Vets' Monthly Handicap at Stromlo Forest Park

This morning I did not have a very fortuitous start to the day as I woke naturally to discover I had set the alarm for 6.45PM instead of 6.45AM. This only put me half an hour behind but it did mean I ate my breakfast a little closer to the run than I normally would like to do. 

It was also very cold early in the morning and it was important to run a warm up when I arrived. Jen ran a 2km warm up with me before I started in Group 18. Once warmed up I felt a lot better although my hamstring was a bit stiff and sore. There were a few people still complaining about the cold but I would much rather run in cooler conditions than when it's piping hot. It was an undulating double out and back course but the surface felt great underfoot and it wasn't too bad although I was pretty slow on the uphills. I managed a little sprint over the finish line as I was starting to feel stronger by then. It takes a while!

Distance: 8km

Time taken: 47:27

Average pace per km: 5:48

Finish Place: 26th (out of 89 finishers)

Total distance for day: 10km

Total distance for week: 102km

After the run Mr B and I joined Jen, Ewen, Andy and Anna for coffee at Lava in Western Creek. It was very pleasant and relaxing. Later it turned into a very pleasant sunny Autumn day which I spent mainly inside clearing everything out of our main bedroom in order for Mr B to paint the walls and for a new carpet to be laid after the ensuite is finished. I have accumulated so much since we had our extension done in 1986. It's well and truly time for a major clean out!

There's now only three weeks until marathon day. How is this possible? Eeeek!

Saturday's longest last run before marathon

Andy with his daughter Anna at Urban Foods joining Ewen and I for cake and coffee

My healthy bircher muesli after my 34km run - yummy!

I arrived at the ferry terminal this morning only just in time to run 4km past some construction work at the museum and back along the dirt track before I joined a gaggle of speedygeese at 8am back at the start. I then ran another loop just behind the group around the Black Mountain Peninsula (familiar territory) before again returning to the ferry terminal where speedygeoff had arranged to meet Andy. We all ran various distances vaguely in the same direction for a while before speedygeoff ran with me at a gentler pace round the detour of the wetlands, through Kingston and back under the bridge and past the yacht club. I turned at 29km while he continued round the lake. It was great to have his company. Thank you speedycoach!

I headed back past the yacht club and under the bridge to make up the kms and then turned and ran over the bridge and back to the ferry terminal trying to pick up pace for the last 30mins.

Back at the ferry terminal after my long run was done and dusted I met Ewen, Andy and his daughter Anna and we headed over the walking bridge to Urban Foods for a lovely brekkie (in my instance) and cake for the others. The price of coffee here is over the top but the quality of both food and coffee more than compensates. It was lovely.

Total distance: 34.24km
Time taken: 3hrs 42mins
Average pace per km: 6:30
Calories burned: 1896

Hills, Undulations, Trails and more hills!

Wednesday

A gym session to start the day this morning; ten minutes on the cross trainer as a warm up followed by 30 push ups and work on the shoulders, biceps, triceps and abs.

I arrived at BBQ Stakes in time for a 2km warm up before Jen joined me for another 2km before the run started. I struggled with the hills today. They felt huge. I definitely slowed down!

Total distance of race: 6km

Time taken: 38:10 (I think that's the slowest this year)
Average pace per km: 6:19
Total distance for day: 10km

After a light lunch and beaut coffee with Jen in Kingston I had a great remedial massage where he found all my sore spots - all good pain!

Thursday

Track session was not held tonight due to championship events over the weekend so instead I went for a fartlek session on rolling hills in the late afternoon. By then the sun was shining and it was surprisingly warm! I ran from home past the AIS and on to O'Connor Ridge. The trails and hills there are great. My fartlek session was as follows:

2 x 60secs fast/60secs float

4 x 30secs fast/30 secs float

2 x 60secs fast/60secs float

4 x 30secs fast/30secs float

2 x 60secs fast/60secs float

Then I ran back along the trails and on to the track past the AIS and on towards home.

Total distance: 13km

Number 700

Canberra Marathon Race Number

Weston Creek Half Marathon - running happy!

Monday

In the mail today I received my race number for the Canberra Marathon. HELP - that makes it very real. Here's hoping our Griffin singlets are organised on time. The logo was apparently taken to the distributor today so fingers crossed!

When I walked round in my half sleep this morning my ankles were sore and I felt a bit sore. First stop was the local gym where I warmed up with 5 minutes on the cross trainer, 6 minutes on the rower and 30 push ups before concentrating on the chest, back and abs.

speedygeese training 

I arrived with just enough time to run a 1.6km loop of Parliament House before the main session. This session was a similar session to last week except we ran our 1km loops in the opposite direction. In the slow loops between I chose to do my exercises on the tricep dips as my triceps need all the help I can give them!

After the warm down I ran an extra loop of Parliament House  to make up my distance for the day.

