Rain

Even if it rains on Mondays, Parliament House training is still on.

My progress
last week’s target 90 km, achieved 63 km
this week’s target 80 km
weight 67 kilos
quote of the week "Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever." - Napoleon Bonaparte
song of the week Walking Away by Lifehouse from Lifehouse

Calendar Change

Tuesday Training

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There is a new plan for Tuesday training - it is no more!


If you are desperate for a hard Tuesday run, there is always the Summer Series starting soon.

I will attend some of the Summer Series but track/marathon training is the priority.

Speaking of marathons ...

Saturday Sessions

A new Saturday morning session at Aranda replaces Tuesdays..

... 9:00 am on Saturdays from this week and on. A proposed schedule is

9:05 am slow warm-up run Aranda Hill anti-clockwise (latecomers and/or sprinters if any could warm-up on the ovals)
9:30 am warm-up drills on the grass
9:40 am speed training
10:05 am cool-down run Aranda Hill clockwise
10:30 am head home before the heat strikes.

Parking is behind Aranda Primary School, off Banambila Street.

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Tri Trials

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I went out to see the novice triathlon this morning - perfect conditions, cool air, warm water. Quite a few from the Team competed - Bob Harlow, Roger Pilkington, John Stoney, Caroline Campbell, and Strewth. Not quite my kittle of fush, but fun to watch.

Team Moore Ran Jumped but didn't Throw

Thursday Track Results

Great results all round for our training group.

3000m Early Race
Rod Lynch 11:19.4
Roger Pilkington 12:56.3
John Alcock 13:53.1

3000m Late Race
Rod Lynch 11:34.8
Gary Bowen 12:26.7
Ewen Thompson 14:14.9
Geoff Moore 11:39.9
Trevor Cobbold 12:11.6
Neil Boden 13:13.9
Alan Duus 13:46.8
John Alcock 14:24.4
Tony Booth 13:11.3
Katie Forestier 12:37.6
Helen Larmour 12:48.9
Pam Faulks 15:49.2
Kathy Sims 12:57.5
Margaret McSpadden 14:51.5

5000m
Roger Pilkington 21:48.0

800m
Colin Farlow 2:09.52
Rod Lynch 2:27.99
Roger Pilkington 2:32.88
Gary Bowen 2:39.02
Ewen Thompson 2:55.70
Neville Madden 2:26.60
Ken White 2:27.13
Kevin Chamberlain 2:31.03
Trevor Cobbold 2:32.93
Neil Boden 2:42.31
Alan Duus 3:01.93
Tony Booth 2:57.18
Katie Forestier 2:50.96
Helen Larmour 3:01.17
Maria O'Reilly 2:42.68
Kathy Sims 2:53.17
Maureen Rossiter 2:47.96 ACT W55 record

100m
John Alcock 17.22
Katie Forestier 15.89
Vicki Matthews 14.79
Maureen Rossiter 15.50
Jill Brown 17.11

400m
Colin Farlow 61.22
Geoff Sims 61.48
John Alcock 79.89
Vicki Matthews 71.86
Pam Faulks 88.55
Maria O'Reilly 74.89
Maureen Rossiter 72.48
Jill Brown 80.11

4x100m Relay
(Leo Kennedy)
(Sue Bourke)
Vicki Matthews
(Ian Sanders) 56.00

(Ken Telfer)
(Andrew McMahon)
John Alcock
Maria O'Reilly 59.00

(Heidi Wain)
Pam Faulks
(Patrick Stakelum)
Geoff Sims 63.43

(Margaret Taylor)
Jill Brown
Maureen Rossiter
Carol Baird 66.40

Long Jump
John Alcock 3.39
Vicki Matthews 3.73

High Jump
Roger Pilkington 1.33
Ewen Thompson 1.30

1500m Walk
Ewen Thompson 9.05
Rod Gilchrist 9.55
Carol Baird 10.02
Margaret McSpadden 12.20
Alice Scott 11.39

Maureen Makes a Mess of the 800 Mark

Last night Maureen mauled the W55 800 metres record set by Fran Harris back in 1997. Fran was there to see Maureen break the record by about seven seconds, the old record was 2:54.9.

Two years ago Maureen set the W50 record at 2:35.2, so she should be able to improve on her W55 record again next time.

Can she break the 400 record? It’s 70.3 set by Fran in 1998. Maureen ran 65.3 in 2003, so who knows!

Can she break the 1500 record? It’s 5:59 held by Anne Young since 1991. Go on Maureen, give it a go!

Click on photo to enlarge

Here's Maureen in the pink top looking very relaxed after racing around Parliament House on Monday this week chasing Karen and Katie … I wonder what we are saying that made her run so fast? Obviously the hard session in the heat did no harm.

Moore Moves Towards Target Time

My Thursday night's 3000 of 11:39 was 20 seconds closer to this year's target time - already. The splits were 3:50. 3:59. 3:50, conditions muggy. I felt fantastic at 50 metres, instead of having the usual sluggish start, so I decided to go for a time. And today I coasted the Customs 5k in 21.14, that's OK. Things ARE looking up.

Farlow Form Forces Higgins Betting Plunge

Colin had a great run in the 800, breaking 2:10 for the first time this season, and mixing it with the BIG boys. Others to do well included Helen, close to 3 minutes for the first time. Helen's previous bests were 3:09 at a High Noon meet and 3:10 at Vets, in 2004. And Kathy, looking fitter in the new year, improved. And Maria too.

I will list last night's Team Moore times as soon as they appear on the ACTVAC website.

My cricket questions.

I do enjoy watching cricket, specially when crashing after a training run. Training for long distances takes so much out of you and a cricket match, even a twenty20 game, gives you a nice long break to recover.

Like many others, I hate the televison commentary. But the ABC radio commentary is just great.

Some of the questions people SMS in to the radio commentators are quite amusing. For example, a real question was, which team has had the most men out in a losing score? I thought, surely I can dream up more questions like that?

I understand cricket well, in fact I love it because it is full of statistics and useless knowledge. So it is tempting to send an SMS to the commentary team with my questions. I wonder if mine would get a mention, they must receive far more than they discuss?

Anyway, here are my questions. You can SMS them in if you like, I probably won't have the nerve.

1. Has anyone ever declared the innings closed in a one day match?

2. Has anyone ever sent in a night watchman in a one day match?

3. Has anyone ever sent in two night watchmen at the start of an innings?

Meanwhile, roll on winter...

... while we swelter in Canberra's hottest summer, we can hardly imagine what it would be like in the Northern Hemisphere at this time of year.

Keep working on that form!

Time To Run

I must say it is difficult to get out there and run when it is 36.4 degrees at 5pm, as it was yesterday.

(For international readers, we are talking Celsius, not Fahrenheit here)!

But our 10k training and marathon training programs dictated 10km to 11km of running for Griffin, Strewth and me, and we didn't want to have to catch up later in the week.

(By the way it is interesting to see who reads this blog. The readership is up to 50 per day now, and I can drill back via my Site Meter to see where many of you have come from. With that in mind, I hope what I have to say is inspiring, encouraging and helpful, if not entertaining as well)

So we cancelled the speed part but still ran the distance.

Not that we have to run every day - I could easily sleep on or stay in but, well, I try and summon up the discipline to get out every day, and each time it helps to make it easier next time.

No I don't have any real health problems, it is just that this is my 45th year of belonging to athletic clubs and competing very frequently, and it gets harder to motivate myself. The best way I have found is to arrange to meet other people for training.

I used to like that Nike slogan - but in this heat I am not so sure....

And a new photo

Yes, a new photo taken last night means I can update my sidebar. Click on the photo for a larger version! This was taken on a very warm night where I took the distance runners around an 800 circuit at speed several times, and my acting sergeant made the sprinters work even harder on a short loop.

A New Week Already

Train Daily

...wherever you find yourself.

Last week

... I didn’t quite achieve my distance goal – I felt a bit tired towards the end of the week, due no doubt to the warmer weather and the fast Wednesday run.

I could have run a bit longer on Sunday but the achilles started hurting more than usual so I just did my normal 13k.

If I get behind target during the week I usually catch up later in the week. But one of my “rules” is to write off each week after Sunday, and start again each Monday.

Last Week’s target 80 km, achieved 77 km
This Week’s target 90 km
Weight 67 kilos (no I haven’t suddenly put on weight. I am using new scales. Aaaargghhh!)

