AV Shield Regional Final

My team are through to the finals!

I am very proud of our team, everyone put in consistently through the whole season to have us finish the season first against bigger teams

Then we finished second at the regional final on the weekend (I am aware that isn’t a proper sentence, I am in a lazy mood). The team that finished first were actually third at the end of the season so they really pulled it out for the RF! Comparatively speaking our team is pretty small but our sprinters/field athletes had a fantastic day participating in up to 5 events each and putting in some great performances so that by the time Corrie and I were lining up for the 5000 we were almost over the line.

It was a nasty old day to run distance, we were over an hour late starting and I was hoping this would give the weather a chance to settle down, no such luck. Anyway, 12.5 laps into a strong headwind was slightly less fun than root canal so PB thoughts were replaced with those of simple survival so I eased up after a couple of laps and finished in 23:27 I am pretty sure I ran an extra 500 metres backwards.

Totally bailed on my long run on Sunday, caught too much sun on Saturday and was feeling crappy in the morning and missed the chance to run before it got too hot, I rarely do that so no biggie.

I had a pilates reformer class before work on Monday, the instructor introduced some kooky new moves today so there are some newly discovered muscles putting up a protest today.

An easy 8km was run after work last night, it was a tad warm, I knew it would be but the very idea of going that far on the treadmill sent me spiralling into a fit of despair, in the end, despite it being hotter than the surface of the sun I did manage a half decent slog in the relative shade of the tan and along the yarra.

After returning to yoga last week after an extremely long absence I was suitably impressed enough with the class to go back for some more yesterday. The instructor is very good, extremely knowledgeable and personable, however I do have one small quibble, let me just say that I don’t care how gloriously buff and bereft of body fat a lad is that outside of a Mardi Gras parade or the chorus line for Fame there is no and I mean NO excuse for lime green hotpants, ever! Not least of all when my head is somewhere down in the region of my knees and aforementioned hotpants are standing in front of me attempting to correct my pose, the amount of self control I had to exercise not to fall down in a fit of giggling was damn near saint like I’ll admit it, I can be far less mature than my years at times.

Tuesday is a double day and as the alarm went off this morning I started psyching myself up for the predawn slog. I need time to wake up otherwise there is no point, all I would manage is a semi conscious zombie shuffle, so rather than running around the block at home I drove to work early and ran along the Yarra, by which time I was at least 50% conscious. It was a pretty humid morning (next to wind my least favourite running weather) but my body surprised me by finally displaying some adaption to early morning running and I managed a positively spritely 6km in just under 32 minutes.

My head hurts

Really, I am my own worst enemy, pick pick pick , over analyse, take it apart and put it back together the wrong way…..

I’ve got a 5000 on the weekend and although I’ve only done a few I am having trouble getting into the swing of them. I love distance running but have not totally warmed to concept of doing it on the track, I start to get very negative around the 3km mark of a 5k and from then on it’s a battle to keep concentrating and, as they say, stay on track.

It’s now reached this point so I hereby resolve to let it go and just run, though I am thinking of focussing on 400 splits rather than Km splits, breaking the race down to that level may stop my mind wandering all over the place.

Monday
Nice and easy 6km after work, quads remarkably DOMs free after the mountain adventure.

Tuesday
Who left the heater on? Freaking hot on Tuesday night, somewhere in the mid 30s we did a fartlek session as follows (floating recovery in brackets) 1 (1) 2 (2) 3 (3) 4 (3) 3 (2) 2 (1) 1

Pretty tough given the hot day but a good session and hopefully a little cooler next time we attempt it.

Wednesday
Rest day and massage

Thursday
Short reps, aghhh, I suck

In start contrast to Tuesday night it was chucking down rain for most of the session last night so we all had mud splattered legs after going around the grass track.

The rain made the usually hard track quite soft so my shins didn’t carry on like they did last time I trained there; also it was still warm so it was pretty pleasant rain.

