Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Week 4 - Easy Week - 11 Weeks to Marathon

There are now 11 weeks to the Canberra Marathon and this is a pull-back week (aka an easy week) where I run less kms in the week and my long run will be much shorter.

Monday - speedygeese training at Parliament House
I started the morning with a 1km swim. This takes me about 28 minutes. I'm not a fast swimmer but it does seem to be a good gentle exercise for me and at the moment I'm avoiding overuse of my sore wrist.
The speedygeese session tonight was back to the rose garden after our warm up for more 200m sprints on the flat grass beside the road incorporated in a 440m undulating loop. We were divided into two groups, the faster ones running 12 loops in 2:30 while the rest of us ran 10 loops in 3mins - still quite challenging in the heat. I didn't manage to catch Cookie until the 10th loop this week. I remember when I used to catch her on the 5th. Either she has become much faster or I have become much slower or perhaps it's a combination of the two! 
I was definitely running with tired legs after the big weekend.
Total distance: 8.4km

Tuesday - Two Runs!
This morning Margaret and I drove to Black Mountain Peninsula for Tuesday group. The run this week was from Black Mountain Peninsula to Haig Park so it was a flat course but quite a pleasant one with shady trees on the way. I started with Marg but ended up running with Marilyn and finishing alone when she slowed down. It was still a relatively slow run but that's what I needed for this morning. I couldn't stay for morning tea today as, after a quick shower and change, I had to rush off to the airport to pick up a friend.
Total distance: 10.2km

Canberra Runners' Club Summer Series Run No 1
In the late afternoon I drove to the first of the summer series for 2012 starting at 6.15pm at Stromlo Forest Park. Earlier it had been really hot and sunny but just after 6pm the wind picked up, the clouds came out and the temperature dropped. That course is very exposed and it is not at all pleasant on a very hot day so we were very lucky when it was so much cooler - pity about the wind though. I had hesitated about running twice in one day and my hamstring certainly felt tight and sore at the start. However, I ran through the pain and although I was slow it wasn't as painful as it could have been. The grass felt quite good underfoot as there are no longer all the potholes that used to be there. It is definitely a hilly course though, especially the second time you have to run the undulations. 
I do enjoy going to these runs as it's a great opportunity to catch up with heaps of running friends including some I only see very rarely. Yes, it was the social aspect that made me decide to run twice in one day!

Total distance: 5km (plus a short warm up with CJ of about 600m)
Time taken: 28:11
Average pace per km: 5:43
Calories burned: 270

Total distance for Tuesday: 15.8km



Monday, January 30, 2012

New Beginnings

Yesterday morning was the first Vets' Monthly Handicap for the year. It was a new course in the bushlands near Aranda. It was undulating and a bit stony but great trails and I really enjoyed it. It's certainly not nearly as challenging as some of the handicaps.

I had another bad night's sleep (two in a row does not bode well for good run times) but I felt fine on the actual run although my time didn't translate to that. I ran a short 1km warm up with Ewen and then headed for a second visit to the loo queue which unfortunately moved very slowly while the countdown to my start group moved very fast. I sprinted to the start to find that I was standing with Group 20 and my Group 18 had long since gone. Damn - not a good start to the run and I took off like a chook without a head. The hills soon slowed me up but I didn't feel too bad except when Steve passed me later in the run calling "come on Ruth, where's the speed?" - then I realised I was chugging along even though I felt like I was doing ok. Oh well, I guess 34km the day before probably has some effect on these old slow legs! I still enjoyed myself and isn't that what it's all about?

