Time to put the deco's up...

I know I usually say most days that I dont feel like getting out of bed; this morning was different in that I actually was not looking forward to the session. From Tuesday's session where I ran into work afterwards on that warm day with a text book in my backpack, it seems to have taken quite a bit out of me for some reason and I have been feeling a bit flat ever since. I got out of bed anyway, getting to Mackay late with not enough time for a warm up...tsk tsk.

I had 3 laps of the lake as Fartlek today, which is approx 4.5km. Given my lack of willpower and that I am also meant to be racing on the weekend I made sure I went nice and comfortably not trying to catch anyone or do anything silly and finished in 21.09. I was happy with that, was just happy with finishing today. Finished off with a warm down lap of the lake.

I had a bit of a tear in my eye driving home knowing its the last time I would be driving my car. Stupid as its only a car, I just get attached to stuff easily. It got taken off to Perth today to its new owner. With Dean's Dad being taken into hospital this week and my career change crisis of late I actually think I am ready for a good bawl. Maybe I will just go punch something instead...yes that sounds like more my style.

As I'm feeling a little depressed today I'm now heading off to buy some cheap Chrissy decorations from the $2 shop to put around my desk.....

EDIT: Just plugged my 21.09 into a pace calculator and had I done another 500m it would have converted to a 5km PB. Considering it was comfortable, I'm looking forward to my next 5km race. Bring on the Summer Series.....

Foghorn

My alarm went off this morning and I reset it to sleep in thinking that I would head out at lunch as a sleep in would be nice. Then remembering what I wrote in my blog yesterday, I knew that wouldnt happen; so got an extra 5 min lie in and then dragged my butt out of bed. When I got outside I was shocked by the thick layer of fog that had reduced visibility to under 20m. It was very eerie as you cant see people until they are right up on you. I was surprised to get a signal on my garmin. I headed around the normal coastal path as I only had 7km on the program today. No views of the ocean today though!! I got to listen to the sound of the lighthouse fog horn the entire way which was sending some of the dogs in the area a little crazy. I got home and realised I was absolutely drenched in sweat. Checking the weather later I discovered that although the temperature was not that high it was extremely humid. After getting out of the shower I felt like I needed to jump back in. I felt really horrible going to work as my clothes were sticking to my warm skin. Not looking forward to summer hitting.

I bought my accomodation for Central Coast yesterday. About 5 min later I was wishing I was doing Otford to Bundeena instead. Bloody women.....

Catch up

I had an absolute ball at CR drinks on Friday night, it was really good to meet a lot of CR's. I was a bit worried that Dean would be bored from all the running talk, but after a day on the golf course boozing he was in fine form. I was up for a late one but Dean wanted to leave at 11.30 :-( After a sleep in on Saturday morning, I didnt really feel like heading out in the afternoon, so I missed my run. I have realised lately that if it doesnt get done early, it doesnt really get done at all.

I had a really good think of what I want to do with myself and I have come to the conclusion that I would like to go back to uni to do my PhD. I have a Bachelor of Mathematics and Finance, but if I can I am thinking of doing my PhD in Psychology (yes a big change). I recently had a test done to see what careers would suite my personality/ethics/values and as I suspected Finance was not on the list, apparently I was more suited towards roles where I guide people such as Psychology, dietitian, career counselor, environmental lawyer etc. I also saw a degree in Psychology and Exercise Science which sounded really appealing. I will need to have a further think through.

Went out on Sunday for a 17km run. I headed along the C2S course in reverse until I hit Edgecliff and then turned around and when in Rose Bay I turned up the road that runs alongside the golf course (just because I knew there was some dirt paths instead of road) and then back up Old South Head Rd to Vaucluse. I still had a few k's left to do and so I rounded it off with a lap of the Coastal Path where there was a lot of film crew filming an ad I suspect. Amazingly I actually felt better on my long run last week !! I also noticed that my shins were a little sore as I was having trouble staying off paths.

Missed my run on Monday as well, tsk tsk, work got in the way.

