Training Log Archive: fletch

walk around prospective cross country course because the old one was soooo boring. Except we only got half way round, then got distracted looking for alternatives.

And again. Should have a trace of the actual course now...

Got sick yesterday. Think I'm through the worst of it already though. Just a little 'welcome back to work' cold.

Enough to know I felt pretty loose and relaxed. Not enough to be overly useful.

Probably a bit premature, but I found out during the week that I had already missed the first month of the local running club season, so used it as an excuse to force myself to wake up early for a change (have been struggling to get out of bed before 9am for the last 2 weeks).

Times have changed up here. Juniors all in fluoro orange vests, timing band ($10 for the season, 5 back if you return it at the end of the year). I signed up for the whole season. Not sure how many races I'll do, but at least I won't have t remember money each week.

Did enough of a warm up to know that my achilleses were feeling good - lie really good - no niggles at all, but didn't do any run throughs or anything sensible like that. After two days of rain! (we had the monthly average fall in 5 hours yesterday) it was surprisingly warm, and I know I am well underdone, so resolved to run with the leaders at the start and see what happened (at least confident that there weren't any top quality runners hidden in the field).

So off we went, and some young punk took off. Figured he wouldn't last, unless he was trying to camouflage himself with the footy jumper, and sure enough he faded after about 500m and I worked my way through the tangle of little orange people (who for some reason get the bonus of starting across the entire width of the start line) and into the lead.

Was feeling pretty relaxed and had opened up a bit of a gap by the first turn (about 1.2km), but was aware by the time we went back past the start/finish that I may have been a little optimistic. Could feel myself gradually slowing through the middle of the race, but second place didn't get any closer. At least managed to find a sustainable rhythm for the back half of the race, even if it felt slow.

Went for a quick dip in the ocean afterwards to cool off. Nice to do something other than a veggie jog on my own. Would have been even nicer if it wasn't on flat concrete, but at least my body held together and it was right next to the ocean.

First championship race for the season is next week. I might just have to have a bash at that too...

C • Good to see 43

Ha ha. Only 10m climb on that run. I think all the little ups and downs along the twisty river trail get lost on the Garmin. Not hilly, but certainly doesn't feel flat in parts.

After a frustrating afternoon of not setting up my office as nothing has arrived to put in it yet, I took the chase to go for a little run along the river from work.

Went upstream for a bit of an explore - something i only ever did a few times in six years previously. The MTB club has done a bit of work on the trail, which made the first part nicer than I remembered, but you don't get too far before the bike loop crosses the river on a rather rickety bridge and comes back, so I continued along a firebreak, before dropping back into the river bed and running a bit further.

Had a few stop start bits where I was hunting for alternative ways through things and not finding them, before eventually returning on the school side of the river. I wonder if any path along the river exists out past the end of Woorree. Will have to head out there the quick way one day and have a hunt.

Best fun I've had running in absolutely ages, so I don't really care that I went a bit longer than intended. Got pretty slippy towards the end, as we had 12mm of rain yesterday/last night and the grip got pretty cakes up with mud. Actually would have been better suited to the X talons.

Meh. First run in new shoes. No pain at all when I started, which was a nice change. Have been fighting off the family gastro bug though, and stomach isn't super settled.

A bit sore at the insertion of left achilles after a km or two. Given the amount of stretching I've been doing, this is probably to be expected.

Started feeling harder than expected and think I had the very start of an allergic reaction when I finished, but have pulled up OK. Average HR looks scarily high...

Similar little cruise to last time.

Shoes are dead. Need new ones, but about to head back to Gero... argh!

What to get and do I dare buy them online if I switch models?

Two runs in 3 days!
Same shoe set up as last time, but consciously trying to heel strike. Achilles better than last time. Nurofen gel and ice after. Promising signs.

So, my phone calls today provided no surprising answers.

Leaving it till a couple of days before Easter to try to get a last minute appointment with one's podiatrist and sports physician of choice doesn't work, and, as I suspected there are precisely zero sports physicians in Geraldton, according to the Yellow Pages.

13 min walk, 5km jog, 300m walk home. Starting with a walk didn't seem to help. Left achilles still sore for about first 500m. Ok ish after that. Nurofen gel straight after, but no icepack. Not overly hopeful. Shoes, orthotics or combination of feels really wrong atm. Heel lifts in as well this morning.

Going to try a run tomorrow. Outcome could determine just how boring my week in Perth is going to be. Gonna start with something crazy like a lap of Carine Open Space...

Going to try a run tomorrow. Outcome could determine just how boring my week in Perth is going to be. Gonna start with something crazy like a lap of Carine Open Space...

Same as last time

Similar to last time. 2x90 sec planks, only made 10 in third set of pushups, did normal squats and added lunges.