Sunday Long Run

Headed out on Sunday down the Gold Coast after not being able to move yesterday morning. Warning to all runners - don't try to eat a kilo of pistachio nuts by yourself in one sitting!! Got up Saturday and was not very well so went back to bed.

Sunday was another day but damn it was humid!

Parked the car at the spit and headed out towards Kurrawa on the GC Marathon course. Made it to the end of Hedges avenue just under an hour (around 10km) and then turned around.

Kept playing leap frog with a runner who seemed to be in training for an ironman. Though the last time I saw him he was heaving at the side of the road in very poor condition. 15mins earlier he had taken a gu on the run - no water. In fact I hardly saw him drink any fluids for the 50mins we were running together. Idiot!

Aside from the exercise he was doing and the sweat that was pouring out of him it was also a very hot/humid morning. At least 250ml every 15mins is what it says in this months Runners World.

Got back around 2hrs. It was slightly under but Pat had me down for 2hrs so I just marked it off as 'done' :) arhhh. The artistic license....

The best thing about today was the cool down in the ocean. The water was so cold and so lovely on the legs. Really made a quick recovery. Headed back to get Allan and we drove down to NSW (Ballina) for wickedly delicious lunch. A great day in all.

Regatta Runners - 8Km

Getting into quite a routine now with all the different weekly runs. Think I could do Regatta run with a blindfold on.
Good size group turned up but still no Tess. :(
We were a bit late getting out. Chris was running keeping everyone in the lane to avoid all the bikes and other users of the path. He is terrified of another accident.
Good pace heading out but I forced myself to back off on the return. Really had to treat this like a recover run to enable me to be relatively fresh for tomorrows long run.
Then Casper caught up to me. She had inevitably gone for a longer route and was on her way back. I maintained pace with her (OMG) until another girl caught up - who had also done the longer route. Casper waved her on and stayed with me but then I said 'that's not like you to let someone get past' so she was off, chased her down and got home first. Thats more like it. No way could I have kept up and I didn't want to have to try...not today. She was fresh from her 37.20 10km run on Monday night at the track!
Legs felt really good in the shower but I would have loved to have done 30mins of stretching. Might need to do that when I get home tonight.

Lost Chundachick today!

Thursday Pat Speed Session. It was raining so the 20 odd of us that turned out was pretty good considering!
Did the long warmup at some incredible pace. Had some new eye candy (male) join the group and he and Pat headed out FAST! Found out he is a really nice guy David, who is a professional triathlete.

After the warm up and run throughs (strides) realised Chundachick had not come back from her loo visit. So instead of the required 2.5min sprint out and 2.5 min sprint home I sprinted 2.5 then went looking for her. Nowhere.... Headed back to the group in time for the next 2.5 sprint out (damn missed the 1min recovery) and then back again.

Following this Pat had a do 8 reps of the Goodwill bridge and decided to give a big pep talk about how todays session - digging deep today, would be what gave you that sub 3hr marathon. That got about 90% of the group moving!

The last one kills - up and over all the way to the Ship Inn.

Mr. Eye Candy then ran the warm down with me. Someone ought to tell him that you can't run so fast when your'e new. Got to start at the bottom of the ladder and work your way up. Must be such a great triathlete if his running is so good and that's his weak section.

Missed Tesso today but I live in hope that she is doing her bit in Sydney to show them how good us Brissy runners are. (well hopefully they will think we all run as fast as she does!)

10Km Recovery Run

Headed out this morning to meet up with Irishman and Pat -both who are training for upcoming Marathons. Had a 50min recovery run scheduled so I thought it would be quite easy.
Hubby even suprised me by jumping out of bed and coming along. He left us at the start as he just wanted to jog REAL slow. Tee'd up with Pats partner Jo and they did a good 8km.

The other two and I ran out for 25mins and got to the 5km turnround in the Botanical gardens. Thought we would head back and managed to pick up the pace. Saw hubby and Jo ahead so picked up the pace a bit again. Went by with some snide comment about his butt (gorgeous but I'm biased) and saw the 500m sign so sprinted home forgetting to remain in recovery mode. Did the 10km in just under 49mins.

I guarantee you I will be sore tomorrow.

Got home and Hubby and I lazed for the day watching movies and cricket. Happy Australia Day!

