Speedwork with a difference!

A few more days to catch up on again.

Monday: Run 50mins easy
Mondays run was a scheduled 50mins easy bush track and it felt great to get out and get the legs moving after the Christmas festivities.

Tuesday: 20mins warmup run, 15mins of 100m sprints and 50m jog recovery, 20mins warmdown run. This was an interesting session with plenty of scenery. I managed to find a flattish spot to do my 100m sprints on some ground that wasn't too rocky or had too much loose gravel. The only problem that I had was the birds had eaten some honkey nuts and they were all over the track and it was like running on marbles in certain areas of the track. I managed to get through the session and had a really good workout.

Wednesday: 40 mins easy run. Felt out of it today. My legs didn't want to play, my breathing wouldn't settle down and I felt a bit lethargic. It is getting slightly warmer here too so that doesn't help either.

Off to the after Christmas sales tomorrow followed by a day at the Kutura Day Spa for some very welcomed relaxation, massage and pampering.

Secret bush running training

A few days to catch up on here so I will try to remember what I have done. The weather here has been very mild and great for getting out and running in these conditions.




Wednesday: 50mins and I was invited to the Firemans Christmas party that afternoon. It was like a sneak peek at the 2006 Fireman's Calendar! (Except it also included 2007, 2008 and 2009)

Thursday: Run 50 mins on the bush track again.

Friday: 2 x 10 mins efforts, 1 x 5 min effort, 1min 30 SR. Ran the bush track which was difficult trying to run fast on the gravel.

Saturday: 2hrs 30mins 30secs. This is the longest run that I have ever done! 22kms bush track and 2.5km road. I had a great time out there. I left really early and I had only initially set out for what was supposed to be a 2hr run. I took some water and a gel with me and started out on the same track that I had ran on the previous days. I found a few more trails that headed up to another track so placed a stick with a bright orange ribbon on it (from previous backburning)next to a tree so I didn't get lost coming back through.

The track went a fair way in and I ended up coming to a major road where I turned around and ran back the same way. I felt rather good and I stopped at the 12km mark and took a gel and some water. I stopped for about 45 seconds and continued on still feeling quiet good. I started to feel some weakness in the the legs at about the 15km markbut I really wanted to do a big run in the bush while I had the opportunity.

It was great to spot some of the wildlife while on the run including; Kangaroos, Lorikeets, Lizards, Black cockatoo's with the red tail and some other creatures scurrying through the bush as I ran past but didn't get to see what they were. The best part was the smell of the Eucalyptus trees and the lovely clean air.

The last 5km was realtively flat except for the road part where there was three major hills back to the property. I was going really slow at this stage but I just took my time and chipped away and made it back to a concerned Mum who was frantic because I had taken so long. I did some stretching and had a loooong shower and put my skins on for the rest of the day. I woke up this morning feeling great, just a few aches in the back of the knee which soon subsided.

The first photo is of the entrace to the track and second one I took while running on the track.
I'm looking forward to next week with some more bush running on the schedule and then the New Years Eve Run in town.

50mins easy, but what about those hills!!!!

Took off for 50 mins easy run early in the morning. The area where I am staying is very Hilly and lots of bush trails.

I ran a 50 min mostly bush track very hilly most of the way but not so hilly on the way back. Really enjoyed the run and now looking for somewhere flat to do some speedwork tomorrow. Could be difficult. I might have to run in the paddock with the sheep.

I will be taking my camera tomorrow so I will post a few pictures of the trail run, lovely views of Perth.

Run: 50mins

Just one more thing before I go......

Turned up early to register for the SMC 10km this morning, catching up with the usual suspects before hand and meeting up with Mr and Mrs Lulu and Bennyr for the warm up run over to the start. I decided to steer clear of the Granny brigade this morning as much as like to hear about their recipes for carrot cake, I was not going to get stuck behind them again this time.

The start felt relatively fast but not too uncomfortable and I passed through the first km in 4:42mins. I decided to not look at my watch again until the turnaround and just run and enjoy the company. Except I didn't have any! I was running bymyself most of the way and just before the 5km turnaround I was passed by a buddy from the HDJ. I was very lonely today*sob, sob* (someone feel sorry for me)

I pretty much tried to maintain the same pace the entire way and managed to pass through the 5km mark in 24:12mins.

