June - end of month - 172km

14 times out and running.
Distances ranged from 6.6km to 26km+
Time - 29min to 2hr05min.

Happy with the monthly effort, more with the consistency rather than the output.
But at 170+ its a nice result.
Getting into running 2hrs at a steady clip is good, so I can now start building into some tougher faster sessions knowing the endurance is coming back into line.

With a little project in the coming months the endurance will not be a problem I imagine.

I enjoyed the track session I did, so I really should aim for more similar workouts, even if it is just time based intervals at effort.

3m45s pace is comfortable in repeated bursts, so now it needs to feel easier with the burst speed increasing so 3m30s feels comfortable. So I can then work some longer efforts at 3m45s if that makes sense.

Tagged

Thanks to JH, I've got a list to complete, but the trouble is I am not following nearly enough blogs so I have no one to tag at the completion.
So this is a shameless plea for someone rescuing me from being the Dag who ended the Tag.

1. Where is your cell phone? Kitchen
2. Relationship? marriedlongtime
3. Your hair? disappearing
4. Work? hohum
5. Your sister? overseas
6. Your favourite thing? food
7. Your dream last night? nonevent
8. Your favourite drink? pineapplejuice
9. Your dream car? BMW
10. The room you’re in? lounge
11. Your shoes? collection
12. Your fears? hopelessness
13. What do you want to be in 10 years? retired
14. Who did you hang out with this weekend? kids
15. What are you not good at? failure
16. Muffin? lots
17. Wish list item? acreage
18. Where you grew up? Coffs Harbour
19. The last thing you did? movedcar
20. What are you wearing? houseclothes
21. What are you not wearing? hat
22. Your pet? fish
23. Your computer? Asus
24. Your life? content
25. Your mood? relaxed
26. Missing? summer
27. What are you thinking about? Queensland
28. Your car? family
29. Your kitchen? nice
30. Your summer? tooshort
31. Your favourite colour? red
32. Last time you laughed? 3.5sec
33. Last time you cried? I'masoftie
34. School? longago
35. Love? life

So now its up to a rescuer to save the momentum....

29th June, 7.5km, (Sky7.5)

New shoes - awesome!!
So pleased to be able to type that bit, after my last new shoes disaster....not the shoes just the run... it was great to enjoy the debut run.

Up just early enough to get out the door and 'tempo' the 7.5km. When I say tempo I really mean running scared that if I don't hurry up I'll not have enough time to eat anything before work, so yes it was a quickish run, even pushed the downhills.

A little cool, but nice to be out and about feeling mostly good on the run. Trying to incorporate some running in hurt since I'm not racing very much at all.

New Shoes: Nike Zoom Skylon, very white, very light, very one piece. Very happy.


No work this weekend, so planning on joining Old Miler and co at Sherbrooke on Sunday.
I wonder how wet and muddy the forest trails will be?

27th June - 10.5km, 47min, ZE

Given the valiant attempts to unlock the secrets I'll get on with the explanations.

1) Garbo - really only ever coined by a select few in highschool and quickly disappeared when the originator was drowned in a boating accident.
Michael - Mikael - Mikael Gorbechov - Mikael Garbagetrough - Garbo

2) Oppa - if memory is any good it began at a Nike managers offsite conference. Went to dinner and it was suggested that my chosen shirt belonged on someone of a more Greek persuasion, and since I am such a Greek I was renamed.
Clarkeoppiledes - Oppiledes - Oppa

3) Sparky - simply rhyming nickname from the cricket club.
Clarkey - Sparky

Today I was able to finish a little early which meant I could run in daylight. It also just happened to be the day when the wind and the rain were really cooperative.
In normal circumstances it would have been a dreary old running session, but I decided to head to the Dandenong Creek to see what the rain had done to the little creek we know so well.



Impressive wasn't it!!!


Looked to just get warm and going early on. Quickly got into a groove and the pace was OK. At the bottom end my course was decided for me, since I could not get under the road with a flooded path, and the thick traffic meant crossing was taking too long. So back I went.

