart, young boys favorites.
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No work on Friday, I'm off to Bundoora to support six kids from my squad who have qualified for the Vic Primary School XC Champs.

An active day

I was really tired on Tuesday night, I even fell asleep on the lounge before 10pm so I decided I wouldn't get up at 5:30 for my run and enjoyed a sleep in till just after 6am. With early meetings I decided I would have a short run before indoor football.

Thankfully working in a flexible working hours environment makes this all possible, soccer at 12:10, so I left work at 11:30 to change and then run for 30 minutes, then play football. I ran a lap of the Tan, going through each km marker in 4.30-45, after finishing a lap of the Tan the I crossed St Kilda Rd and ran a few laps around Vic Barracks, so I was close to the gym where the game was being played.

31 minutes of running and then a 40 min game of football with no reserves was a great workout. A close game between 6th & 8th, last (my team), 3-2 there favour. :(
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This evening a coaching session at the aths track with 12 kids, whilst waiting for arrivals I jogged 6 laps of the track and then ran another 4 with some of the kids. I did lots of 60m strides on the track and then the grass. Followed by some drills and strength work (lunges, hopping, jumping etc) whilst walking around the track, we then did 4x110m strides.

To finish off, the plan was 5x250m with 150m floats, I did the first 3 with the lead group and then ran the last 2 with some of the slower kids.
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A 60 min pilates session, the leg strength poses were great but tough and the abdominal work even harder. Noting that I have been doing more of the tougher poses during the past month.

Fawkner Park

This morning just over 5k around Fawkner Park, an entire lap and then cutting through the middle and back up the small hill just past the Primary School.


The evening was at the track with Jo, Claire, Steph & Mia, a combination of 600/800/1k reps, all the same pace, so the Jo & the girls worked together. I jogged various laps to warm up, to watch the session and so I could be aware of what my 3 sons were up too.

I'll start doing some speed/interval work in 2 weeks, my circumstances will have changed; firstly I will be fitter and also I will not be minding the boys.

Another day of training ticked off!! :-)

This evening I took the kids from my squad for a 8 min w/up jog along the Werribee River from Wyndham Park, the kids know the course, an out & back so they scoot along and I just run probably 5:30 pace and run along with the youngest ones. Some gentle stretching and then 60m strides on the grass.

On Friday, five primary school kids from the squad are competing in the State Primary School XC Champs and all of the group are competing in the Little Aths Region Champs in Geelong, so tonight was a little shorter, but a little faster. Three reps along a dirt path, just over 450m long with a rise for the final 50m, then a shuffle back, a couple minutes rest, then back again for a second and the third was only approx 400m (no rise). I started from the back, a 5 sec head start and then moving through the pack of 22 and giving encouragement, with one or two in front of me. The final rep I really tried to catch the leading Teagan, but she really got going and I couldn't catch a 10 year old girl......

The kids finished off with some short up & down hill work, but I only did the final rep, providing the encouragement of, "don't let the old man catch you!!!".
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After dropping Connor at home after training, I stopped at home to find my flashing arm light (affectionately known as my whore light) and I then went for a run around my local streets, 5.8km in 28:10. A nice run to blow a few more cobwebs out and then 10 min of ground stretching inside.

Note: yay, finally made 500km for the year...I still can't believe after 3 or 4 years in succession of running 3000km that I have only just made 500... :-(

You Yangs & Communion

This morning I meet a few guys from the Club at 7:30am, they like me, had busy days planned so an earlier start than the normal Sunday Club run. This mornings plan was 60 min, I knew it would be a bit faster than I normally would be running as all 4 are quicker than me and of course every time we came near a hill, my legs reminded me that I ran a few k's yesterday...

We ran a part of the normal Branding Road, then up the big hill to the carpark and then was we re-grouped (yep them waiting for me) we ran along Rushwood Rd (rolling hills), then turned left and made our way to GCD, ouch....once we turned right onto GCD we went up the biggest hill on the road, OMFG, I struggled and even walked a little (yes Jo, I walked...). Once at the top (with encouragement from Luke, who came back down to do it all over again with me) we moved off the road onto a small trail which went slowly upwards, gees there isn't many flat areas up in this area of the park.... Finally we got to the top of the hill and then back onto GCD and we made our way back to Toynes Rd, arriving in 60:03, amazing how we hit the planned time.

A nice mist of rain for the final 20 minutes and excluding some tired legs a really enjoying run. It has been a long time since I have been fit enough to run with these guys, even though they waited or came back for me after each decent hill I don't think I would have been able to stick with them on the flat 4 weeks ago. :-)


Connor's Communion today with all of his Grade 4C friends at St Peters Apostle PS.

