we interrupt this blog...

... to give you some results of interest from Townsville (Oceania Games)

Event 92 Women 60 Metre Sprint 45-49 years
4 Sue Bourke W48 AUS 8.97

Event 97 Women 60 Metre Sprint 70-74 years
2 Corinne Collins W72 AUS 10.83
6 Constance Larmour W73 AUS 11.99

Event 104 Men 60 Metre Sprint 50-54 years
1 Leo Kennedy M50 AUS 7.87

Event 106 Men 60 Metre Sprint 60-64 years
2 Garry Maher M61 AUS 8.86

Event 116 Women 800 Metre Run 55-59 years
1 Kathy Sims W57 AUS 2:52.72

Event 119 Women 800 Metre Run 70-74 years
1 Corinne Collins W72 AUS 3:52.68
3 Anne Young W73 AUS 4:09.00

Event 126 Men 800 Metre Run 50-54 years
2 John Morton M50 AUS 2:10.27

Event 127 Men 800 Metre Run 55-59 years
1 John Lamb M58 AUS 2:24.03

Event 128 Men 800 Metre Run 60-64 years
2 Geoff Sims M60 AUS 2:26.65

Event 130 Men 800 Metre Run 70-74 years
2 Tony Booth M70 AUS 2:53.46

Event 214 Decathlon: Men 30-34 years
1 Brad Osborn M34 AUS

Event 219 W55 8000 Metre Run
2 Kathy Sims W57 AUS 39:51

Event 282 Men 200 Metre Sprint 60-64 years heats
1 Geoff Sims M60 AUS 27.57Q
7 Garry Maher M61 AUS 28.75q

Event 302 Women 100 Metre Sprint 45-49 years
4 Sue Bourke W48 AUS 14.22

... more to come!

Revolution

Round and round and round we go ... it's the last Dickson track session tonight where we do longer stuff; more "endurance" than "speed". Because it is the last day of July already! If the rain holds off we will do a similar session to last week, then in August at Dickson we will focus more on track specific training. Most of us are interested in improving our middle distance performances and that's what we will be working on. While not losing the endurance we have so patiently built up during winter.

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world

Facebook is stealing some of my time now. Several youngsters have expressed "shock" that someone my age is using facebook. I don't know why: it's the future, no doubt whatsoever. The world is changing. Let's keep up.



But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know it's gonna be all right

It is 8 days until 8/8/8, the start of the Olympics! Can we view it without advertisements and waffle this time, please?

Or if we are too busy to watch, we can record it all, and then forget about it later. Thus saving heaps of time.

If I Fell

I have been saving up this title for when one of the speedygeese had a fall. So that we could all have a good laugh at their expense. And for a long time everyone has managed to keep their feet. Until Tuesday, yesterday, when would you believe it, one of us finally did take a tumble on one of our runs.

It happened at the 11k mark of a 22k run. The person in question who fell did not feel tired, but stumbled four times during the run and fell once, unfortunately on a concrete footpath, getting feet caught up in some packing tape left lying on the path.

You may guess who it was if I say that the person had run a hard 25k three days earlier in the Bush Capital events, and followed this up with a short fast race the day after that!

The song title is more accurate than I anticipated it would be.

Disservice



Katy's take on the Bush Marathon 25k


Thanks to Katy for this wonderful work of art. See the original Garmin map at http://geoffmoore.blogspot.com/2008/07/rocky-racoon.html.

Being For The Benefit of Mr Kite!

A Fun Link
Want to fly over snow covered mountains? Just use your mouse. This is the best "kite" connection I can think of!

On Saturday the speedygeese flew over the mountains of North Canberra. Very good results all round!

Bush Capital Bush Marathon Festival
Campbell High School, Canberra
Saturday 26 July

speedygeese results:
Females:
10 km run
14 Miranda Rawlinson 58.03
16 km run
5 Helen Larmour 1.19.01
30 Rachelle Ellis-Brownlee 1.30.25
31 Maria O'Reilly 1.30.43
32 Amanda Walker 1.30.43
39 Charmaine Knobel 1.32.19
40 Caroline Campbell 1.32.25
50 Ruth Baussmann 1.36.45
60 Cathy Montalto 1.40.09
25 km run
5 Emma Adams 2.08.46
10 Cathy Newman 2.22.28
Marathon
2 Kelley Flood 3.42.04

Males:
16 km run
36 David Baussmann 1.25.04
49 Peter Hogan 1.36.28
25 km run
18 Geoff Moore 2.03.25
Marathon
17 Roger Pilkington 4.10.26

Meanwhile down in Melbourne Mick H ran the Olympic Dream 10k road race in ... 40.01!

