Namaste

One of my role models and heroes, Sue Fear, died in Nepal this week while descending Mt Manaslu. I have been a big fan of Sue's for many years. I followed her climb of Everest in 2003 and had the pleasure of meeting her (very briefly) after a talk she gave about her Everest climb. She was one gutsy woman who thrived & succeeded in a male-dominated sport and gave the mountains and the environment the respect they deserve. A role model to anyone who has ever thought to themselves "I'd love to...." but never had the courage to take a risk in life.
_________________________

I woke up feeling very tight & tender after the Tiger's massage yesterday. Having a lower body rest day the day after a massage seems to work best for me. 20mins of stretches this morning before work then a tough upper body weights session with Satan tonight consisting of 2 circuits of:

* dumbbell chest press on the swiss ball;
* single arm bent overs row balancing on a swiss ball;
* (assisted) chin ups;
* barbell bicep curls;
* barbell shoulder press,

followed by an extra set of the chest press and bent-over rows to finish. It's been 2 weeks since I've done an upper body session and I felt it today. Still, it's done. 30mins easy run tomorrow then resting up for Sunday's little adventure....

The great loungeroom adventure racing incident of 2006

Um. I wasn't quite honest in my post on the weekend. I had an 'incident'. It's too embarrassing to tell the full story. Suffice to say - I fell off my bike. My knee took most of the impact - yes, THAT knee. It's fine. Just a bit of skin missing & a lovely bruise (which I "enhanced" when I bumped it on the bus on Monday morning).

The reason for the disclosure is that my lower back was rather tight on Monday but thankfully I had a wheel alignment planned with Saint Andrew on Monday night who gave me "the look" when I told him about the 'incident'. Apart from my back, I pulled up really well after Sunday's LSD run. Saint Andrew also gave me the results of my "progress evaluation" last Thursday. It's all good - or at least on the improve. Happy days :-)

Today (Tuesday) I had a 40mins run on the plan. With doing so much slow stuff lately, I feel like I only have one speed so I decided to pick up the pace just a tad & take a more "rolling" route around the 'hood. Had a lovely time - no niggles - legs turned over nicely - happy days :-)

Distance: 6.72kms
Duration: 40:11mins
Aver pace: 5.58min/km
Total for May: 91.18kms *grins widely*

I'm back baby!

With a little help from my friends...

It was a real struggle to drag my butt out of bed this morning - at 7.30! I woke up tired & blah-ish. Thankfully I'd arranged to meet The Owl & Caro at the Bay for our long run. If not, I would have invented all sorts of reasons to stay in bed.

My hip flexors/top of quads are really sore today. I'm not sure whether it was the yoga or the hills I tackled on my bike yesterday or both. Easy Tiger is going to have a field day on Tuesday *sob*. They are so sore that I wanted to drive to the Bay from home in first gear so I didn't have to lift my left leg onto the clutch. Mr Jen will be pleased to know that I didn't ;-)

Distance: 11.69kms
Duration: 81.57 mins
Aver pace: 7.00min/km (ish thanks to operator error)
MTD: 84.46kms

Once I warmed up, I felt much better - quite strong & comfortable actually. Must have been the company - thanks girls! I didn't eat before this run (which is normal for me). However at about the 4km mark I decided I was really hungry & began to get a bit concerned that I was going to fade long before the end of my run - thankfully I didn't but maybe eating beforehand is something I need to think about during winter (when our LSD runs start much later than in summer).

Trivia Dave, The Owl & I finished up with breakfast in Rozelle - I had poached eggs, mushrooms, spinach, hash browns, toast, coffee & pineapple juice. Yes, I have quite an appetite ;-)

I was going to take my bike out this afternoon. Instead I think my pillow is calling me!

The week ahead - looking back over my blog, my training hasn't been that consistent since my glute problem appeared during April's CR 5km challenge. Eg, I haven't done my 4th (recovery) run of the week since then. Opps. Unfortunately this week isn't going to be the week it's reinstated:
Monday: rest
Tuesday: run (40mins) & massage
Wednesday: upper body session with Satan
Thursday: run (30mins)
Friday: rest
Saturday: rest
Sunday: The Great Nosh *woohoo*

It's as easy as.....

I entered W2G last night - OMG. Scary stuff but geez, I'm looking forward to it!

Today (Saturday) has been a lovely day.

No CR 5km challenge for me today. I had thought of heading over to meet everyone for breakfast after the 5km but the prospect of having a sleep-in for the first time in weeks (well, as much as 8am is a sleep-in!) won.

