June 2006 Archives

It's almost like it was meant to be. I've been thinking it would be nice to spend a month or so in the US at the end of this year and catch up with some friends. The topic of the Vegas Marathon came up a few times, but since they've never offered a half marathon I was probably going to be there as a supporter only. Or, maybe not!

The New Las Vegas Half Marathon
All The Excitement, Half The Distance!

On December 10, 2006, the first-ever Las Vegas Half Marathon will take place in conjunction with the New Las Vegas Marathon. Race organizers Devine rallied the support of Clark County, Nevada and the City of Las Vegas for this unprecedented Half Marathon on a course that will run the electrifying neon corridor of the world famous Las Vegas Strip and the Fremont Street Experience.

I'd best start making plans and checking flights, etc, to see if I can get there!

Who else is planning to be there?

Ticktock. Ticktock.

I collected my race kit yesterday and am as ready as I'm going to be for my 10k in a few days. Training-wise, I had hoped to be a lot further along than I am, but with bad shins I can only expect so much. I was hoping to squeeze in a 5-6km speed workout this week, but it'll be best if I just give it a break between now and the weekend and stick to cycling and swimming. And I should make an effort to eat better. I've been terrible with that this month.

Anything under an hour this weekend would be nice. Sub-55 was once a target, but I've had too many ongoing injuries and would be unwise to push for it. At the end of the day though, to finish without being carried off is all that I ask.

On a separate note : I was curious to see how far it would be for me to kayak from home to work as another active alternative to avoiding the traffic and the rising petrol prices. Google maps was quick to tell me that I won't be doing it any time soon, however. See, the Brisbane river is like a big coiling snake, so the distance quickly mounts up when you're force to follow the flow of water. At more than 120km for one round trip, often against the tide, I doubt I would be any state to perform a full day's work. I'll start off small and see where it takes me.

Did we really have a whole week since last weekend? I think I can remember one, maybe two distinct days. I had planned to go swimming during lunch break twice this past week, and do a 25-30km on the bile on Thursday, but I don't recall there existing anything other than long (and very busy) hours at work, frantic cramming for my PT courses, and shambling from front door to bedroom each night. Well, the last is an assumption - I got there somehow.

Oh, and there was rain. Lots of it. It's just a shame it missed our dams and drought-stricken areas, but we'll take what we can get.

I was a little disappointed to see that the rain had made a swamp out of the park that features on the last section of my 8km circuit. I ran that route today for the first time since tracing it out a couple of weeks ago, but sloshing through ankle-deep water wasn't on my list of groovy things to do this morning, so I cut out the park and headed home along the road. The run ended up cut down from 8km to 7.5km, but since my shins haven't been right lately and my 10km race is only a week away, 7.5 will do me just fine.

not exactly Roald Amundsen

I only took my camera phone with me and the weather was bad, so the shots are a little grainy, but here are some pictures of the sort of thing I'll be seeing more of, replacing some of the houses and concrete.

There's not a lot I can do with the first part of my run if I still wish to head to the waterfront, but after around 3.2km I reach Thompson's beach for a view of the bay. This lasts for about 1km before I have to hook back in. The waterfront is fenced off shortly after that, though I'm not sure what they're doing there. The photos here are a little dull. I might have to go back when the sun is out and take some new ones.

There's a park here with a number of sheltered picnic tables, barbeques, and the usual facilities, so if I come through here during the day there are usually people about. Around sunrise, however, I often have it all to myself. Oh, and there's a nice refreshing water fountain too, if you're feeling parched or need to fill a bottle. My 4th km split sometimes suffers as I stop to take a sip.

To head straight home from here would put my run anywhere between 6.5km and 7km, depending on the route I take to get there - typically 6.75km. This is currently my standard training run.

On my long day, I'll take an indirect path home from here, detouring through Cascade Gardens. Previously on this circuit I've run along the shopfronts on the other side of the main road. The park contains a large extended water feature (attracting ducks but surprisingly no sign of duck poo), a pagoda, and has a meandering path through it all, crossing the water a couple of times via small wooden bridges.

