The Road Teaches Humility

This morning I went to the Running Buddies as usual and Sam finally succeeded in egging me on enough to have another crack at Mount Cootha. I felt quite flat and lethargic when I woke up this morning - partly from yesterdays cross training effort and partly from eating too much dinner but I decided to give it a go. I learnt a valuable lesson:

Off we set, up the mountain and I knew by the first, extrodinarily long hill that I'd bitten off way more than I could chew. Sam ran with me for a while but I hate feeling like I'm holding people back so I told her to take off after the others. For most of the way up the mountain, I felt really irritated at myself and quite tearful (emotional runner that I am) and contemplated turning back or cutting through up the 5km track to the top then realised that Sam said she'd probably wait for me at the top so I had to do the whole thing. I huffed and puffed and swore and slowed to a walk and kicked myself mentally up the bum for getting too cocky. The sun was starting to glare and it was getting more and more humid and I felt like I was fighting the road and the hills and the mountain.

When I got past the worst part of the ascent, into the more bushy part of the run, something just happened to me. Sorrounded by the bush and the wind and glimpses of a beautiful view, I just decided to just relax and enjoy the run, regardless of how much I walked. I put aside all the pressure that I was putting on myself and remembered a time when walking 500m down a flat road seemed difficult. Looking back at my years in the morbidly obese category, the sensation that stays with me the most is a feeling of being trapped in my body, of slow motion and everything being such an effort. I think that's actually why I get emotional about my running - I still have that sensation of really pushing my body - of moving being an effort, only now it's because I'm challenging myself physically, not just because I want to get out of a chair or go up a single flight of stairs.

Today as I slogged my way up that mountain, I realised that there's nothing wrong in accepting my limitations now - It doesnt mean that I'm not pushing against them in the long term. I'm still going to work to improve (and one day, I will run that entire mountain, beginning to end - that's a promise!) but it's not the same thing as accepting how I was when I weighed 126kgs. Defeat doesn't mean the same thing anymore.

Once I admitted 'defeat' to the mountain, I felt like I could start to work with it, rather than against it - I started to enjoy my run/walk/run and I got to admire things I might not have seen otherwise - a whole flock of grazing sulphur crested cockatoos, for example. One of them looked at me as I went by and I swear, it really seemed to look at me. I think if it was able to smile, it would have!

The road teaches humility; the lesson is freedom.

moan, whinge, bah humbug *L*

So, I've now got the bike, bought a helmet and a gel seat cover (not that it makes things that much better! to steal a minerism, my back groin feels like it's never going to be the same again!)

I took it out this afternoon and did some killer hills, followed by a shortish run on jelly legs. I have no idea if I'll be able to tackle Mt-C tomorrow!!! I suspect I may well be crippled ;)

I'm sort of remembering why I love running so much - it's so simple, so easy, so... sort of pure.... you just stick your shoes on and go.... perhaps this reaction is partly because I'm fairly nervous about riding on the main roads around here - I feel like it's taking my life in my hands, somewhat! Traffic sucks.

Swam yesterday, 400m freestyle hurrah! Next week comes the interesting task of trying to join everything together in training! argh!

10k and Muahahahaha

Running group last night - 10km. We all started off as one big group and then broke into two, with the slower group turning back sooner. At the moment, I feel quite torn! When they split, I stood in the middle with both the slow group and the faster group beckoning at me to go with them *L* I went with the faster group and then felt like I was cheating on the others!

I half questioned my decision as the faster group seemed to speed up as we went along though - lots of hills at five-something pace and once again I had to work my butt off to keep up. Again, they were all on recovery from the 500k relay, so I think on a standard week, I'd be eating their dust. Even though it's tempting to carry on with the slower group and be able to chat and have fun, I know that choosing the harder option is the only way I'm going to get any better so I just have to bite the bullet and ignore how much it hurts! Speaking of hurt, poor old Sam took a tumble last night. I think she's going to have some impressive bruises this morning!

While we were running, I was chatting to MJ about Bribie and she decided to enter with me! So now I have someone to share the whole experience with which is lovely. This triathlon thing is contagious I'm sure ;) muahahahaha! I'm going to go and pick up my borrowed bike today too, so this afternoon I might hit the bike tracks. Also planning a swim later this morning.

Sam half convinced me to have a go at doing the Mount Cootha run with the running buddies on saturday. I am going to be sooo incredibly slow, I still don't know if I'm ready to do it with other people. Plus, I was going to do the 15km at the West End on sunday. Which I could probably still do if I ran conservatively (or did the 5km instead) Or, I could go up to Shorncliffe and do the 5km time trial on saturday instead.

Choices, choices!

Purple Tri Suit

Bit the bullet today and went tri suit shopping. Tried on three different suits before spotting something sticking out of the bargain rack at the front - a purple brooks all in one suit in my size - and even better, reduced to $30! Bargain! The Zoot one fitted better and was much more flattering being a darker colour, but for the sake of saving $120 I don't really care... I want to just have a go at Bribie and see how I feel before I start throwing huge amounts of money into it. With xmas and an overseas trip coming up, my finances are a little woeful at the moment - and when I get back from overseas, there's the slight issue of getting hold of a bike, too! If all goes well, I'll invest in a really good one - I like the look of those orca suits. Yummy.

So anyway, all up I'm feeling pretty smug and pleased with myself. Had PT this morning and got told off by my trainer for not keeping a food diary - oops. Naughty me. At least the thought of having to wear a purple tri suit in a few weeks is going to keep me motivated to drop a few more kilograms. It's not very flattering at all, but I just keep thinking of the Nike slogan - Run Ugly! I'm definitely going to fall into that category *L*

Spent yesterday moving most of my belongings over to the house I'm sitting. It's in quite a nice spot really - right next to bush reserve opposite some bike trails - which I'm dying to get out and run (and ride!) and, nearer to running group, too! D

Noosa pic and 300m freestyle

Got my Noosa pic - I think the expression on my face says it all *L* Paiiinnnn! *L* I'm also quite amazed to see that it looks like I've got the start of some muscles these days!

I feel pretty good after yesterday's effort, although I'm still a bit tired. My legs aren't as sore as they have been, although no doubt tomorrow will be the decider! I'd really like to have a go at doing a longer distance now as well. I've been mucking around with the idea of doing a 30km run for ages, so perhaps I'll have a go at that next time. My long runs should really start being, well, long! I think I've decided that I'll make the Gold Coast my first full Marathon - too much going on through April for me to do Canberra - my abstract got accepted for a conference in Atlanta, so if I get funding for that, I may be away for a week or two.

Ladies and Gentleman, went to the pool this morning and -*drumroll*- I swam 300m non stop freestyle! Slowly, but psychologically I feel better about it now :) Now all I have to do is get quicker. I discovered that if I wear an old pair of nike bikepants underneath my swimming costume, it's equivalent to what I assume vaguely resembles a tri-suit and the drag of the water doesnt yank on them too much. I do look slightly like a very bad 80s aerobics queen - at least the shorts and the cossie are the same colour though!

25km Long Slow Run 2:35

Well, that 25km wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be - infact, I did it a minute quicker than last time (although there were a few drink and stretching stops which we didn't count) I think subconciously the last couple of crappy 10km races I've done (where I felt like I was about to die) had made me think I was going to feel the same way on a long slow run.

