Holiday Fever

Today I woke up at a reasonable hour 7am, you have got to love holidays. After a chat to Sean yesterday my whole program for this week has been modified, it's all easy.

I went to the gym today while Blue Dog had his massage and ran on the treadmill for 5.8km in 30mins, 30 minutes of the elliptical machine finished off with some strenght work and strectching. Not too interesting but relaxing.

Lady of Leisure

Today was my first day of holidays :-). I started the day off well with my track session this morning. I was pleased that today's session was relaxed after W2G and leading up to the GC Half. Sean advised me to run my reps at half marathon pace. I ran the first rep of 2.2k in 11:08 and the 2k in 10:16, which probably a little quick but I did feel too bad. I could still feel the effects of Sunday in my stomach and leg muscles but everything else felt great.

Blue Dog, my mother and I went to Cape Solander to do some whale watching later in the morning. By 11am NPWS had sighted 28 whales. Well worth the trip.

Woodford to Glenbrook

My goal was to improve on my time from last year, 2:21:05. So I had discussed the plan of taking 5 minutes off my time.

We arrived at Glenbrook and met CR Sarge to drop his car off at the finish and we then drove back to the registration centre in my car. All the usual suspects were there huddles around a fire to keep warm. We then walked to the start heading towards the sea of mountain bikes. Stood around chatting for a while waiting for the delayed start. I had found out that Blue Dog had suggest to Uncle Dave I should finish in 2:12, which a little quicker than I had anticipated as I had set my mind on 2:15, but it was something to think about. I always like a challenge.

The race got off to a fairly routine start. I stuck to my race plan of conservative for the first 12km and then pick up the pace in the back half. I really noticed an improvement on the hills today, obviously the benefits of Thursday's hill sessions. I finished in 2:13:55 which is a 7 minute & 50 second PB, I am very happy. Thank god tomorrow is a rest day.

Very Easy

23 June 2006

I ran in afternoon for change, only because I wanted a sleep in, and no I did not watch the soccer.

I decided to try something different; I set the time alert on the garmin for 15minutes, with the aim of running for 15 minutes and the turning around. I didn't bother with pace and just ran on feeling. Very easy, just keep the legs moving and turn around with the first alarm and stop on the second. I ended up running 5.8km with an average pace of 5:12/km, which suprised me. I felt comfortable the whole way and really enjoyed just running without any pace or distance goal.

5K Challenge

After a late night helping celebrate Papa's 60th birthday, we dragged ourselves to the 5k Challenge. I was only running easy today, so I was only there for social reason. Ellie was starting the 28 minute group but hoping to improve on her recent PB of 27:15, so I offered to pace her for sub 27 minutes.

It was very foggy when we started and I took us out a little too quick reaching the 1km mark in 5:00 minutes, so we backed off. Ellie ran very strongly, and by the time we got to the 4k mark I told Ellie if she stuck with me a PB was in the bag, but it was up to her how big a PB she wanted. We kept it going and even picked up the pace in the last 80 metres giving Ellie a 46 second PB of 26:29.

I then jogged back and caught up with a few regulars before enjoying a great breakfast.

21 June 2006

My second attempt at this post. My computer crashed just as I had completed the update :-(.

I didn't met the girls this morning due to transport issues. Blue Dog and I a juggling work commitments and training commitments with one car at the moment, which is a little difficult given that Blue Dog's a shift worker and the public transport in our areas is crap.

I had planned on running to Sydney Park for a couple of laps of the Park, but it was still quite dark, so I headed to the safety of the gym at work. When I walked in the gym was packed with recruit firefighters making good use of the mirrors and both treadmill were being used. Thankfully, one of the guys knows I'm an "athlete" so he let me use it. Today's plan was 1hr easy (10km). We all know treadmill are boring, however when the maintenance staff are working on the generator, and all power shuts down at least four times it did start to piss me off. One of the guys suggested Blue Dog may have been playing with the electrical circuits....hahaha. I agreed this could be a possibility as he may find me threatening ;-).

Any way I got through 12km in a just over 1hr.

