Farewell November...

What a funny month. Lots of lows (pulling out of the Half, lots of time spent at the dentist, feral workloads & developing whooping cough for starters) and one rather large high which I am still on.

So my totals for the month are:

Running - 35kms
Swimming - a couple of kms

That's actually not a bad tally given that I've had almost 3 weeks off running and 2 weeks with no exercise at all. Of course there is another tally that I've been adding to this month - my weight - but a girl's got to keep some secrets ;-)

Hoping to be back in the gym by the weekend. Fingers crossed. Bloody hope so. My butt and thighs feel like they are growing in size by the day!

An inspiration...

I was watching Oprah today (I had a lazy day at home - what else do you do?) and was introduced to Dick & Rick Hoyt - otherwise known as "Team Hoyt". Once I wiped my tears away, I tracked down their website - http://www.teamhoyt.com/

If you aren't moved and inspired by these two people, then nothing will.

Wow !

Thank you to everyone for your wonderful warm wishes and messages. To answer a few questions - no ring and no date yet (though it will be probably be during October/November next year). It has been an exciting and head-spinning kind of week. I had absolutely no idea that he was planning on proposing so I am still getting used to it!

So back to reality for just a little while. The reason that I haven't blogged recently is that I've been sick :-( Last weekend I developed a head cold. Then a cough developed. By Wednesday the doctor was telling me that I have whooping cough. Don't I feel like a leper. It's alright - I'm not contagious (anymore). I've done absolutely no exercise in 10 days now. The fact that I haven't really thought about it or missed it (even with lots of eating, drinking & celebrating over the last week) has been a pretty good indication of just how crap I've been feeling recently. Clearly the running gods never planned for me to do the CC Half.

I've been off the road now for 2 weeks & my knee still isn't happy. I've probably only had one or two days without any niggles in it so far. My right hip is still tender and tight so I imagine that it will be another 3 weeks before I can start running again. Hopefully by the end of this week I can get back in the pool and the gym and start to work off some of my 'celebrating'. Speaking of which, I'm off to dinner tonight with friends and family for a bit more celebrating ;-)

Another announcement....

Ok, I’m going to break my ‘no personal stuff in my blog’ rule one more time…

Very happy to announce that I’m engaged. Mr Jen_runs proposed on Saturday night. No date has been set yet.

:-)

Happy anniversary to me...

Today’s post was going to be about the fact that:

* I feel like shite – work is feral and I was supposed to be out of the office at a conference all day yesterday and today and so far I have made it to one 50mins presentation;

* I am losing/have lost my voice (again);

* I am still losing weight, probably due to atrophy of my leg muscles;

* there has been very little improvement in my knee – though I was able to bend it very slow last night in order to do a few stretches, I still can’t walk properly, let alone walk down stairs without taking them one at a time like my 85yo grandmother; and

* it is the end of week 1 off the road and I’m even further away from getting back to running than I was this time last week,

but then I realised that 2 years ago yesterday, I was 12kgs heavier and walked into a gym for the first time in 6 years. I was a very active, skinny kid – always riding my bike, swimming in the pool, playing backyard cricket games in summer & participating in organised sports throughout my school years. I also always managed to represent the school at regional cross-country events (although this reflects more on the lack of athletic talent at my school than on my talent/fitness levels). At uni I was a gym junkie with an eating disorder (I remember being able to put my thumb and middle finger around my upper arm so that they would touch*) but when I started working I fell into the ‘usual’ pattern of working long hours, eating crap food & collapsing onto the couch at night so the kilos started to pile on. A particularly crappy relationship didn’t help either.

Then 2 years ago yesterday, I joined my gym, met Satan and the rest, as they say, is history. 12kgs lighter and I am stronger & fitter now than at any other time in my life. I’m so glad that I kept a training diary throughout this journey. I first went for a run on 16 February 2004, although it wasn’t until this year that I started to train consistently and with some structure. I guess when I started running, I did it solely with a weight-loss purpose in mind. I certainly remember thinking to myself at times that I couldn’t imagine doing this (ie running) for the rest of my life.

But that was then, and this is now. The last 2 years – and the last year in particular – have been an amazing rollercoaster. If you had told me on 1 January this year, that I would be getting up at 4.30am in the morning to drive 2 hours to watch a race (let alone jump up & down with pom-poms at one), I would not have believed it. I have also been blessed this year to meet an amazing group of people (some of whom have become my nearest and dearest friends) who inspire me on a daily basis.