Sam and I set off from the Ship Inn, over the Story Bridge and then down to New Farm Park - then we came back up past the Riverside Centre, down to the Regatta, back up, across the Victoria Bridge and through South Bank. Starting at 5am was a fantastic idea - the first hour was lovely and we were up over the Story Bridge before we knew it. Very civilised pace meant we gossiped just about all the way (huffing and puffing slightly, anyway)

I feel quite good really. Much better than after the 10k last weekend. My calves were cramping a tad and the last 5k were hard, but all up I'm pleased. Which means one thing:

There's no escape from Kurruwa!

freestyle getting better!

Hurrah! I somehow swam 400m FREESTYLE this morning! No breaststroke at all! I had about 20 seconds rest every 100m, but I feel like I'm making progress :) i swam really slowly and tried to focus on breathing and rhythym (which are the main pointers I got from the stuff I read)

You also have to love how the universe works - just as I got there, the guy in the next lane to me started chatting and turns out he's just started a triathlon club at the pool (which is just down the road from me and much closer than the Enoggera one!) when I got out, I found he'd slipped a card under my bag!

This would be perfect, except for the fact that I may now be house sitting for a friend for a few months and she lives near Chermside! Having said that, I think they have a pool!

Tonight I've planned a gentle 5km in the lead up to saturday and a weights session.

10km run

Went swimming again yesterday, did 1100m though again with the 100m freestyle-then-bust woe. Prompted by Lulu's comment (thankyou, Lulu! :) I decided to do a bit of research on technique and have decided to try and focus on getting that better rather than increasing distance. I'm approaching it in the same way as I did running. Instead of jog-walk-jog-walk, I'm doing freestyle-breast stroke-freestyle-breastroke. Hopefully the breast stroke intervals will get less!

Today I paid for the Tri - *gulp* - no escape now!

Went running tonight with the Run Inn crowd. Went with the faster group again, thinking, wow, this isn't as hard as last time, only to realise they were all on an easy run because they're doing the 500k relay this weekend! dammit, LOL! Finished feeling like I wanted more - has to be a good sign. I'm trying not to feel yuck about my backsliding times lately - I know it's the weather, but I hate feeling like I'm going backwards in my running rather than forwards. It'll be interesting to see what I'm like when I go over to the UK for a few weeks to the freezing cold weather!

Finished reading the Hal Higdon marathon book that Tracey gave me. I'm feeling all inspired all round, really. I think my eyes are bigger than my stomach (or rather my brain, my legs!) in terms of all the running things I want to have a go at next year and beyond. Next year is definitely marathon year. After that, I think I may venture toward the (as Tesso called it) dark side and see what other horrific sounding running events I could enter ;) anything that sounds undoable is instantly appealing to me! Looking much, much further ahead, 100 miles sounds like a nice round number....

On saturday morning at the Running Buddies, Sam and I are going to have a Kurrawa decider run where we'll do the 25km and see how we cope (or rather, how I'll cope in the heat, seeing as she's much better at running than me) if it's awful, I don't think we'll do it to ourselves. We're going to start early, at 5am so we finish with everyone else. Having seen just how much the heat affects me, I'm not feeling that keen on half killing myself to do Kurruwa. Though, it'd be good fun I think with everyone there! Mnnn.

Tomorrow the great clothing-i-can-swim-bike-run-in experimentation continues.

1000m swim

Woke up this morning expecting my legs to be killing me, but actually, they're fine - it's my shoulders and back that hurt! Not to mention my er, bike seat - omgomgomg!

Gingerly ventured to the pool and swam 1000m. Still only managed 100m freestyle, did the rest as breaststroke, but tried to intersperse it with little bursts of freestyle. Made me realise how much work I have to do!

Was going to go to the gym tonight, but alas, I have a pile of 40 essays to mark by wednesday so I spent the evening knee deep in assessment criteria instead! Tomorrow, no doubt!

Tri training

Two blog entries in one day. I must be keen! Couldn’t help but blog the tri training experience though!

I am completely wiped out!

After the 10km this morning, I got home, had a shower and then did a few errands before having an early giant lunch and then heading to J's. My legs still felt a bit wibbly from the morning but I was determined to have a go at our own mini-tri this afternoon to see how I went.

First, we rode down to the pool. That in itself was an experience, since I haven't ridden a bike in six years and when I did there was no such thing as gears. Very strange to have my bum up and my head down, too - but on adjusting the seat a bit, found it did make a huge amount of difference. They say you never forget how to ride a bike, but I think it's bollocks. I think actually, it's bloody hard to remember how to ride a bike well.

Once we got to the pool, we did 500m. My freestyle sucks woefully. J was very good though and didn't laugh at me when I resorted to breastroking after 100m. Something I'm going to have to work on for sure. It's quite annoying because I have such vivid memories of actually being quite a strong swimmer as a kid. Same with playing with the piano. I remember being a grade 8, but when you put me infront of one now, I can hardly play a tune anymore. *snorks* I guess the key here is repetition and practice.

Then, we jumped out of the pool and got back on the bikes and rode 12km through bush trails. Some of the hills killed me - mostly due to having to get used to shifting my weight, find the best line, getting the right gear and keeping my balance all at once. Lots of fun though - whizzing up and down hills was loads of fun. I think that I need to concentrate on getting comfortable and then I can really let fly. And, I only fell off three times *snorks* not that I actually hit the dirt, it was more of an ungainly hopping sideways. I am so unco, it's embarrassing.

When we got back, we dumped the bikes and ran a hilly km or so around the block. My legs felt like jelly, having cramped up a bit in the pool. All up I was quite surprised I held up as well as I did - the bike ride at Bribie isn't going to be trails and we swam further than the enticer distance (300m) so really I just have to get my head around the bike and joining it all together.
I learnt tons about technique, rules and training from J - helped heaps.

One thing is for sure - parts of my anatomy are KILLING me! Why don't they make bike seats wider for girls? or perhaps you just get used to it! I also have to figure out a cost effective way to wear clothes that I can swim, bike and run in, get elastic laces and work some of this stuff into my training routine!

Definitely going to be an early night for me!

10km in 57.15 :(

This weekend is shaping up to be huge - yesterday I did an easy 10km with the running buddies, or rather - Sam, Schultzy and I did an easy 10km while the others took off up Mount Cootha! I'm not quite brave enough to have a go at that with other people just yet, and besides, I wanted to go well today at the BRRC 10km.

I don't think I realised just quite how much the heat takes it out of you - it was really, really humid again today and everyone was sweating buckets too. I managed 57.15 again which annoyed me immensely. Particularly as I was running perfect 5.30 pace for the first four kms. I just couldn't sustain it though and slowed. My throat is still sore as well and so I think a visit to the doc is going to have to happen. Blah. Antihistamine doesn't help either, so I know it's not just killer hayfever. I want to get under 55 minutes so badly I can taste it! ggggrrrraaarrrggghhhh!!! *L*

This afternoon I am doing my first tri-training attempt with an IM friend, John. He's another person who has volunteered to lend me a bike for the Bribie Enticer Tri (thankyou to those of you who've offered btw - much appreciated :) so looks like I'm entering! I'm slightly scared because he's so fast at everything and I'm buggered from running this morning already, but I've got til this afternoon to recover. All I can do is my best, anyway. I'd better get used to multiple lumps of exercise on the same day - I think there's going to have to be a lot more of it!

feeling better, 500k and Bribie Tri?

Woke up this morning feeling vaguely human again, aside from a bit of a headache. Yesterday my kidneys were really sore and aching all day, so much so that I almost ended up at the Doctors, but woke up this morning feeling pretty much fine, except for a bit of a headache, so hurrah, I think I'm on the mend! Had PT this morning, did weights again. I still can't believe I'm bench pressing 40kgs - I remember so clearly struggling with 20kgs!

