What better time of year to run than Christmas? Ignoring the insane heat, it means I can run to Christmas music! Yay!!!
I've done a couple of runs these past few weeks, but that's it. Summer = 'off season' and although I have significantly decreased my off season, I still intend to have it! So, no training runs for me. It's all about maintaining a basic level of fitness.
And it gives me time and energy to try out new sports! Touch footy? Why not! Netball? Sign me up! Acrobatics? Sure, I can give it a go... :)
Last week I did hills, which is what it sounds like. I live in a hilly area so I ran up and down the hills on my street. Distance run: 3.5km. Total time: 24.18 (hey, these were STEEP hills!).
Yesterday I ran a gentle 5k run, with a hill at the end. Took me just under 30min (hard to say exact numbers, as my watch wasn't on the whole time).
Luckily, on this latter run it had started raining. It wasn't raining when I ran, of course, but the weather was significantly cooler. I was easy to maintain a decent pace without feeling like I was running through a steam bath.
So for the next few weeks I will be setting that alarm a little later, sleeping in a little more, and occasionally cracking out the running shoes, cranking out those Christmas tunes, and going out for an easy run. Bliss!
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
500k relay: Day 3
Day Three: 500k relay. Toowoomba to Gatton
Our final day! I ran 7.78km total. (Distance “advertised” 7.50km)
Leg #5: The Champion Run
Difficulty rating: 5
Time start: 5.30am
Total distance: 3.50km
Total time: 17.10min
Average pace: 4.54/km
Fastest pace: 3.48/km
Elevation: -63
Temperature: cool
The best weather (cool)! The best time of day (early morning)! My ideal terrain (mostly flat with some gentle sloping downhills)! What can I say? All the stars aligned to make this my fastest split times I’ve ever raced.
I was very fortunate, in that I was the third runner of the day but the first to get a follow vehicle (the first two legs had a police escort only). My team offered me water, but the weather was cold and the distance short. Who needed water?
The person tagging off to me surprisingly came in dead last by a long shot. Surprising because the two people ahead of me were both strong runners. But on my leg were a few slower people, and I was sure I could pick them off! I received the tag off and took off down the hill. Not long after the follow vehicle picked up my trail (they were a bit slow as the poor finisher had to jump into the car right after his race). It was a quiet morning and a quiet highway. So the followers rolled down the window to cheer me on. I responded at first, but I was on a mission after all! I needed to catch those guys in front, within my sights after 500m. I only heard about 20% of the words, but the voices sounded encouraging. I gained a lot of lost time, but sadly 3.5km was not enough time for me to pick-off a lead of at least 800m. If I’d had another km I would have had them for sure! In the end I was only 100m back. I gave it everything I had, and am really happy. Maybe next year I’ll be fast enough (lucky enough) to pass someone in the champion runs.
Leg #6: The Mass Start.
Difficulty rating: 2
Time start: 2.00pm
Total distance: 4.28
Total time: 25.21min
Average pace: 5.55/km
Fastest pace: 4.52/km
Elevation: 24m
Temperature: hot & humid. As hot as Friday with dead air that stifled.
The very last leg of the race. The ‘glory run’ for some teams, who run this unified and finish together. The six of us in it had planned to do that, but our coach found out and wasn’t happy. We had to run our best, he said. We had to beat the team that was (at last check) 15min ahead of us in time. I was bummed, as I was the slowest runner put into that leg.
No one wanted to do it. No one! It was hot, and there was a champion run “finish” coming into the town, but then after a 30min break we had to mass start it to Gatton. The 8.4k journey was split into two runs. I ran the last of the 4.2km.
What can I say about this run? I ran with a water bottle for the first time this whole weekend, as we were only promised one water stop. But within 5 min the heat and jostling had heated my water up quite warm, and it was no longer very useful.
I remember a marathoner telling me that at the end of her first marathon she had burst into tears due to the physical & emotional exhaustion of her achievement. I never thought such a thing would happen to me but by the end of that race I could see what she meant. There reaches a point when you think you can’t take it anymore. Was it from sleep deprivation? Physical exhaustion? Heat exhaustion? Sadness that this marked the end of such an amazing weekend? Frustration that my hopes of finishing with my teammates had been squashed by our coach? That I had forgotten my sunnies and the brightness (and heat) was burning my eyes? Perhaps any of those – perhaps all. In any case, it was the most emotional race I’ve ever run. Fortunately, no one expected me to speak at the end of the race. I had a lovely supporter from the team pass me a chilled bottle and I poured it over my head as I caught my breath. Perfect!
Our final day! I ran 7.78km total. (Distance “advertised” 7.50km)
Leg #5: The Champion Run
Difficulty rating: 5
Time start: 5.30am
Total distance: 3.50km
Total time: 17.10min
Average pace: 4.54/km
Fastest pace: 3.48/km
Elevation: -63
Temperature: cool
The best weather (cool)! The best time of day (early morning)! My ideal terrain (mostly flat with some gentle sloping downhills)! What can I say? All the stars aligned to make this my fastest split times I’ve ever raced.
I was very fortunate, in that I was the third runner of the day but the first to get a follow vehicle (the first two legs had a police escort only). My team offered me water, but the weather was cold and the distance short. Who needed water?
The person tagging off to me surprisingly came in dead last by a long shot. Surprising because the two people ahead of me were both strong runners. But on my leg were a few slower people, and I was sure I could pick them off! I received the tag off and took off down the hill. Not long after the follow vehicle picked up my trail (they were a bit slow as the poor finisher had to jump into the car right after his race). It was a quiet morning and a quiet highway. So the followers rolled down the window to cheer me on. I responded at first, but I was on a mission after all! I needed to catch those guys in front, within my sights after 500m. I only heard about 20% of the words, but the voices sounded encouraging. I gained a lot of lost time, but sadly 3.5km was not enough time for me to pick-off a lead of at least 800m. If I’d had another km I would have had them for sure! In the end I was only 100m back. I gave it everything I had, and am really happy. Maybe next year I’ll be fast enough (lucky enough) to pass someone in the champion runs.
Leg #6: The Mass Start.
Difficulty rating: 2
Time start: 2.00pm
Total distance: 4.28
Total time: 25.21min
Average pace: 5.55/km
Fastest pace: 4.52/km
Elevation: 24m
Temperature: hot & humid. As hot as Friday with dead air that stifled.
The very last leg of the race. The ‘glory run’ for some teams, who run this unified and finish together. The six of us in it had planned to do that, but our coach found out and wasn’t happy. We had to run our best, he said. We had to beat the team that was (at last check) 15min ahead of us in time. I was bummed, as I was the slowest runner put into that leg.
No one wanted to do it. No one! It was hot, and there was a champion run “finish” coming into the town, but then after a 30min break we had to mass start it to Gatton. The 8.4k journey was split into two runs. I ran the last of the 4.2km.
What can I say about this run? I ran with a water bottle for the first time this whole weekend, as we were only promised one water stop. But within 5 min the heat and jostling had heated my water up quite warm, and it was no longer very useful.
I remember a marathoner telling me that at the end of her first marathon she had burst into tears due to the physical & emotional exhaustion of her achievement. I never thought such a thing would happen to me but by the end of that race I could see what she meant. There reaches a point when you think you can’t take it anymore. Was it from sleep deprivation? Physical exhaustion? Heat exhaustion? Sadness that this marked the end of such an amazing weekend? Frustration that my hopes of finishing with my teammates had been squashed by our coach? That I had forgotten my sunnies and the brightness (and heat) was burning my eyes? Perhaps any of those – perhaps all. In any case, it was the most emotional race I’ve ever run. Fortunately, no one expected me to speak at the end of the race. I had a lovely supporter from the team pass me a chilled bottle and I poured it over my head as I caught my breath. Perfect!
Saturday, November 26, 2011
500k relay: Day 2
Probably my least favourite of the days for two reasons. One, slight disorganisation. Two, no champion runs! I ran 8.22km (distance “advertised” 9.1km).
Leg #3: The Mass Start
Difficulty rating: 4
Time start: 7.15am (but I was dropped off with another teammate promptly at 5am. Meaning we were standing around in the middle of nowhere on our own for two hours. Us, the race marshals, and a frisky horse)
Total distance: 4.22
Total time: 23.14
Average pace: 5.30/km
Fastest pace: 4.24/km
Elevation: 42m
Temperature: warm/hot.
This leg not so bad. There are no follow vehicles. The gun goes off and everyone starts like a typical race. There is a police escort before the first runner and behind the last runner. You reach the end of your leg and once everyone has arrived (and is bundled into cars to get to the next change over) the next leg starts. My thought? Please don’t let me be the one with the police car right behind me! I don’t know if I would want to have everyone watching, waiting for me to come in only to be hustled off to the next place. But I don’t have a choice – it all depends on what other runners have been elected to run my leg of the race.
Fortunately – fortunately! – I am not the slowest of the slow runners and finish well ahead of the back (but well back of those ahead).
There was only one water vehicle on the course. They were recruited from one of the teams and were very friendly & provided cups of water. As it wasn’t super hot out yet, I didn’t mind just having the one.
Leg #4: The Cri.
Difficulty rating: 4
Time start: 13.20pm
Total distance: 3.98km
Average pace: 5.37/km
Fastest pace: 4.21/km
Elevation: 0
Temperature: hot & humid
My least favourite. Total chaos! In previous years it was a scenic two loop run around a creek. But floods had taken out one of the bridges and town budget hadn’t replaced it. So we had to run 5 laps around a park. Getting to the park was even less fun! Being told the race would start any moment, those of us who had just set up for lunch didn’t even have time to make it before running down to the creek to start. But wait! No one is at the creek! So we raced back up to the bus to see what is happening. No one there, either! A police car barrels in and announces on the loudspeaker that those of us running the cri must get to a park 1km up the road ASAP as the race is starting momentarily. Chaos! Madness! Panic!
Our poor bus driver – who was rubbing his hands in glory at the spread of lunch set out before him – was dragged back to the bus before getting a single bite to drive six of us up there. Then at the start we were told we would have a 15min wait as they needed to split up the number of runners on the course due to the narrow paths.
Then they told us less than a minute before the gun went off that everyone would be running at once because time was on a budget. And we were off! No fellow teammates to provide us water. I roped our poor bus driver into providing us water at the end. Poor guy! He goes from thinking he’s about to get a nice lunch break to missing lunch so he can hand out water to hot, sweaty runners. Heroically, he didn’t complain.
The course was supposed to be 5k long but no one wanted to correct the race organizers on how many laps they had us run – I was super grateful it was (for the first time) shorter than advertised. And thank you to the other teams who saw us poor support-less runners and handed out cups of water! It’s all in good spirit, after all!
...and then what happened, some may ask? We hopped back onto the bus, drove the 1k back to the picnic site...which was all packed up with two runners waiting for us. The others had started an hour ago, they said. We had to throw everything in the bus (no time for lunch! Us runners were too hot, anyway) and race to catch up with the rest of our team. It was a bit of pressure, but we made it. Phew! We finished at 6.15pm. Start time of the first runner was 4.45am. What a long day! But we did it!