Invitation to Emma's Farewell


Emma is moving to Vancouver! Click to enlarge.

Monday night training saw Alan, Christopher, Emma, Ewen, me, Helen, Joel, Mick C, Rachelle, Ruth & Yelena run 10 "zigzags" each of which involved two little uphill (90m) sprints. It was cold!

With the Olympics coming next week, Australian Athletes have been told it's OK to drop out if the Beijing smog is too bad:

Piggies

After a short stay in the US, Michelangelo's David is returning to Europe

My training progress
last week’s target: 100k
achieved: 111k
year 2008 total to date: 2508k in 30 weeks
this week's target: 90k
weight: 63.5kg ►◄

I plan to run the BBQ Stakes on Wednesday and I may enter the Runners Shop 10k on Saturday, although a long race on the road doesn't appeal at the moment. I did enjoy the trails on Saturday! Maybe I am a convert? This is quite a discovery to make at this stage of my running career.



Speedygeese on Sunday
Mt Taylor 3.5k
20 Jodie Sims W30 17:16 61.0%
24 Geoff Moore M60 14:33 83.5
25 Ken White M50 14:34 78.9
30 Cathy Montalto W55 18:09 75.7
35 Neil Boden M55 16:44 70.5
37 Gary Bowen M50 15:05 75.0
38 Katie Forestier W40 15:06 77.6
54 finishers

Mt Taylor 7.0k
8 Bronwyn Calver W35 33:18 69.7%
14 Charmaine Knobel W55 35:50 76.9
15 Alan Duus M60 35:18 71.0
25 Christopher Lang M55 38:20 63.1
27 Margaret McSpadden W60 43:02 68.3
32 Rod Lynch M45 27:41 80.8
41 Steve Johnstone M40 28.11 78.5
54 Peter McDonald M55 37:27 63.4
55 Miranda Rawlinson W55 40:46 66.8
58 Caroline Campbell W65 40:24 77.5
59 Rachelle Ellis-Brownlee W35 35:58 63.8
61 Maria O'Reilly W50 35:12 76.0
62 Peter Hogan M60 39:49 62.7
63 Mick Charlton M55 41:07 58.3
72 Colin Farlow M45 31:28 70.2
79 Adam Robinson M35 41:25 48.2
80 finishers

High Noon Meet
100m
Joel Pearson 12.70

200m
Joel Pearson 25.86

800m
Thea Zimpel 2:54.41

3000m
Ewen Thompson 12:19.93
Yelena Pearson 16:20.81
Thea Zimpel 16:27.11

This modern life


I may be spending too much time on the computer. Nevertheless, I shall return tomorrow with a report on Monday night's training at Parliament House and, I expect, the Bush Capital results.

Strawberry Fields Forever

A man finds an old-fashioned oil lamp on the beach. He takes it home and starts cleaning it up. A genie pops out. Genie: Ive been in there so long my powers are weak. I can only grant you one wish, and its a choice of two. I can either make you super-rich or super-smart. Whatll it be? Man, after a moments though: Yknow, Ive always been bothered about being kinda slow. Always felt people were laughing at me behind my back. Well, no more of that! Make me super-smart! Genie: Done! The genie vanishes. The man smacks himself on the forehead: Jeez, I shoulda taken the money!



Today aki ran 2:54.41 for the 800m at the High Noon Meet.



Yelena ran her first ever 3000m, it was 16.22



And Joel ran a very fast 100m/200m double, possibly slightly miffed that younger brother Toby pipped him in both.

Meanwhile earlier in the day, the highlight of the Mt Taylor Masters Handicap runs was the 200 run T-shirt given to Doug Fry.

Rocky Racoon

The countdown to the Bush Capital Bush Marathon Festival has served its purpose and got me to the 25k today. It was very rocky only at its first high point and the rest of it was runnable. And no racoons, but plenty of kangaroos. I will add the speedygeese results as soon as I have them, but I was pleased with my own run, being an old guy of 60 whose physio said on Monday not to run hills for two weeks because of tight and sore hamstrings, possibly strained, and who is in the third week of an unshakeoffable cold, still ran 2 hours 3 minutes for this course, i.e. sub 5s, and felt very good right through to the end, something to do with backing off up hills, backing off down hills, and no flat bits to worry about.

