geese running

From https://youtu.be/4WVTG3dXuVM


Looks like they could do with some coaching. Running form not the best.

Distraction

Living in Canberra, the seat of government in Australia, I usually try to ignore what the pollies are up to, as it is all quite depressing. Had to laugh at this cartoon today, though. I don't think it got a run in the Canberra Times.



Thinks: probably the"L" should be highlighted rather than the "P".

Speedygeese training report

Thursday Ruth, me, Maria, ran early; Julia, Kayla (new), Jen and Dave arrived at 5:30pm. It was a perfect Thursday night on the track, with fog rolling in after we finished, Julia ran a 5k timed run in 24:20, while Maria, Jen, Dave, Kayla and I ran random intervals and paced her.

 On Monday Ewen and I ran 8k early. Julia and Marie are rumoured to have had a short early run as well. Then after our 5:30pm warm-up the group did some quick-cadence hills at the most sheltered hill, NE corner of Parliament House. Participating were Andy, Colin, Dan, Isaac, Jen, Julia, Lorena, Marie, Mick. Pieta, Ruth, Susan, Warrick and me. This was followed by a short attrition session before we enjoyed birthday bubbly from Julia (45)

speedygeese race results

Tuesday 21 July AMRA Black Mountain Run-Up 2.6k
23 Bill Arthur 21.15
28 Caroline Campbell 25.35
29 finishers

Friday 24 July Customs 5k
Bill Arthur 26:47
Caroline Campbell 32:07

Saturday 25 July 5k Ginninderra Parkrun #169
55 Thea Zimpel 26:33 W30
60 Bron Sparkes 27:04 W35
83 Ruth Baussmann 30:27 W65
125 finishers

Saturday 25 July 5k Tuggeranong Parkrun #126
21 David Clarke 21:32 M55
77 Catherine Montalto 26:51 W60
154 finishers

Saturday 25 July 5k Gungahlin Parkrun #92
54 William Arthur 26:25 M60
55 Brett Morrison 26:33 M45
107 Gary Bowen 58:36 M55
108 finishers

Sunday 26 July ACTVAC Little Black Mountain 9k
5 Rod Lynch M55 37:26 81.5% **silver**
11 Gabrielle Brown W50 49:17 68.8
12 William Arthur M60 53:25 61.8
13 Maria O'Reilly W60 45:24 82.1
17 Nadine Morrison W45 46:30 67.0
19 David Clarke M55 41:48 74.8
26 Peter Thomson M50 43:32 69.6
29 David Webster M60 45:03 73.0
32 Janene Kingston W50 46:07 73.5
38 Jennifer Bright W35 50:00 60.1
42 Caroline Campbell W70 59:14 75.5
48 Roger Pilkington M55 49:38 62.2
53 Ruth Baussmann W65 60:59 65.3
54 Margaret McSpadden W65 69:55 59.4
55 Helen Larmour W55 54:46 64.7
58 finishers

Sunday 26 July ACTVAC Little Black Mountain 4.5k
19 Gary Bowen M55 23:34 62.7%
21 Jill Pearson W55 25:34 66.2
39 finishers

The last two weeks YCRC results are still missing.


Janene and Cookie at the previous Gungahlin parkrun. Cookie is playing her 100th game for the Gungahlin Jets this weekend!

Ditmas

Song of the week: "Ditmas", a brand new song from Mumford & Sons, from "Wilder Mind".
At https://youtu.be/cOBPiOdyGEM

Sunday afternoon at the footy - Josiah's 100th game

At Greenway oval. Lovely location, nice oval. Excellent grandstand sheltering us from the icy Tuggeranong wind.

The banner


There's my grandson Josiah first through the banner. 4 hours to make, 4 seconds to break.


Half a dozen kangaroos on the field while the game was in progress. Didn't they know only tigers and hawks were supposed to be there?


This was under 17's. And the tigers won 124 to 20.

age categories

another training plan - yasso 800s

I am impressed by an article linked by Scotty Imhoff which describes a speed session used by marathon runners. Read the full article at http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/yasso-800s. The session looks good because it would keep the mind focused on the marathon goal time during the key last three months of training, and it would provide the kind of speed-endurance training needed as part of any marathon preparation, being an alternative to some of the time trial and long interval sessions I have used in past years. And I assume it works. An excerpt from the article:

"And now you've got an easier way: you've got Yasso 800s. Want to run a 3:30 marathon? Then train to run a bunch of 800s in 3:30 each. Between the 800s, jog for the same number of minutes it took you to run your repeats. Training doesn't get any simpler than this, not on this planet or anywhere else in the solar system.