NIKE Intervals

First run in my new NIKE speed shoes. Went well but I laced up too tightly and one shoe was annoying me during the cooldown.
Went out for 4km warm up, then did 15mins of intervals followed by 3.5k cooldown around Southbank.
The intervals were 1min sprint(1min jog) 30sec sprint (30sec jog) 15sec sprint (15sec jog) and then repeat x4.
It was hard doing the 1min sprint after the 15 sec sprint as you only had 15sec to recover and I seemed to push harder on the shorter sprints. But it was good to then jog recovery for a whole minute.
The last 15sec was actually more like 45sec as we had to run to the finish line and everyone seemed to be bending over in the bushes or walking around trying to get air into their lungs so I think we all worked hard today.
I have no idea how Tess and Eddie manage it - after doing a long 3hr+ run on the weekend in the humidity and then a speed session (all up around 1hr 10mins).... I am sure they will both be breaking records this year.
Great to see Pat is back. He really is interested in everyone's running (of all capabilities) and always has something good to say or comment on. Today, whilst I pushed hard, I really thought how much I like being part of the group and seeing us all progress and how we all support each other. I'm sure another killer speed hill session on Thursday will wipe out any sentiment though.... :)

Short Long Run

With most of the running buddies doing a long run tomorrow down on the Gold Coast today's long run turned into a slow 12km. A few had started earlier at 5am so they could still do over 2 hours of running - as per their programs. However those of us who started at 6am ran around the streets along the river, into the Sherwoord Forest and back again.

Nothing spectacular about the run but certainly feeling refreshed and looking forward to a big week with Pat back on deck. A recovery week over and just looked up in my program - got another one in 4 weeks. So will try to go hard for the next three, recover for one week and then aim for a PB at BRR 10km on 27th Feb.

Sounds like a plan!

Steady 6km - just what Pat ordered!

Had a bad night. Hubby was late - had gone up to Coolum on his motorbike with Matt (12yr) so I could not sleep until they were home. Then I was freezing during the night and kept waking up (why I didn't just put the cover on I don't know). When Hubby got up to go to work at 4am I felt like we had only just gone to bed.

By the time I was at the Regatta for 6am run I felt good though. Heh It's Friday - my favourite day!

Headed out for a 6Km run. No Tess today - too busy working.
Told Glenda (very fast runner) aka coolrunner casper, that she had to do the 7.5km run and still be the first woman home. Hearing that she took off.
I turned around at the 3km mark (15mins) and came home in 14:40. She was about 300m behind me and had done just under 8km in 33mins. Amazing considering she was only warming up the first 3kms.

Did a lot of stretching whilst waiting for everyone else to finish (Glenda was first home out of all the runners). It felt good to stretch. My whole body felt tight today. Glenda showed me some new ones to work on the side of the glutes which are achy.
Showered and had breaky with Tesso. Wouldn't feel like a Regatta Friday without her.
At work now and lots to do but no motivation. Maybe I need a work coach???

Eddies Missing, Mattys Back and Ians a Nazi!

Yep it all happens at Thursday's speed session.

Eddie is excused as he had his big birthday celebrations keeping him up all night but we all missed him nontheless.

Great to see Matty back - even better to be able to run past him :)

But what on earth has happened to Ian??? Threatening us that we will have to do another sprint if we did not put more effort it. Said we were having a holiday because Pat was away and that we could all do better..yeh yeh yeh.
Anyhow it worked. Guess I must thank him and collect my knife from his back where I threw it on the warm down..

Ran out hard chasing Tess (who was chasing Robbie) then at the turnaround she was about 4m in front (so after turning I was in front). Upped the pace to try to keep her away then just as she was on my tail I saw the picnic table (finish line) so ran my guts out. Unfortunately got the wrong table so had to hold that pace for another 200m. Then as the run was a timed one and I had done a negative split had to keep going for another few seconds. Torture! Finished not even caring where anyone else was, just had to hold my guts to make sure they didn't come out my mouth!

Matty was cheering as we went past - he was running slowish due to injury - but could have killed him when he kept egging Tess on to fly past me. Note to Matt - she doesn't need encouragement she has hidden wings!!

Recovery Week Wednesday

Halfway through the recovery week in my program. Haven't done anything according to plan.

Was scheduled for 30min run on Monday but rested instead. Was scheduled for a rest today and ran 40mins instead.... :) Very naughty but with Pat away...

Fronting up to 'Ian's Group' tomorrow. Matty should be back so we could be in for some fun. At least my Tuesday and Thursday are always consistent.

Regatta run this morning was good. Was intending to run relaxed but at the turn around for the 4km mark I felt like a wuis as everyone else was continuing on for a mid week long run or speed training. Tesso and Jenny has started at 5am and had covered 9km before I even started.

I upped the ante at the 3km sign (3km to the finish) and decided to time myself to see what pace I could run comfortably but with some effort - ie not race pace but faster than long run pace. I got back in 14:20 so just under 5min pace. 37:20 for the whole 7.9km.

