Not such

a great Australian Runner.

Well it was just part of a long run but there is something about pinning on a race number that makes me want to run fast so I really had to work to reign in my pace. In hindsight I should have just left the timing chip in my pocket, I hate seeing a sub par result in print, such is the pettiness of my ego.

Anyway, no need for a race report, it was 1:16:29, course was fine and was well marked, though the long stretch up St Kilda Road back to Albert Park was a bit boring. I didn’t take splits manually, rather I let the footpod take care of it, though for some reason today it decided not to behave and the course read at 16.15 Km!!! A bit annoying because it is usually very accurate and has been for all the other measured courses I have run this year, I just had to ignore it in the end and go by the stop watch.

Continuing the trend from the Melbourne Mile the idiots at Powerade seem to want to continue to push their crappy sugar free product, ughhhh. This maybe fine for the aerobics princesses out there but runners want sugar for fucks sake, who the hell wants to run 15km (or 19km in my case as I ran 4km to get to the start line) then suck down a bottle full of artificial sweetener???? I chucked mine to lighten the load for the cool down run, I ran about 2km, stopped at the 7-11 on the corner of Domain road and walked the rest of the way back to my car with a coke and raspberry slushee, Mmmmmm, much better than sugar free Powerade.

Powerade marketing people, if you happen to find me via a google search listen up good – RUNNERS DO NOT WANT SUGAR FREE PRODUCT, Ok, geddit? good!

Somehow I scored 2 event T-Shirts, when I got home and went through my bag there were two in there, size “small”, assuming they are making allowances for the population getting bigger because they are freaking enormous.

Didn’t hang about, wasn’t really in the mood for company today.

21km for today and 53km for the week. Next week will be a lower mileage week, I have a 5km road race on Sunday next week and am hoping for a PB.

Loved the Bond film by the way, I want Daniel Craig wearing nothing but a big red bow for Xmas please

The Great Australian Run is on tomorrow, I entered it ages ago when I was just getting back on my feet after the stress fracture.

I have a 5km road race Sunday next week that I am focussed on so I am not planning on a hard run tomorrow, I’ll park about 2.5km away so I can run there and back to clock up 20km for the day.

Going out with some friends to see the new James Bond movie tonight, a bit of a laugh and a chat is what I need right now.

Thanks so much for all the kind words, it means alot.

Vale Scully

When you only weighed about 3.5kg when healthy it does not take long for cancer to take it’s toll on your small frame. Scully had not eaten anything for the last 3 days, not even the ultimate cat treat Whiska’s cat milk could tempt her.

I decided last night that it was time to do the right thing by her, she was barely able to walk and was sleeping all the time. I only had goldfish and a couple of canaries as a child, animals like that pretty much die on a monthly basis, ok, the canaries where a bit longer lived but you get the idea. Therefore having to take a companion of 15 years up to the vet to be euthanised was the most difficult thing I have ever had to do, even if it was the right thing to do.

I couldn’t bring myself to put her in her travel box, she had no fight left anyway and quietly sat wrapped in a blanket on my lap for the trip. They put me in a special consultation room straight away, rather grimly I got the impression very quickly it was THE room they always use, but at least I didn’t have to sit in the waiting room, well, waiting.

Long story short it was devastatingly quick, I was simply not prepared for how quick, she was gone before the needle was even empty, I gave her head a little kiss and my fierce, independent, beautiful and loyal tiny little bundle of fur was gone.

I adopted Scully and her dufus of a brother Tin Tin, who is sitting next to me as I type, about 15 years ago when they were about 6 months old. I had no intention of getting any pets but a work colleague caught me at a weak moment and the rest is history.

I managed to put on a brave face at the vet, but then I bawled a little in the car before driving home

A fine line indeed

As Chrissie Amphlet and the Marquis De Sade would have us believe there is a fine line between pleasure and pain (well, according to the Marquis there is a fine line between bodily waste and afternoon tea but that is a whole new topic). For a blissful half an hour yesterday afternoon Jells Park was a glorious example of late spring idyll, stealing some rare peace and quiet before training I sprawled on the grass, read my book and forgot about the world and my troubles for a brief time.

Then after a gentle 2km warm up that finished at the bottom of a hill (I love not knowing that the session is going to be until after the warm up, less time to worry about it) it soon dawned on my that Jells Park was soon to become the house of pain, where endless hills rise before me, their peaks always just out of sight.

The session was to run a loop of about 1km with about 400 mtres going up and about 600 mtres going down, the up was to be run at a strong steady pace and the down nice and relaxed. The up isn’t a predictable “straight up, there’s the top” like Anderson St, it is a twisty turny, little flat bit (phew) then sharp right and sharp up before flattening out, at which point I start to feel like I am running on the spot.