Last night I did go to running club but decided just to run with the slowest group. We did about 40 minutes with a few walk breaks and once I got going, I felt fine. Really should've gone with the next lot up, but had decided to take it easy. A new girl came last night and she's similar to me in speed, so we had a bit of a hit out in the last km to get our heart rates up a bit. At the end, I still felt like I'd piked out even though I knew it was sensible to take it easy - wanted to do it all again. Funny how much it hurts to really push yourself and how you question why you do it to yourself, but then when you slack off a bit, you crave that sensation. Or at least, I do... I like feeling like I couldn't have worked any harder if I'd tried.

Anyway, it was probably good for me to take it easy and may well benefit me on the weekend. I'm still planning to run with the running buddies on saturday, though will probably be a slacko effort again before attempting to smash my 10k effort on the sunday.

Looks like I may end up running the 500k relay next weekend too - they're one runner short - I'm sort of torn about doing it because I promised Sam I'd run 25k with her before Kurruwa and we'd planned it for next saturday, but we'll see. Also had a chat with one of the girls at running last night about the local triathlon club (at Enoggera) so I really should ring the guy who runs it and see if I'd be up to getting involved. I'm contemplating doing one of the enticer tri's at Bribie - there's one at the beginning of December, one in February. I don't own a bike, so that's my next challenge - finding one! I'd like to buy one, but there's no way I'll be able to do that til the new year. Money is decidedly tight again!

grumpy

Well, whatever is in my system is still there :( At least it hasn't gotten any worse, stopping at the sniffles and a sore throat, but more annoying is the fact that my energy levels are non existant. I feel absolutely exhausted and very lethargic. Managed to force myself off to the gym yesterday for some cross training, but bit of a crap effort.

Tonight I'm torn between doing the cool night classic or going to run group. Not that I think I'm going to be too flash at either of them in this state! Blargh. Nothing to do but try and push on through it.

Noosa: The Good, The Bad and the UGLY!

Hardly know where to start on this one! Finally managed to get a motel room in Maroochydore for the night on saturday, so I went and helped rack the bike and pick up our race kits on saturday afternoon. Saw Schultzy who did a commando roll into a flower bed at running on wednesday - turns out he actually broke his hand, poor thing!

Got up at 4am to find I had a really sore throat. I'm not sure if it's the same bug that I had early this week, but all was not well. Being slightly asthmatic, things of that nature never bode well for me, so I pretty much scrapped my PB plan then and there :( I drove up to Noosa and met my team mates at 6am. Saw the lovely Karisma, on the way into get numbered but couldn't stop because I was terrified of losing my team mates (having only just met them, I didn't think I'd find them again in the crush! LOL!) we got tattooed and then began the long process of waiting around in the transition area. Bumped into Tori after her swim and we had a good chat. Saw Puntermatt too, looking all posh with his official press pass! (I want that job!) Also saw Little Kirlou I think, not that he knew who I was *grins*

The swim looked brutal and some of the other people in the other zenergy teams (organised by my trainer) came back with black eyes and various bruises. My team mate escaped the scraps but looked exhausted! I'm starting to think the run is the 'easier' leg after having seen what the others had to do! Definitely made me realise that I am going to have to be doing a lot more training before I'm even half way ready to do the whole thing. At the moment, I don't think I'd last five minutes!

My rider came back quite early in the scheme of things which was good for me, since I knew I'd be slow. Lots of fun tagging hands and then zipping off through the transition area to the start line. Saw a whole tent load of familiar faces as I took off all yelling for me *grins* Competing with people from PT was fun but not as much fun as it would've been with fellow running friends - I think it would mean more with people you have a rapport and friendship with - so it was lovely to get that boost as I went by :) Made me realise just how lucky I am to be part of such a great running community, actually :)

Predictably, I felt absolutely shit for the first 4km. Really, really bad. Almost to the point where I thought I can't do this today! but the idea of letting my team mates down made me realise that a DNF was definitely not an option so I ignored my legs and my burning throat and lungs and kept going. I didn't actually like the way the run course was set out at all - 4km to the turn around and then 6km back (with two separate loops around culdesacs to make up the extra distance. At the half way mark, the sun came out and it got really, really, REALLY disgustingly humid. It was like running through soup. The glare came up off the pavement and it got really difficult to breathe. Some kind souls were out on their driveways with their hosepipes dousing us as we went by - temporary respite from the temperature.

It was positively the hardest run I think I've ever done, ever. Way harder than 25km. Seeing all the full tri competitors keep on plodding on was really inspiring though and seeing them made me keep going. By comparison to them, I should've been fresh as a daisy and if I had resorted to a walk, I knew I would look like a complete cop out. (not that I didn't fantasise about stopping for a walk relentlessly!) I did manage to overtake a fair few team runners on the way which was nice and even managed a bit of a last minute glory dash over the line. I finished my run in 57.33 (crapola but expected!) but overall our team finished 134th. I was 584th in the run (132 in the category - though quite what that bit means I'm not sure ;)

As I crossed the finish line, I started feeling not very well at all.... the world sort of started to tilt on me and I thought I was going to throw up. Had to grab the rail for a few minutes. One thing I noticed is that they didn't seem to have anyone keeping an eye on finishers like they do in fun runs. I suppose they assume everyone is fit enough to cope. There were about a million people all packed together and being so hot and out of breath made me a big panicky. Nearly went to the medical tent actually as i had the shakes. Bloody virus. Bloody humidity. *L* It was really weird not seeing anyone I knew after, either... couldn't find the water and got a bit disorientated. After a while, a good sit down and whatever was left in my fuel belt bottles, I calmed down and went for a shower and some food. Felt better after that. Good job I didn't land on my face really though - I wonder if I'd still be there! *snorks* my fault for running feeling ill to begin with.

All up, despite having such a bad run I did enjoy the triathlon. I think it sort of left me feeling a little bit thunderstruck at the moment... thinking about how hard I struggled just to finish the run today made me reevaluate my fitness levels a fair bit. I know I can train up to it, but it's going to take some time to get there I think. I'm also packing it about Kurruwa now, since running in that sort of heat was incredibly difficult today. Not that I'm going to back out of Kurruwa for anything (too stubborn for my own good!) but still! *freaks out slightly*

Anyway, hopefully whatever is wrong with me will fix itself in a few days and I'll be set to have a proper crack at my 10km on sunday at BRRC :)

10km - 2kgs = feeling better!

Hurrah, I finally feel better! Nothing quite like feeling constantly nauseous for four days, NOT! *bleurgh* I lost another 2kgs in the process!

Went running last night with the faster group. Again, I absolutely worked my butt off to keep up with them, and I still had to walk up parts of the final, mammoth nasty hill. Sweated buckets, too. That said, I feel like I'm able to run at a slightly faster pace than before, so that's good. Felt much harder than last time, but perhaps that's because I've been sick, too.

Getting excited about Noosa.... much more nervous than usual. Partly because I want to smash my 10km PB, and partly because the tri is so new to me. I want to love it :) everyone keeps telling me I will but you never know. I'm wishing I could get accommodation up there somewhere but everything is booked solid. Might try one or two towns down and see if I have any better luck. Parking is going to be a pain in the bum, that's for sure.

10km Social Run + feeling yuck

Yesterday I woke up feeling a bit dodgy and it didn't improve over the course of the day either - nauseous with stomach ache. Despite feeling shitful, I went out to Sandgate to do the 10k social run with the Run Inn people. Tracey came and we got to have a good gossip and catch up. Even though I was feeling under the weather, I felt good during the run and that I could've carried on. Nice to just kick back and chat though.

