Happy New Year

For various reasons I decided to give the Blackstump Fatass a miss today, instead I drove over to Gray’s Point Public School and ran four reps of the Temptation Creek loop.  This provided me with some good solid hills and the opportunity to practice some technical running, as most of my running has been on road lately.

A of 22km with average pace of 6.28/km, a good effort on this trail and after my 16km yesterday.

Session:  22km

MTD:  22km

YTD:  22km

Relaxation and Goal setting.

It seems every time I blog; I make a false commitment of blogging more regularly however things just seem to get in the way.  The past week or so has been pretty good, with a week off work to catch up on some sleep and generally just relax. 

A quick summary of my training is as follows;

·     1 April:  SWEAT – Wild Wally 7 x 700m hill reps (3:10, 3:06, 3:04, 3:00, 3:01, 2:58, 2:55) Total 12.5km.  GYM – 30 minutes elliptical trainer, strength and core work.

·     2 April:  Mid week long run with Kerry and Deanne.  A total of 15.4km at 5:46/km pace.

·     3 April: SWEAT – 3 x 800m relaxed (3:44, 3:48, 3:46) Total: 11.5km.  Core work with medicine ball.

·     4 April: easy run 6km at 5:25/km pace.

·     5 April:  SS 10km Lane Cove race. 48:36. 61 second course PB and getting closer to my 10km PB of 48:09.  Bike:  1hr bike ride as recovery.

·     6 April:  Buffalo Creek Star, 19.6km (H4 course)

·     7 April:  GYM – 10 minutes bike followed by strength and core work.

·     8 April:  SWEAT – 15 minutes monster hill (hill reps) Total: 10.5km

I have also had time to think about my running goals for the remainder of 2008 so I have emailed everything off to Sean to assist with program development and some modifications to current program.  I have also signed up the Athletics NSW Winter Series which is very exciting.  I registered for the 2006 winter season and had a ball so I am really looking forward to what it has to offer.

 

Getting things back together

It has been a while since my last post and so much has happened in that time.  I completed 6 Foot which no seems like it was months ago, but in reality it was only a couple of weeks ago.  I was really pleased with my run and achieved my personal goal of sub 6hrs, finishing in 5:56.

Since then I followed my recovery program for the first week at least, until running no longer became an immediate priority.  However, my mother’s health declined dramatically, and I was  nursing my mother during her final stages of cancer.  During this period I was sleeping at my parents house often rising every hour during the night either to just provide my mother with a drink, help her manage her pain, or sometimes she just wanted to talk.  This was was the same routine during the day, so as you can imagine there was little time or energy for running.

On Easter Monday, my family faced the hard task of having my mother admitted to hospital as we knew we could no longer provide the care she needed.  As my mother was taken to hospital, my father, sisters and our husbands we all there and we knew  this was the last time she would be present in our family home.  On Tuesday, 25 March, my mother passed away.  The past few days have been a roller coaster of emotions, planning a funeral and dealing with the loss of my mother, and best friend.

In an attempt to get some normality back into my life I ran the 5km Challenge with Amjan, I had no goal time after such an emotional week combined with little sleep or food.  I really enjoyed the run I shared with Amjan as we talked about a number of things and it was just what I needed.  We finished in 25:38 which was pretty good all things considered.

At my mother’s wake, Bec, Katie, Kerry, Deanne and I all agreed to meet at 6am for the Striders Star.  It had been nearly 18 months since we have all ran together, so I was really looking forward to.  I did warn them I may not have been in my best condition.  We managed 22km on a pretty hilly course.

242.3

Sine my last post I put another 243.8km into my running legs. Life has been very hectic and stressful, so the blog has taken a back seat although there are not many readers out there, it a good record of my training, particularly after I accidentally lost 13 months of SportTracks data so I should try and be more regularly in updating.  I have however, now taken steeps to backup data and I an now running TC as a fall back.

My training has been going very well, with all the hard stuff over now I am happy with the level of training I have achieved leading up to Six Foot.  I felt so much stronger on my long runs, and have managed a few training PBs (although training PBs dont’r really count) and even managed a PB at the Striders Equaliser.  It has been so long since I’ve had a PB in a race,  and I can happily say I ran the whole course, no walking the hills this year – a first .  In addition to the running I have been throwing in a few some Pilates, PUMP classes, and some general strenght and conditioning sessions.  The medicine ball in now my best friend. 

