Reaching a Century!

Thursday track

Tonight I competed in the 3000m and the 6 lap spiral (about 2.4km).

Firstly I ran a short warm up before lining up for the 3000m at 6pm. I felt ok but still ran marginally slower than last week.

Distance: 3000m

Time taken: 15:00:77 (so near and yet so far!)

I ran a few km warm up before the spiral handicap as there was quite a long break between these events. The field was not as big as usual probably due to the late start of 8.15pm. However, Bronwyn was still there vying for leadership in the pointscore. Bron was in Group 43 and I was in Group 33 and fortunately tonight she didn't quite catch me. Thus I still lead the pointscore by a very narrow margin in this 'novelty' event. There is one more spiral (this time 7 laps) in a couple of weeks.

Total distance: 2.4km

Time taken: 12:31

Total distance for night including warm up laps: 8.5km

Friday - Gym

Body balance and abs class

Saturday - long run

I met up with the Molonglo group at 7am and ran with Jen, Bronwyn, Andy and Ewen anti-clockwise round the whole of Lake Burley Griffin. Liz joined us for the last and toughest 10km of the run. I ran with Bron and it was fun as I found out all about caching which I had always been curious about. Part of our run was through the wetlands but when we reached the foot bridge it was closed as they were rebuilding it and we had to detour over a disused railway bridge and through an old dump. We had to cross over a sort of trestle bridge with big gaps between each board where you could see a long way down to the water. As I am most definitely height phobic I just froze. Ewen and Liz were already out of sight but Bron clambered back over that scary bridge, gave me her arm and helped me across. On the other side we had to negotiate a steep rocky bank to get up out of the gully and reach the top of the ridge so that we could finally run on the flat again. From there it was mainly flat again on the bike path back to Molonglo Reach.

Apart from that little detour I found the run generally easier than last week - possibly because I was engrossed in Bron's stories. If I had any sense of direction and could read a map I would certainly find caching lots of fun!

After a short recovery chat Ewen, Jen, Andy, Liz and I headed off to Campbell Shops for a really good coffee and snack - lots of fun.

Total distance: 31km

Time taken: 3:22:14

Average pace per km: 6:31

Calories burned: 1817

It was a stunning morning, the temperature was perfect, cool to start and gradually warming up. There were hot air balloons floating over the lake and the company was great.

Sunday - Vets's Monthly Handicap

Today was my 100th Vets' Handicap Run and after the run I was presented with my specially inscribed oversized t-shirt which fits me more like a nighty than a t-shirt but that's ok, I will just save it for wearing after each monthly handicap event. I ran my first run with the vets in 1996 so it's taken a while to get this far!

Today's run started from the south side of North Curtin and the first half was up, up, up the cycle path to the top of the hill and from there it was downhill for most of the way. Near the start of the run the rain started and it was gentle and refreshing. However, it didn't last long and the weather turned really muggy. By the time I reached the finish I was soaking but not from the rain! I was very glad that I did a short warm up with Andy before the run began as my legs felt very stiff and sore before the warm up. However, I felt ok during the run and enjoyed the downhill!

Distance: 6.2km

Time taken: 34:57

Average pace per km: 5:38

Group start: 26

Finish place: 100th (that was auspicious on my 100th run)

Total runners: 118

Total distance with warm-up: 8.5km

Later Ewen, Andy and I headed off to join some other speedygeese for coffee but the queue was challenging so we headed for an alternative venue and called in to say hi later. Coffee, cake and good company after a run is always fun!

Total distance for week: 85km

Speed Challenged!

Tuesday - cross country summer series 6.15pm
Location: Stromlo Forest Park

Disappointingly the surface of the run was pitted and uneven, not like the soft grass that was there last season. It was a case of running with caution to avoid unexpected potholes. I was also feeling a bit tired and noticed every hill. This is a two lap course and the second lap felt awful. I also felt the heat tonight and I did struggle. As a consequence my time was the slowest for this series of runs but ho hum, it was good training!