We did 6 by 300 (at 800 to 1500 pace), I was pretty consistent, averaging around 3:45 pace for the session. The recovery was pretty generous, we walked back the way we came, with less of a recovery I probably would have been considerably slower.

Regional Final on Saturday, our women’s open team finished on top of the ladder and 7 of our 9 teams are competing for a spot in the Shield Final the following weekend.

easy, run leading, hills, doctor

First of all, thanks for all the good advice re the 1500, the simple fact is I don’t train specifically for it and I have been doing a heap of hilly trail running which is bound to slow me down, I am sure I’ll get under that 5:50 mark during the 2010/11 season.

Friday
Nothing special, I was feeling pretty indifferent about running around the tan and was too tired to drive out to Lysterfield so I ended up stopping just off Wellington Road and doing an easy 8km along the Dandy Creek Trail.

Saturday
A run leading session at Jells, it was a relaxed 10km and there was a decent sized group of regulars. I hadn’t run with the group for a while so it was great to see all the usual faces still enthusiastic and looking forward to new goals after last years Half and Full Marathons.

Sunday
Three weeks out from the Maroondah Dam trail run so it was another long hilly trail run. I did the same run I did just before Australia Day last year, up up up Mount St Leonard and then down down down again back to the Dam, no doubt about it, a very challenging 21km. I did wuss out of the final 1km climb this year, I’ve done it before so I know what to expect, it was hot, I was tired and I just couldn’t be stuffed. There was a fair bit of walking the up bits, but I was with a friend, we were talking each others ears off and we moved pretty quickly, before I knew it we’d reached the final climb, I left Michelle to keep going and I turned back. My main goal was to get some decent downhill running in, to see how my quads would hold up after all the recent trail running I’ve been doing.

On the way back I was trying to keep my step light and see if I could kind of bounce rather than crash down the hill and being on my own I was off on Planet Em daydreaming. As a result of my absent mindedness I missed a turn off and headed off in the wrong direction, it wasn’t until I hit the aqueduct at the bottom of a hill that I realised what I’d done. I am not familiar with the area but I’ve got reasonably good instincts and thought I’d probably be able to navigate my way back. Buuuuuuut, it was hot and for once I’d drunk almost all the water in my hydration pack (normally I barely touch it) so I thought I better err on the side of caution and back track.

Paying slightly more attention I managed to get myself back to the Dam with no incident, halfway over the wall I ran into a friend with her kids waiting for her hubby to get back from his run. Friendly faces after a long run are always a welcome sight so I stopped for a chat and walked out the last 500 metres, I am not so obsessed that I need to finish where I start, the wrong turn had added enough distance to get me close to 21km by that stage anyway.

Part of the run was affected by the Black Saturday Bushfires last February, it was amazing to see how well the bush had regenerated, there were heaps of black tree trunks covered in masses of new growth. Though it was pretty windy so there were lots of small branches dropping on the tracks around us, a little bit scary but most of the bigger limbs had long since fallen.

I checked the map back at home and it turns out I would have been OK to keep following the track I took a wrong turn on to, it would have met up with the trail that would have taken me back to the Dam, good to know for next time and that my homing skills are reasonably well attuned.

Today
As I took my first couple of tentative steps this morning I was prepared for a monstrous case of DOMs. After I did this run last year I could barely walk for 3 days, getting out of chairs required advanced notice and involved a great deal of grimacing and my massage the Wednesday after had me writhing. Now I’d be lying if I said there was no lingering legacy of yesterdays antics but it’s barely more than an afterthought, standing up is not accompanied by a sharp intake of breath and I am looking forward to an easy run this afternoon. I am a long way from becoming a hill running machine, but at the very least I seem to have got the measure of the DOMs.

I had my regular Sports Doc appointment this morning and after running in spikes on Thursday and belting down a hill yesterday I was fully expecting the human pincushion treatment. Dr K had a good dig around in my shins (she doesn’t hold back!) and I am pleased to report there was no tenderness and she was completely happy, the needles stayed snug in their evil den of sharpness and out of my shins – which leaves more for Jo, Sara and Andrew

Though I wasn’t totally unmolested by needles, I still had to submit to the bloodletting for my Iron/B12 tests, I get the results back tomorrow.