Afterwards everyone had fish and chips for dinner, but the smell/sight of deep fried food made me feel a million times worse, so I headed home. Tentatively ate some salad and a mango for dinner but the stomach thing got worse - ended up spending the night with a bucket by my head though hurrah, I didn't need it. I hate throwing up.

Anyway, woke up this morning, feeling less nauseous but still with the stomach pain which is vaguely reminiscent of when I had appendicitis. If it doesnt get better today, I'll have to go see the doctor I think. It's probably just a virus.

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!

7.5km

I know I keep saying it, but It's so good to be back running on a wednesday night. I started out with the slow group again - the first couple of ks were just shocking since my legs are sooo sore from the speedwork and PT yesterday. Once I warmed up a bit, I felt heaps better and was soon zooming along. Next week I am definitely going to try and keep up with the next group up - I don't know if it's just psychological, but I actually feel like I ran better - little bit quicker and breathing easier - which surprised me since my legs felt so heavy. Bit of a brief 'zen' running moment actually! Will be interesting to see how I go with the 10km at BRRC on sunday. Sub 55 maybe ;) (uh-oh, that's tempting fate, isnt it? LOL) Perhaps the benefits of Bootcamp, nasty speedwork and chasing BRB'ers through southbank is starting to pay off already ;)

Had a brief chat with John who I think I may cajole into giving me a few training sessions on bikes - I want to pick his brains about triathlons, transitions and the many things that I'm going to have to learn before I attempt one next year. I've always been quite good at swimming but the ride is going to be the worst part for sure - I actually swore I'd never get back on a mountain bike a couple of years ago, after attempting a 40km bike ride up the side of a Volcano in Ecuador at 4,500m above sea level - weighing 126kgs and with both altitude sickness and jetlag, it was bloody torture. I also forgot to put sunscreen on the tops of my hands and they blistered raw. Not to mention I seriously couldn't walk straight for about two days afterwards. *L* ah well! Can't foresee any volcanoes on the tri courses, so it would have to be easier than that!

Tomorrow I think I'll aim for easy 5-10km and bit of an upper body weights session. My legs are going to take a few days to get back to normal I think! Must dig out some metallica for my mp3 player - full on weights sessions require rock god music, I've decided ;)

zoooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmm

Holy hell - I did the most intense speedwork session I've ever done ever tonight. I didn't know I could move that fast! It seems my trainer has reached new heights of evilness in his running club and we spent an hour absolutely busting a gut. We did a combination of fartlek, intervals and an all out, hell for leather km sprint or three. I don't think I have ever worked so hard. I don't think I'm going to be able to move tomorrow (and I have a PT session in the morning! argh!) If any of you brissie people are game, they're doing free sessions this week for the running club launch - see http://www.zenergy.biz - you go into the draw for a $200 voucher at InTraining.

As for me, I think anything that evil has to work, so I think I'll go back. Want to get my times down some more...

And now, my bed is calling....

B-R-Bloodyhellhowfastdoyourun!

Yesterday I went to the Brisbane Running Buddies (BRB) and did about 10km. The mornings are definitely geting warmer, that's for sure! My legs felt like concrete after friday's effort and I found myself walking a fair bit. They're all soooooo fast!

Clairie ran with me for a bit which was really nice of her. I hate holding people up. The run did make me reassess my 'three weeks of pain' theory - I think it's going to be more like three months of pain. Oh well! Feeling a bit more positive about my running now, so I'll just keep on keeping on at what I'm doing. Looking forward to this coming week:

M - PT running group (mixture of speedwork/long runs I'm told)
T - PT session
W - Run Group 10km?
T -
F -
S - BRB 10km? (depending on how long I can keep up!)
S - West End BRRC 10km

Still have to work out how to intersperse that with weights/gym sessions, but I'll work those out as I go along.

hilights

Fark, I don't even want to talk about the final bootcamp this morning. I'm putting it behind me. Needless to say, I don't think I actually improved on anything and I can remember doing much better in previous bootcamps.

So, this morning I actually went out and decided to indulge in my favourite form of retail therapy (except perhaps for clothes shopping!) - went to the hairdresser. Normally, me being in a bad mood is not a good time to go since I usually end up getting something dramatic done. This time however, I was quite restrained and had a trim and some hilights:



It was hugely expensive, but I feel better :P

I'm also enjoying making blog banners for people - fascinating to try and match them to their online personality ;) at least, no one is saying anything if they hate them, yet!

Slightly Calmer (Karma?)

Ended up making it back to run club tonight which was really nice though I absolutely flew there from work. The people at the lights certainly copped an eyeful as I stripped and changed into running gear enroute *L* Really good to go for a run, catch up with people and generally channel my left over blahness from this morning into more constructive purposes. I decided enroute that next week I'm going to attempt to run with the next faster group. If it takes me three weeks of total pain to keep up before it becomes bearable, so be it.

Bootcamp this morning really, really annoyed me, but at the same time, it only makes me more bloody determined to get better and faster. What doesnt kill you makes you stronger (faster). I know I'm never going to be really, really good at running (can't change biology) but I know I can improve on where I'm at now. And, if you never try, you never know.

Got an email from previously mentioned running boy saying he's seeing someone else. I have a sneaky little intuition about that ;) Really is none of my business however so I'll shut up now save to say I wish him well. Plenty more fish in the sea as they say. Sick of fishing anyway so it's probably all for the best.

Really, really shitty: 6:01

Don't you just hate it when you just miss a goal time? I felt like chucking the biggest girly tantrum this morning, when I half killed myself around the assault course, only to cross the line in 6:01. 6.01 !!!
*Hannah jumps up and down and stamp feet repeatedly in disgust*

(don't mind me, I'll just have the tantrum here instead ;)

Now all I can think is, what if I'd just pushed a little bit harder in that sprint? What if I'd done those push ups a bit faster? I almost, almost burst into tears right there and then.

My mood wasn't really helped by the continuous run we did afterwards either, where the other people in my group kicked my butt - even the girl who declared she wasn't very good at running. Dammit, Dammit, Dammit! I came away feeling very, very unmotivated about the fitness test on friday, generally feeling fat, unfit and crap at the whole shebang.

I know it's all in my head and everything, but I do have a bit of a competitive streak (I think I get it from my father - he was a racing driver) and it really shits me that I've done almost a year of work learning to run and I'm still slow as all hell and I can't even keep up with people who never run. *sighs*

Anyway. A huge overreaction no doubt but there you are. I need to stew on it for a bit and I'm sure I'll be right.

Dammit!

Bootcamp

So, I rocked up this morning feeling reasonable - the inside of my thighs was a little sore (in a good way) from doing (what is still, for me) many kms in the space of two days. Although, I think that if I hadn't sprinted the last 1.5km yesterday I wouldn't be sore today - I've been thinking more about my form lately, and when I sprint I run really differently - I drive with my legs a lot more and my stride gets longer. I don't know if that's something I should actually be doing during slow runs too... it just feels more natural to do it when I want to go quicker!

Bootcamp this morning involved assault course again. 6.17, dammit! By the time I got to the last sprint, I realised I really was a bit fatigued from the last couple of days. Tomorrow I think I'll have a rest day and try and blitz it on wednesday. I'm also going to try and make it back to run club that evening, so it should be a full on day!