Went to SWEAT this morning and had 6x600m. I had to get a lift in from Dean so that I could be at work on time in the morning. I dont have my Garmin with me as I had to leave my backpack down in my locker so no one passed out from the stench of my clothes. I think they were all in the range of 2.32-2.38 except for the last one which was around 2.45. I really felt the heat this morning, by the last lap I had enough. I done my warm down as a run into work, which ended up being a workout in itself. I couldnt use my normal running backpack as I had to take a text book into work (yes a fat chunky Corporate Finance one) and so had to bring a non-running one to fit everything in. It was extremely uncomfortable, heavy and bouncing around everywhere. I felt sorry for Virtual who ran with me to the city as I was running so slow, apologies Brendan, I dont think he has ever run so slow in his life!!

Now, just sitting at work getting stuck into the Powerade.....

CR drinks yay!!!

I met up with some of the girls at Centennial Park this morning for our 30 min recovery run. They had already headed off by the time I got there so I had to try and catch up which was quite hard considering I had my massage with Easy Tiger yesterday. It was nice having a good chat to Analise along the way, having a natter about the fashion industry as she is a dress maker. It was over before I knew it.

I managed to sell my car today, have been trying to sell it for months now and someone has bought it from WA. I'm sad about getting rid of it but its a relief.

I'm off to CR drinks tonight, already getting stuck into the beer at work....its been a shit week (are you allowed to swear in a blog???).

Pizza hangover

Dean had to drop me off at training this morning as someone from Perth is interested in buying my car and organised an early morning NRMA inspection on it. He had trouble sleeping last night so he made me get my butt out of bed early (ironic its usually the other way around). I stumbled around getting all my clothes together for work (glad to say I didnt forget anything for a change). I felt absolutely aweful after coming home last night after a crap day at work and deciding to get stuck into some wine and we ordered some pizza. It is hard to believe how crap I felt just from having 1.5 glasses of wine and 2 slices of pizza. My body really doesnt let me eat crap these days. I started to feel a tad better after the warm up to where we do our Wild Wally sessions. There was quite a big turnout today with a lot of congestion at the start line. The highlight of the day was when the girls made Katie wear pink ribbons in her hair for not cracking the 3 min mark last Wild Wally, luckily she cracked it many times today. My times were:
3.18
3.16
3.16
3.16
3.17
3.28 (conserved a bit for the finale)
3.11

After the session I had to run to work as I was not getting picked up. It was pretty horrible breathing in lots of petrol fumes. All up approx 13km today.

Roar and Snore

Well, I feel really silly for the title of my post yesterday. I thought it was such a big thing for it to be that warm at 6am. This morning I met Kerry, Bernie, Belinda and Kulinda at 5.15 at Centennial Park. I'm not sure what the temperature was, but it was definately warmer than yesterday already. We decided to stay inside the park this morning so we would have access to bubblers quite often. It makes my mind boggle at how big the park is when you can run for 90 min without covering any ground twice or getting bored (maybe I just have the memory of a goldfish). We dropped Kulinda off after about 40 min and saw Helen out near the end so we got to run with her for a bit too. When we got back I was very glad that I get my runs over with early in the morning, as I would not like to be a lunch time or afternoon runner today.

I found out last night that Dean has booked us in for Roar and Snore at Taronga Zoo for my 25th birthday that is coming up soon. Its all I've been able to think about all morning!!

20 degrees at 6am !!

I went along to training this morning. I didnt manage to do as long a warm up as I would have liked but still got one in. We done our drills and strides and I couldnt believe how much I had started sweating already. I heard on the radio before pulling in to the oval at 6am that it was already 20 degrees. It was definately a warm one. I done 2 800m reps around the oval and done them in (from memory) 3.43 & 3.44. The ranger nazi come over again and kicked us off the oval and we had to finish off the reps around the outside track where we usually do Fartlek. These were a little short at 700m and I done them in (from memory also, dont have my garmin) 3.17, 3.17, 3.11. On the last one I managed to catch a few of the 600m group (who ended up doing around 500m on the outside loop). I felt really strong today. I even felt like I could have pushed harder as my legs and breathing were fine. No niggles to report for the first time in a while. Touch wood :)

In answer to your question 2P, I am considering 6 foot track depending on how well I go at Coastal Classic. As if I go well at CC I may be heading up to Glasshouse next year (I think this is the first time I've posted this goal) and 6 Ft will be better training than Canberra for GH.

