Woden on a Wet Wednesday

Body Balance was the first exercise on the menu on a cloudy Wednesday. When I emerged from the gym it was absolutely pouring down and I decided against driving to Woden to run. However, after a hot shower I looked out the window and the rain had stopped. My conscience got the better of me and I donned my running gear and headed off for the BBQ Stakes handicap. When I first arrived about 2 minutes before start time there were very few people there but gradually more people arrived. The rain very obligingly stopped for the run but the hills were muddy, slippery and slushy. My shoes collected heaps of mud and my feet felt like heavy lumps of lead. I'm sure they weighed a few extra kilos and dragged me down! Andy ran with me as he didn't want to set a PB and it was great to have company although of course that meant we did talk for the majority of the run. As a consequence my time was slower than last week although the climate was nice and cool for a tough hilly run.

Total distance: 6km plus warm-up

Time taken:37:26

Handicap: 5:30 (group 23)

Place: 34th (not sure how many starters today as they kept arriving late)

Tuesday group at Black Mountain Peninsula

This morning I joined the Tuesday group to run from the peninsula out to Scrivener Dam near the arboretum, over trails and mainly off-road. It was an interesting run through fences and muddy puddles. I ran with Marilyn today and we lost sight of Bryan and Alan on the way out so we were pretty relieved when we spotted them on the return loop and knew we had gone the right way. My legs were definitely leaden after last night's speedygeese hills session. Later we celebrated Terry and John's birthdays on a lovely sunny day.

Total distance: 10.3km

In the afternoon after pounding the pavements collecting Avon orders, I took Teddy for an 8km walk stopping half way to have coffee with a friend and a big bowl of water for Teddy!

Training on the HIlls!

Sunday - Vets' Handicap at O'Connor Ridge

We had a busy weekend helping our son's family move house and babysitting but it was very productive. On Sunday morning we made it to the monthly veterans' handicap run at O'Connor Ridge. This is a very undulating course and the weather was bleak with a cold headwind on parts of the run. I ran off Group 20 having been put back a couple of groups since the last handicap. Mr B ran off Group 29, having missed last month's handicap as he was competing in a duathlon at the time.

I actually like this course but I was watching my footing as it was very rough. I passed quite a number of people but a number of people passed me in the last couple of kms including our very speedy leader!

Handicap group: 20
Total distance: 8km plus 1km warm-up
Time taken: 49:08
Average pace per km: 6:08
Age percentile: 72.5%
Finish place: 48th (out of 94)


After the presentations I joined a number of speedygeese to celebrate Heidi's birthday for brunch at Black Pepper in Belconnen. It was great fun and we filled two tables with a gaggle of geese!

Monday - training at Parliament House

This morning I worked on chest, back and abs at the gym for just over an hour before heading into town for a scheduled routine mammogram. Oh the joys of being a woman of a certain age!! I am quite sure a man invented that nasty machine which has now gone digital - I swear it's even worse than it was two years ago!

Tonight after our warm up loops we headed for the bottom of the grassy hill opposite PH. Here we ran up all sections of the long hill and round a loop  back to the bottom of the hill and repeated this 3 times on five minutes. This was one set and we repeated the set 6 times for a total of 30minutes. We finished with a warm down loop of PH. It was a tough hill and a tough session - all in order to make us stronger!

Total distance: 7.5km

Mixing it up a bit!

Tuesday group

I had a lunch date in town at 12noon today so couldn't stay around after our Tuesday group run but I did manage to squeeze in one cup of tea and a short catch up with Rae. The run this week was from the peninsula to the trails of Black Mountain and over the hills. I was very conscious of the fact that last time I ran this route I fell flat on my face so I ran with caution on the rough surface. We spotted numerous kangaroos who were very "close and personal" and it was a pretty run and although a bit cool to start it certainly warmed up quickly on all those undulations! I ran with Brian and Marilyn and a few other caught up and joined us for the last few kms. I do love the trails but I run them slowly as I watch every step.

