Running Against the Wind

Having looked through the boring titles of my posts, I've decided to start naming my posts after songs relating to running.

Bob Seger's Against the Wind (1980) is a long time member of my IPod playlist and my favourite song of his. I've always thought of it as a comment on life and change, but interestingly Seger was a top level middle distance runner in highschool and stated that this was where the idea originated (Wikipedia (:)

Anyhoo, this song seemed appropriate for this week. Without whingeing too much I had a tough work week with 14hour days Thurs and Fri and 10hrs Sat, that completely threw me off both emotionally and in terms of getting runs in. I managed to squeeze only one run into these 3 days - at lunchtime.

Week 68km
Mon 10.4k @ 4:42 easy
Tues intervals 10x400, most at 79sec (see Clowns blog for the details)
Wed 10k @ 4:24 heart rate testing progression run
Thurs 10k @ 4:39 - midday hot and humid run

Sun 28.2k @ 4:55

This morning sent some redemption with the long run. I started 15min later (or 45min earlier) than usual due to daylight savings, and must have just missed Rob. Having run up to Kings Park I went on around the bridges. Felt great having had 2 days no running and pent up frustration from meetings/exams to vent. Could have pushed on over 30k

I'm still unsure on whether to run the track 10k on Friday night - will probably make the decision on the day, see how I feel

Feels like summer

A couple of summer-ish days and it feels like summer. Especially with cricket on the radio

73km this week @ 4:41

Interval Tuesday
wed 11k at 4:45
Thurs 9k @ 4:42
Fri 5k tempo @ 4:10. 10k total
Sat 10k @ 4:43
Sunday 24.5k @4:54

Nice long run with Rob - 15deg at start, 21 at end but frsh breeze kept it cool. Went a bit slower than last week and finished far more comfortably than last week.

Logged 15minutes yoga on the wii fit!!

Interval stats

1200/800/400 with 3/2/2min break. Repeat x1

4:23/2:51/81
4:20/2:52/79

Overall 3:30min/k pace on Sportstracks. Ran with Rob for each (- but with me being the underdog I had to try harder!!)

Back to normal

What a great feeling to be 100% fit again after that 'flu
My only problem this week was running too fast - a nice problem to have again

62km for the week @ 4:37

Tues Intervals as documented
Wed 10k progression av 4:29 last 3k @ 4:15
Fri 10k @ 4:38
Sat 10k @ 4:39
Sun 20k @4:47

First Sunday long run with Rob in quite a while. Probably ran too fast for my current fitness, but as per last year, Rob is starting off in better form, which should help me improve up towards his level over the coming weeks/months. This will be of vital importance to the sub 3hr goal.

Gentle increases over the next 2 months is the aim, running 30k by SixInch and then starting a formal Canberra program (lets assume I convince the better half that I can do Canberra)

Intervals

Interval splits for reference - continuous 200easy/400hard x8
2.5k w/up, 4.25k c/dn

51/87
50/86
50/90
49/91
50/94
52/92
51/94
51/92

4.8k (4.97 Sportstracks) in 18:58
ran the first 4 with Rob, then he stopped for a brb, slipped in pace a bit the next 4.
Happy with the overall run though, controlled effort at not far from my 5k pace

Go The Tan Redux

Two weeks later, back in Melbourne for a conference, and a couple more Tan runs.

In between, things weren't so great. I had another mini relapse of my 'flu, with another week off running. Only now a full 6 weeks after the illness do I feel fully recovered (finally!)

So this past week I yet again started back in a gentle way with about 50k of running.

Saturday morning there happened to be a Victorian Road Runners club run at the tan, so I shook off my hangover and headed down - there were about 100 people, with the option to do 4k or 8k (they added a litle section to get the track up to a full 4k)

I decided to do the one lap. Started at the back to force myself not to start too fast, and it worked to a degree with a 3:40 first km. 3:48 second km, then up the hill in the third 4:08, and final km 3:47.
Finished in 15:32 - quite happy with this hard but not all out effort.

Once again the plan is to gradually build up the distance without going too fast - lets see how it goes.