Spoilt !!

Well, i have to admit I have been a bit spoilt lately with having people to run with all the time. I headed out yeterday on my own for my long run and I found it to be a bit boring and blah.

I started my run at around 9am from Alexandria Bowling Club where Dean was playing. My calf was feeling rather crap since I've had my massage, so the first few k's on the hard surface were a bit nasty until I hit Centennial Park and it was much better. It was a beautiful day and there was so many people out running I thought it was great.

It was a bit of a mixed run this morning. I was meant to do 20k's in 2hrs. I found that my legs are feeling really strong so they kept wanting to go faster and I couldnt physically slow myself down, however, my energy levels were down so they werent really liking the quicker pace. It was a battle of the body for me. Ended up stopping at 17km and heading back to the bowling club to watch Dean win his club singles.

Watched Shooter on Sunday night and can I just say that Mark Wahlberg is very nice on the eye ;)

I hate a post massage run!!!

Went for a run this morning around Christisen Park in Vaucluse, making sure I stayed on the grass. I just cant seem to get my sh#t together on a run that is right after a massage so I was going at around 7 min/km (I kid you not) and it felt like I was speeding. I will be doing loads of stretching on instruction from Easy Tiger today.

Just thought I would post some photo's of me from camp. The only one's I have are of myself and SWEAT buddy Sam together. The first one is of us climbing up Mt Kosciusko....

This one happens to be the recovery run that afternoon when we got yelled at by the angry neighbour... (getting across cow grids was fun when you were buggered!)

I'm not in this one but thought I would chuck in one of the hill reps up Mt Blue Cow just for dramatic effect (I think this was half way up and you cant see the bottom!). I will never whinge about Heartbreak Hill again!!

No more road running....

Well I woke up feeling like crap this morning. I noticed that I started getting the sniffles last night from my run in the rain yesterday. I dont usually get sick from running in the rain so I thought it would just pass. However, when I woke up this morning I felt like my head had been hit by a brick so no training for me this morning.

I had my massage with Easy Tiger at lunch today (cause of camp I've seen him every week for a month....I think I might be paying his rent!!). I was in pretty bad shape from having run on road/path for 3 days in a row. Lets just say I wont be doing that again. He told me it was a little silly running on the road after having done a hard training camp. Note taken. I will be running on grass tomorrow.

Inspecting North Head...

After a nice dinner at iThai at King St Wharf with friends last night I still managed to get myself out of bed to meet some SWEAT girls to go and check out the site of the Striders Manly North Head race. We made a few wrong turns on the run so we got to see a little more of Manly than we intended :) Oh well, I now know where to go and see Penguins !

Sean had me down for 8km today and after checking out the course we done a little over with around 8.4km.It is quite flat but there was a few sneaky hills in there. Not as flat as the KJ's West Dapto course which is perfect for PB's (which I dont think they do anymore now they have the cross country course). We passed Jenny Dalloway on the run and managed to overtake her on the way back (in the car). We were pretty soaked on the way back and hanging to go and have brekkie. Had a really nice brekkie across from Manly beach and I headed home for a nap and now cleaning (yes, I'm procrastinating by blogging).

Cant find any excuses...

I didn't end up doing anything on Sunday. After getting home at 4.30 in the morning my Sunday was sort of wasted. I did have loads of fun and it was good to catch up with my man J again :)

On Monday I headed to the gym at lunch and spent 40 min on the cross trainer and some strength work.

This morning my alarm went off for SWEAT and I could hear the rain and the wind howling outside. I tried to think of a million reasons why I shouldn't go...couldn't come up with a plausible thing so off I went. I was running a little late so I didn't get to do much of a warm up but Sean advised that due to the fact that most of the grass was flooded we would be doing our session on the footpath. Some had to do the entire circuit which was 3.7km and the rest of us were to do 2.5km cutting down the middle. I felt really strong on the first lap, sort of felt like I could have pushed a little harder cause my breathing seemed quite fine. Managed to finish in 11.54 (2.51km). After a jog recovery we then set out for another rep. At the start my legs felt really heavy but there is a part where we turn down the road in the middle and there is a slight downhill and I managed to pick up the pace a little then. I managed to overtake a couple of people that were in front of me in the first rep. I honestly felt like I went much slower on this lap but got my time of 11.48 (2.54km) and was really happy with that. I quite enjoyed this morning's session. I wasn't really looking forward to the 1.4km reps but this seemed fine cause I knew there was only 2 !!

