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2011 Blog (Oct - Dec)
2011 Blog (Jul - Sep)
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You get out what you put in.
- Unknown.
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Training & life-in-general Blog (Jul - Sep 2011):
Wednesday 28 September 2011 - Congratulations all the Aussies who were able to put in good performances at the 2nd Commonwealth Mountain and Ultra-distance Running Championships last weekend. We had some wonderful individual performances and team results throughout the various events. Each and every runner, crew member and management member worked hard and should be very proud and satisfied.
Commiserations to those who did not achieve the results they were after. My race definitely did not go to plan, so I am in a group of people who can now reflect and take learning from this great experience. I think that the most positive aspect of my race is that I was mentally strong enough to keep going despite the physical discomforts that started in the first ½ hr of the race. There were numerous health issues that influenced my performance and stepping onto that start line I was neither confident nor prepared for the event. I knew I had to take this one for the team though and stuck it out as best I could. A team silver medal is a tremendous reward of which I am humbled and grateful to Meredith and Susannah for due to their superior performances.
Congratulations and well done Meredith on a wonderful run and individual bronze. Your consistency and determination through the event was great. A PB as well which is always nice.
Congrats to Dave Kennedy for his outstanding performance and individual silver medal.
Thank you Susannah for your company through the final hours of the event and well done on your performance. Not the perfect race for you either, but the silver medal was worth it!
Thanks to all the crews, managers and helpers for their efforts, and especially Justin as always. My wonderful husband, coach, trainer, dietician, physiologist, psychologist and biggest fan.
Thanks to all our family and friends at home. Your support definitely helps me though the tough times.
And Lizzie Hawker, wow. It was a pleasure to share the course with you and well done on "chicking" all of the men.
Stayed tuned for a proper race report in next week's blog which might also be late as we're heading to Phuket for 12 days.
Commonwealth Championships update page
Sunday 18 September 2011 - Awesome week. Cycling gently through the beautiful English and now Wales countryside is delightful and relaxing.
Final preparations for the Commonwealth Championships are now going very nicely. Jetlag is gone and my legs have definite signs of the mojo returning after injury woes not long ago.
Since leaving our London friends, we have cycled our way through England and into Wales. Each day this week I have run a short distance (5 – 10k at varying paces), then cycled gently onto our next accommodation location. My minor physical complaints are continually improving and mentally I am confident I will hit the line in really good condition.
I am happy and relaxed, enjoying the scenery. On our travels we stopped in Stratford Upon Avon (where Shakespeare was born and buried) and attended a Shakespearian play Cardenio.
Running for the week was 48km with gentle cycling of 394km.
Race starts Aussie time 9:00pm (12:00noon in the UK) on Friday 23/9. A reminder that Justin will update the following page during the race as time allows: Commonwealth Championships update page
Sunday 11 September 2011 - This week was all about preparing to leave for, and arriving in the UK. It was a bit hectic at home at times but we got there in the end.
The flight to London was great. Lucy and Alec - you guys are the greatest and we look forward to seeing you when we get back to London.
I'm not sure why people complain about long flights or indeed about airline food. Justin and I really enjoy both and it's part of the adventure to us in a way. Maybe the tolerance of 24hr flying and transit is easier for us being ultra runners? I can assure you all that the flight and transit is a whole lot easier than running a 400m loop for 24 hours anyway!
On the training and injury side I'm starting to feel positive. Though I only ran 25km this week and cycled 188km the body is improving. Minor niggles are all but gone and whilst I must remain careful for the next 2 weeks I think I can perform well.
Sunday 4 September 2011 - This week sucked. Non running injuries are even worse than injury brought about from the sport. This weeks events have been a huge mental and physical challenge. At times I have succeeded and at other times failed to keep calm and relaxed. Losing my temper and feeling negative are unacceptable in this critical preparation phase. Now I need to refocus and enjoy the new week.