Dinner (as with the night before) was at 7.30pm set up in the motel parking lot. Poor motel guests must have had heart palpations when they see a group of giddy people set up shop in the parking lot and pull out a few beers (though no one planned on getting drunk). But we were all in bed by 8.30pm for a 3am wake-up on Sunday.
Leg #3: The Mass Start
Difficulty rating: 4
Time start: 7.15am (but I was dropped off with another teammate promptly at 5am. Meaning we were standing around in the middle of nowhere on our own for two hours. Us, the race marshals, and a frisky horse)
Total distance: 4.22
Total time: 23.14
Average pace: 5.30/km
Fastest pace: 4.24/km
Elevation: 42m
Temperature: warm/hot.
This leg not so bad. There are no follow vehicles. The gun goes off and everyone starts like a typical race. There is a police escort before the first runner and behind the last runner. You reach the end of your leg and once everyone has arrived (and is bundled into cars to get to the next change over) the next leg starts. My thought? Please don’t let me be the one with the police car right behind me! I don’t know if I would want to have everyone watching, waiting for me to come in only to be hustled off to the next place. But I don’t have a choice – it all depends on what other runners have been elected to run my leg of the race.
Fortunately – fortunately! – I am not the slowest of the slow runners and finish well ahead of the back (but well back of those ahead).
There was only one water vehicle on the course. They were recruited from one of the teams and were very friendly & provided cups of water. As it wasn’t super hot out yet, I didn’t mind just having the one.
Leg #4: The Cri.
Difficulty rating: 4
Time start: 13.20pm
Total distance: 3.98km
Average pace: 5.37/km
Fastest pace: 4.21/km
Elevation: 0
Temperature: hot & humid
My least favourite. Total chaos! In previous years it was a scenic two loop run around a creek. But floods had taken out one of the bridges and town budget hadn’t replaced it. So we had to run 5 laps around a park. Getting to the park was even less fun! Being told the race would start any moment, those of us who had just set up for lunch didn’t even have time to make it before running down to the creek to start. But wait! No one is at the creek! So we raced back up to the bus to see what is happening. No one there, either! A police car barrels in and announces on the loudspeaker that those of us running the cri must get to a park 1km up the road ASAP as the race is starting momentarily. Chaos! Madness! Panic!
Our poor bus driver – who was rubbing his hands in glory at the spread of lunch set out before him – was dragged back to the bus before getting a single bite to drive six of us up there. Then at the start we were told we would have a 15min wait as they needed to split up the number of runners on the course due to the narrow paths.
Then they told us less than a minute before the gun went off that everyone would be running at once because time was on a budget. And we were off! No fellow teammates to provide us water. I roped our poor bus driver into providing us water at the end. Poor guy! He goes from thinking he’s about to get a nice lunch break to missing lunch so he can hand out water to hot, sweaty runners. Heroically, he didn’t complain.
The course was supposed to be 5k long but no one wanted to correct the race organizers on how many laps they had us run – I was super grateful it was (for the first time) shorter than advertised. And thank you to the other teams who saw us poor support-less runners and handed out cups of water! It’s all in good spirit, after all!
...and then what happened, some may ask? We hopped back onto the bus, drove the 1k back to the picnic site...which was all packed up with two runners waiting for us. The others had started an hour ago, they said. We had to throw everything in the bus (no time for lunch! Us runners were too hot, anyway) and race to catch up with the rest of our team. It was a bit of pressure, but we made it. Phew! We finished at 6.15pm. Start time of the first runner was 4.45am. What a long day! But we did it!
Dinner (as with the night before) was at 7.30pm set up in the motel parking lot. Poor motel guests must have had heart palpations when they see a group of giddy people set up shop in the parking lot and pull out a few beers (though no one planned on getting drunk). But we were all in bed by 8.30pm for a 3am wake-up on Sunday.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
500k relay: Day 1
First, thank you all for your encouragement & enthusiasm. I apologize for the delay in writing this but as many of you know I have had numerous computer problems the past few weeks so it has taken a while to work through it.
This past weekend was my 500k Endeavour Relay. I cannot describe such amazement! Well...I can, but not to any worthy degree. In my mind there were three types of runs: the cri’s (criterium), the mass starts, and the champion runs. I ran two of each. In this blog I’ll describe Day 1: Mt Gravatt to Warwick.
The day started at 2.30am to start the race at 4.45am. I was a bit nervous of that wake up time – I’ve never gotten up so early for a race before! There were 15 teams with a size between 12-30 runners. Our team had 21 total members – 18 runners + 3 support crew. I ran the very first leg of the race, which was a cri. To run the 500k relay, you do it along highway. Some stretch of highway is too dangerous to run on, so instead you run a “criterium”. In this first cri we had two waves of seven runners each. All 14 runners ran 7km. 7km x 14 runners = 98km travelled. This allowed us (after our cri) to drive the 98km down the highway to another place where we started the highway running. Everyone with me?
So, back to the race. Today’s total for both runs was 12.31km (distance “advertised” 11.90km). My total distance run of the weekend: 28.31km.
I hadn’t eaten brekkie beforehand. Big mistake!!! The runs are all categorized for level of difficulty with 10 being the most difficult and 2 being the easiest.
Leg #1: The Cri.
Difficulty rating: 8
Time start: 4.45am
Total distance: 6.98km
Total time: 43.03
Average pace: 6.10/km
Fastest pace: 4.59/km
Elevation: +64m
Temperature: hot & humid
This leg was also the longest leg of the entire weekend at 7km. It was around Griffin University Campus and we had to do 3 laps around. The course was on a hill, so our option was to go up...or down.
The best part was finishing the race with a teammate and having another teammate right there at the finish line with a chilled bottle of water and lots of encouragement and congrats. You see, we had designated “water boys/girls” in the race. This was non-running team members whose job was to be at the finish line with said bottle of chilled water. I have always dearly loved my support crew but the support this weekend absolutely spoiled me (you will learn why as you read on).
Leg #2: The Champion Run
Difficulty rating: “4” which was agreed to be under-rated for that leg of the trip (all agreed a 6 would have been more accurate)
Time start: 1.20pm
Total distance: 5.33km
Total time: 32.50
Average pace: 6.12/km
Fastest pace: 4.25/km
Elevation: +51
Temperature: over 36C and humid. Hot enough that the tarmac started burning my feet. Not the “stepping on hot coals” burning but the “my feet are cooking in an oven and I want to pour ice on them” burning.
The Champion Runs were without a doubt the highlight of my weekend. I mentioned we had 3 support crew on our team? One drove the bus for all us runners, one a “follow vehicle” and one a “water truck”. The follow vehicle was supplied by Endeavour, the “water truck” was a car supplied by a support crew.
Here’s how the Champion Run works: you run down a stretch of highway (always secondary highways – usually pretty quiet). The distance is between 3-6k depending on the leg and then you tag off to the next teammate who continues on down the highway. At all times you are followed by your follow vehicle, which has a flashing light and large banner proclaiming “runners ahead”. It’s job is to make sure you don’t get hit by other cars. For me, I felt like I was running at the head of a championship race with my own personal escort.
About every 700m our water truck stopped to provide chilled water to us. When you are running in ++36C, even 700m is not enough! The water truck had two teammates: one at the back holding a water bottle out for you, and one further up the road (say, 10-15m) who would collect the bottle from you when you were done. Then they hop back in the truck and zoom ahead to meet you at the next 700m point.
Fortunately in the spirit of the race I received water from other teams’ water trucks – just as our guys gave water to other runners on the road. Some teams had spray bottles. Genius! It was like a cooling mist before the heat beat you down again. As teams drove by in their buses I could hear their screaming and cheering of encouragement. Some made a point of coming up to me later that day or the next to congratulate me on my run.
In the end I was happy with my run – considering the conditions. I tagged off to the next runner and was greeted with an umbrella for shade (there was no shade elsewhere) and an icy cold bottle of water – already opened, of course. But no time to cool down! I hadn’t yet caught my breath before I was herded onto the bus to drive with my team to the next tag point of the race. I was given the “glory seat” on the bus at the front, draped with a towel. Others called it the “sweat seat” but I prefer “glory seat”. On the way past the next runner of course, the bus slowed down so we could pull down the windows and cheer them on. Then the windows quickly went back up...it was hot outside, and everyone preferred the air con!
This past weekend was my 500k Endeavour Relay. I cannot describe such amazement! Well...I can, but not to any worthy degree. In my mind there were three types of runs: the cri’s (criterium), the mass starts, and the champion runs. I ran two of each. In this blog I’ll describe Day 1: Mt Gravatt to Warwick.
The day started at 2.30am to start the race at 4.45am. I was a bit nervous of that wake up time – I’ve never gotten up so early for a race before! There were 15 teams with a size between 12-30 runners. Our team had 21 total members – 18 runners + 3 support crew. I ran the very first leg of the race, which was a cri. To run the 500k relay, you do it along highway. Some stretch of highway is too dangerous to run on, so instead you run a “criterium”. In this first cri we had two waves of seven runners each. All 14 runners ran 7km. 7km x 14 runners = 98km travelled. This allowed us (after our cri) to drive the 98km down the highway to another place where we started the highway running. Everyone with me?
So, back to the race. Today’s total for both runs was 12.31km (distance “advertised” 11.90km). My total distance run of the weekend: 28.31km.
I hadn’t eaten brekkie beforehand. Big mistake!!! The runs are all categorized for level of difficulty with 10 being the most difficult and 2 being the easiest.
Leg #1: The Cri.
Difficulty rating: 8
Time start: 4.45am
Total distance: 6.98km
Total time: 43.03
Average pace: 6.10/km
Fastest pace: 4.59/km
Elevation: +64m
Temperature: hot & humid
This leg was also the longest leg of the entire weekend at 7km. It was around Griffin University Campus and we had to do 3 laps around. The course was on a hill, so our option was to go up...or down.
The best part was finishing the race with a teammate and having another teammate right there at the finish line with a chilled bottle of water and lots of encouragement and congrats. You see, we had designated “water boys/girls” in the race. This was non-running team members whose job was to be at the finish line with said bottle of chilled water. I have always dearly loved my support crew but the support this weekend absolutely spoiled me (you will learn why as you read on).
Leg #2: The Champion Run
Difficulty rating: “4” which was agreed to be under-rated for that leg of the trip (all agreed a 6 would have been more accurate)
Time start: 1.20pm
Total distance: 5.33km
Total time: 32.50
Average pace: 6.12/km
Fastest pace: 4.25/km
Elevation: +51
Temperature: over 36C and humid. Hot enough that the tarmac started burning my feet. Not the “stepping on hot coals” burning but the “my feet are cooking in an oven and I want to pour ice on them” burning.
The Champion Runs were without a doubt the highlight of my weekend. I mentioned we had 3 support crew on our team? One drove the bus for all us runners, one a “follow vehicle” and one a “water truck”. The follow vehicle was supplied by Endeavour, the “water truck” was a car supplied by a support crew.
