Setting goals is not easy!

At the beginning of my running diary for 2005 I wrote down some goals I hoped to achieve this year. Looking back I now realise I didn't really give this much thought. I just picked out some numbers that looked good. These numbers included running 1500m in 5:08, 3000m in 10:58 and 5000m in 19:08.

As 2005 draws to a close it's obvious I'm nowhere near running these times. In bid to be a touch more scientific I've gone back through my diaries and found the best times I've run in the 45 to 49 age-group. I've listed these in a table in the right column of this page. I've decided I should try and better these times before aiming at anything near the stratospheric ones I picked out of thin air. The M45 PB I feel most confident of bettering is my 11:57 for 3000 metres.

I think I've been guilty of delusory optimism when it comes to my ability in the year 2005. I see women my age running sub-11 for 3000 metres and say to myself "I should be able to do that" ignoring the fact that the last time I ran that fast was ten years ago!

I've also been ignoring a body that seems unable to do the training it did to run a 3000 metres in 10:58. I can't sandwich a Wednesday long run with two solid interval sessions on Tuesday and Thursday. I've tried 'just speedwork, rest days and 10k runs' training but that doesn't work for me. I'm a person who runs poorly off low weekly mileage.

I can vividly remember a period of low-mileage training at the end of 1993 when I was training with Dave Gates. Our speedwork was fairly intense such as 8x200m in 32.5 and 6x400m in 78 seconds. I ran a tired 1500 metres at Interclub in 4:55.7. Three weeks later I was scratching my head when I could only run 10:52.8 for 3000 metres. At the beginning of 1993 I'd run 10:40 at the 3k split of a 17:59.8 5000 metres. The difference was I'd been training 100 kilometres per week at the beginning of 1993 and 65 per week at the end.

I realise I need speedwork to run well on the track. I also need more weekly kilometres than the 59 per week I've run over the last six months. The next thing I need to do is to work out a plan. Perhaps I should consult a coach!

A walk down memory lane

I can't remember exactly when I started race walking. I think it was around 1997. I'd do the walk at Interclub to earn some extra points for my club. The points table was a little 'soft' as I could get the same number of points for a 1500 metre walk as I could for an 800 or 1500 metre run and that's when I was running 5:10 or so for 1500 metres!

I never trained for race walking but got by on running fitness and adequate technique. At the end of the season I'd walk the 5000 metres at the ACT Championships and amused Peter Waddell by picking up a few medals. I didn't do many 3000 metre walks but tonight I looked up my diaries and found a PB of 16:16 from the year 2000.

I was planning on racing the 5000m run at Vet's track tonight. Unfortunately on Monday I was half way through training when my left calf cramped. It was a bad cramp! I limped to the side of the soccer field and sat down. It was hurting as I walked back to the car. I had Tuesday off and by some miracle on Wednesday I was able to run.

Tonight I drove out to the track with the vague thought of running a couple of races 'easily' as training. After arriving I decided to start with the 3000 metre walk. It was a handicap and I started with Robin Whyte 10:30 after 'go'. There were only three walkers starting behind us.

Robin started rather quickly and it was a major effort for me to keep up with his frantic pace. I just concentrated on 'sticking' to him. We were having a good race and passed 1000m in 5:40. I moved ahead then Robin returned the favour. I said "how many laps to go?" The reply was "Three." Thank goodness for that!

I managed to overtake down the back straight and stay ahead until the finish. I was very happy with my time - 17:07 - so, less than a minute slower than my PB. It had been hard work. Walking fast is not easy! With the slow six foot coming up I thought prudence was in order and decided not to test my calf in any other races.

I watched Jim run another good 1500 in about 5:42, just ahead of Maria and Katie. He'd been with Garry for the first kilometre but Garry kicked away to run 5:32. When I can get some speedwork happening I'd like to try some 1500m races - they look like fun!

12:21.06

I'm just back from the Vets track meeting. Racing is fun! Well, this particular 3000 metre race was fun. My legs were feeling 'normal' again after last Thursday's disaster. At 4.40pm I warmed up at Calwell running our 2.5k loop with Karen nice and easily at 6:18/km pace.

I arrived a little late at Bruce, 20 minutes before the 3000 was due to start. I jogged a lap then it started raining quite heavily. Everyone retreated to the Grandstand. It was decided to start the race as soon as the black cloud passed so we were on our way about ten past six.

