Rocky's Running Diary - by edward

An U20 cross country and athletics runner, I took up club running two years ago for Randwick Botany Harriers, and train with Sean Williams' squad. Running plays a major part in my life; and this blog is a training diary in testament to that.

Current PBs:

800m - 2.12
1500m - 4.30
3k - 9.46
5k - 17.21
10k - 36.00
Queens Park 6k XC - 20.53
NSW AllSchools State XC 2005 U20s - 26th
National Cross Country 2006 U20s - 49th

Goals:

sub 2:10 800m (even sub 2:08)
4.25 1500m
sub 9.40 3k (even close to 9:30, idealy sub 9:30)
sub 17 min 5k (even 16.40)
sub 35:30 min 10k (even sub 35.00)
sub 80 min half

[ October 2006 ] [ December 2006 ]

Rocky's Running Diary - November 2006

wednesday 15th - 1:18

November 15th 2006 12:05

about 15.5kms
good solid start, then met mo and jim, and settled into an easier pace, then another 15 mins very fast to finish, with a 4 min k at the end. excellent. feel this is going to be a heavy volume and hard week.

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tuesday 14th - 4x1 lake (1450m)

November 15th 2006 12:03

4 x 1 lap of the lake (off 2 mins)

4:53, 5:01, 4:58, 4:56

felt really good, was up with some much faster people like tiger, keith, marco, jenny.

did a 5k warm up and warm down, bit longer than usual, think ill try to do this every time, should keep inching up the length of running im used to. i remember when 3k was huge for a warm up.

legs felt strong even though i was working hard, but it was my lungs and breathing that was giving out/stopping me going faster.

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monday 13th - 48 mins

November 13th 2006 11:19

apparently 9.7km

felt ultra stiff and sore at the start of this, but took it very easy...
when i joined the group it was a little better, and some drills and strides helped too. pretty good session, recovery wise, and some good fitness, spent the last ten minutes or so at around 4 min/km.

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sunday 12th - 1:36

November 12th 2006 06:18

longer run today, ran both to mckay and back after the group hour. covered 21kms.
according to the garmin, i burned 2647 calories, (what the??) so i wont be relying on that feature much. but apparently my fastest speed during the run was 3:34min/km somewhere at one point. i cant think where. maybe around the white fence where i had a good battle with claire, or on the downhill.

did 1:15 then had a rest for a bit at 9:00am when everyone else stopped, then ran home. the last 3kms were hard, and in the last k i had to keep stopping after each 100m, i felt like i was going to faint; and i started craving sugar and water. i guess i mustve started running out of sugar, probably halped along by the race last night. so i guess thats what its like to start to hit the wall. i feel sorry for those marathoners who dont have the luxury of being able to walk a bit. but struggled with the extra running. when i got home i collapsed asleep (after eating and drinking ofcourse...) for a couple of hours. strange cos i did get 7 hours sleep. so im guessing the run took a lot of of me.

still im annoyed because i felt so strong, i was running along with the leaders all the time today, and feel like i could race anyone anywhere anytime. i had that confidence which comes with running well and being fit, but i cant seem to race well, like last night. i dont know what thats about, but i guess ill have to keep trying. anyway ill do some longer training and races while im away (i very much doubt ill find any track races...) so see how that goes, i think ill handle some road running a bit better.

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saturday 11th - 3000m race

November 12th 2006 06:08

9:46

not that happy, a PB, but not as good as i would've liked. i gave it my all, but it didnt seem to go right.
first 200m was in 33 seconds, first 400m was in 1:11, first 1k in 3:08. the ks went 3:08, 3:20, 3:18. so a bit drop off. the thing was, i was overtaking people all the time. i thought i was picking it up, i didnt pay that much attention to the splits, and that was a mistake. i shouldve watched each 400m split. still. didnt feel like i died that much, and i always had people to run with and work off, so perfect race conditions. but didnt come together. i know im capable of sub 9:40 definitely. i wonder if i couldve done 3:12 kms x3 instead of the all over the place splits i did. that wouldve given me 9:36, a very respectable time, something i wouldve been extremely happy with. i think i need to always watch the splits. but i did just narrowly beat claire and alexis, who got 9:48 and 9:50, and im usually just ahead of them, so in relation to the others i did ok. its just that i feel so strong that i dont know why im not racing that well, i feel so strong, and tuesdays session was so much better than this race.

now some of the others had fantastic runs! tom hurley broke the nine minute barrier with 8:59, keith broke the 50 australian record (which was his before anyway!) with 9:10, tiger got 9:07, josh got 9:12 in his first race and harry got 9:10 in also his first race; claire picked up a state open bronze medal in the womens, and emily brichacek ran a ridiculous time of 9:06 (she's 16). then there was this:
8 Matthews, James 19 St. George D 8:18.75
9 Guest, Ben 18 Gosford Athl 8:22.65
10 Gregson, Ryan 16 Kembla Joggers Inc. 8:23.91
freaks! see how my run pales in comparison to all these other massive breakthroughs...?

