Distracting self from freaking out...

Tagged - thanks, Owen! (owwweeeeeennnn!!!! *tesso voice*)

4 jobs I have had: Call centre operator, waitress, nude centrefold (yes, really! in an ironic, political-statement sort of way) debt collector.

4 movies I could watch over and over Mists of Avalon, Monsters Inc, Sixth Sense, Rocky Horror.

4 places I have livedMacclesfield (north UK) Farnham (south UK) Toowong (brisbane) Tarragindi (brisbane)

4 TV shows I love to watch - Big Brother, House, All Saints, Supernatural

4 places I have been on vacation India, Peru, Ecuador, Minorca

4 websites I visit each day coolrunning, livejournal, bloglines, blogspot

4 favorite foods Smoked salmon, mangoes, cashews, chocolate.

4 places I would rather be right now hammock on a tropical beach, asleep, camping in the bush, mt everest base camp trek.... anywhere on holiday basically!

4 favorite bands Currently... Ben Harper, Martha Wainright, Eskimo Jo and that incredibly annoying song by the aussie idol girls. Stuck in my brain!

4 Bloggers I am tagging - Cirque, Aki, Jen, Owl

FREAK OUT!

Last night I had dinner with my mother, who is a nurse. Everyone she works with at the moment has been catching a really highly contagious stomach bug. Tonight she had it in full force, poor thing. She felt awful about catching it and being around me so close to the marathon and everything, even though no one can help these things. I felt awful for telling her so then walking out and freaking out over it!

Of course, I'm absolutely paranoid I'm going to catch it before sunday. I have been disinfecting everything she's come into contact with and washing my hands frequently and all I can do is cross my fingers and think good thoughts.

I absolutely, steadfastly REFUSE to get sick. Again. After sunday, I don't care if I catch bubonic bloody plague. It didn't really strike me until this happened, just how devastated I would be if I couldnt run on the weekend. I almost cried just thinking about it, sook that I am!

Anyway, all of this is entirely irrelevant because as I said, I REFUSE to get sick. Dammit!

easy track, easy run... here I come!

Track last night was a very easy session ;) Enjoyed it ;)

Tonight we had the 'cooks tour' (aka an easy run where everyone runs together) which was heaps of fun - about 25 of us, all sorts of abilities, all running (read, gossiping and running) for a very gentle 50 minutes. Lovely. Feeling better and better, healthier and healthier.

I have realised that as I am wearing my run inn orange, I'm going to have absolutely no coolrunning colours on me! woe! I really should've bought a hat but didn't get round to it in time. Oops! Oh well, no doubt I'll still be able to wave at coolrunners en route!

As tesso suggested, I shall publish my playlist before the weekend... once I decide what to put on it, that is! I'm feeling the urge to raid the iTunes store!

Tomorrow morning, I've got an easy stretch, et voila! Nothing til sunday wooohoooo!

almost there!

I couldn't believe it but I pulled up slightly sore from the 5km on sunday! It's amazing how totally paranoid I've become about every single tiny twinge, ache, pain or sniffle in the last three weeks *L*

Last night I went to the social run out at Sandgate which was nice. The run felt slightly easier - according to Angie's Garmin we did 7.5kms at 6:30 pace, but I'm still having to work harder than normal for it. It seems weird that I ran the entire queensland half a few weeks back at 5:30 pace and it felt sustainable! Meh!

Tonight is an easy track session, wednesday is an easy run, thursday is a stretch session with Tony - et voila, I'm there. I had a brief panic yesterday when I couldn't find my iPod - it's so small it's quite easy to misplace...but all is now well.

Five sleeps to go...

Another sucky 5km

Went to the West End this morning and ran the 5km in 27:03. Really wanted to do the 10km because it was the champs, but was good, took Phil's advice and did the 5km instead. Blaaaahhhhh... was working reaaaaaally hard to do that time, too.

