Mount Coot-tha adventure

The last few days have been crazy - I've been curating exhibitions and attending openings and an arts award night (I didn't win, but was good exposure nevertheless!) Managed to squish in a weights session on friday, but by saturday, I was absolutely buggered and slept through my alarms for both plan A (5k TT at Shorncliffe) and plan B (Running Buddies) and instead went for plan C: running Mount Coot-tha.

I've wanted to have a go at the whole Mount Cootha run for ages but had been too chicken to do it with anyone else due to the copious amounts of walking I thought would be involved. Definitely right on that score! I spent most of the time thinking how on earth does anyone manage to run this entire thing from beginning to end? there were some serious hills! Mind you, I guess that what with it being a mountain and all, you get that ;)

I now feel I have to do that circuit regularly until I can run at least a respectable portion of it. I've got no idea what distance it is - anyone got any idea?

Eating is going well - down 2kgs and counting!

Woo - Up a group at Run Club!

11km group run tonight. We all started out as one giant group and because I was feeling pretty sore and sorry for myself after PT yesterday, I thought I would once again stick with the slowest group. We got about 4km in and they dropped off the back as we were going down a bike path and before I knew it I’d accidentally run off with the faster group! Oops!

I’ve been planning to move up a group for ages and so I decided tonight that the universe was giving me a little nudge so I carried on with them and thought I’d just see how I went. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be – although I was with the slowest of the faster people. Amusingly, about 3km from home, the same thing happened again and I accidentally ran off with the next fastest group up – though they were nice enough to slow down a bit for me so I could keep up on the home straight.

Also saw Angie who was still lamenting Friday’s TT effort – she’s decided I beat her because I had a shorter warm up run. So I’m now mightily tempted to go to the Run Inn 5km TT on Saturday instead of the Running Buddies, purely because I know she’ll be there and I want to have another crack just to see if I can do it again. Maybe the warm up did have something to do with it. Who knows? Only one way to find out! Plus, Sam is away this week and Schultzy is doing the 5k TT so I don’t know if there’ll be anyone near my pace to run with at the Running Buddies this week anyway.

The very lovely Tracey gave me a book she saw on training for Marathons (by Hal Higdon) tonight! She's so sweet :) I'm trying to tempt her into training for the Gold Coast with me, but so far I've not had any luck. Give me time though ;)

I’m going to stay with friends on Saturday night, so I’m still tossing up whether I’ll be up to the West End 7km on Sunday.

40kgs bench press - hear me roar! LOL

My left achilles has been playing up - sort of throbbing even when resting. I think that's what the problem was after the 25km, with my calf being crampy because of it... consequently, I've been having a few no-running days to try and stop the problem before it really starts :( Instead, I've been swimming a fair bit. That's probably a good thing too, since my freestyle is abysmal!

I've always been a really strong swimmer and even now, I can breastroke til blue in the face but since I've been trying to work on technique, I've realised just how bad I am at freestyle and I suspect that's partly why I get a few lengths in and have to switch. Meh. Have been making enquiries trying to find a decent swim squad to join, so as soon as I've got that sorted, things should improve.

Inspired by Clairie, I've also started trying to focus my eating for my runs - next event is the Noosa Tri 10k and I'm aiming for sub 55 on that. Being 2kgs lighter would help enormously so we'll see how I go!

PT this morning, killer set of core strength exercises, bench press (pyramid sets hurt - I did 35kg/37.5kg/40kg/30kg) and various other nasties. Also had a good talk with Tony (trainer) about actually following my training schedule - I've tended to move my runs and workouts around as my circumstances shift - he sort of drummed into me the importance of rest days again and sticking to a plan so I don't do too many hard days in a row (he reckons that's probably why my achilles is acting up)

I'm starting to think about putting together a grand training plan for my first Marathon... goals and things.... because if I decide to make it Canberra rather than the Gold Coast, I'll have to start increasing distances quite soon. I'm also trying to work out what a realistic time would be. Currently I'm thinking about having three goals. One being just to finish, one being absolute best time I could wish for (thinking 4 hours - bwahahaha - yes, I know - but it'd be lovely!) and the last being something more realistic like 4.30. Lately, I sort of feel like I've come into another little getting-better streak, so if all goes to plan, hopefully one of those goals might be on the money.

I'm also dying for everyone to start promoting 2006 runs so I can plan things around them (I'm such a virgo - I do love to plan!) but it would definitely help with the evil cunning master M plan!

