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 :(