Showered and headed off for client breakfast - it's a hard life.

Ians Running Group

Pat is allowed one week of a year.....so this week is it.

Ian worked the group hard running us out to New Farm for the 8x 1min sessions with 45sec recovery.
Tried to stay with Tess. Managed it for the first 3 then slowed a bit. The 5th one I thought I was going to spew- had a stitch or something that wsa pushing my stomach up through my throat. The 6th one I started to come back and then went hard again for the final two just managed to catch Tess again.

Had to then do a 30sec effort on the way home. Pulled up at 26sec as I thought he said stop but he was yelling 'keep it going'. Anyhow I was hurting so bad I probably would have stopped anyway.

Keen to see how Thursday goes. This weather is hurting everyone and it seemed like we were all pushing hard and digging deep this morning. I am sure Tess is getting faster just trying to run away from me....will have to improve to keep trying to catch her. Heh Tess - if your'e reading this hurry up and get a blog so I can read all your training secrets :)

Running Buddies - 20Km

Aptly named, the Running Buddies really are a great group of friendly runners keen to laugh and talk and run long distances.

This morning we met up at 5am at Southbank and headed out for a run before meeting back at the Ship Inn to collect all the 6am starters. Did about 8km running out to the Regatta and back then waited around for everyone to arrive. Running out was easy and slow but Tesso and I were the only two going back to get the others so we picked up the pace a bit making the long run harder.
Once we had a group again we headed out along the cliffs and up over Storey Bridge into New Farm. Tess and I stopped about 1km out from New Farm Park and turned around to head home. 20Km was enough for one day. Tess has a 26km run to do tomorrow (Sunday) and I was simply exhausted from a full week back to running hard so cutting it short (everyone else was doing 30km) was a good thing.

According to Pat's program I am scheduled for a recovery week this week coming so should be interesting....

Regatta Runners - 8Km

Normal Friday run today.
Woke up with a fuzzy head after too much red wine last night. Got to bed before 10pm so thought I would be okay but think Christmas is catching up to me at last.

As Robbie Williams said it so well "Overdose at Christmas, then give it up for Lent" Whilst crude it seems to be an accurate way of describing my alcohol intake!

8km run went fairly smoothly in 37:08. Tesso left us after the turnaround to run into work so she missed out on the excitement.
First we had a woman who strained her calf and had to be iced up at the pub. Then just as we were all finishing a male runner crossed the path from where we were all standing/stretching and went to call out to a runner just finishing when a bike he didn't see collided into him. Another bike was also taken down in the hit as we all know how fast they cycle on that path!!
The runner had an instant bad bruise the size of a football with some scratches. Not sure what it will look like tomorrow!

Another early rise for Saturdays run with Tesso tomorrow. Looking forward to it but legs are very tired and starting to chant 'restday Sunday, restday Sunday'.........

Pat's Session - 2km, 1km, 500m, 500m, 1km

Did the above after a 3km warm up and some strides. Felt quite good the whole way. After the first 2km I wanted to keep going as I was on par for a 3km PB but thought the scheduled 90sec standing recovery might be good for the bursting lungs!

Pat ran the last 50m with me of the final 1Km to get me to sprint to the end. By that time I was knackered but he really knows how to push!!

Did the same to Eddie who had finished with a 2km instead of a 1km and he came home hard as well.

A Fast Midweek Slow Run

Got up this morning - big task seeing as it is Wednesday and my usual day off from running. But not no more. Now only one rest day per week until Canberra.

Met up at the Regatta with the other 14 runners. Tesso was there and we ran together whilst the other Regatta runners did their interval speed session. I knew we were cracking a good steady pace and was eager to finish but at the turn around Tess said "no we go further on Wednesdays" so we had to run another few kms...I was devastated.

After the eventual turnaround the speed runners caught up with us (they had gone a lot further) and we then ran back to the Regatta. With about 1km to go I really felt like dying. On top of yesterdays speed session and a few weeks of minimal running it was obvious I had lost some form. But what I hadn't lost was my determination to not walk and to keep up with Tess. Thankfully it got me home in one piece.

After we stopped Tess headed out to do another 10km! But not before she advised me we had just finished our 10km at under 5min pace. I was pretty chuffed. My 10km PB is 50.19. Whilst I know I can beat that I still need to wait for an offical track/time to do so. It was good to know that I was running steady at that pace anyhow. Not too sure how I will fare at tomorrows speed session with Pat though.

Can't wait until Sunday's rest day.

Yep it Hurts!

First speed session in weeks. Thought it would be good to keep up running but not do any speed sessions whilst I was on holidays. Managed to do the hills and run on the beach instead so I though I maintained some strength but gee this morning was a bit rough.

