A Shorter Session with the speedygeese!

Tonight I arrived at training in time for the main session only. My hip is painful and I am being a bit careful until I have advice from the physio on Wednesday.

We ran two loops of Parliament House before the main session which was one practice loop then three 954m undulating loops incorporating a different exercise station on each loop - push-ups, chin-ups and tricep dips - eight of each.

We then ran a cool-down loop. It was really dark down there on the trails so it was good that a few of us had headlamps to light the way.

Total distance: 8km

A Sunny Weekend of Running and Coffee ....

Or should that be coffee and running?? Canberra really excelled itself this weekend. The mornings were cold and crisp but as the sun came through the misty haze both days turned out to be gorgeous, sunny and a mild 17deg - fantastic Autumn weather for the middle of May.

Saturday

I met up with Andy at the War Memorial at 8.30am and we ran down to Molonglo Reach where Ewen joined us to run round the Duntroon Golf Course and past Campbell Park offices on the flat part of the trails and back again. Andy and I continued back to the war memorial while Ewen headed to Molonglo Reach where he collected his car and drove back to join us for coffee.

Total distance: 17km

Time taken: 1:50:59

Average pace per km: 6:30

It turned into a stunning day and we enjoyed great coffee and cake sitting outside the new cafe at the war memorial.

Sunday

This morning I met up with Thea, Ewen and Andy at the War Memorial at the very civilised hour of 9am. Although it was cool to start the sun soon warmed us up and it was just lovely out there. We ran along some of the Mt Ainslie track, past Campbell Park offices, through the wetlands, Kingston, Kings Avenue and back to the War Memorial along Anzac Parade keeping off-road as much as possible.

Total distance: 15km

Time taken: 1:36:52

Average pace per km: 6:27

Of course after the run we again headed for coffee at The Terrace restaurant at the War Memorial. Later Jen joined us for soup and a chat. It's so lovely sitting outside in the sunshine on these glorious days. It was also great to catch up with Thea again after such a long time. She is so well and happy.

Thursday training with the speedygeese

Tonight at Dickson Oval training we ran a couple of warm-up loops before running 850m repeats on handicaps. I started the first couple at zero handicap because my hamstring was hurting and I thought it would slow me down. However, after winning the first two repeats speedychief rehandicapped a few of us and gave me a handicap of 30secs for the next two repeats. I still won on the next 850m just sprinting past Caroline at the end but she was a long way ahead of me in the last round as she had truly warmed up by then!

My first 850m was 4:28, next 4:17, next 4:10 and last one 4:08.
Total distance: 7.5km

Strangely once I had warmed up properly my hamstring didn't feel so bad and I found I could push myself.

It was a cold night but very still and we became warm quite quickly!

A Few More Geese!

On Wednesday morning I returned to the gym for some strength work followed by the 15mins abs class and after work it was off to Parliament House to meet up with Jen, Chris and Andy for a short run in the cool of the evening. It had been a sunny but cold crisp day and I wore 3/4 length leggings and a long sleeved top and ear warmers throughout the entire run. We missed the company of Richard and Ewen tonight as we ran down past the lake and managed to keep in the reasonably well-lit places with the help of headlights.

Total distance: 10km

Photos: A few more speedygeese at the dinner. From top - chatting to Peter and Roger; with Chris; some of the geese at the table - Jen and Katherine, Jenny and Helen on the right, Peter talking to Caroline on the other side with Michelle in the distance; speedygeoff with Richard

Some Happy Geese!

I decided to go for a pleasant run in the sun on Monday morning as we had our speedygeese dinner in the evening instead of training. It was a gorgeous sunny day and I was so lucky not to have to go to work. I found as many off-road trails as I could, some new discoveries behind the streets. It was fun. In fact I felt on a real high in the sunshine. It's not often I have the opportunity to run at that time of day in the sun in a perfect temperature. I ran down past the AIS and on to the O'Connor Ridge where there were some lovely undulations. I was almost sorry to turn and run back over even more trails home again but I have been very careful to run only short gentle distances since the marathon as my hamstring is still uncomfortable. It was a lovely run.