After the assault course, we did hill runs. They actually made people vomit today from the effort. Thankfully, not me. The hill runs were in the landscaped gardens just behind the park - probably only 40m or so actual distance, but pretty steep. They were however graduated with two 5m flat sections equally spaced - so it was like running three stages. Not that we got to rest between each part of the hill - they made us sprint each section flat out, then do ten squat jumps on each flat...

Oh my gods - if you ever wanted to strengthen (read KILL) your thigh muscles, that's the way to do it. It was brutal and everyone just fell over onto the grass at the top of each set. Didn't even have the strength to remain standing. We did that and variations of it for about 30 minutes. By the end of it though, I'm delighted to say endurance won out and I beat the quick blokes on the very last set. *snorks* not that it's much of a victory - I spent most of the session trailing behind them with legs like concrete! It was one of those exercises that absolutely kills but really works (I don't think I'll be able to walk tomorrow!) as such, I'm thinking I may encorporate it somehow into my training. That sort of strength work has to benefit running, surely.

River Run 10km 56:50ish?

Well, river run was fun. (do I get extra points for lame rhymes? LOL) not my quickest 10km, but reasonable considering that tomorrow will make four days straight of running. Plus, I weigh 3kgs more than I did when I ran my PB (*grumbles at self*) I'm so completely over dieting. Healthy eating, fine. Significant daily reduction in calories, nah. If It means I have to bloody weigh more, so be it. I feel like if I eat the way I used to to (pre-running) where I hardly ate carbs for literally months, I'd fall over. Need energy to run, hence need carbs. My friend Em, who is currently doing the whole losing weight thing and has taken up running learnt that the hard way recently - she passed out after reducing her carbs and running hard... poor thing! Only her pride was dented though, which is the main thing ;)

Anyway, It's all just a case of everything in moderation, no doubt. But I'm not going to completely obsess over it any more. As I continue increasing my training, perhaps it'll just come off naturally. If it doesnt, I don't care!

*ahem* Oops, slight sideways deviation there. Where was I? Oh yes. Race report ;)

I got there at about 5.45am and saw Clairie and tribe. The wind had finally died down (thought we may get blown into the river yesterday!) and headed to the start line. Zest Health Clubs was trying to get everyone doing an aerobic warm up, but we were packed in like sardines so there was no chance of that! Soon enough we were off.

Tried very hard not to get caught up in the usual 2km dash at the start, and settled into a rhythym. By 7km or so, I took great delight in passing a lot of those same people, who were now walking. I think I could've pushed myself harder during the run, but I guess I was also thinking about tomorrow's assault course and that it'd be wise to leave a little in the tank. And, having already run 10km the day before probably affected me too.

We ran past the last of the BRRC'ers on the run too - it was the championship 7/14kms today, but it's not like my points were going to do me much good anyway, so I was happy enough to do the 10km race instead. Saw Karisma, Schultzy, Run67 and a few others and waved as we went by.

Crossed the line, got my breath back and looked for a certain boy who had come to watch but had gone missing. Then I grabbed a huge mango smoothy from Boost (loving their mobile kiosks - boost rocks) and sat to await my impending fortune via random draws, which alas wasn't to be! Oh well, one day!

Finally made it to Brisbane Running Buddies this morning - it's only taken me about three months to finally get there! Today left from the Regatta, only none of the slow runners turned up (there was a party) and I found myself feeling very grateful that most of the people who were there, were either hung over or in recovery so weren't going at their usual full tilt! We did 10km and I think it was probably an ideal way to break myself in gently. Felt really good today - as the weeks go on, I may try to keep up with some of the slower quick people - it's the only way I'm going to get faster, no doubt!

I also got an email from my PT who has started running groups for their clients, prolly on a monday. Knowing him, they'll be brutal. I get a free pass to the first one because I did bootcamp, so I think I'll go along to them regularly if they suit my level of (in)ability *L* Hopefully I'll start being able to make it to wednesday nights again since the semester is almost over (the tutes shorten to an hour and so I'll finish bang on six - will attempt to bolt to the club in record time! may resort to wearing running gear under work clothes!)

So, all things being equal I'll soon have three runs a week with other people sorted out. I've pretty much decided not to do the Toowoomba marathon - I'm going to carry on doing what I'm doing for a bit, work on my speed and carry on increasing my distances gradually. No use building a house on dodgy foundations and I'd hate to blow all the hard work it's taken to get me here :) So, I'm going to shoot for Canberra, I think. Which is really not that far away anyway.

Oh, and thankyou all so much for your advice on Toowoomba (and dodgy hat congratulations too!) - It's so nice to have all this support and the benefit of your experience *hugs* What would we do without our blogs? *grins*

River Run 10k tomorrow, Bootcamp assault course, monday. Sub Six *rah-rah-rah!*

Graduation

Me. My Mother and Dodgy Hat ;)

6:15 assault course

I did the assault course this morning in 6:15... so close to sub-six minutes, it's killing me! LOL! On the positive side of things, I felt like I went much slower today because I had PT on monday night and my muscles are still really fatigued from the weights.... I felt like I worked wayyy harder on mondays effort yet I still managed to go faster, WOOHOO!

One of the guys measured the course on his garmin on the weekend, and says all up, the distance of it is 1.1km, so bearing in mind that it contains (in order): 10 push ups, 20 step ups, 5 push ups (again) 5 chin ups, a small obstacle to clamber over, ten sit ups, a short balance beam, 5 second hold chin up, 5 ab crunches followed by a flat out sprint, then ten chin ups and a short dash to the line I'd love to know how quickly I can run a normal km! *grins* I so have to go back to speedwork after this too - use it or lose it, no doubt ;)

After the assault course, we did another little obstacle course comprised of running up and down hills with a backpack or truck tire on a rope, more push ups, burpees (god, I hate those more than life itself - whoever invented that exercise needs shooting!) etc etc etc. I can't believe how much the fast, intense stuff kills me... I guess that while all this long slow running has been great for getting my distances and endurance up, speed work is speed work and requires greater amounts of pain. I'm hanging out for the continuous run which I think I may be doing on friday. I'm hoping it's my chance to get my own back on those fast bloody men ;) Won't be that far - there's only an hour or so to use on the run as it is. Overall, I'm starting to think I'm destined to prefer longer runs - they seem much more civilised somehow!

Tomorrow, I'm going to attempt to squish in a run in the morning, then I've got my graduation ceremony for my MA. I actually finished months ago but it takes ages to process. I may post pictures of me in dodgy hat. We'll see ;) Friday is bootcamp again, Saturday BRB (locked in, baby!) and Sunday is the 10km River Run which is on at the same time as the West End Run :( Waaaa. Maybe there's time to do both - will check the times.

Next week I think I may be able to go back to wednesday night runs. Depends on work I guess! Oh, and because enquiring minds want to know *grins* the boy did call me so we'll see how things go ;)

42 (the answer to life, the universe and everything?)

Soooo... I was browsing through CoolRunning tonight reading lots of race reports from Blackmores, Glasshouse etc... and I happen accross a little thread about the upcoming Toowoomba Half and Full Marathons.... I'm not crazy enough to attempt the hilly half, but by all accounts the October one is flatter.... and then I start wondering to myself....

Would it be crazy to enter in the full marathon... not to run the entire thing of course, but just to run what I can and walk what I can't.... it'd really be just like a practice then, wouldn't it?

Oh dear. I'm getting dangerous!

I think the deciding factors in this will be:

a. whether there are lots of hills
b. whether are other slow, slow, slow runners too
c. whether I should really just get ahold of myself and wait til GC/Canberra next year!

