"...moving faster than the speed of sound"

song of the week: Milk & Sticks, by Boy & Bear.
from http://youtu.be/BI5LD8qVXgQ



Timing of Australian Athletes events (AEST)
FRIDAY, AUGUST 3
7:00pm Men's Shot Put (Qualification)- Dale Stevenson (Vic)
7:40pm Women's 100m (Preliminaries)- Melissa Breen (ACT)
8:15pm Men's 400m Hurdles (Round 1)- Brendan Cole (ACT), Tristan Thomas (TAS)
10:00pm Men's 3000m Steeplechase (Round 1)- Youcef Abdi (NSW)

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4
4:05am Women's 100m (Round 1)- Melissa Breen (ACT)
4:10am Women's Discus (Qualification)- Dani Samuels (NSW)
4:50am Men's Long Jump (Qualification)- Henry Frayne (QLD), Mitchell Watt (QLD)
5:05am Men's 1500m (Round 1)- Ryan Gregson (NSW), Jeff Riseley (Vic)
5:30am Men's Shot Put (Final)
6:25am Women's 10,000m (Final)- Eloise Wellings (NSW)
7:20pm Women's Pole Vault (Qualification)- Alana Boyd (WA), Liz Parnov (WA)
8:35pm Women's 3000m Steeplechase (Round 1)- Genevieve LaCaze (QLD)

SUNDAY, AUGUST 5:
2:00am Men's 20km Race Walk- Chris Erickson (Vic), Adam Rutter (NSW), Jared Tallent (Vic)
4:00am Men's 400m Hurdles (Semi-Finals)
4:30am Women's Discus (Final)
4:35am Women's 100m (Semi-Final)
4:55am Men's Long Jump (Final)
6:15am Men's 10,000m- Ben St Lawrence (NSW)
6:55am Women's 100m (Final)
8:00pm Women's Marathon (Final)- Jess Trengove (SA), Lisa Weightman (Vic), Benita Willis (Vic)

MONDAY, AUGUST 6:
4:00am Women's 400m Hurdles (Round 1)- Lauren Boden (ACT)
5:15am Men's 1500m (Semi-Finals)
5:40am Men's 400m (Semi-Finals)
6:25am Men's 3000m Steeplechase (Final)
7:00pm Men's Discus (Qualification)- Benn Harradine (Vic), Scott Martin (Vic), Julian Wruck (QLD)
7:05pm Women's 100m Hurdles (Round 1)- Sally Pearson (QLD)
7:50pm Men's 800m (Round 1)- Jeff Riseley (Vic)
8:45pm Women's 1500m (Round 1)- Zoe Buckman (Vic), Kaila McKnight (Vic)

TUESDAY, AUGUST 7:
4:00am Women's Pole Vault (Final)
5:15am Women's 400m Hurdles (Semi-Finals)
5:45am Men's 400m Hurdles (Final)
6:05am Women's 3000m Steeplechase (Final)
6:30am Men's 400m (Final)
7:00pm Women's Javelin (Qualification)- Kim Mickle (WA), Kathryn Mitchell (Vic)
7:45pm Men's Triple Jump (Qualification)- Henry Frayne (QLD)

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8:
4:15am Women's 100m Hurdles (Semi-Finals)
4:45am Men's Discus (Final)
4:55am Men's 800m (Semi-Finals)
6:00am Women's 100m Hurdles (Final)
6:15am Men's 1500m (Final)
7:00pm Men's Pole Vault (Qualification)- Steve Hooker (WA)
7:45pm Men's 5000m (Round 1)- Collis Birmingham (Vic), David McNeill (Vic), Craig Mottram (Vic)

THURSDAY, AUGUST 9:
4:05am Men's Javelin (Qualification)- Jarrod Bannister (QLD)
4:45am Women's 1500m (Semi-Finals)
5:45am Women's 400m Hurdles (Final)
8:35pm Men's 4x400m Relay (Round 1)