Total distance: 6km (plus 1km warm up)
Time taken: 36:54
Average pace per km: 6:07
Calories burned: 333

Lots of our running friends won medals (including the speedy Janene and Heidi) but I didn't discover this until the evening, when I read the results on-line, as CJ, Ewen and I rushed off from the handicap, straight after gulping down some fruit, to see the finish of the triathlon at the lake.  Unfortunately we missed the main event (which was a qualifying race for the worlds triathlon championship in Auckland NZ in October) but we did catch up with everybody just after they finished. Mr B managed a PB but he didn't beat his nemesis as Bob came in 1 minute ahead of him also with a PB. We also had a hug with Charlie who was a spectator as she had torn her hamstring and was sensibly giving it recovery time. Flashduck was there sporting her new motorbike which is oh so awesome and speedy looking.

Sadly, we found out later that a close friend and experienced triathlete (who we had been going to have dinner with last night) had been pulled from the swim leg with a suspected heart attack. He is still in hospital having tests. I guess it just proves that even the fittest of us are not invincible. We are waiting to hear more as I write this.

Later in the afternoon another  friend and I visited a friend who has just moved into a new home of her own with her daughter after a break down in her marriage. Sad and happy feelings  as we toasted new beginnings with champagne.These two girls were the first friends I made when we first moved to Canberra in 1981 and we have always remained great buddies.

Total distance for Week 3 of Marathon Training - 89km

Flashduck (Carolyne) with her new beaut wheels!

Good friends toasting "new beginnings"

With CJ after the Vets Handicap run


Saturday, January 28, 2012

Slower and Longer!

Yesterday I went for a swim before meeting CJ for a lovely coffee and brekkie at Beppes at the markets. It was such an excellent catch up as CJ had an extra day off work so we could make it leisurely.

Today I drove to the War Memorial carpark by 6.45am to meet Jen who ran the first part of my long run with me. We headed for the west basin running round the wetlands and past Kingston and over Kings Ave bridge where we met up with Ewen to continue on with the run. Jen left us at 13km and Ewen and I continued on past the ANU round the museum and on to Black Mountain peninsula. We turned soon after that and ran back past the ferry terminal and on past Rond Tce where we spotted the line up for the half marathon which commenced at 10am - rather a late start in the summer time. However at this stage there was cloud cover although that had definitely lifted by the time I was in the last few kms of my run. Soon after that Ewen left me to head back to the carpark while I ran on to Molonglo Reach and back to Anzac Parade to log up the last 8km of my run.

We did spot a few familiar faces on our run including Katherine, Andy, Zainab and Suzy running their various distances. I found it really tough today and certainly appreciated having company for the majority of the run.

Total distance: 34km
Time taken: 3:49:34
Average pace per km: 6:45
Calories burned: 1871

The best part was the leisurely brunch with Ewen at the cafe later. Oh boy I needed that food input so much! We analysed my slow speed and tried to find a way to make me run faster. Oh boy, tomorrow's vets' handicap run is going to be very tough after today!


Photo shows Ewen, Roger and Andy at the Gold Coast in 2010 - after the 10k and marathon

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Australia Day and Ewen is my hero!








Gary (Griffin), Carolyne (Flashduck), Norma (Luckylegs), Thea (Aki), Cathy (CJ), Strewth (that's me), speedygeoff and Ewen - what fun times - look at those shoes!! 2005 after the CT Fun Run.

When I was browsing through my old blogs I discovered this photo taken after the CT Fun Run in 2005. I absolutely love it - here we all are in ourCoolrunning gear all those years ago.

Having lost all the background of my blog and having minor panic stations, it is a huge relief that Ewen has managed to rescue the old format and brighten it up with new colours and the correct countdown for the marathon. After track had finished last night we spent an hour and a half poring over the options and trying to fix the problem. No luck! Instead he spent hours this afternoon, with some texting and phone calls between us,  rectifying the problem. Apparently what happened was that I had updated to the new Blogger interface and it did not recognise HTML when we were trying to update the template. Lesson learnt, everything is now sorted and Ewen is back in my good books. Thank you Ewen - you really are very clever:)
Ok, enough praises sung! Now to the blog update.

