Where we went 10 June 2014 - heading home

But there are quite a few days back in May 2014 I haven't posted here yet! Next time.


An early morning final walk at Ullswater




Penrith Castle, right next to Penrith station for the rail journey to London


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Arriving back in London


Singapore Airport has some great shops!

It was a long flight home and I was coming down with a sore throat. But I was fine throughout the holiday, thank goodness.
Next time, back to the start of the trip, where we went in the first week or so.

ponder and wonder

If you had today off running (as I did) I trust you will go hard tomorrow morning (as I will). Winter is coming and we must be strong!

better days

Enjoy your long run this weekend.

The myth of losing speed

A very good article by Steve Magness.

"In the middle distance world, this concept of losing speed is widespread. Go to any coaching conference, hang around enough coaches, or just talk to your athletes and you’ll hear this concept over and over. It’s used as an argument against doing any kind of aerobic work, regardless of sport or event. It’s thought that only those “slow” distance kids should do long work because speed doesn’t matter much in their world. So they can afford to be slow.

"But here’s the thing, if you are losing speed that much during training, it’s not the long aerobic work that is doing it, it’s that your training sucks."

Read it at http://www.scienceofrunning.com/2015/04/the-myth-of-losing-speed.html

"...you need a blend of aerobic and pure speed work throughout the year."

Yep. Middle distance runners can do large amounts of endurance training. And with speed work all year round, properly integrated into their training program, won't lose speed.

Training this week

Thursday 21st: attended by Dave, me, Janene, Jen, Julia, Kathy, Louise, Stuart, Susan and Thea, we ran 12 x 300m in teams of two.

Monday 25th: Ewen and I ran early at Parliament House, Marie and Julia did the warm-up, then running 12 x 160m ramp intervals at Reconciliation Place were Alex, Andy, Diana, Garry, Isaac, Jen, Thommo, Peter, Pieta, Rae, Susan and Warrick.

Now who would have thought?

Thomson and Thompson

Thomson and Thompson

speedygeese race results

Tuesday 19 May AMRA Black Mountain Run-Up 2.6k
9. Peter Burke M40 15:40
17 finishers

Friday 22 May Customs 5k
19 finishers

Saturday 23 May 5k Ginninderra Parkrun #160
40 Gary Bowen 23:30 M55
157 finishers

Saturday 23 May 5k Tuggeranong Parkrun #117
34 Isaac Muscat 22:20 M11
35 Jen Bright 22:22 W35
50 Leonie Doyle 24:02 W45
97 Kayla Anderson 27:15 W11
212 finishers

Saturday 23 May 5k Gungahlin Parkrun #83
116 finishers

Saturday 23 May YCRC Half Marathon Eve 5k
29. Ewen Thompson M55 22:55
56 finishers

Sunday 24 May YMCA Half Marathon
81. Peter Thomson M50 1:35:57
96. Geoff Moore M65 1:38:30 **first M65**
114. David Webster M60 1:40:28 **second M60**
180. Warrick Howieson M45 1:50:48
214. Roger Pilkington M55 1:55:09
406 finishers

Runners in the Half Marathon (Photos by John Kennedy)


Thommo


SpeedySelf


Warrick

Video by Ewen
At https://youtu.be/zOrj92DAceM

Run to Paradise

Song of the week: "Run to Paradise", by the Choirboys. Another good oldie.
From https://youtu.be/zlIXT0yhq5M

New ACTVAC Committee 2015-2016

President Janice Banens
02 6262 3405
0414 411 024
president@actvac.com

Vice President Jayne Hardy
02 6236 8882
0421 610 053

Secretary Phill Toomey
02 6258 6316
0430 001 842
secretary@actvac.com

Treasurer Jo Cockwill
0424 600 535
treasurer@actvac.com

Registrar Mike Clapper
0419 993 893
registrar@actvac.com

Brett Kingston
Lorna England
John Littler
Jim White
Raelene Campbell

Where we went 9 June 2014 - Lake District

we all know this feeling

speedygeese training

Thursday: At Dickson I ran early (with a Sarah) then supervised Dave, Janene, Jen, Julia, Kathy, Louise, Roger and Susan running 5 x 850m in lane 4, handicapped.

Sunday: Andrew, Dave and I ran at Stromlo.

Monday: Running early were Cathy, Dan and I.

Monday: the main training session was 12 x 100m hills followed by attrition sprints on the steepest part of the hill. Participating were Jen and Ewen who for injury reasons ran along the lights instead of doing hills; and on the hill Alex, Andrew, Andy, Diana, Garry, Isaac, Nicole, Pieta, Peter, Rae, Susan and Warrick.

