Gym work, some laps of the track & then pilates

A similar day in the gym, 10 minutes on the bike, then some back, chest and arms work with some core work and finished off with stretching. At the moment I am visiting the gym to try and tone up and start moving some of the soft spots on my body (handles etc), with pilates & some core work in the gym I hope it is starting. Whilst I can only run minimal I need to be doing something, so I try to make the gym work light, but high reps with minimal breaks.


This arvo I arrived for Little Aths General Training, set up and then jogged 3 laps of the track, 2 with Adrian, then 10 minutes later I jogged 2 laps with Melissa who I had organised some HJ work to assist with her prep for States. I took her through some drills and strides and then we grabbed all of the kids (who had warmed up with 2 laps) and did some stretching.


Pilates...just over a hour tonight, lots of good stuff, but OMG the last 15 min was tought, I reckon my abs will be quite sore tmrw.

Gym and some track time

Back in the gym at 6am, bike for 10 min, then some chest, shoulders, arms and core, all very low weights and lots of reps.


In the evening before going to the Vic Milers meet at Sandringham I ran 3 laps of the track in lane 8 and then did 15 minutes of drills, in particular ones working the hip flexor.

Then I set a session for 2 teenager girls I coach before leaving for the VMC meet with Pierre & Scott who were chasing times in 800m & 1500m races, as well Jo was meeting us there too, also chasing a goal time in her 800m. Another hot day and evening and at 7pm it was still 35 degrees with a slight northerly. Pierre chasing 2:05 missed, he looked very tired and seriously affected from a lot of aussie rules training, Jo raced in the first women's race which she had to follow a group of 2:15 runners, but she sucked it up and worked hard and ran a 3.8 sec PB. Final runner was Scott who wanted 4:30, but he looked out of sorts and never got close.

30 minute run - WOW

In the gym in the morning, chest, back and core for 40 minutes.

In the arvo I finished early and was able to get to the track at 4:10, so I took off on the Fed Trail, 15 minutes out. I made sure I took it easy, first it was my first 30 minute run since tearing my hip flexor and it was 35 degrees and the sun was bright and hot. The trip back was not pretty and I felt stronger on the right side, which is a strange sensation, no pain, but I'm not fit and the extra k's are making it even tougher.

On the trip back I crossed a km marker so I concentrated on my pace, 1km later 4:55, hmmmm, well I suppose at least I know I can run under 5 min pace, but it wasn't great.

I then jogged a couple of laps with my younger squad and then did 15 minutes of stretching with them. An easy session for them, lots of chatting about their w/e and just 4x200 at their 800m pace with a walking recovery and then some more stretching.

A BIG weekend of athletics

Hot hot hot and loads of sun and about 20 applications of sunscreen on Sat & Sun and thankfully no sunburn. Sat I started with a 15 min run and 15 min of stretching & rehab exercises. Then I spent the day at Corio for Little Aths Region Champs until 12pm and then dropped Connor back home (he ran a PB in his 200m but didn't progress to States) and then made my way to Doncaster for the Shield Final. Western Aths had 5 teams compete throughout the day, the underage teams from 9am to 2.30pm and the Open Divisions from 3pm to 7pm and the temperature got up to 34 in Corio and it felt hotter in the arvo at Doncaster.

The day was a good one as a coach and not as good as an athlete. Most of the kids I coach made finals and more than 75% automatically qualified for State Champs. As an athlete my Club had a vacancy in the 400m Div 3 team which I would have been eligible but couldn't help out, so I helped out throughout the day. In Div 2 we were missing many sprinters, sadly one sat at home because he didn't want to compete because he thought we had no chance so he wanted to concentrate on the individual side. Sounds harsh, but true! The Div 2 team finished 3rd and the Div 3 team 6th.
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Sunday started with a 20 min run on the roads from home and then off to Corio for Day 2 of Region Champs, Connor's 400m was at 9am, again he ran a great PB, 3.4 seconds but not fast enough to progress, but we knew that before arrival, it was for fun and the experience. The rest of my day as a coach was great and a learning day, lots of kids raced really well, the highlight of the day was a 14 year girl who ran an 18 sec PB in her 1500m and qualified for States for the first time. But the learning part was spending time with her after fainting 15 min after her race and then looking after her and then ensuring she was cleared by First Aid and then she competed in the 300mH 3 hours later and also qualified for States. :)

Lots of PBs in some very hot conditions, peaking at 36 today.

Just a short one

I started at 9am today and I REALLY enjoyed the sleep in, deliberately no alarm set and I woke right on 8am, WOW, felt great. Did 9-5:30 today and then stopped in at C, D & K's place to look after them for 90 min or so whilst Julie did a few things.

I then went for a 20 min jog, 10 min from home and then back, on roads. All felt good, no pain, but no speed either, but they be as a result of the excess that is being carried around these days.

Achilles - fine, considering I had 3 weeks of NO running in Jan and minimal in Nov & Dec, why is it still a problem, I am trying to get an appt with my physio to point me in the next direction.

Hip flexor - felt fine, no pain and no real discomfort, but I can tell it is still weak.
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So much racing happening at the moment, but sadly not for me as an athlete, just as a coach. Little Aths Region Champs for 16 athletes over 2 days and my Club has 5 teams competing in the State Club Championships and 2 of them are the men's teams which I would normally be involved in as an athlete and not as a 'stand in'Team Manager. As well I have organised for 3 athletes to compete in 800/1500m races in the Vic Milers comp at Sandringham on Tuesday evening.

http://www.vicmilers.coolrunning.com.au/

The aftermath & some morning stretching

Thankfully my achilles felt fine this morning???? Gym this morning and on the bike for 10 minutes, 10 minutes of core work and 10 min of leg stretching.


Coaching tonight, another new 14 year old girl in my group, Melanie. My running tonight was, I jogged 3 laps chatting with a Mich about her upcoming Region Champs & general stuff and 1 lap with Melanie & a girl from Burkie's squad.

Gym and some track time

In the gym before 7am, starting on the Freerunner for 12 minutes before I 'decided I wasn't in the mood for 'pretend' running. So I did 15 min of back and chest & then some core work, before finishing with 10 minutes of stretching.
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I left work early (3pm) for an appointment in Werribee, which meant I got to the track at 4:20pm, which gave me the opportunity to do some kind of a session. Plan w/up, drills, strides & 2x200m fast, c/down.

I started with 4 laps of the track on the dirt as my right achilles was sore, then some basic stretching before starting 15 min + of drills; marching, high knee skipping (doubles & singles), heel to bum (single & doubles) and then 5x60m strides were I tried to build the pace. I then walked 300m and stopped at the 200m start. The intent was to see how fast I could go and to test if I could fill an emergency spot in the Shield Final on Saturday if required (most likely required in 400m &/or 3000m). I started and I knew I was in trouble on the first step where I realised I didn't have the strength to power off the left...and stumbled out...still trying to go fast I struggled into the wind and the lack of fitness and power, crossed the line in 35.6. The intensity felt equivalent to a 30sec run... :-( I then walked 200m and took off again, this time starting with the opposite leg (which was better), but sadly everything else resembled the first rep, 36.2! Decision: no Shield Final for Stuart

Whilst I was disappointed, I wasn't surprised, but fuck (yes fuck) my achilles was very sore!!! Why, how, why, I have done f.all running, why is this still an issue. Ice and anti-inflams fixed the problem.

Gym, stretching & coaching

I got into the city nice and early today and was kind of thinking of going for a run, but decided I would skip the run and do some work in the gym, but minimal weights.

Lunges, lots of! Squats with dumbells - lots, crunches - lots, push ups and work on the fitball and then 15 minutes of stretching, esp hamstring, lower back, glutes and hip flexor.
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Track coaching tonight, I had six runners tonight from my group and I also looked after Burkie's group (10-15) too as he couldn't get to the track until after 6pm. With most of the juniors competing in the Shield Final or the Little Aths Regions this weekend most were just having a short sharp hit out.

A tready run & a gym session

In the gym nice and early, even though the weather was great outside, I wanted a very controlled run this morning. Starting on the tready for 500m at 7.5kph walking and setting the incline to 1.0 then I increased the pace to 10kph for 500m and then every 500m I increased the pace by 0.5kph finishing with 3.5km of running, managing the sub 5 min pace for a short period.

After the tready I jumped on the 'freerunner' machine and did 10 minutes of work there too before doing some upper & lower back strength work, some lunges and then finishing of with some core on a fitball and then the mats.
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Coaching tonight with my younger group, I ran a few laps before they arrived and did 15 minutes of drills trying to improve the strength and speed of the left leg.

State Open & U20 T&F and Youth State Relay Champs

C, D & K visited this weekend, Little Aths on Sat morning and then I spent a couple of hours at Olympic Park on Sat & Sun watching U20 800m heats (Pierre) and then a couple of relays (Michelle).

The boys enjoyed themselves, running around with other kids and K was fussed over by nearly every female under the age of 16, life is easy when you are not 2 years old, people feed you, carry you everywhere and of course just good old general fussing. :)




At the Champs I moved to near the starting area for the U16 4x400m relay, Michelle was starting so me & the three boys moved from the back straight. Tim Crosbie was laying in the infield (50m), I gave him a wave and he pointed his camera, this was the result, me & Kaelan.

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Western Aths had a great weekend, lots of socialising, lots of medals, lots of PBs and lots of barrier broken between squads, an excellent weekend.
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No running (except for a lap of OP with Pierre) but loads of walking up & down the stairs at OP and no probs.

My first lap of the Tan for 2008

A slow lap but a lap! I met up with Clare this morning just after 6:30am, I warned Clare that I was unsure if I could run the entire lap, slightly worried about Anderson St and just slightly worried.

We started just down from Govt Dve, slowly and the first 5 minutes I was actually more aware of my right achilles than my hip flexor. To be honest I am not happy with the achilles, in the past month I have done f.all running and the achilles is still an issue...grrrr!

We passed the Pillars (1k) and the achilles was as much of an issue and I could feel the hip flexor, but nothing to worry about, just aware. At the Anderson St cnr we stopped for a quick drink of water and then continued on, happily the hill was fine at this pace (which was exactly what I wanted).