Wednesday was a full-on day which probably accounts for some of my lethargy today. I started the day at the gym working on triceps, biceps and shoulders but struggling with my wrist pain. I followed this with a Body Balance class going easy on wrist pressure especially in "down dog" movements. 
Then it was home to change into running gear, bring in the Avon which had been delivered and dash off to meet Jen for a short run before BBQ Stakes at Woden. We managed only 2km warm up with her boys cycling on the track with us before heading off for the start. I was too late for my 5:15 start and had to start off at 7minutes instead which was a bit scary. I actually felt ok. The conditions were good, although humid there was cloud cover and I thought I had run faster than I actually did which was a bit disappointing. However, Jen ran a ripper and indeed she managed to win the event with an awesome PB. Running 15secs after her start time didn't phase her one bit!
After the event Jen and I ran another 4km to warm down before I drove home for a quick lunch, unpacked a bit of Avon, then went for another run with Teddy for 5km. Then my first shower for the day - absolute heaven - before driving to the AIS track where I was on roster duty as someone wanted to swap with me. Thank goodness I didn't have to run any races. I doubt if my legs would have worked.
Total distance for day: 17.5km

Thursday - Happy Australia Day
It was lovely not to set the alarm and just wake naturally this morning. I had a banana before going for a run before breakfast. I plugged in my music and headed for the AIS, ran past it and on to Bruce Ridge trails where I found a suitable off-road hill and struggled up it. The plan was to run 10 x 1minute hill repeats and this I did. It was definitely a struggle for the first few but then I got into the swing of it but it still felt great when I finished and headed for home. Oh boy, I was glad to finish this morning!
Total distance: 11km

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

speedygeese training and Tuesday run

Monday started with a gym session - warm up on the rower of 1 minute slow, 2 minutes fast for 6 minutes followed by 30 pushups on knees. Main session was:
3 sets of chest press with dumbells with 12 reps of 9kg weights alternating with 3 sets of 12 reps of 9kg with dumbell rows.
Dumbell Flys 3 sets of 10 reps with 5kg weights followed immediately by a drop to 10 reps of 3kg weights.
Lateral pulldown - 3 sets of 10reps 30kg
Straight arm pull downs 10 reps
I had problems with the chest press with the barbell which was next on the program. I used to lift 20kg on the barbell comfortably but I have been having problems with my left wrist and when I turn it to hold the barbell or weights at a certain angle it is extremely painful. I've been trying to find wrist supports in the sports shops with no luck so far. It is such a pain (literally) as it's preventing me doing the chin ups in speedygeese training and I'm sure I could do them if my wrist didn't give way - bother!
Next -30 push ups on toes (this also hurts my wrist so I'm limited as to how many I can do unfortunately)
I followed this with 3 sets of calf raises holding 5kg weights and finished the session with abs work - leg extensions, leg raises, scissors and the plank, followed by lots of stretching.

After a 6km walk with Teddy in the afternoon I drove off to Parliament House for the speedygeese session.  There were 18 of us tonight including a couple of new young girls which is always fun. After the warm up loops we headed for the grassy bank in the front of PH on the second section of grass as the first section was being set up for the big Australian Day concert tomorrow night.

We were divided into relay teams of 3 with a rough spread of slow and fast in each group. We took turns to run fast down the diagonals, jog across the straight grass to the opposite side where we were tagged by our next runner before running up the straight to the top again. This continued for 15minutes when we were reorganised into different groups and this time had to run fast down the diagonal and continue up the straight to the top before jogging down to the bottom and back while waiting to be tagged. There was no chance to stop running this time and it was a great workout. At least I'm not sure we were saying that at the time but afterwards it seemed like fun! We finished with a warm down loop.
Total run distance for me: 8.7km

Tuesday group
Today our run was from Black Mountain Peninsula and on to the trails of Black Mountain itself. It was off road, stony, rough, undulating, challenging and fantastic. I ran with Marilyn and although we were averaging 5:50 pace before we reached the trails we slowed right down as we watched our footing especially on the downhills and walked a bit of the rougher stages of uphills. It was a good temperature at that time. We start at 8.30am during the summer months and it's much better than starting at 9.15am when it is often quite hot. This summer has not had many very hot days which is much better for running. We celebrated an 80th birthday and a 74th birthday with champagne and birthday cake later!
Total run distance: 11km

By the middle of the afternoon it felt quite hot. I left it until 5pm before taking Teddy out and we walked a pleasant 5km trying to stick to the shady paths.









