Running

Long time no blog, real short note

Steve — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 01:36:10 -0600

It's been a while since my last write-up but not since my last run just over two weeks ago. First run for the year, an 8.5 km jog around the streets of Hoppers Crossing at an average pace of 4:34/km.

For 2008 I managed to clock up 2,802 km, a new yearly mileage record for me. On the one hand I'm pleased with this and yet on the other hand had I been as consistent for the second half of the year as I was for the first I could have easily clocked up 4,000 km or at least 3,600 km (magical 10 km per day). Sadly this was never going to be as returning to work after long service leave put paid to that. Had I pulled my finger out for December I probably could have at least achieved 3,000 km but due to a little dose of 'lack of motivation' also put paid to that.

For 2009 I haven't got any running plans mapped out. Canberra Marathon (April) is probably not going to happen and at this stage I don't really need to think about the Gold Coast (July) or Melbourne (October) marathons. I'll continue to run simply to keep fit and therefore ready to bump up the mileage if/when I decide on the spur of the moment to run another marathon.

Until my next post, whenever that will be.

Running slows aging process

Steve — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 08:19:06 -0500

The following, courtesy of The Age * August 12, 2008 - 7:06AM

Running can slow the aging process, according to a study conducted over two decades by American researchers and published today.

The study by the Stanford University School of Medicine found people over 50 who ran regularly over several years suffered fewer disabilities, had a longer span of active life and reduced their risk of dying early by 50 per cent compared to those who were inactive.

"The study has a very pro-exercise message," said James Fries, MD, an emeritus professor at the medical school and the study's senior author.

"If you had to pick one thing to make people healthier as they age, it would be aerobic exercise."

The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, tracked 538 people over 50 who had run several times a week since 1984 and compared them to a similar group of non-runners.

As the subjects aged, the health gap between the runners and non-runners widened, continuing even into their 90s. "We did not expect this," said Fries, 69, himself an avid runner. "The health benefits of exercise are greater than we thought."

He attributed this to runners having a leaner body mass and generally healthier habits.

Running's effect on delaying death also was more dramatic than the researchers had expected -- 19 years after the study began, 34 per cent of the non-runners had died, compared to just 15 per cent of the runners.

I'll keep running then.

A real big non event

Steve — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:34:52 -0500

What can I say about the Gold Coast Marathon 2008. Not much really, a real big non-event for me and my first marathon DNS (did not start). I can't fault my training in any respect, I was keen as mustard picking up my race kit about lunchtime on the Saturday (day before event).

Here's the story. Had lunch about 1 pm and then back to the motel a short distance away. Rested up a little, felt a little queasy a few hours later.

About 6 pm we headed out searching for a pasta place and now wasn't feeling the best. Long story short, vomiting and gastro movements and a trip to the Gold Coast Hospital. I suspected food poisoning but was told that it was purely viral. Nobody else presented with any complaints of food poisoning. The upshot was that the doc advised it was probably better not to run. What a bummer, all this training for naught. The first thing that crossed my mind was the date of 12 October, 2008, Melbourne Marathon.

That's it, my tale of woe.

After the marathon we caught up with Louise D and she ran a 3:11 and reckons she slowed down or didn't run as hard for the second half as her Garmin packed in. She's got a 3:05, if not, a sub 3, looming.

Six months gone - some nice charts

Steve — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:50:00 -0500

Six months into the year and so I thought I post some pretty looking graphs. All the lines are heading in the right direction.

Weight graph.

Weekly kilometres (with weight).

Monthly kilometres (with weight).

2000 for the year

Steve — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 07:20:12 -0500

A week of tapering, though I would have preferred to have done a few more sessions than I did. There's a number of reasons, firstly it was my first week back at work after six months of long service leave. To be honest, I really didn't want to return, I was suppose to win tattslotto, but that didn't eventuate. Secondly, my new braces were giving me heaps of grief and towards the end of the week I wasn't in the right mindset to be running. Thirdly, towards the end of the week I also felt the onset of a cold and flu and luckily it never developed. I put this last point down to pre-marathon blues, everything has gone so well so far, sub-consciously something must go wrong.

Stat's : 29 Jun 2008
This Week	55.15
June	289.45
2008	2031.50

Despite my tales of woe there was a milestone in there. On Wednesday, after a 12 k'er, I clocked just over 2000 km for the year and I'm only 700 km short of my best ever yearly mileage. I should easily knock-off that 700 km in the next 2- 3 months but it will be tough going to crack 4000 km for the year. I'm back at work now so don't have the time up my sleeves to run where, when and for how long I want. If I can crack 3660 km I'd be happy with that, then I can say I averaged 10 km per day for the entire year.

On Saturday I headed down the freeway to Harcourt, a hour and a half drive, met up with my club. It was relay race day this time round. I ran the third leg, 8.4 km up and down a hill and finished off with a nice slight decline, about 2 or 3 km long. 36 mins or thereabouts averaging 4:28/km. Would have been quicker but had to take a pit-stop about 20 mins in.