Overall the run was good, 24 minutes for a trip around the Tan, very comfortable with only a slight pulling sensation. Stretched for approx 10 minutes and then walked to work and iced the hip flexor for 10 minutes whilst reading emails before showering.
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Physio at 5:30pm, he was very happy with the improvement and did lots of pushing & prodding. He said to me, "rightio Stu, you are an aths coach, tell me what you would set for an athlete with your injury for the next 14 days", he listened and then said excellent" and don't forget the exercises and the stretching everyday, that's your program", no more appointments. :)

Gym cardio session

In the gym this morning at 7:15 for a 45 min session. Overall feel, tired from not enough sleep (my fault), a few tender spots in the rib & stomach region (good pain), hip flexor feels ok to good, the spot on my heel is still there (which isn't good considering the amount of time off from running) and overall I could feel the effects of some work over the past few days.

So I started on the x-trainer again (planned for the tready but none were available), fat burner program again but this time level 20 for 10 minutes. Either the effects of yesterday or just because it was 5 levels harder I was more aware that I was working, but the hip flexor is NOT affected at all on this machine so I worked through the mind. Then I jumped onto a bike and did 10 minutes and worked up a good sweat, again this felt good.

After 20 minutes of cardio I did 10 minutes of weights, upright rowing, light bench press, shoulder press and then some lunges with 10kg weights. Then a few minutes on the fitball and then some crunches (PCAs) that we did last night at pilates and very quickly I discovered some very worked muscles.... all good!

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At the track tonight, coaching only. I have organised with one of the throwing coaches to do some sessions with a few of the 9/10/11 year kids (Teagan, Bailey, Demi & Maddie) who are throwing discus at Regions and/or State multi's. It is really strange watching a bunch of little kids throw after Andrew (qualified for World Juniors in 2 events). Two of them have been doing one session a week for a month and their improvements are quite dramatic. Michelle did 4 very fast 200m runs and then some work with her team for State Relays (this weekend), Scott suffered (with NO complaints) the strong winds and did 6x800 in 85 sec laps with 1 min recovery and Clare did 12x200m. Not at the track, but Jo had to do her speed set in the pool tonight due to back & achilles issues, (1x600, 2x400, 2x300 & 4x200), so no distance but high intencity for the set times.

Gym, coaching & pilates

In the gym just after 7am today and straight onto the x-trainer machine and ran for 10 minutes on the fat burner program level 15/20). I was very happy with how I felt afterwards, just a light sweat starting to show. Then some shoulders, arms, chest and upper back exercise with light weights and reps of 20 with groups of 3 exercises and then a second set before before onto another 3 ex in the same style. Then some fit ball ex and then 10 min of running drills on the basketball floor.
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Little Aths General Training, I jogged 2 laps with the kids who know how to control their pace and then a third lap with drills on the move. Tonight, I had assistants doing discus, hurdles, triple & running with me, 12 kids came with me.

Afterwards I jogged 2 laps with some of the 13-15 year old girls.
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Pilates at 7:30pm with Narz, a good session of core, relaxing the hips, hamstring work and stretching. A nice sweat during some of the latter exercises.

Gym, coaching on Mon & a small run & coaching on Tue

Monday morning after a shit drive into the city I finally arrived at the gym at 7:30am, 8 minutes on the x-trainer thingy which was comfortable and a good way to warm up. After that I did 15 minutes of áll round light weights'and then 5 min or so of core work (crunches, planks & a machine). Then off to work and felt good for the session.

Monday nights I have a young group that I coach, ranging from 9-12 years old, some would say too young to be doing structured training, but honestly it is fairly easy and if it is hard, we are only talking 5-10 minutes. Each session starts with a 2 lap w/up, then some gentle dynamic stretching, some static stretching, 10 min of drills (which is more educational than hard work), then some strides. Then we have approx 10 minutes of work (this week 5x150m in small groups, which was the hardest session in the last month) and then a game.

Within the group I have 6 kids who are running 800m within the range of 2:50-3:05, so tonight I asked Michelle (15) to help with pacing their reps. This group worked just that little bit harder than the others, with slightly shorter breaks and one extra rep. With two weeks before the Region Champs, I thought it was time to just push them just that little bit extra.
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After the session finished I did 10 minutes of drills (as per the physio advice), the intent is to get the left leg to start working slightly faster and of course stronger.
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Tue morning; I hit the Tan just after 7am for my first run (well more of a run than the previous couple). Starting at the bollards near Govt Dve, I walked for 2 minutes to get the blood moving and then jogged for 5 minutes, taking me just past the Pillars. I then walked for 1 minute and then jogged for 5 minutes again, this time I ended up going up Anderson St for 1 min, so I took it easy (gees I felt SLOW, but I wanted to be cautious on the up). I decided to play it safe and walked up up to the corner before then jogging back to the start point using 2 min running, 1 min walking. All up I felt comfortable (I was sweating, don't get me wrong), no pain, little awareness of my hip flexor).

I finished with 8-10 minutes of stretching on the grass, lower & upper legs, hips and lower back. Felt good all day!
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Tue nights I have my older group to coach (I normally train with the boys), but I wasn't training and either were the boys, Scott working, Pierre homework and texted asking for a session he could do locally. Michelle homework and opted for a 30 min run from home with 10 min hard. Clare working late & Roz yet to return, I thought I was only going to have the new girl, Melissa only. But I ended up with another Claire (12) and Teagan came to the track looking for a session too. I grouped Melissa & Claire with some of Burkie's girls (10x200m @ 800m pace) and I looked after them for Burkie and Teagan I asked her to jog 4 laps and then do a 20 min throwing session and then wait for one of Burkie's 15 year old girls and do 15 min of jumping drills.

A nice night.

You Yangs

I picked up Michelle and we arrived at the You Yangs at 8:20, Michelle was running the 6k course and my physio advised session (from Friday) was 20 minutes of 30 sec running/walking, then walk for 10 minutes, then if I felt good I could continue the 30 second on/off thing for another 10 minutes.

So with more than 20 runners getting ready I took off first and made my along the Branding Yard Trail sticking with the program set. Thankfully today was A LOT easier than last Thu, but I stuck with the plan and didn't let my desire to do 'proper'running to take over. All up I did the course in 39:45.

Once back at the car, I did some quad, hamstring and hip flexor stretching. Once home I iced and then had some breaky.

North West Metro Region 'Shield' Club Championships

The North West Region Finals were held on Sat 02 Feb 08 at Aberfeldie, Western Aths had six teams competing, all with a good chance of winning a Premiership or finishing runners up. The first & second teams in the Finals Competition win the right to progress to the Shield Final at Doncaster on 16 Feb 08, where the Champion Clubs of Victoria will be decided.

Even with many open athletes not available due to work, other sporting commitments and injures we were able to fill most positions in the teams. And the underage teams were completely filled excluding 1 position in the steeple and all of the PV positions.

Preliminary Results:

Premiers in Men Div 2, Women U16 & Men U16
Runners Up in Men Div 3 & Women U18
Third in Men U18

Congratulations to all of the competing athletes and a big thanks to the volunteers who helped with our 8 officials and the Team Managers.
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A very sunny day, about 26-28 degrees with little wind and the heat started to take its toll in the latter part of the day. I managed the two men's teams and tried to watch as many races that involved four athletes I coach; Michelle won the U16 2000m Steeple, Scott ran in various events but his best race was the 3000m where he ran 10:20, Pierre competed in the 3k also which isn't his normal distance and in turn it hurt his 400m race and Jo ran 2 SB times in the 800m & 400m.

Some more pretend running

I started work at 6:30am so I could go for another 30 sec on/off run at lunchtime. On the Tan just after 12pm, I ran/walked 1km from Govt Dve and then returned, so all up 2km, 30 sec running and 30 sec walking. Basically it felt the same as yesterday, not easy, but no pain, just weird & heavy on the left side!!!

I was very happy when I woke this morning as I had no pain or problems as a result of my first run back or the pilates, so at least something has gone my way.


Tonight I had to stay at work until 5:15ish and didn't arrive at the track until after 5:45pm, but I had contacted all of my group and confirmed their session, most easy; the Pierre & Scott 8x200 in 33-5 sec with walking recoveries. Michelle, some block work, some hurdles drills & 8 runs over the steeple and then 2x120m and Clare 10x200 with floats. I also had two juniors who ran 4 laps, then some short fast strides and then 45 min with the throws coach preparing them for the State Multi's. Next week I have a new 14 year old girl that has asked to join my group, Melissa, she is doing TJ, HJ, 400m & 800m at Regionals. She lives very close to me and we have been chatting over the past month and now has decided she would like to join the group officially. :)

A run....kind of :-(

Wednesday night's is Little Aths General Training starting at 5:30pm, normally I have a bunch of 20ish kids and with some coaching assistance we generally have 4 activities for training. Tonight we had over 40 kids (wow)...Region Champs in 3 weeks has raised the awareness in the U9-12 groups.

I arrived at the track just before 5pm, a quick chat with Burkie and off I went for my 30 sec on/off on the track...hmmm I started and thought to myself wow this doesn't feel as easy as I want, my watch alarms so I start walking for 30 seconds, then another beep and I run again. After one lap I thought I would start to feel more comfortable but that wasn't the case, I wasn't experiencing pain, just a little discomfort, but overall my left leg felt like a lead weight and just would not move as quick as required or drive powerfully!

All up 1600m when I decided that was enough!

7:30pm I did my first pilates session for a year, a good session, lots of hip & hamstrings as well as the core. A few exercises felt ... strange ... but no pain so all was good.

I thought about it, but....I didn't do it

I intended to go for a run tonight at Aberfeldie after the 1500m races, 30 sec on, 30 sec off or 1 min on & off, but after a fairly active day of moving around the office I felt tired in my hip region, so I thought safe was the right ingredient.

Tmrw I will be at the track to run General Little Aths training starting at 5:30pm, so I will get there 5ish and run on the track, 200m on/off.