Personally life has been a bit of roller coaster the last couple of weeks.  I now have a new niece, Ruby May, who was born on 12 February 2008.  She is just beautiful, however my sister was quite ill after the birth, so I had to take some time off work to care for her and the new baby.  I now have whole range of new skills.

In addition to the new baby, my mother’s health has dramatically deteriorated. So in between caring for my sister and the new baby I have also been caring for my mother and providing support to my father. My mother has chosen to remain at home surrounded by the love and support of our family, therefore she requires constant care.  I appreciate every moment I sharing with my mother, and often drive home in tears just feeling emotionally exhausted. 

As you can imagine with everything going on in my life at the moment Six Foot is in question.  I know I am fit and ready to go and really want to get the monkey off my back this year, however I have accepted there may be reasons outside my control that my prohibit me from this years race.  Fingers crossed.

Another week gone…….

28 Jan: I am sticking to my guns and not running on Monday’s even though I was very tempted given that it was a Public Holiday and I was feeling good. I settled for some core work instead.

29 Jan: Big Bertha (10 laps). There were quite a few people missing, particularly the people who usually run at my level and help keep me focused on the session. I got myself into a comfortable rhythm and maintained a consistent pace and my splits supported this (2:29, 2:30, 2:33, 2:33, 2:34, 2:34, 2:33, 2:33, 2:33, 2:32, 2:27), finishing with a total time of 25:22. Finished the session with a lap of the lake as a cool down. Total 11.3km.

30 Jan: The usual Wednesday routine with Kerry accompanied with unbelievable levels of humidity. We did a variation of our usual route to ensure we get some extra hills in, cannot get enough of those at the moment. 15.2km @ 5:47/km, however it felt really slow today.

31 Jan: For some strange reason my SWEAT session was lighter than usual, and I was only scheduled for 3km fartlek. I finished in 14:27 feeling pretty good. Total 9.2km

1 Feb: Unplanned rest day due various commitments.

2 Feb: I was given strict instructions not to race the Striders 10k at Lane Cove, however I was still required to do a 10km, so Kerry and I agreed to run together at the back and remind each other not to race. A very enjoyable morning for us at the back of pack. We joked about how our handicap time will be blown out, as we crossed the line in 56:12.

3 Feb: After deciding not to do the Megalong Mega for various reasons, Kerry and I decided to run the STAR but meet earlier so we could fit a lap of the Bay in beforehand. We enjoyed a great running with a total distance of 36.6km with an average pace of 6km/hr. Even though we did get caught in the rain a couple of times, it was very humid so we drank heaps and even found a fountain at a new estate/residential complex that looked far too inviting, so we jumped. It was beautiful, although I don’t think the residents would appreciate two sweaty runners in the over-sized water feature .

4 Feb: Rest day, but I’ll claim cleaning my parents home as cross training.

5 Feb: My program had something new on it today, 30 minutes of hill sprints.  Sean lead us across the park to our new training ground and explained the session. We ran 15 minutes of hills sprints from one side of the hill and then relocated and thankfully Sean decided to reduce the seconds sprint session to 13 minutes.  This was one session I was happy to finish.  I then ran back to the oval with the group, however continued on for an extra couple of k’s finishing off with some stretching.

Plugging along

23 Jan: I meet the girls for our usual mid week long run. We did our usual loop and chatted about everything and nothing, it is really good to have Deanne back with us again, we only need Katie and Helen back so we can plan our comeback tour…… After 10km Deanne left Kerry and I to finish off our run, however Kerry had work commitments that required her to be at home by 7am, so I finished the run by myself just running randomly through Queens Park. Total: 15:10 @ 5:46/km pace.

24 Jan: I made the silly mistake of hitting the wrong button when the alarm went off this morning, I thought I’d hit snooze until I woke and saw the time and realised I had missed SWEAT and my TT. I headed off to work early hoping to catch Blue Dog who had just finished night shift. Over a coffee we came up with a great alternative to a secret location Blue Dog has been visiting regularly over the past couple of weeks, so I agreed to leave work early to get our training in. One of my friends laughed when I told him my training plans, and told me I will never hit snooze again as the TT would have been the better option. He wasn’t wrong. I can honestly say this was the toughest session I have every completed, Blue Dog kindly talked me through the session and even paced me offering words of encouragement and advice on technique. I then lined up for another rep with goal of improving on my first rep, and happily improved my time by 11 seconds.

