Yesterday's post was cut short as I was called to play Junior Monopoly with Sammie and Rox (Rox won) so didn't really get to finish off where I think I am at running wise at the moment.
My knee feels good, no pain when I run or afterwards although I am keeping up the ice after each run. It's fantastic to be running pain and discomfort free. I still have the hard bump/lump on my knee which I'll keep trying to reduce with the roller and a tennis ball.
I've managed to stack on a little bit of weight with my reduced program in recent weeks (about 5kgs) and that isn't really helping with my running efficiency. It seems I need the regular runs over 20kms to keep my weight down where it needs to be.
Had a tumble on the bike yesterday. One of the only roads I have to cross is Garrett Road which is not usually very busy at that time of the morning but yesterday I managed to time it just that I was halfway across the road on the median strip when two cars came around the roundabout. Only my second ride back so a bit out of practice and I had slowed so much that I found it hard to unclip without throwing myself onto the road - which is where i ended up anyway as I failed to unclip before I slowly hit the deck. Took a bit of skin off my left knee but the only real injury was to my pride. I'm sure it afforded the passing motorists a bit of a laugh.
8.4km this morning in just under 38mins so nice and easy ... for the most part. As I got just past the Wesley boat shed on the way back I ran past a guy who was out with his dog. Although he was jogging along he was wearing jeans but he still took me going past him as an invitation to speed up in an attempt to run along next to me - in his jeans with his dog. If it's not bad enough that I have become the jolly jogger, this was a step too far, So I sped up, so he sped up, so I sped up etc. By the time I dropped him I was getting along at about 10km race pace. Rox thinks its hilarious and is sure it is going to end up on some hidden camera tv show. I just think he was a w#nker ...
Intervals tomorrow. Legs were a bit heavy after yesterday's run so hopefully they will be good tomorrow.
Rox's achilles seems to coming along, although its hard to tell as she has been pretty much immobile for 3-4 weeks now. Not sure how she will be by the time we are due to go to Rottnest. She has an appointment with a physio later this week to get her boot adjusted so we will know more after that.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Merry Christmas
Just under 52km this week. Didn't run on Christmas Day but got my 12.8km runs in on Thursday and Saturday and my intervals on Tuesday. Thursday's 12.8km was the best run I have had for quite a while. 57mins at a moderate effort. I've been right on 60mins the other three times I have done this run since I started building up again, running it at my long run pace/effort so the 57 mins was encouraging.
Did a 2hr 12min bike ride today and did quite a bit more distance. Rode out along the river to Tonkin Highway and then instead of turning back through Bayswater, I turned right and headed out through Ashfield to Bassendean (near Bassendean Oval), before going back along Guildford Road to Garrett Road, then got back onto the river route for the trip back to the city. I carried on along the freeway but didn't turn back at Canning Bridge. Instead I continued on to the Mount Henry Bridge and did the lap around the Applecross side befor going back to the city along the freeway and then followed the bike path along the river and home. A good solid effort. Got out before it warmed up too much.
This week will be similar to last week but I may do a short run on Thursday morning and then the Marathon Club New Year's Ever run in the evening. Depending how I feel, Saturday's run will be somewhere between 14-18km.
Did a 2hr 12min bike ride today and did quite a bit more distance. Rode out along the river to Tonkin Highway and then instead of turning back through Bayswater, I turned right and headed out through Ashfield to Bassendean (near Bassendean Oval), before going back along Guildford Road to Garrett Road, then got back onto the river route for the trip back to the city. I carried on along the freeway but didn't turn back at Canning Bridge. Instead I continued on to the Mount Henry Bridge and did the lap around the Applecross side befor going back to the city along the freeway and then followed the bike path along the river and home. A good solid effort. Got out before it warmed up too much.