Total distance: 11km

Wednesday - BBQ Stakes

7am - abs class

7.15am - rower, cross trainer, leg press, chest press, upper body work, stretches, push ups

9.30am - Body Balance - stand-in instructor who took us through a very pilates based class - lots of abs work

I managed a total of 100 push ups on my toes today with rests and a break in the middle for the Body Balance class - 30, 20, (Body Balance) 30, 10, 10. My goal is to do 50 push ups on toes without stopping twice a day so that I can do 100 push ups every day. Hmmmm, it could be a while before I achieve this!

Next I drove to Woden to run the BBQ stakes. My handicap remained at 5.30 and Andy and Jen started with me as neither of them wanted to run fast. However at about 4km I urged them to run ahead. I ran faster than last week but didn't manage a PB. I was about 25secs slower than that.

Total distance: 6km

Time taken: 35:55

Thursday

I collected my grandaughter from school and had the great pleasure of taking her to her school concert performance and consequently couldn't attend speedygeese training tonight. Instead I took Teddy out for a run during the morning. He was great for the first half of the run but was feeling the heat in the last few kms and we had to keep detouring to the drains so that he could have a drink and run through the water. He does love a good run though and is great company.

Total distance: 10.2km

Friday

This morning I went to the gym for another workout. I only did 30 x 2 push ups on my toes today. I did a warm up on the rowing machine then worked on shoulders, triceps and abs. Later in the morning I spent 3 hours pounding the pavements collecting Avon orders. It's surprisingly tiring but the sun was streaming down and although it was very windy at times, it was very pleasant out there.

One Day .......

This morning I had a short session at the gym with a couple of appointments to squeeze in straight afterwards. I concentrated on upper body strength after a warm up on the cross trainer. 3 x 12 sets of each -Squats with a 15kg barbell, tricep dips with one leg elevated, walking lunges with 8kg weight in each hand, shoulder press, biceps curls and chest press with 17.5kg barbell.

In the afternoon I spent over 2.5 hours walking round the streets delivering Avon books. Yes, I have become an Avon lady - yet more exercise. One day I might even get fit!! It was a stunner of a day - the sun streamed down and it felt wonderful out there.

Off to the speedygeese at 5.30pm. One day I will make the 4.30pm early group - one day!
We ran the warm up loops of Parliament House then headed for the lower grassy square in front of PH where we were divided into relay teams of 3 based on height! I was in a team with Yelena and Caroline and Rebecca (first session tonight) ran with me. The main session was: 

sprint diagonal downhill & uphill alongside flag poles, jog backwards & forwards across short side x 2...repeat for 30mins. 

We finished with a warm down jog down to the lake and back to PH. It was a beautiful balmy evening, perfect running weather.

Total distance: 8.7km

Things that go BANG in the night!

Thursday 8 Sept - speedygeese training at Dickson oval 

There were 15 at the speedygeese session tonight and after our warm up loops we were divided into relay teams of 3 or 4. I was in a team of 3 with Miranda and Colin. I don't think I've ever run harder in a speedygeese session. Colin is probably our speediest goose and it meant there was not much rest between sprints. We alternated between 300m and 200m sprints with 100m slow between. We fnished with a slow lap of the oval.  

Total distance: 8km 

Friday - a rest from running but I did go to the gym for some upper body strength work. 

Saturday 

Ewen and I ran a gentle off road run to stretch our legs on the Mt Ainslie trails. We ran out for 3.5km then turned and ran back the way we came out.

Total distance: 7km (slowly)

Sunday 11 Sept- Canberra Times Fun Run

The weather was almost perfect (just a little wind in the last few kms) for the annual fun run. My legs felt a bit heavy at the start and I took off a little fast which made it difficult to keep up the pace.I think Canberra has a bit to learn with fun runs. There were not many spectators out there cheering and no bands or music like the City2Surf. I usually wear my ipod and don't notice but this year I ran without music and it did seem remarkably quiet! However, it's always fun afterwards when we catch up with lots of friends and compare results. In spite of the ideal conditions I still managed to run about 40secs slower than last year. In fact each year I seem to have run a little slower than the year before. Next year I should try training for this event or push myself a little more perhaps! 

