Just a good week really...

This is how 9 days away from work is supposed to be (including 2 weekends!).

Solid training week - ran everyday except for Saturday (went out on the bike instead for 2 hours), a couple of those up in Bright, have made some progress with the back (so the physio says), had a couple of good days away with Jen and had a good night Friday with quite a few drinks at a friend's birthday and oddly enough, our friends Andy and Marita presented us with a gift - 'ow bout dat? A much sought after Inner Health Plus dude, a cult figure of the airwaves, seen here pictured with Jen and I left.

I feel better now about making an assault on track season with another week of solid training (bar Saturday, my brother Jarrod is getting married), but with the school week starting next week, let's reserve judgement.

XCR08 ends, Term 3 ends...time to chill and regroup!

The term's over - YAY!! No more children to deal with day-to-day for another two weeks - YAY!! Geelong beat the Bulldogs - BOO!! Still injured but survived the Tan run - BOOYAY!!

After some sage words from Dave T after I carried on like a girly-man (basically said HTFU and stop your carry-on, all with a laugh through!) about my back/cockyx injury, I made it to the Tan relays and thankfully was not running first, but the pressure of running last was somewhat eased by some really good runs by the previous four runners, and my 13:14, which, under the curcumstances was OK, but 30 seconds below what I'd run healthy and in peak nick. The team gets promoted to Div 2, and will need vast improvement from the mid-tier runners plus the young guns running U20's to step up and compete with the oldies.

A few drinks last night with Clare, Dave S, Dave's mate Lucas, Dave T & Nicole really capped off a good day (Clare and I even saw Leigh Matthews, though he pretended not to recognise us!). A massage and 14kms + gym were today's order, no real difficulties with the back to speak of.

Bring on holidays, fitness and training!!!

injured list...

Since Sunday, I've either been too scared, too busy or too lazy to test the back. Since the physio though the pain is really quite pronounced and there is jarring when I walk and discomfort when doing quite a few menial things. Work and parent teacher interviews have been quite demanding of my time this week which doesn't help the running when you've got a race on Saturday and you're expected to be a major contributor towards said race. Maybe it's the body's way of saying "serves you right for being a fuckwit when out bowling" too. Anyway, the last five days (Sunday included, but did an hour and a half on the bike) have been run free and I'm none too thrilled.

There's a window for some light work tomorrow so let's see how that goes before Saturday's race.

so promising, yet so f$%kin' stupid.

Boys will be boys. Boys will injure themselves. Boys will jeopardise progress with their injuries.

A really solid week of good temp0/speedwork, nice recoveries and a 2hr bike ride to replace a recovery all get panned as a consequence of a bit of childishness on my behalf. Beer and bowling are a fun mix, but not when you slip over on your arse and do some potentially serious damage. End result was a half-marathon completed in totally unnecessary pain about 3 or so minutes slower than expected and some serious soreness lingering afterwards.

Another consequence will be a visit to the physio, who'll probably prescribe some non-running.

Shit!!

slowly but surely...

Another decent week out the road, which leaves me feeling a bit more confident about Sunday week's Half Marathon @ Burnley. Not PB-confident, but more confident and certain of breaking 80 minutes than what I was three or four weeks ago after a shocker at Sandown. I'm still doing all the hard stuff on indoors, ensuring I get in some quality work (and it's helped), but the everyday work and the long easy stuff has been out and about with mother nature. Estimated kms about 80, 3 days of quality work and a 24km cycle to work along the Fed Trail has just buoyed the spirits a little.

I acquired a new pair of kicks - the New Balance 903, on sale as part of Rebel's Father's Day promotion. They are a genuine lightweight stable trainer (288 grams for a 10.5 US) and have a significant enough road feel to warrant doing the half in these rather than my Gel-Bandito's, which are only 20 odd grams lighter. 24kms straight out of the box this morning and I'm sold on them.

A big week of school this week, hopefully I get get in some decent kms without dealing with work fatigue and grumpiness.

another week, tiny signs of progress

Yeah, another week down, and with two races to go the focus is solely on good results in these two races, so there'll need to be an emphasis on both speed and recovery. I'm not expecting PB's in either race (Half mara & lap of Tan) but it would be good to get some confidence going into track season, and start a 6 month assault on the Christchurch marathon in May 09.

A later than hoped start today (8am rather 6) meant missing out on Kew Boulevard and settling for a local run of about 26 kms in 1:50. I've been doing my speedwork/tempo indoors and my longer stuff outside and slooooowly, things feel like they're coming together.

Approximate k's for the week 80.

A reasonable week...

Got through a long run, or more specifically, more than 2 hours on my feet. It was very easy speed-wise, probably just over 5 min/km pace, but it was in a group training for the Marathon so to get that time on my legs, along with some solid speed/temp work for the week has been a bonus. Still only 5 days of running for about 70kms, which isn't enough, but to seize the opportunity to get out and run is a bonus.

Three weeks to the Burnley Half, which means two more long-ish runs and some more tempo running at something close to what i'll run on the day. If only work doesn't get in the road...





In other news, Jeffrey has doubled his body weight in 3 weeks of "Spotswood" living. JEFFERS!!!