This is the LONG RUN

"At first we are going to do it EASY ... but then ... at the finish we are going to do it ROUGH " ..... Tina Turner

End of the week

I received an Email (which I didn't read until Friday night)....

"Toasty, I am planning a 5am start to run a 32k via the Story bridge and then over Mt Coot-tha and back. Haven’t done it for a couple of years. Harder than the river loop. See you at 5 if interested. Cheers, Glenno."

OK, so this will round out the week... Clairie left me to go to Sydney, but I'll get by. I think it was about 7:30 pm when I got the email from Glenno so I made plans for an early night .... as you do on a Friday ....right?????

Thursday, I ran my Tempo, having given Pat the flick, in order to be fit enough for a good run at Canberra. This run (the Tempo) is 6 km warm up followed by 5 km at whatever I can do. This turned out to be 21:38, although I think Garmin added a few 100 metres. Not to worry, I have another half dozen of these to go before the Canberra Marathon.

This week finished at 80 something km or 50 plus miles for those caught in ye old metrics.

I really enjoyed the run with Glenno. It was bloody hard, in colonial terms. Puffing up the mountain after an hour or so at a decent pace seemed harder than either of us could remember. I guess that is a sign of age ... not being able to remember how hard these runs can be.

I did manage the "finish the last few km at marathon pace" .....

The early start meant I missed seeing a few of the other crew ..... I hope Matty and Celeste are doing well in their preparations for Canberra. There is only a month to go!

After the Saturday run and breakfast, I came home and endured another ice bath before crawling back to bed for a few hours. Somewhat refreshed, I experienced a re-born start to the day and joined Katy to the Expo for Monster Trucks (except it wasn't really Monster Trucks).

We love the Monster Truck Expo ...... so much fun seeing all the people it attracts. The highlight was a detailed discussion with Mr Mud-Flap (except he wasn't Mr Mud-Flap) where he explained how his product worked. It was kinda strange and amusing to hear someone so proud of this product that he would like to refer himself by it. Katy almost lost control when he described how one of his products wasn't suited to the "ruts in the road" and how it came down to which highway one chose to travel....... OK this might not be making sense but I'll happily share the decode words if appropriate by Email ... this is a family show, donchano.

Step 2 - Adding volume

Monday is the the day I add extra sessions to increase volume in my training. It starts out as a rest day, then a morning recovery run and in the peak week, a double with morning and evening.

I always run a little quicker at night, especially down by the creek amongst the trees ...


Tuesday is Pat's Running School for speed and sunglasses.

Wednesday is the mid-week run, which ends up about 21 km or half marathon distance. This has been getting easier although winding up the muscles at the same time. Note to self: "get a massage".

Start of a training week.

In a series of posts, I thought I'd run through my program whilst I started checking the calender and putting down the sessions I'll be doing through to July this year. Basically I work off a 1 week cycle .....

Sunday is the beginning of my training week and it often start here with my two coaches (that's them below). I'm not sure why, but I really like these scupltures and enjoy staring at them whilst I stretch after the session. This session if a 10K or 6 mile recovery run, starting in the evening around 5 or 6. I like to start off slow and throw in some fartleaks (I suppose they are spelled differently). When I hit my full training week this run will be a Tempo but Recovery will do for now.



Foreign corespondant Dick, told me abut a book called “The Secret,” which is a the self-help book (and DVD) by Rhonda Byrne, an Australian reality-TV producer. The book hit No. 1 on the USA Today best-seller list this week.

Being a number 1 seller doesn't naturally mean I would know about it, as I'm not the best reader, so I'm thankful to Dick for bringing it to my attention.

A couple of comments grabbed my attention:

"If you think you’re this meat suit running around, you know, you have to think again” [I had imagined nicely arranged meat cuts forming a running man]. After shaking that image, the point hits home there is more than our mechanical side......

“We create our own circumstances by the choices that we make, and the choices that we make are fueled by our thoughts,” .....“So our thoughts are the most powerful thing that we have here on earth. And based upon what we think — and [what] we think determines who we are — we attract who we are into our lives.”

