Tuesday 31 May 2011

Almost Fartlek

AM
10km-42.01. Wenty Park. Included 22min fartlek (1,2,3,4,3,2,1min efforts with 1min float, jog recovery more apt though). Very slow, 4:05km's for 5.38km. Almost walking on the 'floats', it was bucketing down, the ground was bogged and I had the heavy shoes on. Nevertheless it's a starting point, onward and upward.

PM
20km-97:20. Centennial Park, I wanted to see how I respond to a double before I get stuck into some long overdue training.

Might experiment with lighter shoes with orthotics or heavy shoes without orthotics. Hamburglar, the man on the hot PB streak said I look fit today, I think it's cos Millie replaced my Tim Tams with Royals which are mostly marshmallow. Today she is forcing me to eat Farmbake Choc Chip Fudge Cookies, how hard can it be to stock at least one full packet of tim tams in my fridge at all times? She'll be out on the street if this shoddy treatment continues.

Monday 30 May 2011

Millie Stew

PM
20km-90:00. The Bay, absolutely pissing down and for the first time ever I had the whole place to myself, didn't encounter another human. It was pitch black by 5:00pm, but I could see a light at the end of the tunnel.

I'll have a big serve of Millie's stew tonight and of course a packet of tim tams to fuel me up for something quicker tomorrow.

Sunday 29 May 2011

2 thumbs up

35km's - 2hr45min. In Centennial with Emma, happy to get through the run, made me confident that at worst i'll get to the finish line. The pace was very easy, but pleased to get it done.

Emma couldn't even drop me for a change, anyone care to predict what time she will run at Gold Coast based on 35km's on grass at 4:43km's? She does about 80km's p/w including 1x speed session as well as solid paced runs on Wednesday and Sunday.

I was talking to a client on Thursday who is a physio and a very fast runner. I said i'm happy with the progress but it just feels like I need an almighty hammering to finish it off. He then said, 'i've got a guy I see for last ditched help, you need to see...' I knew exactly what was coming next, we simultaneously said 'Jean-Louis'. I can't believe I didn't think of him 9 months ago when this all started. He is results driven, has amazing strength and fitness, his skills were perfect for this injury.

I went to see him yesterday morning, I came armed with my ice bucket, which I reckon saved me a few days recovery from the treatment. He got stuck into my heel with the end of a knife handle, apart from my skin burning I could really feel the scar tissue and the bone spurs (4 each foot) breaking up with his rapid fire and powerful frictions. Hard to tell how much they've improved, but I suspect it's significant. I'll know better once all the blistered skin heals and the inflammation from the battering settle down. I attempted to make another booking for this Friday, but he laughed because 'it's going to take alot longer than a week before my feet will be ready for his massage again', funny guy. Super impressed with his skills and grateful for the good result as well as learning a new technique. I'll aim to go and see him more often for experiential learning rather than waiting for emergencies.

2 thumbs up for the Jean-Louis and Caleb weekend combo treatment. I might take another rest day tomorrow to give the skin and fluid a chance to settle, but I'll decide based on how I feel. The last thing I feel like doing is resting, i'm so fresh from the minimal training that i've only been sleeping a few hours per night, during summer when training hard I need close to 8hrs avg to survive.

Anyway it's time to stop bitching about the feet, so you won't read about it again. It's time to start thinking positively, I don't want to line up with a crutch or security blanket excuse.

90 very slow km's for the week.

Friday 27 May 2011

Duck Off!

14km - 59:40 Centennial, included 3x2km efforts - 7:24, 7:25, 7:19. Very slow but that is par for the course at the moment. Suspected i'd lost alot of fitness, but didn't expect to be that slow. I ran 20km's at 3:45km's last month, if I can lose fitness that quickly I think I can regain it just as fast.

Had a crazy duck feeding lady set up in the middle of my 2km loop so had to detour onto the road for part of each rep, amazing how many ducks she had gathered around her.

