Number 5 is Alive!!!!!!

Wow! You haven't lived until you run Mount Cootha!

What an awesome, mind boggling 18km experience. To willingly put your body through the pain of 4km of constant uphill, followed by undulating hills where just as you think you have it easy on the downhill another steep ascent looms.....

But can you belive I was grinning madly the whole time?

Actually no I wasn't. Thinking back, I was almost in tears when we stopped at the base for the first drink stop and toilet before running up to the top. It looked pointless, unfun and dishearteningly big. However one more big cheerio from Tess and a big squeeze on my arm and we were off. Time to tackle the mountain, no time for crying.

For the first part I ran alongside Rachel, but then decided I needed to be on the inside of the road and really focus on this, so I went in front and just looked down at the bitumen. Left, right, left right. Hopefully not having to look up too much and see that the road was actually in front of my face in the real steep parts!!!

Rachel turned back (as planned) after 4km (1km of uphill mountain). Tesso and Tara were running together which left me with Nick *groan* who wanted to talk about training and how my life was going and how good peoples butts looked in skins...as I was wearing them I said "Nick leave me alone I am not going to flash my boobs again!! I was sure he was just running with me because I and tried to show the girls my new leather HR strap and inadvertantly flashed some flesh.
So here I was trying not to laugh the whole way up the mountain....

A cyclist was looming and it was a game to catch them. We were going past them quite easily now. One had a seat on the back and Nick offered to pull em up if he could catch a lift down. I don't think they understood the "runners humour".
So before you know it we were at the top! Wooo Hooo.

Mark (ihatetoast) was waiting for me and did a half a bridge for me to run under at the top. Sheryl dropped off the other group so by the time Tesso and Tara got there we had a good group to do a big bridge for Tara to run under to celebrate her first run up.

The rest of the run went in a blur. Totally transforming. It was shady, sunny, gorgeous views and you actually felt like you were working the body to run up and down the various undulations. So much more interesting than a flat road.
At one stage I got all emotional and thanked the guys I was running with for sharing this with me. They bagged me and Nick pretended to cry. Ungrateful lout. Won't be running with him again :)

So I am back in one piece and after wearing the skins all day yesterday afterwards I am not even the slightest bit sore. Just damn keen to run it again.

I know the next time will be harder as I won't have the high of a first time achievement, but I hope to enjoy it nonetheless.

Big hugs to Tesso for draggin me out there and pushing me up the hill. An amazingly supportive friend who believed in me the whole time.

Damn those Fruit Frappes tasted great when they finally arrived didn't they???!!!!

Regatta Run

Did the 8km loop this morning out and back. Was really happy with it.

Not sure how on earth I managed it but did 5:05min/km on the way out to warm up and then came home in 4:40's. So much for a recovery run, but honestly I never actually felt I was going very fast.

Certainly the race on Wednesday night had a few fast km's in there that made this morning feel easy.

After finishing I found it really hard to cool down. My face was bright red and I was thirsty for a long long time despite drinking lots of water. Still am thirsty so I will ensure I drink plenty today.

As an aside my Hubby and I have 'date night' every Thursday. Last night after dinner we drove up the Mount Cootha road to see where I will be running tomorrow.
I AM GOING TO DIE

Tess what have you dragged me into???

If I don't make it back down, everyone please know that I will miss you all very much.

"What doesn't kill us...strengthens us"

Who ever said that stupid saying? Probably my mother.

I am on the verge of death.

My legs are sore and tired. I am hitting the bed every night and am asleep before my feet leave the ground. Literally one night this week hubby had to put the blanket on me as I had fallen alseep doing my stretches!!!

Tuesdays hill session
Wednesday morning 90min gym
Wednesday night 5.2km race
Thursday morning speed session.
I am smashed!

I am over the urge to have a coffee but I wonder if on other weeks it used to perk me up a bit on Thursdays as that is the lowest ebb day for me physically. An 8km run tomorrow followed by Saturday mornings hilly run up Mount Cootha (first attempt).

Can't wait for Sunday *rest day*.

Hills and a run in with the boys

Not too hot this morning but certainly feel the change. Very much covered in sweat at the end.
Wish I could wear the teeny bits of clothes that other girls wear when running, but I guess I would rather run with friends than scare them away hee hee.

Went into the gardens to do a hill session with Pat and the group. Three new runners today. Cool. One of the new runners Phil did a 25km race recently and kept with Tesso and I then overtook me and chased Tess for the rest of the run so he is keen to see what our training secrets are.

I had a mental block today. Feel the Pain. I kept repeating this to myself every time I went up the hill whilst secretly praying that Pat would not come near me and push me harder.
I was really happy with the whole session and that I had managed to sustain myself this time instead of easing off. I really pushed myself up to the top when I had no energy left and Pat said 'last one Claire go hard' so I found a little extra and gunned to the top of the hill. Unfortunately at the top I had to stop and jog/walk down as I was having trouble breathing. Nothing serious, just totally out of breath and wanting to spew but breathe at the same time. My ribs don't bother me at all when I run but did keep me up last night for some reason, just aching.

At the end of the run we did a short warm run and I helped pack up all Pat's gear. i had a breakfast to go to instead of work so I had a few extra minutes to spare.

I then rushed off to the showers only to find them closed. DAMN. Bloody things always doing this to me!! I was really grumpy as my breakfast was important and now I had no time to go home and shower. So I did what all desperate girls would do.... I walked into the mens.

All I can say is 'Great boxer shorts David' and 'Phil you should run without a shirt more often' *cheeky grin*.
Seriously I appreciated being let in and them averting their eyes (god I hope they did!!!) so myself and another girl (unknown person) could undress and race to the shower.
Unlike the girls the boys only have 4 tiny cubicles you can barely turn around in and get wet - let alone undress or dry yourself.

I think if we make this co-ed showers a regular thing we might get more runners down to Southbank :)

*Worst Run of My Life*

Trying to be like all my running friends I followed their advice by not having any breakfast before my long run this morning.
Spot, Tesso and Liz (who are all faster than me!!) run their glycogen levels down in training so when they race and fuel up they do really well.

So only water today :)

Today we were going to do the 25km river loop. Anna Bligh joined us and we all headed out. Unfortunately for me the pace was quick from the start. We were running approx 4:55 pace over the bridges, down the riverside and out to St Lucia. Anna droped off and ran with Scotty who was only doing short slow run.

By the time we had run for 45mins and got to the first water stop I was handling my gu very fondly. I had brought it along 'just in case' and hoped to not need it. I knew at this first water stop today was going to be a long day so decided against the gu - the pace would probably kill me first!

For dinner last night I had some chicken whilst talking to on the phone for hours to a friend and had not sufficiently carbo loaded either.

On the second water stop I told the others to go on ahead. Tesso was turning around here and going back - she had already run 10km this morning before the rest of us met up!! However when I said I was slowing down she decided to stay with me and another girl Cheryl joined us as well.
We plodded on another few kms. We had slowed down to 5:15/5:20 pace. Still faster than what I would have liked.

It was pouring with rain from the moment we had started so my shoes were very heavy and at the third water stop I had to take my top off and wring it out as well as my hat. The Gu was tucked into my shorts and was a constant reminder to me of what I was trying to achieve. It was like a drug and I was itching for a hit.

At the 16km mark I was totally knackered and had no energy and no enthusiasm for running. Tesso was great and really encouraged me on. She even took us on a longer route through the park (very scenic). At the middle of a very steep hill I walked the 30m to the top and then started running again from there.
The pace was now more like our long run pace and whilst I was dying every step it was too late for the gu. Too late for anything. :(

Best Mate Tesso was such a saviour and kept reminding me why I was doing this and that it had been just as hard for her when she had first done it. She also took us the shortcut home (thank goodness!!!) and we increased the pace the nearer we got to the end and managed to finish quite strongly. Just over 20km in all.

I was shattered. Absolutely knackered. Could barely manage to walk to the car. I knew I needed to sit down but worried that I would not be able to stand again.
I quickly had half a protein bar (would have eaten it all but it was foul tasting) an orange and a drink. Felt much better and the nauseous feeling had gone.

In hindsight I felt I had just raced a half marathon really really hard. My body was angry at me and I could not decide for the rest of the day if I was ravenous or nauseous?
I wore my skins all day after my shower (still have em on) and they have really really helped with any muscle ache. My legs feel great.
I guess I might just do this one more time to see if it improves me.....

TGIF - 8Kms.

Friday run was with the Regatta Running crew this morning. Thanks Goodness for lizzle. I managed to run with her the whole way - I did'nt want to repeat last weeks business of running out too hard just because I didn't want to run on my own.

We kept a nice steady pace the whole way and turned around and instead of racing home maintained the pace.

Both Liz and I were exhausted when we started. After yesterdays speed training session which we both pushed ourselves it was really hard to face up to this morning. On top of that - it was raining.
However after the run we both agreed that the cobwebs had been blown away and going for a run is much better than not running when you have legs full of lactic build up.

Was my first breakfast with a group (ie not at my desk or in the car!!!) and it was hard to smell all their coffees. I had a humungous fruit platter and a bananna smoothie with skim milk. Yummy.

mmmm off to Cha Cha Cha for lunch today. Steak!!!!

Blind Man Running

Man I am absolutely smashed!

There was a large group at Pat's this morning and also a very special guest - Gerard who happens to be a blind runner. A fast blind runner. Represented Australia in the paralympics and has won many races. Also climbed Mt Everest earlier this year etc etc etc.

We ran out to New Farm, Tesso wasn't there so Lizzle and I ran and talked the whole way. We ended up in front and half way out there had a giggle as we just assumed the sessin would be at New Farm and hoped everyone was following us.... :)

After the time trial Pat usually has an easyish session.
We did 6 x 2min efforts with 45sec standing recovery. It was tough. Liz was on fire and just took off. We ran out, stopped, then ran back so went over the same stretch for the whole session up and back.

I did the first one really fast - got to beyond the crossing zone and not far from the lead runners. The next one back to the starting line was fast as well. The third one I must have been slower as I pulled up about 10m short of where we stopped the first time. From then on I was determined to keep at it. I got faster and was really happy with myself.
The last one I saw one of the guys who was in front of me. When I went past I said "stay with me" and he did. Right up to 20m from the end. He pushed me faster than I would have gone and I pushed him way faster than his usual so we were both exhausted but grateful.

