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!