Sunday, January 22, 2012

Trying out my new shoes!

After some persuasion from Ewen I decided to drive to Stromlo Forest Park to join a group of speedygeese on the lovely spongy green grass there for an 8am start. This meant no sleep-in again but it was a great way to break in my new running shoes. The attending geese (Andrew, Abby, John, Lucia, Thach and Jacob) were all very fast and they ran 3 x 1km sprint intervals with 1km slower between each. I ran a long warm up double loop with Ewen who was kind enough to run at my speed as they (six fast geese and speedycoach) all flew ahead. Speedygeoff, Ewen and I ran a little way as the others ran their fast sprints making sure we were back in time for them to be timed and handicapped accordingly.When they finished their 1km repeats we all ran the large loop as a cool down.
The grass felt great for stretching out my legs after yesterday. In fact Ewen and Geoff ran a couple of loops in bare feet. I was very tempted to do so too but I did want to give my shoes a good test so decided against it, especially as I was wearing Injinji socks (which are like gloves on your feet) and they are quite a hassle to put back on!
I'm glad I ran out there. It was easy to build up the kilometres and I finished the running week with a few extra kilometres in the bank! The temperature wasn't too hot but the wind was a bit strong at times.
Distance for today: 10.8km (I should have run that extra 200m)
Total distance for week: 87.2km (schedule was for 82km - yay)
Later in the afternoon I took Teddy out for a 5km walk in a very strong wind. He was a bit crazy today and was pulling on the lead. I think the wind affected his mood!

Footnote: I'm loving my shoes:)

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Building up the kilometres.

This morning Ewen and I met at the War Memorial carpark at 7am and started our run on the Mt Ainslie track. We ran some off road on the trails only to discover, when we clambered over a locked gate heading for Campbell Park, that we were not supposed to be running that track due to unexploded ordnance (military ammunition which has been fired many many years ago, but failed to explode). We headed through bush to Campbell Park, Duntroon, across the golf course grass and through the wetlands. A lot of this was on a much better surface than the concrete cycle paths in the other direction. The weather was overcast and actually quite pleasant at that time of day and we had a lot of cherry comments from happy cyclists or runners heading in the other direction.  We saw a Liz look-alike approaching on our return and I waved my arms wildly at her in the distance, thinking "gee she's focussed, she hasn't seen us"! Ha ha, as she came nearer we realised it wasn't Liz, just someone running in her style with similar hair and clothes. Oops, she must have wondered who that strange woman was screaming out "Hi Liz" and waving wildly! We ran back over Commonwealth Avenue Bridge and Ewen left me just before the carillon when the distance read 15km.

I plugged in my music and continued on back past Molonglo and along the track to the airport where I  met Tony who was out there running 500m intervals. He stopped for a chat before I continued on to the end of that track and back and over the bridge heading out towards Fyshwick. I turned at 23km and headed back to the war memorial. When the distance hit 30km on my Garmin I stopped the watch and walked the last few hundred metres up Anzac Parade.
Total distance: 30km
Time taken: 3hours 20mins
Pace per km: 6:40
Calories burned: 1658
This pace does not bode well for a good marathon time but at the moment I'm just building up the distance and hoping the speed will return eventually and if it doesn't, well I guess I just hope to finish in one piece!
At the end of the run, Mr B cycled over after his run to join a few of us (including Jen and CJ) at the War Memorial cafe for a sandwich and coffee and I really enjoyed a refreshing diet coke too! CJ was rewarded with cake and coffee from Ewen as she has now covered 53 days in her running streak - amazing! What's more, Ewen is only about 3 days behind her:)
Yesterday I visited The Runners' Shop and bought some new running shoes using up lots of vouchers I had accumulated.. I may try them out tomorrow. They are the updated version of the Asics DS Trainers which I currently use. They're so pretty and I'm looking forward to running in them!