Here's the contour map. Love the switchbacks towards the end!



And here's the 25k course itself



I don't know if 2:03 is a good time, I have nothing to compare it with. Nevertheless I seem to have got through it unscathed, which is the important thing.

I met up with interstate running bloggers Jen_runs, Horrie, and Eagle, as well as locals Strewth, Aki and CJ. Maybe some of these will write up the day, see the right hand column for the latest.

Tomorrow I hope to get to the Mt Taylor handicap, and I hope to get to the track to watch Aki run an 800, and Southy, Ewen and Yelena run a 3000m.

Then it's back into the routine. Things look bright today!

Fixing A Hole

I'm fixing a hole
where the rain gets in
and stops my mind
from wandering
where it will go.

Possibly my favourite Sgt Pepper track. and we listened to Sgt Pepper many times, back then.

Aussie roadwork team



My mind does wander, I confess. No regular reader would be surprised to learn that. Hence my intention to keep each post more-or-less theme-focused. And not to stray in my blog to areas unrelated to music and running. ("Music" is a concession to the need for variety.) So nothing about entertainment, history, politics, religion, geography, science, other sports, and so on, except of course on the odd occasion when an item might sneak in disguised as music and running.

Speaking of not totally relevant issues, driving back from training last night there were no less than three idiots on the road. I feel I should out one of them, I have often felt like doing this. The driver of car YBN27E tried to run me off the road - he came up beside me as two lanes started merging into one, and stayed half a car length behind me, neither slowing down nor speeding up as the lanes merged. I couldn't speed up as cars were ahead of me so I ended up slamming on the brakes and letting him go ahead. Luckily the drivers behind could see what was happening and had also slowed down. But what a moron! I noted his number and the fact that he had a very large dent in his car from some recent incident. This driver later turned off Ginninderra Drive to enter Bruce.

Before that, at Dickson training last night were Al, Bronwyn, Caroline, Christine G, me, Jodie D, Miranda, Neil, Rachelle, Ruth, Steve, Thea, Tony & Yelena. We ran three sets of 500(400), 300(300), 200(300). The new boy Steve is very fast and just arrived from Scotland and doesn't mind the cold!

Geoff Sims is 60 today!


Geoff & Kathy. Good luck in Townsville!

Finally, in preparing for tomorrow's Bush Capital run, I noticed this rule which I really like!

"CHANGING YOUR RACE DISTANCE"
"If you find on race day that you are not having a good day, you can change to a shorter distance (eg. from 25k to 16k, or 60k to marathon) but you MUST inform the race recorder as you cross the finish line of the correct distance completed".

Right. Now I'm off to the gym and then to Stromlo for a run. Be good!



and when my mind is wandering
there I will go.

She's a Woman

Hair raising! From August Vetrunner.

"We would like to know your views"
The latest Vetrunner is out. In it I say "In May 2008, at its Annual General Meeting, the ACT Veterans Athletic Club (ACTVAC) decided to adopt "ACT Masters Athletics" as its brand name. At that meeting, the Member Services Sub-Committee (MSSC) was asked to collect information on the impact and effect of the use of “ACT Masters Athletics”.

To add any comments you have about the use of "Masters" rather than "Veterans", go to http://actmastersathletics.blogspot.com. The more comments from as many people as possible, the better. Even if you are not a member, your comments are welcome!

Ocean of Reality



Reality will hit me on Saturday. I have now put my entry in for the Bush Capital 25k. And there's only ... whatever it says at the top of this page ... to go.

The start list for each Bush Capital event is here.

The weather is holding, here are the Canberra forecasts
Wednesday Fine, mostly sunny. Min -3 Max 12
Thursday Fine, mostly sunny. Min -3 Max 12
Friday Fine, mostly sunny. Min -1 Max 12
Saturday Fine. Min -2 Max 12

Saturday's timetable is as follows
7.30am Early bird start for slow runners in 60km ultra and 42km marathon
8.30am Bush marathon; marathon relay; 60km ultra; 25km bush walk
9.00am 25km bush run
9.10am 16km bush run and 16km bush walk
12.00pm 5km run and walk
12.40pm Under 13 years 2km children’s run
1.00pm 10km run and walk

All is done that can be done and all is ready to go. Although some may not describe the course as a real mountain run, it is quite hilly, and it's my only "mountain run" of the year.


Sleepy Chicks


Click to view.

Reminder
Training at Antill St Dickson is on tonight as usual, 5:30pm. And we have light!