Running is no longer about weight loss (or even weight control). It is about challenging myself both physically and mentally, pushing my (mental) boundaries, surprising myself by achieving things that I never thought I was capable of and realising that my physical boundaries are actually much further out there than I had ever imagined. I agree with Vat-Man when he said in a post on his blog recently that: "I’m reminded of the great JFK quote about the moon project: "we do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard"." It has been bloody hard work but god, I love it and it has been worth it. Between my ITB and shin splints, it has been a bloody hard road this year (no pun intended), but I wouldn’t have it any other way. The "high" that I felt after finishing the C2S this year with my dear friends Lulu, Wobbly Man and the Owl will stay with me for the rest of my life.

This (crappy) week I’ve been thinking a lot about my favourite run along the trail near my home, how much I’m looking forward to getting out there again and that I will never again take for granted the fact that I can run. I will think of this week whenever my motivation lapses or I think to myself ‘I can’t be bothered’.
I can’t imagine not running, or not being involved in some way in running, for the rest of my life - so for the next few weeks I will live the CR cheersquad motto (if you can’t run, cheer!), read my R4YL (which thankfully arrived yesterday), dream big goals for the year(s) to come and spend time with my new friends who inspire me so much – speaking of which, I’m off to catch up with Lulu, Don Juan, the Owl & Tesso at the Lindt café this afternoon.

And by the way, a rest day today :-)

* can't do this anymore - too much muscle, thank you Satan. LOL :-)

This too shall pass...

Thank you for reminding me Cirque.

Well last nights win by the Socceroo's has resolved the Jen_runs' households dilemma of holiday destinations for next year. Mr Jen_runs and his mates are off to Germany for the World Cup (he rolled in at 2am this morning declaring it the greatest day ever in Australian sporting history...). Me, I'm off to Nepal to trek to Everest Base Camp followed by a quick trip to Chile later next year for a dig. Now I just have to look at my racing program to see when I can squeeze these trips in !

Activity: swim
Time: 6am
Duration: 40mins
Mood/energy: alright

I really must find a more scenic pool ;-)

Felt like I was swimming this morning with Satan sitting on my back after doing 60 (assisted) chin ups yesterday. I used one of those between-the-legs flotation device thingys (can't remember the name..) to take my legs out of the picture and make sure I didn't aggravate my ITB any further (which I doubt is even possible) which was interesting and insightful. I now know where my stroke falls apart when I get tired (the follow-through). I have to say that I'm really looking forward to being to kick again so I can get back to doing programs rather than just swimming laps - I always lose count.

By the way Miners, my pool doesn't have a black line. It has 2 lines of dark blue tiles instead. Funny, I've only just noticed that..

Summary: 40.35mins; 1,550m

Knee report: well it doesn't ache anymore (thank you Nurofen Plus) but I still can't bend it without feeling like someone is trying to relocate my knee cap onto my other leg. I have to walk down steps one at a time, which really sucks when you live in a 3rd floor apartment building...

1 step forward, 8 steps back

If you don't test yourself, how are you ever going to know your limits ?

I feel like I'm at my limits right now and not in a positive way. The only positive thing I have to say today is that I'm glad that I didn't decide to have the cortisone injection in an effort to get to the start line of the CC Half. Let's just say, my ITB and cortisone don't like each other. I was warned that there was a 1 in 5 chance that the cortisone would in fact flare-up my ITB, rather than settle it down. Yes, you guessed it. It's flared up. Badly. It has never hurt as much as it does right now. My knee aches and I can barely bend it. Someone pass the red wine. Clearly I was never meant to do the CC Half...

I miss running already. I miss my morning runs around the Bay. The pool isn't particularly scenic ;-) Hopefully I'll be out walking soon...

Off to see Satan for an upper body session at lunch...

Edit:
2 x Nurofen Plus with lunch and a trip to the gym at lunch left me feeling slightly more sane.