"Bart begins running his Yasso 800s a couple of months before his goal marathon. The first week he does four. On each subsequent week, he adds one more until he reaches 10. The last workout of Yasso 800s should be completed at least 10 days before your marathon, and 14 to 17 days would probably be better.

"The rest of the time, just do your normal marathon training, paying special attention to weekend long runs. Give yourself plenty of easy runs and maybe a day or two off during the week."

Sounds like a plan for some, for Thursdays at Dickson? Any interest?

Meanwhile in Australia: How to build community (not!)

Happy Birthday Josiah!

My oldest grandson - number 2 grandchild - is 15 years old today. Happy Birthday Josiah!





p.s. he plays his 100th game for the Queanbeyan Tigers (AFL) this Sunday, hopefully we will get to watch it rain, hail or snow!

speedygeese training

Training last week at Dickson: Roger, Ruth and I trained early (4:15pm) when we could see and it wasn’t snowing; Jen, Susan and Thea trained at the normal time (5:30pm) and it was pitch black, freezing cold wind, and there were hints of snow. Ruth ran a paced 5k in 30 minutes plus; Susan a 5k time trial in 22 minutes.

Sunday at Stromlo Forest Park: Andrew, Dave & I ran intervals in the frost. Mine were only 100s, Dave's were 300s.

Monday at Parliament House: Paul, Marie, Julia and I ran early. The main session was a repeat of last Monday’s, a series of hill runs on 2 minutes. Participating were Alex, Andy, Bron, Colin, Isaac, Jen, Lorena, Paul, Ruth, Susan and me. Next week there should be birthday champagne, and the following week (3 August) we will retire after training to the Yacht Club for dinner.

speedygeese race results

Friday 17 July Customs 5k
Bill Arthur 27:05
Caroline Campbell 32:06
16 finishers

Saturday 18 July 5k Ginninderra Parkrun #168
59 Thea Zimpel 26:20 W30
91 Ruth Baussmann 30:37 W65
106 Margaret McSpadden 32:44 W65
131 finishers

Saturday 18 July 5k Tuggeranong Parkrun #125
10 David Clarke 20:12 M55
52 Ewen Thompson 25:31 M55
75 Bronwyn Calver 27:34 W45
169 finishers

Saturday 18 July 5k Gungahlin Parkrun #91
33 Gary Bowen 23:19 VM55
101 finishers

There was another Saturday race but the results haven't been posted yet.

Next, a cat.

one last breath

Song of the week: "One Last Breath", by Creed. A long time favourite.
From https://youtu.be/qnkuBUAwfe0

A training program

Thought I'd publish a training program I devised for someone. I'd prefer they remain anonymous here in the blog, please. Of interest because the person receiving the program has mostly done long slow training and run some marathons, and this is by way of an experiment to see if a very different focus in training, for a while anyway, can produce a different result, either in the short term or in the longer term when reverting more to what they have done in the past.

Definition of insanity: doing what you have always done while expecting different results.
My new definition though: (once you have modified your training schedule,) train insane or remain the same.
I love the way those two sayings seem to contradict each other.

Here are some facts though: someone who for a long time has run short and fast should start running long and slow; and someone who has for a long time run long and slow should run short and fast.

What you should do for the next four weeks regardless of your longer term plans:

Mondays: our session on hills
Tuesdays: warm-up 1k: limber up & stretch: 6-10 x 100m: cooldown 1k
Wednesdays: 1k warm-up: 6k fast: 1k cool-down
Thursdays: 30 minutes of hill work (fartlek: vary pace; include rests)
Friday: repeat Tuesday session
Saturdays: race 5k (Parkrun)
Sundays: tempo 60 minutes or less.

Each day focus on speed.
There is no focus on distance.
You will miss a day if fatigued.

PLUS: Two, preferably three, sessions in the gym where you do intense interval training. probably not a spin class or a pilates class and the like. But "Active", "HIIT", "Power", "Circuit", or whatever equivalents there are at your gym, all good. If you can organise it, probably run after the class rather than before.