Little voices in the back of my head have started playing mind games with me. Knowing how neurotic I can be, I think it's fair for us to say I'd have those anyway (bug or no bug) but I think I shall just have to do my best not to irritate the shit out of everyone before the weekend.

*positivethoughtspositivethoughtspositivethoughts*

It's all going to be fine. Yes it is. *nods to self*

I'm just impatient to feel full of juice again. It could be worse. At least I can run on the weekend, slow or no.

On the positive side of things, I do believe a certain blogger by the name of Clairie may have won the 10km this morning! Go, Clairie! Wooooooo! I did come third in the 5km, too (no bling though. Woe!)

and another positive - the race pack for the full at the coast is fab. It's a backpack not another drawstring affair. The half has a shopping bag thing!

5km TT 26:53

Did the 5km TT this morning at Shorncliffe. Everyone took off like steam trains and I shuffled along behind. I wasn't last however - it always amazes me when there are amazingly skinny athletic people slower than me. But then, maybe they were injured. Or, maybe they'd been sick too! Who knows! Anyway, just goes to show once more that you can't judge a book by it's cover.

Felt pretty crap during the time trial. I miss my cruisy 30something km lollops. It's surprised me actually. I thought I'd be dying for a good taper (as opposed to dying during it LOL!) but I really started to get into the long, long runs. Which is good really, since if I plan to do the 50km in September, I shall no doubt be continuing with them (post GC recovery of course!)

Mostly today I just felt verrrrrrry tired. My breathing was okay, though still have gunk in my chest. Afterwards I felt like throwing up. Never a good thing but I suspect it's from doing not much for a while. Crossed the line in 26:53 which is not as bad as I was expecting, to be honest. I thought I'd be a few minutes slower than that. I'm looking forward to the next few months of getting into good shape and attacking all my times at the various races around the place. So even if the GC goes badly, it's not the be all and end all (says H, convincing herself)

Phil tells me I have to drink two cups of endura every day til next weekend and tomorrow at the West End, I've been told to run the 5km slowly. Waaa. Monday I can do the social run as well.

Was good to catch up with everyone this morning - and even bumped into the lovely fellow CR blogger Chelle, who was out on a run and stopped to chat. I hope the weather is the same for next weekend. Slightly cold and overcast suits me perfectly!

Feeling better! yay!

HURRAH!

I finally feel better! Antibiotics rock and aside from being uber tired from coughing all night still, I feel so much more human. As someone who rarely, rarely gets ill, I can't believe I've been sick for almost three weeks all up.

But anyway. There is now a light at the end of the tunnel and without wishing to tempt fate, I'm starting to think I shall be fine come next weekend!

On wednesday I went to the Run Inn thinking I might run, but by the time I got there, I felt awful still. Phil took one look at me, told me not to be stupid then gave me a much needed lecture on how he's flogged my butt over the last six months, all the hard work is done and how I'll be fine ;) Definitely needed to hear it!

Instead of running, I stayed around and chatted with everyone before they ran. Got to love the atmosphere close to big events... everyone is so pumped! I'll probably (gingerly) run the 5km time trial tomorrow and see how I go. No big efforts, but just enough to see if I can move more than ten feet at speed without coughing my lungs up.

On thursday, I ventured to Personal Training for a repeat lecture from Tony. I really think Phil and Tony should meet one day - they'd get on famously ;) *grins* Again, the lecture helped reinforce in me that I haven't wrecked six months of hard work and it will be okay. Did a reasonable weights session, although felt really tired and very nauseous afterwards. Hopefully that's a thing of the past from now on!

I have been reading running magazines today and making a conscious attempt at getting myself all enthusiastic and in a positive frame of mind. Thus far it's working!

Thankyou all for your lovely comments... they mean so much to me :) I finish my antibiotics tomorrow - cross your fingers for me!

still sick... (broken record, aren't I?)

Well, the good news is that I don't have bronchitis... yesterday I felt so awful that I caved in and went back to the doctor. What I do have is either a nasty throat infection or a particularly nasty virus. Personally, I think it's the former since I have the most bizarre constant feeling of someone squeezing my throat (pressure? swelling?) and am coughing up nasty, nasty never-before-seen stuff. My voice is still mostly MIA, too.

