Thursday 30 November 2017

Lucia at parkrun

Posted by speedygeoff on Thursday, November 30, 2017 with
I thought I'd put up this old picture of Lucia, given that it was her birthday yesterday and I haven't seen her for years. And I am hoping she will reappear one day. It is a funny photo of the Ginninderra parkrun finish; everyone seems to be heading in a different direction. I know all three people in the photo well.

Wednesday 29 November 2017

Canberra Marathon ("Australian Running Festival") courses and timetable

Posted by speedygeoff on Wednesday, November 29, 2017 with
Wed 22 Nov - Tues 16 January Early Bird Entry (save $20)
Wed 17 January - Tues 27 March Standard Entry (save $10)
Wed 28 March - Friday 13 April Late Entry

Saturday 14 April 5km and 10km
Sunday 15 April  Half Marathon, Full Marathon, 50km (Ultra Marathon)

Course map - marathon


Course map - half marathon


Course map - ultra marathon (50k)


Australian Running Festival Website http://runningfestival.com.au/

AMRA upcoming events
AMRA Deep Space Mountain Marathon 10 December
AMRA Tour De Ridges 17 December
AMRA website http://www.mountainrunning.coolrunning.com.au/index.php

Tuesday 28 November 2017

Lots of speedygeese race results to report this week

Posted by speedygeoff on Tuesday, November 28, 2017 with
BBQ Stakes 6k 01 November
13. William Barlow 31:17
20. Roger Pilkington 31:13
24. Caroline Campbell 38:54
38. Peter Thomson 28:19
51. Bronwyn Calver 31:25
55. Craig Wurtz 31:39
58. Jodie Davis 49:26
61. Ewen Thompson 39:59
62 finishers

BBQ Stakes 6k 08 November
7. Victoria Hennig 37:46
9. Alcina Dias 34:33
15. William Barlow 29:35
21. Andrew Simpson 28:00
34. Caroline Campbell 38:43
46. Peter Thomson 29:06
49. Roger Pilkington 33:48
51. Ewen Thompson 37:45
53. Craig Wurtz 30:50
55. Bronwyn Calver 32:28
64 finishers

BBQ Stakes 6k 15 November
19. Caroline Campbell 39:21
25. Roger Pilkington 32:24
30. William Barlow 30:41
31. Ewen Thompson 43:43
32. Peter Thomson 28:59
43. Craig Wurtz 30:11
52. Bronwyn Calver 33:27
57. Jodie Davis 49:19
65 finishers

AMRA Black Mountain Run-up 2.6k 21 November
9. Craig Wurtz 18.36.
15. Caroline Campbell 24.38.
15 finishers

Lake Tuggeranong Stakes 6k 21 November
2. Sandeep Chandra 29:33
4. Ewen Thompson 33:00
7. Peter Thomson 28:30
13. Roger Pilkington 34:56
16 finishers

YCRC Black Mountain Peninsula 5k 21 November
21. Craig Wurtz M50 24:22
23. Gabrielle Brown W50 24:52
24. Peter Thomson M55 25:56
31. Mick Charlton M65 29:22
34. Vanessa Palmer W45 29:29
35. Ruth Baussmann W65 29:51
38. Caroline Campbell W75 31:33
42 finishers

BBQ Stakes 6k 22 November
4. Alcina Dias 36:08
25. Bronwyn Calver 30:53
32. Roger Pilkington 32:47
42. Craig Wurtz 30:05
45. Ewen Thompson 34:16
46. Jodie Davis 48:54
50. William Barlow 31:02
51. Andrew Simpson 30:48
52. Caroline Campbell 42:05
62 finishers

ACTMA track 23 November
3000m
M50 Nigel England 11:56.21
M50 Craig Wurtz 12:51.92
M55 Rod Lynch 12:02.21
M55 Roger Pilkington 13:51.59
M55 Dale Moore 13:56.28
W65 Ruth Baussmann 16:19.71
W70 Margaret McSpadden 17:52.66

800m
M50 Nigel England 2:51.08
M50 Craig Wurtz 3:06.39
M55 Rod Lynch 2:41.50
W65 Kathy Sims 3:17.29

spiral 6
3 Roger Pilkington M55 11:58
5 Rod Lynch M55 10:32
6 Ruth Baussmann W65 13:48
11 David Clarke M55 9:30
12 Nigel England M50 10:26
15 Craig Wurtz M50 11:41
16 Kevin Chamberlain M70 13:00
18 Margaret McSpadden W70 17:55
19 Dale Moore M55 13:21

Customs 5k 24 November
3 Roger Pilkington 28:05
4 Ewen Thompson 31:00
5 Yili Zhu 23:16
8 Jacob Grooby 20:49
9 Giles Lamb 20:57
10 Colin Farlow 19:41
12 Craig Wurtz 24:11
18 Caroline Campbell 31:51
20 David Clarke 25:52
22 finishers

Burley Griffin 5k parkrun #77 25 November
33 Craig Wurtz 22:21 M50
70 Kelley Horan 26:03 W55
88 Jennie Blake 27:38 W60
101 Caroline Campbell 28:48 W75
194 finishers

Ginninderra 5k parkrun #290 25 November
59 William Barlow 26:07 M35
87 Ruth Baussmann 28:11 W65
88 Geoff Moore 28:12 M65
218 finishers

