• Love You To

Each day just goes so fast,
I turn around, it's past,
You don't get time to hang a sign on me.
Love me while you can,
Before I'm a dead old man.
A life-time is so short,
A new one can't be bought,
But what you've got means such a lot to me.
Make love all day long,
Make love singing songs.
-the Beatles, "Love You To"

"Dear Geoff, I went to my first session with my new running group today.
"And guess what was on the oval
".................. Geese!!
"Miss you guys
"Emma"

Emma sent this photo


Canadian Geese

AACT Track
The Athletics ACT Track and Field program for the whole of the 2008-09 season is now available at http://athleticsact.org.au/. It all starts on Saturday 11 October and offers a 3000m every week, and 1500m/5000m alternately each Saturday until 22 November, then two Thursdays in January with us, then Tuesdays.

ACTMAC Track
The ACT Masters Athletics Track and Field program for this year has been finalised and is about to be published. It all starts on Thursday 16 October and offers middle and long distance events each week.

ACTCCC Spring Series
This popular series of Cross Country races commences on Tuesday 4 November and continues for 5 weeks.

Speedygeese training sessions
Our Parliament House training sessions will continue every Monday evening.

Back to Stromlo
Given the number of events on offer, I have now decided to postpone the start of regular Saturday morning Stromlo grass training sessions until 29 November (i.e. when AACT Saturday events are no longer happening).

I plan to attend as many of all of the above as possible. I would love you to join me in any of these you wish. (there's the link to the title! Hmmmmmm.)

Falconer Grandchildren (part one)


Olivia Falconer


Alex Falconer

• Words of Love

Barbara at Carley's wedding


You can chat with Barbara via bardytucker (that's not a typo) at hotmail.com. I don't think she's on facebook. (If she were, you could really chat).

At Dickson last night there were 14 of us who ran Ewen 300s. With variations, it was teams of two, we were in lane 3 so the intervals were >310m, and we tended to shuffle rather than walk back the 100m in between, and then we waited for the baton. But we did do ten of them each, Ewen. I put the change-over points mid-straight and mid-bend so that everyone would have half straight and half bend to race on. Training were Al & Joel, Thea & I, Bronwyn & Tony, Rachelle & Neil, Miranda & Yelena, Jodie D & Caroline, Ruth & Margaret. In that order if I remember rightly. (Thea & I nearly took it out! The gosling and the old grey goose!) It was a good session. And we had the new lights fully on; it was as bright as day!

Moore Moores - Nathan & Lisa with Charlie



click to enlarge. Tomorrow - Falconer grandchildren!

I meant to publish this earlier...
A West Australian research team says it has proved for the first time that 20 minutes of activity each day can improve memory function.
The team from the West Australian Centre for Health and Ageing carried out an 18 month trial using two control groups with an average age in the late 60s.
One group did on average twenty minutes more physical activity a day, mainly vigorous walking, and it was this group that performed better on tests for memory and other cognitive functioning. The Director for the WA Centre for Health and Ageing, Leon Flicker, says the increase was small but significant.
"The improvement in memory functioning was a little over a point on one of the scales that we use," he said.
"To put it in perspective, this is actually more than the effect of some of the drugs that have been trialed in the past which, overall, have been found to be ineffective."
Professor Flicker says the people who took part had some memory complaints but none were suffering from dementia.
He says more research needs to be done and this will look at what sort of exercise is best and whether it can help those suffering from dementia.
"What we've shown is that a moderate increase in physical activity produces a moderate increase in the brain's functioning, but whether a lot more activity would continue to have even greater effect, we really can't say at this stage," he said.
The trial results will be published in the Journal of the American Medical Association today.
- from ABC News, 3 Sept 2008.

• I Want to Hold Your Hand

Moore grandchildren


Jackson, mum (Lisa), and Tyler



Yes it's Tyler. Hasn't he grown!


Moore to come! Charlie & Nathan Moore photos tomorrow. We will be visiting these folks in Brisbane in a few weeks, I can't wait. And then we will have even newer photos to show you.


Running
Yesterday's BBQ Stakes: me 25.57, Roger 28.13, Helen 34.47. Roger is still improving rapidly, Helen is not wanting to push hard, being cautious after two weeks off sick, and I ran with a sore left achilles/lower calf but it seems to be much better for the run.

Swimming
Michael Phelps at a very young age



Cycling
I did this awareness test and I failed. Can you do better than me?