Here’s how the Champion Run works: you run down a stretch of highway (always secondary highways – usually pretty quiet). The distance is between 3-6k depending on the leg and then you tag off to the next teammate who continues on down the highway. At all times you are followed by your follow vehicle, which has a flashing light and large banner proclaiming “runners ahead”. It’s job is to make sure you don’t get hit by other cars. For me, I felt like I was running at the head of a championship race with my own personal escort.
About every 700m our water truck stopped to provide chilled water to us. When you are running in ++36C, even 700m is not enough! The water truck had two teammates: one at the back holding a water bottle out for you, and one further up the road (say, 10-15m) who would collect the bottle from you when you were done. Then they hop back in the truck and zoom ahead to meet you at the next 700m point.
Fortunately in the spirit of the race I received water from other teams’ water trucks – just as our guys gave water to other runners on the road. Some teams had spray bottles. Genius! It was like a cooling mist before the heat beat you down again. As teams drove by in their buses I could hear their screaming and cheering of encouragement. Some made a point of coming up to me later that day or the next to congratulate me on my run.
In the end I was happy with my run – considering the conditions. I tagged off to the next runner and was greeted with an umbrella for shade (there was no shade elsewhere) and an icy cold bottle of water – already opened, of course. But no time to cool down! I hadn’t yet caught my breath before I was herded onto the bus to drive with my team to the next tag point of the race. I was given the “glory seat” on the bus at the front, draped with a towel. Others called it the “sweat seat” but I prefer “glory seat”. On the way past the next runner of course, the bus slowed down so we could pull down the windows and cheer them on. Then the windows quickly went back up...it was hot outside, and everyone preferred the air con!
Monday, November 7, 2011
Back with the pack
This weekend I returned to Brisbane. What a fantastic, fantastic trip! I was home for three days and ran every single day with all my favourite people. How much I’ve missed everyone!
Friday: women’s run with my running group.
Chris (the coach) kindly picked me up as I was car-less. Ahh, how I have missed the Friday morning fun! Because we had new people, Chris decided to forego the loop in favour of uphill sprints and stairs. Not steep hills…but lots of stairs. And weird things on stairs that I had to do slowly due to my lack of coordination. But despite this, the laughter and joking never stopped.
Saturday: long slow run with my running group
The group was full of new faces and people I hadn’t seen for weeks, so there was a lot of catching up to do. A fellow runner kindly baked me a belated birthday cake – yum! To quote Chris, I was in the group that was “just doing 12k”. (The fast group was doing 20k). Ah, bliss! How I’ve missed the 12k runs. They are so short and easy. You’re out and back before you know it. No mental psyching up required, no physical exhaustion or stiff muscles following the run, and no time commitment! We split from the fast group who did a completely different route, which was a nice change. While I love starting together, the trouble is that we end up pushing too hard. Chris ran with the back posse group this week and we wound our way through the hills at a slow, easy pace of 6.10. It seemed every hill and corner I was beside someone different. The run was over far too quickly – 12ks are like that, but most of us went up for breakfast and hung around for the next couple of hours catching up.
Total time: 1.13.18
Sunday: social run!
Sunday I did a social run with my two most loyal & favourite social run friends (you know who you are!). How fantastic is it to be able to catch up while going for a walk/run? We did a loop around the uni, cutting it short as my friends had a time limit due to other engagements. We alternated between an easy jog and a walk. As one of them pointed out, it’s nice to have friends I can catch up with on a run. It gets me out the door and aside from sleep, not many activities are planned at 7am. And who would want to sleep at 7am when you could be out running with friends? Pace – who cares? That’s what’s great about social runs! J
All that fantastic running over the weekend made me realize that maybe I haven’t just been lazy with my “semi-off-season” running these past few weeks. Maybe I’ve simply lacked the motivation to go out when I haven’t encountered anyone as fantastic to run with as my Brisbane group (I’m counting both the running group and my social running friends in this!). Running with others is not for everyone – some people are better at being a lone wolf. Me, I’ve discovered the joy of running in a pack.
Friday: women’s run with my running group.
Chris (the coach) kindly picked me up as I was car-less. Ahh, how I have missed the Friday morning fun! Because we had new people, Chris decided to forego the loop in favour of uphill sprints and stairs. Not steep hills…but lots of stairs. And weird things on stairs that I had to do slowly due to my lack of coordination. But despite this, the laughter and joking never stopped.
Saturday: long slow run with my running group
The group was full of new faces and people I hadn’t seen for weeks, so there was a lot of catching up to do. A fellow runner kindly baked me a belated birthday cake – yum! To quote Chris, I was in the group that was “just doing 12k”. (The fast group was doing 20k). Ah, bliss! How I’ve missed the 12k runs. They are so short and easy. You’re out and back before you know it. No mental psyching up required, no physical exhaustion or stiff muscles following the run, and no time commitment! We split from the fast group who did a completely different route, which was a nice change. While I love starting together, the trouble is that we end up pushing too hard. Chris ran with the back posse group this week and we wound our way through the hills at a slow, easy pace of 6.10. It seemed every hill and corner I was beside someone different. The run was over far too quickly – 12ks are like that, but most of us went up for breakfast and hung around for the next couple of hours catching up.
Total time: 1.13.18
Sunday: social run!
Sunday I did a social run with my two most loyal & favourite social run friends (you know who you are!). How fantastic is it to be able to catch up while going for a walk/run? We did a loop around the uni, cutting it short as my friends had a time limit due to other engagements. We alternated between an easy jog and a walk. As one of them pointed out, it’s nice to have friends I can catch up with on a run. It gets me out the door and aside from sleep, not many activities are planned at 7am. And who would want to sleep at 7am when you could be out running with friends? Pace – who cares? That’s what’s great about social runs! J
All that fantastic running over the weekend made me realize that maybe I haven’t just been lazy with my “semi-off-season” running these past few weeks. Maybe I’ve simply lacked the motivation to go out when I haven’t encountered anyone as fantastic to run with as my Brisbane group (I’m counting both the running group and my social running friends in this!). Running with others is not for everyone – some people are better at being a lone wolf. Me, I’ve discovered the joy of running in a pack.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Running Mould
Double run #2!
I meant to go out earlier this week but between laziness and a killer sore back, that plan got pushed back. Today I did the botanical garden loop in the morning and Kershaw garden loop in the afternoon. Lots of gardens! Yay!
Sadly, I forgot yet again my music. I hadn't charged my ipod yet. I'm forgetting what it's like to run with music! I wonder if it will make a difference...
Botanical Garden Loop
Distance: 4.61k (I cut it short...lazy!)
Total time: 26.51
Avg pace: 5.50
Elevation: 80m
This run was on my own, bu surrounded by plenty of other early morning walkers & runners. Well, when I say 'early morning' I mean 6am. So not super early morning! But it was nice to see so many others up and about. And boy, it sure was warm at that time!
Kershaw Garden Loop
Distance: 5.05km
Time: 27.40min
Avg pace: 5.29
Elevation: 19m
This run was with the Rocky Road Runners. And yay that I found a girl who ran my pace! We kept up with one another the first km before I started talking with her, as I wasn't sure how our paces would match.
Once again, the fast runners were too fast and the slow runners too slow. But the pace was good. I was happy with the starting pace - 5.09 (a bit faster than my 8k race pace). I slowed down a bit near the end but this made it easier to talk. The gal I ran with was a delight and we had a lovely time. She was slightly faster than me which is what I love, as it pushed me that little bit harder than I might have gone. And the coolest part? She is 12! Her whole family runs, including her 6 year old brother (who, for a 5k loop, must have finished it in under 40min). I'm impressed. I hated running with a passion until the age of 23. I started as a necessity and it slowly grew on me like mould on cheese.
I guess you could say I am now absolutely covered in running mould!
I meant to go out earlier this week but between laziness and a killer sore back, that plan got pushed back. Today I did the botanical garden loop in the morning and Kershaw garden loop in the afternoon. Lots of gardens! Yay!
Sadly, I forgot yet again my music. I hadn't charged my ipod yet. I'm forgetting what it's like to run with music! I wonder if it will make a difference...
Botanical Garden Loop
Distance: 4.61k (I cut it short...lazy!)
Total time: 26.51
Avg pace: 5.50
Elevation: 80m
This run was on my own, bu surrounded by plenty of other early morning walkers & runners. Well, when I say 'early morning' I mean 6am. So not super early morning! But it was nice to see so many others up and about. And boy, it sure was warm at that time!
Kershaw Garden Loop
Distance: 5.05km
Time: 27.40min
Avg pace: 5.29
Elevation: 19m
This run was with the Rocky Road Runners. And yay that I found a girl who ran my pace! We kept up with one another the first km before I started talking with her, as I wasn't sure how our paces would match.
Once again, the fast runners were too fast and the slow runners too slow. But the pace was good. I was happy with the starting pace - 5.09 (a bit faster than my 8k race pace). I slowed down a bit near the end but this made it easier to talk. The gal I ran with was a delight and we had a lovely time. She was slightly faster than me which is what I love, as it pushed me that little bit harder than I might have gone. And the coolest part? She is 12! Her whole family runs, including her 6 year old brother (who, for a 5k loop, must have finished it in under 40min). I'm impressed. I hated running with a passion until the age of 23. I started as a necessity and it slowly grew on me like mould on cheese.
I guess you could say I am now absolutely covered in running mould!
Monday, October 24, 2011
Birthday Race
What better way to celebrate my birthday than running a 5k race? It was a lovely morning, although a stressful start. I was the least prepared I've ever been for a race and the friend I ran with was also disorganized, so that I had to return to the house more than once to pick stuff up that was forgotten. Thankfully I lived close enough to the race that I COULD return home and we made it to the start line in time! Next time, I think I'll insist on packing everything the night before! The race was nice. The goal of the organizers was to get 80 people, and they got more than that. The course was flat and the weather was nice - hot, but nice.
It was weird running a 5k race. I have "run" one once before in my life when a friend dropped out last minute and gave me her entry form. The race was so packed I had to walk the first 2k and so didn't bother to actually time it. Otherwise, my shortest distance is an 8k. I ran that in about 5.15 pace so I suppose technically I could have run this faster - 5.00, maybe? Less? But I wasn't so keen to hit a PB and didn't care to try. When I run the 500k relay I will look at it as a race. A birthday fun run? Not so much.
Total time: 28.15min
Average speed: 5.44
Elevation gain: 12m
It was weird running a 5k race. I have "run" one once before in my life when a friend dropped out last minute and gave me her entry form. The race was so packed I had to walk the first 2k and so didn't bother to actually time it. Otherwise, my shortest distance is an 8k. I ran that in about 5.15 pace so I suppose technically I could have run this faster - 5.00, maybe? Less? But I wasn't so keen to hit a PB and didn't care to try. When I run the 500k relay I will look at it as a race. A birthday fun run? Not so much.
