Project 5.5

• 22 January 2018. I have now resumed this project and am posting it on STRAVA.

This page is recording my progress until I achieve my goal which is: "to run 5000 m at 5.5 minutes/km rate". Latest best pace (9 April 2011) is 5.75min/km which is down from 5.99min/km (Nov 2009)--getting there!! I am mainly only recording races here. For a full log of races and training see dailymile at: http://www.dailymile.com/people/PaulC15

• 9 March 2013. QMA 300m @ SAF. First race in a while. Good time for me 1:09 which is one second faster than last time (November 2010) I ran a race over this distance.
• 31 March 2012. QMA 10,000 Championship; I came second with time of 1:12:09.60. This was 9 minutes slower than the same race last year. Not surprising though as this year it was held a few weeks earlier and was a lot hotter. I'm not so good at going fast in the heat.
• 17 March 2012. 1500m QMA State Championships; I came third with a time of 8:13.10. A bit faster than the Gold Coast run in February.
• 19 February 2012.  1500m @ Gold Coast & Southern Region Championships. My PB is 7:49 for this distance so my time was a bit slack, 8:38 (pace 5:45), but still fast enough to get the sliver medal in my age group. Slow time was probably due to the time of day 11:30 am and the temperature 31+C (humidity about 70%). I have been running since 1963 & this is the first time my mum (now 92) has ever seen me run.

• 3 July 2011. Gold Coast Half-Marathon. Worst time ever. Despite what the time says on the pic below, I did finish in under 3 hrs (with thousands of people, it takes forever to start and the time displayed is from when the start gun is fired). Had a pinched nerve which gave me incredible pain in my left quad. Don't know where that came from, will have to do more stretches to make sure it doesn't affect me in future runs. :)

• 5 June 2011. I won! (In my age group that is - 60 to 64). Queensland Masters Athletics Half-Marathon Championship. Time a bit slack: 2:41

• 15 May 2011, 7am SAF. 3000m in 16:34 a PB & 1500m in 7:49 is also a PB :)
• 23 May 2011, 8:30am. Minnippi Park. Australian Masters Athletics National Championships. 8km cross country 56:52.00. Lousy time. Even competitors 10 years older than me did better times!! Think I did too much running in the past week--need more recovery time between races!!  
• 22 April 2011, 1: 51 pm. QAF main stadium. Australian Masters Athletics National Championships. ‎1500 m race. Did a PB of 7:51 min 
• 21 April 2011, 12: 51 pm. QAF main stadium. Australian Masters Championships. 800 m 3:36 min. A PB.
• 16 April, 2011, 7am. QAF State 10,000 m championships. My time was 60:00:00.3 m, best time in three years. Came third.
• 9 April 2011, 7 am. QAF. QMA meet: 5000 m in 28:47.8 min i.e. 5.75min/km (best previous time, since I started this Blog was 29:56 min in November 2009). 800 m in 3:50 min.

• I've been training with the John Sheer training group since 14 February. Click here to view the current training schedule. I've also been following the Nike + Marathon Training Program. This means I've found there too much happening to keep this log completely up to date. And, there's been no real need as, since 10 march, I've been using the Nike + system to record all runs: http://bit.ly/iayHy9

John Sheer Training Group

• 6 April 2011. Did a 12 km training run using a Camelbak for hydration as there are no water taps or fountains in any of the parks, even the ones with playgrounds, in our suburb. This is the first time I've used a Camelbak, it worked well.
• 2 April 2011. Completed the QMA 3000 m championship race in 17:01 by best time for 18 months. Also ran the 400 m -- time 1:32.7 -- my best 400 m time in years beating the previous best by 1 sec. Very pleased with my results.