Long run down in the Park

Dean and I headed down to my parents place after the part on Saturday night as it was less of a drive than Sydney. With a late night on Saturday I didnt learn my lesson from last week and couldnt drag myself out of bed early enough for my long run again on Sunday. I got up at 7.30am and it was already looking very warm and sunny outside. By the time I got myself together I was heading off at 8am...tsk tsk. I ran over to the Croome Road complex and as my bumbag was giving me grief I thought it might be a good idea to practice running around the track so I didnt have to carry it. This lasted 4 km's before I decided to stop babying myself and get a move on. I headed through Albion Park rail over to Oak Flats and ran for a bit around Lake Illawarra. I got to see some Pelicans and ducks which was really cool, but the lake really smells bad so I turned around and headed back. Once back in Albion Park I headed around the normal run that I do. By the time I was near home I had been out for 3 hours. I was meant to do 3.5 but it was 11am and it was extremely warm and I could feel the sun biting me. I should mention that AP is usually around 1-2 degrees warmer than surrounding areas. My geography teacher did tell me why, but I wasnt listening obviously.

I took some advice for this run and headed out with salt tablets. The pharmacy gave me normal tablets rather than capsules so they had almost disappeared by the end. I had sweat buckets so was having one every 30 min. I also took advice to eat along the way and broke off a bit of power bar every 30 min or so. Although it was extremely hot, I found that I felt great still even after 3 hours compared to previous runs. Nutrition will play a big role in my survival at Coastal Classic.

I felt really great for the rest of the day and didnt feel like I had run 28km (I was meant to do 32 though :-( ) I did get a bit sunburnt, but some gel from an aloa vera plant my parents had helped that go down and I am fine today. Had a ball yesterday afternoon playing cards and jenga (?). The time slipped by and we didnt get home till 11.30 last night.

I am feeling really great today, no niggles at all couldnt even tell I done a long run yesterday. I was meant to do 10km today but my body was crying out for a sleep in. I will be doing some of my pilates DVD tonight and maybe head out for a run.

Bondi Beach dash

Was planning on doing my long run today as I am going out tonight, possibly drinking, but after getting home late from work last night I couldnt drag myself out of bed this morning. After a little breaky I set off for a run and decided to head down to Bondi Beach for a change as I hadnt done that run for a while. From my house, the route is basically the City to Surf route from the roudabout where New and Old South Head meet onwards. I love doing this run because I get to look at all the great views of the city and the coast that you tend to not notice when your struggling through the C2S. I'm not much of a beach girl but the water looked very inviting, and while I was a little nervous about the climb back up to the heads, it was over before I knew it. It was a great run today. I didnt find the run anywhere near as hard as I used to. It was 10km return for me today and very enjoyable.

One of Dean's friends got married in Scotland recently and they are having a party at their family's place tonight in Tahmoor. I will have to make sure I dont drink too much.

Recovery run

Went out for a nice 5km recovery run this morning. Took my usual route around the coastal path. I will have to post pictures of this run it is amazing. The ocean was nice and calm this morning compared to the last couple of days. Although the wind was a little fresh it was a nice day and there were lots of cute dogs out that were trying to race me. I went a couple of minutes slower than on my program, but since I do my mid-week long runs with the girls at a quicker pace than I would normally run, I really try and treat my Friday runs as a recovery run from all the speed work during the week getting ready for the endurance on the weekend.

I will be taking Tesso's advice and doing a nice long walk after my long run tomorrow morning and also taking Blue Dog's advice of practicing my eating every 25 min. My Saturday run will be somewhere in the Picton region as Dean and I are going to a party there on Saturday night and staying the night in a pub.