Then the group jogged into the Gardens where we start our 1km Guess Race.

We have to nominate a time, then without a watch run as close to that pace as possible. There is a gold coin donation to do it and all proceeds go to Camp Quality with the receipt going to the person who gets closest to their nominated time.

Today when we started I could not believe my legs. I thought they were drunk. I literally was wobbly all over the place and remember thinking something bad was going to happen to my body - like total shutdown or something.
All the speedwork was affecting my legs but then I heard Liz say the same thing so I was a bit more relaxed. We started laughing about it.

I guessed 4:20 and ran 4:16 so was happy to get that close. Happy to just finish I think - damn it was hard to do a 1km and think of pace when you are hot and exhausted from your speed session.

I didn't feel very good until I had one of those Up and Go's Pat gives out after the session. That cooled me down and settled my stomach.

I'm over coffee now. It is too hot anyway for hot drinks.
So glad I don't live in Darwin anymore - I used to be addicted to Pauls Ice Coffee as it really cools you down and fills you up. I then found out what was in them - gosh the crap you can drink without knowing it!!

Off to UQ tonight to watch the men and women qualify for the Commonwealth Games. Will be so exciting. Can't wait!!!

Maniac Crosstrainer

As I have the Intraining running group tonight I gave the tready a miss and headed for the Eliptical Machine (cross trainer). My whole body was tired. I think Wednesday is my one day each week that I am EXHAUSTED as it is squashed in between two speed sessions.

I was only going to do a solid 10mins on the crosstrainer to warm up for some weights work. At 8min a great song came pumpin on my ipod and I cranked up really fast. Everyone was looking at me and I was feeling like my arms and legs were flying. By 9min I wanted to stop but pushed on...made it to the 10mins just.

Went and got a wiper thing and wiped down the machine. Then realised everyone was laughing at me. I had wiped down the wrong machine....*shame*

Worked hard on the weights with lots of situps at the end.

Right now though I am missing something...COFFEE!!!

Yesterday was the first day of my health regime. No coffee, alcohol, chocolate, processed foods, soft drinks, fat etc. Lots of fruit, veges, meat, fish, wholegrains etc.

It was actually really nice to go to bed without that heavy feeling after having a chicken salad for dinner. Normally we would follow it up with a dessert or chocolate.
Well anyhow it is Day Two today so fingers crossed it goes as well as yesterday.

The thing I miss most is coffee. :(

3km Time Trial (8km)

I felt great last night thought today would be the day - but alas not to be..

On the warm up with Tesso we saw Spot running past so grabbed him and did the warm up with him on the way out to the start line.
It was very warm and the sun was very hot and bright.

I had on my long skins and they felt really comfy - but very hot so I don't think I will wear them again in a race this summer, will keep them for afterwards.

After the warm up and few strides Pat got us started - without his usual fanfare it was off just like that.

I did the first km in 3:58, then 4:17 and a final 4:10. The legs were going ok and I remember as I was running thinking 'you can't go any faster' but shortly afterwards I backed off the pace a bit and really noticed it.

On the last km I slowed down in the first 500m, got overtaken and then sprinted for a sub 2min last 500m finish.

Overall I did 12:25. I was aiming for 12:10 and was in the condition to do that or better but it just didn't happen. No excuses I just need to do more speed work.
Will focus over the next 3 sessions and do that extra rep instead of slaking off.

It was really hot on the cool down and I was glad I took my water out there with me though next time I think I will freeze it so it is nice and cold. Hot water is gross when you are hot inside too!!

I had a friend come up to me afterwards and question why I want to run long. They suggested that I run short distances really well (ie 100-200m). Yes I can run these distances with really fast people and keep up. At little Aths years ago I even won a few. But how boring....I want to run long and I am not aiming to win, just enjoy and get the most out of the challenge.

Todays failure in the 3km TT, makes me more determined to try to do well in the 5km at BRRC soon. My a goal is Sub 22:00. My b goal is 21:40.

Brisbane Road Runners - Relay

Disappointment, Excitement, Anxiety, Concern, Elation....had it all today.

Dragged Allan (hubby) and Matt (13yo) out to the Road Runners at 5.30am this morning. It was a 21km run with 3 team members each completing a lap of 7km.
I was really excited about having a 'Family Team' until we got there and found out you have to give your 10km times and they allocate you to a team to even out so all teams are due in around the same time.

Shock horror. The look on my sons' face when I told him he would have to run with two strangers :) If I wasn't so disappointed to not be running as a family I would have laughed at his face!!!
I had planned to go out first, then run with Matt for the second loop and Allan would bring it home. Now we were all on different teams. After finding our new team mates I realised it wasn't so bad after all, mainly because I would still be able to run with Matt - who was now doing the third leg for his new team - as I was doing the second leg for our team.

Guess who was in my team??? Fellow CR Runnerbee and none other than the wonderful Jackie Fairweather (Gallagher). Jackie was after a run with other people before heading off to Tokyo for a marathon - hoping to do 2:30 finally for prep for Commonwealth Games. It was very exciting only now my non-serious family run was turning into 'shit claire you better run fast today' type run.

Jackie went out first, quite easily for her - doing 3.40 min kms. She came in second overall and tagged me and off I went - soon to be overtaken by Jackie who was doing the whole 21km with the team - I kept her in sight for about 2km then had to drop back. I managed to do 4:30km most of the way but the 4-5 km was very hard heading towards Southbank.
Finished up my lap with our team now leading by 30 sec. I tagged Brenda who was next/last out and grabbed some water before seeing my sons second team mate come in and tag him.

It was so much fun running with Matty. He was giving it all he had but was doing it tough. In the last km he was wobbling all over and said he was feeling sick. I told him I loved him more that this race was worth and suggested he walk. Nope. Stubborn child. Pushed on and even sprinted at the end. So proud of him I was.
He had overtaken my team and brought his team home in good time.

One of the highlights of the day was when Brenda crossed the line. She was very upset and said "I lost it for us, Im sorry" Jackie immediately went up to her and scolded her. She said 'it is not about winning but about doing your best'. Incidentally Brenda ran her fastest 7km PB time ever today. *cheers* I was so proud of her and very thankful for Jackies praise of her efforts - it really meant a lot coming from an elite runner.

We hung around and watched Allan come in. He did very well too. Flashandy was on his team doing the initial leg and had run first in a time of 25mins (and something sec) so very fast!!!! However their second runner was a bit slower and they fell back on the placings.

All in all it was a good day and lots of fun to mix everyone up like that.

Matty even won the random draw prize. How funny. He had a choice to choose between a water bottle or an envelope. He took the envelope and got a $50 voucher for Run on Down. *claps*

Time to get serious now...3km Time Trial on Tuesday followed by the final Club Championship race on Sunday - 5km. So lots of speed this week.

Regatta Runner Once Again......

Woo Hoo,

In my goal to run Marathons I am slowly increasing my weekly mileage. Today was my first day for many months that I was back with the Regatta Runners.

It felt great to see the old crew again. Most of them I run with on the weekends anyhow but Friday's people like Nat, Grant, Robson and Suzy etc were all there too.

Headed out with the fast runners and started a conversation with Nat. Before I knew it we were at teh 3km mark and I was still in the lead. Woo Hoo.

Chris came up and told me to steady on...that only made me push a bit harder. At the 4km mark we turned around and headed home. Robson was going strong so he came up to me and told me to keep going I was looking strong. I ran with him for another km before pulling in behind him. He slowly increased the distance between us as I dropped a gear and started running 5min kms. We did the first 4 in 4:30min/km then dropped to 5min/km and finally a few even slower km before picking it up again in the last 500m.

I got overtaken with about 1.5km from the end by the guys but managed to stay in front of the girls - with the exception of one really fast one who zipped past me and ran with Robson to the finish.

All in all 40.10 for the 8km circuit so I was happy with that. Next time I will try to run 42 and keep an even 5:30/km pace going. It is meant to be a recovery run before my long run on Saturdays and my speedsessions on Thursday so I can't afford to be doing too fast.

Cant' wait for Tesso to be back in town and on the road again. We have planned to do Regatta every Friday with a Mount Cootha run thrown in for good measure once every three weeks. *gulp*

Gym....again

Gosh two days in a row. Um this could get boring...... :)
Nah seriously it was heaps of fun. Me and LWP decided to skip the speed session with Pat. I tend to push myself in that group (doh - that's the whole idea I know) so thought I would be best at the gym where I could stop/start according to my pain threshold.

Still, as we have a 3K TT next Tuesday I thought I had better do some hard running.

After warming up for 5mins I did 2 x 4min km on the tready. Just have to manage to string one more (and sprint the finish) and I will have my sub 12. Not really thinking it will happen next week but I am certainly hoping to feel good on the day and will give it a shot.

It would be really really exciting and motivating if say someone who had stress fractures and couldn't run was able to come down and cheer us on. And maybe someone with hamstring tears might want to run at a slower pace and cheer me on.... lots of possibilities. That would all be cool *grins*

Gym Gym Gym

Went to the gym today with my new best friend (little white pill) and got into my normal routine.

Not quite 100% pain free - as I was not able to do as much weight on the chest press and still not able to do any pushups but aside from that it was good to feel like I did a workout. Much better than Friday's session which I found really hard.

I am beginning to learn the stretches I do at the end of my weights session is one of the most important things for injury prevention and I look forward to long stretches and feeling more and more flexible each week.

Tuesday's Pain

Today was pain day. It was wonderful seeing Andy again - he has been on a ship over in the middle east serving his country and now he is back again after 6 months.

We warmed up by running out to New Farm then did some strides. Pat announced we would be doing 7x500m reps with 60sec rest. The elites had to do 9x 500m so I felt great that I was not elite today.

On the warm up my ribs had been hurting but I assumed that like last week the pain would subside. However after the second rep my lungs were hurting real bad and the pain was tearing through my right side.
When I went to the Doctors on Monday (I have two broken ribs) he said I could still run and gave me some drugs to help with the pain, though I don't like to take them.