Off to the gym for yoga at lunch time, this will be amusing, I’ll be the one standing at the back of the room barely moving, such is the degree of my inflexibility.

AV Shield Rd 12

Last round before finals yesterday afternoon and the stars were out on the track with Jeff Risley and Benita Willis both making an appearance to run the 1500.

I tried something new for the 1500, I put myself in a slightly faster heat in the hope that I could tack on with some 5:50 ish type runners, when I ran my 5:53.0 PB I was in a nice little pack of 3, it was perfect.

I also tried to go out a bit harder over the first 300 in the hope that it would be enough for at least a PB equalling time, if not a few seconds quicker.

It didn’t work and I was a bit frustrated after I finished, after running 5:53.9 and 5:53.0 late last year I’ve run 6:02.4 and 6:00.29 this year, what’s with the 6 minute rut? I am not deluded, I don’t expect to run a PB each time, but after getting under 6 minutes I did kind of expect that I was capable of running between 5:53 and 5:59 as a matter of course, unless I was having a really shit day. Not only am I not deluded I am also a realist, I know that 1500 is not my forte and I don’t train specifically for it, but I had felt I’d set a certain standard for myself.

Anyway, these are the splits for the last two hit outs. I don’t have any others as I’ve only just started using the Lap by position feature on my garmin, over 1500 it seems accurate, beeping pretty much on the line each time around. Any longer at it starts to read long, the curve on the track is a bit extreme for those faraway satellites.

Split	14/01	28/01
300	1:08.29	1:01.26
700	1:39.45 (2:47.74)	1:37.1 (2:38.36)
1100	1:39.0 (4:26.74)	1:41.0 (4:19.36)
1500	1:36.0 (6:02.74)	1:141.04 (6:00.40)

Saturday 6th is our Regional Final and I am stoked that the Div 2 Casey Girls have made it, as of last week we were still on top of the ladder! I’ll be back into my comfort zone and will be running the 5000 and will be starting with the intention of putting in a good one.

I have also decided to enter the Victorian Masters Championships on 20/21 March, the 1500 is on Saturday and the 5000 on Sunday, I’ll enter both and decided a bit closer to the time if I can be bothered with the 15.

Trainspotting

Australia Day yesterday, what’s not to love about a public holiday?!

Except Asterix the giant Russian Blue decided to have a bit of a turn, poor munchkin. He was up half of Monday night periodically Gakking* away in various parts of the house, when I got up to check on him he was staggering about and generally not looking at all like his usual sprightly self. In the morning he refused his breakfast, this is a cat who can hear the top being ripped off a tin of tuna in the next suburb and forces me to eat breakfast standing up unless I want kitty litter scratching paws in my cereal.

A trip to the after hours vet is a sign of how much I love the big fuzz ball because it requires me to dig deep into my limited reserves of patience, in the end the consultation took over an hour because the vet kept ducking out to do other things.

Anyway, Trix was prodded (not happy with that, pancreas is inflamed), blood was taken, a thermometer was put somewhere a thermometer shouldn’t be put and he had an opiate, anti-inflam and anti biotic injected, through all this he only bit me with the jaws of steel once. I was sent home with some Tramadol (junky) and more anti inflams to give him, something must have done the trick because he begged for lunch and ate heartily. He was kind of funny on the Tramodol, all spaced out and bumping in to things, though I had another restless night checking on him. It’s not an animal specific drug, he’s on the human stuff and I had to sign a wavier saying I wouldn’t sue if he kicked it because the drug hasn’t been tested for critters. He was fine, except he kept telling me he was $5 short for the train to Albury and wouldn’t look me in the eye.

Just waiting for the blood results to come back now but he’s been more like his old self.