Don't Pass Me By

...or, just "Don't Pass Me". This particularly applies to handicap runs where I would appreciate the backmarkers staying Back Where They Belong. It is difficult to hold off a fast finishing backmarker, but not impossible, it has been done on occasion. And so to today's BBQ Stakes, which was certainly not the occasion; where rather than jog it (sore hamstring, maybe slightly torn) and be passed by every backmarker, I chose to watch. Not so Roger who took one option and ran off 11 minutes instead of his designated 15.15 and was passed by more than just the backmarkers before coming in with a net time of a relatively slow 31.35. And not so Helen who went to the other extreme and ran from home to the start, missing her start time of 12.30 and starting off 14 minutes, again ensuring the backmarkers all passed her as she coasted in with the slowish time of 29.20. It was that kind of day. All three of us are planning to run one of the Bush Capital runs on Sunday. Where there won't be any backmarkers, and we if we set off slowly enough, we will be the ones doing the passing as others tire.

For Helen and I, Saturday will probably bring a 25k but we are both keeping up our sleeves the 16k option. Roger the marathon.

The weather looks like being kind on Saturday but I am not so sure about Sunday.

How to recognise a marathoner:



With the Olympics around the corner, I wonder how many brilliant athletes will be dubbed "losers" by the media and other ignorami? All but one in each competition, I guess.



All speedygeese are winners. So there!


This winner also makes a habit of coming first. Caroline in the duathlon last weekend.

And Your Bird Can Sing

Song of the day: "Talking Bird", by Death Cab for Cutie
Song of the week: "Lost!", by Coldplay

Training at Parliament House last night were, running 20 x 100m uphill on 90 seconds, Alan, Christopher, Emma, Helen, Jodie S, Joel, Miranda, Neil, Rachelle & Ruth. And Christine ran 10 x100m, Ewen & Yelena ran flatter longer intervals, and I jogged around recovering from Saturday and shouting times. Thanks goodness the wind died before we started our sprints up the hill, it was very cold there an hour earlier. We have one more similar Monday session to go before we move to more specific training for the track.

I have not yet decided which part of the weekly track pattern to do on Mondays in August, but it is getting lighter, and August last year averaged 15 degrees maximum which is somewhat more pleasant than July this year has been, so we should have more flexibility about what we can do.

Yesterday was quite chilly, well done everybody for coming out!

Last Saturday Ruth took Jodie S, Miranda & Rachelle around one of her 17km courses. That's a very long run for those who haven't done it before! I am most impressed, keep it up!

A speedygeese demotivator!



...But especially on the long runs whose goal is general endurance, there's no problem with runners just tagging along!

I do hope these de-motivators are helping you keep your perspective! They help me! We are only just up to "D" in the alphabet, there are many to come!

And your bird can sing... No I'm no singer...
Do you know anyone “on infinite repeat”?


“It’s all here for you as long as you don’t fly away"

At the risk of too much perspective, I will let Coldplay have the last word today:
You might be a big fish
In a little pond
Doesn't mean you've won
'Cause along may come
A bigger one
And you'll be lost!

Paperback Writer

My training progress
last week’s target: 80k
achieved: 81k
year 2008 total to date: 2397k in 28 weeks
this week's target: 100k
weight: 63.5kg ▼

Last week I caught up and passed last year’s km total-to-date of 2381km. This is despite my weekly distances dropping recently, but things were much worse this time last year. My running total after 28 weeks was 2381k; this year it's 2397k.

My plans this week include the BBQ Stakes tempo run on Wednesday and the 25k at the Bush Capital runs on Saturday. I will probably go out to the Mt Taylor Handicap on Sunday, if only to monitor how the change to "Masters" is going, although I notice that certain people are slow to adapt. On Saturday there was a board advertising the "Vets Half Marathon".

Speedy geese running ACT Cross Country events on Saturday:
12k “Pennington”
32. Ewen Thompson M50 61:02

8k “Longstaff”
7. Kathy Southgate W50 33:38
12. Geoff Moore M60 35:35
33. Geoff Barker M60 43:16
37. Caroline Campbell W65 46:14



Jen_runs reports she "can't get no..." and rather than saying she was disappointed with her running, says she "wasn't satisfied" with it. I have noticed several other running bloggers using the odd song title ... there should be more of it.

I haven't seen another string of titles though. Is there anyone out there thinking about starting blogging who would give it a go? I recommend blogging for the cathartic effect alone. It is great for emotional release. Just like running is except, to return to the subject of Jen's post, when one cannot run for whatever reason. I am sure there are enough, for example, Elvis Presley songs to keep a fan going for a few months, if said fan were to become a blogger.