Friday, January 20, 2012

I hear thunder!

There are huge claps of thunder happening outside at the moment and I probably should turn off my computer but I'll take the risk and write this up before bed. 
Track last night was a bit of a disaster! I was there in time to only run a 1km warm up before the 3000m event at 6pm. It was hot, I was slow and the result was a PW for the season.
Distance: 3000m
Time taken: 16:02 - oops not sure what happened there!
The dark clouds hovered overhead and we felt about two drops of rain but nothing further eventuated. The next event was the 3000m walk and Margaret, Ewen and I took part in that too. I always find that feels just as hard as a run and I'm sure the heart rate is just as high! It was a handicapped event and I did quite well - I must have warmed up by then!
Distance of walk: 3000m
Time taken: 21:22
During the 1500m event next I just trotted around the outside of the track to watch some amazing runners recording fantastic results while I slowly logged up a bit more distance.
The last event of the night was the 4 lap spiral handicap, a fun event. My handicap was 28 and I came in near the back of the field. 
Total distance: 1600m plus a little more
Time taken:8:48
Average pace per km: 5:21
We then ran a short cool down to recover from the slow runs.
Total distance for night including warm up: 10km
Friday is my running rest day. As a bit of cross training I swam 1100m at the pool this morning and I only took Teddy for a brisk 3km walk later on this very hot afternoon. 
Tonight at last the much needed rain is pelting down. Fingers crossed that it will rain itself out by early morning when I have a very long run scheduled!




Wednesday, January 18, 2012

13 weeks to Canberra Marathon
























We had a great weekend in Sydney. The weather was abysmal with intermittent rain the entire time. However, it held off for most of the sprint triathlon except for the cycle leg when it poured down. As a spectator I was constantly putting my brolly up and taking it down. It was Mr B's best result for a sprint triathlon and he came 2nd in his age group so he was very happy. We caught up with our daughters and had a lovely couple of days. 

I also managed to squeeze in an 8km run with Teddy before we left home bringing my total distance for the week to 70km - slightly under schedule but it's a start.

Week 2 of training
Monday - gym in morning triceps, biceps and abs
Today was a grandma day when I took Miss 9 to the National Museum where they had some great creative activities for 5-12year olds. We also visited other parts of the museum where there are lots of hands-on activities for children. It was lots of fun. Then it was off to speedygeese for another tough session at Parliament House.
We ran our warm up loops and headed for the rose garden where we ran a similar session to last week although this week we had 22 starters which is an excellent number and we were divided into two groups - the very fast group and the rest of us who ran 10 x 440m undulating loops with 200m straight sprints on the grass by the road on 3minutes. It was very hot and I had not eaten wisely during the day so my stomach struggled more than my legs. However, I made it, just! We finished with a painful warm down.
Total distance: 8.4km

Tuesday Group
Margaret and I arrived just a few minutes after everyone had taken off so we decided to run together. We knew where they were heading so we ran from Black Mountain peninsula past the museum and "around the world" before returning the long way. It was a slow, gentle run which suited me just fine after the previous night.
Total distance: 11.5km

Wednesday
This morning I ran first thing before the sun was too hot. The temp reached 33deg later in the day. I ran from home and round Lake Ginninderra and back the long way.
Total distance: 16.5km
Time taken: 1:47
Average pace per km: 6:30
Calories burned: 924






