Wednesday 5 December 2012
The road back
well after 5months out with a lower achillies tendon injury i am finally able to say im on the road back .I've been given the all clear to start reducing the walk sections in my rehab running program and start running more ,this i have to be very carefull with because if i stuff up i'll set myself back months more and the tendon may never be the same again.The time out was not good and not being able to get a proper diagnosis early was very frustrating ,those that know me well know that i like a drink or two, well during this time i think the profits of the golf club went up considerably and i probably visited some dark places i would'nt wish on anybody, suffering more than a few heavy bouts of depression and aniexty where i was starting to question the state of my mental health but i have come out the other end of the tunnel with the support of a few good people with my best interests at heart and am now doing 36min sessions of running / walking .Its good to get the endorphens flowing again and the sweat on the singlet ,I am aiming to be marathon fit by early may when i want to be in new zealand doing the rotorua marathon ,why you might ask ? well 35years ago i competed in the same race injuring my foot and having to drop out at 20 miles ,i thought it would be really cool to go back and run those last 6miles and say i've finished the race .Thats the plan and the sports physio said it was a realistic one ,just have to be patient and positive ! The journey continues . Happy and safe training to anyone reading this .
Monday 30 July 2012
WINTER OF DISCONTENT
Last Sunday i contested the sri chinmoy 1/2 marathon cross country race in centennial park . I had a solid race finishing in 1hr 38m 23s, was i happy no i was run down for 3rd in the over 50s in the last 800 metres by a guy I've beaten before ,i was left feeling very frustrated because this winter has been one setback after another .After thinking I'd gotten over the recent flu it came back to sucker punch me 6 days before the race .What has been more frustrating is illness and injuries caused me to have to back off training, my biggest week in the last 5 weeks has only been 49 km not exactly long race mileage .
Where am i going with this you might ask ? well as i prepare to enter my 42nd year of running I've realised i have to take a step back and be thankful that i can still run and compete at all, i have to realise that at age 54 my best competitive days are behind me and whether i like it or not these not a lot of difference between my training pace and my racing pace these days ,a running friend offered me the following ,when your in your fifties your not running for time your running against father time .
And isn't that what its all about as you get older keeping the body healthy and moving, to remember why you started running in the first place, because it made you feel good , it made you feel like someone special' it gave you a feeling no one could take off you a feeling non runners could never understand .
I will still race but i won't get myself so worked up and frustrated by results i will be thankful that after all these years i am still able to keep going. Its hard to find the motivation and the drive sometimes but when you find yourself laughing in the middle of a great training run saying to yourself how good is this its all worth it .
Where am i going with this you might ask ? well as i prepare to enter my 42nd year of running I've realised i have to take a step back and be thankful that i can still run and compete at all, i have to realise that at age 54 my best competitive days are behind me and whether i like it or not these not a lot of difference between my training pace and my racing pace these days ,a running friend offered me the following ,when your in your fifties your not running for time your running against father time .
And isn't that what its all about as you get older keeping the body healthy and moving, to remember why you started running in the first place, because it made you feel good , it made you feel like someone special' it gave you a feeling no one could take off you a feeling non runners could never understand .
I will still race but i won't get myself so worked up and frustrated by results i will be thankful that after all these years i am still able to keep going. Its hard to find the motivation and the drive sometimes but when you find yourself laughing in the middle of a great training run saying to yourself how good is this its all worth it .
Monday 9 July 2012
RETURN TO RACING
Last Sunday i made a long awaited return to racing at the sri chinmoy half marathon at dolls point .It was a pretty low key affair with only 138 starters with more in the 10 and 5km events .
I have had a lot of setbacks the last 6 months and the lead up to this wasn't without its problems ,a troublesome itb problem had forced me to back off intensity and mileage and i then managed to pick up a cold 6 days before the race but i felt well enough to compete .I got thru it OK but only after dying a slow death the last 3km ,i probably ran the first 5km too fast for my conditioning after my brain forgot my age ! The cold affected me as i had several coughing fits in the 2nd half of the race ,my time was disappointing 1hr 39m 24s on a slightly long course 'garmin 300metres ' which is marathon pace,an average of 4m 40 per km. I wasn't feeling real flash afterwards and even less at the presentation where i discovered I'd missed 3rd in the over 50s by 1 place and 45 seconds ! the winner had come 2nd outright in a amazing 1hr 20min ,i was however 3rd womann !