SATURDAY, AUGUST 11:
4:20am Men's Triple Jump (Final)
5:00am Men's 800m (Final)
6:00am Women's Javelin (Final)
6:00pm Men's 50km Race Walk- Luke Adams (NSW), Nathan Deakes (Vic), Jared Tallent (Vic)

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12:
2:00am Women's 20km Race Walk- Regan Lamble (Vic), Beki Lee (NSW), Claire Tallent (SA)
4:20am Men's Javelin (Final)
4:30am Men's 5000m (Final)
6:00am Men's 4x100m Relay
8:00pm Men's Marathon- Marty Dent (ACT), Jeff Hunt (NSW), Michael Shelley (QLD)

a little strength training can go a long way

"Every now and then a runner asks me if he or she should do P90X or CrossFit. If you’ve been living under a rock, both P90X and CrossFit are very intense and challenging fitness programs that emphasize strength building. Usually I advise runners not to do them. I have nothing against either program, but they’re extremely taxing. While I’m a big believer in strength training for runners, I don’t think a runner’s hardest workouts should be anything other than runs. You can only put so much energy into strength training before it starts to take away from running."
Read http://running.competitor.com/2012/06/training/should-your-strength-training-be-hard_54746 for the rest of the article.

I do an easy circuit session once a week (Fridays) and a light strength/stretch session once a week (Tuesdays). Looks like I am on the right track.

My 12k run last Friday:

At Albion Park.

Remember to invite newcomers along to our training sessions. Particularly at Parliament House on Thursdays. We are looking to recruit people who want to begin running regularly with a group who haven't run very much before, or who don't run with any other groups. Remember to tell them, it's free, fun, and friendly!

charlatans on fire

Surely the best of the opening - from http://youtu.be/cE4z4WUNpwo or if it's not there, hunt around.



Speedygeese at the Vets handicap:
29/07/12 - Blewitts 7.2k
12 Rod Lynch M50 31:11 78.7%
20 Janene Kingston W45 38:32 69.1
25 Nadine Morrison W40 35:25 70.9
29 Maria O'Reilly W55 34:58 84.7
36 Mick Charlton M60 43:58 60.6
41 Charles Freer M50 37:32 65.0
54 Margaret McSpadden W65 53:30 61.7
80 finishers

29/07/12 - Blewitts 3.5k
1 Brett Morrison M40 16:59 62.9% *gold*
14 Cathy Montalto W60 19:31 72.8
33 finishers

three

We will be watching. Very soon now.

because you're thinking all the time

Training at Parliament House last night: Cathy, Jen, Ewen & I ran early: then for the main training session Andy, Colin, Craig, Eliza (new), me, Jack, Joel, Liz, Susan & Yelena ran 5 x 600m with 300 recovery + 1 x 300m to finish off. The rain stayed away and the wind started to die down, but it looks as if chilly winter is going to last a little bit longer still.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my daughter Loani, 40 years old today! We will be visiting for the celebration. With minimums down the coast up to ten degrees warmer than here, a couple of early morning runs Friday and Saturday are scheduled.

And catching up with grandchildren.

When there's a doubt in your mind
Because you're thinking all the time
Framing rights into wrongs
Move along
Move along
When there's a doubt within your mind

Trying out my new Garmin Forerunner 310XT

Tuesday's 11.5k "early run" with Miranda.

This is the usual run more or less in reverse, and cut a bit short.

Its elevation

I am not sure about this 310XT: the start elevation is too high, it should be down where the end is...

Wednesday's 8k run from Charnwood.

Starting and finishing bottom right. Repeating about 500m at the turn, for extra distance.

you are here

Friday's Customs 5k:
Miranda 27:02
Caroline 27:53

Yesterday's training
Miranda & I ran 11.5k early, then Colin, Craig, Susan, Mick & Jack ran a set of ten x 300m with 200m recovery jog. It got very cold as the sun went down, but there was no breeze so we survived.

Ruth is flying in this morning after her long winter escape in Europe. Or she will be if the fog lifts!