Friday, January 13, 2012

Long Run on a Friday

I needed to run my long distance today instead of tomorrow this week as we are heading off to Sydney in the morning for Mr B to compete in a sprint triathlon at Kurnell where he will have an ocean swim instead of in our murky lake water. 
It was quite difficult backing up after last night's track session but I managed the distance at a slow pace and didn't even have to stop for a nature stop which is unusual for me! I took 'guu' for carb loading which I swallowed at the 13km mark and dissolved a couple of jellybeans in the side of my mouth for a sugar hit during the run. I ran down to Lake Ginninderra from home, round the lake and then back through the tunnel on to NIcholls in Gungahlin where I turned and headed for home. I was glad to finish but it was quite pleasant running on my own listening to a variety of music and letting my thoughts drift. In fact I had drifted far away when I suddenly noticed something slithering on the dry grass beside the path very near my feet and realised it was a long brown snake. I jumped and squealed and came back to the present moment in a big hurry. I'm glad there wasn't a soul around to witness my reaction! I am still not used to snakes as I see them rarely and having grown up in NZ where we don't have snakes it still gives me a big scare when they are that close!
Anyway, there were no more exciting incidents and I arrived home just in time for a quick shower before heading off to meet a friend to celebrate her birthday with a lovely lunch where CJ, Mr B, Jon and I had brekkie yesterday. Mmmm, I appreciated the coffee!
Total distance: 26km
Time taken: 2:48
Average pace per km: 6:28
Calories burned: 1441
Although the speed is very slow at the moment I'm just trying to build up the kilometres. I hope to squeeze in a short run with Teddy before heading off for Sydney in the morning.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Racing against Marty Dent!

Not everybody can say that they have run in the same 3000m track race as Marty Dent. Marty ran the Canberra Marathon in 2hrs 15mins in 2004 among other amazing feats such as winning the Sydney City to Surf in 2004. He also has a PB of 7:59 for 3000m. That's one of the benefits of joint meets at the track when the Veterans combine with ACT Athletics which include some very fast runners indeed! I was the only slow runner among a huge field of competitors and it was a little intimidating to say the least but the amazing thing is I didn't come in last, not quite!
Ewen and I ran round the outside of the track watching the runners in the mile race and other short events warming up at the same time. It was a good way to run 5km before the start of our event.
I felt sluggish and knew I wasn't going to achieve a PB in the race but I treated it as a tempo run as I needed the kms. And there I was in a super fast field. Marty only lapped me twice!!
Distance on track: 3000m
Time taken: 15:35 (Bron beat me by over 3mins and ran a PB of 12:33 - well done Bron!)
Total distance including 5km warm up and 1km cool down = 9km

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Wild Wednesday Weather

Brrrr summer disappeared today and it really was very cold. It didn't even reach the predicted maximum of 19deg. I went to the gym for an upper body workout but have recurring problems with my left wrist which is a bit restrictive lifting the heavier weights - very frustrating. I followed this with the Body Balance class before collecting Yelena to go to the BBQ Stakes handicap run at lunchtime. It drizzled on the drive there but the sun was out at the start of the run. However, I was only about a km into the run before the sky darkened, the headwind picked up and down came the rain. It wasn't just rain however, it turned into sleet which felt like hailstones and were actually quite painful. It was quite unpleasant for the next few kms and I'm sure many of us were asking ourselves why we were running! There were in fact 68 runners so it was an excellent turn out with many of the public servants being back at work after the Christmas break.
In the last 2km of the run the sun came out again and the wind dropped and although I was absolutely saturated by the finish at least it stopped raining. Gee, it was cold at the end though and it was good to enjoy a nice hot coffee with Jen and Yelena later. 
Total distance: 6km
Time taken: 36:23
Tonight I'm wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. I can't believe that this is almost the middle of January. Where has summer gone?

