Wet soggy weather turns to sunshine!

Thursday track session

I arrived with very little time for a warm up before the 6pm 3000m event at the track. Needless to say I didn't run very well as it took a few laps into the race to warm up!

Distance: 3000m

Time taken: 15:27

Fitness walk:

Total distance: 3000m

Time taken: 22mins

Spiral Handicap

Adler 6 lap spiral

Distance: 2.49km

Time taken: 13:31

Average pace per km: 5:09

Friday

It rained and it rained. In the morning I went to the gym for my upper body workout and later in the early evening I met Ewen at Parliament House where we donned spray jackets and ran to the lake and round the wetlands (appropriately named) and back again. We were utterly drenched by the time we finished. The rain didn't let up at all. Fortunately there are underground facilities at PH and we were able to change into dry clothes before heading for Kingston to meet up with Jen and enjoy a pleasant meal.

Total distance: 13km

Time taken: 1hr 21mins

Average pace per km: 6:16

Sunday - Vets' Monthly Handicap at Weston Park

This was the final handicap run for the year. It had rained all Saturday and we expected the ground to be muddy and slushy but it wasn't too bad. The run is a two lap undulating course. I ran off Group 19 and felt a bit sore but managed to just trot round in a slow comfortable pace. I came in 40th out of 97 finishers in the long course.

Total distance: 7km

Time taken: 42:49

Average pace per km: 6:07

Later we enjoyed a picnic lunch and champagne in the sunshine with a large group of running friends

Monday - speedygeese at Parliament House

It was 29deg when we set off on our warm up loop at 5.30pm for the speedygeese session at PH. There was a good turnout of speedygeese and the session was lots of fun. We ran a 1km large undulating circuit near the tennis courts incorporating all the fitness equipment on the way. We had to stop to do chinups, pushups, situps, calf stretches, hamstring stretches and tricep dips as we reached each piece of equipment. It meant we had little breaks from the running and it made it interesting and fun. However, more practice is needed on the chinups! We finished with a warm down loop of PH.

Total distance: 7.5km

Summing it all up!

Is it possible that a month has now flown by since I last updated this blog? I can't believe that I am so busy that it's dificult to fit in the time to blog. It would be much easier if I updated this every day which was the original intention. It's a bit difficult to remember four weeks' worth of activities and also very boring to read! I will just give a rough precis of the past few weeks instead.

I have been regularly going to the gym on Mon, Wed and Friday mornings doing workouts for chest, back, triceps, biceps, shoulders and abs. On Wednesdays I also go to a Body Balance class straight after my workout before heading for the BBQ Stakes handicap 6km run at Woden..

My weeks have been fairly consistent as follows:

Mondays: Gym - upper body strength in the morning; speedygeese session at Parliament House in the evening

Tuesdays: Tuesday group. Because I am still being treated for my back and hamstring problems I have been walking the Tuesday sessions briskly - between 8 and 12km.

Wednesdays: Morning gym upper body strength followed by Body Balance; Lunchtimes: BBQ Stakes 6km undulating handicap

Thursdays: AIS track session - various events but I usually run the 3000m, walk the 1500-2000m and always run the spiral handicap when it is held (4-7 laps)

Fridays: mornings upper body strength at the gym; run with the dog

Saturdays: middle distance run when possible

Sundays: swim 1km - 1.5km

Each day I take Teddy for a walk for at least an hour or 5km and at least once a week I also take him for a run up to 10km. Of course there is also the walking I do with my Avon which seems to take up quite a lot of time!

I missed a few training sessions because of my unreliable back problems but am slowly getting back into it. It's time I increased my distances and looked towards next year's marathon.

Familiarisation of the triple tri run course

Good views from the hills

With Andy and Ewen on Red Hill

With Andy on the familiarisation

The real event - wearing gloves just in case I fall!

A muddy Mr B on his bike leg

Last Sunday I took part in the Sri Chinmoy triple tri. Mr B was also roped in and rode a mountain bike he borrowed from our son for a very muddy slushy off road 35km on the first bike leg for his team. I ran the final leg for my team which was 13.5km of a very undulating, half off road course.  It was heaps of fun and an event I would like to take part in again with more preparation next time. The weekend before Ewen and Andy had run over the course with me to give me an idea of what to expect. It involved a lot of walking in the practice but on the actual day I managed to run most of it to my own surprise.

As for the BBQ Stakes I have been running with my hamstring strapped and with some discomfort. I haven't yet beaten my PB although last week I was getting closer. Today though, although the weather was much cooler, I still didn't run a fast time. I guess more practice will eventually give me some improvement.

Tomorrow it's back to the track. In a week's time I'm off to NZ for just 6 days to celebrate my brother-in-law's 80th birthday. That should be fun but the timing isn't good as I will miss the spiral handicap that week which is my favourite event:(