Tuesday morning run

Had penciled in a Mona Fartlek this morning. Wasn't convinced this was the best idea based on how I have felt the past few days, coupled with the fact that the Sydney 10 this weekend. Ran easy up to North Head, decided to give it a crack, and made the executive delayed decision to pull the pin about 2 minutes in, as I really wasn't feeling it. Turned around and plodded home very slowly. Usually I am hard on myself for pulling the pin on a hard session, but today I feel great for doing so. My body really needed the rest, and is now thanking me for it. I now plan to have a complete rest day tomorrow, perhaps some strides in Thursday, and either rest or easy 30 minutes on Friday (and of course a massage)!

Monday morning run

15km easy this morning. 3 laps of Queenscliff to Shelly Beach and return. Probably just above 4:00 min/km pace. Still feeling flat, couldn't really wait to finish the run. Beautiful sunrise though.

Sunday (shorter than normal) long run - 24km

Strict instructions from coach Sean Williams this morning to keep it between 22-24km, at a much easier pace than I usually would complete my long run at. To be honest, that's probably all I could have managed today anyway - I've really had a great solid three weeks of solid hard training, and I feel that I am on the threshold between over-reaching and over-training, and am desperate to avoid the latter. Nevertheless, got through the run - didn't feel great, just wanted it to end really. The cold and miserable morning probably didn't contribute much to the lack of motivation or will power this morning. All up, another solid week completed of just shy of 130km. Now ready for a much needed recovery week with the lead up to the Sydney 10 next Saturday.

Saturday morning with Sean Williams - 8km threshold

Returned to Centennial Park for training this morning with Sean Williams' squad. It was great to see the group again, it's been a while! Up to 12km at threshold was the planned session this morning, but given the fact that I am racing the Sydney 10 next Saturday, Sean recommended keeping it to 8km between 3:20-3:25 min/km pace. Ended up holding 3:18 min/km for the entire 8km finishing in 26:26. Probably harder than threshold pace, but felt okay, especially given the amount of dew on the grass - which made things slightly heavy underfoot. Reducing the long run back to 24km tomorrow. Happy Anzac Day everyone!

Easy Friday

10km nice and easy along the Manly Beach front this morning. Beautiful sunrise, which was very welcome following a week of gloomy weather. Even had a chance to jump in the ocean post run. Really just focused on some tips given to me last night by Keith Bateman regarding optimising my technique. Felt good though. All up, roughly around 4:00 min/km pace.

Thursday morning session - Deek's quarters

Finally some sunshine!!! And no wind!!! Got up slowly this morning - again, similar to Tuesday, my body was not super keen to leave the bed this morning. Got up to North Head, ran the 8 x 400m with 200m float in 15:39 - a few seconds quicker than a fortnight ago, so can't complain. Still a bloody tough session though! It really does look so much easier on paper! Steady 9.2km cool down back to North Steyne rounding up with a solid 17km run.

Wednesday medium long run (20km)

Thank God that the mini cyclone has almost passed. Despite running in constant rain today, it felt magic compared to the conditions that we were confronted with yesterday. Got out and ran a solid 20km on the flag between Queenscliff and Shelly Beach. Fairly steady and consistent pace, running approximately 77 minutes. Interesting running on the sand down near Queenscliff SLSC, as the previous day's weather had decided to relocate half the beach up onto the pavilion and road. Saw Maca and Quentin early on - they got up too early for me this morning, hence why I ran solo.

Tuesday session - Mona Fartlek in cyclone-like conditions!!!

Well, the weather only deteriorated overnight. I was being optimistic in hoping that the wind would die down - it did the polar opposite. Upon waking up, I checked the iPhone weather app (which is the meteorologist's equivalent of getting all of your news from Alan Jones) to see that it was currently blowing a 70km/hr southerly wind! I was tossing up whether to run up at North Head (where that 70km/hr would be magnified significantly) or to run around the relatively sheltered Passmore Oval? I went the former, and upon getting home and seeing Tom Highnam's post on Facebook, I think I may have made the right decision - as he put up a photo showing Nolan's Reserve underwater!