Tonight I only had two athletes running, a underage female and an open age women, so a quiet night. The guys skipped racing for a tempo session on the roads and one or two were tired and not wanting to race.

Not a long run, but a visit to the You Yangs

Many of the distance runners from Western Aths were out in force this morning, about 25 without some of the regulars, even Adrian came over from Tassie and enjoyed a couple of hours with some of the guys.

As a couple of my athletes were there running I decided to enjoy a 6km walk with two of the mums. An enjoyable walk, but gees it takes a lot longer to walk than run, no matter how slow you run!

Injury report; I know I can't run still, but no pain, just some discomfort in my hip flexor.

Three of the songs that I voted for in the Triple J Hottest 100 made the Top 10, Silverchair, John Butler Trio & The Panics. Whilst I don't mind the top song by Muse, I still wouldn't buy any of their music.

Physio appt & massage on Friday evening

A full day at work and then at physio after 5pm, very little pain in my back now (but the physio can still find a spot), he also tells me that my back is tight, but as I have NEVER had any probs I'm not too concerned. Glutes, no pain at all and that was proven during the massage, I still have some constant discomfort in my hip flexor and a 'tingling' sensation in my upper leg, but a vast improvement and I can finally raise my leg so the quad is parallel to the ground with only a little bit of pain. I was even able to jog (very slowly) on the spot for 5-10 sec with no problems. So some manipulation of my back and some massage etc of the hip flexor. Back in a week, still no running, no pool running and minimal stress on that region. But he is happy for me to do pilates and he has said I can jog for periods of 30 sec on Wednesday, so I will miss the final round of the Shield Comp and the Region Final next Sat is probably at 5% possible... :(


After my physio I had a 90 min massage with Narelle, I got some attention to my achilles which felt GREAT according to Narz, except for a 10 cent coin size area on my heel, VERY sore when thumbs get jabbed in there!!! So the heel was iced whilst the massage continued. Glutes very good, even an elbow raised no pain :-) According to Narz, she too doesn't think my back tightness is a concern, she believes that is just me. Both ITBs were given a GOOD work out which caused some sweating and discomfort, but overall Narz said he leg muscles felt good.


Waking this morning, I can feel I am still improving, no ill effects from the massage; my legs felt great except for the heel. Today at Little Aths I was moving around a lot easier, still average on stairs and when I broke into a small trot, I discovered that I was very slow and 5-10m was far enough, so NO running for a few more days.

Still no running

Thank you very much for the comments and emails re my Nan, your thoughts my way have been very much appreciated. I am the oldest grand child in my family (24 g.children & 24 great g.children) and I was asked to do a reading with three other grand children which went ok. As far as funerals go, it went well and to the best of my knowledge all of the family were able to attend.
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Finally I am not limping anymore, well not obvious to others, but I am still experiencing discomfort in my l.glute, a little bit in my lower back and of course the l.hip flexor. During the past week or so I have experienced some of the worse muscular pain in my lower back ever for me and the tingling and the shooting pain down my leg have been very disconcerning, but finally it all seems to be starting to settle.

Another physio appointment tomorrow and then a massage to work the back and legs. Of course I am hopeful the hip will continue to improve, especially as the AV Region Finals are on Sat 02 Feb and Western Aths wil have two Open Men's teams competing. A few weeks ago I thought I 'may' have been selected for the Div 3 team in the 800m and/or the 3000m, but right now I'll be happy to be able to run anything, or at least be running and possibly be able to make the State Shield Finals if both teams make it that far... :(
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The last few weeks I have been lucky enough to concentrate on my coaching, which has been good as I have been in a position to give those who want a little more attention than I normally can. A few are now experiencing some good PBs, which has been satisfying for me as I changed their normal structure and increased there workload and concentrated of some solid endurance training over the Christmas period. I am hoping that there are a few more just around the corner with State Relays, Little Aths Region & State Champs, State Multi's, Shield Champs & AV Champs still to come.

Also a few in the group for various reasons are now starting to concentrate move on the cooler months and starting to get ready for R4K and the AV Winter Season, sadly I am in that group.

Still limping

What an exciting few days....not really!!!

A lot of pain in my back where the flexor attaches to my spine (from some manipulation), a very sore glute which according to the physio would happen and still a sore hip flexor.

Tue, Wed & Thu were not pretty, lots of limping and sitting down as I could barely walk more than 5 minutes. Lots of sharp pain and loads of complaining. Fri there was some improvement, but I still was struggling to walk more than 8 min or so but without the sharp stabbing pain.

Today (Sat) I have been able to get around and was able to manage a morning of Little Aths with minimal limping.

Back to work on Monday and off to physio on Monday night after coaching.


Sadly last night just after 9pm my Nan past away after her third heart attack in a few days.

Strained hip flexor

Late Sunday arvo I started to experience some discomfort in my left hip flexor by the evening I was finding walking a problem, even from the movies (American Gangster) back to the car was an effort which was concerning.

Monday morning I attempted to book an appt with my physio (Bel) but wasn't able to get in, not thinking it was too much of a concern I decided no run and I would bum around Highpoint shopping centre...well that wasn't the smartest idea, nearly every 8-10 minutes I needed to sit down for 5 minutes for the discomfort to subside.

Once home I tried to book in at Bel's other Clinic, no luck, so I made an appt for any available physio for Tue 10am. Monday night had its moments where I woke with a very sore left leg, esp the very top of the quad/hip flexor.

Diagnosis; strained hip flexor with a possible small tear (both sides have below average movement...more bloody parts of my aging body to stretch), some massage, dry needling (first time, no pain) and then icing (shit I better do that again...now). No running for a few days and another appt on Thu. In hindsight I did notice my quads were more tired than normal on Sunday when going up the hills, the physio said I was probably fatiguing and the hip flexor received the extra work... So no running for an unknown period at this stage, even walking is difficult. For the next week at least, no running, minimal walking, no swimming, no pool running, no bike riding.


Tonight Western Aths are competing at Aberfeldie, this will be my first AV meet I will miss since May 06... :(

A shorter YY run & then watching the Vic U23 Steeple

Out to the YY this morning, 20ish degrees but sadly no sun (how is a guy suppose to work on his sun tan when the sun hides away...). Lots of juniors today (getting ready for Region & VLAA State titles in 6 weeks) and a handful of seniors, even Clare back from Hawaii last night came for a morning stroll.

Adrian already had run for 60 minutes joined us myself and Mel (& Matilda the dog) and we made our way up to the Turntable carpark, WOW my quads had f.all energy after Thu hills and yesterdays track session. We ran 12.8km with only a short toilet stop and then a drinks break at the 9km marker.
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This arvo I went out to Doncaster with Burkie to watch Luke run in the Vic U23 3000m Steeple Champs, he didn't have the best race and finished 5th in 10:23, not the time he wanted and to be honest he should have finished 4th or 3rd, but when he dropped of the lead pack he just wasn't prepared to work later on and allowed himself to slow from laps of 75 to 90 for his final 2!! :(

First track session for 2008

Yesterday I had a massage with a MT recommended from my physio as my regular MT is o/s, recently married. The massage was to give my lower legs a good working over and to find any 'spots', it always amazes me how strong under 50kg women can be... Overall Rochelle said my legs were in pretty good condition, considering the achilles problem and the lack of regular massages over the past 4 months. She found a spot in each calf, the left far more tender than the achilles affected leg, the Gastroc had a VERY sore spot which required a fair bit of work. Also the right peroneus brevis was tender, which she said may have received extra work due to foot placement when the achilles was sore.


This morning was my first track session since 29 Nov 07 due to achilles issues. The planned session was 4x200m in 40 sec with 1-2 min jog recov, 4x400m in 81 sec with 2-3 min jog recov and then 4x200m in 40 sec with 1-2 min jog recov.

I started off with a 2.5km w/up of easy jogging and then a lap of dynamic w/up and then 5 min of drills before 3x50m strides, I then changed into my flats and then did 2 more strides a little bit quicker.

Starting all of the reps in lane 2 at the 200m start line, the reps (recov) were:
36.74 (1:04)
38.30 (1:05)
37.85 (1:07)
38.36 (2:01)
80.84 (2:08)
80.76 (2:20)
82.00 (2:45)
82.36 (2:42)
37.04 (1:10)
38.55 (1:10)
38.87 (1:26)
33.2, I then walked 300m, changed shoes and slowly jogged 2 laps in lane 8.

Overall fairly happy, I would have liked if I could have stuck with the jogging recovery, but I walked parts of each set and the achilles started to trouble me during the second set of 200s.

Lerderderg State Park

OMG, my Club mates are trying to kill me (as one of my athletes keeps saying)....

Just before 7:30am myself, Cookie & Ads left Hoppers for Lerderderg SP near Bacchus Marsh for 70-80 minutes of running (but we suspected walking would be included). With Cookie as our 'travel director' we knew we were in for a good experience, lots of good views, a good course but tough!!!

I hope in the next day or so I can organise to download the data from my Garmin, but my PC may put a stop to that as I would like to see the elevation graph. Where we parked the car it was 320m and after 2.5km we were at 510m and I had already walked and was wondering WTF had I got myself in for, but I soon discovered that the remainder of the run was not as hard (yer right....). The next few km we ran between 440-480m but my legs were already asking WTF have you done!! ;)

I took some really nice shots on my phone today whilst running and I will download in the next day or two (when it cools down and I have the patience to sit next to the cptr) and post here. With running & some walking up the hills for fitness & achilles reasons (more fitness & self preservation) I past the 10k mark in 57:20, OMG, how slow is that!!!

We continued on and seen some great sights and some nice big hills, I of course struggled but survived the run of 13.65km in just over 84 min, how slow is that??? For me there was a fair bit of walking but that is all included, Cookie walked a little and Ads (the Machine, ran the entire time, even back tracking to see how the common persons run... :) )

I (40) wore my Garmin and provided those stats, both Ads (33) & Cookie (45) wore HRM. Normally my HR is a little higher than Cookies, interestingly his highes today was 190 and his average was 156, Adam was very impressive, highest 162 and averaged 136bpm, WOW, this track was waaaaaay too hard for that low of an average HR, but he is looking fit and his prep for the Boston Marathon is going along really well!