With a plan to run 90sec efforts with 45sec float. It was a nice way to come back and using the up and down gravel path it was a little more interesting. Guessing the pace was at or slightly quicker than the 3m45s of last weeks track pace. I think I ran 4 or 5 before missing a chime and losing the pattern, after that it was just random effort sections.

Saw another runner out there so shared some insanity for a couple of minutes.

Back to the car, very wet and coolish. After stretching for a few minutes my face was actually sore from the cold....

25th June - 9km, ??, (Sp.55.7)

Tonight was just about getting out the door and I did!!



Decided on a newish course, in that I've never put the 2 peices of this run together at the same time, they are normally part of other loops, so it felt new.....down through the back streets past Bimbadeen Primary, then back up Manchester. Then I ran onwards along Edwards instead of straight back up the hill, a nice adjustment and a new bit of concrete I'd never run on before.



Anyway, I have just finished playing with http://www.mapmyrun.com/ if you haven't tried it then I'd recommend it even after 1 attempt. Mainly because if does all the same things as gmap pedometer, but it has an elevation tool. Very cool. I discovered my run tonight had a 92m differential from highest to lowest point, with 123m of total climbing and 125m of total descent. Nice. Meaningless really, but still nice for someone like me who likes useless bits of information on anything and everything.



I'll be mapping Saturdays run with interest!!



The other feature of tonights run, apart from it being an after 10pm finish, was the fart(tehe)lek aspects of the session.

Firstly I literally sprinted up a hill that I've been avoiding lately, simply to beat it soundly so I don't avoid it unecessarily in future. Then I allowed the pace to lift on the downhill section toward Mooroolbark central. Then on the way up Manchester I used a couple of the hills to work harder again. Then on the gentle incline towards home I did lightpole sprints/strides. Then because I could and it was a nice night, I walked the last 300m to home....no reason just seemed like a nice idea at the time, and it was!!



No watch so no idea of the pace.

Lower legs objecting a little, so I told them to shut up or I'd do another lap. But after Saturday I'm not entirely surprised.





While on the run I got thinking about nicknames, not really sure why.

I've really only ever had 3 significant nicknames (that people used to my face anyway) other than Clarkey, Mick or Mike.



The first: Garbo, from high school.

At Niketown: Oppa

At Cricket: Sparks



Now because its late and I need sleep, I'm going to leave you in suspense until next time. When I'll reveal how these names eventuated. If anyone can guess the first 2 then you are truly a genius, the 3rd is obvious (well I think so anyhow).

23rd June - 26km+, 2hr05min, Peg

Something must be going right, since even though I thought of all the excuses under the cloudy sky for not running or not running where I ran, when the crunch came it was almost automatic.


After failing to recruit a victim - I mean running partner.... It was solo that I left the Croydon Aths carpark at 6.50am.


In December 2006 one of the largest gatherings of the ESRG headed out for a 'mildly challenging course' which included a foray into the Mt Dandenong foothills. On that day the pace was relaxed with plenty of rest breaks etc to keep the group together. It was approx 23km and took us somewhere near 2hr20min. At the time I made a comment on Ausrun that I would run the course again.

So today I did. Without going into details except to say that I'm glad i felt better once in the hills, as the first 50min was a real struggle physically and mentally - I'm still not sure why.

I didn't run the same course exactly due to a bad memory, but my version meant that I stumbled (not literally) upon a picnic ground with toilets and fresh water. I know this is important to many, so if you go to this saved course http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1073310 near 14km I made a square over the picnic area.

Felt good in the hills and only had to walk one section where it was far too steep and muddy to run up. Then with the allotted time disappearing quickly I had to put the pace on a little more for the last 6km from the end of Glasgow Rd, roughly 4m30s pace.

Once all done, I was very pleased with the run and again with the course. I really should spend some more time running those Mt Dandy trails, its amazing up there. Particularly today when I crossed over what must be very close to the headwaters of the Dandenong Creek.