Distance: 5km
Time taken: 27:20
Average pace per km: 5:30
I ran 1km warm-up and 1km cool down
Total distance for day: 7km

Wednesday
6.20am - Gym - Upper body strengh work
7am - Abs class

6pm - wiggly geese group

Run from Parliament House with Jen, Ewen, Andy and Chris. Unfortunately Richard was unwell and unable to join us.

We followed Chris towards some shade and ran a new route tonight. It was challenging with some rough tracks and undulations but it's always fun to do something different. We ran down to the lake and turned left at the cycle path by the lake and ran to Weston Park and on to the far end of Yarralumla Nursery where we turned and ran back via the Stirling Hills bush track. Here it was difficult to run at all as there were lots of loose stones and a narrow path. From here we ran back to the start at PH. At the end Ewen and I ran a few extra metres to round up the distance!

Total distance: 14km
Time taken: 1:32:28
Average pace per km: 6:36
Calories burned: 821
Tonight it's off to Track for the 3,000m and the spiral handicap - eeek!

speedygeese sprints at Parliament House

I made it in plenty of time for the early speedygeese session at Parliament House tonight. The air was very humid and I found the warm-up quite difficult tonight. Jen, Yelena, Carolyne, Ewen, speedycoach and I were the only early starters and we joined the others at 5.30pm for the main session - about 23 tonight. We did another warm-up, this time the PH loop before doing 400m sprints in random relay teams. Actually they weren't as random as last week as the faster runners were put in teams of three and those who were all worn out from weekend races or who were slower were put in teams of four. It worked well as it gave some of us a bit more rest to run gently between fast sprints.
Distance: 7.32km warm up plus 8.91 main session including extra cool down

Total distance: 16.23km

Sprint Marathon Relay - Fun in the Sun!

Yesterday Marg collected me at 6.45am and we headed for the start of the sprint marathon relay at Dunrossil Drive. "Marathon" is a misnomer really as the total distance is only 36km although I believe it was originally 42km when it was at a different venue. As the relay was postponed from last weekend due to inclement weather (that is constant rain all weekend) we only had six teams of six people in each but it was heaps of fun and Jimmy, the organiser, always does a fantastic job.

I felt a bit stiff and sore after yesterday but the 3km warm-up Marg and I ran at the start certainly helped. I was in a team with Bruce (super fast), Craig, Ewen, Neil and Margaret. I was Number 5 runner. Our first leg was 2km and each leg after that was 1km except for the last one which was 2km again where we ran over the finish line together.

Our team ran in 2:40:06 which wasn't too far behind the 5th team. It was all good fun.

My splits:
First 2km - 9:57 - average pace: 5:03
Third km - 5:02
Fourth km - 5:04
Fifth km - 5:10
Last 2km - 10:21 (average pace 5:25) - In the last km we had to wait for the last runner to catch up so that we could all run across the finish line together so this may have delayed the time a few seconds.
This made a total of 7km for the relay event.

However I also ran 1km to the start and a 3km warm up.
Total distance for day: 11km
Total distance for week: 82km
I need to pick up the kms now as it appears that the National Capital Marathon will definitely go ahead on 2 May and I do want to run in it without disgracing myself!

I just pick myself up, dust myself off and start all over again!

Actually, I didn't start all over again - I just picked myself up, walked a bit and then continued on with the dusty run. Yes, out there on the Mt Ainslie trails I managed to do a "CJ" - haven't done one of those for a while. Fortunately I was in the company of great running companions who took care of my welfare and ensured I was ok before continuing on. I haven't learnt the art of doing somesaults and rolling back up - instead when I fall, it's considerably inelegant - splat on the dry dusty earth and I always end up covered with dirt with nothing broken except my dignity!