25 Jan:  Both Blue Dog and I were off work so we enjoyed a sleep in, relaxing coffee in bed and then decided it was time to hit the road.  I decided to run my usual easy Friday route along Botany Bay, running from home to the 3km point and then turning around for home.  My legs felt very heavy, I actually felt like I was running up and down on the spot.  So I just tuned out listened to my ipod and enjoyed the run.  I arrived home with 6km in the bank with an average pace of 5:36/km.

26 Jan:  CR 5km Challenge.  We arrived at the Bay early enough for a quick trip to the loo (I was a suffering from the stuffed jalapenos from the night before) and time for a warm up;  my legs were still heavy from Thursday’s killer session.  I was undecided what time to run so I started at 26 minutes with plan of running relaxed and bringing it home the last km.  The plan worked, I finished in 24:34 with the following splits ( 4:56, 4:59, 4:59, 4:55, 4:41).  I ran back with Professor who kept me honest with an average pace of 5:25/km for the return.  Total distance 12km.

27 Jan:  With the christening of Katie and Ray’s beautiful little girl, Charlie, I decided to run the Sunday long run close to home to give myself enough time to fit everything in.  This week is my recovery week, therefore I only had 2hrs on the program, so I ran along Kogarah Bay, Botany Bay to the Brighton-Le-Sands Fishing Club before turning around for home.  I arrived home a couple of minutes short of 2hrs  but the required distance achieved with 20.5km completed with average pace of 5:47/km.  Finished off a great day relaxing and chatting with my favourite people.

Culterally Inspired.

21 Jan: I decided to do a little cross training on my rest, so I took myself off the the gym after work for Spin Class. Now you know your in Rockdale when you walk into the cycle room and they have the Zorba playing the background, yes at Fitness First (even my sister, whose surname is now Zournazidis, yes my brother-in-law is greek, laughed when I told her). Thankfully I was reassured by the nice lady next me that spin classes are a great way to get fit, I didn’ t have the heart to tell her I was doing the class as a “rest day/recovery”. After the class I then completed my strenght and core exercises.

22 Jan: This morning’s session was 12 x Wild Walter (500m hill circuit). When I arrived I plodded around the lake as a warm up and felt really tired, my breathing was quite erratic and the legs felt heavy but I felt so much better once I had finished the drills and strides. I set myself a goal of running controlled and focus on form, which can sometimes slip when fatigued and thankfully my good friend Deanne passed on a very helpful tip. Stats: 2:23, 2:23, 2:20, 2:19, 2:19, 2:22, 2:15, 2:17, 2:15, 2:16, 2:15, 2:06(PB). Total 11km.

The Week that was…….

14 Jan:  Rest Day.  I did however visit my dietitian, and after being weighed and measured I was really happy to walked out recording some very good weight loss. I am very pleased to finally be wearing a dress I have not worn in two years.

15 Jan:  Wild Wally.  I felt really tied during the session, and was even instructed by Sean to sit one rep out and finish the session with a couple of easy laps.  My legs felt really heavy and my breathing was very erratic, thankfully I enjoyed a massage after work.  Daily total 8.5km.

16 Jan: Usual mid week long run with Kerry and Deanne, again in very humid conditions.  Total of 15.2km @ 5:44/km pace.

17 Jan:  5 x 800s.  I decide to utilise the lessons learnt from the track session at Jindy with a plan of running each rep faster, goal achieved (3:45, 3:41, 3:38, 3:37, 3:35).  Daily total 10.4km

18 Jan:  Rather than run along Botany Bay I decided to take the hilly option of Kogarah Bay for 30 minutes easy.  Total 5.7 @ 5:19/km.  After work I then went to the gym; 20 minutes cardio followed by strenght and core work.

19 Jan:  Unfortunately a hectic day which including, cake baking, cleaning my mother house and then hosting a baby shower did not leave time for my run.

20 Jan:  Headed up to 6 Foot with the usual gang and ran from Megalong Road to Allum Creek and back. Total 29.7km

Never hesitate

This week has definitely been one of many emotions.  On the way home Jindabyne last Sunday I visited my parents.  My mother undertook further tests and meet with her oncologist on 2 Jan.  Unfortunately, the cancer has spread further and she will not be receiving any further treatment.  We are now praying she will see the birth of her new grandchild due on 19 February 2007.

