I usually run on the 400m grass track at Calwell once or twice per week. Since the mid-1980's I've always been interested in trying to run faster rather than further. Why would a plodding wombat want to run fast? This is why...
I've been semi-injured with a dodgy hamstring since the Canberra Marathon. I've still been running, but with less volume than I like and taking quite a while to get warmed up on each run. Last Thursday I was down at Calwell and decided to run the last 300m of each repeat that two of our young runners were doing.
I had to run fast (for me) to keep up and averaged a fraction over 60 seconds for each of the five 300m runs. Sprinters probably think this is 'crawling' but for a very average distance runner like myself it felt like I was flying. It's 3:20 per kilometre pace which is much faster than my 5km race pace. I ran fast because it was fun!
On Saturday I ventured out to the Cotter again for a long run. I ran with Carol and Chris on a similar course to the previous Saturday but in reverse and including the summit of Mount McDonald. Here is a GPS profile and map of the run:
I really enjoyed running on the smooth gravel trails. I was feeling good. Our slowest kilometre was a 7:53 up the mountain and fastest a 4:53 down Jellylegs. At the end of the run my shins were hurting a bit - I think from the downhills.
Today I helped out at the Canberra Half Marathon and afterwards wandered over to The Yacht Club for the first ever Canberra CR Drinks. I could only stay for a while as I had to get out to Fadden Pines to help at my club's schools cross country event. It was great to catch up with some people and bloggers I only knew as 'names' on CoolRunning. Thanks Carolyne for organising this and I hope to see more CoolRunners at the next one!
I've been semi-injured with a dodgy hamstring since the Canberra Marathon. I've still been running, but with less volume than I like and taking quite a while to get warmed up on each run. Last Thursday I was down at Calwell and decided to run the last 300m of each repeat that two of our young runners were doing.
I had to run fast (for me) to keep up and averaged a fraction over 60 seconds for each of the five 300m runs. Sprinters probably think this is 'crawling' but for a very average distance runner like myself it felt like I was flying. It's 3:20 per kilometre pace which is much faster than my 5km race pace. I ran fast because it was fun!
On Saturday I ventured out to the Cotter again for a long run. I ran with Carol and Chris on a similar course to the previous Saturday but in reverse and including the summit of Mount McDonald. Here is a GPS profile and map of the run:
I really enjoyed running on the smooth gravel trails. I was feeling good. Our slowest kilometre was a 7:53 up the mountain and fastest a 4:53 down Jellylegs. At the end of the run my shins were hurting a bit - I think from the downhills.
Today I helped out at the Canberra Half Marathon and afterwards wandered over to The Yacht Club for the first ever Canberra CR Drinks. I could only stay for a while as I had to get out to Fadden Pines to help at my club's schools cross country event. It was great to catch up with some people and bloggers I only knew as 'names' on CoolRunning. Thanks Carolyne for organising this and I hope to see more CoolRunners at the next one!
1 comment:
Good to see you again too, Ewen; very pleased to have been at the first Canberra CR drinks. drive home was good...quite a bit of traffic at that time of afternoon but all moving much faster than I was. I leave cruise-control on 110km, but a lot of others have to be doing 130+km!
Very impressive charts & diagrams of your run...you are a clever wombat!
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