speedygeese training

On Thursday 5th it was overcast and we ran hill intervals, 20 of them, on a challenging hill. Participating were Brendan, Colin, Dave, Ewen, me, Jen, Liz, Brownie, Ruth, Sandeep, Thea, Peter S, Jennie (new), and Ben.

On Monday 9th a good turn-out again and we ran a 20 minute 3 person relay in the shade from near the rose garden – except by the time we started it was all shade. Participating were Andy, Ewen, me, Isaac, Jen, Joel, Mick, Nicole, Rae, Ruth, Sandeep, Susan, Vanessa, Warrick, Tom, Jennie, Jessica, Helen. Which made for six teams of three.
Afterwards we rolled down the hill and we celebrated Sandeep's birthday. Pics by Ewen.

speedygeese race results

BBQ Stakes 6k 16 November
Craig Wurtz 27:41
Andrew Simpson 27:47
Bronwyn Calver 30:06
Andrew Matthews 30:30
Ewen Thompson 35:42
Caroline Campbell 40:38
57 finishers

BBQ Stakes 6k 23 November
Peter Thomson 26:41
Craig Wurtz 29:00
Bronwyn Calver 29:48
Ewen Thompson 36:17
Caroline Campbell 39:28
45 finishers

BBQ Stakes 6k 30 November
Peter Thomson 28:50
Andrew Simpson 29:32
Craig Wurtz 29:48
Bronwyn Calver 29:55
Andrew Matthews 32:18
Ewen Thompson 37:40
Caroline Campbell 40:26
48 finishers

BBQ Stakes 6k 7 December
Peter Thomson 28:16
Craig Wurtz 29:13
Bronwyn Calver 30:11
Andrew Matthews 30:33
Ewen Thompson 35:20
Caroline Campbell 39:44
48 finishers

BBQ Stakes 6k 14 December
Christmas relays

BBQ Stakes 6k 21 December
Bronwyn Calver 29:22
Craig Wurtz 31:12
Andrew Matthews 32:38
Isaac Muscat 33:44
Jennifer Bright 33:44
Sandeep Chandra 33:45
David Clarke 34:12
Ewen Thompson 37:37
Nicole Bruce 39:15
Caroline Campbell ??
51 finishers

AMRA Mt Ainslie Run-Up 2.3k 03 January
7 Craig Wurtz 17.03
12 finishers

Lake Tuggeranong Stakes 6k 03 January
8 finishers

Customs 5k 05 January
Giles Lamb 21:54
Craig Wurtz 24:28
Ewen Thompson 30:43
15 finishers

Ginninderra 5k parkrun #244 07 January
66 Geoff Moore 26:07 M65
76 Thea Zimpel 27:16 W30
128 Gary Moss 33:09 M70
204 finishers

Gungahlin 5k parkrun #169 07 January
20 Giles Lamb 21:19 M40
65 Amanda Cook 25:03 W35
216 finishers

Burley Griffin 5k parkrun #31 07 January
17 Craig Wurtz 21:39 M50
91 Jennie Blake 29:03 W55
201 finishers

Tuggeranong 5k parkrun #203 07 January
13 David Clarke 19:46 M55
56 Ewen Thompson 23:51 M55
360 finishers

Jennie (pinkish purplish cap) running the Burley Griffin parkrun

Then My Soul Sings

Song of the week: "Behold (Then My Soul Sings)", by Hillsong Worship
From https://youtu.be/z9UB5U7kSec



I was there somewhere in the crowd last July when this CD/DVD was recorded!

Last Monday at Parliament House - storm brewing.

Don't know if there will be storm clouds this Monday, but it is guaranteed to be very hot.

Beautiful day for a parkrun

The morning was mild, the breeze was still, the lake was clear.
Today, photos from the Gungahlin parkrun.

Giles starting


Cookie starting


Giles finishing


Cookie finishing

better photos

If you don't like your "Portrait Gallery" slideshow photo, feel free to send me a better one.



Sandeep has.


Lake BG Thursday 5 January


I like this one, it's a keeper.

ACT's Gary Hand running fast

From about 1979 Gary Hand used to sprint the first part of any race, even national marathons, challenging the others to keep up. This photo was taken outside Hensley Athletic Field, Sydney, showing Gary Hand leading Brian Lewry, Brian Morgan and Rob de Castella.

speedygeese training

During the last two weeks, speedygeese training sessions at Parliament House were:
Thursday 22/12 West side of PH, 200m hard, 200 recovery. Repeat for 400, 600, 400, 200, 400, 600. 25 minutes all done, with Ben Colin Jen and Sandeep attending.

