Sorry, you don’t get you $1

The film made me cry, I kinda knew it would. It was well shot and very moody, though I am not sure if you would enjoy it if you were not a Joy Division fan and knew the story already. If you saw (and enjoyed) 24 Hour Party People then you will probably get something from Control because both films overlap their stories slightly, JD were the start of the era. The guy who played Ian Curtis did a damn good job too.

Running
Another track session tonight, good for my legs that we don’t do these to often but I do enjoy hitting the track. Unfortunately I was really wiped out tonight after another rotten night sleep, I reckon I only got about 4 good hours. The problem is I keep waking up though the night which is robbing me of the deep sleep, which is the best kind, so I wake up feeling dreadful and have to drag myself though the day. A quick Google today told me this is called Sleep Maintenance Insomnia I am hoping that when I have my 2 weeks off work starting at the end of the month that it will sort itself out. I bought some Valerian today, maybe that will help or maybe it is just tree hugging hippy shit that won’t make a damn difference but at this stage I am prepared to try anything because it has been almost a month now and people are starting to tell me I look like crap.

Anyway, enough moaning, the session tonight -
1km, 800, 600, 400, 200 with 90 second recovery. There was an option to start with a 1200 and if I didn’t feel so awful I would have been tempted, but it wasn’t to be.

Results
1km - 4:10
800 - 3:20
600 - 2:21
400 - 1:27
200 - 42

Despite how I felt I was happy with the results.

OK, time to take my Valerian, the dose is 1 tablet, I am taking 2.

Survived the horror, lost a shoe

Damn I hate the dentist, even with double application of deodorant I was sweating buckets, then there was the hand wringing, uncontrollable shaking and constant requests from the dentist to open my mouth wider as I kept trying to clamp it shut

Then the funny thing happened, I had been pushing one foot against the other as I got more and more tense and about halfway though getting my teeth cleaned my shoe popped off

And this was just to get my teeth cleaned!

Fortunately I have dodged the bullet again and have escaped with no cavities, I just have to use some special tooth paste to stop my teeth being so sensitive and to keep the enamel strong. The trauma of just getting my teeth cleaned is bad enough, I damn near have to be sedated to have a cavity filled (only had 2 and I still wake up screaming) and I am still in therapy from the root canal I had 4 years ago where I had to be prescribed anti-anxiety meds to take before each session

Now 6 months reprieve before I have to go though all that again (I promise I will keep my appointment this time, honest!)

Running
Nothing too flash, just a recovery run of just over 8km. It was a beautiful afternoon today, pretty much perfect running conditions, clear, cool and not a puff of wind.

I am going to settle in a watch a film now, Control came out last year and despite my best intentions I never got around to catching it at the cinema so I am going to watch it tonight, I’ll pay you all $1 if I don’t cry.

Remember Me?

A quiet week on the blog for me for a number of reasons, not least of all I am just too damn busy and but the time I get home I just want to crash. For some reason I have also been having trouble sleeping, I know, pretty unusual for me. Over the last month or so I have been waking up several times a night, I don’t have too much trouble dropping off again but I do wake up feeling like I have not really slept properly. I was supposed to go out for dinner on Friday night but after I finished my run (in the cold and dark) all I wanted to do was have a hot shower and fall asleep on the couch, reluctantly I sent my apologies and I was off to the land of nod by about 10pm.

It’s been a good week of running though, I intended to step it up to 75km, however I snuck over that and finished with 77.4km. I have been doing some soft doubles though, on a Tuesday and Thursday morning I end up with between 4 and 5 easy Kms with the groups I am training and this helps add to the weekly total.

Friday
I had to do my recovery run from home on Friday, it was a cold and dark 9km at 5:30 pace. My heart rate snuck up a few times on the uphills but settled back to high 60% to low 70% on the flats and downhills. I took the iPod out this time to keep me company so it was a reasonably enjoyable run.

Saturday
A tempo paced run around 6km on the Dandenong Creek Trail.

