Rest, well sort of.....

The rest day worked well. I went out for a walk last night for about an hour and I followed it up with some abs and weights. I felt much better this morning and got up nice and early for: 15x30sec with 30 walk recovery. I felt good doing these. I really love the sprinting and since losing some weight it is much easier. 20 mins warm up and recovery I managed to maintain 5.12km pace so I made up for not doing that the other day.

Going on a shopping spree today, I just hope I can stay out of those sports stores....

Blah, Blah, Blah.....

Yesterday I felt great. I did a 40 mins easy recovery run and I felt so full of energy. Today I felt like absolute crapola and that is putting it mildly. I was supposed to do a 20 min slow jog followed by 4k at half marathon pace:5.12/km pace.

Did the the 20 mins slow jog and could barely muster up a 5:50/km pace then when it came to the 4k I just couldn't get the body to co-operate. So I gave it all up as a bad joke and slowly jogged home while Gary was in my face the whole time telling me to "speed up" which made matters worse because there was no way that was happening.

So I think I need a rest. I have added up my hours for this month and I have run just over 200km this month still with a few days to go before the end of November. It also didn't help that I had a crappy piece of battered fish for lunch and I never eat fried foods like that. I don't know why I even ate it? Now I have that fatty taste in my mouth and it won't go away, almost as if to punish me for having it. Blahh..That's probably why I'm feeling sluggish and slow and tired.

Windy, wet sunday run....

Because of the thunder storm early on Sunday morning I decided not to go out first thing as there was a lot of lightning around and it was pretty scary. So I waitied until the afternoon when things had settled down a little bit. I was pretty lucky really because I managed to get through the entire run without getting one drop of rain on me.

Today's run was a 1hr30 easy pace and I really love running in these cooler conditions, although the wind was a bit annoying in different stages. I just took it really easy and I found that I had heaps of energy and felt really strong today. I think I ran the entire way with a silly grin on my face because I didn't feel tired at all. My breathing fell into place really early on and everything just seemed to be flowing really well. I decided to put in a few faster k's at 5k, 10k and the final stage of the run around 17k's. I was also surprised that I didn't have that usual sluggish feeling that I normally encounter on a long run at around the 12-13k mark.

I have been trying a few things out during my longer runs. A lovely older gentlemen who was running the half at the SMC a last week came up beside me on the last km and started talking to me. The first thing he said to me was "your a distance runner now love, drop those arms down!" I was a little shocked at first but listened intently. He then proceeded to instruct me to lengthen my stride and push from the hips. Then he told me to just relax and enjoy it. After that, he took off and left me for dead and I was running at 4:15 pace for that last km, amazing! I didn't get to talk to him afterwards but I will seek him out next time and thank him for the tips.

So I tried this during my run yesterday and I felt very comfortable. At one stage I thought that I must have been running at about 5min pace but when I glanced down I was actually running at 4:50 pace without any discomfort at all. I have realised that running is a sport that you must continually learn and adapt to achieve your best.

17k all up and 58k for the week.

A visit to the chiro..

I decided to go and visit the chiropractor yesterday because I had developed a really sore right shoulder from being on the computer so much at work and my right hip was really sore from carrying Go Baby around again. So I booked in to see Chris (who is very easy on the eye) and very good at fixing my little hip and shoulder problems. He massaged the sore spots, which were all down my right side, then after a few manipulations I was back to normal again. Felt great!

I didn't make it out of bed early enough this morning so I left my speed session until this afternoon. I did 20 mins warm-up run some stretches and 6 x 2 mins at 80% effort with 30 sec's jog recovery. The hamstrings felt really tight again during this session and I will be doing some extra stretching over the weekend to try to loosen things up a bit.

Splashin' around!

Yesterday was my rest day. Normally I would not do too much on my rest day but since moving into a new office last week I now have a lovely lap pool about 2meters out side of my office door. I get to sit and look at the water fountain and all of the lovely birds that visit it for a drink throughout the day.

So no excuses now, go girl went swimming! For 25 mins all up. I really enjoy doing breast stroke, probably because it is so easy. ( I know it's the big girls blouse stroke) I managed to put in a few freestyle laps before reverting back to breaststroke again. I felt very refreshed after my swim although I did feel rather tired later on in the evening. My arms had a really good workout and I finished it off with some weights and abs. This could become a regular thing I think. I really enjoyed it.

This mornings run was a 50min easy run. I saw Mrs Blues Buffet out again this morning setting a cracking pace on her walk, that was the first time. On the way back home I passed her again but I was running up from behind this time and scared the daylights out of her when I went past. Sorry Kel!