Mud Bath

Dean started work at 6.00 this morning so he was awake before I was. He told me it was pouring down so I should reset my alarm to go off later. I felt really guilty still from missing Tuesday's session so I slept in an extra 10 min and got up anyway. It was pouring down when I left but had lightened down to a sprinkle by the time I got to the oval. I left my jacket on throughout the entire session today as it was around 8 degrees earlier, and probably lower with wind chill factor. After a warm up, the group slowly started to emerge. There wasnt too many of us this morning. I had 1 lap (approx 1.45km) of the lake with around 5 min break and then a 2 lapper. I done 6.55 for the first lap and 14.19 for the 2 laps. My mind wasnt really in it this morning as I was still upset from my crap day yesterday, but all the same I was very happy with the times, especially the 6.55. I probably could have pushed myself a bit harder but it was just one of those days.

Meant to be doing the JP Morgan Chase challenge tonight. I'm not really feeling up to it, I would prefer to go along to SWEAT $7 steak night.

Around the Opera House

I was going to hang off writing my blog for today's run until I had done the JP Morgan challenge, but since its called off, here it is. I met up with Katie and Kerry at Centennial Park and we decided to head off to the Opera House this morning as we had 90 min on the program. After all the hills we encountered last week we ensured we went via the most flat route and got to whiff in some lovely smoke from "naughty" cigarettes on Oxford Street.

I feel like such a tourist, I swear I will never get sick of the sight of the harbour bridge, opera house and the gardens, they are magnificent. I couldn't believe that we were already half way through our run by the time we were running around Mrs Macquarie Point. There were some short sharp hills on the way back and when Katie and Kerry left me for dead I realised I think I need to do a bit more hill work (just not Big Birtha please). Lugging this body up a hill aint easy. Once we were back at Centennial Park we headed around the lake to see the Geese. When one of the geese started attacking another biting its neck, we took that as a cue to leave. All up done 15.8k's in 90 min. Had an absolute ball and was so happy to be out this morning. We caught up with Belinda and Horrie at the end of our run as they were just finishing and got to have a chat about the Coastal Classic before I had to rush off to work for an 8.30 meeting. I was a good girl this morning and had an Up and Go on the bus as I have been told that I wait too long after a session to have breaky.

My great day and mood ended shortly after I got to work. I wont bang on about it too much, but lets just say I haven't been happy for a while but something happened today to confirm that I may be looking for a complete career change. The only problem is I'm not 100% sure what I want to do now. Its very hard when you spend a long time going to school, uni etc focused on the one career and goal and after giving it a few years realise that its really not for you. Its a hard decision to make to go in a completely different direction. Oh well, changing times ahead...

My first missed session

My first week of no rest days hasnt really gone according to plan so far. I had to be in at work early yesterday as I was leaving on time to go to U2, so I missed my run yesterday. I had an absolute ball at the concert. Although I just realised I had forgotten to list them as a favourite band in my profile (I am terrible with those questions, name your favourite movie, band, drink...I dont think about this stuff much), U2 is definately right up there as a favourite. I may discover new bands and go through fads, but I will always be able to listen to their music without getting sick of it. Their CD's are one of the few that I can listen to from beginning to end without skipping any songs. When Dean and I met, I had U2's best of album 1990-2000, when I found out he had their best of album for 1980-1990 I knew it was a match made in heaven. I found out that Bono made an appearance at Kylie's concert on Sunday night so was desperately hoping that she would return the favour.....but she didnt.

Anyway it was a late night for a nanna like me, getting home at 12.30. I still set my alarm for 5.30 to go to training this morning, ohh to be such an optimist. After this gave me less than 4.5 hours sleep I didnt manage to get up for SWEAT this morning. I took my gear in to work but the thought of running on concrete these days makes my body shudder so I trotted off to the gym since they still made me pay for this months fee's anyway.

Feeling really fresh now as that niggle in my calf has gone away from the rest. I'm really looking forward to my long run tomorrow morning and doing the JP Morgan Coprorate Challenge in the afteroon which I am not taking seriously and running with some friends.

EDIT: Ha ha its a month exactly until my birthday........the countdown begins......

