Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Spring is springing!

Monday
This morning as the sun was shining I decided to dust down the bike and go for a ride. It's been a very long time! The sun was deceptive as it was bitterly cold and I fought against a head wind on the outward trip. The return trip was much more pleasant as, apart from the fact that the wind had dropped, I had warmed up considerably and my legs were starting to work. However, I had forgotten the discomfort of a bike seat - ouch! I will get back to cycling as the weather warms up as it is a quite pleasant form of exercise and is good cross training. Today I only rode 10km but it's a start!
5.30pm - Parliament House training
This evening after the warm up loops our main session was 8x400m with 400m jogs on a 600m course. It was tough but the pain was completely alleviated when we celebrated Helen's pending 50th birthday with champagne and dip - very civilized! Thank you Helen.
Total distance: 8.64km
Today - Tuesday
6.15am - Gym - upper body strength and abs exercises
5.30pm - I ran from home. It had been an absolutely glorious day with little wind but at this time it had cooled down somewhat and I needed a long sleeved top. However, it was still an enjoyable run. As I ran along listening to my music I was shaken from my 'stride' when a lady cycled up beside me and said, "excuse me, can I ask you something? I noticed your strides are much shorter than mine. When I run I get sore joints." I asked if I looked funny - after all, I've been told I look like I'm 'running in a bucket' and I know my style is less than ordinary.
"Oh no" she replied. "I thought to myself that this woman looks like she knows what she's doing so I thought I would ask about the short strides."
"Ah", I said "Our coach says that short strides are more efficient."
"Thank you so much. I will defnitely try that next time. I appreciate your help!"
Wow, thank YOU speedycoach, you have taught me something which I could pass on to someone else.
I continued on my way feeling quite motivated and happy to finish my run in the dark.
Total distance: 8km
Time taken: 49mins
Average pace per km: 6.18
Calories burned: 467

1 comment:

  1. I've always said you look like you know what you're doing. We can thank Speedycoach for tweaking our running style so it's close to perfection!

    Hope you had my glass of champagne on Monday night.

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