In the early mornings the only sounds (aside from my feet and my laboured puffing) are a faint trickling of water, and the birds. Hopefully the trickling water won't trigger any urges before I finish the run! Just in case, there are facilities close at hand.

This puts my current long run at around 8.0 - 8.2km. I'll be hitting this route again later this week once my shins are rested, and now that I have my Garmin 305, I'll see what it has to say about my performance in the more peaceful surroundings.

I expect this route will last me a while as my shins slowly improve and I work on my fitness levels. At a little over 8km, it's going to serve as a good base workout for a few months yet. Even so, the key locations of this circuit will still feature in my new courses as I extend my distances. I've already planned out 10km and a 14.7ish km circuits for later in the year, featuring more waterfront, some views of Coochie island, Point O'Halloran, and a short diversion along a path through a wetlands reserve.

Today, as I get back on the horse after being unpleasantly ill earlier this week, I kept to the 6.75km route. My pace has been a little slower lately as I concentrate on working on my form, but I'm beginning to feel the rewards. Under an hour at the Gold Coast 10km in two weeks is still my target.

I've been spending most of my spare time lately working on breakingthetape.com and enhancing the workout scripts and members area, so I haven't had much to blog about. Funny how time seems to slip away when you have so much to do. I think our users will be happy when my current pet-project is finished, although it's a little trickier than I first thought and will probably be released in stages - it's going to take a while to get it all up and running. (Hint : triathloners, keep your eyes peeled).

This past week I've been taking a self-imposed break from running, because I've been running for most of last month on slightly injured shins. With the passing of each week, the "slightly" has been fading and being replaced by more of the "injured", so I've decided to let them heal up for a week or so while I put in some distance with the cycling and swimming. My next race is in just over three weeks, so I need to make sure the shins are in good shape by then.

It sure is going to chaffe not being able to enjoy my new Forerunner 305 for a week or so. I'm aching to go out on my first run with it. If I rest up now, I'll enjoy it all the more later. In the meantime I'm going to go for a few walks and trace out my running circuits with the GPS feature and make some groovy maps.

I shouldn't have quit three years ago. Well, at least I have that to look back at and remind me not to do it again. I'll stick with it, and might even get to join in the fun at the next event like the San Diego Marathon & RBF Meet-up with some of my fellow BreakingTheTape bloggers and RBF members!

It's a long weekend here in paradise this coming weekend, and I'll probably use it to try out the shins again. I was hoping to test the waters on the 10km race route, but I think that will be pushing it at this point. If I jump back into the training too hard I'll injure my shins, and just three weeks out from race day that's something I need to avoid.

Instead, I think I'll just maintain my mileage by running 6.5-7km runs with a 7.5-8km long day. I've seen some nice improvements in my running over the past couple of months, and have built a solid foundation with which to springboard over my status as a chronic shin-pain whiner and finally get stuck into some serious training before much longer. At least for now I can run a relaxed 5km without feeling the need to walk and take a break. It doesn't sound like a lot, but at the start of the year my 4km circuit came packaged with four or five walking breaks, and I can feel the difference just in my day to day. Those 6.8km runs I've been doing lately haven't been particularly challenging either.

My running form has improved slightly but still has a long way to go, and if I get time between now and race day I'd like to try a few drills to try to improve it even more. I know I pound the ground too hard, which can't be helping the shins (or anything else for that matter), so I think that will be my next area of focus : learning how to glide rather than shake the earth.

Anyone have any pointers?

I'm now a proud and excited little child with a new toy. My Garmin Forerunner 305 arrived in the mail today, and I'm itching to get home tonight and experiment with it.

I gave it a quick test at work and it picked up a satellite signal just fine, and the heart rate monitor seems to be talking ok, but I won't get to take it for a complete test until after I charge it up tonight.

Can I go home early to get a head start? Not likely, but I might be able to steal a few moments throughout the day to check the manual and get my settings configured and save a bit of time.