Catchup

Wow, I've been a slacker with my posts this week. I could blame work, but need to be more diligent to the blog! Here's a quick summary:

Wednesday - Rest. I had a Tiger massage in the morning which was really good. Apparently after 2 years of treatment my calves are finally no longer tight. I quote: "your calves are like mush". Awesome!

Thursday - Boxing with Min. Tough session with a good mix of combos with big hits and fast, high reps. Finished off with 3 sets of 10 strict pullups (wide grip), 10 deep dips and 10 GHD situps.

Friday - Fight Gone Bad on my own with the weights as RX'd. It was very tough and I almost spewed at the end! The format is one minute on each exercise with one minute rest times 3 rounds. My results were pretty good though and I was happy with my consistency:
Wall ball (10kg bag, thrown up to the ceiling with a deep squat) - 32, 26, 26
Box jump (9step box, jump up and fully extend hips at the top) - 18, 20, 19
SDHP (34kg - 2 x 10kg plates on the ezy bar) - 18, 18, 19
Push press (same bar as above) - 30, 33, 34
Row (for calories) - 18, 17, 17
That's a total score of 345. The first time I did FGB I was happy with 305, and I was doing "fast" box jumps (i.e. without full extension), so I've made a marked improvement which is always good to see!

Saturday - 15.6km run (the first 12km with Bo) in 1:06 at a nice, relaxed pace (average of 4:14s). I'm now a total running w@nker - I have the sunnies, visor, 3 pairs of shoes in current rotation and now, thanks to Annabel's birthday prezzie, I also have an iPod shuffle! This was my first ever run with the iPod. I must admit I quite enjoyed it. I kept the volume just low enough that I could hear Bo running next to me. Along the Fairlight path, every chorus or two I'd hear the "dagadagadagadaga" of footsteps catching up with me, then fading away as he ran off. Bobo is still getting back to fitness and is sporting sore feet so he slowed down around 8km, but otherwise was the perfect running partner, as usual. We started off at about 3:45s and slowed to just under 4:30s for the last 4km. I have entered us in the Bay Run pet+owner in August (7km the week before the City2Surf). I reckon Bo will be no worries for the "fastest dog in the inner west" title. It's whether I can keep up that is the question!!

Sunday - my favourite run, home to the Spit and back via the Spit to Manly track. Total of 22.2km in 1:54 which is an average of 5:08s with about 14km of hilly trails. Felt really good the whole way. In Born to Run, the author talks about the Tarahumara gaining genuine pleasure out of running, and looking like they glide over trails rather than run. That's how I felt today on sections of the track. I would look down and be running 4:30s on technical trail, my feet just knew where to go. I couldn't believe how fresh the legs felt so I decided to add a few kms on the way back by turning around at Reef Beach and running back up to Dobroyd (up the nasty steps). Bad decision as I slipped and banged my knee on the way up and slipped and did a little strain on my ankle on the way down! Bugger. Both feel OK now - iced the knee and it seems to be just bruised.

Interesting observation - there were more people running the Spit to Manly track this morning than the total of all the runners I've ever seen on the track! Trail running must be getting more popular. I saw Timmy H and Jon Mc both running with buddies, as well as a few guys on their own. On another note, I got to Clontarf on the way back, fully intending to have a gel (as I hadn't had brekky before the run). Unfortunately the gel I brought had passed its use-by date so I had to survive with just water!

All in all, I'm really happy with today's run. Feeling good for the Coastal Classic. Unfortunately my partner in crime, Rochey, has pulled out due to injury so it's just me flying the Manly flag down South.