The River Run

Ok, so my HM training was underway and I was feeling like I was making slow but steady progress. The next major event and milestone for me was the 15k river run, which began at the same start point on linear park as the Torrens Classic. We went in the opposite direction this time, heading west towards the coast and turning around in the Lockleys area.
Again I felt like my preparation was reasonable and had no doubts I could cover the distance, just wasn't sure of time. I had a goal of completing it in under 90 mins, so keeping that average below 6 mins/km was the key.
Just before this I had joined the Coolrunning website and was quite impressed with both the information and knowledge available as well as the great sense of community everyone shared. I had contact with Simlin and Rachel49 and was looking forward to meeting some fellow CR's on the day, which we did manage to do and that was great. Both Simon & Rachel had been running for a bit longer than I and Simon had managed a HM in the Greenbelt race which was a tough one to make your debut! Rachel is training for Triathlons and seemed pretty fit but Simon was suffering from injury so just looking to have a pain free run.
I started just in front of those guys and set off at a reasonable pace, trying not to get caught up in the excitment and go out too hard, but also to set a good pace to achieve my time goal.

I have to say pacing is an area where I'm not sure of the best approach for me. My approach has been to go out at a steady but slightly aggressive pace ( but not too much to avoid getting caught up in the euphoria) and then slowly build that pace and endeavour to maintain it for as long as possible. I do expect for fatigue to set in at some stage but try to push myself to a point where the decline/slowdown sets in as late as possible. I do this to partly build mental strength by pushing myself mentally for as long as possible and holding on for as long as possible, hopefully toughening myself for those times when you 'hit the wall', but frankly I'm not sure now if that's the best approach. I know now many runners advocate a slower early pace, perhaps for the first 20% of the run, building to almost max pace in the middle, then kicking it up a gear to finish strongly. I guess as I have been learning and working my way through my running 'apprenticeship' I perhaps have not had the confidence or fitness to know that I can definitely finish strongly so have chosen my stated approach in an effort to get the best possible result out of any event. The jury is still out on this one for me and I need to give it some serious thought and would welcome any feedback from readers.
Anyway I ended up using this approach in the River Run and had an ok result with a 1:28:38 in the 15k. Felt ok on the way out and was at 43:xx at the 7.5k turnaround point and not long after saw Rachel coming on strongly with Simlin a bit behind and wished them both well. Rachel passed me within the next couple of k's and was looking good for a sub 1:25 finish. The last third was ok but I certainly slowed down a bit in the last 2-3k which the negative? split demonstrates. Overall happy with the end result but recognise still a long way from being fit and plenty of room for improvement. Simlin finished in 1:37:xx which was a solid effort given the injury he was carrying. Again good to meet those fellow CR's and look forward to many more races together.

Beyond 10k....

So I had completed 10k in under an hour and was fairly comfortable at that distance, albeit slow - but fine for me. I then began to ponder what was next - "Ok Wardman - are you going to be happy ticking along at this distance and just work on improving your times, or...."
The 'or' won out, I have always enjoyed a challenge and wanted to progress further and the next logical step was a half marathon. I was still far from fit at this stage (and not there yet either) and had been following a fairly strict diet for a couple of months with an end result of 18kgs lost over 4 months or so of regular diet & exercise. I was really pleased with that result and feeling significantly better overall, both mentally & physically, but was still only halfway to where I needed to be weight wise. given that was the case, I figured long slow distance (LSD) was the key for me in terms of fat burning and continuing my journey to fitness.
A few others in our group were pondering 'what next?' also so we all got together at the pub one night (didn't need a lot of convincing to hold a meeting there!) and decided 'if it was going to be, it's up to me!/us!' to continue our progress and support each other in our goals. At the very least, we were all keen to get together for a social run each week and decided to keep in contact via email etc and put together a bit of a run schedule to help keep ourselves and the group on track.
We decided that we would continue to run from our normal venue, Souter Park at Goodwood, and stick to Saturday morning for those wishing to do longer runs (>10K), and Sunday mornings for those wishing to do shorter efforts or recover from the previous day (generally <8k). We also decided we would put a schedule together for the group each month for proposed runs and take turns being responsible for it so we could mix things up a bit and share the responsibility.
I also had put together a 14 week HM training program with Phil's help a couple of weeks prior and was working my way through that and got stuck into it in earnest at that point.