Had 30/30's in my program but got there to find out it was a hill session. A solid warm up followed by 15mins of racing up a big hill and jogging down then racing up etc.
Had Tess in arms reach for the first 8mins (she had just come off night shift) but she kept charging forward and I kept pulling back so the gap widened. With 2 to go I tried to close the gap as best I could but I was really hurting. Jonesy kept overtaking me on the downhill and then I would overtake him on the uphill - but here I was huffing and puffing and he is barely breathing!

At the bottom of the last one Pat said to jog to the Goodwill Bridge then race it home. Again I tried to catch Tesso but she was on skates, made do with overtaking two guys with great bods who were doing it hard over the bridge. Felt good about that even if they werent in our running group!

Definitely feeling it now as I feel like I need a quick cat nap to recover but must get back to all the work waiting for me. Looking forward to Thursdays session. No matter how hard they feel when you run them.....they make you feel great afterwards. Like a real runner!

New Year Running

Well it's started. The new year is here and already the first month is nearly halfway through.
I am feeling the effects of too much drinking and eating over the holidays. Amazing what a bottle of red and a bottle of baileys each night can do for you. As well as the weight issue the thing I fought with most was the lack of motivation to get up at 5am each morning.
I did get up every second day and by the time I had got home and showered everyone else was still dead to the world. I ended up reading a lot of books between 8am and 11am when everyone else eventually woke up, showered and had brunch. I must admit I was always first into bed in the evenings though. Some habits die hard.

Keen to start the serious training now as I hope to get a good result in Canberra in the 10Km. Also there is the Lest We Forget half marathon and many other races that will be coming up so quickly.
Tomorrows speed session should be an eyeopener as my gluttony will be on show for the world to see and it will be the first speed session since losing Don back in mid December!
Here's to a great year of running!

QLD Fat Ass Run

After starting a post on Coolrunning (www.coolrunning.com.au) about trail running I felt obliged to partake when one was organised for the 29th December at the start of my holidays.
No training up my sleeve aside from the running I had done for Kurrawa and my usual running. But I didn't think it would be an issue as I believed I was more than capable to do a 20km run with some hills.

Headed out just after 3am to meet up with Kato and drive to the top to drop off my car. Jumped in with Kato & travelled down to the start line.
Karisma and Run67 were pulling up in front of us were the first to arrive.

I wasn't actually nervous but when I saw some damn fit men turn up and start talking about their 50km training runs for this event I was sweating already. Damn! Couldn't I have slept in or something...?

Tesso and Liz arrived with Glen and took some photos at the beginning of the race. I was already needing to go to the toilet after drinking so much since waking up but there was no where around so I told the bladder to hold off.

We walked to near the trail start and when Tesso said 'Is this a run or a walk?' the boys started jogging and the run had begun.
When the trail started I got very excited. This was great a nice path - wider than a road almost - and not rocky or too loose a surface. Damn this is what trail running is all about.
Then came the hill.
It was almost a mountain leading up to the mountain.
Then came another one.
Then another.
I looked around for Kato to kill but was distracted by - you guessed it - another hill!
My legs were aching and it was only the first 2km. The girls had fallen behind into a group and let the men push their testosterone ahead of us. This was the opportunity I needed. I politely advised everyone I needed a break and disappeared only to find they were all standing there waiting for me making sure none of the boys looked back. Don't you just love being one of the girls!

We travelled a bit further up the mountain and I was really starting to feel the run when Tess referred to her garmin and told us all that we had covered 3km. Only 3!!! It was at this stage that I looked around for a snake to walk on so I could excuse myself whilst I got treated for snakebite....anyway they were all sleeping so I pushed on.
Glad I did as it got better. Over the next hill there were a few downhills and we were all talking and laughing. Then we came to the first arrow the boys had left for us and were chuffed that they had bothered (and secretly glad as we had no idea really when we saw the fork in the road). Plus it was a good photo opportunity!

After about an hour of up and down the mountain Glen met up with us and was heading back to his car. Tess and Liz went with him but promised to meet us at the top for a coffee. Karisma and I plodded on for the next half. Whilst we were told it was a 2 hr run up to the top it turned out to be a 3hr run for Karisma and I.
We got to a fork in the road with an arrow going left for us (thanks boys) but instead followed another runners advice who was on his way back down on a bike who said to go right to get to the carpark. We went down a very very steep and long valley to get to a stream and then had to make our way back up again. We came out on a road and i thought we were just around the corner. But just around the corner proved to be 4 more kilometres away. My legs were dead but Karisma was going strong and pushed on ahead and out of my sight.
I got to the carpark at 3hrs and 3 mins. Karisma had missed the turnoff so I was first there. Tess, Kato, Glen and Liz were all waiting (I had the carkeys - so poor Kato was a bit thirsty and hungry...). We had just got in the car to go looking for Karisma when she turned up and we could all start celebrating our run.
The coffee shop was closed so we just said goodbye and went our own way.

