Chelles Running Blog

Still here...

2008-11-27T08:24:00.003+10:00

I'm still here, still running and have got in to a nice routine, which goes something like;

Monday - gym, usually a 30minute run, 15minute weights and 15min stretching / floor work
Tuesday - run from home, currently I am just doing 4km, but that will become 5km next week and includes a few reps running up and down a footbridge that goes over the highway.
Wednesday - gym, Body Attack cardio class
Thursday - as per Tuesday, or if I'm feeling a bit tired maybe just a jog around the park.
Friday - gym, usually 20mins x-trainer, 10mins rowing, 10mins weights and 20minutes stretching / floor work
Saturday or Sunday - long run (which isnt very long at the moment!)

Quite happy with progress and am enjoying the nice warm and light weather, even if the 94% humidity and fine drizzle did leave me wanting to jump in the pool this morning! I'm also not pushing myself too hard, if I'm feeling a bit under the weather, or when the storms hit last week, I'm not forcing myself out for the sake of it, seems to be working for me at the moment, a bit less pressure really.

Last Sunday, MJ, Matt and I watched Spirit of the Marathon which was an interesting movie and has added a bit more motivation for me to commit to getting back to running properly in the new year....!

A good negative...

2008-10-15T07:37:00.002+10:00

A negative split that is.

I couldn't believe it, Melbourne Half Marathon probably was the equivalent to all the running I have done in the previous 2 years (excluding the last few weeks) and some how, not only did MJ & I manage to run the whole thing without stopping, albeit very slowly, we actually did a negative split, despite headwinds, hills, heat and general fatigue.

I had a great time in Melbourne, although it got off to a slow start thanks to Qantas and I didn't arrive at the apartment I was sharing with Matt & MJ until about 1.30am Saturday morning. I managed to get about 6 hours sleep that night, in the morning MJ & I went to check out the expo and then wandered around town, stopping for a pasta lunch and some sweet breads to munch on later that day. That evening we checked out the local restaurants and ended up at an Asian place, very nice it was too, I kept away from the spicy stuff and had the special 'pineapple' fried rice to keep on the safe side, it seemed to do the trick.

On Sunday morning I was awake at 5am, but being in such great proximity I didnt get up until closer to 5.30am. The usual routine of getting ready and then MJ & I were off. Toilets and bag drop completed we had discovered on our way to the start line that my Garmin had chosen that moment to completely go haywire, so we were without any watch, our game plan was to find the 2.10 bus and try and keep near it for at least a little while to give us an idea of pace. According to McMillan, we should have been aiming for 2.17hour based on our Bridge2Brisbane time. I was quite happy with this aim, considering it a long-run rather than an opportunity to break any records and was more than content that a couple of walk stops may be needed to achieve the run. The run started well, although the corner at Flinders was a bit tight and I was quite concerned for some runners who seemed to be playing chicken with the trams which at that point were still moving (I sent in some friendly feedback to the organisers on this and a couple of small points, whom were nice enough to respond to me and thank me for it; I made it as friendly as possible, I know how hard these things are to organise and then execute!). MJ & I just plodded on slightly behind the 2.10 bus, which we overtook at the first water stop and ran ahead of all the way around the lake, it overtook us at the next water stop which we had to walk through to get a drink, it didn't worry me, we were aiming for 2.17ish and were almost half way with the 2.10 bus, everything was going fine, although I was having a few gut problems, perhaps a reaction to the gel I had taken just before the start, or perhaps a coincide and totally unrelated to anything 'running'. As we plodded our way along the water we seemed to be picking off a few people, I guess this was around the 12km mark and the heat and wind was starting to get to some; as we split from the marathon pack, I mentioned to MJ that I might to walk at some point, but otherwise was going okay. The walk never happened, and although we played a game with the 2.10bus, going slightly ahead and slightly behind, and although despite hydrating really well and drinking at every water stop, and carrying some Gatorade I was feeling quite thirsty, and although my legs (and I found out afterwards, MJ's) were starting to really feel it, by the time we got to the 18km we knew all we had to do was keep going for a little longer and we were done. The 2.10bus pulled away from us (or we fell back) as we went along St Kilda Road, it didn't really matter. I managed to find a little something as we were going along Flinders and the MCG came in to sight and we gained on the 2.10bus. Running in to the MCG (and the crowd goes wild!!?) was pretty cool, it seemed a long way around however, but we finished probably 10meters behind the 2.10bus, which was great, as we knew we hadn't started more like 50meters behind it and hoped to scrape in under the 2.10mark after all.

The usual chip collection, disappointing goodie bag (literally just a bag in this case) and drinks were done, as well as the medal of course and we headed down to where we'd seen Tesso and gang to say hi and wait for Matty to come through from his marathon run.

Unfortunately Matty went to first aid for some hydration assistance and MJ was with him, after 2.5hours I went back to the apartment to wait for them as no one had any phones. I ran a small cold bath and sat in it while having a shower, that, and the fact I put my skins on as soon as we had got our bags afterwards I think helped a lot. Soon after Matty & MJ made it back, Matty full of pride, as he should be, at his sub 3 hour effort. A steak and egg sandwich later and I was heading back to the airport. I felt a bit odd at the airport, I think it was the exertion of the run, but a lot of water later and back in Brisbane and I was only feeling tired and sore.

The Half times were amazingly online on the Monday, and even more amazingly we had managed to complete it in 2:08:56, a minute quicker than we thought and 8minutes quicker than we had predicted on a good day.

The recovery has been okay. I was very sore on Monday and did a 30minute walk followed by 30minutes stretching that night. I had a massage, the ITB on both legs was near excruciating and a couple of times I nearly had to tell her to stop. I did nothing on Tuesday, but this morning I got up and went for a 20minute run (jog) and feel a lot better. I will head the gym on Thursday morning and on the weekend I think we might go for a long bike ride as I am still determined to cross-train more, rather than only run as before.

A great weekend though, and wonderful to see so many people who I've not seen for so long too.

When is a taper not a taper...

2008-10-06T11:02:00.003+10:00

If you havent done too many long runs, is it really suitable to be tapering the week before a long run, I mean, if I reduce my Km's by much more I'll be going backwards!

I've been a bit busy recently, including a long weekend to Melbourne for the AFL GF, which was great, despite the result. I have managed to keep to my schedule quite well though, including a long (the longest in quite some time) run of 15km last Saturday. MJ and I headed off from my place, up to the Hornibrook Bridge (5km, pretty straight forward), along Sandgate (5km's also and a bit tired, plus my shorts started to rub so I had to take a walk break to ease that... just as well I found out before Sunday though) and then heading back towards my house (the final 5km, and I was starting to feel the heat and lack of long run impact), finishing at 14.6kms in a very very long (timewise) run! Still, I had no pain or soreness the next day, and on the basis that time-on-feet is good training even if there were a few walking breaks, it wasnt too bad. I also now dont think I will completely crash'n'burn this weekend.

So, for the taper, puntermatt has recommended a 30minute run today. Usually I would do that on a Monday morning, but I had a wedding last night down the Gold Coast and it was quite late by the time I got home, so I will make the most of the warm day and do my run tonight.

I am not sure whether it is smart or insane to be running the Melbourne Half this weekend, but I guess there is only one way to find out.

Challenge Two.... Tick!

2008-09-17T12:32:00.002+10:00

....and so there you have it, my second run longer than about 3km in the last 18months has been completed. The 12km GH Mountains trail run. I cant remember the exact time, it wasnt that remarkable, maybe somewhere around 1.17mins I think, I would have to check the watch. Still, it further reinforced why I want to be out there running again. MJ, myself and a friend of MJ's had a blast. I found the first 2km really hard going for some reason, I dont know why, probably a little out of race practise and it just took a while to settle in; the hills were fun, although I freely admit to walking up those where running would have actually been slower! Between about 6-10kms MJ and I chatted about allsorts of otherwise inane things, however, when its taking your mind of the hurt, any conversation goes!! At about 10km, despite carrying water and filling up a bit at the 5.5km station I was starting to feel a bit thirsty, I think the heat/sun and again, lack of race skill plus overall unfitness was the reason, it was good enough motivation to get me to the end quicker and put in the final effort to the finish line. Ceramic mug #2 is now proudly at home!

Back at my place I spent an hour in the spa with MJ & her friend and then did a really good stretching session while the muscles were warm. I didnt feel too bad at all when Sunday night came around, which was an improvement from the weekend before after B2B. Monday morning and I went the gym, a very easy session on the treadmill, some weights and a good stretch, more to keep in the gym habit than to burn any serious calories! By Monday afternoon I was feeling pretty sore and went for a walk Monday night to try and work some of it out, and of course, the obligatory stretch before bed again! Tuesday morning and while still sore I was feeling much better than the previous Tuesday, another evening walk and a quick spa before stretching and come this morning I was up and ready to go for my 5.30am Body Attack class.

I am quite pleased with the little progress I have made so far. I will be trying to get out on my bike tomorrow and then the gym on Friday morning. Saturday I have plans to ride to Chermside to meet MJ and then we're off a little run, and then I'll ride home again... Sunday will be rest day, apart from a session at the driving range and maybe a small bit of shopping!

Its a start

2008-09-12T08:15:00.003+10:00

Well, this week was interesting. On Monday I experienced DOMS for the first time in a while after the Bridge to Brisbane. I had a float and 30min massage booked in for Monday night which helped considerably and left me only with sore quads to contend with the next day.

Tuesday afternoons are meant to be an easy cycle (I am trying to add some x-training in to my 'running' to prevent injury and increase overall fitness) but I didnt end up going, a late finish from work and Mr Chelle coming home a day earlier than expected from a work trip work were enough excuses combined with my quad soreness, for me to stay home and do a decent stretch instead that night.

Wednesday morning is the dreaded 5.30am Body Attack class, I very nearly hopped on a treadmill instead but MJ was there and I thought I may as well give it a go. I'm very glad I did too. While the class is not technical by any means, its full-on, the 10minute breather in middle is 70 push-ups, it certainly gets the heart rate up and works your legs almost continuously. It was just what I (and my legs) needed, and although it left me tired for the rest of day, the soreness was pretty much gone.

Thursday nights are meant to be another easy cycle, but a doctors appointment and feeling like I was suffering a bit from that achey / headachey / sore throat bug that was going around forced an early night - with some stretching first of course!

The last working day of the week requires a gym session and sure enough I bounced out of bed at 5.15am this morning to make it down there. Nothing to strenuous as this is still very much early days, but a bit of speed work on the treadmill, some weights and a good stretch and I was out of there just after 7am and heading to work.

I think the best part of this week is going to be Sunday, when MJ, Collette and I will be heading up to the GH Mountains to do the 12km trail run. I've only run at the GH once before, a 20 or 25km run I think with Clairie and Tesso, we managed to go off track only once, and I'm hoping for a similar or better run this weekend. From the list there seems to be almost a full-house for the 12km, and lots of others listed in the longer events too; my hat is certainly off to the guys that will be running all through the day and night before finishing, probably, faster than I do.. ha ha.

Anyway, its slowly slowly at the moment, but thanks for the encouraging words on my earlier posts and hopefully over the next few weeks or so this running malarky will become a bit easier again and some distance and speed work can be looked in to.

Its been a while...

2008-09-08T07:52:00.002+10:00

I really wasn't joking when I was telling people yesterday I hadn't run in almost two years... its in black & white on this blogsite that I've not posted for nearly as long as well. Hmmm, no wonder I am hurting so badly after competing Bridge2Brisbane yesterday! The rather slow, although not terrible given lack of recent runs time of a whisker under 60minutes has been enough to make me enthusiastically dream of what use to be, and perhaps what could become again. My partner in crime, as usual, is MJ and the bug seems to have bitten her too!

Time will tell if running becomes a full time sport again, or just a weekend hobby, I am very nervous about getting injured again, on the flip side I have had some changes at work over the past month that mean I now have more time available (dont feel obliged to be in work by 6.30am everyday anymore!) and have been managing to go the gym and try and gain some fitness back.

*Watch this space*

Racehorse running again!

2006-10-10T08:53:00.000+10:00

Earlier this year, when I was trying to start running again after my last little break, courtesy of my knee, I had a loop that I ran with my puppy, around the back of a race course. The Puppy absolutely loved it, I swear he use to think he was a racehorse! When the mornings started to get darker I stopped doing this route as there was no lights and it was pretty lonely, plus I would have needed to run it twice to get the distance I required. This morning Puppy and I went for and reestablished ourselves on the racecourse loop. It took me 35mins, I think I use to do it in 32, however this time did include a short walk of about 500meters to stretch my knee out a bit. I now have a plan of attack for each week;

1 x racecourse run
1 x longer weekend run
3 x morning walks with puppy and Mr Chelle

Will do that for a couple of weeks and get really serious about my stretching etc and then hopefully up the pace a bit!

Getting fat...

2006-10-06T19:39:00.000+10:00

Since doing the Sydney Half a few weeks ago, my 'slightly dodgy before I went skiing and even more so since' knee has been a nightmare. I had to fly to Fiji 48 hours after I ran the Half, sounds great, but I was actually working and the hours there are pretty long, I think the conference organisers are mad, they put these conferences in these great locations and then the day looks a bit like this;

7am, breaky
8am-5pm - Conference
6pm - pre-dinner drinks
7pm - dinner
10pm onwards - 'compulsory' socialising / networking...

Sound fun? Trust me, after the third 2am finish (and I'm drinking water here, cocktails were few and far between!) and 6am start it soon becomes tiring.. Anyway, where was I, oh, because its so full on I didnt have any / much time for stretching or what have you and by Wednesday afternoon my right calf was rock solid, I could actually feel myself dragging my foot as I walked. By Saturday, last day of the conference things were a bit better and I was walking normally at least, my knee was definitely sore though. No running, just walking the week back from Fiji (last week) and I couldnt get an appointment with my wonderful sports masseuse until the following Monday.

The Monday appointment would be one of the more painful I have ever had, she actually asked if I'd been doing my running in heels due to the state of my legs! Y'ouch!

Pat had sent an email out on Monday asking for helpers for the time trial and I decided to go along. I did the warm up and cool down with the guys and helped to slow some of the bikes and cars down while the guys were running. I was SO jealous, I really wanted to run, but the warmup alone was agony. I could feel myself pushing off on my left leg more trying to give my right knee as much 'air time' as possible. As soon as I'd finished my run and was ready for work I took a precautionary Voltaren. Actually, it wasnt too bad, but I am certainly not in running form at the moment, just getting fatter thinking wanting to be able to run.

So, I have seriously started my stretches again, I'd never completely stopped, but I had slackened off and am going to go real slow over the next few weeks, maybe venturing to Pats just once or twice. Not a happy bunny, I thought all this was behind me, but at least its almost the off-season, so I guess its the best time of year to go a bit easier.

Longtime between blogs..

2006-09-18T14:56:00.000+10:00

... yes, its been a longtime since my last post, sorry... Thanks Jen for checking up on me and sorry for not responding earlier, the last last 6 weeks have looked like this

10 days skiing
1 week = post-skiing knee soreness
1 week = audit at work and therefore no time
1 week = conference at work and therefore no time
1 week = TT and no ashamed to front up after not being there for a month! Thursday = 7am breaky meeting
1 weekend in Sydney, and yes GoGirl and a few other CR's who I managed to wave to, I was in Sydney and did do the half yesterday before flying back to Brissie a couple of hours later, and yes, I am paying for it today having done a maximum longrun of 10km since I went skiing..

.. Time is up, I jump on a plane to go to a conference in Fiji tomorrow for a week, maybe after that life will settle down a bit and running will start to take a front place again... that is assuming my knee is only sore and not injured again as today I can barely walk on my right leg... The two days post conference at Fiji, lying on a beach should help that :)

World's Youngest Fan

2006-08-07T16:59:00.000+10:00

Unfortunately I missed my friend, we think she got there about 30 seconds too late, but here is photographic evidence of the youngest fan (possibly) on the street for B2B yesterday :)

Bridge 2 Brisbane

2006-08-06T17:13:00.000+10:00

My second attempt at the B2B this morning started with my alarm going off at 4.15am. I had told Mr Chelle I was getting up at 5.30am so he was muttering some stuff about 'stupid hour of the night' as I struggled to get myself out of bed and in to the cold and dark. Driving through the Valley at 5am is a scary thing to do by yourself, especially when you have to stop at a red light outside The Beat as everyone is pouring out! Anyway, I found a park on the nearest side street to the bowls club, decided that I only needed to donate a jumper and not the shirt as well headed off to the bus stop. The bus dropped us off right at the start this year, much better than walking up that hill as we had done last year. Bruce Paige was harping on about starting the race early, I didnt think he could (or would) but sure enough it started 5mins earlier than scheduled.. they must have really wanted to get the bridge re-open I guess.

