GGS XC second last hard session.

A tough session for the old wombat tonight, easy warm up with the GGS team from the gym out to the Bridge then back to the lower playing fields. This was a very easy 2.6km at a very sedate 4.47km pace.

The leadership team were a little more fleet of foot and were waiting for the main group down on the lower rugby fields for the set session. The session varied for the group depending , essentially, on their racing pace. The faster group were targetting 1km repeats at a constant 3.45 pace. In total they were running four (4) repeats with roughly a 1-2 minute static recovery. Other groups were running between 4m15s / km and 6 min 30s / km. 

The group worked really well through the first effort, I joined a group for the second and third efforts and clipped along at 3.56 for the first and 3.48 for the second. Chasing the leader only to have them pull away over the last 100m for fear of being beaten by a wombat. While I sucked in air through every hole in my body the group finished their last per , or so they thought.

At the end of the final rep and when all the group looked like they had recovered they were hit with "Just One More" , a phrase that has almost become a mantra for the team due to the wombat mentality of the second team coach who also comes from an old school hard work background ( what hope do the boys have with two wombats riding them). On the 5th effort they were to run as hard and evenly as they could over the 1km circuit. As is always the case the boys rose to the challenge. The captain punched out a very solid 3.12, Loisis  was close to his tail and young Lines was not far behind  along with the two vice captains in hot pursuit. The boys were spent. An easy cool down back to the Gym via Paxton and the group had covered a solid 9km. I was happy too, I had not blown out my calf and did not need to be carried from the field. 

Barrel on wombats...

Don't Quit...

There are times when every runner, every runner, has the thoughts of throwing in the towel. At this stage of my life its actually a daily thought pattern. This is due largely to the fact that I am yet to re-establish a routine or real structure to my training. I do know that at some point I will establish a routine but I also know that once this routine has been established I will still get the little voice that shouts STOP! ENOUGH!

The trouble with being a wombat is that I know, that I will possibly never stop, yes I might miss a day, week, or month of running but in time I will get back out there. In a race I also know, that no matter how loud that voice gets I'll never stop. I know this because its something I have always told myself. If I start the race I finish the race and believe me there have been times , particularly in the marathon, where I have thought " Na, I've had enough" But there is also another voice that tells me, if you do it once, it gets easier the next time and then it gets to the stage that you stop running and step off the course simply because your shoelace is undone. 

You see that's the thing about running , if you quit , you never give yourself the chance to learn from what goes wrong, you never experience the full range of struggles that comes with training and pushing on in a race when you really feel like there is nothing left, you miss that sense of accomplishment that comes with crossing the line after your head telling you for the last 10km that your body can't go any further.

Remember that what ever happens  JUST DON'T QUIT!!!

Barrel on Wombats...

PSA Scotch 3 man 5km relays

This morning the old wombat headed on down to the PSA AllSchools Cross Country relays. These fixtures have run all winter with the seven PSA schools initially involved in a home and away round robin before combining for 4 races involving all runners from the 7 competing schools.

The weather was actually pretty kind given the week that we have had in Perth and despite a few intermittent showers the morning was relatively clear. Today was the 3 man x 5km relay on Scotch's playing fields and it really was great to see so many runners from the schools, along with parents and spectators on the course.

The run got underway with Guildford's number one  taking an early lead  from the field and showing a very clean pair of heals. This set up his younger team mate with a clear run throughout most of the leg before being overhauled by Christchurch in the closing stages of the second stage. Christchurch led out from Guildford with Scotch , Aquinas and Trinity in hot pursuit however, by the time the last leg crossed the line it was evident that Aquinas would once again dominate to be clear point winners for the day. This was again a well deserved win by this well oiled team and a credit to the team's culture that has obviously become  a factor in their performance.

The Guildford boys were  strong and upbeat throughout and despite a hard fought battle they finished clear of Wesley and only 4 points behind Hale, with Scotch, Aquinas, Trinity and Christchurch filing the top four places. There were some wombat performances out on the course today for the Guildford boys. Aaron Coates despite being named in the 5th team ended up changing with the 2nd team after a stellar first leg. Captain Jackson Passeri was well clear on the first leg and has set himself up for a great final race in the 8km next Saturday in Kings Park. Paul Harcus, starting well behind two team mates manager to close this early gap and over haul them in the closing stages of his leg and finally Shannon Lislois has continued his climb through the ranks in his final year to become a competitive force in the team.