6:23 assault course

Bootcamp this morning was nasty. It's like doing a solid hour of constant speedwork. I've taken both varieties of my inhaler twice, but the cardio work was so intense that I'm feeling my asthma kick in for the first time in over a year. I did however manage to take 30 seconds off my assault course time, getting it down to 6:23. Sooooo close to getting it under 6 minutes! They set us off in waves depending on fitness, and being the only girl in the last (supposedly fittest!?) wave is a bit difficult - the boys leave me for dead, pretty much. I find it a bit irritating that at the end of the day, no matter how hard I train, men at a similar fitness level are always going to be quicker! It seems a bit unfair, somehow ;) Oh well, c'est la vie!

After the assault course, we split up into smaller groups and spent an hour doing hill runs, burpees, jumping squats, sets of 30 second sprints, lateral jumps (over a rope ladder) and step ups. Oh, and reverse lunges. My lungs were burning like hell!
I think that the intensity of it is probably going to be good for my speed with running - I guess I'll find out on sunday at the river run! I'd like to get under 55 for 10km by the end of the year, too. I meant to do the womens 10km this sunday, but I ended up working the whole weekend :( Sometimes being self employed can suck :( I really shouldn't complain however, since the work is more than welcome. I've been so slack with reading blogs too... must fix that ;) I hope everyone had fun at the Glasshouse. Next year, I may actually do one of the runs ;) I've decided it's my new ambition in life to run every distance there is, at least once! (including 100 miles!)

I am still stuck in the middle of a big fight with myself to eat well and train every day. Bootcamp completely throws my running out (though I think I'll be reaping the benefits of it soon) I'm still pining for my wednesday night long run and I think it's a major reason why my weight has crept up a bit *again*. Next week is mid semester break and so I'll be able to sneak one in then... then it'll only be a few more weeks and I can go back to it. Next week is D Day for the bloody Brisbane Running Buddies, too - it'll be a regatta week I think, so slow pokes like me can go ;) If I don't make it this saturday I'm going to scream!

Right, time to read some blogs and leave some comments for all you lovely people :)

Bootcamp and 5km

Leg felt better this morning (thanks to anti-inflammatories!) and bootcamp went well - did the assault course in 6:56. Previously, my best recorded time (in september last year, before I started running) was 7:41 (and that was after three weeks of working on it!) my goal is to do it in under 6 minutes by the end of the course :)

After that, we did a strength circuit (push ups, chin ups, squats, hovers and the like). Then we all stretched. I felt so pumped after it that I did an extra 5km run after it, too. I bumped into another of the trainers on the run too, so if they dob me into the bootcamp trainers I suspect my bootcamp is about to get a whole lot harder ;) The biggest thing I notice about coming back to it is how much more quickly I recover... better stamina and endurance no doubt. I also felt really good on the run afterwards. I think it's the benefits of increasing my distances starting to show itself.

Tomorrow I'm going to try and do a long run in the morning. I've found where they've been hiding the showers at uni, so I can probably park there and run around the area. It's something I've been meaning to do for ages. Either that, or I'll run at southbank and then drive over. Might bump into some Pat Carrollers, you never know!

All in all, feeling good!

Want to Skydive?

Took a rest day today because oooooooowwwww I needed it. When I woke up this morning, I had pain going down the back of my right leg from just underneath my glute, through the back of my knee and through my calf. Like one long line. Sooo painful and every time I lift my leg it's tight and hurts. Moan, moan, moan, whinge, whinge, whinge, moan, moan, moan *laughs* there. That's better!

Tomorrow is the assault course which I really want to thrash the living daylights out of. But with this leg, I dunno. We shall see I guess! The rest of me feels ready to rock!

On a completely different note, anyone want to come tandem skydiving with me? I picked up a leaflet for it the other day and discovered it's quite a bit cheaper than I had thought - plus, if there's a few people you get a group discount!

I see.... *claps hand to third eye* clouuuddddsss... lots and lots of... clooouuuddddsssss... and wait - there are many small people falling from the sky... they're telling me they call themselves.... CoolRunners....

*Laughs* Okay, Anyone interested?

bootcamp = pain

Having just read clairie's blog, it seems our 25km yesterday was long and we actually did 26.2kms according to the garmin. *grins* even better! Means my average pace was 6:22 which is also a little more encouraging :)

Woke up at 4.30am this morning and took me a few minutes to remember why I was waking up at that time on a monday! Then I remembered it was bootcamp and braced myself for getting out of bed. Thankfully, the anti-inflammatories I took yesterday did the trick and I felt surprisingly good. My calves were really tight and sore though, so I spent some time stretching and then hopped into the car.

Got to bootcamp at 5.30am to sign on. Always fascinating to see the different sorts of people that come - a whole myriad, from the terminally unfit to the machines. As usual, I was somewhere in the middle. I felt quite optimistic at that point, thinking I'd be able to do the whole thing despite yesterday's long run.

We started off doing chin ups, which I'm never very good at - I managed 2 which is awful. It doesn't help that my gym doesn't appear to have a chin up bar anywhere to practice on. I'll have to start using the stretching cage soon instead! Then, while everyone else was being tested, the rest of us did little shuttle runs up the hill to stay warm. It was then that I realised that even though my hips and thighs feel reasonably okay, the fatigue was going to get me. instantly felt like I weighed 126kgs again and got out of breath pretty easily. Plus, the insides of my knees joints are a not-good type of sore from the repetitive pounding.

I decided then not to do the cardio test because I didn't want to risk buggering my knee joints. I could feel the strain on them and I'd rather go back fresh on wednesday. It did irritate me a bit not to do it (felt like a slacker) and they had a new version of it (so I don't hold the female record for it anymore, boohoo!). It now involves running 150m circuit of hard sprint, then dropping for 5 push ups and going again. They do 4 sets of 2 minutes each, with 30 seconds recovery between. I did however get to watch a formulate a bit of a cunning plan for it - pretty much everyone just went absolutely flat out from the start and then faded really quickly - I think the key to stuff like that is like doing speedwork at track, where you find the quickest pace you can maintain for a period time and stick at it.

We did ab crunches (I got 10 - again pathetic because my legs felt so heavy) squat hold (1:12 - crap for me again, last time i did 6 minutes!) and push ups (50 which was a bit better but still not usual amount for me - and these were on my knees!)

Wednesday I have the first crack at the good old assault course. I hope I get some energy back by then!

25km *muahahahahahaha*

Well, I did it! 25km! Took me 2:47, but I did it ;)

Woke up at 5am after dreaming I was locked in a kitchen pantry with a deranged psychopath trying to get in and kill me! somehow I had a phone in there with me, but 000 couldn't help me because I didn't know the address of the house I was in. Amazing what pre-race anxiety will do to you. Despite nasty dreams, I slept well and got to the West End in plenty of time. Saw Clairie who was also doing the 25km and then they announced that because of the riverfire festival, part of the usual course was going to be shut off and we would be doing the 25km in EIGHT shorter loops of just over 3kms which brought many spontaneous shrieks from those of us who had been planning to do the longer run. At that point I almost thought 'bugger it' and opted for the 15kms, but decided to just start and see how I went. Plus, I knew that if I didn't go for the 25km after all my hoo-haa about it, you guys would give me heaps ;) *grins*

So out I went. I managed to buy some GU's to run with (went with chocolate flavour) and felt pretty good. Tesso was volunteering for the morning and cheered me on through most of my many, many, many loops *L* I started out really, really, REALLY slowly (even for me!) and walked through the drink stop every 3km. It averages out to 6:40 pace, which is actually quicker than it felt! At the half way point, I suddenly felt really hungry (had opted for huge dinner, no breaky) and so had my GU which definitely perked me up. Am now a convert to those things - although, not so keen on chocolate - will go for orange next time!

