Monday, 7-Mar. 7km
Could this be the last of the warm days? it got to 34C today, felt humid and a change is on the way with a bit of rain this evening.
I got to the beach and the tide was coming in and near its high point, the soft sand looked like hard work and the heat would make it worse so I stuck to the roads and pavements for my evening run. They were not too hot, just around the comfortable level.
From where I park my car on the Esplanade it is 3.15km to the turn point. It took me 17:47m to get there, the way back the distance is 4.05km and that took 23:24m.
Thursday, 10-Mar. 8km
The Autumn weather is here now, cooler nights, which is much better for sleeping and daytime temperatures staying in the mid to high 20's Celsius.
The summer seems to have whizzed by very quickly this year I think the odd weather patterns gave this feeling.
Autumn should be a much better time for running as the extreme heat will be at an end so no blistered feet on hot bitumen.
An enjoyable 8km run, half road half beach. The sand was nice and firm this evening and was a pleasure to run on, like a velvet carpet.
As you can see from the photo below I was trialling my new virtual footwear. Yes, these are my Nike Free barefoot runners, didn't cost me a cent and I think I'll get quite a few years wear out of them.
Not a scratch after 8km training run.
The results for the Beach Bash have been published. As I suspected, I slipped back in the placings but I improved my time by around 14% on last year. Part of that would have been the better conditions so to get a better gauge I looked for other people that also ran the race on both occasions.
The second place finished managed an 11% improvement on last year so that means I am catching up.
My finish time was 20:41m for the 4km, the winner recorded 15:41 so I have quite a bit of work to do there.
I placed 30th out of 116 runners.
I would like to knock 60s off for next years race.
Saturday, 12-Mar. 17.5km
My Saturday run has become my long run of the week and so far has stretched out to 14.5km.
I wanted to just see if I could extend this a bit further so I thought I'd take in another jetty.
I have been running from Grange to Semaphore jetty, the next one along is Largs jetty, I wasn't sure how much further past it was, I guessed at another kilometre.
I got to the beach at 8.15am, it was a nice cool start to the day, ideal for running. I set off slowly to warm up the joints, the ankles sometimes feel stiff after a night in bed. I avoided clock watching during the run, distance was more what I was interested in than time.
I ram all the way, no stopping, past Semaphore jetty then onto Largs, there I stopped for a few minutes to rest before setting off back again.
I recorded 55:18m outbound and 55:38m back which is odd as I had a few rest breaks on the way back, all I can assume is that I was running faster on the way back but then tiring myself and needing to rest.
I measured the extra distance on Google Earth and it came out at 1.59km each way, so and extra 3km marking my run 17.5km, that would be my longest single run in about 20+ years.
Sunday, 13-Mar. 5km
I did a short run of 5km today, at higher speed. The humidity was noticeably higher today (69%). As I did some warm ups near the car I noticed a few runner go past bathed in sweat. I timed myself between jetties and they came out at 10:40m & 10:54m but both included some walking time as the humidity got the better of me.
What I have noticed is that I am getting more of what I would call a loping gait, similar to how the Africans run, so its not a short choppy stride but longer, springy and relaxed but quite fast.
This is what I need to have ingrained in my brain as 'my' real running style from now on.
On an historical note!
Who is that wet looking, heel striking (ouch), shoe wearing mystery man.
Yup You guessed it, a photo from 1987 'Tour' raceYou can tell it is England for, as usual, it is raining.
Neil
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