Why cant I be paid to run ???

On Wednesday Lulu kindly agreed to meet up with me so I could have a chat to her about her career. Thanks Lulu, much appreciated.

I set out to do my long run in the afternoon as I was pretty buggered in the morning from my huge workout on Tuesday. I decided to do a few laps around the coastal path near my place. My hammies, glutes and lower back were all fairly sore from the workout on Tuesday but loosened up a bit as I went along. I was expecting to run quite slowly but it seemed that my body wanted to go at a quicker pace. It was really humid during my run and I got a few refreshing showers. I finished the session of 15km at 6.08/km average pace (its been a while). I am now confident that I will be back to my 5.40/km long run pace soon enough. I done loads of stretching when I got home and done some exercises with my new Nike medicine ball I bought for camp.

This morning the alarm went off for SWEAT. After a really humid night and my harder than normal long run only the night before I wasnt looking forward to the session this morning. As I had left my program at work I had no idea what I was in for today. If I had have known it was hills I might have taken up the opportunity to sleep in. I headed to SWEAT and we did our drills at the oval. We then headed over to the hill and we were informed we were doing Wild Walter which I had never done before. My reps were:
2.09
2.08
2.15 (had a lap off because I wouldnt have reached the start in time)
2.03
2.12 (Sean gave me another break)
2.05
2.18
I was at the back of the pack for all of them. Someone said that it was like 100% humidity and I believed them. I wore my skins to bed last night, but lets face it they dont work miracles so I felt like I had lead legs doing these sessions and it was bloody hard. Oh well, the back to back sessions will be good practice for camp !! Although most of us were meant to be doing 10 apparently, due to the humidity Sean told us we could finish up and do a warm down. Even some of the more elite quicker runners were having rest laps this time, it was horrid out there. After running back to the oval I then finished up with another lap around the inside white fence. I love the fact I dont have to rush off to work in the morning and Centennial Park is absolutely beautiful at that time of day because there arent too many people there and all you can hear is the birds, its very peacefull.

After getting home and having a nice breaky I headed over to Bondi Junction FF again for a super workout. Left again feeling on top of the world. I also went to get some groceries and was very proud of myself that I was not tempted to buy anything naughty AT ALL. The only thing is I hate cooking. There is a recipe from the AIS website which is a chicken risotto and it is so easy, super healthy and makes 6 meals so I dont have to cook for ages. Because I have been on my own I have been eating the same thing non-stop so I cant wait for Dean to get home so that I can have a different meal and stop eating left overs.

Oh, BTW, Dean won the bowls tournament in Dubbo and now has a cool $2,500. I wish I got paid to run....not fair !!!!

Biggest Loser.....Becky O style

I was a bit lazy over the weekend as it was my first few days of my holidays and I lazed around relaxing but today was time to get straight back into training. I got up for SWEAT, which I was proud of myself doing in my holidays, and we had 2 laps of the lake with a long rest followed by a one lapper. After doing our drills in the dark we headed over to the lake. I wasnt sure how I would go as my training has been very hit and miss lately. I was really surprised to see that my legs felt quite fresh (thanks to a massage on Thursday) and they didnt get too fatigued the whole way through. My breathing also was going quite well. I went through the first 1.45km lap in 7.09 and was feeling good so I was quite proud of myself. I tried to keep it up for the second lap but started to fade a little mainly because the humidity was getting to me and my head felt like it was burning up and going to explode. I managed to finish the 2.9km in 14.44 which I am happy with. After a rest we then set out for the one lapper. I didnt manage to do as well in this one and fell behind the pack a little as I had given the 2 lapper everything I had and finished in 7.16. I finished the session off with a lap around the inside white fence.

At home after a nice breakfast I headed of to the gym. I went to the one at Bondi Junction which I have never been to before. It is quite big and the reception guy acted like I was inconveniencing him when I asked him to tell me what was on each level. I done quite a big workout and felt great when I got home like I had worked really hard.

Thought I would mention that a couple of weeks ago after a trip to the beach where Dean and I both waited till we were right near the edge of the water to take our t-shirts off because we were embarrassed about being seen in our swimmers; Dean suggested that we do our own Biggest Loser while I am on annual leave (I think we may have been eating pizza and drinking beer at the time). We bought ourselves some cool scales last Friday which measure water, fat and muscle percentages. The plan is that whoever loses the most each week has to do the housework and whoever wins at the end of the 4 weeks gets a present of their choice. We weighed in on Friday and I was seriously shocked as I only weight myself when I am forced to by a doctor and it was a lot higher than I expected. Dean is away all this week playing in a lawn bowls tournament so I know I will be winning this week as the amount of booze he will be putting into his system cant be good.

