Training Log Archive: Craig

Another slow easy run, this time a bit longer and with Rachel and Erin. Basically did my John Forrest tempo loop but stopped for a drink on the way out and went up the eagle view trail rather than over hovea falls. Starting to struggle to hold the slow pace up the hill on the way back so did a bit of springing and bounding to keep myself amused. Feeling a bit weary by the end, started planning a short day for tomorrow.

Easy long loop with Rachel. Very tired but it was very slow so it was quite nice.

Trying to start training again today. Still have to finish off all my chocolates before I can start the diet. Did the rehab loop in the morning and felt pretty much the same as I was before 6 inch which is still pretty awful. Same problem as before, just can't lift the knees at all. Started to move a bit more freely after going up O'Connor on the way home so ran a bit harder for the last 10 minutes. No real soreness on the downhills, just a little tightness in the lateral quads just above the knee. Still feeling a little bit sick.

Didn't want to go for a run but didn't want to not go for a run more than I didn't want to go for a run so went for a run. Did the 5k loop which seemed about 2k too far. Legs empty going up and sore coming back down. Got attacked by a big black dog which was almost as tall as me and had no collar near Moola Rd. Well it didn't really attack me but it was a bit scary for a while even after the owner appeared and assured me it was ok.

First run post 6 inch. Jogged down to the park at the bottom of the hill in Darlington from Penny and Phil's house at the top of the hill. Quads not ready for the downhills yet (80m ascent, 180m descent), probably should have started with something flatter. Phil obviously didn't go hard enough at 6 inch, he left me for dead on the steep climb and I reckon I would have struggled to stay with him even if I hadn't run 6 inch.

Rode the MTB around with Rachel and Erin while they ran the little possums loop. Got dropped on every uphill but managed to keep up on the downhills.

Feeling a little more sick today, slight sore throat, mild headache and breathing deeply makes me cough. I'm pretty convinced that it was affecting me yesterday but it didn't seem to slow me down as much as I expected. I think I might have to run it again to see what I can do when 100% healthy.

Event: Six Inch 2008
 

Six Inch run from North Dandalup to Dwellingup. Didn't have the best sleep, checked my watch at 11pm, 1am, 3am, 4am, 4:10am then got up at 4:20am. Got up one other time to check why Liam was moaning but never did work out why. Had a sore throat when I woke up so was a bit worried I might be getting sick properly but it only lasted a few minutes.

Big climb out of the start didn't seem as hard as I expected being on a nice smooth road with a pretty even gradient, much easier than the climbs near home, but I still struggled because my legs felt even worse than they have all week. I wanted to take it out easy but when the 5th and 6th people passed me halfway up the hill I was getting worried. I did improve a little in the second half of the hill to reach the top in around 3rd or 4th but Dave Kennedy was out of sight by then.

Started thinking about how bad things would have to get before I decided to pull out but I caught a glimpse of Dave on a long straight section and tried to pick up the pace a bit hoping I could stay in touch. Didn't see Dave again for ages despite feeling as though I was working much harder than I should be. Finally saw him again at Torrens Rd where you almost double back and I could see him looking at me from the other side of the river so I thought at least I might be making him feel as though he is in a race even if I felt like I was going to struggle to make it past halfway at this pace.

Hit a slight climb after Torrens Rd and my legs felt no better than on the first hill so I thought there is no way I'm going to get near him now, maybe I should give it up but on the next downhill I did see him and seemed to be gaining on the downhill. Going down the last hill before crossing Del Park Rd I was getting fairly close but felt like I needed to go to the toilet but I didn't want to stop after catching Dave so I ducked into the bushes for about 45 seconds. Back on the track I was wondering if I would ever get within sight again when I came around the next bend and saw Dave getting back onto the track about the same distance ahead after a pit stop of his own.

Just tried to hang on about 100m behind up to the Turner Hill drinks hoping the drink stop would give me a chance to catch up as I only needed to drop some bottles and grab new ones from Rachel as I ran past. Dave was a little quicker than I hoped so I was still 10m behind but it was close enough to throw in a surge to catch him. I think the catch gave me a little surge of adrenaline as well and when Dave just said "You're going quick" and let me go past I thought this is it, time to go for it, try to get a gap and then run scared the rest of the way.

Felt stronger than I expected over the hill next to the conveyor belt and then tried to use the downhills down to Oakley Dam and the rocky trails through Pinjarra Hills to my advantage to open a decisive gap. Getting a bit sick of the gatorade by now so had a carboshotz heading into the 35k drinks stop but I think the car had only just arrived so it took about 20 seconds to get the water out and have a drink. Was starting to tire a bit by this stage but then the steep downhill just after really hurt my quads and it hurt a bit mentally to give up all that height as I was still running a lot better on the downs than ups.

Just a gradual decay after this and by the time I got to Marrinup I was resorting to things like counting breaths or steps to help get through each km. Looked behind after every straight stretch or sharp bend and convinced myself I was safe if I could hold 5min/km to the end which I just managed. Finished just under 6min under the old record but only 3min ahead of Dave who was starting to close by the end I think.

Very satisfied at the end, achieved both of my goals for the race which didn't seem possible early on. Seemed a lot easier than running a marathon around the river in many ways. Didn't notice any of my usual niggles during the race, a bit stiff and sore now but nowhere near as bad as after the marathon.

