My Runs

Again I intended to run today, but didn't. I got stuck into the garden and then I was on the roof fixing a sky-light, the bloody thing has been leaking.

Well 5 pm came around, I was hungry and thought “bugger it, I'll eat instead of running”.

I'm definitely running tomorrow at Brimbank.

I had intended to run today, I was feeling quite well considering I was so stuffed yesterday in the heat of a distance run. Melbourne being Melbourne it was raining today and towards the end of the day I really didn't feel like running. The rain made my decision a little easier. Oh well, not running today, I'll go tomorrow.

Time of Run : 4.45 pm Distance : 15.21 km Time : 1:19:51 Pace : 5:15 /km Max HR 203 (??) Avg HR 143 Weather : Hot about 32 All the data can be found here. Today's run was very exhausting. The weather was hot, about 32 degrees and a reasonable northerly wind. Hook or by crook I wanted to get 15 k's out. I'm not really sure why I had to get 15 k's done tonight. On hindsight maybe I should have just gone with a casual 8 k'er or no run whatsoever. I was prepared, I wore my fuel belt carrying heaps of water and an energy gel (homemade) which I made full use of out on the road and down by the river. Considering the heat I wasn't bothered with a fast pace or any type of fast/slow/fast/slow routine today. Just another run to claim the k's for my database and maintaining fitness. Early in the run Mr. Garmin beeped a few times telling me my heart rate was too high at 203. I've got no idea why I had such a high heart rate so early in the run. It was within the first kilometer. After this I didn't hear a peep out of Mr. Garmin and on perusing my heart rate graph it was fairly steady, averaging out at 143. About the 11 k mark I was really feeling it running north along Tarneit Rd into a headwind. My stomach was queasy and my pace slowed even further. The uneasiness in my stomach stayed with me for the entire length of Tarneit Rd about 2.5 km. Well I finished the run and then pumped out a 100 sit-ups. I really didn't feel like doing the sit-ups and when I got to a hundred I thought, "that's it, enough". Normally I like to get 200 sit-ups done, but today I was stuffed. As I write this a few hours later I'm extremely tired, even after a decent pepper steak, potatoes and salad. I'm drinking heaps of water trying to stay hydrated. I can feel light-headedness coming on. Must drink heaps of water.

Location : Hoppers Crossing Time of run : 6 pm Distance : 12.71 km Time : 1:03:41 Pace : 5:01 /km Heart-rate Max : 153 Heart-rate Avg : 137 Details of this run, all the data, can be found here. Easy run tonight, just plodding around the streets of Hoppers Crossing. The heart-rate graph clearly shows an easy effort. On return I pumped out 100 sit-ups and that was it. The 1 km splits are relatively even as indicated by the lap chart

Gym session whilst at work today at 3 pm for 25 mins. As per usual of recent times, well the last 2 - 3 months, I concentrated only on my abs. Sit-ups (exercise ball - crunch twist) 1 x 30, 3 x 20. Oblique twists (bar) 2 x 50 Side bends (7.5 kg) 2 x 50 Crunches 1 x 50 My intention during the gym session was to have a run after work. Well, plans are made to be broken. On arriving home I decided to have a rest from running. I'm feeling a little energy sapped most likely caused from the Two Bays 28 k run on Sunday and recovery run last night. I'm wondering now, why I'm calling last nights run a recovery run. Besides being energy sapped (buggered) my legs, quads, are still aching. I don't mind that so much as I realize that I must have exerted myself and therefore is good. I've got a slight niggling pain in my left foot. Therefore probably a good reason not to run tonight. Next Group Run Looking forward to my 3rd group run at Brimbank Park this coming Sunday. This time they're planning a 23 k run, extending the turn-around point to Canning St.

Time of Run : 5.25 pm Course : Werribee River Distance : 12.52 km Time : 1:03:14 Pace : 5:03 /km Max Heart-rate : 149 bpm Avg Heart-rate : 137 bpm Easy run tonight, no intention on going fast. My thighs are a little sore from the hills yesterday, the Two Bays run. Strong southerly wind.

Gym session whilst at work at 2 pm for 30 mins.

Sit-ups (exercise ball) 1 x 200 Oblique twists (bar) 2 x 50 Side bends (7.5 kg) 2 x 50 Sit-ups (exercise ball - crunch twist) 3 x 20

Legs feeling a little tight and sore from yesterday's Two Bays Trail run. I'll get over it.

These results are a direct copy of an entry from this thread of the Cool Running Website.