• If I Needed Someone

The best recent Hall Grandchildren photos

Runs Like The Wind
-best footy player in all of Queanbeyan-


Josiah

Runs Faster Than The Wind
-best apprentice ever of her big sister-


Amelie


Runs Against The Wind
-so much like her mother it's funny-


Liana

• Lovely Rita , er, Liana.

Last night Alan, Cathy, Christopher, Ewen, me, Joel, Mick C, Mick H, Miranda, Neil, Rachelle, Rae, Ruth, Tim & Yelena trained at Parliament House. For a change we ran on the small green oval on the west side. We ran 25 intervals over 50 metres, jogging back to the start between each. The oval was just large enough to be able to do this in a straight line.

More Hall grandchildren pictures by request!


...at Jervis Bay. Amelie, Josiah, and Lovely Liana Hall.

My cat was running around like a crazy thing this morning. She does that every few days, otherwise she just eats, sleeps, and watches birds. What a life!

Actually, this sounds like exactly what I do ever since I stopped working back in February 2003.

Except my cat doesn't blog.

Or does she?

• You Can't Do That

You can run faster.
You can run further.
But stopping others from running even faster and further than you?
You can't do that.
Some of the saddest people I know, always get disappointed when they are "beaten"!
Learn to monitor your improvement in a way which does not involve comparing yourself with someone else.
And if you encourage others to out-perform you, and they do, count that as a success too!

Speedygeese at yesterday's High Noon Meet.
800m Joel 2:12.31
800m Ewen 2:48.55
800m Thea 2:53.47
3000m me 11:28.45 (splits 3:36, 3:59, 3:53)
3000m Thea 12:50.93 *pb
3000m Yelena 15:53.24
Conditions – strong headwind back straight, very small 3k field meant running solo!

My training progress
last week’s target: 90k
achieved: 50k
year 2008 total to date: 2930k in 36 weeks
this week's target: 90k
weight: 64kg ▲

That was a relatively slack week. But I did run a pb in the BBQ Stakes, and I did OK in the 3000m. I expected to misjudge pace, and I did. So that's a success! It will take the whole of the upcoming track season to relearn pace, so I think I will focus on the 3000m for that purpose, with the occasional 5000m. And once pace is relearned, both BBQ and 3000m times can improve a lot more.

Why did I expect to misjudge pace I hear you ask? Because it is the first time this year I have intentionally cut down a week's distance; and it is only recently that I have added some upper body work to my gym training. Hence the need for my body to "re-learn".

This week I will do BBQ Stakes again on Wednesday and the Canberra Times 10k Fun Run on Sunday.



Grand fathers day


All the children connected with me for fathers day yesterday, two by phone, one by facebook. Here's a happy snap of three of the grandchildren. They enjoyed a quiet and happy fathers day too.

• Mean Mr. Mustard

I know what I mean to say but I am not always smart enough to say it right.



A simple message is more easily assimilated, but even when it is accurate it is not always helpful.


They say a picture is worth 1000 words



At least I am out there, trying. Clarity, clarity, that's what I want.

Then let's simplify.

• Don't smoke, you silly people.
• Don't get fat, get fit instead.
• Regular running is the best way to get fit and stay fit.
• Doing all the "right things" enables you to enjoy life more, not less!

I can be meaner but I am trying to be kinder too!

But I feel sad when I see otherwise intelligent people having no idea how to care for themselves. Honestly, many people are simply not smart, and what is the bleeding obvious to me may not be at all obvious to someone else.


And vice versa, I suppose.
Have a good day. Try not to be too mean.

• Eight Days a Week

Being a Follower
"Following" blogs is simple - much simpler to do than to read about, but if you must, see http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=104226 for the explanation of how it works.

You can "follow" any blog that has the "followers" widget. This blog has the followers widget on its side-bar. As a result, anyone can "follow" me.

Blogger dashboard keeps me to date with blogs I follow. But much, much better is the fact that "following" is integrated with "google reader". And I use google reader all the time. Much more convenient.

This spider follows you, too: http://www.onemotion.com/flash/spider/
It follows you. And you can drag it by the legs and body. And you can feed it.

Suggestions for new international sporting team names
1. Brussels Sprouts
2. Cannes Openers
3. Amsterdam Yankees
4. Vienna Sausages
5. Belgium Wafflers
6. Manila Folders
7. Czech Bouncers
8. Buenos Airheads
9. Bolivia DeHavillands
10. Seoul Brothers
11. Taipei Personalities
12. Syria Killers
13. Hungary Jacks
14. Prague Tologists
15. Peking Toms

Have a good day. And week.

• Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds

"LSD", or "Long Slow Distance running", used to be all the rage. What LSD is good for is establishing a base on which you can build speed-endurance later. I don't do LSD; (a) my base is well and truly established. (b) my body fat is in the "below average" range so doesn't need reducing as a first priority. (c) rather than go into "maintenance mode" I choose to seek further improvements in speed and fitness. Therefore, while keeping a reasonable mileage up from week to week, I supplement this with training sessions specifically designed to develop myself beyond "happily fit" and hopefully to turn me into someone speedy. And I test progress by racing fairly often.

It seems to be working.

But my advice to newcomers is, be wary of getting into too much intense training too soon, particularly if you start into it from a sedentary lifestyle or if you are genuinely overweight and unfit. Better to establish some consistent long slow runs so that you can build a "general endurance" base on which you can later build some speed. And this may (probably, should) take years, so you must be consistent, regular, faithful to your plan.

There are various measures of progress. (a) scales, (b) tape measure (b) your total distance run each week (d) how far you can run in a particular time, comfortably, with no extra effort.

Beware of the stop watch: use it only monitor progress; don't let it push you to harder efforts. Improvements will come and will be measured when with the same effort as in the past you find yourself running further.

After some years of this, start racing and start adding more intense training, if that's your inclination. "Years" means you will need to vary what you do from time to time to keep your interest up, you will have to be disciplined enough to do it rain hail or shine, and you will need clear goals which you are determined to achieve.

Support of family and friends is important too. Here's a tip - organise to meet others each day for your running. Whether friends, workmates at lunch time, or one of the many other training groups around town. And have a reliable coach who can advise you; whether you check your progress with your coach frequently or occasionally is up to you.

Have a long term view, and have a plan and stick to it - realise you cannot do everything, so work towards only one goal at a time. That means that you must decide in advance what your running goals and priorities are, which is why discussion with a coach and on-going feedback is important.

Don't think you can go it alone; not only is objective advice useful, but also the encouragement and re-assurance of a coach and of running companions is invaluable.

"LSD". "Long Slow Distance". The foundation of a life time of enjoyable running.


Running makes you healthy and happy, fit and well.

Thursday training saw each person run 6 x 400+m fast, with a slow 400+m jog recovery after each one, in teams of three in a relay. Teams were Rod, Mick, Joel; Bronwyn, Maria, me; Thea, Tony, Miranda; Yelena, Margaret, Jodie D.

This Sunday Christopher Lang's long running group meets again at Stromlo, 9am.

Also on Sunday is the next High Noon meet, with an 800m and a 3000m on the track. There is a clash with a rugby game which means parking is limited, so come early, or park up in the CIT car park.

• All You Need Is Love

It's month nine.
It's month nine.
It's already month nine.
It's month nine.

Time goes slowly if you do something you don't enjoy very much.
That must be why time goes very very fast these days.
I am enjoying myself immensely.

Time went slowly the other evening when I sat next to someone who kept rubbishing me.
I was nice in return, something I felt good about after.
But there are such people around, who find fault with everything you do (particularly if you are someone who does do many things), who have a negative attitude and a chip on the shoulder about anyone and anything, and who love to share their negativity with others.

The existence of such people is one reason I am publishing the "despair" de-motivator series.
Some demotivators are funny.
What the demotivators might do though is cause me to be better de-sensitised to any doom-saying around me, teach me to laugh out loud at such negative attitudes, and ultimately enable me to disregard such rudeness.

I will continue publishing demotivators. During month nine anyway. And eight days into month ten. It won't be long.



My new BBQ pb
Yesterday's BBQ Stakes, about my 81st run there, was a new pb of 24.41, beating my previous pb run 18 months ago by six seconds. And I won the handicap! Wow, I am actually improving in real terms, not just in age-adjusted terms. And I do like getting re-handicapped to start further back, it means I can try and keep up with faster runners.
Roger ran ~30.26, a time he was happy with as he starts to return to form. As he will. And when I give him a start next time we run the handicap race and he is fit, it will be a good challenge to try and catch him.

Training is on tonight at Dickson; just six more Thursdays there including today, until Masters Track resumes. It's a 5:30pm start, don't be late!

Boys

Jenny & I will be staying with Nathan and Lisa and their three boys at the end of this month. Two week with our grandsons in McDowall, Brisbane! And running bliss, around Bunyaville next door to McDowall!