Total distance: 10km
Time taken: 57:01

Monday - speedygeese at Parliament House

In the morning I did an upper body strength workout and later it was off to the speedygeese session. It was a stunning evening as we ran on the grassy diagonals in front of PH tonight. There was a full moon glowing and old and new Parliament Houses were aglow. The evening was still and quite balmy for this time of year. We ran in relay teams of three fast up and down on the diagonals and slow on the staights. Our team ran more gently as we were all suffering from annoying niggles and didn't want to make them worse. We finished wth a warm down loop. 

Total distance: 8km 
 
Tuesday run 

This morning we followed the edge of the lake past the National Museum to the globe just past Commonwealth Ave bridge where we literally "ran around the world" before returning the way we came. I ran out with Steve for company giving us a chance to have a catch up chat and on my return I ran with Alan who usually runs with Bryan who wasn't there today. It was a good social run but although the sun was shining the wind was a bit nasty, a head wind even after we ran round the world! 

Total distance: 11.5km 

Wednesday - no PB's today:(

First thing this morning I headed for the gym for an upper body strength session followed by a Body Balance class.Then later it was off to Woden for the BBQ Stakes 6km handicap. My hamstring has been playing up all week and today was no exception. Jen was recovering from the flu so was happy to run at my pace. When the headwind blew it felt like even more hills than there actually were. I found the run very tough today and as a consequence my time was nearly 2 mins slower than last week which was disappointing. 

Distance: 6km 

Time taken: 37:29 - my third slowest time:(

Thursday - training at Yarralumla 

Speedygeese training on Thursday evening was at the Yarralumla Dog Park as Dickson Oval is closed for a couple of weeks. We ran a warm up jog and then did a hill power run before heading for a lovely green, spongy oval.There was nobody else around so we had the oval to ourselves. Although it wasn't lit there was enough light shining from nearby houses to make it possible to train there for the entire half hour of one lap intervals with a lap jog's recovery, run as a relay in teams of three. I was in a team with Bronwyn and Colin - oh the pressure! Colin suffered an injury and had to pull out on about the third sprint and speedycoach took his place for the other three fast efforts. It was dark by the time we finished so we just ran back along the road to the dog park to collect our cars. It was great to try a different place to train on such a lovely surface.There were ten of us for the main session although Tori and Nadine left after the warm up after they had done an early run with speedygeoff. 

Total distance: 8km 

Friday 

Last night was rather eventful. Mr B was in Rockhampton playing squash all week so I was on my own. At 2am I was woken by a huge banging followed by two more. I had been in a deep sleep and was a bit confused, thinking "is that a noisy possum on the roof?" or is it gun practice somewhere?? Strange how the mind works. I eventually went back to sleep only to be woken again at 3.20am by a text beeping on my mobile from emergency services saying there had been a chemical incident in Mitchell and we were to stay indoors. The actual message read like this: "The ACT Fire Brigade responding to chemical 'insadent' in Mitchell. 'Resadents' of Franklin, Crace, Harrison, Watson, Downer, Kaleen, Lyneham, Hackett stay indoors." I think someone overlooked the spell check!! I then lay awake for ages before crawling out of bed, checking the radio for approval to go out and heading off to the gym to work on chest, triceps, shoulders, abs and stretches.

Later in the afternoon I took Teddy for a lovely walk along the North Lyneham ridge on a stunning evening. The view was glorious and the evening calm and beautiful. 

Saturday

At 8.55am Ewen and I ran from the War Memorial along the Ainslie track, through the bush to Campbell Pk, Duntroon, the Wetlands and back over Commonwealth Bridge along Anzac Pde and back to the War Memorial. We stopped on the trails to stare at what looked like a frill-necked lizard. It was so cute basking in the sun but a bit vulnerable so Ewen touched its tail so that it ran off under the safety of a tree. Later we enjoyed coffee and lunch at The Terrace Cafe at the War Memorial. 