My goal today was to start with the 55min group as a guide and then hopefully improve on last years time of 56:40... The plan didnt go quite to plan, I started closer to the sub-50 group and half way down the descent of the bridge the sub-55 pacers flew past me. I guess they had gotten held up at the start and were making up for it, it was a bit of a shock though! More of a shock was when the sub-60 pacer drew up alongside me just after 3km! I didnt feel like I was going super fast, but I was sure I was going quicker than that. I could hear the pacer telling his guys 'we're going a bit fast but dont worry, it'll even out now' the guys in his crowd looked puffed already. I got to 4km at 18.20 (4.35pace) and the sub-60 pacer was ahead of me, 1.40 quicker than they should have been and at just 4km as well. The pacer actually turned around and started heading back down the road, I guess he realised just how much quicker he had been going. It was a bit of a relief for me too, my watch and legs were telling me I was going quicker but you just never know. So, a third of the race was gone and I was running by myself with my ipod for company. Figured I may as well play a little game and decided to pick everyone with a red shirt off one-by-one; I think I got to 7 red shirts between 6-10km. At 10km Tesso came up beside me, I had just figured her and Clairie were ahead, but actually they made a quick stop in the little girls portable room and were now flying up beside me and then disappearing in to the distance somewhere.

I crossed the line at 55.52, so a 50second pb which I was more than happy with. Knee and hip gave me a bit of a problem around half way, I could feel myself swinging slightly to one-side to elivate it, which of course will end up making it worse. Lots of stretching on the cards for tonight, oh, and on the recommendation of Hannah I (and Mr Chelle) are going to the Float Centre on Wednesday night. We go on holiday on Thursday so thought this would be a nice start to it :)

Glasshouse Mountains trail run

2006-07-29T15:24:00.000+10:00

I am no longer 'without trail run', this morning with the encouragement of Tess and Lizzle I completed my first one at the Glasshouse Mountains. What a great day and great location for it too.
I arrived a bit early, there was some confusion between the website start time of 7.30am and the mailed instructions of 8am, better safe than sorry I left the house at 6.30am and was up there by 7am, the joys of no traffic! Pretty soon the usual suspects began turning up and I was feeling like it was just going to be any other race, that was until the race director mentioned something about 'a lot of mud' and 'what to do if you go off a trail'...

It was a funny start, Clairie, Lizzle, Tesso and I thought we'd sprint for the first 100meters, then all but Claire thought better of it and pretty soon we'd lost Clairie and it was just us three. I was a bit worried I was going to hold Tess and Liz up but they seemed fairly happy running around 5.20's and just taking in the scenery.

We got to the first checkpoint at about 6km, the guys mentioned something about going straight for one km and then turning left 'la la la' I wasnt really listening, just taking it all in. If I had, well if any of us had been listening closer it would have probably prevented the detour we took (just visible on the map), luckily for us the following group called us back. There were a few tales of people who detoured for a kilometre or more though!

A couple of large rolling hills and we were at checkpoint 2 getting our photos taken, the hills really started to kick in at that point with the elevation rising to over 150meters, and the speed dropping off just as quickly. At one point Tess was leading and running up a steep hill and Liz and I were just walking behind her, they really were too steep to run and in places pretty wet, muddy and slippery too.

Around about 14km I was starting to tire and was probably running 20-30meters behind Liz and Tess and only catching up on the downhills. I kept telling myself that it didnt matter if I went slow, this was my first run over 12km since GC and it was only meant to be a training run, still that didnt really stop me from wanting to keep up. At checkpoint three we got our water filled up, it looked like we were about to climb the steepest hill yet, but when you got half way up it levelled off and we took a path away from the massive climb ahead.

For most of the second half it was just the three of us, with Tess and Liz making it look easy and me wishing I could go quicker! It was a great run though, so beautiful, we even stopped to get our picture taken with Mt Tibrogargan behind us.

2.12 of running time, although it seemed much quicker than that, the K's just flew by, even when I was getting really tired. I think this is definitely one for the calendar, though the other two musketeers made it the most fun, even waiting for me to catch up so we could all cross the line together :)

4 x Eeeek!

2006-07-27T16:28:00.000+10:00

Pats session this morning was the dreaded 'session before the TT'. We were meant to be going down to Westend but visability was so poor that Pat decided it was safer for us (and everyone coming the opposite direction) to head down to New Farm again.

The usual run-throughs and then in to the big stuff. 4 x 1km efforts, or 4 x 1km + 2 x 500meters for the "Glamour Boys" (Pats words)... luckily I am not a boy so I did feel at all guilty about taking option A :)

The group was fairly quiet, even for a Thursday with most notable absentees being Tess, Clairie, Tara, Ally-Lou and Ciaran. The lack of numbers meant the field spread out quite quickly. I was running in a small group of Sarah, Steve FS and 'new guy'. My splits were as follows;

4.20
4.23
4.27
4.26

Fairly happy with that, I dont think a pb is on the cards on Tuesday, especially if I am to do the 24km GH on Saturday but hoping for an honest effort all the same.

I have been quite "nice" to myself this week, on Tuesday night I left my phone in the car so had no alarm to set for a wednesday morning run. Mr Chelle who does not appreciate being woken up at 4.30am three morning on a row would only set his alarm for 6am, I'm sure the extra time in bed did me no harm though.

So, J2J is done. GH as a training run this weekend, then Bridge2Brisbane next week.. I need a goal for September I think, will have to see what is around.

at the races again

2006-07-24T08:00:00.000+10:00

The 21st Jetty 2 Jetty this morning, though only my second time at the event, it would be what I term as my 'home race' seeing as its the closest one to my house I run in... A call the previous night from a nervous friend of Mr Chelles meant I left a little earlier than planned, she was running her second ever 10km and didnt want to turn up by herself. No problem, she picked me up at 7.15am and we were there 10minutes later. Numbers were collected, I wished her good luck and she went off to warm-up for the 10km. I was just doing the 5km so made my way to the start to see everyone off. There were a few familiar faces in the crowd, Langy, Karen and Sara were there supporting also.

My goal for the 5km was sub 23 and 22.30 would have been the ideal. I saw Matty just before the start. I am always winding him up about putting me in RFYL, he told me I would need a sub 22.30 to stand a chance of being in the top 10, so there was some pressure/encouragement to get cracking.

It was a small crowd, probably about 250 at the start, I quite enjoy these smaller races over the shorter distances. Everything started smoothl, including trusty ipod and garmin, Opppss, I'd remembered about the hill coming home but had somehow magically made the one right at the start disappear from memory. Soon got over that and before I knew it was at the 1.5km marker for the schools 3km run, then it was the 2.5km marker and we were heading for home. Nice little motivator running past all the 10kers, who rightly enough were starting to tire at this point. I had three girls in my sights who I knew were in the 5km race. I saw the hill ahead and knew this would be a good time to do some catching up, sure enough two of them slowed dramatically and started to come towards me, I dug deep and got over the hill. Two down, one to go. With every up hill, there is an equal and opposite down hill - yipppeee for the downhill, I used it to my full advantage, even clocking up my faster point of the race with the garmin measuring sub 4min/k at one point. I caught the third and final girl of the three with 500meters to go. Finished in 22.40, a new PB.

Looking at the results I think I will have placed outside the top 10, so still a bit to do before I make published glory, but maybe next time :)

running for breakfast

2006-07-23T13:01:00.000+10:00

On Saturday morning myself and the puppy headed down to Shorncliffe to meet up with the injured MJ. The plan was for me to get there 30mins early and do a reasonable 30mins and then meet up with MJ for a slightly slower 30mins before having breakfast at Sonomas. After the previous couple of months the 7km that we did in about 40mins (oppss) seemed minscule, almost just an excuse to eat pancakes have a good chat really, not that I suppose you ever need an excuse for that!

It was good to catch up though and keep MJ up to date on the new people who have joined Pats this week. Its funny, one of them ran with me as the 2hour pacer for the Brissie Half a couple of months back, thats the second person in 3 weeks I've run in to who has known me from former Pacer fame :)

Sunday morning is Jetty 2 Jetty. My goal time for 5km is 22.30, however I am happy for sub 23min (last year was 23.27) as my legs are still not feeling 100% and my knee is going to need some serious stretching before any running is done at all!

and so it begins again...

2006-07-18T12:19:00.000+10:00

First day back at speed work today after the GCM, 8*60sec efforts. My legs felt a bit heavy but generally I was okay, hopefully in another week I'll be getting closer to normal and maybe even a bit quicker ;-)

The day after the marathon I flew to Cairns for a conference, it was pretty full-on, one of those 'breakfast at 7am, seminars 8am-5pm, pre-dinner drinks 6.30pm... not really much time to fit in a run or two and so I used it as a very good excuse to rest up completely. I surprised myself though, I wasnt really too sore, a bit achey for a couple of days and my knee really played up until about Wednesday but rest and stretching appear to have won that battle again :)

Last week I did two very very easy runs and left it at that. I never lost motivation to run but I was definitely enjoying the lack of 4.30am starts so I signed up for J2J 5km and B2B 12km. Unfortunately, well not really as I'm going skiing, but I dont arrive back into Brisbane until the day before Noosa so I have opted not to do that this year.

Anyway, I must now annouce that after running the marathon, the formal dinner and the proud owner of "runners black toe" I am now ready to start training for something new... the question is what?!

Gold Coast Marathon

2006-07-09T16:28:00.000+10:00

Well there it is, Marathon number one done and dusted, it was only a week ago and already seems a life time ago, I guess that is a good sign that recovery didnt take too long!

On the Friday before the run Mr Chelle & I went to watch Superman (not good) in Gold Class (good) although I must admit I spent a lot of the time staring at the screen trying to work out how to get out of running on Sunday, scared and a few other choice words were expressed quite often during the night and over the course of the drive down the next day.

Mr Chelle was playing footy and as it happened it was against Surfers Paradise at their home game. I went along to be cheer squad for the first half before heading 5 minutes down the road to check-in and look around the expo. I caught up with MJ & Matt and then heaps of other CR's and PCRGers when the motivational talk started... I was almost motivated at this point, only half serious about working out how to get out of the run now :)

On Saturday night Mr Chelle was tired from his game and I wanted a quiet night anyway, so we walked up to the pizza place on the corner and came back to the unit where I cooked some pasta to accompany my pizza. I wouldnt have been at all surprised if QLD was on Level 4 water restrictions on the following Monday, I was drinking the H20 like it was going out of fashion. Anyway, I fell asleep while watching the Lions game and only woke up to put myself to bed at about 10pm. I slept like a baby and was wide awake before my 5am alarm. I got ready in a matter of minutes (think I surprised Mr Chelle as he is usually waiting for me!) forced down an english muffin and a handful of jelly beans and went out the front to meet MJ.

Mr Chelle & MJ had their bikes with them and we headed straight for Pats tent. There was a great buzz in the air and it was good to be able to catch up with Go Girl, also doing a debut before the start. Before we knew it the half had started and I was bouncing around making one last trip to the toilet before heading to the start.

And we're off....... everyone was laughing and chatting at the start, catching up with old friends and meeting new ones, this would have carried on until about 15km, then it got a bit quiet and even lonely at times! At around 6km I decided I needed to get ahead of the 4hour group or I may as well just run with them, I gained quite a lot of ground fairly quickly but then lost it when I decided there was no way I could run another 3.5hours without a quick toilet stop! I almost sprinted by marathon standards to rejoin the 4 hour group, Mr Chelle who was biking ahead a bit and then waiting for me and then biking with me for a bit and then ahead again and so on, even missed me when I came back past as he was sure I should have been behind the 4 hour group still!

At 15km Mr Chelle was riding with me and joked about going off to Maccas for some hash browns.. ha ha.. not very funny, although he was quickly let off when he handed me some jelly beans!

Half way! Yippeee and in good time too, all I would have to do was sustain the pace and I would be on for my 4 hour goal. The sun was starting to burn by the time we crossed over the bridge again, it was incredible to think that Lee Troop had already finished his 'sprint'. There was so much support coming over the bridge, I lost Mr Chelle in the throngs of people. Saw Donna and Tesso, MJ, Karisma and ever fabulous CR squad. Mr Chelle said I had my "grumpy face" on from about 33km, but actually it was between 28-30km that I was really hurting and arguing with myself. I walked through a water stop at about 35km, decided not to do that again, much to much pain on the legs! It was great to see some many people heading for home as I was going to the turnaround. Lizzle looking strong, heaps of PCRG guys as well, fantastic!

At the turnaround I felt a bit lighter, like I knew I could make it now. Hi-fives to Elaine, Dan, Liz and Hannah on the way back. I spotted Nicole who'd been looking amazingly strong when I saw her shortly before, I tried to encourage her to come with me but it wasnt to be. It was probably just as well too as I was on my last legs and they were becoming increasingly tired too!

As I came over the last bridge about 4km from the finish, Mr Chelle was on the end of it, he'd put out a fuel belt bottle and some gels on the bridge so I could grab whatever I liked as I passed... he told me afterwards he had to fight a couple of guys off them too! I was purely focused on the finish at this point, I felt a bit guilty as I later found out Mr Chelle had got a whole apartment block to yell out to me, I turned my i-pod up though to get me to the end and wasn't listening out for anything.

Go CR cheer squad, between trying to catch Schultzy (which I did) and you guys on that corner I knew I was going to get the sub 4 hours.

Go PCRG'ers all lined up on the fence on the home straight and Pat for calling me in as I crossed the line. Then Sue for keeping me steady when I thought my legs were going to give way from beneath me. Scotty, Andy and others had all just finished and were still taking off their chips when I arrived.

Mr Chelle was at the exit when I got there. I always thought I would burst in to tears when I finished but I didnt, I couldn't speak and I could barely move. I sat on the edge of the pavement for 5 minutes and waited for some strength to come back so I could go and see who had done what back at the tent.

Everyone there did so well, and I need to thank everyone for all the cheers and encouragement received. Mostly though I need to thank Mr Chelle for riding the whole course with me, for being my pack-horse so I didnt have to leave drinks on the tables and for not being offended when at about 34km I told him I couldnt talk anymore... I couldnt have done it without you.

Am I ready?

2006-06-29T17:05:00.000+10:00

I guess you don't ever know if you're ready to do your first marathon until you've done it, however I thought I would make a note of my preparation over the last few months for future marathons (thats assuming I survive this one of course!)

Average Week (from March)
Monday - rest
Tuesday - Pats session
Wednesday - mid-week puppy run
Thursday - Pats session
Friday - rest
Saturday - long run
or
Saturday - shorter run +
Sunday - race

Average Km's per week;
Feb - 15
March - 28
April - 46
May - 56
June - 46

'Little Helpers'
- Daily iron tablet
- Vitamin C (more routinely than the previous 'when i remember to (and then take 4 to make up for forgetting all week)')
- Post run sports drink
- massage x 3
- physio; every week pre-March
- stretching sessions
- ipod and garmin, because I couldnt do those solo longruns without them :)

I was feeling really good up until Monday, then it dawned me there was less than a week to go and consequently I have been suffering from the known running disease 'taperious hypochrondriacous' this week. My knee has genuinely been giving me some trouble, I think it is muscle sore rather than anything else, the first few reps were sore this morning but then I seemed to be okay. I have booked in for a massage, I wanted to get it on Wednesday or Thursday, perhaps everyone else had the same idea because she was booked out all week and I'm going Friday now instead, will be better than not going at all.

I-pod is fully loaded, garmin is on its charging dock, my biggest decision at the moment is whether to wear my new PCRG cap or the cool running one, and then how to simultaneously pack for my Cairns conference that I am flying directly to on Monday morning :)

So, am I ready to run a marathon.. I don't know, but I sure as hell am ready to give it my best shot!!

Tagged

2006-06-29T11:05:00.001+10:00

Thanks Ally :)

Tagged
4 jobs I have had:-
- bakery person
- market analyst
- business bank manager
- finance person (current)

4 movies I could watch over and over:-
- Dirty Dancing
- How to lose a guy in 10 days
- Grease
- Finding Nemo

4 places I have lived:-
- Surrey (UK)
- Cheshire (UK)
- North Yorkshire (UK)
- Brissie

4 TV shows I love to watch:-
- House
- Desparate Housewives
- SATC
- ER

4 places I have been on vacation:-
- Singapore
- America
- Thailand
- Kuala Lumpar

4 websites I visit each day:-
- St George
- Blogs
- CBA
- hotmail

4 favorite foods:-
- Monster Munch (pommie chips)
- curry
- crispy duck pancakes
- mcvities biscuits

4 places I would rather be right now:-
- out on our boat
- on the couch with my puppy (not that hes allowed on the couch of course)
- on holiday, anywhere!
- at the start line of the GCM - I hate this waiting!