Rapt to have run a brand new course today and we have decided it will be a great course to introduce to other open age runners within our Club and even though I struggled BIG time, I will go back for another 'bashing'.

An easy run in Hoppers

A beautiful morning for a run, a lazy morning sitting at home preparing some programs for athletes, once finished I got out the door at 11am, beautiful! Low 20's, no wind and lots of sun, perfect for a casual run with no top.

I decided to wear my Garmin, running from home I ran along Mossfiel Dve until I got to the grassed floodways and I ran on the grass for the softer surface. I ran 4km in 19:48, then I walked 500m out and then back in 9:50 and then I ran the 4km back home in 18:58.

I then walked to cool down and then stretched concentrating on my lower legs and quads. Then I did some planks, sit ups and push ups to finish off an enjoyable morning.

82km YTD (template issues...grrrr)

First track meet for 2008

For the past couple of months I had been contemplating competing in the 3k Steeple event tonight, to help collect points for the Club and as it is one of the events in the Region & Shield final and if I competed it would ensure that I would play a part in the Div 3 team. But I decided on Sunday that I wasn't fit enough and I didn't want to place that much pressure on my achilles, as I believed as I tired I may end up landing too much on my heel (esp on the water jump), i also decided I would run the 3000m only tonight.

With only one race tonight, I was able to get in a few gentle jogs with some of the guys when they were preparing for their 800m race etc and also I was able to watch Pierre and Jo's 800m, both were not what they wanted; Pierre ran about 5 sec slower than normal and Jo about 5-8 sec slower. I then went for a jog with the guys when they were cooling down.

With the 3k starting soon I went for another jog and then sat down to do some static stretching, so by race time I had already run over 6k, all nice and gentle. Today's goal was to run consistent and run under 12 minutes and happily I can say I did both.

Splits: 95.9, 97.4, 96, 95.9, 95.9, 94.9, 95.6 & 41.8 = 11:53.8, 15 seconds faster than last time and to be honest I felt in control and probably should have started to increase a bit more, but it was a positive race, even though it is a LONG way off (2 min) my PB from Feb 06.

Finished off with a solid cool down, 1.8k with a 14 year old girl and then 3 laps with Adrian & Ads.

Morning run, swim and then a police escort

With both David & Nic at work this morning I decided I would run the Sat morning course and then go and have a swim before going back home. The BIG question was would I remember the course and not get lost???

An enjoyable run, mids 20's no shirt, with only a small detour around the Lake area of about 150m I measured the run at 8.5km, I stopped and had a drink and then turned back and jogged slowly to Sting Ray Beach and had a good walk around in the cool water and then a short swim. My quads were tired from the hilly run yesterday and the walk in the water was great, I then jogged back slowly, all up 12k.


David dropped around in his work car just as I was packing my bag, so I asked him for directions, but better still he gave me a 'police escort' to the main road, even with flashing lights to start off with... :)

My first Fun Run for the year

Surf to Surf 10km Fun Run started with the 6k walkers at 9:45am and the runners at 10am (late start?). David & I jogged to the start from Nic's place, about 2k and we both commented on how humid it was when we arrived to register, but it was very cloudy (until 10 min before the start). Minutes before the race started it was announced that there were a record amount of starters, 711. David & I got ourselves about 10m from the front of the pack, once the race started I discovered we were going up a hill within 30 seconds and that hill continued on for the first km.

Just to clarify, I knew the course was hilly and I knew I wasn't too fit after minimal training in Nov & Dec and of course the 'dicky achilles'. David & I ran the first couple of kms together, 4:30 & 3:53, which were fairly hard work, David started to pull away from me and started to receive some attention from a passing Police Van, which was quite funny. I walked the crest of a few of the hills, partly protecting my achilles as the hard paths & hills were taking their toll. The final three kms I ran 9:20 & 4:35 (last km), the entire course was hilly with little respite. Finishing place 94th in 45:02, probably the slowest 10k in MANY years; David finished 69th in 43:XX, neither of us were that excited but we both knew neither had 'really raced'. Scott Rantall won the race in 34 minutes.

We finished off with a dip in the ocean and then walked back.

A morning run in Warnambool

I arrived safely in Warnambool yesterday arvo, the intent was to go for an afternoon run but both David & I decided that 36+ was waaaaay to hot so we stopped for a 'quiet one' at the Warnambool Hotel (very nice air conditioning) and watched the cricket for a hour or so...

Sat morning (after many beers) David took me for a stroll along a trail which past a training trotting area and then along some paths overlooking the ocean (very pleasant on the eye). This path took us past the main boat ramps and along a path past the surf club etc, then leaving the ocean and making our way around the Lake and eventually back to Sting Ray Beach (I think) over the bridge and back along the coastal paths back to Nic's (David's g.f) place.

Warm, lots of flies, 8.3km in 42 minutes. Good to have a run with David, first in many months.

At this rate I'll run way more than 3500km in 2008

Yes I know I won't do that many kms, but it shows that it is easy to rack up a few kms, especially when the weather is so good and work isn't getting in the way.

Yesterday afternoon I organised my evening's activities and had arranged my run fairly early (too organised sometimes). About 5ish I received a text from Cookie asking if I wanted to run the Werribee Gorge, I suspect it very HILLY and will do sometime next week! Cookie has become the 'hiking guide' within the Club, he was the one who introduce us to LOTS of differing trails throughout the You Yangs and we have been talking about the Gorge for a few months.

Today I ran approx 12-13km, as my plan is to just try and rebuild from my enforced time off and I want to build the k's with minimal stress I stuck to the plan for the first 50 minutes sitting around 5-5:15ish pace. I decided today would stick in a quickish 10 minutes to finish the day off, probably 4:20ish pace.

Another great morning to run, no wind, lots of sun and not too hot. I'm going to visit a mate who lives in Warnambool and he has a few days off, so a 2h 30m drive tmrw morning and then myself David & one of his mates are going for a 8-10km run, Sat off and then a fun run on Sunday. No BIG plans to really race 10k, but I solid hit out would probably be a better option. Firstly not overly fit for any distance and 10k could be very untidy.
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As per normal after blogging (if I have time) I check other blogs, as per normal, Em's was one of those, within her blog she mentioned that she was in the middle of shortlisting for the Triple J Hottest 100 as a BIG fan of the J's I thought I better have my say. As we all know without a lot of investigating YOU will miss some of your favorites, so I use the method of grabbing my 2008 CDs and support those artists.

Silverchair - All Across The World
Silverchair - Straight Lines
Clare Bowditch & The Feeding Set - I Love The Way You Talk
Clare Bowditch & The Feeding Set - You Looked So Good
John Butler Trio - Better Than
Panics, The - Don't Fight It
Radiohead - Bodysnatchers
Regina Spektor - Samson
Regurgitator - Blood And Spunk
Urthboy - We Get Around

An easy 10k in the morning along the River

The most pleasant morning for a run in a few weeks, only 18 degrees, a light breeze and some sunshine. I decided I would run along the river again, generally soft underfoot except for the occasional quick trip on a concrete path. A few small changes to yesterdays run, only 10.5km but a lot more pleasant.

Overall a very easy pace for 55 minutes.

The first run for 2008 and I didn't melt (just)

Another scorcher in Melbourne...the 8am News said it was going to be 37 today, but by 11am it was 39.5 degrees in Werribee. 8:15am it was 29 degrees and by the time I got to Riverbend it was 30 degrees.

I started off nice and easy, but a quick check of my Garmin, 1.5km and I was running 13.3kph, so I slowed a little. I ran along the Werribee River until I got to the Werribee Tigers Ground where I stopped and had a drink and tried to cool myself down. Three laps on the oval, another drink and then I started making my way back to Riverbend.

I sat around 12kph until just over 8.5km when I decided I would run/walk back to the car as I knew the heat was starting to take its toll.

All up 11.2km, now if I could run that far each day I would run way further than 3500km for the 2008... :)
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I went down to the track at 5pm to ensure that the track was open for those who wanted to train and to watch Luke do his drills set by Burkie over the hurdles. Mel was also at the track and was thinking 600m reps, but I suggested a change due to the heat and the wind, changed to lots of 200m reps with a jog/walk recovery. All 3 of us went for a 3k w/up, then whilst watching the two sessions I did about 15 minutes of stretching.

Whilst Luke was doing his stair work I did a 3 lap cool down with Mel. So a few extra k's and some good ground stretching.

43 degrees here in Melbourne & 2007 Wrap Up

OMG!!! At 8:30 it was still in the mid 20's, so I could have run, but with a few k's in the legs over the past few days and some not so nice chaffing marks from some very sweaty shorts (jocks) as a result of yesterdays run I decided I would rest today!

So really no need to blog a run today, but I will post to let the blogging world know it is fucking hot here in Melbourne and we have a stack more days predicted of 37 in the next 7 days with a few cool changes of 30 thrown in...

Many of the blogs I read, have already posted their thoughts for 2007 and their goals for 2008, bur I am not ready yet, but some the following are some immediate thoughts:

* it hasn't been a great running year
* a few niggles have prevented good running
* a medical issue has prevented good running
* some laziness has prevented good running
* BUT I have still enjoyed my running, which is very important
* I have VERY much enjoyed my introduction to coaching teenagers & adults and I thank those athletes for allowing me to help them, especially Clare as she was the first person over the age of 16 who entrusted their entire program to me!

So overall, whilst slightly disappointed with my overall running performance, I am aware that there are valid reasons, but as I said above I have still enjoyed my running and especially enjoyed my coaching and I hope that I can continue to help those who have who want and those who's parents have picked me to help their children. Clare, Jo, Roz, Tegan (not so much now), Adam K (only for his speed sessions), Pierre, Scott, Michelle; (Little Aths kids --->), Connor, Teagan, Bailey, Beau, Jack, Emma, Jake, Courtney, Demi, Brooke and of course all 46 Under 6 kiddies. There are others, but those mentioned have been the consistant runners who I have helped throughout 2007, there are others who I chatted to and helped a bit (I think).
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2007 Monthly Kilometres:
January - 310
February - 328
March - 178
April - 278
May - 272
June - 290
July - 277
August - 299
September - 226
October - 247
November - 191
December - 120

Total - 2922km
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2007 Personal Bests:
TBA
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2007 Racing Highlights:
TBA
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Thank you all for reading and posting and I hope to catch you all in 2008.

