Sunday, 31 July 2005

Great Results at Handicap

Posted by speedygeoff on Sunday, July 31, 2005 with
Our hard winter training is really starting to produce some good results, as evidenced by the improvement in runners competing at today's Veterans' monthly handicap, this time at the hardest of courses, Mount Taylor.

Kevin did best with a bronze in the Frylink. And in the longer race, three runners in the top ten proved all is well in the training group.

I think Cathy Newman may be in line for special congrats after finishing third in her Bush Marathon race yesterday - so I heard - then doubling up to finish 11th today in the handicap - I will have to find yesterday's results and see!

How am I going? Despite me shuffling down the steeper hills painfully slowly, my time today is the best I have ever run on this, my least favourite, course. So it's all good.

6.8k
7 Peter McDonald M50 (21) 35:22
8 Maria O'Reilly W50 (27) 31:53
9 Jenny Langton W30 (24) 33:38
11 Cathy Newman W40 (25) 33:14
14 Charmaine Knobel W50 (21) 35:38
20 Peter Hogan M55 (25) 33:32
22 Colin Farlow M40 (37) 28:21
23 Geoff Moore M55 (29) 31:17
26 Amanda Walker W35 (8) 43:39
44 Roy Jones M60 (17) 39:16
50 Bob Harlow M55 (35) 30:09
56 Caroline Campbell W60 (17) 39:42
61 Ken White M50 (28) 33:49
65 Geoff Barker M60 (21) 38:13
66 Margaret McSpadden W55 (15) 41:44
67 Alan Duus M55 (24) 36:30
95 Mick Charlton M50 (21) 45:26

3.5k
1 Graeme Small M60 (13) 20:31
4 Christopher Lang M50 (20) 18:49
10 Kevin Matthews M45 (30) 16:54 *bronze
12 Maureen Rossiter W50 (25) 18:30
15 Gary Bowen M45 (39) 14:30
21 Katie Forestier W35 (37) 15:26
23 Ken Gordon M40 (42) 14:07
30 Sarah Pau W30 (30) 18:05
36 Michael Roche M60 (22) 20:54
46 Vicki Matthews W45 (23) 21:36

Two Edmonton golds!

Posted by speedygeoff on Sunday, July 31, 2005 with
Two Edmonton golds - and a 5th place to Kathy.

W50 1500 Metre Run Final
1 Miller, Shauna W53 Canada, Edmonton 5:43.88
2 Nicoletti, Catherine W54 USA, Nederland 5:44.76
3 Richards, Mary W51 USA, Atlanta 5:46.85
4 Goodwin, Christine W52 AUS, Montacute 5:49.21
5 Sims, Kathy W54 Australia, Hawker 6:10.19
-- Zalite, Iraida W54 Latvia, Riga DNS
-- Bishop, Hope W51 Canada, Okotoks DNS

M55 400 Metre Final
1 Sims, Geoff M56 Australia, Hawker 58.83
2 James, Rob M55 NZL, Wellington 1:00.50
3 Marshall, Gregory M57 CAN, St. Anne Des L 1:00.91
4 Carter, Michael M56 Canada, Mississauga 1:01.60
5 Birring, Sewa M59 Canada, Surrey 1:03.33
6 Pawluk, Fred M58 Canada, Richmond 1:05.52
7 Evans, Millard M56 Canada, Edmonton 1:06.93
8 O'Shaughnessy, Gary M55 Canada, Edmonton 1:07.27
Preliminaries
9 Slanina, Jan M59 CZE, Kromertz 1:11.41
10 Cesar, Normando T.B. M59 Brazil, Sao Carlos 1:12.09
11 Hill, Bruce M59 Canada, Maple Ridge 1:13.06
12 Watt, Robert M56 Australia, Brighton 1:14.17

W70 400 Final
1 Larmour, Constance W70 Australia, Canberra 1:29.15
-- Reed, Louise W70 Canada, Richmond DNS
-- H. Shimizu, Mitsu W74 BRA, Florianópolis DNS