Total distance: 12km

Tuesday

Jen joined me at Tuesday group where we were directed to run the Black Mountain loop. Two problems; we started just as everyone was disappearing in the distance and although we managed to catch the walkers a number of them turned back early or did a shorter detour. We caught up with a couple of people who gave us directions, one was on the return journey at the time, but we still managed to take the wrong turn and end up lost on the trails somewhere. It was however just fantastic to be running on the trails, some of it was pretty rough underfoot but the rest made up for it. There were a number of hills and a lot of muddy puddles and slush but it was fun on the whole. I'm so glad Jen was with me. Somehow being lost is ok with company! We did eventually make it back in a very slow time.

Total distance: 13km

Summer series - Stromlo Forest Park

I arrived for this event in time to run a 1km loop on my own before speedygeoff and Ewen joined me for the 2nd km. The grass was lovely and the weather sunny but not too too hot. In fact the conditions were ideal. My legs however felt very slow and tired. Caroline was running and I was determined to finish before her. I did but it was oh so close. I could almost hear her breathing down my neck and had to do a bit of a sprint finish with all I had left!

I finished the day's running with a 2km warm down with Geoff and Ewen.

Distance of run: 5km (plus 4.6km warm up and warm down)

Time taken: 28:09

Average pace per km: 5:38

This was the final of the summer series so next Tuesday I will only be running once a day at a faster pace than I am currently at Tuesday group.

Total distance for day: 22.6km

Meanwhile on the home front our ensuite has been pulled out and renovations have begun. This means Mr B and I have moved into the other bedroom and our house is in some disarray! Fun times! In fact Teddy had two walks today just to keep him away from all the excitement!

Weston Creek Half on a Perfect Day!

After the Half Marathon, Team Half and Half and Strewth

What an exciting weekend! Yesterday I took as my rest day apart from a short 3km run with Teddy in the afternoon to give him a fast run on the grassy oval with a playmate he found. Late last night my daughter telephoned with the exciting news that she and her lovely man are engaged. They live in Sydney and he had come to Canberra for business during the week and arranged to have a drink with Mr B and me to ask our permission to marry our daughter. We are absolutely delighted and apparently it was a very romantic and magical proposal.

The beautiful engagement ring!

I didn't sleep a lot last night. Whether it was excitement at the news or anticipation for today's race I don't know but the alarm seemed to go off very soon after I finally fell asleep! I had a couple of pieces of white toast and honey and a cup of tea two hours before the run start. There was only time for a 1km warm up before the run by the time I collected my number and chatted to lots of people. However a little warm up is better than no warm up at all in theory.

The first few kms of the run felt hard and my hamstring was really tight and sore for about 10km. After the turnaround I felt much stronger - very strange but suddenly I felt much better and didn't really notice that I didn't have music because there was so much going on around me. There was a boat regatta happening on the water and lots of cyclists including a cycling event. I'm glad I had run the course before because there were a couple of places where I may have become confused as the cycle event red arrows pointed a different way! With no sense of direction I was happy to see runners up ahead and know I was running in the right direction. Just near Scrivener Dam I spotted Cookie up ahead and put on my accelerator to chase her down. I managed to catch and pass her which really pleased me as she is running really well. This was her first half marathon and she ran it in 2:03 which is awesome for a first one. 

I ran my 19th km in 5:30 pace which was my fastest km. It must have had some downhill. There were a few nasty hills out there including the long one past Scrivener Dam and a few more undulations after that which I'm sure slowed me down. The conditions were perfect for running, cool to start but warming up to a lovely morning after a heavy downfall during the night.

Total distance: 21km (plus 1km warm up)

Time taken: 2:01:30

Average pace per km: 5:46

Place in age group: 1st (woo hoo - a Runners' Shop voucher)

Calories burned: 1165
Total distance for week: 89km

We scored well today with CJ and Mr B winning 3rd place in the teams event and scoring a big box of choccies each. Mr B also won a barrel draw of a bottle of wine and CJ a bag of M&Ms. Yay for chocolate and wine!

Bitsy Runs

Thursday

First thing in the morning I ran with Teddy to the groomer and ran home again to change and head to Tilleys to meet a friend. It was a warm, sunny day.

Total distance: 5km

In the early evening I went to track to run some more kms with company as part of the training and not to achieve any great times. I was also very aware that on Sunday I have entered the Weston Creek Half Marathon and should not be running hard at this stage. I ran a short warm up and then found myself lining up for the start of the 3000m with no intention of racing it. In fact I ran the entire race with Ken E's company and taking it anything but seriously. I really enjoyed running it this way - no heavy breathing, no sore legs and feeling very relaxed. I couldn't have done it without company and someone behind or in front of me at all times telling me just to stay at the same steady pace.

Distance: 3000m 

Time taken: 16:50:64 (probably a PW for this season but a good tempo training run)

Average pace per km: 5:40

In the same race Kathy S broke the Australian W55 record in a time of 11:12:51 which was 93.4% in the age percentile rating - amazing!