Bit of a rest week

After having a well deserved day off on Monday (and heading back to work) I headed off to SWEAT on Tuesday morning. I had 2 laps of the lake with a recovery and then another lap. During the drills I felt a little tired and crap and felt a bit border line between feeling stronger from camp but still a little exhausted. I settled into a nice rythm on the first lap. It felt quite wierd as it wasnt hurting my legs and my breathing was fine but I kept thinking maybe I should slow down. I ended up finishing the 2 laps (2.9km) in 13.32 which I think is a big PB for me on the 2 lapper. After finishing the first rep Sean told me I could do another 2 laps on the second rep. After putting everything I had into the first rep I wasnt expecting to beat my time. It was a little harder setting out as lots of people were only doing a one lap in front of me so I had no-one to chase. Managed to finish the second 2 laps in 13.59. Finished with a nice cool down lap of the lake. I'm not quite sure but I dont think I've gone under 14 min for 2 laps of the lake before. Will have to check.

Wednesday was a nice 20 min around Vaucluse Christison Park. Was over before I knew it.

Thursday was 7 laps of Wild Wally. I really wasnt sure what to expect with this session. It was a mix between, will the hills feel easier after camp, or is it too early to expect anything. After the first session I noticed that I felt quite a bit stronger on the up hills than I have been. The second last Wild Wally session I done was a shocker. I managed to keep all bar one under 3.20 doing
3.14, 3.11, 3.15, 3.13, 3.13, 3.57 :( , 3.16

In the second last lap I started to feel my lower left calf cramping up where I had not much motion in it to bend it so I slowed it down in that rep as I didnt plan on being a hero as my shin had been a little sore as well. All it needed was a bit of a stretch and I managed to finish the session on a good note.

I was a bit busy at work on Friday (also a bit worried about my shin/calf) so I had an extra day off today.

On Saturday morning I headed off with some of the SWEAT girls for a long run. They were doing the SMC 10km on the Sunday and I was just planning on getting smashed on Saturday so it worked out well for all of us. We headed off towards Oxford St from the park. I was shocked at the amount of people still getting on the piss at that time of morning. Managed to score myself $20 off the road so I was a very happy chappy. I noticed that my calf was hurting a bit in the first few km but around 5km in it started to feel fine. We ran around the Opera house and Mrs Macquarie Point and I kept reminding the girls of how bad those little hills will be in the half in 3 weeks (I'm so naughty). I really loved the run back up Oxford St to the park because I looked back and noticed that we had come up quite an incline and it honestly felt like flat. We then headed back to the park and done a lap around the inside of the park and then around the fartlek circuit. All up 2 hours and I felt pretty good like I could have kept going. Finished off with a nice brekkie together and off to the Fitness Expo with Running Angel where I spent way too much money.

SWEAT Camp...

Friday April 6

Headed down to Jindabyne for the SWEAT camp. After arriving I found out I was bunking it with 3 other girls. Being a sort of only child it was going to be interesting.

11.30 am - We headed out for an easy 30 min run on the local trails which involved climbing a big ass hill to get to them.

2.45 pm - Strength session. Done loads of stuff with the medicine ball, strides, squats, lunges, abs etc with 1km warm up/down

4.10 pm - Hit Smiggin Holes (alt 1700m) for a 40 min run on the trails. The 20 min heading out was nice but we realised it was a slog of a hill to get back up. I could really feel the altitude in this session both in my chest and in my legs. It was absolutely freezing when I finished, I think it may have been around 5 degrees. Total km today was just under 12.

Saturday April 7

7.00 am - After a 2.3km warm up on the local trails we headed to the track for 800m session. I had 4 x 800m and managed to finish them in 3.59, 3.49, 3.47, 3.49, I was pretty happy with the times considering it was at altitude. We finished off with a 2.3km cool down.

11.00 am - Spent an hour water running (and mucking around a bit) at the local indoor heated pool.

4.30 pm - We had a recovery run on the rennix trail (alt 1600m). I quite liked this trail as it was really beautiful and pretty. It was also quite flat. The only problem was that the ground was so soft and spongy you never knew where you were putting your feet. A few people unfortunately rolled their ankles. I'm slightly embarrassed about the amount of k's covered in this 30 min session so all I will say is that 12.3km in total were covered today according to my garmin and we'll leave it at that.

Sunday April 8

7.30 am - Charlotte Pass to the summit of Mt Kosciusko (alt 2229m). Sean advised us "beginners" to go to the hut and return which would be 12km in total. Mentally I had prepared myself for reaching the summit (and I had told a lot of people that I would) so there was no way I wanted to turn back. I was also extremely curious about what was around the corner from the hut, so when I found out there was a couple of other "beginners" heading to the top there was no turning back. We passed Sean on the way up who looked extremely shocked to see us going up, but at the same time he wouldnt let us bludge yelling at us to hurry the hell up. Sam and I were screaming our heads off when we got to the summit and I couldnt believe it was so bloody easy to get to the highest point in Australia. I was expecting to climb boulders or something. After taking in the glory, we headed off for the cruise back down to the bottom. It took me 1.18 to get to the top and 1 hour back to the bottom. Not bad as far as negative splits go. My garmin (as well as some other people's) measured 18.5km all up.