In the grand scheme of things, she hasn't been all that far away.

soon

Song of the week: Michael Kiwanuka – I’m getting ready. From http://youtu.be/VHRKdpR1E6Q



I am getting ready - the days are getting longer - I have resumed two days per week in the gym - I will do some stretching - I am getting fitter - I am building back up to 100k weeks - the Olympics will inspire us - spring will be here soon - things are looking good.

Michelle Jenneke is looking good too, From http://youtu.be/tMgmYutL9W0. Junior World Championships, Barcelona.



My first run with Garmin Forerunner 310XT

grandchildren day

Happy Birthday Josiah, 12 years old today!

Josiah's sister Liana was very excited to be able to compete in a successful gym comp yesterday, her first since dislocating her knee.

Their cousins in Albion Park are starting to look very grown up too!

Grandad is still running well....
YCRC Runners Shop 5k 21 July
35. Ewen Thompson 22:40
56. Michael "Jack" Mealin 26:40
64 finishers
YCRC Runners Shop 10k 21 July
44. Geoff Moore M60 43:58
46. Maria O'Reilly W55 44:56
47. Roger Pilkington M50 44:58
61. Ewen Thompson M55 53:29
65. Caroline Campbell W65 54:37
67. Mick Charlton M60 55:57
78 finishers

By all means necessary

... get down to a training session this week.

But soft

A beautiful day for a run today. So I ran in a 10k race, no idea of my splits but I must have started fast as there was significant deceleration after 2k. Final time - just under 44 minutes. I felt very sluggish and heavy in the legs so times will improve. They have to, because a fast 21k is planned for October.

Parkrun #13 this morning - Jill ran 23rd in 25:22, 54 finishers.

Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!

Genevieve LaCaze

Read an interview with her at this link.

Training at Parliament House last night: Jen, Cathy & I ran early, then I was joined by Neil, Andy, Warrick, Caroline, Bronwyn, Susan, Colin & Sam for a  session of 5 x 600m with 300m jog, plus 1 x 300m to finish. A cold start maybe, but no-one was cold as the training session ended. We didn't hang around though, it was minus 1 by 11pm.

Some owls think they're cats

no sleep-in for the wicked

From the YCRC website:
This weekend we have the Runners Shop 2/5/10k Fun Runs starting and
finishing near the Boathouse Resturant at East Basin. The 2k will start at
midday with runners running West and turning just after going under Kings
Avenue Bridge. The 5k will start at 1215pm with runners running East or
towards Queanbeyan for 2.5k.

The 10k starts at 1pm with runners running East 3k out and back along the
edge of the Molonglo River, and then 2k West also out and back and along
the lake foreshore. These events are free to club members and just $6 for
adults or $4 for juniors and concessions who are non members.

I am having trouble getting started today...

oubliette

Congratulations to Metro runner Leanne who moved to Melbourne this year, completing her first Half Marathon in the AGE Half, in 2:12.40. No we won't forget you, I plan to come up in October to run the Half with you at the Melbourne Marathon festival.

Last night at Dickson the weather was relatively mild, and Colin, Brett, Nadine & I ran early, then running long intervals on the track were Susan, Mick, Neil, & Jack (new).

Nadine - back in training. The track season is three months away, just enough time to get fit again

As we count down to longer, warmer days, and the start of the track season, here is an article on barefoot running, found at the New Breed Running website. An excerpt:
"Most runners who are older, or have been running for at least 2 decades, have acquired degenerative stiffness of the calves and deep posterior compartments of the lower leg. This is why there is a significant number of older runners who develop a history of calf, Achilles and plantar fascia pain of the foot..."

Who else will emerge from hibernation and train with us as spring approaches?

200 days

Today marks day 200 of my running streak. Training is at Dickson tonight: I shall bring something to share and celebrate.
Q: How does one continue a running streak of 200 days plus?
A: One day at a time.
It has been so cold, I have wanted neither the fire nor the cat to go out. I have had to go out though: each new day I need at least 4k, outdoors. But it is good to come back to something warm after a run.
A 2012 goal was to run 4200k. After 28 weeks, I need to average 77k per week for the remainder of the year. This looks possible.

