Winter's Tail

It's the last day of winter; still pretty cold and wet.

Low Point X. Yesterday was a bit of a shocker with a number of incidents. Such as Jenny's 88 year old mother slipping and falling and breaking her leg, at home just after she'd been here for lunch. A couple of other incidents as well. As I said yesterday, the only way is up.

And breaking news - http://www.theage.com.au/national/water-minister-tim-holding-missing-on-freezing-mountain-20090831-f488.html. Let's hope he's OK.

Last week my weight stayed the same despite doing little running. Usually that's an indicator that I'm not well, but there are no other symptoms so far. Other than tiredness. If I am well, the only other time it happens like that is when I am away on holidays. So perhaps I am in holiday mode. Tiredness is not unusual at the best of times.

Plans this week
Today - training at Parliament House; 4:30pm for a jog, 5:30pm to meet the larger group and warm-up for intervals.
Wednesday - see if I can resurrect some form at the BBQ Stakes.
After that I am having a break, taking a long hard look at myself (erk!),  and doing long slow runs for a while. Training will continue at Dickson (Thursdays) and Parliament House (Mondays) delegated to my enthusiastic and not at all reluctant team of assistant coaches.

Wonderful spam, glorious spam
I thought I'd note what has been happening with my PC. I reported that during winter it was "unstable." Eventually I managed to fix this when I uninstalled Nortons then re-installed it, probably a newer version. All good now!

Except I cannot access many control panel features. There are ways around some of these, but notably I cannot run "automatic updates" nor turn them on nor see what they are, and the Microsoft websites don't store these updates as they used to pre-Vista, rather refer you back to the Control Panel, and there are no other short cuts or system commands for running them, I have tried everything and searched everywhere.

The other problem I have is that all thumbnails are not working properly; today's Canberra Times Techno section answers someone else's similar problem but my educated guess is that their solution won't work for me.

A PC issue I have "fixed" is that of spam emails. No-one need tolerate spam; some ISPs deal with spam better than others. But here is the solution which I have implemented for a couple of other people with huge success. I use gmail (google mail). Google mail blocks spam better than any other system I know. You can change to google mail, or better still, keep your current email address and forward email straight through to gmail and let it filter out the spam.

Here is my recommendation:
1. Create a new "gmail" email account.
2. Go into your current email account and change settings to allow all emails sent to your current email address to be re-directed (forwarded) to your new gmail address.
3. You can and should also specify not to save a copy in the current account. Maybe do so temporarily just to prove to your satisfaction how well the spam blocking is working.
4. In gmail if you wish, you can set it up so that when you send new emails or reply to existing emails, it gives your old email address in the "From" field. This means to other users it looks as if you are still operating completely as you were.
4. Then of course you have to use gmail for all emails. Gmail has other very nice features you will soon learn to like.

And what happens if you do the above? Very rarely will you see a spam email message ever again!

Finals footy
I have been suggesting Collingwood will make the grand final, only to be thumped by the Crows. The way it has panned out, the only way that will now happen is, for a start, Collingwood must beat St kilda this weekend. Highly likely!!

Brett in the Half

If Brett's Carlton gets past Brisbane in Brisbane this weekend they will have Geelong or the Bulldogs to contend with in the semis. Not easy! It is a very interesting and potentially close and exciting finals series.

Brett relaxing yesterday after the Vets handicap

the only way is up

My very poor training week and my relatively slow Mt Taylor run today has me wondering why I am not going so well and whether I will ever bounce back to something like the fitness I was developing a year ago.

Nevertheless: here are the Vets Handicap results from today. Both courses featured rather long up-hill climbs in the first half into the cold wind. And the fact that the wind was behind us on the downhill return didn't seem to help.

Mt Taylor 3.5k
11 Rachelle Ellis-Brownlee W35 16:02 66.6%
13 Ken White M55 14:50 75.7
15 Amanda Walker W40 15:54 71.3
24 Geoff Moore M60 15:04 78.9
26 Cathy Montalto W55 17:59 75.5
29 Katie Forestier W40 14:36 78.3
37 Gary Bowen M50 16:44 66.0
38 Neil Boden M55 17:45 65.3
51 finishers

Mt Taylor 7k
8 Brett Morrison M40 32:53 64.1%
12 Alan Duus M60 36:11 69.5
18 Heidi Johnston W35 33:55 67.8
19 Bronwyn Calver W35 33:59 68.3
28 Nadine Thomlinson W40 33:14 70.3
41 Janene Kingston W45 35:01 68.3
47 Roger Pilkington M50 31:05 72.8
50 Helen Larmour W50 34:22 75.9
56 Caroline Campbell W65 40:23 80.1
84 Mick Charlton M55 43:07 56.1
90 finishers

Half Marathon running photos

Thanks to John Kennedy for the series of half marathon running photos I will be featuring for the next two weeks or so. This one's of Ewen, that's not me in the background despite appearances if you don't look closely!