Song of the Week

Talk by Coldplay from the album “X & Y”
Oh brother I can’t, I can't get through
I've been trying hard to reach you 'cause I don't know what to do
Oh brother I can't believe it's true
I'm so scared about the future and I wanna talk to you
Oh I wanna talk to you

You can take a picture of something you see
In the future where will I be?
You can climb a ladder up to the sun
Or write a song nobody has sung or do
Something that's never been done

Are you lost or incomplete?
Do you feel like a puzzle, you can't find your missing piece?
Tell me how do you feel?
Well I feel like they're talking in a language I don't speak
And they’re talking it to me

So you take a picture of something you see
In the future where will I be?
You can climb a ladder up to the sun
Or write a song nobody has sung or do
Something that's never been done, do
Something that's never been done

So you don't know where you're going and you wanna talk
And you feel like you're going where you've been before
You tell anyone who'll listen but you feel ignored
Nothing's really making any sense at all, let's talk
Let's talk, let's talk, let's talk

Hill Training is the Best

Our training on Monday and Tuesday nights not only features long or short speed endurance intervals - there are also one or two hills to negotiate on most of the circuits we use.

That's me at the top watching "Survivor" while directing the training session.

It is always good to tell runners they are running up the last hill of the day. Of course, this may not always be the exact truth.

Come along and enjoy the undulations. Why suffer because you are struggling on all by yourself when you can join a training group and share your suffering with a whole lot of others?

Ask CJ, Strewth, Maria et al. What's a little Blood, Sweat, and Tears? (A - a well known popular group)

Non Contact Sport

Running is meant to be a non contact sport, but lo and behold, the latest fall... involving contact with the ground.


CJ! How could you?

Jenny's farewell

Langton Gone But Not Long Forgotten.

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Jen Langton failed to survive the 2005 Castaway Voting and is off to Brisbane for the duration. This was a good excuse for a feast at Two Sisters, Dickson. Everyone wore their cheesiest grins for the photo shoot. Jen says, "I'll be back!"

We will see you Jenny at the Gold Coast Half Marathon - it's a date - if not before.

Customary Customs Cast

I cast off all pretensions of speed and struggled through Friday's Customs 5k race in about 21.48 this week. This weekly race has been a regular addition to my program recently as it gives me a chance to run a flat fast 5k course when completely exhausted from a week of hard running and from Thursday night's excesses. The usual gang was there; Bob Harlow looking for a race-off with me (I send him on his way as usual), his good flash lady making a good target to run down towards the end of the course - up the hill, huff and puff, and then young Thea in a good mood after all when she ends up winning this week's race and taking the prize money, and me pleased to see that such a nice person has finally won.

Thursday's Track Substitute.

All this was after our excessive Thursday of substituting track races with a session comprising 800 + 400 + 800 + 400 + 800 for each runner in relay teams of two, so no rest for the wickedly fast. Ken was the only one of ten who faded really badly but he returned to top form later that evening at Jen's farewell as he assumed the role of official photographer. Great recovery, Ken! I fear, though, that he has learned Ewen's trick of how to avoid being in Team Moore photos - be the one who takes them. Regardless, thanks Ken. Bye Jen.

Heart Attacks

I heard today that Steve Bradford has suffered two heart attacks. The first was relatively mild and took him to hospital. The second was very serious and it was fortunate he was in hospital when it occurred. Please be thinking of Steve, Pru and family at this time. As I get more details I will update this.

Lunchtime Running

I had an easy run over the BBQ Stakes 6k course yesterday. When I say "easy" I had no intention of pushing the pace following the hard training I have been doing recently; I got there early and ran 8k beforehand while the sun was still under the clouds; and wore my cap and glasses which is a dead give-away that I am not taking a race very seriously. Anyway, the time was 25:58, a new pb for the anti-clockwise version of the course; I have only broken 26 minutes once before, this for the clockwise version. So maybe things are looking up?

The BBQ Stakes is on every Wednesday lunchtime at Woden from 12:15pm and costs $1 to enter. It is my only really hilly run of the week. Because it is a handicap, one is dragged along at a reasonable pace. A good work-out. And you can park on Chappell Street Lyons right at the start/finish between 11am and 2pm for free.

Speedy Wombat

Here is a photo of my weblog co-contributor (in yellow) enjoying the rigours of the Canberra Marathon. We don't see many photos of Ewen, as he is often the one with the camera. We are planning to update our Team Moore photos soon, so when you come out to training in the next couple of weeks, please wear your best smiles.

Ewen sometimes races over very long distances but plans to run a fast 3000 on the track this year. At the very worst 11:59.9.

Look at all that lovely shade on the marathon course! I never realised.

Blond Joke

Normally I don't link to this kind of humour, but this blond joke is very, very funny.

Patterson's Curse and Fallen Trees

I got scratched!

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These nasty little plants are everywhere at North Lyneham ridge, where we train on Tuesdays.

Fallen Trees

Two fallen trees on the track, hard terrain, long grass, hot sun yesterday meant improvising a shady session of twenty second sprints on a softer straight at the back of the ridge.

How We Trained

Seven of us running hard for twenty seconds with only forty seconds to jog back didn't leave any time for talking, so nothing to report! We all did twenty of these. Ruth usually won the jog back to the start.

Here's Ruth running in the Canberra marathon.

We will continue to do speed endurance training on Tuesdays for another two weeks, and then move to three weeks of anaerobic work.

Grass Seeds and Tiny Bugs

Grass Seeds

The hot weather here has dried everything out, and removing grass seeds from socks and shoes has become a popular activity after each training run.

Tiny Bugs

The hot weather has also brought a plague of tiny bugs which like to gather around my bedlamp at night, waiting for me to switch it off so they can spread out and invade nose, ears etc. Little clouds of them greet us on our runs.

How We Trained

Fortunately Parliament House featured neither grass seeds nor tiny bugs last night, as thirteen of us ran three intervals of just under a kilometre with a good break in between. The little oval we met on has shower as well as toilet facilities, I discovered last night. Very handy for cooling down between intervals.

Welcome to our training group, Karen.

For the next few Mondays we will do similar longish intervals. There is a sprinters' option too - shorter intervals, longer recovery.

Old Photographs #1

January 1985 - The AIS Track, Bruce

Yes, it's 21 years ago! I'm not sure of the distance - maybe 1500m or 3000m. It shows an unknown runner being followed intently by Kaaren Sutcliffe and Carol Ey, both of whom were marathon runners showing the benefit of racing on the track.

Waiting for the breakthrough

Training Update

. My running and other training has been on target for the last six weeks or so.

. Times still haven't improved to my satisfaction, and my weight has been stuck on 64 kilos for months now. That's not too bad - just three years ago it peaked at 73 kilos. My target is 57 kilos which would give me a BMI of 20, as low as I want to go. I am glad that my weight didn’t sky-rocket over Christmas this time as it usually has.

. Maybe the breakthrough will come this month?

Last Week’s target 70 km, achieved 70 km

This Week’s target 80 km

Weight 64 kilos (67 kilos on my new set of scales. Aaaargghhh!)

Song of the Week: On The Mend by Foo Fighters from the album “In Your Honor”

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BMI

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An article I wrote for Vetrunner in March 2004; slightly updated.

Because I race over long distances, a light frame can be an asset. So I like to keep track of my body weight every day. I found long ago that a reduction in body weight – up to a point – corresponded to a reduction in times for longer distances, especially the marathon.

Admittedly in recent years ‘monitoring’ means watching my weight go up when training falls below about 50k per week, and watching it go down again – at a considerably slower rate – when training reverts to a normal (injury free) 70-80k.

I was interested to come across the ‘Body Mass Index’ (BMI) measurement recently. A BMI of 30 or over is considered obese; 25 to 30 overweight, and 20 to 25, normal. Anything under 20 is considered underweight.

The formula for BMI is a simple one – BMI is weight (in kilos) divided by the square of height (in metres). You can see it is not really measuring body fat but body mass, and doesn’t take into account that a very strong person could have a higher weight where extra mass may be muscle not fat. Nevertheless when comparing distance runners whose body types are naturally lean, it may be a reasonable comparison.

Shock! Horror! At 73 kilos in early 2003, and 1.68 metres, I fell into the overweight category (26)! This was a wake up call and I have successfully reduced my weight to an acceptable level since then.

I will list a few simple points about losing weight.

. Have a target weight. Make sure the target weight is a reasonable one. Check it out with your medical adviser if unsure. Work towards the target weight by aiming to lose NO MORE THAN a kilo every two weeks.

. Shun fad diets. Eat widely from all the food groups. Keep up your strength. Don’t reduce your intake (assuming you are not a glutton!) but spend more time exercising instead.

. Once you reach your target weight, BE HAPPY WITH IT and stay there. Don’t go to extremes. A very low body fat level is extremely dangerous.