Pieta and two of her family; On Monday after training we celebrated her 42nd birthday.



I found a picture of my brother getting married, 40 years ago.
The two children are our first two, 40 years ago. Very cute.
Maxine and Alan haven't changed a bit. Loani and Nathan have.

speedygeese race results

Friday 15 May Customs 5k
Peter Thomson 23:35
17 finishers

Saturday 16 May 5k Ginninderra Parkrun #159
151 finishers

Saturday 16 May 5k Tuggeranong Parkrun #116
11 David Clarke 19:46 M55
18 Peter Thomson 20:25 M50
26 Julia Anderson 21:26 W40 New PB!
29 Isaac Muscat 21:34 M11 New PB!
30 Jen Bright 21:35 W35
44 Ewen Thompson 22:46 M55
94 Kayla Anderson 26:28 W11 New PB!
100 Marie Fischetti 26:48 W55 First Timer!
101 Geoff Moore 26:48 M65
219 finishers

Saturday 16 May 5k Gungahlin Parkrun #82
27 Nadine Morrison 22:06 W4538 Gary Bowen 23:17 M55
95 Brett Morrison 29:30 M45
156 finishers

Sunday 17 May AMRA ACT Mountain Running Championships
12k men
20 Peter Thomson 1:29.54
21 finishers

8k women
8 Leonie Doyle 57:50
14 finishers

Photos from Tuggeranong Parkrun #116


Marie and I


Kayla


Ewen


Jen and Isaac


Thommo


Dave


Dave and Julia


Kayla (I'm way in the background)

Song of the week: new Muse-ic

"Dead Inside” from the Muse album "Drones", to be released on 8 June 2015

Video at https://youtu.be/I5sJhSNUkwQ

knowing when to have a break from hard training, and what to do instead

A word to the wise.
Have a challenging training schedule but... Study your reactions to the training from day to day and if you feel stale or suffer from any soreness, allow time for recovery. Never do speed training when your muscles are sore or you are feeling tired. Just jog easily, regardless of what is on the schedule for that day's training. You can never harm yourself by jogging and it will usually help to overcome the soreness or tiredness. Fast training can lead to injury and will certainly only make you more tired. Don't race your training, except when full efforts are called for on the schedule. Run strongly and easily in effort, always keeping something in reserve. As you feel improvement, gradually increase your training tempo, but never use that reserve.

So I am stopping my "May Challenge" as it is making me sore and tired. It turns out there are too many squats and lunges given all the other training I am doing. I will develop a revised exercise and stretching plan for the rest of May/June, taking my physio's advice into account.

Here's the thing: we have to challenge ourselves or we will never improve. But we also have limits.

So if you weary and tired and don't feel like coming to Monday training for example, still come. I will give you something lighter than the others, to help in your recovery and to let you regain your strength and motivation.

Pain tolerance

Q: What proportion of distance runners have the ability to run themselves out to their absolute limit?
A: None. 0%.
Q: Conversely, what proportion of runners have something in them at the end of a race?
A: All of them. 100%
Q: Which runners get closest to using all their physical capacity?
A: Those with the best pain tolerance.
Q: Can one train so as to improve one's pain tolerance?
A: Yes, to some degree.
Q: How?
A: It happens anyway. Working harder in (some) training sessions as we do, not only improves our fitness, but also improves our pain tolerance.
Q: But it hurts!
A: Yes, but knowing that you are improving your pain tolerance when it hurts, as well as your physical fitness, actually helps you go harder in those sessions than you might have. Which is why I am writing this. So don't despise the one or two very hard sessions each week; it is helping you go faster and when you think it is hurting, tolerate that sensation. This is you learning to tolerate it more!

Good luck.


Someone yelled out "You're almost there" before we had gone 1k in this morning's 5k parkrun. That's illegal!

Actually it's 42.195, and 43 would be crazy

See Where We Went 8 June 2014: Onward to the Lakes District.

We were picked up from the station at Carlisle by our new hosts... who took us to their home at Ullswater via a pub lunch on the way.

You can see the view at Ullswater right now, via Ullswater web cams, at http://www.ullswater.co.uk/ullswater-webcam.html







After arriving in Ullswater, a long hike up the country road behind the town, to see the countryside and the view at the top.

















The picture below is a panorama. I have not re-sized the original as I have done for the other pictures. Click on it to get the full, large panoramic shot. It is awesome!