No worries

Felt great this morning so went out for an easy 10km and just ran 5:15's. Felt so cruisy and easy so happy with that. Probably will do a similar run tomorrow, then I have a soccer match so should be a laugh.

More and more

Really tired after yesterday's session, but still tried to do an easy 10km. Struggled throughout the whole thing now the tendon behind my knee is sore so going to take tomorrow off running, but I still have soccer so I'll work hard then. Then I'll see how I feel Friday, but most likely won't run and get right back into it on Saturday. Another big Ferny session coming up on Sunday.

Building up a Base

Today really wasn't feeling great, stomach aches and just wasn't feeling it. We are really starting to build up the k's now. Tonight it was 4.8km, 3.6km, 2.4km, 1.2km. Stayed with the others right up until the last rep, but everyone wasn't feeling it tonight. Just slow all round. 4.8 was in 17:59 so not too bad. Started to hurt on the next rep and we all came in at 14:01 which was pretty terrible. Then the 2.4 which again the stomach was really hurting. 9:03 was the time again which was very average. 1.2 I did in 4 minutes flat which was solid, but I should've tried to push myself more to stay with the others, but stomach was really hurting. Came through in 4 minutes so okay in the end. As I said the k's are really going up. 15.6 tonight and 46.3 for the last 4 days, looking forward to my rest on Friday.

Disgrace

Went off around the block after school today. Ate right after I came in then went out. Felt very average on the way out and even worse coming back. Meant to do 4 minute km's the whole way round, but ended up dropping back 4:45's. Pretty terrible and still feeling coldy. Getting more and more frustrated as this stuffy nose won't go away. 8km all up with a 2km warm up, the 6 was in 26:43.

Update

So had a rest day on Friday, then on Saturday met up with Chris for an easy 45 minutes. Did 8.65km in that time, but the knees were a bit sore. Went up to Ferny Creek for a long hilly run with Jasper and Chris again. Really good run this morning covered 14.75km in 1:19:45. Started off quicker than usual because we didn't want to go too long. Kept it around 5 minute km pace for the first 4.5km before we hit that joke of a hill. Started off up it at a solid pace. Jasper dropped off with about 200m of it to go. Forced myself to stay with Chris all the way and pretty stoked that I managed it. Waited up the top for Jasper then continued on. Stopped back at the car for a drink then started a second loop. Went the same way up until about halfway up the monster hill then turned and went up a not so steep, but much longer climb. Really hurt by the time I reached the top, again I managed to stay with Chris. Then looped back around to the car. Really good run and I feel like I gain a lot of fitness from the Ferny runs.

Neopolitan

Running club today, still on the back end of being sick, but a rest day tomorrow so should be recovered fully by the end of the weekend. We did a compilation of many different sessions tonight which was alright. This consisted of 1200's, Tabata and Kenyan Fartlek. Just Nick and I tonight and we started off solid with a 1200 in 3:53(3:15 pace). Felt really good at this point. Did a tabata next which was ok , but I managed to stuff up the timings so overall the lap was slow, but we were going pretty quick. Next was the Kenyan and we started off with 2 minutes easy, then really gunned it on the harder 2 minutes. We were flying around the 1200m track. Hit the wall about 700m into the rep and really struggled. Reckon we managed at least 750 or 775m we were going so quick. Ended the lap and we were meant to have a break, but Cheyne said do another, but 1 minute hard then 1 minute easy. First hard 1 minute was really slow because we were still recovering from the big 2 minutes. Then again we really pushed it. Glanced at my watch and we were on 2:30km pace, quite sore after this, recovery then a quick sprint to the finish. Sore after this session, but hope to keep up the quality work. 9.6km all up, then went on to soccer practice, so so sore.

Easy 5.6

Today did an easy 5.6 after school in the heat. Felt alright, much better than yesterday which I'm stoked about. Time was 28:59. No worries.

Getting Back into it

Today was the first time running after being sick, still have a bit of a cold so didn't train great. Just didn't have the legs for it tonight, really frustrated. Just Chris and I tonight, he is racing again on Thursday to try and break 9 minutes. We did 3.6km then 2.4km. Just felt bad leading the first lap then Chris came around me on the second. I stuck with him for a bit before dropping off. Was pretty rough running by myself for the second half of the rep. Ended up running 13:11 which was ok for being sick. Chris wasn't feeling it either and only pulled 12:44. Recovery, then the 2.4km. Again, led for the first lap while Chris practiced sitting, he went by on the second lap and again I kept him not too far away. Ended up running 8:31 so not too bad. Reckon I'll not be feeling it again on Thursday's session especially since I'll be training by myself. All the national runners have been given 10 days off so will be a tough week. 7.5km + 5km bike ride.

Sickness

Came down with a cold yesterday which is such a pain, hopefully I will be back running in a few days.

Stoke

Today everyone was up in Sydney racing at national so Nick and I got a few guys down to train for cross country. Last year we won state cross country as a team and we want to try go 2 in row. Jonno and Bryan came down, but more will come as the season properly gets underway. We did some 1200's. Started off well with Nick sitting on me the first one we came in at 3:59 (3:18 pace). Felt like had done nothing after this which I was really stoked about. Stepped it up to 3:52(3:12 pace) next rep and still felt solid after this. 4 mins recovery after each rep per usual with 1200's. Then 3:49(3:10 pace), Nick stopped after this one, hasn't been doing a much training recently as his involvement in other thing, but we are all hoping he gets back in shape soon. 4th rep was just Jonno and I, I managed another 3:49 so keeping it consistent which I'm happy with. Jonno stopped after this rep so I decided to just do a 1km as I was hurting more at this point. 3:03 later I finished. Good that I could put in a bit more speed at the end of session. 9.4km all up.

