Railway cycle attack

Friday 28/4/06 Cycled 14.5km in 43min 50. HR-159. Splits; 23.54/19.56... (The first half I lost 2 minutes stretching, had troubles with an insect that flew into my eye and just wasn't quite as sustained in my attacking.)

Took the railway route, but did not ride the river detour section as I wanted to stay on a straight flat course and just concentrate on attacking the ride a bit. Was great to do a higher intensity session.

Forgot to stretch beforehand so I had to stop at the railway line and spend 2 minutes doing a few quads and hammy stretches, as I was very tight and a bit stiff and sore to begin with from yesterday.

Most of the ride I felt "in the groove", and it sure felt good. Really enjoyed pushin it out a bit.
Had Tourniquet Tire Kicking and"a little bit of Lee Harding "Almost anything?" tickin over in my head, especially the aggressive riffs and drumming of Tire Kicking... Click on http://www.myspace.com/tourniquetrocks to have a listen... Trying to be nice to my trusty worn out MTB by not giving it too much of a hammering cos its got to last for awhile longer yet, but made sure I spent a bit of time going hard in top gear as much as possible. A good ride to blow out the cobwebs and sweat it out a bit. Been needing and wanting a session like this for a week or two....yeah!!!!!!!!!!

52km Tonkin ride recharging the batteries again

Thursday 27/4/06; Cycled 52.75km in 3 hours 15min 30. Heart rate 138 at end. Pretty tired by the finish. Took 3 short drink stops during that time. Didn't have any carboshotz this time so was a bit tougher but it forces my body to burn fat as a fuel with little carbs available in the system, so good from a training point of view. Just slow enoughin intensity for the low carbs fuel levels to not be too tough to cope with...

Threw in some fast surges from Thomas Rd to Albany Hwy along the Tonkin Hwy. Had an excellent tailwind on return and its relatively flat or downhill for most of the way. This was after about 70 minutes of pushing into a solid headwind on the way out there. The Tonkin Hwy route was 45.25km all up, with splits of 1hr 27min/1 hr 18min so its easy to see how much quicker I was on return with the tailwind surges, which gave me a 9 minute negative split despite the lack of carbs locking things up and fatigue (heavy legs) setting in towards the end...Right knee soreness present early, but not so much a problem this time...saddle soreness was present towards the end but ok not as bad as a few weeks back. The last 7.5km I did my short railway route course turning at Albany Hwy, which was a bit of a grind but I needed it to get over my target of 50km and also to get over the 3hour mark which was my other target for this session. Overall a fairly satisfying session and nice to get to long sessions done back to back in consectutive weeks. need to keep this momentum going. The mountainbike feels rickety but the gears seemed a little smoother this time. It has done well over 10,000-12,000km I estimate (odometer stopped at 8955km a few months ago, and I did a few thousand km before I bought the cateye cycle computer) Hopefully it will keep going a few more weeks,months...Feeling a lot more positive about things today.

Saw a veritable plague of leeches? on the cyclepath alongside Tonkin for one section,also a helicopter, saw a sign about Aboriginal archealogical sites, and many other sights sounds and smells. Didn't enjoy the smell of the rubbish tip between Rowley Rd and Thomas Rd. Interesting ride, and being out near Rowley Rd and Thomas Rd reminds me of the days I used to train on Hopkinson Rd and Thomas Rd as a racewalker about 17 years ago back in 1989...

So my 2006 Perth marathon plans are still intact for another week. Had demon hunter song Coffin Builder in my head for a lot of the way and also heartstrings,undying,the latest and the last, plus Grave forsakens light the hall...

Happy with the ride, and going to take a risk and try and get through basketball umpiring tonight. Hopefully the achilles will survive this first test and I will sleep extremely well tonight...a massive energy usage for the day it will be....

Reffed 2 games of basketball,didnt run much and put weight on left leg mostly. I think its improved but needs at least 1-3 weeks more rest and treatment before I try running hard on it. See how things go...Seem to be able to get through reffing ok, but not able to run hard like I used to...

Calf Raises IV to VI

Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday 24-26/4/06; Kept the calf raises program moving along, am up to 4x26 calf raises now...I think I will consider trying some test runs soon...But probably not for a week or two yet...Need to consolidate...

Walk with KL & Calf Raises III and week 1 summary.

Sunday 23/4/06 Walked 5km around golf course route via shops on return with KL. Did Calf raises 4x20 later that day. Still resting the achilles and not doing much else at present...