A 'split start' was used so I started in the outside lanes. The two groups merged after 100 metres. I tried to start a little faster than last time and found myself tacking on to the Ken White/Katie/Mystery-female group. The 'mystery-female' is Charlie, so I guess her identity is longer a mystery! I passed the start (200 metres) in 46 seconds, so, a bit under 4 minutes per kilometre pace.

After 600 metres I felt our group was going a little slow so I moved ahead. From then on I focussed on the red singlet of my rival Jim White. He was about 80 metres ahead and told me later he passed 1000m in 3:43. I was gradually catching Jim and Geoff was encouraging me to chase him. He was also encouraging Katie to chase me!

Before the race I really didn't entertain the idea of beating Jim. On Tuesday day he'd run 20:43 in the Spring Series Boathouse 5k. This was much faster than I'm capable of right now. Before tonight's 3000 he said he'd try and break 12 minutes.

With about 1k to run it looked like I might catch Jim. I ran harder as this was a rare opportunity. I drew alongside with 560 metres to run and went ahead. I kept running hard as I didn't want to give Jim a sniff of catching me in a sprint finish. The same went for Katie as I knew she had a good sprint.

I put in whatever kick I had in the last 100m and crossed the line in 12:21.06 for 15th place. I was very pleased to beat Jim and also run 11 seconds faster than a fortnight ago. My 1k splits were 4:03, 4:11 and 4:07. Half an hour later I placed third in the 2000m walk in 11:12. Then it was over to the high jump. I only managed 1.25 metres and had one good and two disastrous attempts at 1.30. I jammed my elbow under the bar in one and rolled my left heel in the other! Frees are not good high jump shoes when the fan is wet and slippery.

It had been a fun night!

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.

School's out for summer

I didn't run today. I worked for 10 hours and by the time I arrived home I just felt too knackered to run. Now, if I'd been still experimenting with 'running to school' I wouldn't have missed my run!

Back in July I wrote about Eliud Kipchoge and how, as a child, he ran 5 kilometres to and from school, usually 4 times a day. I took inspiration from Eliud and started running to and from work. I kept this going for six weeks but with quite a few missed days along the way. I wanted to see what would happen. Would I benefit from the increased volume of running - 80 to 100 kilometres a week compared to my usual 60 to 70?

This is what I learned from my brief experiment:
1) I am not a morning person. Well, I knew that already. I've always run in the afternoon. Strangely, I did have some quite good and enjoyable morning runs. The first kilometre or so was always a creaky shuffle but there were many times where, in the second half of the run, I'd be running along smoothly at a good pace of 4:45/km or thereabouts.
2) Running home is not easy. After working for 8, 9 or more hours my energy levels were not great. My run home from work was never as good as my run to work. This made me think that maybe I'm not an afternoon person! Perhaps I should be running at lunchtime? Unfortunately that won't happen as my lunch 'hour' is only 30 minutes.
3) I wasn't getting enough sleep. To keep this routine going I'd need 9 or more hours sleep a night. This wasn't happening. I couldn't get to sleep early enough.
4) It was fun. There was a unique satisfaction using running to get somewhere rather than using it to 'train'.
5) Running twice a day could make you fit. Well, it didn't make me fit. My City to Surf time was 3 minutes slower than last year. The main problem for me was that I wasn't absorbing the running. I wasn't getting enough recovery in the form of sleep. I couldn't do a good 'hard session' in the afternoon because I was too tired.

So, for me, running to school is out for summer - and probably forever! I'm back to running in the afternoons. I can plan to run a good track session at Calwell or an evening track race with the ACT Vets. I realise now that the goals I stated at the top of my other blog were too ambitious. For this coming track season I now have two main goals... to run 3000 metres in 11:33 and 5000 metres in 20:50. This would be an improvement on what I ran in 2004 and a step towards perhaps running faster in 2006!

The 2005 Canberra Times 10k Fun Run

Canberra's extended winter abated today leaving 4,000 runners and walkers with almost perfect conditions to attempt a PB or just enjoy the beautiful day and company of others.

At the beginning of the year I had a goal of running 39:58 for 10k. This would have been the day to do it. Well, I missed by a kilometre! 44:03 when I passed under the clock a few strides behind Katie as she left me floundering with her finishing sprint. So, I guess I'm in 44-minute shape for 10k, well behind my rival Jim White (42:10) and Geoff who ran a very speedy 40:41.

