Time for some serious training!

So things are finally starting to come together and I am looking forward to 3 months of solid work before March 3rd.

My weight is down to 72kg and last week I managed just over 90km. I also did a 5km time trial in 19.05 which was very good considering the lack of quality training I have done lately. I have no doubt I can take at least a minute off that time over the next 3 months.

Time now to keep the momentum building. After a long wait, I seem to be finally making some progress.

The will to survive

Well, 2012 is a year that is just getting crazier and crazier for me but mostly in a good way. Over the last few weeks something major happened again that prevented me from running for more than a week although I certainly wasn't complaining.

I have since ran every day for the last 10 days and I am now determined to finally get back into some consistent training and make it to sessions consistently which is the one thing I have really failed to do this year.

There is now four and a half months to go until my marathon and its time to really pull the finger out and start working towards a very overdue PB.

Stay tuned for more.

Life's other distractions clearly taking over.

Well I have been a bit slack updating this once again. The last months has been ok and I have done some reasonably good kms however I have missed some key sessions due to my mind being elsewhere. I don't like to write about personal stuff on this blog but those who have run with me recently will know that I have a lot going on at the moment and I also had something major happen just a few weeks ago which meant I didn't run for a about 4-5 days. Sadly when I am stressed or not in a good mood, I just can't run which is something that most others are the complete opposite about. Most will run to take away a bad mood or stress, for me I can only run if I am in a good mood and I have always been like that.

Anyway the last four weeks have seen me average about 75km which is good progress as far as I am concerned. My weight is down to 73kg which is pretty good also.

I did my first race for the year at the De Castella 15km and I realised the importance of race fitness. I need to do some races to get back into it so I will be heading to Burnley this weekend to take part in a 10km fun run just to turn the legs over and have some sort of hitout. Should be fun.

Anyway thats all for the moment, hope to update this in a few weeks.

A bit of momentum once again.

Well it's been a while since I updated this but I am happy to report that I have done some good kms over the last month or so. Sadly there have been no races and not much quality training but I am getting back to a good base so I can't complain.

Here is how the last few weeks have looked:

Week ending 19/8 - 82kms
Week ending 12/8 - 55kms
Week ending  5/8 -  76kms
Week ending 29/7 - 68kms
Week ending 22/7 - 44kms
Week ending 15/7 - 62kms

So overall things are slowly coming together. I have more than six months left before my marathon in NZ so I will keep building the base and try to do some more quality sessions.

The new goal

Although I am prone to a bit of disaster and 90% of races that I plan to do never see me make the start line, I have decided to roll the dice and commit to a race that is 8 months away and in another country. Qantas were offering cheap flights so I decided to take the punt and book them before they went up.

The race I am going to commit to is one that I have been fascinated with for a while. It is a marathon in New Zealand which is mostly downhill. It features a 460m decline over the 42km journey. There is also a few uphill sections. Here is the website http://mountaintosurf.co.nz/

I have been interested in this race ever since I discovered that I seem to have some ability as a downhill runner. Maybe its all in my mind but when I completed the Great Ocean Road half marathon in 2011, I would pass faster runners on the downhill and they would then catch me when we went uphill and this continued until the end of the race. There is one way to find out for sure and that is to compete in a race that is mostly downhill. If I finish with a time that sounds unrealistic, they I will know that I am a gifted downhill runner. If I finish with a time that is nothing special flash compared with how fit I am at the time then I will know not to get too excited about it.

There are two main reasons why I have waited so long to do this race. Firstly it is in New Plymouth which does not have an international airport so that means I need to catch two flights to get there. As you can imagine catching two flights is not like getting two trains where you only have to wait a few minutes for the second one and the idea of flying to Auckland, hanging around an airport for 4-5 hours, catching another flight, enduring a time zone difference and then finally checking in to a hotel just sounded like too much of a hassle and not a very good preparation for a marathon. To get around this I have decided to spread the flights out over separate days so I can carb load and relax in style in preparation. Also its the same deal on the way back so I can recover nice and easily.

The other thing that put me off this event initially is the potential for hot weather. It is in the first weekend of March which means warm weather is very likely. I struggle in the heat so I was not too impressed with this however I figure that I will have Melbourne's summer to train through so I should be well adjusted to it. I plan to do some long runs when the temperature is in the high 20's/low 30's so I should be well suited if the mercury soars.