Headed off to the gym for a great yoga class at 10am. I thought I was going to have to move to a different spot in the room when the woman next to me started to breath heavily even before the class started. I couldn't decide whether she was about to hyperventilate or give birth. Fortunately she did neither and quietened down eventually..

Picked up some gloves on the way home from the gym for my trail adventure next weekend. Now I just need to remember to use test out my fuel belt during tomorrow's LSD & I'll set for the Nosh :-)

Took my MTB out for a 10.18kms spin this afternoon. About 4kms into it, I realised that I'd left my nix at home. Needless to say (a) I was glad I had only planned to do 10kms and (b) I won't make the same mistake again! I almost had my first crash - so glad I didn't - there would have been lots of gravel involved & would have resulted in a very ungoddess-like look!

Do you like the latest addition to my bike?

These look like fast, aerodynamic shoes to me!

Anyone notice the latest adventure that I've added to the long list? Who wants to join me for the trip to the Gong? Let's hope I don't have a fall otherwise I'm going to be one ugly bride, LOL!

Trashing your legs in 3 easy lessons....

Monday 22 May - Leaving Brisvegas...
Rest day

I got out of bed a bit tentatively this morning; cautiously putting one foot followed by another on the floor then standing up to see what hurt or ached. The fact it was 4.30am may have also accounted for my sluggish start to the day. To my amazement, nothing hurt. Despite doing my average weekly mileage in the space of 24 hours, I pulled up fine. No niggles. No muscle soreness. Zip. Zero. Nada. Had there been enough space in Cirque's loungeroom, I would have done a cartwheel.

Thanks to Cirque who also dragged her butt out of bed at 4.30am in order to get The Owl & I to the airport in time for our 6.30am flight back to Sydney - and, in my case, back to work. Yes, I went straight from the airport to the office and surprisingly had a productive day at work. No doubt the endorphines were still flowing!

A trip to see Saint Andrew for a wheel alignment finished the day nicely. Needless to say, I slept very well.

Tuesday 23 May - I'm sorry. Did I move to Melbourne?
Rest day

Another rest day. A good thing too because of Sydney's arctic weather conditions today. Did make it to see Saint Tiger for a massage (who I think was just as surprised as me as to how well I pulled up). Thankfully his hands were warm ;-)

Wednesday 24 May - Oh my poor legs...
Run, fire drill + Satan!

4 races over the weekend weren't enough to trash my legs. Today was - my day started with a run; included walking down 18 flights of stairs during a fire drill; and a lower body weights session with Satan!

Distance: 5.36kms
Duration: 34:39mins
Aver pace: 6.27min/km
MTD: 66.41kms

After the weather conditions in Sydney last night, it took me a llloooonnngggg time to get out of bed this morning. Thankfully I did. The wind and rain had stopped and the temp had risen - slightly. Not a bad run after such a big weekend. A few niggles here & there but probably also the result of having a massage the day before.

Time: 6.30pm
Weights with Satan

A lower body session with Satan tonight - my legs were really feeling the effects of today's other activities. A circuit - repeated twice - of:
* lunges;
* VMO exercise;
* single leg hamstring curls;
* 2 x core exercises using the swiss ball.

My core strength tonight was utterly appalling (which it isn't). No doubt I'm still feeling the effects of the weekend's fun.

Thursday 25 May - killer quads!
Rest day

Another rest day. I could get used to this ;-)

Saw Saint Andrew tonight for a "progress evaluation". I get the full results on Monday night but it's promising - my quad & adductor strength has increased "considerably" (his words, not mine).

Friday 26 May - Stripping off...
Run

Distance: 6.36kms
Duration: 39:59mins
Aver pace: 6.17min/km
MTD: 72.77kms

A beautiful morning today. Much milder than the last few. I ran in a long sleeve t-shirt (amongst other apparel) and actually contemplated taking it off (yes, I was wearing a crop top). But I didn't want to be responsible for a car accident - I was scared the highlights might reflect off my extremely pale stomach and blind the people driving past ;-)

The first 20mins was really tough - my hammies in particular were/are still feeling the effects of Wednesday's adventures. Thankfully they loosened up..eventually.

I had planned to do a yoga class at lunch but I got a better offer - lovely to see you Go Girl!

TdW continues

* another long post warning*

Sunday 20 May

Got out of bed on Sunday morning without any niggles or muscle soreness - so far so good!

10kms Killarney Ascent - 76:45mins

Despite the absolute lack of hill work, I was really excited about this race.