On the fifth rep I was in so much pain I could not breath and my lungs could not get any air in them. I felt like I was being suffocated whilst being stabbed at the same time. It was really scary and even though I was getting air in my lungs it wasn't deep enough and I was starting to feel my body panic.

I walked off and thankfully Scotty came over to the rescue (Tess I think he looks after us well doesn't he.....) and Dan even said he was going to get his ute (promised I could lie in it and he would make an ambulance noise!!) but all I needed was air and the knife from my chest removed. After 10mins I calmed down and the body went into relax mode. I jogged/walked back home with Scotty and then went straight to the chemist and got my Dr. prescript filled.

Am now pain-free and will take one tablet (it is just Panadeine forte) before I go running. The ribs should heal within the next 4-5 weeks and running won't do any further damage but will cause pain.

Damn we runners are one tough breed (quote from Dr!!!!)

Weight Loss

I have been doing a lot of reading lately and thinking about running and my body shape.

Can I just say - Yes I know I am not fat.

However my thoughts have evolved around how changing my body shape may be able to help with my running. As a runner you fall into the trap of overeating by assuming that the higher the mileage the more you can eat! Yes true for calorie count, but the type of food is important too and in my family we all too often tend to eat poor food if I am not cooking. (like pizza on a Wednesday when I have running group and don't get home till after 7.30pm)....

On the coolrunning thread there was a discussion about BMI and running pace with the suggestion being a direct correlation between your personal BMI and your capacity to run faster. The lower the BMI the faster you can run.

So for the month of November I am going on a very strict diet. Okay so a month won't do much but it is long enough to change some bad habits and highlight areas that I might be able to continue. Also any weight loss that may come from this will be highly welcome and I am sure with my increased mileage leading up to Canberra will be easy to maintain.

FRESH Fruit, vegetables, fish, meat, wholegrains, etc etc all the healthy foods. There will be no alcohol, no coffee, no softdrinks, no chocolate, no lollies, no white bread, no cheeses, no refined foods.
I will try to restrict fat intake to 15gms a day but I really have no idea so this will at the very least make sure I think about the food before I eat it (or check labels when shopping).

This sounds just like a healthy diet that we should all be doing (and you may be) but will be very difficult for me. Hence I have put this on my blog. So please feel free to remind me at any time. Additionally if you wonder why I turn down your party invite for a wild night at the local Indian - rest assured it is not your company I am turning down. Just the temptations :)
(ps invites will be accepted in December *grins*)

Slow Speed

After the 25km on Sunday I pulled up with really tight calves and thought I had done an injury - the left calf in particular.

However thanks to Miss Magic-Fingers (Chundachick) I had a brilliant massage on Tuesday and seem to be in excellent shape now. Though damn I didn't realise my ITB was still tight. Hurt like hell!!!!

This morning was a great session. We basically were tapering for the 3km race tomorrow so Pat had us run into New Farm park from Southbank (took 25mins so was a cracking pace) then turned around and met up in the Gardens on the way back to do some strides. Did about 12 of them to loosen the legs.

Finished up and still felt like I had done a decent workout so I was happy with that.

Tag Time

I've been tagged....

CR Blog game:
Here are the rules:
1. Go into your archives.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or the closest one to it)
4. Post the text of your sentence in your blog along with these rules.
5. Tag five other people.

My Sentence : After the speedwork I noticed all the girls had left early for work or other reasons, so I thought I would just walk back but then I fell into pace with Eddie.

This was back in December. A speed session with Pat after a xmas party the night before *groan*. I do recall needing cooldowns after doing this cooldown :)

I now tag Melski, Eddie, Matty, Allyoop and Chelle.

Gloriously Pathetic 25km Championship Run

What a day! I have never laughed so much throughout a run in my whole life. But then again - I have never had everything go so badly either. It was either laugh or cry and I choose laughter :)

I had been psyching up for this run for quite some time now. It is my last hitout at 25km before Kurrawa and I really wanted to see what the legs were capable of.
Tess and I had been discussing it for weeks and already worked out what we hoped to run and what we were going to eat etc.

The day before the race my legs were quite sore from the gym on Friday so I bought a pair of skins and wore them around home. Not the most glamourous look but they felt bloody fantastic.

The night before we got a last minute invite down to the Gold Coast for dinner. One of those ones you can't turn down. So off we went with strict instructions to Allan - we MUST be home early! Yeah right. It was cricket and the tri-nations on their big screens and champagne all round. The worst thing was they had made some Bailey's Creme Brulee and we all had to have some. (the things we do..) my stomach was immediately upset from the cream and I was clock watching so not long after I dragged the family away and headed home for the long drive.

Went straight to sleep and woke up feeling refreshed. Went to the cupboard and found the creamed rice all gone...noooooo. Damn had to have weekbix instead...mmm not a good start.
Got dressed, put on the sunblock and hat and looked outside to see rain pouring down - still! (it had been raining all night). I stood still for 5mins thinking - bed or run. Knowing Tess would be out there made it easier to choose the run so off I went.

Arrived for the 6am start at about 5:15am. Lots of time to ummm sit in the car and watch the pouring rain. Tess and I were going to do our warmup together but by the time we dragged ourselves out of our cars and went to register there was only 8mins left before the race. It was cold and raining and I was very disheartened.

Just before they called us to the start line I put on my fuel belt and ipod. My fuel belt I wear on my hips and boy did it really hurt. I have really bad bruises from the go-karting still and didn't even think of the fuel belt. Oh well I needed my drink so I put it on anyhow and put up with the pain.

We lined up and were all smiles (and groans). The gun went off and Tess and I flew up the street. We were racing away and the pace was really tough. Got to the first km mark and almost laughed aloud. 4:40! It had soooo felt like sub 3mins.

We did the new few in 4:45 - which was our planned pace. At the 4km mark I had to have some drink as I had not picked up some water when we went past. In doing so I put my bottle back in the fuel belt but a bloke came up and yelled at me (ipod = deafness I guess) that I had dropped the bottle. *groan* I turned around and went back for it and told myself the race was over. Shortly afterwards Karen overtook me so I lost a bit more spirit. Tess was still going well and I was cheering her on.

The race was 5 x 5km loops so it was good to pass everyone as you went around. Though the gap between Tess and I widened up sooo much. The rain was still coming down hard and my shoes were soaking wet. On the first loop I think I had hurt my legs by trying to jump around all the puddles and avoid the rivers of water on the road. By the second loop I just waddled right through them - there was not a dry bit on me. I even had to keep ringing out my CR hat and PC singlet as they were heavy with water.

My legs felt great in the skins but my tummy was getting real bad pains. Not too keen on the creme brulee afterall..... I stopped in around 15km to go to the toilet and felt much better after that. Though pulling up the skins was quite a task with them all soaking wet. Nothing was going to go well for me today :) Back on the road and I threw the fuel belt on the table at the water station - it really was hurting. Felt much better to do the next few kms without it. Then just at the 19km my ears started crackling BLOODY HELL I thought my ipod is electrocuting me. I whipped it off and handed it to the nearest marshall (2km later I prayed the guy in the raincoat I gave it to was a marshall or someone just won a free ipod....).
It was weird finishing the last 5km of the race with no music by I could not stop laughing. Here I was struggling to run (it was a nasty sight) with soaking wet clothes, heavy wet shoes, no music or fuel belt and a puky tummy.
Can you believe that despite all of this I was in the zone...none of it mattered. I was really enjoying the run and having everything go wrong.
My planned time of sub 2hrs blew out to 2:10 including my various pit stops.

But you know what - I got out of bed. I ran in the rain and fought all the odds. That's what running is about sometimes. The challenges.
To top of a wonderfully sad run - I won the gold medal for first in my age group. Yahhh.. So did Tess, Hannah and Karen. Well done guys :)

Fingers crossed that it all went wrong in the warmup race and that it all goes smoothly for Kurrawa.

Battered and Bruised

Who would have thought running would help me at work?

I HAD to take some customers to Kingston Raceway yesterday afternoon. I wasn't that keen on it but my guys were so I was enthused enough to warrant a good time.

We got there for 3pm and kicked off with some drinks and nibbles then had a debrief on how to ride the karts. Scary stuff. We did about 8 practise laps each and I was quite slow and very scared as the other karts whizzed past me.

We all re-grouped (there was about 60 of us) and got into our teams of 3. Each driver had to do 8 laps then come in for a pit stop. The pit crew had to count laps, signal the driver in and help him out of the kart (then get in and go do 8 laps). It was so much fun. I had two really really fast guys on my team so they told me to go first and then they would try to make up the difference. Total laps you have to do is 72 (8x3 each).
I got in and they started me up. First lap you have to stay in single file until the green light. Then it was all on. WOW. I didn't realise how much of a competitive spirit I had. A race is a race though and I would not let anyone go past me and hung the corners real tight. Okay so a few got by me on the real hairy curves.
I was going so well and out of the 20 teams we would have come 3rd but came 10th. There was a big collision and I got held up behind them until they cleared.

On my second round of laps I was going down the straight and one of the guys pinged my wheels. I flipped around and another guy behind me t-boned me. The cart was crushed in and I have massive bruises on my hips, back and bruised ribs on my right hand side. But I kept going!! Had an absolute ball but am very stiff this morning. In the gym showers a girl actually commented on my colourful skin. *grins*

Chaff's Session

Phew what a day. It is damn hot out there - well was this morning anyhow. More humid than hot I guess.

We did the warmup and some strides then Pat advised we would be doing:

4mins hard out
30sec jog
2mins harder
30sec standing recovery
- repeat above (ie. go back to the start).

Everyone really busted a gut on the last 2min back to the start but then Pat said - after just arriving - back out again for another 2mins. I turned around at 60sec when it looked like everyone else was doing a 2min out 2min back, please understand I was really dying here. I hated Pat, I hated speedwork and felt quite nauseous - everyone else pushed on for another 10secs or so then turned.
I was first back to base and sprinted (as best I could) up the hill because I knew Pat would make us anyhow when he got there.

Not my favourite session - but certainly sorts the wheat from the chaff. Today I was the Chaff!!

