I don’t get physics

but I definitely dig it.

I love big ideas that make my mind boggle.

I have the vaguest of notions as to what a Synchrotron actually does, but it does seem kinda cool.

Despite my tenuous grip on the basics of mathematics I have somehow managed to grasp the meaning of the theory or relativity, but don’t ask me to explain it to you.

Possibly this stems from my deep frustration at the fact that I only get to live for about 80 years, such a depressingly short blink of an eye in the scheme of things. If they manage to find those worm holes and get a handle of time travel sign me up please, why go overseas today when you can go overseas in 4000 years? Yeah yeah yeah, make the most of the time you have, whatever, I want MORE TIME, can I trade in my Subaru for a TARDIS?

A combination of a Philosophy Degree, too much Philip K Dick and Dr Who have done terribly confusing things to my poor addled mind.

Thanks for the well wishes, I really do churn things around in my mind too much but am just no good and talking them through, resulting in the occasional cryptic nonsense post. Sometimes I feel like I am having 10 thoughts a minute, my brain does not seem an off switch. The iPod is charged and I am going to try to have some down time with some tunes before bed.

No running today, apart from an easy 2km to meet my little group this morning to take them for their strength and running technique session.

I would really love…

….to go just half an hour with one mood, one thought, just one consistent moment.

Remember those little super bouncy balls they used to sell in the vending machine at the supermarket, you would beg Mum for 10 cents to buy one?

I think I may very well have one of those in my head where most people have a brain.

Run leading tonight, 5.6km taking care of the slow group, even 6 minute Kms and managed to keep the whole group together, a super easy recovery run for me after last nights hills.

Still last but better

Back to my nemesis Airlie Street, 200 metres of sheer hell for hill reps.

Only 6 reps tonight (phew) with the run back down hill as the recovery.

72
78
79
82
80
78

Yay, compared to the last time (April 17 2007) there is a slight improvement, on 17th April my average rep time was 80.6 seconds and today it was 78.3 seconds. Hey, it isn’t much but I’ll take it

I did my first Sporting Spirit session this morning, looking after 3 girls starting the Fit for 5(km) program. If I do my job well I will be taking them all for a 5km continuos run in 10 weeks time. It was an early start, 6am at the tan, though stopping for petrol on the way in I discovered that morning people can be very happy people. While waiting to pay for my petrol I had a laugh and a chat with the guy in front of me while he was paying and then I had a nice chat with the sales attendant as well, it was all very jolly and personable, and I hope my running shorts had nothing to do with it

All up today just over 13km worth of running.

My lovely manager came to Melbourne to pay me a visit today, she presented me with my certificate for 10 years service and my $150 gift card. We had a very busy day but we did manage to fit in a fab lunch. I took her to one of my favourite places, Cookie in Swanston Street, if you want somewhere laid back with AMAZING food and a 78 page wine list I can not recommend it highly enough, I have never been disappointed by a meal there. I had stir fried pepper snapper with steamed rice, it transcends description, it was that good this was accompanied by a white wine spritzer with Campari (bitter but deliciously refreshing) and watermelon sorbet for desert, with a shot of vodka to pour over, all heavenly.

Just you try and stop me

A little bit more rested and ready for a proper update.

Saturday
Not too much to report, I had a run leading session in the morning. I thought I was rostered for the 12km slow group however the schedule had changed and I was changed to the 6km medium pace group. Not a big deal and considering the long day on my feet in store for Sunday I wasn’t fussed. I took a small group for a run, mostly they stayed together and I was egged on to finish with a Rocky style run up the steps at the end. With the run back to my car on the tan it was just short of 8km for the morning.

Sunday
We started our weekly Trailwalker session in the afternoon for a change this week. Mostly so poor Michelle could have a rest after finishing her night shift; however it worked out well giving us all a chance for a rare Sunday lie in as well as being able to experience the trail at a different time of day.

Our plan was to start at the beginning, Jells Park and run/walk to Belgrave station which is 3.6 km before Checkpoint 3; this would be a 31.7km session. I left my car at Michelle’s house (and my post training lemonade in her fridge) and we both took a nice easy 4km run to our meeting point at Jells, so for the two of us it was a 35.7km session.

