Friday, March 29, 2013

A Very Brief Overview of the past few weeks!






Team MamaMoves after Women's and Girls Fun Run CJ and strewth top right and Marg kneeling in front of us.
Coffee after the Parkrun with Ewen, CJ, Norma and Marg


A curious goose in Centennial Park
I have started this blog several times and deleted many drafts. The time has come to return to frequent blog updates. It has been such a busy few weeks with trips to Sydney to see Ronan Keating (fantastic) and to Wollongong for an Olympic distance triathlon for Mr B where he scored a bronze medal. Mr B also scored a Bronze at the Olympic distance tri at Mooloolaba in Queensland.
More recently we returned to Sydney to see Bruce Springsteen (The Boss) and that has to be one of the best concerts we have ever seen. He sang non-stop for over 3 hours and really played to the audience with his amazing personality.
While in Sydney I ran several times to and round Centennial Park for enough laps to complete 18km each time. The Canberra Marathon is now only two weeks away and my final really long run before the marathon was last Saturday when I ran 36km with CJ keeping me company for 26km. Company makes such a difference and of course the coffee afterwards with Ewen, CJ and Mr CJ made it all worthwhile. 
Currently we are having our bathroom renovated and there has been a lot of time spent selecting tiles, vanity, taps, colours etc. Mr B returned to work on Monday for four days a week. Life is definitely busy and full.
This weekend Canberra is hosting the Australian Masters Athletics Championships. We had stunning conditions for Day 1 today. I was out there from 7.45am until nearly 5pm volunteering. It was surprisingly exhausting but great to be able to give something back to all those inspiring athletes. I will be back there on Sunday but tomorrow I have my first taper run of 20km and will include the Parkrun for a bit of a tempo run. I also have Avon to deliver!

Saturday, March 02, 2013

Friends are so important:)

On Wednesday I didn't have a work shift so I decided to go to BBQ Stakes in Woden. I haven't made it there for nearly 12months so it was a big adventure! The course has changed a little, for the better! I decided to run with Caroline and it was such fun to have her company and know I was going the right way. We had a lot of catching up (ie talking) to do so it was a great opportunity and the hills were far less noticeable that way! I ran about 3km with Jen before the event and afterwards Jen and I ran another 4km as I had 13km on my schedule. Ah, it's good to have accommodating friends who love to run!
Total distance of BBQ Stakes: 6km
Time taken: 37:59
Average pace per km: 6:16
Total distance for day: 13km (including warm up and cool down)

Thursday
On Thursday it rained nearly all day but just before I drove to track the rain stopped and the conditions were ideal for running. I met Marg in the carpark where we were informed that track session had been cancelled. It seemed a shame to waste the trip so we decided to go for a run anyway, outisde the track.
We headed out towards the city where we ran past Lyneham and down towards the lake. We turned and headed back supposedly the way we came but managed to lose the original track and ran a detour around O'Connor. We eventually found our way and surprisingly arrived back at our cars just at the exact distance that I required for my schedule. We also timed it perfectly in that the heavens opened just as we reached our two lonely cars in the carpark. Good luck or was that good management? I'm not sure Marg had intended to run that far but I was very happy to have her company and we were so lucky to avoid the rain and enjoy the cooler weather
Total distance: 14km
Time taken: 1:35:48
Average pace per km: 6:50
Calories burned: 802

Friday was a rest day although I worked the late shift. I enjoyed my Body Balance class in the morning. It really is the only way I do a decent stretch session and I really need it with my very inflexible body!

Saturday
The alarm was set far too early in order for me to digest breakfast and run out the door at 6.45am. I ran to Lake Burley Griffin and detoured on the way before meeting CJ at the ferry terminal at 8am after she had also run from home. The trouble is her distance from home was 2.5km further than mine which meant she was kind enough to run the extra kms at the end of her run so that I still had company. We tucked our ipods in our pockets and talked almost the entire way. When I arrived at the ferry terminal there was speedygeoff about to run too. We spotted him running in the opposite direction a couple of times on our run. We also spotted Liz and Pam out there later in our run and organised to meet Liz for coffee afterwards.
I have to say that was the most comfortable long run I have had for ages. It made such a difference having someone to talk to for the majority of the run and to share our pain. We did have to struggle over the last few kms as we battled a head wind running towards the carillon. There wasn't a lot of chatting going on at that stage as we were concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other but it was much better when we turned around and headed back to the ferry terminal. There Liz was waiting and we all headed off for coffee. The wait was too long, the coffee was mediocre but the company was fantastic. Friends are the best and I am so lucky with mine!
Total distance: 32.54km
Time taken: 3:39:47
Average pace per km: 6:45
Calories burned: 1903
Later after a quick shower I collected CJ and we drove back to the ferry terminal to watch Mr B compete in his first Olympic distance triathlon this season. The conditions were dreadful, choppy water in the lake and blustery cold weather. In spite of this he still finished first in his age group against several others. While he was out on his run CJ and I walked over to Stage 88 to collect our numbers for the Women's and Girls Fun Run in the morning. I think we may be running a little slowly after today!