Total time: 28.15min
Average speed: 5.44
Elevation gain: 12m
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Leaden Legs, Lightened Legs
Now that half marathon training is over for the season, it begs The Question: How does one train for a 500k relay? Answer: I'm not sure.
So I thought I'd experiment by training like I'm running it. I've been told I'll be doing 4-6k two to three times a day for 3 days. So I've decided to try training by going twice a day for 4-6k.
This morning was my second run since my half marathon. I won't count last week's run, as it was mostly a "introduce myself to the running group" sort of run. I did a 3k loop in stifling heat and called it a night. Woof!
Today I felt I would be much more recovered. So day one of the 500k training has begun!
...And boy, did my legs feel like lead. I guess it didn't help I started this morning with a bang. And by "bang" I mean a really steep, tall hill right outside my door. The whole course felt like a hill, in truth. Up-down-up-down. And my poor lead legs were beat!
First run: Loop through the Botanical Gardens (morning run).
Distance 5k
Elevation gain total: 97m (this is the total elevation: I went up & down)
Total time: 31.00min.
Pace: Average pace was 6.17min/km. The fastest pace I hit was 4.05min/k (going DOWN a hill).
Boy did my legs feel like lead! But my fancy gadgety watch was certainly entertaining to use and gave me all this cool data. :)
Rocky Road Runners - Railroad/Old Bridge Loop.
This was the same 3k loop as last week, but I ran it twice this time. I was hoping to run it with other people but in the end I ran in a gap between the faster and slower group - too slow for fast and with no desire to go slower (I saw this as a training run more than a social run tonight). I was feeling a bit tired from this morning, but I really wanted to push myself and see how well I could do. The lack of hills made a difference! My legs felt much, much better this arvo than this morning.
Distance: 6.17k
Total time: 35.28min
Elevation gain: 17m (notice the difference this had on my time from this morning!)
Pace: Average - 5.45min, fastest - 4.27min.
So I thought I'd experiment by training like I'm running it. I've been told I'll be doing 4-6k two to three times a day for 3 days. So I've decided to try training by going twice a day for 4-6k.
This morning was my second run since my half marathon. I won't count last week's run, as it was mostly a "introduce myself to the running group" sort of run. I did a 3k loop in stifling heat and called it a night. Woof!
Today I felt I would be much more recovered. So day one of the 500k training has begun!
...And boy, did my legs feel like lead. I guess it didn't help I started this morning with a bang. And by "bang" I mean a really steep, tall hill right outside my door. The whole course felt like a hill, in truth. Up-down-up-down. And my poor lead legs were beat!
First run: Loop through the Botanical Gardens (morning run).
Distance 5k
Elevation gain total: 97m (this is the total elevation: I went up & down)
Total time: 31.00min.
Pace: Average pace was 6.17min/km. The fastest pace I hit was 4.05min/k (going DOWN a hill).
Boy did my legs feel like lead! But my fancy gadgety watch was certainly entertaining to use and gave me all this cool data. :)
Rocky Road Runners - Railroad/Old Bridge Loop.
This was the same 3k loop as last week, but I ran it twice this time. I was hoping to run it with other people but in the end I ran in a gap between the faster and slower group - too slow for fast and with no desire to go slower (I saw this as a training run more than a social run tonight). I was feeling a bit tired from this morning, but I really wanted to push myself and see how well I could do. The lack of hills made a difference! My legs felt much, much better this arvo than this morning.
Distance: 6.17k
Total time: 35.28min
Elevation gain: 17m (notice the difference this had on my time from this morning!)
Pace: Average - 5.45min, fastest - 4.27min.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Melbourne Half Marathon completed
Apologies to all who have been anxiously sitting at the edge of their seats biting their nails for this most riveting review of the Melbourne Half Marathon.
I can’t believe I achieved a semi-goal of running 3 half marathons this year! I only wish I had achieved my other goal of actually hitting a sub-2 hour. Alas, I seem to have difficulty with this elusive time. It always seems so achievable…for the first couple of kms.
My first “destination” race! Yes, I know I did the Gold Coast…but it didn’t feel like a destination race as this one did! My time in Melbourne was fabulous, despite the unfortunate race I ran on Sunday. I was feeling good in the lead-up to it, but in my excitement made a couple of very silly mistakes.
1. I started the race dehydrated. I should have drunk a lot of water this past week, especially the day before the race, but I didn’t. Fearing the need of a toilet break in the middle, I certainly didn’t drink a lot the morning of the race!
2. I didn’t check my ipod. Although charged, it must have been bumped during my travels and turned on by accident. The battery was dead, which I didn’t realize until a few minutes before the start. No upbeat music for me!
3. The big one…I went out too fast. This one was the real shame, as I knew – and know! – better. Caught up in the excitement, I tried to keep pace with some friends and we were flooring it for the first few kms. Silly, silly me. I certainly paid for this mistake in the 4th km where a massive stitch (such as I have not seen since my first half marathon) nearly doubled me over for the next 3kms.
I knew I was in trouble when I barely hit the 10k in a sub-60min mark – def not on pace for a personal best! (During my personal best race, I hit it in less than 54min). I also noticed how the dehydration affected me. The water stations were every 3k. After every one I perked up and ran a full minute faster over the next km before slowing down once again. At one point I was doubtful I would finish with a sub-2h30min time. It was disheartening, for sure. But I kept plugging on, not once stopping to walk (I did slow down at the water stations to grab some water, and the congestion made me a bit slower than I might otherwise have been).
My kick at the end was nearly non-existent. I normally pick it up in the last 3kms, with a strong kick in the last 500m or so. This time, I barely had any kick. This may have been made more difficult by the narrowing of the trail (I could have beaten one girl if I’d had a bit more room to manoeuvre) and by the fact that it was on a slight hill.
“Official” time: 2.13.17. I would like to point out that the track was over 200m longer than the 21.1k it should have been. This may not seem significant, but I estimate it did add on an extra 2.5min to my final time.
For those who would like to see some race photos & videos of my finish. (To help you orientate, I finish near the lefthand side of the screen, amongst the big crowd of finishers. I am wearing a blue shirt and a bright green baseball cap – but that doesn’t show up so well in the video).
I can’t believe I achieved a semi-goal of running 3 half marathons this year! I only wish I had achieved my other goal of actually hitting a sub-2 hour. Alas, I seem to have difficulty with this elusive time. It always seems so achievable…for the first couple of kms.
My first “destination” race! Yes, I know I did the Gold Coast…but it didn’t feel like a destination race as this one did! My time in Melbourne was fabulous, despite the unfortunate race I ran on Sunday. I was feeling good in the lead-up to it, but in my excitement made a couple of very silly mistakes.
1. I started the race dehydrated. I should have drunk a lot of water this past week, especially the day before the race, but I didn’t. Fearing the need of a toilet break in the middle, I certainly didn’t drink a lot the morning of the race!
2. I didn’t check my ipod. Although charged, it must have been bumped during my travels and turned on by accident. The battery was dead, which I didn’t realize until a few minutes before the start. No upbeat music for me!
3. The big one…I went out too fast. This one was the real shame, as I knew – and know! – better. Caught up in the excitement, I tried to keep pace with some friends and we were flooring it for the first few kms. Silly, silly me. I certainly paid for this mistake in the 4th km where a massive stitch (such as I have not seen since my first half marathon) nearly doubled me over for the next 3kms.
I knew I was in trouble when I barely hit the 10k in a sub-60min mark – def not on pace for a personal best! (During my personal best race, I hit it in less than 54min). I also noticed how the dehydration affected me. The water stations were every 3k. After every one I perked up and ran a full minute faster over the next km before slowing down once again. At one point I was doubtful I would finish with a sub-2h30min time. It was disheartening, for sure. But I kept plugging on, not once stopping to walk (I did slow down at the water stations to grab some water, and the congestion made me a bit slower than I might otherwise have been).
My kick at the end was nearly non-existent. I normally pick it up in the last 3kms, with a strong kick in the last 500m or so. This time, I barely had any kick. This may have been made more difficult by the narrowing of the trail (I could have beaten one girl if I’d had a bit more room to manoeuvre) and by the fact that it was on a slight hill.
“Official” time: 2.13.17. I would like to point out that the track was over 200m longer than the 21.1k it should have been. This may not seem significant, but I estimate it did add on an extra 2.5min to my final time.
For those who would like to see some race photos & videos of my finish. (To help you orientate, I finish near the lefthand side of the screen, amongst the big crowd of finishers. I am wearing a blue shirt and a bright green baseball cap – but that doesn’t show up so well in the video).
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
race day tracking
I meant to do some tapering runs. I really, really did. But then I didn't. Today was my first tapering run since Brisbane (about a week and a half ago). I did a slow, easy 26min jog. There were a few hills but I kept intensity to a minimum. Hard to believe Melbourne half marathon is just a couple days away!
For those of you who are interested, there is reportedly 'race day tracking' so you can see how I'm going in the race without having to be there. How do you do it?
1. Go to www.melbournemarathon.com.au
2. Click on 'race day tracking' - it is a button the left hand side.
3. There may be a place where you need to type in my bib number. My number is 13115.
Then see what happens! Remember I am entered in the HALF marathon! Not the full marathon!
The time I start is 8am Sunday. In other time zones, this equates to the following:
Brisbane - 9am Sunday
Calgary -4pm Saturday
Florida - 6pm Saturday
For those of you who are interested, there is reportedly 'race day tracking' so you can see how I'm going in the race without having to be there. How do you do it?
1. Go to www.melbournemarathon.com.au
2. Click on 'race day tracking' - it is a button the left hand side.
3. There may be a place where you need to type in my bib number. My number is 13115.
Then see what happens! Remember I am entered in the HALF marathon! Not the full marathon!
The time I start is 8am Sunday. In other time zones, this equates to the following:
Brisbane - 9am Sunday
Calgary -4pm Saturday
Florida - 6pm Saturday
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
with a cherry on top
It appears that my wits went begging when I moved to Rockhampton and I've only just discovered I hadn't posted anything on my final long run before tapering (and my last run in Brisbane!). Here is what I had written on the Sunday (the day after).
Yesterday I went for my second 25k run. My beautiful back posse group deliberately paced it slower, as last time we had gone far too quickly and it destroyed me for the entire weekend. It was a lot of fun. One of the fast runners decided to join us and we were actually able to talk the entire distance (rather than gasping for air). Brilliant!
It was a new route, too. Up in the same direction but on the other side of the river this time. So I knew the first 6k out but the last half was a mystery. There were a few big hills. Not really steep but looooong hills. The kind where you think you’re at the top turn the corner…and there’s more uphill!
With 2k to go I ran past a friend I hadn’t seen in a while. In a quick flurry we decided I’d finish my run and then head back to catch up with her while she continued to walk in the same direction as I.
I finished my run – 25.5k! Farthest distance yet. And, perhaps most importantly, longest time I’ve spent on my feet: 2.39.44sec. In “long slow distance” time on your feet is actually more important than speed – that’s what speed sessions are for.