Think about that!

Dear All

Lots to talk about, so I'm going to get right to it.

Three events have happened recently:

1. I ran the Caboolture Dusk to Dawn for 3 hours with Geoff doing the 1st leg in the 6 hour relay..
2. I resigned from my job on Monday
3. I got a text message

Caboolutre Dusk to Dawn is a 12 hour run. A couple of notable points:

A/ Tesso was still running strong for 6 hours. I don't know anyone else that can do that. She is .... ready .... A GIFTED ATHLETE!!!!!!
B/ Clairie is ready for Canberra. She was so, game face, out of my way, I mean business, etc. I couldn't keep up.
C/ Thanks for the support Matty. (see the photos)
D/ Glenno and Geoff, great soldiers.
E/ It rained really really heavy and this event should be called the Duck to Dawn accounting for the sloshing through mud.
F/ This is the event Rob the Runner would do.



My text message from Crouton Clare "I did a 800 in 3:56, I came 2nd in my class after Catherine. It was a super hot day too!"

(You can only imagine how proud I am of her)

Did you notice there aren't any Email links on comments anymore? I'm going to reply to a few thing right now.

CJ: "How was the Dusk To Dawn?" .... Nothing normal about running around in the dark, in the mud at midnight ... it was ... when I realised I wasn't normal.

Ewen: "Reading between the lines, it sounds like Clairie couldn't catch you." .... she did when she lapped me ... then she did again ... and again ... and again ... then she ran past and slapped me on the bum.

Bolder: No, you can't borrow the belly dancing costume!

Tesso:



Rob: I was wiped out like a little kitten after the Dusk to Dawn. That's is what the photo was. As for the buffalo reference, I was saying I was lagging behind my running friends.

Sam/Lynn: Need your help. I started to work on visualisation and will be getting my mind right for the next run.

Black Knight: I think pole dancing would be a great new job.

Bolder: No

Bolder: Quit asking, you can never borrow that outfit.

Buffalo

A herd of buffalo can move only as fast as the slowest buffalo, and when the herd is hunted, the slowest and weakest ones at the back are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular culling of the weakest members.

Last night (Caboolture Dusk to Dawn), I was thankful that I wasn't a Buffalo.

Pole Dancing

It was about 5 months ago, I told Katy that there was no future for me in my current job. I concluded that my position was untenable due to the people I was working with. I have no grudges against them, they just weren't for me. So the hunt for a new job began and along the way, I injured my leg, Katy had to leave an evil boss, then later Katy REALLY injured herself ..... could say we weren't having the best of luck. But now .....

Katy is riding to work and I have a new job. The business makes poles .... so relax the title is not going to be about anything raunchy.

There is more to our good luck, with croûtons Clare having her front teeth appear (been missing for 5 years) and now Andrew has been made school vice captain. I'm very proud of them both.

And ........ we have a dishwasher!

Wheeeeeee

My Friend

There has been times when my choice of pictures has been questioned ......

not today:



Today I was invited to come along to the Brisbane Road Runners as part of bring a friend day. I had the absolute pleasure to run with Tesso.

Thanks, friend.

Building Up

I enter day 33 of the 75 Beer diet and it has me wondering when will the drought break?

No Toast?

Yop?

Is any of this making sense?

Anyway .... so here's how the conversation goes ...

Katy "I wanna go to Canberra and see CJ!"

Toast Hero "We can't, it is beyond our budget until you get a job"

Katy "Right then"

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.
.
.
.

Katy "I start on Monday"

Toast Hero "What?"

Katy "I got a job, so take me to CJ and we can eat chocolate"

Toast Hero "Great!" *** starts thinking ..... will run Canberra Marathon alongside Clarie ..... oh ..... better get my act together ... she is way ahead of me .... bugger ... I mean great"

and this video is my apology for the gross picture of the past .... Yop On Everyone!