WEEK 1 (17/04/06-23/04/06);

Volume;268min. Sessions;2Best RHR;49 Sleep;47.25 *53
OD/LSD/LFD sessions; Cycled 50.5km.
Races/Time trials;NIL
Reps sessions;NIL

Comments;
See previous post re 50km ride. Other than that pretty much a wipeout of a week trainingwise. Lack of finances combined with achilles issues is leaving me very unmotivated, and wanting to rest achilles. Urgently have to improve finances before I can crank up the training. Hanging on by a thread/fingernails, but plenty of time to crank it up considering (a) the work I've done during February/March, and if I can keep the 50km+ rides going, plus sort out the achilles, I'll be in with a chance...

Calf Raises II

Friday 21/4/06; Did 4x18 calf raises. Need to keep the new regime operational to try and clear my achilles issues.

Reloading with Roe Hwy 3hr 26 Ride!

Wednesday 19th April 2006; Cycled 50.5km in 3hr 26min on the mountainbike. HR 126. Time includes about 15minutes I spent on drinks breaks and checking my maps. Pretty solid long ride. Very happy with it. Plan is to do at least one ride like this per fortnight, (preferably each week) until my achilles allows me to run again. So this is WEEK 1 of my Perth Marathon 2006 Assault. Its an 11 week program same amount of time as what as I did in 2004. Its time to get really focused and ensure my long 3hour+ sessions get done preferably each week, plus do some shorter easy sessions, and some more intense sessions...

Hopefully the achilles will clear up well before July. Found a useful link from Cool Running re treating achilles problems, so did 4x16 calf raises (double legged) with 2 minute rests
today also. Made sure I stressed the eccentric phase (the lowering part) of each calf raise. Need to be disciplined about maintaining this. Also iced my achilles last night. Going to rest the calves (gastrocnemius and soleus muscles) tomorrow, and then plan to do my next bunch of calf raises on Friday.

My ride was extremely interesting. Had heard that Roe Hwy now goes all the way to Kwinana Freeway, so was keen to see if this was true so followed Roe Hwy from Albany Hwy all the way to Kwinana Freeway, and then followed detour from Farrington Rd to Berrigan Rd, Karel Avenue and then back down Roe Hwy. Experienced lots of interesting sights,sounds and smells. The smell of a bakery in Canning Vale was good. Plenty of birds, plus the planes landing at Jandakot airport. Went past Whaleback and Glen Iris golf courses. My mountainbike is a bit worse for wear, but have to make do with what I have...it was ok...Had the usual niggling knee soreness at times, but mostly a very enjoyable and successful ride. Also came across some signs detailing the history of Aboriginal people on the plains below the Darling Scarp again, just as I did on Tonkin Hwy when I rode the 31km last week. Have learnt a few interesting things about how they lived in this area...Apparently they had 6 seasons for the year instead of our European influenced 4.

Seemed to cope better with saddle soreness this time, than I did on the Whiteman park 40km ride the other week. See how I pull up in the next few days. Onward and hopefully upward...

Exploring Tonkin

Saturday 14th April; Cycled a solid 31km in roughly 1hr 49? with heart rate of 138 at end and I guestimate at least 150's at times during my ride. Enjoyed exploring the Tonkin Hwy course I have been meaning to do since February. For example the detour of "Darling Scarp Exploration". Its a great course to ride. Mostly rather flat and straight red bike path. Got the path pretty much to yourself with almost no distractions. Includes views of Champion Lakes and the Darling Scarp... I must get a new cycle computer soon!!! New bike would be good too but that will have to wait awhile...

Sunday 15th April Cycled 10.5km in 37min 18 HR 129. Light rain most of the way rode to the Midland train line and back.
Ok but not my favourite ride. Too many bumpy concrete footpaths and tricky roads to contend with.

Not happy with only 3 sessions this week, a rether disappointing week trainingwise, although its great to finally have my first ride on the Tonkin Hwy course. Have maintained the running ban to rest my achilles this week. Need to get calf exercises and iced water treatment going again though. Life for me is generally a bit messy/boring just now, but we push on, hopefully better days ahead...

Hopefully be ready to do some slowish 25km-35km long runs during May. In the meantime my plan is to try and do some 50km-70km rides on the mountainbike so I have a decent endurance base in place to attack my marathon goals with...Hopefully by that time the achilles is back to normal...

pushin broom (pedals)

Sunday 9/4/06; Cycled 13km (2 laps around golf course route) in 38min 52 Heart Rate 165. Pretty happy with a good attacking ride in the evening...lingering saddle soreness from a few days ago not much of a problem....

Tuesday 11/4/06 Cycled a relaxed 16.5km in about 70 minutes HR only 108...Golf course route and exploring along the B Brook area...

