Just back from a good run. Managed 4.4km in 24’20" at an easy pace. Finished up with a HR of 150, but given that the last bit was downhill forcing me to speed up, average HR was probably close to 144. It felt really easy and, aerobically at least, I could have gone another few kms, but my legs would probably protest a lot.

I’m off snow-boarding in NZ tomorrow evening, so the test will be whether I can continue getting some runs in over there. If I do, the 10km race should be fine. If I don’t, well there may be a few issues…

R: 4.4km

Went for another run this afternoon. Same as before; 3.5km nice and easy. I’m sticking to the ball/heel/ball style which smoother than how I used to run. After the run my quads are a little sore, as are my achilles. I probably just need to do a bit more stretching on my achilles before I head out and my quads are just sore from the downhill sections, as I’m not sure how you’re supposed to run them without jarring.

R: 7km

Got home this evening and decided to go for a run on the spur of the moment. Took it really easy, keeping the heart rate around 144bpm, and just plodded along. In the end I got 3.5km in fairly easily, so I’ll see how the legs feel in the morning.

I’ve got about 6 weeks until the 10K race, and I haven’t run in about three weeks, so I’d better get my act together. Running for a time is out of the question at this stage, so my aim now is to try and run the whole thing, rather than doing a run/walk strategy. If I can run roughly every 2-3 days between now and then I should be OK, though that means going for a run after I get off the slopes in NZ. Easier said than done ;-)

R: 3.5km

…here

Just ordered myself a Sony DCR-PC109 video camera in preparation for the trip to New Zealand. I ordered it online from a shop in Adelaide, saving myself about $250 over the street price, and I’ll save a further $170 because I can get the GST back when flying to NZ.

It should arrive on Monday.

This Land, a shockwave animation poking fun at both Bush & Kerry. Good for a giggle.

Just read a great series of articles on why run training should almost always be slow. There’s a lot of talk about lactate testing, which isn’t practical for amateur runners, but the later sections discuss how you can get a good approximation of your lactate threshold using a heart rate monitor. Worth a read if you like running.

I caught part of Andrew Denton’s interview with Bill Clinton last night and it was bloody good. Thankfully Monica Lewinsky was only mentioned once. He managed to criticise Bush’s policies in a very measured way, pointing out exactly what was wrond with them and what he would have done had he been in the same situation. When you compare it to Bush’s interview for Irish television earlier this month, the intellectual chasm between the two presidents is clear: Clinton was articulate and quite capable of thinking on his feet, whereas Bush seemed to have a limited repertoire of answers and got quite rattled when he got a question which wasn’t a perfect match for one of the pre-canned answers. Poles apart…

I think I’ll have to read his book. I almost bought it a couple of weeks ago but changed my mind at the last minute.

Went for a run on the treadmill in the hotel last night. 2.5km @ 10kmh. I had intended going for 5km, but I still felt a bit tired after the weekend, so stopped early.

Crawled out of bed at 6:50 this morning, after staying up to watch the l’Alpe d’Huez time trial in the Tour de France. Armstsrong hammered everyone as usual, and didn’t appear to be too troubled doing it. Ullrich came second which was good to see. He’s up to 4th at the moment, so there’s still a slim chance he may pull second out of the bag by Paris.

After getting up so early (relatively anyway) I managed a 1000m swim this morning. Not particularly far, but it will have to do since I haven’t been in a pool in over a month.

R: 2.5km – S: 1000m

Myself, Kevin and Tom headed down to Perisher on Friday for some more snowboarding. Woke up on Saturday morning and Jindabyne was covered in snow, which was something we’d never seen before. We had to put on chains as soon as we left our accommodation at The Station!

Saturday morning was a bit overcast, and it was snowing, but conditions were still brilliant. A howling wind picked up in the afternoon and we decided to call it a day early. The conditions were so bad it took us almost two hours to travel the 30kms back to Jindabyne, since there were a few amateurs around without their chains on.

Sunday was pretty windy, and quite a few lifts were on hold as a result. It wasn’t looking like a promising day at all. We headed to the Interceptor and spent some time there as it was one of the few sheltered areas of the resort. That kept us going until lunch time when we decided to head over to Mt. Perisher. That turned out to be an inspired decision as the conditions were excellent, so we spent the remainder of the day carving up Towers. Kevin was moved to declare the day “hardcore” ;-)

So, we’ve all got our skiing/boarding dialled in for the trip to New Zealand in two weeks. Looking forward to it!