All, With 27 starters it would be fair to say this was a successful day and on the larger side of Fat Ass events. Congratulations to Scott Thompson who won the 56km event in 5:59 and to Richard McCormick who took out the 28km event in 2:38. Well done to Mary Pickarance who was first woman (28km) to finish in a sprint for the line with Kelly Gerber. A special mention must go to Dylan Dwyer - in his first off road race - who was the first 56km runner to complete the outward journey to Cape Schanck. Watch out for Dylan in future off road races. WIth participation like this an official race beckons next year. From my perspective as a participant, it was a nice jog in the woods. Wearing my organiser's hat, I've learned that before we run an official event we'll need to ensure that this course is clearly marked. The number, twists, corners and turns confused a few runners, meaning they lost time and dropped places while running off the course. As Kevin points out runners went off the trail in both the out and back directions. We had a meeting with Parks Victoria this afternoon who seemed to be very supportive of any event which would help raise the awareness of the Track and its scenic passage to Bass Strait. We have some great pics which we will post here soon. Well done everyone. TWO BAYS TRACK RESULTS 2005 RESULTS 56km Event 28km 56km 1 Scott Thompson 2:37 5:59 2 Dylan Dwyer 2:25 6:08 3 Kelvin Marshall 2:59 6:30 4 Mike Pickarance 2:49 6:55 5 Kevin Cassidy 3:18 7:09 6 Robert Boyce 3:07 7:25 7 Steve Hyde 3:25 7:42 8 Justin McNamara 3:34 8:40 8 Matt McNamara 3:34 8:40 RESULTS 28km Event 1 Richard McCormick 2:38 2 Peter Bignall 2:39 3 Simon Gerber 2:41 4 Lachlan Fraser 2:45 5 Brian Trower 2:46 6 Philip Healey 2:47 7 Mark Foley 2:48 8 Richard MacAfee 2:50 9 Mary Pickarance 2:51 10 Kelly Gerber 2:51 11 Nick Thompson 2:52 12 Steven Taylor 2:54 13 Emma Miller 2:56 14 Julia Thorn 2:59 15 Brendan Mason 3:05 16 Erwin Koster 3:44 16 Mihaslk Provspiev 3:44 Geoff Carroll DNF Cheers, Brendan

Two Bays Trail, Dromana to Cape Schanck. Time of Run : 8.09 am Distance : 29.42 km Time : 2:55:59 Pace : 5:59 /km Heart-rate Max : 169 Heart-rate Avg : 141 Notice the elevation chart, the first 30 minutes was all up hill, rising from sea level to about 310 metres. No warm up for this run. My heart-rate immediately up there around 160 bpm, obviously the hill causing it. Fastest lap (7) 3:58 /km (on the descent) Slowest lap (4) 9:19 /km (was lost) Highest Avg HR - Lap (2) 158 bpm Lowest Avg HR - Lap (9) 126 bpm Today's run all started yesterday or last night for me. I'm not normally this organised but I made sure my bag was packed, gear to be worn out and ready to be put on in the morning. My homemade energy gel all ready in the fridge. Just had to remember to retrieve it this morning. Went to bed early, well early for me, about 11 pm. Was up at 4.30 am and as per usual checked my weight at 78.4 kg. I was as quiet as a mouse, don't think I disturbed my other half, she lets me know when I do. Had breaky almost straight away, some cereal, orange juice and a multi-vitamin tablet. Of recent times that's my usual breakfast. I was out the door at 5.10 am and heading down the road to Cape Schanck. I arrived at the Cape Schanck light-house car park about 7.10 am and heaps of Cool Runners already there. It was cold and miserable (raining) at this time. A few of the 56 km runners had volunteered to pick up the 28 km runners and get us to the start at Dromana. I hitched a ride with Robert Boyce (cr - rb). While still at Cape Schanck my run nearly ended before it even started. In my haste to get to the toilet block I locked my keys in the car. Fortunately the door was not fully shut, though it was locked closed. Peter (cr - Pbig) just happened to have a coat-hangar in his car. Well that did the trick. I mentioned to everyone that that didn't need to be mentioned again, oh well, I've mentioned it now. Robert and I drove to Dromana, the start of the event. Robert was running the 56 km version. Far to far for me. At the start, Brendan Mason (cr - Virtual Runner), today's organiser, gave all of us maps and instructions for the course. I suppose I should have listened more intently. I was thinking along the lines I'll follow a bunch or someone and therefore getting lost or off-course will not be a problem. How wrong I was. Just prior to the start a group photo was taken, about 30 of us. I'll insert the photo here when I get it, most likely from the CR website. About 8.09 am the event started. I was in there with the first bunch climbing this big bloody hill right from the start. I followed the first bunch and was relying on them to be following the directions. There were tracks that went off in all directions. Well as you can imagine the leading bunch took a wrong turn about 20-30 mins gone and I followed. I'm not blaming the bunch I was following, I'm blaming myself for not reading the directions. At this point I was running with Lachlan from Maryville and we realised that we'd stuffed up. From the Google Earth map it's quite obvious where we went off course (is highlighted on the chart). That little diversion is 1.5 km and I've estimated that we actually ran further than that as we back-tracked and ran over the same ground a few times. I believe we probably ran about 2 km more than we had to. When we found the right track again all the others had zipped through and we were into catch-up mode. This is truly the first trail run I've done. Lachlan was catching up more so than me in that he left me behind. Now I had to read the directions. At certain points I had to stop to study the directions with the features at hand, a little disconcerting at times. Some tracks that I was running along I was thinking surely this can't be right. At various points my confidence was restored somewhat when I saw runners ahead of me and guessed or assumed that they were tracking along the correct track. Some of the tracks I negotiated were quite precarious. One was a narrow track at the top of a precipice. This section was towards the end of the run, I believe prior to crossing Boneo Rd. Along this section all it would take is to place your foot in the wrong spot and would be easy to lose balance and fall down the side. Well it didn't happen to me, though I was thinking about it at the time. It went through my head, "What if?" Other parts were wooden bridges or decking covering the track. Some deckings were covered with chicken wire. Some of the planks had rotted away or about to and the message to self was don't step on those planks. Along one section I missed the chicken wire part and my foot slipped, luckily I kept my balance but it did give me a fright. Lachlan was just ahead of me at this point. As I approached Boneo Rd Brendan was just ahead and then I knew I had taken the right path. Brendan told me to cross the road and continue on the track. His main advice was to keep the coast on my left. My misses reckons I've got a memory like a sieve and so I was saying to myself numerous times "coast on left, coast on left....". Considering the weather was miserable just prior to the start, during the event it was only cool and overcast. It didn't rain, though it wanted to. After 2:55:59 my Garmin said 29.42 km travelled. Other CR's with Garmins (that didn't go off-course) indicated 27.4 km. Photographs were taken of all the 28 km finishers, I believe, by Brendan's wife. I'll insert those photos when I get them. No injuries today other than soreness in legs. All afternoon I felt a little (well maybe a lot) drained or energy sapped. I'll do this again next year or when ever it's organised again.