It was another early start so that we could be on the bus at 6.30am to head out to the start of the 10kms "ascent" at Killarney, about 30kms from Warwick. This race was a "stretch goal" for me - about 6 weeks ago, someone suggested this race as one I could potentially do if my training went well, the planets aligned and the running gods were in a good mood (ok, I added the last 2 factors). Fortunately all 3 of these things occurred so I lined up at the start with Hannah, The Owl and Vegie Girl. I had decided to treat this weekend as a training weekend (given all my big races are soon to come) so I wanted to take it easy during this race.

I was told the first 4kms of the race were flat. They aren't. Funny, no-one warned us about the smell as we passed what we later found out to be the abattoir! I really didn't enjoy the first 3.5kms - my left calf was a bit tight and I couldn't find any rhythm - I think because I haven't run hills in about 8 months now, I'm not used to changing my stride length or cadence. I would really have struggled without the girl's company. Fortunately once we turned left onto Spring Creek Rd, a mirage appeared in the form of Cirque, with pom-poms and clappers, singing all the same silly songs we sang for her the day before. Thanks Cirque - it gave me a huge lift & I settled into the run after that.

After passing through the drink station at the 4km mark, the road slowly but surely began to rise. I settled into the run and began to feel strong. The total elevation gain by the way was 322m according to Garmin Elektra, probably 90% of which was in the last 6kms! Nasty - but I loved it!

Vegie & I led the way with Hannah & the Owl generally no more than 20m behind us. By far the most beautiful run of the weekend. It was so quiet out there (well, except for my laboured breathing of course) and beautiful. There were dark clouds which cast shadows over the mountains in the distance while the sun streamed through the trees near us. Simply stunning. Vegie & I chatted the whole way and worked as a team; picking a certain point in the distance to run to before a short walk to recover. To my utter amazement, I felt comfortable and like I was running within myself during the climb. I must admit that once or twice I thought about pushing ahead of the girls but reminded myself of "the plan" and that it was only a training run for me. Such restraint!

As we were the last of the runners, the poor dudes in the 'runners ahead' car trailed behind us the whole way. I felt a bit sorry for them but then again, they had a good view ;-)

At about the 8kms mark, I yelled back to Hannah & the Owl that we should cross the finish line together - as Owl said "all for one & one for all". Just after the 9kms mark the road flattened out and the mirage appeared again - Cirque with pom-poms, hand clappers and yes, she was still singing. Cirque told us that there was a small dip ahead and then a flat section before the finish line so we started running, clapping & singing "she'll be running up the mountain when she comes" all the way to the finish line together. An amazing morning - thanks girls!


L-R: Hannah, Vegie, me & the Owl

Thankfully the other runners (who had long since finished) hadn't eaten all of the breakfast so after a very quick stretch and a chat to Miners, it was off to find some breakfast and coffee. Even before I'd finished my breakfast, I was already plotting my revenge against that hill - I'm already very excited about the re-match in 2007! :-)

As the bus had left without us (!), The Owl & I caught a lift back into town with a couple of the organisers before heading back to the hotel to pack up, eat, drink & change for the next event...

City Centre Criterium 1500m - 11.07mins

Just as I started drinking my coffee, Cirque declared her intention to do the 1500m so it was back to the pacing duties for the last event for me - which I was more than happy to do. Given that I'd already done my average weekly mileage in the space of 24 hours, I didn't want to push my luck too far by racing the 1500m. The Owl and Hannah had decided to race this one so I assumed the mantle of sole pacer. Unfortunately for Cirque, my singing had not improved over the last 24 hours nor had my repetoire expanded so it was fortunate that C1 (Owen) joined us not long after the start. Cirque ran very strongly - sans vomit stops this time ;-) - and with lots of cheering from the crowd flew towards the finish line with a couple of lovely male escorts (Miners, C1 & C2).

What I love about this sport - and this weekend in particular - was that those coming towards the back of the pack received as many cheers (if not more) than the winners. One of my favourite memories of the weekend will be the 'tunnel' we made for the woman who was coming and for Fat Bloke's son Jack (who is normally pushed in his stroller by Dad) as he finished his first race! A wonderful way to finish an awesome weekend!

Thanks to my roomies - Miners, Hannah & The Owl - and the rest of our gang - Cirque, Owen & Jordan - for a fantastic weekend and to Cirque for suggesting it in the first place. A wonderfully organised event - can't wait to come back next year!

It was then back to the Rec Centre for a shower and lunch for the grand price of a gold coin donation! No bling for me but I did win a random draw - the prize was a choice between a free entry to the Qld Half Marathon Championships (!) or a drink bottle, hat and socks. Needless to say, I went with the hat/drink bottle/socks option - I couldn't take the free entry - I have a date with a trail that day :-) The Owl & I also received an Endura t-shirt for flying to the event.