Lady Carrington Drive

I had 38km on the program today as I am in training for the Coastal Classic 12 hour race. As the thought of running on roads for 38km didnt appeal to me, nor did doing 100 laps of Centennial Park, I decided to head to Lady Carrington Drive for a change.

I slept in a little this morning until 6.30, which meant by the time I got out there and sorted myself out it was almost 8.30. I packed everything into my camelback that my parents bought me from Thailand and headed off. It was so beautiful being out on the trail. As it was too early for families it was only the runners out at first and the birds. Right near the start I saw Belinda Wilsher out finishing a run with another top female runner, her name escapes me at the moment. I noticed that my right calf that has been giving me trouble lately was pretty tight and sore from the very start. I just kept pushing through until I was so tired that I didnt notice it anymore. I couldnt believe how much I was sweating. Although there was cloud coverage, it was still really warm today and the bladder pack was making me sweat even more. At first I couldnt get anything out of the pack, there was no water coming through, and then I realised I had it in there upside down...dohh. Even after it was in the right way water was still not coming out so I was having to drink straight from the bladder. I done a full lap up to the Waterfall entrance and back to Audley. I was feeling really tired then and had enough and was debating whether to call it quits and maybe do the rest later in the evening. I knew though, that if I called it quits then there was no way I would get off my butt in the afternoon and I had to just get it over with. I ran back to the car and dumped off the bladder pack and took a water bottle which was a lot easier to carry and headed back out to do my second lap of Lady Carrington. Before I left though, I took a detour to the ladies to drench myself in water as well as my hat to try and cool down a little. I got some really wierd looks from some people ;)

The second lap was a real struggle. I had been taking walking breaks (after reading advice on Coastal Classic) the entire time to get used to them, but they were becoming more frequent now and my pace had dropped to over 7 min km's which is not good. I decided that 38km was out of the question today as I had lost so much sweat and had only had 2 Gu's with me and wasnt getting enough sodium. I decided that 34km would be enough. When I got back to the car I had done 33.5 in 3hrs 50 min and was happy with that. I was absolutely buggered. By the time I finished it was the middle of the day and stinking warm. I had to keep drinking and eating on the drive home to stop myself from dozing off as I was exhausted. When I got home I was too much of a wuss to have an ice bath so had a cool bath instead.

Some lessons learnt:
* I am crap at carrying water on a run. I cant stand fuel belts and I struggled with the extra weight of a bladder pack (it was 2 litre and I had other stuff in there)
* I really need to invest in some of the salt tablets Sean gave me at Brindabella as I sweat buckets
* I will need to make sure I have no sleeping in on long run day as running near the middle of the day isnt fun
* I need to make sure I take more Gu's out with me

My puppy Kaos

I just thought I would post some pictures of her. These arent as good as the ones on my phone but I cant seem to download mine onto the computer. You can see where she has a little hair growing back from her operation near her leg.

Ohh, she looks so innocent.....

Getting herself caught up in a T-shirt

Yes, she definately is part of the O family, she loves her food !!!!

Too crap to post today

Last night was an absolute blast. Hughesy is definately one of Australia's best comedians and I hope he and Wil get their own show somewhere else after the axing of the Glasshouse. Maybe one of the commercial TV stations will take them on if they have good taste (oh yeah, not likely!!).

I had my massage yesterday with Easy Tiger and I always find it hard to go for a run the next day. Today was no different. Add in a late night and some really warm weather and I had one of the crappest runs I have done all year. I had 12km on the program but after feeling really crap I decided that since I used my rest day on Monday to do 14.5km and took my rest day on Friday, I would then only do Friday's 5km run today. Confused? so am I. Basically I was trying to catch up for the missed day last week, which I have now decided is completely wrong as it can lead to breaking the pivotal 10% rule. Its also going to be important now that I'm stepping up to 7 days.