And just to add that extra cherry on top, I did a slow (super slow) jog back another couple hundred metres to meet up with my friend. I think it was more a flail than a jog, but I did it.
On a final note, I’m writing this from my new living accommodation in Rockhampton – about an 8h drive north of Brisbane. There is a running group up here which I’ve yet to meet, but I shall dearly miss my Galeforce Running Squad! It has been an amazing year of training and I’ve come so far. Group workouts, baby! It’s all about the group workouts.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Friday ladies run
My last Friday morning session for a potentially long time! The group was small today - just 7 of us ladies...and Chris. Some new faces as well, which was nice. We started off with sprints along Kangaroo Point. We did a 1:1 ratio of sprint/recover. There were a lot! The total distance probably equated to about 1.2km. We arrived at a park and then proceeded to do 5 intervals of 600m+. If you have never done sprints followed by intervals, you may not appreciate how it kills the legs! I can't explain why, but trust me that it is exhausting. The hilly cool-down jog back was more than enough for my legs at the end.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Back in the Galeforce Groove
Well, I'm back training with Galeforce again this week. A final hoorah before I leave. I went to the Wednesday night "beginner" group. I loved my Wednesday night group back in the day, but I jumped ship to suffer the Thursday morning hills group instead.
Wednesday night is...relaxing. Our coach was sick so we had a new coach instead. He was fantastic! we jogged around Roma Street Parklands as he made up our training night as we went along.
First: "stride outs" we did about 10 of these. This is where you run for ~20m at 70% of your fastest pace. It's meant to be a sort of warm-up for sprinting.
Second: 4 min hill run. Everyone went at their own pace up and down the hill. The focus was hard on the way up, recovery down. For one of these runs the coach ran right at my heels to push me faster. Awesome!
Third: we happened to stop at a drink fountain for some water that lay at the bottom of a hill with stairs. So we then did 5 min of the hills with stairs. Oof!
Fourth: sprints or "fartleks". I didn't like these so much. We did 5min of fartleks where the coach called out "go" or "recover" at random intervals. I didn't like it because I never gaged it fast enough. For example, if I had known that we were doing a 20-sec sprint I would have pushed a lot harder than I did. But not being certain if the interval was 20-sec or 1min, I didn't push all that hard.
The Wednesday night group is easy going and really is a good run for beginners. We all went at our own pace and there was no pressure if you sat out one of the drills to recover.
Wednesday night is...relaxing. Our coach was sick so we had a new coach instead. He was fantastic! we jogged around Roma Street Parklands as he made up our training night as we went along.
First: "stride outs" we did about 10 of these. This is where you run for ~20m at 70% of your fastest pace. It's meant to be a sort of warm-up for sprinting.
Second: 4 min hill run. Everyone went at their own pace up and down the hill. The focus was hard on the way up, recovery down. For one of these runs the coach ran right at my heels to push me faster. Awesome!
Third: we happened to stop at a drink fountain for some water that lay at the bottom of a hill with stairs. So we then did 5 min of the hills with stairs. Oof!
Fourth: sprints or "fartleks". I didn't like these so much. We did 5min of fartleks where the coach called out "go" or "recover" at random intervals. I didn't like it because I never gaged it fast enough. For example, if I had known that we were doing a 20-sec sprint I would have pushed a lot harder than I did. But not being certain if the interval was 20-sec or 1min, I didn't push all that hard.
The Wednesday night group is easy going and really is a good run for beginners. We all went at our own pace and there was no pressure if you sat out one of the drills to recover.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Dreams vs reality
Oof! What a day! I ran my first 25k today. Farthest distance I've ever been by 3km! I dreamt that I finished it and found it super easy...and then woke up to reality. Sadly, I never run as fast in reality as I do in my mind.
There were only 13 of us doing the 25k, so we mostly stuck together as a group on the way out. I passed the 10.5k mark where I usually turn around and falsely believed it "wasn't that much farther". The distance seems to stretch out sooo much farther when you don't know where you're going! It was along the river, so a nice pretty route that was flat except for the hills when we had to go over the bridges.
I made it out in 1h11min something (I was too exhausted to look closely). On the way back our group split into four natural groups...the faster, the fast, the back posse, and me. :P I just couldn't keep up to the others! So I set my legs to a "comfortably fast" pace and trekked those 12.5k back on my own. I actually passed the back posse as they were stopping for water breaks and I was too much in the zone to stop (and too fearful I wouldn't start again).
Total time: 2.29.37!!
A quick math calculation shows that this is justover 10k/hour, or justunder 6min/k split times. I am feeling fairly satisfied with myself. I had hoped to get a time under 2.30 and I did. The last 2k I couldn't quite keep up my rhythm, so I fell into the mental mantra of "almost done, almost done." And total unstopped time was only about 5min slower than that, so clearly I didn't stop too much! Actually, I only stopped once on the way back when there was 2k to go, as I was desperately thirsty. My mistake, as that threw my rhythm. But then, I don't know how much faster I would've been if I hadn't had the water.
And now the reality is that my muscles are exhausted! As in, really, really exhausted!
There were only 13 of us doing the 25k, so we mostly stuck together as a group on the way out. I passed the 10.5k mark where I usually turn around and falsely believed it "wasn't that much farther". The distance seems to stretch out sooo much farther when you don't know where you're going! It was along the river, so a nice pretty route that was flat except for the hills when we had to go over the bridges.
I made it out in 1h11min something (I was too exhausted to look closely). On the way back our group split into four natural groups...the faster, the fast, the back posse, and me. :P I just couldn't keep up to the others! So I set my legs to a "comfortably fast" pace and trekked those 12.5k back on my own. I actually passed the back posse as they were stopping for water breaks and I was too much in the zone to stop (and too fearful I wouldn't start again).
Total time: 2.29.37!!
A quick math calculation shows that this is justover 10k/hour, or justunder 6min/k split times. I am feeling fairly satisfied with myself. I had hoped to get a time under 2.30 and I did. The last 2k I couldn't quite keep up my rhythm, so I fell into the mental mantra of "almost done, almost done." And total unstopped time was only about 5min slower than that, so clearly I didn't stop too much! Actually, I only stopped once on the way back when there was 2k to go, as I was desperately thirsty. My mistake, as that threw my rhythm. But then, I don't know how much faster I would've been if I hadn't had the water.
And now the reality is that my muscles are exhausted! As in, really, really exhausted!
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Indecision
I can’t say I sprang out of bed this morning, but at least I did get up! It was another day where I couldn’t decide what to do for training. But the cold decided for me. Cold makes my muscles sluggish, so I might as well do hills to get my heart pumping. I did an interval to Hospital Hill and ran up four times. The bootcamp group was back again. They only ran 1/4 of the distance I did up that hill…but they also ran down. I, lazy creature, walked down the steep part of the hill and only ran the bottom half.
Round 1: 3.37 (woohoo! Personal best!!)
Round 2: 3.40
Round 3: 3.55
Round 4: 3.50
Yes, I see the big fat gap of time between #2 & #3, but I’m happy I didn’t get over 4 minutes on any of them! I could feel those quad muscles working, too. I briefly considered a 5th round, but decided instead to do an interval run home (rather than a recovery). Sure, it wasn’t the fastest of intervals. But it definitely wasn’t a recovery jog, either!
Round 1: 3.37 (woohoo! Personal best!!)
Round 2: 3.40
Round 3: 3.55
Round 4: 3.50
Yes, I see the big fat gap of time between #2 & #3, but I’m happy I didn’t get over 4 minutes on any of them! I could feel those quad muscles working, too. I briefly considered a 5th round, but decided instead to do an interval run home (rather than a recovery). Sure, it wasn’t the fastest of intervals. But it definitely wasn’t a recovery jog, either!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Mixed Terrain
It astounds me how slack I really am. Sunday I skipped the fantastic Bridge2Brisbane race because I was worried about recovery after the 22k hill run of Saturday (I was fine and consequently bummed that I missed out). Monday I also skipped. Just because. Tuesday I woke up early for a run…and promptly reset my alarm to sleep in instead.
Finally today I did get out of bed for a run. And can you believe it? When I went outside I could see my breath!!! For nearly 3 years (since living in Aus) it has not been cold enough to see my breath. Except today! I was pretty stoked. And cold too, for that matter.
I couldn’t really decide on what I wanted to do today: intervals, sprints, or hills? So I decided to do all three. I did a 10min interval run out to Hospital Hill. A slow 10min interval run, that is. I probably could have gone faster but if I normally run like molasses, today was like molasses in January! It took me a while to warm up. I then ran up the hill, but only twice.
Round 1: 3.41
Round 2: 3.45
I did sprint reps on the way home, with a ratio of 3:1 for sprints. I probably should have kicked it up a notch and done one more hill, seeing as how it is only 3.5 weeks to Melbourne. What can I say...slack!
Finally today I did get out of bed for a run. And can you believe it? When I went outside I could see my breath!!! For nearly 3 years (since living in Aus) it has not been cold enough to see my breath. Except today! I was pretty stoked. And cold too, for that matter.
I couldn’t really decide on what I wanted to do today: intervals, sprints, or hills? So I decided to do all three. I did a 10min interval run out to Hospital Hill. A slow 10min interval run, that is. I probably could have gone faster but if I normally run like molasses, today was like molasses in January! It took me a while to warm up. I then ran up the hill, but only twice.
Round 1: 3.41
Round 2: 3.45
I did sprint reps on the way home, with a ratio of 3:1 for sprints. I probably should have kicked it up a notch and done one more hill, seeing as how it is only 3.5 weeks to Melbourne. What can I say...slack!
Saturday, September 10, 2011
The Back Posse
Can I just say, I love my fellow back posse runners! We may not be the fastest bunch but we have lots of fun.
Today we ran the Mt Coot-tha circuit. This circuit starts at Regatta, goes up through Bardon to The Gap, and then to the top of Mt Coot-tha and back. I did this one back in May as a 16k. I thought I was going to die! The route is flat for the first 2k and after that you are either running uphill or downhill. And when I say uphill I don't mean any little road lumps, either! It's the kind of uphill where just when you think you can't do anymore you get to the top...only to turn the corner and realize you're only halfway there.
I was quite worried I'd fall behind and lose the group. My strength is the downhill, so I continued to power down those to gain some speed and ensure I didn't fall behind the group. Although we stuck somewhat together, we splintered off into 3 mini-groups: front runners, middle runners, and "the back posse". After 5k the middle runners (where I was at) combined forces with the back posse as the front runners peeled away.
We hit the bp station that was the turnaround point from last time. And I was cautiously full of energy (cautiously, because Mt Coot-tha would be coming in at the 16k mark and we were only at the 8k). And the hills through Bardon felt a lot more manageable than last time. Or maybe last time the pace was extra fast? ... Whatever the difference, I am absolutely floored by my improvement since last time. Is this what “fit” feels like? Hmm. I guess it’s all relative.
