Marathon training begins...

Endomondo Running Workout: 29.72 km

Well, things are starting to get serious. I slightly mis-aligned this run, but I didn't really feel, having arrived at the front door, as if running another 280 metres was absolutely essential. Since I am notionally recovering from an injury, I have the excuse of discretion.

The injury, in point of fact, hasn't been nearly as bad as I feared last Sunday. I had only got about 100 metres from the front door before realising that the pain in the knees just wasn't going away and returning home. Consequently I have had 4 days rest, and actually descended the staircase 100% pain free on Thursday AM. So, naturally, back to training. It's an odd sport where a rest week sees you only running 60k! Next week is also easy, because it's a race week, a 16k hit out at Georges Hall, over bike tracks in the national park(?) there. I haven't run this course before, but it should be fun. So, that'll be 3 60k weeks in a row, which should leave me in good shape to get through the next month. Last year I was averaging 70k per week and this year it's getting close to 90 (well, it was) so I'm not surprised that it's hard work. I learned last year that immediate rest is the way to go, and I'm sticking with that.

It's not all bad; the reason (I think) that my knees packed it in was that I've been doing a lot of strength training in the gym (plus I don't think 20 years of being 30kg overweight made my knees hugely happy) and I probably overdid it a bit. It's quite hard to judge weights/repetitions; it always seems hard at the time, but it's not until 24 hours later that you know if you overdid it or not.

Anyway, the strength training paid off today, because at about 28km I tripped on a bit of Marrickville footpath, but was able to convert it from a fall to a stagger, which is down to knee strength and one of the reasons I have been working so hard on those muscles. I sort of feel vindicated. Falling is very demoralising, but not falling is very energising. Of course you could argue that if I hadn't been running then I wouldn't have been falling - but logic has no place in all this.

I can't remember anything else much going on. The new bit of the garden is coming along well, although the  solar powered water feature isn't working as well as I'd like. I have to negotiate with the neighbour to put the solar panel on his roof. Plus, it hasn't actually stopped raining yet, so there isn't much sun around anyway. But apart from that the new plants are going well. I spent Saturday pruning and weeding between showers; the garden has gone beserk with all the water. Another couple of weekends should see it looking more orderly.

Work is good; I'm still working on some ideas for using computers in the classroom - it's harder than it might seem. For repeatability, computers are great, but for adaptability - and every class is different - they are not so hot.

Borders of Balmain

Endomondo Running Workout: was out running 23.26 km

Set out from Petersham Oval this AM (site, as posted elsewhere, of Bradman's Sydney district cricket debut, which included a century and three wickets) and discovered, while waiting for the rest of the group, that it's also the site of a very early colonist's attempt to grow "Indian corn" - the colonist in question having been born in Petersham, England the name of the suburb in a sense begins here.

We ran through Annandale and Rozelle, which, away from the main roads, are very attractive suburbs. White's Creek makes a brief unconcreted appearance in Annandale, in a very nicely landscaped wetlands.

2012 begins!

Endomondo Running Workout: was out running 24.77 km

Well, back on the road again...

Brighton in the rain

Endomondo Running Workout: was out running 26.83 km

pffff...I think English needs a formalised list of exclamations; right now I need one that suggests exhaustion and stiffness. It was a tough run. Honestly, that fact that I managed two marathons last year seems completely implausible based on today. Funny business.

To put things in perspective though, I'm two weeks into a new coach and therefore a new coaching routine. Plus,  I worked out last year that I needed to spend more time in the gym, and I've just started that as well. Since the new routine features significantly more speed work than I used to set myself (one of my goals is to break 40 minutes for 10k), and most of the gym work is on the legs, they - in particular the right one - were protesting. On the return leg I thought they might cramp, but to their credit they didn't.

I wonder if another factor might be the change in shoes; I've been training in cross country shoes, which are thinner, lighter and have a more flexible sole than my road shoes. Last year I trained in the road shoes all the time, but I had a lot of sore knees (that doesn't look quite right now it's written down) but the mixed shoe type seems to be avoiding the knee issue so far. I'm starting to get some idea of why runners go mad about shoes, and in a way, how easy it is to rip them off. $200 is ridiculous for a pair of runners, but it's not so ridiculous for a pain-free couple of months of training. Mind you I can import a lot of the shoes for $100; there's a small risk on sizing but so far it hasn't been an issue. I'd try the Dunlop Volleys - but they aren't strong enough to last a month these days as street shoes, so I can't see them being much use on a run. They'd tear themselves to bits on a tennis court!