Note: I shall be getting in touch with people to see if they can join us Saturday mornings at Acton again. And to tell them that by October when the track season starts, our Parliament House training will return to Mondays.

Song of the week: "Home", by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
Lots of energy from this band! Very different  music from that usually in my playlists.
From http://youtu.be/DHEOF_rcND8

window pain

Customs 5k result 13 July Caroline 33.36

Coming events: on Saturday the Runners Shop Fun Run will be held over 10k at 1:00pm, starting at the Boathouse, Menindee Drive, Parkes. There is also a 5k at 12:15pm. These are run on a fast, flat, and popular course, I plan to run one of the events, or both. A "good chance to see where you are at before the major events of Spring come along".

prayer

Speedygeese results YCRC 5k Stromlo Forest Park - just me.
15 Geoff Moore M60 21:23
26 finishers
Splits were about 10:30 & 10.50. I didn't go particularly hard, the ground was soggy, the wind was strong, and parts of the course were roped off. So all in all I am happy with that, for now. My best race since April's 50k.

I think I will try for some faster 5k races soon. That means doing some race pace work. Kilometre intervals on Wednesdays is the plan. As well as rebuilding to 100k weeks, with Saturdays the longest day, and Tuesdays the next longest.

One revises and refines ones plans continuously to respond to how everything is going. It is going well, and there is always room for improvement.

three media releases

New 5000m pb to Collis Birmingham (Vic) on the first day of the London Diamond League.
From http://www.athletics.com.au/home/news/news/2012/july/watt_wins_and_birmingham_sets_:
Birmingham shaved a second off his previous personal best, which he’d set in Eugene last month to clock 13:09.57. It ensured he finished in second place, behind home favourite and world champion Mo Farah (GBR) who crossed the line in 13:06.04.
Craig Mottram (Vic) was seventh in 13:23.85 while Ben St Lawrence (NSW) crossed the line in ninth in 13:37.35.
 Birmingham said: “I was really pleased obviously, it’s funny I knew I was in good shape and actually had a bit of a head-cold, flu-type thing. I think you know you’re in good shape when you don’t let that sort of stuff bother you and come out and run your own race. It was a slow race so to run a PB off a slow race is good.
 “For me it’s about coming top five and making it to that Olympic final. I know there’s going to be a few different people in there, like Paris (Diamond league) the other week was stacked but I think if I can come out and think about finishing top five and setting that as my mark, then hopefully come the heats I’ll be in the top five and make it through to the final.
 “It’s my goal and I’ll be happy to reassess it once I make the final and set another goal.”

From the Melbourne Marathon newsletter: a bit of trivia:
Two-time winner Magnus Michelsson owned a house in Aspendale on the old Frankston to Melbourne course route that was used to supply water for the 12km drink station for the race from 2002-2006. In 2004 when Magnus was trying to win his second successive Melbourne race he went to make a pit stop at his own home only to find the door to his house was locked.

Local news:
The YCRC will be conducting a 10k training program, commencing on Sunday 22nd July. A short information session will be held at the YMCA Health and Fitness Centre, on Maclaurin Street, Chifley which is off Eggleston Crescent and up from the Chifley Shops. on Thursday the 19th July commencing at 6pm.
The main aim/purpose of the program is to prepare runners/joggers for the Canberra Times Fun Run which will be held on Sunday 9th September.
Training sessions will be held on Wednesday and Sundays at 6.30am and 7am respectively at a location to be advised. The sessions will be never more than 1 hour in duration.
Details including costs should be available on the club website www.canberrarunner.org.au from midday Wednesday 18th July.
Thank you to those members who have volunteered to assist with this training program.
Cheers, Ken Eynon, For YCRC Committee

Stromlo Forest Park

See you there today at 1pm for a 5k race, or tomorrow at 8:00am for some gentle training.

risk

The very sparkly National Museum of Australia

Last night at Parliament House Andrew, Andy, Warrick, Susan & I ran up to eight x 100m up-hill surges each 400m. Indoors because it was miserable outside, the undercover car-park was mostly empty, and I had to go out afterwards and didn't want to get too wet! As it turned out, we all sweated like racehorses. anyway.