The next event was the 2000m handicap walk. I was given a handicap of 6mins 15secs and felt quite comfortable.

Distance of walk: 2000m

Time taken: 14:20

The last event of the evening was the 7 lap spiral handicap and I had handicap of 27. I ran this as well as I could but I wasn't in contention to win a place in the pointscore so felt fairly comfortable.

Distance: Just under 3000m

Time taken: 15:39

Average pace per km: 5:18

Total distance for day (including runs inbetween events): 14km

Friday

I started the day with a run around the suburb heading for Gungahlin. It was cool and very pleasant at 8am and I enjoyed the run.

Total distance: 8km

I also enjoyed a remedial massage in Kingston after my run - sore in parts but it felt so good. This was followed by a delightful lunch and beautiful coffee at Kingston Grind with two good friends and a quick look in Lululemon before heading to Fyshwick to check out singlet availability for our Canberra Marathon Griffin singlets - fingers crossed we will be able to run in them in four weeks time!

Deja Vu

Tuesday 
Tuesday Group - Black Mountain Peninsula

This morning Jen joined us on our run from Black Mountain. We ran past Scrivener Dam to the 5.5km mark then turned and ran back. The start time has been moved back to 9.15am now that the supposedly cooler weather has started. Actually the last few days have been superb. Perhaps we are experiencing a late summer! We celebrated two birthdays today - a 60th and a 65th - more champagne and cake!

Total distance: 11km

6.15pm Summer Series - Black Mountain Peninsula

Yes, back to Black Mountain Peninsula for the YCRC run tonight. I managed a run around the course with Geoff and Ewen before the race and made it up to 2km. The run was a 3 lapped course over the grass which was long, hiding all the hidden potholes - a hidden trap for turning ankles. It was also quite hot even at that time of day. I found the race really hard work. I kept watching my footing and I managed a PW for this season - oh dear, not good:( My tummy felt bad throughout the entire run. Note to self: Do NOT indulge in cake and champagne after Tuesday group run - it does not have a good effect!

After the run I ran a 2km warm down with Maria with Ewen and Geoff ahead and running a little further.

Distance of race: 5km

Time taken: 29:33

Average pace per km: 5:54

Total distance for day with warm up and warm down: 20km

Wednesday

This morning it was off to the local gym for an upper body work out after a 15min warm up on the cross trainer. 

At lunch time I ran a couple of kms warm up with Jen before the BBQ Stakes run. It was hot and I was so slow. I didn't realise I was as slow as I was until I looked at my watch as I ran over the finish line - oops! Jen and I ran just over 2km for a cool down to give me my total for the day.

Distance of race: 6km

Time taken: 37:15

Average pace per km: 6:13

Total distance for day: 10km

I'm becoming a tad worried about the half marathon on Sunday. I'm not running well at all at the moment:( There is no chance to taper as it will be treated as just part of my training for the marathon. Tomorrow night is track although it probably wouldn't be wise to race the events so I might just treat them as tempo runs. Here's hoping the forecast for storms doesn't come about. It always seems to rain on a Thursday night!

moment!

Happy 99th birthday Canberra!

Speedygeese 'Looping' at Parliament House

Next year we will celebrate another century - Canberra's 100th birthday. Today was a Canberra public holiday to celebrate the 99th year of its birth. The gym had limited hours but I did go to Club Lime at CISAC for the first time. Having been a member of a much smaller gym and last week paying my first visit to Club Lime in Kaleen which is also small, it was just a tad intimidating to enter such an absolutely enormous gym. I managed to follow my chest, back and abs program after a 6min warm up on the rower and 20 push ups. It felt quite strange for a while but I know I will get used to it. Today was exceptionally busy being a holiday. I'm hoping it won't usually be this busy - even parking was at a premium!

Later, after delivering some Avon and Teddy's walk I headed for the speedygeese session at Parliament House. I managed just one loop round Parliament House before it was time to start our session. After our warm up loops we headed for the area beside the oval where we ran an undulating 1km loop as fast as possible followed by a slow 1km loop incorporating one of the fitness trail stations (in my case either push ups on the bars or tricep dips). We repeated the fast loop 3 times and the slow loop twice after our initial test loop. We finished with a warm down loop of PH and I ran an extra loop to make up my distance for the day. It was a really pleasant day today, not too hot or cold, perfect for running.

Total distance: 12km

Ewen scores a century and so do I!

Ewen having achieved 100 runs in 100 days!

speedygeoff and Ewen after "the streak"

Yesterday, Sunday, I drove to Stromlo Forest Park to witness Ewen running his 100th run in 100 consecutive days. Cathy achieved this goal three days ago and Ewen is very close on her tail. Speedygeoff is also on a running streak and is now over 70 runs. Me - I am comfortable and feel more confident of staying relatively injury-free taking one rest day a week. I think it is amazing to be able to run every single day without a break.