• 27 March 2011. Gold Coast Benchmark Series, GCAC Southport. 5000 m | 30:04 mins (so close to breaking 30 mins!--best time since November 09). 800 m | 4:07 mins (slower than usual as only 10 mins break between finishing the 5000 m and running the 800 m!). 1500 m | 8:20 mins (best time to date).
• 19 March 2011. QMA South Queensland Championships day 2 @ SAF. 5000 m completed in 31:18. 1 mile (first one I've run since the 60s) 8:58. 1500 m in 8:33 & in pouring rain. All runs felt good.
• 12 march 2011. QMA South Queensland Championships day 1 @ SAF. 3000 m in 18:18.49. 800 m in 4:02.10.
• Saturday, 26 Feb 2011, 7 am. SAF. 1500 m | 8:35 mins. 
• Monday, 14 Feb 2011, 5 pm. Yeronga SHS oval. Stephanie & I @ first day with distance training squad. 800 m jog warm-up. 4 x 100 m @ fasted smooth sprint pace--100m in 60 sec recoveries. 8 x ~350 m--2 min walking recoveries. 800 m jog warm-down.
• Saturday, 11 Feb 2011, 6:30 am onward--no comp. for me as rostered on to officiate--did 5000 m lap counts, spiked for shotput & hammer
• Thursday, 10 Feb 2011. 8 am. 30 mins speed work on the treadmill--speeds up to 11+ kph.
• Wednesday, 9 Feb 2011, 7 am to 8:30 am. Training at QAF with club. Usual with focus on 110 m reps with jog recovery. Did two grandstand steps on toes--felt it in the calf muscles for the next few days :) 
• Saturday, 5 Feb 2011, 7 am. 3000 m race with QMA @ QAF--time: 19:30 minutes. 1500 race in 8:28 mins. Stephanie competed in both events.
• Wednesday, 2 Feb, 2011, 8 am. 50 mins at 8 kph pace.
• Tuesday, 1 Feb, 2011, 8 am. 1 hr on treadmill @ 7.8 kph pace--last 10 mins @ 8 kph pace. 30 m in pool afterwards.
• Sunday, 29 Feb 2011, 10 am. 1 hr 10 mins 8 km combo (local circuit): 30 mins jog, jog walk hill section (40 C & 75% humidity--didn't have the energy to jog up the hills), interval training for the last 1.5 km (60 m run at 90%, 60 m walk recovery).
• Saturday, 28 2011, 7 am to 9:30 am @ SAF. QMA Meet today. Ran the 800 m in 3:52 min after usual warm up exercises, jogging 1 km and doing 60 m sprint reps at 3/4 pace with Stephanie. I ended up in the wrong heat--the one with all the fast runners--because I wrote "slow" as my seed time on the rego. form and someone read that as 3:00 mins so I was put with all the runners who can do 800 m in 3 mins--obviously I came very last!! (Can one have degrees of last??)
• Friday,  28 Jan 2011, 8 am. Treadmill for 1 hr @ 7.7 kph. Pulse rate at end 145. Warm down exercises. Decided to rest upper-body muscles so no pool. 
• Thursday, 27 Jan 2011, 9 am. Treadmill--7.6 kph for 50 mins, 8 kph for 5 mins 9 kph for 5 mins total time 60 mins, total distance 7.8 km. Pulse rate at end 148. Warm down exercises. 30 m breaststroke in pool.
• Monday, 24 Jan 2011, 9 am. Treadmill 1 hr at 7.5 kph.  Warm down exercises. 30 m breaststroke in pool:

• Saturday, 22 Jan 2011, 7 am. SAF QMA meet. 3000 m in 19 mins i.e. 6.3 kph pace--very lacklustre--just felt very worn out & lacking energy?? Will up my training schedule.
• Wednesday, 19 Jan 2011, 7 am to 8:30 am @ QAC. Usual warm-ups + a jog up the grandstand steps on toes. 6 x 200 m @ 50 sec pace, with walk recovery in-between. Did another grandstand steps after two of the 200 m. Then, before warm downs attempted another grandstand steps but only managed half-way! Did extra lower-back strengthening exercises in the warm downs. 
• Saturday, 15 Jan 2011 QMA meet cancelled due to floods. Instead, Susan & I volunteered to help with the flood clean-up: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=353032&id=748563437&l=1fb053a8dd
• Thursday, 13 Jan 2011. First fine day in ages. 8 km jog walk around local streets. Water was across running track in one place as shown in photo below--a wood-duck was having a swim too! Parts of the circuit were just soggy ground--I became exhausted after just 15 mins going through this stuff--that's when i changed over to jog/walking.