Went and saw Caleb, he has reinforced the orthotics and added a met dome on the left. Still alot of inflammation but he doesn't think either are torn. Definitely too sore to run tomorrow, so i'll focus on getting the inflammation down and aim to get through a long run on Sunday.

Thursday 26 May 2011

Oink Oink

5km on the rowing machine 21:14 in the morning. I gave the PT a token Pat Rafter 'sorry mate' to keep the peace. Followed in the arvo by a good strength sesh.

Took the day off from running, hoping to get something decent done tomorrow. Off to see Caleb the Podiatrist as well, suspect this marathon will be run in the heavies with orthotics.

Wednesday 25 May 2011

Anger Management

PM
1hr45min - 23.2km's In Centennial, pissing down sideways.

The biggest crowd we've had for a long time, Copey, Emma and Daniel were all way too fast for me today I spent the majority of the run ducking in and out of the shitter and out the back of the pack kicking stones. Great that Emma has come back so well after her holiday and Copey and Daniel are finding top form again.

Watching them disappear into the distance felt similar to the time I took the baton at state relays to anchor the 4x100m just before all the other teams crossed the finish line. I received a humiliating sympathy clap the length of the straight, felt like kicking the shit out of everyone in the crowd that day, Cantona style.

Cranked it up on the rowing machine this morning, did 6x1km (2min) in 3:57's, thanks to some tips from my new rowing coach Jamie Stewart :-) The resident PT told me I was hogging the machine, good observation mate thanks for sharing your concern.

Tuesday 24 May 2011

James Tomkins

AM
9km - 40:02 Wenty Park. Too sore for an arvo run.

Got some very painful treatment today, apparently the inflammation has caused calcification on the heels, hence the pain. On the positive i'm spending so much time lifting and on the rower that it's possible I may line up at the Gold Coast actually looking like a man. It won't help my race, but it'll make the photos look better.

James Tomkins what a legend, 3 Gold Medals from 5 Olympic Games and never laid down.

Monday 23 May 2011

Rule 3

AM
9km - 39.04 Wenty Park. Pulled up sore, so that'll have to do for today.

There is no rule 3.

Sunday 22 May 2011

Rule 2

AM
26.2km - 2hrs. Centennial Park with Emma, the last 13km's actually resembled running.

PM
10km - 42:40. Around The Bay. Wanted to test the feet with a double, feeling good.

Rule 2 - Get to the finish line in front of as many people as possible.

107km's for the week, no quality but much better than I expected. Have been hammering the plantar fascia daily with self massage and constant icing whenever possible, feels heaps better, wish I did it months ago instead of trying to manage the pain. It's been a great lesson though, and will help with my treatment of clients as well as myself.

Saturday 21 May 2011

Rule 1

Friday - 15km including 6km build up in Centennial, nothing special but finished with 3:50, 3:46, 3:45km's. Finished with some frisbee with The Saint, good to feel like a human again.

Saturday - 12km 58:30 Barnwell Park Golf Course. A bit sore, but hopeful of getting a longish run out tomorrow. Emma is back from South America, looking forward to hearing all about her adventures.

Rule 1 - Get to the start line.

Uncle Ben gave us our first gift for the baby in mummy's tummy. Not long now, Akira is excitedly holding foetus's socks.

Thursday 19 May 2011

Zzzz Zzzz

Wednesday - 12km Centennial 53:40, 6km's with Copey.
Thursday - 16km Centennial 75:24

Tuesday 17 May 2011

Plodding

I've managed 3 consecutive days of 'running', 6km, 9km and 7km all at about 4:30km avg. Still painful during and after running, but feeling better in the mornings and at work so I think i'm on the way up.

I'll keep up all the treatment (icing, massage, icing, orthotics, icing, electro accupuncture, icing, strapping, icing, strength, icing) which seems to be helping and keep running as much as possible but definitely no speed work. It's been time consuming and expensive, I've put in 2 PB massage weeks at work to raise funds.

