Daisy Hill Trail Run

Drove Pete & Wayne down to Daisy Hill for a 6am start this morning. Had a map of the area & linked up 2 of the longest trails: Buhot & Venman Circuits with a loop trail of the Plunkett Mallee circuit. Conditions were good, practically in the shade for all of the 2 hours thanks to the tree cover. Nice undulating topography with only 2 steep hills. Saw quite a few wallabies but no koalas. Had a couple of short deviations from the plan & arrived at the half-way point, Venman Bushland carpark in exactly an hour. Drank from the tap there. Came back linking the other halves of the 2 circuits. Arrived 5 mins early so did a short loop of the carpark area to finish in 2.01. Wayne's pedometer measured 21ks.

Added this type of long slow run on trails to the program after reading an article from McMillan. And it was good to spice things up a bit.

Downloaded a marathon training diary from the Gold Coast marathon site. It's the "advanced" version & is quite handy being able to add the runs & comments. Adds up your weekly totals too but the week starts on a Monday & finishes on a Sunday - so this the 20th week out from Gold Coast was a 57 k week with 2 days off (Monday & Thursday).

Friday night I took part in the Brisbane running clubs 3k challenge. Last year it was held in a relatively quiet section of the Gardens. A bit of a schmozzle this year as the Gardens were partially closed due to a music festival. Change of plan had us starting from the bike path under the freeway & heading out along the 'floating' boardwalk with a turn-around once at the end of it. All the way back to the GW Bridge. Ran pretty controlled, didn't have anything in reserve but picked folks off who had gone out too hard. A long 3k I suspect, finished with 10 mins 52 but felt faster than that, just made the top 20.

50k week

Ran on Saturday, an easy 8 k so that I could hit the 50k for the week mark. Haven't run that much in a long time. Last Tues I skipped PCRG, feeling a bit flat (& it was raining). However, I did have an afternoon run, 10ks to UQ with T. Had Wed & Thurs off - was meant to run Thurs evening but got home late. Decided to go to PCRG on Fri & had a good session: 2x 3 mins with 30SR; 4 mins back, 30sec jog & 1.30 finish off. Then 3x Gold Coast hill (only half way) plus 1 full to finish. Don't think even the marines would do that sort of session...

Today's long run had 8 of us again: did the river loop counter-clockwise in 90mins (had a few stops for drinks where I stop the watch). Checked our pace at the Regatta where there is a 1k mark on the path in green paint, (the other marker is near the floating restaurant - Oxleys) 4.44.

Drink at the Ship Inn & then off to the Story Bridge via Kangaroo Point. First k in 4.30, second in 4.10. By the 3rd I was dropping off 10m & the others were heading over the Bridge. I didn't want to run that fast or any longer than 2 hours. Retraced my steps & my pace dropped off considerably. Back to the pub with 5 mins to spare so did a loop of the pool to finish in 2.01. The others came sprinting over the GW Bridge, reckoned they were sub 4 going thru' the gardens.

2.02

5.30am start from the Ship Inn with a group of 7 for the Sunday long run. A circuitous route out to New Farm & Tenneriffe, along boardwalks for a 1 hour 5 min turn point. Felt ok but knew the time would challenge me. Had wanted a 1.30 or 1.45 but 2 hours was on the cards. Felt that if I could hang on & not push it too hard the group dynamics would pull me thru'. And that pretty much happened, dropped off the pace with 20 mins to go. Picked it up until the 1.50 mark then felt pretty weary, legs heavy. Back to the Ship Inn in 1.56 so had to continue until the psychological hurdle had been achieved.

Had to front up a couple of hours later for helping shift furniture to a new house: wardrobes, tables etc. All the heavy, awkward stuff.

Tuesday 3k TT.
Raining on the run seemed to slow me, maybe the traction wasn't quite there. Slow halfway turn in 5.07 was disappointing but a homeward half of 5.20 was worse. Felt flat.

Surprised myself on Thurs & Fri by getting up early & running with Tenz around 5.10 pace on Thur for 10ks & quicker on Friday for 12ks. My first Friday off PCRG in a while. Reducing my speed work until the soreness eases.

Looks like rain...

Drenched this morning on our easy run to UQ. 12ks about 1hr.

Have been getting shin soreness on the left side over the last few weeks & a tight calf. My running action doesn't quite feel right either. But I think my weekly regime is catching up with me - 2 speed sessions & a long run. Need to drop a speed session (Fridays) & build up longer, slower runs during the week - at least 4 runs a week as well.

Finished last Friday's session with more pronounced soreness. Ran 3x 1k mixed in with 2x 500m. 3.17 first k but started to rapidly tire & relinquished my 2nd position to Pete who tried to gee me up but to no avail.

Tues before ran 1 min & 30 sec efforts in the Gardens. This was fronting up after Monday's 10k bushwalk in Binna Burra & Sunday's 90 min effort (first 60 with Tenz before dropping him off). At work on Tues I got up from the desk & my lower back was sore. Lumbar muscles that continued to stiffen. Got home later, put a heat pack on. Wed better. Weird.

Anyway, Tues is time trial so will go hard but I think the body wants either time off or reduced intensity. Don't want an injury at this stage.