Rocking 'n' Rolling

Mon 19th 11.0k 53:24 4:51 Avg HR 139

After Sunday's 36k run, it was pleasing to be able to run such a steady recovery run on a Monday night. In fact this was a Heart Rate PB for this course.

Tue 20th 9.7k 45:56 4:41 HR 157

Another hilly fartlek session.

Wed 21st 15.3k 1:17:03 5:02 HR 142

An easy lower aerobic run.

Thu 22nd 15.3k 1:09:17 4:31 HR 155

So far I have been putting a quality upper aerobic run each week on my 11k course. As I would be back at work next week, I thought I would have a crack at my longer 15k course. It turned out to be a corker of a run. So far this year my best time here was 1:15:12 and my all time best from April 2007 was 1:13:39, so I surpassed both those by a huge margin.

Fri 23rd Rest

Sat 24th 15.3k 1:18:27 5:07 HR 138

An easy aerobic run.

Sun 25th 36.0k 3:11:00 5:19 HR 135

Just when you think things are going so well reality comes up from behind and bites you on the bum. I got away around 6:00am and it was a brisk morning. I had settled down into a nice easy pace. At around 4k there is a little sharp rise at the back of the Ashgrove Bowls Club which at the top gives you a nice view of the Valleys Cricket Ovals. This morning it was covered in a thick blanket of fog about a metre high. It was very picturesque and I was admiring the view, when I suddenly lost my footing and almost stumbled over. Looking back, I saw I had landed my left foot on a seed pod. One of those giant seed pods that has two or three seeds about the size of golf balls in them. My left ankle was shouting out at me and I stopped to assess the damage. The initial pain seemed to subside fairly quickly, so decided I would continue on slowly and see how it felt. After a few minutes the pain had almost all gone so I continued on.

When I got back home at 25k I could have stopped but it really wasn't bothering me that much, so I set out for the final 11k. In hindsight this was probably a mistake. From then on I could feel it antime I turned to the left. The last 5k was a bit of a struggle. In the end my time was very good for such a low Heart Rate but as soon as I stopped I knew the ankle was not going to be good.

Did all the RICE stuff for the rest of the day, so hopefully that will aid the recovery.

Week: 102.6k

May: 345k

Year: 1,386k

Monday 26th

Today, I returned to work after being on leave since mid December. It was a sad sight seeing me hobbling back. Talk about adding insult to injury. The ankle has improved a little today but I would estimate it will need a least two or three more days of rest before trying to run on it. This is a shame as I was really looking forward to putting in a big effort in the Doomben Half this Sunday. On a positive side, I had left my entry to the last minute so will have not lost an entry fee if I don't recover in time. If I am back running before the weekend, it will not be too much of a set back for the Gold Coast. In fact, it could just freshen me up for a final month of quality training.

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