Swan Lake

This morning we meet a the very civilised hour of 6.00am for our mid week run. It was a lot shorter today, only 45 minutes due to the Striders 10k on Saturday and our taper. Started the run outside the Park initially as the light is better, and then cut up past the SCG. It was suggested that we were trying to avoid the gradual incline up Moore Park Road, but I knew what Katie was up to; hoping for a repeated display of the Swan players walking around with towels and naked torsos. It was then back into the Park for a random run through the different trails. The slower pace and shorted run was very welcomed today.

I have a message booked in this afternoon, which will help iron out any little issues and help freshen up the legs.

It's Good to Feel Tired

Another dark start to the morning, so it's a good thing I know that park so well I could almost run around it blind folded. After the warm up, drills and strides I could feel a noticeable tight area in my glute, so I decided to not push the session too hard, and concentrate on the bigger goal. I had 1 lap of the lake, followed by 2 laps. I got thought the first lap in 7:00 minutes, and then joined Katie for a recovery jog in between reps. I mentioned to Katie that I felt really tired this morning, and due a couple reason; running my Monday recovery ran far quicker than I should and a little too much at the gym. My 2 laps were average, finishing in 14:28. I had a bit of chat to Sean at the end of the session, who commented how strong I am looking, I advised him I was very tired and he just grinned and said "That's good, that's how distance runners should feel but your looking strong".

Tonight I think I'll have a nice easy night soaking in a hot bath with a nice glass of red and my book.

Done and Dusted

23 February

When I got home from work Blue Dog and I set out on a nice easy run through Scarborough Park, which was really one of my favourite runs and running with The Dog is always nice as we seldom run together. I was determined to go nice and easy, being very conscious of the 5k Challenge in the morning, but I think I may have been pushed a little harder then "nice and easy". We saw Youcef Abdi training in the park, so we congratulated him on his win the Steeplechase last Saturday night. Finished with 5.5km with an average pace of 5:33/km.

We then enjoyed a great dinner with Katie, Ray, Johnny Dark, and the Brisvegas girls Clairie and Tesso.

24 February

I had declared to a small group that was going to try and run a PB at this months 5k Challenge. I knew it would be hard task with all the mileage in my legs, and the fact my training has been predominately for endurance not speed, but hey I decided to have a go. A little prior planning had determined that I needed to run an average pace of 4:37/km to achieve the goal, so when I ran the first km in 4:28 minutes you would think the alarm bells would have been ringing. Second km, 4:31 minutes not too long after that it all went pear shaped. I finished in 24:19 and I was never so happy to finish. After a couple of moments on my own reflect on my run, I shook my head and put it down to stupidity.

BTW Blue Dog and I have booked our tickets for his Western States assault, so I spent the afternoon doing a little research on all things tourist, and I have even found a very tacky place Vegas (of course) where we can get married/renew of vows, yes it includes fat Elvis.

25 February

After some discussion on where to have our final long run before 6 Foot, we decided to run the very scenic shortened version of the Strider's Ten Bridges starting from Brett Park, Drummyone. It was a nice feeling knowing it was my last long run before I started to taper, I honestly feel the need to freshen up. My legs felt really heavy today, but it was no nice to just run along and enjoy the scenery without and pressure. We stopped to watch the Dragon Boat races at Darling Harbour and cheered a few of them on. Finished of with 23km and nice breakfast.

I came home and had a nice nana nap for couple of hours, before heading out the door to meet up with the girls for Bec's (CR Psychoma) Baby Shower Dinner. A nice way to finish off the weekend.

26 February

I had the day so it was very nice to wake up with an alarm for a change. After enjoying a coffee in bed with Blue Dog, it was out the door for my recovery run. I enjoyed a nice run along Botany Bay. Today's was one of those perfect runs, when you feel like you could run forever, what a difference a day makes. I had a nice tailwind to start with and an average pace of 5.34/km before I turned around after 30 minutes. I set myself a little challenge on the return trip and was determined not to be slowed down by the headwind. I finished the 60 minutes with exactly 11kms, so I improved my average pace to a nice round 5.30/km.