Breaking News: I plan to meet people at Acton Ferry Terminal again, starting in August, Saturday mornings as before. Then we will see how far I can go. Stay tuned for the start time...

Look out Ewen! Coming through! Don't look back!

Χρόνος στάσις

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
“The term chronostasis (from greek χρόνος, chrónos, "time" and στάσις "standing") refers to the illusion in which the first impression following a saccade appears to be extended in time. The most well-known version of this illusion is the stopped-clock illusion, where the first movement of the second hand of a clock following the viewer directing attention to the clock appears to take longer than the next movement.

“Experiments have shown that this illusion is probably caused by the way in which the brain attempts to construct a continuous consciousness experience in spite of quick eye movements (saccades). Although this effect is present with all eye movements, it is most noticeable when an external time-keeping source is observed.

“This effect is not only present in visual observation, but is also noticed with auditory stimuli.”

This is the reverse of what happens when you are running up the finishing straight in any foot race. The finish line clock fairly races along.

Customs 5k last Friday: Caroline 27:52.

involuntary

Where I was last week: Hillsong at Allphones Arena, Olympic Park, Homebush. It was spectacular.

I go away for only one week and return to find out that Ruth is now famous!

Training attendees:
Tuesday 3/7 Dickson: Colin, Mick, Craig, Neil
Thursday 5/7 Parliament House: Susan, Bronwyn, Cookie, Liz (new), Andrew, Andy, Neil
Tuesday 10/7 Dickson: Susan, Geoff.

Training at Parliament House will revert to Mondays in October. If that suits you, please do plan to come, put it in your diary, and invite friends who are new to running! Here is our challenge - can we breathe even more life into our training by inviting as many new people as we can? I challenge you to be part of that.

Thank you Neil for "marking the roll" while I was away. I appreciate that, and I appreciate your commitment to the speedgeese as a whole.

More winter predicted

Regardless of any rain, hail, snow or sleet, TRAINING IS ON, Thursday at Parliament House, as usual.

διάφραγμα

My old coach used to talk about "tidal breathing" as he called it - using the (thoracic) diaphragm (διάφραγμα) to ensure that the greatest volume of oxygen could enter the lungs. He emphasised the exhalation stage rather than inhalation, the importance of emptying the lungs before inhaling to make room for what was to be inhaled. I remembered this when running along Joseph Street, Lidcombe, Sydney last week as I found myself trying to breathe out rather than breathing in the somewhat polluted Sydney air, and discovered that the longer I exhaled the more air I was getting in when I had to inhale. It is good to rediscover old truths.

In Sydney I ran every day and the streak persists - today will be day 193. Hope you are the same. Keeping the planned training going, I mean. Here are two of my Sydney runs:

As icy as it has been, it is good to come home to the clean Canberra air.

Speedygeese results 30 June Symonston 9k
Caroline 53.32.

1 July Jogalong 6k
Cathy 32.25,
Caroline 35.14,
Thea 35.27.

Song of the week: Winter Winds, by Mumford & Sons. I have tickets to their Canberra concert! They sold out the day they were released, no extra concerts, not here anyway.
From http://youtu.be/_KCg_QEHtkY

entry point

This training group is an entry point for people new to running. Invite a friend now! Thursday at Parliament House is the best one for new people, and taking them along to Parkrun on Saturday mornings is highly recommended. It can only get warmer there!

Cold!
Canberra has recorded its coldest July spell in 36 years...8th night in a row sub zero. Glad I was in Sydney last week. For my last run there, Saturday morning, it was a chilly six degrees. But that was 12 degrees more than here in Canberra at the same time!

