Training Log Archive: heyU

am: Long run in Kings Pk. Nice cool(ish) morning for a run although it got a bit warm towards the end. Two circuits of the park. Started to feel tired fairly early in the run (after 50min) and the left ankle started to complain about the same time. I haven't struggled like this on the longer runs for a while now - maybe didn't eat enough yesterday. Kept going but the last 20-30 min was a bit of a plod. The good thing is that the ankle didn't get much worse, the right glutes sort of behaved themselves, and I probably could have gone on (slowly) for a bit longer. Felt like crap afterwards, even after eating half a pack of sours.

am: Recovery run in KP

md: At SportsMed Subi. Very warm and humid. Made for an unpleasant sweaty time.

Right glutes played up a bit during the morning run. They had been pretty good for the last week or so. Probably tight after the time trial yesterday. The last time they starting being a problem was in the aftermath of the Deepwater Pt race. Maybe faster pace and increased stride length = harder work for glute min and med.

am: Warm up in Kings Pk. Was going to do a time trial on my 6k CC course but changed the plan at the last minute when I noticed that the park staff were doing some work on one part of the course which would have forced me make a deviation. Ran over to Hale oval instead

am: 4k time trial on Hale. Hard work trying to run this fast by yourself ;p
Started out with the aim of running hard (sub 3:50) for 3 or 4 k depending on how I felt. First k was comfortable. The 2nd k was hard but the split was good so I started toying with the idea of pushing on to 5k. Gave up on that idea during the 3rd k when it started to get a lot harder. Struggled on the last k and had to work reasonably hard but was able to maintain the pace OK. Should have pushed on to 5k though. I probably would have been able to make it without dying too badly. Next time

** Measured the Hale loop at 496m using the high-res orthophotos at work. So the run was about 32m short.

am: Run home afterwards. Time includes a bubbler stop

am: Through Shenton and around Kings Pk. Usual 11k run with an added loop in the middle and a deviation near the end to bring the distance up to 12k.

pm: Usual stuff

am: Through Shenton and around Kings Pk. Pleasant conditions, not too warm yet but could get nasty later.

Total for 2008 = 3158 km
Biggest week = 85 km
No. of weeks at 70+ km = 15

Made some small but significant gains in 2008. Most notably, I was able to put in some consistent speed endurance and hill training for the first time since 2002. Also ran my first road race for 14 years (and that one was a one-off, the last one before that was nearly 20 years ago). Brought my 10k time down from 39:20 in the first race, to 38:22.
The improvements weren't great but I like to think I'm laying the base for more substantial improvements this year. The aims will be to:
- gradually build up terrain fitness and endurance (whilst maintaining the speed endurance and hill training)
- continue working on quad strength and endurance (still a long way to go in this area - I'll probably get another assessment of quad strength in about March to see how I'm progressing)
- run a sub-37 10k before the end of the year

am: Through Kings Park to the top of the Kokoda track

am: Hill reps on the Kokoda track. Down and up x 7. I think I finally managed to get the effort just about right. The first few reps were relatively comfortable and the times were Ok (nothing over 80). It got progressively harder towards the end without becoming too much of a slog and I was able to maintain the speed reasonably well. Might be in a position to think about doing 8 of the bloody things soon.
down, up
99, 79
105, 78
104, 77
104, 76
106, 77
111, 78
106, 77
ave. 78.1

am: Run home through the park

am: 'Recovery' run in Kings Pk. Was intending to do a 40min run but didn't feel all that flash so just settled on doing my usual recovery run. Don't know what happened with the time. It's way too fast but I can't see how I could have accidently stopped and restarted the watch, and I'm pretty sure that I followed the standard recovery route. A mystery.

Mystery solved. I re-measured my recovery run using the high-res orthophotos at work and it turns out to be 6.1k. So the run wasn't that fast, just faster than normal for a recovery run. Also, it seems that my recovery runs were all a lot slower than I thought. They felt slow and now it seems they really were slow.

pm: Usual gym. Hard work. errrk! Felt as though I'd had more than just a few days off