The Quick Brown fox ran out of sight!

Morning 6.15am - Gym
RPM - 45mins spin class
15mins abs class

Afternoon 5.20pm - Run
Distance: 16.34km
Time taken: 1:45
Average pace per km: 6:26 (a little slow but comfortable chatting pace!)
Calories burned: 970

Ewen piked out today as he's saving himself for the last 3km of the season tomorrow at track. Good luck Ewen! Instead Marg drove in to meet me after work and ran the East Basin run with me. It was a pleasant temperature as the sun had gone behind a cloud and stayed there! We ran the same route Ewen and I usually run and this time we spotted a little brown fox with a white tip on his tail and sharp pointy ears who hesitated for a moment to have a good look at us before running quickly across the path and off into the distance! There were a surprising number of people out for a run or walk or cycle even through the wetlands which is fairly unusual. It was very pleasant although it took a while for my legs to appreciate more pain after this morning's RPM class which was very intensive!

Gold Star from Jimmy!

This morning before work I visited Jimmy at the clinic and he was very pleased with my progress. He gave me a solid half hour of intensive treatment, including the elbow massage and the groin (hip flexor) prod. It hurt but it was good pain and I felt quite good later. He has set me a few more exercises which I will endeavour to do each evening. I am now allowed to do some speedwork but only on the flat, no hill sprints just yet. Wonder if speedycoach will take any notice of aforesaid statement!!

This evening after work I went for a swim.
Distance: 1km
Time taken: 29:27
I know I'm slow but I was pleased because at least it was under 30mins.

A New Week Begins

6.15am - Gym
RPM - 45mins of blood, sweat and tears (or it felt like that anyway)!!

5.30pm - speedygeoff's group at Parliament House
Running
Distance: 10km

Rachelle and I didn't manage an early warm-up tonight but as it happened we had a longer warm down after the main session making a total of 10km for training which was a good amount for a Monday. We ran the usual warm-up loop of PH then headed down to the lower grassy bank in front of PH. There we ran loops of 40secs fast and 80secs slow repeating this 12 times. Of course Murphy's Law dictated that for more than half of those 40secs fast I ended up at the start of the uphill slope! I was careful not to push too hard but I did make an effort and it felt like hard work. The warm down was a run down to the lake and back up to the start. It was a good session with great company. Tomorrow morning I visit Jimmy at the Clinic. My hammie is still very tight but so much better than before.

Vets Handicap - 0n the road to recovery!

The morning started with momentary panic, when my son who was collecting the grandchildren (who had stayed overnight) couldn't start his car which was parked behind ours, but it actually turned out to be a good day. The handicap was run at North Curtin and the first 2km was a steady incline, the second km being steeper than the first. However, for some weird reason I felt quite comfortable just taking small steps up the hill and speeding up a little on the downhills. I managed to catch up with Marg and overtake her and to overtake the other person in my handicap group. CJ of course sped past me in the last km starting from Group 35. She's running so well and is in fine form for the marathon. I enjoyed the run and it felt so good to actually be making an effort and not to suffer too much. That's the first speed event I've attempted since my hamstring injury in November. I think I may be on the road to recovery at last! I visit Jimmy at the clinic again on Tuesday. I hope he's pleased with me. I still do my strengthening exercises every night! It was good to catch up with lots of people at the handicap who I haven't seen for ages as I missed last month's run.

Happy birthday to Jeni who returned to Uni in Sydney today after a few of us enjoyed a coffee with her after the run.

Distance: 6.2km
Time taken: 34:38
Average pace per km: 5:35 (It's below a 6 at last!!)
Fastest km: 4:58 (how did that happen? - must have been a downhill km)
Calories burned: 367
Handicap group: 23
Place: 69th

Sunshine keeps me smiling!

Friday (I love Fridays) :)
Gym -RPM

Ok, so RPM is jolly hard work but I do love Fridays cos I know that once that session is finished I don't run after work and at the end of the day it's the weekend. It was especially good today cos I attended a Planning Day out of the office and an absolutely delicious lunch was provided!

Saturday (today) - Morning Run
Distance: 17.6km
Time taken: 1hr:50:15
Average pace per km: 6:16
Calories burned: 1042
Location: From home to and round Lake G and back via Giralang

Yay, I just checked and when I ran this same run last weekend I was 2mins slower and the average pace was 6:25 - woo hoo! On my return journey this morning I glanced sideways to see a whole field of kangaroos of all sizes watching me curiously. There were so many of them.

