Niggle, Niggle, Surge...... Niggle, Niggle, Surge

This seems to be the pattern at the moment. A couple of days with

some niggles then a day where I feel like I can take on the world.... I guess that's running...

Last week was another good one having shaken the bug that plagued me for a couple of weeks (Not the wombat flu thank goodness). The long runs are going well and continue to give me a sense of strength that I hope will serve me well over the 12km journey in about 5 weeks time.

The rain was incredible and at one point during my Wednesday run I could not help laughing at the stupidity of running in torrential rain and wind. Having been to Vic Nolan's Funeral earlier I headed out from Kings Park just for something different and was nearly drowned. I was very moved by the efforts of Doigy and Watto's efforts in putting together Vic's funeral arrangements. He will be sadly missed by those he coached but I feel pretty certain he would have been extremely proud of the young men that these two guys have become.

Monday's run was done is hail and having run past a polar bear at one stage I was beginning to sense that I was in the wrong continent. Got even more confusing when a troop penguins slid past me a a lengthy down hill section of my run.

Thursday was a corker and the session confirmed for me that I am regaining some of my endurance strength. managed to get up to Raf for a few short moments and feel that in a few more weeks I may even take it up to him. This will do the confidence the world of good ( mine not raf's). Hopefully I can string another couple of 130km weeks together.

I am concerned about my lack of racing fitness, but with the junior football season still trudging along and my two young wombats participating I can't see a way around this one. Time will tell I guess.

Saw Darryn S at Peak Podiatry and had my inserts slightly adjusted, Mr Magic worked my ankle to try and improve mobility, but with one leg longer the they other, as he pointed out, I need to work hard to make sure I don't end up running in circles.

I have acquired a slight niggle on my outside left knee however this feels like an overuse issue and is something that I will be managing over the next few days. Seems to warm up and OK but gets a bit stiff when I have been sitting for a while. mmmmmm I will watch this one...

Have had some late nights with the Tour on SBS but loved every second of it, team Astana was awesome , shame about Contador on the hill climb and his surge that dropped his own team mate... Despite the press I still got the sense that there was little love loss between him and Armstrong. Disappointing for Cadel but there are certainly some very talented young riders out there..

Well followers there is the situation from the wombat for this week, until next time..

Barrel on wombats.....

Wax on Wax off........

I remember the karate kid " Wax on Wax off".... and the question that he asked in relation to the relevance of waxing a car and learning karate... Once he was shown it made sense. Its the little things done over and over again that sometimes collectively make the biggest impact...

I reminded myself of that this week. Since last Saturday I have had this bloody head cold and I can't seem to shake it. Initially, under Mrs Wombats insistence, I backed off. I still got out each day. My frustration came On Tuesday when I was out doing my session and moving along well. Wednesday morning I wake to feel like crud. Thursday I put together a fantastic 17.5km session and Friday I am shattered, Then again today , my breathing is fine but I'm hot and cold and ordinary.... Whats the point of the token runs... Then I remind myself ..its the little things we do that sometimes have the biggest impact.... If I don't run I will beat up on myself, if I at least get out the door then I am winning the head game. I also say to myself that I feel sure one of my competitors would not have trained today so that puts me one up on them... even if I have only run a mile then that is one more mile than them... each step takes me closer to the starting line putting me into a position to have a crack at my goal... Each run is one less excuse that I can offer myself when I do stand on the line and each time I get out of the door I have beaten that little negative voice that each of us has which so often creates the doubt that causes us to stop doing something.....

Wax on Wax off...... funny how things trigger a thought pattern,mind you when you run for 2 hours you gotta think about something....

" I can because I believe I can".... " I did because I believed I could".....

Barrel on wombats......

City to Surf...... lets roll.

Don't stress too much about the speed work for this event just yet. A runners focus who is just beginning would be to start to build up a base on which to work with... Aim to get out every day and if need be take the Friday off.... Some simple plans would revolve around walk one day, run the next then on the walk days introduce some running sections.