Sunday
I was entered in the free Eastlink 6.2km run this morning, this was a chance to run on the new road and though the tunnels before it opens to cars in a week or so. The start was about 8km from home so I mapped out a course with a bit of a detour to make it roughly 13km and set out to run to the start line. The plan was for an easy run up there and to finish off with a quicker pace. I left home at 7am and about 45 minutes in I started to worry that I would not make it to the start line (I was running a route with some hills that were slowing me down) so with about 4km to go I picked up the pace a bit. Running into the start area I had about 10 minutes to spare and stopped my watch when I saw a mate, coincidentally I had done spot on 13km

After a quick chat I got rid of my mobile phone, long sleeved top, beanie and gloves in the gear tent, had a quick pit stop and made my way to the front of the start line. I wasn’t there to race but there were a heap of kids and families and figured self seeding would be a fantasy and didn’t want to get caught behind walkers. I found Clarkey and Peter on the start line and we had a quick catch up while waiting to be sent on our way. I was pretty pleased with myself only having to break my long run up by 10 minutes and was desperately hoping they would start on time because I was starting to get very cold and knew I would also stiffen up. Looking down the road I could see it dropping away rather worringly, rumour had it the course would have a couple of stiff hills in and out of the tunnels, they weren’t wrong!

The gun went off and I stuck with Clarkey for close to 2km (and Sam who almost went barreling past us) but as soon as the tunnel started to go uphill it was “see you at the end guys” as I decided not to hammer myself and let them go. Considering this was Clarkey’s first run after coming 5th in a 100km race last Sunday it was pretty sad that I couldn’t stick with him over a measly 6.2km

Here are my splits, you don’t need to be a genius to see where the hills were -
4:25
4:31
5:26
4:42
4:46
5:23
56 seconds (last 200)

Still sub 5 minute average, not bad after a 13km warm up

Needless to say, I caught the train home.

Now here is a weird thing but I have noticed since the weather started to get colder that the only way I can get warm after a run is to have a hot shower. I could turn on the car heater, put on a tracksuit, wrap myself in a blanket or have a hot drink but until I have a hot shower I will be shivering uncontrollably. I was trying to eat some breakfast after I got home but was shaking so violently I kept missing my mouth

Ughh, I have a dentist checkup tomorrow morning, I “missed” my six monthly last November so now it has been more than a year, I really hate going to the dentist. All that poking and prodding and tutting and “you really shouldn’t skip you appointments” etc etc it’s all so undignified.

Been busy, quick running update

Burning the candle at both ends has caught up with me this week, early mornings, late home, training, coaching, working and so on has left time for little else but sleep once I do get home.

So just a quick running update

Tuesday
Hill reps at Airlie Street, 8 reps for me. Unlike Summer sessions the aim of the game was endurance and not speed so I completed these between 79 and 82 seconds, about 5 seconds slower than usual.

I also did an easy 4.5km in the morning with my beginners group

Total for the day - 16.1km

Wednesday
Easy 9km before run leading and then a very easy 5.3km as run leader.

We found out last night that the Start to Finish training groups are finishing up next week and apart from them not giving the punters the courtesy of slightly more notice (considering we were still selling 10 pass cards last week) I am honestly not that fussed. I have been getting a bit over it the last month or so and was thinking of packing it in anyway. The runners were pretty disappointed though so I suggested that next week they come prepared to exchange e-mail addresses and start taking matters into their own hands and make sure they still get together to run.

Total for the day - 14.3km

Thursday
Got going a bit later tonight, I had a Senior First Aid course today that didn’t finish up until after 5 (one of only 2 to pass 100% because I am a conchie little nerd who did all the pre-reading. You may all now feel free to get a sucking chest wound, stop breathing, get a blood nose, stung by a jelly fish, have an asthma attack, get bitten by a funnel web or impale yourself in my vicinity because I can handle it all, I even know how to use those nifty little heart shockers that you see about the place).