Running
A day off meant I could do my first run at 9am, no sleeplek for the second week in a row, so a nice easy 8.9km to get me going for the day.

Training in the evening and it was 10 by 30 seconds up a slope with a 90 second (the run back down again) recovery. Not a fab session for me, short intervals are not my forte but I could appreciate the point of the session and I knuckled down, wasn’t too happy at the end though, just the culmination of a bad night and a worrisome day.

1500 tomorrow night, going to try for 5:50 so I’ll be brave and put myself in one of the faster heats instead of sitting back in the last heat.

*If you’ve ever heard a dog or a cat vomit you’ll appreciate the onamonapea

Belief Vs Reality

When I was about 5 years old I had a belief, a belief that if I wiggled my nose like Samantha from Bewitched that cool stuff would happen.

In fact so strong and certain was this belief that one day I stood on the top of my bunk bed, wiggled my nose, closed my eyes and stepped off.

Apparently I can’t fly*

If you don’t believe me I can show you the scar under my bottom lip, this is were my teeth pushed through when I hit the ground.

The moral of this story is that it’s OK to believe in yourself, but not to the extent that you believe that wiggling your nose like a 1960s sitcom character is going to give you the power of flight.

I don’t believe in belief, I believe in being positive and confident, I believe in trusting in the training that you have done and setting tough but realistic goals. But training can only take you so far, the limitations of age and talent, of reality, will bring you back to earth quicker than a kid who thinks she can fly, I can believe I can run a 80 minute half marathon until the cows come home, but that ‘aint going to make it happen.

I’ve set a few goals for myself this year, though I haven’t talked to anyone about them and I am not going to publish them (though 1 or 2 may get an inside scoop). I will train as best as I can, respecting the limitations my stupid body has placed on me and always with a view to staying injury free. There will be more than one attempt available at the distances I want to run certain times in this year so I’ll asses in the lead up and decide what I am aiming for.

The problem in the past is that I’ve invested too much in certain races and have been too hell bent on achieving a certain time and felt too pressured by the expectation to perform to a certain level. This has caused me to push myself through pain when I should have stepped back which inevitably lead to injury.

Oh, good long run on Sunday, 19km, my long runs had been languishing around the 15km mark for ages so I am pleased I’ve managed to stretch them out a bit through January. Last week I did 18km and the last 2km were a real struggle, on Sunday I had a proper breakfast before hand (porridge instead of toast) and was feeling much more comfortable over the last couple and even managed a faster pace to close out the run.

*then again maybe I could fly, it was just the landing I hadn’t got the hang of.

Trails New

I went for an easy run after work yesterday afternoon, it was hot and it wasn’t all that enjoyable.

Today I decided to go and have a look at a part of the O’Shannassy Aquaduct Trail, it runs from Woori Yallock to, funnily enough, the O’Shannassy Dam, alternatively it would be fair to say it runs from O’Shannassy Dam to Woori Yallock, but we could argue about this all day. The aquaduct is no longer in use but it’s still there next to the trail.

I was only looking for a 9km run today so I suppose it’s a bit of overkill to drive all the way to Warburton to do it but I go where the whim takes me. I got to the car park and decided to run the section towards the dam but it turns out Parks Vic are doing some repair works and a 6km section is closed at the moment, so the decision was made for me and I ran back towards Warburton.

It was a gorgeous place to run, lovely forest, almost totally flat (being next to an aquaduct I kind of expected it woud be) and gravel underfoot, lots of birds flitting about and the sound of running water, it will be a perfect spot for long runs when I get into half marathon training again, I can’t wait to run there in the winter. I stopped in Warby for something to eat before the drive home, a vanilla slice from the bakery, YUM, I can’t remember the last time I had one, it was fabulous, why has it been so long?

Some pics from my phone

I’ve seen plenty of the Parks Vic “you can do this/you can’t do that” signs on the trails, but this was a first, I shudder to think what happened to prompt them to put it up, still, it was good to know that I was safe from sniper fire this morning

Heading back to the start

I really do love those shoes

Warburton

AV Shield Round 11

12:52 ish, thereabouts, somewhere in the ballpark, depends on who had the quicker reflexes, me or the timer.