Once lunch was over it was time to say our farewells and hit the road back to the Brisvegas. One lesson I learned during this trip - do not get out the car at a petrol station full of old male bikers wearing Skins (and yes, I was wearing a shirt). I think a made a few old men's days. Eek!

When we were back in Brisvegas, Cirque took the Owl & I for a walk around her local lake where she runs - it was nice to stretch the legs a bit after 2 hours in the car. Once back at Cirque-central, we settled in for a quiet of catching up, laughing, gossiping, drinking wine & eating ice cream and Lindt chocolates - let's call it refueling!

Le Tour de Warwick

* long post warning*

Friday 19 May

After a few crazy hours in the office, I was able to escape the office at 1pm in order to head to the airport to meet The Owl for our 3pm flight to Brisvegas. Cirque collected us from the airport and after a quick stop at Cirque-vile, the 3 of us (C1 and C2 were following later in the evening) were on our road trip to Warwick.

After arriving at about 7.30pm and meeting Miners at our hotel, we headed across the road to the H&J for dinner, a glass (or two) of wine, to catch up with some CRs & to meet some new ones. Once we headed back to the hotel, the gang presented me with a belated birthday present - a snazzy white cycling top (good choice Miners!) and a bell for my bike -



Yes, Cirque; it will be on my bike soon enough :-)

Saturday 20 May

The first race of the weekend - the Half - started from the road in front of our hotel. The Owl & I contemplated walking out to the road in our PJs, waving the runners off and then heading back to bed for a few more hours sleep. But being the dedicated cheerleaders we are - we didn't. We did what any sensible cheerleader would do - we went in search of breakfast! After a leisurely breakfast (read: slow service), we headed out towards Yangan (pronounced Yaaaaaaaannngan). Unfortunately we missed most of the runners (opps) but did manage to give a few a cheer from our CR-mobile:



After the Half we headed back to the Rec Centre and then to the hotel to get ready for the next event - my first - 4.6km cross country...

4.6kms cross country - 29:41mins

I was excited and nervous about this (and the 10km) race. Firstly, it was my first official race since my comeback (*woohoo*). However since I started running again in March, I haven't done any hill work. All of my runs have been relatively flat in an effort to build my base back up without taxing my body (and my legs) in particular. Combined with my glute problem I've experienced over the last few weeks, I was really quite nervous.

An 'interesting' course. Lots of soft sand (*groan*) and horse jumps (a first). Quite a fun course actually. Unfortunately I felt heavy and unfit the whole way - but I can't complain. I ran with the lovely Hannah who kept me honest when I wanted to slack off and there were absolutely no complaints from my legs - yippee!!!



Back to the hotel once again for a shower, some food and a change of clothes, it was time to get ready for the reason for the trip to Warwick - to run with Cirque in the 5km road race...

5kms road race - 41:51mins

The Owl has posted a long report on the race so I won't go through it again. Suffice to say that Cirque is one of the strongest and gutsiest people I know. I would have stayed in bed had I been in the same circumstances. This run - and the 1500m on Sunday - were the highlights of the weekend for me (and Plu would be proud - I ran with my camera - hence the photos)

The gang (L-R) Miners, The Owl, Cirque, C2 (Jordan) and C1 (Owen)



And yes, we sang to keep her entertained. All together now "she'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes..."



I love this one.



Cirque & I after her big race :-)

After the race it was back to the hotel for (yes, you guessed it) another shower & some more food. Dinner was at the Rec Centre where, for the grand price of $7, it was a 3 course meal (including unlimited cake!) not to mention wonderful company while a video of the day's events played. A great way to end an evening. I think we were all too tired for any shennigans so we crawled back to our hotel for an early night.

TBC - stay tuned :-)

1 sleep to go!

Wednesday was quite a busy day - off for a run in the morning, a function at lunch, afternoon tea with Go Girl and the Owl at the Lindt cafe (we choose to think of it as carb loading) and finally a session with Satan. Phew! No wonder I'm not feeling rested despite the fact that I've only run 3 times in the last 10 days!

Distance: 5.11kms
Duration: 31:42mins
Aver pace: 6.11min/km
MTD: 35.95kms

Quite a good run. My legs - for once - didn't feel like lead. My dodgy right glute was slightly niggling but has greatly improved over the last 24 hours. Happy days :-)

The session with Satan was an upper body weights session so my legs can get some rest before the weekend (when I'm run my average weekly total at the moment in the space of 2 days!). A tough session - as always:
* an inverted row;
* single arm bent overs row balancing on a swiss ball;
* double arm laying tricep extensions;
* some oblique/core exercise I can't begin to describe; and
* crunches,
repeated twice.

