Training Log Archive: Craig

Event: WAMC King of the Mountain Run 16.1km
 

Easy run around KP. Dug out the heart rate monitor and tried not to let the hr get too much over 130. Thought that might be difficult but it felt pretty much like more normal easy run pace, just stopped me from gradually lifting the effort throughout the run. Knee a bit sore at times, particularly going downhill, but never bad enough to convince me to stop.

Liam had a birthday party at Revo sports so rather than going home I stayed in the gym. Didn't do much more than usual but took more time doing it. Wasn't sure how the knee would handle it but had no problem doing 90kg squats and 30" box jumps which is more than I have ever done before.

Event: NavDash - Black Swan Island
 

Warm up lap of the island with Wayne.

NavDash long course at Black Swan Island which only actually went onto the island to finish. Started reasonably fast but I think I faded a bit in the second half. Nothing too tricky about the course, just left/right options which I think I got wrong a couple of times but I don't think there was more than a few seconds in it. Not many excuses to slow down so it really felt like a bit of a running race. Didn't expect to get near tRicky on a course like that so happy enough with second. Think I probably still need to find a bit more speed to be competitive at Gosnells. Knee was pretty good, barely noticed it really.

Not feeling up to another race so just jogged around the short course as a warm down. Started the same time as Phil and was going to follow him around but decided to go the other way to number 1. Thought my route would be slower so maybe ran a bit fast and got there before him. Then didn't want to lead him around so tried to get out of sight ahead instead by going through the green out of 3. Knee was a bit sore early on and a couple of other times but didn't keep hurting.

Long - Splits

Little test jog around Rosalie Park. Pretty constant mild soreness when shuffling along and definitely worse when I tried to go a bit faster.
Probably not worth trying to race tomorrow but I'll probably do it anyway.

Tried a little jog (~50m) but it was more painful than walking. Pain would probably ease if I kept going but it was bad enough to make me think that would be a bad idea.

C • I assume ... 3

Getting better but still sore walking.

Knee moving more freely but still quite sore walking.

Difficult to bend knee and very painful walking.

Event: Foot O - Jumbuck Hill
 

H2 at Jumbuck Hill. Started ok but had a big stack about 5 minutes in trying to take the direct route from 1-2 because I thought the track option would be a bit boring. In hindsight, boring sounds pretty good. Caught my toe on a rock or branch then hit my arm on another branch when I threw it out to try to regain balance. This meant I had nothing to save me when I went down so I face planted pretty hard.

Fortunately my face hit a small soft patch amongst the rocks so just a bit of a swollen top lip where it was squashed against my left front tooth. Left knee was not so lucky with a bit of skin off and some significant bruising but nothing crippling. More little scrapes and bruises all over the left side but nothing serious. I lay still for about 30 seconds until I regained some composure and then moved on pretty gingerly.

Took it pretty slowly across to 2 but still managed to screw it up slightly and had fenry go through while I looped past losing a minute or two. Slow and inefficient up the hill to 3 with my knee causing me some pain as well as the same lower leg pressure build up I was struggling with at Malmalling. Had a few sharp pains on the outside of the knee on the steep slope coming into 3 and seriously considered pulling out at that point but decided to keep going a bit further to see if it continued.

Once over the top of the hill I started to feel a bit better and by the time I got to 5 I was almost orienteering normally again. Enjoyed the short downhill legs through 6-9 and felt quite good on the track to 10. Had a bit of a vague patch on leaving the track where I kept looking at the wrong part of the map but recovered and got the controls pretty well.

Took the track option to 12 which worked well and then saw fenry leaving 13 as I approached. I thought 14 was the last chance for a mistake so was careful here and stayed low while fenry went a bit high hoping to slip past unnoticed but he recovered well and got it before me. Started out direct to 15 then decided to try the right hand track route figuring there was no way I was getting past fenry going the same way. Thought it might have worked out when I didn't see fenry leaving as I approached 15 but that was just because he had got so far ahead.

One final injury on the way from the last control to the finish taking a branch in the groin. Hit right on middle stump but fortunately it (the branch) was soft enough to break off without any serious damage.