Stromlo was lovely. The grass was spongy underfoot and the weather was cloudy, a bit humid but really pleasant for running, especially at the pace I was going! speedyAndrew and speedyLucia ran 4 x 1km intervals at just under or over 4min km pace on the undulating terrain. Ewen, Geoff and I ran their warm down loops in between each km and ran part of the loops slowly while they were running fast. We also ran a full loop at the start and end to make up the distance. Ewen and I ran 12km and Geoff ran a few more after we finished. I don't think I would have done that without company so was very happy with the result and also with the fact that I had the rest of the day free and it was still mid-morning! Thank you boys:)

Total: 12km
Total for week: 100km - yes, another century scored!

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy!

At last we had a beautiful day for the start of the Canberra long weekend. It was cool at 7.20am when I started my run but warmed up to a lovely temperature. The lake looked stunning with the balloons floating above it and the trees reflecting in it. I just tried not to look at all the debris that had been washed up because of the storms or the greeny brown colour of the water!

I parked my car at Black Mountain peninsula and ran to the museum and back. I then ran a loop round the peninsula while I was waiting for Jen to arrive to join me for part of my long run.  In this short part of the run I spotted Mel, Liz, Warwick, Robyn, Robbie and lots of other familiar faces out there.

Jen and I ran round the west basin of the lake and on the way we were joined by Richard. Jen ran about 10km with me and Richard 8km of those. They then headed off to their cars to collect their bikes while I continued on to run the wetlands and east basin end of the lake. We saw Robbie twice more. He was either running extremely fast or he was running loops. I think the former is more likely. While the others were running ahead I also stopped for a quick chat with speedygeoff and Craig who were running in the opposite direction. It was fun to see so many people out there running, cycling, walking and generally enjoying the sunshine.

I was up to Molonglo Reach and had run 28km by the time Richard and Jen rode up on their bikes. When we came to the broken and missing section of the path we headed up to the road and did a bit of a detour. At that stage I lost the others again and ran on my own for quite some time before Jen came to ride with me again for the last 5km. Once we reached the ferry terminal I was up to 34km and as there were only 3km left to reach my car I decided to keep running as I felt ok.

The last little bit of the run felt a bit hard as it was uphill but I made it and ran an extra 600m past the car just to round up the kms!

Total distance: 37km

Time taken: 4hours exactly

Average pace per km: 6:30

Calories burned: 2045

We next headed for Lonsdale Street in the city to enjoy a lovely coffee and something to eat at Debacle as the favoured cafe nearby was absolutely overflowing and there were just no spots for us to sit. At Debacle we sat outside in the sunshine. I chose some lovely banana and walnut toast with ricotta and honey - quite delicious!

Later Mr B and I wandered round exhibition houses checking out bathrooms for ideas as we are about to have our ensuite revamped.

Just before dinner I luxuriated in an epsom salts bath at the recommendation of the lovely man who gave me the best massage yesterday - such heaven. Hopefully I will sleep well tonight and manage to go to Stromlo for a gentle run in the morning.

Track before the rain set in (AGAIN)!

Thursday track run

On Thursday I ran a short run with Teddy, just to ensure I had enough distance for the day, before heading off to track at the AIS . The rain had been off and on most of the day and I was watching the weather with trepidation in case track was cancelled again. I arrived in time for a warm up of a couple of loops round the track before the 3000m Pennington at 6pm which was handicapped by age. I was the first starter alongside the very fast Kathy S and the third last finisher in a 'not at all' speedy time!

Distance: 3000m

Time taken: 15:38

Average pace per km: 5:16

Age percentage: 72.9%

At 6.30pm I took part in the 1500m fitness walk. This was also a handicapped event and I started on 6:25.

Distance: 1500m

Time taken: 10:44 (walk)

After that I just ran gently round the track waiting for the last event, the spiral. However rain started falling and soon everyone was running for shelter as it began to pelt down as the sky darkened and the thunder rumbled in the distance. The 4 x 1500m relay was well under way when the race was stopped as the lightning was flashing and the thunder sounded very close. The track at this stage was filling up with water and the poor runners came back to shelter looking like drowned rats. Further track events were cancelled as we headed for hot drinks and supper. I therefore didn't quite reach my required kms for the day. I will just have to make up the extra km over the weekend!

Total distance for day: 10.8km (1.2km short of planned session)

Today (Friday) was my rest day and I started it with the best remedial massage in the world - wonderful pain!

Autumn Winds!

On Sunday it was Cathy's birthday and Mr B and I went to visit her with a gluten free "cat" birthday cake.

Monday - gym and speedygeese

At last the rain stopped and the sun came smiling through in style. It was a gorgeous day which included a gym session, a lovely long walk with Teddy and a speedygeese session.