Today (Thursday) is a rest day. I've done 30mins stretching this morning and am off to see Saint Andrew this afternoon for a final wheel alignment before the big weekend. Can you tell that I'm excited? My glute is even better today so I'm in a much better headspace now. No I haven't packed yet (but I have dug out my beanie!) - but I have written a mini list of things I need to take - though I'm not sure what it says about my thinking ;-)

* Garmin (charge)
* camera (battery charger)
* ipod & armband
* 4 sets of running gear
* clothes for work on Monday

Hehehe.

A few more stretches tomorrow morning before work then I'm leaving the office at 1pm to head to the airport to meet the Owl for our flight to Brisbane. I'm excited. Warwick here I come!

Wise words

I love this -

"Focus more on your desire than your doubt and the dream will take care of itself. You may be surprised at how easily this happens. Your doubts are not as powerful as your desires unless you make them so." - Marcia Wieder

Dancing queen..

Monday, I normally do a 20-30mins easy recovery run to get used to running on tired legs. This week I'm a little nervous about doing anything that might upset up piri so instead I headed to the gym for a lower body weights session consisting of 2 sets each of:
* 45 degree leg press;
* VMO exercise;
* hamstring curl on swiss ball;
* single leg cable hamstring curl; and
* core work.
Finished with 30mins of stretching.

Another visit to Saint Andrew tonight to sort out my pieces in preparation for a HUGE weekend. I have to admit that I'm really nervous about this weekend. 21kms is my weekly total right now!! I know it's going to hurt and I'll be walking like the Tin Man again next week with DOMs but I'm just nervous about upsetting each my knee or piri (given my plans for the next few months). Not a positive way of thinking I know - give me a few days & I'll turn my thinking around. Besides, I'll no doubt be having too much fun on the weekend that I forget to worry :-)

Tuesday - I planned to do a pilates class but my glutes (and the right one in particular) are a bit tender after yesterday's weights session so I got up early and did 30mins of stretching. I've had the tennis ball out this morning working on my glutes and I think it's only DOMs. I don't think I've upset my piri. Anyway I'm off to see the Tiger this afternoon and will probably do some more stretching later day before heading out for a run tomorrow morning :-)

Edit: I was right; it's not my piri which is upset but another v. tight muscle in my glute but it's feeling much better post-Tiger's attention this afternoon. Think I'll just ignore it now and look forward to my v. fun weekend ahead. Arrangements are underway - the iPod music collection has been updated. Now to buy some PJ's so I don't scare my roommates too much ;-)

What fugliness?

Saturday turned out to be another rest day. And probably a much needed one. Late in the afternoon I started to feel rather ordinary - like I was fighting off a cold. Normally I'd go into panic mode about how much training I'm likely to miss. I didn't think that at all. I just thought to myself 'that's cool - it will be gone by next weekend'. Nothing like being injured to 4 months to make you listen to your body...

Today (Sunday) I met The Owl at the very civilised hour of 8am at Le Montage on the Bay for our LSD run. I had 80mins on the plan but after my piri problems of last week (and given next week's events) I decided to scale it back to about 50mins. It turned out The Owl had a 55min run followed by a 20min walk on the program which suited me perfectly.

Distance: 8.01kms
Duration: 55.13mins
Aver pace: 6.53min/km
MTD: 34.84kms

No sign of the piri problem - woohoo! I'm feeling much more confident about my plans for next weekend now :-) Lots of gossip, catching up and planning for our weekend in Warwick next weekend. Finished with 20mins of stretching and the (now obligatory) breakfast in Norton Street. Fab way to start a Sunday - thanks Owly!

Edit: Happy Mothers Day to my Mum wherever you are in Spain right now and to all the Mum's out there. I hope you've all been wonderful spoilt today :-)

This week - I've only done 13kms this week but my piri seems to have settled down now so I'm a happy gal.

The week ahead - I'm so looking forward to this week. It was at GCM in July last year that Cirque, The Owl & I started planning our assault on Warwick - how excitement :-)
Monday - lower body weights session + visit to Saint Andrew
Tuesday - pilates class + massage
Wednesday - run (35mins) + upper body weights session with Satan
Thursday - rest + visit to Saint Andrew
Friday - rest + 3pm flight to Brisbane
Saturday - cheering at the Half and then running the 4.6km XC followed by the 5km road race with my gals, Cirque and The Owl
Sunday - 10kms mountain ascent + 1500m

Resuming normal transmission

What a lazy week I've had. Let's call it a "recovery week" shall we?