After finishing I collected one of the Canberra Times 'fat bags' (I knew they contained a water bottle) and chatted to Garry, Jillian, Peter and Greg in the chute. Then I collected my clothing and started walking back down the course a bit to watch out for Luckylegs. On the way I bumped into my cousin Don who had run with a couple of mates in 48 minutes.

I walked down that nasty speed-bump 100m before the finish, across the bridge and waited near Blundells' Cottage. In no time at all Luckylegs arrived, running very fast. How could this be? I thought she'd run about 70 minutes. I quickly yelled out "Go Norma!" She disappeared up the hill towards the finishing chute. I ran around to greet her and found her with Flashduck and Strewth. "Wow, what time did you run?" "65:46 and I had a fantastic time!" "Good stuff" I said. I was very happy that she'd had a good run.

The winners of the run were a surprised Anthony Haber who ran a brilliant 29:41 and Jackie Fairweather with 33:37. Anthony has only been running for 5 years and is coached by Hugh Ford. Jackie has been running for slightly longer - she said 20 years when she collected her trophy! After the presentations Katie organised a few CoolRunners for a group photo. You can see Griffin, Luckylegs, Speedygeoff, Aki, CJ, Flashduck, Strewth and Wombatface looking happy in yellow and blue with various coloured shoes.

Forerunner Man forgot to stop after the finish and did 12 kilometres. His 10k time was 43:42 so, I guess he thought the course was 10.1k. My real watch splits were 4:20 at 1k (felt very easy), 13:11 at 3k and 22:22 at 5k. My last 5k was 21:41. It's rare that I manage a negative split on this course so I'm thinking the 5k sign may not have been in exactly the right spot.

The Blackmores Sydney Half Marathon

What can I say? In short, it was a brilliant weekend!

I had entered early for the half marathon as Karen from Calwell encouraged me to try it. I thought it would be a fun event to do - running across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, through the city on parts of the famous Olympic Marathon 'blue line' course and finishing at the Opera House!

Karen ended up being a non-starter as work commitments resulted in a lack of training. I knew Luckylegs was running so I made arrangements to share a room at 'The Vibe' which was about 200 metres from the start line. On Saturday morning I drove through light rain to Mittagong. Chickybabe was standing on the steps waving blue and yellow streamers, saying later she'd done this to a couple of other white cars that drove past before me!

After meeting the family (and Jim) we enjoyed a cuppa and two slices of that delicious running shoe birthday cake! Then, it was off to Sydney via an Oxford Street traffic jam and the Harbour Bridge to book into our digs at Milsons Point. We went for a walk down to the harbour foreshore where a wedding was in progress. It was a lovely warm afternoon.

Back at the hotel we arranged to meet Carolyne and Bob for a meal that evening. Unfortunately, at the allotted time, Carolyne wasn't feeling the best so we left her to sleep and wandered up to an Italian place in North Sydney with Bob who told some fascinating stories about his travels by bicycle through North Vietnam.

The wake-up call did the trick at 5am and we were soon breakfasting on muffins, jam and coffee. From the hotel window I could see runners walking down the hill to race headquarters. I was unusually nervous about this race. Not for myself, but for Chickybabe who was hoping to run 'not so slow'. We found the tent which was handing out the 'free early-bird' race singlets and met a few CoolRunners including Eagle, Benny and Tesso.

There was a queue for the baggage trucks and more at the porta-loos. Our line was painfully slow so Chickybabe gave it a miss. I was sitting down when the gun went off! Luckily the porta-loos were close to the start and I began my journey just 55 seconds later.

Around the corner and up onto the bridge I was looking out for CoolRunning shirts and hats. I spotted The Owl and Omni running easily together but they didn't know where Luckylegs was. I finally caught her a couple of minutes later - she was looking good and running strongly! As for myself, I was feeling a bit wonky and lop-sided. On the downhill of the bridge into the city I started to feel a bit smoother.

It was crowded! A bit like a mini City to Surf start. I had to weave a bit trying to find some space to run. At one point I followed 'stroller man' through the throng. I caught and moved ahead of 'black balloon man', who I guessed was the 2 hour pacer. Forerunner Man was not too far short at the 3k mark but soon after he yelled out 'Weak GPS'. As we crossed the Pyrmont Bridge light rain started. I spotted 'red balloon man' (the 1:50 pacer) way in the distance and set about trying to gradually catch him.