Saturday, 30 July 2005

Team Moore strikes bronze

Posted by speedygeoff on Saturday, July 30, 2005 with
The first true Team Moore medal at Edmonton - Kathy's bronze in her first run, the 5000. Yay!
W50 5000 Metres Final
1 Goodwin, Christine W52 AUS, Montacute 21:23.32
2 Hendrickx, Vicky W50 Belgium, Keerbergen 21:27.99
3 Sims, Kathy W54 Australia, Hawker 22:16.03
4 Joseph, Ellie W51 Canada, Ohsweken 25:29.02
5 LaRose, Heather W50 Canada, Bon Accord 29:48.27
6 Bouma-Pyper, Marilyn W50 Canada, Scarborough 31:17.51
7 Gauthier, Judy W54 Canada, Toronto 31:27.44
8 Pelletier, Bonnie W50 Canada, Legal 32:27.65
9 Reinhardt, Barb W53 CAN, Spruce Grove 32:54.40
-- Steinbach, Coreen W54 USA, Pompey DNF
-- Sproxton, Lefa W54 Canada, Rosetown DNS
-- Miller, Shauna W53 Canada, Edmonton DNS

Friar's Footware

Posted by speedygeoff on Saturday, July 30, 2005 with
On the subject of the Canberra Times Fun Run, and shoes -
Even though he's not a Team Moore member (yet?), it seems Friar reads my posts every day, as he regularly adds comments ..

Friar's Footware
click to expand, then you may have to save to be able to read it.

Friday, 29 July 2005

Go Go Green Shoes

Posted by speedygeoff on Friday, July 29, 2005 with

Personal goals for 2005
With these shoes I hope to run 41:15 or better in the Canberra Times Fun Run this year! I know it's a modest target but it would still be a 2005 improvement. And I want to break 20 mins for a track 5000 in October; the Australian Masters in Adelaide. With no real speed-work, 41:15 would make me confident of doing that.

So, GO GO GREEN SHOES!

Form Principle #5

Posted by speedygeoff on Friday, July 29, 2005 with
"Run Tall"

Previous posts have included suggestions about running at a good rate – three steps per second, landing on the mid-sole rather than the heels, and running with hips forward; as if being towed by a car you can barely keep up with.

Another piece of the jigsaw is “running tall”. If you can run tall, your stride length will still be quite long “without really trying”; despite having to get the foot down and up again quickly to maintain a fast tempo.

The best runners run high off the ground!

A good mental image is the skyhook. Run along imagining there is a skyhook attached to the scruff of your neck, the other end attached to a helicopter speeding forwards. You are being lifted up and forward by the skyhook.

Think of it as the body running over the ground rather than along the ground.

In reality it is the arms and the abdomens that do the work, not a rope or skyhook. The abdomens – stomach muscles – keep the body in a tall posture; there is a sense of the stomach “lifting” the legs off the ground; and the arms drive the body hard so that the legs have to follow.

And does running high off the ground mean that the feet hit the ground hard? No! You know you have got the hang of it when your footfall is light – when you are running tall and seem to skip effortlessly over the ground, feet making as little sound as possible. The best runners make it look – and sound – easy, natural, unforced, graceful and relaxed.

“Relaxation” - Let your throat make all the noise, not the feet. “Like a child” – natural, flowing and flexible, not rigid. “Hips forward” and “High off the ground” – keep an erect posture and stay high, try not to drop down when the foot contacts the ground. Run tall, over the ground.

Then add in your conditioning training and eventually you will be able to maintain a fast pace for a long time – not just a few seconds off your 10k time, but minutes!

Form Principle #5 – Run Tall.

Edmonton (continued)

Posted by speedygeoff on Friday, July 29, 2005 with
W70 200 final; M55 800 heats

Consie bettered her 100 bronze with a silver in the 200 final.

