Time to Catch up

I have just returned home after two weeks at my parents place caring for mother post-surgery. It had been a pretty busy two weeks spring cleaning, nursing and training.

Monday, 21 August 2006

I drove down to Newingtown and ran along the foreshore of the Parramatta River. Just a nice easy run nothing too exciting. A total of 7km with an average pace of 5:15/km.

Tuesday, 22 August 2006

I actually did no exercise at all. By the time my father arrived home from work which allowed me to go for a run I was too buggered. I had been spring cleaning and looking after my mum all day so I just had no energy to go for a run. A visit from Blue Dog made my day.

Wednesday, 23 August 2006

I drove over to The Bay in the afternoon for a run. It almost felt like my old MTG days. I did a total of 10km with an average pace of 5:14/km. I felt pretty good and enjoyed a nice comfortable run.

Thursday, 24 August 2006

Lets just call it a rest day.

Friday, 25 August 2006

Today's run was almost the highlight for the month. When I arrived at The Bay I saw Steve (Blocka) Roach, whom I have had a crush for a few years, so I quickly said hello and got started. I ran for a total of 12km with an average pace of 5:12/km. The pace felt very comfortable which may be a result of missing my two hard sessions his this week. When I finished my run I phoned Blue Dog to advise him of my sighting but he just couldn't understand my excitement :-).

Saturday, 26 August 2006

I arrived to find a very small group at the 5k Challenge due to other races. It was really good to see my running buddies again. I set off on my warm-up and was surprised to find the that I should have already started, so I just turned around and ran. I felt really flustered with my start and finished in 23:58 which was a little disappointing. After a leisurely run back to the start I got away early missing breakfast.

Sunday, 27 August 2006

I meet Katie, Deanne, Kerry, Ali and Blue Dog at The Bay. We all ran the first 10km together, and Blue Dog and Ali left us to keep going. We kept the pace going at a pretty good speed for our LSD. I actually had some toast before the run today, which made a huge difference as I tend to only have a coffee and sometimes a yogurt and often find I run out of puff. So today I felt energised. When we got back the cars, our garmins were all showing slightly different distances so we agreed to keep running with Katie to ensure she reached a nice round number of 36km. Blue Dog was waiting for us in the car with some cold drinks just smiled knowing we were rounding off the k's. I am glad he understands us and does not think we are strange. After some streching and chatting on the grass we then went for breakfast.

I enjoyed a nice day with Blue Dog, and later had diner with him and his son before heading back to my parents place for the week.

Monday, 28 August 2006

Rest days are back on my program for Monday's, so I did.

Tuesday, 29* August 2006

I decided to go back to SWEAT this week now that I had established a bit of routine at my parents place, however after dropping my father at the train station I arrived at 5:15am. I sat in the car until I thought it was safe enough to get out and ran a few laps of the oval; actually quite a few. Katie arrived and thought I must have slept in the Park.

I had 4 x 1km reps on the program but after a quick chat with Sean I did 5 reps. My times were: 4:32, 4:25, 4:28, 4:25, 4:21. I finished very happy with my best 1k reps yet.

Wednesday, 30 August 2006

I meet Katie and Deanne for our midweek. We just plodded around chatting and enjoying each other's company as the k's clocked over. Deanne and I ran for nearly hour and left Katie to finish her run. Total distance 10.26km average pace of 5:42/hr.

Thursday, 31 August 2006

It was like a famous movie, the hills were alive this morning and my Wild Wally times were my best ever. I did five reps ( 3:19, 3:15, 3:15, 3:17, 3:14). I was really happy when I finished and feeling very excited about the Striders 10k on Saturday.

Friday, 1 September 2006

We met at The Bay this morning for a nice easy run, which we all agreed to take very easy. We chattered away finalising our race plans. It was a beautiful morning with the sun coming up, rowers on the water. Spring was in the air.

Saturday, 2 September 2006

Race day. I was really excited about the Striders 10K as I haven't ran a 10k for a while due the ANSW race calendar. I had set myself a goal of 48:20, which I thought my be a bit quick but achievable. My race plan was to go out as hard as I could and just hold on, maybe foolish but it worked. I did a decent warm up and tested the legs for a bit of speed. I was was ready to run. My first km was 4:37/km and the 50 min pace was ahead of me so I choose to forget what they were doing. The first few ks were quicker than my race plan, but I figured I feel okay don't back off just hold it. I finished with a huge PB of 66 seconds, 48:09. I am still smiling.

I finished off a nice morning sitting on the beach in the sunshine, with some great company.

Sunday, 3 September

Katie, Deanne, Kerry, Kulinda and I meet this morning for our LSD. I suggested we run from Centennial Park to the city, down Macquarie Street for a dress rehearsal for Katie's marathon finish and then through the Botanical Gardens and back to the park. Everyone agreed the variety would be good, so we set off. Running along Oxford Street and through Kings Cross early a Sunday morning is always interesting. We did a total of 18.89km with an average pace of 5:45/km.