Tuesday, March 23, 2010

I'm glad that's over

It hasn't been an especially memorable triathlon season for me this year. My first race had the swim cancelled; I was ho-hum in the second; dodged jellyfish in my third outing; hung out with corporate types in race four; and finished the season on Sunday by doing only the run leg in a team event.

Nothing to write home about in that lot so, as I say, I am glad that season is over.

PB and Roger

This race I did with my mate Roger who, these days, inhabits the tail end of triathlon fields with myself! He was also the inspiration behind my marathon race effort last year (goal #4 was to beat his best time of 3:24). He was keen to do the swim and bike, letting me finish with the run. I was happy to let him do the swim - especially as there had been a number of sightings of a blue shark in knee deep water in our bay this week. My favourite quote from the shark expert was "The blue shark should not be approached, if it is sick then its behaviour will be affected and unpredictable." All the more reason for me to stay on dry land. As fate turned out there was no shark and NO JELLYFISH either.

While Roger headed out onto the 20km bike leg I went for a lap of the 5km run course as a warm up. I took it nice and easy, trying to relax (I was still sick from last week) and stretch out this damnation back/hamstring injury. (Not sure what it is but after six weeks I think I should go see someone about it. Duh!) Windy conditions made it anything but a stroll along the beach.

So I returned to transition after my warm up and waited till Roger returned. Soon enough I was out on my real 5km run. This started off ok as I motored down to the turnaround - not fast, but feeling good and passing lots of people. On the return it went pear-shaped and I watched people who looked to be going pretty slowly in front of me pull away. It felt awful. I ran about 23.40min which was a full two-minutes slower than I had run in the race on the same course back in November. I have clearly lost a fair bit of form in that time.

Oh well. We had fun. And I got a few bags of lollies for my daughters!

I am rather looking forward to dealing with my injury and getting on with a good running season ahead!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Run for the Kids

As has become almost customary for me in recent times I fell sick again in the week leading into this race. A niggle sore throat all week feel deeply into a chesty cough and loss of voice (almost) the day before the race. So once again I was faced with the dilemma of what to do on race day when you are less than 100% well.

And since I was doing this race only because it is a fund raiser for our local Children's Hospital I decided to just go out and have a very easy jog around the 14.4km course and ... shoot a video.

Mr Spielberg I am not but here is the story of my race ... [warning: it goes for 10 minutes]

Enjoy!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

On the Road Again

After what seems like an eternity I finally managed to eke out a decent long run on the weekend. After struggling my way through a bunch of 12k runs I decided to give a 20k+ run a whirl. This one would start at my place and work down through to the beach at about 7k then follow the shore for a rolling 13k or thereabouts. All sounds easy!!

Thankfully the temperature on Sunday was more conducive to good running at around 20C, but the humidity had staked a claim at 80-90% so it was decidedly unpleasant given our normally low-humidity climate.

I didn't really expect to make it the whole way in great shape and so when it started to get really hard at around 15k I was not surprised. This pic was taken at about that point and shows I was starting to feel the pinch somewhat.


I kinda stumbled my way from here to the finish where my wife and kids picked me up and we went for some muffins and coffee!!! So pleased to have this one under my belt. (I also know I must be getting back into the swing since I have developed another sore throat since the run!)

You can see in the pic I had my headphones in. They were attached to my iPhone as I wanted to try a few new things:

1. Compare the distance logged on the iPhone (Map My Run app) to my beloved Garmin 310XT. Result: they were similar - Garmin recording a more accurate track.
2. For the iPhone app, try out the voice updates after every km. Result: this one drove me mad after about 3k's.
3. Listen to a few podcasts while out for a run. I copied this idea from Ana-Maria (Running and Living). Result: loved it! Listened to an interview with Bill Rodgers and later Tom Warren, both off The Competitors Radio Show. Will definitely do this again.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

6 Things You May Not Know About Me

This post responds to a challenge on a fellow runner's blog (Running & Living) to share a few things that readers may not know about me. Hmmmmm.

1. As a child I lived in three different houses in the one street - and it's not that big a street!. As an adult I have lived in two different houses on the one block (after we demolished and rebuilt). I suspect I may have issues with moving very far?

2. I work as an IT Manager but have degrees in Commerce (Accounting and Business Law) and Early Childhood Education. Life takes some interesting turns. Go figure!

3. I have several fetishes - donuts and maps being right up near the top, with technology-toys and bikes being not far behind. As I look in front of me I can also see way too many sports books sitting on my bookshelf too.

4. I keep a hold of far too much old stuff for no particular reason other than maybe one day I might use it. I think I have inherited that from my dad whom we call Noah because he has two of everything. Our garage has not housed a car for a few years now. At least 10 bikes call it home.

5. I have completed 5 marathons, 8 Ironman triathlons and hundreds of other fun runs, triathlons, swims and cycling events in an athletic career spanning 23-years. My longest 'streak' in this lot is 22 consecutive years of doing the Sydney City to Surf fun run.

6. Having my two kids - Brooke and Keira - brings me infinitely more pride and happiness than everything in point #5. My two year old used her mum's iPhone to post a photo of herself on facebook last week. No help at all. Just by herself. She was so proud. We were gobsmacked!

So, what are six things people wouldn't know about you???

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