Training Log Archive: Mounty

Failed attempt to run a manly dam loop from home. I got around but knee was starting to hurt and low energy levels made it all a bit useless. Same knee got sore in the same shoes on last run, but have been ok with different shoes in the interim.

Yoga experiment part 3. Interesting to note that the content of each of the classes Ive been to have been quite different which is a good sign.

Need to decide soon whether to continue beyond the free trial period.

Loop thru the park on the way to yoga. Have worked out running before works better than after. On the way back to the office I'm a bit too 'whatever man' for running.

A fairly nondescript ride in to town on a pleasant pre-Spring morning - until I passed a 70 year old man in women's clothing riding in the opposite direction on the Harbour Bridge. Ahh, the colour of city life.

Lunchtime river loop from home. Rather tired - the sleepy kind - but some length coming back in to the stride again.

Stopped on a rock next to the water for 5 minutes because it was such an insanely nice day.

Beach run from Curly down to Manly and back while Annika was playing softy. Made ti down to Shelley beach this time. Really nice running on the beach at night.

Modest tempo efforts on the return journey - 3, 6, 2, 2, 4.

Yoga experiment part 2. A bit more intense than last week's class, and some rather clever stretches at times.

The exhortations to maintain a calm demeanour while doing something that is really quite difficult (eg: one legged squat while stretching other bits) reminded me of cycling commuting - in the sense of rider's attempting to project a sense of cruising comfortably while absolutely smashing themselves to overtake a fellow commuter.

C • Great comparison! 1

Urgh. While Annika was sailing I went for a paddle, joined by the hangover left from last night's 25 year school reunion. Entertaining evening. Amazed by some of the things that our teachers did back then. No way they'd get away with it today.

Did ~18 * 1min efforts at the lower end of the interval intensity scale. Glorious day.

C • where did the swordfish com... 11

Manly Dam loop from home. Felt quite good for the first hour, but then ran out of petrol a bit.

Noticed that while the yoga had loosened up the posterior muscles such as the hammie, the anterior muscles - in particular the TFL - was still tight. To the point of feeling a bit unbalanced. Will need to hit the roller to even up.

Hippie time. The thing that struck me on the first trots back after a couple of weeks work/cold induced lay-off was how much less enjoyable it is to run when things are tight. To that end, I decided to go along to the yoga joint near work and give it a go. 2 week free trial a bonus.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but was suitably impressed upon arrival by the instructors very impressive posture as she glided in to the room. What followed was a somewhat strange combination of advanced stretching and quite hard core strength drills set against a tone of 'serene hippie'.

The instructions flowed at a rapid rate - too fast to follow everything, but clear enough to be able to vaguely keep up. Time went quickly, and by the end was impressed to see that I had gone from 'no running tight' to being able to get my knuckles on the floor with straight legs in the space of an hour.

I think I enjoyed myself. Will have to go back next week to check.

Ran back to work from hippie stretching via the waterfront. It was kinda odd. One the one hand the looser legs were keen to run, but I was so peaced out running felt like an uncivilised form of hurrying.

Gotta start somewhere. 5 * 1 min efforts mixed in to spin on the ergo to revive the whole paddling thing again.

Gently ventured back on to the bike. Feeling better than yesterday, but the hills still seemed steeper than normal.

Chilly ride home. Feeling a bit stronger.

Gentle Killarney loop to restart the engine and test if I'm over my cold. Was quicker than it felt which is a good sign, but still not back to 100% yet.

After 2 weeks of getting smashed at work and not sleeping enough, came down with an unsurprising cold.

Sunday evening paddle from Roseville. Mainly because it was such a stunningly beautiful day.

Dropped Tom at Taekwondo in Lindfield, then hit the firetrail at the start of the NOSH for Maxi's intervals debut. 12 * 400m.

Did the first couple on leash, telling him he didn't need to stay beside me, which meant he hit the front and dragged me along like a husky sled. Very impressed by how fast he could drag me along. I need to get a harness and have a crack at my 3k PB.

Did the remainder without leash, pleased to see that he was happy to run close by my knee - with the occasional detour to dive through a couple of puddles along the way.

I didn't understand why he kept nipping off the track at the end of each odd effort, until the last one when he returned carrying the tail of a long dead possum. Eww.

Lunchtime cruise around the Rocks looking for dinner options prior to the evening's entertainment of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead on HIckson Rd with Tim Minchin.

Finished with a dozen repeats on the Fort St stairs...and a 1km trot after the show to avoid a half hour wait for the next bus.

Popped on the Ayup and did a night beach run from Curly down to Manly while Annika had softball training.

Definitely one for the stable of regular runs. Bewdiful running down the beach at night, pretending it is the last leg of Geo. Got lucky with the weather, as some weird kind of westerly had blown in an ambience better suited to a balmy summer evening.

Still tired, and managed the tempo accordingly.

Still tired after a huge week on the work front. Did 5 * Lady Mac-ervals, but more as run-through than interval.

An excuse to get back in the boat with the arrival of pre-season sailing training. Most pleasant to be back on the water, but work to do to graduate from paddling like a runner again.

Got a call from someone at Nelson Bay during the day, where Tom was on a Band tour. Theyd found his wallet, and looked up his surname in the phone book which is fortuitously unusual. All i could tell him was that i think the kids were going to look at dolphins that afternoon. Gkt a text a couple lf hours later saying he'd found them and returned toms wallet. Good ol' humankind.

In hindisight starting a run dehydrated, without water and on a loop with no taps wasn't the smartest choce of the week. The plain water just before the end tasted so good,in the same way that bashing your head against a wall feels awesome upon completion.

Knackered after a huge week of work too.