Tuggeranong 5k parkrun #247 25 November
7 Nigel England 20:34 M50
13 Peter Brown 21:32 M55
113 Ewen Thompson 28:53 M60
119 Andrew Smith 29:09 M45
126 David Clarke 29:49 M55
190 Maya Smith 35:32 W10
191 Pieta Smith 35:33 W40
300 finishers

Gungahlin 5k parkrun #215 25 November
237 finishers

Queanbeyan 5k parkrun #30 25 November
45 Margaret McSpadden 43:14 W70
58 finishers

Batemans Bay 5k parkrun #81 25 November
15 Victoria Hennig 27:14 W55
22 Rae Palmer 29:26 W70 **W70 record**
44 finishers

ACTMA Handicap Weston Park 6k 26 November
8 Nadine Morrison W45 28:12
9 Nigel England M50 26:25
10 Ruth Baussmann W65 34:40
11 Craig Wurtz M50 30:50
21 Bron Sparkes W40 31:48
33 Roger Pilkington M55 36:11
34 David Webster M65 30:28
40 Margaret McSpadden W70 41:04
45 finishers

ACTMA Handicap Weston Park 3k 26 November
15 Jill Pearson W60 15:52
27 finishers

Stromlo Running Festival 50k (54k actually) 26 November
22 Shuji Iwasaki 5:43:53

Stromlo Running Festival 30k (32k+ actually) 26 November
41 William Barlow 3:04:08
47 Kelley Horan 3:06:58 **1st W50**
98 Jinny Lay 3:24:37 **3rd W50**
107 Gabrielle Brown 3:26:20
112 Adrian Cengia 3:27:44
120 Gavin Mongan 3:32:53
128 Lisa Charles 3:36:11
157 Kerron Clare 3:47:39
196 Katherine Sheppard 4:07:02
236 finishers

Stromlo Running Festival 10k (10.5k actually) 26 November
10 David Clarke 47:36 **1st M50**
11 Narelle De Smet 47:48 **1st W40**
20 Isaac Muscat 51:55 **2nd M14**
32 Mhairi Craig 54:06 **1st W50**
67 Ewen Thompson 58:50 **1st M60**
173 Jennie Blake 1:11:32 **2nd W60**
207 George Quarmby 1:16:04
296 finishers

Stromlo Running Festival kids 2.5k 26 November
13 Ryan Miller 12:53 not bad for a 7 year old
18 Angus Miller 16:18 not bad for a 5 year old!
53 finishers

Phew!

Ruth - our new Griffins Co-ordinator

Monday 27 November 2017

Mother's Litlle Helper

Posted by speedygeoff on Monday, November 27, 2017 with
Song of the week: An ABSOLUTE CLASSIC Rolling Stones song.

From https://youtu.be/B_mz-znJOx4. No video as such.

Sunday 26 November 2017

The kid's 2.5k sprint - at the Stromlo Running Festival.

Posted by speedygeoff on Sunday, November 26, 2017 with
Sarah-Jayne's two boys - you should have seen them sprint home!


(Aged 7 and just 5)

It was a great day at the Running Festival today. Quite hot as the morning progressed, but it could have been far worse. I will publish 2.5, 10, 30 and 50k results (the distances weren't exact) on Tuesday and no doubt Dave will have a report which I expect to publish Friday.

Saturday 25 November 2017

Ginninderra parkrun today

Posted by speedygeoff on Saturday, November 25, 2017 with
A lovely day for a parkrun - I managed to keep Ruth in sight for most of the run.


People we were running with early on (but they got away)


Us.

Friday 24 November 2017

Speedygeese training summary (the last two weeks)

Posted by speedygeoff on Friday, November 24, 2017 with
Sunday 12 November speedygeese long run report [Dave]:
Cool, overcast and slightly humid with no wind for this morning’s Speedygeese long run on Jen’s Coolemon Ridge and Narrabundah Hill route. Twelve starters this morning, including several ultra runners. There were no falls, no injuries (at least no new ones), no getting lost, no dramas of any kind – just a pleasant undulating 17k run.
Thach ended up with 19k, I did 18k and Graeme, Jinny, Shuji, Paul, Jen, William, Adam, Lisa and Sandeep did 17k. Judith turned back to finish with a shorter run. Average pace over the full distance varied between runners, from 5.25 to 6.05 min/km. Narelle, who is still recovering from the flu, decided our 17k 250m elevation run at 5.40 pace was too risky, so she did a 20k 300m vert arboretum run at 5.15 pace and still managed to join us for coffee. 😯 😷
We adjourned to the Meating Place for coffee (or coffee thickshakes) and breakfast, although some achieved a new PB for meal waiting times. Perhaps we should have gone to Thach’s house to try his new weasel poo coffee. 🤣
Other runs today by Speedygeese included an easy 7k for Pete B who is recovering from a back injury, Ewen’s 24.18 for Fishers Ghost 5k fun run, and a new PB of 1:28:03 (unofficial) for Jennie in the 15k City2Sea. 😯 Bronwyn (1:15:01) and Matt (1:19:04) also did City2Sea. Mhairi just did a 19k in New Zealand (over 1,000 m vert). 😱
The biggest excitement for me was testing the photo quality on my new iphone 8plus. I’m also still enjoying the novelty (since yesterday) of having Strava, Garmin Connect, fb and messenger on my phone instead having to upload everything to my laptop (no longer in the dark ages). Now I can waste twice as much time and spend half as much time socialising when out with others. 😵
Paul has organised next week’s run and has already provided the pre run briefing and prepared a detailed description that almost beats Sri Chinmoy’s.