Also today got the results for our squads national races. Jasper ran 9:44 a 7 second pb and 4th in Australia. Haftu ran 9:40 and 12th in Australia and Chris managed a 5 second Pb and ran 9:04, 12th in the national. That's all the results from our squad now, Ciara is racing tomorrow

More Distance

Coming into the cross country season now so starting to up the distance on all the sessions so did a faster 10km today. I stopped my watch accidently at one point so I missed a fair chunk of the time and distance. By the time I finished the normal route the watch said I had only done 8.85km. The time was 32.52 so I'm pretty happy. Started off slow going through the first km in 4:00. Then slowly started speeding up and ended up doing some km's in around 3:20. Good from me especially as I was running by myself. Felt pretty good after as well, but today playing soccer at school, knocked my toe so it is pretty seriously bruised now. I skilfully managed to kick the back of  mates foot trying to tackle him. Hoping its okay by tomorrow as I want to do another bigger session.

In the Rain

Off to running club today and just after the warm up started raining pretty hard which was a pain. I was the only one not tapering. Ciara was tapering for her races and Chris for his so I just did some 600's. 1st rep was tough in the full hail and wind of the storm. Also towards the end of the 600m the is a hill which makes the 1st, 3rd and 5th reps much more difficult. So first one was in 1:50. Second was in 1:40, but I was cut off by a car coming out of a carpark which must of cut 3 seconds off the time. 3rd was tougher going up the hill in 1:51. Still wet so mud all up my back and all over my arms and head. 4th in 1:42 then 5th in 1:51 again. 6th just felt bad, didn't kick and I regretted it ran 1:46. 6.6km all up + 2.5km bike ride there and back. What do you think of the session, I really don't know whether it is good as I have never done it before.

Struggletown

So yesterdays plan went out the window, went for an easy 5 with Chris. Really hungry while I ran which was a pain. Didn't die though so no worries. Time was 27:07. So I made a goal this afternoon, I heard that to get to nationals next year for 5km, you must run 16:00 on the track. I think this will be a major challenge, but if I work hard I might just make it. Nationals 2015 is almost exactly a year away from now so I have 12 months to try and run the time. Really looking forward to this cross country season as well. Also on a bit of a side note saw Lone Survivor with a few mates last night, pretty incredible film to be honest. Wasn't like a normal war film, really full on and showed you what it was really like. Intense stuff. Anyway, recommend it.

In the Heat

Today did 13.4km in 1:04:18. Hottest day in a while today so it definitely made a difference. Still a bit tired, will have a rest day tomorrow so should be alright by Tuesday.

Tired

Haven't had a lot of sleep recently because of the formal and coming into the weekend. Took its toll in training today. I was training by myself which made it harder. Did Sherman fartlek, so, 30s, 45s, 1 min, 90s, 2 min, 3 min, then repeat. 1 minute recovery in between each. Went ok up until the first 3 minutes, then I struggled on that one. Pace was somewhere between 2:57 to 4 flat km pace throughout the whole session. Felt really sore after with a bit of a calf cramp right when I stopped running. 6.53km all up.

More Easy

So 10k easy last night. I would've gone to running club, but we had the school formal so just ran before the pre's. Didn't feel too good on the run, it felt harder than it should've been, rest day today, hopefully will feel better for the weekend.

Easy 4km

Today after school, did an easy 4km in 19:41. Shortest run I've done in a while, got home and felt like I hadn't done anything.

1km's and Tabata's

Running club tonight, didn't feel great, but the times were alright Did a shorter warm up than normal only 1.2km because of the heat. Started with a km rep a bit slower to start in 3:05. Felt harder than the time, but first rep is always tougher. We then did a tabata, the 20s hard, 10s easy for 1200m was hard, but also a bit of a break between the k's. Didn't feel great after this one, but got into the next km. Felt ok during the rep, but ended up running 2:58 which I was pretty happy with. Again after didn't feel great, but did well on the next tabata. The last k, really wasn't feeling it, but still ran 3:01. Times didn't really go with the session so I reckon 2:55 on the last km next time. 8.6km all up, most of the distance hard work.

More Kenyan

Today went to do some Kenyan with Chris and Declan. Chris was still a bit sick and Declan wasn't feeling it so they dropped out after 3 reps and left me doing the work on my own. Did alright, not quite as quick as the last time as I had soccer practice for an hour and a half this morning, but the watch still said around 3:10 pace. Just did 6 x 2 minutes easy, 2 minutes hard and then a  bigger warm down for about 9.4km all up. On the warm down though, Declan tripped into a fence and tore a square inch chunk of muscle out of his leg. He fell on the ground and we saw the wound. It wasn't bleeding but we got him to hold a shirt on it just in case. We made sure he was ok then called his dad who was nearby. We got him into his car then his dad took him to hospital. Still don't know what happening but I'll keep you informed when I know. Declan wasn't screaming or anything an we told him to wiggle his toes to make sure he hadn't injured any nerves. His back was fine so I think it's just a flesh wound. Pretty rough and hope he's alright.

Ferny Creek

So today Jasper, Haftu and I went up to Ferny Creek for a run. Really hilly so quite sore afterwards. About 8km in all. Felt fit and energetic though, training just keeps on helping.