In a word, CRUD!

Running Shield comp has taught me to be realistic (especially when racing every week) and to not expect a PB every time and to approach some weeks just a solid training session rather than an all out effort, simply, to choose my battles.

Training was going well and I had a great session on Tuesday so I was confident and set my sights on 12:40 (but secretly was thinking 12:35 would not be too much of a stretch), which would have been a 9 second PB (I ran 12:48.9 on 24/10/09). Somehow it didn’t quite work out that way; there were heaps of people keen for the 3000 so we were split into 3 heats. This was great as we’d done all our 5000s in one mega heat this season, sometimes up to 60 people, but sanity has mostly prevailed with the 3000s and they’ve kept the numbers manageable.

Though of course I didn’t factor this in to my preparation (still too green at this track business) and warmed up at around 8pm expecting to be running at 850pm, well, my heat didn’t start until about 945pm, which is pretty close to my bed time most nights.

Ahhh, no excuse, it was the second Km, I eased up too much and you just can’t afford to do that in such a short race, I was out in no mans land on my own and just lost it a little bit there over a couple of laps and couldn’t make it up. I wasn’t paying any attention to the lap splits and was only checking at each Km, just trying to pace myself on feel. I should have paid more attention and not let my mind wander.

Splits were

4:17
4:19
4:15

more or less, it took just over half a lap to get some clear space, then I was on my own.

I am a bit disappointed about this one, today I am tired and sore and although it’s not a wasted effort as there is still a training benefit it wasn’t the outcome I was aiming for, I was capable of better.

PS – to be fair on myself I looked up my splits for 23/10 (because it was niggling at me) and I was faster by 1 second during the 2nd and 3rd Km last night, it was the first that let me down being almost 6 seconds too slow.

Finally, some improvement

I had to miss my run on Monday, caught back at work and then some stuff to sort out after the lightening strike that morning.

Mother Nature’s fury did give me a day off work though as Optus were coming around yesterday to fix my broken phone line. The tech was supposed to be around between midday and 4pm, but then he turned up at 8am while I was still slobbing around in my PJs. He got the line fixed and I did a happy dance because that meant I had the whole day ahead of me still, 10 minutes later my house alarm started beeping again (to let me know the phone line has been disconnected) and it was back on the phone to the help desk. Repair guy was back 15 minutes later, mucked about a bit more, phone line back up again and then I had the day to myself.

Running
Tuesday is a double day and thanks to the day off I was saved from the 530am sleeplek session and instead did an easy 10km at the more civilized 10am.

I spent the rest of the day tidying, having a short kip (lovely), watching The Mighty Boosh on my lap top (because I still haven’t managed to hook up my DVD player to my new TV) and cooking dinner early so I could get home from training and eat straight away (luxury).

Last nights session was 4 by 4 minutes with 3 minute recovery (walking about, not standing in one place gasbagging), despite what must have been a dejected look on my face I enjoy this session.

Again, my legs are feeling really strong, stronger than they ever have in fact, but lamentably I am still waiting for my heart and lungs to catch up, I almost felt like I was falling over with every step last night as my legs wanted to move faster than the rest of my body could

Anyway, I don’t have the distance showing on my Garmin when I run reps so I had no idea how the session went until I downloaded it and compared it to last time, it did feel like a good one and it turned out it was, this is a comparison over the last 3 months, which speaks for itself –

Rep	10/11/09	15/12/09	19/01/10
1	945 metres	910 metres	950 metres
2	965 metres	950 metres	980 metres
3	910 metres	930 metres	950 metres
4	920 metres	960 metres	980 metres

Funny how with the December and January sessions the 2nd and 4th rep was faster than the 1st and 3rd, it’s a flat section we run on and there were no headwinds either so there is no logical explanation.