I'm running the Vets Handicap run tomorrow and of course it will be very slow as I haven't been doing any speedwork at all but I don't want to miss any more. The company is great and if I don't turn up to run I don't qualify for points. It's a gorgeous day in Canberra today - bright and sunny with a little wind - great weather for drying washing and for running! Hope it's like this tomorrow too.

Running with a Patient Wombat

Tuesday morning - 6.20am
Swim - CISAC followed by a blissful spa
Distance: 1.1km
Time taken: 33mins

Wednesday - 5.30pm - Run

Ewen met me after work and we ran down to and round the East Basin of Lake Burley Griffin. It's been absolutely ages since we did that run and it was lovely that he had the patience to run with me and talk and talk and talk. He also had to wait and wait and wait as I had to stop three times for a nature visit probably due to a very large pumpkin rissotto last night - good thing there are loos every 5km along the way. I struggled a bit as it was very hot to start and my legs were objecting and I felt rather tired but I still enjoyed the run and the company. We spotted very curious cows (one an unusually light brownish grey colour), two fully grown bunnies (those babies have grown up) and a baby lizard who was so very cute. It was great to run that course again after so long.

Distance: 16km
Time taken: 1:42:24
Average pace per km: 6:24
Calories burned: 950

The Blogging Week's Update

I have been very slack with my blogging but that bossy Ewen has talked me into an update! I tried not to listen Katie, truly but my conscience won me over!

Sunday 10 Feb
Cycle 20km

Monday 11 Feb
Morning 6.15am - RPM
Afternoon 5.30pm - speedygeoff’s group PH - Run

Warm-up 1.5km with Rachelle then warm-up loop of PH with main group. Main set –
we paired up with someone of a similar pace (Kelley decided she wanted to run slowly so she was happy to be my partner) then speedygeoff took us over the course of what was to be the "fast" loop followed by a "recovery" loop...the aim was to work hard for 20 minutes completing as many loops as possible... we finished with a warm down loop which included running up the grassy slope of Parliament House to admire the view from the top!
Distance: 10:11
Calories burned: 580

Tuesday 12 Feb
6.15am – Swimming 1km – 30mins

Wednesday 13 Feb
6pm – Run – Towards Gungahlin through tunnel along cycle track on grassy verge
Distance: 16km
Time taken: 1hr:41:55
Average pace per km: 6:22
Calories burned: 960

Friday 15 Feb – RPM

Saturday 16 Feb – Run – From home to Lake G and round lake and home via Giralang
Distance: 17.6km
Time taken: 1hr:52:54
Average pace per km: 6:25
Calories burned: 1046

In the afternoon we visited friends for a game of bocce (French boules) in their backyard aided with a glass of wine or two. It was such fun then in the evening we shared the birthday celebrations of Marg and Gwen - lovely company and very enjoyable.

Happy Birthday Marg and Gwen

With "the birthday twins" and Jen Graeme and Mr B

Sunday 17 Feb
Cycle 20km

A great weekend was topped off nicely when a group of us met at Tilleys for coffee and a lovely wind down catching up on all the news. What stunning weather we enjoyed this weekend.

Monday 18 Feb
6.15am - RPM

5.30pm – speedygeoff’s group at PH - Run

Distance: 10:6km

Rachelle and I did a short warm-up of 1.55km before joining the main group when we ran another warm-up loop of PH before heading down below the oval where everybody ran as fast as possible (some of us still ran slowly) for 40secs in one direction before turning and running gently back to the start and running fast in the other direction for 40secs. This we repeated 6 times before running up to the road level where we did the same thing all over again. We followed this with a warm down loop of PH. The temp was a pleasant 25deg but it felt hotter! It was actually quite a stunning evening, still and beautiful.

Slowly but Surely!

Now just for the benefit of Ewen I will explain that the 10% rule I was given only applies every second time I do a longish run. In other words I have been told that I must run approximately the same distance twice before increasing my distance (not speed) by 10%. Thus it was that this morning I increased my distance and must repeat this distance before increasing it again. Phew! It was a really cool day today barely reaching 20deg but this made for pleasant running.