Corrie and Jay turned up soon afterwards and we were on our way, having covered all sections of the course now we happily stashed the map, this meant for a faster and more relaxed session. We started with the walk 1km then run 4km strategy and happily continued in this manner until we hit the hills coming through Churchill Park and into Lysterfield Lake. At this point we agreed to run the flat sections and walk the hilly sections. This decision was made after we all blindly walked a boring 3.7km section along the fire access trail after leaving Checkpoint 1 at Lysterfield. All the while we were all thinking to ourselves “we really should just run this bit and get it over with”, I think we were on autopilot at that stage and none of us thought to speak up generally our communication has been pretty good, but now we have an agreement we won’t “suffer in silence” anymore. We ran out the last part of this section, Jay even sprinted up the hill before Wellington Road! She had music blaring from her all singing, all dancing, all photo taking mobile phone (which apparently can also make phone calls) which clearly gave her a boost. Though the less said about us trying to sing, dance and walk at the same time to Kylie’s version of Locomotion the better really

After crossing Wellington Road there is a lovely downhill sloping section that takes us into Upwey and Belgrave though some low wetlands, Corrie and I realised that we should have used the loo at Lysterfield Lake and put on a fairly pacey 3kms to take us to the toilets at a little picnic ground. At this stage I had been on my feet for over 4 hours and 33kms so I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could still happily run, though I did notice that even at only 5:30 pace that my heart rate was higher than normal (perhaps just the urgency to get to the loo). A quick break and we were ready for the final push to Belgrave station; this was only about 2kms, however mostly uphill. This included a short suburban street, but a fairly steep one, then a very steep climb of about 250 metres on a narrow path through some houses. We had done this before and remembered it was tough. Yesterday though all four of us powered up (walking that is, not running) fairly easily and we were done before we knew it, barely even stopping to catch our breath at the top. This is a pretty good sign and we all seem to have gained quite a bit of strength since we started this training last November so confidence is high, especially with us moving at an average of 7:47 per kilometre yesterday.

I also managed a decent amount of running yesterday, all told just over 20kms. I just can’t get used to running with the damn hydration pack though, at one loo break I took it off and did a little loop without it just to remind myself what an unfettered long run felt like (about a million times better). I slept in my Skins last night and although a little tired I am feeling pretty fresh, let’s see how I pull up after a gentle run this afternoon. Having just checked the training schedule for this week I can see coach has us down for hill reps tomorrow, it could go either way, I could be fatigued from yesterday and it will all go to hell, or there could be some newfound and untested strength there and it will be a great session. I have to exorcise the demons, unbeknownst to me at the time my stress fractures were present last time I did this session, must suck it up and not stress too much about this.

Here is our usual starting the day group shot, a rare toothy grin from me, I suppose I should do it more often but am very self conscious about my messed up front tooth (the result of a baseball in the face).

Quick, more tomorrow

35.7km Trailwalker Training today, starting at about 1pm, covering the start to Belgrave Station. Michelle and I did an extra 4km at the start running from her house to Jells Park.

Feeling remarkably good but recovery run tomorrow will be the real test, the hills seemed easier today.

It’s late now and I need to wind down for the night.

More tomorrow, I promise.

Oh, we saw an Echindna today, cute little thing.

I ran about 20km worth today as well and finished the week with 63km running

that was a rough ride

Takes a deep breath

This last week the naughty little sprites and imps have been snapping at my heels and whispering in my ear, planting all sorts of doubts and insecurities in my poor addled brain, it seems to have cleared now and I am more or less back on an even keel (as even as I ever will be anyway), but I have had a bumpy couple of days.

Wednesday night was an easy run of just over 5km looking after the medium paced group. I suggested to a couple of runners that they should step up to the fast group as they were streaking ahead. They told me they didn’t want to because they wanted an easy run what can you do, I was too moody to argue with them.

Thursday was quite a busy day, I woke after a fitful sleep and decided not to retry the Tuesday session and instead went with the usual plan of a Thursday rest day. Thursday after work I spent an easy couple of hours volunteering at the Charted Accountants annual fun run on the tan (non Melbourne readers have probably figured out by now that it all happens on the tan). It was pretty easy going, signing in runners/walkers, handing our their numbers and then I was recording finishers to match them up with the time keepers results.