I can't really blame being ironless, as I have been taking supplements for more than a week now. I guess somedays we just don't run according to our own expectations.
I'm glad Tesso wasn't there to see me cut it short. I would have felt real shame then :)

Oh now I remember- I damn well made up for it on the warm down. I stopped for water and half the group kept going. The half behind me don't always do the warm down so they stopped totally. Like a good exhausted runner who wants to improve I waddled off but soon the others had turned and I didn't know where. So I ended up going for another 15mins out to the bridge and back before arriving back at the Ship Inn for drinks.

After my shower I felt sore all over but I knew for sure - I do love Pat (or should I say what he does for me...) and I do love speedwork. Still felt nauseous though :) Going to have to take my own water supply soon it is getting to long between drinks.

30Sec Effort

Pat you are a liar. You can't tell us we are doing 30sec efforts and then pull a few 1mins in there!! That's not fair and my legs can't cope!

Did a nice leisurely warm up of about 3km with the team - though everyone was partnered off and I had no one... Tess hurry up and come back :)
My calves are as thick and tight as a brick. After the warm up I did a few stretches but I suspected DMO from Bribie was starting to happen.

We did 4 x 30sec then 2 x 1min then 2 x 30sec, 3 (?) x 1min and a final 1min - all with jog recovery. I had to pull over in the second lot of 30sec during the jog recovery and stretch the calves. Man they were bound so tight I thought they would snap.

After the session I had an Up n Go. Interesting. Not what I am used to.. but better than waiting an hour before having breakfast.

Got to work and had to walk upstairs. Then back down to get my faxes that had come in overnight OUCH. Calves really hurt then. Now this afternoon they have settled and I am looking forward to a nice soak in my pool tonight I think.

All in all a good session but maybe should not have done speedwork today after Sunday. Oh well...

As Matty said this morning - focus now is building a base for next 4 weeks and remaining injury free. Then 4 weeks of solid speedwork before a taper for Kurrawa. Not that sure if I will taper for it but will certainly not run the day before :)

Photos from Bribie

Don't you just love our party hats~!! and Tesso's Balloons woohoo we had a ball!

Bribie Beach Bash + Suprise Party

Saturday I prepared for the worst - it was going to be a stinking hot day Sunday so I froze my water bottles, picked my shortest running shorts and a singlet that would breath but not get me too burnt. Packed all the sunblock, bathers, sandals etc and made sure I got to bed reasonably early Sat night.

Sunday morning woke up and nearly froze to death! Cold wind had come in overnight.

Arrived at the race on Bribie Island at about 7:10am not the ideal time for someone racing a 15km at 7:30am who hadn't even entered yet. I quickly completed my registration, jogged to the loos and then threw my shoes on before they called us over to the line.

All the runners doing the 30km and the 45km had left already but I was looking forward to seeing them come in as we ran out.

MJ was on the starter gun and we all took off as she said go. It was very sandy and then a narrow bridge/stairs going down onto the beach. I went faster than I was aiming for so I could get in front of everyone and not get stuck at the back. Unfortunately my legs stayed running in that position and for the first 3km I was only 200m behind Lizzle. Then at 3.5km there was a river that you had to cross. Surely not so I started running up the beach trying to find the sandbar that you ran across the river to get to the other side. Ummm there wasn't one. The boys - Glenno, Scotty and Geoff came up and just barrelled through the water. Yikes. So I did the same and then whinged about getting blisters and having to run in heavy wet shoes.

Shortly after this - around 5km I think, we past a herd of the 30kms coming back in - Little Kirloo, Tesso (woohoo first woman), Karen and Nick and loads more. It was fun to high-five them and boost their morale a bit. A bit sad to think they were so close to the finish and we were still on our way out though :(

Up until the turn around I kept with the guys - was almost drafting I suppose as I didn't want to excert the energy required to pass them and was quite happy to tuck in behind. Then I felt my legs ache a bit so I thought I would stride out and ended up going in front. Glenno said 'whoa claire where you going' and I said "home straight boys time to kick in" and then started widening the gap between us. Secretly I was wondering how I would recover from the shame when they just cruised past me towards the end and I think I fixated on this devastating event and incidently kept widening the gap.

When I ran past Nick who was doing the 30km and should never have been anywhere near me (he is fast!) I felt great and knew I could take it home.

Got home as the second female but more importantly - got home in front of the boys :) How good was that?

The rest of the day just went in a blur. As it was also Tesso's suprise party we had to suspiciously organise a load of balloons, champagne, birthday cake and dips and chips. Was quite hard to arrange to bring all the balloons out without her seeing so we made a big announcement as soon as we got them from the car and sang Happy Birthday. She was so suprised (yah) and totally loved her cake - it had all the names of the races she had run in the past twelve months. So cool!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TESSO. I know it was last week but as you were in Sydney we couldn't exactly have a party without you. What a great present to get First place - especially seeing as you did it injured!!

Everyone else went home but Allan and I and the kids decided to stay behind and play cricket on the beach for a few hours. The water was so refreshing but I did jump out when a jellyfish landed on me and refused to go back in....okay it was harmless but if you knew how many bluebottles I popped with my shoes on the run earlier that morning I was still a bit panicky.

Red Rooster for Dinner (OMG I am a glutton) and a long hot bath. What a wonderful, fabulous day :)

FLORADIX...

Thanks for the tip Ally-oop :)

But you could of warned me. Yuk. I thought it would taste like Ribena but no...tastes like medicine.

Big juicy roast last night and beef noodles to be had for lunch today.

Fingers crossed by Sunday I will be able to feel my legs again.

Still managed a decent gym workout this morning. Actually pushed myself harder than normal to see what effect it would have.
I was able to finish all sets/reps but noticed the fatigue kicked in earlier than in the past months.
Also the warm up was the longest 10mins on the elipical machine ever. I thought it was just because of the low iron level so I kept up the pace and refused to give in until the 10mins was up.
I had the music on my ears so when I got off all sweaty (yes after 10mins) I was not suprised to hear the man beside me say "wow you had that machine ticking hard" apparently it was clunking as I pushed harder on it and I didn't feel/hear it...

Note to self - don't overdo it and don't put all the tiredness down to low iron.
I think I will follow this for the rest of the week instead of my normal routine:


Thurs: Gym 90mins
Fri: 8km Regatta Run - slow
Sat: REST DAY
Sun: 15km Beach Race - Bribie Island Bash

3Km Time Trial

Thanks for your kind words everyone - and for Jodi coming on down to cheer me on.

Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be. Did my slowest Time Trial all year today. Am feeling completely gutted but weirdly happy. Jodi said to check my iron levels and you know what - I can't remember the last time I had a piece of meat! Will have to rectify that tonight with a rump steak on the BBQ.

I will skip the Thursday speed session this week but aside from that I don't think it is anything serious. Just tired from a big month in Sept of running/racing.

21st October is a 3km Race on the same course as our Time Trial course. It will be at 6pm instead of 6am and is a race between all the various running groups in Brisbane. Should be fun and I hope to do close to a PB then.

Tomorrows Run

It is Monday night and I am very nervous about tomorrow's run. Nothing special just another 3km Time Trial.

Only this time I think something is really wrong with me. After last Thursdays session (no it wasn't a misprint I really did do 9:40 TankGirl) I felt so dejected. Then on Saturday's long run I could only do 10km before collapsing in a heap. I felt like those people you read about with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Just could not go any further and the whole body was sluggish and totally totally wiped out.

In view of this my dearest husband did what he could and ensured I had a kid free weekend (ok you can return them now whoever has them...) with cheese and wine and 'married peoples moments' with lots of sleep and water and laughs. A perfect weekend - oh except the Cowboys lost.

But tonight here I am going to bed - it IS nearly 8pm and very anxious that tomorrow will just be the same - dead legs.

I am not worried too much about the time but more how I feel. Actually I lie. I do worry about the time. Imagine if I did like waaaaaay longer than what I normally do. How devastating.

Oh well whatever it is I can't solve the problem here. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to report that the weekend worked wonders and I am a renewed woman....HOPEFULLY.

Uggghhh Ugly Session

Nike should have signed me up for their ugly runner because I was certainly running ugly today!

Did 2 x 2km and 1 x 1km with 60sec rest.

During the warm up I decided I was a crap runner and should have stayed in bed. Tess and Liz weren't there and I ran chatting to Ally and Tammy but could barely get my breath. Very unfit. Don't know quite what but I will put it down to too much travel weariness.

Did the strides and then headed out to do first 2km. Felt quite easy but the pace was decent.
8:20 then 60sec rest

The next 2km was absolute chaos. Crap, shite, whatever you want to call it. Ran 9:40 It must have been a hard day for everyone though as I still seemed to be in the same pecking order and was just behind Tim and Michael and in front of Scotty. Very Strange. Maybe the watch was running fast :)

First day since back from injury that I actually wished I had stayed in bed!

Weekend Runs

19km run with the Brissy running buddies yesterday and then a flight to Perth last night.

After a few too many reds with my sister I managed to get out and go for an early morning run still. In fact I ended up doing 16km and feeling fantastic.

What a lovely area in Perth to go jogging along the Shelly foreshore. Totally magnificent.

Will definitely be having tomorrow off!

Pats Running Group

Above is photo I got a walker to take on Thursday of the running group. It is not official because Tess had to run to work and was not able to make it. Plus we had a number of other key absences - Matty and Jodi etc.

Hannah where's my banner?????????

Choc Brownie Run

I'm calling it my Choc Brownie Run because I arrived home with an arm full of Choc brownies - much to the absolute pleasure of my husband.

Dropped my car at the Regatta and met up with Tesso, ran into the Ship Inn at 5km pace...whoa so much for slow long run pace. Felt okay though.

Then Tess and I met up with all the other Running Buddies and we decided to run out to West End Ferry about 10.5km, after that we went into the botannical gardens. We all split up there as most went over the Story Bridge for a longer run.

Tess, Liz and I wanted to run in the shade and as we had been running our long run at 5min pace thereabouts for more than 15km now we were quite knackered. Did another 4km going around the gardens in the lovely shade. It was actually the most pleasant part of the run.