After a slow start it was a good run and once we returned to Molonglo I continued on for another 8km to make up my distance. It was hot but not humid and at 7am the start of the run was pleasantly cool. In fact the conditions were great. We started with Stuart and Graeme but I ran with Ewen and Andy most of the way and for some of the way we also ran with Chris and Mary Ann.

After our get together back at the picnic area Ewen and I decided to go for coffee at Campbell shops. Starvation having set in we also enjoyed a vege omelette - yummo. We'll go there again!

Total distance: 30km

Time taken: 3:19:45

Average pace per km: 6:39

Calories burned: 1748

For some strange reason I had a burst of energy this afternoon and as a result now have a nice clean house! Then while dinner was cooking I jumped in a radox bath and soothed my gravelly knee. Ouch! Now I hope I'm not too stiff for the sprint marathon relay which has been rescheduled to tomorrow - forecast for 32degrees!

Almost but not quite!

Tonight at track I competed in the 4 x 800m walk relay. I was in a team with Margaret, Carol and Trish wearing hot pink bibs. It was lots of fun but hard work too trying to walk, without running, really fast for 800m. My split was 5:11 and our team finished in 21:02 in 5th place out of 7 teams.

After this I jogged a few laps of the track while cheering on the 4 x 800m run relay teams which included Margaret and Carol in the W60s. This was Margaret's birthday night and she did really well as the W60s won a new ACT record.

The last event of the night was the 3000m at 8pm. I felt better tonight and thought for a moment as I crossed the line that I had run under 15minutes but not quite - very close though so I'll just keep trying!
Distance: 3000m
Time taken: 15:00:02 (almost there)!!

Total distance for night: 6.5km

Photo: Peter and Margaret at a speedygeese dinner in 2009.

In the Company of Great Friends

Tuesday
6.15am - I started the day with strength and abs work at the gym
6.15pm - summer series #3 at North Curtin

In spite of having to ignore all the "perform a u-turn now" commands as I approached the new part of the parkway I managed to find my way to the start of the cross country run straight after work without any undue stress.

I ran a 3km warm-up with Heidi and was pleased to see CJ out there again gradually getting faster each week.

Tonight's run had a steady incline on a cycle path - up, up, up and then a great downhill run after the turnaround point off road. I felt good and so was a bit disappointed that I finished in over 26mins even though I was about 8secs faster than last week. CJ passed me at about the 1.5km mark finishing in 24:32 and Andy ran in 20:53 which was absolutely brilliant!

Total distance of race: 5km

Time taken: 26:11

Average pace per km: 5:14

Finishing place: 83rd (out of 111)

I didn't have time for a cool down as I had to dash home for a shower before a sub-committee meeting.

Total distance for evening: 8km

Wiggles Wednesday

I met up with Jen, Andy, Chris, Richard and Ewen for a shorter version of our usual Wednesday run from Parliament House. Tonight we ran the west basin loop out around the museum. It made for a pleasant change on a warm evening. Before we left PH we rang and ordered pizzas to be ready to be picked up from Kingston after we finished.

Total distance: 9.5km

Time taken: 58:18

Average pace per km: 6:08

Calories burned: 557

Later we had a fantastic evening at Richard's apartment enjoying our pizzas. We had lots of fun and lots of good laughs and it was definitely one of those nights that make us know that running friends are great company and good fun!

Canberra is greening up!

It rained and it rained nearly all weekend, the most rain Canberra has had since 1989. As a consequence the sprint marathon relay, due to be held yesterday morning, was cancelled. Later in the day the family came over and there was no opportunity to run.

This afternoon looked pretty bleak too and it was still raining when I drove towards Parliament House for the early training session. However, by 4.30pm at the start of the early warm-up the rain had stopped and the sun was streaming down. In fact it was quite warm as I set off with Ewen, Jen, Geoff and Yelena on our 8km warm-up.

