A bit to catch up on here. Yesterday morning saw me hit the gym for another weights session and a short warm-up run, then last night it was off to the local park for another short run. I felt pretty good and ran a consistent pace (4:46, 5:04, 5:06, 5:07), only bumping up against my HR limit once so I was happy with that. It’s hard to know whether I’m adapting to the regular running, or whether it’s just being relatively fresh at the start of the week.

Today’s swim session went pretty well too. I felt great for the second half of the session, so I put on my paddles and managed to get down to 1:17 on the last 100 without too much effort.

400 FS
2 * 8 * 50 FS as {
    2 on 60,
    2 on 55,
    2 on 50,
    2 on 45 }
8 * 100 FS on 1:45 (1:27)
8 * 100 FS on 1:45 (1:25 → 1:17)
200 Pull
Total: 3000m

I’m off to Centennial Park to attempt my first long run this evening. It’s only 7km, but I reckon it’s more interesting to do 2 laps of Centennial Park versus the 9 laps of my local park I’d need to complete the same distance.

S: 3000m – B: 28km – R: 4.9km – W: 1 session

Well I got fired up enough to write a letter to the Premier of NSW:

Mr. Iemma,

I would like to register my extreme disappointment that you agreed to the Federal Government’s request for special anti-terrorist powers. None of the agreed to powers would have made the slightest bit of difference to either the WTC or London bombings, as in neither case were the terrorists being actively monitored by the security services.

Since 2001, we have been repeatedly exhorted by government to continue our normal, everyday lives, as to do otherwise would mean that “the terrorists have won.” Meanwhile, the very same government has been drawing up plans to further curtail our civil liberties, which apparently does not signify a terrorist victory? Given that you’ve been party to these decisions, perhaps you could enlighten me as to what exactly it is the terrorists are trying to destroy? I always thought that our civil liberties, freedom from government intrusion and right to a fair trial were what made Western civilisation great?

To quote Benjamin Franklin, “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” I think your actions in this regard have been a disgrace and you have been party to an agreement which moves Australia one step closer to the edge of the slippery slope towards a police state.

Regards,

Donncha Redmond

Vaucluse,

NSW 2030.

If I disappear for a while, I’m being held without trial for 14 days ;-)

Look’s like the state Premiers gave in to the government’s wishes and granted all the special “anti-terrorist” powers, and think they’ve done a fantastic job because they managed to get Howard to agree to a sunset clause after TEN years. Whoop-dee-fucking-do! What I love is the fact that the powers that be bleat on and on about how these powers will make us safer, while in actual fact they would have made absolutely no difference to either the WTC or London bombings.

The new powers allow police to detain someone without charge for up to 14 days. The UK started off with a 14 day limit as well, but recently increased it to three months, so I’m sure we’ll follow suit. Detainees will be allowed to know why they’re being held, but not see any evidence against them. They’ll be allowed to contact family “solely for the purposes of letting them know they are safe, but are not able to be contacted for the time being”.

A control order on a suspect that could put him or her under house arrest for a year, without charge, without trial, and without criminal standards of evidence, can be granted by a judge operating in a closed court, under the proposals the premiers agreed to.

The leaders emphasised that the powers would be subject to “judicial review”. But what this means is vague. The reviews will be limited and probably conducted behind closed doors.

The Sydney Morning Herald has the story.

I missed my lunchtime swim yesterday. I wasn’t paying attention to the time and when I finally checked I’d missed the start of the session. Oh well, I’ll have to make it up on Friday instead. I rode home and did a couple of laps of Centennial Park as well to start the week off.

B: 28km

A good article from The Guardian on what happens when you get arrested for being a terrorist suspect in the UK. Note the following logic the police used to figure out he was a suspected terrorist!!

They handcuff me, hands behind my back, and take my rucksack out of my sight. They explain that this is for my safety, and that they are acting under the authority of the Terrorism Act. I am told that I am being stopped and searched because:

- they found my behaviour suspicious from direct observation and then from watching me on the CCTV system;

- I went into the station without looking at the police officers at the entrance or by the gates;

- two other men entered the station at about the same time as me;

- I am wearing a jacket “too warm for the season”;

- I am carrying a bulky rucksack, and kept my rucksack with me at all times;

- I looked at people coming on the platform;

- I played with my phone and then took a paper from inside my jacket.