Expectations were completely thrown out the window this morning regarding pacing and distance, so accumulating 5.77km for the 20 minutes of Fartlek felt like a win given the attrocious conditions. Honestly, there were parts of the run where I felt I was actually getting pushed backwards - I have never ever run in anything like it! Had a great tailwind for the 8km cool down, except for the final half a kilometre upon turning around at Queenscliff to run to North Steyne - again, moving backwards, but this time with sand penetrating my skin like bullets from a gun! It was definitely one of those mornings where the sane thing to do would have been to stay in bed, and while I must say that I didn't particularly enjoy being out there, I am very glad to have finished the session and done my bit for the day. Only saw one other runner out there this morning (at least I am not the only idiot around). The weather bureau is predicting the worst of the East Coast low pressure system to hit Sydney this morning, with winds progressively reducing over the next few days - great news! To cap the run off, I returned home as the power went off! Couldn't even enjoy a nice cup of rooibos tea post-run!

Conditions at South Curl Curl below - more like a washing machine

Monday morning 15km

I am not a massive fan of running in the rain - well, once I am wet it's great. However, finding the motivation to leave a warm bed and venture out into a cold and wet morning with a solid southerly wind is never easy. Building upon what I briefly mentioned on Friday regarding running technique, I decided to have another run in my old New Balance Minimus road shoes. When I initially wore these 3 years ago, I wasn't a fan as I felt they induced a lot of unnecessary strain through my calf muscles, and I didn't like the increase in shock I felt with each foot step. Obviously, as I have grown older, wiser, and more mature (although these three statements are extremely debatable, especially if you are speaking with my mother), and I actually got a lot out of the session. Ran a solid 15km on the dead flat loop between Queenscliff and Shelly Beach for 3 laps, holding sub 4:00 min/km pace. Surprisingly pulled up great after the run, and no niggles throughout the remainder of the day - which I was very happy with. Bracing myself for tomorrow - the session will be tough, but the weather conditions will be even tougher, with gale force winds and heavy rain predicted. It's days like those that distinguish champions from competitors.

Sunday long run - 30km

Another Sunday, another 30km. I was originally planning on running with the Manly Crew, but let my place out on AirBNB last night so ended up staying with my Grandmother at South Curl Curl. Another nice morning, ran to Shelly Beach, up to Turimetta Headland, and back to South Curl Curl. Ran without a watch, but I know I finished the run in just under 2 hours - so quite a solid pace! Must have been the Jamacian food I had with my mate Pat last night at the recently opened Jamtown in Manly. I strongly recommend this place - the food is authentic, generous serving sizes, unbelievably cheap (by Manly standards that is). The only gripe was the slow service - but all was forgotten once we started eating!

Saturday session - 7km threshold/time-trial

Motivation was low this morning. Ran up to North Head, planned to initially run a 10km threshold session around the Sydney Striders' North Head course. Went out solid, although my GPS played up massively, reading 3:40 min/km for the entire first km - which was definitely faster than that. From then on, it was in catchup mode, consistently dropping the pace as the run went on. Got to 5km in an average time of 16:45, and decided to just hold on strongly for another 2km to bring it up to a total of 7km in 23:32 minutes. Not a quick time by any means, but it was at the back end of another solid and consistent week of training, which included a 10km road race in Canberra and 130km for the week. It was uncharacteristically warm this morning - a solid 21 degrees Celcius at 6:30am and humid. Based on the upcoming weather forecast, I think this may be the last of it.

Friday short run

Got out for a steady 10km run this morning, two laps of Queenscliff to Shelly Beach and return. I've been working closely with Keith Bateman lately trying to optimise my running technique, so this was a great opportunity to really focus on some key aspects that I need to improve. Nice morning, held just under 4:00 min/km pace for the run.

Thursday morning session - Deek's quarters

I really had to fight myself to get up and run this morning - a few restless nights of sleep had finally caught up with me, and the motivation was quite low this morning. Struggled through the warm-up, got to the top of North Head and just thought 'what the hell - just hang in there and get it done!' Apart from a 10-15 second pause following the third rep (a bit of dry reaching going on), had a solid session, finishing the 4.8km worth of 400/200 in 15:34, 6 seconds quicker than last week - so have to be satisfied with that; although I am not sure if my moment at the end of the third rep my have been conducive to a slightly quicker time. I'll take it nevertheless! A solid 9.2km cool down back to Manly Beach left me with a grand total of 17km.