A tempo run this afternoon, 8.3km in 41:41, just a shade over 5 minute kms.

Off now, wanna get some rest, one more day until the weekend

A work in progress

It shames me to admit it but I really am not built for manual labour

I spent another few hours in the garden today, finishing off some planting and in what felt like some sort of biblical punishment moving a big pile of mulch from the top of my driveway a couple of metres to the end so it was sheltered under the carport. It was the cursed bottomless pile of mulch, no matter how hard I worked at moving it it did not seem to reduce in size until the last minute

As it happened I ached in many places from yesterday’s efforts, the gardening that is, not the run, felt no ill effects from the run and was just buggered today. After a few hours gardening, folding a heap of washing and doing the shopping (ughh, bad mood today, hate the shops, why do all those families go to the shops on a public holiday, why aren’t they out having a picnic or something, since when was the local food court an outing?) sorry, where was I? Oh yes, I was just stuffed and after a nap on couch and a heap of nurofen to try and get on top of bad cramps I figured I would write Monday off and make it a rest day, besides I have a nasty feeling tomorrow’s session is hills

Here are some garden photo’s, though it is still a work in progress.

This is a before shot, obviously, what a mess hey!

Another before shot, I don’t know what they hell was in those hanging baskets but whatever it was it died a long time ago.

The Bobcat made pretty short work of the mess.

Yay, finally, I have a deck, I almost wept. Next weekends job, sealing the deck. Along the top fence we have countersunk a galvanised iron trough (Step Dad bought it back from the farm, used to be a water trough for the sheep) that I am going to plant bamboo in, along the side fence I am mass planting Gardenias, they were my Grandma’s favourite flower.

There is the trough down there on the paving. That is my bedroom window, soon to be replaced with French Doors, you can also see the Lilly Pillies I planted yesterday, they will end up being 10 metres high, hope the grow quickly.

The pot is full of water and will soon have water lillies in it, Mum thinks I should have some fish but I think the birds will just eat them. The paving is going the have dwarf mondo grass and thyme planted between it on the outside and pebbles in between in the inner section. I started the planting today, until my back gave out on me. The deck still needs to have the steps built, a retaining wall is going in near the carport and a screen will be built to give me some privacy from the street, I am going to espalier a Mandarin tree on the screen. My Step Dad recently bought a welder and he is pretty much keen to weld everything in sight so he will make me a frame for the espalier. I have to think of what else I can plant there as well, I am sure Mum will have some ideas

Ok, I am sure I have bored you enough with my garden antics.

Next weekend I might go shopping for an outdoor setting, they all seem to be on sale at the moment

Fast Long Run and Stacks of Gardening

Which means I am pretty much completely stuffed right now and I have decided that I deserve Fish and Chips for dinner

While I was having my pre run toast and honey I was on the verge of doing the unthinkable, making up a lame excuse and not doing my long run. Mostly because it was looking a bit dreary outside, I hadn’t arranged to meet anybody and I got hit with a case of the can’t be bothereds. Of course I smartened myself up and laced up my sneakers and was out the door only 10 minutes past my designated time. I was doing my usual 17km loop around home so I added the extra 2kms at the start so I wouldn’t be tempted to pull out at the end.

I finished up with 19.5km, another milestone as it is the longest I have run since the injury and completed another week over 70km, 71.3km to be precise. Turned out to be a bit of a surprise too, quite a few sub 5 minutes Kms along the way and I completed the distance in just over 98 minutes you read correct, just a shade over 5 minute kms. I was told to do a couple of long runs at this pace between now and September, I was psyching myself up for it and was going to hook one of the guys into keeping me company to keep me honest. Well, knock me down with a feather if I don’t just head out without thinking about it and pull it off on my own

It is an undulating route so the downhills do help, but to counter that there are also plenty of uphills to deal with and I did have a quick loo break (never dis McDonald’s, if it wasn’t for them I would have been caught short many many times) and there were a couple of traffic light to wait for. However all up it was a good steady pace and I honestly did not realise I was pushing the pace as much as I was.