At 2hr+ and 26km I am back to where I was in April before I had the ITB niggle and then the running blues. I am now feeling a bit more in control of my running and more importantly my fitness.

21st June - speed reps 8.5km (PegTC)

First time running on the newly resurfaced Croydon athletics track. It is a much nicer place to run than the old dead black surface, it almost made the mind numbing circuits bearable.

After a 10min warm-up of slow jogging and some dynamic stretching / loosening.

I embarked on the following:

400,400, 600, 600, 800, 800, 600, 600, 400, 400.

I'd set my count down timer to 22 & 23 sec to give me splits for 90sec laps, or 3m45s pace.
This is to keep me in line with my end of year goal for a 37m30s 10km.

In my first two 400m reps I was too quick and lapped in about 84s.
As the reps went on and increased in length the pace settled. Usually getting closer to splits but only due to backing off at the end or having to push to stay on track.
Only once I went over the 90sec by 1 sec.
My rest breaks were a little mixed generally based on feel, but always a multiple of 22sec. Ranged from 45s to 90sec. Sometimes walking, sometimes just sucking in the big ones. I had a bottle but found it tough to grab a drink of any usefulness.

For my last 400 I decided to give it a bit more effort to see how I went. Due to the feeling during the others I was not sure of anything good so eased into it. First 100m in about 20sec. Then I worked into it, was well ahead after 200m, the final 100m was into the wind but I still felt strong. Finished off in about 75sec. Satisfying enough, but was too soft in the first 100m.

For a cooldown I decided to take off my shoes and run barefoot for a lap or 2. Why? Well, I've signed up to be a crash test dummy for a new 'barefoot running' shoe brand. Still on the standby list for now but figured a little pre-work would be wise.
I lasted 400m on the track, then my baby skin feet couldn't take it, so one more lap on the inside on the grass. I was interested to notice that my barefoot running style did not differ too much from normal shod running. Thats a good thing I think.

A good session to mix it up a bit, challenge is to speed them up in the coming months.

20th June - 8km, ??min (Per)

After 3 false starts - really not getting the hang of getting up in the morning - I finally got out the door tonight.

Went with the get changed and then wait method, for me it meant wait until 2 boys showered and at least one boy was in bed. Hindsight says I should have waited a little longer for the dinner to settle.....

Run plan was zero, except for the route which was the reverse direction shorter hill course with a slight variation.

No watch, not time checks, just run.

Felt OK in sections but generally felt very blah in the stomach, despite running regularly last year after dinner, I think the motivation was different so it was a necessary evil. These days its just painful.

I know the running was not fast nor slow, so I'm comfortable that it was worth getting out there. Felt like I had a good stride rhythm on the uphills and everything else was nice and controlled without having to labour the pace or momentum.

Not sure about the sleeping in business, I've been heading to bed earlier than normal, but still hitting snooze and going back to sleep, often leaving barely enough time to get ready for work....hopefully some slightly later starts in the next few weeks will help.

16th June - 19.5km, 90min, (Sp46.7)

Longer run today, a slightly later start than planned, but not too bad.
Drove to the corner of Maroondah and Croydon Rd, parked and headed up the hill to do a favourite loop in the anti-clockwise direction.

Almost walked up the first hill since I was barely even awake and not even close to warmed up.

From there I was just out to cover the distance, so much so I was determined not to look at my watch so that I would not use known distances to influence my pace.

Several times I tried to remind myself that it was supposed to be long and slow, but it never seemed to last long and my overall pace indicates this.

Air was cool but not too bad, only the back of my hands got a bit of chill.

This is a favourite course due to the changing scenery, from housed streets to forested creek trail to rail trail to open creek trail, gravel, concrete, bitumen, some inclines but not too severe.
Link to gmap trail here http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1051558

Mostly good run, couple of trouble sections, but was able to finish very quick from Croydon main st to the car, mostly because I was angry at myself for an earlier judgement error, so I wanted to get it over with and get home..... in hindsight it was a good indication that my endurance is slowly catching up with my better leg speed this year.