So don’t give up, it can be done. Keep an eye on the scales, follow the principles above, and you can look forward to a slimmer, healthier, and speedier future.

.

....and I would have peaked at 76 kilos had my old scales been accurate. Aaaargghhh indeed!

New Year Racing

Caroline Claims Silver

The Women’s Jogalong was held this morning in blistering, blustering, and blazing heat. Team Moore was again prominent although the field was understandably smaller than usual.

. Caroline Campbell ran second on handicap. She thinks she was third but she was actually second. Her time was around 29.48. Now if they don't put her back too many groups ..

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Katie Kicks "Donkey"

. Katie ran an exceptional 25.54 for one of the fastest times in the 5.56k. Katie's place was eleventh on handicap despite being off group 42. A good start to the year.

. Just ten seconds slower than Katie was allrounder who ran a great 26.04

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Heat Hits Handicap

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"Oh Boy" it was hot this morning. Canberra's forecast is 38 degrees, same as yesterday, although here in Belconnen it was 41 yesterday. Can't wait for that change! In the olden days, hot summer days in Canberra might reach 30, but only once or twice would peak at 35.

On Resolutions

Here are my New Year Resolutions.

To run a marathon. To learn Japanese. To not give three points on everything.

And yours? (It's OK to tell people)

May all your times be good times!

And a Happy New Year to everyone in Team Moore.

Introspection

This is my last bit of introspection as we end the year. If you don’t want to be bored, skip this post and visit me again tomorrow!

Some of the athletes I coach want to “know me better”. This is a portrait of me as described by Myers-Briggs.

If you know your MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), you can look up http://www.personalitypage.com/portraits.html for your portrait and see how close it is!

Yes I am an ISTJ. I have added a comment after each paragraph.

“Portrait of an ISTJ” - Introverted Sensing Thinking Judging.

(Introverted Sensing with Extraverted Thinking)

The Duty Fulfiller

As an ISTJ, your primary mode of living is focused internally, where you take things in via your five senses in a literal, concrete fashion. Your secondary mode is external, where you deal with things rationally and logically.
(true)

ISTJs are quiet and reserved individuals who are interested in security and peaceful living. They have a strongly-felt internal sense of duty, which lends them a serious air and the motivation to follow through on tasks. Organised and methodical in their approach, they can generally succeed at any task which they undertake.
(true)

ISTJs are very loyal, faithful, and dependable. They place great importance on honesty and integrity. They are "good citizens" who can be depended on to do the right thing for their families and communities. While they generally take things very seriously, they also usually have an offbeat sense of humor and can be a lot of fun - especially at family or work-related gatherings.
(true)

ISTJs tend to believe in laws and traditions, and expect the same from others. They're not comfortable with breaking laws or going against the rules. If they are able to see a good reason for stepping outside of the established mode of doing things, the ISTJ will support that effort. However, ISTJs more often tend to believe that things should be done according to procedures and plans. If an ISTJ has not developed their Intuitive side sufficiently, they may become overly obsessed with structure, and insist on doing everything "by the book".
(true with the rider that I must have “developed my Intuitive side sufficiently”)

The ISTJ is extremely dependable on following through with things which he or she has promised. For this reason, they sometimes get more and more work piled on them. Because the ISTJ has such a strong sense of duty, they may have a difficult time saying "no" when they are given more work than they can reasonably handle. For this reason, the ISTJ often works long hours, and may be unwittingly taken advantage of.
(true)

The ISTJ will work for long periods of time and put tremendous amounts of energy into doing any task which they see as important to fulfilling a goal. However, they will resist putting energy into things which don't make sense to them, or for which they can't see a practical application. They prefer to work alone, but work well in teams when the situation demands it. They like to be accountable for their actions, and enjoy being in positions of authority. The ISTJ has little use for theory or abstract thinking, unless the practical application is clear.
(true)

ISTJs have tremendous respect for facts. They hold a tremendous store of facts within themselves, which they have gathered through their Sensing preference. They may have difficulty understanding a theory or idea which is different from their own perspective. However, if they are shown the importance or relevance of the idea to someone who they respect or care about, the idea becomes a fact, which the ISTJ will internalize and support. Once the ISTJ supports a cause or idea, he or she will stop at no lengths to ensure that they are doing their duty of giving support where support is needed.
(true)

The ISTJ is not naturally in tune with their own feelings and the feelings of others. They may have difficulty picking up on emotional needs immediately, as they are presented. Being perfectionists themselves, they have a tendency to take other people's efforts for granted, like they take their own efforts for granted. They need to remember to pat people on the back once in a while.
(true – it doesn’t come naturally to me to compliment people, I have to remind myself to do so, and I have learned that a polite “thank you” is often all that is required if someone compliments me!)

ISTJs are likely to be uncomfortable expressing affection and emotion to others. However, their strong sense of duty and the ability to see what needs to be done in any situation usually allows them to overcome their natural reservations, and they are usually quite supporting and caring individuals with the people that they love. Once the ISTJ realizes the emotional needs of those who are close to them, they put forth effort to meet those needs.
(true, true, all too true)

The ISTJ is extremely faithful and loyal. Traditional and family-minded, they will put forth great amounts of effort at making their homes and families running smoothly. They are responsible parents, taking their parenting roles seriously. They are usually good and generous providers to their families. They care deeply about those close to them, although they usually are not comfortable with expressing their love. The ISTJ is likely to express their affection through actions, rather than through words.
(truly true)

ISTJs have an excellent ability to take any task and define it, organize it, plan it, and implement it through to completion. They are very hard workers, who do not allow obstacles to get in the way of performing their duties. They do not usually give themselves enough credit for their achievements, seeing their accomplishments simply as the natural fulfillment of their obligations.
(true true true)

ISTJs usually have a great sense of space and function, and artistic appreciation. Their homes are likely to be tastefully furnished and immaculately maintained. They are acutely aware of their senses, and want to be in surroundings which fit their need for structure, order, and beauty.
(not true at all! Although I did keep a clear desk when I worked)

Under stress, ISTJs may fall into "catastrophe mode", where they see nothing but all of the possibilities of what could go wrong. They will berate themselves for things which they should have done differently, or duties which they failed to perform. They will lose their ability to see things calmly and reasonably, and will depress themselves with their visions of doom.
(true, a perfect description of what has happened once)

In general, the ISTJ has a tremendous amount of potential. Capable, logical, reasonable, and effective individuals with a deeply driven desire to promote security and peaceful living, the ISTJ has what it takes to be highly effective at achieving their chosen goals - whatever they may be.
(true)

Jungian functional preference ordering:
Dominant: Introverted Sensing
Auxiliary: Extraverted Thinking
Tertiary: Introverted Feeling
Inferior: Extraverted Intuition
(true)

The Best Is Yet To Come!

I have been writing articles for Vetrunner for two years. And I have been writing posts for this weblog for one year. So what now ?

Recent improvements to the blog have been “Coming Event Highlights” and the flying goose. I will continue to make improvements in 2006.

Did the weblog live up to its promise in 2005?

In January when I started, I wrote we would see “topics of interest; comments and questions on any running related topic; idea sharing; feedback; awards; social event notices; hints and advice; discussions; links; training and racing calendar; training group results; runners profiles; birthdays, anniversaries, hatches matches & dispatches; contact information; photos; whatever you want it to be!”

My answer is yes, it did live up to its promise, but I would like to see more interaction. So I will keep on listing and summarising your performances, and hope you also add comments on how you felt you went, and other events you have participated in. I will also review the “contributors” list and try and encourage more input that way.

Other things included have been some teaching on principles of running, cartoons, jokes and even songs. As well as photos, there were newspaper cuttings and dvd stills. Other writing included my own training plans and goals which I will continue to include.

The sets of ten principles I wrote about were on “conditioning”, “form”, and “racing”.
Future sets planned are “sample training sessions”, “stretches”, “health tips”, and something in the “motivational” arena.

You are all welcome to participate, contribute, or at least make suggestions.

In the Vetrunner arena, I would like my "articles" to become more "story". In the weblog arena, I would like my "articles" to become more readable with sub headings, dot points, key point summary etc. and fitting with space to spare on one page; short and to the point (e.g. not like this!). If you are creative and can help, thanks! Please do.

It looks like being a busy 2006!

Fly Goose Fly!

My better known career highlights

Life time pbs. These will never change!
100 12.0
200 23.7
400 52.2
800 1:57.2
1500 4:04.3
3000 8.47.3
5000 15:10.5
10000 31.57
half marathon 70.10
marathon 2:26.58

Most memorable results
. mile in 4:32.2 in 1965 at the age of 16, to win the SA interschools
. marathon in 2:30.05 in Queensland in 1978, to come seventh in the national championships on a "steam-bath" muggy day
. marathon in 2:26.58 late in 1978, to win the Canberra marathon for the second time and set an ACT open record
. Canberra "Distance runner of the year" in 1979
. 3000 metres in 8:47.3 in 1984, to set an Australian (and ACT) M35 record which still stands today.