Today was my very last visit to Club Pink having moved my membership over to Club Lime. I therefore ensured I did a really good workout and covered everything on my plan for upper body work and abs after a warm up on the cross trainer.

It was therefore quite a surprise when at training tonight our main session included a circuit on the grassy west side oval. Yelena and I arrived early enough just to run a couple of kms with speedycoach before the main warm up session. This was fortunate as my program required 11km and we ran fewer kms than usual in the main session as 20 minutes of the session involved exercises and sprints. The five exercise stations were crunches, squats, push-ups, lunges, and calf raises, some of which I had already done in the morning's gym session! We started with one exercise at each station and increased by one each time we repeated.

It was lots of fun and I managed to achieve 10 sets which pleased me after the morning's hard workout.. We finished with a warm down and then I ran a further few kms to make my total distance just 1km short for the day.

Total distance: 11km

Tuesday - Two Runs Day

8.30am - Tuesday Group from Black Mountain Peninsula.

Today's run was from the peninsula to Haig Park. I ran partly with Margaret and mainly with Marilyn and we ran a little detour round Haig Park which was extremely soggy and squelchy underfoot. We celebrated three birthdays today (a 78th, 74th and 72nd) with cake and champagne in plentiful supply!

Total distance: 10km

YCRC Summer Series Run at Acton Ferry Terminal - 6.15pm

I arrived early enough to run 2km as a warm up for the run this afternoon. Although it was flat there was a cross wind going out and a huge puddle of water across the path just before the half way mark which was worse to try to avoid as the grass was muddy, slippery and sloshy. On the return I just ran straight through the puddles. It was quicker, fun and I was muddy anyway. I should have done that on the way out to save a few seconds! I was not last but near the back spot. Everybody seems to be faster than they used to be or am I just slowing down even more?

Distance for race: 5km

Time taken: 27:11

Average pace per km: 5:26

Total distance for day: 17km

Wednesday - Gym and BBQ Stakes Race

9.30am - Gym

This was my first time at Club Lime and I decided to try out the local one in Kaleen. I arrived just in time for a cross training class so decided to try it out just for fun. It turned out to be a very aerobic warm up to music, where I was pretty uncoordinated, followed by a circuit session with lots of stations with a different exercise at each one - a little like Monday's speedygeese session only on a larger scale - 60seconds on each station can seem a long time when you are doing tricep dips, knees ups, kick backs or sit ups as a few examples. The one station where you ran round and round the gym was a pleasant relief! At the end of the session we did abs exercises and stretches.

This was 45minutes of quite hard work and I was a bit worried about the run to follow.

12.20pm - BBQ Stakes

Today, being the first Wednesday in the month, the run was in the opposite direction to usual and the conditions were difficult. This is supposed to be the start of Autumn but oh boy it was cold and windy and quite unpleasant running today. The hills felt steep and the wind was nasty, especially when it was a head wind. There was also lots of muddy puddles and slushy grass on the way and it was really slippery in parts. I had to keep stopping myself from slipping over - not easy at times.

Total distance: 6km (race)

Time taken: 36:20

Average pace per km: 6:01

Total distance for day with warm up and warm down of 3km each: 12km

I ran the warm up with Jen and the warm down with Jen and Richard very slowly!

We did enjoy a great lunch later in Philip at The Chocolate Olive - yummo!

Dessert at Chocolate Olive - half berry cake and half cinnamon apple cake divided by cream!

A much shorter long run today

This morning I met Jen at 8am at Black Mountain Peninsula and we decided to run the Weston Creek Half Marathon course from there as I only had a shortish run scheduled on my easy week. It was really chilly to start and we even wore spray jackets. However, we avoided the rain which started just at the end of my run - so lucky! We ran along the cycle track and veered off towards Woden to the turnaround point for the half where we headed back until we reached 13km where Jen left me and Richard took over to run the last 8km with me back to Black Mountain peninsula. I felt much better in that last 8km and we averaged just over 6min kms whereas earlier we were running nearly 6.5min kms.

We saw quite a few familiar faces out there running and there were also lots of cyclists, everyone out grabbing their exercise before the rain returned in the late morning and continued for the rest of the day.

Total distance: 21km

Time taken: 2hrs 13mins

Average pace per km: 6:21

Calories burned: 1163

Later we met Ewen at the Portrait Gallery for a pretty ordinary coffee and a nice cake. The book shop was an interesting place to browse!

Autumn Showers (or is that floods)!

This area is usually grass - just a little water around today!

Oops, I can't run any further on this path. The water is knee deep at least!

Storm water drain overflowing - this is where Teddy usually has a drink. Today he would be swimming in a very fast flowing stream of water!

The rain continued to bucket down all night long and this morning it was still bleak but the rain had briefly eased to a steady drizzle when I decided to go for my run. We were advised that the track session was cancelled tonight due to the continuous rainfall so it was safer to run while there was a very slight break in the weather. 