I had originally planned to do the KJ's mountain run today, but after a phone call late Friday afternoon from our real estate saying they will be coming for an inspection soon I decided that a weekend at home cleaning was needed. I decided on doing a local run this morning heading around the coastal path at Vaucluse and down to Watson Bay, up around the Gap, around Watson Bay where I started to feel crap and had to walk back up to Vaucluse (equivalent of Heartbreak Hill). All up done 6km worth of running today and another few walking. I might post some photo's tomorrow with my new digital camera my parents bought me for Christmas (yes, my Dad's a softy and gave it to me early).

Tomorrow I am thinking of doing my long run at Lady Carrington Drive for a change. With 38km on the program, I am assuming that doing it up and back twice will give me the k's I need. I will try out the Camelback my parents got me from Thailand. I'm just hoping its not too hot tomorrow, forecast for 31 degrees *gulp*.

Dave Hughes tonight

I was due to do a 5km recovery run this morning, but as my calf was feeling super tight I decided that I could have today off since I have already done extra k's this week. I had a ball last night playing lawn bowls and even got some extra exercise walking home to walk off some of the beer. I just got back from seeing Easy Tiger and he said that I am in such better condition than when I first went to see him because I have been doing all my stretches as he's been telling me to. When I first went to see him, and after going away to camp he thought I was definately cruising for a stress fracture but I am coming along fine now and am almost normal :)

I'm off to see Dave Hughes tonight with a friend. I'm so excited, I have been waiting for him to come to Sydney for ages. I've seen Wil Anderson live and he is hillarious. I'm absolutely gutted that they have cancelled the Glasshouse :(

I havent heard from the girls yet, so I'm not sure if they are on for the KJ's mountain race tomorrow.

The evil Big Birtha

I know I use this title every time we do Big Birtha, but there really is no other way to describe it. I was running a little late getting to the oval this morning as Dean had "cleaned" yesterday. His idea of cleaning is moving things from one wrong place to another wrong place that doesnt make sense, so I had a lot of trouble finding all my gear. Managed to do one lap of the oval and with the run over to where we do the hill reps it was still an OK warm up. I managed to finish the 10 laps in 25.05. I was marginally happy with that. I havent had much experience with Birtha, the first time I done it it was the first week of attending SWEAT and the second time I only done 7 laps as I confused it with Wild Wally. I probably could have gone out a little harder but my right calf is feeling extremely tight at the moment and is still playing up on me. I am not looking forward to seeing Easy Tiger tomorrow.

I got my program through last night and it looks like I will be running 7 days a week from now on. I've barely got used to running 6 days a week and the intensity has already been upped. Should definately be fit for all my races next year.

I'm off to lawn bowls this afternoon at Bondi for a work function. I'm wondering what the mood will be like considering our latest (gazillionth) restructure just got announced today. They only announced the big honcho's that will be going we find out about the little people next week. We were all expecting some really big good changes but it was just the same old, same old, people losing jobs, playing corporate musical chairs, bla bla bla.

Around the Bays

I met up with Bernie, Kerry and Katie this morning at 5.30 (yay a 15 min sleep in). I had 75 min on the program for 15km. I was extremely pleased when Katie told us she had asked Sean whats the go with 5 min km's for a long run and he said it was a missprint.....phew. We decided to not do the normal run around the Park and to head off somewhere different for a change. We headed off through the park passing through to check out the geese on the way and up onto Ocean Street. After heading down Ocean Street into Edgecliff we turned onto New South Head Road taking us into Rushcutters Bay. After running around the bay we turned into Darling Point and ran to the end of the path, with Kerry pointing out the nice views and where to get cheap booze along the way from when she lived in the area. We bumped into Amjan around the Point and ran with her for a while before she sped up on her way and left us. Kerry and I were debating whether or not we would take Bernie and Katie to see Loftus Street. I dont know what the exact incline is of Loftus Street but its bloody steep and requires you to get up on your tippy toes to run up it. It brought back memories of when I used to run over there once a week at lunch times with some work friends. I have no idea how some people do their hill repeats on it, one is enough for me. They handled it really well, with me following up the rear. I knew what I was in for so was being ultra conservative. We then went up Greenoaks avenue and headed down to Double Bay. Coming back up through Ocean Ave to NSHR almost killed me as my quads were burning from all the hills. When we finally hit Centennial Park again I was extremely glad. I really enjoyed the run this morning but I have been neglecting the hills a bit lately and it was tough. We ran back to the cars heading along the lake and finished a tad over 13km in 79 min. The hardest thing for me in the mornings is that I am having so much fun running and being out and about that I forget that I have to go to work. I completely forgot that I have an 8.30 meeting on Wednesday's and only remembered when I was on the bus going into the city. Oh well, I didnt miss anything anyway :)