Been shoving the achilles into buckets of iced water for 30minutes and trying a 4 minute calf stretch plus have done the calf raises for 5 minutes on one day (sore for the next two days..the gastrocnemius is clearly a bit on the soft side...)...Need to do lots more of that in the next few weeks...hope it works. Cant afford to go to a good sports doctor and just hoping my mountainbike will survive...

A little depressed, just hoping that by banning myself from running and doing the smart thing in the next few weeks by treating what I think is an achilles injury I can get my Perth Marathon 2006 assault on full attack by May/June at the latest. Hope to be running well again in time for the Bunbury Half Marathon on 21st May, or the Challenge 10km or the Albany Half. At the very latest I think I must be firing for the Freo Half Marathon on June 11th if the sub 3.30 dream is to stay alive for me in 2006...

I saw in the Bridges results on the WAMC website today that I did beat the bloke I sprint finished with...wuhoo. so hapy with that small victory. Placing was 390th of 1317 with official time of 48min 06 seconds, which is my 2nd slowest (2004 I did 48.50, and 3.55 in the marathon that year) of my ten consecutive Bridges runs from 1997 to 2006.

Back in the Saddle again

Wednesday 5/4/06; Cycled 40.75km in 2hr 42. HR 126. Whiteman Park course, plus an extra 15km with a loop to Reid Hwy and back. Took a few powerades, and battled/enjoyed a few light head/tail winds. Good session. Nice weather temperature wise. Got very saddle sore in the last 10km or so...Trying to rest the achilles. Need to get calf exercises going.

Thursday 6/4/06; Reffing Basketball 3 games. Tried to rest the achilles, by walking as much as possible...

Turbulent Tenth Bridges TenKM

Sunday 2/4/06; Ran my 10th consecutive Bridges fun-run (1997-2006). Completed the 10km in unofficial wristwatch time of 48minutes 07 seconds, with a finishing heart rate of 186. Th 48minutes included a 1 minute toilet stop about 1.2km into the race. So actual run time I estimate was about 46min 52-47min07. 1km Splits were 3.57,5.24 (including toilet stop), 4.50's the next 2km (missed the 3km marker), 4.44, 5.03 6.14? 4.33? 4.31, 4.00.... My 5km splits; 23.46/24.21. The 23.46 included the toilet stop so would have been about 22min30 or 22min 40 otherwise.
Usual wind conditions with a small headwind from 2km-5km, and a tailwind for most of the rest... Was nice cool temperature.

I am pleased with the way I finished strongly in the last 1-3km, and had a good sprint finish with someone at the end which is always fun. Be interesting to see if I beat him or not, as I think it was rather photofinish-ish, and I am sure we will get the same time...

I found it very hard to get any rhythm in the middle stages, and I think I stayed up too late the night before, which may have cost me a minute or three...The toilet stop happened cos I drank a powerade just before the start which was a silly thing to do. I would run better if I had someone give me a powerade at about 5-7km, instead of relying on the cups of water which are ok but less than ideal. I ran on the grass as much as possible to minimise impact on my knee etc, and this was ok, but it does not help with maintaining a steady pace/rhythm...
I don't like running in large crowds like the Bridges and the City to Surf. I once again am reminded that I prefer the races where there is a small field, or running on my own, or with 1 or two friends. The alternative is of course to win the thing or be in the top 5-10 which means you are ahead of most people, but I am not good enough to do that, and not sure if I ever will be...I'd have to improve my 10km time to about 35-38minutes at least...It might happen though cos I feel I am about in 43minute shape now, even though I only did 47-48minutes in this race.

Overall I enjoyed the hitout and felt good at times, and am very glad I ran. I am convinced that despite another disappointing overall time, I have progressed significantly in the last month or so and the reps work has paid off for me. Maybe next time my improved fitness will show up more in the time recorded, if I can continue to train the way I have in March 2006.I hope to get the achilles right and land a good Challenge 10km or Half Marathon time in the coming months...

Time to get on the mountainbike and ride lots of K's for a few weeks until my Marathon program starts in earnest, or my achilles destroys my dreams of Perth Marathon III in sub 3.30 ...we shall see...
The achilles was not an issue while I was running at all. However it has been rather sore for about 24-48 hours afterwards. So I am going to try avoid running for awhile (probably about 2-4-8weeks) and get some calves exercises going, plus get my mountainbike going instead. Going to go get the new tyre for the bike this afternoon. Hopefully will be able to do a few run sessions as my Perth Marathon 2006 assault is supposed to start in earnest in 2 weeks time...