I reckon based on this a goal of a 1:40:00 HM in September is a little light on

Back home I had a little rest and watched a couple of episodes from the Doctor Who marathon, it has taken ALL my willpower not to spend the entire weekend on my arse watching this. I shall have to treat myself to a box set one of these day, I love David Tennant, he is the spunkiest Doctor

But no rest for the wicked, with all the hard landscaping done I had an afternoon of planting ahead of me and being a frail and weak distance runner I am now very tired, all that digging and carrying a big bucket of mulch has done me in. Mum popped around later in the afternoon and helped me finish the mulching and as per usual put me to shame with her herculean capacity for manual labour.

Now where is the number for he Fish ‘n Chip shop, best to pre order it is mad up there on a Sunday night.

How cool is it that it is a public holiday tomorrow? Very cool, that’s how cool it is.

Rest day, but tired

because I spent the afternoon helping Mum haul rocks. OK, Mum did most of the hauling, while I hovered worried about her hurting herself. I try but I just can’t pick up those big rocks, Mum is a real gun, she also has a good eye for design so it was best just to let her go and do what I was told.

We also placed alot of the bigger plants about and it is really starting to look like a proper garden now (Pics tomorrow I promise). Sunday is my designated watering day so I will plant them tomorrow, I am only supposed to water between 6am and 8am but bugger it, it is not Summer so I will water when I damn well please. For any non Aussie readers Melbourne has been in drought for a couple of years now so we are on full on water restrictions, only allowed to water the garden twice a week during a two hour window.

The deck is in now as well, my step dad will finish it off by facing the sleepers and he will also build some steps. He doesn’t know this yet, he is in Canada at the moment visiting his own Kids, “hey Ken, welcome back, have a good trip? Great, fancy building me some steps” He will do it though because he rules and I will make lots of cups of coffee and bake treats. We had some troubles when I was a bratty teenager but we are best mates now.

I have a 19km run on the agenda first thing tomorrow, I was going to head out to a nice trail somewhere but time is of the essence. There is a great big pile of mulch in my driveway that needs to be spread and I have a stack of planting to do, so I will get up early and just do a local run, have a little rest and then get stuck in.

Possibly related links?
Yes, have been meaning to turn this feature off for a while now, keep forgetting. Today it turns out that under this function my blog has wound up linked on that written by a foot fetishist who is paid by other foot fetishists to have all manner of things done to her feet. Nice work if you can get it I suppose and far be it for me to judge how someone makes a living, unless you are an Arms Dealer, Celebrity Chef or Home and Away “star” in which case how can you live with yourself?

Anyway, to anyone who has clicked the link and found there way here I am really really really sorry, you are going to be bitterly disappointed, I am a runner and my feet are R E V O L T I N G, unless of course you are into back toenails, blisters, callouss and hammer toes, in which case $50 a picture is the going rate, I could use the extra cash to help fund my house restumping

Wooooo! What?

Ahhh, 4 day weekend, my car was overdue for it’s service so I took advantage of the long weekend and took today off.

I booked the first appointment of the day and dropped the car off at Ringwood at 730 and then headed out to run home. The first 2km were lovely, on the Mullum Mullum Creek trail, unfortunately the remaining 10km were on the footpath along Marondah Highway, Springvale Road and Canterbury Road. It was supposed to be a tempo session but with the traffic light stops along the way I guess it was more of a Fartlek session. It’s been a few days since my last catch up so I’ll summarise at the end.

A quick shower at home and a coffee then back out to pick up the car, this time making the return journey via train and on foot, the fog had lifted and it was a lovely day for a walk. I had just crossed at that big intersection where Mt Dandenong Road starts when I heard a loud “Woooooooooo”

I turned around half expecting to see someone I know, nope, it was just the mating call of the lesser spotted Outer Eastern Bogan Moronicus. Not being of the same species I was unsure as to how to react so I opted for a bemused laugh, made sure not to make eye contact and kept walking.