So as you can see, I am highly unlikely to run any new pbs.

My running goals for 2006

1500 5:20
3000 11:10
5000 19:00
10000 39:15
Half Marathon 87:30
I won’t race a marathon but I do plan to run the Canberra marathon in just under 4:00.

How am I going to do this?

. The 1500s won't be "raced" either, I will use them to get rhythm and speed for the longer races. If I feel really good running 1500s, I will ease off for one (eg in a relay?) and see what I can do. Under 5:00 would be nice.

. I should really be able to get the 3000 down below 11 mins, but I haven't done so recently so why should it happen now? Also the 5000 should be a lot faster, but my 10k results have been relatively slower in recent years and I really need to focus now on running a faster 10k if I am to break three hours for the marathon in 2008 (i.e. when I'm sixty).

. Training will build up to 110k per week and all current speed sessions will be maintained. That should do it.

I wrote a lullaby

Last Week’s target 80 km, achieved 80 km

This Week’s target 70 km, could be tricky as I will have Monday off.

Song of the Week: The Orphan by Newsboys from the album “Devotion”.

Maybe I push when I'm meant to be still
Maybe I take it all too personal
Jesus, how to reconcile
The joyful noise
The ancient land
The tug from some invisible hand
The dying mother weaving bulrushes
Along the Nile

Float her basket over the sea
Here on a barren shore
We'll be waiting for
A tailwind to carry her orphan's cry
Don't you worry child
I wrote a lullaby

I try to settle, but I just pass through
A rain dog, a gypsy
A wandering Jew
All those homes were not ours
Then i slept one night in Abraham's field
And dreamt there was no moon
The night he died
Counting stars
Selah

Float her basket over the sea
Here on a barren shore
We'll be waiting for
A tailwind to carry an orphan's cry
Don't you worry child
I wrote a lullaby

Building you a home
Building you a home
Building you a home
We're Building you a home
Selah

So float her basket over the sea
Here on a barren shore
We'll be waiting for
A tailwind to carry an orphan's cry
Don't you worry child
I wrote a lullaby

Float her basket over the sea
Here on a barren shore
We'll be waiting for
A tailwind to bring us your sweet cry
Don't you worry child
I gonna sing you a lullaby

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to every School of Running reader, whether full on Team Moore Members, Team Moore hangers-on, family or friends, participants or periphery, occasional or accidental.

God bless you all, love you, keep you, at Christmas time and always.

Stair Stepper - an evaluation

This year I have been doing some running on a stepper machine at the CU gym. Probably not enough to give a full report. But my feeling is it has been of some value.

The advantages?
1. As in all cross training, it enables me to exercise more often without increasing the risk of injury. With a bad achilles it is something I can do which seems OK for the achilles, although I am not totally sure of that, because the calves, knees, and hamstrings are adversely affected on occasion. Still, it is less damaging than uphill sprints, because the uphill slope is absent.

2. It has addressed a specific need of mine - very weak and inflexible quads. Although again I am not sure, because the eccentric effect of downhill running can strengthen quads too and is needed probably as much as uphill work.

The disadvantages?
1. I cannot run with as much tempo and I cannot burn as many calories in a given time on the stepper compared with real running.

2. Running training should be specific. The best training for running is running. I know I can improve my stepper performances by training on the stepper as the levels I use get harder, and I know my general fitness may increase, but I am not sure that converts to better running pace on the track or road, since my general underlying fitness is good anyway, and for most of the training year it is more specific fitness which needs working on.

I will persist with this training in 2006 and see how it goes. But if I become injury free, I will devote the time to purely running.

Team Moore Track Results yesterday

Starting in the New Year I will stop listing everybody here, and change to just mentioning track highlights. After all, the results are on the ACTVAC website.

It was hot! Omitting the Daniels and the Relay, here for the last time are the full results for Team Moore members.

3000 metres early
Richard Faulks 11:06
Rod Lynch 11:14
Alan Duus 13:10
Geoff Barker 14:37
Pam Faulks 16:02
Carol Baird 13:38
Margaret McSpadden 14:52

100m Gift Women
2 Maureen Rossiter
4 Vicki Matthews

1 Mile Run
Rod Lynch 5:27.28
Gary Bowen 5:50.12
Michael Leahey 5:19.45
Ken White 5:52.37
Trevor Cobbold 5:55.77
Geoff Moore 6:16.39
Neil Boden 6:37.46
Kevin Chamberlain 6:18.00
Geoff Barker 7:13.76
Tony Booth 6:39.9
Jenny Langton 5:34.45
Katie Forestier 6:12.31
Maria O'Reilly 6:04.48
Kathy Sims 6:25.54
Margaret McSpadden 7:52.17

3000m later event
Michael Leahey 10:43.94
Ken White 12:27.07
Tony Booth 13:58.2

5000m
Geoff Moore 22:09.19

High Jump
Ewen Thompson 1.35
Jenny Langton 1.35

Javelin
Ewen Thompson 18.13

1 Mile Walk
Ewen Thompson 8:40
Geoff Barker 10:40
Carol Baird 9:53

Lunch Time Running

Helen won first prize at the BBQ Stakes this week.

This year for the first time, I have been enjoying participating in most of the lunch time handicap runs around Canberra.

Many of the runners who train with us are regular participants. In Wednesday's BBQ Stakes, Helen was the winner, competing in her 15th run. Helen overcame not only a good size field, but also stifling heat. A great return to form this year, Helen.

Lunch time runs on offer include the Customs Joggers every Friday from Commonwealth Park, the Ginninderra Handicap the last Tuesday of every month from the Lighthouse Bar, the Lake Stakes at Tuggeranong every Tuesday from KFC, and the BBQ Stakes from Corinna Street Woden every Wednesday.

I hope to be running many of these in 2006. See you there.

Vets Track Program Thursday Dec 22

6:00pm 3000m, Hammer, Pole Vault
6.15pm 100m Presidents Handicap
6.30pm 1 Mile Walk
6.45pm Long Jump (QA)
7.00pm Javelin/Shot
7.15pm 1 Mile Run, High Jump
7.30pm 200m Daniels
7.45pm 200m Hurdles,
8.00pm Parlauf Relay
8.15pm 3000/5000m

Santa, lollies, and champagne are possibilities...

Should anyone like to go to Zeffirelli afterwards for dinner, it's on.

Racing Principle #10

"Have an established pre race routine."

I suppose I could have started with this one, but I put the most important last. Whether your problem is psyching yourself up for a race, or settling yourself down before a race, it is the established pre race routine which enables you to reach the optimum level of preparedness.

Here is the routine I went through every time I raced track (400s/8oos) in the Adelaide summer as a teenager
... arrive an hour before.
... go downstairs to the cool changing rooms and snooze on the high jump bags
... have a cold shower if it was VERY hot
... jog two laps and do my pre race stretches
... five minutes to go, two or three run-throughs at race pace, 50 to 100 m each
... gun!

The objectives were a) to calm my mind. I was always very nervous before a race.
and b) to get my pulse up to my racing pulse just before the start. Then I could set out very fast.

I still go through a similar routine before every race.

What's your routine?

Racing Principle #10 - Have an established pre race routine.

Racing Principle #9

Even Pace Produces Fastest Times.

You can improve your times by running at your fastest best pace as evenly as possible.

Pacing is learned in training by doing interval work with a stop watch until it becomes second nature to do fast repeat efforts over short distances in the same predetermined time.

Then when it comes to racing, after warming up well for the race, don’t start out too fast or too slow.

In training you can practise going out at exactly the pace of your projected race time.

The only real exception to this principle is the marathon, where you can expect to tie up a little at the end, so the pace you run at should project to a little faster than the time you expect.

Even with no improvement in fitness, say you had run a 10k averaging 4 minutes per km, but the first km was 3:40, then just by running another starting out at 3.55 minutes per km, you should be able to improve your time considerably. Running at a more even pace is the secret.

And you can use pacing charts to project from your race performances what you might run for other races. For example if your 3k pace is 100 seconds per lap and your 5k pace is 105 seconds per lap, then you can aim for 102 second per lap in the 5k confident that it is easily achievable.

However I find that most people are quite conservative about how much improvement they are capable of. So at times throw caution to the winds - see principle #8 below for a racing rather than a pacing perspective. Which is right? Both, of course.