The run was slow and easy-going along the gently rolling hills of the middle k's. Then we got to Mt Coot-tha and ran up a steep side trail to the top (well, when I say “run”…)
But we made it to the top with much elation, as there were only a few little hills to go after that! For those in the know, this is the same hill that was on my first hill session.
Around through the back of Mt Coot-tha as that way was longer and down the long windy road to the bottom. I couldn’t get over how long that downhill was! I’ve run up it a couple of times when it seems to go forever…but it’s the same feeling when I run down it, too! You keep turning a corner thinking, “it’s gotta end soon!”. Naturally, we all picked up a fair bit of speed at this part and regrouped at the bottom.
From there it was just 3.5k back to the car lot. My first run in over a month that hasn’t aggravated my ITB! Hooray! And I ran with my water carrier, which despite the scare I had last time I carried it, ended up just fine and – I’m happy to say – pain free. I even got to foister it off on others throughout the run who wanted to see what it felt like to run with. Heh heh heh.
Approximate total distance: 21.7k
Approximate total time: 2.23.05 (not counting our re-group stops where the 8 of us in the back posse did a well-being check on everyone…and a head count to make sure we hadn’t lost any.)
And you know how I felt after that gruelling 21.7k hill circuit? I felt that I could have kept going…
Thursday, September 8, 2011
One more time!
I have only ever had the time (and energy) to run up Hospital Hill 4x in a session. Today I made it my goal to run up a 5th time…even if that 5th time was more of a walk! So I set my alarm clock early and proceeded to waste my morning because I had “so much extra time”. Still, I made it out on the early side.
Round 1: 4.43min.
Round 2: 3.48min.
Round 3: 3.47min
Round 4: 4.02min
Round 5: 4.12min
I was rather stunned about round 1 until I realized I had started my time a block earlier than I normally do. The other 4 rounds I started at my usual place. I mean, why run that extra block when I don’t have to, eh? I realize you can see a pretty significant downward spiral at the end, but by round 3 I was on the edge of throwing up so I’m impressed I kept going at all. I told myself if I did 5 rounds today I would warrant a rest day tomorrow, which doubled my motivation. Walking back down the hill helps me recover and is also a practical trick: My leg muscles are simply shaking too much to coordinate a downhill jog. My training session today ended up totalling over 75min, which is longer than usual. Rest day tomorrow and then a scary attempt at an extra extra long distance on Saturday! Fingers crossed I make it all the way…
Round 1: 4.43min.
Round 2: 3.48min.
Round 3: 3.47min
Round 4: 4.02min
Round 5: 4.12min
I was rather stunned about round 1 until I realized I had started my time a block earlier than I normally do. The other 4 rounds I started at my usual place. I mean, why run that extra block when I don’t have to, eh? I realize you can see a pretty significant downward spiral at the end, but by round 3 I was on the edge of throwing up so I’m impressed I kept going at all. I told myself if I did 5 rounds today I would warrant a rest day tomorrow, which doubled my motivation. Walking back down the hill helps me recover and is also a practical trick: My leg muscles are simply shaking too much to coordinate a downhill jog. My training session today ended up totalling over 75min, which is longer than usual. Rest day tomorrow and then a scary attempt at an extra extra long distance on Saturday! Fingers crossed I make it all the way…
Monday, September 5, 2011
Social run and such
Sunday I went for a social run with two fantastic friends, and they brought along a 3rd person to make a quad group. I don't do enough social runs! They are super fun and easy going. For this run we went on a lovely 7.5k loop around the river, which is my favourite route.
Today I made the mistake of getting up almost an hour earlier than I needed to (I'm so used to getting up at group training times!). It was a beautiful morning albeit a bit cold. I ran 3x 10min intervals. I'm not sure how far I went but am happy to say I went farther each time. I've come to realize that I'm not so much improving with my solo training as "maintaining". Sort of. 5 weeks to go until Melbourne Half Marathon! I can't believe this will be my third half marathon of the year.
...And I've decided to do one final race of the season. A 500k team relay in November. I know I said Melbourne was it...but 500k team relay! How could I resist?
Today I made the mistake of getting up almost an hour earlier than I needed to (I'm so used to getting up at group training times!). It was a beautiful morning albeit a bit cold. I ran 3x 10min intervals. I'm not sure how far I went but am happy to say I went farther each time. I've come to realize that I'm not so much improving with my solo training as "maintaining". Sort of. 5 weeks to go until Melbourne Half Marathon! I can't believe this will be my third half marathon of the year.
...And I've decided to do one final race of the season. A 500k team relay in November. I know I said Melbourne was it...but 500k team relay! How could I resist?
Saturday, September 3, 2011
The ican
Every time I think my little ipod has sputtered its last song it gets another revival. I'm thus changing it's name to the ican, because it's the little pod that could. I could learn a few lessons from it. If running is a mental game than I am an infant learning to crawl! 21.7km again today. The river is open (finally!) so we got to run along the nice flat footpath on the river rather than through hilly back streets. Hooray! I ran with the "medium" group. Not the fast group, not the slow group. But the medium group went from 4 to 2 of us by the 8k mark. We were going to go 25k with the rest of the squad but decided that 21k was long enough! It's funny; it's not the way out that gets you, but the way back! I was fine until the 14k mark and then - guess what! - that darned ITB reminded me how unhappy it was. I pushed on (it only hurt if I stopped and started again).
Total running time was just under 2h20min. I couldn't say for sure as I forgot to time part of the distance (so my watch came out showing under 2h14min). But there was a lot less stopping this time - just one longish stop for a drink rather than the 5+ we normally have (it's always longer stops when the group is larger). Hmmm. Not sure how this bodes for Melbourne. 5 weeks to go!
Oh, and on a side note I've signed up for a 500k relay in November. This running season just keeps getting longer and longer...I guess that's my fault!
Total running time was just under 2h20min. I couldn't say for sure as I forgot to time part of the distance (so my watch came out showing under 2h14min). But there was a lot less stopping this time - just one longish stop for a drink rather than the 5+ we normally have (it's always longer stops when the group is larger). Hmmm. Not sure how this bodes for Melbourne. 5 weeks to go!
Oh, and on a side note I've signed up for a 500k relay in November. This running season just keeps getting longer and longer...I guess that's my fault!
Friday, September 2, 2011
Social Creatures
I am not cut out for solo training. I don’t know how I managed it my first year. It is an anomaly. Tuesday I was in the car at 5am to head to Kingaroy, so no running. Wednesday I could barely open my eyes when the alarm went off. I hauled myself over to the window, saw there was a heavy fog (and heavy fog means it’s drizzly, right? That’s almost like rain) and went back to bed.
Thursday. Ah, Thursday! I was up before the alarm but desperately didn’t want to go out. I saw it was a clear day (siiiiigh) and reluctantly, slowly headed towards Hospital Hill. I accidentally brought both my ipods up with me and you know what? Neither worked! One was out of batteries, and I think the other has gone to the great Apple in the sky. It has never been quite right after “The Bus Incident”. For those who were reading my training updates via email back in those days, you may recall this unfortunate event.
No intervals for me out to the hill. I kept it at a sluggish jog. I figured if all I did was walk up the hill once and jog back, that would be okay. Just getting out the door felt like an accomplishment. But then something happened.
Round 1 – 4.08min
Round 2 – 3.53min
Round 3 – 3.46min
Round 4 – 4.04min
Now let me tell you that in round 2 & 3 I happened to be running uphill with a bootcamp group. Sure, they were only running 1/5 the distance I was, but the point is that my competitive nature kicked in and I had to push myself harder. It gave me an extra kick when I otherwise wanted to kick the bucket on training and call it a day.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Monday Heat
I joined a women's beginner group run this morning with the squad. It will be my first and last run with the group...not because it was terrible, but because I start full-time work next week (siiigh) and my fantastic Mondays off will soon be a distant memory.
It started at 9am, which was weird to sleep in. And it was HOT today! Oof, was it hot! After months of running in bitter cold, today was a shock to the system.
We ran a 7.5k loop with intervals of about 1km. After a weekend of eating yummy cookies, I wasn't at my fastest or my best. But I had the bizarre sensation of being the fastest in the group. I've been one of the faster ones before (on the rare occasion) but never the fastest. I'm not really sure I like it. I'm always more motivated when I'm trying to catch up with that person who's just a little bit faster than me.
It started at 9am, which was weird to sleep in. And it was HOT today! Oof, was it hot! After months of running in bitter cold, today was a shock to the system.
We ran a 7.5k loop with intervals of about 1km. After a weekend of eating yummy cookies, I wasn't at my fastest or my best. But I had the bizarre sensation of being the fastest in the group. I've been one of the faster ones before (on the rare occasion) but never the fastest. I'm not really sure I like it. I'm always more motivated when I'm trying to catch up with that person who's just a little bit faster than me.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Rest & Rain
No, I haven't been lacking Internet time to write about my running...I've been lacking running events to write about! That's right, I took the week off running to try to heal my sore ITB. It helped a bit, but not entirely.
This morning I got up to rain. I can count the number of times I've started running in the rain on one hand with fingers to spare. But after a week off, I was anxious to get going! And really, it was barely raining out. Baby steps of improvement! Next thing you know I'll be one of those hard core people who goes out rain or shine, hail or thunder. Ha! Not likely to happen anytime soon.
Back to the run!
It was a 20k loop and I discovered that I was the only person thinking of doing less. But then another guy on the so-called "injury watchlist" said he would be doing about 12-14k so we agreed we'd go back together.
The first part was really hilly and I struggled to keep up. Hills are not my friend. Then at the 5k mark the ground flattened and for some reason my fellow long-slow-distancers decided to take off. I was later informed the pace hovered just over 5min/km which is faster than my fastest. Needless to say, I started dropping back. But fear of getting lost in the new area pushed me that little bit harder. The group thankfully stopped for a water break at the 8k mark. I was feeling good, feeling strong. When my fellow injured runner told me he was heading back, I was a bit crushed.
I mean, new route, I was going hard, feeling fine...I so desperately wanted to keep going!
With great reluctance I ran back with him and it was like someone had pulled the plug on my energy store. I was shattered! We ran a slow 6.15min/km pace (did I mention I love people who have those fancy Garmin watches that measure your pace? One day I will get one and feel so hi-tech!) which was all I could do. Back up through the hills (unh!) to our start and up for some chill time in the cafe. Total time: 1.42.54. But I kept my watch going up some of those hills when I had to walk. Lazy, I know.
On the plus side, my ITB wasn't so bad in the end. And we had the greatest conversation about mountaineering on our slow jog back to the carpark. Still, when I saw all my fellow squad members arriving back from the 20k a short time later, I was rather sad that I hadn't finished it with them.
This morning I got up to rain. I can count the number of times I've started running in the rain on one hand with fingers to spare. But after a week off, I was anxious to get going! And really, it was barely raining out. Baby steps of improvement! Next thing you know I'll be one of those hard core people who goes out rain or shine, hail or thunder. Ha! Not likely to happen anytime soon.
Back to the run!