The Torrens Classic

So here I was at the Torrens Classic on 18/6 with a firm goal of getting under the hour. My preparation was sound and I was wearing the right gear this time and had not scoffed too much grub the night before and nothing to eat that morning. I also had one of my fellow group members, Phil, out to run with me and assist me with pacing if required.
It was quite an eerie morning actually. The course was run on linear park along the Torrens and it was a beautiful morning, with a bit of fog still lingering. I was standing there stretching before the race, at the start point which was just behind the Adelaide Zoo, and all of a sudden a few of the lions decided to provide a morning wake up call to the rest of the inhabitants. Quite surreal standing there listening to these huge roars in a shallow depression with the fog and sunlight, still sticks in my mind to this day.
Anyway we were off and I concentrated on running a steady pace and getting to the half way mark in around 29 minutes or preferably just a bit under. The course was pleasant but quite undulating with lots of small inclines/declines to keep you on your toes. I concentrated on trying to lengthen my stride somewhat on the declines to maximise speed benefit and pump by arms whilst shortening my stride on the inclines to sort of 'drive' up them. The challenge was then to keep an even pace at the top of the incline and level parts and maintain the gains from those efforts. This was achievable most of the time but struggled at a few points in the latter half when I was getting tired. Phil kept an even pace throughout as he was running to a heart rate of around 140 and at various points was either in front or behind me. We did spend a fair but of the run going side by side and it was great to have someone there to chat with and also to act as a pacer /barometer for my efforts.
We made the turnaround in just over 28 mins so knew that we were in good shape as long as we kept a reasonable pace and although pushing myself, I still felt quite comfortable anyway.
Had a good 2nd half but was tiring a bit towards the end however still managed to pick up speed and bring it home strong in the last k or so. End result was over 4 mins off my pb and a final time of 56:16 which I was very chuffed with. Phil certainly helped me on the day but confident I would have broken the hour regardless, just would not have had that verbal support and 'fixed point' to measure myself against. Even though I was ahead of him at numerous points throughout, it really helped to check my progress when we caught up to each other or he passed me or vice versa. So I had finally achieved my goal on the 3rd attempt to break the hour mark, and had done it convincingly in my own mind too. Where to now I thought...........

The Barossa 10k

The saga continues:)
Next event on the calendar was the Barossa 10k/HM on the 28/5, 3 weeks or so after the Greenbelt race. I felt my preparation was ok going into this one, and was keen to improve on my time from the Greenbelt, and even break the hour mark if possible. David from our group was the only other member competing, and he was also aiming for an improvement on the Greenbelt time. The week before I had purchased a pair of Brooks running tights to try and keep warm in the cold mornings and also get all the other benefits such as reduced lactic acid, improved muscle protection etc. Unfortunately, I was a bit ambitious and bought a size too small, not really knowing how tight they were supposed to feel, and didn't really realise this until after the event. I decided to wear them on the day of the race thinking the Barossa would be a bit cooler but ended up feeling restricted in them whilst running. I made a couple of other rookie mistakes too in that I ate too much the night before, and also had a banana several hours before the race, thinking to give myself the right fuel to get through it. I ended up having a stitch halfway through the run and never felt that great in the guts throughout. The course had a few hills in it too which made it a bit more challenging, and the weather warmer than I expected which did not help my covered legs!
End result was an improvement on the Greenbelt time, from 1:02:23 to 1:00:37, so managed to take almost 2 mins off my pb but missed out on cracking the hour mark by 37 seconds - aarrggh! David improved on his HM time too, by 20 seconds or so down to 1:36:13.
So, I yet again had to set my sights on the next event, the Torrens Classic, a few weeks later on 18/6 to achieve my goal of running 10k in under an hour.