4 favorite bands/singers:-
- The Killers
- The Black Eyed Peas
- Gorillaz
- U2

4 Bloggers I am tagging:
I'm not, this one is just for Clairie

Last long run

2006-06-24T17:10:00.000+10:00

This morning was my last long run, well for a week anyway. I'm sure the days are meant to be getting longer now, but when my alarm went off at 6am it was still pretty dark outside. I didnt end up leaving home until almost 7am in the end, it was still pretty dark then too!

The plan today was for a 90min run. I thought it would be good to test myself a little bit, try and keep the pace around 5.10's and look out for any niggles that might be lurking. I felt great this morning, I guess thats what an easier week of runnin does for you. For my first 5km the garmin was reading just under or right on 5min/k. It started to rain a bit as I begun to head along Shorncliffe, there were still a surprising amount of runners out though, I bet a few of them will be down there next weekend too.

As I was almost at the end of the walkway I spotted an Asics van, I thought that was a little strange for sleeply shorncliffe, then I realised it was actually the Run Inn as this morning was their monthly 5km TT. Hannah, Sam, Robbie & Schultzy were still there chatting and so I stopped for 5 mins to catch up with them (and rather ignorantly actually forgot to ask about the TT - sorry guys!). Schultzy is wanting to do a sub 4 at the GCM also and is talking about running a 5.30 pace, just 10secs quicker than the 4hour group... tempting, I will be keeping my eyes open for him come Sunday.

Got home just as the rain really started to come down hard, less than the desired 90mins, but only 10mins less so I think I'll let myself off the hook. Averaged 5.05's for the run, the knee niggle is still lurking but only down I've stopped...

3K Time Trial

2006-06-20T15:36:00.000+10:00

Hee hee, what a fun morning, there were drums, cameras, lights and definitely lots of action!

I would have loved a pb this morning, but who wouldnt. I thought better of putting that pressure on myself, although secretly I was aiming for 12.40, I knew on this occassion I actually would be okay about not reaching it for a multitude of reasons. I havent had time to look at my splits yet, it was pretty dark out there this morning, I couldnt see my watch to well while running so I'm really not sure. I know I started out too fast though, then slowed until the turnaround and then just headed for home best I could. I came in at 12.49, joint 2nd best time, so can't be too unhappy with that.

Lots of big PB's out there today though, so good to see, especially when its the fasties, like Tara and Clairie who are still managing to get out there and do so well. I had to nip off quickly for a 7.30am meeting, would have loved to have hung around for longer though, such a great atmosphere.

Tomorrow morning I am not running, I am still setting the alarm for 4.30am though and instead of pounding the pavement will watch England play footy, I mean soccer :) Will try and do a gentle run on Wednesday night instead.

Niggly Knee

2006-06-19T10:44:00.000+10:00

The knee is a bit sore again, I feel it could just be me looking out for things to go wrong before GC, still, I will be doing some real stretching sessions between now and then, and after TT tomorrow I plan on being as nice to myself as I can be. On Saturday I went out and did 19km in 1.40, it was meant to be a 2hour run, but after three false starts because my dog has worked out how to jump the fence I was a bit short of time before I needed to be somewhere else.
Averaged 5.16's I think and felt pretty good the whole run. Knee was only sore after I stopped running, which is pretty much the go with that particular niggle.

Quick catch up

2006-06-16T08:23:00.000+10:00

After Saturdays very long and slightly painful long run, I actually recovered pretty quickly. My legs were tired on the Saturday night, so I took the real runners recovery option on when Matty & I went the Lions game and wore my skins under my jeans.. helped keep me warm too! Come Sunday I was perfectly fine again.

I have found my legs and generally me feeling really tired this week. Pats session on Tuesday was fairly intense, then on Wednesday morning I did my usual loop and my per/k was slower than my long run on Saturday.. hmmmmm. Wednesday night I went to State of Origin (yaaay!) so gave myself slightly longer in bed Thursday morning and opted to do Pats session on Friday instead. Fridays session was 2 x 5mins and then who-knows how many hill reps in the gardens, before finishing it off with a run to the Vulture St lamppost. I only worked at about 80% on the hills, as the last couple of hills I have done ended up with an inability to walk properly and a trip to the physio.
I had a quick chat to Pat on my warm down run and hes confident the next two weeks taper will sort out the tired feeling. I'm pretty sure it will do too, as I've just a short 2 hour (since when did 2 hours become a short run!) run tomorrow and then 90minutes the week after.. then a slightly larger one, but I forget exactly what thats called :)

The good, the bad and the very ugly

2006-06-10T16:14:00.000+10:00

The plan of attack for this morning was 3hour cruisey run from home heading out towards Redcliffe and then just seeing what happened with regards to precise route.

Mr Chelle is in Melbourne and kindly sent me a 'good night luv I'm pissed' text at 4.50am, I was just dozing off again at 5.30 when my alarm went. I didnt realise it was so dark still at 6am, which my original planned leave time, as I was a girl running solo and the first couple of K's are very dark I waited another 20mins before heading off out in the dawn light.

I headed up towards the Hornibrook bridge, I thought I would do thirty mins out towards Redcliffe and then turnaround and do my usual route via Shorncliffe home which would make about 3 hours. I got a bit carried away though and my 30minutes was up well before I noticed so I figured I would just keep running and turnaround after 1.5hours for home.
It was a bit humid this morning, the roads looked like it had been raining all night so I finished most of the water I was carrying quite quickly... although a lot of parks around, there didnt seem to be too many drinking taps, I made a note to fill up on the next one I saw. It was such a nice run and pretty soon I was at Woody Point where the Jetty 2 Jetty run starts. Thought it would be kinda fun to do my own J2J, so following the coast I went through Margate and entered Redcliffe. I was feeling great and having a ball averaging about 5.30/km, quicker than my usual long run, but I'd just had three days off running so put it down to the mini-taper and kept going. I went past the Redcliffe SLSC and lagoon and ended up at the Jetty in 1hour 32mins, perfect. I took my one and only gel, refilled one of my waters, stretched for two mins and turnaround. That was the good part.

About 20mins in to my return journey I got slow legs, the ones that dont normally matter if you are with someone as they pull you through the struggle, after a few minutes I was good again.. then it hit again. I drunk some water, flicked through my i-pod to a really good tune and got going. I was okay for about another 20mins. By this time I was looking for more water, I was soooooo thirsty but couldnt find a tap anywhere. Still, it was cooler now, I was only about 10km from home and I was pretty sure there would be at least one tap between now and home..... couldnt find it mind. This was the bad.

I got back on to the pedestrian Hornibrook Bridge, there was a guy about 40meters ahead of me, he must have been hot as he had his shirt tucked in shorts and looked to be in pretty good form running in the same direction as me. The bridge, while only 2mins by car is actually almost 2km long, I decided to use him to keep me honest and wasnt going to let the gap between us widen... I checked Ms Garmin at one point and she was sub 5mins... eased up a bit but was still at 5.15's, feeling tired but okay. Then the heavens opened, took about 30seconds to become completely drenched, what I did learn from this experience is the shorts I often wear rub when its wet and my feet get blisters! When I got to the end of the bridge the topless man headed in the opposite direction to where I was going to go, this suited me fine and I took shelter under a small bridge while trying to work out why my ipod wasnt making any sound. Ipod fixed I started to head towards home, just 5km to go. F^(!*@, I went from hero to zero in 10seconds flat, worst 5km of my life, ever. I couldnt move, I ran for 1km and stopped, I just wanted to curl up on the side of the road in a ball and rock until Mr Chelle came and took me home, unfortunately he doesnt get back until next Friday and I am meant to be collecting him from the airport, so this wasnt really a choice. I was sooooooooo thirsty. Only 4km to go though now, it was the longest 4km, I could barely move at times, my head was willing my legs just werent. I half ran, half jogged when I could move and walked in between, Ms Garmin said I spent 17mins walking and 3hours 8mins running, so almost 3.5hours out there. Now that, was definitely the ugly part.

When I got home I grabbed my protein drink from the fridge, a lot of water and sat in a warm shower for a while... not too long though as today was shopping trip number one for a dress and I somehow managed to scrape myself off the floor to go and do that. Legs hurt a bit now though, but no injury pain. I dont know what went wrong today versus all other longruns, maybe I set off to fast, maybe I was dehydrated, maybe, maybe, maybe. What I do know though is I am no longer talking about times for the GC, I will run it and just see what happens :)

Details:
3hours 8mins
32km

Jinxed

2006-06-07T08:42:00.000+10:00

I wonder if its too late to delete yesterdays blog, I must have jinxed myself afterall.

Got home last night at about 8pm and was feeling slightly sore, I put it down to a good session in the morning on top of the Doomben run on Sunday and set my alarm for my Wednesday morning puppy run.

Legs were a bit tight when I got out of bed, gave them an easy stretch and started a slow run down the street to get them warmed up. The run went well, in fact I was feeling quite good, it was the stopping that hurt something chronic. I spent a long time stretching afterwards but certain muscles are tender to even the slightest touch, as if there is a very large knot there (?) and this was not a pleasant exercise. I managed to get in to my car and drove away to work, stepping out of the car was agony and I probably looked like someone with two false legs, half dragging them across the car park to get in to the lift. By the time I'd managed to get my coffee and get to my desk my mind was made up, first thing I did when I logged on was find the phone number for the sports massage I go to and I am booked in for this afternoon.... Its going to hurt, but if it prevents an injury or unnecessary time away from training then I'm quite happy with that.

So, sounds like a negative post, but actually I'm quite happy. Plan B for tomorrow morning is to not go to Pats and rest but then go on Friday instead. If Friday falls through there is still the longrun on Saturday to be taken gently. I'm not planning further than that, for all I know the massage will do the trick anyway :)

Post massge update:
At least I know its not all in my head now, the massage lady (funny how you can like someone who inflicts so much pain on you) said she hadnt come across trigger points as bad as mine in a long time. Not really sure what the medical definition of a trigger point is, I just know it hurts... a lot. I could actually feel her getting stuck on/in the muscle as she was trying to loosen them up. Nice.
She said I was fine to run tomorrow if I felt up to it, but to do some gentle stretching tonight. I will see how I feel before I go to bed and decide then, thinking though that a day off wont hurt and I will do the session on Friday instead.

I Google'd Trigger Point: A "trigger point" (TP), which is often caused by the muscle being overloaded, is a thick knot in a muscle which is palpable and tender (even painful to the touch) ..... Many runners are misdiagnosed with other problems when trigger points are actually the culprit. Trigger points are very adept at developing secondary to other problems like muscle strains, sacroiliac problems, and sometimes just as a result of a hard workout or race - So I'm glad I went off to the massage lady sooner rather than later, dont feel such a sook now :)

T-minus 7 speed sessions

2006-06-06T10:29:00.000+10:00

Yikes, 7 more speed sessions until the big day. Yikes again. I'm excited though, its so nice to be able to run without needing to take an anti-inflam with my post run sports drink.... I should really be quiet in case I jinx myself :)

This mornings session went quite well. A fairly swift warm-up run with Tara and Tess and then lots of talk about the Doomben 10,000, it must be the event with the most PCRG PB's so far, everyone did so well.
The session this morning was 1min x 8 with anywhere between a 20 & 45sec SR. Then of course there was Gold Coast hill to finish, which I did twice for the first time. A nice speedy warm down run to the Ship Inn.

Last really long run this weekend, then time to think seriously about a race pace plan. The idea was to finish, thats still the plan, its whether I go with the 4 hour pacer or maybe do my own 3.50ish type thing I'm unsure about.... answers on a postcard please!

2 runs in 2 days = 1 PB!

2006-06-04T18:02:00.000+10:00

I suppose I should cover Saturday off first, my new friend tells me it went like this;
72mins
13.14km
Avg: 5.29/km

I ran from home at about 7.30am, out to where Little Ms was playing netball. Mr Chelle was there with puppy and after netball practise I got a lift home. A conservative run just to get some K's done due to Doomben tomorrow.

Sunday, 4th June - Doomben 10,000

I was very keen to get a new pb this morning. My current one was set on this course 12months ago and stood at 47.30. 47mins was the target, I was working on 4.40's to get there. Something went wrong... I went a bit faster than the plan :)

The race started quite swiftly, a bit too swiftly for Tara who sped past me at 500meters and I later found out had still been stuffing her bag away from the start line when the gun went off! I was thoroughly enjoying myself, I felt controlled and running as fast as I could to be sustainable over 10km. My first couple of K's came up at 4.27 & 4.31, I figured by half way I would be dropping down to 4.40's and maybe slower so I was happy with my 47mins target.

A veteran (well I've done it once before) of this course now, I knew not to be deceived by the double-up of markers due to a slightly longer loop for the 1/2 Marathon. At about 5km I felt like I was slowing, by 6km I knew I was, at 7km I was thinking 'its just s 3k TT, go for it!'. I picked up person after person at about 8km (saw Hannah on her way to cracking sub-2, as well as a very strong looking Tess, plus heaps of PCRGers). At 9km I was wanting to get to the end, as I ran in to the stadium Langy was on his way out and told me to sprint.. so I did. Gun time (also watch time, not sure why I started it then) was 46.32, almost a whole minute off my pb. Will have to wait and see if they issue a chip time or not, I was quite near the front though and I doubt it will have too much impact.

Anyway, since I know them, splits were;
4.27
4.31
4.34
4.34
4.42
4.43
4.41
4.31
4.42
4.36

Ave: 4.36
New PB: 46.32 - TBC
Blog: changed to pink in honour of new 'go faster' pink shoes ;-)

PPS: - I lost my tables when I changed template... can someone help me with the code to put them in again purrrlease!?

Go go garmin girl!

2006-06-01T14:23:00.000+10:00

Well, personally I blame Tess. She was nice enough to lend me her garmin, got me hooked and so then I had to go out and buy my own too. Should probably put in a mention for Mr Chelle also, who was full of encouragement at me spending my money (on something he could use) and with a love of anything slightly techie almost ripped my credit card off me when I said I'd found a good deal for one online.

So, me and Ms Garmin 305 (and puppy) went for a small test run on Wednesday morning, which I should also add I feel was the coldest morning to date so far. I was really hoping to get in more than 60mins this morning, but after spending so long putting on my winter woollies by the time I hit the pavements it was already 5.05am. 55 minutes later, or so Ms Garmin tells me we arrived back home... a little map appeared on the screen as if to prove to me that I had just in fact run a whole loop of the suburb!

Ended all up with 226Km for May, feeling quite happy about that. I guess June will be smaller with a taper, but hopefully those K's will keep me going when the infamous 35km wall hits!

Thursday 1st June.
Pats session was a 50minute run followed by a no watch 1km. Tara, Tess, Mark and I ran down to New Farm. Tara and I stopped just before the 27minute turnaround and stretched a little before heading back. My new friend told me we were running at 4.55/k on the way back, legs felt a bit sore and I wondered how I ever manage to go faster. As if to make it all okay I did 4.29 on my 1 km no watch, 11 seconds off what I'd written down.

Annual Event

2006-05-30T16:35:00.000+10:00

This morning was the 3Km TT, I was so nervous. On my way home from work on Monday night I was trying to work out what I wanted to do. I thought sub 13 ie: 12.59 was going to be good, with the hope of scoring a pb on my next one just prior to GCM. I decided to try and back off a bit with the pressure, so promised myself not to look at the splits other than the 1.5km turnaround which I wanted to get to in under 6.30 to make the 13mins achievable.

I ran down to Westend with Mark, it was his first Pat session and it was nice for once for a new face to not be new to me. I swear the group doubles in size fortnightly and we will need name tags soon. Anyway, the strides were feeling good and I was feeling pretty confident that I was going to get the 13, but you just never know until you get out there and actually start running.
The TT started. For once I felt like I wasnt being swallowed up by the group, so either I had started right at the back or I was actually running a bit faster than usual. Some of the usual suspects started to break away from the pack, the gap was stretching out there but I didnt feel like I was falling back too much like usual. At 500meters there is a slight hill, all good so far, the windchill kicked in at 1km and I was thinking about that and how cold my hands were and then there was the 1.5turnaround. Watch check... 6.18. Cool, 12seconds under target but with two small hills on the way back I figured the extra seconds were going to come in handy to keep it to 13mins.