The rest of the group (20 of us tonight) joined us at 5.30pm and after a warm-up lap of PH we headed for the rose garden to drop off our drink bottles and do a trial lap of our 400m undulating run. We divided into teams of three and ran a fast lap, tagging the next person in our team and then jogging a slow lap inbetween each fast one. My team members were Joel and Jen and it was jolly hard to keep ahead - not many rests in the 30minute fast session.

To finish off we gently ran another lap of PH and back to the start.

Total distance for evening: 17km (8km warm-up plus 9km main session)

Wednesday Wiggles and Overdue Update!

On Wednesday we all turned up in a mix of coloured t-shirts and reminded ourselves so much of The Wiggles that Ewen took a couple of photos just beside Parliament House at the end of our run. But I digress - another week has flown by and lack of blogging has happened once again so a brief overview is once more in order.

Thursday 4 Feb - Track

3000m - 15:18 - handicapped according to age group

Average pace: 5:06 per km - slightly slower than last week and still not below the 15mins! No excuse either as it was the first event of the night.

1500m walk - 10:14

Average pace: 6:53 (fun!)

5 lap spiral (2km) - 10.18

Bronwyn pipped me at the post in a speedy finish and although I still lead in the points score it is by the very narrowest margin - looks like I'll have to find my speedy wings!

Total distance: 8.2km (including warm up and cool down)

Saturday 6 February

6.30am - Molonglo Reach run

We started a little earlier this morning as Mr B and I drove off to Sydney for a couple of days. We went to see the show Wicked and it was brilliant - just loved it.

It was a humid morning and Jen, Andy, Ewen and I ran past Campbell Park and round the Mt Ainslie track down past the War Memorial and over Commonwealth Ave Bridge on through the wetlands and back to Molonglo Reach. It was very hot and the pace was fairly slow. Chris ran with us for about 20minutes before returning to meet the 7am starters. Michelle caught us in the last few kms and ran a couple of extra kms with me out towards the airport at a good pace.

Total distance: 25.16km

Time taken: 2:41:55

Average pace per km: 6:26

Total distance for week: 73km

Monday 8 February

Early warm up run at 4.30pm with speedygeese - 7.9km

Main session at 5.30pm

We had a total of 29 speedygeese at the session tonight which was a great turn out. After the warm up I was selected to name all the participants, some of whom were new starters. I was really excited when I managed to name everyone correctly. Yay!

This was our last hill session for this season. We ran 20 hill sprints but the last 8 were attrition sprints and the last few people to the top just ran half way for these 8. It was tough, it was hot but it was fun and Ewen busily took photos of us for future reference!

Total distance for night: 15.04km

Tuesday 9 February

6.15am - gym - upper body strength

6.15pm - Cross country summer series race 2 at Boathouse

I arrived a bit late for a good warm-up and that does make a difference. I was a bit slower than last week on the same course which was disappointing.

Total distance: 5km

Time taken: 26:18

Average pace per km: 5:15

Calories burned: 290

Finish place: 97th (out of 136 finishers)

Total distance (including warm up and warm down) - 8km

Wednesday 10 February

6.15am - RPM class at gym

7am - Abs class at gym

5.45pm - Run with speedygeese Wednesday group from Parliament House

Jen, Ewen, Andy, Chris and I took off for our run to the lake and through the wetlands, Kingston etc and back to PH. Just past the wetlands Richard joined us - he had been held up in a meeting but it was fun to see that he was wearing a red t-shirt. As Jen was in a green t-shirt, Andy in bright yellow and Chris and I in blue we had a strange resemblance to the Wiggles. Once we arrived back at PH Ewen produced his camera and did a photo shoot - lots of fun!

Total distance: 12.22km

Time taken: 1:17:50

Average pace per km: 6:22

Thursday 11 February

After some consideration I decided against running the 10,000m at track due to a very unsettled tummy - a bit disappointing as I would have been the only entrant in my age group! Instead I entered the 2000m handicap of the walking race and lap scored for Ewen who won a silver medal - very exciting. I also went for a 4km run outside with Nadine between events.