Intermission

When You Gotta Go.
I often talk about running and I sometimes talk about movies. Coraline (3D) was brilliant; Up (3D) promises to be just as brilliant.

This post brings running and movies together. And peeing. The question is, whatever happened to the intermission in long movies? There are times when you just have to have a toilet break. A new website runpee.com is the answer. You can look up current movies and see when the best times are to make a run for the toilets, just how long you have got, and what happens on the screen while you are away.

For the 2½-hour Inglourious Basterds, the site gives you three options to "run pee." But for the 107-minute Time Traveler's Wife, there's only one option, and for just two minutes. So much for time travel!

The only flaw I can see in this strategy is when everyone at the theatre uses the website and dashes for the loo at the same time.

The Half Marathon

Peter Hogan walked the Half Marathon in about the time it takes to watch a Lord of the Rings movie. I wonder if he needed a rest stop?

while the cat's away, the mice play even harder

As reported by Bronwyn: Thursday night training: attendees: Brett M, Caroline, acting coach Craig, Jerry, Heidi, Janene, Joel, Troy, Yelena & Bronwyn. Warm up: 2.92k (big loop, stretch, small loop). Relay teams of two...10 x 300m efforts anti-clockwise lane 4/ 100m jog clockwise lane 6 (changeover points located in the middle of the straights and the bends)...Troy/Joel, Brett/Bronwyn, Janene/Heidi, Craig/Jerry, Yelena/Caroline. Warm down: 1.21k (small loop)

Instead of training, I attended with Jenny a lively energetic concert at Trinity Christian School involving every student in their Junior School; including our grandchildren Jossie and Liana. I am noting this because something that stood out to me was the almost complete absence of overweight, let alone obese, children. Isn't it wonderful that there is a school where the values of health, fitness, and well-being are being so well promoted and achieved?

Start of the Half Marathon

The "pink" group: runners expecting to complete the course in 1:40 to 2:00 range. I can see about nine of the speedygeese in there.

maiden century

End of winter season dinner
I am planning to book for a training group end of season dinner very soon. The suggestion is La Capanna restaurant at Kingston (http://www.bestrestaurants.com.au/restaurants/ACT-Canberra-lacapanna.aspx) for Monday night 21 September instead of training that night. If there is only positive feedback I will make a booking in a few days time for the 21st. It's excellent Italian!

speedygeoff's school of running
There have been unprecedented numbers of visitors to this blog for the last couple of weeks: over 100 per day. Greetings! It has wonderful to have you all here. Comments and feedback are always welcome. I will keep writing interesting bits and pieces as best I can. And I love reading other running blogs, so advertise yours here if you will!

Thanks to Ewen for enabling me to fix a "date stamp" problem, you may have noticed they didn't always show up with post headings, but that should now be OK.

 Ewen ahead of some other runners...

Feedback on the feed
Speedygeese team members, please let me know if date & place, the 21st at La Capanna, suit you or not. Thanks!

Blowin' in the wind

I didn't brave the winds to run BBQ today. Although, I would have run but I am super busy...

So here's a picture of speedy Yelena running back in April, with speedy Suzie not far behind. It's the finish of the Women's and Girls' 5k Fun Run.

And here is super speedy Roger racing a recent 10k. He usually goes to the BBQ Stakes so if he went there today I wonder if he was blown away...

I have all these photos from the Half Marathon I will use soon. Meanwhile, Dickson training is definitely on tomorrow unless the ovals are closed, which is highly unlikely. Enjoy! It won't be sprints!

making headway while the sun hides

Despite coming into the half marathon on Sunday feeling exhausted, I came out of it Monday (and today) feeling refreshed. Training on Monday night was a group of 17 runners at Parliament House repeating a session we did two weeks ago: intervals ranging from 200 to 600m with appropriate recovery jogs. There were Alan, Bronwyn, Caroline, Christopher, Craig, Gary, me, Helen, Jennifer, Joel, Kat, Katie, Ken, Neil, Rachelle, Ruth & Yelena. Only Craig and I did the earlier run, where I was surprised to find how well we felt after Sunday. If only I could discipline myself to do more frequent longer runs at a good challenging tempo!

Caroline, ACTVAC Half Marathon medal presentation, first W65

A speedygoose in Lahti

Coming up this week
Monday 24th 5:30pm training at Parliament House (4:30pm for early starters). I will be there at 4:30.
Wednesday 26th  12:15pm BBQ Stakes 6k handicap. I will probably be there, alternatively I might need a day off.
Thursday 27th 5:30pm Training at Antill Street Dickson. I will be delegating that session to another, as I will be attending a concert where one of my grandchildren is performing. Training will go ahead without me!
Saturday 29th the Cross Country Club has its Parlauf Relays at Yarralumla (note change of venue)
Sunday 30th 9:00am Vets monthly handicap, Mt Taylor.  I will be there.