Just as I was starting to tire on the last hill good ol' Matty stopped and waited for me and then proceeded to run the last 300meters in with me. I could have quite happily sat down before I got to the finish, I wasnt hurting so much as just had nothing left to give. I could hear Pat calling out 12.37, 36, 38 as I entered the chute. My pb of 12.49 was within in reach..... 12.44 I crossed the line and then promptly found a curb to hold on to.

I'm so excited a new pb, one year after my previous one of 12.49.

So on that basis this time next year I'll have another new pb.... hopefully they'll be a couple in between as well! :)

3 hours long run

2006-05-28T19:23:00.000+10:00

A fairly uneventful run but very enjoyable non-the-less. MJ and I headed down to Newstead park, dodging people thru the New Farm markets and at the same trying not to take in the yummy smells coming from some of the stalls! 1.30 exactly we turned around, 2.59 we arrived back at the Regatta. Perfect!

We then had an enjoyable and well deserved breaky, found out a bit more about Toastie before heading to Intraining to get (another) pair of Brooks Adrenalines, this time they're pink though... very girlie!!

No aches or pains all day yesterday, and even after spending the morning jetskiing and out on Bribie, still feeling as fresh as a daisy!

Five weeks and counting...

Week after Warwick

2006-05-25T13:46:00.000+10:00

Its hard to know what to post when the previous post was about Warwick, its like I'm making it a distant memory, and it was such good fun... anyway nostalgia over and on to the past few days...

Monday: definite rest day. No soreness though which was a (nice) surprise

Tuesday: Opted out of Pats this morning, glad too, although not sore, during the 30min run I did do my legs were heavy and tired still.
On Tuesday afternoon I went for a massage, I was surprised by how tight my left leg was, not to mention how much all her stretching hurt it. I think I must be nursing my right leg still a little, though I dont think there is too much need now so need to focus on being more 'balanced'.

Wednesday: My God, can it get any colder. In a description a co-worker of my running gear this morning (gloves, skins, long top, hat) he said he thought I would look like "the hooded one from South Park", thats probably pretty much how I felt too. I left home at 5am and was back before 6am and it was fully light. I wasnt going fast, but I was moving, didnt seem to get me any warmer though!

Thursday: Back at Pats this morning for the usually hard session before a TT. 2/1/500m/1km with 1min SR. For someone who has an injury Tess was on fire this morning and I was only just keeping up with her to begin with. My legs felt really fresh today, probably due to the massage, but just as well as the plan for the weekend is 3 hours and I can guarantee they'll be tired enough after that without them needing to be tired before it.

wwww.Wicked Warwick Weekend.com

2006-05-22T08:39:00.000+10:00

What a fantastic weekend, no wonder there is excitement about this event weeks before it and talk of it weeks afterwards too. I dont know of another event on the calendar when you get to run with such a great bunch of people, not just once, but 5 times in a weekend and squeeze a couple dinners, road trips and a few chats around a protein bar or two (I am officially off protein bars for at least a week now... never would be too soon to see another one currently :) )

The weekend started with number collection and quickly headed off to the H&J for dinner. As the night went on more and more familar and soon-to-be familiar faces wandered in, providing a great opportunity to catch up. At 9pm Lis and I headed back to our palace for an early night ahead of the next days events.

The Half was starting before I knew it, MJ and I got to 2km in 10minutes and quickly put on the brakes. I soon found myself running solo, quite happy too listening to my ipod and taking in the fantastic country around us. Perfect morning and perfect company too, the little chats I had with the guys (Davo, Glenno, Jo, Schultzy) as we headed towards the hills helped the finish seem nearer than it was. 1.53 finish for me, which is only 6 mins off my pb, so fairly happy with that. A couple of moments around 16-18km where 'how will I back this up' came in to my head, but on the whole a very enjoyable run.

Back to the room, quick shower and change, some needed water and carbs, next thing I knew it we were having our CR photo taken at the x-country. Out of everything this weekend, the x-country hurt the most and accordingly felt the longest / further /steepest event of all, even though the opposite couldnt be more true. 4.53 for the first k quickly slowed to 5.10 / 5.20 /5.30 for the following ones. I wanted to run, but my legs did not agree with what my head was telling them to do. I got to the end in 24.11 and have never been so happy to finish a run!

Another quick shower and change and back out to the 5000m road race start at the Big W warehouse. This was a much better run, the couple of long down hills helped me to get in to a good rhythm and I managed to finish feeling fairly fresh in 24.41.

A fantastic night of food, trivia and prizes ensued. I even managed to start my own BLING collection with a Gold for the Half and Bronze for the other two events that day. Okay, so I have a small category, but it feels good to receive the placing all the same :)

Sunday morning I woke up expecting to be in real pain and suprised myself to find that other than a slight bit of soreness all was well. I'd been very careful to stay hydrated fuelled and stretched between and after the races, so perhaps that had helped.

At 7am we left for Kilarney, as we drove there and Kilarney appeared out the mist I got that ominous feeling, reminding me of being back at school before we were allowed in to the exam room. While I had really enjoyed the 10km ascent last year, I had done it on fresh legs and having just completed the longest run in any one day (30.7km) previously, I knew to make it up without stopping was going to be a challenge in itself!
This has to be my favourite run of the weekend, its just such a huge challenge to get up there, the feeling when you do reach the top is one of tremendous achievement. The first 2km were a struggle, then we hit a small downhill and I was able to get in a rhythm. Geoff ran passed me and warned me Schultzy was close on my tail (we had been playing cat n mouse in every race). He caught me and we joked about whose turn it was to win this one, the hill almost won though but I managed to dig deep and push on. I caught up with fatbloke and his wheeled support crew at about 7km, the real 'nasty' bit of the climb, he was struggling a bit and on a walk break (not that you could blame him with 40kilos of extra weight to push), we had a bit of a chat and I headed upwards. At 9km he got me again, at this point though I felt like I was almost sprinting, I knew it was only a little bit longer before the downhill and breakfast. 58.4x finish, I was more than happy with that. It was so great that Cirque, Clairie and Ciaran were there just to edge me over the line that little bit easier too :)

1500meters, not a favourite, you spend longer preparing for it than you do running it. My legs were like lead by this point, a pretty uneventful out and back resulting in a 6.41 finish, which I guess is still 4.27/k but gee it felt harder!

Lunch must have been the best value of the year at $1, I bought some Guide biscuits but didnt actually take the biscuits, I must have felt like I should have been paying more for lunch :)
I was really pleased to find out that I'd managed to get first place for the 10km in my category and third for the 1500meters... sure its not all about the winning, but its kinda nice at the same time.

Made it home at about 5pm last night after dropping people off along the way, I wasnt as tired as I thought I'd be and I am only slightly sore this morning (perhaps I just have really bad case of DOMS to come!). My total time for the weekend was 3.46, I'm not sure how indicative this is for a full marathon, but my goal time is sub-4hours and at least I now feel like it should be achievable.

A really special weekend, with a lot of fanastic people who cheer and cheer for you regardless of whether you are first, last or somewhere in the middle of the field.. Who could ask for a better (running) weekend away.

Keeping what I've got...

2006-05-16T08:44:00.000+10:00

I spoke to Stevie this morning to clear up the whole 'what time did I run' thing. He confirmed his 'official' time made him about two minutes slower and he came in, in 36.XX so, happy little runner that I am, I'm taking the 35.40 as my new 2 minutes faster pb. Yaay!

Pats session this morning was 15, okay 18mins of sprints. Great session, all is well in the land of running for me at the moment :)

13 + 8 = one weekends running

2006-05-14T11:13:00.000+10:00

I decided to run in the MDC 8km on Sunday, mainly because it would be my first short race in 8 months and I felt I needed the practise and a gauge on how I was doing. I didnt want to miss out on a long run altogether though. This week was meant to be my recovery week, so I decided on a 15km run Saturday morning, then the 8km on Sunday.

On the Saturday morning I left home at about 6am, it was cold, I felt cold, I felt horrible. The whole first 5km up to the hornibrook bridge I was struggling to hold sub 6 min pace, if it wasnt for the fact I am far to competitive (with myself) I would have turned around. Maybe after a longrun last week backed up by a TT I just was tired, I wasnt sure. I struggled, and I do mean struggled on though and ended up back home after just over 13km. Even after the run, before I really stopped I was still feeling cold, definitely wasn't 100% today.

I spent all afernoon Saturday at the local footy club and then headed home after the awards to watch the Lions play. I think I saw a total of about 30mins of the game, I just kept falling asleep! Still, I was wide awake and feeling much better come 5.30am this morning and happily got ready to go on down to Southbank.

Clairie was there, and Jodie, preparing for another ridiculously fast race. A few other CR's and PCRG's, but on the whole a lot of people just there for the fun of it, which gave a real nice relaxed atmosphere. Idiot that I am, packed a fully charged i-pod and an uncharged garmin, so although the music was great out on the course, I had no idea of my time. I feel though that 1-2km's were fairly steady, 2-6 were quick and then 6-8 were steady, certainly I only had one person pass me in the final K, so I dont think I was slowing much. No stopwatch means relying purely on clock time, ha ha, unfortunately the finish clock was on the opposite side of the finish to where we came in on, when I looked up it said 46.40, no, I hadnt walked in the middle of the run that was the 4km time, which had left ten minutes earlier. 36.40 I was pretty happy with, then I saw Stevie come through just after me and his own watch read 36.02, so does this mean the clock was actually 11 mins out and I really did 35.40?! I am still in doubt, serious doubt and will not be celebrating until the results are published. I thought my pb, which was from the last years MDC was 36.47 and I believed the time to be credible based on that, then when I came home and read back on my blog my pb was actually 37.47... I dont think I'm 2 mins quicker..... gee its hard when you dont have a watch or a gun-clock to fall back on!

[edit]

The unofficial, official results are out. I am very confused, although still a 30 second pb for which I am happy, the recored time is about 90 seconds slower than a 35.40. Will have to check with Stevie tomorrow that I wasnt dreaming when he said 36.02, maybe he said 37.02 I am blonde afterall. If that was his time though I am keeping my 35.40 as he would have been about 20 seconds behind me.. If not I will have to go with the clock time, win/win I guess either way, just one more was slightly more exciting!

mini mid-week run

2006-05-10T09:20:00.001+10:00

Quick 7km this morning, well actually it was very slow. Felt okay, knee was a bit niggly which just reminded me that I need to stretch religiously still!

mini mid-week run

2006-05-10T09:20:00.000+10:00

Quick 7km this morning, well actually it was very slow. Felt okay, knee was a bit niggly which just reminded me that I need to stretch religiously still!

3km TT - take two

2006-05-09T09:11:00.000+10:00

Well, second time trial this year this morning and a slight change to the course. Rather than 3 x 1km, we had an out and back 1.5km, I much prefered this, I find something psychologically positive about running in the direction of home!

My last TT was 13.57 (I think) and my aim today was to go as close to 13.30 as possible. I worked out I would need 4.30's for this. I reached the first K in 4.20, the second K in 8.42 and finished at 13.07. A very pleasing 50 seconds faster than last months, and only 18 seconds off my all time pb. Happy little bunny I am for sure :)

Longest run ever (again)

2006-05-08T08:01:00.000+10:00

I think the best thing about training for a new event, is every weekend brings on a new 'pb'. This weekend was no exception. I had a planned 2.5hours on the diary, I'd no idea how this would go though, being 20mins longer than any previous run and as I was planning on running with at least one other person, probably quicker than my solo attempt too!

We set off from the Regatta at 6am and ran the first 3km's at about 5min/k pace. I felt good and there was joking and talking to keep us distracted but by the time we got to the gardens MJ and I had eased off the pace slightly, a lot of the faster guys were running planning on 12km and we would have been stupid to try and keep up with them. By the time we exited the gardens, MJ and I were by ourselves, this suited me fine, I knew MJ didnt want to go out too fast and that was probably a wise move. We headed down to New Farm park, from the Regatta I have never run further than this, so at any point was excepting to feel the pace slow a bit. It didnt. We continued down towards Teneriffe and out heading towards Breaky Creek Hotel. Every couple of K I was sure that at any minute I would slow down, or my legs would start to feel it, or something. It never happened. At our turnaround at 1.19mins I was sure I would start to tire shortly, but no, my legs felt fresh pretty much all the way back to the William Jolly Bridge, they did start to tire here, but by that point I was already on 'longer run ever' and would have crawled if need be... there was no need though and when I finished our run at 2.39hours I felt as though going further would have been just fine.

I was slightly worried that my legs would be unbearable sore on the Sunday, especially given the pull-up from the Brissie Marathon. Despite my long run and a night of dancing I felt just fine on the Sunday morning.

[edit]

I should elaborate a bit - the dancing thing has nothing to do with running at all, the relevance to it was that I thought after a night on the tiles my legs were really going to hurt. A friend & I planned a surprise Hen Night for another friend...

Monday - Friday

2006-05-05T09:03:00.000+10:00

I cant remember the last time my legs have hurt so baddly after a run as they did after the Brissie Marathon. I have no idea why either, but I do know I need to find a better way of reducing DOMS because it was just not funny!

On the Monday I walked to the local Gloria Jeans to meet a couple of friends with the intention of getting my legs moving a bit. In the afternoon I decided to take my puppy down to the local park, I thought a gentle run would be good, I thought wrong. I literally cried out loud when I took my first few running steps, not aided by the fact my dog was pulling me faster than I wanted to go. I did 4km, and although it got easier after the first one it was slow and sore to be sure.

Tuesday was Pats, again the first km was sore by then I started to warm up. I ran with Sarah who was also suffering a bit from the weekend and we just did an easy 50mins.

Wednesday was 7km's with the puppy, slow but feeling better.

Thursdays was Pats and I think I had the best session ever. It was 2.5mins out and back x2, then hill reps, then over the bridge and up to the lamppost at the top by the Ship Inn. Even after the session I felt like I could keep going, and it wasnt that I hadnt pushed myself, I had, harder than normal in fact, it was just that I was having one of those days when you feel invicible almost and like you could run forever.

Friday is rest day as MJ and I are planning on doing a decent 2.5hours tomorrow morning.....

Brissie Marathon Part 2... The Race

2006-05-01T16:00:00.000+10:00

A nice early start this morning at 4.20am, although I was already fairly awake having woken up several times during the night dreaming about my stopwatch not working properly. I forced down a muffin and jam and headed out in to the dark to Southbank via MJ's.

When we got there just after 5.30am Tess was already in control of the pacing situation and the flags and bottle holders were being handed out. A quick wave off of the marathoners and a couple of run-throughs testing out the pacing flags and before we knew it we were about to start. The pacing nerves had all gone and I was really keen just to start by this time, I had planned to start my watch when the gun went off, but unfortunately they didnt seem to announce this point, or at least if they didnt you couldnt hear it a couple hundred people back from the start and there was more than a bit of confusion of 'has it started yet?' when people begun moving ahead of it. I started the stopwatch before the line still though and we were off.

The first couple of K's I was happy chatting away to people, most people were hoping to go sub-2 for the first time and I was hoping to be the person to get them there. Once we got over the Goodwill bridge and down by the river it got quite congested, especially when the super quick marathoners started coming back in the opposite direction! Out on the walkway though I got in to my pace and as promised to those at the start of the race, by 3km I was running at sub 2 time, by 5km I was at 1:59:30 time and promised those around me that this was now 'race pace'. The course narrowed again which made for a couple of slow K's, quickly followed by a slightly faster (5.20/k) one to get back on track. At the turnaround I still had the same group of people with me and I was feeling fantastic at about 8km, bang on track too for my pace group. I got chatting to a couple of guys who were familar, though I cannot remember their names heading back towards the gardens and before I knew we were at 10km, still on perfect time.
The water stop and then hill into the Botanics knocked a few people off pace and while at 11km I was still sub 2, it was probably more like 1.59.50 and my legs were feeling a bit fatigued, to the point it even crossed my mind whether I had anyone around me who would be able to carry the flag for the second half.... The best thing about running over the Goodwill Bridge once or twice a week however is that it is no shock or monumentous challenge to be running over it, even as part of a Half Marathon in particularly warm and humid conditions. The ease at which I went over the bridge gave me a much needed boost, even to the point where I managed to get half a dozen of us or so to wave maddly and smile for the photographer on the bridge! This was further boosted by friendly faces down at Southbank as we trooped through towards Westend, and as if that wasnt enough even more friendly faces in the form of the CR squad just around the next corner!