Went and watched the SMH half on Sunday. Apart from Marty's victory only a few weeks after returning to running, my highlight was the guy that started his race at 17km's in 13th just ahead of the ever vigilant Chris Truscott who did a good job pointing out the cheating prick to the marshalls. I can't see him in the results so hopefully he has been dq'd. Super snapper Jane Miles took a great pic of him and he can be seen at the 20km mark in Andy Cross and Sam Walker's videos.

Congrats to all who ran, almost everybody ran a pb or at least an SMH pb. Watching is much harder than racing.

Sunday 8 May 2011

Mother's Day

Rested most of the week with a few easy runs. The feet are feeling much better, I decided to try a solid effort at the Mother's Day Classic 4km as most of my family were participating in various events at The Domain. Came 5th in a pedestrian 14:00 with Harry Summers 1st, then Josh Johnson, Saxon Mosely and Lara Tamsett all well ahead - at least I can say 3 of the runners in front are World XC reps. We had a couple of cheats cut the course, I caught one of them, but the other just got pipped by Saxon and secured himself a hard earned 4th place.

The pace was comfortable but the pain set in from about 1km, but at that stage I was in 3rd so didn't want to pull the pin. I couldn't handle four solid km's without setting myself back, so i'll have to skip the SMH Half his Sunday. It's a pity as this is my favourite road race and tends to get my winter season heading in the right direction.


Akira is in trouble because he forgot to buy Millie a card, naughty boy, i'll cover his arse by making dinner -  steak sangers and chips, i'm off now to whip it up at the corner take away shop.

All the best to everyone racing the half.

Monday 2 May 2011

Ben St Lawrence

0km's - Not kidding.

Knocked over a strawberry and ricotta muffin a client delivered, struggled through 6x Cheeseburgers from Macca's (can't believe this used to be my lunch everyday not long ago), a block of cadbury dairy milk, a tin of biscuits that a client dropped off and 1/2 chicken and chips with gravy for arvo tea. Hopefully that's it for the crap food today, I think it's out of my system for a while. 


Pumped after Benny Saint's great performance at Stanford, 27:24.95 to set a new Australian Record. In late 2006 I was lap scoring for Knoxy - 31:14 winning a 10000m race at Illawong. A chubby bloke, who we now know as The Saint - 31:25, was in his comeback to track racing and stormed home with a strong finish to claim 2nd place ahead of Caleb 31:32. Millie, Akira and I caught up with Knoxy and his family yesterday and were chatting about how recent it felt and how well he has handled his success.


I will aim to go the whole of tomorrow without eating any chocolate, I will dig deep and call on Benny's performance to guide me through the inevitable trying times. I know he will probably dedicate his record breaking performance to the inspiration contained within this blog, but i'd like him to know inspiration goes both ways my friend, I will face tomorrow's challenging goal with Saint like determination.

Sunday 1 May 2011

Pioneer

AM
24.3km - 1:46.50.

Went on an adventure this morning, and successfully made the trip across the bridge to the Northern Beaches. Enjoyed the company of Tom and his Merry Manly Men, Richard, Hamburglar, Tim, Quentin, Sam and Jamie. It was nice to have Richard and Hamburglar (big PB coming his way) setting a solid pace. All the boys seem to be running well and set for a big Winter of racing.

Don't ever quote me on this, but the Northern Beaches is a beautiful part of the world.

Was limp/jogging down Pittwater Rd heading back to Tom's house, when a kind Spanish cab driver, who is a 2:28 marathoner took pity on me and urged me to take a ride with him. He then gave me a lecture about plantar fasciitis and carb loading for the next ten minutes.

Hard to decide the highlight of the morning. Tom's girly dance through the first puddle of the morning was going to be hard to beat, still not sure how he convinced Kirsten to marry him, although he did regain some of his manhood status by smashing young Billy on the trampoline which left him with a fat lip. I enjoyed seeing Bec's brilliant swimming in the icy cold water, but was a little disappointed that Charlie had grown up and no longer plows through tubs of butter. Maggie took the prize though with her excellent hosting skills, after she dutifully introduced me to Fernando the babysitter.

135km's for the week. I'm taking a break until i'm injury free, could do with a freshen up anyway.