The Dreaded Lurgy

Tues AM: 1500m slow, painful swim.
Sleep: Ordinary
Weight: 78Kg of lard.

The swim on Tuesday morning just felt laboured; 1500m of rest encrusted, crowded pool shite.

Later in the day the other symptoms started: tickle in the throat, runny nose and general lethargy. Sleep was a real problem last night so it was an easy executive decision to abandon today's run. Tomorrow is a planned rest day, which I will take. Friday I might go for a light jog.

We are 3 and a half weeks out from Eaglehawk. The last thing I want to do is go into another key race still recovering from illness as I did at the Central Coast in December; that resulted in vomit 40% into the race, which is far too early, even for me.

I figure I can probably get away with shortening the long run on Sunday if I'm not on top of my game - I've done 2 20K long runs so far, and I'll get another one in next weekend.

Back to my Westie roots

Sat AM: Ride, 34K at 30.3kph.
Sun AM: SMC 10K. 53:50. Solid hitout.
Mon AM: Recovery Run. 9K @ 5:40

Saturday saw me out at the 'riff. DJ decided to do a sedate walk of the 5K regatta centre loop with a couple of friends. I took it as an opportunity for a quick flat ride, and ended up doing seven laps for 34K (it's not the full 5K) at an average speed of 30.3kph - as fast as I have ever gone over an entire ride.

Sunday morning had me out at Smiffo for the SMC 10K. Many of the usual crew had passed up this month's race, but just as I was starting to feel lonely (cue violins) Plu turned upand so I had someone to yak to before the race.

I was treating this as a fastish training run, and for this purpose it was executed excellently - I ran the entire 10K between 5:13 and 5:30 pace, finishing in 53:50. I was stoked about this; I usually just can't run at a consistent pace.

This morning was a 9K hitout. It was supposed to be at recovery run pace, but it finished up on 5:40 because I felt fresh, so I went a bit harder.

This week promises to be hectic once again, but as opposed to last week it is a real "pointy end of the preparation week. I'll just have to be focussed. Right after this little nap...

Easy Sixes

Wed AM: Easy 6K Run
Fri AM: Easy 6.5K Run

This week is a rest week, and I've been taking it pretty easy.

The runs on Wednesday & this morning were pretty similar to Monday's run - easy half hour runs where the target was to run marginally faster than six minute K's, but towards the end of each run I found myself unintentionally creeping up to 5:30s and even 5:20s.

On Wednesday I joined Sydney Striders. The Strider's were so ecstatic that a runner of my ability had joined that they sent their president to my workplace the following day to welcome me aboard.

OK, maybe he did have a meeting there already.

This weekend I will have a go at the 10K in Smiffo, but given that I don't want to bash myself up I'll probably aim at 54-55 minutes.

Yes, TA - Valentine's Day was spent with DJ. As Gronk would say, :D

Now TA also asked about March 19. March 19 is the date of the Eaglehawk half-marathon in country Victoria. This is my next target race / attempt at running under 1:50.

The last three attempts at 1:50 have resulted in vomit and walking. The 1:50 monkey has been on my back for nearly a year now. I think I'm nearly there, but I know that faster runners than I struggle to beat this time, so I'm still nervous about it and will have to train my buttocks off for the next month to achieve it.

Catch Up

Sat AM: Long Run. 20K in 1:57:30.
Sun PM: Bike, 30K @ 25.5kph
Mon PM: Recovery Run, 5K
Tue AM: Swim. 1500m - slow as a wet week.
Sleep: Fair
Weight: 77Kg

Another packed weekend socially had me opting for a Saturday morning long run. It was a good long run - I chose a pretty flat course and just pumped out 20 consistent K's - all within the 5:40 - 6:00 pace. It was a stock standard, nothing special long run, and I loved it.

After the run I had an awesome weekend going to a family reunion BBQ and spending time with a beautiful lady we will call DJ on this blog.

On Sunday afternoon I went ou for a short sharp ride on the bike. I did three laps of my usual 10K loop, but to make it less boring I went in the opposite direction to the way I usually go. I don't think I'll do that too frequently - there is a set of traffic lights with a right hand turn going this way, and the bike doesn't trigger the sensors in the road. This means that I end up running a red light right on the corner of Silverwater jail. Apart fromn this it was a quick ride, and a nice way to round out the weekend.

Monday was stressful day at work, with meetings with senior management and lots and lots of work, complete with a late afternoon dumping of "can you do this before you go home". I got out of work at seven, feeling pretty rotten.

Given that I'd only gone for a 30K ride on Sunday, the "recovery" aspect of the run was more recovery from work than running. To this end it worked a treat. I spent the first K feeling utterly feacal and ran it in 6:06. Then I started to let my mind wander, and halway through the last K I looked down at the Garmin, and I was running at 5:08 pace and felt pretty good.

This morning I dragged my sorry arse out of bed at 6:00AM and got up to the pool for three slow sets of 500m. A real nothing swim, but it's in the bank now.

I have been having trouble with water getting in my snazzy expensive goggles, so I've shifted to a cheap and nasty pair, and they are doing the job perfectly.

This week is a rest week. I'm really glad I've gone back to putting one in every four weeks - I'm feeling fresher than I have for ages - but the real test is on the 19th of March. So far I feel pretty good about it.

