3/24/10

Wednesday’s Training – Am: Short Track Workout @ Sedona (4,500ft). 3200m, 5 mins rec, 2*800m, 4 mins rec, 2*200m, 200m jog rec. Pm: 49 mins easy

Mileage – 18 Miles

We all met at 8am at Late For The Train to travel down to Sedona together. I went down with Martin and it was one of the quicker drives down there. Usually we’ll always get stuck behind tourists taking photos and taking their time but we got a clear run. It was nice and sunny at the track although there was a bit of a cold nip in the wind. We warmed up across the road on the trails and then met Greg who was sitting at the finish line righting out the workouts on his clipboard. I decided to help Brett out with his workout and do a shorter version of what he was doing. He was doing 2 miles then 4*1mile so I decided to do the 2 miles and do 800m of his first 2 1mile reps. I wanted to run hardish but not really tire myself out for the race at the weekend. Brett, Martin and I started the workout and decided to trade off the lead after 3 laps. Brett lead first then Martin and I finished with the last 2 laps. It was pretty windy down at the bottom end of the track so it was good we were in a group and we could shelter for each other, I really didn’t feel that ok for the first 6 laps but as soon as I went to the front I felt fine and we cruised through the finish having averaged 69 sec laps. The 5 mins rec was an 800m jog around the track and then I would take the boys through the first 800m of their reps. I felt good on these and the 68s felt easy. A couple of 200s later and I was finished and wasn’t tired so that was good. I jogged around the track and shouted the guys on during the rest of their workouts and then we just warmed down around the infield (a nice soft artificial grass).

Photos courtesy of assistant coach Ian Torrence

Greg's Tools

2 Mile Rep

A lap later

And away we go

Recovering

Hi there!

During the mile reps

Recovering again

200m

All done!

We headed back up the road but stopped by Safeway so I could grab a sandwich. Just after we got out of town, I told Martin to pull over so I could soak my legs in the creek. The creek was pretty high and flowing quickly but that wasn’t the problem. The water was so cold that neither of us could stand it for any more than a minute or two at a time. The squealing that was coming out f our mouths would have suggested that a couple of 5 year old girls were nearby. We ended up just getting back in the car after a few attempts and headed home. I had a really good nap of about an hour and woke up pretty groggy.

My second run was a bit of a rush as I was still desperately trying to find a massage today but no one was available (I had left it late because I didn’t know I would racing on Saturday). I suddenly remembered about the high street massage place, Massage Envy and gave them a call. They had a slot at 5pm and they said I should be there for 4.45pm. It was already 3.45pm and I wanted to run for 10 miles but I knew that wasn’t going to happen as I had to drive over to the shop and run from there. I jumped in the car and got there at 4.05pm and went straight into my run. I figured I could get there at 4.55pm so I ran for an easy 7 miles and got there right on time.

A massage with someone new before a race isn’t always a great idea but I told the guy I was racing and just to flush my legs out. Well instead I got a full body massage, which felt great with minimal work on my legs. My legs actually felt ok today so I wasn’t too bothered and it actually felt great to get my back worked on. I got out of there feeling good and went next door to Safeway to pick up some salad stuff, cereal bars for the weekend and a couple of bags of ice for the bath. On my way home I picked up a couple of small Pizzas from Fratelli’s (Barbeque chicken and Buffalo chicken) as we had a voucher to use there. Julie was out running so I made up some salad and prepared my ice bath. The bath was cold but nowhere near as bad as the creek was this morning. I ate my salad while I was in there and then Julie arrived back so I had a quick shower, got changed and we ate dinner. The problem with ice baths at our apartment is that we run out of hot water pretty quickly so I am always still shivering and cold when I get out of the shower and it took me a couple of hours to heat back up and feel comfortable again. I had to pull the covers off of the bed and get wrapped up in them and have Julie as close to me as possible so I would defrost.