Caroline Campbell at the Worlds
In the World Masters, Lahti, Finland, Caroline competed in four events in the W65 age group. The last one, the marathon, was held in very hot conditions. Caroline said she walked the last 8k. Organisers were under-prepared and had to bring in large quantities of water towards the end so that distressed competitors could cool off. Very unlike normal Finland weather at this time of year.
Caroline's races:
28/7 8k cross country 11th 41:40
2/8 5k track 9th 24:49
6/8 10k track 6th 52:56
8/8 marathon 11th 5:23.50
What is amazing is the way Caroline backed up to win her age group in yesterday's ACTVAC half marathon, not that long after returning to Australia.

Caroline at Mt Ainslie

Canberra Times Fun Run: entries close this Friday. enter at www.canberratimesfunrun.com.au.

ACTVAC Half Marathon

Times for the ACT old people's half marathon; speedygeese highlighted and a few past speedygeese mentioned as well; full results now at http://www.actvac.com.au/.

David W 1:30.52 gold M55
Roger 1:42.37
me 1:43.33
Gary 1:43.43
Helen 1:44.20 silver W50
Ewen 1:45.18
Brett 1:47.29
Craig 1:50.17
Suzie 1:51.50
Rae 1:52.26 gold W60
Janene 1:53.29
Geoff S 1:54.14
Cathy 1:57.14 gold W55
Alan 1:57.37
Caroline 2:03.27 gold W65
Susan 2:06.41

The course wasn't easy and the road was long. Owing to roadworks the course had two more hills than usual. I switched from the fast group to the slow group before the start, planning to run with the pack who had sworn they were going to run 5 minute kms. In the end the closest to 5 minute kms average was Ewen, however I did hold on to 5s average from about 4k onward! Just.

Great runs by everybody but I would like to highlight Susan's debut over anything like this long a race; Suzie's startling time; Cathy Montalto's gold medal!!!; and particularly Caroline Campbell's amazing gold medal and fast time especially considering she has only just returned from Finland where she competed in the 5000m, 10000m, 8k cross country and MARATHON!

I am so destroyed after attempting the first three weeks of a marathon program I might just have to put it on hold and start again one day. Or possibly not restart!

Ewen and I running much, much slower than 5 minute kms in a recent 10k. Today was much better!

milestones

Flying by
Happy birthday to our youngest grandchild, Charlie Moore, two years old today! I hope the Brisbane weather is fine today so that the family can enjoy an outdoors celebration.

Jenny and I are celebrating our wedding anniversary, also today, as we start our fortieth year together. Wow! As an aside, I will be in no state to run well tomorrow morning in the Half Marathon but I still hope to be there on time.

There are too many milestones in my life which mark the passage of time. But I still like to celebrate, although maybe not quite as hard as forty years ago.

Cross Country Run - click to see full size
Roger

me

Heidi

Ewen

You can see how great Canberra winter weather can be. Although, there was a bit of a headwind that day, just on the section of sand where these photos were taken.

age test

This is copied from "running masters". It was so funny i could not resist. I copied it today in case I forget what it's all about, tomorrow. There are a few links that I forgot to copy, but you can find them in the original...

Did you all see this story? "Pete Magill Crushes Masters Records, But Is He "Entirely" Old?"

Entirely Old?
For a few years now, there have been rumors as to the whether Magill was entirely old, but things didn't come to a boil until the last few days, when a few mainstream media outlets printed a few pieces on the matter. Once someone besides LetsRun.com had mentioned it, things exploded.

After the race, the General Secretary of the IAAF, Pierre Weiss, spoke at the post-race press conference instead of Magill. Weiss' comments were in our mind quite good and you can see them in their entirety on the video on the left.

Weiss said that there currently two investigations going on - one in California and one in South Africa - into whether Magill should be allowed to compete as a masters runner. "There is doubt about the fact that this person is old," said Weiss. "All of the doctors we have contacted have told us that this type of investigation takes days and even weeks before it can come to a conclusion."

As both Mr. Weiss and Ross Tucker have pointed out, old man tests are incredibly complex as "'bald spots do not alone constitute old or young." For a more in-depth explanation of the complexity of it all, please see Mr. Tucker's post on Magill. LRC Message board thread on Magill here.

Mr. Weiss also thoughtfully explained to the media why Magill wasn't brought in the post-race media area.

"He's bald. He's been around for a long time ," said Weiss. "It's obvious to us and it ought to be obvious for you as well that he's not prepared to reply to the questions which you are totally entitled to ask. That's why we prefer to not bring him here."

"Today there is no proof (that he's not old) and the benefit of doubt must always be with the athlete."

One final thing worth noting, as IAAF spokesman Nick Davies noted to Espn.com, is that the whole controversy surrounding Magill is "a medical issue, not an issue of cheating."

