Sunday, April 1, 2012

Last of the light evenings

Distance 61.8km [total: minimalist 269.6km: Barefoot 2487.3km] Week 13


Monday, 26-Mar. 6km

An easy beach run or rather not that easy as the sand was very soft and it was high tide so there was not much beach to run on. Running in the soft sand also made my ankle ache as the surface was unstable. Most runners favour the road in these conditions, maybe I should have as well.

Wednesday, 28-Mar. 5.8km

This was a run in the dark or at least mostly dark. I usually run around 5pm after getting home from work but this time I was a little late getting back and I was so hungry when I got home my stomach demanded attention. I cooked up some fried rice and by the time I'd eaten it the time was 6.45pm. I couldn't run straight away as I would have brought my dinner back up again so I waited until around 7.30pm. By that time the sun had set and there was a small amount of light left in the sky, it was a warm evening, nice for running. I drove to the lake to do a quick loop of the lake. Not long after setting off, while running down the western side, all was quiet until I heard the sound of a runner behind me, the shoes on the ground. I thought it would be good race training so I increased my pace, the footsteps followed, I stayed relaxed and increased again, the footsteps followed but didn't overtake. I came off the lake and across the bridges, the unknown runner was falling back a bit as the footsteps were more distant. Back onto the lake again and running along the dark footpath I thought I'd slow down to see if he wanted to run alongside. He was about 30m behind, an asian looking guy. I don't think he understood what I said of maybe he was worried about the barefoot guy. Not long after he turned off and I was on my own again. The barefoot guy triumphed.

Thursday, 29-Mar. 9.8km.

A bit of a split run here. The first 1/3 at a slower pace with a friend of mine, after 3km they hit their turn around point. I thought it would be interesting to see if I could run a further 2km out, 2km back and then catch them in their 3km run back. I increased my pace to twice that I was doing but that wasn't enough to catch them by the end. I guess if I was better calculating that sort of thing in may head I should have realised that running 7km while another person runs 3km that there was not much chance of catching them. It was a warm evening and my T-shirt was saturated by the time I got back to the car. My friend had been back for 10 minutes.

Friday, 30-Mar. 14.2km

A day off work, always good to see what is happening while I'm stuck behind a PC for 8 hours a day. I just assumed it would be quiet out here on the beach and in the cafes but no..... its a hive of activity. There must have been a school day on the beach as there were hundreds of children playing around in a large group on one section of the beach. There were people running, people cycling and the cafes were as full as they would be on a weekend. I ran from Grange Road down to Glenelg or close to it, I determined I'd keep on running until I got to the 45minute mark then turn around. I'd almost run out of beach at Glenelg as the waves lapped up against the rocks. After a minutes rest I set off back again. It was quite a warm and still day and fatigue started to creep in by the end.

Saturday, 31-Mar. 18.5km

This run was a bit too soon after eating breakfast. I slept in a little as I had a late night, I'm not good at late nights and early mornings, I need my 8 hours one way or another.

Sunday, 1-April. 7.5km

Australian Summer time ended overnight, we gained and extra hour of sleep, or at least we would have done had we moved the clock in the correct direction, why do I always get confused by this. In the end it was my mobile phone that alerted me by having the correct time on it in the morning while all my other watches and clocks were now 2 hours in front. I did actually have the luxury of slowly eating breakfast and reading the paper before heading out into a bright sunny morning to run around the lake. These next few kilometres would see me running further this week than I have in 20 years. I started off very relaxed and my heart rate didn't move above 130, only when I got past the halfway point did I start to step up a gear. The lake was serene with hardly a ripple, no breeze. Once again there was a triathlon being held over the far side of the lake, this time though it was well fenced off so I had tpo come off the lake and run through the shopping centre car park. I then ran up the concreted section of Sportsmans Drive which had been widened last year and was now about 2m wide. It was a fantastic running surface and I felt myself running faster and faster, I think I was having a 'Chariots of Fire" moment. I think I had a bit of an April 1st 'joke' on me half way around when a guy told me to watch out for a broken bottle up ahead, I never came across anything. I'm not sure how he would have gained any amusement from the joke as it didn't really have a punchline.

Neil

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