Training Log Archive: Craig

After telling Liam that it was the middle of the night when he woke me up I realised it was actually about 15 minutes before I had intended to head out for my run. Didn't actually get out until 7:15 due to Liam's delaying tactics but at least it had warmed up to 3.5 degrees by then.

Headed out along the fence line to try to stay on the warmer high ground then decided to continue out the railway trail towards Sawyers Valley. Seemed warm enough by then so thought I might go back down through Parkerville to avoid backtracking but on seeing the distance to Mt Helena I started working out it would be a lot further than my plan of about 20km.

I had just talked myself into doing the sensible thing and turning around a bit after 10k when I went past Sexton Rd and made a spur of the moment decision to cut across Sexton Rd to the other railway trail. As soon as I turned I realised it was still going to be a lot more than 20k but there was no way I was going to turn back so I increased the pace instead.

Distance was up to 12.6km by the time I reached the other trail and I knew this would be close to half way so from there it was almost a time trial to get home in a reasonable time to take the kids to the zoo before lunch. Did 7 consecutive sub 4min kms from the top of the hill on Sexton until I turned off the railway trail at Brooking Rd. Feeling a bit tired by then but still averaged 4:32/km for the hilly and overall uphill run home (5.9km with 200m climb).

Felt pretty good during the run, much better than I expected to after doing hills the night before. No soreness while running but right hip flexor/upper quad sore/tight as soon as I stopped. Felt warmer by the time I finished but it was still only 4.5 degrees. Lots of ice next to the trail through Mt Helena, Stoneville, Parkerville.

Didn't get out in the morning due to problems with my ex teeth. Extremely painful last night, much worse than shortly after extraction, so took some pain killers at midnight which worked well but after breakfast I had bad stomach pains which lasted until lunch. Eventually got out about 5pm and did another hills session on O'Connor Rd. Longer warm up via Charles Rd then did 3 sets of 2 striding and 2 springing on the steep bit with the recoveries run backwards and 2 bounding gate to gate (best 31) plus one sprint over the top from the gate to finish. Felt pretty good.

Rehab loop at 6:48am. Felt alright apart from a bit of tightness around the right knee early on so ran a reasonable pace without pushing it. Nice conditions for running, didn't seem very cold but when I got back to the balmy 14 degrees inside it seemed so hot I had to take my shirt off and when I left for work over an hour later the car said it was still only 5 degrees.

Ran down to the oval in the morning to do a few drills plus 6x200. Started raining lightly just before the drills and kept going for the rest of the session. Got home just as it got heavier but I was already wet enough that it didn't matter. Didn't really feel up for this session to begin with but the drills seemed to help get me going and the 200s felt ok. Probably helped that I didn't time them today so I wasn't concerned about how slow I was.

Easy run in KP after work. Ben didn't make it so ran alone up the dual carriageway, parrotbush track, back along KP road to NW corner and down to super highway, super highway through to DNA tower, down sand track, back to broadwalk, past lake and home. Passed some other crazy fool running in the dark along the sand track near the end, nearly had a head on collision as I couldn't see more than a few metres and I doubt he could see me as I was wearing all black/navy. Pretty stiff and tired today, particularly my knees early on. Ran a bit faster for the second half more through feeling short on light than feeling any better.

Hill exercises on O'Connor Rd.

Usual lap of KP with Ivan. Felt reasonably good so went a bit faster when I felt like it.