I was thinking about how few people were out this morning and I sort of came up with my own little theory on people who exercise.

It goes like this:

Monday: All of the cake eating, pie munching, chocolate devouring couch potato's are all out exercising because they feel guilty after a huge weekend of eating and beer swilling.

Tuesday: Most of the couch potato's haven't made it out of bed coz they ate too much cake after their Monday morning run. But there's still a few around who are trying to be good 2 days in a row.

Wednesday: The one's who didn't make it out of bed for Tuesday's run feel guilty and go out for a stroll.

Thursday: There's only the dedicated exerciser and the odd dog walker.

Friday: Just those idiots that have speed sessions and tempo runs to do so they don't leave a blank space on the program..( Sounds familiar : )

Saturday: Those inspired by their kids doing more physical activity than they do.

Sunday: Weekend walkers annonymous. All the runners doing that Loooong Sunday run.

What a surprise!

I checked the results of the SMC 10k this morning and I was very surprised that I had come in 2nd female and placed 1st in my age category. What a surprise, that was.

40 mins easy run yesterday and today. Taking it easy before a few more speed sessions later in the week.

48:16 a new PB!

I had a great morning this morning at the SMC. I arrived early and met up with Bennyr and we did a warm up lap and some stretches then wandered over to the start of the 10k. Once over there I saw a few more CR's but didn't get to chat until after the race.

Once we started I had told myself not to go out too fast in the initial stages and I just took it easy. Probably took it too easy in fact, I felt very comfortable. Just after we took off the competitors doing the half started coming back the opposite way and I saw Tesso and Johnny Dark and waved and yelled out to them.

Once the line started to thin out a bit, I slotted in behind one group until just after the hills. That's when I decided to put in a bit of a surge and start picking up the pace a bit more. Gary was suffering from sort of interference so I decided not to look my watch anymore and just concentrate on running. I sort of ran by myself for a while and then caught up to the next group just before the 5k turnaround. Once I had reached the 6k mark I decided to try to pass the next two runners of which one was walking. I eventually went past them but the walker wasn't too happy about it and abruptly took off and I couldn't catch him again after that.

I made it to the finish feeling that I had worked hard but not really hard enough. I know it sounds silly and don't get me wrong I'm elated with my PB but for some reason I am a little disappointed with myself because I feel that I had more to give today. The lady when I passed through the finish line told me that my time was 48:16. So it's a NEW 10k PB for me. I cheered Bennyr in who wasn't feeling 100% today but put in a good effort anyway. It was so nice to finally meet Colin, Silverfox, Springer,Johnny Dark, Tesso, AuntyK, Papa Luigi, Uncle Dave, Truckie, Horrie and had a lovely chat with the Eagle, Ray who was on a 21k recovery run?? Sorry if I missed anyone. Once we all wandered back Tesso had a lucky draw prize ( a portable fold up bucket)

It was a really friendly atmosphere at SMC and I will definitely be going back next month. So Wobbly One, you now have a time to chase. Good luck and thanks for helping me to achieve my goal of running under the 50 mins before the end of this year.

A visit from the leg fixing fairy

I must have been visited by the leg fixing fairy last night because I woke up this morning and the hamstring is fine. I did do some icing last night and a bit of stretching so that probably helped too.

Today was my last speed session before the 10k on Sunday. The program was 6 x 500's. I am still in training for the Central Coast Half as well so I didn't want to via away from the program too much.



6 x 500's
They went like this:
1:57
2:01
2:02
2:04
2:00
1:54

The Goal was sub 2:03 so I only blew out in the 4th one. Just one 40 min run tomorrow morning then a rest day before the 10k on Sunday.

Weight loss so far: 5 kilos. I'm really happy with my new weight loss program so far, thanks Linda if you are reading this. I have been very good despite posting on coolrunning about icecream, I actually don't eat that much icecream. Just a little taste here and there.

Sore Leg

Monday: 40 mins run, slow pace.

Tuesday: 20 mins warmup, 2x2k, 1x1k, 20 mins warmdown.

Today's goal was:
2x2ks sub 9mins each 2km
1x1k sub 4:25mins.

Started off this morning with the usual stretches and felt some tightness in the hamstring on the right leg. Stretched it out a bit then did the 20 mins warmup run where I could feel the hamstring still pulling a bit.

Proceeded with the 2k Intervals
2k = 8:35mins
2k = 8:45mins
1k = 4:29mins

The leg actually got progressively worse as I was running and I really struggled in the last one. I was positive that I had not met any of the goals this morning because I had felt so impaired by my leg. I had preloaded the Interval program in the Garmin last night so it wasn't until I returned home and downloaded the details that I realised I hadn't done too badly after all. Still would have liked to have done better though!