Monday 13 November at Parliament House: The session was 6 x figure 8 loops with pushups each interval; on 5 minutes. I was still very sore and jogged a couple of the loops. Participating were Sandeep, Chris, Christopher, Sarah, Ewen, Giles, Ruth, Warrick, Thomas, Jen, Isaac, Narelle, Rae, Colin, Bronwyn and Jinny. Jessica watched.

On Thursday 16 November back at Woden Track, I couldn’t go and Bronwyn repeated last week’s intervals. Others just ran track.

Sunday 19 November: Speedygeese long run report [Dave]
Today’s Speedygeese long run was a squealer. We headed off from Cook shops in almost perfect conditions. Narelle and Graeme were running a few minutes late but soon caught up and Narelle the gazelle disappeared in the distance shortly thereafter. With 15 starters of various abilities we soon settled into a few smaller groups, with occasional catchups at the “holding points” (usually the top of hills).
With 15 runners at various speeds there was always going to be potential for unplanned exploring and adventures. It soon became clear that we should have paid more attention to Paul’s pre-run briefing. 😳 The first detour occurred at the arboretum “Cork Oak”, where Jen and I left the group and took a photo opportunity at the “slow down” sign, before she took off at 4.15 pace to beat the others to the next holding point. Then it was a tussle between Narelle, Jen and I to get to the top of gun barrel (the roller coaster Strava segment), where Jen took out the segment record. 💪
A few of us took a cross country route at the arboretum but regrouped at Dairy Farmers Hill. Narelle snuck in a couple of extra km by heading down to the river (intentionally, I think) and Bron added a sneaky trip through Aranda bushland to Mt Painter and ended up with 12k. Ewen and Roger were smart enough to take a shortcut to the zoo (or maybe they just got lost?). Ruth and Margaret submitted a disclaimer early on - something to do with being super slow – and weren’t to be seen after the first couple of km, but magically appeared for coffee at the end. Not sure whether they "cheated" or outran us. Various people (including Sandeep, Roger and I) were spotted jogging in circles at the end to satisfy their Strava neuroses.
According to Strava, Narelle finished with 22k, Giles and I did 20, Graeme, Jen and Sandeep 19k, Roger and Ewen 18k. Warrick turned back after Dairy Farmers Hill to finish with about 10k. Bob strolled a couple of k from home to meet us for coffee afterwards (a piece of cake for Bob after heart surgery a week ago). 😯 💓 The others did around 18k.
I should also mention Shiree's amazing 3:30 hilly marathon yesterday in New Zealand. Inspiring, to say the least. 😯
Coffee, banter and cavorting followed, as we “pigged out” (sorry) at Little Oink in Cook shops. Narelle couldn’t resist spending some quality time with the pig. 😂 🐖
Thanks for the run and company everyone. Next week is the Mount Stromlo Running Festival lightning strike trail races, ⚡ with the one and only Deek as MC, so no official long run is planned at this stage. 🤓

Monday 20 November with me supervising the Speedygeese, we ran relays on a loop of 360m or so from the tennis court area, a loop which included our “favourite” hill. Participating were Bronwyn, Thomas, Warrick, Sandeep, Ruth, Jennie, Vanessa, Brownie, Isaac, Narelle, Jen, Dave, Pieta, Andrew, Chris, Bron, Giles, and Ewen who also ran early. Thanks Pieta for the celebratory champagne and lemonade afterwards!

Thursday 23 November back at Woden Track I looked after the group who ran ~8 x 330m with 110m walk recovery. Running were Bronwyn, Brownie, Colin, Sandeep, Jennie, and Ewen (briefly). We saw Ruth and Margaret who were running on Woden track.

This Sunday I may (no promises!) go and watch part of the Stromlo Running Festival and do a little training there. The 50k takes off at 6:00am (a tad early for me), the 30k at 7:00am, and the 10k at 7:30am. I won't be staying for the presentations at 11:00am.



Thursday 23 November 2017

Liz Bennett video clip

Posted by speedygeoff on Thursday, November 23, 2017 with

Wednesday 22 November 2017

Insight

Posted by speedygeoff on Wednesday, November 22, 2017 with
It was good to see Liz Bennett live on Insight last night. She was a voice of (relative) sanity!

Tuesday 21 November 2017

All the recent speedygeese race results

Posted by speedygeoff on Tuesday, November 21, 2017 with
BBQ Stakes 6k 25 October
11. Geoff Moore 31:36
24. Carolyne Kramar 44:16
32. Peter Thomson 29:48
33. Caroline Campbell 41:21
35. Roger Pilkington 34:00
40. Craig Wurtz 31:07
45. Bronwyn Calver 32:51
50. Ewen Thompson 38:00
56 finishers

YCRC Women’s Jogalong 05 November
24. Caroline Campbell W75 36:03
26. Cathy Montalto W65 33:29
56 finishers

Lake Tuggeranong Stakes 6k 14 November
5. Sandeep Chandra 30:09
8. Ewen Thompson 35:00
10. Nicole Bruce 39:21
12. Peter Thomson 29:11
14. Roger Pilkington 31:58
19 finishers