Wednesday morning medium long run (20km)

Another change in scenery today. I had a couple stay at my place at Manly last night, so stayed up at Narrabeen and ran up there. Essentially ran my old stomping ground, but in reverse. 20km all up (I think anyway, that's perhaps conservative, as I didnt wear a watch), and some nice hills - especially running up over Cooks Terrace and Turrimetta Headland. Saw a few familiar faces along the route - a few of them doing double-takes as I literally disappeared from being a regular everyday feature along this route when I moved to Manly just over two years ago. Finished off with a quick dip in the ocean at Narrabeen beach. Can't ask for a better start to the day then that really!

Regional Interdependence - Why you need to think beyond the site of pain

As mentioned on this blog previously, it is increasingly common to see athletes reinjure themselves following discharge. Commonly this stems from the status quo in the world of rehabilitation, which is unfortunately commonly solely focused on the specific area of pain, with little or no consideration of the musculoskeletal anatomy that lies above and below. It is imperative that we as physiotherapists consider that there is interdependence on the whole region.

We use the term 'regional interdependence' to acknowledge that, in the human body, everything is related to everything. Regional interdependence refers to the concept that seemingly unrelated impairments in a remote anatomical region may contribute to, or be associated with, the athlete's primary complaint. I will highlight this concept by describing a classic and common example that I come across in my day-to-day practice.

I've lost count of the number of client's I have seen with a chronic right-sided lower extremity injury - be it an Achilles tendinopathy, plantar fasciitis, 'Runner's knee,' etc., with a concurrent restriction through their opposite thoracic spine - i.e. they present with limited mobility when turning their torso to the left. In simplistic terms, if we follow the fascial lines of the posterior oblique chain, we can trace the orientation of the muscle fibres of the right-sided gluteus maximus as they progress superiorly and medially (i.e. up and towards the midline of the body), connecting to the thoracolumbar junction (you can think of the thoracolumbar junction as a sturdy supporting structure in which a whole heap of muscles and tendons attach to). Continue in this direction and you will find yourself now on the left-sided latissimus dorsi muscle, which wraps around your thoracic spine, finishing at your left shoulder (see picture below).

Why is this important? When you make initial contact with the ground with your right foot whilst running (hopefully landing with your foot directly underneath - NOT in front - of your body), your pelvis is rotated in an anti-clockwise direction. To counteract this motion, your upper torso (thoracic spine) must rotate in the opposite direction (clockwise) to ensure that you project in a forward direction - and not deviating towards the left. Hence, a restriction in the amount that your thoracic spine can rotate will allow more rotation towards the left through your entire right-sided lower extremity when it is in contact with the ground. Running is a uni-planar sport - meaning that you essentially only move in one direction - forwards. Any extra rotation (or 'torque,' in biomechanics terms) through your lower extremity is going to place far more stress on the bones, ligaments, muscles, tendons, and cartilage than needs to be - eventually resulting in an overuse injury further down the track (no pun intended). If we look at the knee - it is primarily designed to bend and straighten (although, a very small amount of rotation can occur - but that is irrelevant in the current discussion). If your thoracic spine cannot counteract the rotation that occurs through your pelvis when running, your knee will bend on a slight angle. You can liken this to the analogy of a door on hinges. If you open and close the door normally, there is no issue. However, if every time you open the door, you grab onto the top of it and hang off it as it opens, the hinges are going to bend each time - eventually breaking. This is what is essentially happening every time you run if you have a restriction or limitation through your thoracic spine.

