Gravity is getting heavier

I didn't race on Thursday night. I wasn't happy. Earlier in the week I was looking forward to running my first 1500 metre race for some time and possibly doing the 3000 later in the evening.

On the night my legs felt terrible during my warm-up. Earlier I'd jogged 2.5k at Calwell with one of our sprinters and she was having to slow down to my feeble pace. Why were my legs so creaky and stiff? Well, having thought about it, I think I probably ran too hard and long the previous day. It was only 13.5k, but for me, at the moment, this is long and I'd run the middle parts fairly hard.

I watched the 1500 metre races. In the one I would have chosen, my rival Jim White was beaten by Katie in a sprint finish. Jim ran 5:43 and Katie 5:41. Had I run I would have struggled to break six minutes. After that I jogged 5 or so laps with Aki. She had done the race walk earlier and seemed happy to do this little amount of running.

Then I decided to do the high jump. I like the high jump! It's an event you can do that has no pain. It feels great when you clear the bar and land on the mats. I used to do the high jump quite a bit some years back when chasing points for my club at Interclub. I would often compete against Gerard Ryan who is an ACT running legend and former Canberra Times Fun Run winner. The high jump was the only event in which I could beat Gerard! He would bow out at 1.45 metres while I could clear 1.55 on a good day.

On Thursday night I jumped 1.30 metres and had a close miss at 1.35. Where has that 20 centimetres from 8 years ago gone? It must be the hole in the ozone layer. Yes, that's it! Gravity is getting heavier.

12:32.59

I've just run my first race of the 2005/06 track and field season. It was a 3000 metre event at the ACT Veterans Thursday night meeting. I finished 13th in 12:32.59. Electronic timing. You've got to love that - especially if you're a pedantic bastard like myself.

The 3000 metres is a true test of speed and endurance. If you've been weak on either or both parts of your training you can't hope to run a good 3000 metres. I don't like having results in 3000 metre races that are twelve something. I guess it's a true indication of my lack of race fitness.

Conditions were near perfect. No breeze at all and mild. The track was wet from earlier rain. In the first lap I found myself running with Peter. My rival, Jim White had arrived late and with no warm-up said he expected to run 13 minutes. The Frees felt good! I moved ahead of Peter but could never quite catch the Mick/Trevor/Ken and Mystery-female group.

My kilometre splits were 4:07, 4:13 and 4:12. Next time I'll start a little faster. Geoff has also recommended arriving at the track at least 45 minutes before the race in order to do a good warm-up. I was only able to run about a kilometre for a warm-up.

Although the race took a long time it was great that I didn't have any injury problems! No dodgy knee, bothered hamstrings or tender heels. Now I just want to get out and train hard for the next one!

My knee's not hurting!

I was down at Calwell again this afternoon to run on the grass track. I always go there with the intention of doing something 'good'. For about a month this has been difficult because I've had a strange knee injury. I could run at a steady pace such as 5 minutes per kilometre or slower with no problems. As soon as I tried running 'fast' the back of my left knee started 'grabbing' and hurting.

Why should I worry about such a minor niggling injury? Just go and run steady kilometres. There are plenty of runners with much more serious injuries such as Louise, Miners and Geoff. I guess right now I'm not happy to just run slow. I want to race 3000 and 5000 metres on the track this Summer and to do that I need to practice running fast.

This afternoon I ran our normal 2.5km warm-up with no problems. Mike suggested that Karen try some 500 metre repeats. We ran a few 'strides' on the straight track and my knee seemed okay. The Frees were feeling good. Karen took the lead for the first 500 metre run and I followed. 2:05 and I wasn't thinking about my knee, just that this speed wasn't easy. Then followed runs of 2:01, 1:58, 1:57 and 1:54. My knee wasn't hurting!

I usually run six 500 metre repeats but stopped at five as I didn't want to push my luck. I was so happy my knee wasn't hurting. After Kathy finished her amazingly long and fast session she joined us for the 2.5k warm-down. It was a warm, breezy evening and we were all feeling happily tired and satisfied after another successful session on the lush grass at Calwell.