YCRC Weston Park 5k 14 November
25. David Clarke M55 22:32
32. Craig Wurtz M50 23:21
36. Gabrielle Brown W50 24:21
37. Ewen Thompson M60 24:36
39. Sarah Pau W45 26:08
45. Tori Hennig W55 27:48
47. Caroline Campbell W75 28:16
51. Ruth Baussmann W65 28:47
53. Mick Charlton M65 29:40
57 finishers

ACTMA track 16 November
3000m
M55 David Clarke 11:25.33
M55 Rod Lynch 11:57.33
M55 Roger Pilkington 14:43.28
M55 Dale Moore 14:49.63

800m
M55 Rod Lynch 2:43.13
W65 Kathy Sims 3:12.93
M55 Dale Moore 3:40.24

1 Hour Run
M50 Nigel England 12629
M55 Roger Pilkington 11612
W65 Ruth Baussmann 10389
W70 Margaret McSpadden 8812

Customs 5k 17 November
2 Carolyne Kramar 33:08
3 Caroline Campbell 30:28
4 Jacob Grooby 20:58
5 Peter Thomson 21:47
8 Ewen Thompson 28:56
9 Colin Farlow 19:28
10 Giles Lamb 21:13
11 Yili Zhu 24:07
17 Bill Arthur 30:02
19 Roger Pilkington 29:40
21 finishers

Burley Griffin 5k parkrun #76 18 November
43 Craig Wurtz 22:12 M50
80 Elizabeth Bennett 26:08 W50
100 Jennie Blake 28:31 W60
168 finishers

Ginninderra 5k parkrun #289 18 November
31 Andrew Simpson 22:18 M45
43 William Barlow 23:25 M35
55 Brendan Belcher 25:25 M35
83 Jill Pearson 27:27 W60
90 Ruth Baussmann 28:29 W65
116 Carolyne Kramar 32:23 W50
168 finishers

Tuggeranong 5k parkrun #246 18 November
5 David Clarke 19:36 M55
13 Nigel England 21:04 M50
40 Bronwyn Calver 23:49 W45
55 Ewen Thompson 25:07 M60
190 finishers

Gungahlin 5k parkrun #214 18 November
200 finishers

Queanbeyan 5k parkrun #30 18 November
62 finishers

Batemans Bay 5k parkrun #81 18 November
9 Victoria Hennig 27:18 W55
15 finishers

Monday 20 November 2017

On Fire

Posted by speedygeoff on Monday, November 20, 2017 with
Song of the week: an old Switchfoot song, at https://youtu.be/RiANmhi1UkM

Sunday 19 November 2017

Pearsons partying

Posted by speedygeoff on Sunday, November 19, 2017 with
Jenny and I felt privileged to be invited today to help Jill celebrate her 60th birthday.







An earlier shot of some Pearsons who were there today but partied on a few days ago when Peru qualified for the World Cup.

Joel, Vianne, Yelena.

Edit - more pics from the party!





Saturday 18 November 2017

Enjoying the Canberra spring weather

Posted by speedygeoff on Saturday, November 18, 2017 with

Thach and William - two of the newer Sunday Speedygeese

I will be replacing the slideshow (2017 portrait gallery) soon with a host of recent pictures of our extended group of speedygeese. Maybe next year I will have time to construct a 2018 portrait gallery, maybe not. The number of hits on my blog posts has reduced to about one fifth of what they used to be, except when I mention parkrun.

Friday 17 November 2017

Happy Birthday GM, 71 today!

Posted by speedygeoff on Friday, November 17, 2017 with

Garry Maher

Thursday 16 November 2017

It's a hill

Posted by speedygeoff on Thursday, November 16, 2017 with

Wednesday 15 November 2017

Reliving Monday's 2 runs

Posted by speedygeoff on Wednesday, November 15, 2017 with
Run 1 on Monday - jogging to/from a gym "Active" class which went from 10:30am to 11:30am


Run 2 on Monday: warming up at Parliament House then supervising a figure-8 two-hill loop the others did intervals on. I did a couple of them, slowly. Still sore (PCL joint)



Tuesday 14 November 2017

All the recent speedygeese race results

Posted by speedygeoff on Tuesday, November 14, 2017 with
Carcoar Cup Half Marathon 05 November
43 Nadine Morrison 1:45.59
125 finishers

Lake Tuggeranong Stakes 6k
07 November
7. Peter Thomson 28:41
10. Warrick Howieson 30:18
14. Roger Pilkington 41:48
17 finishers

AMRA Mt Ainslie Run-Up 2.3k
07 November
13 Craig Wurtz 17.39
15 Kelley Horan 18.29
16 Caroline Campbell 22.20
19 finishers

YCRC Barrenjoey Drive 5k 07 November
19. Craig Wurtz M50 24:09
20. Gabrielle Brown W50 24:13
21. Ewen Thompson M60 24:28
26. Sarah Pau W45 26:25
29. Tori Hennig W55 27:39
32. Mick Charlton M65 29:13
35. Ruth Baussmann W65 29:52
38 finishers

ACTMA track 09 November
Pennington 1500m
2 Kathy Sims W65 6:18
4 David Clarke M55 5:31
5 Nigel England M50 5:25
6 Rod Lynch M55 5:38
11 Roger Pilkington M55 6:50
13 Dale Moore M55 7:22
14 finishers