Finished 4 minutes down on fenry which doesn't seem so bad given the way it started. Left knee is pretty sore now but I think it is just bruising which will settle in a few days. Might not be doing much running this week though.

C • Middle stump 3

H2 - Splits

2x20min tempo with 2min jog recovery "with" Lauren's group around Perry Lakes. Actually ran the whole thing by myself because everyone else was way faster than me and I didn't want to push too hard. Aimed to run the first one at about 4:15/km and the second a bit faster.

Struggled to get out of bed, feeling quite sore in a few places from gym and tennis. Felt quite good when I started running and had to hold back to stay with the group. No faster runners today so thought I should stay with Ben and Priscilla but I gradually felt worse as we went and they ended up dropping me on the last climb to the war memorial. Short break today with nobody wanting to stand around in the rain and me being last in. Stayed with Priscilla and Ben again on the run home.

To the gym and back with a couple of laps of Shenton bushland on the way there.

C • Which gym 5

Monday night pennants against Bassendean. Played really poorly in singles and lost 1-6. Played better in doubles but still not great winning 6-2 with Tony and 6-4 with Alex. Finished 3-3 but lost on games.

Event: Perth Marathon and Relay
 

Ran home from the marathon clubrooms after taking the kids over to run the kids marathon. Thought I would have to drag Amy around after she kept refusing to do cross country training but she took off at the start and I never caught up to her. I followed about 50m behind to make sure she was ok but tried not to let her see me. She kept running most of the way with only short walk breaks and finished the 2.2km in about 15 minutes. Liam looked really good when he went past at half way and I think he did about 10 minutes. He even tried to insist on running home with me but I wouldn't let him in case I couldn't keep up.

Cruised around the river feeling average then picked the pace up when I started to feel good after the climb into Kings Park. Looped around a bit in KP to try to make it 16km and kept pushing the pace a bit even though the feeling good didn't last very long. Right hip feeling a bit stiff from tennis.

C • How long 10

Planned to try to run this at 10k pace for the first 3k and then pick it up a bit over the last 2k if I felt like it. Took it out very relaxed compared to last time and settled into a comfortable rhythm. Trying to just relax and not worry about pace but I must admit I was slightly disappointed to hit 1k in 4:02 as I was feeling pretty good and hoped that meant I was running fast. I guess it just meant I was taking it easy. Tried to just up the tempo very slightly and still felt quite relaxed at 2k with a 4:00 including most of the small climb. I wanted to keep it relaxed for at least another km but the combination of the 180 turn, the downhill and someone overtaking meant a 3:52 third km which felt distinctly harder. Wasn't really sure if I wanted to keep pushing or try to ease back to 10k pace in the 4th km so just eased off a little and ran 3:53 but still feeling too hard for 10k pace. Didn't feel I was learning anything from that so I decided to push the last and see if I had another gear. Ran the last km in about 3:42 so I did have a bit left but that meant I finished feeling as though I had definitely raced hard, not run the first half of a 10k.
Left me feeling as though sub 40 is a realistic goal for 10k but it is going to be tough and aiming for anything faster would probably cost me.

Got a call from Vlado at 8:30 last night desperately searching for someone to fill in at the Saturday afternoon mixed pennants at Manning so I agreed to play. Didn't really realise what a long day it was going to be playing 4 sets of first to 8 and sitting out one round so started play at 1pm and didn't finish until after 5pm.
Played ok in the first match with Jaimes winning 8-5. Started ok in the next match with Gillian leading 4-1 but they didn't miss a thing after that and we went down 4-8. Struggled early with Daniel going down 1-6 before we decided to just go for broke and started playing much better. Won 6 in a row and served for it at 7-6 but lost serve before taking the tie-breaker 7-0. Kept the more aggressive play going in the next match with Lois for a good 8-2 win.
Good fun but I can already feel a few spots tightening up and should reach peak soreness on Monday afternoon ready for my Monday night pennants.

Lunchtime run in Kings Park. Didn't feel very good. Thought I might loosen up but I just got tired.

Trying to fight off a bit of a cold and wanted an easier week anyway so I just kept a steady pace at the back of the group today. Felt ok but didn't feel any desire to go faster.