• Wednesday, 12 Jan 2011, 7 am. Training with QMA at QAF main stadium. Stephanie & I did two reps of 200 m, 150 m, 100 m.  There was no rain to speak of in Brisbane. Apart from its normal use, the Queensland Athletics Centre was been used as a flood evacuation centre. Numbers were down today as some members were flooded in. Stephanie & I ran up the grandstand stairs twice for extra training: 

• Tuesday, 11 Jan 2011.  1 hr on treadmill at easy pace of 7.4 kph--still raining! 
• Monday, 10 Jan 2011.  1 hr on treadmill at easy pace of 7.3 kph, pulse 138 at end--still raining! No problem with right calf muscle today. Finished with usual stretches & core strength exercises. 
• Saturday, 8 Jan 2011, 7 am. Training at QAC main stadium with QMA. Stephanie there too. 60 m run throughs with spikes until right calf muscle started playing up again. Did two lots of stadium steps--running up on toes--to stretch calf muscles. Jogged on the grass for a while too. Was able to resume 200 m, 150 m, 100 m, & 60 m runs.
• Thursday, 6 Jan 2011. Same as yesterday but after 30 mins stopped to take photos & there was no storm. Below is a photo I took 4 km out from Scotts Head looking back at Scotts Head--you can see Grassy Head in the distance to the left of Scotts Head. A truly magic beach to jog along.

• Wednesday, 5 Jan 2011, 3 pm AEST. 61 min jog. along Forster beach which looked like this (see below--photo from the web) for the first 30 mins of my jog. Then it started to look like a storm brewing. At 45 mins into my jog the rain was pouring down as lightening and thunder surrounded me! I found a shed at the end of the jog & did my exercises & stretches there--was drenched by the time I got home.

• Tuesday,  4 Jan 2011, 3pm AEST. 57 min jog along beach north of Scotts Head. Easy going for 25 mins out with 20 kph tail wind. Hard going returning with a 20 kph gusty head wind.
• Thursday, 30 Dec 2010, 11 am.  1 hr on treadmill at easy pace of 7.2 kph. Finished with usual stretches & core strength exercises. 
• Tuesday, 28 Dec 2010, 11 am. 1 hr on treadmill at easy pace of 7.1 kph, pulse 138 at end--still raining! No problem with right calf muscle today. Finished with usual stretches & core strength exercises. 
• Monday, 27 Dec 2010, 9 am 1 hr on treadmill at easy pace of 7.0 kph--raining way too much outside to train there--has been raining at 3 inches per day for the past week & it's predicted to get heavier! My right calf muscle started to niggle after 20 mins--then, by experimenting with different gaits, it eventually all but went away.
  
  Yesterday my 20 something yr old niece, Katie, said she was doing her first full Marathon at the Gold Coast in 2011. I've run many half marathons but never a full. I'm now toying with the idea of  running the full Gold Coast Marathon next year too. 

• Wednesday, 22 Dec 2010, 7 am. QMA training @ QAC's main stadium. 1/2 warm-ups. 6 x practise starts with spikes on. 1 x 200 m sprint with spikes on--then remove spikes. 200 m sprint & walk recovery. 150 m sprint & walk recovery. 100 m sprint--pulled up short with cramping right calf muscle & walk recovery. Iced & stretched calf muscle. Jogged a few laps of track on grass to free up calf muscle. Finished with warm down routines, exercises & stretches.

• Saturday, 18 Dec 2010, 7 am, QMA Comp at SAF. 3000 m in 18:44 minutes (slightly slower that the one at the Gold Coast track--then it was cold and raining--this time it was hot and humid 90% + relative humidity--so it was a good time considering). 9:15 am, 1500 m--Stephanie led all the way--I passed her in a sprint to the finish, then Stephanie the put on a final burst and passed me just before the finish line--my time: 8:32 mins (1 sec faster than at the Gold Coast two weeks ago). QMA Christmas party followed at 12 pm--it was a great day.
  