I grabbed a water bag and held on to it for a while and then had a drink and sprayed the rest on my face a bit further down the track. Before I knew it I was at the 1km to go marker so I really dug deep and put in a fast last km. As I was running down towrds the finish I saw Lulu and she yelled out "come on, try and race me!" as she ran along beside me to the finish. Thanks Lulu that really helped!

As I ran through the finish line the lady handing out the cards announced that I was the first female for the 10km and my time was 48:02mins!!!!! Yeah, another PB! I was so happy with that result considering it was very windy out there today and rather warm as well.

We then cheered on DJ who luckily we stopped from making a wrong turn and a few other CR's that were doing the half as well. It was nice to chat to John Dawlings again and to meet Rags afterwards who has invited me on some of his Sunday long runs around the Hills area. I might have to take him up on that offer considering the training that I will need to start doing next year for the GC Marathon. I missed out on catching up with Colin this time unfortunately. Oh well, I guess I will have to listen to the cricket over the summer to get my "South African Accent" fix.

Stats for today's run:
Splits: first 5k, 4:42, 4:39, 4:48, 5:02, 5:01
2nd 5k, 4:45, 4:55, 4:44, 4:48, 4:27 (Negative split wooohoo!)

(The garmin measured 10.03 so the extra 33m was the missing 8 secs)

Avg pace: 4:42

Distance: 10.03km

I have one more run to finish the year off on a real high and I'm really looking forward to running the New Years Eve 7.5km run in Perth and meeting a few WA CR's.

I'm in!

Run: 40mins

Today's run was a 40min easy paced run and still, that extra rest day has not shown up. Must be tomorrow, I hope! Today's run was without incident and in fact was a bit of a nothing run really. Just one of those runs where you get out there and do it because the program says so.

So, on to other things like officially making a commitment to run the Gold Coast Marathon in 2006. I had my reservations and I will admit I was a little scared about attempting anything that "big" before being fully satisfied with my running over other distances first. When I received the mail yesterday there was a Gold Coast Marathon 2006 Calendar in it which immediately made me think "enter the full you moron!"After I gave myself a few uppercuts and a stern talking to I came to the conclusion that it will be possible for me to achieve given that the event is still 6 months away. After reading about Miners committing to IMOZ and Tesso committing to PMC next year I couldn't really wimp out. As 2p says "You never know if you don't give it a go!" or something like that anyway. I have also been given an extra incentive by Go Dad if I complete the full Marathon.

Looking forward to a cruisy 10km run this Sunday at SMC. Look out for the Santa hat brigade.

How hard can it be???

How hard can it be to get a pair of shoes in the colour that you want?? I really like the nimbus v11 in the green/silver. But can I find these shoes anywhere except for on the Internet? No.. I can't have the same colour that I've just had, how boring! The one's that I'm after are exactly like the ones at the top of my Blog. So if anyone see's them please let me know.

I'm normally really tired this time of the week but this morning I actually woke up before the alarm and got dressed and was out the door before 6:15am. Took it really easy on the 20 mins warm up run down to the baseball field. (highlighted yellow on the map) I ran like a cut cat this morning. Abolutely shocking! Felt like I couldn't breath, my legs didn't want to go and I had a stitch after about 500m all the way to the path where I was planning on doing my scheduled 6x1min reps with 30sec walk recovery.

I did a few stretches then while walking up to the path I was met by this very unusal dog. It was a short haired husky with one blue eye and one brown eye. It was so cute! So I sat patting her for a while until the owner showed up a few minutes later. We started chatting about the dog and how unusual she was. The owner was a Scottish guy who had just moved to Australia and had bought the dog once he moved here. I love that accent. My favourite accent is South African, but that's another story...

So, to the speed work. The session actually went really well. I completed the 6 x 1 min reps at 80%. I felt really good doing these. I did a few more stretches afterwards and set off back home for the cooldown run.

Run: 9.2kkm

Not a rest day..

Another surprise this morning. Luckily I checked the program again last night because what is normally a rest day for me, turned out to be a scheduled 50 min run.