Back home I have pretty much spent the afternoon catching up on much needed rest, I really am a bit stuffed at the moment and some much needed downtime on my own was just what the doctor ordered. I caught up on some shows that I taped last week, had a little nap and now I have been watching one of my favourite old films (was not in my top 4 but definitely in my top 10), there are some quotes below, have tried not to include the really obvious ones, see if you can guess

Do you have a Miss Piggy?

Did they live quietly? What where their personal habits?

You see, me and the Lord, we have an understanding

I hate Illinois Nazis

We got 2 honky’s out there dressed like Hassidic diamond merchants

Breaks my heart, a boy that young going bad

I know about all that stuff, I’ve been exploited all my life

Running Update
Wednesday night - Run leading, in charge of the 10km slow group. This was perfect, would force me to run a recovery run at the proper pace and I would be looking after my group which meant I could chat and keep the boredom at bay. Turned out to be a great run with a couple of regulars pushing the pace and showing some real improvement in fitness.

10km in 53:40

Thursday - just an easy 4km running down to the tan to pick up my morning group and then warming up with them back to Birrarung Marr when I was going to take the session. Nothing in the evening, it was a rest day and I had a massage.

Friday - 12.1km Fartlek session in 1:02:43. Took me a few kms to warm up, I don’t usually run the morning after a massage and my legs were a little heavy, but I finished strongly.

I did quite a bit of walking today so I reckon I will have another rest day tomorrow, ie a proper rest day with NO running, unlike Thursday’s “rest” day with a 4km run. Then I can push Saturday’s long run out by 15 minutes and get 19km in, I can start increasing my long run now. This will finish the week on 70km, which was then plan, with 4 70km weeks in a row I can take it up to 75km next week

My new favourite session

It’s a tough one and I have done it a few times now, I used to hate it but it has really grown on me.

It was done on the tan from the 3km marker just down from Government House Drive and we would alternate clockwise and anti clockwise, either way the incline/decline was unavoidable so it is a good endurance session and it teaches disciplined pacing because it is not a flat out session.

2 by 5 minutes
2 by 4 minutes
2 by 3 minutes
2 by 2 minutes

The results

5 minutes
1.12 km - 4:32 avg
1.15 km - 4:24 avg

4 minutes
940 mtre - 4:18 avg
920 mtre - 4:25 avg

3 minutes
710 mtre - 4:21 avg
730 mtre - 4:14 avg

2 minutes
500 mtre - 4:08 avg
510 mtre - 4:01 avg

In total I covered 6.58km, I can’t compare with previous sessions as they have all been slightly different, however looking back my average pace was better than last time I did a similar session and that was only 2 by 6, 2 by 4, 2 by 2.

I needed a good session tonight, have been very moody today and almost walked away while I was waiting for the warm up to start. I knew that I would regret it if I did and I was rewarded for my decision to tough it out and stick around.

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
Thats how the light gets in

Don’t you just love Mr Cohen?

4 things

For want of something better to talk about

Four jobs I have had in my life: Paper Round, Office Dogsbody, Call Centre Operator (I still have nightmares and I dare say so do my customers) and Business Manager (will the excitement never end?)

Four movies I would watch over and over: Gattaca, Bladerunner, The Royal Tennenbaums, Betty Blue

Four places I have lived: Montrose, Balaclava, Richmond, Blackburn South

Four TV shows I watch: The Bill, Spooks, Silent Witness, Midsommer Murders (no, I am not a 60 year old woman!)

Four favourite things to eat: It would probably be quicker to list the only 4 things I don’t like to eat Ok, well, I’ll try to narrow it down, chocolate (the more expensive the better), a good brie, cheezels (just to knock it back a notch), the organic muffins that my favourite coffee place makes.

Running
An easy 8.3km recovery run done at appropriate recovery run pace, nothing too exciting report. Then off for a rather jovial dinner with Jo and Sara, much more exciting than today’s run