To explain: At 7:30pm Monday I picked up a heavy filing cabinet draw, twisted, and dislocated a couple of ribs and my left shoulder. Initially this was just a pain sensation in the back around the shoulder blade, but when within 15 minutes the pain had worsened and muscles started to cramp I feared that I had caused injury instead of just pinched a nerve. I had a shower and stretched gently to see if I could release the muscle and had 2 ibuprofen tablets to hopefully settle any inflammation. A few hours later I was in serious pain and spent the night under paracetamol and ibuprofen and still in pain. I had prearranged a massage for Tuesday morning (to relax and take away any tightness), but when I could hardly walk due to the pains in my back, chest and ribs my masseur tried to fix these instead of just work on my legs. This is not really Rick's specialy and so in desperate need of serious manipulation I slowly and painfully cycled to my physio/chiro and he squished me into his schedule for late afternoon. So with a day where I was basically incapacitated I waited for my appointment. I don't know if anyone has experienced dislocated shoulder blades and ribs, but relocating (particularly ribs) to the correct position is excruciating. So bad in fact that my cycle home (3k's) took nearly 30 minutes. I needed serious pain relief through the afternoon and throughout the night. In the following three days I had 2 more visits to the chiro/physio for further manipulations (more pain) until only yesterday being able to run in remote comfort. Ho hum.
Unfortunately this inactivity and back inflammation is not good for my circulation through my legs. So although I ensured I continued to cycle gently to help with this managing my normal 200k, my legs now feel heavy and running is still uncomfortable. Tally for running this week was a measly 55km and all of it slow when I should be sharpening.
I have struggled to keep sane this week.
Anyway, here's is to a MUCH better week this week. On a positive, basically everything is ready to go for our trip. Justin and I are set to fly out of the country on Thursday. Yay…. Bring on relaxed cycling through the UK and a good chance for me to focus on a great performance under three weeks time.
Sunday 28 August 2011 - Another well done to 8yo daughter Jasmine this week. Yesterday she ran sub 6min pace for 5km's for the first time (29min & 48sec, avg HR 204). Bravo. Each Saturday over the past few months Jas (with Mum & Dad in tow) has been running 5kms. She also joins us a couple of times through the week for 4kms at the local athletics oval for sprint sessions and her fitness and pace has been steadily improving. Jasmine was getting closer and closer to 6 min pace and this week she did it. Well done.
Jas is now keen to participate in a couple of local fun runs, probably starting with Myrtleford on the 30th of October 2011: Myrtleford Cup Fun Run. Actually this looks like a really good run for all the family and so I'm sure Justin and I will tow the line as well.
For me, I have had a good solid last week of quality mileage both on the bike and running. On Thursday I ran my last serious hill session. 3 x 2.5km up hill 5 – 12% gradient / 2.5km down back to start point = 15km total distance. Although a tough session on my body, I am all the stronger for it both physically and mentally. With the minor injury concerns I have been experiencing over the last few months deciding whether or not to do this final hill session was challenging. I was extremely indecisive and scared. Should I 'play it safe' and skip my last hill session in fear of re-injury? Or perform the session risking flaring the weaker left glut/hamstring area?
I agonised all Wednesday night trying to decide. In the end, after heated discussions with my coach (husband) about self confidence in making decisions and being able to live with the consequences, whatever the result, I had to decide - either flick the mental switch to 'risk it and acieve better preparation' or 'play safe and possibly be under prepared'. Given that there was no way of knowing the outcome with certainty I resolved in my mind that choosing the 'safe' option would not be true to me. As an athlete, I will never achieve the best possible results by being risk averse in training, or indeed in life. By embracing calculated risk, and seeking to push my body, can achieve the best possible results as an ultra endurance athlete. Yes listen to and seek advice, but ultimately I am in charge of making the final decision. So, I completed the session and although hills never feel good at the time and I did worry about my left side tightening, I did not become excessively sore from this run afterwards or in the days following. Niggles generally are not 100% gone, but I think I'm in pretty good shape.
This week I ran just over 110km, cycled 225km, walked twice and did my AB's routine 3 times. Strength sessions are finished.
Sunday 21 August 2011 - Last long run done and dusted. Soon I will be heading off to the United Kingdom (London), and then sedately cycling to Wales (Conwy) before the Commonwealth Championships on 23/9. Can't wait, getting excited.