Wednesday night run tomorrow - I'm sooo happy to be back!!!

15km Brisbane Running Buddies

Went to Running Buddies this morning, did a slow (for them) fast (for me) 15km. Finally ran over the Story Bridge for the first time which I've wanted to do for ages - the hill at the beginning is nasty, but it's worth it just for the view. Lovely.

Got to catch up with Sam (running buddy extrodinaire! *waves*) who I haven't seen for a few weeks, had a good gossip session. I've managed to chafe my chafing from the 25km and it's the first time I've done it to the point where I'm bleeding :( owwww :( It's the hotter weather I think... sweating buckets. Still, a good run and I worked hard, so I feel like it was solid training. I'm delighted to say I think I've also talked Sam into doing the Kurrawa run with me (she's even game to do the second 25k leg, which is apparently nastier!)

Tomorrow is the Bribie Tri, so I might go for a drive up there and watch.

3km TT 15.03 (27 second PB)

Just got in from the 3k interclub time trial... sooo much fun! And, I won a random draw prize (pair of aasics socks, hat and water bottle!)

Finished in 15.03 with the lovely, lovely Tesso pacing me - I actually did the first km in 4.40-something! That's my first official sub-five minute k, too! The second went quite well too, though I think it was really the last km that killed me. It rained earlier today and consequently, it was really humid and really hard to breath during the run. My legs were absolutely fine, just the cardo part that I want to work on.

And, even better is that I finally beat Angie, who I've sort of been chasing at the Run Inn for a few months :) *grins* She was a good sport about it though! I hope they have the inter-club thing regularly - if they do, I shall have to get some sneaky 3k practice in... I soooo want to break 15 minutes!

And, on that note, I'm also feeling all fired up again to bump up my training a bit more. Next week I'm going to kick some butt ;) Oh, and seems I am doing the Noosa Tri 10km after all :)

12km of Yay :)

It's official. I'm in love with my skins :) beautiful, wonderful things :)

I had such a fab run tonight. Initially thought 5km would suffice, hit 5km, thought perhaps 8km, then 10km came around and I decided to add another two on by extending my usual route. Ran heaps more with less walking than usual and faster too I think - I don't know if it's just the psychological benefit of doing the 25k (or maybe the skins!) but tonight as I was bounding along, I felt like something had finally clicked over in me - some little brain-legs type synapses that was previously lacking or intermittant. Last week when I tried to do the 10km along the same route, I was completely stuffed. Maybe it's all just the endorphins talking!

Was waiting impatiently to cross the lights just down from Garden City, when I see a herd of runners coming up the other side - sure I spotted Karisma! Must've been the River City Runners. Tried to catch them but by the time I'd crossed, they were way off in the distance. C'est la vie! I came happily galumphing home, feeling like a million bucks. Looking forward to friday and the 3k inter-club TT challenge!!!

The lovely Cirque tagged me for the CR Blog game so here we go:

Here are the rules:
1. Go into your archives.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or the closest one to it)
4. Post the text of your sentence in your blog along with these rules.
5. Tag five other people.

Here's mine:

"The bad news is that despite warming up, stretching etc etc etc, I pulled my right hip flexor in the process :( I think I set my stride too large or something... do excuse my french, but it hurt like a bastard"

*snorks* I'm so uncouth ;)

I tag: anyone who hasn't been tagged and wants to be ;)

Rest Day

Omg, I'm so sore from yesterday it's disgusting. Therefore, I've declared today a rest day. I did however manage to celebrate yesterdays effort with some retail jubilation - bought some short skins! (saw Clairie's yesterday and hobbling around today finally persuaded me to give them a go) My left calf is sorer than my right by a mile - not very impressed with that, so will keep an eye on it.

Got a phonecall from my PT today saying that they've got too many runners and not enough swim/bike people for the Noosa teams they're organising. Which means I probably won't get to do it, since there's not enough time for me to get even vaguely reasonable at the swim or bike parts. Oh well! I'll probably go up and watch regardless, if it doesnt pan out. Someone I've been seeing a bit of is doing it, so I may go and cheer them on. Bloody expensive 10km run really, anyway :P

2:36 25km - omg, 11 minute PB!