"Racing Principle #9 - Even Pace Produces Fastest Times"

How am I going to develop this?

Coming up to twelve months of blogging, I plan to do a full review of everything I do including the blogging, before the end of the year.

I have more sets of "principles" topics ready to think about.
I could use the blog more as a diary, or journal, like others do.
I could do some more serious writing.
Hmm. What to do?

Meanwhile ...

Last Week’s target 70 km, achieved 70 km
This Week’s target 80 km

Song of the Week: Politicians by Switchfoot from the album “Nothing is Sound”

Everything is broken
Everything is broken
Everything is breaking down, breaking down

Everything is bleeding
Everything is bleeding
Everything is breaking down, breaking down

A pledge allegiance to a country without borders, without politicians
Watching for my sky to get torn apart
We are broken, we are bitter
We're the problem, we're the politicians
Watching for our sky to get torn apart
C'mon and break me

Entropy and Aching
Where have we been aiming?
Everything is fading out, fading out
We are the faded, splitted, and sedated
Everything is fading out, fading out

A pledge allegiance to a country without borders, without politicians
Watching for my sky to get torn apart
We are broken, we are bitter
We're the problem, we're the politicians
Watching for our sky to get torn apart
C'mon and break me
C'mon and break me

A pledge allegiance to a country without borders, without politicians,
politicians, politicians..

I am broken, I am bitter
I'm the problem, I'm the politician
Watching for my sky to get torn apart
C'mon and break me
C'mon and break me

Racing Principle #8

Develop elite runners’ strategies and abilities.

Whether you find yourself in races in the front pack, or you are further back with the goal of finishing ahead of your nearest rivals, you need to develop the same abilities as elite runners do, and employ the same strategies.

The ability to win any race depends on you having at your disposal a range of things:
a) thorough knowledge of the course where applicable – run over it first!
b) a working plan of how to run the race on the course – decide how to attack each stage of the run.
c) a plan which is adaptable to a variety of conditions – make allowance for possible heat, wind etc.
d) being alert to the tactics of others – learn to read what others are doing and quickly respond.
e) being able to sit and kick – do practise this in training and in low key races.
f) the ability to run aggressively from the front – practice this in training as often as possible.
g) being able to employ aggressive surging to break up the opposition – vary pace in most training sessions, learn to surge by practising it in training through running on different surfaces, particularly undulating surfaces, developing speed and particularly speed-endurance, and doing hill sprints competitively.
h) the ability to respond to whatever tactics others use, such as going out fast when others do – this needs the abilities mentioned above, and the confidence to employ such tactics, developed by race practice sessions at a fast pace.

I am sure there are more.. these are just what I can think of on a Monday morning.. in summary to race like an elite, you need to train like one.

Racing Principle #8 - Develop elite runners’ strategies and abilities.

magic eye

Until now I didn't know you could view these 3d pictures on a computer screen. Cool hey?

Anyone seeing Katie today, wish her happy 40th birthday. She will be so pleased you have remembered. Looks like the W40 relay teams will be well supported in the near future!

The rest of Thursday's track results

Further Team Moore achievements for Thursday 15 December. And now that we have the official results, I have corrected the 4 x 800 times and age groups in the post which I published yesterday. (the splits are still estimates).

In the 4 x 800 my educated guess is that the M45, M55, W30, W45, W50, and W60 teams all set Australian records as well as ACT records, and the M50 team's time was "only" an ACT record.

3000m
Roger Pilkington 11:51
Gary Bowen 12:14
Michael Leahey 10:42
Ken White 11:58
Geoff Moore 11:59
Tony Booth 13:45
Charlie McCormack 12:47
Charmaine Knobel 14:04

100 Metres
Matthew Hardy 12.61
Rod Lynch 15.20
Sarah Pau 15.93
Katie Forestier 15.68
Vicki Matthews 14.99
Maria O'Reilly 16.44
Maureen Rossiter 15.98

200 Metres
Matthew Hardy 26.09
Richard Faulks 27.04
Rod Lynch 31.63
Geoff Sims 27.35
Jenny Langton 29.02
Katie Forestier 31.71
Charlie McCormack 30.93
Vicki Matthews 30.31
Maria O'Reilly 32.80
Maureen Rossiter 31.08
Jill Brown 33.88

Long Jump
Sarah Pau 3.92

4 x 100 metres
(Sharon Gibbins)
Vicki Matthews
(Sue Bourke)
Kerry Boden 58.39

(John Morton)
Maria O'Reilly
Katie Forestier
(Mick Horan) 58.47

Jill Brown
Maureen Rossiter
(Karen Davis)
(Garry Maher) 58.86

5,000 metres Walk
Kevin Chamberlain 32.38
Rod Gilchrist 35.55
Carol Baird 31.07

1,000 metres Walk
Alice Scott 7.18

Spiral 8 results

Spiral 8 results for Team Moore - run last night.

We took all the places. We had all raced ourselves out in the heat first, of course!

All runners were eligible. Very good runs then from Nev and Tony. I tip Gary to win the next spiral, on 19 January. Unless of course Ewen decides to run instead of walk, in which case we can anticipate the first ever two lap victory in a four lapper. Go Gary!

1 Nev Madden 14:08
2 Tony Booth 15:02
3 Ewen Thompson19:41
4 Maria O'Reilly 14:16
6 Rod Lynch 12:40
7 Katie Forestier 14:29
8 Gary Bowen 14:30
10 Roger Pilkington 13:10
11 Kevin Chamberlain 14:01
19 Neil Boden 15:44
20 Geoff Moore 14:56

4 x 800 relay - estimates of splits

A great success was the running of the first ever ACT 4 x 800 relays last night.
Ewen and I have estimated the split times for each runner; these times were roughly when the baton crossed the finish line.

There is another 4 x 800 relay night this season - Wednesday 25 January.

Team Moore members in bold

1. light blue team (M45) 9:23.77
John Morton 2:15
Rod Lynch 2:24
Mick Horan 2:16
Paul Considine 2:28

2. fluoro green team (W30) 10:36.06
Katie Forestier 2:47
Anna Danielsson 2:35
Mel Cockshut 2:42
Jenny Langton 2:31

3. purple team (mixed) 10:37 .92
Roger Pilkington 2:44
Nigel Coldrick 2:56
Gary Bowen 2:38
Andrew Endall 2:19

4. red team (M55) 10:48.93
Pat Stakelum 2:40
Jim White 2:44
Neil Boden 2:48
Garry Maher 2:36

5. white team (M50) 11:02.72
Nick Blackaby 3:21
Ken White 2:40
Neville Madden 2:27
Michael Leahey 2:34

6. orange team (W50) 12:07.99
Maria O'Reilly 2:45
Jill Brown 3:11
Charmaine Knobel 3:15
Maureen Rossitter 2:56

7. transparent team (mixed) 12:14.81
Charlie McCormack 2:47
Carol Baird 3:16
Tony Booth 3:02
Mick Worsley 3:09

8. pink team (W45) 13:33.14
Kerry Boden 3:24
Annemarie Calnan 3:40
Vicki Matthews 3:13
Sue Bourke 3:15

9. mauve team (W60) 15:16.25
Alice Scott 3:35
Jillian Clark 4:03
Norma Lindemann 4:02
Fran Harris 3:35

Team Moore Christmas Party

old group 33 new group 40

Having blitzed the field (except Katie who was semi-blitzed. I do like coining new words) I did expect to get hammered, and it was so.

Results for Team Moore of the spiral 7 at the track a couple of weeks ago.
1 Geoff Moore 12:18
2 Katie Forestier 12:46
3 Ken Gordon 11:53
7 Tony Booth 13:34
13 Rod Lynch 11:01
14 Geoff Barker 14:15
16 Maureen Rossiter 14:19
17 Gary Bowen 12:37
18 Margaret McSpadden 15:25
22 Neil Boden 13:06
23 Kevin Chamberlain 12:29
25 Ewen Thompson 17:39

ACTVAC TRACK & FIELD PROGRAM THURSDAY DECEMBER 15TH AT 6.00PM

FEATURE EVENTS:
High Jump (QA series) 7:15pm,
4 x 800m relay 7:15pm (records still to be set),
Short Hurdles 7:45pm (Boag event), and
8 Lap Spiral 8:15 pm (Adler Series)

Other events:
3000m 6:00 pm,
Heavyweight 6:00 pm (Lower Throwing Field),
200m 6:15pm,
1000/1500m Walk 6:30 pm,
Long Jump 6:45 pm,
Javelin and Discus 7:00pm and 7:45pm (2 of each),
100m 7:30pm,
Triple Jump 7:45pm, and
4x100m relay 8:00pm.

Are all carbohydrates good ... ?