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Tuesday Run and a drop in temperature

Tuesday runs have been moved to 8.30am instead of 9.15am starts on a trial basis. Today was the first run at this time and as it happened the temperature was quite cool in comparison to what we have been having lately. However, it made for perfect running weather. I ran the first half of the run with Brian. The course was from Black Mountain peninsula to Cork Oaks Plantation over the gunbarrel so called because it is a trail that rolls over and over and is relatively steep. We included an extra loop and I ran the return trip with Marilyn. My legs felt very slow after last night's speedygeese session and it was a bit of a struggle. I was hanging out for water at the end.
Total distance of run: 12km
In the afternoon Talia and I went for a fun walk with Teddy along trails through trees, being intrepid explorers, carrying our supplies of water and sultanas just in case! Oh and of course an icecream was required after detours to two play areas on the way.
Total distance of walk: 4km

Monday, January 09, 2012

A speedy speedygeese session

Teddy and I went for our run yesterday at about 5pm with two detours to the drains for Teddy to hydrate. It was very humid at that time of the day and I was dripping by the time we returned. Teddy ran quite well although he defnitely enjoyed stopping for water. We ran on the lovely spongy grass at the oval for a short time and it felt great on the legs.
Total distance: 8.3km
This morning I squeezed in a gym session before spending the day with my beautiful 9year old grand-daughter. I warmed up for ten minutes on the cross trainer then concentrated on shoulders, biceps, triceps and abs. I really must seek out some wrist support straps as I have a very sore and tender wrist, probably from the weights at some stage.
Later Talia (Miss 9) and I went to Cockington Green miniature village which I haven't visited for some years, then to the cafe for a large bowl of wedges - not exactly healthy eating but fun! 
Later still it was off to the speedygeese session at Parliament House. Oh boy, that was challenging. After the usual warm up we headed for the rose gardens and this week ran 11 x 440m undulating repeats with a 200m sprint on the grassy flat at the top stretch by the road. Each repeat was on 2:45 and I was really happy that I just made each repeat on time and managed the full 11. I don't think I could have gone any faster though!
We had 20 starters at the session tonight - a great turnout including those who had returned from holidays and a few new geese. The temperature was much cooler than last week although it still felt very humid when we were running.
Total distance: 8.8km
And now there are 14 weeks until the Canberra Marathon so out comes the program! Day 1 has been achieved.

Sunday, January 08, 2012

A Tiny Setback

On Thursday morning I walked barefoot straight into the bathroom doorframe - that corner bit where the door closes - and ouch it hurt so much. It turned purple and red during the day and swelled up. I took Teddy for a 6km walk with Jen and baby Daniel delivering Avon books in the afternoon but realised there was no way I could race at track that night. It was disappointing to miss the first track of the season but I was elevating and icing instead. On Friday morning I swam 1km and walked but did not run. I was determined to run a good distance on Saturday.

On Sat I rose at 5am in order to digest my breakfast and headed down to meet up with speedygeoff, Ewen, Andy and Warrick at the ferry terminal for a long run. Everyone ran various distances but the plan for me was to run 22km. We started together but my pace was much slower than the others and although Andy ran the first few kms with me it wasn't long before I was running on my own and regretting that I didn't have my music. It was soooo quiet out there. We ran the West Basin of the lake anti-clockwise and fortunately the boys stopped to wait for me at about the 13km mark so that I knew where to run next! Andy, Ewen and I left Geoff and Warrick to continue on to cover 29km while Ewen ran 15km and Andy and I continued on past the carillon and covered 22km exactly before walking the last 600m back to the ferry terminal to stretch our tired legs.
Total distance: 22km
Time taken: 2hr21mins!
Average pace approx: 6:25 per km
Calories burned: 1235

I was slow but my toe only hurt when I stopped and during the warm up. Today it is aching a bit but that could be because of tiredness due to little sleep with little people staying the night. Mr Five suffers from night terrors and bed swapping resulted in a broken night's sleep. However, I plan to run with Teddy later in the day. We have been blessed with some much needed rain and I won't need to water the tomatoes today:)