Like runners, writers are never satisfied either. We are always trying to be creative and write better. A secret of being a good runner is to never be satisfied! One thing I note about most runners is, when they have an ultimate goal, and reach it, they immediately discover another, more-ultimate, goal! Hidden away in the recesses of their mind, in reserve, ready to spring forth if needed should the immediate goal be met.

I suppose that's good news and bad news. Good news in that in future you won't lose the interest and motivation to keep on running despite having attained your current goals. Bad news perhaps in that the thing you see as the pinnacle of achievement today will diminish once it's achieved. There are always bigger obstacles ahead to be overcome once you have been victorious over smaller ones.

I will keep writing until I get better. Then I will keep writing.

Definitions: (borrowed/adapted from http://www.crankyfitness.com/2008/07/cranky-fitness-rewrites-dictionary.html)

Aerobic: flying pen (see illustration)



Jog: A reminder. Something I need to do to my memory when it comes time to blog.

Split: What happens to a banana immediately before it is put in a bowl with ice cream and a cherry on top.

Marathon: When a TV channel runs several episodes of a television program back to back. Usually occurs over a major holiday when you were hoping to watch something else.

Personal record: An album, such as Barry Manilow's Greatest Hits, that you hide away so people don't laugh at you.

Knee: A joint that divides the leg into upper and lower sections. Specifically designed to keep athletes humble.

Runner's High: the result of LSD (see below)

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

When Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, people weren't fooled for very long by the hidden message in the title. Despite John Lennon saying it was a description his son Julian gave to a drawing Julian did in kindergarten. And despite the rumours that Lucy-Sky-Diamonds really meant LSD, or wealth, which inspired Frank Zappa's "We're Only In It For The Money" satirical album.


As everyone now knows, the Beatles were closet joggers, and LSD really stands for "Long Slow Distance", not "Pounds, Shillings and Pence". When all their neighbours had gone to work, the Beatles would secretly sneak out and have a jog along Abbey Road, or occasionally, across Strawberry Fields Forever.

The best way to get hooked on long running is via LSD, via Long Slow Distance; start off slowly. I now go off on an unexpected tangent. After 16 miles, distances get exponentially longer! Quote: "Once you pass the 16 mile mark, you enter another dimension and all laws of mathematics go out the window. For example, in our everyday dimension, 18 miles is simply 2 miles more than 16. Not so in the runner's dimension. Therefore, I came up with an equation for how mathematics rules apply in the runner's dimension..." Continued: see http://frayedlaces.blogspot.com/2008/07/math-in-runners-dimension.html. That explains everything!

And of course the Beatles changed the direction of all music from then on. To see how music is evolving, here is today's video, "House of Cards" by Radiohead.


Those who are only in it for the money can't win. That's why I think our training group is better if not best. No-one is in it for the money. This house is built on something better.

Long Long Long

Today's video: “Cath…” by Death Cab for Cutie. The opening riff reminds me of the start of Creed’s “Stand Here With Me”. Be that as it may, this is a sensational song, and I think it’s Death Cab’s next single release here, from “Narrow Stairs”. It has some of their favourite themes, including the fragility of marriage and the meaning of commitment. And their usual humour, insight, and invention.



Today was Pennington/Longstaff day: I ran the 8km, and despite an even and relaxed start I ran out of steam in the fifth km. I was not suited by the course which was fairly rough and slippery in places. And 8k is far too long long long to try and run quick the whole way!

Coming up next week will be the Bush Capital runs (2k, 5k, 10k, 16k, 25k, 42k, or 60k as well as 42k relays, and bush walks). I am inclined to enter the 25k, and run it at a slow pace. Pre-entries close Wednesday, here, otherwise late fees apply.

"Who has entered so far": in the 10k, 23 runners; 16k, 101 runners including David & Ruth, Charmaine, and Cathy M; 25k, 47 runners including Emma, the Faulks family, Helen, and Cathy N; 42k 25 runners including Roger; and in the 60k another 25 runners. Here's the latest startlist.

Also on offer, Sunday of next weekend, are the ACTMA monthly handicap runs at Mt Taylor, and the High Noon Meet at the AIS track. The track component for High Noon July 27 is as follows:
12:00pm sprint hurdles
12:15pm 60m
12:30pm 100m
12:50pm 800m
1:05pm 200m
1:20pm 3000m (run & walk)

I have not finally decided which of all these I will commit to. But the 25k is looking good. I will consult my friends (well, a few of them), consult the weather forecasters, and see how I go Wednesday doing my 6k BBQ Stakes tempo run, before deciding!