400m
M50 Nigel England 1:13.93
M55 Dale Moore 1:48.52
W65 Kathy Sims 1:30.74

3000m
M50 Nigel England 12:25.73
M55 David Clarke 11:40.96
M55 Rod Lynch 12:04.24
M55 Dale Moore 15:17.04

5000m
M30 Jacob Grooby 16:58.06
M55 Roger Pilkington 25:16.65
M60 Ewen Thompson 26:17.77

Customs 5k 10 November
3 Jacob Grooby 19:42
4 Peter Thomson 22:25
8 Caroline Campbell 30:50
9 Colin Farlow 19:23
10 Giles Lamb 21:08
11 Roger Pilkington 26:53
18 Craig Wurtz 24:01
19 Peter Clarke 22:04
22 Ewen Thompson 29:18
26 finishers

Burley Griffin 5k parkrun #75 11 November
79 Elizabeth Bennett 26:27 W50
185 finishers

Ginninderra 5k parkrun #288 11 November
31 Andrew Simpson 22:41 M45
91 Ruth Baussmann 28:39 W65
146 Geoff Moore 32:40 M65
222 finishers

Tuggeranong 5k parkrun #245
11 November
12 Nigel England 20:35 M50
32 David Clarke 22:45 M55
42 Bronwyn Calver 23:52 W45
99 Ewen Thompson 27:42 M60
118 Kerron Clare 29:27 W50
272 finishers

Gungahlin 5k parkrun #213 11 November
82 Chris Martin 26:06 M60
138 Margaret McSpadden 31:09 W70
258 finishers

Queanbeyan 5k parkrun #29 11 November
49 finishers

Batemans Bay 5k parkrun #80 11 November
17 Victoria Hennig 27:13 W55
42 finishers

Studley 5k parkrun #91 11 November
89 Jennie Blake 31:00 W60
123 Carolyne Kramar 35:29 W50
156 finishers

Victor Harbour 5k parkrun #174 11 November
25 Joel Pearson 27:17 M30
32 Jill Pearson 28:19 W60
91 finishers

Cowra 5k parkrun #1 11 November
4 Brendan Belcher 21:44 M35
103 William Barlow 57:49 M35
110 finishers

City to Sea 15k 12 November
1,002 Bronwyn Calver 1:15.01
2,494 Jennie Blake 1:28.01
4,688 finishers


Nadine 2nd W40 at Carcoar

Monday 13 November 2017

Such Great Heights

Posted by speedygeoff on Monday, November 13, 2017 with
Song of the week: "Such Great Heights", by The Postal Service, at https://youtu.be/0wrsZog8qXg

Sunday 12 November 2017

Ginninderra parkrun

Posted by speedygeoff on Sunday, November 12, 2017 with
Ruth and I at yesterday's Ginninderra parkrun.

Saturday 11 November 2017

Studley parkrun

Posted by speedygeoff on Saturday, November 11, 2017 with
Carolyne and Jennie bumped into each other at Studley parkrun today! [Where's that???]

Friday 10 November 2017

Speedygeese training summary

Posted by speedygeoff on Friday, November 10, 2017 with
Sunday 5 November speedygeese long run report [Dave]:
A huge turnout today for arguably the toughest Speedygeese long run to date – Mt Tennent (800m vert). There were 18 eager runners lined up at 8am, all of whom had at some point endured the secret rituals and initiation ceremony to become one of a select group of maniacs who love running mountains (and drinking coffee) while others are sleeping in on Sunday mornings. 😝
Today Judith, William, David P and Dave G joined the group for the first time, having worked out the secret sign (don't miss the hidden secret sign pic). Other keen geese were Jen, Isaac, Shiree, Fiona, Jinny, Shuji, Mhairi, Pete B, Thach, Bron, Sandeep, Tim, Laura and Martin. Adrian and Adam left half an hour earlier and did a solo Tennent. Apparently they scared the crap out of a brown snake. 😧 🐍
Shiree, Mhairi, William, Shuji, Fiona, Dave G, Pete and Thach were among those who finished with 20k and over 1,000 metres elevation. Bron and Sandeep did the short option (14k and 800m vert) while Jen and Isaac walked.
I took the soft option and ran last week’s flat course with Nigel instead (the heel is better but I need to add hills gradually). A slow and uneventful run, other than Nigel tripping over and both of us getting lost 800 metres from the finish (thought I would have remembered from last week 😳). Nevertheless, running with an Englishman I did learn some interesting facts , including that a major ingredient in Worcestershire sauce is rotten anchovies 😱 – apparently a secret the English learned from the Romans. It was also an interesting experience running amongst the trees with a tree scientist, especially when he keeps stopping to collect tree seeds.

Monday 6 November: Training at Parliament House were Warrick, Thomas, Jen, Isaac, Kelley, Ruth, Chris; running 15 x a 400m loop on 2 minutes which included a 100m hill. I supervised and Dave was in the general vicinity.

On Thursday 9 November back at Woden Track, the session was a bit anaerobic, 12 x 220m with 110m jog. We run on the grass while the AFL 9s are playing. I supervised again, and participating were Colin, Brendan, Sandeep, Isaac, Jen, Bronwyn. Dave and Ewen also did the warm-up, then raced on the track. Gary stayed on the track, he has just returned from Greece and was wearing the new speedygeese singlet for the first time. Margaret and Ruth were at the track officiating.