Activity: weights with Satan
Time: 2pm
Duration: 30mins
Mood/energy: stressed, pretty distressed actually

Satan had her work cut out for her today when I told her that I couldn't really bend my knee so it was back to basics - circuit of:
* (assisted) chin ups
* reverse flyes
* roll up things-Pilates style
* bicep curls,
repeated 3 times. Between work and feeling further away from my goals than at any other point on my ITB-journey over the last 3 months, today's session was a much needed stress relief if anything.

Went off to the physio this afternoon for an ITB massage (which had been suggested by Tom the Doc) in a hope to release my ITB somewhat. Ice and more drugs tonight. Hopefully it will be feeling better tomorrow because, quite simply, this really sucks.

Superfish

Well, not quite. Woke up this morning feeling exhausted despite having 7.5 hours of pretty solid sleep.

Activity: swimming
Time: 6am
Duration: 40mins

During my first lap I thought to myself 'ouch, this is going to hurt'. I could feel the DOMS in my back and tris after yesterday's session with Satan, but once I warmed up I felt great.

Summary: 40.18mins; 1,650m

Edit:
I decided that having lunch with my girlfriend would be just as therapeutic as a pilates class so again, no pilates today.

In an effort to do all that I can to overcome my ITB problem, I took myself off to see Tom the Doc this afternoon for a cortisone injection. I have been reading up on it over the last week and after speaking to a few people, I decided to try it in the hope it would reduce at least some of the inflammation in my knee and ITB. So for the rest of the week, I'm allowed to swim (though I have to take it easy when pushing off the wall) and do upper body & abs/core weights. No leg or glute work until Sunday.

Tom the Doc did however suggest that I could be off the road for closer to 6 weeks (rather than 4). Bummer. Right now, my knee is actually bloody sore. Whatever it takes I suppose...

Satan but no pilates...

Work is simply crazy right now. While I did manage to escape from the office in order to get to the gym at lunch, I didn't actually eat my lunch until 4pm. Argh.

Activity: weights with Satan
Time: 2pm
Duration: 30mins
Mood/energy: pretty low

I felt pretty weak today - no doubt due to a lack of food during the course of the day. Circuit consisting of:
* floor bridge pullovers
* straight arm prone hold with single leg lifts
* (assisted) tricep dips
* crunches
* external rotator cuff move,
repeated 3 times.

I was hoping to get back to the gym tonight for a pilates class in order to restore some degree of sanity but wasn't able to escape from the office. Argh.

Nectar of the gods...

I have been completely overwhelmed & humbled by the responses to my last post. Some made me laugh; others reduced me to tears but I can't begin to say how much I appreciated them. I can't thank you all enough.

And Clairie, I have accepted the 'great abs challenge', However I won't be posting 'progress' photos. You'll have to take my word for it ;-)

I have two words to describe my weekend so far - Bundaberg Rum. Nectar of the gods if you ask me. Not particularly conducive to the 'great abs challenge' but c'est la vie. The silver lining on my dark cloud of injury has been that I've been able to stay up late drinking rum and/or dancing on both Friday and Saturday nights without having to worry about dragging my tired butt out of bed to go for a run :-) I'm a bit shattered this morning, though for different reasons from Friday ;-)

Saturday 12 November - abs by Satan

Activity: weights with Satan + 30mins stretching
Time: 11am
Mood/energy: high (might have been thanks to all that sugar...)

Satan had a really tough largely abs/core session lined up today - a circuit of:
* lat pulldowns
* single leg hamstring curls using the swiss ball
* crunches
* jack knives (L3),
repeated 4 times. The jack knives are a killer. Clairie, I've also told Satan about the 'great abs challenge' - a glint suddenly appeared in her eyes and she started rubbing her hands together with glee....Yikes. Now I'm scared ;-)

Sunday 13 November - maybe a swim, then again maybe not..

A sleep-in this morning. 30mins of stretching later this afternoon and maybe a swim....we'll see.

The week ahead -
Not much variety in the program this week thanks to my hips (both) and knee (RH) being sore but hopefully they will settle down soon so I can start walking and spinning....
Monday: Satan + pilates
Tuesday: swim
Wednesday: Satan + pilates
Thursday: swim
Friday: weights
Saturday: swim
Sunday: rest day
+ (needless to say) lots of stretching!

The verdict...

I have thought long and hard about the CC Half over the last few days and a number of my nearest and dearest have listened to me rant, talk, complain and weigh up the options time and time again (thanks guys!).