After finalising our tickets for our trip to the USA, I went to the gym for 30 minutes cardio, followed by strength and core work.

I really enjoy not going to work.

My Head is a Spin

Unfortunately I had broken one of my golden rules; scheduling an early morning meeting so I had to give SWEAT a miss this morning. I decided to just run one along Botany Bay and watch the sun come up. I usually find running very relaxing and allows me to de-stress, but this morning when I first started off I had so many things going through my head (all work related). I then noticed I was breathing heavier than usual and my pace didn't justify my breathing. I then sent myself mental messages to calm down and enjoy my run. After about the 3kms I found my rhythm and enjoyed the pleasure of running. I decided to push myself a little harder than usual to compensate for not going to SWEAT. I did a total of 10km with an average pace of 5:20/km. My run was definitely negative split this morning, the last couple of k's were 5:15, 5:15, 5:11, 5:06, 4:56, 5:05 (incline).

Dress Rehearsal

I had a great run this morning. We meet at Centennial Park which was quite dark at 5.20. I had suggest last night that we go for a run into the city to have a look at the Queen Elizabeth. So we started off in the Park, I may have to drag out Blue Dog's ultra lights for running at this time. Running down Oxford Street is always interesting; beer bottles, vomit, rubbish and some great fashions for the more adventurous. We finally made our way to Circular Quay and were greeted by Queen Elizabeth. It was great running around the Harbour this morning and watching the city come alive. We did a total of 16kms with an average pace of 5:32/hr, which felt very comfortable.

I even used today's run as dress rehearsal of my running attire for 6 Foot, everything gets a big tick of approval.

Fine Tuning

This morning I had 3 x 1200s on my program and I had worked out pace plan last night and was all prepared for the task ahead, then Sean threw a curve ball and suggested 3 x 1kms. Out went the plan. I lined up with a huge group for the first rep and felt pretty good, but didn't want to go out too hard, planning to getting quicker with each rep. I finished the first 1km rep in 4:28mins, so I was then advised to run 1400s for the next 2 reps to ensure my recovery period was not too long. A small group of us lined up and the 1400m mark and we took off, I was out ahead and determined to keep ahead of the group, knowing I would have to work hard. I managed to maintain my position and finished in 6.11mins (average pace 4.25/km). On the second 1200m we had a couple of girls who were doing 2km reps come and join us which was really good, one of the faster younger girls went past me and gave me something to focus on giving me a time of (edit previously recorded my rep time slower, now correct)6.06min (average pace 4.19/km).

Last night I decided to do a bit of analysis of this years 6 Foot training against last years training, some interesting findings;

* an extra 500km plus training in the legs
* far more sessions and consistent training
* average monthly pace is quicker
* last yrs training including a few of sessions on the treadmill, this yr no treadmill training

Just Easy

Katie and Ray came over this morning for an easy recovery run, a run through Ramsgate and a lap of Scarborough Park. I really love running through Scaroborough Park and this morning I pointed the markers used by a couple great runners including an Australian rep, who train there regularly; perhaps we may have come in contact with some lucky blades of grass. Finished with another 5.5ks in the bank. After a quick stretch we went inside for a sneaky preview of Six Foot clothing that Blue Dog collected on the weekend. I think the next couple of weeks may include some envelope stuffing.

The Final Touches

16 February

I woke up to find it was still a little dark and used that as an excuse to sleep in and run in the afternoon. After a busy day and work and family dinner scheduled, I squeezed in a quick 5kms. Nothing too exciting just keep the legs turned over. When Blue Dog and I moved to our current dwellings, I used to think my 5km route was "hilly", now it all seems flat. Perhaps it's the coach's hill running technique; and Tesso I cannot give away too many secrets.