This week will be similar to last week but I may do a short run on Thursday morning and then the Marathon Club New Year's Ever run in the evening. Depending how I feel, Saturday's run will be somewhere between 14-18km.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Steady return continues
55.4km this week - slightly artificially boosted by the fact that I ran on Saturday (yesterday) and rode today rather than the other way around as I planned (cycling shoes were in getting stretched and it was too late to ride after the shops had opened).
Increased the distance of a couple of my runs this week and did two runs of 12.8km (Thursday and Saturday). Still not feeling super comfortable running yet and haven't got into my normal groove where I basically dial into my pace pretty much automatically after I have been running for about 5 mins. Took it easy on my recovery runs.
Went for a longish ride this morning - around 50kms I'd estimate in just under 2 hours. Added a loop out to Tonkin Hwy as well as an out and back to Canning Bridge. Actually ran into Simon out near Garrett Road Bridge so rode next time him for a bit having a chat as he was out on his long run (35km). He seems to have been able to get his mileage back up again well since the Melbourne Marathon although he says his groin is still troubling him a bit - laterally mainly so not interfering with his running much. The chat with Simon was a bit a of rest period so I pushed on for the rest of the ride, including cranking a pretty high gear on the way back from Canning Bridge.
I'll try to do around 50km this week. It would be good to do a little more but it depends if I can get out at all on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Don't think I'll go further than 12.8km again for a another week yet but will aim to get my long run up a bit the following week.
Increased the distance of a couple of my runs this week and did two runs of 12.8km (Thursday and Saturday). Still not feeling super comfortable running yet and haven't got into my normal groove where I basically dial into my pace pretty much automatically after I have been running for about 5 mins. Took it easy on my recovery runs.
Went for a longish ride this morning - around 50kms I'd estimate in just under 2 hours. Added a loop out to Tonkin Hwy as well as an out and back to Canning Bridge. Actually ran into Simon out near Garrett Road Bridge so rode next time him for a bit having a chat as he was out on his long run (35km). He seems to have been able to get his mileage back up again well since the Melbourne Marathon although he says his groin is still troubling him a bit - laterally mainly so not interfering with his running much. The chat with Simon was a bit a of rest period so I pushed on for the rest of the ride, including cranking a pretty high gear on the way back from Canning Bridge.
I'll try to do around 50km this week. It would be good to do a little more but it depends if I can get out at all on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Don't think I'll go further than 12.8km again for a another week yet but will aim to get my long run up a bit the following week.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
The rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated ...
Yes, I am still alive and running. I have been taking it pretty easy for the past few weeks, making sure my knee is right and also getting my motivation back. The fact that I couldn't throw off my knee problem while I could feel my fitness drifting away was very frustrating and a bit demoralising.
I had a few more sessions with the physio and have been working pretty diligently on breaking down the scar tissue and strengthening my hips and glutes.
As an update of my running over the past few weeks since the 6km in my last post, I have run:
30km; 16km; 41km; and 23km so far this week. Planning a 12.8km run tomorrow and 8.4km on Friday to give me approx 44km this week. Slowly building up over the next few weeks.
The 16km week is the aberration there which came about because of a very unfortunate injury to Rox which resulted in me missing a couple of runs. Rox snapped/ruptured her achilles tendon playing netball and had to go in for surgery a couple of weeks ago. Since then she has been in plaster (which comes off tomorrow) and will have to wear one of those big ortho/moon boots for the next 6 weeks or so.
This week's runs consist of 8km WAMC City Beach run on Sunday, approx 9km including 4 x 3min intervals on Tuesday and 8.4km recovery run today.
I'm glad I did the WAMC run on Sunday even though it was hot, a bit windy and a boring course. The reason I'm glad is that I got to catch up with Sugar, Kim, Sas and Epi as well as get a gauge of where my fitness is at. I had decided beforehand that I was only going to do a tempoish effort and didn't even wear my racing flats, just to make sure I wasn't tempted. I tried to run a steady controlled effort and succeeded for the most part, other than the 6th km which was the 2nd km back into the wind for the 2nd time (it was a two lap course). I think I ran 4.37 for this km and got passed by a few other runners.