My major concern is that doing the Half will further aggravate my ITB (which is likely to happen) and will put me off the road even longer. I was expecting that I would have to take 2-3 weeks off running after the Half but 4-6 weeks was surprising, shocking and far beyond what I had contemplated. Right now, I can’t really walk properly thanks to my knee and the simple act of standing up causes considerable discomfort in my hip. Mr Jen_runs & I walked (well, he walked; I hobbled) from Bronte to Bondi on Tuesday night to see the Sculptures by the Sea. I had difficulty walking up and down the steps. It was simply ridiculous. I’ve had the problem now for 3 months and quite simply, I'm over it. Ultimately I have had to weigh up whether this race or my longer term goals (particularly for next year) are more important. While this has been a fantastic year, it has also been injury plagued and I would like to start the new year off on the right foot – so there will be no CC Half for me. I had thought about packing up the pom-poms and heading up there for the day to cheer – but right now I’m leaning towards escaping to the South Coast instead that weekend; getting as far away from the race as I can.

I decided to go for a final easy and relaxed lap of the Bay this morning (sans watch) before packing up my Brooks for 4 weeks. However that run (and I use the term "run" loosely) has simply removed any doubts I had about my decision. I parked at the Drummoyne Rowers just before 6am and then proceeded to run/hobble to the 2km CR mark and then turned around and walked back to the car.

So my "run" this morning was my last for a minimum of 4 weeks. I am feeling pretty shattered right now but my chin is still up (thanks 2P!) and focusing on my plans and goals for 2006 has helped to ease the pain. I was going to hold off setting out my goals for 2006 until NYD but in order to stay focused over the next few weeks, I’m setting them out now:

Times:
5kms: sub-25mins
10kms: sub-50min
21.1kms: sub-1.55mins

Racing program:
Canberra - 10kms (April)
Warwick Pentath-Run - the Half (& any races that Cirque is doing!) (May)
Woodford to Glenbrook (June)
City to Surf (Aug)
Willy to Billy (goal A: to finish intact & smiling: goal B sub-4hr 30mins) (Aug)
Sydney Marathon Festival – the Half (though I may be o/s at the time) (Sept)
Fitzroy Falls 10kms (Oct)
+ as many 5km CR challenges as possible & a few 10km thrown in for good measure.

After speaking with my physio and Satan, the plan is to have at least 4 weeks off running, to do more walking (avoiding hills as much as possible at least for the next week or so whilst trying not to get bored), to increase my swimming sessions to 4 x p/wk and to continue my weights, pilates and stretching sessions. Spin classes (which I’ve really missed) will be back in a couple of weeks.

How do I feel right now? Shattered (this post sounds slightly more positive/upbeat than I am feeling right now) but at the same time I'm feeling excited by the goals I’ve set for myself and looking forward to 2006.

Roll with the punches

Work is feral at the moment - we are 2 team members down (out of a team of 5). Argh.

Activity: weights with Satan
Time: 2pm
Duration: 30mins
Mood/energy: not particularly high; feeling unsettled & emotional

An 'easy' session with Satan - well, as easy as they come. A quick run through of my new weights program (ie the one I use when I work out by myself):
* 45 degree leg press;
* lunges with back foot on a bench;
* nasty glute exercise with a swiss ball;
* leg curls on swiss ball;
* nasty ab exercise with a swiss ball (push up position with shoelaces resting on the ball) followed by prone hold on knees;
* reverse flyes (dumbbell);
* standing single arm rows (cable);
* lat pulldowns;
* bicep curls (barbell);
* single arm tricep extensions;
* internal/external rotator cuff exercises.

There was at least one more upper body exercise but I've forgotten.

Cross country running at the Bay...

Thank you everyone :-)

Monday 7 November - weights

Decided not to go for a swim this morning for no reason other than I couldn't be bothered - so I slept in instead. Also decided to ditch the pilates class to give my knee a break and instead headed to the gym after work for a weights session.

Activity: weights
Time: 7pm
Duration: 45mins
Mood/energy: surprisingly good

Upper body session consisting of:
* single arm lat pulldowns
* single arm reverse flyes (cable)
* seated row
* bicep curls
* tri pushdowns
* internal & external rotator cuff stuff,
each repeated twice.