Despite it absolutely POURING with rain this morning, I got up and went to do the 25km at the West End. Decided against extending to 30km though. It'll keep! There were only a handful of us there because of the marathon in Toowoomba (and I suspect, some far more sensible people who stayed in bed)

I set off with the others who tore off at 5 minute something pace and after a km or so, I decided to go back to my old faithful plod and be conservative. The rain was nice and cool (better than hot sun) but the road had turned into ankle deep rivers in parts, which was not so good (wet shoes and socks = ew!)

I felt really, really good for the first 15kms which really surprised me - like I could keep running all day if I wanted to. Unfortunately, the batteries for my MP3 player had died right on the start line, so I had no music :( I chatted with various 10k people and a guy who pulled out of the 25km at about 15km. At about 17km, I started to feel hungry so I had my GU and then I got those need-toilet-now sort of stomach cramps but I was determined not to stop! So, I hung on and kept going. My shoelace came undone so I stopped for about 15 seconds to tie it up. I couldn't believe that I didn't need a walk break... I didn't even stop for water - drank on the run from my fuel belt instead. My feet felt way better than last time (no major blisters hurrah!). When I got to about 18km, my left calf started cramping majorly... and for the last couple of kms, I was timing my footfalls with a little mantra that goes: I *thud* will *thud* not *thud* walk! *thud* Schultzy had been running with me for the last 10k or so, but he took off to do a fast last km and left me so I carried on with my catchy little mantra, focussed hard, et voila!

2:36. I've just checked my last time for the 25km (although, that was more like 26km, but hey) and I knocked ELEVEN minutes off it. 11. I can't believe it's right actually, and I wonder if I've got my time messed up!!! I also set a new PB for my half marathon - as I crossed 21km, I was at 2:09 - two minutes quicker than Noosa.

Even more amusing is that I got a big shiny *GOLD* bling bling this time - everyone else in my age group must've been in Toowoomba or something so I won my category. Yay, me. It was a bit of a CR knock out actually, with the lovely Tess, Clairie and Karisma also scoring gold!

I'm in a bit of shock still - it hasn't quite sunk in yet - 11 minutes.... even better than that though, is that I managed to run the entire way without stopping once (something I've not done before on that sort of distance!) and felt so good the whole way, despite my calves cramping to hell at the end and after - my breathing was fine and I didn't feel like I was going to die at the finish. Happy for it to be over, but about to expire, nope!

11 minutes!!! *victory dance!*

Hannahtrips: Revolutions

The last few days have been a bit of a whirlwind, that's for sure! I'm trying to remember what I've done since my last blogging session! Went to the gym wednesday and today - had a rest day yesterday. Tomorrow I'm going to do a very gentle 5-10km because on sunday I've got 25km, which I'm sneakily thinking of adding another 5km to before the run, so that I hit my goal of doing 30km before the end of the year.

I am feeling a lot brighter in myself, too. Food stuff is going better - hopefully I've come out the other side of my recent rough patch and am feeling much more in control and back on track. Physically, I feel better being more or less back to my usual weight, even though I've never gone more than 3kgs above it. I know it'll help on sunday.

My skipping revolutions obsessions has developed without needing a spiffy counter gadget - currently, I'm up to 100 revolutions before I trip on the rope. Mind you, that was after doing a few sprints on the tready, so I'd be better fresh. I want to be able to do those nifty tricks with crossing the rope but buggered if I can do it! Practice, no doubt!

10kms + PT session

Felt surprisingly good yesterday after the 15k on sunday, so went for a gentle 10km run last night (and I mean gentle - I walked often!) then this morning I had a PT session with my trainer. He's got loads of people lined up for the Noosa Tri, so it's looking like it'll be a great weekend. Really should organise my accommodation, too.

Did 'fess up on the comfort eating front to him, too... first time I think I've ever acknowledged it as the cause of my weight gain (and loss...and gain...and loss...). He was quite good, although I found it excruciatingly hard to talk about it - mostly because I think that people who've never had food issues of any sort find it a bit of an alien concept... he had a bit of an incredulous look on his face bless him, like, why can't you just stop eating? *L* good question... I think if I knew the answer, there wouldn't be a problem.

Anyway, no doubt I'll sort myself out, just as I have before. It's not the end of life, the universe or anything :) Besides, there's fun things to be thinking about... like 25km races and triathlons and all that sort of stuff. Went swimming after the PT session, quite tempted to finally join a swim squad too.

Really must catch up on CR blogs too!