We all arrived back around the same time to the Ship Inn and stopped for breaky. I had a $50 voucher to use up so we all tried to eat as much as possible. Still had $15 left on the Tab when we were leaving and then I spied their brownies...so got them to fill a takeaway container for me. I have to admit to having half of one this afternoon - very rich but most delectable. Tess definitely have to try one of them on our next night out!!

Off to jump on the plane now to go to Perth. Another Business Trip. Hope Eagles win today (its half time now and 10 points down) that way tomorrow night will be a good night out *grins*

Nearly pee'd my pants

This morning was a hard session, as soon as Pat said where we had to run I knew it was going to be hard. Spew Session.

2.5mins out, turn around 2.5mins back THEN REPEAT

I raced out on the first one and came home strong as well. I was really happy but at almost spew level, then got caught up in the crowd and bikes on the second one so didnt' get as far before having to turn around though I worked it coming home.

After we finished we went to the Goodwill bridge and did 8 hill repeats *groan*
Sprinted up the hill then jog down. I was really suprised by how fantastic I was going up the hills. In front of Jan and all the other girls and even managed to catch Jonesy (really fast runner) on some of them.
Today I was trying to focus on not slowing down so much in my recovery. It worked and I was really pleased with myself though on the last rep we had to go over the bridge and Pat was on my shoulder yelling to keep it going the whole way. I pulled in everyone except a small few and was the first woman back to base but damn if I didn't nearly pee myself running that hard!!!! First time I can recall bending over and wanting to vomit on a speed session.

On our warm down after that we had to run past a camera and crowds...oh it was Channel 7 Sunrise. Yah I got on TV today all hot and sweaty! Cool! You should have seen the camera zoom in as soon as they heard the Deputy Premier Anna Bligh was coming up right behind me!!!!!! Thankfully she had pulled out of the warmdown and was waiting back at base for the cold drinks and pineapple Pat always dishes out.

Thanks thanks thanks thanks

Thanks to all those who have put comments on my blogs, sent me SMS or emails. It really means a lot. It's great to have you all as supporters and friends.

*big kisses and hugs*

BOTANICAL GARDENS SPEEDWORK

Despite there being a team of Boot Campers in the gardens this morning Pat decided that was exactly where we were going to run today.

It was fun to see everyone again - Tesso back on board now. However there are still a few familiar faces that are not there. Chelle, MJ, Matty and Jodi were all absent.

We did the 2mins on 30sec run recovery lapping around the gardens with the heave-ho over the bark path. I like this run only as it is different to everywhere else that we run. I started slowish and then picked up the pace to run with Jan for a few laps but she left me for dead on the fourth one and on the second last one I got lapped by the fast guys! how dismal. :( Each time one went past me I picked up the pace so I think overall they actually helped me do better and remain consistent.
Was good to hear Slash say at the end that he had to work hard to reel me in and go past...that's what I like to hear.

Most exciting news today was that everyone seems to be pairing up for Kurrawa. this is truly going to be a great race with so many competitors and familiar faces.
Will have to start training seriously in October. Next couple of weeks I am out to Perth again and have other work n weekend committments. Good to have a bit of a relaxed time before building up in the heat anyhow.

Best Day of the Year

Today I have finally achieved all my 2005 Running Goals that I set at the beginning of the year.

Yes at long bloody last I did my sub 45min 10km. Ran 44:50 this morning and was *still am* absolutely over the moon about it.

I went out way too fast and feel that overall this resulted in a slower finish time so I will have to work on diff race techniques.
Got to the 2km marker in 8:33, then I ran some consistent 4:30min/km with a 4:47 blowing me out of the water. Must have been around the 6km mark as I was fading then.

During the race we actually ran through the finish line of the Brisbane Road Runners who had their 14km Championships on today. So there was a decent crowd there cheering us on as we went up the street, then turned and came back. Was bloody fantastic to see all my mates there cheering and yelling and offering me lollipops *grins*

After passing them for the second time on the way home I looked at the watch and thought I had lost all chances of a good time so I just settled into an even pace and kept going. Then at the 8km mark I snapped out of it and said...you can do this just pretend it is time trial. So I did. I saw the 9km mark on the road and looked at the watch it said 40:34... I had exactly 4:26 to fnish it off and I thought I could do it. Then 50m down the road was the REAL 9km hat and sign. DAMMIT. So I pulled out of 4th gear and went into 5th and chugged along. Hearing the finish was good and then seeing my family spurred me on.
Tess and Ciaran were on the final bend and yelling out support so I hot footed it to the finish. Clock said 44:53 but I get to knock 3sec off as I didn't start on the line. Cool.

Tess raced up to the finish and as soon as I saw her I realised I had made it and started crying.Yes, I was a big baby and had a sook at the finish. Waited so long for this and I honestly was thinking my 10km's were cursed.

Now I am just happy and glad that it is behind me. More races to focus on and hopefully that is the last 10km one this year. Onto bigger and longer stuff now I hope. 25km Championships in a few weeks which will be good training for Kurrawa.

GYM

Been doing hard workouts at the gym both Wednesday and today.

Wednesday was great - I started doing my warm up on the eliptical machine and the ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ Tri was on TV. It was so engrossing I think I spent more time warming up than the weights. And how funny, as they showed the running and were commentating on the efforts of Craig and other Aussies, I was subsconciously going faster and faster on the damn machine!!

Today nothing exciting was on any of the 8 TVs! Horse jumping on Fox Sports can you imagine! Riveting...oh well at least I got to concentrate on my weights.

Getting quite comfortable with the pushups and bench presss now. Can easily do 30 pushups (yes Man ones Matty!) and doing 30kg is too easy on the bench press so will lift this to 35kg for a week and see how it goes.

One bad thing about this morning - I hoped on the tready for the first time in months to do a 10min run at 4:30 on a 2 incline. I want to run 45min for 10km and this is the pace I have to run at. It was damn hard. By the end I was comfortable but the first 3mins was shocking. I was gasping for breath and my legs were like lead. Looks like it might be a year or 10 before I get my goal :( I certainly cant imagine sustaining that pace for 10kms.....

FARTLEK

Great session this morning - hundreds of people turned out. I think all we were missing was Tesso and Jodi.

Mikado was there - still going strong despite his 3:31 marathon at Sydney.

We ran out to New Farm and did 60sec on 60sec off, 30sec on 30sec off, 15sec on 15sec off - a good hitout before a 10km race Pat said.

I love this session but it is very hard. I think I love it because it was the one session I turned up to Pat's for when I had bad ITB and I jogged on the grass alongside everyone else. I remember wanting so badly to be able to run fast so now whenever we have that session I recall not being able to run and it spurs me on.

Despite that I still felt like I slowed in the second last one today. My 30s and 15s are always powerful but the 60sec is where I tend to get overtaken by others. Might need to work on that.

Was great to then do the warmdown with Liz - who is doing really well at the moment and has her 10km time down to 42min. So running back with her we both pushed each other and kept the pace over the 3km very steady and didn't slow on the bridge (hill) either.

Jo is off to the Berlin Marathon tomorrow so we all said goodbye and goodluck. Amazing. I would love to do one International run each year. mmm what one to do first??? Has anyone done one that they would recommend?

Hilly Speed Session

Had a ghost session at Pats this morning - only 16 of us turned up!

Big weekend with Sydney, Glasshouse and 10km Womens Race so no suprise today was a bit light on.

Pat had a suprise all ready for us - a hill session. Said it was best to get us into shape for Sundays 10k race. We headed out to the Gardens to find Pat had paced out a much much longer route. This one took in two hills and had us running on the path around the gardens with only two rests as we descended each hill followed by sprints and a charge up the hill. Due to the size of the group I actually had the pleasure (??) of Pat running on my shoulder pushing me hard up a few of the hills and yelling out to me when he wasn't running with me. Made a big difference when charging up the hills to have his support and dig deep for that bit more of an effort.

Today was great. The legs felt good and I seem to have lost the 'lead feeling' that they have had for the past week. This was a good session but like all others, once it is over I wish I had gone even harder...
I ran hard but rested on the downhills a bit more than the others so I have to work on not slowing so much on my recoveries (how do you guys do that???)

Slowest Speed Session

As I sit typing this my whole body is aching. My back is sore, my legs are throbbing and my arms are tired.

This morning I was very motivated and keen to get out of bed but had to move very slowly as my body had seized up.

I did a very hard session in the gym yesterday trying to do lots of arm and back weights but then followed it up with some legs as well so ended up doing the whole body. I can now do 30 'men' pushups but my shoulder blades are feeling it.

So whilst I turned up to this mornings speed session I had no intentions of going fast. We did 4 x 2min with 40sec rest and then a 1km run which we had to guess what our time would be. I guessed 4:40 and did 4:30 (funny that after the session it actually felt like I was running at 5:00 pace even!!).
Liz was busting a gut and did really well on the 2min efforts, Tesso was running with me as she is on her marathon taper now. Don't know how she does it but with the 1km run she was only 4 sec off her time. Good pacer!

I think the 25km on Sunday and Tuesdays speed session is catching up with me. Will be resting tomorrow with just a few light weights at the gym and an easy long run by myself down on the coast.

Thinking of you Tesso and all the other Sydney runners this weekend. Have fun, enjoy it and remember - Pain is just weakness leaving the body.

3 Km Time Trial

That time of month again - first Tuesday of the month.

After the 25km on Sunday I honestly didn't think I would be up for much. However thinking that took all the pressure off me and I was keen to get out there and just do what I could.

Matty was pacing Jan to a sub 12 so I followed them out but it felt way fast. We got to 500m at 1:45 and I knew I had blown my chance of sub 12. I slowed a bit and turned at the 1km mark trying to be strong on the second km.

I got halfway and felt ok. I certainly felt strong out there so I was happy with that. Disappointed that Tess wasn't running fast as it is always a good feeling to have the people just in front to target and follow.

On the second lap Nicky overtook me but I let her go, I knew I would come home strong and I did. Last km was in 3:54 and I busted a gut to get her before the finish line.

Final time: 12:05 my second best ever. Just short of my 11.59 PB by 6 secs. Gotta be happy with that. For all you ITB suffer's out there - one thing to note. When you do come back...you come back mentally tougher because YOU REALLY WANT TO RUN!!!!