Magill has never tried to hide his age. He believes himself to be old and therefore competed as such.

Pete's reply;
 "I am willing to undergo all the usual tests to prove that I am, in fact, "entirely old." I will:
 1) Try to tie my shoelaces without using a bench, short wall, or tall rock.
2) Try to remember the names of all my teammates from my varsity High School cross country team ... Let's see, there was Andy DiConti, and Dave Francis, and Scott-something-or-other, and that sophomore who always wore a headband, and ... um....
3) Attempt to listen to an entire story from another runner about something having to do with running without remembering a better story of my own from more than 20 years ago and interrupting the first story to tell it.
4) And finally, will attempt to make it through a morning run, a large cup of coffee, and then a few hours of work without needing to take a nap.

Failure to complete any of the above will indicate "oldness." Failure to complete all of the above will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am "entirely old."

Hmmm ... now what was this email about again?....

Pete

At Dickson on Thursday we had Brett M, Bronwyn, Craig, me, Heidi, Janene, Jerry, Joel, Kat, Margaret, Maria, Matthew, Miranda, Neil, Rod, Ruth & Yelena; most ran 8 x 300m with 100 jog in teams of two. Again the weather was kind; not too cold and not too much breeze. And again we out-numbered the Bilbys, this time by 17 to 10. I like the trend!

If you didn't get the point of the oldness story, here's a current news item. That's a joke, too. Why are old people slow to realise that today's athletic performances are better now than "in my day" and are always looking for excuses to justify these opinions?

dream stuff

I dreamt last night that we were running handicapped 200m intervals in training today. Are my dreams trying to tell me something? How do I organise the starts and watch the finish at the same time? Not a problem in my dreams, where I still imagine I can run very fast. Which is a good thing I guess.

BBQ stakes and patty cakes
Not exactly the stuff of dreams for me yesterday, in the 6km BBQ Stakes I ran out of legs after a reasonable first km and found it tough. Helen had a dream start to her W50 career with a very good time on her birhday. We enjoyed Natalie's patty cakes after the run.
Katie 25:32
me 26:36
Ken 26:46
Helen 27:30 recent pb
Gary 27:41
Roger 31 something, he would not say.

Sorry to announce Bronwyn's birthday a month too soon. I did the same with Mick's a couple of months ago. It reminds me of when close friends sent my wife her birthday card in March this year a full month early too. We haven't told them.

buttons for eyes

Jenny and I have just seen Coraline - in 3D - what a great movie! I loved the graphic novel; then I read the non-graphic version; and now the movie. The movie was a major re-write; some scenes were unchanged, but much of the movie was new stuff, even with the addition of a major character which was something of a disappointment. The other disappointment was there were only two other people in the theatre! Unbelievable for a five star movie that's only been on for a week or so. The 3D animation was sensational but not over-done. It is decades since I saw a 3D movie and technology has certainly advanced. But back then it was gimmicky and recently Monsters v Aliens looked gimmicky too, although I didn't see the 3D version. Nevertheless I will definitely be seeing "Up" in 3D when it is finally released here.



"There's one tiny little thing you need to do. Black is traditional".
I loved the movie. It is wonderfully scary for all ages!

BBQ Stakes recent best times
The Stakes are on today; before I go and run it today, here are our recent best times:
Katie 24.57 08-Jul
Roger 25.22 24-Jun
me 25.50 17-Jun
Ken 26.31 24-Jun
Gary 27.17 05-Aug
Helen 27.41 06-May
Brett 27.48 12-Aug
Amanda 28.16 12-Aug
It looks like a great day today for pb's.

[edit: today Helen ran a recent pb of 27:30; on her 50th birthday and all!] 

Way back in the 1970s

Monday training was 8x400m with 400m jog on the 600m course on the west side of Parliament House. Present were Alan, Andrew, Cathy, Christopher, Craig, Ewen, me, Helen, Joel, Katie, Ken, Mick C, Neil, Rachelle, Ruth & Yelena; Helen brought champagne, which is the only way to conclude a hard training session.

Amongst all the birthdays happening now, Nadine turned 40 recently; Jennifer 34 last Thursday; Helen 50 tomorrow. Happy birthday! Looks like there will be some major re-shuffles of track relay teams this summer, and possibly some new records.

Jenny & I will be celebrating our 39th wedding anniversary this Saturday.

As well as the Vets Half Marathon, there is a High Noon Meet this Sunday 23 August, The running events are:

12:00 noon 200/300/400m hurdles
12:15 pm 60m
12:30 pm 100m
12:55 pm 200m
1:00 pm 1500m run and walk
1:15 pm 400m

I do so like old pictures. Who is this? Hint: she trained with us on Monday night.

montage

Last week I ran 87k in total of the 90k planned, and my weight stayed at 65kg for some reason or other...
I was tired on Wednesday-Thursday-Friday-Saturday but I felt better on Sunday. This must have been as a result of Natalie’s cooking!