There were 3 options, 3 laps, 4 laps or 5 laps, Hmmmm, I think to myself, will see how I feel after 3 and try to push on for 4. How long can I keep pleading “recovery from injury?” I wonder, well the doctor gave me the all clear over 3 weeks ago now so I suppose I can’t keep riding that excuse any more and the only way I am going to get my fitness back where I want it is to keep pushing outside my comfort zone. Folks, I got out of my comfort zone, I couldn’t even gaze wistfully on deeply uncomfortable from where I was.

I finished the 3rd lap and thought I may as well go on for 4, then up the top of the hill after the 4th it became apparent that I had to get back to the top again anyway and had regrouped with the pack, I still had most of the feeling in my legs and my heart had retuned from my throat back into my chest where it normally resides so why not do the 5th lap? Just over 2 minutes and much muttering of rude words in Rupert’s direction later I made it to the top and the pain was over for another week and there was no vomiting.

Then after the cool down and while stretching that sense of satisfaction that only comes from putting yourself through such discomfort started to wash over me and I felt that little warm high that only us runners can appreciate, that feeling where no matter how bad you feel at the start you know you will feel that good at the end so you suck it up and get on with it.

I am getting stronger by the day and my legs are not giving me any bother, apart from not wanting to run as fast as I want them to run, but I am working on it.

I changed my header picture today, that is my brother and I before the 10km on the Gold Coast earlier this year.

Sacrilege!

Mac and Cheese from a box!!!

Oh heavens no!!!!

I only make Mac and Cheese a couple of times a year and it has to be the real deal and it does not take that long to make, give it a go, this is my tried and true method.

Put a big pot of water on to boil

Add 50gm of butter, 40gm of flour and 600ml of skim milk to a pot over high heat and whisk until smooth. Once smooth bring to the boil stirring with a wooden spoon, when bubbling turn down the heat and simmer for another 5 minutes to cook the flour, stirring occasionally. No making a roux and slowing adding milk palaver, just chuck it all the pot at once, trust me.

At some stage while this is happening you would have grated about 200gm of nice shape chedder cheese (the sharper the better) and added 400gm of penne or rigatoni to the salted boiling water.

Once the white sauce has cooked off for 5 minutes add the following, a teaspoon of mustard powder (not mustard from a jar, it will curdle the sauce), a pinch of nutmeg, cracked black pepper and a few dashes of tobasco sauce (or more than a few if that floats your boat) then turn off the heat and add the cheese.

Pour the cheese sauce over the cooked (and drained) pasta, stick the big gooey mess in a baking dish and bake at 200 degrees Celsius (I did mention pre heat the oven didn’t I?) for 30 minutes.

That is the basic Mac and Cheese, you can tart it up by adding various veg like fried mushrooms, steamed broccoli or fresh sweet corn and you can make a crunchy top by adding a little bit of melted butter to about half a cup of bread crumbs and sprinkling it on top.

YUM, great comfort food.

Speaking of which I have just pulled a batch of oat and choc chip biscuits from the oven, I am planning on taking baked treats to work each week to sell so I can raise money for Trailwalker.

That bastion of journalistic integrity The News of the World has reported that Gordon Ramsay has been sprung having an affair with a, wait, you’ll love this, Professional Mistress. Now I could not give a flying monkey if it is true or not, I could care less what the potty mouthed one wants to do in his spare time, in fact I am not really interested in what he does at any time. I am more intrigued by this term, Professional Mistress, let’s break this down, has sex with men in return for gifts and being kept in a certain lifestyle.

Call it what you like love, it still spells prostitute in my book.

I don’t think GR would be that impressed by my Mac and Cheese.

Bet that doesn’t look pretty

I only ran about 4.5km yesterday but I was stuffed and ended up in bed by 9:30 last night, I really do live the wild life don’t I?!

These days I like to give myself about 24 hours rest between runs so I decided not to do my long run first thing. Not a bad idea as it happens because I am an early riser whether I am running or not. So I was up at about 6:30 this morning and was able to get a heap of washing done and cleaned the kitchen, normally by the time I get back from a long run I can’t be bothered doing all this boring stuff and before I now it I am living in a tip.

About 1pm I headed out for a 20km run, it’s been a while since I have run this far on my own so I was a bit nervous. I chose a pretty flat route from the end of Highbury Road, ran into Jells Park and then further along the Eastlink Trail (the Ferntree Gully Road underpass was flooded) towards High Street Road (all totally useless information unless you happen to live in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne) until I reached 10km. I was feeling pretty good by this stage, until I turned around into the head wind, yikes!

A good run though, I finished in 1:46:00 exactly, a nice comfortable average pace of 5:18.

49km for the week

Oh, I suppose you would like some sort of explanation on the title, especially as I had a good run today so I am obviously not referring to that. On my way home I had to stop by the shops to get some cheese for dinner (Macaroni Cheese, it’s comfort food weather) I had a banana smoothie for a late lunch, this was chased by some sparking apple juice because I was still thirsty.

Mmmmm, banana smoothie and apple cider in my tummy, imagine how that must look….