Little Girl now Big Girl

What a night! My beautiful Ash with her dad all dressed up - I swear it was like being in a room full of mini-brides.
I wore a jade chinese dress with a sexy slit up the side but as the slit kept going during the night and became an embarressment you won't see any photos of me!!!

Happy Fathers Day!!

Wow, I don't think I have ever lasted so long on sleep deprivation.

Wed Thur nights this week studying meant 5hour sleeps, Friday night out drinking with other CRs and up early to go back into the city and get my car meant 6hr sleep and last night at my daughters deb ball backed up by a 25km run this morning meant 4hrs sleep.
I am a definite 8hr a night MUST girl so I have been a basket case since Thursday. Thankfully my darling husband has grinned and beared it.

To return the favour I drove him up to the Sunshine Coast after my race and we had a delightful lunch on the water with the kids followed by scrummy italian gelato and a walk on the beach (heaven for my tired feet!!)

The drive home was a bit testy with him chatting to me the whole way to keep me awake and alert. We got home around 4pm and I crashed for an hour. Total zombie.



This mornings run was a total suprise. After such little planning and my lack of sleep I decided to do as many of the 5km laps as I could and would be happy to just get past 10km. Then they announced it would be 3km laps instead and I started to head off to the car but Hannah hold me back! *grins* It was great to have another runner as anxious about the run as I was.

The first lap was ok, the music on my ipod was shite so I was fiddling with it most of the way. By the second lap I had got into a good pace. I had decided to record my time of the whole loop as opposed to km markings. So thinking it was a 3km loop I was doing 15:30 and told myself - that was my planned 5:10 pace. I found out later the course was longer by 150-200m each loop so we ended up running 26.2km according to everyones garmin. Hence I feel better now as I was dismayed that 5:10 pace felt so fast but in actual fact it would have been less than that pace so I can accept that now.

Was so good to see Tesso at the water station each lap and then at the finish line on the last few laps and when I came in. She was so happy for me. I crossed in second place for females and more excitingly I did a great time I was happy with.
I discounted the clock time as I had to stop after the 3rd lap and use the toilet but I also paused my watch so personally I have down 2:07:10 the clock was just over 2:10 I think. Not bad for a 26.2km run.

The best thing is that I am feeling really good now in the legs, not too sore and no swelling so fingers crossed!! I JUST NEED SLEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bad news is - I do believe I blew the chance for a decent run on Tuesday at the 3km time trial. Oh well.....the things we do!!

Tesso Eviction

Because she can run faster and better and further than me I have decided to evict Tesso from my blog.

Nah seriously, young Tesso has finally agreed to start posting on her blog. I am dead keen to learn all her secrets and after her recent attempts here where she was warmly welcomed I think it will be a great blog. Way to go Tess.

This morning I woke up and felt fantastic. Very tired but the legs were not sore at all - suprising after all the hills on Sunday.

After a quick warm up I was reading for some 500's. Todays session was 6 x 500 and 1 x 1km. I started out okay, bit disappointed with how I felt but able to maintain Tess and Tori in my view. Then the wheels fell off after the fourth one and I hit the wall (yes it happened in a set of 500's!!!). Splits are below and this will illustrate my wonderful fall from grace (or is that speed??) :

1:50
1:50
1:55
1:57
2:10
2:07
4:20 (1km)

My legs never recovered and I think Sunday was catching up with me. Either that or I just can't run fast :(

Anyhow worse news to come - Pat has upped his charges and I'm pissed off. I know he is doing it to be flexible to all the people who are injured or sick. Hence he has developed a flexible charge - $50 for 8 sessions. You only cross a session off if you show. Hence once a week for 8 weeks or twice a week for 4 weeks etc etc.
At the moment it was a flat monthly charge and if you didn't make it, you didn't get any bonus or refund. Which I thought was ok to a point. If you were off for the full month it would be fair to just extend for another month.
Then Pat announced that he would be charging additional for his program - $30. So all up if you want a program and attend his sessions it is $80 a month. I love his sessions and will continue going, the people are wonderful and I feel so good and improve heaps doing this speedwork. However I think I will have to turn to my trusty CR friends for help on doing a program for all the non-running days.

mmmmm maybe I just wait to read Tesso's new blog and copy her :)

Back in Hometown

Isn't it the bestest thing to get back home and sleep in your own bed? Oh well that is if you can sleep!! I got in after 1am and had to be at work at 6am this morning. So I am a little bleary eyed today.

Had a great time yesterday in the Perth City to Surf. There were SO MANY people! Amazing. I got up the frontish before the start and met up with Spot - which was just great to see a familiar face among the crowd. The run itself was good and I will be keen to do it again next year though I did nowhere near what I had hoped for. It was raining hard the whole way and my clothes were soaked through but I was still smiling.

I went out hard and was doing a good pace going up all the hills but at the 8km mark I dropped to over 5min/km and was hard pressed to keep my legs going. I was really enjoying the crowd and listening to my music but the damage was done and I was just wanting to finish.
The finish is on an oval and I heard/saw the finish line just after the 11km mark. I pulled up a gear and ran for it, though I didn't realise you had to run AROUND the oval to get to the finish line so I ended up having to sustain my sprint finish for nearly a km!!! Nearly killed me. Did last km in 3:54 which I was happy with, even if it felt like 2:54. :)

Spot was waiting for me at the finish, he didn't do as well as he hoped (he had just won a 100km relay event a few days before!!!) and said the course was tougher and hillier than he thought, so that made me feel better about my 56min time.

The medallions were fantastic and I cheekily wore mine home on the plane. My beautiful neice saw it and decided I had come second (it was silver) so I gave her an extra hug before I left.

BIG DAY OUT

An exciting day all round. Woke up to sneak out of My sisters house for my first run of the week only to get a fright when i found my room and hallway full of balloons!! how magical!

Set out for a slow jog and it felt great, leg was going well and the cold air was refreshing.

Only did 30mins but at least I know tomorrow won't kill me. I'll take it easy n enjoy it but still hoping for sub 60!

Can't wait to finish and head on home to Brissy....

Back in the Swing

Tesso here ....

With 90 mins on the pgm yesterday I thought I'd put in an easy hour before taking the Intraining Beginners (aka School Of Pain). Had some music on the iPod just perfect for a cruisey run, "The Late Great Daniel Johnston - Discovered Covered" a compilation of some of Daniel's originals and cover versions of the same songs by the likes of Beck, Tom Waits, Bright Eyes and others. Oh, and he's not late, but he is great! Bumped into Langy and Melissa on the bike path and enjoyed the chance for a wee break to have a chat.

Had to cut School of Pain 5 or 10 minutes short as most of the group were attending a nutrition seminar after the class so I told them we'd be pushing it a bit harder as a result. I got them to do 8 x 30 secs fast/30 secs jog, then 4 x 1 min fast/30 sec jog. Tee hee, couldn't resist doing a 'Pat' on them and making that final 1 min a 1 1/2 min effort. We had a little time remaining so put it to the vote, more 30 sec efforts or some hill reps. Unbelievably they chose the hills! With a restricted timeframe there was not as much standing around as usual so it was a hard session for them. Oh, and a rather quiet one too without my trusty co-coach Clairie :-)

With less than 12 hours to recover the legs were actually a little sore for Pat's this morning (must start having a protein bar after Wednesday night sessions I think). It was a toughy, after a long warm up we had to do two lots of '2 mins fast, 30 sec jog, 1 min fast, 30 sec jog, 2 mins fast, 30 sec jog' and then a fast five minutes which ended at the amphitheatre in the Gardens and a killer sprint up the hill. Not my favourite session, but certainly my favourite location to train .... well, except for that little hill at the end maybe.

It was a smaller group than normal this morning. Quite a few people are out with colds and flu, and a couple are injured. And of course Clairie is on the other side of the country. Michelle was along so got to talk about all the fun of C2S. It was great to catch up with V, fresh back from her 3rd placing in Noumea Marathon, and good to see Glenda looking so sharp before this weekend's Australian Cross Country Champs in Adelaide. Gosh, we get to mix it with the best people!

After being out of action its good to have a few solid days of training under the belt. The dreaded lurgey has all but gone, so feeling almost normal again ... if you called knackered normal.

Perth

Perth gal here. Damn Noosa run made my bung knee come back worse than ever. I have spent last two days downing anti-inflamms and limping from meeting to meeting. Not a good look in the corporate head office.

My right knee is swollen but it is just fluid on the knee so I have my fingers crossed that it will go down before Sunday. I need to find a sports physician who specialises in Bakers Cysts so I can get this resolved once and for all.

So to answer your question Tess - I have done no runs at all in the last two days.

I was hoping to get out and meet Spot tonight at the WAMC (West Aust Marathon Club) but am still barely walking so won't be risking a run tonight.

Is it all worth it? Was one run worth limping around for 5 days and suffering bad stomach ache from a 4-day course of NSAIDs? yes!! I still remember my own personal disbelief on Sunday when I come in under my goal target. What an amazing feeling.

Hope the school of pain doesn't slack off too much without me there tonight! Make them do 60mins of hill reps Tess hee hee

Tesso here .....

After being confined to quarters all weekend with a bad headcold I felt like I was finally on the improve and last night decided I'd be running this morn. Had planned just to do my own thing but couldn't resist heading to Pat's session to catch up with the gang. I knew many would be taking it easy after their fantastic runs at Noosa so there'd be very little temptation to overdo it. Another reason to go was to drop off some entries for the Intraining Women's Run on September 11th and see if Pat wanted to get a group of guys together to man a water station. Chris (from Intraining) is offering a carton of beer to the best water stop, voting to be done by all the women post race. So hopefully some of Pat's guys will be keen, though they're gonna have some tough competition from the boys from the Brisbane Running Buddies, they've got something pretty special planned.

Anyway, its wierd, but you'd think that after four days of no running the legs would feel rested, but on the contrary, they felt kinda stiff and sore. Not far into the warm-up to the Story Bridge they started to feel normal again.

