Training Log Archive: Craig

H4 at Lovers Lane with Joseph & Alastair.
Mostly just walked around with some quite long stops to talk about things so I didn't really notice the effects of yesterday's run at all. Quite a pleasant stroll really, didn't feel anywhere near as tough and steep as I was expecting. We started 3 minutes after Robert Boekelaar and passed him on the way to 2. He pulled ahead on the way to 3 but came back into it behind us while we stopped to talk and was nearby as we wandered up to 4. I was a bit worried I was distracting him too much with all my talking so was glad he got away while we spent about 5 minutes talking about the route choice to 5. We were very slow across to 5, mostly walking and talking but apparently we were still leading at 5, just a couple of seconds ahead of Robert.
Spent a long time talking about the dangers of 6 and ways to minimise the risk. On 7 I tried to make Alastair an Joseph lead the way after a discussion about how to do it. The headed off too steeply downhill so I thought I would show them how much time it was costing them by walking across more directly and waiting for them but decided I had to run and retrieve them when I saw Alastair running off to the right out of the dam he was supposed to be staying left of. Pretty direct the rest of the way but lots more stops to talk. I think we probably spent over 20 minutes stopped to discuss things and didn't do much running.

C • 4-5 2

H4 - Splits

Thought I should try to get in a longer run today since I didn't run yesterday and I'm just doing the H4 tomorrow. Didn't actually have a plan but I felt like keeping it flat to begin with so headed for the river. Felt reasonably from the start and got rolling pretty well so just tried to keep it going. Thought about going around the bridges but thought it would be too far so decided I should turn at 45 minutes and just do an out and back. Saw the front runner mob doing a tempo near the Narrows and then lifted the tempo a bit myself when another runner passed me at Elizabeth Quay. I didn't reach 45 minutes until after crossing the causeway so it was too tempting to do the loop coming back on the South side. My legs were starting to feel it a bit by that stage but there was a nice gentle tailwind so the pace lifted a little more. By now I was starting to treat it as a half marathon race effort. Heading back to the Narrows I made a plan to back off a little crossing the bridge and then push harder for a couple of km from the Narrows to the boathouse just to see how it felt. Definitely having to concentrate harder to keep the faster pace but could have sustained it a bit longer if I really wanted to. Distance was just under 21km when I got home so I kept going to the end of the street to make it a half marathon.
French toast served up just after walking in the door was very much appreciated.

C • H4 8

Hit with Liam. After my run this morning I suggested that he should find someone else to hit with but he didn't. Didn't feel too sore but I wasn't moving my feet very well from the start and really ran out of steam after about half an hour.

Zamia trail tempo while Liam had a tennis lesson. Felt reasonably fresh on the warm up but didn't feel as though I was really moving freely so went for a longer flatter route up to the start. Still didn't feel as though I was really moving freely on the downhill first half but felt quite strong and controlled coming back up the hills and ended up a bit faster than last time overall. Stuck to a short slow warm down this time since my Achilles flared up the last time I did this loop hard and ran quite fast on the warm down.

Night ride with Matt. Similar to last week with a little extension out to Maylands and back. Matt initially suggested heading out to Leach and Tonkin but thought better of it once out there. A bit nippy out this week but at least it was dry and calm.

Steady lap of KP with Rachel. Generally felt reasonably good but struggled to keep up with Rachel on the downhills.