17 February

Another early rise and over to the Bay to meet Katie, Razor and Deanne for a nice leisurely run. We included the Dog Leg, Marion Street and a trip up "Shores" for good measure. Just a nice comfortable running, chatting about all things running and the topic of 6 Foot did get raised a couple of times. Ran a total of 12km with an average pace of 5:41/km. It sure felt comfortable, but I could not believe the amount of sweat that was dripping of me. We finished the morning with a nice breakfast.

For a little further inspiration, I went to the Testra A Athletics at Homebush. There were some great athletes out there.

18 February

I ran the long run at SMC today, 25km as a training run. I had the company of Tim (aka CR Redback) which was great. Although I was a little worried that I was going to slow him down, we kept together at good LSD pace and just enjoyed the run and chatted away. I was very good and remembered to drink regularly; water and Gatorade and made sure I had my gels, which is something I tend to forget about. Four ks out from the finish Katie and Razor meet us and ran to the finish with us as their cool down. I finished in 2:26:10 which was pretty good.

With all the long runs out of the way, it now time to cut back on the distance and freshen up and concentrate on my race plan.

Rewarded

This morning I arrived nice and early, and did a pretty good warm-up, and was feeling slightly apprehensive about today's Big Bertha session. I decided to apply a different approach to the session, and was pleasantly rewareded with a 10 second PB, 23:50. I felt pretty good running the up hill section today and paid alot of attention to incorporating Sean's suggestions into my technique. I was pleased to lapping people today, I remember only too well being the last person to finish this session.

A great start to the day!

Spiderman and his Super Heroes

This morning the usual crowd meet at Centennial Park for our usual mid-week run. Thankfully, Katie and I both had a shorter run this week, and even thought the temptation was there to go a bit longer, we decided a couple ks now is not going to make any difference, and all the hard work is done. There is no use cramming in extra the training in in the last couple of weeks, when we have worked so hard for a couple of months now.

The mornings are now getting darker again, so we started off running around the outside of the park, it's not the time now to start tripping over in the dark. Obviously it was still too dark for some us today when we finally hit the park, Spiderman (aka Razor) ran into a cob web and then broke into a routine that Tap_Dogs would be proud of. I found myself on cob web patrol, running ahead to ensure we didn't get an encore.

Finished a nice comfortable run of 11km at 5:40/km pace. A great start to the day!

Bowled Out

11 February

It was the annual Sydney Striders Equaliser (cross country) race. I was given strict instructions from Sean not to race the event, only run it. It was probably one of the worst run's I have every experienced, I was happy I wasn't "racing", as it was an effort to just finish the run. On a positive note, I got a another 16km in the bank and a can of coke at the end.

I think I must have been dehydrated, after the race I drank;

4 x cans of diet coke
3 x 600ml Poweraide
5 x glasses of water
2 x coffees

and went to the loo twice.

12 February

I was bowled out, I broke the streak after 51 days. I took some advice from some very wise people and had a day off. No running, no gym, no Yoga. When I got home from work Blue Dog had a nice hot bath and class of red waiting for me. Just what I needed.

13 February

This morning I was scheduled for an easy 33 minute run, but I decided to go to SWEAT instead. Today's session was a time trail, which involved 4 laps of the lake which is approximately 5.8km. I had a good chat to one of the groups leading ladies, Jenny, who advised me to have a couple of days off to freshen up a bit, etc. By the time I lined up for the TT I was ready to run. Started of feeling pretty comfortable, and was determined no to allow a particular person beat me (always got to have a target) so I motored along. Towards the end of the second lap I felt myself drop off a bit, it was time to dig in. My time was 27.23 with an average pace of 4.43/km.

Splits;
1km = 4:45
2km = 4.48 (I did fade)
3km = 4.45
4km = 4.45
5km = 4.38
800m = 3.44 (4.37/km pace)

It was nice to have Sean compliment me on my running this morning to give me a boost of confidence.

