Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Goodbye Blogger

Simlin has moved to here.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

2006 review and an end to Big Expectations.

It all started back on 10th February...I ventured into the world of blogging. My goals back in the early day were simple. Personal goals were to get healthier, lighter and fitter while running goals were to complete the City to Bay in under 72mins and complete a half marathon. My big expectations was that running regularly could help me reach those goals.
February - Started the month training at less than 20km a week bought a Garmin.
March - Ordered a CR hat and decided on my first fun run and set my first HM to be in May. Pulled out of fun run, ran 20k for the first time, weighed in under 120kg for the first time. Suffered my first battle with demotivation after some personal issues.
April - two 10km fun runs in April one at the start of the month and one at the end, which was my first sub 60min 10k. This month also included my first trail run.
May - Successfuly completed my first HM! yay me and bought my first pair of serious running shoes.
June - New shoes cause ITB issues and I started to get frustrated by lack of motivation and running time due to injury. This month included my first run to work.
July - Admitted to myself that I had an ITB problem after a failure to run out a 15k fun run.
August - Bought a new pair of shoes...brooks beasts, and dissapointingly only ran the 10k run at the Adelaide Marathon Running Festival...it was a 10k PB though. Started Corporate cup with some mediocre performances.
September - The big one...completed the City to Bay in 69 mins, an 11min PB and well below my goal!
October - concentrated on shorter distances during the corporate cup and ran a 9k fun run. This month included my first training run with CR company!
November - Started doing a few Pilates and training for the year really started to wind down as personal goals started to fall into place.
December - Training in december was dismal to say the least, but on a personal note many goals were acheived.

So there it is a summary of the year, to be honest I found that whole excercise pointless. I started this blog with Big Expectations for my training and now, at the end of 2006 have those expectations been met?
Well yes, although I didn't achieve any of my time based goals distances, I did acheived my two big running goals, which was complete a HM and go better in the C2B than 2005. Even though this fills me with great joy, I am a little dissapointed that I only got to complete one HM and that I missed quite a few other fun runs I wanted to do.
On a fitter, healthier, thinner side, I am pleased with the way this is going (especially the thinner side) and feel a lot more confident in myself. I am dissapointed in my second half of the year performance as far as thinner goes as I seem to have stalled at about 115kg thanks to a rather ordinary diet.
Personally 2006 has been a great year and I have acheived many personal goals, leading up to my proposal to my now Fiance. I wanted a few things in place to stabalise my life before I committed to also support another person, with the big two being a permanent job and a house to call our own. All these things happened in a bit of a rush toward the end of 2006 and so life goes on and one can only look forward to 2007!
As to my Big Expectations, they have been met and as such, instead of giving my currnet blog a facelift for 2007, I will preserve it in blogger for as long as they wish to hold it, while I begin a new road to my 2007 goals in a new blog in wordpress.

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Dry Creek North East

Exploratory run today, travelling roads or trails in this case never before travelled. Headed east from Walkley's road along Dry Creek reserve. Missed the "fork in the road", but found a third one, I left the creek at the fork and instead followed an open grassy drain (of which I thought were only common in Darwin) parallel to McIntyre road. It was a long slow uphill run out in 7min/ks and a swifter return in 6.30min/kms. Was stopped by a guy on a pushbike looking for his dog...obviously it had run away last night during the electrical storm. I said I hadn't seen it and which way I had come from and he was off again in the opposite direction. Anyhoo I kept my eye out for his "big, brown dopey looking" dog all the way home. All up 12.5km, and only 300m along roadside footpath! woohoo! I could have stretched the run out further but 12k was enough for me today, maybe next time I will do the loop up to bridge road and McIntyre and back home...I will have to plot it on gmap-pedometer and see how far it is.

In other news...I am posting this from home! Yes after improvising (following numerous trips to numerous shops) a car CDMA/GSM antennae for my mobile wireless usb receiver thingy I now have excellent reception where I otherwise had none! Fan-bloody-tastic!

So as promised picture of the bling ring...

Friday, December 29, 2006

Christmas Part II

Managed to sign up to the Next G wireless internet with 2 bars of reception in my bedroom window. But no time to blog last night as we are still setting up the house and I had other things to do...plus I wasted half the evening running around town trying to organise an antennae for my mobile usb thingy to access Next G wireless. My rant can be found here, and the suggestion that Bigpond's tolerance of loss limits are excessively high and thus some other ISP might have been able to give me ADSL has lowered my mood today...I am too deeply invested in this whole wireless thing at the moment to try that avenue just yet.