The good news is i didn't bash my legs up being able to resume running the next day and now 2 days latter the cold is nearly gone . They have another half on in 3 weeks all cross country in centennial park
which i will have another go .I was planning to do the m7 black town marathon at the end of July but due to the itb problem i will defer probably to the Sydney marathon .
Looking back in my diary i was amazed that the only two races I'd done in the last 12 months were last July's m7 black town marathon and the 50miler ultra in Canada ,most of the small local races i used to run have dried up .
Theres a lot of work to be done i just don't need anymore disruptions !
I have had a lot of setbacks the last 6 months and the lead up to this wasn't without its problems ,a troublesome itb problem had forced me to back off intensity and mileage and i then managed to pick up a cold 6 days before the race but i felt well enough to compete .I got thru it OK but only after dying a slow death the last 3km ,i probably ran the first 5km too fast for my conditioning after my brain forgot my age ! The cold affected me as i had several coughing fits in the 2nd half of the race ,my time was disappointing 1hr 39m 24s on a slightly long course 'garmin 300metres ' which is marathon pace,an average of 4m 40 per km. I wasn't feeling real flash afterwards and even less at the presentation where i discovered I'd missed 3rd in the over 50s by 1 place and 45 seconds ! the winner had come 2nd outright in a amazing 1hr 20min ,i was however 3rd womann !
The good news is i didn't bash my legs up being able to resume running the next day and now 2 days latter the cold is nearly gone . They have another half on in 3 weeks all cross country in centennial park
which i will have another go .I was planning to do the m7 black town marathon at the end of July but due to the itb problem i will defer probably to the Sydney marathon .
Looking back in my diary i was amazed that the only two races I'd done in the last 12 months were last July's m7 black town marathon and the 50miler ultra in Canada ,most of the small local races i used to run have dried up .
Theres a lot of work to be done i just don't need anymore disruptions !
Monday 18 June 2012
MINOR SETBACK AND A CHANCE MEETING
Training has been going well ,long runs up to 30 kms which i was suprised by the ease i was doing them ,however pushing the downhills on my tempo run have caused my right itb to flare up next to my knee i think i have caught it in the early stages and with a few days off plus ice and streching im hoping i,ll be right .
I have to be careful as i forget how old i am and how long i,ve been running and tend to push myself too hard and the body won't handle it ,its like the mind is willing and the body is weak! i also think i need to stay off the downhills which don't seem to agree with my body although I'll miss charging down military road at 3-40 km pace at the end of my tempo runs .
On another note i bumped into my old mate chip van halan aka wayne salter aka chip monk salter aka chipmonk Frazier lets just say the monk,
before he headed back to his base in france .Still a fantastic athlete in his early 40s who has in his resume plenty of sub 9hr iron mans and a aust singlet in the 1990 commonwealth games among numerous other achevements.
The monk is a bit of a nomad moves around a lot has a lot to say and is not afraid to speak his mind on athletic subjects ,this has not endeared him to officialdom and fellow athletes over the years and a lot of people shun him or just think he's a bit weird but the more i talked to him this Saturday morning down at the beach about numerous subjects the more i admired him because i saw some of myself in him ,i too know what its like to be shunned by fellow athletes, to be described as an eccentric because i do things my way and stick to my beliefs ,integrity is a dying art .
So monk keep living how you do,, keep being true to what you believe in, keep experimenting with your training and diet, your
a wealth of knowledge who never stops learning never stops looking .people who shun you are missing out .
I don't know when i'll see the monk again but as we parted ways his final words were ,what people don't understand they fear ,i could'nt have said it better its a statement i have used many times myself.
I have to be careful as i forget how old i am and how long i,ve been running and tend to push myself too hard and the body won't handle it ,its like the mind is willing and the body is weak! i also think i need to stay off the downhills which don't seem to agree with my body although I'll miss charging down military road at 3-40 km pace at the end of my tempo runs .
On another note i bumped into my old mate chip van halan aka wayne salter aka chip monk salter aka chipmonk Frazier lets just say the monk,
before he headed back to his base in france .Still a fantastic athlete in his early 40s who has in his resume plenty of sub 9hr iron mans and a aust singlet in the 1990 commonwealth games among numerous other achevements.
The monk is a bit of a nomad moves around a lot has a lot to say and is not afraid to speak his mind on athletic subjects ,this has not endeared him to officialdom and fellow athletes over the years and a lot of people shun him or just think he's a bit weird but the more i talked to him this Saturday morning down at the beach about numerous subjects the more i admired him because i saw some of myself in him ,i too know what its like to be shunned by fellow athletes, to be described as an eccentric because i do things my way and stick to my beliefs ,integrity is a dying art .
