I can't think...
of a title for this post, so that will have to do. After my appearance at the Sri Chimnoy 2 weeks ago I've had to take a little break. I developed various aches and pains and so took a week off to let things settle down and just did some swimming and gym stuff. Then I did an interval session on Tues and really struggled and then my hamstring attachment was sore.. sometimes I do wonder why I subject myself to this torture !!I then had a few days of travelling to Melbourne and Colac and felt so exhausted I couldn't be bothered to run, so this morning I headed out to do a longish run and see what was broken!!Apparently nothing is too bad but I'm still getting a bit of pain in my knee area.. actually underneath my knee on the outside. I think it's a calf attachment but who knows. Anyway I managed 9km today and am quite happy with that. I'm hoping to get back to a bit more training this week as I'd like to do a 10km out at SMC at the end of December. I think a trip to the lovely Brad is required though to see he can get to the bottom of what's going on in the knees.A bit of a whinging Pom post but it's the facts!! At least my swimming is improving. Even though I'm only going once or twice a week there is definite improvements and I'm thinking of going back to the swim squad at the gym in a couple of weeks. I just need a bit more swim fitness otherwise I'll die doing an hour's session!Just finished reading Haruki Murakami's book 'what I talk about when I talk about running'; an interesting little book about how he has run 6 miles a day for the last 25 years and has done 30 odd marathons. Lots of things to relate to in terms of why he runs and how it helps him in his work as a novelist. Thanks to Ben for buying if for Steve's birthday.. I did let Steve read it first of course!
Back already
After weeks of silence I'm back already with a quick race report from the Sri Chinmoy 16km at the Bay this morning.A good fun hit-out and it was good to catch up with some old CRs and meet some new ones. I took it pretty easily at the start and was soon at the rear of the pack but that was fine as I was sticking to my designated pace. I settled into a good rhythm, tuned into the music on my ipod and felt pretty comfortable over the first 8 km. I had a bit of flat spot between 10-12 km and my knee was niggling a bit but once I hit the last turn around I felt pretty good and made the run for home, overtaking a few people on the way back. Mr Lulu was waiting for me one km out, and he dragged me home with a last km at 5.55 pace so I must have had something left in the tank. According to Garth MkII we covered 16.2 kms in 1.40.15 at an average pace of 6.12/km. Very happy with that and I appear not to have broken anything although there are a few sore bits and pieces.Mr lulu came 7th and took home a trophy.. show off!!
Crikey!
I appear to have lost a month of my running life! I'm here now Ewen and I'll be brief!So, the programme has been going pretty well and I've managed to fit in most of it despite work being quite demanding. I've had a few niggles but they have been managed and I'm feeling pretty good at the moment; so good I'm attempting the Sri Chimnoy 16kms at the Bay tomorrow. I did 15km a couple of weeks ago so I'm fairly confident all will be well.I won't be racing it but it will give me some entertainment for the longest run I've done in about 2 years as my running buddy Ellie is limbering up for the NY marathon.I feel quite a bit fitter than when I started the programme about 7 weeks ago and got confirmation of that this week when I did my interval training. At the start of the programme I did 6 400s with 400m rest and this week I did 10 reps with only 1.30mins rest and all slightly quicker than the specified pace (2.10); between 2.06 and 2.09 with a 2.07 last one. The last few were tough but I kept up the pace.I've been doing quite a bit of swimming as cross training and even that has started to improve and I managed 1km this morning. So all in all a pretty good month of training.I was intending to do the Sussan's women's classic in Melbourne at the beginning of December but work and life aren't co-operating so I'll probably end up doing a Smiffo SMC race in Nov or Dec instead to see what sort of 10km form I'm in and how the programme is working.