Dreaded 1km reps

Monday, November 6, 2006

I was feeling really guilty about missing my long run on Sunday so I went out for a run on Monday to catch up. While I was out there I thought that it might be a little dangerous to start playing catch ups as this week will be my highest mileage week ever at 90km. I cut the run short at 14.5km as I was still feeling a little crap and it was windy. I now dont know whether to cut down a run somewhere else as this would now mean over 100km for the week (now that is scary).

Tuesday, November 7, 2006

I was extremely tired this morning and was devistated when the alarm went off. I slept in for another 10 min which meant I could only get in a 1km warm up this morning before SWEAT. We had 1km reps on the program. I usually dont really like 1km reps. I think its a mental thing as we usually have to run 200m before we even reach Sean and where the start line is for the other reps. This morning we done our reps around the outside where we usually do our fartlek sessions. I found this was marginally easier than doing it around on a track. I surprised myself this morning and ran quite well. My reps were:
4.34
4.30
4.30
4.28
I was extremely happy with my times but I was also glad it was over as the humidity, even in the mornings, has been getting to me when we have been doing the quick stuff and making me feel woozy. All up was 8km this morning.

I think it will be a short day at work today. Most people are going to the Ranwick races for the Melbourne Cup, while they are putting on a lunch (charcoal chicken and bread rolls) for the little people.

Will definately post pictures of the Puppy tonight.

Slacker

Dean and I headed down the coast on Saturday morning as he was doing the Sydney to Gong ride (and I was slacking out). I planned on doing the KJ's 4km cross country race but would have been pushing it for time. We went down to my parents place and as they have been away we decided to go and pick up my beagle, Kaos, from my Auntie & Uncle's place for the weekend. I used this as an opportunity for a run as I was feeling very lethargic and knew that if I ran over to my Aunties to meet Dean I would be running for a reason and couldnt stop till I got there. We guessed that it was 10km, but in fact was only 8km. I tried to pick up the pace and do a bit of tempo work in the middle, churning out some 5.00-5.10 min km's and managed to get over there in 44 min. Kaos didnt quite recognise me at first but when she did she went crazy. I really miss her since I've been living in Sydney.

Dean and I went to the movies to see The Departed. I wont give anything away but it was really good and wasnt as long as some of the critics have claimed it to be. We headed over to Hogs Breath for dinner as we could get a 20% discount showing our movie tickets (and we're both cheappies!!).

When we got back home we finished off fixing up Mum & Dad's bar room for them to suprise them when they get home. Dean and I were in stitches laughing when we saw Kaos eating something on the back lawn and when we inspected it we realised she had gone through Dean's overnight bag and stolen one of his GU's and was getting stcuk into it. It was hillarious, I have some photo's of the evidence that I will post tonight.

I was due to do 20km on Sunday morning but I have been feeling completely zapped of energy and couldnt handle the thought of running in the wind. Dean went well in the Sydney to Gong ride, riding 90km. He took 2 hours more than expected but there was a lot of stopping and starting as they had to be police escorted in many places, it was blowing a gale and he hasnt really ridden in a long time. I was really proud of him when he finished. Kaos and I were at the finish line to greet him with a well earned beer. The most strenuous thing I done today was walking the dog a little and mowing the lawn for my parents (which was quite hard given it was in the rain).