Monday 26/12 7 x 430m loop from Tennis Court #8. Jen, fatigued from earlier 40km bike ride, lagged. Isaac ditched his mother after the 1st interval (2 minutes) and got faster & faster, finishing with 1:43. Colin, fairly consistent, between 1:46 and 1:42, but on the last one, held out the fast finishing Isaac with a 1:40.
Training report by Colin!

Thursday 29/12 I returned from my Bombo holiday and put the group over the steepest loop from tennis court 8: enjoying the session were Colin, Giles, Liz, Peter S (new) and Sandeep as I ran part of it.
.
Monday 2/1: I ran 8k early. In the new year the plan is to do anaerobic training for just a few Mondays. The first session went for 20 minutes and incuded 12 sprints of 200m with 100m recovery, around the 900m west side loop from tennis court 8 again. Participating were Andy, Colin, Fiona, Giles, Isaac, Jen, Joel, Rae, Ruth, Sandeep, Warrick, Tom, Jane (new), Jason (new) while I jogged around cheering everyone on. That's a very good turn-out for a public holiday!


More important than how hard is how often.

speedygeese race results

AMRA Black Mountain Run-up 2.6k 20 December
11 Giles Lamb 17.30
12 Craig Wurtz 17.44
22 finishers

Lake Tuggeranong Stakes 6k 20 December
8 finishers

Ginninderra 7k handicap 20 December
17 finishers

ACTVAC Track 22 December
800m
M55 David Clarke 3:57.02

2000m
M55 David Clarke 10:15.53
M55 Ewen Thompson 10:17.91
W65 Ruth Baussmann 10:39.04

3000m
W65 Ruth Baussmann 16:49.2

Ginninderra 5k parkrun #242 24 December
62 Gary Moss 28:15 M70
142 finishers

Tuggeranong 5k parkrun #200 24 December
49 Bronwyn Calver 23:09 W45
59 Peter Simpfendorfer 23:34 M55
78 Liz Simpfendorfer 24:23 W55
100 David Clarke 25:12 M55
102 Pieta Smith 25:22 W40
103 Jen Bright 25:23 W40
113 Ewen Thompson 25:49 M55
158 Ruth Baussmann 28:23 W65 First Timer!
352 finishers

Gungahlin 5k parkrun #167 24 December
16 Giles Lamb 21:11 M40
52 Amanda Cook 25:55 W35
193 finishers

Burley Griffin 5k parkrun #28 24 December
38 Sandeep Chandra 23:17 M40
130 finishers

Burley Griffin 5k parkrun #29 25 December
62 Bronwyn Calver 22:46 W45
148 Pieta Smith 28:54 W40
283 finishers

Lake Tuggeranong Stakes 6k 27 December
4 finishers

Ginninderra 5k parkrun #243 31 December
38 Stephanie Pfohl 24:55 W40
55 Geoff Moore 26:46 M65
74 Thea Zimpel 29:05 W30
160 finishers

Tuggeranong 5k parkrun #201 31 December
25 Peter Brown 22:34 M55
27 David Webster 22:59 M65
91 Pieta Smith 28:07 W40
262 finishers

Gungahlin 5k parkrun #168 31 December
9 Giles Lamb 22:03 M40
155 finishers

Burley Griffin 5k parkrun #30 31 December
15 Craig Wurtz 21:29 M50
70 Ruth Baussmann 28:07 W65 First Timer!
158 finishers

Tuggeranong 5k parkrun #202 01 January
27 Craig Wurtz 21:40 M50
28 Isaac Muscat 21:42 M11
50 Sandeep Chandra 23:56 M40 First Timer!
185 Jen Bright 38:08 W40
263 finishers

Members of the “Speedy Geese” parkrun group at other parkruns
Dave Clarke
Bega parkrun 01/01/2017 7 20:49
Batemans Bay parkrun 31/12/2016 10 19:43

Jen Bright
Bowral parkrun 22/10/2016 12 25:41
Sandgate parkrun 11/06/2016 23 19:55

Giles Lamb
Orange parkrun 12/11/2016 5 23:09

Bron Sparkes
Point Cook parkrun 31/12/2016 19 24:21

Bronwyn Calver
Berwick Springs parkrun 01/01/2017 37 23:08
Pakenham parkrun 01/01/2017 34 22:33
Pakenham parkrun 31/12/2016 9 22:29
Town of Seaside parkrun 29/10/2016 8 22:50

Joel Pearson
Batemans Bay parkrun    24/12/2016    22    22:19
Note – if you are not a member of the “Speedy Geese” parkrun group, you should be. Please join!