2000m fitness walk

Time taken: 13:29

Average pace per km: 6:45

Total distance for night: 6km

Saturday 13 February

7am - Run from Molonglo Reach

I met up with Jen, Ewen, Andy, Steve and Michael for a run going the same way as last week. The only difference was that there was a gentle drizzle and the temperature had dropped considerably. It was in fact quite pleasant running this morning, rather different to the high humidity we have had recently. It was great to have Steve and Michael run with us for a change. Cathy and Graeme started with us but they were running in a different direction so left us at the base of Mt Ainslie. We spotted lots of kangaroos out on the trails - I wish I could run at their pace! At the 23km mark I ran an extra couple of kms out towards the Boathouse to make the same distance as last week.

Total distance: 25km

Time taken: 2:40:47

Average pace per km: 6:25

Calories burned: 1449

After the run Jen, Ewen, Andy and I went for brunch at Delissio Brasserie in Braddon. We left after THREE hours to be met with constant heavy rain for the rest of the afternoon. Here's hoping it will clear enough in the morning to be able to go ahead with the sprint marathon relay. It was a good day.

Wednesday without a Wombat:(

Wednesdays are always my busiest day. I start the day with gym and end the daylight with running.

6.15am - 45mins RPM/Spin class

7am - 15mins abs class

6pm - Run from Parliament House with Jen, Chris and Andy

Yes, only 4 of us ran today as neither Ewen nor Richard could be there and Chris ran a short run as he had a meeting to attend. There was cloud cover which was good and we ran at a very gentle pace. We ran the same direction as last week on through the wetlands, Molonglo and back to PH without losing each other! We stopped for a few of nature's calls on the way. It was a pleasant social run on sore legs!

Total distance: 13km
Calories burned: 766

This morning, Thursday, I again went to the gym at 6am. This time I worked on upper body strength and abs. Then it was off to brekkie with CJ - always fun. Tonight it's track at the AIS and I feel sleepy already - oh dear!

Cross Country Summer Series has started!

After work today I went out to the Boathouse to run the first of the Cross Country summer series. There were 146 finishers in the 5km run and 28 in the 2km run. It was fantastic to catch up with heaps of people I haven't seen for some time. It was a good course and a pleasant day if a little windy, especially on the first leg when there was a head wind. CJ ran well and passed me just after the half way mark looking strong. It's so good that she's starting back so well. Mel, very new to our speedygeese, ran the whole distance which was also a great achievement, especially after yesterday's drills.

I ran a 2km warm up with speedygeoff, Nadine, Brett and Margaret and after the race a 2km cool down with speedygeoff, Margaret and Maria.

We ran past the hospice where Milton, one of our veterans, sat outside and watched us run. Several people stopped briefly to say hi as we ran past.

Distance of race: 5km
Time taken: 15:53
Average pace per km: 5:10
Finishing place: 107th (out of 146)
Total distance with warm up and cool down: 9km

A Different Session for our speedygeese tonight!

This morning I went to the gym to work on upper body strength and abs. Then off to speedygeoff's early running at 4.30pm for a 7km warm up with Ewen. Helen, speedycoach, Craig and Gary started just before us. It was hot and sunny.

We joined the rest of the group at 5.30pm (27 of us - quite a turn-out) and ran a warm-up loop before heading off to the flat grass near Questacon where Ewen (with my back-up) took the group through our Peter Magill drills. It made a great change and meant that we didn't miss out on our drills this week so it worked out really well. We ran three strides x 60m followed by 2 x 50-60m schoolyard skipping, high skips, skip kicks, flat foot marching, high knees, butt kicks and carioca (or grapevine) with 60m strides between each set. We then ran to the grassy Parliament House roof where we ran 8 x 10sec 'Brad Hudson' hill sprints with full recovery between each sprint.

Total distance: 14.5km