I ran down towards Gungahlin but as I reached the tunnel realised I could go no further. I had already been ankle deep in puddles but suddenly the water was up to my calves so I turned back and ran over the road instead of under it. 

I have never seen so much flooding on the road. The water through the tunnel went on well onto the cycle path on the other side and the grass beside the path was flooding with water. The stormwater drains were all overflowing and my shoes were heavy with water as I couldn't avoid the deep puddles on the way. If I ran on the grass it was muddy and soggy and when I ran on the path I kept sinking ankle deep into puddles. It was an interesting run and as I was so wet and muddy anyway I just ran through the puddles splashing and actually quite enjoying myself. I also warmed up and wrapped my spray jacket round my waist. I must admit I got some very strange looks as the rain became heavier and I was laughing!

After a 10minute warm up I ran fartlek intervals as follows: 

• 2 x 60secs hard/60secs float
• 4 x 30secs hard/60secs float
• 2 x 60secs hard/60secs float
• 4 x 30secs hard/30secs float

Then I ran steadily home jumping in puddles!

Total distance: 12km

Time taken: 1hr 14mins

Average pace per km: 6:14

Calories burned: 658

Gee, the hot shower afterwards felt so good and then it was off to a most enjoyable lunch with a friend at Cream in the city.

Sprint marathon relay team finish

Add caption

Once every 28 years!

I went to the gym this morning for an upper body workout. My membership runs out at Club Pink in a week and I have joined Club Lime where there's a wider choice of gym locations and classes. That will start from next Wednesday and there will not be a fixed contract so I can give it a try without the commitment. The big benefit is that the cost will include entry to the pool which means I can swim when I like. 

At lunchtime I headed for Woden in the rain to take part in the BBQ Stakes. Today, being 29 February, the decision was to run it a little differently and we ran an out and back course as a turkey run ie no watches allowed. We had to choose our own handicap and the winner was the person who finished nearest to 40 minutes. One person finished at exactly 40 minutes, Kerrie finished in 39:59 and someone else finished in 40:01 so a few people knew exactly how fast they run even in inclement weather with mud underfoot. Running out and back was a good option as we missed some of the hills in the second half and also avoided some of the mud. It was also quite a good temperature with a few raindrops to keep us cool. Apparently the opportunity to run on Wednesday 29 February only occurs once every 28 years. Next time I run this course I may be using a zimmer frame. It would be absolutely wonderful, in fact a miracle, if I were still running at almost 90 years of age especially on those hills - tee hee!

Jen and I ran a 3km warm up before the race and a 3km warm down in the rain.

Total distance: 12km (but no idea how long the 6km race took - I'm quite lost when I can't wear my garmin)

A Wet Wet Start to the Week

Monday

As I had an Avon sales meeting to attend in the evening on the other side of town I decided to run first thing in the morning inbetween the raindrops. The rain was just a steady light drizzle and actually felt quite pleasant and relieved the humidity a little. I timed the run quite well as by the time I reached home the rain had become heavier and it would have been quite unpleasant a little later in the day. It did clear enough for the speedygeese to have a good session, however, which sadly I had to miss.

Total distance: 8km

Tuesday 

It was drizzling again as we started our run from Black Mountain Peninsula at 8.30am. The plan was to run past the museum on to the world statue but Marg and I went a slightly different route incorporating the old hospital hill instead of running round the museum on the way out and going on past the statue towards the carillon. We turned at 4.5km and returned via the museum route. During our last few kms the rain fell more heavily and we were very wet by the time we finished.

Total distance: 11km

I was called on to babysit later in the day but wasn't too upset to miss the summer series run at Weston Park as the rain did not ease off all afternoon and in fact it is still bucketing down outside now! Tomorrow's BBQ stakes run is looking to be extremely soggy:(

Postscript
There are now less than seven weeks to go before the Canberra marathon. It would be nice if we could finally receive our Griffin singlets which we have been waiting for and chasing up since last April. Liz and I would like to run the Canberra marathon wearing our Griffin singlets as we consider running ten Canberra marathons an achievement to wear with pride!

Over 100km week!

Chicken, avocado, rocket & prosciutto salad at TwoB4Ten

On Thursday I had a lovely lunch with CJ and Mr B before heading off to the hairdresser. Then later it was off to track to meet up with Ewen and his friend Bruce who was here for a visit from Sydney. We ran a very short warm up before taking part in the mile run. This is an event I would never normally race but Bruce had a strong desire to beat me so run it I did, not very fast but I still came across the finish line just a few seconds ahead of him.
Then on tired legs Ewen and I took part in the 1200m walk which started at the same time as the 10,000m walk. Ouch, it really hurt as the mile had been short and sharp. Usually I do the walk after the 3000m and manage ok but this was really really hard work. I could never have completed the 10,000m walk that night.
Next Ewen, Bruce and I ran out on Bruce Ridge - a good trail run to make up the appropriate distance for the day.
Distance: 1mile (1.6km): 8:02
Distance: 1200m walk: 8:38
Total distance for day including warm up and warm down: 10km