22 June 2006

We were scheduled for Fartlek around the park, but when I saw Sean arrived with his "markers" I knew we were in for a change of plans. Today's session would be Fartlek around a 1k circuit. We did the usual warm up and drills, but I think the surges we a little more relaxed without Sean's supervision (he was marking out the circuit). We finally lined up and were advised some of us would be running 7k, 6k or 5k. I was hoping with Woodford to Glenbrook coming up I would have a shorter option, but Sean was dutifully advising me of how many more laps I had to go each time I ran past him.

I felt like crap this morning and finished the 7km in 35:36. On a positive note, the tightness I have been experiencing behind my knee seems to have disappeared. Happy Days.

Auto Pilot

I arrived nice and early this morning, and parked in the usual spot and thought I would wait for the girls so we could walk to the oval together. After a couple of minutes, I decided to jog to the oval on my own, I then noticed the gates are open, Allison pulled up and gave me a lift to the oval. At least my legs work at that time of the morning, obviously my brain doesn't.

It was good to see Kerry and I are maintaining our routine of wearing the same outfits, noice.

This mornings session was track, 4 x 1200m on my program. Sean gave us all instructions not to take it out too hard, as we would only be a having a short recovery, and were to complete 4 reps. I lined up with the big guns and took off, finishing the first rep in 5:40, I then thought I had better back off for the next couple. I then completed the three remaining reps, 5:43, 5:40, 5:36. I felt really heavy and slow on the third rep and was surprised with the time. Sean instructed us to dig dip for the 4th rep so I managed to maintain a consistent pace behind Katie for the first 1km, I then decided to "dig deep" and finished with a nice strong last rep.

I left the session this morning feeling really good. I am really enjoying training with the group and the structure of a program.

The Blue Dog, Katie, Ray and Bernie G Roadtrip

Saturday, 17 June 2006

Katie and Ray arrived at our place nice and early for a day of adventure, the Nowra Cross Country. It was a perfect day and the scenary was beautiful. We stopped a Berry for a quick comfort stop and to grap a couple of drinks, when I spotted a van selling donuts, which I announced to Blue Dog, who quickly turns into a Simpson character with donuts. As we got close to the venue, we joked about a couple of hills in the horizon, thankfully we were wrong.

We got there nice and early so we marked out a sunny area for the official "Striders" tent ;-). Thankfully, we did arrive early as a few of the team missed the national anthem. It was great fun watching the kids races, they would take off for a 2k race at the pace you would start a 100m dash.
Katie and I eventually went for a warm up, and thankfully ran most of the course, so we got an idea of what was ahead of and twice. We joked that we would miss the start of the boys race, thankfully we didn't. As everybody took off Katie and were both close the back of the pack and went through the first kilometre in 4.39minutes, shit way too fast. I eventually got into a comfortable rhythm, my goal was to run the complete course and not walk, which was achieved. As were running the guys kept popping up all over the place offering words of encouragement. I finished in 44:03, which I was very pleased with, given the difference between myself and the other girls, and I had anticipated a 45 to 46 minute finish. Katie, Amanda, Naomi and I then went for a cool down and cheered the boys home. When we had all finished our races and cool downs, we ate the samplings of great food supplied by Elise, Katie, Amanda and myself.

It soon got very cold so we quickly departed. Unfortunately, the trip home was a little slow due to weight of the bling Blue Dog won in the 45+ Team, and yes it was GOLD. We finished off the day with some great Pizza.

Sunday, 18 June 2006

Blue Dog and I got up nice and early and ran the STaR. I ran with Katie and Naomi, who we were ahead of me most of the way, and we were joined by Damien and Blue Dog for the first 16ks. It was a beautiful morning, and the views were spectacular along the coast. Us girls took a short cut as we only wanted to run 20ks today. We got back to the finish and found we were 500 metres short, so we ran around the park and until we got to that magic number, and no we do not have compulsive disorders.

Another great weekend.

Unplanned change of Plans

I decided to treat myself this morning, and have a sleep in and go for a short run after work. Lets say the sleep was really good.