Anyways, we got back from The Mount on Tuesday, the roads were free flowing enough, actually a lot better than a month ago when we last were down there. We came back to a house that was only half moved in. So aside from spending money buying extra furnishings and the like, I ventured out on my first run from Valley View, not going to work. Wednesday morning I set off on a run. 200m downhill to Dry Creek and I was off on the trail, I ran Dry Creek West (as it will now be called) to Bridge Rd and back. It was a welcome relief to be running a trail and not pounding the pavement down main roads with trucks and fumes and road crossings! It was Fantastic! plus I didn't have to run 5k to get there as per Enfield place. I could get used to this.
The trail to Bridge rd was 6km return and I am hoping that if I cross Bridge Rd and do a loop of the velodrome before returning it will take that route up to 10k, a nice 1hr run, but I will have to try that next week.
This weekend I have laid plans in my mind to try out Dry Creek East. I have only ever run 2k in that direction to Grand Junction Rd and I am keen to see how far the trails roam in the North Eastern Direction because from the maps it looks like they go a fair way and even fork into two different directions. It certainly looks like it has long run potential in that direction.
Running the trials around the lake in Mt Gambier definitely stirred up my interest in driving to Black Hill and giving those trails a bash...Freudian slip...I keep typing trials instead of trails...oops.
OK, with the internet working, if not patchily at home now, I will have to do a yearly summary post for 2006 on the weekend and lay down a plan for 2007 (which I have been forming in my mind on every training run for months.)
I have briefly thought about starting a new blog and retiring this one as a few people have done, but I don't think my circumstances are the same and warrant a change so I will stick with this old horse.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Christmas in The Mount

Frustrations at the new residence of Simlin, crisis over my link to the running community that is CR. More on that later, today I am sneaking this post in from my work computer...lots to write about, but I will start from where I left off, which was Christmas.

Warning, this is pretty much a blow by blow description of two trail runs and may bore some people.

Christmas was spent down in Mt Gambier with future in-laws. I packed two running outfits, keen for a bit of a hit-out, especially with the anticipated Christmas Feast.
Having trouble sleeping past 6 o'clock most days I woke up early on the first morning in the Mount and left a silent dark house to head up to the Blue Lake. I parked on the Northern edge and after observing some other joggers/walkers headed off in an anti-clockwise direction as appeared to be the norm. The Blue Lake was definitely looking resplendently royal blue in the morning light. After a couple of hundred metres I spied a trail which appeared to head off up and around the Valley lake across the road, and harbouring a secret desire to run around their instead of the touristy concrete path around the Blue Lake I crossed the road and struggled up a flight of very narrow stairs...oh dear, this wasn't going to be pretty.
On the up side, there was no sign of a niggle in my right knee which had plagued me ever since the 15th of December (that date I will never forget...I promise...). I ran around the edge of the crate for a little while mainly across some grass past some look outs, then sped a track going down hill into the crater, alas it was Mountain Bikes only and looked narrow and straight down. Regardless 100metres later there was a wide walking track doubling back and down the hill...off I went. I pulled back a little on the down hills, not wanting to jar my knee etc too much or trip over a root or something. Running down through the trees I was running along a saddle between the Valley lake and a smaller crater within the large crater, soon it was up the other side and damn...too steep for me and I walked a little. After the gradient reduced a little I took up running again and could feel some fatigue in my Achilles, I stopped and had a rest at the car park reached to paw over the walking trail sign. I decided upon the "easy" grade track around the outside of the crater on the South side of Centenary Tower and back around to where I crossed over the road from the Blue Lake.
Setting off for the Centenary Tower car park there were a few more steep uphill bits along the edge of the Devil's Punchbowl and then it was the Easy grade down hill around the outside of the crater. This is where the term "easy" grade had me miffed, after the gentle slop down and around the outside of the crater the track turned and went straight back up to the rim (the steepest part of the whole route) Needless to say I walked most of it. Back up to the rim and it was gorgeous running along the exposed rim, the Valley lake on the right and Mt Gambier spread out below on the left. I had to walk one little steep bit up to the highest point of the run and then it was slightly undulating track all the way back to the Blue Lake.
Once I got back to the Blue Lake, there was no way I was leaving the Mount without running around it, so I went back over to the footpath I had left 7k ago and continued around it in an anti-clockwise direction. It was undulating around it but nowhere near as steep as some of the places earlier and I made it back to the car for a stretch after 1hr10mins and 10k.

Christmas was a glutenous affair with every imaginable roast meat and vegetable...not to mention the plentiful beer, wine and spirits consumed. Boxing Day I got up early again, this time just before 7am end before heading up to the lakes, nipped down to Target to pick up a post-Christmas sale bargain I had seen in the Catalogue (1000 thread count sheet sets if you must know).
Instead of doing both lake again I headed for the Centennial Tower car park and set off on a loop of Valley Lake as per the first half of the above run in a fine misty rain. This time I made it up at least half way back up to the rim after coming around the back only to succumb to walking, due to an EP* and mad look for a toilet around the Northern side of the Lake. I finished off the 4.5k run in 40mins and headed back down to town for a third go at the Roast meat and veg.