Spoke to my physio this afternoon. She thinks the unusual knee pain on Sunday was due to the most recent adjustment made to my orthotics. She also recommended that I see Tom the Sports Doc (who works with Andy the Pod) just to make sure that there isn't something else causing/contributing to my probs.

Tuesday 8 November - cross country at the Bay

Activity: run
Time: 6am
Duration: 40mins
Mood/energy: not bad
ITB report: good

I woke at 5am this morning to the sound of heavy rain and thunder. Yikes. I love it if the heavens open during a run but I really hate starting a run in the rain. As I had agreed to meet the Owl for a lap of the Bay, I resisted the temptation to turn the alarm off and go back to sleep. Instead I got out of bed, in the car and headed to the Bay on the assumption that the thunderstorm would have passed by the time we were due to start running. The Owl however pulled the pin as I was driving over the Bridge - thankfully I had remembered to pick up my iPod as I left the house. I needed the motivation this morning. Fortunately the rain was reduced to a light drizzle as I arrived at the Drummoyne Rowers at 6am - though it did get heavier during the course of the run.

I almost didn't recognise the Bay this morning. There was no-one around. Sensational. In the first 15mins of my run, I only saw 2 other people and probably no more than 10 people in total during my lap (including Fats who I saw twice).

The program called for 40mins today. After Sunday's 'adventure', I was pretty nervous about running but my RH knee/ITB were fine today. Temperamental things. My left leg however doesn't like the most recent adjustment to my orthotics - my shin and foot were a bit unhappy early in the run but seemed to settle down.

Summary: 7kms; 40. 34sec.

Off to see Tom the Doc this afternoon...

Edit:
Tom the Doc confirmed it is ITBS. My hip pain is thanks to my TFL (tensor fascia lata) which is also tight and inflamed (which connects the iliac chest on the hip bone with the ITB at the top of the leg). The causes are probably both biomechanical (which has/is being addressed through glute strengthening and orthotics) and overtraining.

Tom the Doc confirmed that I can do the Half without causing long term damage and has offered me a cortisone injection to reduce some of the inflammation and pain in the meantime. I would however have to take 5 days off after the injection.

Fortunately my physio was available so I had a chat with both of them afterwards. In response to my question "if I didn't have a race, what would you recommend?", Tom the Doc responded (without blinking) 4-6 weeks off running. I blinked.

I guess the only question left is whether I start my 4-6 weeks off now or in early December after the Half - which I suppose must come down to whether the Half or next year's goal races (which are in the first half of next year) are more important to me. Current thinking: no idea but I have given myself until the weekend to decide.

Houston, we have a problem...

Activity: run – Centennial Park
Time: 7am
Duration: next question..
Mood/energy: energy - good; mood - not so good
ITB report: unhappy

Another one of those days. Between finding at 6.30am that someone had attempted to park my car in (a 20 point turn later - and somehow managing to avoid 3 brick walls and the said car – I was on my way) and my eTag not beeping as I went through the tunnel, I wasn’t in the best mood when I arrived at Centennial this morning.

The plan was for me to do 30mins and then for Lulu to join me for 70mins (giving me a total of 1hr 40mins). I aborted my run after 56mins after getting some nasty (and unusual pain) under my patella in my right knee.

I was pretty shattered when we got back to the car but the wonderful Lulu aborted her own long run to have a coffee/counselling session with me (thank you!).

My current thinking is to decide on the Half by the end of this week – but right now I am leaning towards abandoning the Half, getting a cortisone injection, taking 2 weeks off and then slowly building up the distances that I can run without tape and without pain. One thing I haven't mentioned in my blog is that while I've had very few problems while actually running, for the last few weeks my right hip hurts when I stand up. My whole right leg is a bit of a mess. I will be extremely disappointed if that is the course of action I settle on but I need to keep my eye on the bigger picture. I've had this injury now for 3 months and it is not improving. Bearing in mind my goals for 2006 and 2007, I don't want to carry this injury into the new year…

Summary: 56mins; 8.8kms

Total for the week: 26.8kms

The week ahead...
Well this is the plan:
Monday: swim + pilates
Tuesday: run (40mins) around the Bay with the Owl
Wednesday: Satan + Pilates
Thursday: run (5km @ race pace)
Friday: swim
Saturday: Satan + 40mins run
Sunday: run (2hrs) - 3 weeks to the HM

Plodding along....