Anyway, feeling good and I am hopeful for a 3000 metre PB on Thursday night, though I won’t be running until 9pm which will be interesting.

I am off for an easy 6km or so at lunch time, thanks to Monday’s slackness, I don’t want to make today another rest day.

What the f*ck was that?!

At about 430 this morning I discovered the reason why swear words were invented.

I have been misinformed all these years, I thought swear words were invented to be shouted at spiders, people who cut you off in traffic, yourself when you stub your toe/walk into a tow bar/bang thumb with hammer, the umpire or the tax office.

No dear reader, swear words were invented to sum up the shear terror of being woken up from a deep sleep by a thunder clap so terrifically loud that that you not only hear it but you feel it as well, followed almost instantly by a lightening strike pretty much directly outside your bedroom window.

Apart from the time I went white water rafting and I was convinced I was going to drown I don’t think I have ever been so frightened in all my life, I fully expect all my hair to turn white by tomorrow. When the thunder clapped I sat bolt upright in bed, in the instant that I woke I had thought there was an explosion somewhere nearby, the windows had rattled, things fell off selves, I could feel a pulse of energy, there was the flash and then the thunder rumbled on for 20 seconds or so. I sat there for a few moments scared and shaking expecting to hear sirens or people shouting, I really had thought something had blown up. I also had two cats going completely mental, normally storms don’t bother them but I am pretty sure I and going to find claw marks in the ceiling.

If it had have happened during the day I probably would have been in a more rational state of mind, but to be woken up by such an almighty bang is something else altogether, I never ended up getting back to sleep it was too much of an adrenaline rush. I got up and started looking around the house and discovered that half my electrical appliances weren’t working, I figured that the surge protectors they are plugged in to had tripped but they wouldn’t reset. When it got light I had a look in my fuse box, turned out that one of the kill switches had tripped so there must have been a surge from the lightening strike. My lax attitude to house work was also exposed, all the dust that had settled on the tops of door frames and in the picture rails had also been pushed upwards, there are dust trails everywhere, it looks really weird.

Update – got home, phone line is fried and Foxtel is not working, aghhhhhh. Optus are fab and will be here tomorrow to fix the phone line AND answered immediately. Foxtel on the other hand……….first call yielded nothing but an auto reboot (which I knew would not work) and being told to call back in 5 minutes if that didn’t work before being hung up on. Second call, 5 minutes later, resulted in 30 minutes chatting with some dude in India (and I hate to think how my mobile bill will look, not to mention the size of my brain tumour) and no Joy. How many freaking people do I have to tell that a reboot won’t work, there was a lightening strike and I am pretty sure the unit itself has frapped out??? Long story short they will send a techo out on FRIDAY, seriously, FRIDAY! The lightening stuck a tree in the front yard of the house opposite me and bore a hole in the ground right down to a metal pipe, pretty scary, my neighbour was even more frightened than I was!

Running

Friday was just an easy 7.5km or so.

Saturday I took my new super light Trail Shoes (adizero’s) out to the Dandenongs for a 8km run from Grant’s Picnic ground down towards Belgrave then looping back up to the car park. By up I mean UP too, nice big fat long steep hill in the middle to climb, I tried gamely to run up part of it but it’s too freaking long and steep. I did power walk up pretty well though, last time it took me about 12 minutes, this time around it took me just over 9 minutes. Then running back down a trail called Lyrebird Walk I was keeping my eyes open for the namesake, none today though, I did see four Nuns however so maybe it needs to be renamed Penguin Walk

Sunday was another spin around Lysterfield Lake with a couple of girlfriends. I took us on a big loop that borders the park, I hadn’t been up that far before so I was unsure what to expect, it did undulate a fair bit but was not too bad, though I did have to walk up one really short steep bit. Then we finished by running counter clockwise back around the lake the car park, all up 18kms.

I love my new trail shoes more than I thought it would be possible to love an inanimate object, they are light (only 226gms each) but still supportive and so comfortable to run in.