The normal Sun morning with some fellow Western Aths members

Yep another trip to the You Yangs, but being on holidays and only 20ish minutes away with soooo many different paths and soft trails it beats the roads & pavements.

With Burkie away in Hawaii, I wasn't able to change the run time (as a couple of the guys had suggested) as a few of his girls are more than happy to use me as their 'stand in coach'. Today we had three teenager girls, me, Mel, Adrian, Luke & Matilda (Mel's dog) as we took off along the Branding Yard Trail which is the inner loop, 5.6km. The younger girls dropped off just after 2k and we continued on, not too fast, the first loop in just over 30 minutes. A quick stop to hydrate and a quick chat to the parents and then the we (less teenagers) made our way up GCD with a nice sharp hill to wake our legs.

After a few side tracks we made away into the MTB area and then into the Quarry area up a BIG hill and then further up onto 'no tree hill' where we did a bit of sight seeing (you can see a LONG way) and then back down and back in the direction of our starting location. The majority of the run we ran together but every hill we would separate, Luke leading, then Adrian, me & Mel and the dog somewhere in between. All up for Mel & I, we ran 17.6km in 1h 41m, a very enjoyable run with only a few walks to save my achilles and two times due to lack of fitness.


Legs feel good now after a some gentle stretching and then an ice bath, much to Cam's amusement who arrived at my flat just as I was getting in for my second 5 min period and heard me making some very strange noises.... anyway, afterwards I had an enjoyable lunch with Cam.

A tad warm!!! Even at 8am

Firstly Day 3 of the cricket was excellent and as Em mentioned the MCC sells 'heavy' beer and so does the Cricketers Arms at 9.45am and the Royal Hotel has some good entertainment during the lunch break and after the match too... So basically I am trying to state the obvious, I was VERY drunk when I got home at midnight!!!

Yesterday I promised Jo I would run with her for her LR as she was thinking of swapping her Sat & Sun sessions around due to 'hen's night'. Hmmm running with a BIG hang over is not my idea of fun, but a promise is a promise. Jo met me at my place and then I took us out to the YY, we arrived about 8:15 and it was HOT HOT HOT, 31 degrees already and the sun had a real bite to it. Taking into consideration the need for water and toilets, I worked out a course in my head, but this would involve a few trips up a very steep path up to the Turntable carpark...I knew this would not be popular.

The intended session was 90 minutes of running, but the conditions were not ideal. We started on the Branding Yard Trail which was nice as we were under tree cover for the first 3.7km. The last 400m includes a very steep path upto the carpark, Jo struggled and walked a part of the path, I also had to walk as I was very much looking forward to the toilets. After a toilet stop and drink we ran along Rockwell Dve, a few rolling hills, I took the opportunity to talk running form along here but basically I just got to listen to Jo tell me about how she needed a drink, she didn't like my hills and she didn't think I was a very nice person anymore :-)

We walked a few times, esp up some of the hills, then with approx 2k before our next drink stop we went down the Saddleback hill (very steep, hoping Jo posts the elevation piccy) and then back onto the Branding Trail and we both appreciated the shade of the trees. Back up the hill for Turntable, I jogged ahead and tried to test my fitness, I didn't make it (about 80%) and Jo struggled waslking. We both enjoyed the water stop and when I came out of the toilets I found a very wet Jo, I think she had a bath in the basin :-)

Back down the hill, and then finished the Branding Trail (clockwise) and got back to the car, not 90 minutes, too hot, all up just over 11km. As I said to Jo, it was very hot and today was not ideal, but its a tick in calendar and a few hills in the legs, walking or running it was tough work!

Today: drink water, drink water and maybe a bit more again, currently it is 39 degrees (3pm).



Thanks for the pic Jo, I really should start using my Garmin's capabilities more. I wanted the graph to show the other coaches some of our running courses. Western Aths have four distance coaches; but I am the only one who is still running, so I get to experience the hills and the courses that we send our athletes on. Some of the courses both Burkie & John ride their bikes, but in the YY some areas you would need to be a very accomplished rider. The hill from the 6k area is approx 900m long and has an elevation change of over 100m, I'm rapt I can know show this hill to the other guys. The hill uptp the Turntable carpark can be seen at the 3.5km area and then again at 8k where we went up and then back down.

Early morning stroll

Sometimes even on holidays you have to set your alarm, I'm off to the cricket today, a mate of mine is a MCC member and I have been lucky enough to get a guest pass with him. So we are meeting at the Cricketers Arms at 10am and public transport is on order, so up at 6am so I could be out the door running by 6:15ish.

Just a very easy 5k run from home, 24:50, a short stretch of my lower legs and hamstrings and then a short post here. :-)

A mid week trip to the You Yangs

Last night I sent a text to 10 Club mates to see who was up for a trip to the YY in the morning, lots of no thanks due to work and a few none answers. I wanted to run for 60 minutes and didn't want to run the roads so I stuck with my idea and arrived at Toynes Rd at 8:30am.

I waited a few minutes, just in case and then took off, about 700m later I realised I had left my Garmin in the car, so I turned around back to the car, chucked on the Garmin and back onto the Branding Loop upto Turntable. Up the BIG hill I walked, protecting my achilles (even though there was no discomfort) and in the big picture I am probably not fit enough to run 60 minutes with big hills.

After a toilet break at Turntable I made my way along the rolling hills along Rockford and then down a big hill, back onto Branding and back to the car. A quick drink and then along Great Circle Drive for a few minutes, then I followed a dirt trail onto some grass until I got to the fence and then I turned back along the 'Greyhound track' back to the car. 10.3km + 1.4km


I spent the majority of the day with the 3 younger boys at the park, skate park and walking 20 min one way for Subway and then back (Kaelan was in a pusher). Only a few abrasions from the skate park; a bike crash and a scooter crash, but both loved it. Then I took them back home and made them return their mum's house back to a house and not look like a 'Toys R Us' tornado aftermath before Julie returned from sales shopping.

I went to the track and jogged 2 laps and stretched for ages whilst chatting to Burkie about his squad, as he is leaving on a jet plane at 2am on his way to Hawaii for Narelle's wedding.

End of the day, I'm not really sure what is wrong...but I can't feel my achilles at ALL! I noticed today that it appears I am not going to make 3000km for the first time in 3 years... :-(

Boxing Day casual run

Out the door in the morning, from my drive way I ran along Mossfiel Rd about 1km on the side of the road in the bike lane and then onto the grass on the 'flood plains' (well that's what I call them). I ran on the grass crossing roads, past Hoppers Secondary (Ads work location), past Belbridge PS (Clare's hubbys work location) and then a little further on until hitting 20 minutes. I then walked for 60 sec in the same direction and then turned with the intent on making it back the entire way in 20 minutes.

An enjoyable pace with some awareness of my achilles in the early stages, but nothing too bad actually. Back home in 20:05, pretty happy with that pacing and then after walking to cool down for 5 min I did some basic stretching for 5-10 minutes.


I spent the day walking and browsing for a few hours and surprisingly my achilles was really happy today. :-)

Mon, Christmas Eve

Yep, finally I did it, I found some time and energy and I ran the 5.3km gentle loop at the You Yangs with Jo nice and gentle, I was aware of my achilles, but nothing to be concerned about.

We ran the course in just over 29 min and I am hoping to get the elevation graph off Jo for historical for the other coaches, we use this course for many of the juniors within our squads and for some of the older athletes we use it as a nice warm track, today it was my 'return' track and just a few easy k's for Jo (who delivered a Christmas pressie wooohoooo)




I had a physio appt with Bel at 1:30pm, she said she could definetely feel an improvement in the heel area but where the calf and achilles joined was very tight and highly recommended a full leg massage (which I am overdue for).


Evening run & stretch, a few of Burkie's group were doing a light session tonight, so I joined Luke who is preparing himself for the Vic U23 Champs over the steeples, so twice a week he is doing 30 minutes of hurdle drills and stair work. I joined Luke for his 2.5k w/up and then I did a few minutes of drills and then 20 min of stretching whilst watching the hurdle drills. And before the comments start re a doubling up day after no running for nearly three weeks,....I wouldn't call just over 8k very excessive and all of the running was very casual.

I will run tomorrow (I hope)...

Thanks everyone for your concern via email, posts here and in person or on the phone! No dates, but the op will occur in the first or second week of January 2008 and it has to happen.

My achilles is on the improve, well it has to be, I haven't run for over 2 weeks and have had a couple of physio sessions. Bel (physio) believes there is improvement and we will see what occurs in the next week (appt on Monday). I was given the go ahead to run on a flat soft surface on Thursday, but I was too busy to find the 30 minutes to spare. Today (Fri) I looked after the boys instead of them going to holiday care and I've cracked a beer waiting for my weekend guests from Warnambool. So hopefully David & I will find the time to go for a run.

Isn't the rain here in Melbourne great, yes I know its a bugger for running, but....we all know we need it!


For many who are regular readers may know that this was my first year of coaching (excluding U6 & 7 children) which has been a learning and rewarding experience which I tend to note on another blog (which is private), but I wanted to post here a public thank you to those who have asked for my help and allowed me to help them with their personal goals! And of course a BIG thanks for all of the pressies! :)

No running but..., appointments nearly confirmed

No running still, heel is improving, loads of anti-inflams, double dose 4 times a day. Last night I was invited to help at the Zatopek meet with the Vic Little Aths (VLAA), as an On Track Coordinator and as a friend of the PR Officer and also the Competition Manager. The concept was to get 50-60 VLAA kids in to do some activities with a Leader and an Elite athlete, then some relays and fill in the 'nothing' part of the meet. This meant the mum & dads would pay to enter and maybe stay to watch some of the elite races, a great idea. Of course whilst the kids have fun, I also had the pleasure of completing the activities with Sarah Jamieson. Of course I had a good chat with Sarah about whats happening lately, she just had a cortisone injection in her hamstring and lower back to get the hammie going again, she was a bit proppy and taking it very easy.