Last post for a little while

Well, since my last post I havent done a whole lot of running but I am getting back into it. After finding out there was another lurgie going around the office, I decided that 3 weeks of being sick was enough and I was off to the doctor to get some drugs. I am so silly sometimes thinking I can cure everything myself. So after feeling a little better on the weekend, I headed up to the Blue Mountains to watch everyone taking on the mighty six foot track. We got there in time to watch wave 4 head off and then we headed off with some CR's for breakfast at Blackheath. We made our way to the Jenolan Caves with Ellie kindly giving us a lift so we didnt have to get the bus. We just missed seeing Fats cross the line in a record breaking time. Watching all the familiar faces coming in was great and I couldnt believe how the time flew. It was quite funny when Jen_runs come in as Sparkie come running down the stairs screaming that Jen was coming and all the cheer squad took their places. We finished off the night with some dinner at Mt Victoria hearing all the stories.

It was really great for me to see the finish line of 6 foot as after doing the Megalong Mega I really didnt get the whole 6 foot buzz. I thought this is a bugger of a course why does everyone love it so much. After watching the finish line and seeing the high's and low's I really got it. Although I think I will need to wear a helmet, knee pads and elbow pads when I do it next year !! (oh, and maybe a pillow for my butt!!)

On Sunday morning Running Angel and I headed out to do a run in Katoomba. We headed towards the 3 sisters and got to have a good look at the amazing view. We found a trail to run on but unfortunately Running Angel went over on her ankle and our run was cut short. We headed back to where we were staying so that she could ice it.

On Monday I headed to the gym and done a huge workout of cardio and weights. It felt absolutely great. It has been a while since I have been able to do a hard workout after having the flu and it was great getting that buzz of feeling like I had worked really hard.

On Tuesday morning I headed off to SWEAT for a 5.8km time trial. Not a great day to return, I was worried about the fitness I had lost while having flu/cold/stomach bug/bronchitis. My garmin was telling me I was running really slow even though I felt like I was going quite quick so it wasnt till I finished in 30.54 that I realised that wasnt as bad as I thought (garmin was saying 6-7 min k's). Still not great and not anywhere I would like to be but average 5.19 per k was a little better than I was expecting. When we finished Sean told everyone to do a 2km cool down and told me 4km. I can tell I am going to be whipped while I am on holiday.

Wednesday I was naughty and missed my run but I went and slogged it out at the gym over lunch and it felt really great again. I also went and picked up some of the gear I bought from Rebel. A cool new top that is pink and white and has 'Personal Best' on the front and loads of cool stuff written on the back. I also got myself a nice new pink wind jacket. I have been wanting a pink one for ages so was stoked to find one there.

This morning I got up to go to training and my brand spanking new (well, 3 month old) car wouldnt start because a certain someone was a jackass and didnt fill it with petrol after using it and left it bone dry for me. Not happy. So, I headed off for a run to Bondi Beach instead. It was a little scary at first because it was so dark and I was on my own but it was a nice run and I was happy that I was strong on the hills coming back to my place.

My computer is broken at the moment and I go on annual leave from tomorrow so I wont be able to post for a little while until my Dad can fix it. I promise I will be training hard and hitting the gym hard as well, Sean will make sure of that.

Quick catch up

I thought I better do an update since it has been a while since I last posted. Nowhere near as much running has been going on as I would like. Sorting out my career directions and a heavy load at work has been taking up a large portion of my time.

I stupidly bragged the other day about how I have never caught any of the office lurgies that go around. Obviously didnt touch wood as I am now going into my third week of some sort of wierd flu/cold thing that keeps morphing itself into something different every week. I went along to SWEAT last Tuesday even though I was sick, hoping to run it out. Running actually was making me feel a little better, however, the competitiveness in me still made me put a kick in for the finish of the laps of the lake and I ended up feeling very dizzy and queezy. Big Mistake. The worse thing is that I have had conferences and training at work which has meant no time to have sickies.

I am planning on having my annual leave soon for a month and Sean has advised me I will be training like an elite athlete in this time. I know I will definately be in the last week where I will be at camp. I have spoken to Sean about some of my other goals that I had planned, and he has advised that they are still viable as they are 'ages away'. I'm glad I still have something to look forward to to keep my mind on training while I am feeling very crap.

I'm considering heading up to the Blue Mountains to watch everyone finishing on the weekend. I'm undecided as I dont want to feel regret for not doing it myself, although that seems very unlikely given I have such a crappy cold at the moment I can barely breath.

I'm hoping to head to the gym at lunch to do some cross-training to see how I go. Fingers crossed that I dont get too dizzy.