12.00 noon - Stretching on the oval. With a 1km (sort of) warm up/cool down in total we also done some yoga, dynamic stretches and strides. The stretches did make me feel a whole lot better after this morning's effort.

4.30pm - 25 min recovery run at Tiger's Hill. We got into trouble off one of the neighbours who yelled at us"how would you like it if I went running through your backyard?". Point taken. We didnt go back there again.

Total for the day 22.8km. Lets just make it 23 :)

Monday April 9

7.00 am - We headed off for Thredbo Rd to do Tigers Hill in reverse (no crazy lady). It was colder this morning than the last couple of days. Sean advised us to do 30 min for our recovery run. I was feeling pretty crap this morning and my lower left calf on the left side was hurting. I made sure I headed out for around 16.5 min as it was mostly up hill on the way out and I managed a 2 min negative split on the way back.

10.30 am - Strength session on the oval. with a 1km warm up/cool down we done the same stuff as the other day with a bit more focus on the upper body with the medicine ball.

4.10 pm - Cant remember the name of the place where we went but I had 40 min on another trail. After managing to sit on our couch once in the last 4 days I decided to head over to Ellie's unit tonight which had a lot less traffic.
Total for the day was 10.5km.

Tuesday April 10

7.00 am - We took a long drive to Guthega for hill reps on Mt Blue Cow. The afternoon squad were so speedy on the warm up that we lost them and didnt know where they went. Us "beginners"spent around 30 min trying to find them (we did find a pretty waterfall). We were about to do our own hill session when we managed to be all detective like and found their footprints on another path. When we got to where the hill reps were, I was cursing that we didnt do our own session. It was bloody steep. I think I only ran for the first 50m before my calves felt like they were going to blow. I pretty much had to walk the entire way and it was killing me. It took me just over 10 min to get to the top. It was meant to be a 1km rep but our garmins were showing around 650m. Either way its slow. On the way back down my legs felt like jelly. For the second rep I was only going to go half way but after getting busted by Sean we went to the top. After our little adventure of climbing around trying to find the guys 2 reps was enough for me.

11.00 am - We had a nice stretching yoga session which was great. Would have liked to have done one of these every day.

4.30 pm - Easy run on the local trails. I was tempted to drive my car the few hundred metres to the start of the trail so I didnt have to climb the hill, but I done it anyway. A nice 30 min recovery run which went surprisingly well.
Total for the day 8km approx.

Wednesday April 11

7.00 am - Run from Crackenback swamp. My legs and glutes were really killing me today. I felt like I had nothing left in the tank. I had to walk too many of the hills. 60 min all up and I done quite a bit of the last 10 on the road as it was a bit flatter.

11.00 am - Water running at the local heated pool. I noticed my heart rate went pretty high in this session and it stayed that way all the way through to the next session.

4.30 pm - Recovery run on local trails. Sean felt sorry for us with the overload of hills and took us to the oval for a nice flat 20 min. I couldnt stop myself from picking up the pace a little and finished with an average pace of 5.20/km (after all I am accomplished at running around in circles now). Finished off with lots of drills. Total for the day 11.7km

Thursday April 12

7.00 am - I woke up feeling really strong this morning. Most of my niggles had gone away. We had a 2km warm up for our 400m track session. We took a shortcut on the way there through a builders site which they had blocked off by the time we got back :) Sean advised us to do every second rep and do either 5 or 6 depending on how we were feeling. I managed 6 in 1.39, 1.39, 1.41, 1.41, 1.42, 1.40 which I am pretty happy with. Looking back over my blog they are an improvement on previous times. Finished off with a 2km cool down.

10.30 am - Strength session. We done lots of the same as before but this time Sean also punished us with glute work (cause they werent being worked hard enough!) and step ups onto a bench with some other stuff. Bloody hard work.

2.00 pm - Massage with Easy Tiger........OUCH!!!

4.00 pm - Sean went and found a new trail for us today that was a lot flatter than the ones we've been doing. It was still a bit up hill on the way out but nothing drastic. I was still feeling quite tender from the massage, it took a while to get into it but on the return I couldnt stop my legs from flying (my version of flying). I managed 30 min total today and was doing sub 5 min k's on the way back so I had to make up some of the time by heading back out again. Total for the day 13.4km

Friday April 13

7.00 am - We headed off for the same flat trail as yesterday afternoon. Sean told us that he was giving us the afternoon session off so we had to head our for an hour. I managed to get into a nice rhythm and was feeling really strong. After scaring the crap out of a cow and chasing it for 5 min I turned around and headed back and couldnt stop myself from picking up the pace again at just over 5 min/km.