But enough about that, TMI, I know!

Either way, I'm on another course of antibiotics which (thanks to a double dose - shh!) seem to be starting to have an affect. I almost contemplated dragging my butt to track tonight, but have decided not to tempt fate any more than I already have. Instead, I'm going to try and do ALL of my marking at work so I can stop stressing about it. If I feel better tomorrow, I may run, but not holding out much hope. What I'd really like is three days off work completely in which to sleep hugely, but alas, that isn't going to happen any time soon. Having three different jobs, two of which are casual, negates the desire for unpaid sick leave. *sighs*

Not much I can do but wait this out I guess.... at least it happened this week, not next week... though it's all rather too close for my liking. Am being philosophical currently :)

Fingers crossed

GGGGRRRR!

I'm going back to the doctors tomorrow if I'm not better....
I think I might have mild bronchitis :(

Pass me the antibiotics....

2:00 hours - Easy (?!?!)

Grrr Arrrgghh! I can't believe it! I'm sick AGAIN! The only good thing being that it's not quite as bad as before - this time I can at least do stuff... I'm just incredibly snotty, tired, irritable (whodathunkit?) and best of all (!) have lost my voice. I can grate out an attractive two-octaves-high-than-normal squeak, but that's about it. My students are going to have fun with me tomorrow!

I did my best to ignore the crappiness yesterday when I went out to run two hours easy. There was I thinking, ha! I only have to run 2 hours! and that it would be cruisy, but nope, it was hard. Very bloody hard actually. Sam started off with me but I sent her off ahead after the first 5kms because I knew I had to slow down or I wouldn't make it. Had a couple of stops and stretches, but ran somewhere near to 20kms (to the bowls club by new farm park and back)

7km track + 16km hills + PT = tired!

Hmmmnnn..

I was sooo unbelievably sore on monday from the 32km of killer hills that I almost couldn’t walk! For those of you who are curious to know where we went, I’m going to try and get a copy of the route from Angie, who was wearing a NavMan Garminesque thingo and shall post it here. I went to the gym and tried to do my 5km slow recovery run and after about 30 seconds on the treadmill decided it was a bad idea. Instead I stretched and came home. I’m a little bit paranoid about breaking myself before the big one! LOL!

Track session on tuesday. Less sore, but still hurting. One of the gals was wearing a garmin and interestingly, it showed that we run a lot further at track than I thought – I thought we were doing possibly 4 or 5km but tonight we did almost 7km and that was an easy session. The session I missed last week was closer to 10km.

The interest in blogging continues to mount at the Run Inn and I am compiling a bit of a list of blogs to put in the newsletter – so you might all be getting emails from me asking if you mind! I have also finally managed to start using bloglines properly (had to chance browsers to get it working) and am loving it! Saves so much time seeing who has updated!

Wednesday (last night) was medium long run. 16km hills, hard!!! Still feeling the effects of sunday I think. Came home strong though, running with the lovely Sam. I think she wss doing it easy, but it was funky to be able to keep up with her for once!

This morning I did PT ...

Meh. Onwards and upwards! Back to your regular viewing!

32km Samford Loop -hills, hills and more hills!

Hurrah - I can run again!

I must admit, I did briefly question my sanity this morning as I crawled out of bed at 4am to go and do the 32km Samford loop with Phil and co. Woke up feeling nauseous and tired – the antibiotics and new inhaler seem to be working but I spent most of last night coughing my lungs up. Blah! I just kept telling myself that it was my last loonnggg run before the big one, so I didn’t really want to miss it!

There were two groups running, the slow and steadies (us) and the whippets fast people. Ended up with me, Angie, Suzannah, Phil, Sue and a new guy in our group, although Sue, Suzannah and the new bloke soon pulled ahead. The run started out being a bit deceptive – lots of nice gentle rolling hills which were quite fun. I was a bit worried how I would go with the asthma, but took my Ventolin as well as the preventative puffer and it seemed to stop it being a problem.