GUILDFORD INDIVIDUAL TIMES
RANK	RUNNER	NUMBER	SPLIT	LAP	PACE
1	Jackson Passeri	324	Leg 1	15:44	3:31
2	Angus Line	333	Leg 2	16:50	3:45
3	Nathan Wytkin	323	Leg 2	17:41	3:57
4	Thurston Hewitt	325	Leg 3	17:54	3:60
5	Benjamin Armstrong	312	Leg	18:13	4:04
6	Aaron Coates	342	Leg 1	18:21	4:06
7	Declan White	340	Leg 1	18:29	4:08
8	Zachary Johnson	330	Leg 2	18:30	4:08
9	Peter Siedentopf	305	Leg 3	18:36	4:09
10	Robert Watson	321	Lap 1	18:39	4:10
11	Fraser Sewell	311	Leg 1	18:41	4:10
12	Cameron Adams	313	Leg 1	18:43	4:11
13	Nicholas Rollo	334	Leg 1	18:52	4:13
14	Tristan Dale	322	Leg 3	18:58	4:14
15	Paul Harcus	301	Leg 3	19:15	4:18
16	Shannon Lislois	317	Leg 2	19:20	4:19
17	Toby Digney	335	Leg 1	19:28	4:21
18	Marcel Niutta	341	Leg 2	19:28	4:21
19	Bailey Bartholomeusz	308	Leg 3	19:43	4:24
20	Blake Hillier	304	Leg 2	19:52	4:26
21	Mitchell Wooding	343	Leg 1	20:07	4:29
22	Alex Regnaud	300	Leg 1	20:17	4:32
23	James Miolin	332	Leg 1	20:28	4:34
24	Harry Lagdon	302	Leg 1	20:42	4:37
25	Aaron Quiskamp	328	Leg 1	21:13	4:44
26	Isaac Ward	314	Leg 1	21:14	4:44
27	Alexander Morrison	318	Leg 1	21:36	4:49
28	Henry Van Den Wall Bake	345	Leg 1	21:49	4:52
29	William Yagmich	316	Leg 1	24:13	5:24
30	James Wilkinson	307	Leg 1	24:26	5:27
31	Sebastian Boyd	329	Leg 1	24:28	5:28
32	Jean-Louis Hansen	331	Leg 1	27:33	6:09
33	Louis Mcwhirter	320	Leg 1	27:33	6:09
34	Kristian Montgomery	315	Leg 1	28:49	6:26
35	James Holmes	306	Leg 1	29:35	6:36

See you all at Kings Park 9:30am Start for the Ray Brown 8km, the final PSA Cross Country race of the season.


Barrel On wombats...

Polar Express...

Normally, as I cruise over Wedge-tail plans, I am greeted by a mob of Kangaroos looking at me and wondering "Whats this idiot on about". Tonight with clearer skies and the temperature plummeting my audience had changed....Butlers watched my every move

I can't complain, I guess, the last few days have required fins, snorkel and mask to complete, tonight it was more a case of "I cant feel my fingers" ( Mind you I can't touch my toes either, not that I can see that as a critical element in tying up shoe laces , unless of course your knees don't work) 

The run was easy but still a grind, I'm pretty sure that despite my pace I should be able to manage the commentary on City to Surf day. Watching Penguins bound away I soon realised that hypothermia was possible the reason for the big greys looking more like butlers and I simply needed to suck it up and keep  moving.

Glancing at my watch, yeah I know but don't start me off on that soap box again, I notice I'm cruising at a very steady 5min/km pace. I let my mind wonder back to a time when this was my mile pace. Still I cant complain , my calf has not annoyed me tonight ... Ping..Shit bugga bum... thought too soon, adjust running style, limp home and try not to think about it... I love getting old , its such a wonderful sensation to creak, groan and shuffle my way around my homely burrow. Still I am moving so that must be a positive... I wonder how long before my watch can make me a cappuccino on the go, oh look I've burnt half a calorie, gee that it really useful information... Note to self

I make it home and take the shoes off . Heading straight for the shower, after which I will tell my young wombats about the penguins I saw out on the run tonight....