Waterfall again

Waterfall again

Endomondo Running Workout: was out running

We got the word on Wednesday night that Glenbrook was on; just enough time to start getting properly nervous. Have I trained properly, should I drop down to the shorter distance? I've "tapered" pretty hard in the last three weeks through a combination of flu - ok, a filthy cold - and bad weather. Normally I'm happy to run in the rain, but not, I think, when breathing is difficult. I doubt, so bad was this cold, if I could have kept up with my nose.

So, anyway, it's been a bit light on, dropping from 100+ km a week to 40-ish. I'll have to file it under "experimental". At least my knees aren't too bad, and in fact on Tuesday I did notice that I was springing up the stairs quite lightly.

Ha! Just as I was starting to feel confident, on Friday the NSW Parks and Wildlife people notified the organisers that a 2cm rise in the river would mean the evacuation of all runners WITHOUT their cars. Leaving aside the fact that it would have been (surely) extremely muddy/wet/dangerous, I doubt anyone was particularly prepared to desert their car in a national park for an unspecified amount of time. There's clearly some irony in this - and I detected a degree on angst and conflict amongst the organising committee in the emails, but anyway, once again, Glenbrook has been postponed.

The CRRC decided to go down to the Royal National Park again, this time for the Waterfall-Loftus run. This is pretty much 20km (the GPS was off for about 20 minutes), with a very technical (read steep & rocky) descent, which we took very slowly, not being completely mad for the first 3-4 km, then a 3-4 km run through rainforest on what we call "single track", not rough, but challenging. It's easy to trip on the fronds, so you have to pay a lot of attention to where your feet are going. High stepping is good - shuffling means an almost certain fall. (My mind wandered for about 30 seconds trying to remember if it was Foster or Loftus we were running to, and that's all it took to fall over - nothing serious though). It's hard to concentrate on such a small topic; it's an interesting mental discipline. We disturbed a grey kangaroo having his morning drink at the creek - he hopped off about 50 meters and peered down at us with beady eyes before setting off up the hill. It's nice to see wildlife in the wild - most of the kangaroos you see around Sydney are on golf courses, which is not really quite right, although they are still quite good to see. I've now seen a lyrebird & a kangaroo while running. I will have to start a checklist.

After the first 8-odd km there's a fire trail, Lady Carrington Drive, for about 11 km, which is (relatively) easy running. It's not easy, because the surface is pretty uneven and you still need to pay a lot of attention to your footfall and stride, but it's possible to maintain a pretty good pace. We managed to keep a 5:30 pace going, which was good. It's hard to push yourself outside of an official race, but we were psyched up for a hard run so we did the best we could. In fact, we did pretty well, because my legs today (Monday) are definitely post-race legs. The final stretch, 3-odd km is pretty much purely uphill to the Loftus station. At the top of the staircase - try climbing a staircase after running 20 km - was an information board about the "honeymoon steps". Originally the steps led from the railway station to Audley House, a popular spot for honeymooners. Cue speech about the toughness of the average 19th century person; I guess if you could afford Audley House you could afford a servant to carry the bags. It wouldn't have been much fun toting the bags up and down those steps.

It's hard to say how another 14 km would have gone. It's always my view that the last 7km takes care of itself - what else is there to do except finish? - so I think I would have probably managed it, but I would have been a lot stiffer today! The Glenbrook organisers haven't finalised whether the event has been cancelled or postponed, so I may yet find out.

Sri Chinmoy - Cooks River

Endomondo Running Workout: was out running 15.77 km in 1h:18m:25s

Well, Glenbrook (the 34km run) was cancelled due to the rain, so we (the Cooks River Running Club) were able to attend our "own" race. We actually managed to recruit 3 members at the post race pancake prandium, so well worthwhile. Another bonus is that I was able to watch Liz in her first 8km race; she and a friend are aiming for the city-to-surf next year and it looks like they are well on target.

I managed a very narrow PB, which is sort of reassuring, as I'e been feeling very slow recently, but arguably the PB is only down to the "missing" 230 meters. Still, it's a PB on the course, about 5 minutes faster than this (my first serious) run last year. And I've been training for distance, not speed, recently, so it's OK. In fact, I probably had a bit more in the tank, given that my last km was about 25 seconds faster than my 2nd last kilometre. I had to shave another 2 minutes off to get into 3rd place though, and I'm not sure that was ever happening.

It was a fantastic morning for it; the breeze blew up a bit for the last 4 km, but it had a cooling effect as well, and of course, it's only in the wrong direction half the time. The sun was shining, and the river was full, and the trees provided a nice mixture of shade and sun. After the last week's rain, the grass was certainly green.

Keith Bateman (world champion in my age group) turned up and ran the 8km in 27 minutes. It's ridiculous, but very impressive.

Glenbrook now rescheduled for December the 18th. Lots of worries about the heat, but fingers crossed. A bit of extra training won't go amiss, either.