Looking back and forward
A quick post on the year behind and the year ahead: It is NY's Eve after all!2005: the good things!- The first year when I have trained consistently all year, without a major injury. I ran at least 3 times each week and in the latter part of the year this was consistently 4 or 5 times per week.
- Finishing the SMH Half Marathon. I'd been wanting to run a half for a few years but whenever I attempted to step up the mileage, got injured. Thanks to the trusty orthotics and large physio bills I made it to the start.... and to the finish. A very satisfying experience.
- Doing my first City to Surf with the company of my running buddies Wobbly Man, Jen and the Owl, and for a while Caro. They towed me across the finish line when I was feeling decidedly wobbly myself.
- Starting this blog and the friendships and support this has given me. It's been a great part of my motivation to keep on training, so thank you everyone who has read and commented.
- Training with SWEAT has also provided me with new friendships and a further source of encouragement and motivation. I'll be back at the back in the NY!
- Running new PB's for 8km (47.08) and 5km(28.25) this year.
2005: The not so good
- Mr Lulu has not had a good year since tearing his calf in the SMH. Hopefully 2006 will be a better year for him and we can do some more runs together.. if I can get a bit faster!
- Having some health issues, which are still unresolved, and which have me feeling very fatigued and lacking in endurance at times.
- A few disappointing race times.. but as Don Juan would say :"That's running!"
If that's all I can find to complain about then I think it's been a pretty bloody good year :)
2006: What's next
At this stage I want to consolidate on last year. This means consistent training and doing more races so that I get more practiced in pacing, and pushing myself during races, as well as not getting so wound up about specific events. I don't really have any desire to run a marathon at this stage (never say never!) and will stick to the shorter distances this year.
It's also pretty clear that one of the things I need to do to really improve my running is to lose some more weight. Although I have lost some weight this year I have been a bit half hearted about it and so the first 3 months of 2006 are going to focus on weight loss and building up my endurance base and hopefully resolving outstanding health issues. I have an appointment with Dr Ludka in the second week of Jan so I'm hoping that will provide some answers.
So a few running related goals:
- To train consistently and without injury all year (at least 4-5 times per week)
- To lose at least 8kgs
- To run the races in my race schedule
- To PB in 10km and half marathon times (realistic goals I think are: 55mins for 10km and 2 hr 5 mins for HM)
- To maintain my Pilates and gym work to continue building core, glute and leg strength; This means at least 4 visits to the gym or a Pilates session each week.
Sounds like a plan to me!
Thanks again to all of you who have bothered to read my ramblings and it has made a huge difference to me to have running and blogging buddies and I hope to share lots of your successes with you in 2006.. Bring it on!
More cardio in the gym
A bit of a late night last night catching up with the news with an old friend who has arrived from England for a few weeks holidaying in Sydney. He's staying with us for most of the time and is training for a 16km race at the end of Jan so I'll have some company for my first run of the year in the morning!Today though I went to the gym and did 50 mins cardio. 25 mins on the bike and 25 on the elliptical runner. Feeling quite energetic and gradually increased the resistance on both to get a good workout. I was going to do a GRC class but it was full when I'd finished my cardio. Note to self: get class pass before doing cardio! I did a few stretches and a few ab exercises myself to make up for it.
Back to the gym II
After doing nothing yesterday apart from meeting Don Juan, Jen-runs and Mr lulu for a coffee at the Lindt cafe I managed to get myself motivated to get up early and head to the gym.I was in a much better frame of mind for the gym today and did 65mins of cardio first. 45 mins on the elliptical runner, including 5 mins in reverse and then 20 mins on the bike.I then did my weights programme and I'm starting to get back into weight training after a few years of not doing weights at all. Chest pressLow rowLeg pressLeg extensionShoulder pressTricep pull downsAssisted chin-upLungesFelt pretty good afterwards and I'm definitely seeing some strength in my VMO and glute so I'm looking forward to a NY's day run.
Anniversary Walk!
It's our wedding anniversary today - 4 years of wedded bliss for the lulu household :)I didn't feel like going to the gym this morning and Garth was looking very neglected after not being out of the house for 10 days so I decided to give him an outing.I was tempted to go for a run but decided a walk was probably more sensible so I headed out to do the three beaches course. A beautiful morning, if a bit hot. I bumped into the mother of a friend of mine who I always see out jogging with her dog. Sadly the dog is gone "but I'm still plodding away " she called as she pottered off up the hill!I tried a few steps of running and still feel the knee is probably not a lot better although I think the VMO and glute is feeling stronger so that's something. If I can keep running and try and address the issue that would be good so we'll see what happens next week when I try a couple of runs.Total 6km in just over an hour and about 470 cals. Just enough to have a dessert at our anniversary dinner at an as yet undisclosed by Mr lulu location!