Subsequently I have been both physically and mentally exhausted, but have tried to keep the focus

7 Jan:  Rest day.

8 Jan:  I arrived at SWEAT with the plan to complete the session, however I decided to just run around the Park and have some time to myself. 9km

9 Jan:  Blue Dog joined Kerry and I for a mid-week run.  We did the usual loop but it was a real struggle but at least I could tick it off as completed. 15.2km

10 Jan: With a family friend arriving early at the airport I choose to run 10km along Botany Bay rather than attend SWEAT knowing I would have been struggle to get through the session and back to the airport in time.

11 Jan:  Unplanned rest day due to a hectic day with the family.

12 Jan:  Blue Dog, Kerry and I took our roadshow down to Wollongong for “Stalky’s Half”.  Blue Dog did warn me I would probably hate him for suggesting this race at the time, but would thank him for it later.  Definitely one tough course, but perfect training for 6 Foot.  Kerry and I reached the turn around in 1hr 35min (definitely not a quick course…..LOL), and I finished in 2hr 53min, which is a terrible time for the running resume, however to my surprise I was first female (hey only a small field but I’ll claim it).

13 Jan: I opted for a 10km recovery run along Botany Bay this morning.  Was very happy to finish, as I felt terrible which could have due to the previous day’s adventures and a combination of heat.  It was nice to dive into the pool when I got home.

I have blossomed…….

Wow, I have survived 10 nights and 11 days at my training camp, and can happily report I surprised myself with my ability to get through everything day after day, session after session. It was amazing how quickly the time passed, and it seemed to be a constant blur of training, eating, showering and recovery. I did however roll my ankle on the second run of the camp, resulting in some swelling and bruising but I was able to nurse it through out the camp.

The highlight of the camp was my 600m track session, when Sean provided invaluable advice, and watching Dick Telford’s runners on the track, including Michael Shelley and Lisa Corrigan. I received some very positive feedback from Sean regarding my performance during the camp, and he even suggested I had blossomed as a runner during the camp, so it was all worth it. A perfect way to end 2007 and welcome 2008.

Camp training record;

27/12/07

• 65 minute run with 4km hill at end (11.4km @ 5.40/km pace)

28/12/07

• 55 minute run (technical hilly trail), twisted L ankle in the first 300m finished session icing legs in Thredbo River (6.7km @ 8.18/km pace)
• 90 minute strenght session
• 36 minute recovery run (technical trail) 5.5km @ 6.30/km

29/12/07

• Track session 3 x 300 (1.21, 1.15, 1.17) 3 x 300 (1.16, 1.15, 1.17) 3 x 200 (0.51, 0.47, 0.49) 3 x 200 (0.49, 0.44, 0.45) total session 9.7km
• 90 minute pool session, combination of drills, cardio work (toughest session)
• 27 minute recovery run 4.6km @5.50/km

30/12/07

• Charlotte Pass to Kosci (return) 18.6km (2.07hrs @ 6.49/km)
• 60 minute stretch session
• 21 recovery run 3.2km @ 6.36/km

31/12/07

• 47 minute easy run 8km @ 5.53/km
• 75 minute strength session
• 60 minute recovery run (no Garmin)

1/1/08

• Hill reps (Tigers Hill) 2 x 700 (7.59, 8,31) 2 x 600 (7.25, 7.21) total session 8km
• 75 minute stretching session
• 37 minute recovery run 6km @ 6.10/km

2/1/08

• 97 minute run (very hill and some technical tracks) 12.10km @ 7.10/km
• 75 minute stretching session
• 45 minute relaxing swim
• 40 minute recovery run 6.8km @5.55km

3/1/08

• Track session 5 x 600 (3.05, 2.57, 2.57, 2.52, 2.41) total session 10.3km
• 75 strength session
• 43 minute recovery run (hilly technical trail) 5.3km@ 8.03/km, iced legs in Thredbo River

4/1/08

• 60 minutes easy 10.5km @ 5.43/km
• 75 minute pool session
• 30 minute recovery run (hilly, some technical trails) 4.7km @6.26/km

5/1/08

• Mt Blue Cow hill reps, 3 x 1.3km (10.30, 10.21, 10.16) session total 11.3km
• 40 stretching session
• 27 minute recovery run (very heavy legs) 4.4km @ 6.14km

6/1/08

• Charlotte Pass to Kosci (return) 18.6km (2.05hrs @ 6.46/km)