Should start to get a bit more aggressive with the long run length and duration in coming weeks, but I'll have to get going earlier otherwise I might find myself chewing up too much of the day.

A good week for me, maybe I'm getting the hang of this routine / habit caper.

15th June - 9.75km, 47min (PegTC)

Due to a bit of 'getting some time back' with work I was home all day today and only needed to gin into work for the last few hours of late night trade. Worked a treat asI was able to get a bit of DIY done.


Also meant that I could run in the middle of the day. Actually its cause I went all soft and wanted to avoid the freeze in the morning.


Wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do, but was careful not to tempt fate by doing too much before my (hopefully) longer run tomorrow. I settled on sticking close to home and taking in a course I have run before that includes 2 longish hills, plus the other normal ones around home.

Along the way I changed direction a few times just to run some new streets or some I've not run for a while.


All up I was out for 47min which kept it to a reasonable time.

Covering almost 10k was nice since I really didn't work particularly hard at any point, just kept momentum on the uphill and let the downhills and flats take care of themselves.


I have pretty much decided to leave my Peg TC's for anything other than just cruising. They are just a little too flat and missing the nice comfy ride I like for training. So perhaps they'll just be for faster sessions and races.

With some luck I'll get out tomorrow for 100min or there about....

13th June - 8.5km 37min (Sp27.2)

Firstly, a quick blogland apology. I've been reading many of your blogs but have not been commenting much, some of the content has been outstanding entertainment - keep it up!!

On a similar line - does anyone know why my posts and comments do not come to my e-mail, I've reset the setting several times with no luck.


Social Comment:
Looters are one of the lowest forms of criminal
The people (loose term) who take advantage of others in a time of disaster that was totally out of their control deserve no leniency in this country. When so many others are filling the Aussie way of getting stuck in to help, these germs are helping themselves.
Is cleaning the highway with a toothbrush too harsh a penalty??

Child abusers should be lynched
We need a new reality TV show. How can we allow defenceless children to be harmed and even killed without then removing all future existence of the offender (never to be referred to as human). Why is there no automatic - locked up for life? or life for a life?
Too often there is some lame excuse about stress and anxiety brought about by children. Well duh, kids ARE stressful. Its a reality and fact. Keep your pants on if you can't accept this fact EVERY DAY.

Gossip
I always thought the playground pettiness would disappear as people grew older. At school I accepted it. In my first serious job it was a young crowd so understood it may still linger. In my current job it is almost worse than in the playground, and this is a much older crowd.
Today, my fellow senior manager had a quiet word to let me know we may have an infectious disease in the store, but are waiting on blood tests, worker gone for tests. Not 15min later, all I hear everyone talking about is their opinion on the situation. It seemed even the specific staff member could not keep their mouth shut.
It drives me nuts, nothing is secret - noone can keep a detail to themselves. Are these people so lacking in imagination that they have nothing better to discuss than stuff that may or may not be true, or would otherwise be considered best not spoken about.....
Does it get worse? If so, I'm off to the country to find a farm, at least I know the sheep and the dogs won't go on with mindless natter.



By the way, I ran tonight too.
A shortish run, aimed at 40min got to 37min. But the pace was quicker than I had thought it would be. For the first time in a long time I was bounding up the smaller hills, generally feeling lighter and stronger on my feet. Almost too good - it was great.
Even felt like there was some juice in the tank at the end.
It seems either the fitness is returning, or any remnants of illness have finally dispersed.
So very happy with around 4m30s pace including some reasonable hills.

I saw on Coolrunning a reference to using Excel to calculate pace in min/s/km. Its very easy, so so much easier than my old methods. If you can't find it, let me know, I'll add an explanation on here to help.

11th June - long and wet, 18.5km - 86min (V)

Today I was determined to take advantage of the long weekend shorter work day by getting in the long run I missed on Saturday.

Alarm set for 6.15am – who was I kidding?? 6.25 – nope, 6:35 – nope, 6:45 – nope…..eventually up and out just after 7am.

Just about out the door when I realised that the ground and trees and air and everything was very wet….it was raining.