On Wednesday I had some hospital appointments, sadly one of the side affect of the medication is that I can feel very off colour the day after (strangely not the day of the injection), but it comes and goes, generally. Most of Thu arvo I wasn't feeling the best, but I promised I would help and the two girls are friends and I wanted to stick to my promise. Whilst I managed to complete the session and help out with the kids sadly I missed the proper events as I wasn't feeling well and needed to sleep. For those who know me well will know me in bed at 9pm means, NOT FEELING VERY GOOD.

Anyway, for those who care and are wondering re tests tests tests, I have been TOLD I need to have another lump of tissue removed as the specialist doesn't like its location and wants it out within the next 3 weeks. Date and location to be confirmed next week. For those who don't know where the offending tissue is, lets just say the doc joked and told me, maybe you might like to go Brazilian.

Just stuff...which involves very little running :-(

Played a game of football yesterday, warmed up and the entire time I was very aware of my achilles, so I told the Captain I would play in goals or miss the game (as I had a meeting & could only play the first half). So goalie it was, half time 1-1, but eventually we lost.

I didn't train at the track, coached only. Pierre 4x1000m, Michelle 2x600/2x400/2x200 with Lexie, so a quick session for her and then Clare 300/200/150 x 2.
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Day off today to sort out some issues which are sorted and will be fixed in January, hair cut and off to see my physio, achilles, of course.

I'm sure I could run if I really want to, but I know it will mean limping and having my heel feel like a knife is stuck in there for a few hours, so more rest and I suspect an anti-inflam course will commence tonight.
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Evening notes: A visit to Belinda (club mate, sometimes training partner & physio) confirmed a highly inflamed achilles tendon, esp in the attachment, thickened and tender. To be honest I didn't realise how sore I was in the higher part of the achilles until Bel worked (massaged) the entire region. Thankfully my training plans for the next three weeks works with Bel's suggestions. No spikes, limited speed work, limited racing and some more visits to see Bel, back onto an aggressive anti-inflam program. Plan for next few days, limited running over the next few days, Sat racing - no spikes, no 400m or shorter. My plan for the next few weeks is no speed work and increase the easy running to put some k's into the legs, but be VERY aware of my achilles. IF it doesn't respond the way I want then Bel will possibly refer me to someone who specialises so I can get it under control before it becomes chronic.

11km at the You Yangs on a Sunday morning

First run in a few days, no limping but still aware of a spot or two in my heel etc. With Christmas parties and a few athletes and coaches in Sydney for the All School Champs the numbers were down a little.

Not a bad morning for a run, but some more sun would have been better than the morning clouds and haze. Myself, Adrian & Ross started off with three teenager girls for a few hundred metres before the girls moved onto the Branding Yard Trail (5.60km) and the guys stayed on the Branding Yard Rd (5.35km). Ross dropped off just after 4.5km, my & Adrian made it back to the cars, re hydrated and then as Adrian could feel the early days of a cold and my achilles is still playing up we decided the small rolling hills would be better than the big hills in the back of the park.

Finished the Trail after a nice chat for 11km with Adrian about everything from nothing to something :) A nice Sunday morning stroll, as it was a tad short for the last 4k we picked up the pace and sat on 13.5-14kph. The rest of my day was quiet, the paper, some washing and watching some movies and some grocery shopping.

No running, just coaching.

Not feeling the best today and I still had a slight limp and lots of discomfort in my right achilles, so a few days off may help.

Tonight, none of my athletes were at training but I was busy; mine all had valid reasons but with Burkie in Sydney at the National All School Champs I took his group. The older distance runners doing 800s, younger distance group 600s and some faster middle distance teenage girls doing 200s. The heat, the hot wind and the coaching took my mind off my own training... :-)

A run in Port Melb along the beach

An easy 30 minutes this morning along past Beaconsville, the Tassie ferry etc. Sadly my right achilles was causing some discomfort and Clare mentioned that I appeared to have a slight limp, finally after 10 min it seemed to improve and I was able to run freely.

Cruisy pace and probably the biggest benefit was the recovery and being able to stretch out the sore bits...


Coaching of Little Aths meant I jogged two laps and then a lap of drills etc, but I was VERY aware of how sore my achilles was and after this light 'stuff' I was again limping. Time to do something about this, off to see Belinda (physio).. :(

Lunchtime soccer game & evening track racing

A game of outdoor at lunch time, I played midfield for the first half and goalie for the second half to protect my energy levels a little. My second game as Captain (I'm actually VC, but standing in) seen us finish with a draw, 1-1. So my record is now 1 win, 1 draw & 0 loses.

Tonight was our first evening meet for the season, my first race of interest was the 800m at 7:40 ish. I started in lane 7 tonight sharing with a club mate (Adrian), once we crossed over I was in 8th out of 10 and sat there until the front straight where I past a younger teenager, 74 sec for the first lap which was about what I wanted to hear. I past 3 on the back straight and then was past by John (KSB) in the front straight and finished in mid 2:27, which is still fairly average for me, but it was a season best and I crossed 5th. OMG, my right achilles was VERY sore afterwards, it DOES not like my spikes , which resulted in a limp for 5 min!

I changed my concentration to some coaching, my cool down and then organising the relays (4x400) for the two men's teams. Next for me was the 1500, I was only half wanting to do this, my knees and ankles were sore (as well my achilles) but I wanted to ensure that we had 6 men to run, so I thought I'll cruise 5:20ish and one of the 19 year old boys wanted to cruise too. I was in the 3rd heat with a big field, I took off at a very comfy pace with Darren next to me telling me this was the slowest he had every raced (didn't care), the first 400 time was called, 87, shit that was slow, I've run faster in a 3k. Oh well wasn't fussed, Darren slightly increased the pace and I just sat next to him, 85 (I was 12 sec behind last week), at the 1k Darren moved slightly ahead and I thought I may as well follow him and I started passing ppl, which was cool and surprisingly finished in 5:11, which was my second fastest for the season and only 5 sec behind last week.

Finished off with a cool down, coaching and watching relays.

A spare 30 minutes

Home after Relay training, people who cannot (and shouldn't) organise just should not be coordinators, I just got sooooooooooooo frustrated at Relay training I just had to leave as soon as my boys had finished.

With a Little Aths Committee meeting at a local restaurant (celebrating the end of the year) in 60 minutes I thought I needed to 'cool' down so I took off for a 25 min run from home, just over 5km and then 5 min of stretching. (Dinner was great and i totally ignored the person who I mentioned above)

Another YY trip

Just over 10k this morning, warm one and tired from yesterday and with a night meet on Tue evening I decided that 10k ish would be suffice. Not much more to say really! :-)

AV Shield comp @ Newport

Wow another month has gone and what a SHIT month it was, not even 200kms and with no actual injuries! Oh well, I know why and things may improve and of course if I look down I can see that a gut is starting to show, SOOOOOOOO I better do something.. :-)

A normal Sat morning with Little Aths which I finished at 11:30 and had Subway with C & D. Went home to get my gear together, I actually would have liked to have a sleep but I knew I needed/wanted to run today. Yesterday's work Christmas function had taken its toll, not alcohol related but just tired, I only had 6-8 beers last night, but arriving home after being awake all night, I knew this would probably cause some probs... :-)


I raced the 800m and 3000m today, the 800m started ok, but then I realised I am still NO WHERE near where I would like to be, 71 & 78 = an ordinary high 2:28 or low 2:29. SHIT. According to a few watchers, it looks like I worked to hard at the 250m mark to try and get closer to the front pack (I was in no man's land), I ended up fairly average.

I ran the 3000m race with the expectations I could maintain 95 sec laps, but it didn't happen and I ran a slow 12:08. Not much to write up.

Probably the best part of the day was my warm ups & cool downs and being able tochat to friends! And second best was watching athletes who I coach, and most of them got it pretty right today!!!

Thu 29 Nov 07, fartlek & track session

I started my day at the Tan about 6:20am, I jogged for nearly 2 minutes on the grass whilst waiting for Clare to arrive. Once with Clare I took her for a fartlek style session which was along the river doing timed efforts with breaks, 6x40 sec, 2x30 & 2x20 and then a normal c/down etc. A good session.


Tonight I am off to the Premier League meet at OP and taking 3 athletes to compete in the Shield Steeple which has been included, so I organised with a couple to meet me at 4:40 to start our w/up. 2km w/up and then 6x60m strides with Cam & Justin then into the session of 6x300m, for me in 53 sec with a 2 min recovery and they were doing 48-50sec. My splits were 53, 53, 53, 53, 55 & 56, yep the 53 was a tad too far into the 'bad style' of training. ;-) Finished off with a cool down which involved walking 300 and then 4 laps on the outside of the track.


Premier League was good fun, just worrying about others races and the two boys did really well and Michelle looked very tired, so a re-think about her racing (Little Aths & AV), placing more restrictions on her (for her own good). For me Pierre was the surprised packet, steepling very well and only finishing 12 sec behind Troy, he is more of a 4/8 runner. Scott (17th b.day on Wed) ran really well and in his first attempt at the high steeple running 6:55 for 2k.



The 2 U18 boys checking out the girls low steeple..

Wed 28 Nov 07, three years out of the Army

And sadly I couldn't celebrate it with a run, some blood & wee tests this morning after fasting and then back again for another wee test after drinking some 'stuff' at 1pm and then finally some food. No comments please re; are you alright etc, they are a part of a program I am involved in, nothing more, I only mention so I can remember for my training regime as generally I feel tired after the injections but I'm off that program for a few months.

So no run today, excluding a few laps with the little kids at Little Aths general training.

Tue 27 Nov 07, football @ lunch & a few reps @ the track

At work very early (6:40ish) so I could get lots done today and fit in my game of soccer at lunch, which we won 2-1 with no reserves and it was very warm too. As per normal with soccer, all of the goals were in the first half and the second half was about us keeping our lead and them just going for anything. Five games for us, we have scored 3 goals and had only 3 goals scored against us with 2 wins. So a good work out and LOTS of sweat!!!