New Years Eve Ginninderra parkrun:


Steph


Speedycoach


Thea


Graham Burke completing his 150th parkrun

2016 album of the year

In a year when I wasn't all that impressed by new album releases and played mostly older music, there was one album which stood head and shoulders above the rest. The album was Coldplay's "A Head Full of Dreams". This album was optimistic, positive, uplifting.



The song "Up & Up" (or "Up&Up") is the third single release from the album.
From https://youtu.be/BPNTC7uZYrI

speedygeese training pattern planned for January 2017

It may be a long hot summer.
If the weather is atrocious, training will be modified to suit.
Regardless, I will attend each of these days whatever the weather, and training will go ahead.
All sessions start at 5:30pm at Parliament House, except on Australia Day, when we will be meeting at 5:30pm at the Yarralumla Dog Park, at the northern end of Banks St, near the entrance to Weston Park.

Here is the initial plan:

Monday 2 Jan	anaerobic training (200s)
Thursday 5 Jan	hills
Monday 9 Jan	anaerobic training (200s)
Thursday 12 Jan	hills
Monday 16 Jan	anaerobic training (200s)
Thursday 19 Jan	hills
Monday 23 Jan	anaerobic training (200s)
Thursday 26 Jan	intervals (meet at the Yarralumla Dog Park)
Monday 30 Jan	hills

I am so looking forward to 2017!

Happy running! Run happy!

holiday reading

Updated versions of the books I read as a kid:

A week at the coast

We stayed at Bombo Beach. I managed four runs in the 6 full days we were there.

Bombo Beach and beyond - 6.4k


Bombo Wetlands - 3.8k


Kiama coastline - 5k


Jamberoo Golf Course - 5k

Tony Manning and Kerry O'Brien

The famous Ron Clarke

Immortal

Song of the week: "My Immortal", by Evanescence
From https://youtu.be/5anLPw0Efmo

some famous runners here

eating / drinking

behaving

Speedygeese training

Our latest two Parliament House sessions were on Thursday 15 December with Brendan, Jackson (new), Jen, Lauren, Nicole, Peter, Sandeep and Steph attending; with me watching them run 211m loops in a relay, and Monday 19 December I ran some of the 400m loops along with Andy, Ben, Colin, Dave, Garry, Isaac, Jen, Nicole, Pieta, Rae, Ruth, Sandeep, Susan and Vanessa. Training will continue through the holidays on Mondays and Thursdays although I will be absent this Thursday and next Monday.



Try hard in 2017!
Not long to go now!
...

This week’s Speedygeese race results

AMRA Deep Space Mountain Marathon 11 December
13 Peter Thomson 4.37.07

AMRA Deep Space Mountain 10k 11 December
2 Isaac Muscat 46.42

Lake Tuggeranong Stakes 6k 13 December
Peter Thomson 30:09
Ewen Thompson 36:54
Sandeep Chandra 38:30
Nicole Bruce 38:30
15 finishers

ACTVAC Track 15 December
3000m
W65 Ruth Baussmann 16:00.00 77.0%

Customs 5k 16 December
Giles Lamb 22:35
Ewen Thompson 30:12
Caroline Campbell ??
8 finishers

Ginninderra 5k parkrun #241 17 December
29 Brendan Belcher 22:23 M30
41 Geoff Moore 23:56 M65
44 Bron Sparkes 24:00 W40
58 Stephanie Pfohl 25:06 W40
86 Ruth Baussmann 28:19 W65
169 finishers

Tuggeranong 5k parkrun #199 17 December
25 Bronwyn Calver 22:59 W45
27 David Clarke 23:23 M55
37 Ewen Thompson 24:01 M55
241 finishers

Gungahlin 5k parkrun #166 17 December
17 Andrew Simpson 21:13 M45
106 Margaret McSpadden 30:54 W65
172 finishers

Burley Griffin 5k parkrun #27 17 December
75 Caroline Campbell 27:52 W70
167 finishers

AMRA Tour de Ridges 21.2k 18 December
43. Jen Bright 1:57:04
72. Craig Wurtz 2:15:09
78. Sandeep Chandra 2:18:08

AMRA Tour de Ridges 15.3k 18 December
12. Sarah-Jayne Miller 1:13:46
15. David Clarke 1:16:59
20. Giles Lamb 1:21:20
48. Ewen Thompson 1:38:47

AMRA Tour de Ridges 10.6k 18 December
3. Isaac Muscat 47:00
39. Nicole Bruce 1:18:58

Next update in 2 weeks' time.
Also by then I will have completely overhauled the "portrait gallery" slideshow at the top of this website.