Hey, what happened to my rest day? Anyway I felt a little lethargic this morning and just cruised along for 50 mins. The knee is good today no soreness at all before during or after the run. Happy about that :-)

I'm still reviewing my goals for next year and as mentioned before, including the Gold Coast Marathon. Maybe I should have clarified exactly what I was reviewing first. I have been having second thoughts about attempting a full marathon next year after just returning to running seven months ago.

In review, I would really like to concentrate on getting my half times down first and become better prepared for the longer stuff. I would also like to have some decent lead up preparation for some of the trail runs that I have on my list for next year. I'm also really liking doing the 10k races at the moment too. Hmmm, decisions decisions...

3ktt surprise.....

I have been looking at this new Mp3 player. It has no wires and is just the headset. I have already got an older Mp3 player that I bought in the states about 6 years ago and it has very simular headphones and I found them to be great for running as they sit on the back of the head and you can tuck them into your hat. I might have to investigate a little further into the features of this little device.

Did a 40min run yesterday afternoon and tried to keep the pace down a bit after Sunday's run. Felt very comfortable and just enjoyed the run out to the baseball field and back.

Run: 40mins
Avg Pace: 5:14/km
Distance: 7.7kms

This mornings run was a surprise 3ktt. I say surprise because I didn't realise that I had 3ktt on my program until I had a look at it late last night. So up early for the usual 20mins warmup run a few stretches and into the 3km run. Felt pretty average this morning however I did manage to hold my pace a little more even than the previous 1k Intervals last week . I put in a faster sprint to the finish.
Run: 13:14. That's a 6 second PB for me!
Avg Pace: 4:38/km
Distance: 3km

I'll take that for a lazy Tuesday. I have still got this persisting knee niggle though, so I am icing and applying voltaren regularly. If no improvement soon I might go and visit the dreaded physio.....

Long, hard and fast....

After a really busy weekend the last thing I felt like doing was going for a long run. But with the good news from Mr Wobbly about his shiny new PB, I felt inspired to do something! As the people at Nike would say: Just do it!!!!

As it turned out my 1hr 30mins run was rather enjoyable and I got to run off a few naughty calories from over the weekend too. (Mcvites Hobnob biscuits!! Yummm) So I took off relatively late compared to when I normally run. (7.40pm) I started off really slow not really getting into it at all until about the 3k mark where I had a real surge of energy and pushed the pace up from 5:30/km to 5:07/km and tried to maintain that for the rest of the run.

After my slow start I still managed to go through 10km in 52mins which I was pretty happy with. At about the 14km mark I had been able to maintain 5:00/km pace and even did the 12th km in 4:50mins, which is typically my slowest due to a gradual up hill incline about 1km long. On the return I felt great and I was glad that I had decided to go a bit faster and tried to hold it for longer. A little bit sore in the knees today but no muscle soreness thanks to my trust old mates, skins.

Totals were:

Distance: 17.6km

Time: 1hr 30mins 11 secs

Avg pace: 5:12/km

I-N-T-E-R-V-A-L-S

This mornings run went like this:

About 12km all up. Started with a 20 min warm up run then straight into the 4 x 1km Intervals.

Goal sub:4:20

4:10
4:15
4:20
4:26

Consistantly became slower each Interval. Started off feeling really good but the legs soon objected which bought the pace back a bit especially on the last one. I think I may have been feeling the effects after yesterday's 10km run too. The energy level was not really high this morning, so I just missed out on the sub 4:20 for the last Interval. Bugger! Just have to try harder next time, won't I!

And a huge Good Luck to two special friends racing this weekend. Firstly Wobbly Bloke doing the 10km Challenge down in Melbourne. Go Wobbly!!!! And to Miners who is in Canberra for the Half Ironman. Good Luck guys!!

Ice cream or Easy 10km???

The choices we have to make?? I was told by two friends yesterday, no make that three, to go and have some Ice-cream..... As tempting as it was, especially the suggestion of Tim Tam Ice-cream, I just decided to go for a run instead. I know, boring.....but I did have a good run though so it made up for it.

My second run after the Half on the weekend and I thought that I would be really slow and lethargic but found that I was lively and energetic and felt really good this morning. I ended up doing 10km for a total of 52mins. Which worked out to be about 5.17pace. Pretty happy with that considering it is a recovery week. Back to the quick stuff tomorrow, I can't wait, I love speedwork!! I say that now, but it may not be the case when I'm out there doing it tomorrow.