It was really at the half way point that I felt like I was actually going to be able to do the whole distance. During the run a couple of different people ran with me which helped soooo much so all up I think I probably only did 3 out of the 8 loops on my own. Schultzy came and did the final couple with me which really, really helped. By that point my legs were sooo tired and I could feel giant blisters of doom growing on the soles of my feet - think I need new socks.

Got through to the end of the run and Clairie, Tess, Runner B and a few other lovely people had waited for me to cross the line! Felt soooo good to be able to stop! Lots of hugs and cheers and stuff and they saved a random prize for me! It wasn't until I got to the swimming pool to take a quick recovery dip that I realised my newly dyed elderberry hair had stained my white cap an interesting vivid purple!!! LOL!!! no one had said anything to me when I finished, bless them ;) LOL! *mental note to self: must buy black hat*

After my swim, got home, fell onto my bed and dozed for a couple of hours. Took a couple of anti-inflammatories and put some cream on my chafed bits. I put body glide on practically my whole body, but you can never predict where is going to rub - this time, it was the line where my fuel belt went accross my back - it's sooo sore!!!

But all up, feeling really good. Am wayyyy more tired than I was after noosa and it's weird to think four more kms can do that to you. Doesn't matter though - I have a new 'magic number' of 25! Thankyou so much to all those who've texted, posted comments, emailed and cheered me on... you were all there this morning in my brain as I almost went the easy road and didn't! I hope I can do the same for you one day :)

Now, only have to get through bootcamp tomorrow! Now that should make an interesting post! *grins*

30km, here I come!

Brisbane Drinking Club + 5km

Went to the gym yesterday and ran 5km on the tready. My hatred of the bloody things is growing exponentially with distance covered in the fresh air! I sweat about three times as much on a treadmill, too - I think because there's no airflow. Anyway, I 'did my time' felt great afterwards and went to meet my next client and all was well.

And then, I got a great phonecall. A few weeks ago, I submitted some of my artwork to a fairly queensland based art award - they selected my work to go through to the final round! Winning would be fabulous for many reasons (and being slightly mercenary, I'm also thinking it would enable me to pay off the majority of my credit card!) but even if I only get this far, to get to the final stages out of hundreds and hundreds of entrants is fantastic :) I won't know til October what the end result is and will keep you all posted, of course!

Last night was Brisbane Drinking Club night out - heaps of fun as usual. Lovely to catch up with so many CRs and meet new faces to familiar names! I can't wait to see all the photos Tess took - I made a suggestion that we need a 'CR uncut' section in the photo gallery *LOL* Much red wine and beer was consumed, except for me cos I don't drink often and I'd also taken a truck load of antihistamine (I get awful hayfever and it's back for the summer!) which doesn't mix well with alchohol. Also met quite a cute boy (who is not yet converted to the evils of CR) and hit on him, so we shall see if he calls me ;)

After drinks, we went and had pizza. Dinner conversation was fascinating and involved such topics as circumcision (Clairie!) The pizza was good though! It's been soooo long since I ate pizza. I love mozerella :) After pizza, we went to another pub for a few drinks. Tankgirl cartwheeled practically the whole way there *L* I don't know how she did it after pizza! Decided that not only do I want to work towards doing a marathon, but eventually (in a few years time I think!) I want to do one of those immensely long glasshouse runs. 100 miles? again with the whole bad influence thing LOL - I'm so easy to egg on!

By midnight, most of the CRs were piking out (early morning runs, yeah, yeah LOL!) and it was just Cieran, Tara, Me and Rob. We went for 'just one more drink' which turned into another and another *grins* We went to the Chill Bar - I'd never been before, but it's a fantastic little place that makes cocktails - the bar changes colour and the top of it has a strip of actual ice to put your drinks on so they stay cool. There's a members only room behind the bar which is chilled, where you can wear giant fur coats and drink vodka at the proper temperature. It's an insane amount of money to join of course, so we just pressed our noses against the window and had a look at everything. Funny what people will spend huge amounts of money on!

After that, we went to another pub (can't remember what the name of it was) and had one more before heading off. I got in at about 3am *L* So we kept the CR Brisbane End up to scratch I think! Beat that, Sydney! LOL. Tonight I'm going to watch the fireworks on the river with Sam and Tracey (club running mates) and then tomorrow is the big day! Argh! Sooo nervous!

5km and PT

Decided to go and do 5km before PT yesterday, so I drove there, parked and went for a run down the main road. Heaps of sets of lights which was more than a little frustrating, but a nice run to do because I did it once before, when I'd just mastered 5km and I remember how far it seemed! Seemed a whole lot closer this time round! Felt really good and I concentrated on my form - I feel like I'm able to run taller, put my shoulders back and take bigger strides these days, which somehow feels faster... I should really go and read up on the science behind form I guess, but it made me realise just how much I'd been slumping and pounding my feet previously... I guess because it requires less effort to run like that or something.

Did PT and told him of the evil 25km plan. He laughed and shook his head *L* He then proceded to make me do horrific jumping lungs over a low bar without losing my balance... really difficult and I'm really sore today. Tomorrow will be worse, too! We also did sit ups with a 6kg medicine ball, crunches, bridges and attempted one handed push ups (!!??!!) He also wrote my name on the public whiteboard list for the Noosa Tri teams, so there's no escape from that in november now, either! I'm interested to watch the transitions and things anyway, seeing as next year I may well be having a go at the whole thing myself!

In the new year, I think I'm going to try and get a bit more muscly. Not much, just a bit more definition. I don't want it to mess with running so it won't be anything major, but I'm going to try to do another couple of weights sessions during the week.

Bring it On!

Bless you all. You're all such a bad, bad influence on me ;) *grins* How I love thee, CR bloggers!

I've decided I will do the 25km at the West End and just treat the initial bootcamp fit test as training. I think I was actually nervous about probably being the last to finish and holding everyone up, too. Not very many slow runners like me seem to do the longer distances there so it's a bit different to doing the 5k or 10k where I know I'm not going to be last. I'm guestimating the 25km is going to take me (at the very least) 2.30. That said, I had a bit of a look at the past 25km events on the websites and there were actually a few people who run similar times to me doing them, so that's reassured me a bit.

So, anyway, I'll do it and then I'll undoubtedly try to remember why it's character building as I am in worlds of pain doing multiple beep test shuttle runs ;) I'm just teasing (except for the pain part!) - no doubt it's not going to be easy, but at the same time It actually sort of appeals to me to see how hard I can push my body and my perception of my physical limits. Guess that's another reason why I got addicted to running in the first place! I must truly be certifiably insane.

Anyway, PT tomorrow. Wait til I tell my trainer what I'm up to! ;) *ROTFLMAO* Bring it on!

8km bush run and a bootcamp dilemma

Went for a run on Mount Cootha this morning. Was going to try and do the route everyone else does up there, but I couldn't work it out - perhaps I'm missing something, but I can't see a way to run to the top (on the road, as opposed to the tracks) without using the main road to the restaurant and having to run right right in the path of oncoming traffic... any brisbane people help me out here? *bats eyelashes* which roads do you use?