Meanwhile Emma and her husband and her three boys have made it to Vancouver.

Emma writes
Well, here we are in Richmond. Am yet to have a decent coffee. Still jetlagged, or just fatigued, which is why you are getting a group email...sorry.....especially with 3 restless boys when we have been doing such wonderful things as 5 hours spent getting mobile phones and setting up a bank account! We caught the bus to Steveston today to get a feel of the area, the boys were not thrilled as they wanted to sit in front of TV again......and were probably afraid of another queue.

Richmond is a great place to live I think. So far I am seeing a great lifestyle, but don't really feel a part of it. No friends and no work yet....more like a tourist so far. People seem friendly and ready to engage, so it probably won't be too bad. But I am thinking "why did we do this?" a lot of the time. I had a "life" in Canberra. Hopefully by being here, will enrich what a "life" is. It made sense when I was running this morning.

The floathome community is very cute.....a mishmash of diy homes and additions...for example a verandah is another float tied onto the house, lots of rearranged and recyled house parts, flowerboxes and painted patterns. Our home has no balconies or outside areas...which is good with 3 boys, two of whom are being quite silly, as I am very anxious about them falling in. They aren't allowed outside without us.....so far it is going well. We have a big 3 storey float home and they are content with racing around the upper two storeys.

Out the window they can see white swans and geese, and I am sure I have seen a sea otter! Each day we walk along the riverbank and pick blackberries and found an apple-tree with delicious apples (nothing like fresh apples from the tree).

I can hear my neighbours talking.....maybe it is that they are houseboat (seafaring) people, or the Canadian accent, but they sound like pirates to me with their "rrrr"s and "OO"s...such as oot and aboot. and a boat is "boot".

There is a huge asian (chinese mainly, where we are) population, and the grocery stores and restaurants......never seen anything like it! There is an obsession with moon cakes, about 20 different types, all beautifully boxed and wrapped. In the meat section, my knowledge of anatomy failed me! There are several shops that seem to be devoted to ginseng. Other shops include a silk bedding store (sound decadent), nice chinese bamboo furniture etc etc. There is also a lot of light industry where we are on the boathouse so it is a bit like living in Fyshwick, but is good to know that we can get most things done locally.

Steveston is like a cross between Glenelg in Adelaide and WIsteria Lane a` la Desparate housewives. Lots of seaside goings on....huge seagulls and sea air and fish and chips and icecream. Lots of gelato coloured weatherboard houses, lots of parks and green spaces and very kid friendly. I am sure the boys will like it, cos I do. This is where we plan to live and will be talking to the real estate agent and banks early next week.

The alternative could be mainland Vancouver, if we won the lottery, I ran to Downtown today to pick up a race package. Manicured lawns, gigantic shady trees and Queen Anne style wooden houses with 3 storeys and lots of turrets. Very cute. It was a lovely sunny summer day, there seemed to be a park every couple of blocks and people were out and about. Unfortunately I got lost and ended up running 20km on pavement!

Yesterday I participated in the Nike worldwide fun run. Overall, I am glad I did it....even though they seemed to have left out my time and placing. My time said 42.35 (which I thought was pretty good considering how little I have been running due to being sick and having run 20km the day before). My chip time would have been less, and that would have got me in the top10 ....... someone said I was 6th female. Ist female got 39.59, so it wasn't a high calibre race. I'll be over it in a day, but I see it less as silly whinging, as being "invested" in the sport!

At the start I was thinking, if I was in Canberra, I would see all my buddies here, and be having the usual pre-race fun and chatting. I felt more than a little lost and lonely. However, I borrowed a marker pen and wrote "wanted: running buddies" on the back of my t-shirt and got talking to some people.

And it worked, I was put onto a running club in Richmond!

At the start, I looked for Jim (as I do), to get a good spot (as he picks prime real estate) and to keep an eye on him (because if he sees me first, then I'm done)....then realised he wasn't there! And no Borat's either. And Katie wasn't there to draft off either!

However, I overtook a few east Africans....they are not all fast!

Towards the end, a really kind runner (a young guy who was also an immigrant like me, from Venezuela), ran with me and encouraged (nagged) me to keep the pace up. This fellowship really made an impression on me. I think this is why I miss all of you.

Re-discovering running and then meeting with Maria and Geoff's group occurred at a time in my life when my horizons and confidence were quite low. Just having had my 3rd child and being out of shape, and really not understanding what "time for myself" was. As well as discovering a "thing" about running, I discovered a bunch of really fabulous friends, and people who share the same fellowship, supportive nature and are self-motivated and punctual.