So at this stage here is the plan:

- get to a good level of fitness, averaging about 100km per week

- lose enough weight to get down to my proper race weight. I currently weigh about 77kg and I would want to have my weight down to about 66kg before I run a marathon

- 3-4 months before the race begin to do some training that is specific to this race such as downhill reps, long runs in hot weather and other things.

- do plenty of races during the lead up to ensure I have a good idea of my likely time.

Another thing that is not great is that I cannot do a half-marathon in the lead up. Having the lead up in the summer months means that I will be restricted to 5-10km races. A half marathon would be ideal but I would have to fly over to Hobart for that to be possible and I don't think I will be allowed a leave pass considering that I am going O/S in March. So the plan will be do to some races over shorter distances, then use the McMillan calculator to work out an expected marathon time. Once I have done that I can subtract 10-15 minutes due to the downhill factor. I believe if I put together 8 months solid training I would run a marathon in under 3 hours in a flat course so that means a very fast time by my standards on a downhill course but lets not get too excited. It's a long way off and I have made other ambitious goals in the past that have never seen light of day so I will keep it zipped for the moment!

This race does not feature a half marathon or a 10km race to downgrade to so it's an all or nothing affair. If I get an injury or some other disaster, I am not sure what I will do. The flights are all paid for but I did get them pretty cheap so it won't be the end of the world if something goes wrong. Anyway I should start thinking positive.

So getting back to the present. I have just finished a 14km run which gives me a total of 70km for the week.
The previous week I completed about 60km so I am building up slowly again. Let's see if I can get towards 80km this week.

I have entered the de Castella 15km run on August 26th which will be my first race of the year. Let's hope I can make the start line for once!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Getting back into it once again....

Well despite 4 weeks on the sidelines doing no running at all, I have managed to start again. Sadly the bike accident really took my confidence away as it seems that every time I get some momentum, disaster is always around the corner.

I have been running again now for about 2 weeks and I should manage about 60km this week. My weight has ballooned out to 78kg which always happens when I dont run.

I attented the Traralgon Marathon recently which was a lot of fun. I made a video which is on Youtube. Several people showed their appreciation for having their great memories captured and I must say those small country marathons really have a great feel to them. It's definitely a race I will be thinking about in coming years.

So for the moment its now just a case of trying to run every day again and get back to my previous mileage of 100km per week and hopefully stay there for a while. I have not done a race all year and my long term goal is now going to be the Mountain To Surf Marathon in New Zealand which will be held in March next year. It's a marathon that feautures a 460m decline so it should be very fast! I have over 8 months to train and also get my weight down to what it was when I last did a marathon. My only concern with this race is the possibility of the weather being very warm but then again I will have all summer to train through it so I will be used to the heat by the time the race comes along.

12 months in a leaky boat

Well I must say I am extremely down in the dumps right now in terms of running. Most other things in my life seem to be going pretty well but the running is in a dead end and has been for quite some time.

The last 12 months have just been an absolute horror stretch. Here is how it has looked.

May 2011 - Ran a PB for the half marathon and was in pretty good form after working my way back from an injury from 2010.

June-July 2011 - Began house renovations which took my weekends away. The effect on my running was huge as I would struggle to fit in any runs on weekends. Weight began to pile on as often on weekends it became convenient to eat take away.

August-September 2011 - Began training in a different group. Although the quality was far greater and the training was more intense, I had issues adjusting to this. In particular I struggled to adapt to the longer warm ups/warm downs that we were doing and most of the time I would be very sore the next day, unable to manage an easy run.
I persevered thinking that I would get used to it before realising that I was not fit enough and I needed to build my weekly kms up a bit more to survive the sessions.

October-November 2011 - After realising that I was not quite fit enough to be doing the full Tuesday & Thursday sessions that everyone else was doing, I decided to not do any Tues/Thurs sessions for a month or two and just work at building up my base. Sadly my weight ballooned out to 78kg.

December 2011-January 2012 - Began to do some speed work again and continued to build the base. As always with a new year I set some big goals but did not publicly advertise them for once which is the opposite to what I have done in past years. Things began to move alone quite well although an unusual neck injury did put me out for a week.

Febuary-March 2012 - Although I was injury free and everything was going ok, I had some major workplace stresses and a few other personal issues which took me away from running and caused me to miss several important sessions. I went an entire month without any speed work. It was frustrating but obviously there are things that are more important than running.

April 2012 - Momentun really begins to build. I am feeling very positive after finishing the month with 350km. The weight came down to 73kg and at this stage I could finally see some light at the end of this very long tunnel.