11.00 am Water session at the local indoor pool. Done lots of laps of breast stroke and on my back. Also done some water running with the other squad that was down there from the hills. Total for the day 10.1km

Saturday April 14

7.30 am - We had a session on a road where we had to do 2 x 2km hill reps. I managed a 1.5km warm up and then done some strides. On the first rep I started to notice my left calf blowing out a little so I decided to turn around at the 1km mark and head back. My calf seemed to cope OK if the reps werent too long and continuous so I decided to do lots of reps of 500m up and 500m back instead of 2km. This also allowed me to keep my intensity up a bit more as well. Done 6km worth of hill reps and then headed off for a 2.5km cool down.

11.00 am - Stretching was cancelled, so Cindy come over to the unit I was in (the only quiet one) to do some pilates which absolutely caned my butt.

4.30 pm - We headed off for another recovery run on the flat trail for 30 min. Total for the day 15km

Sunday April 15

7.30 am - We headed off to Charlotte Pass for the second go at reaching the summit of Mt Kosciusko. I really wanted to do it quicker than last time. I managed to get to the top in 1.10 and the return trip was 1.58 so 20 min quicker than last time. Although I have been told I'm not allowed to take this time as I stopped at the top to take photo's !! Total 18.5km

I really loved the time away at camp. It was great hanging out with runners and not having anyone to tell me to shutup about running. I learnt a lot about my strengths and weaknesses with running and I'm now looking forward to some big goals ahead. It was also great as it gave me lots of time on my own to think. The only downside was that I got hail damage on my car on the drive back :(

Way too long between posts...

Well, I realised I need to post more regularly when I was sitting here and I couldn't remember what I've done since the last post. I think it went like this....

Friday, March 23 - Done a nice recovery 5km run. Then headed into the gym for a few hours. Really loving this full time athlete thing, I think I could get used to it.

I honestly cant remember what I done that weekend. I did run but it seems like a million years ago.

On Monday, March 26 - Went to see a doctor and had a great revelation about my health which will see me in much better shape soon. He also told me that I would feel a little crap for the next few days before I started to feel great. Hence Tuesday went to SWEAT to do Wild Wally and felt like I was going to be sick and was also very grumpy and ended up chucking a wally myself and left the session early. First time I had done that and I was really upset with myself and thrashed myself at the gym as punishment.

On the Wednesday I slept in but still got out to do my long run at Centennial Park. As it was 10.30 by the time I started I was still running at lunch and it was bloody warm out there. I got a few funny looks from the workmen that were setting up for the rave or whatever was on on the weekend, they must have thought I was nuts going around in circles that many times. This was the first time in absolute yonks that I listened to music while I was running. I was just in need of company and since I didn't have it, Foo Fighters, JT, Missy Higgins and Kylie kept me company instead (I know, interesting combination). Done 15km at average of 6.11/km. Finished feeling good as well, happy with that since it was in the middle of the day. Then took a trip to the gym.

Last Thursday I got up to go to SWEAT but since I was feeling like Miss Hulk and still feeling pretty crappy I headed out and done the 800m reps myself. Definitely don't do them properly unsupervised. Then went to the gym and thrashed it out again spending ages on the cross trainer. I have to admit, I am really loving FF Bondi Junction as it NEVER gets busy there and the people are not show-ponies at all. All the show-ponies are over at the Platinum when the regular one is quite a good gym anyway. Got a massage and was expecting it to be bad since I've been working out for 3-4 hours a day but Tiger said I was the best he has ever seen me. All this not sitting at a desk is very good for my body. I went to the coolrunning drinks at James Squire. It is always good to catch up with everyone in these situations, its where some dreams really start to turn into real life goals when you chat to like-minded people. I love it !! Went home earlier than I would have liked as I was up for a big night, however, I hadn't eaten and usually when I drink and don't eat there is not a happy ending the next morning.

Friday morning I felt pretty dehydrated (don't know why). Dean and I went and had lunch at the Sydney Fish Markets. We then went and done lots of cheap shopping at DFO Homebush. No running for me.

Saturday I went for a 10km run in time to head out to Telstra Stadium to watch the Swans. It was a pretty interesting game. The Swans were getting thrashed by around 40 points and they come back in the end and lost by 1 after scoring 3 goals in the last 10 min. I was very naughty and broke my diet for a beer and meat pie....what?? I was at the footy!

Sunday went down to Mum & Dad's place. Was meant to go for a run down there, but instead as usual got stuck into the booze instead. Done lots of shopping for camp and buying running stuff. Cant remember what I done yesterday but went to SWEAT this morning and we had another time trial. Sean told us to take it easy with camp coming up. I listened and set into a nice pace with some of the other camp goers. Finished the 5.9km in 34 min comfortably. For the first time ever I got hungry at SWEAT, which I am only mentioning because it was all I could think of during the whole session.