The drawback of this increased confidence was that I decided to give moving to Canada a burl....and it worked! I'll go into work on Wednesday to meet everyone, but will not start until after my exam which is on the 11th September.

The boys are coping....although there is a bit of silliness. Things will improve when they start school, they are all looking forward to it. Jasper is still not very happy about having to move, but exciting things are afoot.

We looked at houses today with a realtor who drove us around. Rob and I agreed on one house that we both like very much. We'll take another look Wednesday. Then we can get the lads to school.

I miss you all.
Love Emma
PS The grey place is where we are living.

• The Night Before

Monday night training was memorable: there was a good turn-out, with Neil and Rachelle returning from injury; it was cold but reasonably pleasant out of the wind, we ran on a soft track, welcomed especially by those with niggles and injuries, and we had a very silly on-looker.

Alan, Amanda, Cathy, Christopher, Ewen, me, Kathy, Katie, Ken, Margaret, Maria, Miranda, Neil, Rachelle, Ruth & Yelena joined in running 20 x 100m every 75 seconds on a soft slightly sandy slightly downhill section of the path alongside Parliament House. There was an annoying audience of one, a bus driver standing outside his idling bus and smoking, who couldn't tear his eyes off the speedy legs as they flashed by. Whose speedy legs were most deserving of his attention? Someone in shorts and not leggings, I would say.

This is the first week of four where we run a little shorter, a little faster.

Coming up Sunday is the next High Noon meet. Here is the track program, just announced.

High Noon Sunday 7 September
11:55am 2 x 100m relay (hand timed)
11:58am Low steeple (hand timed)
12:00pm Sprint Hurdles
12:15pm 60m
12:30pm 100m
12:50pm 800m
1:05pm 4 x 100m relay
1:10pm 200m
1:25pm 3000m (run and walk), 1500m walk

I will have a run in the 800m, probably, to see how slow I am and to establish an M60 pb.

At the end of the day, 800m is not my thing any more, too short, too fast, too risky injury-wise, quite mad really. But it should make the 1500m feel easier. If that makes sense.

Perhaps I will have second thoughts by Sunday. Sanity might prevail.



Melbourne Half Marathon
Scotty Imhoff has sent in a request for a female runner to be part of the ACT team to contest the Australian Road Running Championships as part of the Melbourne Half Marathon on October 12. Three female athletes have been selected, however one of these athletes had to withdraw due to injury. At least 3 female athletes are needed to have a team. Travel and accommodation may be paid for by the organisers. Please let Scotty know via email ASAP if you are interested. If you were already planning to go and run it, why not be part of the team?

Tonight I will almost certainly attend the ACT Masters Athletics monthly social dinner, downstairs at the Canberra City Labor Club - Petrie Plaza, Civic, 7.00 for 7.30pm. And I would like company of friends! No need to book, just show up.

Some old speedygeese photos


Cathy; Neil; Ruth

• I'm a Loser

...as are we all.


Coldplay say it better:
Just because I’m losing
Doesn’t mean I’m lost
Doesn’t mean I’ll stop
Doesn’t mean I will cross

Just because I’m hurting
Doesn’t mean I’m hurt
Doesn’t mean I didn’t get what I deserve
No better and no worse

I just got lost
Every river that I’ve tried to cross
And every door I ever tried was locked
Ooh-Oh, And I’m just waiting till the shine wears off…

You might be a big fish
In a little pond
Doesn’t mean you’ve won
‘Cause along may come
A bigger one
And you’ll be lost

Every river that you tried to cross
Every gun you ever held went off
Ooh-Oh, And I’m just waiting till the firing starts
Ooh-Oh, And I’m just waiting till the shine wears off...

There is always someone more speedy than you, just as there is always someone less speedy than you. Don't let the achievements of others affect you too much either way.



My training progress
last week’s target: n/a
achieved: 61k
year 2008 total to date: 2880k in 35 weeks
this week's target: 90k
weight: 63.5kg ▲

I am thinking of running at the High Noon meet this Sunday but I don't know what's on, the program has not appeared. I will run BBQ Stakes this Wednesday: it is the reverse version so I will see if I can break 25 minutes for only the third time ever. And a 90k week would be good, let it not rain on Tuesday and I will go on a longer run then.

Snaps from the Half Marathon.