Thursday became another rest day simply because I was too tired to get up early to go to the gym. My day wasn't totally unrelated to running. The Owl & I went to a bike maintenance course after work. Now I've just got to put my cadence sensor on it. But first I need to work out where all the bits go ;-)

I also sent in my entry form for Warwick. The plan is to do 4 of the 5 events - 1500m, 5km (with the Owl & Cirque), 4.6km XC and the 10km mountain "ascent". While the 5km is going to be v. special for me, the last 2 races are the ones that I want to run well. The prospect of doing the 10km "ascent" at this stage of my return to running is, shall we say, a little daunting but I am v. excited by it :-)

Friday I actually went for a run. Woohoo. My first run since Sunday!

Distance: 5.53kms
Duration: 35.01mins
Aver pace: 6.19min/km
MTD: 26.83kms

35mins in the heavy rain. I don't normally mind running in the rain but I was cold and my fingers frozen. Let's just call it a character building exercise. Thankfully there were no complaints out of my piriformis - it's still tight but no longer making itself known. I'm a bit nervous about carrying the problem into Warwick (not to mention the races I have lined up v. soon after Warwick) but with lots of stretching and some magic from Saints Andrews and Tiger, she'll be right mate :-)

The fugliness fades (slowly)

Why is it that I'm always more tired the less I'm exercising...

Monday & Tuesday became rest days largely due to a pain in my butt - my piriformis to be more accurate. It was really tight and tender on Monday.

A visit to Saint Andrew on Monday and Easy Tiger on Tuesday wasn't quite enough to satisfy it so this morning (Wednesday) I headed to the gym for a 40mins cardio sessio on the elliptical machine & bike instead of my planned run. Tonight I was back at the gym for a nasty lower body & core weights session with Satan.

Hopefully with another day's rest it should be right for go for a run on Friday. Not the best preparation for Warwick next weekend but c'est la vie...

More fugliness...

This time, my right piri. It was niggling a touch towards the end of yesterday's run but has tightened up over night. That's twice in 2 weeks it's played up during/after a long run - mmmm, me thinks it's trying to tell me something...So instead of a run this morning, I went back to bed. I'm sure Saint Andrew will beat it into submission tonight. In good news, my right knee pulled up fine :-)

Fugly

Saturday 6 May - everything but running..
Rest day

An exhausting day for a so-called "rest day". Up and out of the house early to head to the Striders 10kms race at North Head to cheer the runners and chat with Tesso, Go Girl & Kit. A lovely, albeit chilly, morning. Cold fingers does not pain-free clapping make ;-) Followed by breakfast with the 3 Port Macquarie muskateers - Miners, Portrunr & Darren - together with Go Girl & Expozay, it was a lovely way to start the day. Unfortunately I had to leave early to get to Concord by 10.30 to see Saint Andrew.

Then it was off to Rozelle to visit Running Science. After playing with various shoes, I came back to the Brooks Trance - but how is this for a fugly shoe?

Who on earth designs these things?








Sunday 7 May - the Saints strike back...

Activity: run
Time: 8am

Distance: 10.06kms
Duration: 70mins
Aver pace: 6.57min/km
MTD: 21.3kms

Lulu, Ellie, The Owl & I decided to meet at the very civilised time of 8am this morning for a run at Centennial Park today. I haven't run Centennial in about 6 months now - it's nice to be back.

The term "fugly" also describes how I felt today. I was probably dehydrated after drinking too much coffee and too little water yesterday. Opps. Fortunately Saints Andrew and Tiger seem to have worked their (combined) magic on my knee because it was fine today (*yippee*). Fortunately Lulu's knee wasn't so happy (healing thoughts coming your way Lulu). Once Ellie & I finished our 70mins, the gals & I headed off to a cafe for breakfast where we were joined by Wine Trail Runner (Mr Lulu), Sparkie and Sparkie junior for a relaxing breakfast in the sun.

After dropping Ellie home, I headed into the city to pick up my bike (fugly certainly does not describe her). She's beautiful. After a quick detour home, I took her out for an easy ride for about an hour. I haven't owned a bike since I was about 10 - and yes, it was pink, had a basket & streamers coming out of the handbars - and it has been just as long since I rode one for any great length of time so I was a bit shaky to start with but of course got the hang of it (including using handbrakes & gears) pretty quickly - and no, I'm not going to use the (bad) pun I know you all are expecting ;-) A lovely way to end a great day!