*Emergency Poo (often accompanied by a Whooooop! Whoooooop! Whooooop! sound)

Monday, December 18, 2006

Tooo busy.

Where to start...
1st - went for my final run around Enfield on Thursday around a 9k routeI have travelled 32 times since January. It was not as hard as thefirst time and not as easy as the best time, but I made it.
2nd - Friday I left work just after lunch, picked up a rock, the keys to the house, some champagne and some red roses. Then I got down on the knee (which is now quite sore?) and proposed to my girlfriend on the threshold of our first home together as she was opening the door for the first time...obviously no time for running...she said yes.
3rd - Saturday was taken up lifting heavy things, moving oneself never gets any easier, especially when you keep acquiring more and more bigger furniture...obviously too weary for running.
4th - Got up Sunday and went shopping, bought running bag (bargain for $20) then to a Christmas lunch with friends, more moving and cleaning...obviously no time for running.
5th - Right, now that I am no longer on the main road to work I had to get myself there so I fired up the Foot Falcon this morning and rode it to work. The move cut off 5k from the run to work and this mornings trip only took 51mins for the 7.7km. Now to scab a ride home because I
am lazy...
More anon, work is too busy too do much blogging or blog reading (sorry)
and the internet is not on at the new place yet.

Edit: will follow up with a piccie for you becky when I can get my computer/internet set up at home, in the mean time you eill have to settle for this...it is the one in the bottom right corner.
After scabbing a lift home last night I ran in again this morning, left 3mins later so put in a little more effort and arrived at the same time as yesterday, 7.8k in 48mins. After not stretching yesterday and having my knee complain bitterly all day, I lay down on the grass next to our security hut and stretched out the knee for five minutes. It feels great now.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Work bash

Today I headed out at lunch time for my second lunchtime run with Bill from work. Just 5k around the block in our lunch break. It took 33mins and wasn't as hot as last time. My right knee was a little sore this afternoon so I hope it doesn't affect my anticipated final run around Enfield tomorrow morning!
Yesterday I got up half an hour early and did some pilates...I must admited I cheated and skipped some bits at the end that I don't like...time was pressing you see...

Monday, December 11, 2006

Blowing out the cobwebs

It has been over a month (6th Novemeber) since I last ran double digits. In between I have been running varying loops of the cemetery (5-7km) with only one 9k run thrown in. This morning I decided to blow out a few cobwebs and take off the shackles, setting out for the velodrome. I decided on the shortest and flattest possible velodrome loop and eased into the run with a 7+min first kilometre. Understandably the last couple of kilometres were a bit weary on the legs, but I came through and finished with that peculiar feeling when I stopped of "I should be puffing, but I'm not...did I just run 11.2km?" Then I started walking and could feel the weariness in the legs...illusion shattered.
During todays run, my mind was ticking over with goals and plans for 2007. I will put down on paper in good time my intentions, but as for now...back to recovery.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Busted a Gut

Yep, waited till 8pm, but got out there this evening to try and arrest a downward slide in training and motivation. It was hot and took a while for my left kee to warm up but I got around the 7k route unscathed in 44mins. Post cold shower and the legs are still feeling it a bit, might go out again in the morning tiredness permitting.

Spreading

I can feel myself spreading...

First things first, sadly I missed the end of the test match. I was at an information session at Adelaide Uni that I had all ready committed too. They are starting a Pharmaceutical Engineering degree out of the Chemical Engineering department and I had attended as a graduate working in the field. My 3 phone couldn't help me either as it appears that a lot of people were trying to watch it on their phones, so I had to resort to watching the score update on the scoreboard page on the phone. Bugger.

Next Second, on the title of my last entry "NB" a lecturer once relayed the story of a few international students who were taking his class. He is one of these lecturers who likes to tell you exactly what is on the exam, so he annotated all the stuff that was going to be in the exam with NB. The students thought it meant Note Briefly and as such when it came to study for the exam they ignored all the stuff he had said was going to be on the exam and failed...therefore the title of the last post was really a joke for me about being brief.

It has been a busy week, cricket and a training course. After tuesdays run my right knee felt a bit dicky. I tried a run on Thursday morning, made it to the end of the street then walked back home...total 100m and sour disappointment, so now it is Saturday, 41ÂșC outside and last night I went to Miss Simlin's work x-mas show where I ate half a pig and the whole rear end of a cow. I am trying to decide on what type of preventative action I can take today to stop the festive season spreading which I feel coming on. I am feeling disillusion with my running, and whole fitness etc, I knew it was going to be tough, because I am busy, it is hot, and there is soooo much food and beer to tempt me.

This week is packing time before settlement of our first house on Friday, so next weekend will be flat out moving stuff and this weekend is packing and I have been drafted into a top notch, first rate, A-level bowls team...we will see how that goes tomorrow at the RSL.