  After the 3000 m race this morning I was having to fend off some particularly aggressive small swams of rainforest midge (Lasiohelia townsvillensis is listed as a species of the rainforest, however, it also appears in urban situations where rainforest conditions are mimicked. It usually appears after heavy rains, and early winter rain may lead to an outburst in spring. This species is known to bite all day. More...)--I covered myself with sunburn cream & the smell of that was sufficient to keep them at bay. By the time of the Christmas party, people managed to lay their hands on pressure-cans of insect repellent. The midges didn't spoil the day, they just added to the atmosphere. 

• Wednesday, 14 Dec, 2010, 7 am, QMA Training session @ Qld Athletics Centre, Main Stadium. Normal warm-ups then 6 x 60 m sprints in spikes. Stopped & removed spikes when right calf muscle started hurting. Moved to 200 m sprints with 200 m walking recovery and calf stretches in between. Stopped at four when other muscles started to be affected by my right calf's cramping. Did extra relevant stretched during the warm down.
• Saturday, 11 Dec, 2010. 7 am QMA Training session @ Qld Athletics Centre, Main Stadium. Warm ups, 4 x 100 m sprints with Stephanie (1st in 44 sec--great time), then stretches led by our PT (Jenny). 
• Monday, 6 Dec 2010, 5 pm. 23 min street jog over a hilly circuit with Stephanie. Stephanie easily out ran me, even in the sprint at the end! Well done Stephanie. 
• Saturday, 4 Dec 2010, 7:30 am to 10:30 am. Inter Zone Competition at Gold Coast International Athletics Centre: Day 2. My time for the 3000 m was 18:18 minutes (1:12 faster than last time), for the 1500 m it was 8:33 minutes (5 sec faster than last time), and for the 400 m in pouring rain my time was 94.1 sec (0.22 slower than last time).

The rain was mostly very heavy

The ducks enjoyed themselves in the wet

View from the grand stand

Sally Pearson was training at the same time as we were having our meet. This photo was of her in the 100 m hurdles race at the Beijing Olympics--Sally won silver. Sally went on to win gold in the same even at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India. It was a joy to watch her run 400 m sprints today--wow she's fast and what a great running style.

• Saturday, 27 Nov 2010, 7 am. Inter Zone Competition at SAF: Day 1. 5000 m in 33 min (3 mins slower than 12 months ago, but given the two surgical operations I went through this year, I'm happy to be almost back on track fitness wise), 800 m in 3:55 (10 sec improvement on two weeks ago),  300 m in 61.09 sec (~ 1 sec faster than two weeks ago). Felt good in all races & am pleased with my progress.
• Thursday, 25 Nov 2010, 10 am. 20 minutes: 10 x 100 m reps @ 80 % with walk recovery in between. Followed up with stretches & exercises. Doing reps like this is scientifically proven to very efficiently reduce weight, increase muscle bulk, and even increase your intelligence!--See: http://minessence-principles.blogspot.com/search/label/weight-loss 
• Wednesday, 24 Nov 2010. 7 am to 8:30 am. Main stadium QAF. 1/2 hr warm ups. 5 x 60 m sprints @ 80% with spikes. 6 x 200 m @ 44 to 55 sec, with 200 m walk recovery. 1/2 warm down & stretches. Fine rain & cool wind throughout!! 
• Monday, 22 Nov, 2010. 8 am. 45 minutes interval training on the treadmill--7 minute intervals: 1 min @ 8 kph, 2 min @ 9.6 kph, 4 mins recovery @ 6.4 kph. Easy session.
• Saturday, 20 Nov 2010. 7 am to 10:30 am. QAF. At this meet I ran the 3000 m in 19:30.29 (a slow time, my best is 15 min) & ran the 400 m in 93.79 sec--I don't know my best time for this distance as I don't even remember when I last ran the 400 m, however, my time looks "kind of OK" when compared to others around my age:
  