W70 200 final
1 Lary, Audrey W71 USA, Frederick 36.10
2 Larmour, Constance W70 Australia, Canberra 36.61
3 Reed, Louise W70 Canada, Richmond 37.59
4 H. Shimizu, Mitsu W74 BRA, Florianópolis 37.63
5 Yamamoto, Midori W70 Japan, Kobe 37.69
6 Boivin, Gwendolyn W71 Canada, Moose Jaw 43.25
-- Kuehne, Magdalena W74 USA, Tujunga DNF

And it looks like the M55s have to run heats, semis and finals of the 800 - look at all the qualifiers! And some of their slow times.
I think our system of divisions is much easier on the athletes!

M55 800 heats
Heat 1
1 Sims, Geoff M56 Australia, Hawker 2:30.94Q
2 Oneil, Peter M59 USA, Union 2:31.84Q
3 Payne, Tim M55 Canada, Orillia 2:33.34Q
4 Hill, Bruce M59 Canada, Maple Ridge 2:48.14Q
5 Turner, Robert M57 Canada, Edmonton 2:52.44q
-- Lefevre, Alain M58 Canada, New Sarepta DNS
-- O'Shaughnessy, Gary M55 Canada, Edmonton DNS
-- James, Rob M55 NZL, Wellington DNS

Heat 2
1 McGlynn, Mike M55 USA, Jackson 2:30.22Q
2 Carter, Michael M56 Canada, Mississauga 2:31.13Q
3 Judson, Fred M59 Canada, Edmonton 2:31.34Q
4 Pawluk, Fred M58 Canada, Richmond 2:31.67Q
5 Warick, Randy M55 Canada, Saskatoon 2:47.92q
6 Barrow, Geoff M56 Australia, Brighton 3:00.43q
-- Taylor, Lawrence M57 Canada, St Albert DNF
-- Wakelin, Neil M57 CAN, North Vancouve DNS

Heat 3
1 Slanina, Jan M59 CZE, Kromertz 2:49.05Q
2 Jermacans, Viddy M56 AUS, Whitfield 2:54.17Q
3 Payne, Randal M58 RSA, Westville 2:56.80Q
4 Buendgens, Valentin M58 Germany, Aachen 2:58.48Q
5 Ribeiro, Jose M57 Canada, Toronto 3:13.18q
6 Nedved, Robert M56 Canada, Edmonton 3:23.23
-- Birring, Sewa M59 Canada, Surrey DNS
-- Waltermann, Stefan M55 USA, Hickory DNS

Thursday, 28 July 2005

Silver for Sims

Posted by speedygeoff on Thursday, July 28, 2005 with
First of all a reminder that track training is on at the AIS again tonight and every Thursday night at 5:30pm. And a few of us meet earlier at 4:30pm for a long jog.

The latest news from Edmonton has Geoff Sims ("from Hawker") winning silver in the M55 200. A close analysis of the results will show that the man with the fastest time in the heats was disqualified in the final. Well done Geoff! I don't know how you did it!

And Geoff has qualified for the 400 final, this time with the fastest time in the heats. By the look of the time he may have been easing back - probably had just run the 200 final!

Kathy ("from Hawker")'s events are yet to come.

M55 200 Metre final
1 Zlobicki, Zbigy M55 USA, Farmington Hil 26.65
2 Sims, Geoff M56 Australia, Hawker 27.72
3 Lorenz, Lyle M59 Canada, Lacombe 28.10
4 Brown, Barry M55 Canada, Dewberry 28.27
5 Mintz, Bruce M58 Canada, Edmonton 28.39
6 Prime, Kenrick M55 TRI, Sangre Grande 28.68
7 Semeniuk, Raymond M56 Canada, Edmonton 29.96
- Marshall, Gregory M57 CAN, St. Anne Des L DQ
Preliminaries
9 Evans, Millard M56 Canada, Edmonton 28.64
10 Sullivan, Jim M57 CAN, North Vancouve 28.96
11 Jermacans, Viddy M56 AUS, Whitfield 29.40
12 O'Shaughnessy, Gary M55 Canada, Edmonton 29.90
13 Warick, Randy M55 Canada, Saskatoon 29.90
14 Hill, Bruce M59 Canada, Maple Ridge 32.70
15 Watt, Robert M56 Australia, Brighton 33.31
16 Yuen, John M57 Canada, Edmonton 33.43