Barrel on wombats...

PS Good luck to all the crew racing the state Half marathon this Sunday... Go Mr Caulfield!!!!!

Bloody watches..

Back when this old wombat was a little less greyer and a lot faster things were relatively simple when it came to a stop watch. You put on your running gear, stepped outside , pressed start , ran then pressed stop. You went inside , noted the time and wrote this in your diary.... Well at least that's what I did.

Over time the watches improved and you could actually keep multiple sessions in your watch. This was great as you would keep track of your entire session and actually break it down rather than try and commit it to memory. At about this time I found my Casio, this was a bloody good watch. I could keep 50 session in it and when I started do sets I could plug in some pre-set times . In the case of a Mona session I st it to beep every 30 seconds. This required a bit of maths while you ran but noting over taxing. Every now and then the band would break, but hey, I'd duck to the jewelers, or even the newsagents at times, get a new band, change it and Bobs your uncle.

The watches have improved even further now and you can actually record heart rate, calories burnt, pace, distance, pre- program entire sessions and then map where you ran. Some watches . like Skippy  and Lassie, can probably run home and get help if you ever find yourself trapped in a cave and all this is great, BUT if the strap breaks you are knackered. I have a draw full of watches that look fantastic except for snapped straps that then require me to send them offshore to be repaired because the average punter can't simply swap the band.

Now these watches are generally not cheap, some are just shy of a kidney to purchase so you would think that they could at least make a watch where the strap lasts a bit longer than 4  to 5 months. I note with the Garmin a small change, it looks like I could, if push came to shove, knock out the pin and change the strap but this is not the case with all the watches. It is something that is annoying because I don't like going without a watch while I wait for the bloody thing to have the synthetically moulded wrist strap heat shrunk by a dwarf who lives in inner earth off -shore while they wait for the next installment of The Hobbit.

Anyway , I'm sure Ill get over it.

Barrel on wombats...

I saw the Ark

I'm not saying that its been very wet over the last few days but I saw this on the run this afternoon, down on the lower playing fields with the GGS Boys.

Easy warm up tonight, light 3km down to West Swan Bridge and back to the lower soccer fields. Moving well and no calf issues, could this be on the mend.

A large group and we set out for a solid half Mona Session (10 minutes) around the bottom soccer fields. In layman's terms this was 90 seconds hard, 90 seconds easy, 60 seconds hard 60 seconds easy x 2, 30 seconds hard, 30 seconds easy x 2 and finally 15 seconds hard 15 seconds easy x 2. For the wombat this was basically a solid consistent surge. For the boys is was a structured fartlek session. Unfortunately the calf twinged at 6 minutes however by adjusting my style , as old people tend to do , I managed to continue with the run and finish off.

The cool down was a very easy run , past the Ark and back to the Gym.

Even though I was disappointed with my own run, the boys worked hard and again demonstrated the spirit that makes training with them more a pleasure than a chore. In general this young group have bonded really well and each year the dynamics of the team has improved which is leading to a real team culture with a strong work ethic.

Barrel on Wombats...

The Perth City to Surf gets closer still and while it is important to ensure that you keep running, it is also important to remember  that now is not the time to start trying to build your mileage up. For the marathon runners the taper should have begun, your last long run was more than likely last week and from now on everything drops in length and may, depending on your individual programs, increase a little in the speed stakes just to sharpen up. The half marathoners may have one more long run but again this is likely to be the last for  a while and the 12km runners may also have reduced in volume , although this is a very different beast to the marathon.

Start to smell the roses and enjoy the flow and feeling of the runs rather than concentrating on the grind. This is a time to really begin to appreciate the work that you have done in getting yourself into shape to cover the distance and be in the best shape you can to tackle what the course and the conditions may through up to you in a few more weeks. Remember ...Be in the now , not the tomorrow or the yesterday.

Barrel on wombats...