Team Moore results from last Thurday

3000m Pennington
Michael Leahey 10:42.0
Colin Farlow 10:09.4
Maria O'Reilly 12:07.5
Roger Pilkington 11:24.3
Kevin Chamberlain 12:01.6
Gary Bowen 11:50.3
Tony Booth 13:15.2
Charlie McCormack 12:32.3
Neville Madden 12:16.0
Ken White 12:18.6
Margaret McSpadden 14:56.4
Geoff Barker 14:40.2
Graeme Small 16:08.2

3000m
Rod Lynch 11:19.6
Gary Bowen 13:17.0
Geoff Moore 13:56.1
Tony Booth 15:23.9
Jenny Langton 13:17.2
Sarah Pau 16:16.3
Katie Forestier 13:35.8
Gabrielle Brown 14:14.0
Kathy Sims 12:40.4

1500m
Rod Lynch 5:02.4
Roger Pilkington 5:21.8
Gary Bowen 5:29.4
Geoff Moore 5:56.8
Geoff Barker 6:57.0
Tony Booth 6:15.5
Katie Forestier 5:45.1
Pam Faulks 7:35.4
Kathy Sims 5:47.8
Margaret McSpadden 7:12.4

4 x 200 relay
Jenny Langton
Sarah Pau
(Karen Davis)
Katie Forestier 2:08.8 record

Margaret McSpadden
Jill Brown
(Carol Baird)
(Margaret Taylor) 2.29.1 record

(John Burns)
(Jack Perry)
(Rad Leovic)
Pam Faulks 2:41.9

400m
Matthew Hardy 60.8
Gary Bowen 66.0
Rod Lynch 66.1
Neville Madden 61.8
Geoff Sims 61.4
Geoff Barker 91.1
Tony Booth 80.4
Jenny Langton 63.1
Katie Forestier 77.1
Gabrielle Brown 77.4
Vicki Matthews 70.8
Maureen Rossiter 72.0

Long Jump
Sarah Pau 3.79
Vicki Matthews 3.75

Holiday Training Plans

"Team Moore will close on Christmas Day and reopen on New Years Day."

So mark in your diaries,
Monday 19/12 Parliament House training
Tuesday 20/12 North Lyneham training
Thursday 22/12 AIS track racing
Monday 26/12 --------
Tuesday 27/12 --------
Thursday 29/12 -------
Monday 2/1 Parliament House training
Tuesday 3/1 North Lyneham training
Thursday 5/1 AIS track training

Apparently there is no Vets track on 5th January so we will go out there for a training session at 5:30pm instead. Then if I'm wrong we won't miss out on racing.

On the 12th, track races resume. I notice there is a "Turkey Walk" on the program. That's right, I do remember seeing a whole lot of athletes practising walking like Turkeys.

Happy Anniversary

Colin and Amanda celebrate their first anniversary today. And at the Team Moore Christmas function yesterday, hosted by the wonderful Peter and Maria, we had birthday cake for Amanda's 38th, the day before. The party was excellent, thanks to everyone who made it such a success. Even Ben now four weeks old was there to help celebrate.

Maureen turns 55 tomorrow (Monday) and enters a new age group. She plans to be at training Monday night, I hear. Take note everyone else, a birthday is no excuse to bludge from training!

No sign of track results from Thursday yet on the web except the Daniels result that I put up on Friday. No sign of the spiral seven results from the previous week either (the one that I won). Talk about slack. Well, let us set a good example of diligence and let us disregard the little things others might do or not do that could annoy us. (that bit's for me.)

It was a great morning at the Half Iron Man today. This event, a major race on the triathlon calendar, attracts hundreds of top competitors from all over Australia. I have no reservations in saying that it is the best event on the ACT sporting calendar each year. Amongst the keen spectators were Charlie, Jenny and Greg, Cathy, Ruth and Dave, Thea, Peter. An absolute must to watch and to enter if fit enough; very well organised, very exciting, and very long! And fellow runners, next year we could round up some swimmer and cyclist mates and enter teams. A December Half Marathon as part of a team somehow appeals. What makes the idea attractive is, we don't have any other halves at this time of year; there are mountain runs on but who in their right mind runs those; and the half iron man field is very large so there is plenty of company. And well organised as I said. I haven't asked what the entry fee is like, but who cares if it's a great event?

Lauren's latest exploits

Australian All Schools Athletic Championships
08-11 December 2005

Girls Long Jump Under 18
1 Lauren Boden, ACT Daramalan, 6.24m, won by 49cm.

Girls 400 Metre Hurdles Under 18
Ht 1: 1 Lauren Boden, ACT Daramalan, 60.68 (fastest qualifier).
Final: 1 Lauren Boden, ACT Daramalan, 59.71, won by 1.93 sec
This is after a 58.93 in the Zatopek a week earlier, but I suspect conditions were hot and windy in Sydney.

Girls Long Jump Under 20
1 Lauren Boden, ACT Daramalan, 6.15m, won by 40cm

Girls 4x400 relay Under 18
3 ACT (including Lauren)

Meanwhile back in Canberra, as announced last night and in today's Canberra Times,
ACT Junior Sports Star of the Year
Lauren Boden

Awesome!

Racing Principle #7

"Horses for Courses "

Previous racing principles were
1 redefine “winning”
2 practise surging
3 plan races so that you have a day’s break from racing for every mile raced.
4 have long term goals
5 define short term goals
6 set intermediate racing goals

Should I train hard while racing? Should I race frequently or should I race rarely? What causes most injury - long mileage or speed work or hill training or something else? How much is too much? What sort of training gets me the best results with the least number of injuries? Should I work on my strengths or my weaknesses? Do I need steady state work or race pace work or long slow distance? Will weight training or gym work or cross training make all the difference? Are light sessions of value or should i be doing something else?

While a forum like mine can propose a number of general principles, sometimes it is just a matter of "horses for courses". Any one individual with a particular set of physical attributes, mental attitudes, likes and dislikes, and so on, is surely unique. What works for one might be disaster for another.

Like a fisherman trying different kinds of bait and angling techniques to get the best catch - don't just sit there doing what you have always been doing. Try different training approaches and see how they suit you. Ultimately, only you can determine what training works best for you!

What distances should I race? Whatever suits you. Whatever you like. If you like 10k, race it. And your likes and dislikes can be fashioned over time by the training you choose to do. You can become a cross country runner - by training often on a cross country course. Sometimes, if you specialise, you can become very good - at your speciality. A "strength" runner can become an excellent cross country specialist. A "rhythm" runner can become an excellent road racer. A tactical runner can become an excellent track runner.

I'd work on my strengths - I'd run the courses that I seem to be made for.

Racing Principle #7 - "Horses for Courses"

HB2U Part 2

More Happy Birthdays. Amanda is having a birthday on Friday, then celebrating her and Colin's first (yes, first!) wedding anniversary on Sunday. Maureen hits the big 55 on Monday. And six days later, Katie is promoted to the big four-oh.

Both Roger and Sarah have birthdays the day before Katie's.

However the big news is the arrival of the latest Team Moore member, this time a little girl. Madison Gordon was born Friday morning 2/12/05. (After Ken was at track Thursday night). Wow and congratulations!

If you're expecting a baby and would like he/she to arrive on a Friday morning, come to track Thursday night! Two out of two so far.

Happy Birthdays

Happy Birthday Rod Lynch 46 today!

Happy Birthday Joel Pearson 22 today!

This picture could be Colin and Rod racing in one of the Vets handicaps.

Which one is which I wonder?

All I know is they fly past me, either one first and the other in hot pursuit.

Hey, where's Joel these days?

SEILF EMIT

Timing problems continued at the track last Thursday. Sad to say none of the 60 metre race times are valid; they will be discarded.

(I have never run a 60m race!)

No results of the spiral handicap have appeared yet, so I wonder what happened there?

For interest, my research last year showed that when you compare hand held times at our events with accurate electronic times, the hand held times give results pretty consistently 0.3 seconds too fast.

This is regardless of distance run.

So now, when I calculate either Daniels handicaps or Daniels scores, I add 0.3 to any hand held times. This is fair and works both ways. It means if you run any hand timed race, I don't over-handicap you, and it means in a hand timed handicap race, runners don't get more points than they should. (Daniels point score is worked out on time, not place).

Even then, the published results are not always accurate. But like cricket umpiring; when there are mistakes, sometimes you lose out, and sometimes you benefit. It averages out in the end.

Not running, playing

Here is a fun game to play. Even if you tire of it, your primary school age children will love it.