Lots of stretching today and walking tonight.

Long run, no fun!

Since my last post on Thursday I had to go and have some minor surgery (nothing serious) so I had two days off running. The rest was great and I felt very fresh today. I wasn't sure if I would be able to run for the entire 2hrs as planned but it seemed to be somewhat easier than last week.

I wore my new skins today and they definately feel heaps better than the snow one's that I had before. I was very surprised that I didn't feel overly hot in them at all and I'm sure that they contributed to my legs being much less fatigued. I took a bigger bottle of water with me today and sipped frequently. The bottle does become a little annoying after a while but serves as a good warning when I'm running up behind someone with the water sloshing up and down.

I really felt quiet good the entire run today and I have been comparing my pace and distance from my previous Sunday 2hr runs. I have been slowly improving each week with the pace becoming faster and the distance longer.

Things are really hotting up this week with the Wobbly Bloke Challenge coming up next Sunday! I'm really looking forward to it! I just hope that poor old Wobbly will be ok! Seems he's battling some kind of leg injury at the moment and needs a few days rest.. Take it easy mate! Back into the usual routine again for another week. Didn't quiet manage to even get close to last week's km's with only 46.1k's for this week.

PB x 3

This morning's session was to be a 50 min run. No set pace, no speedwork, just run for 50 mins that's it. But I looked at this 50 min run and decided to give myself a little challenge. I hadn't actually used the Vitual partner mode on the Garmin before, so I guess now was a good time to try it out.

I set Gary up after a few stretches and headed off on my usual route that I take for these casual runs. Today's run was going to be less than casual though. (by my standards anyway) I had set Gary up at 5 min/km pace which meant that I had to run just under that to beat him back home. My little self challenge was to see if I could hold pace for the 10k and also to do a bit of flat running. The first part of the run went well and I had just stayed ahead of Gary. The first 3.5km was mostly up hill so it was pretty tough going but I didn't go out too fast and managed to be just behind Gary when I reached the baseball field.

Once I settled into a rhythm and relaxed my breathing a bit I managed to ease ahead of Gary at the 5k mark. There were a few dog walkers, walkers and joggers out this morning. Good to see everyone getting into the spirit of the warmer weather. The next few k's went really well and I managed to build up quite a lead on Gary at the 7km mark. I was really surprised at how fresh I still felt but I didn't want to blow it with only 3k to go.

Just after the 7k mark I started to get a sharp pain in my left side which extended from the front of my chest and around to my back. I slowed down slighty and took some deep breaths which didn't really help at all. I continued on and the pain seemed to become less and eventually disappered. I briefly looked down at Gary and the sly little thing had almost caught up to me again. Only 2k left by this stage so I put in a couple of 4:40k's and made it through the 10k in 49:44 mins. (Beating my previous 10k time of 51:12mins) I stopped for a brief drink followed by a victory lap cooldown. I then jogged the 3k back home.

It has been a very big week in our house for Pb's. Firstly "Go Dad" took 5 wickets on the weekend at cricket, which is huge for him not having played outdoor cricket before this season. Also "Go Boy" was awarded the player of the match last Saturday at his cricket, taking two catches and 1 wicket. Now I have achieved my goal of running under 50mins for 10k. I will not be abondoning the Wobbly Man challenge though, that is still on. I think that this little challenge has really helped me to put in some hard yards (so to speak) to achieve my Goals. Thanks Wobbly Man and everyone else for the encouagement and advice! I'm a very happy Go Girl today.

Fartlek session at the baseball

Headed out for my Fartlek session this afternoon. (Why do I choose the hottest time of the day to run?)
Today I had:
15mins of warmup

15mins of:
min sprints,1 min jog recovery,
30second sprints, 30second jog recovery,
15second sprints, 15 second jog recovery
repeat 4 times.

15mins of cooldown.

It was really hot again and I struggled with the heat out there. I decided to take my friend from Afghanistan with me today, Camelback. I used him alot when I was deployed overseas. That's where he got his name from and also because of the Camel in Camelback...Anyway I'm glad he was with me and after Sunday's run and being more aware of hydrating (thanks for the tip miners) I had heaps of water, whenever I wanted it.