The week ahead -
Monday: 20mins easy/recovery run + Saint Andrew
Tuesday: massage
Wednesday: 40mins moderate/steady run + weights with Satan
Thursday: rest day
Friday: run 32mins moderate/steady run
Saturday: Saint Andrew & going for a spin on my bike
Sunday: 80mins LSD + more bike spinning

Enter the sandman

Thursday 4 May - enter the sandman...
Rest day

8 hours sleep (about twice as much as I normally get) left me feeling v. cheery & energised today. Unfortunately (or maybe it was fortunate) that today was a rest day.

Friday 5 May - my chin is doing fine thanks...

Activity: run
Time: 5.50am

Distance: 5.22kms
Aver pace: 5.46min/km
MTD: 11.24kms

A flat run near home. Right knee isn't happy. Thankfully my left knee, piriformis & chin all are...

Edit: Luckily my day ended on a much higher note with a visit to the Lindt cafe with some of my fav. CRs followed by dinner in the Rocks with our visitors, Minersrun, Portrunnr, Tesso as well as locals JD, The Owl, Mr & Mrs Lulu and GG. A wonderful night with a great group of people!

Buns of steel baby!

Tuesday 2 May - glutes of steel (one day)

A busy day. I headed off to see Podrunner at lunch to see if my orthotics or shoes are contributing to the 'funkiness' in my knee. Well the good news is that my orthotics are fine; the bad news (well, at least for my wallet) is that he has recommended I return to the Brooks Trance so my beautiful Mizuno's are now confined to the cupboard to be pulled out for special occasions. He also suspects my funkiness is being caused by a imbalance, particularly between my VMO and lateral hamstrings. I didn't even know I had lateral hamstrings. Yet more stretches to add to the already long list. Oh hum.

Activity: Pilates
Time: 5.15pm

At 5pm I headed off to meet Lulu to give her gym a test drive. I felt a little unco on the reformer machines but it was a fun & tough class.

Wednesday 3 May: Run + Satan

Activity: run
Time: 5.50am

Distance: 6.02kms
Aver pace: 6.09min/km
MTD: 6.02kms

Headed out for a run in my trusty and slightly old Brooks Trance this morning (don't worry, Podrunner said they still have a few kms in them yet). It was one of those mornings - you know the type. Your body has entirely forgotten the fact that you are a runner. Your legs feel like lead & your breathing is heavy. Yep, it was one of those days. No doubt designed to make sure I had my feet well & truly planted on the ground after Saturday's run ;-)

[/*rant on]. Also designed to test my mental state is the fact that my knee was 'funky' again. Grrrrrrrr. I'm starting to get v. frustrated by it. I feel like I did when I first had my ITB problem - that no-one could pinpoint the problem. I'm a details girl. I need an answer & a solution. Something to work towards. At the moment I feel like I'm on a treadmill going nowhere [/*rant off] Edit: there was some good news - my piriformis and chin are fine ;-)

Activity: weights with Satan
Time: 6.30pm
Duration: 30mins

Headed to the gym tonight after a busy day in the office for an upper body session with Satan. Another circuit consisting of:
* an inverted row;
* single arm bent overs row leaning on a swiss ball;
* double arm laying tricep extensions;
* some oblique/core exercise; and
* crunches,
repeated twice with a 3rd set of bent over rows & the oblique/core exercise for good measure.

I'm feeling a bit run down at the moment so I think tomorrow will be a rest day.

The Tin Man....

...was not my favourite character from the Wizard of Oz (the Lion rocked!) but I'm doing a very good impersonation of him today. My hip flexors, quads and adductors (in particular) are rather tight & tender today and have not yet forgiven me for Saturday's shennigans :-) As a result, my lower back has also been rather tight - but thankfully I had a session with Saint Andrew tonight which sorted that out.

Activity: weights & cardio
Time: 6.15am
Duration: 40mins (weights) + 20mins cardio

Headed to the gym this morning for an upper body weights session followed by a v. easy 20mins on the bike in lieu of my usual 20mins easy/recovery run - a wise move given the degree of DOMs. I was surprised to learn that I hadn't done this particular upper body session in almost a month - and the effect/result was noticeable. Opps. Finished off with 20mins stretching. Nice.

Someone asked me today if I had managed to wipe the smile off my face after Saturday's run. In all honesty, there hasn't really been one. I'm not sure why. I think I still can't believe that I'm running again. Does that make sense? Probably not. However (as Horrie commented yesterday), thinking about what I'm capable of without an injury & with some consistent training in the bank, now that's exciting :-)

Another update

*long post warning, sorry*

Wednesday 26 April
Rest day

As I was bribed, um I mean "persuaded" into doing the CR 5km challenge this Saturday, my program for the rest of the week had to be shuffled a little. Must confess that I was feeling v. nervous about doing it until the lovely Go Girl offered to run with me.