Last Sunday, Blue Dog and I had a car "t-bone" us. Although nobody was hurt, it's always an inconvenience. I had to take the care to an assessment centre this afternoon which was earliest date we could get, only to find they wanted to keep the car over the weekend to get it towed away for a mechanical assessment. After a few phone calls and various discussions the insurer agreed to provide us with a hire car over the weekend. Don't these people know we are heading south for a run. After an 1.5 hrs I finally I was provided a lift home.

Unfortunately, it was quite dark and the second car with with Blue Dog who happens to be on night shift, I aborted all ideas of running and the gym. So I decided to bake some cookies for tomorrow's road trip (perhaps I better go for a run).

Small version of Big Bertha

Today's session was hills, but thankfully I was given a last minute change from 10 laps to 6 laps at a comfortable pace, but hill work is never comfortable. I hadn't bothered to look at my previous splits or time for Big Bertha, so I really had no idea what time to aim for, so comfortable worked. After a slight problem with the Garmin (user error), I relied on Sean's timing, and finished the 6 laps in 14:46 minutes.

Did some more stretching this evening, as I am still having a few muscular issues, nothing too serious. They just need some TLC before I attack them at Nowra.

Midweek Shorter Version

Met the girls at Centennial Park this morning for our mid week run. Due to our forthcoming race schedule it was 60 minutes today. My right leg was giving me a little grief during most of today's run, but it eventually loosed up, hence I was a bit quieter than usual today. My plan is to have a nice hot bath tonight and do a solid stretching session while I watch the State of Origin.

I find running with the girls pushes me along a little, although I probably slow them down. We ran a total of 11.40km with an average pace of 5.36/km.

10 June 2006

Another rainy day but it was not going to rain on my parade :-).

Blue Dog and I went over the Sydney Park for the Cross Country. Blue Dog had suggested he would run with me, and pull out if necessary, after our warm-up it became very clear that I was running on my own. The course is a 2.5k lap, with the option of running a 2.5k, 5k or 7.5k race. I ran the 7.5k, which is always interesting because we all start together and you are never sure who is running what distance so it makes it hard to mark somebody as a pacer. I finished a little slower than my last run (38:14), but I was the second female (out of three, but it still counts).

It's always a tough course, even when though it's a regular training run for me. The track conditions were not great, actually a little slippery on a couple of places.

A few Striders there today, perhaps it's part of our training for next weekend's Cross Country.

11 June 2006

Homebush Hustle STaR. I agreed to met Katie at 6.00am for the STaR, we both had 20km on our programs at a nice comfortable pace. We headed off with the large 6.00am group which always included various paces. We found ourselves being pushed along by another three people, who we soon found out they were only interested in our map reading skills not our company, and were pushing us along a little quicker than we wanted/needed to run. We stopped for a drink and a stretch at approx. 9ks, but they stopped with us. We headed off together for a few more kilometres, until Katie and I stopped for another drink, this time they kept going. We then took off at a more relaxed paced. I was very happy to finish as I felt a little fatigued by the end.

12 June 2006

At this stage Mondays are still rest days.

13 June 2006

It took a while to warm up this morning, I think it was probably one of the coldest morning so far, but it's better then wet (sorry).Today's session was "Windsprints", which was new to me, but when explained it's very simple, Fartlek basically. It was a 4.8km, which we had to sprint the straights and float the bends. I tried to work with Katie as long as I could, but she got away on me, she's definitely returning strongly. I finished in 23:43.

On another note, my weight has finally decided to relocate (sorry to anybody who has found it), so I am very happy.

Easy Friday

I was lucky enough to extend my long weekend and had the day off. After a nice sleep in, we spentmost of the day shopping. I went to the gym and did my easy 30 minutes on the treadmill, which I extended to 31.30 just to round off to 6km.

I then moved over to the "stretching area" and stretched for 30 minutes. Walked out feeling great.

Where's Wally?

Today's session was Wild Wally (hill reps). I always find these sessions tough, but I always manage to get through it :-). I felt quite stiff during the warm up and drills.