Consulting: too true:

Johnny B Goode

Continuing the "consistency" theme of yesterday:



Two things I often emphasise: consistency in training, and relaxation in all running and racing. Goode runners practice both!

Yesterday's training at Dickson: Five teams (of 2 runners each) ran 4x2x600m in a relay, after an initial 600m time trial. Present were Al, Bronwyn, David, me, Jodie D, Joel, Margaret, Neil, Rachelle, Rod back from work-trips, Ruth, Tony & Yelena. Thea was also visible on the horizon. We were delighted to see that one set of lights had been turned to face the oval, turned on, and turned up possibly (new globes?). At last, visibility was excellent!

And for M50 speedygeese, you will be delighted to know that John Morton turns 50 today! The aged are getting speedier. Kevin Chamberlain's M50 800m record, 2:05.9, set in March 1997, is potentially under threat. Coincidentally. Kevin turns 62 tomorrow, and if Kevin too gets fit for this track season, I will have a serious target for my 1500m races. It is always fun racing Kevin, he has a very goode turn of speed which makes racing him quite tactical.

But in the M50s, Go Johnny Go Go Go! Today's video has the Beatles performing "Johnny B Goode": I cannot embed this one, but you just have to see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TAlVQgtkuM.

Johnny Kennedy's photos are always goode too!


New Secretary speedygoose Miranda at Mt Ainslie: Also in the photo are new Treasurer Paul Archer, Rod & Amanda Lynch, and in the background, dear Prudence. Miranda will be joining me most Fridays at noon at Stromlo for a speedy interval session. Rain or shine, I will be there today.

That’s All Right (Mama)

One of my favourites:



We have all seen it and done it. But conformity is alright, if it's conforming to something meritorious! The scary thing is when you see conformity for conformity's sake. (I thought penguins might have worked as well as zebras. Never mind.) That's all right my mama, anyway you do.

At the BBQ Stakes yesterday I ran the same time as last run, again! I am amazed how consistent I continue to be this year, it's never ever happened before. It would have to be because all the injuries and niggles are no longer a factor and it's only fitness holding me back. Helen ran well too, she is returning to form: I give Helen 2:15 start and this time did not catch her. And at last weekend's Googong Half Marathon, Helen excelled: although she missed the start by seven minutes due to a mix-up about where the start point actually was.

BBQ Stakes
me 25:19
Helen 27:23.

Googong Dam off-road Half Marathon
35. Helen Larmour 48 W45 1:59:20
39. Alan Duus 62 M60 2:03:44
46. Peter Hogan 61 M60 2:17:20
52. Geoff Barker 63 M60 2:35:38

Why Don't We Do It In The Road?

20 miles on the road. Over a mountain.


Speedygeese doing it in the road at Shoalhaven King of the Mountain


Word is they look cold because the post-race showers were not warm.

Shoalhaven King of the Mountain 20 miles
43 Kelley Flood 2.40:36 F 47 GOLD W40-49
77 Emma Adams 3.00:14 F 39
82 Mick Horan 3.04:01 M 48
Charlie was there but didn't run.

“When I’m Sixty-Four”

'World's oldest blogger' dies at 108
A 108-year-old Australian woman hailed as the world's "oldest blogger" died Saturday after posting her final entry on June 26th, news.com.au reports.

Olive Riley, who was born in 1899, shared tales of growing up in the early 20th century, recounting everything from washing day ("You 21st century people live a different life than the one I lived as a youngster in the early 1900s," she wrote) to living through two world wars.

She began writing her blog — or "blob" as she called it — in February 2007, and her great-grandson Darren Stone said she "enjoyed the notoriety — it kept her mind fresh."

"What kept her going was the memories she had, and being able to recall those memories so strongly," Stone told news.com.au.

In her last entry, Riley told friends that she still felt "weak, and can't shake off that bad cough. Eric read a whole swag of email messages and comments from my internet friends today, and I was so pleased to hear from you. Thank you, one and all."