So what does this all mean, and what are the implications for us as physiotherapists as we move our profession forward in the near-future? I think we need to put much greater emphasis on the basic principles of screening our clients and athletes for pain, restricted mobility, stability and asymmetries in areas away from their presenting injury. In fact, this principle can be applied to athletes pre-injury. It's funny in the way that we go to the dentist every 12 months for a routine check-up, visit the GP every 6 months for a standard blood test - hell we even get our motor vehicles serviced annually - however, most people come to visit a physiotherapist once they have already sustained an injury. The take home message here is that most overuse running-related injuries are totally preventable, and can be identified sub-clinically (i.e. prior to the onset of pain) via a comprehensive physical examination coupled with a thorough patient history. Tools such as the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) and Selective Functional Movement Assessment (SFMA) are movements towards the right direction in challenging the status quo of the rehabilitation world from a 'cure' mindset to a more cost-effective 'prevention' approach. If something doesn't feel right - don't hesitate to make an appointment with a physiotherapist (preferably someone who likes to think 'outside of the square'), before a little 'niggle' turns out to be a full-blown injury sidelining you for months.

Tuesday morning session - Mona Fartlek

It definitely doesn't get any easier. I had to convince myself to get out of bed this morning, as my body protested against my alarm and mind. They say that you should refrain from any speed work / quality sessions for one day for each mile raced. In that case, a 10km road race shouldn't see me performing this session until Friday at the earliest. I counteracted this truism by reassuring myself whilst warming up to not worry about the distance and/or pace of this morning's session - just simply get it done. All in all, it was tough, and ended up covering 6.05 km over the 20 minute session, a full 30 meters further than last week - averaging just over 3:18 min/km pace. So all up very satisfied. Finished with a solid 8 km cool down, and struggling to walk now. Already looking forward to going to bed tonight for some sleep!

Monday morning run

Back in Manly for the first time on a Monday morning since January. Still feeling stiff in the legs following Canberra on Saturday and the 30km long run yesterday, and the right foot had ideas other than running. Nevertheless, I kept it flat this morning and ran 3 laps of Queenscliff to Shelly Beach and back, averaging just under 4 minute per kilometre pace. All up felt ok, and as usual, the right foot became less of an issue as the run progressed. Another awesome sunrise, followed by a quick dip in the warm ocean at North Steyne. Can't complain!

Sunday long run

Definitely felt a bit flat this morning following yesterday's race! To make matters worse, my right foot was having none of it, protesting as it does via sending pain signals to my brain with every step upon getting out of bed. In fact, the right foot was double the size of my left due to its stubborn swelling. Nevertheless, putting on the shoes once again eased the discomfort somewhat, so I strolled out leisurely for the long run. Once again, the pain subsided at around the 5km mark (warming up is a great sign), so I continued steadily for the next 25km - coming home in 2:02 hours holding just over 4:00 min/km for the entire 30km. Faster than anticipated, but nonetheless great to get it done. Now to find a pub in Manly that will televise the Chinese Formula 1 Grand Prix!

Australian Running Festival - 10km

World record conditions down in the nation's capital this morning! In terms of weather that is - not the course route. A beautiful sunrise coupled with a chilly, but bearable 8 degrees Celcius provided a beautiful backdrop to what I would have previously described as a dull location void of character. One thing I learnt this morning - Canberra actually has hills, and unfortunately the organisers of the Australian Running Festival incorporated them into the 10km course. The gun went and I got into a comfortable rhythm. This however was disrupted quite earlier than hoped due to the first 1km being primarily up hill towards Parliament House. I think the first 1km split was a slow 3:30 min/km. the ensuing 3-7km was undulating - no massive hills, but enough rolling bumps to really disrupt any consistent comfortable pacing strategy. I was averaging 3:19 min/km pace up until just after the 8km mark (on track for an offical 10km PB), but came seriously unstuck upon the final 1km rise towards the finish line (which was seriously cruel). Coming around the final corner for a 300m run to the line, it was the simple art of putting one foot in front of the other and trying not to fall over (due to exhaustion). I don't know what the pace of my final km was (nor do I want to know), but I dropped my average pace to 3:22 min/km to finish with the time of 33:46 minutes (9th outright). Nevertheless, I have to be satisfied with the run, as it was only 7 seconds off my PB, and given the toughness of the course, I feel that that was the absolute best result I could have dragged out today. This result also helped myself regain my confidence that was unfortunately shattered last week following a dismal showing at Lane Cove after two weeks of inconsistent training due to illness. Next on the cards is the Sydney 10 at Homebush on May 2!