I was starting to feel like I was on the finishing straight as we headed down to Westend, but I could feel that people around me were struggling with the heat, the distance and the 'unknown' of what was still to come. I got chatting to one couple who had been playing cat n mouse with me for a while now and it was their first attempt at a half, we joked for a bit and they forged on. Then another lady who was dragging her feet asked when the next water stop was, I told her about 500meters to go and she should run with me and we'd get there together, she did as well. The same lady then asked me to keep her with me (talk about pressure), so I just randomly started talking at her and broke the remainder of the course down in to something like 'one small hill, a turnaround, a waterstop, a tiny hill and then home to the finish', another guy heard me talking to this lady and pulled up beside us and said 'awesome motivation, I'm sticking with you' (gee, more pressure). Then there was another guy, and another one, all knowing they were on the home straight, all struggling with actually getting there. I urged one guy to pick someone ahead (the girl in the yellow tshirt) and catch her, and when he got there, pick another one and then catch her too.... off he went!

I had quite a little group now, either just in front of me or just behind... most requesting I take them with me. I told the group ahead they should stay ahead of me, the guys beside me I wanted my finishing line photo with them and they better keep next of me and the guys just behind me, that I was going a little fast and if they could keep going it was going to be a fantastic pb by them.

We went through the final water stop and rounded up towards the slight incline, a couple of complaints when I said it was just a 'small hill', so I told the group 'its only ten steps, ten big steps, run it with me'..... and off we all went. That was it for a lot of them, it was all down to the finish and they knew it and as often happens something kicked it. I told them we were on for a 1.59.40 finish so to really kick in. As I came through tunnel I realised the last couple of k's I must have gotten quite a bit faster, my watch was reading 1.58.xx, so I ran backwards through the tunnel for a bit and tried to encourage those within earshot to bring it home.

The couple who I'd spoken to earlier were shuffling towards the finishing chute so I ran beside them and told them we'd really go for the last 100meters. I was a bit confused at the finish as to where I stood regarding precise gun time, I think the main clock said 2:31:xx, which I thought meant I was over the 2hours, but I later found out it didnt start at 30mins as I'd assumed. I let through a couple of fast finishers while taking my flag off (it didnt fit under the finish sign!) and when I walked through and stopped my watch it said 1:59:47. Fingers crossed the guys I let through who were running with me got sub-2 gun time as I heard there was a problem with the starting chip... I'm gonna feel very bad if they didnt, so might not read any race reports just in case :)

The usual post-race chats afterwards. It was great to catch up with all regular Brissie CRs, plus visiting, in particular Miners who I think I have missed at the last couple of events. Oh, and of course a big thank-you to the ever wonderful Tess who as well as donating her time to help out as pacers, also donated her garmin to help keep me on track (though I am now an addict and want one for sure :) )

The Brissie Marathon Weekend Part I

2006-04-28T14:39:00.000+10:00

Well, the weekend officially will begin at about 8.30 tomorrow morning when I pick up MJ and we head down to the Expo to help with registrations for the day. At 3pm we're having our 'introduce a pacer' thing and then I plan on going home for the rest of the afternoon and relaxing a bit. I have been changed to a 2hour pacer so the pressure is off slightly, which is good and I know of at least three people who are planning on running in my group, hoping to go under 2hours for the first time, I am definitely hoping they do too!

I ran on Tuesday and Thursday this week only, Pats session on Thursday was great and on Tuesday I just got out and did some pacing practice. Feeling very tired at the moment, so no more running until Sunday now.

A little less scared

2006-04-22T10:24:00.000+10:00

Well, firstly, thanks for all the comments, its great to hear I'm not the only person ever to be feeling a litte unsure and it sounds like it should be okay. I particularly like the idea of tying the balloon to someone else :) A special big thanks though to Tess, who turned up on Wednesday night at our nutrition talk with her garmin for me, which I test-drove this morning.

This mornings run didnt have a plan as such, other than I was going to do my big loop and see how the pacing went a la Garmin style. The first couple of Ks are under tree's and a I lost a bit of distance here, the same thing happened a couple more times, but on the whole I think it would be a fairly accurate representation. I did 10km trying to keep to race pace of 5.24/k, then 5km comfortably, then the last 5km (well 4.5) at race pace again.
Below is the table of what the race splits should be, and then on the right column what mine were this morning...

km Splits
1 5:27 - 6.13
2 10:54 - 11.54
3 16:21 - 16.59
4 21:48 - 22.43
5 27:15 - 27.42
6 32:42 - 32.54
7 38:09 - 38.13
8 43:36 - 43.26
9 49:03 - 48.46
10 54:30 - 53.59
11 59:57 - 59.39
12 1:05:24 - 1.04.57
13 1:10:51 - 1.10.33
14 1:16:18 - 1.16.11
15 1:21:45 - 1.22.07
16 1:27:12 - 1.27.30
17 1:32:39 - 1.32.13
18 1:38:06 - 1.38.13
19 1:43:33 - 1.42.19
20 1:49:00 - n/a
21 1:54:27 - n/a
21.1 1:55:00 - n/a

On the whole fairly pleased with that, a bit of a shakey start, partly attributed to lack of signal and also probably me, I always find it takes me the first couple of k's to settle in, and I'm sure the start of this race will be no different to anyother, the game plan is to be on track by 3km though... and hopefully through to 21.1km!

Other things this week;
Had two fantastic sessions at Pats this week, the legs were turning over nicely for once, rather than just hardwork it is starting to become good fun and hard work again.
We also had a nutrition talk on Wednesday night, it was in fact the same nutrition talk as last year, but I felt different things were relevant to me this year, I have since gone out and bought some Iron supplements. I spoke to the lady at the chemist and the type she recommended apparently have some other added mineral particularly useful to athletes, she could be telling porkies, I dont know, but I'm happy to try it out :)

Scared now....

2006-04-19T14:52:00.000+10:00

Dont you just hate it when you cant work out what to do for the best, I keep making up my mind only to change it again.

I committed to do the Brissie Half as a pacer, I'm still happy with that, my dilemma is that while I requested (with MJ) to do a 2/2.10 hour time I have been given a solo pace time of 1.55. I am struggling with this as;
A/ I feel like I am just getting back on track from an injury and dont want to anything to compromise that;
B/ my pb is only 1.47, which was GC last year. Since then I ran an (injured) 1.58 at Noosa and only have only done one race since which was 19km in two hours at Caboolture;
C/ I really dont want to let any pacer assisted people down;
D/ its a solo run, which is a bit scary due to all of the above... there would be no pulling out!

I know I am 100% better than I was at Caboolture in terms of speed and distance, when I ran that I hadnt done more than 10km since Noosa (4 months), my 3km tt has me at 4.40's, my longest run this year is 22km, a 1.55 Half is about 5.42/K. There is no reason why I shouldnt be able to do it, yet still I have this nagging worry... does anyone out there know how much above your pb you should be pacing at. I think I probably just need a confidence lift... how do I get that in 10 days though... ideas on a postcard please :)

A couple of days round-up

2006-04-18T08:20:00.000+10:00

Thursday, 13th
Pats session this morning and numbers were low on the ground with a large amount of people either having already left for Easter or saving themselves for the Easter 10km. I was definitely feeling fatigued after having run the previous two days, plus the big run last weekend, though managed to find the desired extra push to get me up the River Stage hill in at a speedy pace.

Friday, 14th
Fourth morning in a row up at 4.40am, felt quite strange not putting on shorts and singlet though and instead opting for jeans. As I left the house to get MJ & Matt I had a HUGE craving for coffee, called MJ and got our orders for two large coffees courtesy of 24/7 Maccas and we all drove down to Orleigh Park for the Intraining Easter 10/3/1km.
Volunteering is great, and although I wanted to be running, the fatigued feeling from yesterday was still there and I was a little bit glad to not be lining up at the start. MJ and I had the very important job of official time-keepers... unfortunately the tape in my stopwatch ran out after about 40mins, when mainly only 3k-ers were complete. Still I was able to cheer the guys over the line and help direct them to the desk, had a close call with one young lad though, who less than a meter from the finish threw-up everywhere :( It was pretty hot out there though and I wouldnt be surprised if he'd never done that distance before as both mum & dad were with him.

Saturday, 15th
No run this morning as we headed up the coast to Eumundi markets and then back down to Coolum to stay in the Hyatt there for a couple of nights. Did note a couple of tracks around the place though ready for a Sunday morning run

Sunday, 16th
I wasnt allowed (instructions of Mr Chelle) to set my alarm this morning, but I still woke up at an early enough hour to get out at about 6.30 for a run around Coolum. I ran through the resort down to their private beach access and headed out south on the beach. After 40minutes of running (20 on the sand) I was finding the slope of the beach, due to a high tide combined with the sand very hard work on my knee. I took the sensible option and headed up towards the seafront footpath, this didnt last for long though and soon I found myself running on the almost empty road. When I got to Marcoola and past the airport there, I had a really good stretch as the early warning 'knee numbness' was starting to take hold. I took my time, probably 2 or 3 minutes before turning around and heading back up to the Resort. All up only 80 mins, but with the extra sand running and a fairly swift pace on the way back I was quite happy with my efforts. I've tried to get a best estimate of distance by whereis-ing my run, and I think 14km would be a good round figure, which is about 5.40/k

After getting back and having the usual shower and not-so-usual hotel breakfast we decided to hire bikes for the day. I think its been about 10 years since I last got on a bike, so it was a bit of an awakening. Probably did about 90mins in total, 50mins of that in one hit, but it was better than no x-training at all and I am now quite keen to get out on the bike once a week... just need a bike first :)

dark dark morning run..

2006-04-12T12:20:00.000+10:00

7k's this morning with the dog, took slightly longer than my actual run time of 38mins due to losing my dark coloured dog in a wood off the footpath for a couple of minutes... must get one of those reflective jackets for him (except I promised Mr Chelle I'd never do that) for our next early morning run.

that bloody hill again....

2006-04-11T09:22:00.000+10:00

Call it the Gold Coast Hill, the Medina Hill or just 'that hill' it sure does get the heart racing and thats after a decent session of 1min x8 with variable resting a la Pats stopwatch style!
It was so good though, I felt great this morning, even though I had my least favourite 'clompers' on my feet. I bought these shoes on recommendation from the running shop almost a year ago but have always found them a bit heavy to run in really, thought I should give them an outting this morning though.

So K's are notching up nicely now. I have not entered the 10km on Friday as I was asked to help out instead, they seem to be really low on volunteers if they are recruiting individually, I figured I get a lot of out of running and the running community, so missing one race would be okay. Plus I am really keen on upping the mileage ready for GCM rather than hitting out 10km pb's (okay, so that is in the back of my mind also!) at the moment, and this will mean I'll do a long run at the weekend intead. I'm heading up to Coolum on Saturday for a couple of nights, it'll be nice to have somewhere new to run.

The Chelleberra Experience

2006-04-09T16:44:00.000+10:00

Well, today was a big day, not just for me but for a lot of my friends who were out going for broke in their (first) marathon in Canberra.

The plan this morning was to go out and run 2.10. I cant remember exactly, but i am fairly confident that would be my longest run ever! I set off just before 6am, it was slightly cool, but within a couple of mins I was warmed up and on my way up towards the Hornibrook bridge... I stopped after 20minutes for a stretch and then back on my way again. I made it to the bridge in 31minutes, which was a minute quicker than last week, and then on along Shorncliffe I went. The Run Inn had a race setting up this morning, so there were a few familiar faces which was nice to see. This week was definitely a lot easier than last, I think the cooler weather and less humidity had a lot to do with it, plus every time I felt that I might want to slow down I thought about the guys in Canberra who were doing double the distance (and I later found out in well under double the time!!).

When I got back to the bottom of my road I was only on 1.46, a good couple of minutes quicker than the previous week, as my goal was still 25minutes more I headed off in the opposite direction for 10minutes before doing a small loop around a park and then back home. I crossed the driveway (my official finish line) 132minutes after I'd left... longest run ever I think. All up I think I did about 22km, Mr Chelle thought it might be slightly more, but I'm not convinced.

I had a bit of knee-numbness at 45minutes, and again at 90minutes, luckily I wasnt running at 135minutes, but it would have been interesting to see if it had reoccured then too... will keep my eye on it and do a lot of stretching over the next few days to hopefully nip it in the bud.

9th day of the month and I just cleared my entire month of Feb's K's..... yaay!

2006-04-06T15:56:00.000+10:00

This morning was a 50minute easy run, followed by a no-watch 1km. Its a bit like a reward for doing the TT I think. I ended up running with Jacquie, who I think if probably a bit faster than me, this is for the best though, stops me from slacking off :) At 28mins, the turnaround point we were just about by Merthyr Rd bowls, the smallest of knee niggles, but on the whole I was feeling pretty good, if perhaps a little dehydrated by the time we got back to the Gardens.
I had put down 4.50 as my 1km time and came in at 4.59... not too bad, Tess was better though and got it smack on!

In the anouncements today one of the girls received a Pat Medal for 3 consecutive faster times at the TT. She's already so fast, its just incredible to think she's still getting faster, good inspiration too for when the inevitable plateaus hit from time-to-time.

I am definitely loving running at the moment, if it wasn't for it being the unsensible choice I would be up again tomorrow I think :)

5km recovery

2006-04-05T08:34:00.000+10:00

Starting to pick up the training runs a bit now and as of this week have increased from 3 to 4 sessions a week. The plan is to increase by about 10 minutes each week until I get to 60mins and then just sit on that and see how I go. Nice easy 5km with the puppy this morning to kick it all off.

TT... not as bad as I thought

2006-04-04T08:43:00.000+10:00

It was my first TT this morning since maybe July last year, so I'd promised myself no pressure, see how it goes. I had an official goal of 'anything under 15', but knew I wouldnt really be happy if it wasnt sub 14.30.
I was running okay until about the half way mark, then I got a bit of a stitch, managed to run through within in a couple of minutes though and started to feel pretty good on the home straight. Langy and Matty were good enough to pick me up about 150meters from the finish and Langy really made me sprint for the last 50meters, I was so glad, I came in at 13.57.
For some stupid reason I thought I had a PB of about 12minutes (shows how long its been since I've done a TT) but I've just had a look at last years results and my pb was actually 12.49, the slightly higher end of 12minutes! So actually this made me feel quite a lot better, I'm only just over a minute away and given that a couple of months ago I was running 6m/ks I'm quite happy with todays effort of 4.40s.... onwards and upwards!

Two walks, some pilates and a sore neck!

2006-04-03T08:29:00.000+10:00

Sunday, 2nd April
I resisted the temptation on Sunday morning to go for a run, and took the dog out for a 30min walk/runaround. Unfortunately we lost the ball within the first 2 minutes, but he seemed quite happy off his lead running around in the wet, muddy, smelly (yuck) water. On our way home we were just at the top of the footbridge over the highway when a trailer lost its load. It stopped momentarily and then just drove off; I watched almost behind my hands as cars and trucks swerved across into the other lane to avoid the debris. From our house we would be able to hear a crash and I wasnt too keen on that idea, so when I got back home I did my good turn of the day and called the local police to come and sort it out.

I decided to do some pilates after that, I use to go to classes every week and swear by it, unfortunately I cannot seem to find a suitable class time anymore so a DVD is the next best option. I did an exercise though that must have put a bit too much pressure on my neck (I should have bothered to find the floor mat) and I now have a very sore neck, like I slept funny almost.

I headed down to New Farm park for lunch with some friends but at about 3.30pm decided to head home to take puppy to the beach, when I got there though my partners 3 year old niece was there so I was pulled in to a game of Barbie and it became too dark for a trip to the beach, so we headed down the park and played ball for 30minutes before walking back home.

Monday, 3rd April
I'm doing nothing today, my neck is still sore, plus it is TT tomorrow. I have no great aspirations and am treating this as my first time trial ever and will just aim to put a time on the board to better in future months to come.

A talk and a run

2006-04-01T08:49:00.000+10:00

Friday, 31st March
Last night was the official launch to the PCRG GC Marathon campaign. Pat, as usual, did us proud and has collected over $7000 of sponsorship, providing nibbles, music and random draw prizes (that everyone got!). Last year we saw a clip of Pat winning his first GC Marathon, this year another bit of footage from a different year (he won again). Its so good to have a coach who you know believes in what he is talking about and it hasnt just come from a text book. Anyway, Steve gave a talk on footwear and touched on injury prevention, of course the beloved ITB was a hot topic & although I didnt learn anything for it, everything fitted in nicely with what I've been told over the past 6 months and what I am currently doing. The night finished up just after 10pm, and after dropping Langy and MJ off on my way home it was almost 11pm by the time I got to bed, still the alarm was set for 6am for my solo run.