Justin has updated my website and will be endeavouring to provide 'live feed' updates through the race, so stay tuned and let everyone know to be on the lookout on the day. Details below:
Commonwealth Championships update page
Only 3 weeks now until we leave the country and under 5 week until the Commonwealth Champs race! Yay. Packing has started so it's becoming 'real'. I received my Australia Team running singlet and Team tracksuit on Sunday too. Thanks Rob Boyce and Brett Saxon for their efforts in organising uniforms and thanks to Justin who has been working hard as the Aus Team Manager liaising with event organisers and requesting, collecting and distributing information to all team members and stakeholders.
Well done to Justin too on his magnificent run at the TAN on Sunday. He did the 100k event in a PB time of 8:37 maintaining a consistent heart rate and rhythm the entire way. He beat my 100k PB of 8:45 from Brisbane earlier this year too so I'll have to rectify that at some stage and take back the household honour!!
This week my running km's were a little higher than in previous weeks due to the 50k TAN run on Sunday. Well done to Nikki Wynd, winner of the 50k race in 4:03. That's a smart time for that distance on that course with "Mt Andersen Street". Natalie Wallace 2nd in 4:04 ensured a really tight race by the girls up front.
I ran the TAN as a solid final training run. Though I was happy with the heart rate / pace of the run (emulating the first 4 hours or so in the UK hopefully), I still struggled with the gluteus/piriformis & hamstring for a few days after the event. The last couple of days of this week I have generally rested and the tenderness is now nearly completely gone. I am starting to feel energised and eager for next weeks training challenges.
Link to
full results: 2011 Tan Race Results
I basically have only one more week of reasonably high running mileage and cycling mileage. Then my run distances will significantly reduce and session intensity will increase. I will be increasing my HR in short bursts while keeping the sessions short enough to not tire out my body too much. In the final couple of weeks I will be seriously tapering.
Final numbers this week were 124km running, 205km cycling and all the usual other stuff.
Sunday 14 August 2011 - Not a very exciting week this week. I started with solid running km's early and then reduced the mileage in the later part of the week. This is in preparation for a run/race tomorrow at the TAN in Melbourne, which will be my last 'long run' before the Commonwealth Champs. I will again be testing a few new things on this run that may be useful in the coming international event. The botanical gardens are beautiful and the weather looks promising. Fingers crossed we have better weather than last year where the rain bucketed down for most of the day. Justin plans to run the entire 100k event, while I am happy to tackle the 50k option. Justin has also taken the week very easy as a taper and has carb loaded. Now he needs a good sleep and will be set for the challenge.
Justin and I are also getting very excited now about our UK trip, being only 4 weeks away from leaving. Nearly all of our accommodation is booked and paid for and our gentle cycling route to Conwy has been planned. We eagerly look forward to meeting up with our new friends Lucy & Alec, who will be collecting us from the Airport in London, welcoming us into their home so we can set up the new bikes we ordered, and sending us on our merry way towards Conwy a couple of days later.
This week we cycled on our mountain bikes at the gentle pace we are planning for each day in the UK. Ahh... Very pleasant despite the overcast conditions. I can see us dawdling along the English countryside very contentedly. Pity the calorie burn is so low though – no full English breakfasts for me until after the Com Champs have finished. Then bring on the bacon, eggs, sausages, baked beans.. Yummmmmm. Then the beach in Phuket. Pure bliss.
Ran 87km, cycled just over 200k and completed normal additional sessions.
Sunday 7 August 2011 - Yep, another week of 100km running, 200km cycling, strength work, walk sessions, abdominal strengthening and stretch sessions. I am feeling a little like a broken record. But I am in a good holding pattern of decent training volume and building strength which is all geared around being ready for the Commonwealth Champs next month. There have been mild fluctuations in training volume and session composition due to minor injury recovery and the odd competition such as the Brisbane 24hr; but mostly plain boring methodical training in the last 6 months.