A big congratulations to Hugh Williams (fellow physiotherapist) how had a 'blinder' return to racing finishing second outright in the super quick time of 31:19. Not far behind him was fourth placed Mitch Dean (32:14), who amazingly backed up just over an hour later to finish second in the 5km race (15:53) - using it as a great training 'hit out' in his lead up to London. Anna White had another strong race to complete the final step on the podium for the female's 10km race. She was closely followed home by fellow 'SWEATER' and McGrath representative Sandi Rabie who finished a credible sixth outright in the females in a fast time of 38:50. Lastly, but definitely not least, was Audrey Amiya-Hall who was just pipped on the line by 2 seconds, settling for second place in the females 5km road race.

Friday easy run

Broke tradition this morning by actually going for a run! This is even more unique given that I am racing tomorrow! Felt good to get out, another nice morning. I just wanted to see how my right foot was holding up, and it felt half decent at about the 5km mark onwards. I used this to gauge how long I should warm up for tomorrow morning. All up, an easy 10km (2 laps of Queenscliff to Shelly Beach and return), feeling better at the end compared to the start - objective achieved!

Thursday morning session - Deek's Quarters

They say that you can only perform 'Deek's Quarters' on a 400m track! Therefore, I should call this a 'modified Deek's Quarters,' or perhaps even 'Lewis' Quarters.' This short, but very sweet session, is named after another Australian sporting icon, Robert de Castella. On paper, it's very easy - 8 x 400m with a 200m float. Similarly to the Mona Fartlek, the term 'float' is not used lightly - and is ideally no more than 10-20 seconds per km slower than the repetitions. What your left with at the end of Deek's Quarters is 4.8km of bloody hard running! It is said that the time in which you cover the 4.8km is a strong indicator of your current 5km time (I certainly hope so anyway).

Ran a steady 3km warm-up from my apartment in Manly to North Head, and ran the session on the circuit loop up there. Psychologically it was easier to push the intensity in comparison to my previous Thursday favourite session of 15 x 400m/ 200m float given the marked reduction in repetitions. However, this was completely offset by the increase in intensity - leaving myself with what I believe to be actually a tougher session. I completed the session in 15:40 minutes, which I was pretty happy with for a first attempt - especially given the undulating nature of the North Head loop. The right foot held up fine, I didn't actually notice it until the cool down.

Enjoyed another spectacular sun rise during the long 9.2km cool down along Manly Beach! Went home and bit the bullet and entered the 10km race at the Australian Running Festival in Canberra this Saturday. I adament on getting my pacing right, and Canberra could prove a good opportunity for this as I will likely not know the other athletes, so I can focus solely on myself and ensuring that I don't go out too hard once again!

Wednesday medium long run

What a massive relief that was!!! 20km (4 laps of Queenscliff to Shelly Beach and return) holding sub-4:00 minute/km pace feeling great! This was on the back of a horrible day previously as the cynic in myself predicted a worse case scenario of a right-sided fourth metatarsal stress fracture. I could barely walk following Tuesday's run, the dorsal surface of my outer foot was swollen like a balloon, and I had focal point tenderness right on top of the bony shaft of the metatarsal. Experience tells me that one way to differentially diagnose between a metarsal stress fracture vs. a lower grade bone stress response or metatarsalgia is to determine how the symptoms play out up one attempting to run. If the pain 'warms-up' and improves as the run progresses, the latter is more likely. Alternatively, if the pain deteriorates, a stress fracture could be 'on the cards.' Luckily for me today, the pain on my right foot disappeared (almost) completely after the first 5km. Surprisingly, I was limping less post run than on Tuesday - which is encouraging.