What else? Trust the program. Each week's parkrun will be faster than the previous week. If you stick to the schedule from Monday 29th right up to Sunday 26th (which could be a Vets Handicap day) we can progress from there.

Questions?



Putting together a training program is rather like putting together a puzzle. It shouldn't be as difficult as some puzzles are, like the one illustrated.

cool cats

Just to prove there has been a lot of snow out our way. Maybe only bettered about four times in the last fifty years.





Keeping warm: one of my granddaughters and two of my daughters.

this just about covers all possibilities

my to-do list is still too long

More Monday training sessions

Monday 13th at Parliament House: it nearly rained but it didn't. It nearly snowed but it didn't. We were well sheltered, but still felt a little of the breeze. I ran early, rugged up. I stayed rugged up as I joined the training group for a variety of hills sprints on 2 minutes. Only the hardy were there. This is true: the only males present were Isaac (aged 11) and yours truly (aged nearly 70). Where were all the adult males? The females were of course better represented, although some were missing. Jen, Pieta, Rae, Ruth, Susan & Vanessa did attend and were running strongly.

Thursday nights have been a slightly different story, with lights temporarily off, various anonymous people were running around in the dark at Dickson. Not everyone; a winter cold or flu has taken out at least six of the regular Thursday night-ers. Including me; I did not attend.
As far as lights are concerned, this Thursday all should be OK, the Kanga Cup has finished and hopefully normal service will have been resumed.

Meanwhile, John Kennedy's photos of the Mount Ainslie handicap

Yours truly


Dave Clarke


Mick Charlton


Maria O'Reilly


Gabe Brown


Stuart Doyle


Caroline Campbell


Medallists! Someone who was actually fourth, Janene **silver, yours truly **bronze.

speedygeese race results

Six or more of the speedygeese have succumbed to winter colds. But others have managed to race in the last week.

Tuesday 7 July AMRA Mt Ainslie Run-Up 2.2k
20 Bill Arthur 20.23
24 Caroline Campbell 24.15
25 finishers

Friday 10 July Customs 5k
Jen Bright 23:07
Isaac Muscat 23:08
Caroline Campbell 33:25
10 finishers

Saturday 11 July 5k Ginninderra Parkrun #167
49 Thea Zimpel 27:10 W30
95 finishers

Saturday 11 July 5k Tuggeranong Parkrun #124
10 David Clarke 20:00 M55
45 Bronwyn Calver 24:52 W45
111 finishers

Saturday 11 July 5k Gungahlin Parkrun #90
23 Nadine Morrison 21:49 W45
33 Gary Bowen 23:24 M55
75 Margaret McSpadden 31:31 W65
107 finishers

It's been cold outside.

Monday 13th

Song of the week: DCfC – "The Ghosts of Beverly Drive"
from https://youtu.be/srvcc8izHSU

running friend

See where I ran - Lidcombe

I only had one run in Sydney last week, before a devastating cold started taking hold. Anyway here it is. An easy 10k run from our motel in Lidcombe. The rest of the week, health gradually deteriorated. Next time we stay in Sydney I might check in to a hotel with an indoor gym.

How to run faster as we age

Mathematics will tell you that we can run faster by turning our legs over more quickly, and by increasing our stride length at the same time

Of course it’s not as simple as that; a host of physiological and psychological factors come into play as well; it takes many training sessions to condition our heart, lungs, muscles, and mind, to sustain a faster pace, to overcome fatigue and to tolerate, even welcome, good pain.

Let’s see how easy it might be to run faster if we address these two issues alone; cadence, and stride.

Running with a quick cadence is easy. We can get our legs moving at 180 to 200 steps per minute if we count “1, 2, 3” every second. We have to work on sustaining it; conditioning takes time. But if our cadence is slower than 180, we can run faster times right now with that simple adjustment to our running technique.

What often accompanies a quicker cadence, however, is a shorter stride. So while for a long time I have been encouraging my training group members to pick up the tempo of their running, it is time to consider what can be done about maintaining a good stride length, if not increasing it.

Another issue for us older runners is the effect of ageing. Stride rate changes little as we age. But stride length drops off significantly; extremely so. What can we do about it?