I arived at the track just after 5pm, the flies (anyone in parts of Melb would understand - [plague proportions), so bloody annoying, thousands and it was wamr & bloody windy, so a shit night at the VU track!

With many of the boys racing on Thu night at OP in steeplechase races we had them complete only 2x600m reps in the horrible wind and then they did some steeple work on the grass. A couple of us (3 - Cam, Zac & me) continued on, I only did 5 reps and Cma & Zac went on for 6 reps. The wind meant we slowed the reps down to 94-5 per 400, the first rep was WAY faster than that, bloody hell following juniors sometimes can be a chore! ;-)

Anyway, my reps were too fast on the first rep and then the next 3 were perfect 95 sec per 400 and then my final was a couple of seconds faster. Then for the first time I jumped the high steeple, every other time I had attempted the higher steeple I had baulked, so I was happy, the mind is a very powerful thing! Due to the bigger numbers within my Club, and hopefully two teams in the finals I will struggle to find a place, so the steeple could be my only way of being involved, so ... maybe in the new year, I'll wait and see.

A few laps of the track to cool down. A long day, work, health & friends, it doesn't always go to plan, a concerned day which I can't so anything about. :-(

Mon 26 Nov 07, Albert Park

In the city area at 6:30 for my morning run, today I decided from the Barracks I would run to Albert Park, complete a lap and then do a few back streets to add in another km or so, depending on how I felt.

The first km or so were fairly casual, running out the stiffness from yesterday and then getting into some half decent pace (4:40ish), running along the lake I discovered that I went the wrong way today, (I was going clockwise), toilet required... by the time I got up the top end (St Kilda end) I had to slow back down to 5 min + pace and then when feeling ok, I increased back until I needed to slow down again.

Finally back at the Bob Jane Stadium end and a visit to the toilets I was able to get back int a faster pace. Once back up on Kings Way I decided I would run a few of the back streets so I could extend my run up to a min of 35 min. Did that, back at the Barracks in 33:30 so I added a lap of the Barracks wall, which is just under 1km. All up just over 8.5km.

Sun 25 Nov 07, 90 minutes at the You Yangs

I arrived at the You Yangs in our normal meeting place, only males today were me & Cookie and then a bunch of junior girls. Just before we were taking off, Buster Mottram arrived by himself. A quick hello and he helped Burkie get his bike over the fence then finally one of the girls asked me who is the really tall skinny guy, I told the three girls and they became VERY excited, we told them to go and say hello, within seconds they were over there and Buster ended helping one of the girls fix her HRM monitor. :-)

Today I wanted to run between 75-90 minutes, Cookie & I ran the Branding Yard Rd loop (5.35k), hydrated and I dropped my singlet, then we made our way along GCD and took the first turn off which is a 9 min deviation from GCD, about 3 minutes off the beaten track. Once back on GCD we had to go up a hill and then we turned off and went towards the Stockyard area. Cookie suggested we make our way up the Quarry Rd which involves a long grinding hill, which I thought it was about time I seen where that path goes that I see Troopy run up regularly. Whilst we were jogging, Cookie pointed out a big hill with two boulders on it (Buster told us later 'No Tree Hill') and he was telling me that he would like to camp there so he could check out the city lights at night. Yep...once up the Quarry Rd hill Cookie pointed to our right, No Tree Hill is right next to us, so off we went, up the grass (no track) to the top, I had to walk up the last 50-70m, it was very tough to walk it. Once at the top the views made the whole trip very much worth it, 62 minutes so far. After checking out the view, we could see the shooting range, the Holden testing ground (I didn't know it existed here) and of course the Geelong beach and the city. We then returned back to the Stockyards area, then following the No. 1 MTB track up the hill back to GCD. Whilst back on GCD making our way back to our starting spot we were passed by Buster who was cruising along for his 1h 45m run. We arrived back at Toynes Rd on 90:50 (I stopped my watch when sight seeing) off running and a little bit of walking up the BIG hill. A really satisfying run, the hills tested me and I'm sure I will feel them tmrw, but a worthwhile trip.

Buster too had finished up, so myself & Cookie chatted with Craig about his plans before the OG, I also wondered about his racing here which he said a couple of Telstra A Series before taking off for the World Cross. We chatted about the CG and his experience and yes we asked about 'that fall'. Cookie even had his digi camera in his car, Cookie asked if it was ok, so a pic of me & Craig will be coming!

A nice guy who was happy to talk about running with two guys for nearly 15 minutes, distance runners just seem to like talking about running! :-) Oh...and btw Em...no I didn't pass on your mobile number, sorry!



Geees I'm looking a little tired & concerned, maybe worried about me not looking great for my photo.... :-)

Sat 24 Nov 07, Shield Comp Round 5 @ Aberfeldie

A beautiful day for track racing, very sunny, mid 20's, little to no wind. The races that were possibilities for me were the 1500m, 5000, relay & 400m, not all, but some combination, the 1500m was a definite.

Allocated to the 3rd heat of the 1500m, 4:45-5:15 race. I knew I hadn't been racing very well but I hoped I could get sub 5:10 today so I had to do the right thing and put myself in the correct race. Starting wide on the line and moved over once clear, felt settled and in a decent rhythm by the time I was in the front straight. First lap in 80 sec, second lap also 80, then 82, 4:02-3 when passing the line, by this stage I was just hanging on and hoping I could finish, 150m to go was becoming ordinary but this was a lot better than my 2 other races crossing in exactly 5:06.00 (11th/12). Hopefully this means 5 min is nearby.

Western Aths have 2 men's teams which means for a full team we need 6 for short races (1500 and less) and four for longer races (3000, 5000 & steeple), today I found 3 volunteers quickly and it I was prepared to fill the 4th spot, but thankfully one of U20 boys said he wanted to put a few k's in the legs of controlled running, so I happily decided I would do some time calling for the 5 & 3k races and then run the 400m.

Lots of the fast guys missing today and many others going home early meant only 3 of us avail & willing to run the final race of the day, 400m and we were the guys hoping to fill the Div 2 team, oh well some some Div 2 guys (heats 6, 7 & 8). I was in heat 7, lane 4 and hoping to run 65ish. Using blocks for the second time (now compulsory for all laned races) and providing some humour for those on the sidelines I managed to get out of the blocks and start off ok. Half way down the back straight I realised I was coming last, wtf, but I was confident the Coburg guy in lane 3 was going way to fast (which proved correct). On the bend I started to catch a few and passed a couple in the straight because they were blowing up, not me getting faster, 5th in 63.6, the winner in 60.0X, finally a half decent race.

With a few w/ups, a few strides, 2 races and some cool downs ended up with a few kms run and leaving the track the happiest for this season, BUT still a long way to go.

Thu 22 Nov 07, morning fartlek

Today was suppose to be a double up, starting with a gentle fartlek session in and around the Botanical Gardens, warm up & cool down all included just over 40 minutes. Warmer than expected, a nice session and once back in the barracks I stretched for 10 minutes.

The evening was suppose to be a speed session at the track with the boys, but a personal issue kept me away until after 6pm, when I just got to check up how Michlle, Scoot & Pierre went for the night.

Wed 21 Nov 07, a day of rest!

Today was a planned rest day and what a well planned rest day! I normally run on Wed mornings and it was pouring rain and cool. But to be honest it rained all day, so I was very happy that it was in my plan to rest!

No Little Aths General Training tonight either due to the rain, so I was even home before 6pm...WOW.


Tmrw, a light fartlek for the morning and a fast track session in the evening (hopefully I'll miss the showers tmrw).

Tue 20 Nov 07, lunchtime soccer and hill repeats at the YY

A game of outdoor soccer today, we lost 3-1. Lots of running in very hot conditions, a good sweat and hit out for me.


I have been chatting with Burkie and suggesting that we take our groups away from the track every so often to break the routine and to include some controlled hill repeats. With juniors that means a lack of cars but we coordinated it so everyone met at the track and then with a few cars taxi ed all to Toynes Rd. Sixteen made the trip, as per normal I trained with the guys and Ash joined in for some of the reps. The group had Adam C, Luke, Cam, Blair, Scott, Pierre and me, a 10 minute w/up and then 8x40 sec reps up the hill with a jogging recovery, then 5x40 sec downhill (not as steep).

A good session, we probably could have done more, but both Burkie & I decided some caution would be smart, just in case it turned out to be too much. We then finished off with a 10 min cool down.

A successful night which both myself and Burkie have decided should happen more often. I will be wanting at least my squad of males to do 10x60 sec with 5x45 sec downhill. Clare, Roz & Michelle would do 6-8 reps.

Mon 19 Nov 07, S2F training group

Western Metro Regional Little Aths Relay Champs were yesterday, my role was as the U9 boys coach and on the day I was asked to look after the mixed U9 teams too, 10 teams all up and heats and finals, so lots of races. Overall I predicted 3 teams would make it through to States, happily 2 have made it, U9 boys medley (100, 100, 200 & 400) and a mixed 4x200, the other team finished 3rd and could progress on time, but I think not. A fun day and some nervous times for various reasons, but I think the 8 boys had a good time. For readers who are not aware of Little Aths, U9s is the first year of Championship racing, so it was all new! I gave the boys the night off, so I decided to take advantage and catch up with some old friends.


A quick email to Sal (for anyone who has run with S2F will know Sal), she would be there so I decided it would be a nice way to get a few kms in and catch up and say hi to a few faces. I jumped in with the 8k group, according to Garmins around me, 7.9km in 37:10. With a 1.5km jog and a 1k jog back to my car, it was a nice way to get 10k in for the day. Running in view of the Nylex Clock, showed 32 degrees tonight at 6:30pm.

Sat 17 Nov 07, Little Aths & Seniors in the arvo

Warm, nice, warm to hot, raining & cooling down, humid, very humid and hot...yep... just another day in Melbourne!!! That's how the day of morning & afternoon athletics went for me!