Little Aths XC & a run along the Maribrynong River

This morning I took C & D to Little Aths XC, whilst they were playing at Presidents Park, I took a couple of the kids from my squad for a warm up jog, I then did my normal job as the 'rabbit' and ran the 1k race. Then a few more w/ups and taking all of the U10 & 9s out to their starting point, once their race started I jogged back to the start and jogged around the course doing a cool down with a couple of Burkie's girls. (3-4k morning)
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This afternoon our Club run was in Brimbank, many meet at various points along the river and everyone except me was running to the Brimbank Park. As I wasn't able to squeeze in a long run on Sunday due to Connor's Communion, I wanted to do at least 20k today, so I started at BP at 1:20ish and ran to Canning Reserve (10.5k) and meet up with a few of the U18 girls. My trip out was a little faster than planned, but comfortable, along the river there are a few km markers; 4:40, 4:48, 4:48, 4:54, 4:40, 4:38, 4:30, 4:32. I arrived before the others, so I jogged around the oval, had a toilet break and sucked down a gel. The run back was more relaxed, starting with 4:50, 5:01, 5:03, 5:09. I was running with 2 U18 and an 40 something lady who was working too hard, so I suggested that she drop off the pack and slow down and I was more than happy to run with her as I was more interested in time on feet, esp having already clocked up a few k''s. The next 4km were 5:33, 5:33, 5:35 & 5:40, but the final 3.5km were a lot slower as Christine's ITB was playing havoc and she was really struggling, but as this was her first time on this course I stayed with her.

All up 24km of running today and happily I feel great, no discomfort except for a rub mark on the back of my hip.

Tonight I made the trek into the city to watch the Wallabies beat the Irish at the Telstra Dome, great seats, close to the fence on the 22m line.

Circuit, indoor football & coaching

In the gym 6:30ish with Tania, lots of push ups, core work on machines, lunges with weights, one legged squats, upright rowing, shoulder presses, arm raises with weights, bicep curls and then more push ups and some variations of planks. A good 50 min session.

Indoor football at lunchtime, no reserves, so a really good work out, lots of sweating and not many goals. A game against the top team and with no reserves meant we got beaten by more than normal... :-(
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Only a couple of young teenagers at the track tonight, 10x200m after lots of strides, stair work and some basic drills.

A quick get away from the track as I was flying out of Melbourne at 8pm, flying to Canberra for a working Workshop tmrw morning at a Country Club on Northbourne Ave. Sadly a short trip, so no runs up Mt Ainslie or catching up with one of my best friends, Gem.

A morning run, coaching & pilates

This morning I ran by myself for just short of 60 minutes; I parked in Wells St behind work and ran up to St Kilda Rd and made my way to Fawkner Park, a quick toilet break and then returned back to the outside path and completed a lap of FP. Then I ran to the Tan and ran down Anderson St and immediately turned back up and ran to the top, then turned left and made my way to Walsh St, down and then up Punt Rd (toughest hill, down Walsh again and back up, down & up Anderson. I then continued on along the Tan until getting to Govt Dve, then over St Kilda Rd and around the barracks to my car.

According to MapMyRun the run was 11.5k at 5:10 pace. I enjoyed this morning, very pleasant weather and starting to feel a little fitter. Hopefully I will be able to build some fitness so I can start to think about racing with some quality in Sep/Oct.
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Coaching at the track tonight with my younger squad, minimal running for me, I did 2 laps and a few strides on the grass with the kids.


Finished the night off with pilates at 7:30pm for 70 minutes, not sure why we went longer tonight, but Narz wanted us to do a few more poses.

A morning trot, some ex and laps in the evening

This morning I trotted for 10 minutes before meeting Tania at 6:30am, we did a lap of the Tan, ran/walk in mid 25 min, another PB for her. Then did a circuit of push ups, tricep dips and step ups on a park bench, 10, 8 & 6 with a 30 sec break between sets. Then 30/30/30 sec side/front/side plank, 60 sec break and then a 60 sec front plank. A nice start to the morning.

My diet has improved dramatically in the past 4 weeks, cereal from home (no more breaky from the Cafe), fruit/yogurt for snacks, soup & 2 pieces of wholemeal and fruit in the arvo and 4-6 sports water bottles per day. Happy with the diet and already noticed many clothes are getting easier to wear. Yay
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Training tonight at the track, I started with 6 laps of warm up laps with Cookie and then Bel, then lots of 50m strides, some with Steph & Claire & one with Jo. The plan for tonight was 30 minutes of bends & straights, a couple of the kids did just short of 20 min, I probably did 20 min as I stopped to do Team Manager stuff (recruiting runners for Coliban).

Nice casual running today, just building and starting to feel comfortable and even starting to get comments from some who have known me for awhile, "starting to look fit Stu".

Queen's Birthday PH

Long run this morning as I couldn't get out on the weekend due to the boys staying over. I took Jo for a trip to the YY, we started from Toynes Rd and went straight onto GCD and up a hill, normally I would start with a lap of the Branding Yard loop, but I knew this would take the run over 90 and that more than I wanted to do this morning.