First tomato from our garden:)


Wednesday, January 04, 2012

First BBQ Stakes Handicap for 2012:)

Today's forecast was for another very hot day but as it happened there was lots of cloud cover when we ran the BBQ Stakes and although the temp was over 31deg it didn't feel quite as bad as I expected. First thing in the morning I went for a 1km swim and I think it may have helped as my legs felt ok on the run. I arrived 5seconds before my start time and was still searching for the satellites on my garmin as I ran under the first tunnel. This was only about 300m from the start and finish line so I need to wait for the official times before establishing my exact time. I think it was about 36mins which is not very fast but the heat certainly was a factor. There were not many there today probably due to several people still being on holidays.
Today we ran the course in the opposite direction which happens on the first Wed of the month and means the first half of the run is uphill. It is also a teams event and IP office came across the line first.
Total distance: 6km
It was good to see Bob, Andy, Kerry and Caroline all running well.
Photo taken at NYE party. That's Bob on the right being Cadel Evans!

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

A very hot run at Tuesday group

Yes, it was a stinker this morning. Marg and I decided to start our run from Black Mountain about 30mins before the others but it was still very hot at 8.45am. Over the summer months the start time is going to be changed to 8.30am which is much more sensible when the temperatures are well over 30deg.
After last night's effort it took a while for my legs to feel good and I ran the first 5km with Marg around the West Basin part of the lake. She turned at 5km and I ran another km further before turning and chasing her. I finally caught up and then ran back to her whenever I got too far ahead which gave me a little more distance. It was very hot but I took water with me today which proved very necessary. It was good to catch up with all the others later and celebrate one of the birthday girls with icy cold champagne!  I use the word "girl" loosely as Pauline was turning 64 but I still feel like a girl at 61 so it's all a matter of perspective:)
Total distance: 13km



Monday, January 02, 2012

Ring out the old, bring in the new!

Here's to 2012. May it be a healthy, happy, injury-free year of good running for all of us. I also aim to keep my blog updated far more regularly than in 2011! It's quite amazing that another year has gone by so fast and here I am after four weeks of non-blogging trying to update my blog. Nope, it's too hard so instead I will just say that I've been running most days, swimming once a week and working out at the gym three times a week interspersed with daily Teddy walks and the occasional  bike ride.

The past few weeks have been a bit crazy. At the start of December I flew to NZ for my brother-in-law's 80th birthday. It was for just a brief very busy 5 days and then it was back to Canberra for a very busy festive season which included dinners, lunches, catch ups and of course Christmas shopping and baking and a house full of family - loads of happy, busy days. Mr B also entered his first Olympic triathlon and did really well, finishing only 10 seconds behind his nemesis, Bob.

On New Year's Eve I ran with speedygeoff and Andy round East Basin of the lake with a little extra to make a total distance of 20km. We ran at a slow pace but it felt great to be building up the kms at last and of course the company was good although we missed Ewen who was celebrating with his family in Wagga.

Mr B and I saw the New Year in at a party at a running friend's house. The theme was "What do you wanna be when you grow up?" There were some very interesting interpretations! Mr B went as The Stig out of Top Gear as he's always loved motor racing. I went as the car race starter chick. It was such fun.

Then on New Year's Day, after walking Teddy over to collect our car (hmmm no comment required), we drove to the south coast  for a swim in the surf followed by fish and chips by the beach before the two hour drive home again - a great way to start the New Year.

Tonight it was back to the speedygeese running at Parliament House. There were only ten of us tonight but it was a good session in very hot, sunny weather. We ran from the rose gardens up the steps to the flat grass by the road where we ran 200m sprint repeats then jogged back to the start (about 460m) on 2mins 30 to 3mins. We repeated this ten times although Bronwyn managed 13 times as she didn't slow down after the 200m sprints! I ran a total distance of 8.5km.

Judging by the soaring temperatures I think summer has finally arrived!