Immediately – must have still been asleep – I went for the sensible option of grabbing my light climafit jacket.

This was odd since I’ve never run a serious training run in my jacket before.

The plan was to run for 90min. With a range of course options going through my mind I settled on one that was a big loop of roads I’d run before, including some that I’ve not visited in some time.

CP to Edwards to Kimberley Reserve to Black Springs to Lyons to Maroondah to Croydon Rd to Hewish to Hull to Manchester to CP.

A nice mixture of elevations with nothing too taxing and mostly able to run on bitumen rather than gravel or concrete. Except the drag up Manchester, I don’t think I’ll ever enjoy that bit of road.

Again I was struck by the sheer lack of activity for the duration of my run. I know it was raining, early and a public holiday, but to be on some usually busy roads and to not see a car in sight was a little eerie. Then to only see 2 people out and about, it was very lonely. But, I did seem to get one friendly toot….that was nice.

Not being sure of the distance, it was a case of being flexible to adjust for time. Nearing home I realised I was going to be short so a little loop added some time and distance. At 86min it’s a bit shorter than planned but a very wet runner was thankful to be home and able to shower and dry off.

SDM reckoned 19km, but that would mean 4m31s pace….I don’t think so, G-maps reckoned 18.3km. I’ve opted to call it 18.5km.

Either way, it seems I must have been lost in thought or groove or rhythm since I definitely didn’t push the pace at any stage, so I suppose it’s a good thing for a run like that in the lonely wet to feel effortless.

Back to the jacket: My biggest fear with wearing a jacket has been the over heating factor, and then having to take it off and tie it around my waist. I do not enjoy having things hanging off me when running. But today, I felt comfortable early, and then warmed up a little. So I pushed the sleeves up slightly, and lowered the zip a bit. For the rest of the run I was very comfortable and even appreciative for the protection.

I think I’ll experiment again on a cool morning / night without rain to see what its like. But for cool weather running in the rain, I’m happy to don the jacket again.

On reflection I remember reading / seeing something about Buster changing to running in long pants for training to protect his assets (legs). So I guess this is kind of in that line. I know I can run in such weather without a jacket, but if wearing the jacket provides some added comfort and does not cause trouble, then why not.

9th June - 29min dash, 6.6km (ZE)

Not quite a dash, but the feeling was…..quick get in a run so that its done: 30min is better than nothing.

 

Evening run, dinner postponed so as not to run on a full steak laden stomach, I figured that in 30min I should cover at least 6km.

I picked a bit of a mongrel course, not quite in line with anything I normally run, just a mish mash of streets near home.

 

Initially I was going to steer clear of any real hills and just run the flatish loops near home, but that gets so dull and boring…..so I just pointed my toes the other direction and made it up along the way.

 

Towards the end I ventured up a hill I ran once when I first moved into the area. It was such a painful experience that I’d never run it again.

Keep in mind this was back in mid ’04 when my running was even more sporadic.

 

Up I went, almost laughing at how easy this little rise was…..geez I was a running wimp back then.

 

Nearing home, a watch check showed me at 26min if this was 6km then I was going to pull the pin. But of course my speed was not that hot, and SDM indicated 5.8km, so a lap of the block to bring me to 6.6km in 29min. So overall my happification level (that’s for you JH) was good.

 

Tonight was about teaching myself:

1. To just get out there.
2. That shorter is OK.
3. It does not have to be an all out effort run.

6th June - if it was 10km (Sp 18.7)

This morning I was going to go to Mullum Mullum for a easy up and down run of about 10km.

But due to time restraint and then a complete mental fade, it turned into a time trial effort run.



I'd been led to believe that from Highland Ave to the end at Warrandyte Rd was 5km, but Gmaps has it at 4.7km, and I don't think the straight line limitations would account for an extra 300m.



To put this into context, I'd been reasonably happy with the times I ran, but at 300m less the level of pleasedness is slightly reduced, but still satisfied given it was just me and given my recent training.