I'm currently reviewing some of my proposed Goals for next year, including the Gold Coast Marathon. More on that later.

I love my skins.....

After I returned home from the Half the other day I put my skins on and I felt great the next morning. I wore them last night too and I have them on now after my 40 min run today. Today's run was tough in the heat, it was really draining and very humid.

During the run I just took it easy ran at about 5:30pace for about 7.5 km. I had a very strange knee niggle today which I have never had before. Just under my left knee and it seemed to be shooting pain down my leg. Very strange, it didn't really affect my running it was just there. So ice tonight just to make sure and see how it goes on the next run.

My appetite has been huge today. I just couldn't eat enough food. Probably making up for my lack of nutrtion over the last few days. It's really strange how I totaly go off food after a long run.

Central Coast Half

After finally meeting up with Jen_runs on Saturday afternoon (Parramatta train station sucks!) We went and picked up Go Dad from cricket and headed off to the Central Coast. After a short diversion we made it to our accomodation and then met up with Jen again for dinner. We had a lovely night chatting and laughing which made up for the slightly average food we ate. Jen gave a few quick tips to Go Dad on the cheerleading duties before we dropped her off at her cosy little B&B for the night.

I had a reasonable nights sleep then woke up at 5:30am and bounced down to the entry area where a whole heap of coolrunners had already started to congregate. Said a few quick hello's pinned on the bib and headed over for the start. A very low key start startled me as I was too busy gaspbagging as usual.

Once we were under way I just stayed slightly behind the Skaminertain until I finally got into some rhythm with my breathing. It was actually heaps of fun running along with Gronk, 2P, Plu and his podcasting device, Bennyr and the others in the beginning. There was alot of chatter and laughing going on in the early stages. A bit later on we sort of broke off into smaller groups and stayed that way until the 10k turn around. The train had us right on time at this stage and I ran with Miss Skarmel most of the way up to there.

Just after the turnaround Miss Skarmel and Gronk broke away from the pack and took off in front of us. Which left Miners, myself and 2p. 2p's having the occasional stop , I think for his calves but soon caught us up again. It all fell apart for me at the 16k mark. The head wind didn't help at all but mostly it was my legs, they were burning and just wouldn't cooperate. I tried to follow Miners for a while but couldn't keep up. Even after a few words of encouragement a strawberries and cream lollie from Miners and an attempt from 2p's to make me laugh, I just couldn't find the energy to get those legs going any faster. Miners was trying everything to get me going a bit faster, short of piggy backing me, there wasn't much steam left in the old girl. But thanks for the words of encouragement and support Miners you really did help to get me through in 1:51 something which was a 3 min PB. : - )

Initially I was a little disappointed because I had just missed the sub 1:50 goal that I had set myself, however I am happy with the PB and the day was great. I sort of felt like I had let Miners down a bit too because he had put so much effort into pacing us. I definately have a new Challenge for next year now and that is firstly to get under that 1:50 mark for the half and to work on my 10k times.

Had a chat and sort of (couldn't stomach any food yet) some Lunch afterwards. Great to catch up with Bennyr, Tiger Angel and the Gnome again. I also briefly chatted with Silver fox after the race but I didn't get to catch up with too many others unfortunately.

A very sleepy drive home with Go Dad and Jen_runs until we were almost hit by a flying surfboard from the roof of a car just in front of us. Lucky Go dad was on the ball and it just missed our car. We dropped Jen off and headed home to pick up the rowdy Go kids.

The Central Coast is a great spot and I will try to get back again next year I had a really fun day.

Ready, set...Go!

30 mins easy run with new shorts this morning. Very nice! Picked up a couple of pairs of Diadora shorts yesterday and matching crop top of course. I just couldn't help myself they were 20% off. Bargain!!

Just doing the final preparations for the trip up to the Central Coast tomorrow afternoon and everything should be good to go. Looks like Jen_runs will be travelling in the Go Mobile up to the coast for her cheer squad expedition.

Quick add up of last months k's = November 222.1km

Now I'm really getting nervous.....