Total distance: 10.7km

Time taken: 1:08

Average pace per km: 6:20

The speedygeese dinner attracted a record number of 35 speedygeese with some partners. As always it was a very enjoyable evening. Thank you speedycoach!

Photos: two grinning geese - strewth and Yelena; Warwick; Cheers - Katherine; speedyjen; speedygeoff and Jenny

Easing slowly back into it!

This morning I met up with Ewen at Molonglo at 9am - a very civilized hour for a run in the sun. It was a stunning morning - we ran on the sunny side of the trails and although the temperature was still only a few degrees at that time of day, it was very pleasant in the sunshine. We ran from Molonglo and past Campbell Park offices on the trails towards Mt Ainslie. It was pleasant, slow and fun. I was aware of the pain in my hamstring but it is definitely improving. It was good to run slowly and Ewen didn't seem to mind.

Later we met up with Liz at Campbell Shops for coffee where Andy joined us after his 23km run at the Cotter.

Total distance: 11km

Later still we drove out past Collector (about 40mins drive) for a wonderful family lunch at Grandma's Little Bakery - absolutely beautiful spot overlooking lots of little olive trees which are grown there. The countryside looked almost Tuscany-like - just lovely on a sunny Autumn day.

First gentle run after the marathon

Tonight I joined the speedygeese at Dickson Oval. I ran a couple of warm-up laps of the oval with them and then just trotted gently round and round the track while they did speedy 800m repeats. I ran with Yelena most of the time but her ITB was playing up and she was hurting even more than me so had to stop a bit earlier. My hamstring is still very tight and I think it may require another physio visit and some more exercises before I can run normally again. Never mind, it was worth it!

It was bitterly cold tonight once the sun went down and I wore my skins, long sleeved top and ear warmers. As I didn't take part in the speed work I kept these on the entire session!

After the session finished we enjoyed some of Janene's beautifully home baked cookies - absolutely delicious!

Total distance: 7.7km
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And some official marathon photos!

Just a few Marathon photos - more to come!

Just a few photos courtesy of Nadine.

The official photos are not yet on the website.

Inaugural National Capital Marathon DONE!

I am a very sore, tired but happy goose tonight! Yes, I'm happy because I finished and ran all the way in spite of a sore hamstring which niggled right from the start and did not improve with distance. However, the pain didn't become unbearable and I managed to finish and although my time was very slow I felt just so happy to finish my 9th Canberra Marathon. I am suffering now but it was worth it!

The conditions were perfect - a cool 2deg to start (brrr) but no wind and the sun streamed down as the day progressed. The early 7am start meant rising at 4.45am in order to digest a couple of pieces of toast and honey and leave home at 6am to arrive and park in plenty of time for a little warm up with Michelle and three nervous visits to the loo!

It was a well run event starting from Manuka Oval which had a plentiful supply of toilets and a special room for bags. It also included a stadium finish within the oval which was pretty exciting. The cheer squad was great.

I couldn't find the four hour balloon at the start and as a consequence I ran out too fast (again) as I assumed it was up ahead somewhere and was running to catch it! After about 2km along came Roger with the four hour balloon - oops! Later when I checked my garmin I discovered I had run the first km in 5:20 and the second km in 5:30 which is a bit fast for my prospective time and may explain why the balloon just ran on past and I didn't catch it again!

At the 5km mark I sighted Margaret who was running the half marathon and I ran with her until she turned off on the half marathon course at the 15km point. It was great running with someone at that stage and I was hoping she would make it in under two hours but unfortunately she missed out by a few minutes. However, she still came second in her age group. :)

After leaving Marg I plugged in my music to keep me company for the long hard run ahead. I had forgotten about all the undulations on that course and the bitumen which is so hard on the body. It was fun to see so many familiar faces out there and I remembered to smile for all the cameras along the way (hopefully) and the lovely encouraging spectators and volunteers.

This was an inaugural running weekend and I would think the Cross Country Club would be very happy with the way it turned out. It was great fun having the half marathoners run with the marathoners for the first 15km. There were lots of late entries. In fact they had only catered for 300 marathoners and 400 decided to run. As a consequence the last 100 have their medals posted to them so I was very lucky to receive one. I also received a medal for finishing third in my age group - amazing! Mind you the other two winners in my age group (Claire and Maria) did times of 3.40 and 3.42 respectively - fantastic!