Rug Up!
There is no problem running in the cold if we wear several layers. Training won't be cancelled when it is cold. Do remember when you run in the cold that you still need to keep the fluid intake happening.

Grandsons enjoying their first visit to the snow.

Charlie, Jackson & Tyler moore

vision

I'm back! What will the rest of this year bring? Many new geese?

Let's hope so!

Bring someone new each week who hasn't been part of a running group. My vision for the rest of the year is to contact lots of people who are not running much or at all, and to get them involved in this most rewarding of activities. And that's not me contacting people, that's all of us contacting people. Go for it!

Active Rest Day #6. Honesty and deception

An interesting article about honesty, deception, and specificity. In other words, training at race pace and race distances too.

If you’re running the marathon you need to be honest that you’re going to have to burn lipids. So if the longest run you’ve done is 17 miles, you’re deceiving yourself if you think you’ve taught your body to use lipids (and conserve CHO). But as my college track coach is fond of saying, “Never underestimate the human capacity for self deception.”

Read the full article at http://www.coachjayjohnson.com/2012/05/wild-things-honesty-and-race-specificity/.

OK then, honesty - I train as fast as I can without compromising a proper recovery so that I can run another day. That's rarely close to race pace. Even when I was young (30) I had to slow my longer training runs to something slower than race pace so I could complete them. But I still tried to run them fast, if that makes sense.

So as I get back into a running streak, I will try to eliminate any just-jogging-along kilometres.

Keeping up with the times

No cats train slower than they race.

I AM a cat, you know.

Active Rest Day #5. Netanonymity

My cat has been posting for me all this week

Both feet off the ground

Both feet on the ground

I wonder which running style is faster? Me-ow!

Active Rest Day #4. Keep up your speed and strength work during marathon training

Competitor.com has some great running articles. One recent one was to do with how one maintains one's speed while training for the marathon.

Why Maintaining Your Speed Is Important

Experienced marathoners know the key components to race day success are a high aerobic threshold (the fastest pace you can run while still staying in the aerobic zone, which closely correlates to marathon pace) and the ability to burn fat as a fuel source. The most effective way to improve these two things is a steady diet of aerobic mileage and threshold work.

Unfortunately, these two types of training don’t directly improve your speed. That means if this is the only type of training you’re doing, you can go months neglecting an important energy system during marathon training.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE.

Are you going to run some hills at training tonight?


Whatever your plans, DO THEM!

Active Rest Day #3. Not coming back?

Active Rest Day #2. Rainy Days.

It had better not rain on my holidays. There are lots of things to do.

Reading: I am still reading Railsea, have a long long way to go. I am not reading the C'Times any more, and that means instead I can catch up on my other books too. Yay!

Movies: There are DVDs and recorded movies to watch. We have finished watching the entire Lord of the Rings but again, I have a long list of must-sees to go on with

Music: so much good music, so little time. Here's a great old music video to watch on the big screen, with the volume turned up.

Song of the week: from http://youtu.be/8SbUC-UaAxE, November Rain, by Guns N' Roses.



Hurray! I have escaped for the time being.

Active Rest Day #1. Turn the Page.

Since this blog began, there have been 1.5 page views for every visit. That means that very few visitors are looking beyond the page where they enter. There are many many pages of featured and archived material! So while I am having active rest days, I invite you to please turn the page!

This is only page 1.

six month reset

A week of active rest is scheduled for me now. Whether I break my streak and walk distances every day, or whether I continue my streak with a string of jogettes, is yet to be seen. So, the streak is now six months running, 184 days, a minimum of 4k running outdoors every day, with another jogette due tomorrow morning to make 185. Will that be it?

Gold Coast Marathon result - Craig Davis 3:49.20

Photos from Vets Handicap, Mt Ainslie, 24 June

 Short course winners Brett, Jill (gold) and Gary with 100 tee shirt winner Cathy waiting in the wings.

Jill in full flight

 Cathy and Brett

Nadine

Long course of course