For today, ran my last long run before the Gold Coast Marathon, which is next weekend. A casual 22.6 km in 1:54:20 averaging just over the 5 min rate.

You'll probably notice that my June mileage is at 289 km. With only one day left in the month, I'm definitely running tomorrow after work, at least an 11 k'er, merely to have 300 km for the month. No serious runs this week, probably 3 or 4 sessions before Sunday.

Another week done and dusted

Steve — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 06:07:08 -0500

Stat's : 22 Jun 2008
This Week	47.15
June	234.30
2008	1976.35

Didn't run yesterday (Saturday), no particular reason, just didn't.

Today I hit the streets about 4.30 pm and ran a 20 k'er taking in my usual Skeleton Creek run but extending it in parts. Strange run in a way, only intended to casually stroll it around the 5 min pace but as the run progressed I felt strong so went with the flow.

I was out on the road for 1:38:32 which averages out at 4:45/km. Heart rate seemed to be in the normal range, maxing at 161 (89%) and averaging 148 bpm (82%).

Long time no blog

Steve — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 03:06:29 -0500

I can't believe it's been nearly two weeks since I last made an entry. Anyway, hit the streets of Hoppers Crossing today for a good solid 12 k'er which included 4 alternating quick k's, all sub 4 min pace.

The ticker seems to be good working order as well. As you can see from the graph it's in sync with the splits.

Overall for today's run, 12.3 km in a time of 54:01 which works out to an average pace of 4:23/km.

Today's run was only my second this week, the other was on Wednesday, late in the day, a stroll around Skeleton Creek for 14.15 km. Nothing fancy. For that particular run that was on the back of a six days of rest.

Stat's : 20 Jun 2008
This Week	26.45
June	213.60
2008	1955.65

The previous week was also light on running wise but that was planned as the week earlier was a massive 147 km (my previous blog entry).

Why the 6 days of rest? Not by choice, I can tell you that. Last Thursday & Friday I had braces fitted to my teeth (upper and lower) and over the weekend they gave me no end of grief. My headaches surfaced and I wasn't sure whether they were as a result of the braces or dehydration issues after 5 or 6 weeks of heavy mileage or both. Regardless of why, the fact remained I was feeling terrible and simply didn't want to run.

To put a positive spin on things the rest I had was probably a blessing in disguise as I'm feeling no ill-effects after today's run, in fact, I'm feeling 110% and bring on the Gold Coast Marathon (two weeks away).

So the next time you see me I'll be sporting a gob full of heavy metal.

Another huge week

Steve — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 21:06:47 -0500

Another week over and and another maximum k's per week run. All up 147.55 km.

The week was topped off with meeting Coolrunners at the Tan for a leisurely stroll around the Captial City Trail. I arrived 30 mins earlier, meeting George and we got a 'once around the Tan' out of the way before the main run. I wanted at least 34 k's for the day.

At Dight Falls - I'm the shadow

Just after 8 am we were all assembled, Wombatoutofhell, Spectre, Jaykay, Duck Girl, Jason, Kevin, George and me. A nice leisurely stroll picking up a few Coolrunners along the way, Tiger Boy, Morley and DianneE (though she was cheating riding a bike).

The main trail was about 30 km and a lap and a bit of the Tan earlier made for 34 km for the day.

The week as it was

Day	Date	Time	Location	Distance	Duration	Pace	HR max	HR avg
Mon	2 Jun	12.19 pm	Hoppers Crossing	27.00	2:14:28	4:58	169 (94%)	131 (73%)
Tue	3 Jun	8.18 am	Werribee	23.25	1:59:43	5:08	139 (77%)	127 (70%)
Wed	4 Jun	1.06 pm	Hoppers Crossing	27.30	2:18:28	5:04	141 (78%)	129 (72%)
Thur	5 Jun	1.55 pm	Hoppers Crossing	23.70	1:59:52	5:03	138 (77%)	128 (71%)
Fri	6 Jun	3.53 pm	Werribee River	12.30	59:05	4:48	160 (89%)	136 (75%)
Sat	7 Jun		Rest Day
Sun	8 Jun	10.03 am	The Tan & CCT	34.00	3:26:44	6:04	Err	Err
			Week - Totals ->	147.55	12:58:20
			June - Totals ->	162.55	13:58:18
			Year to Date - Totals ->	1904.60	162:42:19

High mileage week

Steve — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 05:40:30 -0500

Stat's : 4 Jun 2008
This Week	77.55
June	92.55
2008	1834.60

I'm still stoked from my effort last Sunday but a little, just a little, peeved losing 2 seconds in the wash. All the same, it's still 60 mins even, which is 4 min even splits. Cherie keeps telling me, "Get over it". As you've probably gathered I've mentioned it to her a few times now.

It looks like a high mileage week is developing. Three days in and I've clocked 77.55 km but now I'm sporting some blood blisters on my feet.