It was a good day. I loved the finish and found a little bit of extra oomph in me to sprint past Katherine over the finish line - woo hoo! I think it was just that great crowd cheering us on, including my workmates who had brought huge pink pom poms and were screaming out my name. It was so cool. My son and grandchildren were there at the finish too which was just lovely. Mr B ran the half in 1hr 42mins so didn't quite beat his 1hr 40mins goal but I think he ran really well! There were some great times out there and lots of PBs were set and lots of first time marathoners who ran great times.

Later it was great to catch up with so many friends who had all run so well, including the lovely Norma (Lucky Legs) who, at age 80, had finished the half marathon in 2hrs 17mins - amazing effort.

The results are already on the website.

Total distance: 42.195km

Time taken: 4hrs 18min 22secs (2nd slowest time I have run)

Average pace per km: 6:07

Place in age group: 3rd

Place overall: 285th (out of 377 finishers)

Calories burned: 2,482

Next year I will run faster (does that sound familiar?) as it will be my year to become a Griffin when I will have run ten Canberra marathons - yay, not to be missed!

Two More Sleeps!

Thus it was that this morning I ran a gentle 20mins - 10mins out and 10mins back home again before work. That's my last run done and dusted. After work I had a massage which felt great. Hopefully the hamstring will last the distance. I am certainly still very aware of it. My personal drinks are all labelled and tomorrow afternoon is registration time where we collect our running chips and race numbers from Manuka Oval. I will also be cheering on the 5km runners in the afternoon. Go speedyewen go!

The temperature for Sunday sounds perfect with minimum 6deg and peaking at 22deg which will probably be after the marathon is over. It will be cold and crisp to start and hopefully the wind will stay away.

Winding down towards the big day

Wednesday

I ran from home at 6.45am just to sense the temperature on marathon day. It was cold enough to keep long sleeves on all the way - won't be doing that on Sunday. I'll just have to shiver at the start but the forecast on Sunday is for about 7deg reaching 22deg later in the day and sunny - sounds pleasant.

Total distance: 8.02km
Time taken: 46:28
Average pace per km: 5:47

The run felt comfortable although my hamstring is still niggly. I had my last physio appointment today and on Friday I have a massage which should hopefully ease out the sore bits for the big day.

Thursday

This morning I only had to run an easy run for 30mins. It was cold and windy but it felt pretty strange to run for such a short time. I bought all the bits to put on my personal drink bottles today. There's only three more sleeps! I do hope my hamstring holds out for the race.

Total distance: 5km
Time taken: 30mins
Average pace: 6mins per km

Happy Birthday to the Wombat

Today is Ewen's birthday but it didn't stop him coming out to the Vets' Handicap Run at Mt Majura today. I opted to be on roster duty as it is less than a week to the marathon now. There was quite a good turn out considering today was the Anzac Day public holiday. It felt like a Sunday as we are accustomed to running this event on a Sunday morning. Although it was cold early it turned out to be a gorgeous sunny day. Later a group of us had brunch at Carlo's - beautiful.

At 4.30pm I ran the early speedygeese warm up session only with Jen and Andy while Geoff and Craig led the way. It felt good although my hamstring is still sore and tight. Lots of stretching and exercises will be necessary this week I think.

Total distance: 8.17km

Time taken: 49:06

Average pace per km: 6mins

Anzac Weekend and the countdown continues!

Saturday

This morning I had a little sleep-in as we had arranged to run a little later. I met up with Ewen, Thea and Andy at the War Memorial for a mainly off-road run along Mt Ainslie track to Campbell Park, around Duntroon and through the Wetlands to Kingston, along Kings Avenue, past the carillon and along Anzac Parade back to the War Memorial.

It rained intermittently throughout our run, at times fairly steadily but it was great to catch up with Thea again after so long and the rain kept us all cool.

The only disappointing part of the run was the nasty concrete bridge which has replaced the lovely old wooden swing bridge in the Wetlands. The demand for progress can be so sad at times. The concrete alternative is ugly and hard on the feet. There was more concrete on the other side but we managed to avoid that by heading for the edge and the trails.

