5km Time Trial Sunday 26 August 2012

Did a 5km time trial to see where I am pace wise. Managed a personal best 20:11, by about 23-24 seconds. Previous best was from 2010 at the tail end of marathon training. I also managed to do 15:51 for the 4km during the run, the first time I have ever gone sub 16.

I am reasonably pleased, and given better pacing or even some extra effort in the last 1km I could have gone sub 20.

Looming big problem though, my right heel has flared, the bursitis that had stopped me training properly for the last 2 years. Its only the right heel whereas it was always both, and its nowhere near as severe as it has been. I am taking a day off running tomorrow, and icing, Ibuprofen and topical NASAIDS to see if it improves.

I suspect its been triggered by the shoes, I have been wearing the new Saucony Kinvara's I bought recently for the last 5 runs I have done. I think they have triggered the problem, so I will switch back to my worn out Nike Free 3 V3 shoes for the rest of the week and see how it goes.

If it leads to improvement, then I  have reasonably clear evidence that shoes are generally the cause of my problems. And I will have to go looking for something that works for me. If only Nike did not change their Free 3 range so much, and I would be fine.

Holidays - took 11 days off no running

Probably not the best thing to have done but I took 11 days off from running and I have been on 3 weeks holiday from work. Back to work Monday next week 27 August..

We had a big party on 11 August for Christine's birthday that was fun. And we had to clean the house and prep for the party, and that flattened me physically it was a huge amount of work. It was a big party and I took a few days to recover from the hang over too!

We went and stayed at Cooroy for the weekend, and saw Sarah Blasko at Pomona on the Saturday. My first run was on the Noosa Trails on the  Cooroy to Pomona track. I did not have my watch so I took phone with GPS and Garmin sports tracker software. The GPS would not lock on so no data recorded, ran it on Audust 18 2012 about 4km out and 4km back. It was fun and I felt I had not lost much fitness.

The next run I did was back in Brisbane, I attempted to run across the Gateway Bridge 4 times, only managed just short of three times. It was really tough - I have been pretty much been avoiding hills in my training up until the hill repeats I did on 7 August. The Gatway Bridge run set me up for some real fatigue for the rest of the week.

I did a 10km run really sore the next day, 20 August. It was tough, and I feel that muscle condition in legs was what I lost mostly during the 11 days off. I feel aerobically ok and can hold speed as well as I have in recent times.

The next run was a 14km slow - Again it was tough due to the fatigue I had accumulated from the Gateway Bridge run but it was a good one.

Since I was so rough the next run was short at 7km but I did a couple of fast 1km sections, where I managed a 3min46 and a 3min40 1km pace. I did those heading downwind as it was really windy that afternoon 21 August. It was nice o feel the leg speed while assisted by the wind, its a hint of how I want to travel once I am fit enough to do a decent 5 and 10km race. 3:40 pace is ultimately where I want to be and I tend to think its realistic and not really that far off :)

Finally I have started gym work again, mainly to maintain lean muscle mass in upper body and get a better core strength. It will help me hold form in the faster races I hope to do. I did a gym session Friday morning, 24 August, a little bit of core work, and upper body, but I also did a set of leg presses in a 'Hack' machine. This machine affects the exact muscles used for raw speed. I then stepped out and did 6km reasonably fast and went back to the gym to meet a personal trainer, he gave be a set of basic exercises I can do for assising and supplementing my running. I intend to do these sessions 2, 3 maybe 4 times a week, and run every day. Taking days off to recover as I need it

Brisbane Running Festival 10km race

A great event, beautiful crisp and cool morning, no humidity and it warmed just the right amout as the sun came out. Managed 4:14 average, and apparently was 15th in my age group. If I am running as well as I am now in 3 years I will be in the next age group up and may well be placing :)  Hmm!!!

I ran this race without looking at watch for splits, just ran to how I felt. I might have been able to push a little harder if I was paying attention. It was good to do 4:14's average without clock watching. I managed to get to the start with time to spare, after dropping off bag. Went to toilet, grabbed a small coffee. And lined up, only to realise I needed to go again. SO I dashed off to go, the toilets were near by and not crowded. Got back to the start area with 2 minutes to go, stuck WAY UP THE BACK. Took me over 1 minute to cross the start line, but I don't mind that, I go for chip time.

The first three km's were frustrating, I had to dodge and weave for a long time - first 1km in 4:08. I had some room to go onto footpaths there. As we approached the Story Bridge it got really congested, and I was forced to slow for the next 2km. Across the bridge, we were in a narrow path for pedestrians, and that slowed me even more. I was getting a bit annoyed with people proping at a pace even with everyone else and going two, three and four abreast. It resulted in completely blocking anyone that might need to pass. I had to shout out a few times 'A little difficult to pass here!!', and they kindly moved over and made room.

I lost heaps of time in the first three km, but that was probably a good thing, as it slowed me up and allowed me to warm up. When the path cleared I decided to hit it harder, and did a 1km split of 3:56 for the fourth.

The rest of the race I just tried to hold a decent pace, but again the course narrowed, and that plus a few hills and twisty bits meant I could not go as fast as I wanted. Anyway, only 2 seconds per km slower than my best ever today.

I am completely convinced now that if I did the Jetty2Jetty race today I would have done a PB, and if it was the 'ItsNotOK'  run I would have smashed it, that course was completely flat.

Progress:

10km race GC at 4:27 average June 30
 16 days
10km race J2J at 4:20 average July 15
 6 days
10km race FUnRun at 4:18 average July 21
14 days
10km at Bris Run Fest 4:14 average  August 5
4 weeks, 28+ days
Bridge to Brisbane, 2 September

In 38 days, have improved by 13 seconds per km. To do 4min km's I need to improve by exactly 14kms in 28+ days. It will be pretty close.

I am slowly improving, gaining fitness. I still have only 4 solid months of training, so I feel its justified that I can think I have much more to come. I need to build aerobic base on the speed/strength that I have been slowly building. I need to keep build the long runs up, and also hit the 1km and 2km cruise intervals harder, more of them rather than simple raw speed..

What I have been doing really is working, so I don't feel any significant need to change it around much.