A quick monthly total

Just a quick post for my monthly totals, I am on my way to work.

Even though I have had my highest weekly total of 63.9km this months total only came to 159.7km. A little disapointing as I wanted to do more.

I think those weeks that I struggle to balance running/work/personal life I will have to make time for excersise.

On a happier note my monthly average weight is down to 96.7 kilo's! Whoopee!!

Late edit. I just found a picture of me on the Sri Chinmoy site. I am the big Clydesdale in the yellow shirt :-)

What next?

Oscar and I just arrived home from our 11.6km run. I know I can do 5 minutes a km now so I pushed myself hard and arrived back home in 0:56:17. This is a PB for that course. Poor Oscar who hasn't been out for a while struggled a bit and has now passed out in his kennel. I may have to let him in for a snooze on the couch for that effort.

I have been doing some research on what to make my next goal. Now that I have reached the Half Marathon goal anything less seems to pale in significance. I will still do a full marathon but I would like to lose another 10 kilos first. I think I will make it a long term goal of the Melbourne Marathon in October 2007. But in the mean time I am unsure what next. Sri Chinmoy are running a 30km race at Princess Park in late July that I am considering but it seems so far away.

My apologies must go to Steve. I wrongly named him as 'Lucky Steve' for winning a pair of Reeboks on Sunday. I'm sure our Steve is lucky but he hasn't won a new pair of shoes to prove it. Now I understand why the poor chap who did win the shoes looked at me very strangely when I made a point of introducing myself as Spark Driver. Doh!

Sri Chinmoy Half Marathon

***BEWARE LONG POST AHEAD. Get your coffee now***

First of all credit must go where credit is due. If it wasn't for my ever reliable wife Sal the whole day could have been a total disaster.

At 6am I woke, turned off the alarm clock, and promptly went back to sleep.

At 6:15am Sal woke, prodded me a few times and called out "Hun"
"What?"
"Aren't you meant to be awake?"
"Huh??"
"Shouldn't you be awake? You have to do the race"
"uummm...I have already done it"
"No your big race you have to get ready."
"Huh?"

It seems that in my dreams I had already run the Half. I can't even remember if I won.

Thankfully due to my extensive preparations the day before 15 minutes was all the time I needed to get ready and be back on time again.

The trip only took 30 minutes in the car and I revved up with Aerosmiths "Pump" album (Yes I am a old 80's Bogan). Arriving with plenty of time I parked the car then walked over to the assembly point.

Quite a crowd had already formed. I meet up with some other Coolrunners (Not even going to try to name everyone) then checked my warm weather gear into the luggage tent. A quick toilet stop then the organizers asked us to assemble up at the starting line.

I could see so many other Coolrunners there. Some I knew from other events but a lot I didn't recognizes. I overheard Chiliman say that he was going to do 5 minutes k's for the first 10 then speed it up from there. This sounded good to me and I planned to stick with him atleast half the way.

We got the old fashioned "Ready, Set, GO" to start and the crowd surged forward. Chiliman took off like a bullet, dodging in and around people and I soon gave up on that plan. I settled down to my regular pace and was pleased to see that I was 5 minutes at the first kilometre marker.

At the first drink station I unwisely chose sports drink over water and developed a sticky mess over my top, hands and face. The next drink station I grabbed a water for a small sip and to try to clean up the mess whilst on the run.

A few of the leading runners started heading back after the 6km turnaround. It was a good opportunity for CR spotting and making encouraging shouts of "Go CoolRunner!"

My thoughts turned to Simlins first Half and I was thankful that the weather was decent. Overcast with no wind felt a lot better than driving rain and hail.

Just before the half way mark I notice I had set a 10km PB of 50 minutes. Well on time for a 1:45:00 finish. I feel pretty good and am confident that I could keep it up. This is also the first point where you spot the Westgate Bridge. Under the bridge is the second turn around point and it doesn't look that far way.

13.5km we pass the race assembly area for the first time and that bloody bridge still doesn't look that far away. Here I start to pick out "targets". Runners in front of me that I plan to "reel" in. There is a gentleman in a blue singlet with a white cap who I set my sights on.

I finally reach the bridge at the 15km mark. I am still on time but have lost sight of my first target in the blue singlet. I pick someone a bit more attainable. I see ahead a guy wearing the same yellow, "Your the Run that I Want" t-shirt that I am wearing and I declare that he is the One that I want!

While all this "target" business is playing out in my head I'm sure people are thinking the same thing behind me. The footsteps and heavy breathing that has followed me for the last 3km finally passes. He is wearing long black Skins and looks pretty spent but he still runs on ahead. I decided to stay with him and not let him go.

We pass the assembly area for the second time and the front runners are already there. I see some CoolRunning gear but can't pick out any individuals. I pass a 17km mark and I know I can do it. The end is not that far. I push on a little harder leaving my friend in the Skins behind and overtake the yellow shirted target.