Additional. For those currently training with us -
At North Lyneham this Tuesday I might be late - I suggest we run four of those 700m circuits (yes, up the middle hill through the long grass) on 5 minutes, maybe on six minutes if it is hot which it might well be, working fairly hard on each one.

Then the plan for next week is to start shorter running at North Lyneham, designed specifically for middle distance runners. This is because most of the middle distance specialists are running with us Tuesdays rather than Mondays.

(Middle Distance: definition: 800m and 1500m track races)

Track this Thursday includes the rerun of the Pennington 3000. Again I might be late - and miss it - in any case I will be full of Thai food and red wine - so missing it won't worry me too much. After track we plan to go off to Zeffirelli.

Do remember to reply about Saturday's BBQ.

Team Moore Christmas Barbecue

Yes it is that time of year again. Christmas!
We usually have a Team Moore get-together in December and this year is no exception.

Members of the training group, and their families, are invited to a barbecue at Peter and Maria’s home in North Lyneham.
The date is this Saturday 10 December, the time is 6pm or so.

Should you have a later engagement that day, please come at 6pm anyway for a drink and a chat, and leave when you must.

What to bring?
- something to cook on the BBQ
- your own drinks
- some salad or dessert to share

We would like to know numbers.

Who to notify?
- reply to me by Thursday, or at the latest see me at the track on Thursday evening (but you know how busy it is out there, so replying earlier would be good!)

Merry Christmas!

Team Moore Track Results

On Thursday 1 December, this is how you went at the track, according to the Vets timekeepers.

2000m Steeplechase
Geoff Barker 10:50.5
Carol Baird 9:30.4

3000m Steeplechase
Gary Bowen 13:35.0

800m Chris Higgins Memorial Handicap
(you could subtract, say, 2 seconds to get a more likely time)
3 Colin Farlow 2:13.62
5 Neville Madden 2:25.89
10 Richard Faulks 2:24.74
11 Ken White 2:30.15
13 Rod Lynch 2:28.43
15 Maureen Rossiter 2:47.12
18 Gary Bowen 2:26.46
19 Tony Booth 2:49.69
26 Neil Boden 2:47.90
32 Carol Baird 3:05.68
33 Katie Forestier 2:51.49
34 Alice Scott 3:48.90
35 Margaret McSpadden 3:42.51

4x400m Relay
(Mick Horan)
(Robert Barbaro)
Neville Madden
Katie Forestier 4:17.43

(Phil White)
Neil Boden
Vicki Matthews
Ken Gordon 4:20.98

Gary Bowen
(Sue Bourke)
Tony Booth
(Amalendu Edelsten) 4:37.37

Jill Brown
(Margaret Taylor)
Margaret McSpadden
Carol Baird 5:40.34

2000m Walk
Rod Gilchrist 13.14
Geoff Barker 14.33
Carol Baird 12.36
Margaret McSpadden 15.42

60m
Richard Faulks 8.5
Rod Lynch 8.7
Vicki Matthews 8.8
Alex Lloyd 9.1
Pam Faulks 9.7
Maureen Rossiter 9.3

200m
Ken Gordon 25.54
Colin Farlow 28.11
Richard Faulks 27.90
Rod Lynch 30.14
Ian Sanders 33.32
Katie Forestier 32.85
Vicki Matthews 30.44
Alex Lloyd 33.38
Maureen Rossiter 31.88
Jill Brown 34.89
Pam Faulks 39.09 ?

High Jump
Ewen Thompson 1.30
Alex Lloyd 1.30

Long Jump
Vicki Matthews 3.75
Pam Faulks 3.03

Murphy's Laws of Running

...the minute you sign-up for a race and pay the cash you either get injured or catch a cold.
...it rains on your long run days and is sunny and fine on your days off
...triathletes, when your running is going well, either your goggles break during the swim, or the chain snaps on your bike
...when your swimming, running and cycling are all going well, you head the wrong way in the transition
...you think of the tactics you should have used, after the race is over
...the photos they publish of you are always less flattering than the ones you take of other people
...in an otherwise empty locker room, any two individuals will have adjoining lockers.
...when you find the perfect running shoe, it will be discontinued
...when you run your fastest time, the electronic timing will have failed
...the handicap race you excel in will be the one where Mr Burglar turns up for his annual victory
...the older you get the faster you were

Our Lauren

What is Fame!

Fame is defined as getting your photo in the Canberra Times.

Or if that is not possible, getting it on the front page of the Queanbeyan Chronicle.

Our Lauren achieved both those feats after finishing second in the final of the Queanbeyan Gift last weekend.

Congratulations Lauren Boden!





"Fame" - new definition - getting your photo in this blog.

Monthly Handicap Point Scores

Congratulations to the Team Moore members who won the two handicap series awards for 2005.

The long course (Thomas) series was won by Roger Pilkington, and the short course (Frylink) series by Gary Bowen.

Roger and Gary were genuine improvers throughout the year; I am pleased that the system "works" and rewards real improvers who go for it in every race, not those who try to beat the system, as a handful seem to do (no-one in our training group!).

All point scores appear on the actvac website; here is a summary for Team Moore runners.

Long handicap series
1 Roger Pilkington 1163 points 10 races
5 Alan Duus 1046 10
8 Colin Farlow 1030 10
10 Peter Hogan 1027 9
20 Christopher Lang 992 9
34 Peter McDonald 903 8
38 Margaret McSpadden 893 8
42 Geoff Barker 859 10
44 Geoff Moore 848 8
46 Graeme Small 833 8

Short handicap series
1 Gary Bowen 567 10
2 Katie Forestier 550 10
4 Carol Baird 537 10
11 Cathy Montalto 489 8
13 Neil Boden 465 9

Those who ran handicaps and are not on the list would not have completed eight races.

I feel like a doughnut...

..... in need of coffee.

I'm tired! After missing a day and a half I have eased back my running target to just 50k this week and will schedule 60k next week. Mustn't build up too fast!

Moore 3000 Series update

The "Moore Series" 3000 results are now being posted to the actvac website. Final results will be based on a minimum of ten races. Here are the progressive scores. (This lists everybody, not just our training group)

Group, Name, Average %, Number of runs
W55 Carol Baird 79.0 1
W50 Charmaine Knobel 75.0 3
W70 Anne Young 72.6 2
W40 Charlie McCormack 71.0 3
W35 Katie Forestier 70.2 1
W45 Annemarie Calnan 69.7 2
W55 Margaret McSpadden 68.3 4
W55 Rosemary Parker 66.1 4
W35 Ellen Lloyd 60.7 1
W40 Carolyne Kramar 60.1 1
W45 Amanda Chew 56.3 1

M50 Trevor Jacobs 81.8 1
M50 Michael Leahey 79.4 4
M45 Paul Considine 79.1 4
M40 Colin Farlow 78.1 4
M45 John Morton 75.5 3
M75 Michael Freer 74.9 2
M35 Peter Zygadlo 74.6 2
M55 Trevor Cobbold 73.4 2
M60 Richard Hilhorst 73.0 4
M55 Bob Harlow 72.9 1
M45 Richard Faulks 72.4 2
M60 Dave McInnes 72.0 1
M35 Damian Rutledge 71.9 2
M45 Rod Lynch 71.6 6
M55 Geoff Moore 71.6 1
M50 Neville Madden 70.4 1
M55 Jim White 70.3 3
M45 Gary Bowen 70.1 3
M55 Ken Eynon 70.0 4
M40 Don Smith 70.0 2
M40 Andrew Endall 69.9 1
M50 Ken White 69.9 3
M45 Hugh Ford 69.6 2
M45 Dave McClelland 68.8 3
M65 Tony Booth 68.8 6
M45 Roger Pilkington 67.8 5
M60 Mike Worsley 67.5 3
M40 Dale Moore 67.5 4
M45 Mick Horan 67.3 1
M60 Geoff Barker 67.2 3
M50 Bob Fletcher 67.2 1
M45 Nigel Coldrick 67.1 1
M40 Bryce Anderson 66.7 1
M45 Ewen Thompson 66.6 2
M60 Bryan Thomas 66.6 2
M55 Peter Hogan 66.1 3
M55 Neil Boden 65.4 2
M40 Brian Mclachlan 64.3 2
M55 Michael Gardner 63.5 1
M30 Heath Pearce 63.1 1
M45 Doug Taupin 63.1 2
M60 Bryan McCarthy 62.8 2
M40 Peter Cullen 62.8 1
M55 Bob Parker 62.5 4
M55 Alan Williams 62.2 3
M60 Geoff Hakes 57.3 1
M45 Chris Edwards 56.3 1
M50 Jamie Macgregor 56.1 3
M50 Nick Blackaby 54.6 3
M30 Adam Robinson 54.1 3
M55 Des Cannon ? 1
? Don White ? 3

News on Relays

There was some confusion when the 4 x 1500m relay teams were being assembled, as to what the rules were for team composition as far as both ACT and national records were concerned.