The leaders were coming back from the turn and I was quite surprised to see Vince Craig from Canberra in about 7th place. Not far from the turn there was a yell from the sidelines "hey, wombat!". It was Plu, standing there clicking away with his digital camera just as a tropical downpour commenced. What dedication!

I felt pretty good after the turn and finally caught the red balloon group which included Kevin Tiller. Then, coming the other way was a very good looking group - Luckylegs, Omni and The Owl! "Go Chickybabe!" The rest of my race involved trying to get a bit of a gap on 'red balloon man' before the 'killer' Observatory Hill at the 19k mark. Running up this hill I could hear his voice getting ominously louder as he encouraged runners to "work your arms" and "this is the last hill". It was like the grim reapers at the six foot track all over again!

I crested the hill and ran down the corkscrew and onto the Cahill Expressway trying to keep pace with 'red balloon man'. Lulu was cheering madly at all the CoolRunners! I would try and stay with RB man! Just before the 20k sign he accelerated and left me floundering. I had to run the last 1.1k in 3:34 to break 1:50 which was impossible... however, the 20k sign was in the wrong spot and I ended up running a net 1:50:01 and an official 'loo-included' time of 1:50:56.

After finishing, 'de-chipping', collecting my medal and taking a couple of drinks, I walked back up the Cahill Expressway to see how Chickybabe was going. I waited at the corkscrew and it wasn't long before they arrived. Only The Owl and CB - no Omni whose knees had called it quits. I tried to run with them but Chickybabe sprinted down that hill. I had to put in a major effort to catch up and thought to myself "I'm not enjoying this!". I gave up in Macquarie Street and let Owly and CB sprint down that last hill to the finish. They made it in about 2:32 which I thought was excellent on such a hilly course. I was very proud of Chickybabe - her running was out of sight.

In the recovery area we caught up with a number of CoolRunners including TA, The Gnome, Sparkie and the poetic Go Girl. Then, the long walk back over the bridge. We bumped into Bob who had already showered at the hotel after running 1:31 in the half and was on his way back to meet Carolyne who was running the marathon. We all had a late lunch at a cafe in Kirribilli. Carolyne had run an excellent 3:48 in the marathon. Then, it was the long drive home to Canberra via Mittagong and one last piece of moreish birthday cake!

The green, green grass of Calwell

Some of my most memorable training runs were with Jim Tucker on the 400 metre grass track at Calwell. Like many grass tracks Calwell has a hill. From the finish line you run gently up to the summit of the hill at the 200m mark then gently back down to the finish. When I trained with Jim, we liked running 300 metre repeats, thus avoiding 100m of uphill.

Now, back in those days, which was not that long ago when I think about it, maybe the mid-1990s, Jim was a seriously quick runner. He regularly ran sub-60 seconds for his 400m races which was a time I could only dream about. Using my endurance I was able to beat Jim in 1500m races, but in an 800 he'd be running sub-2:20 leaving me 3 or 4 seconds behind. I think our ideal race would have been a 1000 metres.

In our 300 metre repeats at Calwell, Jim would leave me struggling in the first 3 or 4 such was his natural speed. It was frustrating but fun training. I'd be killing myself trying to keep up and he'd casually look over wondering what my problem was. My problem was that I was just plain slow! There's a runner in Geoff's group who also has plenty of natural speed. Jim is usually a good judge and he's predicted Katie will run 2:35 for 800m, 5:30 for 1500m and 12:00 for 3000m this coming track season.

This afternoon I was back on the green, green grass of Calwell. I ran my first serious track session for a number of months. For quite a while I've had this niggling hamstring soreness which has hampered my feeble efforts to run fast. I can handle long slow runs but anything quick and my hammy starts saying "don't do this". Today I said to myself "stuff it, I'm going to try something faster".

I decided to run some barefoot 400s starting at the summit of the track. My recovery was 1min 30secs of walking. The 400s were 97.7, 97.6, 93.8, 92.6 and 90.9. These times aren't all that quick, it's equivalent to a pace of just under 4 minutes per kilometre. The thing is I didn't feel too bad and my leg didn't say "stop, or else". Afterwards I ran a comfortable 2.5k warm-down with Kathy and Marlene. I thought to myself, if I can keep up this training my running might go somewhere.

This weekend it's going to Sydney! The Blackmores Half Marathon is on Sunday. I'm really looking forward to running across the Coathanger with thousands of others and cheering on Luckylegs to the finish at the Sydney Opera House.