19km is the final turnaround and I am still on time. I am still pushing on catching a few runners and being passed by some Six Million Dollar Man wannabes.

Finally I enter the Williamstown sports field and follow the running track to the finish line.

According to my watch I have completed my first Half Marathon in 1:46:46 and I am thrilled! My Excel running log works that out to 5:04 a kilometre!

Catching up with the other CoolRunners we swap our stories and times. Lucky Steve wins a spot prize of a pair of Reebok runners and I have a feed of Apple Crumble and Pancakes.

I watched the winner of the Marathon come in and it is CoolRunnings own Uncle Dave!
Uncle Dave after his win chatting to RunningOnEmpty.

I headed over to shake his very sweaty hand and offer congratulations. Fancy a Sydney Strider winning the Williamstown Marathon. What cheek!
Now I am back home and feeling a bit exhausted. That brings to an end my largest weekly running total of 63.9km so far and I will be having a rest for the remainder of the day and tomorrow too (maybe).

A few days rest

I have two days before the Half on Sunday and I have decided to rest up a little before the day.

I went out yesterday originally on a 15km run but at the crossroad I ended up turning right instead of left and ran my 20.8km course. I completed it in 1:48:39 and managed to pace the fuelbelt to one bottle every 30 minutes.

The Tuesday before I cranked out 7km in 40 minutes on the treadmill at work. I'm starting to enjoy the treadmill now. I always feel like Steve Austin from The Six Million Dollar Man. From memory he runs on a treadmill in the opening credits. The social club has now set up a cardio room with the treadmills, rower, electronic bikes, stepper and a wide screen TV with a DVD player. May have to chase up some DVDs of that old show to watch while I am running.

I have always had misgivings about buying shoes from The Athletes Foot but Sal has recently bought two pairs of Brooks runners from there and I have been impressed. A month ago she bought a pair of Brooks Ariel's from them and this week we returned to buy a pair of Brooks black Addiction's (a black closed shoe for her work starting Monday). Sal has a large size 12 ladies foot and struggles to find any shoes that fit but The Atheletes Foot has had her size in stock both times we visited. Very impresive.

Tesso said "Hope you can get the right amount of sleep with those night shifts. You don't want to be standing on the start line on Sunday yawning.". Unfortuanetly I am working tomorrow night and I can't get out of it. I finish at 12:30am and will go straight to bed at 1:00am but will arise at 6:00 to be on the otherside of Melbourne by 7:30. It is not the most ideal amount of sleep before my first Half but I can't really avoid it.

I will catch up after the event with a race report. Maybe not as good as Simlins first Half report but I will do my best.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Did someone mention a training plan?

As with all good plans my recent one is now in tatters.

All the running time I had planned since my last post has evaporated leaving me with only a 11.6km run on Saturday completed in 1 hour even. And a 15km run today finished in 1:20:44.

I am doing all late shifts at work this week so I should still be able to fit in some runs before Sunday. I am just planning to make them shorter with a rest next Saturday.

A plan is formed.

1. Spare Time?..........................CHECK
2. Something to write about?.....CHECK
3. Coffee?..................................CHECK

Time to Blog

Thanks Alisonjc for the reminder. It has been a little while since I have posted. Family and work commitments have taken precedence this week and I haven't found the time till now.

I have had a few runs lately. I ran to our friends place on Saturday afternoon. This course is just a short 6km and Oscar and I completed it in 0:27:36. It was a pretty quick pace considering my left quadriceps was still playing up.

The second eBay present of the Fuelbelt arrived on Monday so I eagerly set out early Tuesday morning to try it out. I ran a 15km route in the cool, foggy morning and completed it in 1:20:36. I have never run with fluids before and it took a little practice to sip from the small 7oz bottles without spilling it all down my front. I could feel the difference staying hydrated when I arrived home. Not feeling the need to guzzle down 2 bottles of water soon as I walk in the door.

Yesterday morning I ran my 20.8km course. It has been just under 3 weeks since I have run this distance and I was a little anxious about the result. I set up the Fuelbelt with water, house keys and mobile phone (turned off) and left a very miserable Oscar behind. About 5 minutes into the run I realized that I had forgotten to lube up with the Bodyglide! I remembered all the trouble I had last time I ran in these shorts without Bodyglide and I considered turning back. But there was no irration at that stage so I pushed on.

I ended up completing the 20.8km distance in 1:51:57. This is about 5 minutes off my best time and I was exhausted. I need to pace myself a little better with the water as the last 3km I was empty, and felt that I really needed a drink then. I am happy to say though that I had no chaffing as a result of forgetting to Bodyglide. I must have lost a bit of weight off my upper thighs reducing this problem.