We arrived back at the War Memorial very wet and soggy but managed to find a bit of dry gear to change into before heading for the new cafe at the War Memorial. Andy had to leave at this stage but Thea, Ewen and I met up with Liz for much needed coffee and cake - lots of fun.

Total distance: 15km

Time taken: 1:35

Average pace per km: 6:20

Sunday - Anzac Day

This afternoon I ran from home along the cycle track past Giralang through to the tunnel heading towards Gungahlin and back again. After that I ran 6 x 80m strides jogging between each stride. I felt comfortable and the temperature was pleasantly cool which helped.

Total distance: 8km plus strides = 9.1km

Time taken for 8km: 46:30

Average pace per km: 5:49

Total distance for week: 55km

One week today until the marathon and counting!!

Short sprints at the oval

It was a gorgeous day today and the temperature was still pleasantly warm after 5pm when I headed for speedygeese training at Dickson oval. Margaret and I managed to run a loop warm-up before the main session started. My ankle had been niggly all day and it took quite some time for it to feel more comfortable on the run.

We started with a couple of warm-up loops and then divided into relay teams, the fastest one with four team members, the next with five and the "take it easy" team with six members. Now, there were some very speedy geese in this team and a couple of slow ones including me of course. We had to run a fast 100m, pass the baton to a team member then jog a further 100m to the next cone to wait for the next person to pass on the baton. The plan was to run 10 x 100m but I think our team only finished 9 before the fastest team finished. Afterwards we ran another cool down loop of the oval.

To make my distance up to 10km Jen and I ran another couple of large loops of the full oval.

Total distance: 10km

Continuing the Taper

This morning I went to the gym for an upper body strength session including using the rowing machine. Then I took part in the 15mins abs class before joining some of the gym girls for brekkie at Black Pepper - lovely.

At 6pm I met up with Richard and Jen for a run but unfortunately Jen had to leave us as she had brought the wrong bag with her - the one without her running gear!

Colleen, William, Chris, Andy and Ewen had already run 3km but ran back to meet us at Parliament House before venturing out again for an 8km anti-clockwise loop of Central Basin at the lake. Richard, Andy and I ran an extra 2km loop of PH at the end to make the distance up to 10km. I wore my headlamp as it was dark when we ran but it was surprisingly warm for the time of day. Next week's forecast is a different story!

Total distance: 10km

Last speedygeese relay session

This afternoon I met up with Jen and Ewen prior to speedygeoff's training to run a short warm-up of 3km before the main session. We met up with the group at 5.30pm for a similar session to last Monday. We ran a couple of warm-up loops and then headed for the grassy bank in front of PH. Here we divided into three groups of six approximately and ran a 20 minute relay of 115m diagonals down the grassy bank, steep 100m uphills and 60m straight across the top after being tagged inbetween each section. We then ran a warm-down loop in and out the trails back to PH carpark using headlamps in the dark.

Distance including early warm-up: 10.4km

Only Two Weeks to the Marathon

Some places where we run - strewth and Jen

On Wednesday before work I did a bit of a workout at the gym followed by a 15mins abs class. Then at 5.30pm I met up with Ewen, Chris, Jen, Richard and Andy for a mid distance run. We ran from Parliament House over Commonwealth Ave Bridge to the University along Northbourne Ave through the city and back to PH.

Total distance: 16km

Time taken: 1:40:22

Average pace per km: 6:15

After the run we all decided on impulse that we felt like pizza and we piled into Richard's car and zoomed off to Kingston to find somewhere to eat. It was loads of fun and considering our state of dress we made sure we sat a long way away from anyone else!

Thursday - speedygeese at Dickson Oval

I ran a warm up of 2km before the rest of the geese arrived for our training. Geoff and Craig had already run a 12km warm-up earlier but I didn't need quite that much distance this week.

After a couple of warm-up loops of the full oval we were divided into teams of two (Margaret and I were put together) of similar speed and ran a fast 300 passing the baton to the next team member and jogging back 100m before they arrived to pass the baton back. The idea was to run 12 repeats if possible. We barely managed 10 but it was a good speedy interval session.