My plans this week: 100k total, including
Monday 17th 4:30pm run at Parliament House; 5:30pm Parliament House coaching
Wednesday 19th 12:15pm BBQ Stakes
Thursday 20th 4:30pm Dickson 8k jog; 5:30pm Dickson coaching
Saturday 22nd: I won't have time to get to the Antill St/Majura Cross Country Club race.
Sunday 23rd Vets Half Marathon. I plan to run it but probably in ~1:45. Or as I am in the third group, I may have to go slightly faster to keep the field in sight. I won’t get sucked in to joining those who are starting in the second group and say they are running 1:45. They will probably go much faster because they "felt good on the day". Been there; done that.

Party pictures

click to enlarge

fleet

rapid; fast; quick; speedy.

speedygeese at Dunrossil Drive 4.1k
34. Geoff Moore M60 17:31
43. Heidi Johnston W35 18:27
48. Ewen Thompson M50 19:02
65 finishers
My run of 17:31 compares favourably with 22:57 (2008) and 19:31 (2007) where I must have been taking it easy; 16:53 (2003) and 17:04 (2001). But doesn't compare all that favourably with earlier times, for instance 13:21 (1981)!

Helen turns 50

Helen turns 50 this coming Wednesday. Here she is opening presents last night.... Helen says she is running quicker now than she was last year.

ACTCCC winter program changes
22 AUGUST: Due to building works the Horse Park Drive event has been moved to Mt Majura, using the traditional Vets courses. Start will be on Antill St Hackett, near where the housing finishes, where the tracks start.
29 AUGUST: The final relays of the season will be moved from Stromlo Forest Park to Yarralumla Bay (traditional location off Novar St/Alexandrina Dr) due to commencement of set up for the Mountain Bike International at SFP. The relays will be Parlouf style – more details will follow, but this style of relay means members of a team can run essentially run any distance they want as many times as they want to complete the total event distance.

winds light to variable

Dunrossil Drive
I am planning to do a long run in the sun today to take advantage of the perfect weather. Probably do about a quarter of this week's 90k target just to make the most of a beautiful day. In the middle of it I will "race" the Dunrossil Drive 4.2k, which probably means running no faster than Ewen, and if he is too fast, which is often the case, tagging on with someone slower. Tomorrow foul weather is forecast so today is a good day to make hay.

Nortons
Don’t you love Vista! I have uninstalled and reinstalled Nortons and my PC is now stable. I hope. But … I also made the mistake of doing a system restore, and now I get a blank page with only “the page failed to load” for most control panel functions. Also, icons are not displayed correctly. These things happen all the time. I have a work-around for running system commands, e.g. “Netplwiz” to manage users, but it’s a pain.

Trent
As I predicted yesterday, Trent Hentschel played a blinder for the Crows in his return match last night. I stayed up for the free to air delayed coverage so little sleep has eventuated. Among other things, he kicked the goal that gave the Crows the lead at the twenty minute mark of the second quarter, after the Crows had trailed reigning premiers Hawthorn by five goals in the first quarter. From there the Crows were never headed and the result means the Crows will play finals footy, and Hawthorn will not.

No time to lose
This, then shopping, then running, then some writing, then a party. It's all go, as usual.

On Your Marks

get set. go.

Turning over the legs faster

Sprint training is of some benefit even to long distance runners - there is even an anaerobic component in the marathon, albeit only 1% they say. I am not sure if that is for the finishing sprint or for that matter the race to the massage tents afterwards, but it certainly isn't for the start, where every "effort" should be made to run conservatively. Our training group of middle and long distance runners moved into a phase of speed sessions - perhaps not true sprinting, but sessions designed to turn over the legs faster. There were ten people there to do this: Bronwyn, Craig, Joel, Margaret, Miranda, Neil, Roger, Ruth, Suzie & Yelena, plus me, but I "passed" owing to niggles following a leg-strengthening late morning session. We started with continuous shuttle relay teams of three, with batons, on the 100m straight, each person running 10x100m, where Margaret+Ruth were "one person" so ran 50m each instead of the 100m everybody else did. The teams were so well balanced that all three teams finished together, in no way due to Craig's tactics of "resting" during a couple of the sprints. Then we reformed into two teams of five runners each and did 10x50m shuttle relay on the 100m straight. Again the two teams finished within a bee's whisker of each other, owing to Roger pulling out sore towards the end and at the very end Joel having to make a dash from a fair way away to grab the baton and sprint to the finish, not quite making it, after their team having been somewhat ahead.

Aerobic/anaerobic

World Athletics Schedule on SBS: Who needs sleep?