After that it was over to Olympic Park for the rare opportunity to watch some live athletics action and it was a great night, in summary -

An A qualifier for Tamsyn Lewis in the 400, Tamsyn was pushed to the line by a Jamaican runner, something she is not used to in Australia and no doubt she reveled in it and was happy to have the competition

An A qualifier for young Lachlan Renshaw who ran a fantastic 800, well by my standards anyway, I am not as well informed on the short stuff

An easy A qualifier for Donna MacFarlane in the 3000 metre Steeplechase and no doubt exorcising some demons from Osaka, especially with the girl who dragged off her spike running the same race

An Australian record and A qualifier in the shot put for the mighty Scott Martin

An A qualifier for Steve Hooker in the polevault where he was left to finish on his own

I got to see Asafa Powell run for the second time and this time close up. At the Commonwealth games I was on the other side of the stadium. The man has an amazing physique, he is like a race horse (minds out of the gutter please)

And the highlight of my night of course was being able to see Craig Mottram run and fairly comfortably win the 5000 metres. I get so nervous watching him run, it is rather funny really, but chatting to a few of the others afterwards they all said the same thing. Collis Birmingham ran 4th with a huge PB, he has not made an A qualifier yet but he did run a B last night

This afternoon I had a fantastic session on the tan and I think this really contributed to helping clear away this funk I have been in. The session for the HVT group tomorrow is a 3 lap progressive session of the tan. I don’t usually go to the Saturday sessions, though I will when Saturday run leading duties finish at the end of March, but I decided to do the session myself today. Being that the poor old coach is busier than a one armed brick layer in Baghdad this week I let him be and I made up my own mind on the pacing and set about it, it was to be 3 laps, 1st at 5:20 pace, 2nd at 5:10 pace and 3rd at 5:00 pace, continuos, that is no rest breaks. I guess this is what you would call an endurance session.

It all went to plan and I even managed to hit the splits on the Km sections that included the Anderson St hill which I was really pleased about. I am finding though that I am having to revise what an “easy” pace is for me as I really had to call on my discipline to keep both the 5:20 and 5:10 pace in particular as I kept pushing harder than I intended. I am getting fitter and I think the time has come to push myself a little more with this sessions.

So here are my lovely well paced splits -
1st lap - 5:20 pace
2nd lap - 5:09 pace
3rd lap - 4:57 pace
(remember, the tan is 3.8Km around)

All up with the warm up and cool down it was 13.5Km today.

So glad it is Friday, I am settling in with Dalziel and Pascoe on the TV and a nice glass of red, whoa yeah, I live the high life baby!

Gratuitous picture of Buster

being and nothingness

JPS, with a title like that you are NOT helping me.

I think I am having an existential crisis, truth be told I think my whole life has been an existential crisis, but just as tropical cyclones have categories so does my mood and these last couple of days have been about a 5, that is to say, dangerous, do not leave your house and batten down the hatches.

Thank the gods that I don’t believe in, aye, there’s the rub I have running to afford me some precious moments of clarity on these category 5 days. Though the less said about last night the better, I tried to get though the session on my own, 2 by 6 minutes (8km pace), 2 by 4 minutes (5km pace) and 2 by 2 minutes (3km pace) with 2 minute recoveries. I only made it up to half way through the first 4 minute rep when I pulled the pin. Even though I waited until 7pm it was still too damn hot and dry, I was drained from a particularly bad head space day and ended up running out the session with an easy 3km cool down.

Fortunately as the clouds and rain rolled in over Melbourne today I have woken with a clearer head and conditions have been downgraded. I’ll retry the session I was supposed to do last night on Thursday morning when the weather should be far more conducive to interval training.

Proof that the internet provides answers to just about anything I found this today, How to Deal with an Existential Crisis

I think the most pertinent points of advice would have to be –

Respect the existence of others. If there is someone or something stopping you from achieving your goal, it is best to determine a mutually beneficial course of action. In other words, killing, maiming, or otherwise harming people is an unacceptable practice that may lead to your own undoing. Live and let live, baby.

Or

Don’t do too much thinking after midnight. That never goes well. You might turn into a gremlin or worse yet, a pumpkin. Seriously, you never know.

I definitely do too much thinking and as my poor unsuspecting Trailwalker team mates will soon find out I do turn into a Gremlin after midnight.

not such a bad ‘un

I went for an easy run after work today, it was fearsome hot but the run itself was surprisingly easy and quite pleasant. I headed out from the office with no specific plan in mind other than an easy pace 8km, ended up back at the office with 8.6km at about 5:20 pace that didn’t trouble me at all.