Some splits
Start of Munda Biddi 3.67km 20:01
Torrens Rd (leaving) 11.41km 52:50
Del Park Rd 18.5km 1:25:02
Turner Hill 22.5km 1:43:50
Oakley Dam 29.14km 2:12:48
Scarp Rd (drinks) 34.67km 2:40:26
Marrinup 40.95km 3:11:18
Marathon 42.195km 3:17:30
Finish 46.02km 3:36:24

C • Great result 18

Same again. Same feeling. Crap. Maybe fighting off Liam's cold?

Rehab loop. Still feeling crap. Slower than yesterday but felt harder. Really looking forward to 6 inch now.

Rehab loop with a little detour at the turnaround to test the follow course feature on the GPS ahead of 6 inch. Still feeling a bit stiff pretty much everywhere. A little sore in the quads where they cramped when trying to lift my foot onto a post to stretch my tight hammies yesterday.

Decrepit.

Little Possums loop with Rachel, nice and easy. Still feeling a bit tight around the hips despite a massage last night but wasn't too bad with the easy pace.

Usual lap of KP with Ivan. Hips/upper legs stuffed again today. This is getting a little disturbing.

With Rachel and Andy out through the gauntlet pretty easy then Andy started pushing the pace and we started dropping Rachel but looped back a couple of times. Andy stacked it heading down to O'Connor Rd, I thought he would slip if he kept running where he was and was about to move over but was a little too late. When we stopped for a drink in Mundaring Rachel decided to take a shorter route back to avoid having to try to keep up with us anymore. Andy and I turned off on the MTB loop then over the hill and around the back of the tip to the rehab area and home on the rehab return track. Reasonably solid pace most of the way home (~4:45/km) but Andy seemed to slow it right down and just jog in the last km or two. Felt a bit better today, no obvious problem with my hips although there was a hint of tightness in the right hip towards the end but there nearly always is.

Rehab loop. Hips slightly better than yesterday but still not right. Time includes a minute or so moving broken glass off the little shortcut track turning off O'Connor Rd on the way home.

Set out to do the 10k loop but my legs didn't seem to be working properly so I bailed out at O'Connor Rd. Tried doing a bit of hill springing and strides but that didn't seem to be helping so I gave up and jogged home. Felt as though the problem was somewhere around the hips, just didn't seem to be able to lift my feet at all. Lower legs seemed fine and I was actually going quite fast early but it didn't feel right.

Through the gauntlet, up to Janeczek, through the golf course (with a stop at the 19th for a drink), Reddy to Martin, round the back of the tip and home via rehab area. Legs feeling a little heavy on the hills but usually felt quite good as I crested them.

Usual lap of KP with Ben (42:28) plus a short warm up because I was a bit early after picking up maps and I was worried Ben would start too fast for me. Felt pretty good, feel as though I have recovered from the weekend now. Thought it only rained a little but there were some huge puddles on the way back from the underpass that weren't there on the way out.

Little Possums loop with Rachel. Getting a little tired by the end and right hip getting a bit stiff.

5k loop very slowly. Feeling just a little bit tired this morning. Not helped by Amy not sleeping much and the neighbour's dog going through our rubbish bin and swimming in our pond at 2am.

C • So what can we expect from ... 11

Darlington Winery loop with Rachel to bottom of powerline where I went up the powerline and onto the 10k loop while Rachel went home via Morrell Rd. Pace was slow early but didn't feel unreasonably slow to me, looped back to Rachel a few times but only about 600m in total. Average pace was 6:37/km to top of powerline after which I had a carboshotz and then pushed fairly hard from 20k to the finish. Was supposed to be doing 28km but I couldn't be bothered trying to find an extra km as the hills on this loop are worth a fair bit extra anyway. Feeling a little tired by the end but not too bad.

C • Wow 1

Easy run around Glen Forrest checking the course and map for next week. Didn't expect it to take so long but the map was pretty dodgy in places. Actually took 1:42 but there was 15min of stopped time trying to work out how I had managed to map things so poorly. Felt quite good apart from the shame.

C • Mapping 1

Metro Series Woodvale. Saw Oscar, Ricky and Ben all lined up ready to head East and decided I didn't want to be a part of that so headed West out of the start. Had a lot of trouble working out a sensible route but enjoyed cruising along at a nice comfortable pace without any pressure and actually felt quite good. Thought my route ended up being ok and was somewhat relieved to come in first but then a little disturbed to see Oscar come in only 17 seconds behind having done very similar to the reverse of my route. He will beat me soon if I'm not careful.

C • Oscar 8

Short warm up and a few short runs from the car to collect controls afterwards.

Planned to run but thought I needed sleep more than I needed a run and Rachel needed sleep even more than I did. Thought about running in the evening but decided to save it for the weekend.

Little Possums loop again, same as monday. Didn't feel so good today so had to run a bit faster at times.

Lap of KP with Ben (8.7k 43:08) plus a short warm up loop down to the underpass and back via Megalong St while waiting for Ben. Left calf feeling a bit tight before and after but didn't notice it while running.

Rehab loop with Rachel and Phil, Glen Forrest super block loop with Rachel, 5k loop alone. Tried to just run with Rachel but she seemed determined to stay a bit behind no matter how slowly I went. Went a bit harder on the last 5k loop and felt ok on the flats but struggled a little on the ups and really could have done with a drink.

Little Possums loop. 10k loop with an extra loop around the back of the tip, out to Little Possums, along the fence to Coppin Rd, railway trail to Charles Rd then back to Rehab area. Lower calves feeling stiff and sore on waking but better after moving around for a while and fine running. Tried to take it really slowly but actually felt quite good and found myself speeding up at times particularly after about 45 minutes which seems to be how long it takes me to warm up properly. Maybe I should try a 45 minute warm up instead of 4.5 minutes for my next race.