BBQ Stakes results
Katie 25:20
Roger 25:49
Me 26:07
Ken 26:57
Gary 27:47
Brett 27:48
Helen 27:52
Amanda 28:16

Australian athletics fans are in for 10 days of non-stop track and field action as the 12th IAAF world championships are broadcast live from August 15 on SBS ONE and SBS TWO.

SBS will broadcast live daily coverage from Berlin as Australia takes on the world’s best at the 12th edition of the world track and field titles. Coverage on SBS ONE and SBS TWO will be accompanied by highlights and live results at http://www.sbs.com.au/sport through to the conclusion of competition on August 24 (AEST).

Not since the Beijing Olympics has the calibre of Australian athletes been so high and in 2009 strong medal contenders will include Sally McLellan (100m hurdles), Steve Hooker (pole vault), Mitchell Watt and Fabrice Lapierre (long jump), Dani Samuels (discus throw), Luke Adams, Adam Rutter and Jared Tallent (20km walk), Adams, Tallent and Chris Erickson (50km walk) and the men's 4x400m relay team of Joel Milburn, John Steffensen, Tristan Thomas, Sean Wroe and Ben Offereins.

SBS BROADCAST SCHEDULE AEST
12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics
Saturday 15th August
SBS TWO
7.30pm LIVE:
20km Race Walk Final (M)

Sunday 16th August
SBS ONE
02:00am LIVE:
10,000m Final (F)
Shot Put Final (F)
07:15 Morning highlights
SBS TWO
02:00am LIVE:
As per SBS ONE
6.00pm Evening highlights
7.30pm LIVE:
20km Race Walk Final (F)

Monday 17th August
SBS ONE
02:00am LIVE:
Shot Put Final (F)
100m Final (M)
800m Heptathlon Final (F)
07:15 Morning highlights
SBS TWO
02:00am LIVE:
As per SBS ONE
6.00pm Evening highlights

Tuesday 18th August
SBS ONE
02:00am LIVE:
Hammer Throw Final (M)
Pole Vault Final (F)
Triple Jump Final (F)
3000m Steeplechase Final (F)
10,000m Final (M)
100m Final (F)
07:15 Morning highlights
SBS TWO
02:00am LIVE:
As per SBS ONE
6.00pm Evening highlights

Wednesday 19TH August
SBS ONE
02:00am LIVE:
Triple Jump Final (M)
Javelin Throw Final (F)
400m Final (F)
3000m Steeplechase Final (M)
400m Hurdles Final (M)
SBS TWO
02:00am LIVE:
As per SBS ONE
6.00pm Evening highlights

Thursday 20th August
SBS ONE
02:00am LIVE:
Discus Throw Final (M)
1500m Final (M)
400m Decathlon (M)
800m Final (F)
100m Hurdles Final (F)
SBS TWO
02:00am LIVE:
As per SBS ONE
6.00pm Evening highlights

Friday 21st August
SBS ONE
03:00am LIVE:
High Jump Final (F)
400m Hurdles Final
200m Final (M)
110m Hurdles Final (M)
1500m Decathlon (M)
07:15 Morning highlights
SBS TWO
03:00am LIVE:
As per SBS ONE
6.00pm Evening highlights
7.30pm LIVE:
20km Men’s Race Walk Final

Saturday 22nd August
SBS ONE
03:00am LIVE:
High Jump Final (M)
Discus Throw Final (W)
200m Final (F)
400m Final (M)
07:15 Daily highlights
SBS TWO
03:00am LIVE:
As per SBS ONE
6.00pm Evening highlights
7.30pm LIVE:
Men’s Marathon Final

Sunday 23rd August
SBS ONE
03:00am LIVE:
Long Jump Final (M)
Pole Vault Final (M)
Hammer Throw Final (F)
5000m Final (F)
4 x 100m Final (F)
4 x 100m Final (M)
07:15 Morning highlights
SBS TWO
03:00am LIVE:
As per SBS ONE
6.00pm Evening highlights
7.30pm LIVE:
Woman’s Marathon Final

Monday 24th August
SBS ONE
03:00am LIVE
Long Jump Final (W)
Javelin Throw Final (M)
5000m Final (M)
1500m Final (F)
800m Final (M)
4 x 400m Final (F)
4 x 400m Final (M)
07:15 Morning highlights
SBS TWO
03:00am LIVE:
As per SBS ONE
6.00pm Evening highlights

speedy Yelena

Everyone is delighted with Yelena's C2S performance. Here are some photos unashamedly stolen from Yelena's facebook page.

Yelena post C2S savouring the medals.

Yelena in full flight, er, voice.

Yelena and a close friend. This is not Joel.

Speedygeese in the C2S

Thanks to Bronwyn for this list. Results are meant to be on-line today. But my computer is getting more and more unstable so I am just copying what Bronwyn dug out.

Well done everyone! Some of these times are exceptional!