Quote for the day: no one said it would be easy, they only said it would be worth it.

I bloody hope so.

Activity: run
Time: 7.50am
Mood/energy: not so great thanks to personal 'stuff'
ITB: good

Met a girlfriend, T, (*waves) at King George's Park at 7.50am this morning for a leisurely lap of the Bay. T, who hasn't done much running, warned me that she "plodded" rather than "ran" which sounded fine to me given my sore hips and ITB. We walked approx. 2 kms to Lilyfield Road then ran (at 'plodding' pace) around the Bay and back to the car. As we were approaching Rodd Point, I was thinking to myself "I haven't seen any CRs this morning" and 2 mins later there was Johnny Dark on a warm up walk before heading off to yoga (*waves).

Summary: 5kms run (33mins) + 2kms walk

I will (finally) play with my Polar today..

Shattered...

Even after 7.5hours sleep (which is unusually high for me), I woke up this morning feel shattered. I had planned to go for a swim - even put my cozzie & clothes on and picked up my bag, and then sat back down on the couch and didn't move for 20mins. In the end, I did 40mins of stretching and pilates instead. Off to see the physio at lunch; otherwise its a rest day :-) :-)

V. happy to report that the ITB is fine today :-) (though left hip is a bit of a worry...)

Big weekend ahead - easy lap of the Bay tomorrow morning with a friend, a hen's night tomorrow night and then 1hr 40mins around the Eastern Suburbs, most of which with Lulu, on Sunday morning.

Edit: oh, ITBs - don't you just love them? It looks like the tenderness in my left hip is at the ITB insertion point and has probably been caused by the adjustment made to my orthotics. Off to get the ice pack..

Should have stayed in (or gone back to) bed....

Pretty much sums up my day so far. Some days you just have to laugh. I arrived at work at 6.30am this morning (in order to get a couple of hours done before heading off to the gym to see Satan) and discovered that my access to the network had "time restrictions" and I wasn't allowed into the system. WTF! Then after I'd done my session with Satan, I discovered that I had left my suit skirt at home. Arrrggghhh. While I think my gym gear is much more comfortable than a suit, I didn't think my co-workers would appreciate the sight - so I climbed in a taxi and headed home. I was very tempted to curl up in bed when I got there - but the prospect of visiting the Lindt cafe this afternoon was just too hard to resist ;-) so I headed back to work. All this before 10.30am and (perhaps most importantly) any coffee!!!!

Activity: weights with Satan
Time: 8.30am
Duration: 30mins

I was going to describe it as another Satan special but then I realised, every session could be called that. Both upper and lower body copped it today - circuit consisting of:
* floor bridge with single leg extension
* side leg lifts
* something without a name that could be described as a prone hold on toes with side arm extension (probably the hardest exercise I've ever done - so far),
repeated 3 times followed by:
* squats standing on disks;
* biceps curls,
repeated 3 times followed by glute stretches. Another 15mins of ITB/glute stretches to finish.

Later this afternoon, a run (sans tape). Fingers crossed & hopefully the Polar will make it out of the box. Now what to call it...

Edit: apologies for what has become the world's longest blog post...

Activity: CR excursion to the Lindt Cafe
Time: 2pm
Duration: 1 hour

Joined Lulu, the Owl and Don Juan at the Lindt Cafe for Lindt Excellence 70% chocolate tarts (served with double cream) all round. And people ask me why I run. It's not for the 'scenery'; it's so I can eat truly decadent stuff like this. After all, life is too short not to eat good chocolate (or drink bad red!)

Activity: run
Time: 7pm
Mood/energy: high (all that sugar no doubt!)
ITB report: sensational!

I had an interval session on the program but given that my orthotics have been adjusted again (to prevent them from removing all the skin on the arch of my left foot), I decided to do my usual flat 40min run near home and to push a bit harder than normal. Well either I was fueled by chocolate tart today or I ran really slowly the last time I did the course (probably a bit of both), I blitzed my PB for the route.