For an intermediate runner spend the next few weeks (July) building on you ability to run , at pace, over the 12km . this could involve run steady state for 5 days of the week and incorporating 2 tempo runs into the week where you wind up over the distance. Basically just run and don't get too caught up in the sessions..

The City to Surf starts at the bottom of a hill, in fact a significantly long and steep hill. This can be daunting for any runner but it is only an issue if you have never run up a hill or you go out like a mad man/woman at the start of the race and then spend the next 11km wondering who poured concrete into your legs?

At the end of the day we don't plan to fail, we simply fail to plan.... Go one just get out there and run and enjoy being outside.

Barrel on wombats...

City to Surf..... Get a woggle on...

The hype has started and the bets have begun.... For those who have made the "one beer too many" bets its time that you actually got outside and put one foot in front of the other in rapid succession.. This is called training and will give you at least a realistic chance of covering the 12km....

If you have done no training what soever and when attempting to get out of your chair to look for the remote causes you shortness of breathe I STRONGLY DISCOURAGE you from even thinking about running the half or full marathon distances.

Start with a walk each day before introducing any form of running and eventually swap a walk day for a run day.. you may find that what you begin to do ( as I like to describe it) is "woggle" or "woggling" (This is my term for a pace that is faster than a walk, just, but slower than a jog, just.)

Woggerling could sometimes be seen as moon walking forwards. The feet give the appearance of not actually leaving the ground yet the body is moving forwards. Woggerling is not to be confused with the "Cliff young Shuffle" This action is deceptively quick and resulted in Cliff winning the prized ultra run.

Anyway enough of the banter, if your going to do the 4k, or 12k then its time to start getting ready for the big day..

Barrel on wombats...

Another page in the book....

I remember talking with 'Deek' when I was a wee little wombat, well is was more of an awe inspiring stare and an occasional squeak on my part, but one thing I recall often from this conversation was him saying to me that each day you train you add another page to your book until eventually you have a very thick book or in a runners case a very good base...

I was watching Lance Armstrong last night in the team time trial and the commentators were saying how he has slipped back into the fold with relative ease. Now I am pretty sure that along the way to slipping "back into the fold with ease" he has done a bloody great deal of work to get back such a high level of fitness.... The other thing that he has done, or got, and that the younger riders don't have is years and years of riding behind him. This base of riding which he is able to draw on is something that the body remembers...

This is also something that the wise old wombat ,who is guiding me at the moment, also said.." Don't worry too much about the volume initially, the body will remember" having just completed another week in the 70 mile region I am beginning to understand. While my first 2 hour run killed me and I was left weary after the second I am finding that I have begun to run efficiently over the ground again. Yes there are things that I need to work on, like running up hills and retaining my form but, as I regain my strength I believe this too will return.

Already the Wednesday tempo run feels like a more controlled affair even though the pace is still increasing, and will do so for many weeks. But the bottom line is that all that work (those pages in my book) which I put in over 20 odd years of running has not all disappeared, the body is remembering...

This week was tough. The end of term and the start of school holidays brought with it the dreaded cold and sore throat. taking advice from Mrs Wombat I backed off for four days with easy running over 3-4 miles, ate copious amounts of raw Italian garlic (home grown) avoided any vampires in the process and have eaten enough oranges, lemons, and mandarins to feed a small country. The end result was a fast recovery and fresher legs.

The next two weeks will provide an opportunity to increase the mileage, volume and establish a new routine before returning to work. Hopefully this will allow me to carry the new routine into term 3. Again time will tell.

Barrel on wombats...

Tempo on the Trail...

Tonight was on of those runs when you wish there was a starting line and a finish line... Did some light stretching then headed off up the trail into Mt Helena and Chidlow.. Started out steady and slowly built the pace to the point where I felt comfortable.

Nothing hurt tonight the old wombat seemed to flow, it was definitely one of those runs that you just want to savour. had to run late due to the young wombats sport commitments so I was running in dusk/dark. Thankfully the moon was up and it was a pretty clear night.

Turned to come home and just cranked it up a little more to see how comfortable I could keep it... Covered the 16+km in 65minutes... Gravel track and bitumen road sections at times...

Barrel on wombats....