After a while, the hills started getting bigger and longer, and bigger and longer still. I felt like I was doing one huge Mount Cootha summit run (I can’t wait until after the GCM to have a go at that again actually – dying to see if I can run the whole thing yet) Everyone said I was very quiet during the run (except to whinge occasionally or swear profusely at the next upcoming mammoth hill) but mostly I was stuck in ‘survival mode’ as Angie calls it – chugging along trying to breathe.

By the time we hit 3 hours, I was starting to h-u-r-t quite a lot – my knees and calves were seriously aching and really fatigued. I think that sort of running is probably good for me – to teach myself to feel that and know I can keep going anyway.

Looking at the positives, even though I’m still fighting the tail end of the flu and felt tired, I ran the vast majority of the hills. I know that not so long ago, I would’ve been walking a lot more of them than I did today. All up we did about 32km in Phil’s 3:30 (which in real time took us about 3:50, including drink stops)

I can’t believe that I’m now on the tail end of the marathon training! So exciting!

Doomben piccies

Mid race ;)



Suzannah (who ran the GH with me) Me and Rell
Me and Sam

I caved in today and went to the doctors to get some antibiotics. I'm still sick and it's now settled right into my chest, making my asthma heaps worse. I tried to do Personal Training yesterday and came over all dizzy when doing step ups!

Phil told me no running until sunday and only then if I'm better. I've also got a new inhaler, which should hopefully sort me out. I have to admit I feel like absolute crap though! Trying not to stress out over it - there's nothing I can do about it but try and get better - but am wondering if taking an entire week and a bit off training is going to have an effect on the GC...

Sick :(

I seem to have caught a really nasty flu bug and consequently, spent most of yesterday flat on my back in bed. I'm upright again today, but only just. No running for me last night and none tonight either as a result :(

I hate being sick, I really do!

On a positive note, this weekend Phil tells me I am doing the (infamous) Samford loop which is apparently comprised of 35km of hills... by then I shall hopefully be back on track and feeling 100% again!

Queensland Half :) SUB 2!!!

Soooooo *grins*

1:56!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is officially a NINE minute PB ;)

*insert obligatory screaming, shouting, jumping up and down and jerry springer dances here* I'm still practically doing cartwheels as you can probably tell... I don't think it has quite sunk in yet that I FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY managed to do it - I finally managed to break 2 hours for the half and a little more besides!

Okay (getting self together) Bit of a race report:

Woke up feeling quite average but okay, got dressed, ate some porridge and headed out of the door. By the time I arrived, I was starting to feel nervous as all hell and consequently was jumpy as anything! Saw Phil who told me to go out steady and work my way forwards from there.

Wasn't sure how I was going to go at all - physically felt good from three days of no running but then I felt good before the Brisbane half, so I didn't want to take that as an indication.

Said hello to everyone and by the time I'd been to the loo twice (nerves!) we were on the start line. A very quick warm up and then we were off. I positioned myself next to the 2 hour pace group thinking I would heed Phil's advice, go slow to begin with then try and pull ahead. The 2 hour group were doing bang on my splits for the first couple of kms anyway!

After a while, I decided to try running infront of them and see if I could just maintain that position. Poor old Rell was running with me for a while but I was so focussed on the race I was incredibly antisocial! I stuck my music on, said nothing, hopped into the zone and just went for it. I managed to say hi to a few people along the way but a lot of people cheered me as I went by and I either didn't hear, didn't see or had no energy to say hi back! Sorry guys!

The best thing about all the long runs I've been doing, is that km markers now seem to tick by nicely when I race.... no more praying for them to come. Settled into a rhythym and before I knew it, we were at the 10km marker. I looked at my splits again and realised I was ahead quite significantly - crossed 10k at a new PB of 54:20! woo!