Wierd guy in hotpants

I went out for a cruisy 5 km this morning. My legs were feeling a little stiff and tired at first. Could be due to the fact that I ran on concrete on Wednesday so was sure to stick to the grass on the side of the path this morning. Didnt see any whales this morning, but I was stopped by an American guy in lycra hotpants asking me for directions to the beach. He was telling me that he had been down to the beach but it was the "clothes optional" one with a lot of gay men. He told me that he felt uncomfortable and they were all staring at him there because in his words "similar to a lady I could say I'm bigger than average" while pointing to his chest. Very naive me thought he was referring to the fact that he was a little tubby and had man boobs so I felt sorry for him, I thought he was self concious. But no, I wont go into too much detail (I will leave the full story for the girls on Tuesday morning) but every time I tried to tell him where to go to get to the other beaches he kept interupting me to say how big his package was and how people stare at it. It become very crude and I told him I felt uncomfortable and I was leaving. This is the thing that I dont like about myself. It doesnt matter who I am talking to it could be the creepiest guy in the world or an axe murderer and I still feel the need to be polite to them. Instead of saying "Excuse me, I've been trying to tell you directions and your talking about your package which is making me uncomfortable", why didnt I just run off and say "bugger (or other words) off you perverted creep". Oh well, I will have to learn.....

Relaxed session

I got to the oval nice and early this morning and arrived in time to do a nice 1.5km warm up with Horrie. We got to chat about crewing for Bandanna for the upcoming Great North Walk where he has signed up for the 100 miler. During our strides this morning I noticed how slow I am at doing short bursts of 100m. Pretty much everyone overtook me, I am definately much better at endurance than speed.

Today I had 2 laps of the lake (approx 3km) with a 5 min rest and then another lap. I had on my program that I was to do the whole session relaxed. I done the first 2 laps in 14.02 and done the last lap comfortably, on Seans instructions, in 7.23. Bernie, Kerry and myself done an extra lap of the lake for a warm down to take me to 9.5km for the morning. I was extremely happy with the 14.02 for the 2 laps as when I looked at this pace converted to 5km it would have meant a PB (current 5km PB 23.42 in 2003 KJ's Puckey's course) and I felt really great the whole way through. My breathing was still really slow and my legs were fine so I was nowhere near pushing myself outside my comfort zone. Very Happy :) I cant wait now to find a nice flat course to hopefully knock off a PB.

I had the Sydney Striders 10km on my program for the weekend but I wont be able to make it as I will be heading down the coast as Dean does the Sydney to Gong ride (I am woosing out). So I am thinking of doing the KJ's 4 km cross country instead. I will see how I feel on the morning. Its a course I've never done before so I'm not sure what to expect.

Sorry to be misleading R2B, but I never actually took this photo myself, I stole it off a website :(

I told a girl at work about seeing the whales last night and she told me about a holiday in Tonga that was recently on Getaway where, apparently, its the only place left in the world where you can swim with the whales. The trip includes 3 sessions of swims per day over three days. I can picture myself there now....

On another note I need to start making decisions on what races I want to do at the beginning of next year. I was at first tossing up between the Gosford 12 hour race on 7th Jan and the fat ass Gray's Point to the Gong on 20th Jan. After looking at some photo's of Bogong to Hotham from this year, I was extremely impressed at how beautiful the scenery was and was thinking of whether I might like to do the 25 or 35km option. I suppose I just need to sit down and think about the pro's and con's of each and maybe sit down with Sean to see which one fits with my goals for next year.

5 k's and some whale watching

I decided on a sleep in this morning and was going to head to the gym at lunch instead. After realising how nice it was outside I decided to push my slow 5km run out until I got home from work. Even though he has had 8 beers today playing cricket, Dean decided to join me for my run this evening so it was a fair bit slower than usual but was a good chance for us to catch up as we dont see each other very often. We went for 2 laps around the lighthouse and coastal path where we live. On the way back on the second lap we saw some big splashes in the water and when we went closer over to the cliff edge to investigate we saw that there were 3 whales playing in the water. There was what looked like a Mum and its baby and an adolescent which was making huge splashes with its tail and we couldnt believe how loud they were when they were blowing out of their holes. We watched until it was too dark to see any more. I had to listen to Dean whinging the whole way about the run but he thought it was worth it when we got to see the whales.