  
  

  
  It was very windy--the pic below shows the sand being blown from the jumping pits:

  
  

  

• Wednesday, 17 Nov 2010, 7 am to 8:30 am @ main stadium of QAF. 30 mins warm up. 6 x 60 m sprints at 60% to 80% max effort--wore spikes for the first time since injury during training about 18 months ago. Then removed spikes and did 6 x 200 m sprints, the first in 40 sec, the last at 55 sec--walk recovery in between. Finished with a 300 m race with other Club members then 1/2 hr warm down.
• Saturday, 13 Nov 2010, 9:10 am 800 m race in 4:05.43--10:30 am 300 m race in 61.84 sec--next goal is to do 300 m in less than 60 sec. Competition was followed with a 90th birthday bash for one of our members, Bernie Hogan. Bernie was a world-class sprinter and still holds three Australian records, one of which has stood for 34 years.

Bernie cutting his Birthday Cake

Three QMA Members--Athletics Ground in Background

• Wednesday, 10 Nov 2010, 7 am for 1 1/2 hrs @ QAF. 20 min warm ups. Sprint start practise then ins & outs repetition over 60 m at 80% & 90% effort--pulse rate at end of each 60 m ~ 80% max pulse rate. Then 300 m run @ 1:06 (that's 10 sec better than last month). Finished off with usual warm down exercises. 
• Sunday, 7 Nov 2010, 9:30 am @ Park Ridge. 2 x 2 km slow jog along bike track with 50 m walk recovery in between. Total run time 32 mins. Pulse rate at end 164 -- reduced to 135 after 1 min walk recovery.
• Saturday, 6 Nov 2010, 7 am to 8:30 am @ QAF. 1/2 hr exercises & warm up lap. 10 x 100 m "in outs" [slow for few metres then fast, and so on--like interval training crammed into a 100 m sprint] -- pulse rate at end of each 100 m ~ 80% of max pulse rate. Also, engaged in practise starts for a while too. Finish with 1/2 hr exercises, stretches, & warm down. Today was the first time back as sprint training since my ham-string injury last year--slowly does it--no spikes for a while.

• Wednesday, 3 Nov 2010, 7 am to 8:30 am @ QAF. 7 laps slow jog ~ 2.5 km. 6 x 200 m sprints with 200 m walk recovery in-between--average speed for 200 m 50 sec--did one at 42 sec when a club member tried to race me--yes I won! [I can get a little competitive--just ask Stephanie]. Finish with 1/2 hr exercises, stretches, & warm down.
• Saturday, 30 Oct 2010, 9:15 am 1500 race. Time 8 min 38 sec (5 min 45 sec /km rate). Dick Dunstan is in the same 60+ age bracket as myself. He easily beat me in this race. Today he challenged me to do the QMA Doomben Half-Marathon, June next year, in sub 2 hr time--I accepted the challenge. BTW one of our club members in the 60+ bracket did the Doomben half in 1:29 this year (I've never done better than 1:56 even 20+ years ago). Another club member in the 75+ bracket did it in 1:52! So Dick & I have no excuse to not run sub 2 hrs next year.
• Wednesday, 27 October, 7 am to 8:30 am. 1 1/2 hrs or great but exhausting training at QAF. 6 1/4 laps (2.5 km) warm up. 6 x 200 m runs at 48 sec for first to 56 sec for last, walking recovery in between. 300 m race with club members--1 min 14 sec. Finished up with 30 mins of strectching & other exercises.  
• Wednesday, 6 October, 7 am.  Brilliant 1 1/2 hour training session today with Queensland Masters Athletics (QMA) at Queensland Athletics Facility (QAF).  20 mins of warm up exercises [managed a full 20 push-ups!], jumping over small hurdles & stretches. 6 x 200 m reps at average 50 sec pace with 200 m walk recovery in between. Finished with a 300 m at the slow pace of 1 min 16 sec. Then 20 mins of warm down: exercises & stretches.
• Earn your break. A little trick I've learnt which helps when you are feeling lacking of energy during jogging. While jogging, sometimes you just feel like stopping and walking back. Whenever you feel like this, set a target ahead & sprint to it--then, you have earned your break & can have a walk recovery for a while. Set another target ahead and start jogging when you reach it. Whenever you feel like stopping, make sure you do a sprint first--earn your break! At the end, instead of feeling like you wasted the session, you will have have done a better session than just jogging the distance.
• Monday, 4 October, (back from holidays & back to training), 10 am, 35 mins of interval training--total distance covered 4 km along the new bike-track the council are building for us. Pulse rate at end 171. Pulse after 2 min walking recovery 135.  Usual ten minutes of exercises & stretching immediately afterwards, followed by 20 minutes of exercises.
• Saturday, 18 September, 7.30 am SAF, 2 km warm up around QE II Stadium, 800 m race with QMA, 3 mins 55 sec. 1 km cool down jog around the Stadium.
• Wednesday, 15 September, 7 am QE II Stadium, training with QMA. 1/2 exercises--six laps of the track alternating between running, jogging & walking--three 200 m sprints with fellow QMA members--last 200 m at 48 sec.
• Monday, 13 September, 7 pm training session with Stephanie-- 3 km lap around the QE II Hospital
• Saturday, 11 September, 7 am training session with QMA & Stephanie at SAF. 1/2 of exercises then several 1 km laps of the QE II stadium
• Saturday, 10 July, 3 pm--3 km Queensland Athletics Brown-Bonwick Memorial Handicap--I won the race in 19:43 i.e. 6:34/km. I've come third once before but this is the first time I've won it. Prize was a marble mortar & pestle.