May 2012 - Start the month on a high then one Thursday night early in the month, I am on my way to training and I have a bike accident. I cut my hand in several places and although there is no initial pain anywhere else, later that night I realise that I have some soreness around my ribs. I dont think much of it and go for a run the next day but stop after an unusual feeling at around the 1km mark. I tried again 2 days later and managed 3km before a far worse soreness set it. I get home and my movements are limited and I realise I have a major problem. Initially I am convinced I have broken ribs so I go off to the doctors for some x-rays. I explain the situation to the doctor who says I dont need x-rays but I am looking at 2-6 weeks on the sidelines.

So here is the situation. Its May 2012, I havent done a race all year. I am back to 77kg. My running has gone nowhere for 12 months despite a lot of time and effort.

If I had some running related injuries then I wouldn't mind so much but the fact that these injuries have been totally unrelated to running makes things even more frustrating. There must be someone up there who just does not want me to run any PB's!!!

Anyway I will soldier on one day...

Its not been 2 weeks since the bike accident and I am hoping to do some sort of jog within the next week or so.

Bike accident!!!

Well, just as things were really heading in the right direction, have a guess what happens?

I was on my way to training on Thursday night and without going into all the gory details, I had my first bike accident since beginning cylcing again 3 years ago. No real damage but I cut three fingers severely and have a few other buises here and there. It has stopped me running for a few days as I have some internal pain that seems to be made worse when I run so I will try to do some sort of run tomorrow and hope for the best.

So thats how it is right now, this week is going to finish with no more than about 50kms. Hope to build the kms up again next week.

Let's not get too excited

Well its a funny situation I find myself in. The last 3 weeks have been great. I have really began to build some great momentum however I haven't done a race all year and running is simply taking up less and less of my attention as I have a stack of other issues going on in my life that are way more important. The good thing is that I have managed to do 100km 2 out of the last 3 weeks despite being busy with loads of other stuff. Although it feels great to have hit the ton and to have finally knocked out my first 100km weeks for the year, I have been in this situation before and I know all too well that 100km per week is useless if you don't do it consistently so when I have done 100km per week for 10 weeks in a row, then I will start to get excited. My weight is at 73kg which is still way too high. The plan over the next few weeks will just be to maintain the consistency and possibly build slowly on my current mileage of 100km per week. Also I will be trying to do 2 speed sessions per week which I have done over the last 2 weeks.

Here is how the last 3 weeks have looked:

Week ending 29/4 - 100km

Week ending 22/4 - 70km (pullback week)

Week ending 15/4 - 100km

Building momentum... again!

Well things seem to be going ok again but for how much longer? So often in the past I have got some forward momentum only to have it stalled for one reason or another. Right now I am getting very close to 100km per week. The weight is still at 74kg which is still way too high and my current goal race will be the Traralgon Half Marathon which is 8 weeks away.

Here is how the last 5 weeks have looked.

Week ending 4th March - 55km

Week ending 11th March - 65km

Week ending 18th March - 75km

Week ending 25th March - 85km

Week ending 1st April - 90km

So thats how it is right now. I have built the momentum back up but it is very important that I hold it together and hopefully settle at 100km per week. History will show that its much easier said than done!

On 25th March I was lucky enough to see the Melbourne Ironman. It was a great event and totally inspirational. There is no doubt I would love to have a go at this one day but for the moment I can't devote enough time to even think about it.

Crazy from the heat!

It might be the name of a David Lee Roth record/book but thats exactly how I felt on the weekend that has just gone by. For the first time in many months, I didnt run at all on a Sunday. I just could not be bothered running in the horrible heat and humidity. This summer is turning out to be a real shocker and it is made so much worse when the heat will not go away overnight. I find it much harder to motivate myself getting up at 6am when it is still 24 degrees!

So added to all this is the fact that I was also sick recently and during the last 2 weeks I have done a combined total of about 65km! Here is how it has looked:

Week ending 19th Feb - Unwell most of the week, Did a total of about 40km

Week ending 26th Feb - Unwell at the begining of the week, then slowly eased back into some running before being horrified by the heat/humidity of the weekend. Did a total of 25km.

So thats the story right now folks. Not looking too good. Lets hope for some better weeks to follow. I might have to settle for a very mediocre Geelong half in 7 weeks!

Running Memories

Well with not much happening right now, I thought I might upload a few pics from over the years.



2002 Melbourne Half Marathon. Here is a very large me finishing my first ever half!!!






In 2004 at perhaps my heaviest ever running weight. Finishing the 2004 Half. I was about 90kg in those days.