Finished in 33.46 by my watch which is around 4.12/km. So slower than the pace I was aiming at running the whole Rottnest marathon and slower than I ran for the first 8km of that marathon. It's no wonder really though as I looked back through my running log today and confirmed that I haven't run further than 10.5km (and I have only done 1 x 10km and 1 x 10.5km) since the 2nd of October (other than the Rottnest Marathon).
This knee injury and the impact on my fitness has really thrown my summer training plan out. The plan was to work on my speed over summer on top of the big aerobic base I had. I seem to have lost my base now though so the new plan is to slowly work my mileage back up to around 70-80km a week by the end of January and then try and get some speed back before I get into my marathon specific training for the Gold Coast Marathon in July.
I have been doing a bit of riding as well. Heading out for about 90 mins on Saturday mornings. The first few times I was on my mountain bike which weighs a tonne and has big knobbly tires. But I have gotten sick of being passed by everyone, so took my road bike down to the shop for a service and rode that last Saturday. I covered an extra 10km over the 90 mins and remembered how much I used to enjoy riding that bike. I really want to continue riding a bit each week so will have to find a way of combining it in my schedule.
I'll also try to blog a bit more regularly ...
I had a few more sessions with the physio and have been working pretty diligently on breaking down the scar tissue and strengthening my hips and glutes.
As an update of my running over the past few weeks since the 6km in my last post, I have run:
30km; 16km; 41km; and 23km so far this week. Planning a 12.8km run tomorrow and 8.4km on Friday to give me approx 44km this week. Slowly building up over the next few weeks.
The 16km week is the aberration there which came about because of a very unfortunate injury to Rox which resulted in me missing a couple of runs. Rox snapped/ruptured her achilles tendon playing netball and had to go in for surgery a couple of weeks ago. Since then she has been in plaster (which comes off tomorrow) and will have to wear one of those big ortho/moon boots for the next 6 weeks or so.
This week's runs consist of 8km WAMC City Beach run on Sunday, approx 9km including 4 x 3min intervals on Tuesday and 8.4km recovery run today.
I'm glad I did the WAMC run on Sunday even though it was hot, a bit windy and a boring course. The reason I'm glad is that I got to catch up with Sugar, Kim, Sas and Epi as well as get a gauge of where my fitness is at. I had decided beforehand that I was only going to do a tempoish effort and didn't even wear my racing flats, just to make sure I wasn't tempted. I tried to run a steady controlled effort and succeeded for the most part, other than the 6th km which was the 2nd km back into the wind for the 2nd time (it was a two lap course). I think I ran 4.37 for this km and got passed by a few other runners.
Finished in 33.46 by my watch which is around 4.12/km. So slower than the pace I was aiming at running the whole Rottnest marathon and slower than I ran for the first 8km of that marathon. It's no wonder really though as I looked back through my running log today and confirmed that I haven't run further than 10.5km (and I have only done 1 x 10km and 1 x 10.5km) since the 2nd of October (other than the Rottnest Marathon).
This knee injury and the impact on my fitness has really thrown my summer training plan out. The plan was to work on my speed over summer on top of the big aerobic base I had. I seem to have lost my base now though so the new plan is to slowly work my mileage back up to around 70-80km a week by the end of January and then try and get some speed back before I get into my marathon specific training for the Gold Coast Marathon in July.
I have been doing a bit of riding as well. Heading out for about 90 mins on Saturday mornings. The first few times I was on my mountain bike which weighs a tonne and has big knobbly tires. But I have gotten sick of being passed by everyone, so took my road bike down to the shop for a service and rode that last Saturday. I covered an extra 10km over the 90 mins and remembered how much I used to enjoy riding that bike. I really want to continue riding a bit each week so will have to find a way of combining it in my schedule.
I'll also try to blog a bit more regularly ...
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