Thursday, June 28, 2012

After the HBF run the weather turned sour so training was just in the form of  walking, not as good as running but still beneficial. We departed for our NZ holiday a few days days later, where I had 'visions' of having at least half a dozen endurance improving training runs over the famous undulating terrain.Sadly, it turned out to be two training sessions, one whilst we were visiting the lovelyArt Deco Town of Napier .which is situated on Hawkes Bay on the North Island. It was over a week since my last run & so I didn't expect to feel at all good with it. The day was cool, not cold with a light breeze and I managed to run, with some walking 6 kilometres along the Napier Esplanade this took 39 minutes and I felt pretty exhausted by the end of it! I blamed it on the 5 hour bus journey we endured the previous day from Wellington. Five days later after we had returned to Wellington I thought another run would be advisable as I didn't want to leave it too long between training sessions, particularly at this early part of my 'come back' It was cold and blowing a gale but I wasn't to be deterred!  I left the Hotel and jogged down Lambton Quay to the Waterfront.
 There I was met with a very strong wind with gusts up to 35 knots plus it was only around 8 C not conditions that would encourage one to venture outside, let alone run a along an unprotected waterfront.
 I was feeling very stiff and sore, no doubt the weather conditions didn't help. I walked away from the City in the direction of Oriental bay with the wind behind me. I just kept walking, running wasn't an option as my legs were too cold and I didn't want to risk an injury.I carried on for 2 1/2 kilometres turned round to run back and literally ran on the spot! The wind strength was truly amazing. so strong in fact, that very afternoon an elderly man (not me!) was actually blown into the harbour. He wasn't a swimmer so luckily for him some people walking past saved him from drowning.The end result of this silly foray into a Wellington winters afternoon was a very heavy cold which put a dampener on the rest of my holiday, in fact it took me over two weeks to shake it off completely.We arrived back in Australia mid June and with a heavy cold I didn't feel up to any hard work outs so after a couple of days rest from the journey I jogged for a couple of kilometres and felt terrible. Back, it seemed, to where I was at fitness wise, weeks ago.
 Cheers Michael

Monday, June 25, 2012

Welcome to my Blog.
 I have taken up running again after a break of 30 years and for those who may be interested in athletics I will be posting my progress once or twice a week.
 In October 2010 while watching my Son run in the Fremantle half Marathon I began to wonder the possibilities of running again. Could I run competitively once again? as I did as a Club Athlete all those years ago. Unfortunately I kept talking myself out of it so it has taken 18 months to pluck up the courage and do it. One of the reasons for my reluctance was the fact that around 12 years ago I had a back injury which left me unable to walk or stand for more than a minute or two at a time, slowly the nerve damage healed and I regained normal movement even though cold weather does make the back twinge a little.
 As I'm on the wrong side of sixty I had a medical check up before I commenced training.
  My training at the start was walking! Yes, two years of retirement had left me feeling torpid and so I thought a few weeks of brisk walking would lay the foundations for a sound fitness regime.On top of this I reduced my alcohol intake from around 10 standard drinks a week to as few as 2 now and boy do I feel better for it!
 The first run was ACTUALLY a stagger! brisk walking with the odd 50 metre jog. I was in my third week of this when my Son suggested I run in a WA Marathon Club event over 5 kilometres. I was extremely nervous but did it with a time of 29.57 Not exactly world class but considering the preparation I was quite happy.
 A week or two later at the end of May we had the HBF run for a reason over 4 kilometres where I finished in the top 19% with well over 7 thousand in that race it was a struggle trying to get past the folk actually running slower than me! My time for that was 23.59.
 In a couple of days I will write about my training, how I've progressed and the level that I am up to now.
 cheers, Michael