Saturday, 1st April
How easily I could have rolled over this morning, not a great nights sleep, but with nothing planned for the rest of the day I decided I could always have a nanna nap later. Before leaving this morning I did some tests on my shoes that Steve had shown us last night, they seem to be in pretty good condition.
I wanted to do 2 hours today and decided to add an extra loop to my long run (15km) of last week. After two false starts, as puppy decided he wanted to come too and got out under the fenced and started to follow me down the street, I was heading out towards the bike path up to the Hornibrook bridge, I switched my usual music to the radio for a bit of company and charged on. Taking Steves advice after about 20mins I stopped and had a quick, calf, quad, hammy stretch. I couldnt believe how much better I felt after that, in future I will be trying to do this a lot more. The loop as per last week took me up to the Hornibrook bridge and then along the shorncliffe front, it was pretty warm out there this morning and I choose to drink almost all my water by the time I got to the end of the esplanade so I took 2mins out to fill up my water bottles before carrying on around the headland.
The headland has a rather steep hill on it, so after charging up there I enjoyed the nice view and cruisey downhill slope on the otherside. There were a lot of boats just off the coast this morning, must be some good fishing out there at the moment. The rest of the way home (about 40mins) was flat and I was able to get out of the sun a bit. All up I did 1.56mins. I'm not 100% sure on the distance, originally I thought 20km, but maybe a bit less.

Currently sitting here with RICE-ing my knee, as is the norm for me after a longrun from home, but no real niggles and no pain at all.

Double or nothing...

2006-03-30T15:13:00.000+10:00

It is just so tempting to get out there tomorrow morning and run 10k, just so I can say I've doubled my distance since this month from the previous two... but no, tis year of the sensible runner and sensible I will be (maybe).

Had a great session this morning, still by no means back up to speed (or perhaps everyone else has just become a lot quicker!) but I'm feeling much better, like I could run for a long time (well an hour or so) and still feel great.

Oh happy days :)

Gold Coast Hill

2006-03-28T19:27:00.000+10:00

Only a man who thinks a 60second SR is 30secs jogging could name a "hill" Gold Coast Hill and think its a good thing!! Every time I hear the word Gold Coast my legs now hurt, and thats nothing to do with the 42Km and all to do with THAT hill!! It was that hill that we finished our 6x500meter + 500meters and up the hill session on this morning, same hill we did last week but it actually felt a lot more doable. I dont think you can improve that much in a week, today was just one of those good sessions, one where you feel every strike on the footpath is sending you in the right direction. Cant wait for the next one.... can't believe a couple of months ago I was seriously debating giving it all away!!

Sunday long run

2006-03-26T11:09:00.000+10:00

My plan was originally 90minutes this mornig, then I decided 2hours might be better and Mr Chelle told me of a 20km loop he use to do on his bike. Left home about 6am, it actually felt a bit cool this morning, winter is definitely on its way. Headed up towards the bike track that leads all the way up to the Hornibrook bridge, only saw two people the whole way up there, probably a bit early for a Sunday morning still! At the Hornibrook bridge, I turned right and ran along the Shorncliffe waterfront until I got to the end of the esplanade where I turned right again and headed towards home. All up I did 15km in just under 90mins, turns out I turned off too soon and missed out a top loop which would have made the run 20km. Still feeling pretty good with my run though and next week I might try the 20km loop.

Second session

2006-03-23T21:05:00.000+10:00

Second session at Pats this morning, it was haaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrdddddddddddd. Around and a round the gardens, 2 mins running 30second jog recover x6. I picked off a couple of people at the back of the pack, needless to say though I was still very far behind a majority, still I'm just happy I was there. I had a bit of muscle soreness on Wednesday, i'd already decided on Tuesday night not to get up for a mid-week run as I thought two speed session was a big enough step for one week, plus MJ has sent me her marathon programme from last year and according to that I should be doing 2 hours this weekend, which was about 30mins more than I had planned.

So happy to be running with everyone again though - even if the group has expanded so much and I dont know half the names anymore!! :)

Back at Pats

2006-03-21T18:53:00.000+10:00

The 4.40am alarm was a bit of a rude awakening this morning, probably would have been more rude if the puppy hadn't had a barking fit and a cat next door at 1am (2am and 4am!) but still, this morning was the start of the 15week countdown to the GC and not even the drops of rain that appeared on my windscreen as I reversed out of the garage were going to stop me from going, nor was the fact I didnt realise Mr Chelle had left me with no fuel and I needed to stop for some, or that the Inner City Bypass that I normally took was shut (for a murder investigation no less) or that my trying to get through Spring Hill to Southbank at 5.30am meant I took a wrong turning and had to do a big left, left, left to get back on track, oh and so by the time I arrived there was only half a dozen of the A Team hanging around the Ship Inn. Drat. Keeping up with the A Team (not that I would have managed to do that for more than 50meters) was out of the question and so a quick hi and I was off playing catch-up to New Farm.
So proud, not only did only two of the A Team pick me up, I even managed to catch up to the second group and made it to the floating walk way with the main group.

The task at hand was fartlek, 1min fast, 1 min jog, then repeat for 30 & 15 seconds x3, with a finale of the monster hill. I made it about 3/4 way up the hill and decided to walk the final 15meters, something to do with the last words my physio had said to me (dont do hills yet) made me stop!

Anyway, felt good all day and very proud for starting my official journey to Marathondom!

PS: Did I mention there are still ten days left of the month and I just passed last months Ks :D

Weekend of running

2006-03-19T18:18:00.000+10:00

As planned this weekend was full of running, a Saturday morning trip to Intraining found MJ and I officially signed up as Half pacers for the Brissie Marathon weekend, on this basis we decided to do a test run on the Sunday morning and MJ promptly called Tesso to request a lend of her garmin to see how we would fair (Thanks Tess!).
Saturday afternoon and we headed off for our first Cross Country run, just 3km but felt more like 10 with all the long grass and potholes! I can only imagine since I found it so hard that it must be good for me! :)
Sunday morning and I picked MJ up at 5.45am and we headed to the Regatta for a 90min run with the planning being to keep within 6-6.30/k as we're unsure of exact pacing time requirement. We ended up with an average of about 6.24 so that was fairly good. We then arrived back at the Regatta in time for a quick shower, some treat brekky pancakes and then a sit down in front of the big screen to watch the C'wealth Marathon... talk about a running related weekend!

Graduation and a weeks catch-up

2006-03-17T20:46:00.000+10:00

Tuesday
After pulling up okay from Sundays BRRC 10km I decided to head off on a slightly longer loop on Tuesday morning, one that incorporates a couple of large rolling hills at the start to really get the heart rate up. I think both puppy & I found it a bit odd running so much of the time in the dark, those mornings are really feeling more and more wintery now - he was darting from side to side trying to work out the noises he couldnt see, and I was just struggling to not fall over him while he was doing this (next time I get a white pup!). Anyway, the run went really well and at a very easy and comfortable pace.

Thursday
Back to the normal racecourse run this morning, while I was running I was trying to remember how it felt just 10 weeks ago when I first did it; it hurt so badly and I felt so very slow and plod-plod like. I think things are certainly starting to look up.

Friday - Graduation Day
My physio appointment today was great, the ultrasound showed how much stronger my muscles have become and how I am improving at locking on the right ones for running, in fact so good was my session today, that my physio officially sent me packing without a return appointment. I have graduated to running with strapping, leaving alone large hills and a lot of speed, but other than that, the world is my running track!

I have a busy running related weekend planned. Tomorrow morning MJ and I are going to check out the Intraining sale, then in the afternoon we are going to have a go at the X-country, I havent done x-country since high school, so that could be interesting! In keeping with the leaving steep hills alone idea, on Sunday morning I am going to aim for a 75-90min run from the Regatta, finishing in time for everyone else returning back there from their Mt Co'otha runs for the Commonwealth Games Marathon and breaky :)

Saturday warmup & First BRRC meet

2006-03-12T16:50:00.000+10:00

I have been off running all week, crook as a crook thing. I've had that horrible cold thats been going around since the weather changed, you know, the one that leaves you achey, and feverish and like you're head is going to explode. In an attempt to be good to myself and because having a couple of early finishes (ie 5pm) from work werent an option this week, I set my alarm for 6am everyday and didnt even attempt a run, other than a 20 min jog with on Wednesday evening with the puppy up the park.
MJ got back about a week or so ago and I was due to meet up for a quick coffee with her on Thursday as she was in the city, she put ideas in my head about a Half at BRRC on Sunday morning, the idea though appealing to my head I didnt think my body would be willing and said I would let her know on the Saturday after I'd tried to do a little run. On Saturday morning I got up at 6.30am and did my usual track with the racehorse puppy, I managed to do it comfortably in a good time. A couple of hours later I was still feeling okay from the run but not 100% from my cold and rung MJ to see if I could get a lift with her on the Sunday morning, but mentionned I would possibly just be doing the 10km.

I got up at 4.40am this morning and headed out to MJ's wher she was waiting for me and we headed down to West End. I decided in the car that I should follow what my body was telling me and signed up for the 10km run. I joined the BRRC also as this was my first run down there.
The Half started at 6am so this gave me 30mins until my run was to set off, this time flew by and before I knew it I was at the start and the gun had gone off. I started in the middle of the pack and decided just to run my own race, my first few K's were in 5.15 and after about the 4th K they started to creep up by 5secs/K, still I wasnt getting taken (well only by the super quick Halfers!) and I was doing my own thing, feeling good and not worrying about PB's for a change. I finished in 55:50, 9 mins slower than my last 10km at Doomben, to look at it in a "half full" way though, it is now 9hours after I finished my run, I had no pain or swelling and have not had to take any anti-inflams etc. Things will only get better (and quicker) from here on!

:)

Long Saturday Run

2006-03-05T08:06:00.000+10:00

Well, definitely getting and feeling better in my runs I think. Four of the girls headed up Mt Cootha, but keeping in mind the 'year of the sensible runner' I opted for the usual trip along the bike path towards the city... I was feeling great and comfortably managed to keep up with Liz & Liz for the first 15mins. Just after the 15min point we passed the second water tap and I stopped for a quick drink, the others were heading off for varying 17km upwards runs so I plugged in my mp3 players and started the solo thing. The plan was to head up towards the base of the Story Bridge and then turn back, when I got to the base I decided rather than heading straight back I would do a bit of a weave around the City before re-entering the Botanicals. When I got to the gardens I felt a bit tight around my knee so treated myself to a water stop and a one minute walking/stretching break, this seemed to do the trick and I begun my run back along the bike way to the Regatta. I had just got to Coro Drive when Liz and a couple others ran past me on their way back, this was okay, rather than trying to keep up with them I plodded along, it was a bit of a struggle though as their was quite a strong headwind and I opted for another one minute walking break to help ease some of the struggle. By the time I got back to the Regatta I had run just over 14km, felt pretty happy with that.

Feb Round-up

2006-03-01T20:22:00.000+10:00

Okay, quick catch-up time. I have just posted my Feb Ks up and noticed it was the same as last months, I'm actually not too disappointed with that as the Jan total would have included Cabooltures run.

Anyway, I didnt go to the Regatta last Saturday and opted for a solo-run instead, I wanted to do 75mins but stopped just short, was fairly happy though with how I felt afterwards and during. Today I went to the physio, I have graduated from having to go every ten days to going once a fortnight... in celebration I emailed Pat this afternoon to find out when the Countdown to GC begins, this was the week I joined on last year, so I may as well try and get there again this year! The physio is still saying to keep away from speed and hills, so I think I'll opt with picking and choosing one session a week for a little while to see how I go... exciting though :)

2 runs and a physio visit

2006-02-18T18:12:00.000+10:00

Thursday, 16th
This morning I planned to do an easy hour but the heat and humidty was too much, both puppy and I were feeling it after 20mins and so rather than extending my usual route I just stuck to it and made it the usual 40mins.

Friday 17th,
Trip to the physio today and really good positive news. My physio couldnt give me enough praise and postive feedback for the improvement she could see both in my actual running and with the stretches and exercises. She also used electrodes to test that I was activating my leg muscles in the correct order when my foot went down, and that they all held enough strength to not negatively affect another. The physio has recommended I concentrate on longer runs for the time being and stay away from hills. Next visit, 10 days.

Saturday 18th,
Small group at the Regatta this morning, I later found out that one of the groups had the week off training. Cheryl and I headed out to the gardens, contray to last week my legs were moving quite well and I got to the 15min struggle point a good minute or so quicker than last week. Following on with the 10% rule I just wanted to do an extra 10mins today and headed out threw the gardens towards the Riparian, the sun was getting pretty hot at this point so we came off the river walk and headed back towards the gardens and back to the Regatta. I stopped for 30seconds on the way back to the Regatta to stretch and walked the final 500meters for the same reason, other than that all was good. Total run time, 1hour 15mins.

Catch-up blog

2006-02-14T20:39:00.001+10:00

Saturday 11th,
I woke up on Saturday morning and couldnt believe how dark it was for 5am. Two minutes later it was bucketing down with rain, so that explained a lot. Last time I didnt go running due to heavy rain I was told there wasnt a drop in the city, so I decided to continue with my plan of meeting at the Regatta.

Numbers were down slightly, probably to do with the weather. Two of my usual running buddies werent there and my original plan of a slow 15km went out the window as I didnt think I would be able to go that far by myself. I hooked up with another girl there and suggested I was going to do about 12km. After the first couple of km's though I was struggling, I was only wanting to run at a (too) slow pace. I promised myself I'd keep up for 15minutes and then let them go. I chatted to Tesso for a while which helped, but my legs just wouldnt turn and I slowed right down as I didnt want to stuggle. Luckily I'd brought my mp3-player with me and so turned that on and got lost in my music.

The group started stretching out ahead of me, Tesso was still in the gardens when I got there (I hope you werent waiting for me, sorry if you were!) and then she continued on down the river while I opted for a loop of the gardens. When I got to the Goodwill bridge I toyed with the idea of going over to Southbank, but then decided to do a few bridge reps a la Pat style before heading back along to Regatta. Knee gave me a bit of pain on the way back, hopefully just a blip. Due to see the physio on Friday again for a progress report.

Tuesday, 14th
No running today, will make up for it on Thursday and try and head out for a cruisey hour, rather than my usual 35-40mins.

Just a small one

2006-02-10T06:08:00.000+10:00

Thursday morning and back out on the road after three mornings of just walking the dog. Just a small run, it was meant to be 5km but I wasnt thinking and turned too early to come home so it would have been more like 4km. Nevermind, I've promised myself I'm not going to overdo it this year and I'm sure one less K won't hurt.

On other news I'm considering being a pacer for the Brissie Half. I'd have to do a really slow group and would treat it just as a long training run.. thought it might be fun to do though and have a bit of confidence after Caboolture, as if I can run 19km in two hours with only 3 weeks proper training, then I should be able to run a half in, say, 2.10/2.20 with 3months training.... thats the theory anyway, hope I dont let anyone down!! eeek!

Caboolture Dusk to Dawn

2006-02-05T17:22:00.000+10:00

partly posted on CR!!

What a great, if not hot and tiring night.

I opted for 6-hour relay event and was more than a bit nervous about letting down the team, having only run more than 10km twice since Noosa. It was actually strangely calming though to know all I had to do was run for two hours, there was no need to get to an end as such, when the two hours were up I was gonna stop regardless of how far I'd gone!! :)

I had a ball out there, the first twenty minutes were a bit hard, this just to show how important those run throughs are and why I should have done them! With fresh legs I was able to pick up on some of the 6/12hour runners and it was great to be able to see how they were getting along and hopefully spur them on a bit. My goal had been to run 6min/K, so 3mins a lap, my first couple of laps were about 3.15's, as I got warmed up a bit I didnt get any faster, but they did feel easier. The 50mins went by without a problem, I grabbed one of my fuel belt bottles off a table just before the first hour was up and took two laps to drink that. I couldnt believe how hot it was, I was almost praying for it to rain! I had a couple of dark moments at the beginning of the second hour and started playing every running mind game I'd ever heard of to get me through it, it seemed to work. Other than once for about 30meters while taking my second drink I didnt walk for the full two hours and although I didnt quite get to the 20.5km I'd hoped to (with secret ambitions of then going off for an extra lap and a bit to make a proper half marathon!) my lap time never varied more than about 5 seconds faster/slower, so for the 19km I did manage (I think) I am feeling quite pleased at how consistent I was.