Running for Sandringham at Lardner Park in 2008





Representing the Magpies at Ballarat in 2011.

Finishing the 2011 GOR Half with a new PB. Sorry folks, your garmin is actually right. The course is short. No PB is genuine on this course.






With Coburg legend Ken Carter on the day he was awarded life membership. I managed to convince the club's committee that he deserved it.





Sri Chinmony Princes Park 30km 2009. I was about 66kg around this time.























Sri Chinmoy Como Landing Half Marathon 2009. My first sub 90!!!!






















Sri Chinmoy Maribyrnong 8km October 2009. My first ever victory in a fun run!!!















2009 Melbourne Marathon. Theres me leading a pack.



















Post-race 2009 MM, chating with Peter Parks.



















A soft age-group win at the Wyndham Rotary fun run in 2011. I got a nice trophy!

A bit all over the place!

Well... 3 weeks gone and 3 very different weeks have been experienced!! Overall I would say things are heading in the right direction and you could say there has been some progress but it has not been quite as balanced as I would have liked.

Yesterday I did my longest run for the year which was 28km and my weight is currently sitting on 73kg. There are 9 weeks until the Geelong Half which is my focus and I believe I still have enough time to get myself in shape for a PB.

So here is how the last 3 weeks have looked.

Week 1 (ending 29/1) - pull back week - 70kms

Week 2 (ending 5/2) - 95kms - biggest week for a very long time

Week 3 (ending 12/2) - Sick, missed 3 days of running. Finished with a total of 60kms for the week.

So there you have it, hasnt been the text book way of building up the kms. I have also still only been doing one speed session per week but that will now change to 2 sessions and there may also be the odd race coming up. My main focus over the next few weeks will be trying to crack the ton and eventually staying on 100km per week which is much easier said than done.

Building the 'Telephone Book'

Well things are continuing to build. The kms are going up, the kgs are coming down so its all looking great for April 15th which is when I will tackle my next goal race which is of course the Geelong Half Marathon.

The week that has just ended saw me hit a total of 90km which is the most I have done for about six months. My weight has also come down to 74kg and although there is still a long way to go, it is good to see it coming down rather than heading north as it was doing around xmas time.

Recently a well-respected coach told me a theory that building a training base is like making a telephone book. Each session is another page. If you try to rip one page in half, it tears easily. The more pages you have, the more difficult it is to tear. If you try to rip an entire phone book in half, it is almost impossible. So with this theory we are trying to make ourselves as strong as a phone book. Easier said than done but thats the idea.

So here is how my last 2 weeks have looked

Week ending 15th January - Pull back week. Only 60kms

Week ending 22nd January - Inreased the kms to 90kms after feeling much better from the previous lighter week.

I have also started to do 2 runs on a Sunday. There is the long run on Sunday morning, then there is the lovely gentle shorter run at sunset. The Sunday night run is my favourite run of the week even though it is not always suitable due to sometimes having commitments at that time.

So thats how the last 2 weeks have looked. For the next few weeks the focus will still be on making small increases to the weekly mileage but also ensuring that I do some quality training as this has been lacking lately. Also getting the weight towards my goal of <70kg will continuing to be worked on.

The new year is here!!!

Well I must say I am glad to see the back of 2011 for several reasons, both running related and non-running related. 2011 was just not an enjoyable year for me.

Looking to 2012, I am currently pumping out 80km per week and that figure is about to increase. I was very pleased with myself when I ran between 11-14km every day during our recent hot weather here in Melbourne. It was tough but I still managed to get out there. Over the next few weeks I need to focus on getting back to doing some quality sessions on Tuesday nights (and also on Thursdays eventually) and also watching my diet as the weight is still at 76kg which is 10kg over my ideal running weight.

Later this month I will do a few track races and there are some fun runs that I will be considering around late Feburay/early March. The Geelong Half Marathon in April is also on the agenda.

After April there is the AV winter season although I will only run races selectively this year as I am hoping to run a marathon around June/July so that will be my focus. There are also some other fun runs and club races that I hope to participate in so it could be a fairly busy schedule.

For the moment the plan is to get to 100km per week which I hope to do sometime in Febuary. Once I get to that level, I then hope to hold it all year round which I believe will result in PB's over all distances.

So happy 2012 everybody and I hope your new years goals come to fruition just as I am hoping mine do.

For something entertaining, here is a video that I have been watching lately about Steve Prefonaine: