Keep moving

Our last OS trip was to Vietnam. The Man and I took a cycling tour from Dalat (up high) to Mui Ne (beach side). About 80kms, through some hot countryside. Our poor tour guide was wilting at the end given he was used to the cooler climes of the high country. It was definitely a highlight of my trip. And with two months (from tomorrow) OS, I plan to move. Yes there'll be plenty of walking, but as much cycling and running as I can fit in!

It remains to be seen if or when I'll be able to blog, in the meantime may you stay free from injury and train consistently.

Sun; beep test: Level 4.7. That was my second attempt after a the first course was incorrectly measured. Still there's a bit of work to do on the whole 'running fast' side of things. I just wanted to see where I was at prior to leaving.

Running with a laptop

...well almost. Yesterday I picked up a Garmin 310XT. I'd been pricing them in the States, but the savings to be had in NYC weren't that significant. Megan pointed me in the right direction (via cool running) and I also got a fab deal through the guys at Highly Tuned Athletes (a free plug because their communication and service were spot on).

So after my terrible run yesterday, I was determined to hydrate properly which I did. After a week of grey skies, Melbourne put on a most gorgeous morning for my long run. And I had the company of my new toy so I was excited.

While I was a little skeptical about wearing a watch that size (a third of my forearm!) it felt no different to the Polar 625 that I've been wearing. The ongoing feedback is awesome, especially the pace you're running at any given moment. It encouraged me to run a fairly even pace, particularly as I headed home into the wind, which was tough. I was however rewarded with a great view of the city. I can't wait to really get into more of the features.

Run: 1h 45m 43s | 16.17km | 06m 32s/km. Long run. Slowed up towards the end running into a head wind and uphill didn't help, but super glad it's done and dusted. Feet were ok. Took my fuel belt and drank along the way, certainly felt better than yesterday. Fuelled with a Coffee Gu. Need to re-stock.

Fri; run: 30m | 4.58km | 06m 34s/km. This run was horrible, I cut it short by 10 min, which is something I almost never do. I put it down to dehydration and I hope like hell my next run is better.

Slow start

Trust me, I know people have bigger problems. But I thought I'd share. I'm about to go overseas for two months. I am totally planning to run. We hit NYC first, after some research I was just going to go over and buy a new pair of Vibrams because they are significantly cheaper in the US than here and I was really enjoying running in them. They're also tiny and hardly take up any space. Bonus.

However I couldn't finish my Vibram run yesterday because of the pain in both my feet at the midfoot/ball of foot. I was totally fine doing my speed work on the soft grass oval, but running home on the concrete sidewalk had me wincing in pain. So much so, I had to stop. I had a chat to my podiatrist who suggested I see a physio. I don't think it's stress fractures, at a rough guess I'm thinking some sort of tendonitis bought on by the fact that it's pretty squishy in the Vibrams with the Injinji socks.

It seems I can run in my Asics just fine, but I know that once I get tired I start to revert back to heel striking which I'm desperately trying to avoid. I'm wondering if I should go for a more cushioned barefoot style runner like a Newton or the Nike free.

First I should probably work out what's causing the pain...stay tuned. Or not.

Ride: 17:30 | 6.83km | 23.42 km/hr. I got about 10min down the road before I encountered a road closure and huge drops of rain. It was not meant to be a riding day it seems. I got my Max HR when a woman failed to give way and almost hit me.

Wed; run: 19:16 | 3.24km | 5m47s/km. I ran to the oval and then did a speed session of 6x 1min efforts 45sec rest. I wore the Vibrams + socks there and took the socks off at the oval. No issues running on the soft surface at all, yes it was a tough session, but no foot pain. I couldn't run all of the way home, too much midfoot & under toe pain. So I did a walk of shame home.

Monthly totals: February 2011

Cycling: 58m 50s | 26 km
Running: 6h 56m 19s | 65.17 km
Strength: 10m

Comments: I seriously considered not posting these. Because let's face it, February hasn't been my finest month in recent times. I totally lost my mojo. At least it came back for the last two weeks. On a positive note, there's plenty of room for improvement.