I reached my usual turnaround point in 17.59 (as opposed to 19.30 on my last run). After a quick pit stop to stretch my calves & ITB (let's call it a 2min SR), I came home in 16.28 (as opposed to 19min on my last run) - a total of 34.28, a PB of 4mins! (distance approximately 6.5kms)

The best news however was the fact that I ran without tape on my knee and my ITB was fine - didn't niggle during the run nor after I had cooled down. Woohoo (*she does a happy dance). Right hip is a bit tight and I have a slight (new) niggle in my left hip which may be orthotics related (!) but I'll keep an eye on that. However between the PB and the ITB, I am a very happy gal right now !

On a high...

Yes, I'm still on a high after yesterday's discovery.

Activity: weights with Satan
Time: 2pm
Duration: 30mins
Mood/energy: good.

Another Satan's special. An upper body circuit that left my arms and shoulders shaking for hours afterwards. Actually wanted to have a nap when I got back to the office afterwards. Circuit of:
* lowering phase of full push-ups (ie on toes) – those "men’s pushups" are getting closer & closer
* straight arm lat pulldowns
* one ardumbbellll shoulder press whilst standing on a disk
* standing row,
repeated 3 times followed by glute & pec stretching with Satan and 15mins of ITB, glute & calf stretching.

Activity: Pilates
Time: 5.10pm
Duration: 45mins
Classed focused on lateral moves and lots of core and hammie strengthening and stretching. Once again, I left the class feeling composed, relaxed, strong, lean & ready to conquer the world - then I had to go back to work ;-)

A big day tomorrow - another weights session with Satan, a run (without taping my patella, fingers crossed) & (the best part) a visit to the Lindt cafe. Great food and great company. Yep, it's going to be a tough day ;-)

Polar report: still in the box :-(

An announcement...

Ok so an announcement is pretty dramatic but it's good to be a Diva today :-)

The 'CR Logbook - October & YTD mileage' thread appeared on CR today. Looking back through my posts over the last month, it occurred to me that October was probably my first consistent month of training and the first in which I have added up the mileage.

Much to my surprise and delight, I discovered that I ran 100kms in the month of October!

I really can't believe it. I confess that part of my brain immediately thought "that can't be right; I couldn't possibly achieve that" (I even did the calculation again just to make sure) but I refuse to listen to that part of my brain. I'm a v. happy girl - if I weren't in a suit and in my office right now, I'd probably cartwheel :-)

And people wonder why I run...

Gee, the Bay is a lovely place to run on an overcast Tuesday morning. The scenery isn't too bad either ;-)

Activity: run
Time: 6am
Duration: 40mins - 7kms
Mood/energy: strangely good
ITB report: next question

On the program today was a 40min run with 15mins @ 5km pace. Let's just say that pacing isn't one of my strengths (yet!). Given that I haven't done a 5km race yet, I wasn't too sure about what pace to aim at so after consulting Wobbly Man (**waves), I decided to go with 5.15min/km pace.

I had a crap nights sleep. Must have woken up 10 times during the course of the night & each time this mornings run seemed to be in my thoughts. I kept thinking to myself "I don't want to run today" and then falling back to sleep. When the alarm did go off, after hitting the snooze button once I finally got out of bed, pulled on some clothes and headed off to the Bay arriving at about 5.50am. Once reapplying the tape on my knee about 8 times (as has become my habit - "just in case I haven't done it properly") I finally set off, passing Truckie & Karin within the first minute. My first 2 kms in my warm-up were over in 11.35mins (woo, slow down Jen!)

Once my 15min warm up was over, I went through my first km in 5.15min/km (how is that for pacing!) and the second one in 5.00min/km which of course came back to bite me on the butt, legs, lungs etc in the last 5mins - however I think the last km would have been close to the 5min mark again. I hung on (just) and don't think my form went too far out the window. However I think my 5km pace is definitely closer to 5.15min/km - I'm not sure that I could have gone 5kms at 5min/km pace (yet!). Another lesson to be learned.

After a breather, I ran back to the car via the Bridge, finishing the lap of the Bay in 37mins, a 3min PB for me.

My glute/hip/TFL (in particular) and my ITB are a bit tight now. 2 steps forward, 1 step back at the moment but at least I'm moving forward I suppose.

Polar report: it was removed from the box for 30 sec this morning while I was icing my knee and eating my breakfast... I wonder how many lawyers it's going to take to calibrate the thing. I don't know but we'll soon find out :-)