Tim 54:21
Richard F 57:21
Bob H 60:36
Mick H 62.50
Yili 65:09
Michelle W 67:07
Ewen 67:18
Bronwyn 68:25
Craig 68:35
Kelley 68:47
Heidi 71:40
David B 72:52
Geoff S 77:19
Kathy 79:35
Yelena 79:55
Jodie 86:00
Ruth 86:07
Noelene 86:25
Garry 88:35
Carolyne K 97:53
Peter H 104:43
Cathy N 127:29

 Jodie

2-4-6-4-2-4-6-4-2

At Parliament house last night in very still and foreboding (or is that "forbidding"?) conditions, well, a harbinger of something wet is what I mean, we ran from the ½ way mark road each time a double pyramid of 200m-400-600-400-200-400-600-400-200 on go-2 minutes-6-12-16-18-22-28-32-finish on 34. I spell it out so I can remember what we did and repeat it some day. It was a good hard session; there were sixteen at training; Alan, Andrew, Bronwyn, Christopher, Craig, Gary, me, Helen, Joel, Kathy, Katie, Ken, Miranda, Neil, Suzie & Yelena; just six five of them got back to the start before the whistle for the entire session; those who didn't were allowed to turn around when they heard the whistle. There was some consensus that this was a harder session that the 5x600m we ran on an earlier Monday.

City to Surf results I am told will be in the Sun Herald today and avaiable on-line tomorrow. I will look up the speedygeese names tomorrow on-line and publish their times. Meanwhile I don't have any C2S pictures, so here's one of a lesser crowd, the local version, the CTFR.

This week's plans

With the weather slowly improving as the final weeks of a cold Canberra winter pass by, it should be more pleasant for running this week.
Last week my goal was 95k and I ended up running 100k, keeping to my plan every day except Wednesday when I ran an extra 5k.
This week my goal is 90k. Where I meet people will be:
Monday: 4:30pm early run at Parliament House; 5:30pm the main training session
Wednesday: 12:15pm BBQ Stakes
Thursday: 3:50pm long run at Dickson; 5:30pm the main training session
Saturday: 1pm DUNROSSIL DRIVE 4.2k race

For the last few weeks my weight has stabilised at 65kg, which is an improvement. Sometime in the next few weeks I hope to bring it down to 64kg.

I plan to run the Vets Half Marathon this month, but not flat out. The serious test of my improvement if any will be the Mt Taylor 4km handicap race on 30 August.

An old track photo. I hope to get meaner and leaner than this.

One week down, 35 to go

Peter Magill has some good advice about running shoes and injuries, and the debate on barefoot running.
Here’s a quote :

“there's no question that my feet have been far healthier in lightweight shoes with minimal arch support and motion control than they ever were in the heavier, over-designed, training bricks that shoe companies have been shoving onto our feet for the past couple decades”.

I agree, and the dilemma is to find a suitable pair of running shoes for my marathon tilt, now only 35 weeks away.
Obviously barefoot is out of the question; so are heavy clumpy shoes which slow me down, add weight, and exacerbate those leg niggles that want to accompany my every move these days.
I wore frees in the marathon two years ago; but hard ground surfaces send shockwaves up my legs in any race. I couldn't race down that hill in the City to Surf on concrete for example; I would have to tip-toe down it. In that marathon from 22km and beyond the pain became excruciating. I still ran 3:18 but it was a struggle.
So for the marathon next year and a shot at 3 hours I need something as light and as comfortable as the Frees, but with some forefoot cushioning. Please.
Any suggestions?

On the City to Surf television coverage there were plenty of shots of Bruce Graham tagging onto the lead female. I expected to see Ewen there too, or was Ewen running with Emily this time, thinking mistakenly that she was the leader?

ACTVAC NEWS

This is for the reader who is a member of the anachronistically named Australian Capital Territory Veterans Athletic Club - yes, we in Canberra are a bit slow where when it comes to keeping up with the times, but we are after all a very conservative town in a very conservative country, a long way from the civilized world - and also for the reader who is 30 years old or more and lives within range of the ACT and should be a member, as we are a fantastic club, probably the best Masters athletics club in the world when you consider the events and services we provide. The ACTVAC website has a "NEWS" page which I update regularly. When I say "regularly", I mean at least once a week, often more. Since I update it, it's good to know people regularly check it to get current information about what is happening. It is a good supplement to the once-a-month Vetrunner magazine. 
The page is at http://www.actvac.com.au/mainframe/news.html

Right now there's breaking news on our 30th anniversary celebration dinner/dance, as follows:

You would have read in the Vetrunner that to celebrate the Club's 30th Anniversary, a Dinner/Dance has been arranged for members and their family and friends.
ACTVAC 30th ANNIVERSARY DINNER DANCE
The Canberra Club, 45 West Row Canberra City
Date: Saturday 7 November 2009
Time: 7 for 7.30 pm
Meal: 3 courses, some wine & soft drink, tea & coffee
Music: Canberra DJ – Angel
MC: Robert Kennelly
Cost: $35.00
Bookings and payment can be made personally to Val Chesterton (62928994 - valches@bigpond.com) or Jenny Galvin (62925294 - galvin@grapevine.com.au) at the monthly handicap or by mail to Val at 16 Ifould Place, Theodore ACT 2905. Cheques should be made payable to ACT Veterans Athletic Club Inc.