Without going into a detailed explanation, here are some recommendations we should all adopt if we want to do something about stride length.

• Weight training for the legs is essential; we must strengthen ankles, calves, quads, hip flexors and glutes.
• Squats and lunges can be practiced daily.
• Two or three sessions in the gym each week is ideal.
• Good exercises for strengthening glutes, for example, can be found on the internet.
• It is essential to develop a good warm-up routine, used before every run.
• Flexibility around the hips is improved by doing leg swinging exercises.
• The larger muscles should be stretched each day.
• It is a good idea to schedule some drills as part of a training program
• Stretch stretch stretch!
• Train for fast arms. Arms drive the legs.
• Train for fast legs. Don’t let the feet linger on the ground when you run.
• Light shoes help fast legs.
• A regular hill sprint session is recommended.
• Fast downhill running is helpful too.
.
I have had a terribly short stride in recent years. I am hoping I can correct that in years to come. I am hoping you are the same. Currently I am doing five gym circuits each week; two of them are intense. I haven’t started downhill training yet; I am waiting for my ankles to get stronger and my balance to improve. Improvement is happening; slowly but surely. Stretching is a bit hit and miss, but I do some stretching and mobility work before every run and in the gym every time I am there. In 2018 I will turn 70; yoicks! In 2018 I am planning to be running better than I am now. And that will only happen if I can increase stride length.

lower body exercises

Click to enlarge - and click again.

speedygeese Monday training

Every Monday the speedygeese training group meets at Parliament House at 5:30pm for - half an hour warmup, half an hour of intervals (currently hills), and a short cooldown.

Monday 29th June I was away, and a small keen group consisting of Colin, Jen, Isaac, Dan, Susan and Ewen (I think) ran some 200m, 400m and 600m intervals.

Then on Monday 6th July, I was back and ran 7k early, after which the group ran on the far SW hill a set of 22 x 100m sprints up the hill, om 80 seconds.
We focused on leg speed - 180 to 200 steps per minute for each uphill interval.
I ran some of the hill intervals. An easier session than usual as the hill is not the steepest we use.
Training with me were Alex, Andrew, Andy, Diana, Lorena, Pieta, Rae, Ruth, Susan, Vanessa and Warrick.
We learned why the name "Warrick" is spelt that way - he was born in the US and his parents didn't want the locals to mispronounce his name.

Don't forget we train at Dickson oval under lights every Thursday at 5:30pm too; and at Stromlo Forest Park Sundays at 7:30am (Brrrrrrr. Rug up).

We will be practicing running fast.

speedygeese racing last week

Friday 3 July Customs 5k
18 finishers

Saturday 4 July 5k Ginninderra Parkrun #166
24 Gary Bowen 23:38 M55
44 Bron Sparkes 26:30 W35
72 Ruth Baussmann 30:28 W65
94 finishers

Saturday 4 July 5k Tuggeranong Parkrun #123
14 David Clarke 19:45 M55
51 Bronwyn Calver 24:42 W45
130 finishers

Saturday 4 July 5k Gungahlin Parkrun #89
75 Margaret McSpadden 34:06 W65
85 finishers

Saturday 4 July YCRC Pennington 16k
28 finishers

Saturday 4 July YCRC Longstaff 8k
18. Mick Charlton M60 47:07
27 finishers

Saturday 4 July YCRC 4k
15 finishers

Sunday 5 July Canada Day 10k
Dave Clarke 41:49

Sunday 5 July Gold Coast marathon
Roger Pilkington ~4:15

Sunday 5 July YCRC Women’s 6k Jogalong
Nadine Morrison W45 27:18
Caroline Campbell W70 37:17
59 finishers

Too speedy to be speedygeese


Top 3 women in the Gold Coast Marathon

What Went Down

Song of the week: "What Went Down". New from Foals.
At https://youtu.be/iuQQIawCqBA

Be content with what you have

Pictured at Plymouth England. A year ago.

Still, it's a long way to go for a good time! #thestruggleisreal

Just Do It

Women's running problems

Proceed with caution

Incidentally, this week is a (mostly) alcohol free week for me! Good thing I'm away.
Happy Birthday to my youngest daughter, 39 years old today! We're with her in Sydney right now...

Getting wet

Incidentally, that's why we train in the rain. Because we might have to race in the rain.