On the pgm was 1 minute efforts. Guess I was going at about 80%, I didn't want to push it too much. We did six of these, with a 45 second standing recovery. To finish off Pat said we could do a 3 or a 2 minute effort, 3 mins for those who didn't race on the weekend, and 2 mins for those who did. Hmmm, what to do. Started running with a group who stopped at 2 mins but I felt good so forged on. Was gonna do 3 mins but I reached Langy (also suffered the dreaded lurgy on the weekend) so stopped where he had stopped.

As always a good session. Best of all was seeing everyone and hearing all the Noosa stories, not just about the race but everything from the drive up and the pre race dinners to the ice cream stops on the way home.

Matty and Jodie are still grinning from ear to ear. And it was great to see MJ at Pat's again, after all those weeks off with her back injury. Missing in action though were Chelle (you can read her blog for her excuse .... and a laugh) and Clairie. Clairie's over in the wild west working. And still smiling I bet after her great PB on the weekend :-) Just hope she's not too busy to do a few runs there this week in the lead up to the Perth City to Surf on Sunday.

Noosa

Firstly, thanks for all your comments and support. Tess, just wasn't the same without you. There was no-one waiting for me at the finish line to jump for joy with me! Fancy that!!

I went through so much pain today, a sore gut, blisters and lots of mental anguish. Today is the first time that I have felt, well if I can't meet my goal time then I might as well walk. I can't believe how disheartened I got in the 15th km. I had been about 30-40secs in front of the 1:40 pacing group but it was around here that the leader pacer got me and went in front. It was a mental thing that I had to get over and hearing Tess's voice in my head got me over it. But I have to say it was hard and I fought all my demons to get over the line.

It is easy to say 'great run' when you do a pb - and I did mine by 6min 20sec, but during the run if you had spoken to me I would have broken down in pieces I was feeling that bad at times. I truly believe running is all in the mind now. I didn't feel my gut or my blisters as much as the thoughts running through my head that I hadn't worked hard enough at training or how disappointed people will be if I don't run well etc. A very enlightening day.

Anyway gotta fly. literally. Off to perth in about oooh 40mins. :)

Watch This Space

Tesso here ....

Just wait till you all hear how Clairie did today! I'll let her tell you.

I'm excited :-)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSAAAAAAAAA

BRING IT ON

Takin' It Easy (ish)

Tesso here .....

Wasn't feeling 100% when I woke up Thursday, sort of verging on fluey but not really that bad. The scheduled session was one of my favourites, just some short reps, so I didn't want to skip it.

The warm-up was out to under the Story Bridge. I sensed Clairie was on fire when in the 3k or so warmup she shot ahead with Tori and Allison and the three of them were almost out of sight of the rest of the pack!

Pat told us it was going to be an easy session, just basically get the legs moving fast in the lead up to Noosa. We started with 4 x 1 min, with a Pat type 30 second rest. Just quietly I think we all need to pitch in and buy him a new watch. On the second rep Clairie and Rent Boy were battling it out, and there was a fair bit of argy bargy going on. What a laugh! Jan called out to them that they were behaving like triathletes. But Clairie was able to hang in there with him, with Lizzle and I chasing in vain - they got further and further away from us. On the fourth one Scotty joined in the battle, and again Clairie was able to keep up with them. Gosh, I'd love to have some of that speed. I think she has those boys worried!

After the 1 min reps we cruised on over to the floating walkway to do some 30 second efforts. These are great, you just bust a gut for 30 secs and its over before you know ... well, almost. As I said this is one of my fave sessions, but also one I find a little frustrating as I rarely keep up with those I can normally keep up with or finish in front of in the longer stuff.

Warmed down back to the Ship Inn where Pat supplied for our usual treat of watermelon and pineapple. And mini Crunchies .... arrggghhhh! I had to turn my back and not look at them. And as hard as he tried Langy couldn't convince us girls of the zero calorie content.

Anyway, another great session. No matter how you feel before it starts, why do you always feel so much better afterwards?

There are a few pre-race nerves in the group with Noosa Half/10k/5k just a few days away, lots of PBs on the cards for sure. And after seeing her in action yesterday I reckon my co-blogger is in for a big one :-)

Wednesday Run

Public Holiday today - Show Day.

So what do all good runners do on a holiday? Turn it into a run day....with breakfast to boot :)

Headed out from the regatta with Hubby in tow. I got to the 2km mark and my right knee was quite sore. Allan has a viral infection as well so at the 3km mark we turned around and waved goodbye to all the others who were setting off to do longer runs.

Tesso ended up doing around 25km!!! No wonder she is the State Champion.

Her first 10-15km were at 5:10 pace as her and Liz were practising for their role as Official Noosa Pacers for Pat Carroll (1:50 goal). I wish I was running with them, they are going to have so much fun.

On the way back to the Regatta my knee totally gave way and I was in immense pain. I have no idea what has happened to it and am a bit concerned. At this stage, nothing will stop me running Noosa but to err on caution I have begun NSAID course and am icing and stretching religiously. It is not ITB but a very sharp pain at the front bottom of my knee..... any ideas?

**********HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU PAT CARROLL**********

TUESDAYS EFFORT

Contrary to many others I really like this session. It is a good teller as to how you are going and what you can expect from the 3k TT.

We did 2 x 2km and then 1 x 1km.

Normally I would go hard to see what I could do and try to do it as close to 8mins as poss for the 2kms then a 4min for the final km.

Today though, with Noosa beckoning and me feeling like I didn't want to be there (I can't wait for summer) I decided to stick with Ciaran who was practicising his pacing for Noosa. We are running together so today was 4:44 per km pace.

The first km we did in 4:10, then the second. I kept yelling at him to slow down but I don't know why I didn't. Then I stopped to rest but he kept going to work it out, no doubt being frustrated with his pacing efforts.

Again I set off to do another 2km. This was much closer to target (4:30/km) but my legs were tired now and I have big doubts about my goal time at Noosa because of this session. I found it hard to do 4:44 when everyone around me was going so fast but yet I also felt like I was doing more effort than the time was indicating.

Poor Ciaran, as he has the flu I am not sure how he is going to go in his role as official pacer at Noosa. Get better mate and rest up until Sunday. Garmin can pace for us :)

Banjo Player in the Big Smoke

Tesso here with my first ever real contribution to the 'Clairie & Tesso in Bris Vegas' blog .....


Saturday 13 Aug

Well Sydney might have been sunny but it sure was chilly. Worried that just a jumper and a windcheater weren't enough to keep me warm waiting for the start of the City to Surf I scrounged around the Glebe markets Saturday morn and found myself a $5 ski jacket which just happened to be CR blue :-)

Headed down to the bay mid afternoon for a liesurely 9k run with JD. Hmmm, not too many runners around, must all be saving themselves for the big one the next day. Ha, Sydneysiders are soft ;-)

Had a great dinner out at No Name at Leichhardt, plenty of food (minestrone, bread, potato wedges, steamed veges .... er, better stop there) and a glass or six of red. Fuelled up!


Sunday 14 Aug

Race morning didn't seem quite as cold, maybe it was just the ski jacket. I was expecting crowds at the start line though when we got there around 7.15 we found ourselves basically one row back from the barricade. There was a great little pack of Sydney CRs plus Miners and I. We had lots of laughs admiring eachothers throwaway gear. Marty, clearly jealous of my jacket, told me I looked like the best dressed homeless person in Sydney :-) Me, I had my eye on ORunner's sweater and seriously contemplated snaffling it when he tossed it and racing with around my waist.

My teammate Karisma turned up but with a few minutes to go decided to move back a few meters and start with Aunty K and crew. I thought I'd brave it with the fast guys.

Didn't seem too long before we were moving forward waiting for the gun to go. Flying down William St I couldn't resist the urge to look back over my shoulder at the crowd behind - what an awesome sight!

I missed a few of the km markers so wasn't sure of my pace. I thought briefly about chasing Dash but glad I didn't, he took off like it was a 100 meter sprint! I knew Flashduck had a similar goal as mine so I tried to keep her within reach and finally caught up with her at the top of Heartbreak Hill.

Over halfway now which was a good feeling, and it didn't seem too long before the 10 marker loomed - I think it was 46:40 or thereabouts and I figured bloody Chris (my mate from the Regatta Runners) would probably be close to finishing. I was right, he ran 47:50!

It was so exciting when the CR cheersquad came into sight (JD, Superflake, Gronk), I knew exactly where they'd be but still had been looking out for them for the past 5 minutes.

I had a great final km, wasn't really sure I'd break 65 mins even until I rounded that bend and hit the finish straight so was pretty happy to see the clock on 63 something! My card said 63:30 though my watch was 63:38 - but I'll take the official time thanks ;-)

Grabbed my gear and headed up the road to join the cheersquad for a while. It was fantastic to see Lucklylegs coming in, surrounded by people probably a third of her age .... and passing some of them I might add. What a legend! We gave her a huge cheer but she was so 'in the zone' she missed us.

The session at the pub was so much fun, the room was a sea of blue and yellow. Hadn't eaten since pre race (where I ate Bernie G's muesli bar that Blue Dog had given me, finished it just as she was asking for it - I thought it was his!) so headed off to pizza and dessert with JD, Aunty K, Truckie, Owly, Wobbly, Blue Dog and Bernie. Topped it at Owly's place drinking hot tea and listening to her upstairs neighbours.

All in all a great weekend. Already thinking about 2006 where the goal is sub 62. Should be do-able with a few more Mt Coot-thas in the months before .... and a few less red wines on the night before.

Oh, and Clairie WILL be there next year!!!!!

Sunday Run

Got a late call to head down the coast to watch the Bledisloe Cup with some friends. It was a late night so we stayed down there at the unit. Meant missing out on BRRC 10Miler this morning, which in hindsight was probably good but at the time I was very disappointed.

Headed out for a run to compensate around Southport but after 4km I was in all sorts of pain. My legs were hurting, tired and I just could not get moving. I called it quits after 10km with an overall pace of 5min/km. How on earth am I going to try for 1:45 at Noosa next Sunday?????

Tess you are a legend. Great run today and I look forward to your blog post.

Rest Day

Today is a rest day, normally I do a hard gym session but I took Allan to the gym last night instead of our usual Thursday night 'date night'. It was fun doing it together but even funnier to watch him on the ecliptical (?) machine.

Got massage booked in for tonight and going to play with Tesso's garmin (whilst she is away) on my Saturday run.