If you have any enquiries please call or email Val or Jenny.

....... at home

Nadine: welcome to the W40s! I am looking forward to your wedding day on 13 November! For the big occasion I must remember to check out the novelty stores for pantomime goose suits.
At training last night were Brett M, Bronwyn, Craig, me, Janene, Jerry, Maria, Miranda, Neil, Rod, Roger, Susan, & Troy. We ran a session of 12 x 45 seconds on 2 minutes.
We enjoyed cookies after the cool-down, thanks to Janene. Everyone else please note, a precedent has been set.
Ruth, it’s because you weren’t at training last night, there was one more Bilby than goose! We had been undefeated for two weeks, but now we have to start again next week!
Good luck in the City to Surf; all-rounder is compiling a list of speedygeese entrants.

Age

My memory's not as sharp as it used to be. Have I used today’s heading before? Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be.

Speedygeese at the BBQ Stakes yesterday:
Katie 25:01
Roger 25:30
Me 25:54
Ken 26:35
Gary 27:17 pb by 14 seconds
Brett 27:49 pb by one minute
Helen 28:25
There were 50 runners at the Stakes, which is about the usual number. As it was the first Wednesday of the month, the course was run in reverse. I gave Ken a minute and caught him, but he well and truly outsprinted me over the last 500m.

Angry Goose

If you can’t get moving, get angry! Then get moving.

age

Generations at play.

Monday night training at Parliament House consisted of 5x600m with 600m jog in between. Present were Alan, Andrew, Bronwyn, Cathy, Christopher, Craig, Ewen, me, Helen, Joel, Katie, Ken, Miranda, Neil, Ruth, Yelena & Yili. Five of us had run 8k+ before the training session, so it was pretty heavy going for some, and I ran out of legs and into fatigue early on. However, I was fine today, so the marathon training I have started doing will work. I think.

Generations.
Not only are my Falconer grandchildren potential champions, e.g. Kayleigh with gymnastics and Jarod with running, but their Moore and Hall cousins appear to be following suit!

Liana

Liana Hall's first gym comp

Jackson

Jackson Moore's first track race. He's number one!

Grandchild #11 is due in November - Falconer number five!

Drastic measures may be required soon.

Riders on the Storm

Sunday’s High Noon 3000m
Katie 11:42, Ken 11:54.
Despite a strong wind, Katie's time was within one second of her pb. The splits tell the story: it was into the back straight wind 3 times in the second km; twice in the first and third: 3:51, 4:01, 3:50. And Ken gained 10 seconds (nearly) on Katie in the last lap, that tells me he will improve rapidly very soon.

Saturday’s Runners Shop 5k
22. Roger Pilkington M50 20:27
33. Geoff Moore M60 21:20
37. Heidi Johnston W35 21:46
40. Ewen Thompson M50 22:33
61 finishers
My 21:20 was a struggle. I too blame the wind. I thought I rememberd Heidi crossing the line in 22:00? There seemed to be a random hand-out of place tags, so I might be correct. Whatever, it was a big pb for her.

Saturday’s Runners Shop 10k
52. Roger Pilkington M50 46:23
77. Geoff Moore M60 57:07
78. Ewen Thompson M50 57:10
83 finishers

My Plans this week: A 95km week including
Monday 3 Parliament House 4:30pm jog; 5:30pm aerobic intervals
Wednesday 5 12:15pm BBQ Stakes 6k
Thursday 6 Dickson 3:50pm long run; 5:30pm sprint training

Good luck to those competing in the City to Surf.
There seems to be no Canberra events this weekend. Who's for a very long run somewhere?
With 8 months to go, I start my marathon build-up today, and will continue to use mainly the BBQ Stakes to check progress, but I may still run a few track races if I feel like it.

 Janene showing good form in the Bush Capital 25k

 Yours truly ditto. Running. Just.

Dawn Treader

It is too cold to venture forth and tread the roads at Dawn. Zero degrees. I will try for lunch time today, and hope the fog lifts. In any case, some speedygeese may be running the 3000m at the High noon meet, so I will cheer them on.

"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" began principal photography last week. Check out this video and related videos..


This is my favourite Narnia story. I wish they’d stick to the original script. “Saving Narnia”? Not in the book!

Poultry in motion

This should help clarify things...

...courtesy of Mick via Kelley

Lahti results http://english.wma2009.org/

Lahti cross country race

Yesterday we said our sad farewells to Mandy

A beautiful, beautiful friend