Total distance: 16km

Tme taken: 1:46:18 

Average pace per km: 6.39 

Sunday 18 Sept 

This afternoon during what was probably the hottest part of the day when it was about 24deg I took Teddy for a run along the cycle track to the tunnel heading towards Gungahlin and home again. We had to stop 3 times for loo stops for Teddy (he's worse than his owner) and 3 times for him to drink from the drains but apart from that and three dogs to meet, he was pretty good and we had a pleasant run and definitely felt the difference in temperature! Total distance: 8km

BBQ Stakes Handicap at Woden

This morning I went to the gym for some strength work followed by a Body Balance class and a catch up with Miranda. Then I changed into my running gear and drove over to the south side for the BBQ Stakes run. My handicap is now 6 minutes. Last week it was 3:45. As this is the first Wednesday of the month the course was run in the opposite direction and Brian Wenn volunteered to run with me so I wouldn't get lost! However, there were plenty of people around to follow and after the first steep hill Brian zoomed ahead although he did turn to check I was ok. It was ideal conditions, a bit cool to start but the sun was struggling through and it was great running weather. I managed to run just 10 seconds faster than last week so I'm very gradually getting faster.

Distance: 6km

Time taken: 35:30 (according to Gandalf - last week 35:40 officially)

Spring Sunshine and Showers!

Thursday last week

Speedygeese session at Dickson oval and I was hurting. My hip/back gave me heaps of pain after the warm up and during the 200m sprints. We were divided into teams of three for a relay and I was with Marg (great to see her back running with us)and Miranda. The goal was to run 12 x 200m fast, tag the next team member and run a recovery jog back for approx 100m while waiting to be tagged. I was in pain for the entire session and even found the warm down tough work. I went to bed with two heat packs and lots of panadol.

Total distance: 8km

Friday - I didn't run and avoided the gym. I did lots of stretching and took the dog for a walk trying to ease out the soreness - more drugs:(

Saturday - YCRC 10 miler

I was determined to run this so rubbed in the deep heat, took a couple of tablets and registered for the run from Black Mtn Peninsula. I probably shouldn't have run feeling like I did but I hate missing opportunities to run relatively long distances with other people. It was freezing cold to start and I kept my gloves on for most of the way although I did still run in singlet and shorts and certainly warmed up eventually. Jen was kind enough to run beside me and I kept the metro runners in sight. In hindsight I should have stayed with them although it would have only given me a few more seconds. I was definitely not in form and had to be careful every step of the way.

Distance: 10 miles (16km)

Time taken: 1hr 39:40 (a PW by about 7 minutes!!)

Average pace per km: 6:11

Finish place: 69 (out of 78)

Here's hoping I can well and truly improve on this abysmal effort next year!

Monday

I woke up still sore, definitely pinpointing the lower back and left hamstring so I avoided the gym and decided to stretch out by taking Teddy for a very long walk. I organised to meet Marg and her little dog (also Teddy) on the way. We walked towards Gungahlin and covered a distance of 11.2km, managing to walk 1.5km of it with Marg's company which was fun. Teddy loved it!

speedygeese session at Parliament House

I ran the warm up loops and we headed for the hills. I was a bit uneasy about running the hill repeats so although I ran all the repeats but for most of them I only ran 2/3rds of the way up the hill as I didn't want to make the pain worse. I also ran gently. After 12 repeats of 100m hills on 90secs we ran some attrition sprints up the top half of the hill. Three of us girls were eliminated in the first sprint but were given the opportunity to run one more sprint at the end. I was still last but it was much closer that time. We ran a warm down loop of PH and I didn't appear to have any ill effects.

Total distance: 6km (a shorter session than usual)

Tuesday group at Black Mountain peninsula

This morning the running route was from the peninsula to the Cork Oaks Plantation and the arboretum and back. There is a very steep hill on the way and it is mainly offroad - a good surface. We ran past curiously lazy cows who just stood and stared at us on the way out but on the way back (love those downhills) they didn't even bother to stand up as we passed them. It had rained heavily earlier and the ground was wet but we were so lucky as the conditions were ideal, if a little cool to start, when we were running. I kept Bryan and Alan in sight and when Alan took a slight shortcut ran the remainder with Bryan. I always enjoy listening to his stories. Marilyn joined us on the return leg. I felt so much better today than I have these past few days.

Total distance: 12km

The rain decided to return when I took Teddy for his walk later in the day and we returned home looking like a couple of drowned rats!!