Saturday - long run
My first part of the long run was with Jen. I parked my car at the war memorial and ran down to the ferry terminal to meet her and when my garmin hit 4km it stopped dead with a flat battery. Yikes! Fortunately Jen had a running app on her iphone and could measure the distance of my run with her. We ran round the West Basin end of the lake and by the time we met Ewen running down from the war memorial I had clocked up 20.6km. Jen left us here and Ewen ran with me round the East Basin of the lake and back along Anzac Parade when Ewen's garmin told me I had completed my schedule for the day.
It was perfect for running at 6.50am when I started running down to the lake, with hot air balloons floating above Parliament House (plenty of hot air going on there at the moment), but once the cloud cover lifted it was quite hot.
After our run we had a most enjoyable coffee and lunch at the war memorial cafe with Liz, Jeni G, Marg, Peter, CJ and Ewen - by far the best way to end a long run.
Later it was off to do the supermarket shopping - oh joy. This weekend Mr B is in Melbourne competing in a triathlon there - very hot and windy conditions I am told.
Total distance: 34km
Time taken: 3hrs 42mins

Running along Anzac Parade - hot air balloons in the distance

Average pace per km: Approx 6:30per km

Parliament House

Sunday - Vets' handicap
No sleep in today. Instead it was off to the veteran's handicap run which was held at North Curtin. I was a bit nervous as the run started on a hill which went upwards on a rough trail for about 2km and I wondered how I would cope after the long run yesterday. However, I felt surprisingly comfortable and there were lots of downhills to compensate for the uphills. It was really hot and sunny during our little warm up run but during the race there was cloud cover and it was a very pleasant run although humid. Later in the day there was some rain but it held off for the baby celebrations for our friend in the botanical gardens where CJ and I went in the afternoon.
Distance of vets' run: 6.2km
Time taken: 36:11
Average pace per km: 5:50
Handicap group: 18
Finish place: 23rd (out of 107)
Age percentage: 69.4%
Total distance for day with warm up: 8km
Total distance for week: 101km

Jon's baby Billie 10weeks old - photo borrowed from Cathy's blog

Running Alone

There were misty clouds over the lake this morning as I ran from home and I spotted two hot air balloons floating above me. I left home at 7.30am as I needed to be home in time to look after Master 5 for the day. Considering my running yesterday and the fact that I was running without music, I felt surprisingly ok. I do enjoy running with music though and unfortunately I think my shuffle fell out of my pocket at the coast last weekend. The worst part, apart from buying a new one, is having to download a whole lot of music on to it again - rats!

There were lots of joggers, walkers, cyclists and mothers walking with prams going round the lake. It was quite busy at that time of day. After running round the lake I headed out towards Gungahlin to make up the extra distance before returning home in time to take Master 5 to The Muppet Movie - lots of fun!

Total distance: 20km
Time taken: 2:08
Average pace per km: 6:24
Calories burned: 1108

Eight Weeks to Marathon

Something strange has happened to the print on my computer and I need my computer savvy son to rectify the situation. The trouble is with IT people they never have time to help their own family so I won't hold my breath! In the meantime I'll just put up with it but I have no idea how it turns out as all I can see is HUGE type and all the icons at the bottom have disappeared so I can't adjust my overall font!

Anyway back to the training.

Monday - I went to the gym for an upper body workout in the morning - shoulders, biceps, triceps and abs followed by a swim.

Later it was the speedygeese session at Parliament House. I took Yelena and we arrived a little early and managed just over 3km before joining the others for the warm up lap of PH. At this stage the rain had started and we began the session already wet. There were only 12 of us tonight - a drop in numbers because of the rain I imagine. We ran the warm up between shelters like an interval session but as the rain eased off we headed for the oval by the rose garden for the main session. This was a long undulating loop incorporating a 200m sprint on the flat by the road and a couple of slow/fast intervals by the tennis courts. We ran the last loop in the reverse direction as a handicap. I started first cos I'm the slowest and everyone else ran from their desired handicap behind me. It didn't take most of them long to overtake me - it was a hard session especially after my long run yesterday. It was quite good to have a little shower to keep us hydrated and Ewen and I had a big surprise when Mr Apples tooted and called out to hurry us up as he drove round Parliament House on his bus route.

At the end of the session Jen, speedycoach and I ran an extra loop round PH to give us a few more kms.

Total distance: 12km

Tuesday

Morning - Tuesday group Black Mountain peninsula

The run today was over Scrivener Dam. I ran 5km from the peninsula and over the bridge on to the 5km point and back the same way - lots of undulations, a good course. I passed lots of people walking and several runners on the way. It was quite warm but pleasant. We celebrated Marg's 65th birthday which was on Sat and the other Margaret who turned 80 yesterday but didn't look a day over 65! Celebrating included champagne and lots of cake. I whipped up a choc cake (found a quick easy recipe online)at 6am before leaving for the run and it was surprisingly delicious. There was also a choc marble cake for the 80th birthday and of course lots of other delicious goodies. Now this is not a good way to start the day or indeed a good way to run again in the afternoon! Oh dear!