I have made a training plan for the next week and a bit leading up to the Half on the 28th. Tonight at work I will do a speed session on the treadmill with a 11.6km run tomorrow morning. A rest day on Saturday followed by a long run on Sunday. Then I plan to taper down to the weekend with a 15km on Monday, 11.6 on Tuesday and some more treadmill work and a couple of 5km runs around the block. I will rest on Saturday before the big event. This plan will probaly get all stuffed up but I will try to follow something that resembles it.

My wife Sal would like to pass on her thanks for all your congratulations regarding her new job. It was very touching and she hopes to be able to jab a needle in all of you very soon :-)

Muscle pain

Oscar and I went for a run on Wednesday. It was over our 11.6km route and we completed it in 0:58:09.

I had received one of my eBay presents. The Nike dri-fit Your the Run that I Want t-shirt had arrived and I must admit I love it. The loose fit (I got a x-large, could have worn a large) and the bright yellow colours have me so impressed that I pushed a little bit harder on this run. Maybe more harder than I should have after my slack week and a half.

So it was inevitable that when we got back home I found that I had hurt my leg! I could feel tightness and pulling in the outside and front of my upper leg muscle. We have done some research and we think I have strained my left quadriceps. It was very sore on Thursday and I was even limping getting around at work during the day. I have been resting and massaging in some dencorub heal gel in the evenings and it has slowly been feeling better. I had planned on going for a run today but after we walked the kids home from school I felt some twinges and tightness in the area and decided to give it one more days rest before going out for a short run. This development is very annoying 2 weeks from my half marathon debut. I feel I should be at the peak of my training and not resting a bloody sore leg.

On a happier note my wife Sally got a job today!! She has wanted a change of industry after being in food preparation, particularly fast food, since leaving school. She has been out of the work force for over the past year and a half studying to be a Pathology Collector, the people that take blood test, ECG's and all that interesting stuff. Today she received a phone call from a leading Pathology clinic telling her that she was successful in her first job interview in over seven years. Congratulations Sal!

A disappointing week.

Last weeks effort was a little disappointing. I didn't get a chance to run at all after Monday due to work or family commitments. When I had nothing on the weather was atrocious and I couldn't bring myself to leave the warmth of the house. I managed 7.6km in 45 minutes on the treadmill at work last night and that has been it. I have a few later starts this week and I plan to make amends.

It was my daughters 9th birthday party on Saturday. She held it at a local roller skating centre and I felt like I had a great workout. I donned a pair of rental skates and even though I haven't skated for 10 years I felt like a duck on water. I also felt I could thank my running regime for being able to keep up with the kids for over two hours. We had so much fun that I am considering buying us some rollerblades and going out skating more often.

I have found and bought a Fuelbelt on eBay. It was half the recommended retail and I think I have picked up a bargain. I hope I didn't outbid any of my regulars to get it? It is an Endurance 4 Bottle model and you can view it here.

I also bought from eBay a Nike "Your the Run that I want" event t-shirt. I have seen these shirts being modeled by Tigerboy and Running Rupert and always thought they would make a great winter training shirt. The bright yellow would make me more visable/a better target for cars on the road and longer sleeves maybe warmer than a singlet. But I wonder if it is good running etiquette to run in a event T-shirt that you didn't participate in?

I woke Sunday to an absolute downpour and immediately thought of those runners braving the elements for the Great Train Race. I hope you all had a great time?

I will go now and read up on some Blogs and also wait for the Postie. I love getting parcels from eBay woohoo!

Late post: The postman/lady has arrived but there is no goodies from eBay today. Instead my race number for the Williamstown Sri Chinmoy Half Marathon has arrived. Yeehaa go white D721! Not long to wait now.

I miss summer.

Thanks all for your great ideas and advice on hydration. I like the sound of the Fuelbelt for the distances I am currently running and I will investigate them further. Until them I will carry a disposable water bottle during my long runs.

Speaking of long runs I am scheduled to take my 20.8 run this morning. But after walking the kids to school in windy, cold and threating to rain weather my heart just wasn't into it. When I arrived home I read a post on Coolrunning about things that get yelled/thrown at you while running and all my motivation for the days run was lost. Hopefully I can catch up on my long run during the week.

Oscar and I went for our 11.6km run on Monday. It has been over a week since Oscar has been out. We have been resting him and fattening him up with extra dried food, morning and night (no steak!) and he has bulked up well. He had lost a bit of form after we arrived back home in 0:58:27 but he looks 100% better. All skin and bone looks great on a greyhound but terrible on a Staffy.

Some may have noticed that I have added my monthly weight average to a table in the sidebar. I think it is a big move having your weight out there in a public forum but while the numbers are going down it is something I am rather proud of. If they happen to start creeping up again I may take the table off :-) My goal weight at the moment is 85 kilos. At that weight I feel I will be able to have a shot at a marathon.