However, like any overuse injury - the essence is to determine the underlying cause - or the 'culprit.' If you have been following my blog, you would note that I have recently completed the majority of my speed work around an anti-clockwise circuit at Passmore Reserve. This means that for the majority of these sessions, my stride length is longer on my right side. This, I believe, put an excessive amount of stress through my peroneal muscles (the muscles on the outside of your lower leg and ankle). In a subconscious attempt to unload these tender muscles, which are responsible for subtalar eversion (i.e. turning your ankle to the side so that the sole of your foot faces away from your body) - and therefore allow you to push off the ball of your foot when running ideally off your first and/or second metatarsal (i.e. closer to the big toe) - my central nervous system compensated by forcing myself to push off on the outside of my foot to propel myself forward. This would likely cause a significant increase in stress towards the outside of the ball of my forefoot - leading to a likely bone stress reaction through my fourth metatarsal bone.

Now that I am aware of this, I ensured that I resumed to the ideal biomechanics of pushing off through the inside of the ball of my right forefoot (like how I always have, and similar to my left side). This obviously relieved the excessive loading through my poor fourth metatarsal!

Who said running related injuries are boring! No two injuries are ever the same, and this is why it is vital to take a comprehensive patient history backed up by a thorough physical examination that considers every single factor that may have played a part in the current clinical presentation.

Tuesday morning session - Mona Fartlek

I've been meaning to try this session for a long time. I have only heard good things ('good' is the correct term if you are saddistic like most endurance athletes) about this workout - popularised by the legendary Australian distance runner Steve Moneghetti. On paper, the session sounds quite easy and basic. 2 sets of 90 seconds 'on,' 90 seconds 'float,' 4 sets of 60 seconds 'on,' 60 seconds 'float,' 4 sets of 30 seconds 'on,' 30 seconds 'float,' finishing with 15 seconds 'on,' 15 seconds 'float.' This accumulates to a total duration of 20 minutes. The trick to this session, however, is the term 'float' - which is definitely not 'recovery, rest or jog.' In fact, it is suggested that this should only be about 10-15 seconds per km slower than the efforts.

I headed out from home (now back at Manly) for an easy 3km warm-up to the top of North Head. I completed the session on the 5km undulating loop - getting a total of 6.02km with an average pace of 3:19min/km. Not really too impressed with the time or pace, but nevertheless established a baseline for which I can strive to improve on next time. The session itself is gold! After finishing the second 60 second effort, the legs went heavy and started protesting. I hung on for the back half of the session (psychologically it is slightly easier as the duration of the efforts decreases - but so too do the floats). I can definitely see why it was used on a weekly basis by Steve and his training group - as the session itself offers so many benefits. It teaches you how to respond to surges in races, how to recover between bouts, and a longer term adaptation should see a rise in lactate threshold.

Completed a nice 8km cool down along the Manly Beach front, and was again treated to another stunning morning. I have noted some marked pain on the top surface of the head of my fourth metatarsal on my right foot - so will keep a close eye on this. May have to ditch the 8km easy run this afternoon.

Monday morning run - something different

Got up earlier than usual, partially due to the fact that my body has not yet adapted to the extra hour we added on the previous night. Ran a steady 15km from South Curl Curl to South Narrabeen SLSC and return. Averaged 4:25 min/km on the hilly course, didn't feel too hard either. Another beautiful morning, made better by the company I shared at breakfast after driving up to Mona Vale beach for a coffee with my mother and her swimmg group (the 'Dawn Busters') following their daily 1km Ocean swim (crazy - they will go out rain, hail or shine - all year round). It was fantastic to catch up with everyone again!

Sunday long run - 30km solo

I really needed a solo long run to come to terms with the disappointment of the previous day's race. I'm fact, I actually went for a 40 minute run Saturday afternoon (which may not be good advise for those reading - but it was great for my head space). No GPS today, which is typical for me on a Sunday - especially as I know all the distances off the back of my head. Ran from South Curl Curl to Turrimetta headland (the southern end of Warriewood Beach), returning straight into a headwind for the next 15km all the way to Shelley Beach, finishing the last 4km back to South Curl Curl with a nice tailwind. It was a beautiful morning, especially after the gloomy previous two days - and made even more so by the fact that we all wound our clocks back an hour with daylight savings ending. This is fantastic for all us early risers, as we now get our mornings back (well, at least for a month or two anyway).