M55 400 Metre Heats
Heat 1
1 Sims, Geoff M56 Australia, Hawker 1:02.55Q
2 James, Rob M55 NZL, Wellington 1:02.73Q
3 Carter, Michael M56 Canada, Mississauga 1:03.60q
4 Pawluk, Fred M58 Canada, Richmond 1:06.23q
5 Cesar, Normando T.B. M59 Brazil, Sao Carlos 1:12.09
6 Hill, Bruce M59 Canada, Maple Ridge 1:13.06
Heat 2
1 Marshall, Gregory M57 CAN, St. Anne Des L 1:02.96Q
2 Birring, Sewa M59 Canada, Surrey 1:03.54Q
3 Evans, Millard M56 Canada, Edmonton 1:03.76q
4 O'Shaughnessy, Gary M55 Canada, Edmonton 1:08.11q
5 Slanina, Jan M59 CZE, Kromertz 1:11.41
6 Watt, Robert M56 Australia, Brighton 1:14.17

p.s For any relatives viewing this, I have updated my family album with new photos of each grandchild - http://mooregenerations.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, 27 July 2005

M55 200 heats

Posted by speedygeoff on Wednesday, July 27, 2005 with
World Masters Games, Edmonton - Geoff Sims has qualified for the final.
M55 200 metre heats
Heat 1
1 Marshall, Gregory M57 CAN, St. Anne Des L 26.89Q
2 Sims, Geoff M56 Australia, Hawker 27.43Q
3 Lorenz, Lyle M59 Canada, Lacombe 27.55Q
4 Mintz, Bruce M58 Canada, Edmonton 28.02q
5 Prime, Kenrick M55 TRI, Sangre Grande 28.54q
6 Evans, Millard M56 Canada, Edmonton 28.64
7 Jermacans, Viddy M56 AUS, Whitfield 29.40
8 Yuen, John M57 Canada, Edmonton 33.43
Heat 2
1 Zlobicki, Zbigy M55 USA, Farmington Hil 27.82Q
2 Brown, Barry M55 Canada, Dewberry 27.86Q
3 Semeniuk, Raymond M56 Canada, Edmonton 28.78Q
4 Sullivan, Jim M57 CAN, North Vancouve 28.96
5 O'Shaughnessy, Gary M55 Canada, Edmonton 29.90
5 Warick, Randy M55 Canada, Saskatoon 29.90
7 Hill, Bruce M59 Canada, Maple Ridge 32.70
8 Watt, Robert M56 Australia, Brighton 33.31 ========================================================================

Tuesday, 26 July 2005

A bronz-ie for Consie

Posted by speedygeoff on Tuesday, July 26, 2005 with
First results from the World Masters in Edmonton. Team Moore is in the medals! (well, Consie has trained with us in the past, and her daughter-in-law still does)

W70 100 Final
1 Lary, Audrey W71 USA, Frederick 17.44 (finals) 16.87 (peliminaries)
2 Yamamoto, Midori W70 Japan, Kobe 17.64 17.37
3 Larmour, Constance W70 Australia, Canberra 17.68 17.45
4 Reed, Louise W70 Canada, Richmond 17.85 18.02
5 Kuehne, Magdalena W74 USA, Tujunga 18.44 18.53
6 Boivin, Gwendolyn W71 Canada, Moose Jaw 19.66 19.36
7 Yamaguchi, Fumiko W73 Japan, Nagahama 19.87 19.71
8 Bilko, Dora W70 Canada, Edmonton 21.92 20.71

Preliminaries
9 Ferguson, Lil W72 Canada, Moose Jaw 23.41
10 Munro, Joan W73 Canada, Edmonton 24.14
11 Marasek, Elaine W72 Canada, Edmonton 29.69

Form Principle #4

Posted by speedygeoff on Tuesday, July 26, 2005 with
"Get those hips forward."