Raising the Bat

Well today was my half centenary; 50 day running streak. I was planning on a sleep in but the offer of running in Sydney Park followed by a nice breakfast got the better of me, and a few more hills could go astray. I actually felt pretty tired today, probably a combination of another heavy training week, last night's Yoga session or the fact that I have been pretty busy socially for the last couple of weeks. I finished with 9.5km with an average pace of 5:47/km, without being tempted to finish the run with an even 10km.

SWEATing SOLO

8 February

When the alarm went off I hit the snooze button (several times) and decided to give SWEAT a miss. However, I had a brain explosion and decided to pack my gear so I could head over Centennial Park and run the scheduled session of Wild Walter. So Blue Dog and I did our usual warm up, drills and strides then attacked Wild Walter. We both had 10 reps on the program, and I noticed Blue Dog had developed a handy method of counting our reps. He collected a stick a the completion of each rep and carried it over to the start. My reps had improved since our last session, and I was happy that my slowest was 1:54 and my best of 1:48, most of them were 1:52. It was a really good session, as I was running into a strong headwind on the decent, but focusing on chasing Blue Dog kept me moving. We both finished off the session in feeling we had put everything in and feeling great.

9 February

This morning I did a nice easy run which included a lap of Scarborough Park. I felt pretty tired , but I was pleased that my legs were feeling fresh again. I really love running through Scarborough Park; there is a small trail of wood chips surrounded with trees which makes is it hard to believe that you are actually running in suburbia. I arrived home with another 5.5km in the legs with an average speed of 5.30/km. This afternoon I am headed to my Yoga class to unwind after a hectic week.

MidWeek

Blue Dog, Razor, Katie, Deanne, Helen, Kerry and I meet at the very civil time of 5:15 for our mid week run. We discussed a few route options, and then headed into the park. It was really quite dark this morning, so we ran along the road as the surface is pretty good and there was a little more light. We then came up with half plan and headed towards Rose Bay. We bid farewell to Kerry and Helen, and the rest of decided to run the along the C2S course, and then head back to the Park via Bondi Road. Kit, Deanne and I were laughing at the fact we were actually running up Heartbreak Hill after such a big weekend, but it's all conditioning. By the time we got the top of the hill we were surprised that we had already reached the top, it's amazing how a trip up Pluvi puts things into prospective. No sooner had we hit Bondi Beach we then hit the climb up Bondi Road. As were running up Bondi Road, I reminded Deanne of our mantra "we are fit and strong", Katie reminded us when we finished our run that we forget "we are fast". In the end we ran 21km, with an average pace 5:55/km, which is pretty good as the first few kilometres we very sloooooow.

Today I am finally going to enter Six Foot. I have been putting this off and questing my ability, but I suppose you cann't die wondering.

Still is Still Moving

5 February

I decided I had earned a sleep in after my weekend adventures and hit the pavement after work. After arriving home from work and having a good chat to Wayne I finally got out the door. When I first started I felt a little rusty, but I knew a shuffle was what the legs needed. I ended up running 4.5km with an average pace of 5:49/km, nothing grand but it got the blood pumping through the legs.

6 February

I had emailed Sean yesterday to confess I had not stuck to the program and did the complete Six Foot course. Sean was humored that both Katie and I had both emailed him very similar confessions. I had a bit of chat to Sean this morning, and took his advice in the reps, and stuck to the 2 x 2km and 1 x 1km as planned. My first rep was 10:32 with my splits being 5:16 for each. The second rep was 10:20 (splits 5:15, 5:05). I finished the session with 4:48 for my last rep. Definitely no record speeds but happy all things considered.