Little Aths was good, the On Trackers had a good day and the kids I coach/mentor ran well and lots of other kids I chat to, had good ones too. Most of the morning the temp was 23-25 degrees, nice with minimal wind. 11ish some clouds came across and we had a few drops of rain, but nothing major.

I dropped C & D back with there mum, went home changed and picked up Scott who I coach, off to Coburg. My car said 22 degrees, and it rained off and on for the majority of the trip with the temp dropping to 18 on arrival, I wondered if I had enough clothes. Within 20 minutes no rain..cool no wind and nice temp, but we all know Melbourne can change, within 20 minutes humidity kicked in and then by 3pm it was 32 degrees!!! And the sun was hot and steamy!

I warmed up for 15 minutes, I ran an ordinary 800m (2:29), cool down of 12 minutes and then watched and coached. Not really running at the moment for reasons known to me, maybe the season can improve, but it will take a lot of work for it to get anywhere decent, I suspect I am way behind some of my training partners (girls) from a few years ago. But overall I'm happy where I am at to some degree, it could be worse and I'm enjoying the coaching so... I'm happy as I told my uncle on Saturday.

Thu 15 Nov 07, a morning run in Fawkner Park

I arrived at Fawkner Park just before 6:30am, the plan was to take Clare for a fartlek session and then run a set in the evening if I felt ok. As Clare was running a tad late I jogged on the grass for 15 minutes. Once with Clare we did a w/up, some dynamic stretching and then some strides and a light session.


A busy day at work after my Canberra trip and not feeling like a session in the evening, I just concentrated on some coaching and no 2nd session for me.

Mon 12 Nov 07, 2 laps of the Tan

On the Tan this morning, two casual laps, nothing special, nothing bad, just ticking the run off the calendar and putting a few casual k's in the legs. First lap 18:32 and second lap 18:29 nice pacing, I only looked at my watch 3 times, when I first started to ensure it was going, after one lap and then when I finished. Slightly impressed.

Back to the Barracks, did 2 x 1 min planks (30 sec rest in between) and then 1 min each side of oblique plank and then another 1 min plank.


Leave for Canberra on the 7pm flight, staying at the Rydges, so I'll get a run in tmrw morning and Wed morning, no trips and hope to catch up with one of my best friends who I love dearly!!!

Sun 11 Nov 07, You Yangs & Little Aths Relay meet

An important day for all Australians who care about our democracy & freedom, Remembrance Day which was noted at the Relay meet.


This morning my plan was to be at the You Yangs at 7:30am as I had a busy morning planned. A quick check of Weatherzone before I left, expected 26 degrees with a foggy start and it was 15 degrees already. A quick check outside, very sunny, not sure where the fog is, well I found out soon enough! Driving to the YY I noticed that my outside temp guage was dropping and then when in sight of the YY I noticed some fog, so I stopped and used my phone to take a photo. When we started it was 10 degrees, but a lot warmer when we finished.



On arrival at Toynes Rd, Cookie was already there and so was the fog!!! Myself, Cookie & Shane (from Coburg AC) ran for 10 minutes in the fog before we were in brillant sunshine with NO wind, beautiful. All up 15.1km of rolling hills in 78 minutes for me with a few walking breaks up the big hills, as my legs didn't want to play the game today. We started at 32m elevation and I noted a couple of times in the 200m area, but the majority of the time we cruised between low 100 - 175m. A good run, the other guys had to wait for me at the top of some of the sharp hills.


From 10am - 1pm I was at VU as the U9 boys relay coach, we had a practise meet before Regional Champs, a good idea.

Probably no posts for a few days as I am away in Canberra until Wed evening.

Thu 08 Nov 07, morning hills

This morning I did some hills in & around the Botanical Gardens/Tan. Starting on the Tan and running along the Tan until the Swan St bridge and then along the Yarra until nearing Morrell bridge, turning after a few stretches and then doing some rolling strides back to the Pillars.

Up and down some stairs, then along the grass on a diagonal direction, then straight ahead and then straight ahead but shorter and then diagonal (to the left) but shorter and flatter. Lots of shorter reps, good pace, which got the legs working! A 1k jog back and then 8-10 min of stretching on the grass.


At lunch I went to the gym for 25 minutes, upper back, chest and arms with some core work (not much).


Coaching in the evening & morning (on the run).

Wed 07 Nov 07, a morning run

On the Tan just before 6am, running along the Tan, the Yarra and then up Anderson St until getting to Domain Rd and then running along a grass trail, back onto the Tan and then I jogged around the parks near Govt Dve waiting for my 6:30 running partner.

Once together we ran the reverse of what I had done earlier, but once on the river we ran upto Fed Square and then over Princes Bridge into the parks and then back onto the Tan. All up, 11.8km for the morning.


Today I attended the funeral of my friend Liz in Bentleigh, a nice service at the Anglican Church. A few of us came back to the city and visited PJ's in Southbank, a favorite for Liz as they have cider on tap, so a pint each and then a few VLS for me.

People are like stain-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within.

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Never shall I forget the days I spent with you. Continue to be my friend, as you will always find me yours.

Ludwig Van Beethoven

Tue 06 Nov 07, track training, am & pm

I started the day accompanying Clare when she did her session in the morning, 1.2k w/up including drills etc, then some strides and then I did 2.4km or reps with Clare and then a short cool down. A nice start to the day which allows me to get a few extra kms in without too much stress, then some stretching afterwards. Achilles is doing ok, but then that might be because of the BIG anti-inflams. :-)



All dressed up after a long day, the jacket was off and I don't wear a tie often, so I thought a self camera shot was worthy..


PM session....

I got to the track just before 4pm with Michelle who I coach. I ran a couple of laps with Michelle and then watched her do some steeples for 10 minutes before getting her to stop, so she had some energy for her 15x200m.

As bloody normal, the wind was shocking this arvo! And everyone in the group were WAY faster than me, so I knew that 8x800 was going to be a solo effort, well...following others. Adrian, Luke & Adam and me!!!

After two 800s I changed my set to 400s, sitting in front of the group trying to protect them from the wind a bit and then peeling off around the 300m mark and running through for 400m.

Splits:
3:06 (74 sec recovery)
3:06 (75 sec)
81
82
82
83
84 (done!)

I was buggered and the wind was hard work, thankfully I wasn't the only one struggling, even Luke (who can run low 15's for 5k)! I finished off with a 3 lap c/down with Adrian and then I strolled around for a couple of laps with some of Burkie's younger girls.

Mon 05 Nov 07, a couple of laps of the Tan

Hit the Tan nice and early, two laps 18:02 & 17:14, a beautiful morning here in Melbourne, very sunny and no wind! How different a few hours later when it was cloudy and cool.

And by the time I arrived at the VU Complex for Little Aths Relay training, it was cool and VERY windy and very tough for the U9 boys who are allocated a small area and had to contend with a head wind! Well at least it kept them a little quiet.

Sun 04 Nov 07, an arvo LR

No early run this morning as the boys stayed over and thankfully...it was pissing down at 8:30am here in the west and it would have been raining the entire run!


The boys left here 3:30ish after watching Transformers on DVD (excellent movie) and I had arranged a running partner for the arvo but that fell through as they had a smashing headache and were in bed sleeping trying to make it all go away... hmmm an arvo run, its cold and very overcast... minds games a playing, but thankfully whilst I was dialing my friend I was also taking my jeans off and starting to get ready. After getting off the phone I started to let the mind wander and was thinking maybe not, BUT thankfully I got the skins on and a T etc. But then once outside I discovered it was raining!!! Now I don't mind running in the rain, but I hate starting in the rain, shit...the mind games are starting again...so I stood in the rain and tied my shoes, right I'm wet, I may as well run!!!

The first 20 minutes was in constant rain and into a head or cross wind, yuk, another pet hate! I made my way to the Fed Trail and ran along there until hitting 40 minutes and then turned around and came back in 39:30, generally sitting near the 5 min pace, just over 16km.


An interesting web site, I have always felt that some ppl only see the bad parts of the internet: Snopes.com

Sat 3 Nov 07, shit racing

A relaxing morning with C, D & K, as there was no Little Aths today I took the older 2 for haircuts, then we had coffee/hot choc and wondered around Rebel and a few other stores. Today was the 3 boys first visit to senior aths for this T&F season.
With support from friends I was able to warm up, cool down and race. C & D just ran around and played with a couple of boys similar age and come back when they want something. K being the youngest, 20 months, got fussed over a fair bit and played with a lot of the younger girls and a few of the months.

Today I wanted to run the 800 & 400 and was hoping for some improvement, but I knew that at the end of my 3 week block, my lack of fitness and other stuff that any changes would be small, well how WRONG was I.

800m, in the 6th heat, 2:20-30 group. Now I know how to run a 73/4 lap, then why did I run very low 69 for my first lap!!! FUCK! And I knew I was in trouble but I tried to just continue on and see what happens, well 2:33 happened! SHIT! Made sure I didn't dwell on it, I think I am starting to get some fitness, I know I mucked up the first lap and I am not fit enough to run 2 laps at that pace and I know with meds & some lack of work over the past few months I am a few kg heavier. So off for a cool down after checking on the 3 boys.

A couple of hours hanging around watching some of my squad race and muck around with the boys I ran a 400m, well lets just say that the race was SO BAD, that it was slower than my first lap of the 800... again FUCK

Thu 01 Nov 07, a fast track session

My day started in the gym for a 30 min session, nothing special, some back, shoulders, core & some stretching.

Plan; a short & fast session for me and the boys tonight as well Ash was to join in for the 500, 300 & 100. The rest of us were running 500/400/300/200/100, with 2m 30s recovery.

We started off with a 2km warm up around the Complex, then some basic stretches and 6x50m strides fairly quick with slow jog backs. Eight of us in the group, some a little bit faster, but this was going to be fast and tougher than our normal Thu session. The wind was up when we first started and it started to subside throughout the session, the plan was to hit 85-88 for the 500, I was aiming 90, but the wind made it tough.

My splits: 94, 73, 55, 33, 15.6

A fast set which was good to do something a little different, we walked it off and then I jogged 2km to try and run the legs out. Sat down on the infield to stretch glutes, groin & hamstring whilst watching Clare's set.