The session went really well today I thought. This was the first time that I had done one of these and it felt really good. I actually felt like I was getting closer to some full on sprinting today. My pace was fairly even throughout with my best pace being:

1min =3.48km pace- last rep
30secs =3.40km pace- last rep
15secs =3.49km pace- second rep

All were over a much shorter distance though, so it was easier register a faster pace than usual. I'm trying to get some inside info on the SMC 10k track so I know what the course is like for the Wobbly Fella Challenge. Thanks for the course outline Plu! Should be interesting...

Sluggish Sunday shuffle

I didn't make it out of bed in time for Joggers again (sorry Martin) but I did manage to get on the road by 7:30am this morning. Right from the start I felt sluggish and slow and I knew that this was just going to be a tick the box type run, nothing special and certainly no PB's or fast k's.

The first few k's were pretty slow but then I started to build up on the pace and settled in to an easy 5.2k pace for a while. I have never trained with gels before and I thought that I would give it a go today and see what, if any effect it had on my energy levels which normally blowup at about the 12-13k mark of a long run. Running downhill for a while I felt this strange chaffing and stinging feeling on my inner thighs which is rather unusual because I was (as I always do) wearing my short tights under my shorts which usually stop the chaffing. It was really quiet painful but for some reason I forgot about it and just kept on running.

I decided to take the gel at the 10k mark and I had carried a little bottle of water with me, so I had a drink as well. The Gel itself was ok (Vanilla flavour) it was very thick and sweet and hot and sort of reminded me of the canation milk in the tube that we used to get in our Ration packs.

Anyway, I pressed on still keeping to a simular pace and started on my second lap of the bootrun. Still not feeling really flash I decided to not look at my pace anymore and just concentrate on getting the time under the belt as that was the goal for today anyway. I think that the Gel did help in delaying that "I want to stop now" feeling at least until the 16k mark which is about 4-5k after I normally get that urge to stop. I drank the last little bit of my water and made an effort to speed up a little on the home stretch.

I made it home exactly on the 2hr mark and ran 20.43km. I was less than happy with my overall pace but that was not the aim of today anyway, so happy with meeting my Goal regardless. On further inspection of the chaffing region I had actually worn a hole in my stretchy shorts and I was bleeding all the way down my leg and all over my shorts. Yuck... (Not a good look) I had a terrible experience in the shower afterwards, where I found that the material threads had fused to my skin...Ouch.... I also discovered that I have blisters on the bottom of both of my little toes and a huge one on my left big toe!!

After just adding up my total for this week and maybe the fact that I have run 72.5kms for the week since Monday might have something to do with why I'm so tired and sluggish. Definately my biggest week so far!

10 min efforts and more...

Yesterday's training session was a tough one! I had 2 x 10 min efforts out and back with 1 min 30 standing recovery. Then 1 x 5 min effort just to finish it off. That last 5 min effort was really hard my legs just didn't want to go at all.

I felt pretty good in the first 10 mins and I was really happy that I had kept my pace under 4:30 the entire way. The second 10 mins, I was a bit slower on average managing 4:36 pace. I really pushed it hard for the last stretch.

The worst part of the run was the warmdown run back home. I felt so lethargic but I managed to make it back home in 20 mins of slow jogging. Followed it up with some stretches and a nice cool citrus Gatorade.

Rest day today and out with the Joggers group in the morning.

Adjusting to the weather.

I always have trouble this time of the year when it starts to heat up again. I'm sure my ancestors were from the Artic because I love the cold. Having lived in Canberra for so long I really struggle with the humidity not to mention what it does to your hair.....

So I was up early this morning (5:30am) for a scheduled 50mins easy paced run. I took it very easy because I have a killer speed session on the program tomorrow and I didn't want to be over fatigued for that. Plenty of hydration today. Unfortunately I didn't get to join The Owl, Jen_runs, Lulu and Don Juan at the Lindt cafe today so now I'm sooking in my office with all of my friends..

It seems that Miners has taken upon himself to be the marketing manager for the CR Bloggers 10k Challenge. Nice one! Still have some training to get on with and I'm looking forward to this weekend when I go to the Joggers group for my Sunday Long run.

Heat, sweat and exhaustion...

I set out this afternoon for a nice easy 6k run. Started off good with a slight breeze but once I turned onto Old Windsor Rd the sun was blaring down on me and the heat was unbearable. It was soooo hot and I was soooo sweaty and my legs just wouldn't go. I decided to head straight to the school to pick up "Go Boy" and I jogged and he rode home.

Once at home I did some of the usual weights and abs routine plus some stretching in the nice cool airconditioning. I was adding up my monthly km's for October and I was very surprised that I had ran 196.6kms in October. Damn it, If I had known how close I was to the 200km mark I would have gone out for the remaining 4k before the month was over. Oh well no big deal!