There was SO much support it was unbelievable, I dont think the guys at the pub missed a single lap, not to mention my own two co-members of "Lap Dancers" (did I mention we won our category... go girls!! :D). Clairie, Tesso, Nick and random people I got the runners '10 second conversation' in with on the way around, all great support. Liz N went fantastically and my hat is off to anyone who can run 6 or 12hours at any time, but especially when its so humid.

My only regret of the night was not being able to see Tesso finish; after my run I took a couple of anti-inflam's, at the time it was a good idea (and still probably better than my knee not being able to move) but they actually made me physically sick, and at 1am I had to give up and go home... next year I'll know better though... and there will definitely be a next year :D

Sssssssssuper SSssssssseven Km run

2006-01-25T15:22:00.000+10:00

Tuesday, 24th January

Beautiful weather this morning, much less humid that my previous couple of runs have been recently. Bongo and myself set off on our usual track of up over the highway bridge and down the back of the racetrack... when I think about it I'm really sure why there is a foot bridge there, all it does is lead down to the race track (where there is almost never an actual big race) so who they thought was going to use the bridge I dont know. Anyway, its a good little hill to warm up the legs quickly and Bongo loves racing down the other side... between you and me, I think he knows hes about to be let off his lead.

So, we get down the otherside of the bridge, and I always like to go about 10meters or so, just so when I let Bongo off his lead he has less chance of bolting back up the bridge and we start our little run around the back of the race course. Probably done about 20meters, when I did this unconscious contorted twist mid-air. My body must have reacted quicker than I was able to compute, as there on the grounding sliding across the path, about 5cm from where my foot was about to land was a brown snake. I managed to do a quick side step to my right, then back to my left to grab the puppy so he wouldnt take an exploratory bite of our new found friend and watched as the snake slithered off in to the grass in the direction of the wetlands. Sure was a good way to get my heart going, though not the way I'd intended when we first set out. Compared to that the rest of the run was pretty uneventful... Bongo played race horse as per usual and I enjoyed the relative cool. Got back home feeling good and in a comparable time to previous recent runs.

Next scheduled (snake free) run is probably just a 5km on Friday and then maybe another 13km on Saturday.

Oh to be a runner again...

2006-01-22T15:56:00.000+10:00

Saturday, 23rd Jan
Met at the Regatta on Saturday morning, Lis, Sam and I had already agreed to do a loop down to UQ. Sam was hoping to do 15km, but after finding 11km a bit sore the week before and under strict orders to run carefully and strapped by the physio, I had half thought I would turn back after 6km. Another girl joined us also, and the four of us made our way towards the UQ, it was nice to be doing something different from the river and the chatting allowed the perhaps not so pretty main road surroundings at the start of the run to be ignored.
We followed the road down to the main campus and began a loop. I was feeling pretty good up until half way around the campus when my lack of longer runs (and fitness) started to take its toll. I concentrated on what my physio had told me about falling in to my stride and after a 30 second break when we were deciding whether to turn left or right once we came across a road, I was feeling okay. We got back to where we started and then ran through the campus accommodation and along the river back towards the regatta. A fairly short, though noticeable incline of a hill left me short of breath and the next couple of k's back to the Regatta felt a lot harder than they probably should.
The other girls decided to keep running when we got to the Regatta, as we had done closer to 13km then the desired 15km run. 13km (will have to get that confirmed) was fine by me though and I used the extra time to get in some stretches. I felt a lot better for the most of the rest of the day than the previous week. In the evening we took the kids to see the Monster Trucks, and I did feel my legs becoming quite stiff during that, they seem fine again today though.

Sunday, 22nd Jan
I wanted to go for a run again today, but, I am being sensible about running and so resisted the urge. Instead I did some of the new stretches, cleaned the house to keep busy (oh joy) and went to the shops and bought some pre-requiste Gatorade powder (the other jar I had almost crystalised due to lack of use!!), on my way to the checkout I noticed 4 small tins of creamed rice selling a bundle, so picked one of those up to, will be a good little snack pre-Caboolture. Speaking of Caboolture, the girl who joined us for a run on Saturday is going to be our third and final team member, so that worked out really quite well! I almost feel like a runner again! :)

The Physio

2006-01-20T11:06:00.000+10:00

Okay, back from the physio. I dont know whether to be happy that the pain isnt in my mind, or sad that I still have more work to do... I think I'll go with the former, it sounds more positive. Speaking of positive, its not a return of the dreaded itb, but probably brought on by previous problem with my knee; very tight calf muscles, so I'm twisting in the wrong places and accordingly a knot of muscles right at the top of my leg/hip. We went through all the old exercises I use to/still do and she has given me some more that will target the areas directly and strengthen, the previous exercises (she says) were a lot of stretching which I need, but not enough strengthening to actually get better/faster/fitter.

So, back to regular physio visits, but at least I went on the first hiccup rather than took a month, which is what I did last time. Under very strict, almost scary actually, instructions to only run strapped until I go back again next week.

Thanks for all support, and the pep-talk Miners... I WILL run again!! :)

No pain, no gain, but no run either

2006-01-19T20:46:00.000+10:00

Silly me overslept this morning, only by 10minutes though, so up I got and back in to bed pretty quickly too. Y'ouch very sore legs, very sore lower back. Bad bad BAD body!

At lunchtime I was feeling quite uncomfortable and decided to keep up with my 'softly-softly' approach back in to running and have booked a physio appointment for tomorrow. My lower back has locked up and my legs and itb knee are sore. Probably just re-adjusting to some more regular running, though I have had all the symptoms before and I'd rather know now and try something new if need be. Anyway, still postive about everything, if its all okay tomorrrow I'll be out for a long run on Saturday (already arranged!) and handing in my application for Caboolture... just a glitch I'm hoping :)

Oh, and I have also decided to go back to pilates and found a class that is on at 7.30pm on a Monday night. I use to love pilates, the core strength, relaxation and posture it gave me. I'm hoping this class will be just as good as the one I use to go to.

Back in to running (and blogging too!)

2006-01-17T06:07:00.000+10:00

As I'm sat here after my run, precautionary ice-pack on my elevate knee (just a small amount of swelling had develeoped) I realise that at about half way through my pain-free run this morning that what I use to love about running was still there. I did wonder for a while there if I would find it again, but with puppy for entertainment and new tunes loaded on to my mp3-player, I couldnt have been happier running around my new loop. I added a lap of the park to it today, the idea being to increase the run by 1km, I think it might have been closer to 800m, but thats okay for the first run of the week. So about 6.8km done today!

Saturday Long(ish) run

2006-01-16T19:48:00.000+10:00

Saturday, 14th January

Well, finally I did it, got over my long-run fear and met up at 6am Saturday morning. I'd already spoken to a couple of the girls I use to run with and knew they'd be there so that was a good boost. My goal was between 10-12km, so it seemed only right I should do 11km. Lis and I started off, in a slow but reasonable pace, her goal was 12km, so we decided we would run to the Botanic Gardens, she would do a lap or two while I stretched some and then we would do another lap or two together before going back to the Regatta. This is the exact same run (less the laps) that I did on my first Running Buddies meet, one year and one week ago... it almost hurt just as much! The main difference though was afterwards, none of that wiped out for the rest of the day that I experienced last year, a little bit fatigued but not enough to stop me from going for a 40min jog and play down the beach with my puppy that afternoon.

I'm planning on taking things easy this month and have decided not to go back to speed work for a while. The plan is 2x7km during the week and then maybe a 12km run on Saturday and work up from there. Lis is keen to do the Caboolture 6hour relay, so I have agreed to that... I've barely run over an hour in the past four months, let alone 2, but from what I can gather though you can stop and walk, chat, eat etc in between the 500meter laps. We've already agreed we'll be going for no record breaking!

On Sunday I was feeling fine and even managed a bit of pool work in the afternoon

Thank You Jen_Runs

2006-01-16T19:46:00.000+10:00

I've just posted my table up of Events I'd Like To Do (2006 Edition), thanks for giving me the coding and instruction Jen, now its all up there I'm more likely to stick to it :)

another one down

2006-01-12T16:13:00.000+10:00

Another good 6km this morning, 2 mins quicker than on Tuesday too, though I think that’s more to do with Bongo playing Race Horse and dragging me along when we run around the back of the track than my own personal improvement! Still, I feel good with things, a momentary tightening of my knee passed without returning for the rest of the run, and given the heat and humidity I was pretty pleased with how things went. I am still aiming for 12km (okay, could be 10km) run on Saturday morning, as nice as it would be to get out there getting closer to 20km’s again I am determined to run the year injury free and the best way, I think, to do this is by being sensible during training.

So, this week has/is looking like;
Monday – 30min puppy walk
Tuesday – 6km
Wednesday – 30min puppy walk
Thursday – 6km
Friday – 30min puppy walk
Saturday – 10-12km run
Sunday – run down the beach with puppy

A couple of Km's down!

2006-01-10T09:00:00.000+10:00

After a long break I have decided to get back in to it, a slight lack of motivation brought on mainly by an even slighter training schedule over the past few months has left me very unfit. After a breakfast at MJ’s on Sunday I have found (some) motivation to get the running shoes back on, starting this morning. I took the puppy out with me, not such a puppy now and he can easily keep up and go the distance, so it was good exercise for both of us. So slow and so painful though, its like I’ve gone back a year. Still this time last year I started running and up until July I was going okay, so hopefully I can replicate and exceed that this year again.

We left home about 5am and headed up over the bridge across the highway, beautiful breeze at the top and all the way along past the racecourse. I think Bongo fancies himself as a race horse the way he was tearing along, I had to almost sprint to keep up at one point. Around the park and back along the other side of road home in a big loop. I think about 6km, nothing spectacular but at least I’m off the mark.

Another run planned for Thursday and then possibly even a running buddies run on Saturday, maybe just 12km to keep it sensible. I think the other runner’s enthusiasm will help a lot with motivation as well.

Oh, and I did manage a run over Christmas in the UK, just the one though as despite gloves, beanie and four layers I was still cold. I never use to run in the UK other than on a treadmill and after spending three UK winters in Australia I’d completely forgotten how cold and dark it could be!!

PS: Can anyone tell me how you put those tables up on your blog so I can keep track of my Km's? :)

and then it rained!

2005-12-01T15:02:00.000+10:00

Let’s see, I think I’m about a week behind in blogging…. Generally though things are going well and getting back on track. On Monday I went out for a run that a month ago took me 47mins, and completed it in 42mins without a single taste of ITB. Better still, last Thursday I decided to miss the speed work session (have since decided on one a week till the new year) and did the riverloop. Basically the usual track from the Ship Inn, along the floating walkway and back around, I felt tired but didn’t need to stop and managed to keep a fair pace the whole way, even up the hill back over the Storey Bridge.
The plan for this week was
Monday – 40 min run – done
Tuesday – 30min puppy walk – done
Wednesday – 30min puppy run – done
Thursday – speedwork –not done – got up at 5am, left the house and got half way down the street before the rain was so bad I couldn’t even see 5meters in front of me. Filled up with fuel as the car was on empty and drove back home!
Friday – 40min run planned
Saturday – 20min swim planned
Sunday – 1hour run planned

the week gone by & the week ahead

2005-11-14T16:57:00.000+10:00

A quick blog-update of how last week was;

Monday - 30min walk/jog with puppy
Tuesday - nothing - it was my partners birthday and I think I would have been in serious trouble had I left the house at 5am!
Wednesday - 30min walk/jog with puppy
Thursday - Pats speed session
Friday - bit sore - 60min walk
Saturday - 60min walk with puppy
Sunday - 45min good pace run & 20min pool work

The 20min pool work ended a bit suddenly though as puppy fell in, forgot he was a dog and can actually swim and started sinking to the bottom. I decided after fishing him out and him calming down, that that had increased by heart rate enough for one afternoon and finished the session then.

The plan for this week is;
Monday - 30min jog/walk with puppy done
Tuesday - Pats speed session
Wednesday - 30min jog/walk with puppy
Thursday - Pats speed session
Friday - 45min run with friend up from Sydney
Saturday - rest
Sunday - 60min long run, 20mins pool work minus the puppy!!

Will see how it goes, just increasing gradually, hopefully will catch any thing that becomes more than just a niggle that way!

more tortoise than hare......

2005-11-03T13:48:00.000+10:00

... though I think he won the race in the end anyway :)

First session back to Pats in over 10 weeks, boy was I nervous! I only purposely chose today to avoid the 3kmTT, I think Tuesday would have put me off going back to running properly if todays pain was anything to go by!!

The session was the usual after the 3KTT, down at New Farm and then back via the Gardens for a 1K no watch. MJ was nice enough to run slooooooooooowly with me on the way down to New Farm, I felt pretty good going slow and steady. After the usual run throughs we started on the6*2min efforts. I was waaaaaaaaaaaaay at the back of the pack, in fact, I dont think there was anyone else behind me, nevermind. The first 2 efforts felt good and I managed to get back to the start with the bulk of the group. Effort 3 and 4 were really draining and I only just made it back in time, when Kate suggested a splinter group after the 5th effort I felt that my legs had no choice but to go. We still did the 6th effort, but on our way back to the Gardens. This gave us a bit more time to recouperate before the 1km no watch TT. I put down 5.20 for my time, think I got about 5.36 (I was really dragging my feet by this point!!).

It was great to be back there though and I cant wait to go again next week, its going to be hard work getting back up to speed but I really want, my goal is to do so by Christmas. My Saturday longruns are a bit hampered at the moment due to Puppy School being on Saturday morning, but its only for another few weeks, and I'm probably better off doing my own slow 60mins for now and building on that before I join the group anyway!!

Knee rating after session - 7/10 - more stretching needed!

Making it official

2005-10-26T15:55:00.000+10:00

The longer its been since Pats sessions and Running Buddies longruns, the more nervous I'm getting about going back.... its going to hurt so much, I'm going to be so slow and what if my knee blows up again!

For the past three weeks my "training" has gone like this
Monday-Friday 30mins walk/jog every morning (with puppy!)
Saturday - 40-50min run
Sunday - rest day

So I've not been dormant, but I have more than halves what I had been doing both in intensity and distance... SO next Thursday, not Tuesday I will be going back to Pats (I may regret publishing this!). Its a new month, I'll be a year older and I'll have four weeks till the next TT :-)

So, here it is, in writing next week I'll be back!!

Tag Time

2005-10-18T19:07:00.000+10:00

Clairie got me.....

I've been tagged....CR Blog game:

Here are the rules:
1. Go into your archives.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or the closest one to it)
4. Post the text of your sentence in your blog along with these rules.
5. Tag five other people.

The first 15 minutes were flat, followed by a couple of long downhills, then when I got to a suitable point (a roundabout!) I turned around - would have been about 28mins.
Talking about my first mid-week 60min run as part of my build-up to the GC half...

I now tag; Minersrun, Luckylegs, cj, gogirl and jen_runs!!

the week gone by....

2005-09-27T14:23:00.000+10:00

I thought I’d stick with weekly updates until I get back in the swing of things fully….. so here is this weeks.

In a very cheery mood after just surfing over some of the blog entries from Pats group, a few people with injuries have come back recently and it doesn’t appear to have made a lasting negative impact on them, so hopefully the same will apply to me. My original hope was to get back to Pats next week, but I feel that it will be another fortnight probably before that happens, my goal now is to run 10km pain-free (slow as I like!) and I’ll feel comfortable with re-joining, at the moment I would be left for dust and probably end up injuring myself again in the process!

Anyway, stretches are being continued, I think I would make it at least 5 nights a week for a full stretching session and on the nights I don’t have time, I always try and have a quick session in the morning. Over the past week I have managed 3x2km runs comfortably, the latest being this morning. On Thursday I intend to do 4km, reaching my 10km goal before my next physio appointment and taking it up to the level where I felt most discomfort during the recent RiverRun.

So, overall feeling quite positive at the moment, despite the short distance, it’s all been pain free and at a fairly reasonable (sub 5min anyway) pace…..

90/100 & other things....

2005-09-20T13:18:00.000+10:00

Well, the results are up for the QLD Run Series, because I did the half at Noosa I didnt qualify for the full series, however for the 5km J2J and 5km RR I did manage to score 90/100, which I was fairly happy with, especially considering my injury run on Sunday of 5min/k for a 5k-er!