Golly, if I live to be 108 I will have run out of Beatles song titles! In fact I may even have run out of them when I’m 64! See http://worldsoldestblogger.blogspot.com/

Monday Night Training
At Parliament House last night were Caroline, Cathy M, Ewen, myself, Jill, Jodie Sims for the first time, Joel, Kathy S, Kirsten for the second time, Neil, Rachelle, Ruth, and Yelena who had a good run. We did our 20 x 100m hill sprints on 90 seconds. Two more weeks of these are planned before we change to "something else".

Another Gold Coast update: Kirsten ran 1:54.59 in the Half.

Happy Birthday Mick H, 49 today!


Mick (centre) running at Stromlo Forest Park.

Coming Events:
Tomorrow is the BBQ Stakes 6k as usual.

Saturday the Cross Country Club have their "Longstaff/Pennington" races at Weston Park. A choice of 4k, 8k or 16k. I imagine the 8k and 16k start together at 1:00pm and the 4k is earlier. These are run on a 4k loop on the grass by the lake. [Edit. 4k at 12:15. 8k & 12k, not 16k, at 1:00]

Sunday at Stromlo Forest Park:
I didn’t know about this until last night, so it’s likely you didn’t either!
ACT Olympic Council
2008 Olympic Team Fund Raising Event
"This Fundraising Event is being called the "Stromlo Forest Park Event" and is being conducted by the ACT Olympic Council in support of the Australian Olympic Council, 2008 Beijing Olympic Team Fund.
The event will be conducted on Sunday 20 July from 10:00 am until 1:00 pm"
See http://www.athleticsact.org.au/images/documents/sfp_event.doc for more information and the entry form.

Change of Training Time
On Fridays I have been training at Stromlo Forest Park, and from this Friday on the meeting/start time will be 12 noon. Anyone is welcome to join me there, whether for one Friday or many. The warm-up will start at noon sharp and you can join in then or later than that if you wish, I won't be rushing away.

Thursdays at Dickson continues as usual. The lights weren't on last week but that can be explained by the rain causing an official track closure. It's fine now. Come along anyway, we will go for a run along the road if the track is closed again.

Baby You're a Rich Man

So?

My training progress
last week’s target: 0k
achieved: 0k. Spot on!
year 2008 total to date: 2316k in 28 weeks
this week's target: 80k
weight: 65kg ▲
That was some recovery week! Zero k! Unfortunately I have a cold... Shouldn't worry me too much. My weight has peaked and will drop, so that's OK too.

song of the week "Desert Song" by Brooke Fraser, from "This Is Our God" by Hillsong

During last week at Hillsong we saw many great artists, not the least of which were Leeland who I see as the next-generation Delirious (Leeland himself is only twenty years old and started recording at 14), Michael Gungor whom I see as the next Jonathon Foreman, and Brooke Fraser, the Hillsong United/I Heart Revolution group (whose first movie is on at Hoyts this week), and others such as Guy Sebastian, a crowd favourite, and Israel Houghton/New Order, also a crowd favourite. A feast of brilliant music.

The brilliant Hillsong album "This Is Our God" is number two on the Australian aria charts this week, as expected! It is behind Coldplay's Viva La Vida which is outselling everything else combined (or was until Hillsong came along) but ahead of everything else.

We have booked again next year and will be staying on-site at Homebush which means - I will be able to go running! Next year guests include the awesome Martin Smith (of Delirious) and the awesome Chris Tomlin.

Such a wealth of talent all in one place.

Granddaughter Kayleigh (9 years old)


This profile of Kayleigh appears on http://www.carmelandcogymnastics.com.au/main/page_news_gymnast_profile.html. I just love the "Prime Minister" quote!

Gold Coast results
In addition to the speedygeese results I posted here
Rae Palmer won a silver medal – she was second W60 in the half marathon in 1:48.23

Your training plans
It looks like we will all be training for 800 thru 5000 for next track season! Suits me!



Baby I'm a "rich man". Hope you are too.

She Loves You

My goodness, I had no idea how I was going to use today's title as a post heading. Every post in this blog from 28 May and on has a Beatles title as its heading. (Or if you like apostrophe's, a Beatles' title as it's heading.) So thank you Marc for using "She Loves You" as your theme today so I can link it here, http://marcontherun.blogspot.com/2008/07/she-loves-me-yeah-yeah-yeah.html, and use it as an excuse to promote the blogs I list on my side-bar. In each category you see listed the latest posts from a variety of sources, and what you see is updated every time you enter or refresh this blog. By the way, Marc's post linked above and on the side-bar has an exquisite photo of a yummilicious desert and a most desirable tree-house. Yeah Yeah Yeah, it's you she's thinking of, and she knows just what to say! Good stuff!