The next steps

Ok, so the program was finished, our coach had gone and I was on my own, sort of. Luckily, we had a great group or runners in the program, as well as some 'veterans' who had been through the program late in 2005 and were in training for their first half marathon (HM). Whilst there was no further support from the club or coach to depend on, a number of us were quite determined to continue running and progress, albeit at various levels.
My next opportunity to complete 10k in an event, was the Greenbelt 10k/Hm in early May, and this race was also going to be the first HM effort for our 'veteran' group members David, Leslie, Deb & Garth, who had been training for some months in preparation. Phil, another vet, and part of the original inspirations to join the club as I had been exposed to it through him at work, unfortunately got injured the week before and couldn't make it, although came out to support the rest of us on the day. I have to say that this is one of the things I have really enjoyed about the running community, whether our little group of 10 or so, or all the folks on Coolrunning, everyone is very supportive and genuinely interested in helping each other, regardless of ability. Makes you reflect on the quality of the human spirit, really does.

Talk about a tough race to break your cherry! The morning of the Greenbelt dawned cold & wet, and got worse from there! The weather was shocking, it actually hailed on us a couple of times and rained heavily during the race, not to mention the bloody wind, which never seemed to be at your back! The 10k was hard enough but and I managed to finish in 1:02:37, which I was quite happy with given the circumstances, but those in the HM were real champions. Imagine getting hailed on at the start of a race and still grinding out 21.1k as the conditions got worse. At one point a few of us joked that we should have worn a bike helmet for protection! Anyway David came in under 100 mins, great for his 1st half, and the rest of the team were between 2:25 and 2:30. Everyone who finished that half deserved a medal I reckon.

So I had finally run a 10k but was very keen to crack the hour mark, so check the next instalment of the Chronicles of Ward to find out:)

A Single Step - Start running

They say that any journey, even the longest, begins with a single step. With that in mind, I thought it sensible that my first post recount that first step, as a means to cover the journey thus far, especially given that I am now six months into this running caper and only just starting this blog.
Here goes - back on Australia Day, 26/1/06, I decided it was time to get my finger out and do something to improve my fitness and lose some weight. In my younger days I had always been reasonably fit & healthy but got slack in my late twenties and have been carrying varying levels of excess weight for most of the last decade. So when I hopped on the scale and it said "One at a time please!", I figured the time was now. So that day I sent off a membership form to join the SARRC, our South Australian Road Runners Club, and participate in their Start Running 10 week program. At that point, I was 128kg and could not run more than a kilometre without stopping or walking.
Our first group session was Sunday 3/2 and I had done a couple of run/walks in the week leading up to that. Our coach outlined the training program, which was essentially began at a 3k run/walk and concluded at a 10k event in 9 weeks time. The fact that there was an expectation to run 10k in that time frame from our starting point seemed ambitious to many of us at that time and caused a bit of nervous laughter around the crew. The plan involved 3 weekly run/walks on our own and a 4th with the group each sunday morning where we would progress from 3 to 10k across the weeks. Only 15 min run/walks were required in the first week, progressing to 30mins by week 5 and almost an hour by week 10. I followed the program religiously and whilst progress was slow, it was steady and by week 5 I was ready for our first event, the Glenelg Classic 5k run. A bit daunting but keen to get through it, I was just hoping to be able to complete it without stopping. I ended up running the whole way, a great course along the esplanade at Glenelg and managed to complete it in 33:29, an average of 6.66 minutes per km. We then progressed slowly through the next few weeks with the grand finale and our 'coming out' race to be the Carisbrooke Classic 10k in early April. Whilst my running was reasonably on track, unfortunately I had a shocker of a cold on the day and really should have stayed in bed. I dragged myself up and out however but only managed to finish the first 5k loop, I had absolutely nothing left in the tank at that point and was feeling very ordinary. I suffered for it over the next week or so as the cold/flu really lingered as a result of me using up all my body's germ fighting energy on that Sunday when i should have just stayed in bed. I was disappointed not to have been able to complete the program as scheduled but knew there would be plenty of opportunities later to complete in my first 10k event. I'll take up the rest of the journey in the next post as at this point the beginners program was over, even though I still had rookie status in my own mind, in fact probably still do! Apologies for the length of these posts, but as I say at the top this blog, it's as much for me to recollect and keep track as for anything or anyone else and this is the best way I know how to do it. As a rookie blogger I'm not sure about protocol on these things so I'll keep plugging away but welcome any feedback or comments.

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