Particularly relevant in light of attempts here to introduce laws which would allow people to be detained without legal representation, or even being informed what they are being detained for.

Well the weekend didn’t go quite to plan on the training front. Got up on Saturday morning and did some work on the indoor trainer. I had intended doing an hour, but I spent quite a bit of time adjusting various parts on the bike, so only rode for about 30mins. That was then end of that. I was supposed to do a run on Sunday morning, but as I spent Saturday afternoon on the beers watching the Sydney Swans with their first Grand Final in 72 years, there was no way I was running anywhere the next morning ;-)

S: 2900m – B: 71.4km – R: 13.3km – W: 1 session

Today I really noticed the effect beer has on training! Went out for dinner and a few beers with the Canberra guys last night. Not too late, home by 10.30 or so. However, I cycled home from work today, and did a couple of laps around Centennial Park too, but I felt bloody sluggish all the way. I had figured that if I drank loads of water during the day then all would be well, but that would have been too easy.

Went for a short run when I got home too, which wasn’t too bad, though I seem to have some issues lacing my left shoe correctly. Obviously I can tie my own laces, but for some reason my left shoe seems to end up too tight and I end up with a sore lower left leg, presumably from irrtating a nerve on the top of my foot, or constricting the blood flow. The problem is that it usually feels fine when I do my laces. It’s only after running for a couple of minutes that I notice something’s amiss. I’ll have to experiment with lacing patterns or something over the next week or so.

S: 2900m – B: 56.4km – R: 13.3km – W: 1 session

Acccording to this article in the Guardian, Sandro Donati, a senior Italian Olympic official reckons that organised crime is heavily involved in the trafficking of performance enhancing drugs around Europe.

The police in Italy first started serious investigations in 2000 when they claimed to have smashed a big mafia operation to smuggle human growth hormone, anabolic steroids and EPO from Sicily to sports centres and laboratories across Italy.

During a nationwide operation they raided 65 houses, offices, laboratories, gyms and pharmacies and confiscated thousands of banned performance-enhancing drugs and instructions for athletes on how to administer them.

I wonder how long it will be before an athlete is made an offer he can’t refuse ;-)

Well I rode straight home yesterday and forced myself to go out for a run. It was fully dark by the time I was setting off for the run, so I elected to skip the park and run on the footpath. It’s a bit more impact for the legs to handle, but on the positive side I can see where I’m going so there’s less risk of twisting my ankle. I did 3.4km with the usual HR limit in effect. My legs are bloody tired today, that’s for sure!

On an even better note, I weighed in at 88.2kg this morning: down 1.7kg in three weeks, so the work is paying off.

S: 2900m – B: 33.8km – R: 10km – W: 1 session

Since Ty and Andrew were supposed to be coming up from Canberra today (since postponed until tomorrow) I decided to ride in to work and do a couple of laps of Centennial Park on the way, leave the bike in work and then cycle home tomorrow. This would mean that instead of having Thursday as my rest day, I’d have from Wednesday lunchtime until Thursday evening which wouldn’t be ideal, but wouldn’t be too bad either.

I rode down by Bondi, then up Bondi Road, entered Centennial Park via the Queen’s Park gates, then did two laps, exited on to Moore Park Road and proceeded in to town. My legs were a bit dead after the heavy weights yesterday morning and the longer than usual run yesterday evening, but once my HR had calmed down after the hill at the bottom of Bondi Road all was well. Total distance: 23.8km, Average HR: 138, Average Speed: 25.2km/h.

The lunchtime swim was supposed to be little more than a chance to stretch out the stiffness from yesterday’s weights but our coach decided to throw in some 100s on 1:35, about 15secs faster than we normally do them, probably because some of the slower swimmers weren’t here today. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be though.

400 warm up
4 * 100 FS on 1:45 (1:72)
4 * 100 IM on 1:30 (1:32)
2 * 8 * 50 as {
    2 on 60,
    2 on 55,
    2 on 50
    2 on 45}
400 Pull (6:10)
4 * 100 FS on 1:35 (1:25)
100 cool down
Total: 2900m

Anyway, now that the Canberra lads have decided not to come to Sydney until tomorrow after all, I can cycle home tonight and possibly go for a short run, depending on how my legs feel. It also means that I have tomorrow completely off too! Whew!

S: 2900m – B: 23.8km – R: 6.6km – W: 1 session

I didn’t get back from Melbourne until Monday lunchtime, so I missed out on some sessions there. Made it to the gym yesterday morning for the usual 1.6km warm up run followed by a heavy weight session and am feeling it a bit today.

Ty & Andrew are coming up from Canberra today, and myself and Tom are taking them out to Wasavie since Tom is always raving about it. That means I’ll miss my cycle home and also my run, so I had to make up for it last night. I decided to run for 5km last night, instead of the planned 3.2km and it went OK. I had the usual 145bpm HR limit on the watch, but I started off too fast as my splits show. Still, at this stage in the game time isn’t even remotely important – distance is, so the slow build-up continues.

Lap 1: 4:46.6
Lap 2: 5:01.1
Lap 3: 5:14.8 
Lap 4: 5:24.8 
Lap 5: 5:28.5 *
Lap 6: 5:30.2 *
 = exceeded MaxHR limit of 145bpm & had to slow down
Each lap is 840m

R: 6.6km – W: 1 session

I finished the week off yesterday with a cycle home from work and then a quick run. Felt pretty good on the run too, and even this morning there’s no stiffness or soreness, so maybe I’m getting used to this running lark? Probably not ;-) All in all, it’s been a good week. Didn’t miss any training I had planned to do and I feel ready to continue building more in next week. In the meantime, myself and Jacqui are off to Melbourne for the weekend.

S: 4900m – B: 45km – R: 12.2km – W: 1 session

Went along to the swim session yesterday only to discover that our coach had decided to introduce heart-rate based training. In order for thsi to work we needed to know our maximum HR, so we had to do a 100m sprint and take our pulse afterwards. I managed 190, off a 1:05 100m Free. Only 12 seconds slower than my best ;-)

I’m not going to bother with the HR stuff, as I can swim 1:30/100m pace on a HR around 125bpm, but upping that to 150bpm only takes me to 1:25 pace, so it’s not really worth the extra effort, especially since I’ll be down around 1:25 pace in a couple of weeks anyway.

400 FS warm up
100 Sprint – 1:05 (HR: 190)
4 * 100 FS on 1:50
3 * 200 FS on 3:30
3 * 100 FS on 1:50
2 * 200 FS on 3:30
2 * 100 FS on 1:50
Total: 2400m

I cycled home as well, then went straight out for a run. I was only doing four laps of the park this time, for a total of 3.2km, again at a nice and relaxed pace. I can feel it in my legs this morning though, particularly the bottom of my calves. Still, today’s my day off, so I should be fine tomorrow.

S: 4900m – B: 30km – R: 9km – W: 1 session

.. I went to Florida a few days after President Bush did to observe the damage from Hurricane Andrew. I had dealt with a lot of natural disasters as governor, including floods, droughts, and tornadoes, but I had never seen anything like this. I was surprised to hear complaints from both local officials and residents about how the Federal Emergency Management Agency was handling the aftermath of the hurricane. Traditionally, the job of FEMA director was given to a political supporter of the President who wanted some plum position but who had no experience with emergencies. I made a mental note to avoid that mistake if I won. Voters don’t chose a President based on how he’ll handle disasters, but if they’re faced with one themselves, it quickly becomes the most important issue in their lives." Bill Clinton, My Life (p. 428).

Via: Brad DeLong

Yesterday morning saw me up bright and early and straight into the gym for my only weights session of the week. I finished my weights program before going to NZ, but I’ve decided to do just one session per week for maintenance, so that I don’t lose the gains I made while doing the full program. It’s only one set of between 6 to 10 reps of heavy weights. If I get to 10 reps, then I have to increase the weight and build the reps back up to 10. It means the session is very quick, usually only taking 20mins or so, excluding the 1.6km warm-up run.