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friday 10th - easy 22 mins

November 12th 2006 05:54

nice and easy.

and i got a garmin 305! and a new ipod shuffle which clips onto my shorts, so music without carrying anything!

found the queens park 2k course is roughly 2k, garmin said 1.97k, but some corners, so probably ok. theres a bit of error anyway. but interestingly its definitely not the 60 or so meters long we thought it was (im not sure who started that rumour, a long time ago).

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thursday 9th - 2 times 3x200m

November 12th 2006 05:51

3x200m (1 min/3 mins), 3x200m (1 min)

31, 32, 32, 32, 33, 32.

just meant to be 800m pace freshening up for the 3000m of saturday. which for me is between 32 or 33.

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wednesday 8th - easy 30 mins

November 8th 2006 07:58

easy 30 mins. was pretty tired, only got 5 hours of sleep because had an exam this morning, so up early, and was up late last night studying.
was sore and stiff to start with, but felt good. faster/further than mondays easy 30 mins. had a good stretch on the glutes afterwards.
met sparkie on my way home who seemed to be powering along. and got me thinking of goal times for this saturdays 3000m. i recon sub 9.40 is goal A, theres no reason why i cant get this. if i get a good run, id like to go close to 9:30, so say sub 9:35 as goal B, and id like to think its possible i could go under 9:30 is everythings right, so make that goal C. think ill start with a 3:10-3:14 first k, and take it from there. it all depends on getting into a good pack.

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tuesday 7th - 4x1k

November 7th 2006 07:23

4x1k of 5 mins recovery

3:07, 3:06, 3:07, 3:09

really good session, very happy with this. was really pushing it along. after seeing some of the 400 sessions of 3 mins that the arvo squad has been doing, i didnt think i could pull that sort of speed out for reps, even with longer recovery. but i managed some really good times today. i saw in the book that i was close to sparkie, about 5 seconds off each rep; although he did it by himself off 4 mins. and apparently i beat keith, although he probably did it by himself.
had good battles with claire and selma, and managed to beat them which i was happy about considering claire had just run 2.11 on the weekend for 800. was just behind OJ as well.

had a 600ml bottle of coke at 3pm, then a 250ml can of red bull at 4:15, for training at 5:45 (all diet of course ;-P ) for the caffine. worked well, but my legs were a bit shaky, even though i was running fast. first rep was good. then after that it took a while to hit my stride and run powerfully, it felt like i was barely holding it together for the first 400m. then in the 3rd rep it was onlt after 700m that i started feeling strong. although i was still going fast. so maybe too much caffine; maybe a product of the hard lactic training; maybe the caffine makes me go fast, but doesnt make me feel that good; or maybe its not that great for stop/start interval sessions - after all, the first rep was solid all the way. but i felt twitchy like always after caffine, even in the warmup.

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monday 6th - easy 30 mins

November 6th 2006 02:21

easy 30 mins, felt pretty stiff and sore at beginning, but warmed into it and felt better at the end. happy to have an easy run.

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sunday 5th - 1:13

November 5th 2006 00:45

good run today, program had it as a little shorter because of a focus for the state 3k next weekend. meant to be easy, but wanted to put in a solid effort because i hadnt been running well the last couple of longer runs. felt really good for 45 mins moving along, not too fast but not easy, then just god very tired and slowed down. struggled on the way home. still, good run, looking forward to an easier week, with a really hard session on tuesday. i think having an easy 30 mins tomorrow and wednesday will make all the difference with the preperation for saturday, will really feel good. very much looking forward to saturday, should be lots of people my pace, and can really stride out for a good 3k (unlike last time into the incredible wind).

and i can finally come back to the afternoon sessions because thai is finished! (still have syd uni stuff on, but uts is over). just the exam on tuesday during the day, and no more even classes! i love it! finally back to evening training!

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saturday 4th - 800m race

November 4th 2006 00:44

2:13 apparently, hand timed. Sean had me at 2:12 and i was hoping i got under 2:12, but whatever.

look 2:13 isnt that good, but considering i havent done that much speed training, its ok. didnt feel like i slowed too much in the second half (went thru in roughly 1:05) which shows strength which will hopefully be useful for a 1500 and 3k. but i just couldnt go any faster in the first lap. anyway another try during the relays, and yeah. dont have all summer to work on it unfortunately, but im still hoping to dip under 2:10 sometime. more worried about a good 3k this weekend though, should be good.

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friday 3rd - easy 26 mins

November 3rd 2006 00:38

nice and easy, stiff at start, but ran the legs in, good warm up for tomorrow.

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wednesday 1st - 55 mins

November 1st 2006 01:18

only managed 55 mins, was completely wrecked, and im not sure why. id been taking it easy for a little to recover, and then yesterday was a bit of a shock in terms of intensity and workload, but i thought id be ok. still, i struggled with the distance and continuous running bit of it, and it didnt feel right at all.
i was deliberating whether to trek to mingara to do the 5k on saturday instead of the 800m, but after this im not sure id make 5000m, and i dont think im in that sort of distance shape, so will go the 800m, and try to stick with keith for as long as possible. goal is to go thru in 61, and then hold on as much as possible to get under 2:10, but really under 2:08 ideally.

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