This week I chose to drop a couple of strength sessions due to my continued battle the hamstring/gluteus/piriformis on the left. These muscles become especially inflamed when I do high impact training, so finding the balance between training load and full recovery has been an ongoing battle for me. I do believe the taper period will finally get rid of the remnants of the problem and I will continue to be vigilant with regards to treatment and modification of training as necessary in the coming weeks.
In terms of training over the next few weeks, I will continue good running and cycling volume and use the 50k Tan run next weekend as my final long session, I will then start progressively reducing my running volume as part of the taper process preceding the Commonwealth Champs event.
Some great news this week – Thanks to a blood disorder diagnosed 10 years ago and a lower leg DVT following the birth of our daughter Jasmine, I have been on long term (supposedly life long) warfarin medication to ensure that I do not experience another thrombosis (blood clot). My recent haematologist review however suggests that I am in a "very low risk" category for recurrent thrombotic events due to the location of my only DVT being below the knee which occurred during a time where I had medication changes. The advice I received recently is to cease warfarin medication if I am comfortable doing so. Yippee. The treatment is probably unnecessary and a likely contributor to increased bleeding when I run. When I experienced bleeding into my lungs (exercise induced pulmonary haemorrhage) at the Brisbane 24hr a couple of months ago I was naturally worried about a repeat episode. If I am not on warfarin however, my risk of bleeding is reduced which reduces the risk of a similar occurrence. Happy days.
Sunday 31 July 2011 - Good solid week. My focus for the week was to work on building strength, speed and whilst maintaining mileage to help get rid of the extra padding (fat) I developed during the recovery from Brisbane Sri Chimnoy 24hr event. Included in this week's plan were two hill rep sessions and a tempo session, a number of short barefoot running sessions at the local athletics oval and strength/weights sessions. I have had to be very careful with regards to my hamstring/gluteus/piriformis injury. Each night Justin has been gently massaging and ultra-sounding the problem areas. This injury must continue to improve, so balancing the intensity and duration of my training has been tricky. No long run this week meant that I often ran twice a day to make up the intended mileage.
Also the sleep deprivation banked up last weekend courtesy of Le Tour De France and Cadel Evans (Go Aussie's). Hence the first few days of the week felt harder than I would have liked, but by the end of the week I seemed to be in the groove.
This week 102k running, 203k cycling, numerous abdominal, strength and walk sessions, daily stretch sessions and 'life' has kept me more than occupied.
Sunday 24 July 2011 - I am really happy with my long run this week. I chose to run 50kms on a flat 1km circuit to imitate the course expected in Llandudno, North Wales 24hr Commonwealth Championships in September. My heart rate (HR) average was lower than I expected and I did not need to reduce my pace throughout the run. i.e. I started and finished at 5:05 – 5:10pace with only a 5bpm increase of HR.
My hill sessions however were disappointing this week as I continue to struggle to increase my HR markedly. Lactate is building too quickly and fatigue sets in earlier than I'd like. I will continue to do hill sessions in the next few weeks to help strengthen my hips and gluteus and increase my lactate threshhold. These sessions are ultimately designed to increase my comfortable 24hr heart-rate and make the intensity feel easier on the day.
On the injury front, my hip/hamstring issue continues to improve with stretching, daily massage and ultrasound from my husband and coach Justin.
And this year Justin has volunteered to help direct and organise the Australian Team requirements for the Commonwealth Championships. Important questions are being asked and the resulting information is being filtered to the athletes and AURA representatives nicely.
For the week I finished with 122km running and 205km cycling plus a big stack of Abs, strength, stretching and walk sessions.
Sunday 17 July 2011 - Good solid week of training. I feel more relaxed and focussed this week.
More abdominal sessions (5), more running (102k) and cycling (200km), whilst seeing some improvement with my hamstring/gluteus niggle. Niggles are still nagging at me at times and stretching is rather uncomfortable, but I feel that I have improved throughout the week. All good. Most of my running sessions have been short and four days this week I ran twice a day, allowing recovery time to help with injury recovery.
The last few days I have run and cycled short distances to ensure that I feel well rested in preparation for my long run tomorrow. Tomorrow I plan to run 50k as an early trial of my planned pace at the start of the Commonwealth Champs. I have selected a 1km loop on sealed road similar to CC (boring) and will see how I go.