You cannot run fast with just any old style. I have already said that you should take time to practice over and over again running at three steps per second. And to run with fast feet you need to run “on your toes” – landing on the mid-foot rather than the heel. But there are a few other small corrections to your running style you may have to make to get this to work for you.

To be able to run really fast, you must try and minimise the length of time your feet are in contact with the ground. You should already be consciously pushing off with one leg even as its foot is beginning to make contact with the ground.

The style correction you may need to work on is this – you need to be pressing forward from the hips, leading from the hips, with the pelvis tilted upwards not downwards.

Then you will be in the position to be pushing off instantly with almost no pause in the action.

And, leading from the hips will also help the knees come up further, which will result in a naturally longer stride (even when you consciously resist the temptation to over-stride).

The hips and pelvis should not be dropping towards the ground as the foot makes contact with the ground. There should be no tendency to drop into a “sitting” position. This wastes time and lengthens the time the foot touches the ground.

Instead the hips should be thrust forward, and strong muscles in the lower abdomen should come into play balancing the strong lower back muscles to help hold the posture.

There is a sense of being pulled along, up and forward, from the area of the solar plexus or upper abdomen.

Sometimes there is a little backward lean – this is OK if it is not extreme, if it is not putting pressure on the lower back. But when leaning forward, eg when the gradient is uphill, the good posture should be maintained, the pelvis should still tilt upward.

A useful mental exercise is to imagine being towed by a car with a rope attached to your stomach. The car is driving along at a good pace and it is all you can do to get your leg speed high enough to keep up. Drive the arms and legs hard - but lead with the stomach.

Now don’t try this exercise with a real car!

Quite a few people in our training group have mastered the art of running with forward hips and minimal foot contact. Jenny Langton is a good example. You could watch her and copy her style!

Form Principle #4 - get those hips forward.

Monday, 25 July 2005

Editors! A grumble.

Posted by speedygeoff on Monday, July 25, 2005 with
One good thing about writing my own stuff here is that I, wholly, alone, am responsible for the content and appearance of what you see - when I am the contributor, every word, nuance, syntactical curiosity, semantical vagary, is mine and mine alone. Typos do occur, most I detect and correct. Ambiguities and unclarity (all right; "lack of clarity") are less likely to be remedied, but I have been known to reconsider retype and reword whole paragraphs. This "Compose" panel does not have a spell checker (not that I use anyway) but I trust only a few spelling crimes are committed here; nor does it have a thesaurus, but might be handy when my flow of words seizes as it does every sentence or three.

So whenever I open up the latest Vetrunner magazine I cross my fingers and still my beating heart as I see what the editor has made of my monthly contribution this time.

Generally the text I submit appears unchanged; but the editor ALWAYS changes the title to something else! And sometimes with cringeworthy results. (I should add that the editor is a good friend of mine).

This coming Vetrunner (August; now available on www.actvac.com.au) is no exception to the rule that SOMETHING will grate. Hahaha - page 6, "PROMINENT MEMBERS CELEBRATE BRITHDAYS". That's a good one. Page 7 "INVITIATION TO COMMENT ON ACTVAC IT". OK, I consider myself invitiated. Good things come in threes. There it is, my article. DEAR OH DEAR, where did THAT heading come from? Page 23. "COACH WHO SPECIALISING IN CONDITIONING".

