I didn’t get back from Melbourne until Monday lunchtime, so I missed out on some sessions there. Made it to the gym yesterday morning for the usual 1.6km warm up run followed by a heavy weight session and am feeling it a bit today.

Ty & Andrew are coming up from Canberra today, and myself and Tom are taking them out to Wasavie since Tom is always raving about it. That means I’ll miss my cycle home and also my run, so I had to make up for it last night. I decided to run for 5km last night, instead of the planned 3.2km and it went OK. I had the usual 145bpm HR limit on the watch, but I started off too fast as my splits show. Still, at this stage in the game time isn’t even remotely important – distance is, so the slow build-up continues.

Lap 1: 4:46.6
Lap 2: 5:01.1
Lap 3: 5:14.8 
Lap 4: 5:24.8 
Lap 5: 5:28.5 *
Lap 6: 5:30.2 *
 = exceeded MaxHR limit of 145bpm & had to slow down
Each lap is 840m

R: 6.6km – W: 1 session

I finished the week off yesterday with a cycle home from work and then a quick run. Felt pretty good on the run too, and even this morning there’s no stiffness or soreness, so maybe I’m getting used to this running lark? Probably not ;-) All in all, it’s been a good week. Didn’t miss any training I had planned to do and I feel ready to continue building more in next week. In the meantime, myself and Jacqui are off to Melbourne for the weekend.

S: 4900m – B: 45km – R: 12.2km – W: 1 session

Went along to the swim session yesterday only to discover that our coach had decided to introduce heart-rate based training. In order for thsi to work we needed to know our maximum HR, so we had to do a 100m sprint and take our pulse afterwards. I managed 190, off a 1:05 100m Free. Only 12 seconds slower than my best ;-)

I’m not going to bother with the HR stuff, as I can swim 1:30/100m pace on a HR around 125bpm, but upping that to 150bpm only takes me to 1:25 pace, so it’s not really worth the extra effort, especially since I’ll be down around 1:25 pace in a couple of weeks anyway.

400 FS warm up
100 Sprint – 1:05 (HR: 190)
4 * 100 FS on 1:50
3 * 200 FS on 3:30
3 * 100 FS on 1:50
2 * 200 FS on 3:30
2 * 100 FS on 1:50
Total: 2400m

I cycled home as well, then went straight out for a run. I was only doing four laps of the park this time, for a total of 3.2km, again at a nice and relaxed pace. I can feel it in my legs this morning though, particularly the bottom of my calves. Still, today’s my day off, so I should be fine tomorrow.

S: 4900m – B: 30km – R: 9km – W: 1 session

.. I went to Florida a few days after President Bush did to observe the damage from Hurricane Andrew. I had dealt with a lot of natural disasters as governor, including floods, droughts, and tornadoes, but I had never seen anything like this. I was surprised to hear complaints from both local officials and residents about how the Federal Emergency Management Agency was handling the aftermath of the hurricane. Traditionally, the job of FEMA director was given to a political supporter of the President who wanted some plum position but who had no experience with emergencies. I made a mental note to avoid that mistake if I won. Voters don’t chose a President based on how he’ll handle disasters, but if they’re faced with one themselves, it quickly becomes the most important issue in their lives." Bill Clinton, My Life (p. 428).

Via: Brad DeLong

Yesterday morning saw me up bright and early and straight into the gym for my only weights session of the week. I finished my weights program before going to NZ, but I’ve decided to do just one session per week for maintenance, so that I don’t lose the gains I made while doing the full program. It’s only one set of between 6 to 10 reps of heavy weights. If I get to 10 reps, then I have to increase the weight and build the reps back up to 10. It means the session is very quick, usually only taking 20mins or so, excluding the 1.6km warm-up run.