I was driving home and so elated. I had run a very very very hilly course and lasted the 3 hours. I was proud of my achievement and was also looking forward to a big night followed by a well deserved sleep in.

I got home in time to shower quickly, stretch a bit more, eat loads of food and jump in the car to go to Dreamworld with the kids. A big day out. We got there at 10.45 and walked around going on all the rides etc until it closed at 5.30pm. I slept the way home but got up the next morning all refreshed and with good legs.
Next big run I do I will make a point of walking and being active all day rather than resting as I would usually do.

Oh yeah and I found out that you didn't have to have a fatass to run. Fatboy explained to me what a Fatass run actually meant. Glad we cleared that up....

Lost our Don!!

Turned up for speed session this morning - glad to see good numbers still despite it being holidays for most people.

Don from Canberra - Tunggerong Don - pulled off the track for a pit stop and got left behind. We did not realise until we got to the start of the speed session after our 3/4km warmup. Not being a regular with the group he would not have known where we were headed and would have gone to the Gardens were he ran with us last week.

So Tess and I volunteered to give up our 8x 500m and 1 x 1km speed session to go and look for him. It took a lot of persuading to do this (Yeah Right!!!).
We split up and both went over diff bridges and met up just outside the gardens and split up again....still no sign of him. Running around the garden and calling his name still didn't locate poor Don. So we headed back to Pat's group just in time to start the cool down run.
By the end of it we had done more than 10km - with two speed runs amongst it where Tess and I were trying to race each other. She beat me but I wasn't too far behind - but any more and I would have been left for dead.
Another great run but the nerves are building for tomorrows long run. Have never ran a 20km+ trail before...

Christmas Day

What a wonderful way to start the day.
Up early and woke my two girls - Jordie and Shae my neice.
We headed out to UQ a bit early as I was not sure what oval we were meeting at. Found the athletics track straight away so assumed this was the right one. Then waited around for the others to turn up. Did a lap with Shae whilst I was waiting. The girls were just so excited it was Christmas.

Once we were all there (quite a few of us turned up) we headed out for a 3km warmup. This was followed by a set of 6x 2.5minutes at the track. Run around as fast as you can go and you rest for as long until 2.5 mins comes up. Then time to do it all again.

Great fun. I really enjoyed running on the track. You can see everyone in front of you and you also know exactly how far you have left to go. Coming home on the straight stretch was fun to try and go as hard as I could.

I did a few laps to cool down and then had a glass of champers with Tess, Liz, Kumi, Chris, Jo, Scotty, Manuel, Rob, John and others before heading off to go home and open our Chrissy presents and wake the other 9 people up for a big breaky.

Definitely doing this again next year!

Fast and Faster

Running almost killed me after a shocking nights sleep, actually that's not true, I slept like a baby, I just only had 4 hours of it!
Took the teenage girls shopping last night at about 11pm then decided to do the food shopping then instead of today. Got home and into bed after 1am (so I guess I did it today after all!). Up at 5am to go to the Regatta Runners.

Headed out with the Regatta guys whilst talking to Glenda (VERY FAST RUNNER) and focussed on maintaining pace with her and hence the lead group all the way.
Wow I thought I was such a good runner....striding it out with the lead pack and feeling good all the way. Felt like Christmas.
Not sure what happened at the turnaround point (4km) but I certainly didn't hear a gun go off. However everyone else must have - I was left for dead. Glenda took off and so did all the blokes. I was left dreaming that I had even been running with anyone.
Soon after some other Regatta Runners caught up to me so I felt a bit better (ie..wasn't last) but then the damned shoe lace came undone and my shoe almost came off as I was trying to ignore it until the finish. So I stopped at the water fountain and tied it back up - triple decker knot!

Got back to the start in complete exhaustion. I think I had tired legs from yesterdays' speed session as well as it being so bloody hot!!! I had striped off my singlet and ran the last 3km in my bra so I knew it was a stinker of a day to come.
Probably the xmas hat didn't help in cooling me down any.

I wish I had my watch on today but purposely left it off to just run relaxed but I am sure I did a PB for that course. Even tired and hot I felt strong running - just knew I couldnt sustain it for much longer.
Looking forward to Boxing Day so I can have a much desired day off. In the meantime will be fun to do tomorrows Christmas speed session at the Uni.