Being a mostly cold and wet last week of school holidays, our family have managed only a few family cycling and running excursions over the last 2 weeks. Usually Jasmine runs at our local athletic track 2 – 4kms a few times a week, while Justin and I do some pace work. On Saturday's we all head out with Jasmine for her long run - 5k's along the bike track as a family. Jasmine also accompanies us (on her bike) at times while we run, and we try to make sure we run/cycle to a playground so we can stretch and read while Jasmine plays with her friends. It's good fun.
Sunday 10 July 2011 - Life has settled further this week. My main focus for the week was to get healthier and improve my mental attitude. Be more positive and confident about the coming challenges and start to visualise success in Wales.
This week I ran a total of 67km running - only short distances with no run more than 15km. To keep my cardio fitness I have ensured I cycle daily, managing 203km for the week and have started Ab strength sessions again. My hamstring remains my biggest issue and has now bothered me for nearly 3 months. Mentally this injury has not helped to abate nervousness associated with preparing for a major event, but this week I have come to a conclusion: If the hamstring issue has been annoying (but not stopping) me for 3 months (through some serious training), then it is not likely to hinder my performance in Wales and will probably improve during the taper period anyway. An ultrasound didn't find anything this week and although I have an MRI scheduled, I have decided not to place much importance on rehab until after the Commonwealth Championships in September. I have already proven in Brisbane last month that the discomfort doesn't get 'too bad' during a long race, so I need to relax and start to enjoy both my training and the lead up to CC's. Employ the saying I started to chant in my first few ultra's - "What will be will be".
The Commonwealth Championships 24hr teams have now been published on the AURA website. Both the male and female teams looks strong and personally I am happy to again be running with Susannah, Meredith and Allison. I'm also quietly hoping that we can do better than the Bronze Medal that we achieved in 2009.
Congratulations to all runners selected for the Commonwealth Mountain and Ultradistance Running Championships and I look forward to catching up with everyone in Wales. Here's the full team:
24 Hour Team (23-24 September)
Jo Blake, Captain (NSW)
John Pearson (QLD)
Anth Courtney (NSW)
Dave Kennedy (WA)
Rick Cooke (VIC)
Sharon Scholz (VIC)
Susannah Harvey-Jamieson (QLD)
Meredith Quinlan (NSW)
Allison Lilley (NSW)
55 km Trail Team (25 September)
Brendan Davies, Captain (NSW)
Mick Donges (NSW)
Jonathan Worswick (NSW)
Kate Seibold-Crosbie (VIC)
Kirstin Bull (VIC)
Verity Breen (NSW)
Cindy Hasthorpe (QLD)
Sunday 3 July 2011 - Ahhh.. Life is back in the realms of normality at last.
Happy to report that my respiratory system has settled and is now basically normal again. I have another Respiratory Function Test in a couple of weeks and follow-up appointment with a specialist. Considering my run in Brizzy was the first time my lungs have been an issue in a long event, I am not overly concerned about future ultra events. Bring it on. My next serious event (given selection confirmation) is the Commonwealth Championships, where I will be focussing solely on a great 24hr performance and hence starting at a controlled and comfortable intensity which should ensure my respiratory system is not pushed too hard for a long time.
Regarding the right knee issue I mentioned in my blog last week, an x-ray and later an ultrasound showed a little fluid (no blood clot) under the kneecap. No obvious signs of a tear were apparent in either the quad muscle or muscle attachments around the knee. The pain quickly subsided and has totally gone now, even when cycling and running... Yay!!!!
Despite a very slow start to the week I managed 219k cycling with some of these sessions at a pretty hard heart rate, a couple of Ab workouts and a 5k walk session. On Saturday I even started to run again – only a couple of kms, but it is a start.
So I feel somewhat back on track, though my pre-Brisbane niggles (left hamstring attachment and gluteus) are again the main issue I face. I will be getting further analysis of this in the coming weeks.
Thankyou to everyone who wished me a speedy recovery. I am humbled and thankful for your support.
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