It's enough to make you.... go back over all this year's posts of mine to see what little mistakes I can find in my own creations. And hurriedly fix them before anyone (else) notices.

p.s. the best is yet to come

Sunday, 24 July 2005

Cross Country Results

Posted by speedygeoff on Sunday, July 24, 2005 with
Team Moore results for the Cross Country Championships held yesterday in Weston Park.
12k men -
27. Colin Farlow M40 46:21 (3:52)
38. David Webster M50 50:18 (4:12)
45. John Kennedy M55 51:29 (4:17)
46. Geoff Moore M55 51:37 (4:18)
60. Peter Hogan M55 57:38 (4:48)
61. Mick Charlton M50 58:07 (4:51)
62. John Stoney M35 58:28 (4:52)
63. Ken Eynon M55 59:23 (4:57)

8k women -
13. Annette Sugden W40 34:22 (4:18)
16. Maria O'Reilly W50 34:54 (4:22)
20. Cathy Newman W40 37:00 (4:38)
24. Annemarie Calnan W45 40:07 (5:01)
25. Charmaine Knobel W50 40:39 (5:05)
26. Margaret McSpadden W55 42:56 (5:22)

8k men over 60 -
7. Geoff Barker M60 39:36 (4:57)

Saturday, 23 July 2005

New Words Pt 5

Posted by speedygeoff on Saturday, July 23, 2005 with
peppier (pehp ee ay') n.
The waiter at a fancy restaurant whose sole purpose seems to be walking around asking diners if they want ground pepper.

phonesia (fo nee' zhuh) n.
The affliction of dialing a phone number and forgetting whom you were calling just as they answer

telecrastination (tel e kras tin ay' shun) n.
The act of always letting the phone ring at least twice before you pick it up, even when you're only six inches away.

A racing photo.

Posted by speedygeoff on Saturday, July 23, 2005 with
This time it's a picture of me.. a recent one.



You call this racing? Both feet appear to be on the ground! But I am wearing my racing shoes so it must be so.
Not running on my toes? I plead achilles soreness. I would if I could!
I did OK today running the 12k Cross Country in about 51:36. Lots of Team Moore members got medals - mine was a silver. As for everyone else, rather than remember some and forget some I will get the official results and post them tomorrow.

Friday, 22 July 2005

Form Principle #3

Posted by speedygeoff on Friday, July 22, 2005 with
“For Faster Feet, run on your toes.”

The best way you can instantly increase your running speed is to increase your foot turnover rate.
I watched the leg speed of many of the runners in the last Olympics and found that every one I examined took three steps every second for the duration of the race, a faster tempo than many of our local runners. And amazingly, that applied from 400 metres to marathon.

In order to run at that rate there are two things you should do. The first is to run on your toes. The second is to reduce the stride length if you are overstriding.

“Run on your toes”. So the saying goes. But this isn’t like a ballerina on her toes; the landing is actually on the mid-sole or the ball of the foot, as opposed to running on the heels.

“Shorten your stride length”. If you over-stride you still tend to land on your heels, and this has a deceleration effect. The only way of getting a fast leg turnover is to have a short enough stride so that you minimise the time spent in the landing phase of your running action and get your fore-feet down first. Having said that, a bigger stride length will obviously result in a faster time, if you can maintain the same tempo. But when you cannot, first get the tempo fast, then work on stride length independently (eg by doing light weight work in the gym, specifically leg presses and half squats).

So to go faster, concentrate on leg speed by eliminating heel-strike and by counting the number of strides per second until three becomes second nature.

It is important to have good mid-sole cushioning in your shoes, because that is where the impact will be. It is important to stretch the calves, because forefoot running strengthens and shortens the calf muscles.

In training, practice fast leg speed. You may have to ease this into your training to avoid injury. If you haven’t run much on your toes, your body will need to adjust to the different form.
Concentrate on your leg turn-over rate as you run, both during your speed work, and during your normal training pace.

Concentrating on this during a race really helps speed too. This is especially true as you start to tire – keeping the leg speed going despite shortening stride, shortening breath, and increasing pain, is the single best thing which helps you finish strong in a race.

Three steps per second. Maintain it through all your training and racing.

Form Principle #1 was “Relaxation” – see post of 17 June.
Form Principle #2 was “Run like a child” – see post of 29 June.

Form Principle #3 – For Faster Feet, run on your toes.