Bribie Beach Bash 15km

So, late last night I was still trying to decide whether or not to have a crack at 30km. In the end , I decided I would, so I set my alarm clock for 4am (ugh!) and went to bed. I slept very badly (does anyone ever sleep well before a race?) and woke up at 3am to find all the doors in the house slamming themselves from very high winds. Needless to say, I decided then that 15km would be fine!

So, I actually got up at about 5am and headed off to Bribie. I really love Bribie Island – there’s something so relaxing about the place. It definitely has a holiday atmosphere. When I arrived, most of the runners were already out on the course, but had a nice chat with MJ who was there helping.

Then a lady recognised me from the West End and came up to chat – our handicaps at the last 10km werent too far apart and we ended up running together. She’d never run 15km today, so I ended up being a bit of a pacer for her. It was sooo nice to be able to do that for someone else after all the lovely people who’ve done (and continue to do it!) for me. Something very karmic about the whole thing :) Plus, it also meant I got to be a bit of a slacker, go slow and really enjoy the run.

It took me about 5km to get used to running on sand, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it not as hard as I thought it’d be. I do think it pushes you onto your toes a bit more in order to try and get some traction, and the underneath of my left toes started to ache a bit, but feels okay since.

After about three kms, we had to cross a small waterway that meant going ankle deep in the seawater. The initial sensation of cool feet was nice, but wasn’t so keen on feeling like I had two blocks of warm concrete attached to my feet afterwards! Oh well, these things add interest to a run, don’t they ;) One of the strangest things was having no sense of distances – so hard to gauge how far you’ve run with so few land marks… sort of nice at the same time though.

By 6km, C (running companion) started to struggle a bit so I started crapping on about everything and anything to try and distract her (and probably me, too) from the run. I can never tell if talking during a run irritates people – personally, I like it if I’m struggling because even if I can’t talk back, I can tune into it and out of my feet. Mind you, if I hated it, I wouldn’t have the breath to say bugger off!

On the way back, about 3km from the finish, we looked out into the shallows to see a whole school (pod?) of dolphins swimming along side us, playing in the surf. I think C thought I was a bit nuts at that point, since I started squealing. I’ve always had a really strong affinity with dolphins and to see them swimming so close by was just so unbelievably magical. It was just one of those moments where you feel so privileged – I felt so lucky to be running and to be there at that moment… the sun was dancing on the water, the sky was purple-blue, these beautiful creatures were swimming along with us and everything was bloody marvellous. Very zen ;) All those poor people still snoring in bed, wondering why on earth anyone runs!

As we crossed the finish, Clairie cheered us in and all I could say was ‘Dolphins!’ LOL. I think she thought I was hallucinating! She and Tess and Liz all had spectacular runs though, collecting shiny silver trophies. The girl I ran with grabbed me and gave me a huge bear hug, bless her. I’m also told that the ultra runners got chased by a wild pig! LOL! That would definitely inspire supersonic km times from me!

As I crossed the line, I felt really good and I could probably have had a go at the 30kms – if I’d kept running at the very slow speed I was at, I think I would’ve made it. Oh well! There’s always next year :) If I had, I probably wouldn’t have seen the dolphins so it was worth it just for that. Caught up with a few people and chatted. Some interesting flirtage going on, but I’ll say no more unless there’s something to say. A few recent experiences have re-emphasised for me how cynical and sick of dating I have become so I’m not holding my breath by any stretch ;)

On another note, I did inadvertently manage to line up a couple of new clients which was nice – did aim to sort of leave work behind today, but alas, self-employment isn’t quite so clear cut)

After chocolate cake and winning my first ever random prize draw (a mouse pad, go me!) We all went our separate ways – I went and had fish and chips at my favourite fish and chip shop in Australia, which just so happens to be on Bribie! I followed it with a Magnum icecream and it was gooooooooodddddd..

30km or 15km?

Woo - I haven't blogged in almost a week - that must be a record for me!

Apologies for dropping off the face of the planet, I've pretty much had a week from hell.... including a slight near death experience at 100kph on the freeway, when the truck in front of me lost half its load and a wooden packing crate came sailing towards my windscreen. Thankfully, it somehow hit the left support, rather than me. Made an almighty bang though and exploded into the oncoming traffic. I think I took ten years off my life!

Besides my yucky speedwork session, I had a bad week at work and consequently feel a tad stressed... I felt a bit unmotivated and didn't run - squished in a mini session at the gym yesterday which made me feel slightly better.