It was a 20k loop and I discovered that I was the only person thinking of doing less. But then another guy on the so-called "injury watchlist" said he would be doing about 12-14k so we agreed we'd go back together.
The first part was really hilly and I struggled to keep up. Hills are not my friend. Then at the 5k mark the ground flattened and for some reason my fellow long-slow-distancers decided to take off. I was later informed the pace hovered just over 5min/km which is faster than my fastest. Needless to say, I started dropping back. But fear of getting lost in the new area pushed me that little bit harder. The group thankfully stopped for a water break at the 8k mark. I was feeling good, feeling strong. When my fellow injured runner told me he was heading back, I was a bit crushed.
I mean, new route, I was going hard, feeling fine...I so desperately wanted to keep going!
With great reluctance I ran back with him and it was like someone had pulled the plug on my energy store. I was shattered! We ran a slow 6.15min/km pace (did I mention I love people who have those fancy Garmin watches that measure your pace? One day I will get one and feel so hi-tech!) which was all I could do. Back up through the hills (unh!) to our start and up for some chill time in the cafe. Total time: 1.42.54. But I kept my watch going up some of those hills when I had to walk. Lazy, I know.
On the plus side, my ITB wasn't so bad in the end. And we had the greatest conversation about mountaineering on our slow jog back to the carpark. Still, when I saw all my fellow squad members arriving back from the 20k a short time later, I was rather sad that I hadn't finished it with them.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Short Slow Distance
I woke up this morning with plans to run a 20k. I'd even skipped yesterday's run in favour of having a bit of a recovery before hitting this morning. (After all, running 4 days in a row is not always the smartest idea). But I got there and thought about this big group work out I'm doing with a friend this afternoon. Since this would likely be a "pre-fatigue" event to said workout, I thought I might cut it short and go to 16k or 18k. 16k isn't bad, right?
Nobody was doing a 16k. And really, if I wanted to run by myself I wouldn't be on a squad. So I found some people doing a 12k. Excellent! A bit shorter than I'd hoped, but when I suggested 14k they seemed open to the idea. 14k is decent.
...
And then I hit ~4.5k out and my ITB band started to act up again. The 5k mark is where we have our first "regrouping" at the drink station, so I stopped for some water and waited for one of my poor, injured friends to hobble along. We turned back and jogged slowly home, both of us lamenting over the frustrations of injury! My heart was in for the 20k (or at least a decent 14k) and I desperately wanted to be out running that distance but sometimes the body wins out over the mind. This was one of those times. :(
Nobody was doing a 16k. And really, if I wanted to run by myself I wouldn't be on a squad. So I found some people doing a 12k. Excellent! A bit shorter than I'd hoped, but when I suggested 14k they seemed open to the idea. 14k is decent.
...
And then I hit ~4.5k out and my ITB band started to act up again. The 5k mark is where we have our first "regrouping" at the drink station, so I stopped for some water and waited for one of my poor, injured friends to hobble along. We turned back and jogged slowly home, both of us lamenting over the frustrations of injury! My heart was in for the 20k (or at least a decent 14k) and I desperately wanted to be out running that distance but sometimes the body wins out over the mind. This was one of those times. :(
Friday, August 19, 2011
Hospital Hill
I've finally found a semi-decent hill in Kingaroy. Fittingly, it's called 'Hospital Hill'. Yesterday I ran an interval to get to the bottom of the hill (~1.5k) and then started up. I later measured the hill to be just over 400m from bottom to top...about the same distance as the hill sets I ran in Wondai. Unlike the hills in Wondai, this one had me fighting every step not to throw in the towel and walk up it. Hills are not my strength!
Set 1: 4.03min
Set 2: 4.02min
Set 3: 3.57min
I wish I could say I'd done more than three sets, but I was out of time and had to run back to my place to shower and get ready for work...okay, I 'jogged' back to my place. Next time I'll either give myself more time or drive to the bottom of the hill that I can spend my energy running up it rather than to it.
Set 1: 4.03min
Set 2: 4.02min
Set 3: 3.57min
I wish I could say I'd done more than three sets, but I was out of time and had to run back to my place to shower and get ready for work...okay, I 'jogged' back to my place. Next time I'll either give myself more time or drive to the bottom of the hill that I can spend my energy running up it rather than to it.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Six Street Lights
I sadly forgot my music again, but running in a new area piqued my interest enough to let it go. Intervals today. I picked a street near the residence I’m staying and ran down equivalent to 6 street lights and back. ‘Wow’, you’re thinking. ‘Six street lights! Don’t go overdoing it!’ But here the street lights are few and far between.
Round 1: I had a stopwatch hiccup and didn’t measure this one.
Round 2: 6.58min
Round 3: 6.56min
Round 4: 7.00min
Round 5: 6.55min
I was pretty proud of those times. I was sure I had done fantastically! And then I measured the distance. A little over 1200m. That’s a pace of 5.50min/km (I think. Always double check the math against me!). I mean, it’s not bad but it’s not great, you know? If my goal for a half marathon is a 5.41min/km pace I would ideally like to be going faster than that for a short little 1km interval! I guess it’s just tougher when I don’t have others with me spurring me on.
On the bright side, my knee had only mild aches at the last few hundred metres of my final rep. It’s almost all better now. Silly ITB band. I’ve been giving it lots of love.
Round 1: I had a stopwatch hiccup and didn’t measure this one.
Round 2: 6.58min
Round 3: 6.56min
Round 4: 7.00min
Round 5: 6.55min
I was pretty proud of those times. I was sure I had done fantastically! And then I measured the distance. A little over 1200m. That’s a pace of 5.50min/km (I think. Always double check the math against me!). I mean, it’s not bad but it’s not great, you know? If my goal for a half marathon is a 5.41min/km pace I would ideally like to be going faster than that for a short little 1km interval! I guess it’s just tougher when I don’t have others with me spurring me on.
On the bright side, my knee had only mild aches at the last few hundred metres of my final rep. It’s almost all better now. Silly ITB band. I’ve been giving it lots of love.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
A Tale of a Long Run
It was the best of runs, it was the worst of runs.
The best: 21.7k in 1.59.23!!! That's not only the farthest I've ever, ever gone, it's also the fastest I've ever run! I have never before broken the 2-hour time barrier. Of course, I didn't count our group rest stops...but I never have before either, and still never made a sub-2hr time. Booyah!!!
The worst: It was going well until the 15k mark. Then my knee started to hurt. A LOT. I stopped to stretch it out a few times, but that didn't help. The pain radiated up to my hip and down through my shin. Consensus was it was my ITB band grumbling at me. Post-run I gave it the love and attention it deserved through oodles of stretching and icing. During the run I wasn't so kind to my unhappy leg. While I know I'm a strong advocate for not running while injured, I discovered that a) it hurt even walking and I was stranded 6k out and b) it hurt less when I ran faster and didn't think about it. So I ran faster and didn't think about it. It helped that I had an amazing running buddy to encourage me along the way.
The best: 21.7k in 1.59.23!!! That's not only the farthest I've ever, ever gone, it's also the fastest I've ever run! I have never before broken the 2-hour time barrier. Of course, I didn't count our group rest stops...but I never have before either, and still never made a sub-2hr time. Booyah!!!
The worst: It was going well until the 15k mark. Then my knee started to hurt. A LOT. I stopped to stretch it out a few times, but that didn't help. The pain radiated up to my hip and down through my shin. Consensus was it was my ITB band grumbling at me. Post-run I gave it the love and attention it deserved through oodles of stretching and icing. During the run I wasn't so kind to my unhappy leg. While I know I'm a strong advocate for not running while injured, I discovered that a) it hurt even walking and I was stranded 6k out and b) it hurt less when I ran faster and didn't think about it. So I ran faster and didn't think about it. It helped that I had an amazing running buddy to encourage me along the way.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Lazy sprints
Yesterday, I started on a run. I did! I put on my running clothes, jogged through the warm-up, got to the bottom of my first hill and...stopped. After 5 steps I realized that it was not my day. So I went for a walk instead. Lazy, I know! But I just wasn't feeling it and I didn't want to push myself.
Today I did lazy sprints. I only did 25min of sprints before I finished up on my two hill runs (I ran them both in a decent time). And the sprints weren't as hard core as last week's. Last week, I did two lamp posts of running followed by 1 lamp post recovery. This week I did a mix of 2:1 and 1:1 for running/recovery.
Gotta run! Er, maybe I'll just "leave" and save the running for tomorrow. ;)
Today I did lazy sprints. I only did 25min of sprints before I finished up on my two hill runs (I ran them both in a decent time). And the sprints weren't as hard core as last week's. Last week, I did two lamp posts of running followed by 1 lamp post recovery. This week I did a mix of 2:1 and 1:1 for running/recovery.
Gotta run! Er, maybe I'll just "leave" and save the running for tomorrow. ;)
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Unmotivated
I did NOT want to go out running today. So I decided to go for a walk instead. But I put on my running clothes...just in case. Walked outside and it was numbingly cold! Turned on my ipod and the batteries were dead. Not a good start to the day. But I RAN. I did 4x 1km intervals with a 200m walking break in between. It may not seem like much, but it was better than the nothing I wanted to do initially.
1st km: 5.27min
2nd km: 5.21min
3rd km: 5.24min
4th km: 5.29min
I know I should have done a fifth one but I just couldn't bring myself to do so. Still, I was thisclose to not going out at all, so yay for me!
1st km: 5.27min
2nd km: 5.21min
3rd km: 5.24min
4th km: 5.29min
I know I should have done a fifth one but I just couldn't bring myself to do so. Still, I was thisclose to not going out at all, so yay for me!
Friday, August 5, 2011
Of Hills & Sprints (on hills)
So, yesterday was my hill training day. Not a lot of decent hills in Wondai. I found two that looked semi-okay. One was about 400m, the other about 450m. I did 5 runs on each hill.
400m: 2.03-2.14min
450m: 2.28-2.35min
the timing of this was not a precise art (especially for the 400m hills as I sometimes started at different points). To be fair, there are lots of decent hills a short drive away. I had no interest in driving anywhere, though.
Today was sprints. I snaked up and around the area sprinting for two light posts and recovery for one. Some were flat, some uphill, and others downhill. I focussed on going as hard as I could. I meant to do 45min but I was wiped after 30min. So, I decided to end with an extra dash of cruelty and ran a 1k interval at the end of my sprint session. I ended up running it with a time of 5.27 despite my deadened legs, so not bad!
Lots more barking dogs in the country. Fortunately, they have thus far all been fenced in securely. I have no desire to get chased down by a dog while on a run! I've experienced it once in the city by a little ankle biter, and never wish to endure that again.
400m: 2.03-2.14min
450m: 2.28-2.35min
the timing of this was not a precise art (especially for the 400m hills as I sometimes started at different points). To be fair, there are lots of decent hills a short drive away. I had no interest in driving anywhere, though.