• Thursday, 8 July, 10 am--8 km slow off-road slow jog with hills--1 hr 3 mins--7.9 min/km. Usual ten minutes of exercises & stretching immediately afterwards.
• Tuesday, 6 July, 9:30 am--long walk from South Bank, via Goodwill bridge & George St to Ann St & back. My calf muscles were stiff & sore from the half-marathon--they were fine after the walk.
• Sunday, 4 July 2010, 6:00 am--Gold Coast Half-Marathon (21 km)--2 hour 33 minutes--the official time I was given was longer, there were over 7,000 people starting & it took 3 minutes after i reached the start before I could actually start!! Target run rate was 7 minutes per km--achieved 7.28/km--not too bad.

• 1 July 2010, 7:30 pm--30 minutes speed work on treadmill--Usual ten minutes of exercises & stretching immediately afterwards.
• 28 June 2010, 7 am--1 1/2 hours on treadmill while watching As Good as it Gets--pulse at end 110.  Usual ten minutes of exercises & stretching immediately afterwards.
• 27 June 2010, 7:30 pm--45 minutes of intensive interval training on the treadmill--pulse at end 135. Feel I've reached the level of fitness I had before the Noosa TRI last year--great.  Did the usual ten minutes of exercises & stretching immediately afterwards.
• 26 June 2010, 3:35 pm--6 km QA cross-country race in bush surrounding the QUT sports ground at Castledine. Two 3 km loops. First one in 21 minutes--44 minutes overall--was slowed by the soft thick grass, two small hills and heat--5 minutes of stretching immediately afterwards.

• 25 June 2010, 7.30 pm--60 minutes interval training session on treadmill--pulse 110 at end. Did ten minutes of exercises & stretching immediately afterwards.
• 23 June 2010, 7:30 pm--30 minutes speed session on treadmill--pulse 145 at end. Did ten minutes of exercises & stretching immediately afterwards.
• 22 June 2010, 7pm--1 hour 30 minutes on the treadmill--pulse at end 150. Felt good. Did ten minutes of exercises & stretching at end. Only two weeks until the Gold Coast Half Marathon.
• 29 May 2010, 2:10 pm--Queensland Masters Athletics 4 km cross-country at Sherwood Forest. The ground was wet grass and mud so it was heavy going, but fun! Time 30 minutes. Pulse at end 158.
• 27 May 2010, 3:30 pm--4 km jog--31 minutes--pulse 168 at end, 135 after 2 minute walking recovery--followed by 10 minutes of exercises & stretches (now including 20 push-ups) 
• 16 May 2010, 6:45 am--Gateway Bolt, 4 km--26 minutes including a two minute stop at the top 500m from the end to take photos.