I took my car in for two new tyres to be fitted this afternoon - it feels so good having nice new tyres - bit like wearing new shoes when running!

Total distance: 10km

Calories burned: 553

YCRC Summer Series Run

The run this evening started at Barrenjoey Drive. This was a bit tricky to find as I headed for the old start of Barrenjoey Drive and it was gated off. Someone else, a new runner, pulled up at the same time as me and we decided to head back to the main road and find the other end of the road. There we found plenty of parking spots and lots of runners, much more like it.

Today's run was a three looped course and a bit rough. I had to watch my footing all the time because of tree routes and rocks and stones. However I felt better the further I ran although I was running a little tired which was obvious by the time I took. I treated it like a tempo interval session and ran 7mins fast with 1min slow three times. Taking into account the degree of difficulty one would expect it to be slower than last time though. I ran back to the car afterwards with Janene and Cathy - lovely to catch up with them both.

Total distance for run: 5km plus 1.8km warm up and down

Time taken: 28mins

Average pace per km: 5:38

Calories burned: 272

Total distance for day: 16.8km

A busy few days with a medal for us both!

Thursday - track night

I arrived at track in time for a short warm up before heading for the 800m 4 person walk relay - something a little different!  It was a good warm up for the 10,000m event and actually quite hard work! I ran a couple of km inbetween races and decided, as I needed extra kilometres anyway, to run in the 10,000m race. It was not necessarily a wise decision because I am not really race ready and running 25 laps of a 400m track is not very exciting. However, there were about 26 competitors and Val lap scored for me and Caroline. I was almost last, lucky that Lachie entered and I came in well ahead of him. Caroline took off in the second half and was a minute faster than me. My legs felt a bit tired from yesterday's 18km but I knew I wasn't fresh. I just had to use it as a training run therefore it was a very pleasant surprise to receive a gold medal for my age group (being the only W60 entrant - tee hee) as it was the championship race. Caroline won the W65 age group - yay, how exciting! 

Total distance for night: 12km

Glowing with a gold medal in W60  for 10,000m on track

On Friday Mr B and I drove to Nowra to stay the night as Mr B competed in the sprint triathlon next morning at Huskisson. That evening we shared a lovely meal at a Thai restaurant with our great friends from Goulburn and Canberra who were also competing. That night it rained and rained and we felt a bit dubious about the weather for the event. We need not have worried. Saturday was lovely - no sign of rain, some cloud cover to start and lots of sunshine later. In fact by the time the run had started it was very hot. Mr B had a good race and it was very exciting when he achieved a gold medal for his age group out of 8 finishers. Fortunately Bob was competing the next morning in the long distance tri so he did not have him for competition. 

Mr B wins gold in Huskisson sprint triathlon

After the event I managed to fit in a short run before returning to Canberra. It was already after 1pm and the sun was extremely hot by this stage. I just ran along the run route of the triathlon with some extra kilometres added.

Total distance: 8km

Sunday - long run

This morning I met Richard at the ferry terminal and he cycled beside me as I ran round the West Basin of the lake. We included the museum and Black Mountain peninsula to increase the distance. Margaret met us just after we reached the yacht club and cycled with me for the remainder of my run when Richard had to leave. We then headed for the East basin and through Kingston and round the wetlands before heading back to the ferry terminal. It was a great morning for a run, some cloud cover but very warm as the clouds lifted and the sun shone through.

Total distance: 32km

Time taken: 3hr 30mins

Average pace per km: 6:36

Calories burned: 1774

Total distance for week: 91km

I pulled off my shoes and socks after the run and stood knee deep in the cool lake water - not quite like the sea water yesterday but it felt very refreshing and soothing anyway. Next we walked over the bridge and enjoyed pancakes and great coffee at Urban Foods.

I was just about to back my car out from the carpark later when Marg pointed out that my front tyre looked very flat. Sure enough I had a puncture. I found the appropriate tools and temporary spare in the boot and rang Dave to rescue me. In the meantime we tried to lever those wheel nuts off - good grief, even with extra leverage they would not budge. I even tried jumping on the brace, no movement, and as for the jack, it just would not sit properly where it was supposed to. After some time a lovely grandad came to help. He offered to show me an easy way to loosen those wheel nuts. He jumped on the spanner brace and they moved immediately. Nothing happened when I did that! With his family urging him on the job was nearly done by the time Mr B arrived! Now I have to drive very slowly on a temporary tyre until we buy new front tyres, which are obviously well overdue!

My knight in shining armour has just arrived to show me how it's done!