The riverrun was a good laugh, I was immediately glad I'd decided to get up and go down there when I started spotting people like Clairie and Jan, whom I havent seen in a month now. At the start of the 5km I caught up with Ciaran, who was also taking it easy after being hit with an achillies injury. Gee, how quickly do you lose fitness though. The km markers were all wrong for the 5km, and I was quite glad really as my stopwatch would have probably laughed at me if it had known how slow I was going! I stuck with Ciaran until about 2.5km, at which point my knee was telling me to hold the pace and go no faster, Ciaran snuck ahead about (coming in about 30seconds ahead in the end) and I carried on towards home. I was suprised by the lack of overtakers considering how slow I was going, perhaps everyone was already ahead of me. Just as I was going on the homeless people bridge someone hit my knee with a hammer. Okay, so noone was actually there, but it felt exactly like that. Gee it hurt something awful!! I managed to get through the final km, it was really good to see MJ on the last bend and Tesso at the finish.
I went home and iced my knee for about an hour and did some serious stretching later on also.

Physio on Monday, the outcome was that I was extremely sore, muscles are very tight but I dont appear to have done anymore damage (just not improved either). Physio kindly strapped up my leg so I can walk and suggested three runs over the next ten days, totalling 10km.

3km tester & physio appointment

2005-09-12T15:09:00.000+10:00

As instructed by my phiysio, I got myself in to gear on Sunday morning and went for 3ish km run. I didn't measure it, but I ran slowly for about 14mins, so I reckon 3km would be about right. My knee swelled slightly and was a bit sore, but some RICE and stretching later I was feeling better and it was but a distant memory. Gee, it felt hard though, just those 3km, goes to show how quickly you lose your base... hardly fair considering how long it took me to get it!!

Physio appointment was fairly promising, she seems quite pleased with my progress and I am happy to take it slowly and go with what she says. I'm changing on my opinion about her, I think she just has a very 'blunt' no-mess attitude, which takes a bit of getting use to! My goal for this week is 5km... the question is, do I change my 10km Riverrun entry to 5km and do it there. Is it possible to run under race conditions and not actually race???!

frustrated for sure!!

2005-09-08T19:55:00.000+10:00

Well, after an encouraging physio session (ETA back on the running, 2 weeks) I am feeling a bit happier, but gee this lack of exercise isnt good for a gal!! Gone now are the nights where when my head touches the pillow I'm straight to sleep, back is the late night tv watching... I'm tempted to start setting my alarm for 5am even if I dont get up, just to make sure I can do still when the time comes!

The plan was to go out for a 2km run tonight and a 4km run over the weekend, but a guy from the bank is coming around so that won't be possible now, still, maybe in the morning. Its hard though, as soon as I get up the puppy wants a piece of me (usually a leg as well as my attention!) and I feel bad enough leaving him all day, never mind walking straight past him in the morning & he cant come with me yet coz he hasnt had his 12 week shots... ho-hum.

Physio is going to try and sneak me on to one of those machines on Monday, the ones where they wire you all up and then you run and they can really tell where you need to correct to improve... my opinion on her as not dramatically improved but I can feel improvement with the exercises shes been giving me, so I'll stick with it for a further two weeks and go from there!

(still) not running

2005-09-04T19:39:00.000+10:00

well, I now feel about as fat as a house and energetic as a koala!! Not done anything since Noosa (other than a 30min recovery run) and dont feel any closer to getting there either. I was feeling quite good until Wednesday, I went to the physio and my usual guy has left to go to another job, he told me his replacement was good, but the jury is out her still, I am due to go again tomorrow and if I dont feel there is any improvement I am considering requesting someone else. Not something I would usually do, but I dont feel there is any point in paying money to someone to help you, if they then dont.

On the brighter side of things, I have bought a puppy, which is the photo. He is to be my companion on those early morning runs when he gets older :)

missing the run

2005-08-28T17:18:00.000+10:00

Four days, have gone by since the dreaded ITB diagnosis, the days in brief are as followed;

Wednesday - all stretches completed
Thursday - ITB specific stretches and a 30min walk
Friday - all stretches completed
Saturday - ITB stretches completed and a 30min walk
Sunday - all stretches completed, 45 min walk, 20min of pilates video.

I have been applying anti-inflam gel as recommended by the physio.
Today I bought a pilates video. Having done pilates weekly in the UK I can see where a lot of the stretches I've been given for recovery are moves in pilates. Unfortunately the gym I now go to only has one session a week (10am on a Tuesday) as it doesnt seem as popular here as in the UK, and according to my physio Melbourne and Sydney yet. I am looking in to finding a class in the city to go to at lunch, as other than my posture I believe it would help my running as well. In the meantime I am going to try and do the DVD a couple of times a week to get back on track!

No run; went to the physio (and wished I hadnt)

2005-08-24T12:29:00.000+10:00

I decided to not run this morning, seemed a bit silly going for a run then a couple of hours later rocking up at the physio complaining about a sore knee! Probably just as well I didnt as I've been told I have ITB. He gave me some ultra-sound and a heap of stretching exercises. No running for a week, other than the allowance of one gentle 5km at the weekend. No fair, I want to run further than 5km, I was getting all geared up for a Mt Cootha trail run next weekend as well..... best play by the rules though and get stretching I suppose!!!

Literally couldn't get there!

2005-08-23T14:25:00.000+10:00

Isn’t it just a terrible thing when you get up at 5am to go running but your garage door won’t open!! No, not happened to be me before till this morning either! Couldn’t believe it, I could have easily used the “I ran Noosa” excuse but decided to go along this morning anyway. At 5.30am though I had to give up cursing the garage door and just went for a gentle 30 min run instead. In hindsight it was probably a good thing, my ankle is still bleeding and I am slightly sore, nothing that my trip to the physio tomorrow hopefully won’t fix.

Just for Minersrun....

2005-08-22T15:17:00.000+10:00

This one's for you (and anyone else who cares to look!)

http://www.smellephant.com/images/gallery/Fiji-2005

Noosa Report

2005-08-21T17:13:00.000+10:00

Well, there it is, Half Marathon number two is complete!

I drove up to Noosa on Saturday afternoon, arriving at the registration centre about 4pm, just as the guys I was staying with were thinking about heading off to the caravan site. Picked up my number and my ultra small t-shirt (there was me thinking I was being clever, ordering a small because they're normally over-sized and USM had produced womens sized T-shirts instead!)
We settled in to our cabins back at the caravan site; I was sharing with Gywenth, Tim, Scotty & Ciaran, but before long most people had come in to our cabin to share some carbo-snacks before going out for dinner.
Dinner was a good laugh, the service was sloooooooooooow but this was a good chance to catch up with some of the guys whom I only ever see at race meets, and exchange stories of past and recent events.

At about 10pm (after the footy!) we all turned in for the night. Despite being on the worlds lowest bunk (floor level) I fell asleep pretty quickly, unfortunately I did wake up at about 2.30am really cold and never really got back to sleep again after that. No matter, at 5am I got up, quick shower to warm & wake-up, packed up our bags and headed down to the starting area.

I decided to run with the 1.50 group, hoping for a time similar to the GC, but equally as happy to just run it as a longrun and enjoy myself. Unfortunately Tesso, who was meant to be one of the pacers for the 1.50 was unable to run, but still, two guys who I knew were there and things were looking good. We started right on 6.30am, the morning was beautiful, a very slight breeze, but not a cloud in the sky, warm but not too hot. I was feeling good for the first 5km and although my intial plan was to stay with the pace group until about 8km, when I got to 6km I started to creep ahead. Just 15meters ahead, myself and another girl who I knew ran together for a K or so, she then dropped back a bit, but I was still feeling good and carried on, enjoying watching the lead pack start heading back the other way. Knee was feeling good, back was feeling okay, there was a slight rub on the back of my heel, but I'd taped them up so thought that shouldn't be a problem... I was wrong. At about 9km I stopped to try and pull my sock up a bit, with the idea of easing some of the rubbing; my hands were shaking though and I didnt do a very good job. I lost a bit of time doing this and saw the 1.50 group not too far behind. Still felt pretty good though, and the boost from MC Pat Carroll calling out my name at the turnaround point, and all the Regatta/Pat Carroll guys cheering on the side was a real boost. I got to about 12km before my foot was really becoming sore, the 1.50 group were only about 30secs behind, I gave away the idea of making an impression on my GC time and just relaxed. A couple of points, about 15 and 18km and I wanted to give up. At 18km Liz (pacer for 1.50) caught me, but she must have been going a bit fast as she pulled up for a bit, only to take me again at about 19km. I kept Liz in my sights and just began to look forward to getting over the final bridge and to the finish. Nick (other pacer) ran the final 100meters with me, getting me in at 1.49. Not a PB, but under the 1.50 and I was happy...ish as the moment I stopped I was in agony. My right knee, which I thought was okay felt like it had a huge amount of pressure expanding on it, I looked down and half-expected to see it blowing up like a balloon. My left heel was covered in blood from where the blister had been rubbing. Still, a trip to the first aid tent, lots of stretching, a cold shower and a couple of anti-inflammatories later and I was feeling a bit more human.

The drive home wasn't as bad (sore) as I thought it was going to be, I'm going to make a physio appointment tomorrow though. This last week, I have just been feeling good and fluid again, don't want to spend another two months taking it easy!

The morning was great though, lots of CR's on the course, and of course plenty of other runners I knew too. Jodie won the Womens Half, which was just fantastic. Clairie & Matt were superb and everyone had a smile on their face when they were out on the course. Definitely in the diary for next year!!

Noosa!

2005-08-20T11:32:00.000+10:00

Off to Noosa, sports drink, jelly beans and new shoes in tow!!

My race plan is simply to have a good time, no real ambition to better my GC time (though obviously wouldn't say no!). Tesso and Lizzle are pacing the 1.50, so I'll start with them and see how I go. I've only done one long run since GC and that was only 90mins, so it'll be interesting to see how I fare!... *watch this space*

New shoes, 40min run and night fishing!

2005-08-19T10:25:00.000+10:00

Went and bought some new runners today, opted for the Brooks Adrenalines again - I probably was the easiest sale the guy had that day. Walked in, asked for my size, quickly slipped them on to make sure the new colour didnt mean a change in design and bought them.

I got home about 6pm and put the new shoes on and left for a run down to Shorncliffe. I'm not sure how far it is, but I'd say about 7km. The bloke and a friend were down there doing some night fishing (full moon last night), so I hopped in the boat (caught nothing!!) and got a lift back home with them.

Easy session

2005-08-18T10:21:00.000+10:00

Easy session at Pats this morning, 1 min easy efforts with 30 SR, then 30 efforts with SR. Felt pretty good for the most of it, bit of pain on the run back to the Ship Inn... think I'm going to get some new shoes, these (Brooks Adrenalines - Dec '04) aren't as supportive as they use to be. I have a pair of Saucony too, but find them a bit heavy and clumpy. Might just go with the Brooks again.

Been to Fiji....

2005-08-17T10:20:00.000+10:00

Well, I took my runners, but I didnt use them! I did swim/dive/walk a fair bit though, so hopefully that'll compensate somewhat!!?!

Happy runner again!

2005-08-11T13:26:00.000+10:00

There’s no denying it, I love to run!! Recently I have been entertaining the idea of not running, don’t know why, think I was just getting down about not being able to run fluidly and without pain for the past couple of months. After Sunday’s effort, a nice morning run on Wednesday and this morning speed session, I am back up on Runners Cloud Nine and ready to put in the miles again!!
Having said all that, I have kinda decided that once the QLD Series finishes (end Sept) I will probably ease off on the race meets for a while and just put some training and build up some stamina. Since March this year I have run in eight official races, and have two more planned. I think I might like to do Canberra next year, and as if I’m going to something I’m going to want to do it properly, I think they’ll be some serious long runs going on in the New Year anyway!

As for resting, I’ll be doing a fair bit of that over the next 5 days, for tomorrow I’m off to Fiji! Got a 90 min run planned for Saturday/Sunday, but we’ll see how that goes!

45min gentle run

2005-08-10T20:02:00.000+10:00

Wow, it was cold this morning!! I set off at 5.15am from home for a 50min run. To make up for not going to Pats hill session on Tuesday morning, I decided to do a loop course taking in two fairly large rolling hills. One thing I will definitely say about setting off in the dark, cold mornings, is how great it is watching the sun come up. From the top of the hill I can see Clear Mtn/Mt Nebo region and watching those hills become silouttes and then coloured hills certainly put a smile on my cold face!!
All in all I ended up doing 45mins, leg was a bit sore, but I put this down more to cold than anything else, as soon as I showered and stretched I felt okay again.

The sensible option (for a change)

2005-08-09T11:46:00.000+10:00

Its not often it happens, but today was an exception and I decided to do the sensible thing and not go to Pats. Slightly influenced by the fact it was hills, though not because I don’t like the hill session, I do, but because out of all sessions this one probably has the largest impact and is most likely to cause a flare up in my leg. After running B2B fairly hard on Sunday and then playing Touch on Monday, I decided that coupled with a Wednesday long run of 50mins and a Thursday session, I was really going to be doing myself a favour with a morning off from a hard session. I’m intending on going out this evening for a gentle 5km, there’s a couple of rolling hills near to my house that I might even take in to compensate a bit for not doing 15mins of hard hills this morning!

I have also, sadly come to a decision that this season will be my last Touch season. I often don’t get home from work until 7pm, couple that with 3 mornings at 5am during the week and throw a couple of 8pm/9pm Touch sessions in and it just becomes a bit much… something has to go, and I’ve decided it’ll have to be the Touch team!!

Bridge 2 Brisbane.... back in the running!

2005-08-07T18:30:00.000+10:00

Well, all I can say is that I had a FANTASTIC morning this morning. I've never done B2B before, but have wanted to for the past two years and for various reasons (no training/jetlag) never taken part.

I headed to PM's house at 5am and we drove down to New Farm to catch the bus with the rest of the guys to the Gateway Bridge start. There was thousands of people (a record 20,000 in total I'm told) there. Scotty & I last Matt while we queued with hundreds others for a last minute toilet stop, and then headed down to our red marker start, which behind the Elites sent us off first.

The gun went off and Tess, Lizzle, Ciaran and a couple others flew ahead of me. Tesso had said something about running 4.45's, but if that was the pace she was doing I was just going to have to accept I was going to be much slower!! I absolutely LOVED running over the Gateway Bridge, barely noticed the gradient as I looked across the city and the bay, the most beautiful morning and before I knew it I was heading back down the otherside. Matt had caught me up by this point, and we ran down the bridge together saying hi to people we knew. I told Matt to carry on as I would be running too slow for him, but he kept with me, saying he was treating the run as his Sunday long run, not as a race. I was feeling good as we came off the bridge and had a nice rhythm going. At 5km I'd taken about 40seconds off my Jetty2Jetty time of just two weeks ago. Matt said something about 4.40 pace, and I was feeling relaxed and happy with this. As we moved towards the city, the river on one side, people cheering on the other I was feeling great. A slight ache in my lower back, but nothing that was getting worse, and I told Matt that at this pace I was going to be okay. I reached the 10km marker with a new PB equivalent and was soon kicking in to cover the last two k's.

I crossed the line and stopped my watch at 56.16. Very happy, as my goal was anything around 58mins, though the 11th K was a bit tough going, and I was really glad to have Matt there encouraging me along!! Equivalent of 4.41k/min and taking the bridge in to account I'm feeling quite good about running again!! :)

Flat on my back all night....

2005-08-05T13:48:00.000+10:00

Until about 3pm yesterday I was feeling pretty good. Managed to do a couple of speedy efforts in Pats session and things were feeling okay. Then it started, at first just a lowerback twinge and a bit of a limp when I walked.. by 6pm I was in agony. At 7pm I headed out to the chemist for some anti-inflammatories and spent the next couple of hours lying flat out on the floor to try and reduce some of the back pain. My leg was throbbing so much at one point it tingled all over. I dragged myself to bed at about 9.30 and lay very still, till I slept.
Woke up this morning feeling a bit better, as a precaution I took two more pills after breakfast, I am now going to see how I go. I dont like dosing up on medication all the time, I'm never sure it if its just numbing the pain rather than actually curing it.

Felt slow, fast, slow, fast....

2005-08-04T12:58:00.000+10:00

6x400meters today, with 60SR. The first 2x400meters I struggled with, but then, as per usual lately I found I warmed up a bit and kicked in a bit of speed for the 3rd one... quite impressed as well, as Pat has moved the marker further up the road, so this rep was actually a bit further than the first two. Kept my pace for the return to the finish, then lost it a bit for the next 2, but managed to regain some for the final effort and back to the Gardens.
As per every Thursday following a time-trial, it was the no watch 1km today. My prediction was 4.44 and I came in at 4.52, so only 8 seconds out, pretty good pacing I thought :)

Put in some serious effort this morning, so hopefully things are coming good.