So monk keep living how you do,, keep being true to what you believe in, keep experimenting with your training and diet, your
a wealth of knowledge who never stops learning never stops looking .people who shun you are missing out .
I don't know when i'll see the monk again but as we parted ways his final words were ,what people don't understand they fear ,i could'nt have said it better its a statement i have used many times myself.
Tuesday 22 May 2012
getting it together .
After setback after setback i am finally putting some decent milage together in the hope of doing a late july marathon or a early spring one .
I have now moved to a new work roster which give me 2 days off during the week and 3 days every 2nd week appart from the extra financial gain working the weekend the bonus is i can get great long runs in the middle of the week in great weather in great locations with hardly anybody around and have good recovery time ,the weekend work is more relaxed and the week seems to go more quickly.
Lately all my friends have been tearing round and excelling everywhere from margreet dietzs great marathon pb in vancover to john hill just missing his age group record in port maquarie australian ironman to john howes smashing the north face 100km race in the blue mountains of sydney ,and not to forget tony goldens age group win in the byron bay triathlon ,hopefully i can get my fitness up to pre ultra levels and let one happen ,canada changed my whole mental approach to long racing and i am keen to test it out .
happy and safe training .
I have now moved to a new work roster which give me 2 days off during the week and 3 days every 2nd week appart from the extra financial gain working the weekend the bonus is i can get great long runs in the middle of the week in great weather in great locations with hardly anybody around and have good recovery time ,the weekend work is more relaxed and the week seems to go more quickly.
Lately all my friends have been tearing round and excelling everywhere from margreet dietzs great marathon pb in vancover to john hill just missing his age group record in port maquarie australian ironman to john howes smashing the north face 100km race in the blue mountains of sydney ,and not to forget tony goldens age group win in the byron bay triathlon ,hopefully i can get my fitness up to pre ultra levels and let one happen ,canada changed my whole mental approach to long racing and i am keen to test it out .
happy and safe training .
Wednesday 7 March 2012
on the road back
Have started back slow and steady running after the hernia surgery ,scars have healed and am only getting a twinge now and then .
Am now doing 6km runs at 5min km pace every 2nd day and pulling up well ,this will increase next week when i will start to run every day at varing distances ,i haven't really done any consistant milage since the whistler 50 last november so it will be a bit tough for a while but my body will adjust.
Its been tough being inactive and off work am now looking forward to my old training routes ,gold coast marathon early july looks like the plan .
Am now doing 6km runs at 5min km pace every 2nd day and pulling up well ,this will increase next week when i will start to run every day at varing distances ,i haven't really done any consistant milage since the whistler 50 last november so it will be a bit tough for a while but my body will adjust.
Its been tough being inactive and off work am now looking forward to my old training routes ,gold coast marathon early july looks like the plan .
Wednesday 8 February 2012
post surgery plans
Had my hernia surgery late monday afternoon 6th febuary,everything went very well ,recovery going even better no bruising or swelling still have to take it easy for a few weeks.
Looking at the running calendar my plans to go and run the rotorua marathon in nz will have to wait till next year as i would not be ready by the april 29th race date canberra marathon is even earlier so i will probably give in to the rumblings coming from my mates up north in 'gods country' and aim for the gold coast marathon which is normally in july baring that there is also the blacktown marathon on in july .Should be back running soon totally refreshed and ready to go.Many thanks to my friends for their support of my well being during this week.
Looking at the running calendar my plans to go and run the rotorua marathon in nz will have to wait till next year as i would not be ready by the april 29th race date canberra marathon is even earlier so i will probably give in to the rumblings coming from my mates up north in 'gods country' and aim for the gold coast marathon which is normally in july baring that there is also the blacktown marathon on in july .Should be back running soon totally refreshed and ready to go.Many thanks to my friends for their support of my well being during this week.
Saturday 7 January 2012
unexpected setback
After only one run in the new year a unexpected setback occurred, a right side indirect inguinal hernia which will require day surgery to fix.This happened after two work related incidents the second where i felt the popping sensation of the tear.The good news is i will be covered by workers compensation so won't be out of pocket and will bypass the public hospital system and be done in the private sector quickly.Recovery will be quick and i should be back in full training in a matter of weeks.My doctor has told me i can still run with it as long as i feel no pain but it will only be short and slow as i'm a bit wary of it.It will be my first hospital visit in 24 years!
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