Still deliberating on which distance to try at Bribie tomorrow... running on sand is bound to be harder so logically I know I probably shouldn't even attempt 30km... on the other hand, the cut off is 10.30am which would give me 4.5 hours to do it in... not that I really want to still be running at 10.30am since it'll be disgustingly hot... and I don't really honestly care if I don't even make the cut off... just be nice to do the distance. Mnnn.... What to do, What to do?

And, sneakily, I'm thinking the extrodinarily slack week I've had might actually function as a good taper if, you know, I did happen to try to do 30km.... wouldn't matter if I tried and failed, either... could always pull out....

Am I nuts?

Grrr, Argh. Hormonally Fuelled Speedwork

Went to do another evil speedwork session tonight. Felt reasonable today after yesterday's 10km, so thought I'd pull up but apparently not... I learnt an important rule tonight: Thou Shalt Not Do Speedwork The Day After Racing. I managed about half a session and didn't even have the beans to go at a reasonable pace.

I'm thinking about switching back to speedwork on a grass track. It's cheaper and it's also much less stressful than doing flat out sprints on a concrete surface. Concrete is not nice to run on and I have a suspicion it causes injuries. I figured out tonight that it's the reason my back twinged last week - it did it again tonight, mid sprint. I was feeling so good after yesterday about everything and then tonight was just crap.

Do other runners get so overly emotional about their training runs, I wonder? I think in my case tonight, it was mostly hormonal. I was so frustrated and pissed off tonight that I felt quite teary. Chasing after incredibly fast people down long straights is very demoralising. There's something a little bit symbolic about it for me on a personal level too, I think... I've spent a lot of time in my life metaphorically chasing after things and feeling like I just didn't measure up.

I think having a new trainer running the session didn't help matter either - I was last by a mile tonight and though she no doubt meant well, her tone was soooo patronising in telling me I was going well when I so blatantly wasn't. Being patronised is a bit of a pet hate of mine, actually - I like feedback and encouragement as next as the next person (and hurrah for CR being full of that :) and I do really value it when people who know their stuff give me feedback but having someone who doesnt even know me essentially tell me, there, there and only to go to 100m marker and back when everyone else is doing 400m sets instantly makes me see red and want to go all out... and so tonight I just ignored her and kept going to 400m, but at my own slow pace. Naughty me. I might not be Paula Bloody Radcliffe, but I've absolutely worked my arse off to get to where I am now and to my mind that makes me an equal with everyone else on that field, slow, fast or inbetween.

Anyway, like I say, hormones. But I think it's back to the track with me.

10k PB 55:33

Went to do the BRRC 10km this morning. Wasn't sub 55, but it was a PB by almost 30 seconds - came in at 55:33 and that was with a water stop, so it's within reach :)

Happy Me :)

12km, skipping and back

So, thursday and friday ended up being non running days. My back was playing up a little bit - a couple of years ago I partially dislocated my hip from my pelvis and got it wedged there - was more painful than a burst appendix and took me six months of chiropractic and a lot of core strength exercises to fix it. The muscles that hold the right bits in the right spot have never been quite right since though - so when I feel a certain type of twinge, I now know a couple of rest days are in order. S'all good now though, Jerry. Seems to be a genetic thing - both my sister and my mother have weak hips. We're like human golden retrievers! ;) *L*

Anyway, was probably a good thing since sore legs from speed/PT also prevailed. This morning I went to the Running Buddies... the weather was just bizarre - thick, humid fog so thick you couldn't see one bank of the river from the other. We did about 12km I think, perhaps a smidge less. Didn't push things because tomorrow is the BRRC race at the West End. Am sneakily hoping to break 55 minutes, but we'll see. My legs felt quite heavy today and I struggled a bit, so I'm feeling a bit less cocky.

Sam ran Mount Cootha for the first time this morning - didn't get to see her afterwards, but dying to know how it went. She's gotten soooo much faster in the last couple of months. Bit sickening when she averages 2 runs a week. Must find out what her secret is!

Bought a skipping rope today. Partly for stretching and partly to use at the gym for cardio. Always quite enjoyed skipping - I think it's the rhythym. I nearly bought one that counted revolutions, but I figured I'm obsessed over enough numbers (times... kilometres...kilograms...weights....) so I probably don't need to add skipping revolutions to the mix! Plus, it was twice as much as the basic one! There's a gadget for everything these days, it seems!