I had a lovely massage at Gary's House of Health & Healing at lunch which is getting a little easier now that things are settling down. However (just for something new), my RH piriformis has been a little tight over the last few days - something I've never had a problem with before. Oh well, how boring would life be without a few dramas ;-)

I had a session with Satan tonight but had to cancel due to work. Bummer dude.

Thursday 27 April
Run

Strange day. My mood was a bit down after a rather ordinary run, lifted slightly after the arrival at work of my Garmin and then I had to cancel a session with Saint Andrew because I wasn't able to escape from work. Grrr.

Headed out at 5.45am for a 30mins run. Took a new course for the 1st half of the loop which I really enjoyed. I had thought that the funkiness in my knee was subsiding after Tuesday's trail run but it came back in the last 10mins of todays run. There is no pain or discomfort but it just isn't tracking properly towards the end of runs on undulating courses. Grrrr. I've booked into see Podrunner for an assessment of my orthotics next week. I think they may be part of the problem. I want to do the 4.8km XC and the 10kms "ascent" at Warwick in 3 weeks so I need to get it sorted out now.

Friday 28 April
Rest day

Saturday 29 April
Run & other stuff

I have to say that I actually became a teary last night when I realised it is 2 weeks short of 6 months since I stopped running in November last year thanks to my ITB. After having 4 months off running, I still can't believe that I am running again.

I work up this morning feeling a little flat/blahish. Having only been running for about 6 weeks since my return to running and having done zero, zip, nada speed work, I honestly had no great expectations about today. Having said that, I've never actually done a 5km "race" before so it was going to be a PB no matter what.

After a quick warm up, Go Girl & I lined up with the 28mins group and set out at a blistering pace. God knows how I hung on after developing a stitich at the start of the 3rd km. I should also apologise to Go Girl for swearing at one stage. It's been over 6 mths since I ran the "dog leg" - the last km of the race - and I had completely forgotten how many turns there were in it!

Interestingly our Garmin's recorded considerably different splits (Go Girl's eg recorded the first km as 4:46!!!) but here are my stats:

Time: 26.56mins
Aver pace: 5:21min/kms
Splits:
5:08
5:17
5:35
5.25
5:21

Once I got my breathe back it was a very relaxed 5kms back to the start with 2P and Bennyr in 31:51. My RH piriformis was making itself known just a touch towards the end of the return (and later on this evening) but otherwise I pulled up really well. No complaints out of my knee(*yippee*). It was then off to Norton Street for breakfast and a catch up with TA & Gnome in particular. Unfortunately I had to leave breakfast early to head into the city to see Satan....

I had thought about cancelling my session with Satan (I had booked it before being "persuaded" to do the challenge) but given I missed a session with her on Wednesday because of work, I was very keen to get into see her today. A largely core session today with a new VMO exercise that she had discovered at a conference last week and I finished with 30mins of stretching. By then, I was one v. tired & happy gal :-)

Sunday 30 April
Rest day

No injuries but one nasty case of DOMS today! I was going to pick up my bike today but I woke up feeling a little tired and run down so I'll do that next weekend and will instead spend the day chilling & stretching.

This week has been huge for me - for both work & personal reasons. I've probably done close to 20kms this week (half of that yesterday!), 1 session with Satan & a massage. I'm looking forward to getting a bit more consistency next week but doubt that is going to happen...

It's a bit hard to predict the week ahead. I've got to sort out my piriformis and my DOMs today will probably mean that I won't run tomorrow. If Podrunner adjusts my orthotics, it could well be Thursday or Friday until I run again...
Monday: gym (upper body + 20mins easy cardio) & session with Saint Andrew
Tuesday: pilates + appointment with Podrunner
Wednesday: run (35mins) + session with Satan
Thursday: gym (40mins cardio session)
Friday: run (37mins)
Saturday: rest day (session with Saint Andrew)
Sunday: run (70mins) + pick up my bike!

Alright, THE goal for 2007....

I've kept you all hanging on for long enough now - and no Clairie, it's not to have a baby ;-)

Horrie & Bernie were close - my goal race for this year is Willy2Billy and yes, the plan is to run sub 4hr 30mins in order to qualify for Six Foot next year. So Six Foot is (and has always been) a (big scary arse) goal for 2007 but it's not THE (big scary arse) goal for 2007 that I've been talking of over the last week (and I have Tesso to thank for putting the idea in my head). Here goes (*glulp):

Glasshouse. 50kms.

And no 2P, I'm not doing the 80kms....yet ;-)