Thursday, 21 July 2005

ACT championships

Posted by speedygeoff on Thursday, July 21, 2005 with
Just a reminder that the ACT Veterans and Open Cross Country Championships are on this Saturday at Weston Park. If you are a sixty or over male you only have to run 8k! I have three more years to wait.

The men's over sixty 8k is combined with the women's and is on at12:10. The 12k is at 1:00.

Come early and cheer Team Moore on! I will see you there from about 11:00.

Full details -
Saturday 23 July 2005
10.15am Under 12 Girls 2k, Under 12 Boys 2k
10.35am Under 14 Girls 3k, Under 14 Boys 3k
10.55am Under 16 Girls 4k, Under 16 Boys 4k, Under 18 Women 4k
11.25am Under 20 Women 6k, Under 18 Men 6k
12.10pm Under 20 Men 8k, Open Women 8k, Veteran Women 8k, Veteran Men (Over 60) 8k
1.00pm Open Men 12k, Veteran Men (30-59) 12k

Course: Adjacent to Nursery in Weston Park

Cost:
ACTCCC -
free to members
$5.00 for non-members ($2.00 for Under 20 and younger)

ACTVAC - $3.00 for members

Awards: ACT Championship medals to first three individuals and teams in each age group.
ACTVAC Championship medals to first 3 in each 5 year age group who are financial members of ACTVAC

Enquiries: ACTVAC Alice Scott 6238 3178 (H), ACTCCC Bryan McCarthy 6286 5556 (H), Ken Eynon 6254 6548 (H)

Race Manager: Joy Terry 6238 3023 (H)

Roster swap needed for 30 July..

Posted by speedygeoff on Thursday, July 21, 2005 with
Hi all, I am rostered on for duty on 30 July but cannot go - it's the ACTCCC 1/3/6k event at Mill Creek, Matina St Narrabundah. Stuart Doyle is the race manager Stuart.Doyle@csiro.au 62574551. Please let me know if you can go in my place.. other helpers are Anthony Haber, Melissa McClusky, Eliza McGowan, Geoff Monro.

Wednesday, 20 July 2005

Plug for Bush Marathon

Posted by speedygeoff on Wednesday, July 20, 2005 with

Garth and Mountain Girl perhaps?
Click to enlarge. Then as before, you might have to save it to view it full size.

Monday, 18 July 2005

The night the lights went out

Posted by speedygeoff on Monday, July 18, 2005 with
"....That's the night that the lights went out in Georgia. That's the night that they hung an innocent man. Well, don't trust your soul to no backwoods Southern lawyer. 'Cause the judge in the town's got bloodstains on his hands."

What a terrible song that was. Anyway tonight was the night the lights went out at Parliament House, or at least that part of the grounds where we were trying to run. Seems our training venues haven't been very successful this winter - we have abandoned Dickson for the AIS on Thursdays because of the July rains, and at Parliament House first we had sprinklers going at the fitness circuit on the west side where we started our training season; then they dug up the east side where we were doing our hill reps and simply left the piles of dirt there, and now the lights go out at 6:20pm along the flagpoles, when we are two thirds of the way through our session, trying to run by our watches. Not to mention the never ending works in progress installing bollards at great expense. I don't think much of the service we are getting from the Australian Government! Is there a conspiracy? Do they hate us? Do we look dangerous? (Well yes we do, but I think they can see we are simple runners). Are they trying to drive us away? When will we be thrown in detention?

WE CAN ENDURE IT! AND WE ARE FAST! The phase of training we are doing at present is the speed-endurance phase. On Mondays we are doing sessions like tonight's - three repeats of (20 seconds on, 40 off, 40 on, 80 off, 60 on, 120 off, 80 on, 160 off). On Thursdays at the AIS longish time trials or longer intervals. The objective is to develop staying power at speed, ie the ability to race a 10k at a faster pace! (Fair enough?). WE HANG IN THERE!

By the way I heard that Rod Lynch fell off his bicycle a few days ago and broke an elbow. Tough luck Rod - get well soon!