Westlink M7

Endomondo Running Workout: was out running 42.47 km in 3h:53m:29s

I'm a little disappointed, but under 4 hours is always my 3rd goal, so 1 and 3 isn't bad. (1 is finishing, 2 is the target time). It was surprisingly hilly, as you can see from the elevation profile. Curiously though it wasn't the big hill in the 1st half, it was all the small undulations in the second half. Well, nothing in the 2nd half is easy.  Also, you can see from the GPS that I ran an extra .275 km - and GPS usually understates the distance - so I need to concentrate harder on running straight lines through the curves.

Another very well organised run. It starts in the middle of nowhere (sorry, residents of Prestons) and uses the  bike tracks along the M7. Much of the time you're running through remnant bushland, admittedly with a freeway in view, but it's not the least pleasant run I've done. It's nicer than both Canberra and Sydney; better  managed as well. We finished at the Blacktown International Sports Centre, which is kind of a good venue, although the track has seen better days. Poor suburbs don't get money for that kind of facility upgrade. Apart from the athletics oval, there's baseball, football, soccer grounds, a pretty large complex. I hadn't realised - since I normally only drive through it - how much development is still to take place out there. There will (certainly) be another half-a-million people over the next period of time. Assuming the economy is still functioning.

Anyway, the weather was also perfect. Cold, admittedly at 7am, but after a kilometre it's only your hands that feel it and after 5 they don't feel it either. By the time I got to the finish it was a sunny winter's day, probably around 18. I didn't see anyone I knew, but after the race someone came up and thanked me for my advice (I told him as I passed him at 29km that it doesn't get any worse after 31km. It was his first marathon, and that's how I felt at Canberra, which was mine). I guess I must be improving, because I didn't feel any worse until after 39km. Man, that final 3km was really, really hard. There's an uphill bit at 40-41 that was murder, and other than relief I didn't enjoy the concomitant final 1.2km downhill at all. Although, I did pass someone I hadn't seen since the 500 meter mark when he strolled past taking one smooth stride to my two stumpy ones. I wanted to sprint the final 300 metres around the track (I train for those fast finishes), but want was not will. I think I maintained a 100% steady shuffle.

Hats off to Liz who provided valuable cheering at many viewing points on the way. A capering supporter is the best kind!

Look - running, not shuffling at 41km

I didn't know I was knock-kneed

I'm pleased to say that in one of them I appear to be running, as opposed to the usual shuffle! Mind you, in the picture of me crossing the line (not shown due to technical difficulties), I appear to have developed a serious list to starboard.

Thursday today and  I took my classes (AM and PM) on the Spit Bridge to Manly walk, so that was a gentle workout on a glorious day for one of may favourite walks.

Dolls Point 2012

Endomondo Running Workout: 21.02 km in 1h:55m:03s

Undeniably my worst ever half marathon, but arguably my best ever training run (since I usually train at 5:30 pace). Boy, was I stiff - still recovering from last week's run at Kangaroo Valley, I think. An absolutely stunning day, clear, just a touch of breeze - last year we ran in a howling gale. It's fantastic to run next to the sea, listening to the shoosh of breaking wavelets. Plus, there were boats, people fishing, walking, cycling, doing headstands and generally entertaining themselves.


Afterwards, some stretching, pancakes and oranges, then home for gardening, shopping at the local market and carpentry (still plodding away on that staircase, but progress is progress - the next timber pieces to be bent are much more fragile than the last lot, and I don't want any breakages.) Ran into two colleagues at the market, including the one who had a tumour removed from his brain last Monday! No, seriously. And he looked pretty well and sounded coherent. Fingers crossed. Of course, he's still waiting for the tissue biopsy results, so has no idea what the future holds, but whatever, nice to see him up and about.


That's about it.

King of the Mountain

Endomondo Running Workout: was out running 32.10 km in 3h:13m:34s

Up at 5:00 this AM to drive down to Cambewarra - I'd never heard of it, either - for the Shoalhaven King of the Mountain, a relatively famous NSW race, not exactly a trail race, because it's on roads the whole way, but it's substantially through bush except for maybe a total of 10 km spread over the start and the finish in Kangaroo Ground.

We had a fantastic trip down in about an hour fifty - it's a pleasure driving anywhere in NSW on a Sunday before 8 AM.

I haven't been feeling good about the long distances this year, so I was pretty nervous. I'm supposed to run 35 km every 2nd weekend for training, but frankly between injury, illness, weather and falls, I haven't made more than 30, and certainly not every fortnight (don't tell my coach). King of the Mountain is 32 km, but there are two fairly significant hills as you can see from the profile in the link. The second is 360 meters high - it calls itself Mt Scanzi, in the tail end of the Illawarra escarpment - and you can see from the times at 22 and 23 km that the last section is pretty steep. In fact, just by running non-stop up this section I passed about 8 people who I never subsequently saw. It's obviously a big advantage to get to the top first because you start running downhill first and it's pretty hard for those behind to catch up; although I'm not the strongest descender in the world (I get very nervous about falling) and in fact I had been passed on the down slope of the first hill by a couple of those 8 aforementioned people, but despite that I did manage to stay in front after this second peak.