Reliving Woden taining


Thursday 9 November 2017

Back to the track

Posted by speedygeoff on Thursday, November 09, 2017 with

Ruth, Margaret, Bronwyn, Ewen. These people are having too much fun.

It is back to the Woden track today. The Pennington 1500m is the first event. Pity I am still too sore to participate. I would have enjoyed the early handicapped start. Maybe next year when I am 70 and am given an even earlier start?

Today I will do the 5:30pm warm-up around the cemetery and then train across the road like last week.

Wednesday 8 November 2017

Holt/Higgins loop

Posted by speedygeoff on Wednesday, November 08, 2017 with

It is a long time since I ran this, yet I may have run this loop from home more often than any other, in years past.

Yesteday it felt like it was uphill all the way!

Tuesday 7 November 2017

All the recent speedygeese race results

Posted by speedygeoff on Tuesday, November 07, 2017 with
Lake Tuggeranong Stakes 6k 31 October
1. Roger Pilkington 30:33
9. Sandeep Chandra 32:06
15. Ewen Thompson 35:08
19. Peter Thomson 29:40
21 finishers

Ginninderra 7k Handicap 31 October
11 finishers

YCRC Boat House East 5k 31 October
6. Andrew Simpson 20:26
13. Peter Thomson 21:30
16. Craig Wurtz 22:41
21. Gabrielle Brown 23:41
22. Ewen Thompson 23:43
30. Tori Hennig 26:50
32. Vanessa Palmer 27:17
34. Caroline Campbell 27:46
35. Ruth Baussmann 28:10
37. Mick Charlton 28:41
45 finishers

ACTMA track 2 November
3000m
M55 Peter Brown 11:40.59 75.4%
M50 Nigel England 11:47.01 73.5
M55 Rod Lynch 11:50.14 75.1
M50 Craig Wurtz 13:06.57 65.5
M55 Roger Pilkington 13:41.53 65.4
M60 Ewen Thompson 14:47.39 61.6
W65 Ruth Baussmann 16:33.44 75.6
W70 Margaret McSpadden 18:02.00 73.0

800m
M55 Peter Brown 2:48.94 72.4%
M50 Craig Wurtz 3:00.75 66.0
W65 Kathy Sims 3:13.54 84.9
M55 Roger Pilkington 3:31.37 58.8

1500m

M55 David Clarke 5:24.95 80.1%
M50 Nigel England 5:26.26 76.5
M55 Rod Lynch 5:27.06 78.3
M50 Craig Wurtz 6:14.11 66.1
M55 Roger Pilkington 6:48.72 63.2

Spiral 5
2 Roger Pilkington M55 9:49
10 Ruth Baussmann W65 11:15
12 Craig Wurtz M50 9:23
13 Rod Lynch M55 8:57
14 David Clarke M55 8:09
15 Nigel England M50 9:04
16 Ewen Thompson M60 12:35
17 Margaret McSpadden W70 12:49
23 finishers

Customs 5k 3 November
3 Colin Farlow 19:50
5 Peter Thomson 22:48
7 Roger Pilkington 27:11
8 Giles Lamb 21:27
12 Caroline Campbell 31:48
13 Ewen Thompson 29:41
16 finishers

Burley Griffin 5k parkrun #74 4 November
13 Nigel England 20:37 M50
102 Caroline Campbell 27:50 W75
202 finishers

Ginninderra 5k parkrun #287 4 November
132 Carolyne Kramar 33:20 W50
162 Bron Sparkes 40:52 W40
204 finishers

Tuggeranong 5k parkrun #244 4 November
9 David Clarke 19:59 M55
257 finishers

Gungahlin 5k parkrun #212 4 November
225 finishers

Queanbeyan 5k parkrun #28 4 November
56 finishers

Batemans Bay 5k parkrun #79 4 November
12 Victoria Hennig 26:57 W55
33 finishers

Run For Your Lifeline Marathon 4 November
6 Peter Thomson 3:48.39
29 finishers

Run For Your Lifeline Half Marathon 4 November
61 Craig Davis 1:48.17
91 Craig Wurtz 1:57.20
206 finishers

Run For Your Lifeline 10k 4 November
108 Ruth Baussmann 59:08 first W60-69
142 Margaret McSpadden 1:05.56 first W70-79
206 finishers

Run For Your Lifeline 5k 4 November
320 finishers

New York Marathon 5 November
Paul Foley 3:52.04
Pieta Smith 3:57.50

Secret speedygeese sign at the parkrun

With Ewen, Jennie, Gary

Monday 6 November 2017

speedygeese at the New York Marathon

Posted by speedygeoff on Monday, November 06, 2017 with
Paul Foley 3:52.04
Pieta Smith 3:57.50


All ready


Paul and Pieta in the bus


Pieta half way

Run!

Posted by speedygeoff on Monday, November 06, 2017 with
Song of the week is "Run", by Foo Fighters, from https://youtu.be/ifwc5xgI3QM



Quite a few old people in this video clip.