• 13 May 2010, 3:30 pm--4 km Cliff Young shuffle again--no stops--32 minutes--pulse 171 at end, 150 after 2 minutes walking recovery--followed by 10 minutes of stretches--back still strapped up--no significant shoulder pain--still no need for pain killers. Back into the Runners Brew--got to have top energy levels for Sunday's Gateway Bridge Bolt. 
• 11 May 2010, 11 am--my first run since the Mooloolaba Tri! have had three operations to remove two melanomas from my wrist since last run. Today was my first day with no pills & the doc said it's OK to start training again--so, obviously, I did--felt a bit strange  at first as my back is fully taped up to alleviate pain--didn't affect the run though. 4 km at Cliff Young shuffle pace--no stops. 32 minutes--pulse at end: 177--pulse after 2 min walking recovery: 142. Did 10 minutes of stretching exercises after. Now feel very confident I will be fine for the 4 km Gateway Bridge Bolt on Sunday : http://www.gatewaybridgebolt.com/
• 28 Mar 10, 10am--10k race as part of the Mooloolaba Tri.--it was a hilly circuit--time 1 hr 22 mins which is my worst time ever for this distance--it was so hot (felt like 40+ C on the bitumen) and so muggy (humidity 80% +) that I had to walk the hills & could only manage a Cliff Young shuffle for the rest--still, I did the distance. Stephanie & Graham did very well (team photo below).

• 20 Mar 10, 8 am--8 km jog over a hilly circuit--1 hr 6 mins--jogged non-stop for first 45 minutes, then a 1 km walk recovery after a km long incline--60 m sprint at end--finishing pulse rate: 177--pulse rate after 1 min walk recovery: 134--5 minutes of stretches after.
• 18 Mar 10, 9.30 am--20 minutes of reps: 100 m sprint up-slope with walk down-slope back to start, & same again. Pulse at end of last 100 m: 158. Pulse after 100 m walk cool down: 146.
• 15 Mar 10, 8am--8 k of interval training for 1 hr 13 minutes: warm up jog for 3 k, then repeats of jogs or sprints to 95-99% of max pulse rate with walking recovery to 85% of max pulse rate. Followed interval training with 5 minutes of stretching. Wasn't feeling all that great at the beginning (bit run down), but have perked up now (1 hr after finish).
• 10 Mar 10, just tried out the new training track Jason made for me. Did 20 minutes of reps: 100 m sprint up-slope with walk down-slope back to start, & same again... Great track, thanks Jason :)
• 6 Mar 10, 9.30am--800 m race at SAC in under 4 minutes--did total of 5 k jogging around the complex, and lots of stretching
• 3 Dec 09, 7am--8 k very slow easy jog--1 hr 6mins--pulse at end 163, then 137 after 2 min walking recovery--followed the jog with stretches
• 14 Nov 09, 7am--3000 m track race at SAC with QMA--16 min 48 sec (5 min 36 sec per k). 10 am in the team for the 4 x 800 m relay--completed my leg in ~3min 35 sec.
• 9 Nov 09, 10am--30 min speed work on the treadmill, including 6 mins at 11.2 kph, followed by the usual stretching & exercises.
• 7 Nov 09, 7am--5000 m race at the State Athletics centre (SAC) with Queensland Master Athletics (QMA) --time: 29:56 min which was less than 30 min (just) which was my aim. Had to sprint the last 60 or so metres to achieve the time. I now have rather stiff calf muscles. Followed the run with stretches & a 1 k slow jog with the race winner (his time 20 mins!!). He gave me quite a few useful running tips.

6 Nov 09, 8am--45 min interval training on the treadmill varying every 7 mins between 6.6 kph & 9.6 kph--followed by the usual stretching & exercises + added fitball squats to the routine.