How Pieta finished one Tuggeranong parkrun:

Message In A Bottle

We're off to Bombo beach this week - if you want to message me, a bottle might work...

Song of the week: "Message In A Bottle" - by The Police
From https://youtu.be/MbXWrmQW-OE

playing up

speedygeese at the rose garden

Photo by Ewen

Suzie

Rumour has it that Suzie will be returning to Canberra from Darwin soon...

speedygeese training and Canberra's sunset.

Thursday 8 December at Parliament House: attending were Brendan, Jen, Liz, Nicole, Peter, Sandeep, with me watching them run 10 or 12 Rose Garden 200s.

Sunday 11 December Joel and Andrew would have trained at Stromlo Forest Park on the grass.

On Monday 12 December we were back at Parliament House, where I watched on while the others ran continuous 2 and 3 person relays, the short loop to the south of the rose gardens. It was warm so we broke it up into 2 sets of 12 minutes. Attending were Andy, Colin, Dave, Ewen, Fiona, Garry, Gary, Giles, Isaac, Jen, Mick, Nicole, Pieta, Ruth, Sarah-Jayne, and Sandeep.


Sunset at Manuka Oval. Living in Canberra as we do, we have to put up with these sunsets from time to time.

speedygeese race results

YCRC Women’s 6k Jogalong 4 December
Nadine Morrison 28:08
Cathy Montalto 33:30
Caroline Campbell 37:33
Thea Zimpel 38:29
67 finishers

AMRA Mt Ainslie 2.3k Run-Up 6 December
12 Craig Wurtz 16.21
19 finishers

Lake Tuggeranong Stakes 6k 6 December
Peter Thomson 30:25
Roger Pilkington 34:08
Ewen Thompson 34:40
Sandeep Chandra 38:20
Nicole Bruce 38:20
16 finishers

ACTVAC Track 8 December
3000m
M50 Craig Wurtz 12:12.81 69.8%
M55 David Clarke 13:32.92 66.1
M55 Roger Pilkington 13:50.39 64.2

800m Higgins/Pennington handicap
4 Colin Farlow M55 2:28 82.0%
6 Kathy Sims W65 3:15 82.7
15 Ruth Baussmann W65 4:03 67.6
16 Roger Pilkington M55 3:28 59.2
17 finishers

Spiral 7
2 Margaret McSpadden W65 18:12
3 Roger Pilkington M55 13:59
9 Craig Wurtz M50 12:09
11 Ruth Baussmann W65 16:33
12 finishers

Customs 5k 9 December
Peter Thomson 21:30
Ewen Thompson 29:00
Caroline Campbell 29:30
12 finishers

Ginninderra 5k parkrun #240 10 December
32 Brendan Belcher 22:25 M30
43 Bron Sparkes 24:18 W40
69 Geoff Moore 27:04 M65
72 Gary Moss 27:19 M65
76 Thea Zimpel 27:51 W30
77 Ruth Baussmann 28:08 W65
162 finishers

Tuggeranong 5k parkrun #198 10 December
6 David Clarke 19:30 M55
38 Bronwyn Calver 22:25 W45
50 Ewen Thompson 23:46 M55
52 Liz Simpfendorfer 23:52 W55
117 Peter Thomson 28:47 M55
253 finishers

Gungahlin 5k parkrun #165 10 December
14 Andrew Simpson 20:53 M45
109 Margaret McSpadden 30:37 W65
161 finishers

Burley Griffin 5k parkrun #26 10 December
16 Craig Wurtz 20:56 M50
156 finishers

In the Deep Space Mountain 10k on 11 December, Isaac was second outright in 46.42:

song of the week... with arms wide open

Song of Week: "With Arms Wide Open" - Creed
From https://youtu.be/99j0zLuNhi8
A favourite since 1999.

One all time great; and another.

I was at St Mary's cross country course in the mid 1960s, watching the great Ron Clarke win the Australian Cross Country championships by a very big margin. He was awesome!

Ron Clarke


St Mary's was next door to Adelaide's Flinders University where I studied from 1966 to 1968. While I was there at Flinders, I went on a couple of training runs with John Farrington; John was on staff. Later when I ran my first marathon, which was conducted at Richmond, NSW, it was John Farrington who won it; again by a very big margin.

This is the only photo I can find of John Farrington.