Friday, February 04, 2011

Running between claps of thunder!

Wednesday
6am - I ran a very short run from home just to ensure I ran the appropriate distance for the day before heading off to the gym.
Total distance 4.3km
7am - 15mins abs class followed by a warm-up on the cross trainer before I spent 40mins doing strength work.
During the afternoon inbetween showers I took Teddy for a lovely long walk.
6.30pm - Expecting very hot weather we began our run from Parliament House a little later than usual. As it turned out a storm came through just before I left from home and immediately after our run the thunder roared and the rain just teemed down. In fact I had to pull the car over on the drive home and stop for the rain to subside just a little as I couldn't see in front of me.
I ran with Chris, Andy and Ewen initially. However, Chris had to turn back fairly early on as he had a prior engagement.
Total distance: 12km
Time taken: 1:20
Average pace per km: 6:40
Calories burned: 704
Total distance for day: 16.3km
Thursday
Thinking that I was on roster duty at the track in the evening I decided to go for a run early in the morning before meeting a friend for breakfast. It rained for the entire run but I enjoyed feeling the cooling rain on my skin. I was absolutely saturated and there was not a soul about being as crazy as me but it was great not being far too hot for a change. I did have to run a bit carefully though as there were lots of muddy slushy puddles to negotiate. I could have competed in a wet t-shirt or mud wrestling competition by the time I finished! My session was as follows:
2 x 60sec/60 float
4 x 30sec/30 float
2 x 60sec/60 float
4 x 30sec/30 float
2 x 60sec/60 float
Total distance: 10.22km
Time taken: 1:04:41
Average pace per km: 6:19
Calories burned: 596
During the afternoon I had a call from Gwen offering to go on roster at track in my place in the evening to allow me to take part in the postal walking relay. Hmmm, I hadn't counted on that happening and as I was there and able to run after all, at the last minute I decided to enter the 3000m event at 8pm too. It was probably a huge mistake as I was already tired but it did seem a bit of a waste not to make the most of the opportunity.
I went in the 4 x 800m walk relay and was the youngest member of the 60+ team. The others were 75, 70 and 65 so I was the baby at 60 - needless to say our team came last but it was heaps of fun!
Total time of team: 23:20
My individual time for 800m walk: 5:12 (which happened to be the fastest time in the team- what a hoot - that was an unexpected bonus)!
The night was hot and humid, even at 8.05pm when I ran in the 3000m event. I did NOT run well but at least it gave me some more kms for the day and I could enjoy the supper afterwards guilt-free!
Distance: 3000m
Time taken: 15:18 (no PBs tonight)!!
Average pace per km: 5:06
Total distance for day: 14.3km (including short warm-up)
Today, Friday, was my rest day. I went for a gentle 22km bike ride with Margaret and we rode out to Federation Square to visit Adore Tea for a creme brulee flavoured tea - most interesting experience. We rode and chatted and it was lovely. We were also lucky to avoid the raindrops as later in the day the thunder roared, the lightning flashed and the heavens opened. Fingers crossed that the weather will be kind early in the morning for my long run!

2 comments:

  1. Good couple of days there Strewth avoiding in the heat, humidity and rain. I doubt you would win a wet T-shirt comp, but I think you be great at mud wrestling. Those abs & pecs of yours would be handy to keep the you safe from embarrasement, ie, losing all you clothes in the mud.

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  2. Speedygeoff won the wet T-shirt comp this morning!

    Mrs Muscles was looking spectacular at coffee, so you missed out big time there.

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