We finished with another wam down.

Total distance: 11km

Saturday

Today's long run was the start of my taper for the National Capital Marathon in a couple of weeks. I met up with Ewen, Andy and Jen at Regatta Point and we ran in a westerly direction past Black Mountain on the cycle parth turning right at the underpass and heading toward the Corkwoods Plantation on a dirt trail to the Arboretum and Stromlo Forest then back past the zoo and on to the cycle path again to the Museum and back to Regatta Point where we left Ewen and Andy while Jen and I ran an extra 4km. It was great to run off road again although there were a number of undulations which slowed us down considerably. Later Ewen and I enjoyed brunch at The Deck enjoying the lovely views on a spectacular Autumn day in Canberra.

The weather lately has been nothing less than perfect!

Total distance: 26:18

Time taken: 2:47:41

Average pace per km: 6:24

Calories burned: 1515

In the evening Mr B and I visited the Paris Masterpieces on display at the National Gallery - our last opportunity. I am so glad we didn't miss out. It was fabulous. We are so lucky to live here in Canberra and be given such amazing opportunities - beautiful.

Sunday - drills

At 11am (how civilized) I met up with Ewen at PH again and we ran down to the front of Questacon to meet Jen to run some drills. After a few kms warm up run we did the following drills and everyone struggled a bit as it's been some weeks since we've done our drills.

2 x schoolyard skipping

2 x high knee skipping

2 x flat foot marching

2 x high knees

2 butt kicks

2 running forwards/backwards

2 x carioca

We used a distance of about 60m and ran 2 x strides between each set. Next we ran to the west side of Parliament House where Ewen found us a nice steep hill and we used it to run as fast as possible to the top (about 40m) x 6 times jogging back down and fully recovering between each repeat. It was tough.

We finished with a gentle warm down to make up our distance before heading for the coffee shop by the lake to enjoy sitting in the sunshine before walking through the Italian car and motorbike exhibition near old PH. Wow there were some amazing cars - those ferraris - what can I say? AWESOME!!

Total distance: 8.5km

Total distance for first week of taper: 77km

To top off the day Mr B and I took our grand-daughter to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D - such fun!

Speedygeese on Monday

There were 7 of us at the early session tonight for the 8km warm up and a cracking pace was set as all the other runners were fast. I managed to keep up although after the 4km turnaround Geoff dropped back to run with me as I was at the back although still keeping the others in sight.

Back at Parliament House we were joined by the others and ran a warm up loop of PH before the main set. There were 18 speedygeese for the main session and we did a similar session to last week, dividing into three teams of six to run three at a time in relays with very little break between taggings by our team member running down the diagonal and up the hill and across the flat on the grassy bank in front of PH for a solid 20 minutes. It was quite dark by the time we were 3/4 of the way through the session so I was glad of my headlight to light the way. We finished with a warm down wending in and up the loops and banks round PH and back to the carpark.

Total distance: 15km (including warm-ups)

Sunday Fun Day!

This morning was the Women's and Girls' Fun Run starting at 9am from Stage 88. There were 1073 finishers on a gorgeous morning. There was a bit of wind on the second half but the conditions were mainly good. With all those women and young girls it was difficult in parts to pass people. However, I managed to start up the front and as a consequence started too fast. My km times went like this:

4:57, 5:19, 5:24, 5:32, 5:33

Oops, obviously I was worn out by the uphill near the finish! There was lots of fruit and hot cross buns at the end and it was really cool having lots of male helpers out there. It is always such a well organised event.

Distance of run: 5km
Time taken: 26:46
Average pace per km: 5:20
Place in age group: 3rd
Place overall: 119th (out of 1073 finishers)
Plus 1km warm up and 1km cool down
Total for day: 7km
Total distance for week: 102km (woo hoo!)

The most exciting part of the run was that Norma (Lucky Legs) drove from Mittagong to take part and it was so good to catch up with her. She won her age group (W80) in an inspirational time of 31.25mins. I might add there were 3 entrants in the W80+ category but they were all much slower than Norma. After all the awards and barrel draws had finished Ewen, Norma and I enjoyed a beaut brunch at The Deck. Yes, today was a fun day.