Went down to the courts for a practice session but got drafted into the Wednesday night doubles team. Brad then tore his calf in the warm up and Jaimes got pulled in to replace him. Dion was already in as a substitute so Dean was the only regular in the team.
Won the first match with Dean 6-4 6-3 then lost 4-6 with Jaimes before a really tight final match with Dion which we ended up losing 11-13 in the tie breaker. Played better than I expected to. Didn't get home until after 11pm.

Easy run in KP mostly sticking to sand tracks. Pretty slow but didn't feel too bad.

Kept the weights down and tried a few box jumps at the end but really had no idea what I was doing.

Event: WAMC Lake Monger 10km/3km
 

Long run in Albany with Rachel except Rachel didn't come with me. Tried to stay on horse trails as much as I could over to Lake Seppings but got it a bit wrong and ended up just running on the road. Feeling a bit tired and I like the Lake Seppings trail so I thought about just doing a few laps and then heading back but I could feel the mountain calling me so I peeled off and headed for Mt Clarence. Got most of the way up before turning onto the Mt Clarence circuit trail for a while but I decided that would probably take too long so turned around and continued on up to the top.
Back down to the saddle taking single tracks where I could and then onto the Mt Adelaide trail out to the East end before dropping down to the bike path to head home. Feeling a little pressed for time when I got onto the bike path so the last 5k back to Emu Point turned into a bit of a progressive tempo. Really enjoyed pushing the pace over the little rolling hills through the dunes past the golf club but it was starting to feel pretty hard by the end.

From the chalet down to the north end of Middleton Beach on the bike path and back on the beach. Wasn't feeling great coming back on the beach but once I left the beach I started to feel better so added a bit extra around Emu Point.

8, 6, 4, 2, 1min efforts with 4, 3, 2, 1min recovery jog down by the river. Intended to start out at a comfortable tempo around half marathon pace and hopefully work down to 4min/km but didn't really work out that way. Didn't feel great warming up but the first effort with the wind ended up at 4:03/km so I then felt compelled to keep the rest of the session under 4min/km despite the fact that it was mostly into the wind. Got harder and harder each effort and I felt totally wrecked by the end. Recoveries got slower each time and the jog home was a real struggle.

Lunchtime jog around KP. Seemed like a nice idea but I was too stiff and tired to enjoy it really.

None of the faster runners there today and I had planned this to be one of my harder runs so I ended up running a lot of it on my own. Pushed the pace on the rollercoaster and the downhill for two efforts of about 10 minutes each. Felt good on the warm up, ok on the rollercoaster and not so good on the downhill.

Tried to get up early and run to the gym but after about half an hour I realised I wasn't going to leave the house unless I gave up the idea of going to the gym. Did a little jog around KP with a few strides in the middle instead.

Pushed the weights a bit more today. Will probably be sore tomorrow but the 85kg squats did feel more controlled than last time I tried.

Event: Foot O - Malmalling NE
 

Proper warm up because I wanted to put some pressure on fenry.

State League middle distance at Malmalling.
Thought I might be a chance of taking fenry again this week so I tried to push it pretty hard. Found it tough going for most of the course with a lot of low undergrowth with rocks underneath it. I haven't really run in terrain since state champs last year and my legs are clearly not used to it as I was getting really tight in the ankle stabilising muscles. Found myself walking to ease the pressure building in those muscles rather than from fatigue on the hills. Actually felt a bit better than I expected in terms of strength up the hills (I wasn't expecting much after yesterday's gym session).
Navigation was pretty good. A bit hesitant into 2 and a bit offline into 14 hitting the boulder to the North is all I can remember going wrong.
Went back past the start to talk to AndreM and fenry was there waiting to start. Fenry asked what time I did but the pressure of trying to match it was too much for him and he abandoned the course about half way around when trailing by about 3 minutes.

Shadowing Liam and Pat around the VE and E course. They should have both been on the VE but Pat got the wrong map and the E was a little too hard for him today. The creeks here are quite hard for little kids to follow.

C • Creeks 4

H1 - Splits