Racing and Trails

3 February 2007

I arrived nice and early at the first Striders 10k nice and early and was surprised by the number of people already there at 6.10am. After collecting my race number, the usual crowd had gathered and we set off for our warm up. I think they had something like 370 runners lined up at the start, and you could really notice it in the first couple hundred metres. I eventually found "my space" and set into a good rhythm. Everything seemed to be going okay until half way up the first hill, and I thought my breakfast was going to make a guest appearance. I was dry retching and just hoping to keep my stomach together, thankfully i did. I had a pretty good run from the turn around and put in a bit of kick across the weir and managed to finish in 50 minutes flat. I was very happy. I ran 52.15 at the February 06' Strider's Lane Cove race so I was happy improve my time based on my Six Foot Training.

We then enjoyed a nice post race breakfast at Milson's Point, and discussed our planned training run on the Six Foot Track. It was planned for 11 February, however Blue Dog and Razor are both keen to run the Striders Equaliser, so in a rather quick discussion we decided to head to the track on Sunday. This caused a wave of panic and we headed off to do some shopping.

4 February 2007

Deanne, Katie, Razor and I all headed to off for to the Six Foot Track for a day full of adventure. Katie and I accompanied with Blue Dog were going to complete the whole course as a training run and Deanne and Razor were going to meet us at Deviation. We were soon on our way, with Blue Dog's guidance we ran the track in what he refers to "ultra style", eating regularly, walking the hills and ensuring we drank regularly. We arrived at Cox's river to refill the Camel Backs, had a bite to eat and bit of chat to some runners who were on the return leg the of "Megalong Mega". By the time we started the climb up Mini it was started to get very warm, and we were all very happy to reach Alum River and cool off. The climb to Pluvi was unforgiving in the heat and I was every so happy to see the top. We sat down again and had a bite to eat, refilled our Camel Backs and were off again. After I couple minutes along the Black Range, I was very lucky to have had the support of my lovely husband and Katie (some things stay on the track). We then pushed focusing on meeting Deanne and Razor at Deviation. When we arrived they were not there so we assumed they must be waiting for us at the road crossing. We had another short break and then hit the track. Caves Road.... no Deanne and Razor so we figured they must have been waiting for us at the caves. My second wind hit and we romped to the finish line. No Deanne and Razor. So Blue Dog, Katie and I layed around on the concrete smelling truly divine, and thirsty but quite sick of water. After a few minutes Katie appeared announcing she had replicated my signature and we can put some drinks on my account I had booked for race weekend. As Blue Dog was just finishing off his second beer and was getting ready to go and look for Razor and Deanne, they appeared. It was a great union.

After a well deserved shower, we drove to Katoomba and had a great Indian Meal. I am sure the other diners must have thought we hadn't eaten in a week. We ate and discussed what a great day we had all experienced, and shared many laughs.

Cruise Control

1 February

Today's session was 2 laps of the lake "relaxed". Sean stressed to anyone running the Striders 10k to run relaxed, there a no PB or flashing lights when training. I starting off just chatting away, and then decided to push is a little hard, whilst maintaining a "relaxed" pace. In the second lap I had a bit of a chat to a new lady (I have forgotten her name already), we worked very well together. Finished the session feeling nice and comfortable in 14:01. I then did another lap of the lake as a cool down. I actually finished the session feeling nice and fresh, almost in the same condition as when arrived; just covered in sweat or being a lady, should I say perspiration.

2 February

This morning Katie, Razor, Blue Dog and I went for a nice cruisey run. We ran the "Sans Souci Circuit" reversed. Blue Dog and Razor started to pull away, but Katie and I were happy to just sit behind and run very comfortabley and save ourselves for tomorrow's 10km race. Finished just over 7km with an average page of 5:47/km. It was a great way to start the day.

After some heavy training and some good results from "Operation Fairy Floss" I am really looking forward to racing on Saturday. January was a very solid training month with 362km, no rest days and no niggles. The 10k will be a good indication of my training, whilst I am aware I am not training for 10k races at the moment, I am hoping to improve on my time from last January's race.