We ran on a trail which we had to go very XC and follow the wild goat trail which was barely visible, then back onto GCD and straight into a decent size hill, eventually we made our way to the Stockyard Trail where the Vic MTB Champs were last year, a testing course with lots of views. I then detoured onto the Quarry Rd, whilst I was waiting for Jo to get to the same point, after she had a small fall over a lump of gravel (more detail in Jo's blog), then up Quarry Rd which is a road that Troopy has always encouraged the Wes Aths guys to run up, which is a good test! Then I took Jo for a scenic trot (well I ran she didn't) up No Track Hill (so named by Buster), from here (274m) you can see Geelong, Melbourne etc. Back down to the Stockyard track and straight into a group of nasty rises which continued for 2k and a rise of 100m over that distance. All of the hills I pushed myself and turned back to run with Jo. An enjoyable run, over 12km of comfortable running where I worked the hills.

The graph below is the elevation of the course, the later hills take us past the area I have in the past referred to the Ned Kelly course as this is where a lot of the Heath Ledger version was filmed.


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Tonight I met my young group at President's Park at 4:45pm, we ran along the grass fields until getting to the river paths (8 minutes), then along the paths at various paces, re-grouping every few minutes. A few repeats up a few hills here and there. Overall a good session a few kids really worked VERY well.

Getting dark very early, so we cam e back in a little earlier than normal and finished off with push ups, planks & single leg poses (pilates).

70 minutes in the morning

I parked near the Shrine and ran for nearly 40 minutes around the Tan and then neighbouring parks. Clare arrived about 5 past 7, we then ran from the Shrine around Fawkner Park and some of the paths around the Gardens.

Not much running this weekend, the boys are staying for the weekend. So a short run is planned for Sunday evening and then a long run Monday morning at the You Yangs.

In the gym

In the gym early this morning, I hopped on the tready to warm up and did 2k at 11kph, then swapped with my training partner and did a few k's on the bike whilst she ran 1.5km. Then squats with elevated arms, squats on my toes, then lunges with weights and more squats x 3 sets. Next up was a pilates strength pose, I call it the T. Next bar bell upright rowing and shoulder presses x 3 sets of 15, then bicep & tricep curls.

To finish off we went to the mats to do PAC's, planks, push ups and side leg raises. Overall I felt tired today from the week's work, but a good tired! :-)

MacRobertson Bridge along the Yarra

This morning I ran from Wells St (the street behind VBM where I work), along St Kilda Rd, over the river and then along the river past MacRobertson Bridge and then back. I went a little faster than I had planned, but excluding the final 10 minutes it felt good.

According to MapMyRun, I ran 12.6km at an average of 4:41 pace.

A game of indoor football at lunch and coaching in the evening (but no running for me).

Training am & pm

6:30 I meet Tania on the Tan and we did our run/walk session around the Tan and she took 2:30 off her best time. After the lap we did push ups, tri dips, steps ups on a bench and the 30/30/30 side/front/side planks, a 30 sec break and then 60 sec of the front plank... BIG improvements for Tania.


In the evening at the track with my squad, whilst they did 2x1000m & 4x800m, I jogged laps in reverse so I could watch and also build up a few kms. All up 12 laps for me. I wanted to do a little more, but conversations and dealing with a few things caused me to cut short a few laps.

Sore legs, the Tan & Presidents Park

I woke this morning with sore tired legs, probably expected. Last night I went to sleep early, but thankfully Clare sent me a text asking if I wanted to run in the morning, I'm so happy that she did, it meant I got the legs rolling around for 25 min at 6 min pace, enough for me to get the blood following, followed up with stretching. We didn't run the Tan, we just picked paths in and around the Tan area...cold cold cold this morning.


In the evening I had my young squad at Presidents Park, after an extensive w/up we moved into the river area and did lots of short hill work, followed by running along the trails for recovery, a tough session for the kids, but no racing this weekend.

All up just over 8km today.

AV XCR08 Series, Round 4, 15km road race

Last year I ran this same course with two walking breaks due to a very sore calf in 1h 4m 31s, today I ran a controlled 1h 11m 51s. Today was my first run over 15km since the first week of January, so I'm happy that I could run and help my Club and due to one of the guys pulling out mid race my slow run actually scored as the last runner in our Div 6 team.

For those who don't run AV, the race is on a 4.9km looped road course at the La Trobe University, an undulating course. Today I wanted to run and survive, not race. The plan was for the first km to be 5 min pace and then sit around 4:50ish and just run an even paced run, kind of like a Sunday run, but a little faster.

5.03 4.56 5.03
4.37 4.53 4.48
4.53 4.56
4.44 4.42 9.55
4.29 4.33 4.14

5k Splits: 23.48, 24.01 & 24.02 = 1h 11m 51s

So happy to have got around, happy to have basically stuck to the plan and happy I helped my Club, with a small w/up and cool down, 17k for the day.

Mid arvo the results are already on the AV web site; Team results for Western Athletics are quite good, sadly a few runners pulled out this morning or late last night (4 open men, 2 U20 men, 2 U16 wmn), so a few teams less than we had hoped for. But today we won the U14 wmn & the U16 men, 2nd in U20, Div 5 & 6 men and 3rd in Div 3 men. Great results.