 One guy I had passed on the way up did pass me in the main street of Kangaroo Valley, but after the last Cooks River episode I wasn't having any of that and I took my life in my hands (the last kilometer is the main street - not the pavement! - of Kangaroo Valley) and overtook him during a gap in the traffic and ran as hard as I could for the finish. It's obviously wrong to say I was feeling good, but you can see from the splits for the last couple of kilometers that I was in reasonable shape, so I held him off.

It's a very social race; one guy gave me some good advice at the 1km mark - don't look at your watch - and said Hi to me later in the car park. A bunch of people stopped to chat with the volunteers at every drink station; this made me feel a little rude (I didn't), but it's not that easy getting moving once you stop in my experience. I prefer continuous motion.

If you're ever in Kangaroo Valley (and you should be, it's stunningly beautiful) I can strongly recommend Jack's Tin Shed for exceptional coffee at fair, that is, city, prices; possibly the best toasted banana bread in history and undoubtedly a very fine hamburger and chips. (Good rural coffee is usually 20-30% more expensive than the city in NSW) Since the main reason I run in these events is to have an excuse to eat chips, it's very important that they stand out. And they did, so it was all worthwhile.

This will give you a rough idea...

A great effort by the organizers; it couldn't have gone much smoother that I could see.

The living room

Finished decorating. That's my first wallpapering job - not too bad, although I probably will spend the rest of my life looking at the blemishes. A bit of delusion seldom goes astray in this situation.
We have a new rug too, but it doesn't photograph so well.

News in brief

She's a Devon Rex - a fairly modern breed I think, with a lot of Siamese in them. They're short haired, so no shedding (presumably that's actually less shedding) and no allergic reactions, which will make Liz's sister happy.

Liz doesn't have an odema, her CT scan was normal, but she's still very dizzy and headachey. There's not much to be said for ageing, and injuries certainly make you feel your age. Plus they muck around with your mind; it's much harder to rebuild your confidence. I remember it took me a few months after my first bad fall to be happy running on trails again. I'm still very aware of the surface when it's rough.

Liz is resting, but she feels worse in some ways after a day doing nothing than after a day at work - it's a different kind of worse, but worse is worse. At least if you're at work you feel like you're getting something done. She's quite worried I think, but certainly very frustrated.

I'm OK - last fall pretty much worn off. The rain is getting me down a bit & it's certainly not great training weather. I've got a marathon coming up in 6 weeks, so I can't skive off training too much but beyond a certain point, I'm not prepared to go out. I've never liked winter, but this is the first year I've felt as bad about a Sydney winter as I used to about the Melbourne ones.

Not much other news - staircase coming along, but again, the weather is slowing it down because my workshop is the back garden.

Sri Chinmoy 8km race

Sprint
Post-race warmdown

A record! 8km in 35 minutes 21 seconds

I have to put in some caveats, although I am in fact absurdly pleased. Firstly, I was pipped to the post by someone I hadn't seen all race, and I swear he beat me by less than a second. Fortunately, he wasn't in my age group, so he didn't cost me the medal - but he also won a medal; first place in the over-60 division. That's a bit of a thunder-stealer! I have to say, I was very tempted to lurch "uncontrollably" in front of him, but I restrained myself. I'm pretty sure that would be inappropriate behaviour for what is notionally a recreational sport.

Furthermore, the guy who won the 16k - which is my usual choice of event - ran it in 65 minutes. Twice the distance in 5 minutes less than twice the time. When you see the picture (below) you will see that I'm not winning that distance any time soon.

Finally, the two guys who usually win this event didn't show up. It's all about the process, though, isn't it? And that time represents a great PB for me, a solid 25 seconds per kilometer off my previous best. It makes me think that maybe the coaching is paying dividends in more ways than just comfort. It still feels like a long way to 4 minute pace though.

500 meters left

Really, I'm shockingly competitive.

After the race and the pancakes, I went for a warm down 12km through the Bardwell Valley. It's a bit of a pain getting to it (you have to run UP the spur between the Cooks River and Wolli Creek) but the 4-5 km you get to run through remnant bushland makes it worthwhile,

News

This gives you a reasonable idea of the new living room, admittedly in two different lights. I'm very pleased with the light - it is a weird sort of part-Deco part-Nouveau thing, with a simple paper lampshade. The new green walls are much more soothing than the old yellow ones, and I think the wallpaper does something good above the fireplace, without resorting to the  huge mirror kind of thing. It's hard to believe that one person can complain about hanging so little wallpaper, right? But the chimney had to be plastered first (as did the wall behind the lamp) and the pattern wasn't totally forgiving. Very curious, Liz and I see the pattern in COMPLETELY different ways. Fortunately we agree on the overall look!

 This is Birnum Birnum lookout (close, anyway) on the Woronora River. Liz is down there somewhere, paddling. This is a great place for running, although a bit small and a bit of a test of the nerves. Falling could be a bit painful. However, I don't go looking for world speed records in this kind of country. So far, no accidents.

I should get some pictures from the Bardwell valley, which is similar terrain to my untutored eye, although the Cooks is not the Woronora. One day I think I'll just run trails, they're very satisfying.


Many years ago when I was managing ABILITY, I got my DoS to find out about getting one of these signs - it turned out to be free, and I've always enjoyed the apparent landmark status it confers. Finally UTS has caught up. I wonder if it's been irking someone there for years, that this tiny language school had its own council sign, and the mighty UTS didn't. Oh well, in five years I'll be the only person who remembers our sign was first.