In the evening I managed my first outdoor run in a while. I did three runs on the hotel treadmill last week while in Canberra, as I knew I’d have to run outside this week and figured that the treadmill would be a good warm-up. Easier on the knees too. I ran five laps, which is about 4.2km, taking it nice and easy with an average HR around 145. I’m going for the slow and steady option for the moment, running each 840m lap around 5:05, instead of 4:40 last year, hoping it will be easier on my legs until the weight comes down!

S: 2500m – B: 15km – R: 5.8km – W: 1 session

Back from Canberra now, so I can get back into a proper week’s training schedule. Cycled in to work via the ferry, then hit the pool for my lunchtime swim session. Felt good throughout.

400 FS
4 * 100 IM on 1:45 (1:31)
400 Pull
8 * 50 FS on 50 (:45)
4 * 100 Pull on 1:45 (1:30)
10 * 50 FS on 50 (:43)
Total: 2500m

I’ve spent 20 years breathing almost exclusively to my right, so I’ve been working on breathing to my left over the last two weeks,in order to balance up my stroke a bit more. It felt pretty weird at first, but I’m starting to get the hang of it. My stroke still feels a little awkward while breathing left, but I’m fine-tuning it all the time. I’m limiting myself to 2500m per session at the moment so as to leave me enough energy for cycling and running. Last year I was doing too much swimming and not enough of the other two, hence the artificial limit for the moment.

I cycled home yesterday evening, which was rocket fast as I had the wind behind me.

S: 2500m – B: 15km

I crawled out of bed at 6am yesterday morning to go watch Niall run his first marathon. Mayra collected me at 6.40 and we headed off towards Fox Studios to await his arrival. The point we’d chosen meant we’d see him at the 11km, 16km and 21km points of the race, allowing us to give plenty of encouragement. Mayra had missed the last three races he’d done for various reasons, so this time we were taking no chances, and ended up in place, banner at the ready with a good hour before he was due to pass us. The only other people around were police manning the road closures!

Niall duly arrived at the appointed time, looking quite relaxed and cheerful. He’d latched onto the 3:30 pace group, indicated by a guy carrying yellow balloons, and on the three occasions we saw him seemed to be quite comfortable with the pace. After leaving him at the halfway mark we headed back to the Junction and got the train in to the CBD to watch the finish on the Opera House forecourt. The run down Macquarie Street, with the Opera House gradually revealed as you get closer, is an attractive way to finish a marathon, though by that stage I doubt any runner really gives a toss about the view.

We got ourselves set up just after the finish line and were keeping an eye out for the yellow balloons, figuring that Niall wouldn’t be too far behind, but he must have picked up the pace since we’d last seen him as he beat the balloons, crossing the line in an unofficial time of 3:29:18. There’ll be a couple of seconds knocked off that too due to him not crossing the start line as soon as the gun sounded.

So, a pretty impressive first effort for a marathon. Check out the photos.

Update: His official time was 3:28:59.

I’m back in Sydney and winter is well and truly over. Myself and Jacqui walked down to Nielsen’s Bay for breakfast and it was roasting. As soon as I got home I changed into shorts, the first short-wearing day post-winter. It only took 10 days!

Anyway, before going for breakfast I did a session on the indoor trainer while watching the Superbikes in Assen. I had also done a 4km run on the hotel treadmill on Thursday evening, rounding up my training for the week.

S: 3000m – B: 15km – R: 12km – W: 1 session

While he was being interviewed on TV, live on the ground in New Orleans, someone walks past as tells him to go fuck himself. Freedom of speech in action. Priceless ;-)

I’m down in Canberra this week and work is pretty busy, so I haven’t been posting much. Nonetheless, the exercise regime has continued as follows:

Monday: 3km run.

Tuesday AM: 1.6km run, Weights + 1km swim.

Tuesday PM: 3.4km run

Thursday AM: 2km swim

My achilles are a bit sore after the running, but I took yesterday off so I’ll be ready to get another run in when I get back to the hotel this evening.

S: 3000m – R: 8km – W: 1 session