Lane Cove 10km Sydney Striders

Not a great day at all. Woke up to pure darkness and pouring rain, which had well and truly 'set-in' for the day. Registration was completed with the volunteers wearing head torches - another first for me. Felt half decent in the warm-up, but nothing amazing. Saw Alex on the start line, so my race plan then became to stay with him for as long as possible. Noted Tom unusually staying three rows back from the starting line, suggesting that he was not up for racing today either (but never count him out)! The gun went off, with Dave and Barts making a break for it, with Chris gradually gapping myself and Alex. The course itself is unusual - as it is approximately 5.3km out (and mostly uphill), with a 4.7km return (and mostly downhill - but always feels less so at the back half of a 10km race). I glanced at my GPS a few times, but didn't really take much notice, as I have raced here before and it always seems totally unreliable due to the dense tree covering inhibiting the direct line of sight between my watch and the satellite. I stayed with Alex until we turned around, and then he absolutely bolted downhill - leaving me solo for the next 3km. Tom came past me at this point, and slightly towed me towards the finish line, gradually catching Alex - but not quick enough in the end. Ended with a PW (personal worse) time of 34:39. Just didn't have it at all today, and really just capped off a forgettable two weeks of training following a fantastic previous fortnight. Oh well, back to the drawing board in preparation for the State 10km Road Championships in early May. Still deciding whether to travel to Canberra next Saturday for the Australian Running Festival 10km.

Thursday morning session - another DNF!!!

I'm at a loss. I can't believe it - two times within the space of a week I have pulled the pin on a session. This is the tricky part where your mind plays tricks on you. You need to be able to differentiate between 'being soft' and actually listening to your body's internal signals hinting that something is not quite right. Of course, pulling the pin on a session always leaves you feeling like the former! But being more analytical, there are definitely signs that the latter was true. For those of you who know me, I have a tendency to train too hard (which essentially ended my days as a kayaker), and have been on the receiving end of 'overtraining syndrome' (yes, it actually is a recognised condition) more times than what I would like as a runner. However, overtraining is not simply just a condition that rears its head simply by training to hard and/or insufficient recovery. The latter term here is important - recover. Performance = training + recovery. Training is the variable that we can easily measure and quantify. The second variable, however, is where things can get tricky and more subjective. Recovery is more than simply not running in between sessions. It can be compromised by many variables, such as psychological stress, work commitments, family, etc. I remember back to my university days - running around exam times was terrible, my paces were horrible, and I felt heavy and sluggish no matter how good my diet was. But as soon as I finished my last exam, I felt like Mo Farah again (ok, probably not quite as quick)! Looking at the present tense, perhaps I expected too much this week on the back of being sick last week. Perhaps I was lured into a false sense of security following my return to running last Saturday with a great session! In hindsight, Tuesday's session was relatively poor - yet I stubbornly attributed this to the fact that my lacing was out and was attempting a newer, harder session than previously. Today was my attempt at my typical Thursday speed/fartlek session - 15 x 400m with a 200m float between. I actually felt horrible getting out of bed this morning! Warming up I felt my mind wondering and really dreading the first rep. Nevertheless, I pushed ahead an commenced the session - hoping that I would dust off the cobwebs within the first few efforts. No - it wasn't happening today! 71 seconds for the first rep, 72 for the second, deciding to stop after the third rep which was a sluggish 74 seconds. All with sub-4:00 minute pace 200m floats between. Perhaps the floats were too quick, but I just wasn't feeling it today. Repeating my opening line - sometimes you need to differentiate between being soft and being fatigued. I am adamant that the latter was responsible for today. More rest??? But I rested last week!!! Yes, whilst this is true, it was enforced rest secondary to being sick - not an ideal type of rest. Nevertheless, I will take the rest of today off (training that is - not working), as well as Friday (which is traditional for me anyway) in an attempt to be ready to race on Saturday! Happy Easter everyone!

Wednesday medium long run

Late night working last night meant that I missed the early start with the Manly guys this morning. I casually set my alarm for 6:50am and strolled out for a leisurely 18km return run from South Curl Curl to North Head. Saw Tom and Justin on way out - looking strong as always in their last few km's. Beautiful sunrise once again, and even better - by starting later I totally missed the rain.