Sunday 5 November 2017

speedygeese Christmas dinner 2017

Posted by speedygeoff on Sunday, November 05, 2017 with
To all speedygeese and friends and family
Our Christmas speedygeese dinner will be at the PB-02 Indian restaurant.
You are invited, would you like to come?
________________________________________
The location is Shop 1/8 Holt Place, Holt (across from the IGA)
This is not the Kippax shops, this is Holt shops on Beaurepaire Crescent.
________________________________________
Date and Time
Monday 4 December
6:30pm
________________________________________
We will cancel Parliament House training that day.
________________________________________
I will order their banquet for all who want it.
The banquet is “a bit of everything”
Those not having the banquet can order from the menu
They cater for vegetarians and have gluten free available too.
________________________________________
The banquet is just $26 per person.
Which they may discount further.
I need numbers for the banquet and numbers for ordering from the menu.
________________________________________
We have booked out the restaurant.
Its capacity is 35.
I will take names until 24 November, or earlier if we reach capacity.
First in best dressed!
________________________________________
Remember to tell me if you do or do not want the banquet.
I have copies of the menu; see me.
________________________________________

Saturday 4 November 2017

How to run faster AND further

Posted by speedygeoff on Saturday, November 04, 2017 with
"Reprinted" from a blog post 10 years ago.

AS SUMMER APPROACHES and the days start getting longer, a young man’s thoughts turn to track. And a young woman’s. (There are no old men or women reading this). Running on the track for many of us would usually mean running shorter, running faster. Last winter I stirred up some discussion by contending that to run faster, forget about pushing stride length out to its limit, but instead work on keeping a very fast cadence throughout your race, whether it be 400m or 5000m or anything in between.

It all started during the Sydney 2000 Olympics, when I observed that runners in the middle and long distance track events all seemed to be racing at three single steps each second, which projects to about 180 steps per minute. It wasn’t until last track season that I thought to analyse the Vets to see if they were also stepping that quickly, and wasn’t surprised to see that some were, and others were running at a much slower tempo.

Would it help the slower tempo runners if they tried increasing their tempo, I wondered? After some research and some testing out of ideas, here are my thoughts:
  • As runners tire in a race, they often try to maintain pace by extending their stride. This is a mistake. Far better to shorten the stride at this point, trying to maintain tempo.
  • Many novice runners tend to over-stride, but with practice they can shorten their natural stride length and so run faster.
  • If you discover that you run at considerably less than 180 steps per minute, you should work on reducing your stride length and increasing your tempo.
  • An over-long stride will add tension to the calf muscles and the hamstrings, and takes more effort than a quicker, shorter stride does.
  • A short stride allows you to pick up your feet more quickly off the ground, and run more lightly over the ground. A slower tempo and longer stride length means that you are in the air longer, you hit the ground harder, the footfall is heavier, there is more shock to your legs as you land, and you experience a deceleration effect.
I suggest 180 steps per minute is the goal, but if your current rate is somewhat less, say 140, you might want to start off only a little faster, 150 or so. Checking your cadence and increasing it has worked well for a few of the runners who tend to over-stride; we should see from them in the future the ability to train over longer distances more comfortably, and a big improvement in their times this year.

Music via ipod or MP3 player is ideal for managing this process of getting the legs to turn over more quickly. A free “Beat per Minute” analyser which we have been using for song selection for this purpose is available at http://www.mixmeister.com/. [edit: no longer free; try googling for another]

A quick optimal tempo means you run lighter, you feel like you are skimming over the ground rather than ploughing into it, you are able to propel yourself more rapidly forward, you respond better to pace variations in a race, your foot is below your body sooner and stays on the ground for a shorter time. And you look good!

Ever since first floating these ideas, I started hearing stories of runners who listened to what I had to say and were trying out the "three steps per second" recommendation, only to discover that it works. An example is the club member who is currently among the fastest women running the monthly 6k "Jogalong". She had run about 40 of them and recently managed to improve her race PB by twenty seconds, while focusing on maintaining the three steps per second tempo the whole way.

A second example is the club member who is currently not among the fastest men running the weekly 6k "BBQ Stakes". During a recent run he tried keeping three steps per second going for the whole distance, managed it, and “out of the blue” ran a twenty second PB. He had run about 70 of these races.

So there are two case histories demonstrating that it can work! For some who are already running at their optimum tempo it may not be effective, but for others, particularly the over-strider, I recommend you try it.

What about my longer distance running, I hear you ask. (I have very good hearing). What running tempo should I adopt when I want to extend my training distances without slowing down too much? In what I am about to say, I am supposing that you run about as quickly as you can over the shorter distances, but when you start running for a longer time, the distance takes its toll and you tire very quickly. Or perhaps you have two speeds, as some have volunteered to me: sprinting and crawling! You want to know what approach to take when extending your runs to take in much longer distances, because you understand that going further gives you a better fitness base than what you have been doing? How do you run further at a decent pace without self-destructing?

Well to start with, it is certainly true that more longer runs (to a point) make you fitter, and equip you to do better over shorter races.

Secondly, the approach I recommend is similar to that which I have suggested helps you run faster! Here it is: to run further, yes you allow yourself to slow down; but you slow down by
  • shortening the stride (again), and
  • keeping up that fast tempo that you have been using for shorter distances.
In other words, you don’t just slow down by stopping to a plod, or by striding out at a slower rate. You keep that good fast cadence going and cut the stride length down.