My glutes were certainly making their presence felt after yesterday, except when I started running they settled right down and there was barely any reminder of yesterday’s long walk.

I had a quick shower back at the office then headed to the tan to meet up with Brian from Sporting Spirit, this is the group I will be doing some extra coaching for on Tuesday and Thursday mornings before work, initially I will be looking after the beginner groups. I was worried about taking it on at first but as the sessions are in the morning it is not going to interfere with my own training. I am still at the point where my own running is definitely my number one priority. I will be taking these groups though drills, technique and strength training which will make a change from run leading and give me a different perspective. I observed a session this afternoon and it all looks pretty straight forward and luckily I won’t be on my own from the outset, I’ll be working with an experienced trainer at first.

Umm, yeah, time to put my feet up, have been very busy lately, too busy for witty and irreverent blog posts I am afraid.

Another Sunday another Trailwalker session

It was Em, Jay and Corrie for a long haul this morning as we stepped up to 30km, 31.6km to be precise, unfortunately Michelle couldn’t join us today we MISSED you Michelle!. We met at the Olinda checkpoint and set off at about 730am to walk to the Woori Yallock checkpoint 30km up the road. We didn’t have to ferry cars back and forth today as my other half kindly offered was co-opted into picking us up at Woori and driving the team back to Olinda.

There wasn’t as much running as I would have liked today, with only about 6kms worth, however this still gives me 54km for the week and if you count the walking I did 80km this week. Therefore sensible heads must prevail and I must still be careful not to do too many nasty things to my poor old legs. I think I might switch to a 16km run during the week so I can still get the long run done.

We did set a pretty good pace today though and were generally walking at about 8:30 per Km, sometimes under and finished up the 31km with an average 8:37 pace is just on 4 hours 30 minutes. There was about 60 minutes fluff time as we finished 5 and a half hours after setting out, not sure where all that time went as we did not rest much. There were a couple of real breaks of about 10 minutes each for stretching, munchies and photo’s. Though we do find a bit of time wasted checking directions on the map, something that won’t be an issue now that we have seen every stage of the course, we should be able to cover it from memory now.

Speaking of munchies, Corrie made us some Honey Joys today, these were fanbloodytastic, I hadn’t had them for years. My banana bread also turned out pretty good though I got so caught up in Honey Joy madness that I forgot to eat mine and had it for a snack once I got home. After we got back to Olinda we also went to the pie shop up there for lunch where I had a fairly decent Veggie Pastie, I was so hungry I must confess I barely tasted it. That is a definite advantage with this training, it chews through the Kjs, I have lost a kilo in the last 10 days!

Next weekend will probably be another 30kms, but a hilly session revisiting some of the tougher parts of the course, then the following Friday we will do our night session, about 26km on Warby. I just remembered I have the following morning off run leading as well, thank goodness, so I can go to my sisters final wedding dress fitting.

Understandably a wee bit tired now, an early dinner beckons, baked beans and mushrooms on sourdough is all I can muster tonight.

Now people keep entering Drag Queen Boobs into search engines and finding themselves at my blog. Come on lads use your imagination, borrow one of Mum’s bra’s and shove a handful of tissue down there or maybe fill a couple of little balloons with some of those water holding crystals you put in pot plants, there problem solved, hope that helped.

In the blink of an eye

I can’t believe it has been 25 years since the Ash Wednesday bushfires in SA and Victoria. Living in Montrose we were not directly threatened but Belgrave and Cockatoo over the other side of Mount Dandenong were devastated and I distinctly remember the appalling hot day and the thick pall of smoke hanging in the air. We were let out of school at lunch time, Mum and Dad picked us up with the car packed full of family albums and precious things and we went and stayed with our Grandparents in Glen Waverley for a couple of days.

Running
Slept like a log last night after my afternoon run then backed up again for 13 something Kms this morning. I was taking care of the long slow paced group, I took them around for 12km in 70 minutes or thereabouts. After helping pack up I finished up with 1.5kms with Clarkey and Damian the shoe guy pack to our cars at the tan.

We are covering 3 Trailwalker checkpoints tomorrow, about 30kms all up, mostly downhill and flat so we can get some decent running done. I am going to make some banana bread tonight for us to snack on along the way, and maybe a slice tonight, just to make sure it turned out OK