…..ohh, I feel a little queasy.

Well, I can only get better

I chose a great day for my first track race, about 10 degrees, squally rain and a nasty head wind on the front straight, ughhhh. Things didn’t bode too well when I went looking for my uniform and realised that my club singlet was still crumpled and smelly in the bottom of the dirty laundry basket after than tan relays in September This meant I had to wear my crop top, ughhh, basically pretty much time to just get over myself really.

Because of the weather they cancelled the field stuff and as they were unsure of getting though the track program it was announced that there would be no points for the round. I did a bit of a warm up on the infield and then watched the guys run their races. Then I headed off again to do a longer warm up around the ground, they had a good path of about 900 metres around the complex.

Back at the track there were about 22 girls for the 1500 and they decided to just run the one heat, bugger! Still, I figured we would just end up with a fast group and slower group, not really, we ended up with a fast fast group, a fast group, me and the slower group, yep, pretty much ran about 1400 metres all on my own, it was bloody hard and my worst case scenario.

So it was pretty tough, there was a killer headwind, sure there was a tail wind too but I don’t think that made up for much, I ran on my own and didn’t look at my watch (probably a mistake) and couldn’t hear the splits over the wind (except the first 300 which was 65 seconds) and I kind of let my mind wander and lost concentration, but in spite of all that I was still pleased with my effort for a first attempt at the 1500.

By my watch 6:12

I am reasonably happy with that and despite near unanimous predictions of sub 6 minutes I personally was not expecting that or aiming for that first up. I am a little disappointed because the time I had in mind was around 6:05 and I probably should have done it but was let down mostly by lack of experience and not paying attention to my splits, not to mention a basic lack of leg speed.

I’ve not been deterred and will be back for more, just need some more speed work and hopefully someone to run with next time.

I know the US election is over but this is too good!

see Sarah Palin pictures

A Question

Q – How far can I push myself and how much can I hurt?

A – I’ll let you know tomorrow

It’s a pretty steep learning curve, at least I’ll be in the last heat so I can see how it’s done.

Weather looks dire for tomorrow, oh well.

10.5km easy recovery run on Wednesday afternoon, about 56 minutes.

6km tempo run at lunch time today, almost spot on 28 minutes and then trying not to fall asleep at my desk in the afternoon, but had to run at lunch because I have my massage on Thursday afternoon.

Bit flat at the moment, I am having another series of 3 iron injections starting tomorrow. I only had a jab 7 weeks ago and have bottomed out again already. I have started to take steps to hopefully reduce the reliance on injections, no, I am not going to start tucking into steak dinners, rather I am going back on the pill so I will be loosing less every month (I don’t really need to spell it out do I?), but this will take a couple of months to have an impact.

It does not help that I have not been sleeping well again. I have gone back to my old faithful sleep remedy of listening to some music while I go to sleep, I set the sleep timed on my iPod and usually manage to drift off before it turns itself off, at least I have woken up with the earphones still in a few times this week. Someone really needs to invent ear phones that are comfy to sleep on, I am a side sleeper and they do dig in a bit.

After recently casting dispersions on Leonard Cohen’s vocal abilities I must confess that he is damn good company while trying to drift off, that deep voice of his is very soothing and there are generally no scary sudden outbursts to jolt me awake. Jeff Buckley, Moby, Massive Attack, The Cure, Interpol and Bjork are also decent company as well, any other suggestions?

Hopefully a settled night tonight (only woke up once last night), a rest day tomorrow and then nice and fresh for the 1500 on Saturday. I am not stressing about the race, I have run other good races despite feeling crap in the week leading up.

A week later about a million times better

After struggling though 6 1 minute surges last week and I mean STRUGGLING, why is it that this week when we were doing 4 by 4 minute reps I nailed it?

Sometime in the last week I seem to have taken possession of a new CV system and a brand new set of legs.

After a warm up the session tonight was 4 by 4 minutes with 3 minute recovery (just walking around, not a float), so I suppose the generous recovery helped.

My pacing was spot on –

Rep 1 – 1 km
Rep 2 – 1.01 km
Rep 3 – .99 km
Rep 4 – .98 km

But let’s allow for a margin of error on the footpod and call it more or less 4 perfect 1km reps

My mission over this summer is to break though the psychological (and let’s face it, physical) 4 minute Km barrier. My goal for the 1500 this weekend is low 6 minutes, my goal for the season is 5:30, this means getting my head around the fact that with the right training I CAN sustain sub 4 minutes per km over that distance.

The 4 minute mile barrier fell repeatedly and rapidly once Roger Bannister made the breakthrough and by no small part because runners believed it could be done.

I just need to translate that same self belief to the sub 4 minute kilometer.

Good running tonight and great to have a couple of guys at my pace to push me through it, hopefully there will be some girls in my heat on Saturday at my pace and just a little bit faster, based in last Saturday’s results there should be.