The result is, you are actually running more slowly, but the legs are turning over at the same rate as usual. And you can do this right up to the marathon distance.

Do remember, as you tire in a long run, it is important to do the same thing you should do as you tire in a race; try and keep that three steps a second (or whatever that optimum tempo is for you) going for as long as possible.

This comes from my own experience: when I first started marathon training back in the 1970’s that is exactly what I did. I came off a background of specialising in the 800m, and the only way I could survive training runs of 20k or longer was to change my style so that the stride became much shorter. And it was the only way I could develop marathon strength while keeping most of my 800m speed. It worked: despite focusing solely on marathon training at the age of 40, and although I raced few 800s any more, I did manage a 2:02 800m “out of the blue”, which was within five seconds of my pb run 20 years earlier.

So you CAN do long running in the track season, and lose very little of your short distance racing speed, provided you don’t just jog at a slow tempo all the time.

Friday 3 November 2017

Speedygeese training summary

Posted by speedygeoff on Friday, November 03, 2017 with
Sunday 29 October Speedygeese long run report [Dave]: As the big black G6E pulled into the carpark, she glanced up from the gutter, a fleeting smile as she recognised the car. She first noticed his new shoes as one foot touched the ground, then a leg, calves and quads protruding, if not bulging. She felt the sense of anticipation as the familiar form emerged, those biceps and washboard stomach. As he stood tall and sauntered toward her she rose from the kerbside, hesitantly at first but obviously happy to see him. “Dave”, Narelle exclaimed, shattering my daydream as she towered over my scrawny frame, “you’re early for once”. 😂 😂
And thus began another Speedygeese long run rendezvous. Soon after the others arrived, Matt, Peter, Fiona, Sandeep and first timer Shuji. I should mention also that Thommo dropped in on his bike before the start for a selfie with a local celebrity. 🤣 As I welcomed Shuji and offered some encouragement, explaining that the course was not too hilly or too long today so he could make it, Shuji mentioned that his legs were still a bit sore from when he completed the Sri Chinmoy 104k solo ultra. Oops!! 😱
As we set off on a course designed by yours truly, in 15 degrees with a chilly wind, Ewen immediately volunteered to show the way at the start as I had no idea where we were going. Fortunately Narelle had the course on her Garmin, so I had high hopes. Narelle, Peter, Matt and Shuji broke away early and held onto a good lead. Gazelle Narelle was clearly trying hard to hold back with the main pack. Fiona and I followed, while Sandeep and Ewen were the “sweepers”. I must say it was one of the most peaceful group runs in a while (yes, Jen was not there). 😜
With the first 3km being a very gradual uphill climb on the bikepath, there were early signs of puffing and panting from a few oldies. Sandeep had a look of agony within 100 metres of the start, but Sandeep’s special skill is his poker face – he has a knack of portraying agony in every situation. 😩 Once we reached the west side of Wanniassa hills, a route I have never run before but enjoyed exploring, the rest was easy going with slight undulations.
Today I discovered many of the benefits of running 15k instead of 30 (was being kind to my heel), including an extra hour or so of coffee time. Matt and Peter had already done 15k and found a table when Fiona and I arrived back at “Common Grounds”, where Fiona decided to run a bit further by herself. Ewen and Sandeep arrived half an hour later, having completed 16k. Narelle and Shuji turned up shortly after, with 21k done and dusted.
Meanwhile Bron, Ruth, Jennie and Giles did the Masters handicap and Jen and Mhairi did their own thing, as did Bronwyn. Graeme, Jen and Thach dropped in a while later for the best part (food and caffeine), with various children in tow.
Although Fiona didn’t know the area (being a north sider), I had full confidence in her ability to not get lost doing the extra 6k by herself, as she had already guided me back to the coffee shop despite my attempts to go elsewhere. However, when Fiona had not returned 90 minutes later we did get a bit concerned. Our fears were allayed when Jen successfully stalked her on Strava to find Fiona’s 22k run successfully completed.
With another PB under my belt (2 ½ hours of food and coffee) it was time to head home for the usual Sunday chores of preparing the run report and having a nap. Thanks for the run everyone.

Monday 30 October at Parliament House: the final October Speedygeese session was attended by Jinny, Ewen, Pieta, Ruth, Jen, Isaac, Vanessa, Rae, Christopher, Sandeep, Jennie, Giles, Bronwyn, Colin and me. Using the ~930m circuit we ran laps with little rest in between and treated ourselves to at least one set of push-ups, dips, sit-ups, chin-ups, and even in one case burpees, each lap. Now I will have to consider what training we do in November.

On Thursday 2 November back at Woden, I trotted around supervising intervals on the grass opposite the athletic track – with Colin (8x330m), Bronwyn (8x330m) and Jenny (8 x 220m) + jog-back recoveries.
Bronwyn’s relive is at https://www.relive.cc/view/1257571669. It is better than mine because I did not run around the track afterwards.
Also warming up with us were Brownie, Ruth, Margaret and Ewen, who then proceeded to race while we trained.

Thompson and Thomson


One Thompson is congratulating the new YCRC President.

Thursday 2 November 2017

Photos from David Clarke's FB page

Posted by speedygeoff on Thursday, November 02, 2017 with
Last Sunday pre-run; run; post-run





Wednesday 1 November 2017

The Beatles workout

Posted by speedygeoff on Wednesday, November 01, 2017 with