Time of run : 6.05 pm Distance : 8.03 km Time : 38:46 Pace : 4:50 /km Max HR : 165 bpm Avg HR : 145 bpm Weather : Hot high 20's maybe in low 30's, strong northerly wind. Just a normal run today, not looking for a fast time and not wanting to run at snails pace. Only hours earlier I did an ab session at work. It was the sort of night I could have easily not gone running. The excuses I could have used were many including the hot weather, gym session today and always I'm a little tired. Well I discounted them and went anyway as I really wanted a rest day tomorrow, being the Saturday before my big run on Sunday. The strong wind killed me along Morris St, running right into it. I was trying to keep under 5 min pace, so if it wasn't the wind, it was my cap blowing off and then a short time later having to tie my shoe laces again. After the run, I felt good and so decided to get in another 100 sit-ups.

Gym session whilst at work at 2.15 pm for 30 mins. It went something like this:-

Sit-ups (exercise ball) 1 x 200 Side bends (7.5 kg) 3 x 50 Oblique twists (bar) 3 x 50 Sit-ups (exercise ball - crunch/twist) 3 x 20

Not enough time available for me to go for a run during company time today. I'll do that after work at home.

Time of Run : 4.00 pm Distance : 20.56 km (my Garmin says so) Time : 1:43:04 Pace : 5:01 /km Max Heart-rate : 162 bpm Avg Heart-rate : 148 bpm Weather : Warm to Hot about 26 deg. Little or no wind. After run, stretches and 100 sit-ups (using exercise ball). Today I was fortunate to get home from work early and therefore had time up my sleeve. I'd had a good nights sleep and got over a dose of the tired's from yesterday. So I thought to myself, "self - why not get a 20 k'er in before my Two Bays 28 k'er on Sunday". So I did, even though it was on the warm to hot side. Because of the weather and the distance to run I made a batch of energy gel, enough for the distance. I'm calling my gel at the moment, "Rocket Fuel". Anyway, during the run every 30 minutes I took a shot of gel and washed it down with water. Tastes quite nice and I think it's doing its job - giving me an energy boost. I must admit towards the end of the run I was starting to feel a little drained and was quite thankful to myself for not planning a longer run, if that makes sense.