Got a 10Miler race at Bris Road Runners on Sunday...should be fun but won't be the same without Tesso.

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE RUNNING IN THE SYDNEY CITY TO SURF. REMEMBER TO ENJOY THE MOMENT - oh yeah and have a drink for me at the end :)

10 TURNS TO 5

I felt like shit today. Ran like shit and had heavy legs. However looking back over previous weeks (even BI - before injury) I see that Thursday speed session is always a hard one for me. It is at the end of the week, I am tired from late TV wed night and hard working all week, plus my weekly training up till then is pretty intense. So sooner or later something is going to give.

Anyhow no excuses - at the end of the day it is DAMN FANTASTICto be running injury free no matter how tired, or slow I feel.

We warmed up then did 5 mins fast turned around and ran 5 mins fast back to the starting point.

Meant to have 60sec rest before sprinting out again (only managed 40sec) but this time Pat turned us around after 2.5mins. At the end of that we had to run up the big grassy hill and collapse.

A very long warmdown with Flash - so at fast pace - was in store for me. Liz did hers with Phil so we both finished totally exhausted and unable to hold up a conversation very well.

I guess that's why we love running....the exhaustion!

Gym and School of Pain

Went to the gym this morning. Everything hurt.

My whole body is tired yet I had a great sleep last night. Had the window wide open and got the fresh cold air blowing in whilst I huddled under the doona. Lovely.

Not looking forward to school of pain, mainly because I have tired legs, but I am sure by 6pm I will be firing on all cylinders. Doesn't help that I have 30 hours of work to get done today before I leave *sigh*

I knew the day was going to be terrible when I got out of the shower at the gym and found my bra didn't match my knickers *shock* Sorry Mum :)

Hill Repeats

Wow Tesso if that is you going slow then I'd hate to see you on a week when you are going fast and not got so many miles in the leg!!!

Got the to the gardens on a lovely warm up this morning, I really enjoy going over the Victoria Bridge, nice views and good paths all the way.
Everyone was talking about Bridge to Brisbane and it was good to hear all the good reports on everyone's efforts.

I said I was going to take it easy today - my quads are still sore (they are never sore) so I assume that is my body telling me to watch out. I have been ramping the mileage up totally ignoring the 10% rule so today I played it safe. Well that was the plan. However Tess then said she was going to run with me and I am sure on each lap she was going faster and pushing me that little bit further.
She is amazingly strong on the downhills no matter how hard she goes on the uphill so it was interesting to keep up with her today. Hopefully I picked up a few tips.

I say it often and I will say it again, I have so much respect for Tess as a runner. She puts in all the hard efforts and long kms and it always there with an ear to listen and offer advise. Tess I wish you all the best on Sunday at the Sydney City to Surf, we'll be thinking of you. I was going to say to rest up for it on Saturday but one thing I have noticed with your running is that you bounce back very very quickly from high mileage. Each time you do a 30km+ training run you then pull a pb or do really well in the days to follow...mmmm might have to try that one day.

Myself - I think I take a lot longer to recover, but that's okay I'm still learning :)

I was steady up the last hill on the bridge this morning watching Tess and others fly off into the sunrise but at the top some of the others starting slowing down and pulling up preparing to finish, I kept the legs turning and managed to pass a few on the downhill. That is the first time I have done that so I was happy with the session.

Another bloody cold shower at Southbank so I was shivering all the way to work!!!

Clairie the Elite Runner

It was my intention to run from the finish of the Bridge to Brisbane to the Regatta for breaky but it turned out that we drove to breaky and after cooling down I didn't feel like a long run. I had a sore blistered toe that was bothering me too.

After breaky we went home, then showered and headed out for some shopping. Got home and made hubby lunch then decided to go and do a run now at 2pm before lunch (to see if no fuel would be good). It was great that Tesso had loaned me her Garmin 201 Forerunner so I had a new toy to play with.

Off I set and the first km I kept thinking "WTF are you doing??" My foot was sore, my quads were sore, my left calf was tight and I had a headache. But after two massive hills they all got sorted out and I was flying along. The garmin kept saying different paces and I was always looking at it - very distracting but took the mind of the pain.

I stopped for a drink at 4:85km at a park and then started up a steep hill on the way home. I decided I was not up to 15km so would just circle the golf club and go home.

At around 7km I had a brain meltdown. I felt strong, legs were ticking over and breathing was well under control. It was hot and I was very sweaty. I felt alive and exhausted. This is what elite athletes do. Run twice a day, put their bodies through extreme measures to fine tune their systems. I was telling myself this would make me a better runner to copy what the elites do...and I felt my body get a resurgence of strength just thinking about it. Though at the same time, I think it was because the planned 15km had been cut short to 11km and I was happy to be on the home stretch.

To entice me to run fast I had my fuel belt on with 3 square of cadbury dairy milk tucked away. I told myself I could eat them when I got to the school oval (approx 8.5km). After finally getting there with a teeny show of a shuffle towards the end I devoured my squares and drank a gallon of water. Did a few stretches and then headed off for home with 2.5km to go. The last km to home is very hilly but I think this was better for my legs at this stage than just running on the flat.

I got home and was in loads of pain. I took my shoes and socks and Garmin off and hopped in the pool. Blimey! 16oC!!! The pain immediately went away and was replaced with numbness. I stayed in for 4mins - the longest I could bear and jumped out for a hot shower.

The little blister I had earlier had now progressed to a 10cent blood blister (covering my whole big tow) and I could barely walk but still, I was happy with my efforts.

I felt so good after my shower, totally invincible and went looking for the remaining 47 squares of chocolate. *mmmmmmm*

Bridge To Brisbane - 12km

What a magnificent day!!!

The cold weather greeted us all as we huddled outside the bowls club waiting for the bus to come and collect all the Regatta/Intraining runners. It was good to be cold with so many others - made you feel all warm inside :)

I had planned to pace Allan, my husband to a 60min finish - so 5min/km for the 12km course. Though we managed to get up close to the front and I think that encouraged him too much. He took off and I spent the first 4km about 100m behind him. He was doing 4:10 pace then 4:20 then 4:30 so I knew eventually he would blow and I promised myself I would not say "I told you so" hee hee hee

Got to the 5km mark in 22:30 and maintained that until the 10km mark. Then the wheels came off the bus. By now Al was trailing behind and I was jogging on the spot waiting for him to catch up every 300m or so. He told me to go on ahead but I was keen to run with him and I had vowed that we would cross the line together at 60mins.

We got around the corner and heard the finish, he grabbed my hand and we ran the last 300m hand in hand and crossed the line with a very ecstatic husband at 56:00. He is hurting all over now and nursing a hammy but very very happy with his run.

It was the most rewarding experience being out there with him the whole way. It was a first for us but I certainly hope not the last. I enjoyed not having any pressure on me as well and it seemed to make a big difference to my performance. Getting to the 10km mark in under 47mins was a pb for me but I certainly wasn't running hard so amazingly I seemed to have improved a bit lately.

The only bad spot I had was seeing someone go past just after the 10km mark that should have been behind me on any normal day - that stung. (does that make me a bitch?) Oh well I guess that's the breaks with pacing. Good and Bad.

Now a bit of a rest before an easy 15km tonight using Tessos Garmin to make it a bit exciting.

400's

My legs felt like lead this morning after the 3K TT on Tuesday followed by a gym session Wed morning and a 60min run Wed night.

But I was in the same boat as many others who were starting to feel the effects of a running 'build up'.

We headed out to New Farm - which is around 3k warm up and I was tired by the time we did that. Pat said we were doing 400 or 500ms and i stupidly thought he would make it up at the time (ie stop at either 400 or 500). But after we started and then Tess stopped just ahead of me I pulled up too thinking she had injured herself. Then EVERYONE behind us pulled up as well. I get it - that was the 400m mark. The 500m runers had gone ahead and stopped at the next marker Pat had put out.

We had ample rest today and that made me feel much much better than normal. I started to enjoy it even. I called out for the boys to catch us as we all took off to head back to the start. They never had a chance. However on the next rep when we headed out we had to laugh - Pat had moved our marker further out and closer to the guys so this time they were bound to catch us on the way in.

Tesso is so consistent yet I was all over the place. One or two I managed to get in front of her and then the others I was about 10m behind - but she kept the pace all the time. Need to learn her secret.

Lizzle was running with us too and after doing 500m on the first rep, stayed with us for the remaining ones.

We then did the cool down and included a 1km no watch run. Money is donated to Camp Quality and the winner gets the receipt for tax purposes. It was fun. I put down 5mins (this is what I want to run on Sunday) but got to the line in 4:24. WAAAAAY OOOOUUUT. I can only say that after a speed session it is really really hard to guestimate your times/pace as your legs have so much fatigue in them but are still keen to go a bit fast. Oh well, next time maybe :)

Well done to Liz and Tess who both crossed the line in 5:10 as they guessed - the exact pace they will both need as they are Official Pacers for the Noosa Half at 1:50 pace.

3 Km Time Trial

12:45, I sux.
500m splits - 2:02, 2:12, 2:10, 2:12, 12:11, 1:55 I think it came to total of 12:42 but I stopped my watch a bit after I crossed and gave my offical time to Pat as 12:45.

Monday Morning

Big day at work today and tomorrow.

Not helped by nightmares after watching Constantine last night..

I woke up this morning and Allan asked what I had on today. I said I was late I had to go do my 3k TT. He then reminded me that it was Monday and the TT was tomorrow. Obviously it is weighing on my mind a fair bit.

So headed to the gym and did a very quick warm up on the eliptical machine. Then worked my arms, back and core mostly and spent a good 25mins stretching before hitting the showers. Great way to start the day when you need a break from running.

Tomorrows TT is not going to be a PB for me, but I do hope to be able to master the art of pacing myself.
My second km is ALWAYS SLOWER so tomorrow I am going to hold back on the first km, then do the second one at the same pace, then come home.
looking to do 2:05 500m splits to finish in 12mins 30sec. I need to look at my 500m splits (which I never do) to ensure I keep to pace. My B goal is to keep Tesso within 500m of me. I think I can do that as she should be around the 12:00 mark.