I ended up going up the JC Slaughters track like last time, doing a quick water pitstop at the cafe and then going adventuring down a few different trails. Went past a little roadside memorial for someone called 'Bear' - sad to see. Whoever he was, I think he was young - there were happy birthday notes from his mates tied to a tree. After that, I diverted down a few trails (the one that goes to chapel road?) but stopped because it was all downhill and what goes down, must come up and down again (to get back to my car, anyway!)

It was a nice run though - Tess, you were right, it does chase away the blues. I love going in the morning because there are people having barbeque breakfasts in all the picnic areas. I think that one of the nicest smells in the world is campfire smoke mixing with bush smells, fresh air and eucalypt. Magic. It reminds me of when I was younger and very much a hippy - I travelled a lot alone and spent a fair bit of time in the middle of nowhere, at festivals and the like. Being in the bush soothes me and I finished my run feeling very peaceful :)

I got home and decided that I should sign up for another 3 week bootcamp. It does however start on the 5th September, the day after the next West End run... which makes me ponder whether I should actually do the 25km there or go for the 15km or 5km instead - the first day of bootcamp is a fitness test, and there's no way I'll be able to do well at that the day after running 25km! Alternatively, I could just do both and not care if I do badly on my fitness test (afterall, it's the end test that shows how much you've improved!) mmm, dilemma! What do you lot think?

8km run, 2 km of walk breaks LOL

Well, kicked myself up the bum and tried to get back into things today. Went for what was supposed to be a 10km run on my usual route but my legs felt like lead from the weekend still so it ended up being 10km interspersed with a lot of swearing and walk breaks. I also have the biggest blister on my second toe on my left foot. Ah well! I'm so impatient about recovering but I know by the end of the week I'll be back to normal so it's no biggy and I'm complaining for no good reason ;)

I did see the most beautiful sulphur crested cockatoo on my run today - it was huge! They're my favourite type of parrot and this one just sat there eating grass while I passed by - great big fat cheeky chicken sized birds - and they're not stupid either ;)

Anyway, cheered up an otherwise sore old waddle!

Owwwww

Does anyone else get post race blues? I seem to have quite a nasty case today and am feeling quite sore and sorry for myself :( Shall no doubt get over it and get on with things tomorrow, but today I just dedicated to wallowing (I mean resting!) and tomorrow shall jump back into things.

This week, I want to start training twice a day so time to bite the bullet! Perhaps by the end of the week, I'll have more of a consistent and legitimate reason to feel sore and sorry for myself LOL!

Noosa 2:10

Well, at least I took five minutes off my gold coast time ?!?! I've come to the conclusion that it's just going to take me some time to get better at this. All things considered and having done three half marathons in three months, I'm feeling quite good about today's effort. It'd have been nice to crack 2 hours, but at the same time I kept thinking about what the lovely LuckyLegs and others have said about just enjoying the race - which is exactly what I did :)

Drove with Sam down to Noosa on saturday afternoon and checked into our youth hostel - which was quite literally next to the start line. We went and had dinner and watched the sun set on the beach. Had dinner at the SLSC and on the way back we overheard the big, burly bouncers outside discussing their crocheting and knitting. I'm serious *grins* I love it when people refuse to bend to stereotypes ;) May his craft project be very successful ;)

Played some pool (badly on my part) chatted to a backpacker and then hit the hay. Had another late-to-the-startline dream and woke up thinking we'd overslept. Which we hadn't of course, but race nerves get me every time! Headed down to the start line and caught up with everyone, then before we knew it, we were off.

I started with the 2 hour pacer, but pretty quickly decided just to run my own race. The purple balloons disappeared off into the distance, I missed my optimistic sub 2 splits right from the second km onwards *L* and so I just concentrated on getting comfortable. It took me the first 5km to get into a rhythym and warm up (my heels and calves were a bit tight). I started running with a couple of other women who were going at exactly my pace which really helped.

The weather was absolutely beautiful and the run itself is very pretty, with lots of scenery and stuff to look at. There were a couple of bridges to go over in each 10km loop, but surprisingly, they didn't bother me at all. As time went on, I kept expecting to have to walk like I did at the Gold Coast, but in the end, I hardly even stopped for water (perhaps twice) and instead, I drank my fuel belt bottles which were much easier to manage while running. I also ate half a power bar at about 10km, which I think made a huge difference. Previously, I've never eaten before or during a long run because I've been thinking about the extra calories or whatever, but having done it this time round, I'm sold - I'll have to check those gels out next time, because the power bar was hard to eat and swallow on the run.

Got to about 15km and thought to myself, any minute now I'm going to crash and burn like I have previously... but I kept on feeling fine. My legs were getting tired of course, but I could keep going. Even better, the orange pacers appeared next to us (I think they'd been going a little too fast and slowed down) so we were bang on target - At which point I just vowed to hang on, so I'd beat my GC time. Before I knew it, we were coming round the last km and into the home strait, and I found I could even sprint, so off I went - coming in at 2.10 with the pacer.

So even though I was nowhere near 2 hours, I still finished feeling really good - tired, but good. I just can't get over how much better I felt than the GC and even the B2B 12km. That's probably why I don't feel as disappointed as I did after the GC - I know that even though I didn't run faster, I ran better.

My next goal is the upcoming West End 25km - this time just to complete it ;)

Inspired!

Reading everyone's C2S race reports has gotten me fired up for Noosa on the weekend! I'm also adopting a little bit of a different strategy for it, in that this time round I'm not going to taper to any great degree, or carbo load (which is always a twisted excuse in my mind to eat crap!). Partly because I'm still trying to lose a little bit of weight and partly because I think I feel better psychologically with regular running before a race. Feels more like training (so less pressure). I'm not going to do insanely long runs or track or anything, but I am going to keep my legs turning over and run as I would usually.

The two hour mark is once again looking all glowing and shiny and tempting in my mind though I don't think my training has been good enough lately to do it. It gives me something to day dream about I suppose - I have a little 'mind movie' going on where I'm sprinting towards the finish, watching the numbers tick down and then jumping up and down wildly as I cross the line feeling fantastic. If I actually went sub 2 (or even just 2!) you'd be able to hear me screaming from sydney I think...

That said, whatever time I manage will be fine as long as I enjoy it, but doesn't hurt to dare to dream! I'm also thinking that given my impending trip back to the UK for xmas, I should also make a much more sincere effort to lose weight since you can guarantee I'll be putting it back on while I'm there. So I think this calls for another bout of hardcore training, twice a day. I'm thinking a nice, interesting mix of running, cardio, classes, weights, yoga and swimming. Best of all the weather is getting warmer which always inspires me to be more active. I'm going to start this little regime after Noosa. (weekly plan shall be forthcoming!)

10 Miles (16.1km) 1:36:45

Got up this morning and headed to the West End. I am sooo happy that it's starting to get warmer! Made it much less difficult to get out of bed and I didn't have to wear eight layers of clothes once I got there! It was all a bit lonely this morning as I think everyone is down in sydney running the C2S. I can't wait to find out how everyone went!

This mornings run was good for me I think as I'd been a bit phased by my last effort in the Bridge to Brisbane. Works out to be bang on six minute pace, so I'm happy enough with that. Makes me feel like I may not be quite as crap at the Noosa Half as I predicted! I'd be happy with 2:10 I think. In fact, anything quicker than the GC (2:15) would be fabulous.

I started out really slowly, took my time. Managed to overtake the woman in front of me, who then over took me shortly thereafter. Quite good fun actually having someone to focus on! Decided not to push things anyway, particularly seeing as the back of my left thigh (the tendon?) started to hurt at about the 13km mark. Stretched it out, so hopefully it will sort itself out.

All in all, a lovely morning. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and all was well :)