Only Four Weeks to Marathon Day!

Last week I ran my long run (34km) on Friday and we headed for Sydney straight afterwards. Marg joined me for 17km of my run which was great as it broke it up a bit and it's always lovely to have company. I ran from home to Gungahlin and Marg and I ran round Yerrabi Pond (where the Gungahlin Parkrun is held) and round the Crace loop (another newish suburb in Gungahlin). Then I ran home adding a little extra loop on the way.

Home, shower and then off to Sydney for The Eagles concert at Homebush. It was amazing. They sang all the old songs and we loved every minute of it. We stayed with our daughter and her husband in Waterloo for a couple of nights and managed a 9km run next morning including Centennial Park. On the Saturday evening we all went to the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade. It was loads of fun.

My total distance for the week was 84km.

 

This week I stuck to my program much more rigidly. It's my last really hard week as next weekend I have a half marathon event to run which means my long run is shorter.

As Monday was Canberra Day and a public holiday here our speedygeese session was held in a different venue at Yarralumla. I arrived at 4.30pm as did Miranda, speedygeoff and Dan which meant we were able to do a warm up of 6km before the main session. We used the oval for our main session which, after our warmup run, was a session of 40secs sprints on 2 mins with a jog between for a a total of 20minutes. We finished with a cool down run and had a bit of fun throwing a Frisbee around before jogging back to our cars.

On Tuesday I headed for Bruce Ridge where I ran hill fartleks of 2 x 60secs/60 float, 4 x 30/30, 2 x 60/60, 4 x 30/30 and 2 x 60/60. I then crossed the road to O'Connor Ridge where I managed to get a bit lost and had to ask directions to lead me back to the cycle track and run home again completing 17km before my afternoon work shift.

On Wednesday it was still dark when I headed out for my 13k run and I needed a headlight as I had to fit the run in before a full day at work.

Thursday it was back to the track where I took part in the 3000m fitness walk and the 3000m run with some jogging inbetween events to make up my distance of 9km altogether. I also did a Body Balance class with Miranda at another branch of my gym. It was a much bigger and more modern area than my usual gym and I really enjoyed it.

 

On Saturday I ran my long run leaving home before 6.30am, when it was just starting to get light, I ran to Lake Burley Griffin and on reaching the lake the first person I saw was Roger who is training for the Paris Marathon. It was a morning of seeing everyone. Next was Maria who is also training for Paris and she had Peter cycling beside her. Next sighting was Liz  running with a cyclist friend nearby. I also spotted Bob on his bike a couple of times. I ran West Basin including the extra Weston Park loop which is very pretty. Being early the hot air balloons were hovering overhead in the early sunrise. It was a beautiful sight. As I left the lake and headed home again it was a nice surprise to find that Mr B had cycled down on his mountain bike to meet me and ride the last 7km home where he suggested I run another 600m to round up my distance. I thought it was only me that did that. Anyway I ended up running 36km but I wasn't exactly fast. I must admit though that I didn't feel too sore and although I have been a bit tired and very hungry all weekend I feel more positive about the forthcoming marathon. It may be a slow one but I have more confidence in finishing it at least.

 

This morning (Sunday) was another early start as Mr B was competing in the ACT Triathlon Championships Olympic distance which is now known as the standard distance triathlon. It was a very cool morning and the wind picked up making the water choppy. CJ was also competing and Ewen joined me to cheer them on. We managed to squeeze in a 9km run while they were out on the bike leg. It was fun as we had a good view of the cyclists when we ran offroad beside them.

They both did well in not ideal conditions. It was an inspiring event altogether.

 

Total distance for week: 96.5km (I should have run that extra 500m if I had only realised)!

Bruce Ridge - kangaroo in distance

Clovelly Beach

Balloons over Lake Burley Griffin

Mardi Gras Parade Sydney





Mardi Gras Parade

Mardi Gras Parade



Telstra Tower in the distance on my long run

A competitor checking out swim start at triathlon