Today was sprints. I snaked up and around the area sprinting for two light posts and recovery for one. Some were flat, some uphill, and others downhill. I focussed on going as hard as I could. I meant to do 45min but I was wiped after 30min. So, I decided to end with an extra dash of cruelty and ran a 1k interval at the end of my sprint session. I ended up running it with a time of 5.27 despite my deadened legs, so not bad!
Lots more barking dogs in the country. Fortunately, they have thus far all been fenced in securely. I have no desire to get chased down by a dog while on a run! I've experienced it once in the city by a little ankle biter, and never wish to endure that again.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Solo intervals
Yesterday (Tuesday) marked the first day I have ever done solo intervals! Go me! I was rather nervous running by myself at 6am in a strange place. Would there be any country dogs on the loose? Would there be anyone else up at that time? Was I insane to run intervals up and down the street?
Well, insane or not, I did it. I clocked the distance at just over 1.2km total (600m each way). The way out was slightly downhill and the way back slightly uphill. I took a 2 min recovery at the top and managed 5 intervals in the hour. The following denotes split times.
Lap 1: 3.08/6.21
Lap 2: 3.11/7.05
Lap 3: 3.08/7.00
Lap 4: 3.10/7.14 (although I did have to stop for a car on my way back)
Lap 5: 3.14/6.58
Hmm, it appears that I all but flew on my first lap!
Well, insane or not, I did it. I clocked the distance at just over 1.2km total (600m each way). The way out was slightly downhill and the way back slightly uphill. I took a 2 min recovery at the top and managed 5 intervals in the hour. The following denotes split times.
Lap 1: 3.08/6.21
Lap 2: 3.11/7.05
Lap 3: 3.08/7.00
Lap 4: 3.10/7.14 (although I did have to stop for a car on my way back)
Lap 5: 3.14/6.58
Hmm, it appears that I all but flew on my first lap!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Official Results - P2P
Two quick things for those interested. First, the official results are in for any interested in finding out more details! My bib number was 397.
Also, some people have told me that they've signed up to receive my blog via email and then responded by hitting 'reply' to the email. Please know that I am not receiving those emails! They are going somewhere into the depths of cyberspace. If you would like to add comments, you can do them in one of two ways:
1. Email me directly
2. Go to the blog site and click on 'comments' below the blog to leave a post (this will be read by all who go on the web page)
Hope this clears up any confusion! If I get any race photos I'll try to put them up.
Also, some people have told me that they've signed up to receive my blog via email and then responded by hitting 'reply' to the email. Please know that I am not receiving those emails! They are going somewhere into the depths of cyberspace. If you would like to add comments, you can do them in one of two ways:
1. Email me directly
2. Go to the blog site and click on 'comments' below the blog to leave a post (this will be read by all who go on the web page)
Hope this clears up any confusion! If I get any race photos I'll try to put them up.
10k race - Ipswich Park to Park
Climb every mountain! Conquer every hill! It certainly felt like we did THAT in the 10k race today. But, may I say.... aaaaaah! 10k! After two half marathon races in a row, a 10k felt so refreshing and short!
8am start, we did two 5k loops around some parks in Ipswich. Thank goodness I didn't do the half marathon, which was 4 loops. I think I'd lose count of how many laps I'd done. Honestly, it's easy to do when you're running as you're not focussed on the numbers.
Big question: how did I do? To give an idea, my personal best (pb) in a 10k remains with the first one I ran at Doomben in June, 2009 with a time of 54.18. With all the encouraging advice I heard before the race ("this is one of the hilliest races in Australia" and "you can't compare this race to a pb from other courses because it's way too tough.") I was hoping to finish at around 1hr20min.
Lap one: 29.30
Lap two: 1.01.05
Siiigh! Just missed that sub-one hour mark. But at the same time, wow! The most recent 10k I ran (last year, around September/October) I got 58min. And that course was FLAT.
Could it be that this slow runner is getting faster?
Makes me want to run a flat 10k to see if I can kill my current pb.
8am start, we did two 5k loops around some parks in Ipswich. Thank goodness I didn't do the half marathon, which was 4 loops. I think I'd lose count of how many laps I'd done. Honestly, it's easy to do when you're running as you're not focussed on the numbers.
Big question: how did I do? To give an idea, my personal best (pb) in a 10k remains with the first one I ran at Doomben in June, 2009 with a time of 54.18. With all the encouraging advice I heard before the race ("this is one of the hilliest races in Australia" and "you can't compare this race to a pb from other courses because it's way too tough.") I was hoping to finish at around 1hr20min.
Lap one: 29.30
Lap two: 1.01.05
Siiigh! Just missed that sub-one hour mark. But at the same time, wow! The most recent 10k I ran (last year, around September/October) I got 58min. And that course was FLAT.
Could it be that this slow runner is getting faster?
Makes me want to run a flat 10k to see if I can kill my current pb.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Farewell Brisbane!
Today was my last training run before I move rural for work. I'm still planning to train remotely, but we'll see how it goes!
I had terrible insomnia last night but still managed to pull together a decent training round. We had two loops of intervals to make one circuit. Loop 1: 300m rep/200m recovery twice. Loop 2: 800m rep/200m recovery once. My split times were as follows:
800m: 1) 4.08 2) 4.20 3) 4.15
300m: 1) 1.29, 1.29 2) 1.30, 1.31 3) 1.40, 1.36
I'm not too disappointed with the split times. It would have been nice to run my latter times slightly faster, but in general I pushed myself hard. It was another cold but beautiful day along the river. I always love seeing the rowers and cyclists out and about.
I had terrible insomnia last night but still managed to pull together a decent training round. We had two loops of intervals to make one circuit. Loop 1: 300m rep/200m recovery twice. Loop 2: 800m rep/200m recovery once. My split times were as follows:
800m: 1) 4.08 2) 4.20 3) 4.15
300m: 1) 1.29, 1.29 2) 1.30, 1.31 3) 1.40, 1.36
I'm not too disappointed with the split times. It would have been nice to run my latter times slightly faster, but in general I pushed myself hard. It was another cold but beautiful day along the river. I always love seeing the rowers and cyclists out and about.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
"12k" UQ loop
Today we ran as a group with Chris, our coach. The aim was to go 12k. We went across the bridge at UQ and looped to the other side. A hilly track and I struggled to keep up with the group - but I did! I couldn't belive when I looked at the time. 1.20.44. How could I have run 1.20.44 on a 12k and felt sooooo exhausted for the last couple of kms? We even had frequent rest stops to regroup and drink some water (I stopped the watch at these stops - the total run time was about 1h40). At the end, the truth came out. 12k? 12k my foot! We'd done 14k, thank you. Now I feel a lot better about feeling so exhausted, as we'd kept a pace of about 5.45min/km for the duration. To put it in perspective, 5.41min/km is on pace for a sub-2hr half. What else can I say to that? Wow, what a fantastic run!
Friday, July 22, 2011
Through the City
There's nothing quite like running through Queen Street Mall at 6am! Lots of random intervals today. After the warm-up we started with 5 sets of ~100m sprints. Then onto the intervals varying from 600m to 1k in length. I'm happy to say I was able to keep up with the group this week! Not quite back in my game but clearly the spinach (and other changes) have been working well with me. :)
On a sad note, I'm dropping the marathon training. Between moving to the country and starting a new job, October's marathon is not going to happen. But don't fear! I will still be training remotely for the half. My coach Chris has informed me that he knows of a running group where I'll be living. Population 7,000 and a running group! Who would have thought? Awesome!
On a sad note, I'm dropping the marathon training. Between moving to the country and starting a new job, October's marathon is not going to happen. But don't fear! I will still be training remotely for the half. My coach Chris has informed me that he knows of a running group where I'll be living. Population 7,000 and a running group! Who would have thought? Awesome!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Double hills - but little ones
Hill sprint circuits. They were not steep hills. The first was ~400m distance, the second ~300m. We broke up these loops with a walking recovery of ~100m. Miracle! I was soooo much better than last week. I managed to almost keep up with some of the others for the first 3 circuits. The last 2 circuits the gap widened a fair bit. Still, massive improvements from last week! It's either the spinach or the fact that I've had 3 days off. Hmmm. Hard to say. But I'm feeling well enough to do Thursday's killer session. If it's not raining.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Popeye the Sailor Man
Well, no "Popeye" moment. I ate tons of spinach this weekend, but didn't gain the strength of a weight-lifter or the speed of an Olympic marathoner. Siiigh. But it was "social run" day. The day I run with friends to...well, to run with friends. There's no goal time, speed, or distance. Someone wants to walk? Let's walk! I love that there's no pressure to be at your best. Good thing, as today, neither of us were feeling at our best! And tomorrow's another rest day. Ooooh yeah! :D
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Mmh, Spinach
The "running" theory from my fellow runners is that maybe I'm low on iron. I can't think of any other reason for my lack of energy, so I'm loading up on spinach and such for the next couple of weeks to see what happens.
Friday - Interval runs. These intervals were short (less than 1k) followed by a 1-2min break. We did this on across an 8k loop. I was slower than slow and struggled to maintain any pace above the warm-up jog. It was not as cold as I had thought it would be, which was a pleasant surprise. I also continued with doing some yoga and weight exercises and helped a friend move - always good exercise, that.
Saturday - I skipped my run again. Awful of me, I know! I was getting bad twinges in my quads last night and decided to take another rest day from running. I'll still do yoga and a few weights but otherwise plan to have a slack day filled with spinach and other iron-rich foods. If I start turning green, you'll know why.
Friday - Interval runs. These intervals were short (less than 1k) followed by a 1-2min break. We did this on across an 8k loop. I was slower than slow and struggled to maintain any pace above the warm-up jog. It was not as cold as I had thought it would be, which was a pleasant surprise. I also continued with doing some yoga and weight exercises and helped a friend move - always good exercise, that.
Saturday - I skipped my run again. Awful of me, I know! I was getting bad twinges in my quads last night and decided to take another rest day from running. I'll still do yoga and a few weights but otherwise plan to have a slack day filled with spinach and other iron-rich foods. If I start turning green, you'll know why.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Slacking & stretching
You'd think I'd taken a month off running, not a week! I am soooo fatigued. I ran with a friend yesterday. It was slow and easy, broken up with walking. And that was all I could manage! I meant to go to training this morning for hills - the hardest session of the week. But considering how weak I've been feeling, I thought I would collapse just on the warm-up. I decided to hold off running this morning in favour of doing some yoga. I've been soooo stiff & tight these last few days. It's getting to the point of alarming (and painful) so I decided to try and stretch out my tight muscles rather than trying to haul my lethargic body up a hill. Back into it tomorrow.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Ice Blocks
Tuesday. We ran 1k intervals today, with 100m recovery. My legs felt like blocks of ice the entire time, it was so cold! It was that burning cold, like when you walk outside in the snow in barefeet. I started with an interval of 5.45min/km and gradually slowed (with each rep) to a 6.10min/km. Ugh. I should have worn pants today! Kept my jumper on the whole time. Not the best I've done, but it was hard to make my frozen muscles obey my command. And eesh, but I'm unfit!
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