Down leg - and it is down given it follows a creek - 19m14s

Rest - 2min

Up leg - seemed steeper all the time - 21m26s (including 2 walk breaks)

Total time - 40m40s



So the outcome is that I can hold 4min/km for 5km, I think I was still on track for about 8km, but the back end was not pretty.



I guess its just further confirmation that while leg speed is OK, the endurance is still a work in progress.



My calves felt like they were being crushed, so hopefully just a sign of being out of condition and under pressure, but just the same I'll keep tabs on the general feeling.







Shoes: Span (18.7km)

4th June - dark and early

Up and out a little later than planned, but 6.15am was early enough.
Twas pretty chilly and dark, but I was pleased to be up and about.
Planned loop was the Mooroolbark course, but decided to avoid the Manchester Rd path and ran down the middle streets which is a more twisty option but means I can run on the road instead of the footpath.
Given we are in the middle of school shopping with #1 going into prep next year, I was interested to find that Bimbadeen was almost exactly 2.5km from home, almost walking distance....
Its a nice downhill stretch into Mooroolbark central, and along the way I was quietly amused at the commuters being dressed ready for work and on the way to the train at 6:40am, while I was only 25min into my run, with another 26min to go, then home breakfast (for me and boy) get ready and to be at work about the same time as the commuters!!!!

During the run I felt a little chill in the hands but that was all. The gentle light coming in at the end was very nice. Pace was comfortable. Covered almost 11km in 51min.



Shoes: Perseus

2nd June - It was almost raining

Todays plan was to allow the 'early waker' to rise, I would then feed him and set him up with a favourite video to allow the 'sleeperinerers' to rest. Thinking this would be about 6.30am I ensured an earlyish bed time.

So it was a nice surprise when he came over at 7.15am, but given the delay figured it was best to get the 'all clear' before departing for close to 2 hrs.

With daylight and a light drizzle, I was off towards Lilydale. Undecided on where to run, not really wanting to stick entirely on the Warby Trail, but not wanting to run too many tough hills.
Eventually settled on parking at the lake, then making my way via some previously run roads (gravel) to Mt Evelyn. This section is the tough hilly bit and having it done before halfway was ideal. I'm actually preferring this to the relentless gentle rise of the Warby trail in this area.

Aiming for 40-42min then turn, arriving at Mt Evelyn after 30min meant an extension down the trail. Here I noticed a new addition of distance markers. I was horrified, the Warby trail has gone all technical ;). Seriously, its a nice addition but unsure of how accurate they are.

At 42min I turned for the return leg which would stay on the trail until departing to get back to the lake. Easy on the rise to Mt Evelyn, then allowed my legs to just take me on the downhill run to the lake.

It was nice just to allow things to happen, effort level was spot on. According to my SDM at the turn I was at 5.00 pace, by the time I stopped back at the car the ave had dropped to 4.48 so happy with that (even though it was downhill).

81min of runing covered 17km+ a nice slightly longer hit-out today.


Shoes: Nike Zoom Vomero - I am not normally one to get too involved in singing the praises of one shoe, particularly since there is no one right shoe for everyone. But.....during todays run the reality of the shoes on my feet dawned on me...... if you wear a neutral shoe and like good cushioning then I'd recommend at least trying the Vomero.
Without a doubt they are the softest shoe I've ever worn, but they do not feel spongy and leave you feeling bogged down in the foam.
Last year I wore them for MM2006 after almost 200km wear, I've been wearing them regularly since, so would have easily done 400km+ in total.
They are now my shoe of choice if there is any chance my legs will feel heavy or battered. Without fail, they provide a nice smooth and comfortable ride, the cushioning is ideal for just cruising along with the impact severely dulled. But if you want to pick up the pace then they simply feel great under foot.
Despite the distance covered in them they still feel as good on my feet as when new. I think the mixture of zoom air and duralon foam is a perfect match.
The only negative feedback I've heard is that the toe box and forefoot upper is a bit small and tight. There are times when I have noticed this, but never to the point where its a big problem.
So take care with the fit in this area.

Shameless plug ended.....