I did 6 reps today; 3:26, 3:25, 3:27, 3:25, 3:23, 3:23. Total distance for the session 10.4km.

Wet Wednesday

Met Katie and Deanne at Centennial Park this morning at 5.30am in the wet and cold. We ran around the outside of the Park, and a couple of times I felt like I was slowing the girls down but I managed to keep with them. My hammies were okay today but my glutes were a little tight, I have a massage booked in tonight which should help.

We ran 16.2kms at an average pace of 5.31km/hr.

Although it was very wet I am happy knowing I got out there, rather than taking a softer option.

It Can Rain on Race Day......

I reminded myself that "it can rain on race day" and headed over to SWEAT. I met Katie and Kerry at the gates and walked to the oval. It wasn't until the final stage of the drills that the rain began.
I had 1 x 2k and 2 x 1200m programmed for today's session, and missed the instruction to 1600m for the last rep instead of 1200m.

My times were:
9.16
5.30
5.33

The track was pretty wet and soggy, but it didn't seem to slow me down too much, my previous best 2km time was 9.28. So everything is heading in the right direction.

With all the rain I finished up feeling very happy with my effort to actual get out in the rain and my running.

BTW, Blue Dog just said to remind everyone how wonderful my husband is ;-).

Weekend at Bernie's

3 June 2006

Headed over the Striders 10k at Lane Cove with Blue Dog to perform the role of "catcher". It was not as cold as anticipated. There were some pretty good runners out there this morning.

Scarborough Park, Ramsgate in the afternoon for my first ever relay race. I was a little confused and probably drove everybody mad with all my questions. I ran the 3rd leg for the B Team. It was quite nerve racking in the "change over" area waiting for Amanda.

There was a really strong head wind, which was hard work, I recorded my time as 18.47 (not official). I was really pleased as I ran the 4k Cross Country at Scarborough Park in April in 19:58. I hung around and watched the men. The start of the race was a total F&*k up, with at least 30 people heading the wrong way.

4 June 2006

Met Katie, Deanne, Helen and Ali over at Centennial Park, giving the STaR a miss this weekend as we met at 7.00am, so I could have a bit of a sleep in. We then met up with Allison and Kerry for the second lap. Today's run was 19km in approx 1hr 50mins, which felt pretty comfortable, at a nice consistent pace. We finished with some streching, chocolate biscuits and diet coke ;-). Spotted Horrie out training this morning obviously for PCM.

I had nice relaxing afternoon at the movies with Blue Dog, we saw "RV" which gave us a few laughs.

Fresh Start

Meet Kit and Deanne at Centennial Park this morning for our easy Friday. I must admit it was not easy removing the layers of clothing this morning. After a short discussion on where to actually ran we headed off . My left hammy was still a little tight but did loosen up after about 2ks. We ran along chatting about our training and race plans. Both Deanne and Kit will be running the SS 10k at Lane Cove tomorrow, and I will be marshalling due to the 4 x 4 ANSW in the afternoon, so the topic was heavily focused on how cold it will be in the morning. Finished the session with some streching.

This morning I borrowed Blue Dog's skins (I need to do some washing), it was the first time I have ran in them, felt great ;-) mmmm ........ time to go shopping.

Total distance of 6.3km @ 5.18/km.

I had a massage last night. My local gym has a physio/massage centre so I gave it a try due to convenience and price. I was booked in for an hour, but received an extra half hour all the wee price of $60.

Not too much to report except that I need to stretch more to increase my range of movement, which may actually transfer to improved running times :-).

I come home last night feeling absolutely buggered, after eating a beautiful meal Blue Dog had cooked I was ready for bed.

When the alarm went off this morning, I just couldn't get out of bed so I decided 2hrs extra sleep would be more beneficial. Today I will not run, just a good streching session this afternoon.

Blue Dog Update

For those of you who are interested, BD is off to see CR PodRunner to pick up his orthotics today. He had some x-rays on Monday, which have found heel spurs on both feet.