In the evening I managed my first outdoor run in a while. I did three runs on the hotel treadmill last week while in Canberra, as I knew I’d have to run outside this week and figured that the treadmill would be a good warm-up. Easier on the knees too. I ran five laps, which is about 4.2km, taking it nice and easy with an average HR around 145. I’m going for the slow and steady option for the moment, running each 840m lap around 5:05, instead of 4:40 last year, hoping it will be easier on my legs until the weight comes down!

S: 2500m – B: 15km – R: 5.8km – W: 1 session

Back from Canberra now, so I can get back into a proper week’s training schedule. Cycled in to work via the ferry, then hit the pool for my lunchtime swim session. Felt good throughout.

400 FS
4 * 100 IM on 1:45 (1:31)
400 Pull
8 * 50 FS on 50 (:45)
4 * 100 Pull on 1:45 (1:30)
10 * 50 FS on 50 (:43)
Total: 2500m

I’ve spent 20 years breathing almost exclusively to my right, so I’ve been working on breathing to my left over the last two weeks,in order to balance up my stroke a bit more. It felt pretty weird at first, but I’m starting to get the hang of it. My stroke still feels a little awkward while breathing left, but I’m fine-tuning it all the time. I’m limiting myself to 2500m per session at the moment so as to leave me enough energy for cycling and running. Last year I was doing too much swimming and not enough of the other two, hence the artificial limit for the moment.

I cycled home yesterday evening, which was rocket fast as I had the wind behind me.

S: 2500m – B: 15km

I crawled out of bed at 6am yesterday morning to go watch Niall run his first marathon. Mayra collected me at 6.40 and we headed off towards Fox Studios to await his arrival. The point we’d chosen meant we’d see him at the 11km, 16km and 21km points of the race, allowing us to give plenty of encouragement. Mayra had missed the last three races he’d done for various reasons, so this time we were taking no chances, and ended up in place, banner at the ready with a good hour before he was due to pass us. The only other people around were police manning the road closures!

Niall duly arrived at the appointed time, looking quite relaxed and cheerful. He’d latched onto the 3:30 pace group, indicated by a guy carrying yellow balloons, and on the three occasions we saw him seemed to be quite comfortable with the pace. After leaving him at the halfway mark we headed back to the Junction and got the train in to the CBD to watch the finish on the Opera House forecourt. The run down Macquarie Street, with the Opera House gradually revealed as you get closer, is an attractive way to finish a marathon, though by that stage I doubt any runner really gives a toss about the view.

We got ourselves set up just after the finish line and were keeping an eye out for the yellow balloons, figuring that Niall wouldn’t be too far behind, but he must have picked up the pace since we’d last seen him as he beat the balloons, crossing the line in an unofficial time of 3:29:18. There’ll be a couple of seconds knocked off that too due to him not crossing the start line as soon as the gun sounded.

So, a pretty impressive first effort for a marathon. Check out the photos.

Update: His official time was 3:28:59.

I’m back in Sydney and winter is well and truly over. Myself and Jacqui walked down to Nielsen’s Bay for breakfast and it was roasting. As soon as I got home I changed into shorts, the first short-wearing day post-winter. It only took 10 days!

Anyway, before going for breakfast I did a session on the indoor trainer while watching the Superbikes in Assen. I had also done a 4km run on the hotel treadmill on Thursday evening, rounding up my training for the week.

S: 3000m – B: 15km – R: 12km – W: 1 session

While he was being interviewed on TV, live on the ground in New Orleans, someone walks past as tells him to go fuck himself. Freedom of speech in action. Priceless ;-)

I’m down in Canberra this week and work is pretty busy, so I haven’t been posting much. Nonetheless, the exercise regime has continued as follows:

Monday: 3km run.

Tuesday AM: 1.6km run, Weights + 1km swim.

Tuesday PM: 3.4km run

Thursday AM: 2km swim

My achilles are a bit sore after the running, but I took yesterday off so I’ll be ready to get another run in when I get back to the hotel this evening.

S: 3000m – R: 8km – W: 1 session