Though that was a nice motivator, it also worried me a bit and I wondered if I was going to get to 15km or so and just blow up if I didn't slow down. I decided just to try and hold my pace and see what happened. I could possibly have speeded up a little too at times, but held back just a smidge.

Saw the CR cheer squad who were in fine form - Davo and Cirque, you guys deserve a medal for cheering so loudly! It helps sooooo much. I can't wait until you guys run and then I can do the same for you again!

I hit 15km, checked splits, still a few minutes ahead and started passing people - poor Rell got left on her own and I realised as we went around the turns that I was starting to catch some familiar faces who normally leave me in the dust. It was probably at that point that it dawned on me that I might actually manage to go sub 2 but I tried to keep the idea out of my head incase I jinxed myself!

17km came around... still feeling fine.... 18km ditto..... at 19km I started having to work a bit more - particularly when a Pat Carroller lady with long black hair came by me and we kept playing cat and mouse with each other! She got me in the end but I resisted the urge to go after her for fear of blowing up before the finish.

Then, all of a sudden, I can see the race course and the final turn into the track... and there, standing on the side of the road is Phil. I look at my watch in disbelief and start grinning madly at him. He (in typical Phil-coach style) looks at me, nods and grins to himself and then says, "Well, come on then..... put some effort in!" shooshing me towards the finish as I go by *ROTFLMAO*

The best bit of the whole race is definitely the last 100m down the track to the finish - you go right by the grandstand and everyone is cheering and yelling. It rocks! I crossed the line and screamed and jumped up and down repeatedly, bouncing all over the place.

Unfortunately for Sam, she happened to be the first person I saw as I came over the line (she was only about 40m ahead of me) and I grabbed her and hugged her and carried on jumping up and down *L* Then I had soo much fun seeing how everyone went - it seemed to be PBs all round! I was so excited I even gave myself an asthma attack but a quick dose of inhaler (Thanks Tracey!) soon fixed that.

Afterwards, I caught up with Davo and Cirque, Robert Song and Tess and many other lovely CR faces. Also got to meet IronPete *waves*

I stayed for the presentations but alas the fab random draw prizes were not to be mine :( Not that it matters, I got my sub 2 and that's enough for me!

If you'd told me last year when I crossed the line in 2:30, that I'd do 1:56 today, I would have laughed my head off, but here I am! I surprised myself today in a really big way. It wasn't anywhere near as painful as I was expecting either! I had no idea I was capable of getting any lower than just under sub 2 and was half resigned to the idea that I might never manage it. That it just might not be in me!

Today was really like all my christmasses came at once :) six months of hard work, speedwork, long runs, training runs and events have finally paid off ;) What ever happens from here on out no one can take today away from me :) It's mine - all mine! :)

Congrats to everyone who ran today, hope you all had a fab race and thankyou to the cheersquad, the volunteers, helpers and organisers :) Can't wait for next year!

New Shoes, New Skins and Busy stuff!

Whoah. Firstly, I must apologise for being slack and not reading blogs for a few days. It's assessment time at work at the moment and consequently, everything has gone nuts. What have I been doing this week?

Monday: 5km Recovery run + swim
I have decided that treadmills now bore me absolutely rigid. No wonder I never got past running 3km when I first started running - I struggled to do it on monday because it drove me so crazy not to be going anywhere!

Tuesday: Track session
Enjoyed this one - did wind sprints (tempo type runs) instead of normal sets.

Wednesday: Group run - 12km?
Bit of an easy run for a mini taper before this weekend's half.

Thursday: PT session
What else can I say but owwwwwwwww

I forgot to mention that as a result of sundays long run, I managed to reopen the blister I got at glasshouse and have spent most of this week whinging about how much it hurt. It's more or less healed again now, but I'm going to have to tape it on sunday!

Oh, and I had some running related retail therapy this week too:

I have new shoes! (same old Aasics 2110s but they work for me - and they're the new colours - turquoise and light blue)

and, even better -

I finally have full length skins! They're blue and silver. I caved in and decided being as how I'm running so long these days, I could probably put them to good use!