Day	Date	Time	Location	Distance	Duration	Pace	HR max	HR avg
Mon	2 Jun	12.19 pm	Hoppers Crossing	27.00	2:14:28	4:58	169 (94%)	131 (73%)
Tue	3 Jun	8.18 am	Werribee	23.25	1:59:43	5:08	139 (77%)	127 (70%)
Wed	4 Jun	1.06 pm	Hoppers Crossing	27.30	2:18:28	5:04	141 (78%)	129 (72%)

Starting on Monday I ran 27 km running over new territory and one particular section I ran the entire length of runway 17, on the centre line, at the old Laverton RAAF Base. First time I've ever done that and for some reason whilst running along the runway couldn't stop thinking about general aviation past. That seems like another life.

Tuesday's run was an early one, had to drop Cherie's car off at the auto-electrician's in Old Geelong Rd and the only way to get home was to run. A direct route home is about 7 km, I wanted more than that so stretched it to 23.25 km. Nice and foggy, a real pea-souper, it took about a good hour before the fog lifted.

For today's (Wednesday) run I headed out just after 1 pm amongst other things carried my credit card. Cherie's car was still at the auto-electrian's but I was waiting for the word that it was ready. About 40 mins into the run I got word and so quickly formulated a new route that would give me at least 20 km but finishing at the auto-electrian's. As it turned out I smashed the 20 km by 7, running 27.3 km all up.

Since I've got three consecutive runs of 20+ km under my belt this week I've got to do a fourth one tomorrow, then a shorter one for Friday and probably take a rest day on Saturday.

For Sunday I'd like to do a 34-36 km run but I'm not sure whether this will be my last long, long run before the Gold Coast Marathon, only 4 weeks away.

Sub 60 for 15

Steve — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 00:01:24 -0500

For years I've been trying to run a sub 40 for 10 km and I had my chance two weeks ago to address that issue but unfortunately wasn't feeling the best and didn't run. My pb for 10 km is 40:43 set back in 2006 and I was starting to think that maybe age might be against me the longer the status quo remains. If I can't do a sub 40 for 10, how's a sub 60 for 15 sound, I'm over the moon as that is what I did this morning at LaTrobe University 15 km road race. Unofficially, on my watch, I came home in 59:58 a whopping two seconds under the magical hour mark. Yep, you read it right, sub 60 for 15, has a nice ring to it, doesn't it.

The course we ran was a 3 lap course, obviously each lap being 5 km. It's not the flatest course around and I reckon the first 1 - 1.5 km of each lap were the toughest as basically was uphill. Going through 5 km in 19:35 (only 8 seconds outside my 5 km pb in 2006) I didn't have any inkling about what was to unfold. I knew that I was bang smack on the 4 min mark (just under) and seriously putting effort in but some doubts were in my mind as to whether I could maintain the pace. A plan I quickly formulated in my head was to only look at the next kilometre, maintaining the pace and attempt a sub 40 for 10. I knew though that that would possibly make for a slow last 5 km.

At the end of lap 2, 10 km, and another milestone, a sub 40 for 10, running through in 39:45. At this point I knew I had to negotiate the first 1 - 2 km of the lap which was more up hill and than down and my thoughts turned to getting as close as possible to 60, hopefully under 61 for the finish. Yep, the first two kilometres of the last lap were a bit slower but after that I was able to recover, picked myself up, a just put in. On this last lap at the various kilometre markings I was over the required time (for a sub 60) by 10 - 25 seconds, I can't recall the exact figures but was starting to think that at least I'd get very, very close to it. I ran through the 14 km at 56:30 and thought bugger it, just push it, slight decline anyway, let gravity take over and see what happens. There were a few inclines but pushed it anyway.

Running the last 300 or so metres, what a feeling, I was in the 59 min bracket, couldn't stop now, it was going to be touch'n'go whether I'd come under 60. Turning the last corner and the finish chute in sight along with the official clock which read 59:40 something and counting. From the crowd I could hear 'sub 60' warnings and then at 59:58 I crossed the line.

I reckon I must be doing something right in my training for this result. Here's all my training runs for this week. A little less than the previous week but I added some interval type training to my runs, quick kilometres here and there.

Day	Date	Time	Location	Distance	Duration	Pace	HR max	HR avg
Mon	26 May	4.02 pm	Werribee River	12.30	59:50	4:51	140 (78%)	128 (71%)
Tue	27 May		Rest Day
Wed	28 May	12.53 pm	Werribee River	12.30	59:54	4:52	Err	142 (79%)
Thur	29 May	3.10 pm	Skeleton Creek	14.15	1:08:47	4:51	161 (91%)	135 (75%)
Fri	30 May	3.20 pm	Werribee River	12.30	1:01:34	5:00	184 (102%)	132 (73%)
Sat	31 May		Rest Day
Sun	1 Jun	10.03 am	XCR08 - LaTrobe Uni	15.00	59:58	3:59	164 (91%)	156 (87%)
			Week - Totals ->	68.20	5:20:51
			May - Totals ->	401.75	33:05:55
			Year to Date - Totals ->	1757.05	149:43:59