Parliament Houwse Hills



Back to the hill work tomorrow at Parliament Houwse (as we now call it). It's good for you! I Feel Fine, I'll Be There. The Rain has gone, Here Comes The Sun.

Farewell Mark and Barb


Hey guys, it's good to see you settling in in New Zealand. Sorry to hear about those Springboks who spoilt the party last night. We will come and see you sometime and cheer you up.

Barb's email would be similat to what's in the sidebar - but not exactly that. Try BarbTucker not BardyTucker, try hotmail not hitmail? Can't have spwelling errors, can we? One day I will deliberatley not go back and correct the typos caused by me typing too fast.

The Long and Winding Road

I should be back in Canberra tonight! You would be so looking forward to that. Look, I don't care how cold it might be. We are definitely counting down to track season and we must get into training!

Only three months to track.

My coaching pattern has us starting to focus on our specialities COME AUGUST. So it's the last chance for some strength and/or endurance work, over the next few weeks.

Oh, and if you are in the speedygeese training group, you might like to tell me what you plan to compete in this summer. Unless of course you are just happy to slot in with whatever everyone else is doing. However, should I have on record what your goals are, it will help me plan your training days.

But whether you make training sessions or not, very soon we start working towards track.


Silver that day. Let's see what's possible in the future!
I appear to be happy.

I Saw Her Standing There

Training
Here's the Annual Pattern I have developed for the speedygeese, as it stands at present.
Remember our circumstances are unique!

Mondays at Parliament House
January - February: 6 weeks anaerobic
February - March: 6 weeks speed
April - May: 6 weeks longer intervals, circuits
May - June: 4 weeks speed endurance
June - July: 6 week hill sprints
August - October: 3 months specialised training
November - December: 2 months shorter speed endurance

Thursdays at Dickson:
April - May: 6 weeks short intervals little recovery
May - July: 10 weeks of long intervals
August - October: 3 months specialised training

Nowhere man

I'm not exactly nowhere. Tonight I see Leeland, live at the Superdome, Sydney, Australia. Wheeee!

My training pattern
As from next week my training pattern will change. But it is still subject to negotiation. Obviously Monday nights (Parliament Houwse) and Thursday nights (Dickson) are set in concrete. But everything else is negotiable. If you would like to send me an INVITATION to join you on a regular weekly run, now is the time to do so.

COME ON NOW. SURPRISE ME. SOMEONE ACTUALLY SEND ME SOMETHING!

Your Feets Too Big

Yes that was actually a Beatles title. A rare recording, made at the start back in 1962.

2009: The year of travelling.
Here are some coming events I am definitely interested in, and expect to enter:

Australian Masters Games. 21-25 February 2009. Geelong. Mick, surely you will be in this one? I see five or six of us booking hotel rooms. There's an 8k cross country on the 21st, then track the next four days, with 5000m the longest track event.

AMA National Championships, Adelaide, Easter: 10-13 April 2009. A 10k track the first day, 1500 the second, 5k the third, and 8k cross country the 4th.

World Masters Games, Sydney, 10-18 October 2009. Not to be missed!



Actually, being irritating is now a crime in Sydney! Golly, I expect to be arrested. Is this society stupid or what?

Someone's heads too big.

Another Girl

It's Helen.

Only one month until the Olympics! Time is certainly flying. Just think, it's eight years since Sydney 2000! I will be glued to the athletics.

Make the most of each day, they fly by!

A selection from my personal training notes:
Winter at present
Mondays PH 14k Start at 4:30pm, do speed session too
Tuesdays Vets 24k Start early and run twice
Wednesdays gym/BBQ 12k full warm-up, race 6k
Thursdays Run early + Dickson = 24k Dickson supervise
Fridays Stromlo 12k My speed session
Saturdays Long run up to 26k, shorter if racing Sunday
Sundays Jog 8k Rest or catch-up. Or race
Total 120k max

But as I say soon, this may change.

Last Summer
Mondays Speed / Tempo
Tuesdays Long Steady
Wednesdays Easy
Thursdays Race
Fridays Rest
Saturdays Tempo / Speed (opposite of Monday)
Sundays Easy

The main principles I have been following:
(a) A long day each week is important. Perhaps extend the distance every couple of weeks.
(b) One rest day is a good idea - remember the "Sabbath day" principle.
(c) The longest day should be preceded by a speed day and followed by an easy day; that way, appropriate recoveries occur.
(d) Three demanding days in a row should never be attempted.