Good hard running

Wed AM: Speedwork. 7 * 1K efforts with 2 minute walk intervals. Killer.
Thu PM: Run, 12K in 1:05:48. Another solid effort.
Sleep: OK
Weight: 76.2Kg

I got no sleep whatsoever on Monday night, and was consequentially feeling like feacal matter on Tuesday, so I took a rest day instead of swimming.

Slept OK on Tuesday and decided to thrash myself on Wednesday morning with the speedwork session from hell. I got out in darkness for 1K efforts along the Parramatta River. They went like this:

4:42
4:31 (huh?)
4:37
4:31
4:27 (wow)
4:37
4:46

Considering that my usual target is around 4:45 (the Garmin is set to 4:30 - 5:00), this was bloody quick. I definitely felt it - this was a tough session. On the fifth effort my legs were starting to stuggle, but I just focussed on the sunrise over the river, which was very pretty, and got through it. You can see from the last split, I slowed. I was just out of petrol.

I have a packed weekend where I can only squeeze a long run in on Saturday morning, so I decide to run last night instead of this morning. I got out at 9:00 for a 12K session through the eerie Homebush Bay bike paths (well, they're eerie in the dark. I ran from my place to the M4 & back. I did the first 5K at long run pace, and then the idea was to pump it up to HM (5:12) pace. The actual splits were 5:16, 5:03, 4:53, 5:04 & 5:04. I found this part of the run tough. This would be a combination of the pace being closer to 10K pace, all of the crap & caffeine that I fill my body with during the working day and a partially digested Subway sloshing around in my stomach. I jogged a couple of K to round it out, went home, stretched and had a cold bath (seems to be excellent for recovery). Then - and this is gold - I slept like a log for 6 hours. I think the weaning off anti-depressants has been dicking with my sleep, but this is an excellent sign that things might be coming good in this area.

Weekend Wrap

Fri PM: 21.7K ride @ 25.3kph
Sat AM: Sydney Stiders 10K - Lane Cove 53:something. Solid workout.
Sun PM: 18K long run @ 5:45 pace. Felt awesome.
Mon AM: 9K Recovery run. Surprisingly fresh.
Sleep: Fair.
Weight: 75kg this morning. Dehydrated reading methinks.

After the rest day on Thursday and an alarm malfunction (OK, alarm setting malfunction) on Friday morning I just had time on Friday night for two 10K laps of my Homebush loop on the bike on Friday night. T'was a standard ride - pushing slightly, but not too draining.

On Saturday I went to my first Striders 10K race. I had heard much about the Lane Cove course, and being only 20 minutes away I couldn't resist manipulating my program around it. A huge turnout with a bunch of Coolrunners. It was great to catch up with the recuperating Tiger Angel and then warm up with her husband.

The theory was go out a bit faster than training pace and throw in a few Ks at HM pace where appropriate. I started with Horrie's 55 minute group, but I felt like I was bludging after a few K and pushed it a bit. A couple of those hills took the wind out of my sails, but I ran it reasonably comfortably in 53 minutes and something (can't remember). All in all a solid workout.

It was more conveient to do my long run on Sunday evening, which gave me a little more time to recover. I was pleasantly surprised by how fresh I was. I didn't get much sleep on Saturday night so I was expecting it to be tough but I pumped out 18K through Bicentennial Park, Rhodes, Meadowbank, Silverwater and back to Homebush Bay with relative ease. I finished at 8:45, had a stretch and a quick cold bath and went to bed.

I got a fair bit of sleep in amongst the insomnia induced washing and reading of David Day's biography of Ben Chifley, and at 5:00AM I decided to go for a recovery run. This time I was amazed that I felt good. Despite the previous night's run I pumped out a slow 9K with little discomfort. The legs were complaining a bit by the end, but it was a great recovery run.

This week will be hectic. Sessions will be squeezed in when I can manage it, blogging might be succinct.

Sluggish workouts

Mon PM: 8K run at snails pace.
Tue AM: 1500m swim at sea-snails pace.
Wed AM: 6 * 1K intervals @ about 4:45 with 2 minutes walking rests.
Sleep: Poor
Weight: 78.2 (hey hey hey it's Chunderbolt - na na na gonna have a good time)

Monday was your typical recovery run - it felt rusty, I was a bit sore and not into it much. I finished strongly enough, and pulled up OK. I ran my hilly little scenic six and a bit loop with an extra lap of the lake in Bicentennial Park to make up 8K.

After a sleepless night on Monday, I took it really easy in the pool on Tuesday morning - 1500m divided into three lots of 500m with a breather between each lot.

Now, as I hinted at in my previous post I am involved in a new romance. This means that I am generally in a really good mood most of the time at the moment, but let me tell you: there is nothing in the world that can put a positive spin on speedwork after two consecutive nights of insomnia.

I had severe motivation deficit disorder this morning, and the first K effort was just horrible. I picked up a bit after that, but in general it was a tough workout. Since I am posting away from my computer I don't have the splits, but they were all around 4:35 - 4:50. There were six of them. I'm still feeling sore six hours later so let's call it a bloody good workout - I really felt it.

In other news, I saw the doctor yesterday, and I am weaning off the antidepressants. I reckon the time is right, but time will tell if the insomnia gets silly. I'm pretty happy about this.