National records are relevant because the national 4x1500 records are very achievable by ACT teams, and an Australian record certificate is something special! And because national 4x800 records are mostly non-existent and therefore up for grabs!

With the 4x800s coming up on 15 December we need to know who we can select in the teams going for records.

But first, and this is important, it was never intended to restrict the relays to eligible teams! Everyone who would have run had it been a normal scratch race, is supposed to participate! The more teams the better, composite teams of any kind are welcome.

Also very important is that anyone "left over" and not in a team may run in the first leg, starting when the gun fires, but must not join in later. A team was disqualified because of pacing last time. It seems obvious; but these things apparently need stating.

And now the rules. The same rules apply nationally as to the ACT. To be eligible for ACT and Australian records (1) ALL runners in the relay must be current registered members of ACTVAC, and (2) The four runners must either be in the same age group, or ONE or TWO may be from the next age group up.

For example, a W40 team may either consist of four women in the W40 age group, or it may consist of three W40s and one W45, or it may consist of two W40s and two W45s. No other combination is eligible for records.

I prefer to see runners compete in their own age group when at all possible and only move down one when a team is not available in their own group. Teams should be encouraged NOT to pinch the best runners one age group up if it means taking them from another team! I suppose exceptions could be made on specific occasions when there is a particularly fast record we want to break. But that's not the case at the moment; records are achievable without doing that.

Finally, there are relays every week, often a 4x100, 4x200, or 4x400, and for these relays the same rules, spelt out above, apply.

Last Sunday at Weston Park

Geoff Barker won the handicap trophy this month.

On Sunday the final handicaps for the year were run at Weston Park, followed by Presentations and a Spit Roast, on a cold wet and muddy day. At least the wind wasn't strong.

Roger Pilkington had already won the handicap series before the event was run. So how did the handicapper let him through to second place this month? That can't be right! It must be the training he's doing now.

Those age percentages are interesting so I have included them here for the first time. I am sure the second decimal place is meaningless, they are not that accurate!

The end-of-year results for the series are not yet available; I will post them when they are, as we feature yet again. Meanwhile the full Sunday results are available on the ACTVAC website.

Race results for Team Moore members -
Weston Park 8k
4 Geoff Barker M60 39:20 71.22% - Geoff won the handicap
6 Roger Pilkington M45 33:36 73.41% - second
8 Colin Farlow M40 30:50 78.82% - fourth!
11 Jeni Greenland W30 40:33 62.41%
16 Jill Brown W55 46:25 65.88%
20 Alan Duus M55 38:39 71.11%
30 Rod Lynch M45 32:20 75.72%
33 Maria O'Reilly W50 36:36 78.82%
50 Alice Scott W60 49:35 64.33%
56 Bob Harlow M55 34:48 78.26%
57 Geoff Moore M55 36:36 73.74%
62 Peter McDonald M50 42:20 61.09%
66 Graeme Small M60 46:38 61.90%
76 Caroline Campbell W60 43:36 75.72%
83 Tony Booth M65 47:30 62.77%
86 Margaret McSpadden W55 55:52 55.89%

Weston Park 4k
6 Ken Gordon M40 15:59 74.90% - fourth!
9 Carol Baird W55 18:28 82.20%
11 Neil Boden M55 18:37 70.71%
13 Gary Bowen M45 16:48 73.99%
14 Katie Forestier W35 17:36 73.96%
17 Kerry Boden W45 23:24 59.54%
23 Cathy Montalto W50 19:48 74.44%

Woman's and Girls' triathlon

A nice picture, copied from CJ's blog, of CJ and Strewth at the triathlon yesterday, while the rest of us were running in the mud at Weston Park they were enjoying a cool swim, cycle and run.

A couple of other photos are on Strewth's blog.

Do click on the links to see their blogs for write-ups of the tri.

CJ was first in her age group and Strewth second in hers; well done!

Thursday's track results

The night featured great running by our relay runners, with three 4x1500 teams breaking ACT records - W30, W50 and W55. These would have been Australian records too, except the timing failed. A fourth team - M45 - was under the ACT record too but there was some pacing so it couldn't count.

3000m
Colin Farlow 10:13
Dale Moore 11:11
Rod Lynch 10:53
Gary Bowen 11:48
Neville Madden 12:04
Ken White 12:11
Ken Eynon 12:25
Geoff Moore 12:29
Neil Boden 13:08
Tony Booth 13:28
Charlie McCormack 12:14

10000m
Roger Pilkington 39:13.3
Mike Worsley 46:21.3
Geoff Barker 48:43.3
Tony Booth 48:44.0
Jeni Greenland 44:36.2
Charmaine Knobel 48:03.7
Carol Baird 45:55.9

4x1500m Relay
(John Morton) 4.44
Rod Lynch 5.09
Gary Bowen 5.22
(Phil White) 5.09 20.24

Neil Boden 5.58
(Jim White) 5.46
Ken Eynon 5.53
Kevin Chamberlain 5.40 23.17

Jenny Langton 5.20
(Mel Cockshut) 5.33
(Anna Danielsson) 5.25
Katie Forestier 5.49 22.07*

Charmaine Knobel 6.03
Kathy Sims 6.16
Maureen Rossiter 6.23
Maria O'Reilly 5.43 24.27*

Jill Brown 6.56
(Margaret Taylor) 7.15
Carol Baird 6.13
Alice Scott 7.38 28.02*

1500m Walk
Carol Baird 8.24
Alice Scott 10.59
Kevin Chamberlain 8.38
Geoff Barker 9.37
Rod Gilchrist 9.59
Annemarie Calnan 11.55

100m
Rod Lynch 14.7
Jenny Langton 14.6
Katie Forestier 15.9
Vicki Matthews 15.1
Maureen Rossiter 15.2
Jill Brown 16.5

200m
Michael Rutter 25.6
Ken Gordon 25.7
Dale Moore 30.6
Richard Faulks 27.3
Rod Lynch 31.9
Katie Forestier 33.1
Kerry Boden 30.1
Vicki Matthews 30.5
Pam Faulks 40.9
Maureen Rossiter 31.2

Javelin
Kevin Matthews 30.64

Long Jump
Vicki Matthews 3.55

And finally, next week's program (Thursday 1st December)
6:00pm 2000/3000m Steeple (Optional 3000m)
6:00pm Weight (LTF)
6:15pm 60m
6:30pm 1000/3000m walk
6:45pm Long Jump
7:00pm Higgins 800m Handicap (15th Annual Chris Higgins Memorial 800m Handicap)
7:00pm Javelin (1) 7:00pm Shot (1)
7:15pm High Jump
7:30pm 200m
7:45pm Long Hurdles (300m or 400m)
7:45pm Javelin (2) 7:45pm Shot (2)
7:45pm Triple Jump (QA Series)
8:00pm 4 x 400m relay
8:15pm 7 lap Spiral (Adler Series)

Rain! Hail! Rivers of water!

It is very wet today! I hope it will be alright for the handicap run! I cannot imagine how wet it will be behind the nursery at Weston Park. Let alone for the lunch afterwards. Here is a Steve Cuff photo of Neil Boden running a street mile in Canberra on another very wet day.

Kevin Chamberlain and Ken White.
it was pouring ...

ACTVAC promotion

Calling all interested ACTVAC members whose talents extend to setting up a display stand! Please talk to Roger Pilkington or myself!

Hey I'm on broadband

I don't know how I did it, but I fluked getting my broadband connection working on the second attempt! How I didn't corrupt the modem settings playing around with them I don't know...

But I haven't configured my email connection yet.... so keep using the old address for now!

update on how I am going

It's all good! So far. With two days to go this week, I am on my 60km target.

"Races" this week, all run holding back a little:
Wednesday 23rd BBQ Stakes 6k 26.54 (4.29 per km), improved from last week's 29.22
Thursday 24th 3000m track 12.29 (4.10 per km), rather pleased to be running this quick this easily. Felt sore warming up, but all OK running.
Friday 25th Customs 5k 21.05 (4.13 per km), better than last week's 22.55 (and good enough to be first over the line this week). Felt a little lethargic but ran on fairly well.

So the rate of progress continues, and more is expected if I can avoid re-injury. I am still planning not to try and stretch out at all!

I will have a jog in Sunday's Vets handicap then plan next week's 70km.

Valiant Vets

Suzanne Counsel, Cory Collins, and Anne Young warming up for the Canberra Times Fun Run earlier this year. Champions all!