Distance: 16km -yay! (I admit this is a tad more than a 10% increase!)
Time taken: 1:44 (oh dear)
Average pace per km: 6:30 (oh dear, dear, dear!)
Calories burned: 960

I actually enjoyed this run and wasn't really too worried about that slow time as at least I am now running 16km with very little discomfort (and very little speed but you can't have everything). Later in the morning I met up with CJ for a lovely long lunch at Black Pepper - a popular spot where a number of friends drifted in and out (including speedygoose Kathy with her Geoff) in the 2 hour time period while we lingered over lunch and coffee.

Waddling or is that Wobbling like a slow goose!

Tonight I was lucky as the threatening clouds drifted southwards and I was able to go for my run after work. It was pretty uneventful except for the scary part of finding a suitable spot for a nature call and ploughing my way through the long grass to try to find a tree to block me from the road side. I kept imagining snakes slithering through the long grass but fortunately I escaped unscathed with not a snake to be seen. The temperature had dropped and I think I was quite safe but trampling through long grass in remote areas always scares me! I was pretty happy with my run - just slightly faster than yesterday and a bit more comfortable.

Distance: 13:36

Time taken: 1:22:20
Average pace per km: 6:10
Calories burned: 800

Applying the 10% Rule!

This morning I trotted out for a 13.2km run (adding 10% carefully on to my 12km) as follows:

Distance: 13.2km
Time taken: 1:22:58
Average pace per km: 6:17
Calories burned: 790

It was quite a pleasant morning for a run but I didn't leave home untl 6am and as a consequence it was a bit of a rush to make it to work just a little late eating a breakfast bar on the way. I was up early enough, I just took too long to get out that door!

Gym, Run, Swim - Can't think up an original heading!

Morning - 6.15am - Gym
Fitball class - lots of abs work

After work - 5pm - Running - Parliament House

I took Rachelle to speedygeoff's group just after 5pm but by the time we started running it was about 5.10pm so we could only fit in a short run before meeting everyone for the training session at 5.30pm. It was good to be back after a few missed sessions but I knew I must stick to instructions and not do the speed work. We ran a warm-up loop of PH then trained on the grassy verge in front of PH towards the road. It had rained steadily for most of the day but we were very lucky in that it had eased off by the time we trained and we could have our entire session outside. The main session was to run loops of a 300m course, 100m being on a diagonal slope across the grass and two lots of 50m down or up the sides. The goal was to sprint the diagonals and jog the 50m sides aiming for 10 loops. Each time the leader passed us that would cut one loop off our distance. We stopped when the leader had completed 10 loops. I managed 7 loops at my gentle pace. We then ran a cool-down loop of PH before speedychief suggested (strongly) that we run up the main slope of PH to the top to admire the view and catch our breath before trotting back down again and returning to the start. There were 22 of us there tonight, the best turn-out for a long time and a few new faces since I had last been. It was a good session and I look forward to the time when I can run it much faster, injury-free!

Total distance (including the earlier warm-up): 10.4km

Tuesday - Swimming - 6.15am
Yes, it was back to the pool for me this morning and I managed to swim 1km in 29:30mins before spending 15 blissful minutes in the spa - a very pleasant way to start the day.

Decision Made!

On Thursday I visited Jimmy again and he was very pleased with me. I am now allowed to increase my running by 10% every second run. Now, when I put all my calculations together it works out that I could only fit in one run over 30km before the marathon in April. Sooooo, looks like I may have to give Canberra a miss this year and as I'm only allowed to increase distance, not speed, I may also miss the Half in March. Instead my next goal will be the Canberra Half in May. Now, to say I am disappointed with this outcome would be putting it mildly. But now that I have made the decision I will move forward, increase my distance and think positive. At least I am running again and slowly but surely I will be back. The Canberra Marathon will still be there next year and there's always the Gold Coast in July or the Melbourne option??

Anyway I digress! I just had a lovely social weekend - disastrous on the diet side but very pleasant indeed socially. On Friday night we met friends for dinner at Della Rocca, on Sat night we met up with more friends for dinner at Zefferellis and today I spent a very pleasant and relaxing afternoon with CJ, Ewen and Rachelle at Tilleys.

Friday morning - Run
Distance: 11km
Time taken: 1:08:14
Average pace per km: 6:12
Calories burned: 655

Saturday morning - Run
Distance: 12:05km
Time taken: 1:15:44
Average pace per km: 6:17
Calories burned: 715

Sunday morning - Cycle
Distance: 20.04km