Back to the gym
A lovely two days spent cooking, eating and generally lounging around the house with the only activity being cooking and a short walk on Christmas Evening I decided it was back to the gym today.
A short 20 mins on the elliptical trainer plus 2 mins going backwards and then into a Pilates GRC class. At least I feel slightly better now and am working on dislodging the Christmas fare that seems to have settled!! It's amazing how quickly I put on weight when I don't run and I have been trying to moderate my eating. I'm intending on a long cardio session at the gym tomorrow in an attempt to replicate a long run. We'll see how long I last as it's likely I'll get bored fairly quickly.
Knee update : not convinced it's really getting any better but will see what it's like by the end of the week. Will have to go back to the physio after that and see what he says. I'm hoping to start doing a couple of runs the next week. Other niggles have benefited from the rest from running though which is good news.
Mr lulu tried a 30 min run today with no ill effects so here's hoping 2006 will be a better year for him running wise, which was a bit of a shocker where he probably only ran for about 6 months.
Christmas spinning and gyming!
Friday 23rd of Dec
I debated with myself on whether I'd go to the gym but Mr lulu told me I'd feel better than lying in bed, even though I was tired from the trek to Bordertown and back. He was right of course!
It wasn't with much enthusiasm that I did my weights programme but I did most of it.
Chest press
Leg press
Leg extensions
Shoulder press
Tricep press
Assisted chin-up
Lunges
I then did a Pilates mat class which was quite challenging as I haven't done one for a few weeks. My abs told me about it quite quickly.
The rest of the day was spent shopping, cooking and trying to catch up on things. Sadly this meant I didn't make it to CR drinks which I was looking forward to but by the end of the day I couldn't face going into the city. Instead Mr lulu cooked me dinner and I collapsed in front of the TV.
Christmas Eve
Up early to pick up my Ocean Trout which I'm poaching for this evening's family dinner and another one for tomorrow. Once I'd done that and made the summer pudding for tomorrow's dessert I caught the bus up to BJ and to the gym
I did an 55 min spin class which really made my quads burn. I only had one point where I felt it was putting too much pressure on my knee today and so I turned the resistance down and that was on a long hill climb. Hopefully this is a good sign that I'm already getting a bit stronger around my knee.
This plan had better work as I'm really missing my running. I didn't think I'd ever say that but here I am wishing I could go for a run. So is Mr lulu who is still trying to fix his niggles. He's probably going to join the gym as well which will be very good as it will be fun to work out together. Spin is a good substitute for running but nothing gives you the buzz of a good run! I'll have to remember that the next time I'm being a whinging pom!
Happy Christmas everyone and I hope 2006 brings you everything you wish for, especially my running buddy Jen_runsalotin2006!
A quick SPIN
I headed to the gym at 6am for a quick 45 Spin class. It certainly works you hard the old Spinning and I felt like I'd done a good workout at the end of the class. I'm a bit concerned that it's not too good for my knee as it is a little bit sore now and I had to turn the resistance down at one point. I might have to discuss this with the physio and see what he thinks. In the meantime I'll keep the resistance a bit lower and see if that helps.
I'm at the airport and just about to go to Bordertown so nothing on the agenda tomorrow except a nice sleep-in!
In the gym
Today is day one of my two week cross training and knee strengthening programme. I'm hoping that two weeks will be enough for my patellar tendinitis to recover and for me to get my right glute firing, strengthened and stretched and my VMO strengthened. I was feeling a bit tired today after all the excitement of yesterdays run, CR lunch and then a party in the evening. Fortunately I didn't drink anything or eat very much in the evening so I didn't feel too bad this morning.Activities:Bike: 30 mins; 250 cals (Need to do a long time on the bike to burn as many cals as running)Elliptical runner 20 mins and 200 cals. Included 5 mins going backwards which is good for quads and glute strengthening.Leg extensions 3 sets 15 @26kgsPilates GRC class including lots of glute and leg stuff.Quite tired now and need a sleep but sadly have lots of pre-Chrissie work to do. It will be a rest day tomorrow as I've got to go up to Brissie again for another flying visit. In Jan I hope to go up for a couple of days so I can catch up with the CRs up there, if they haven't all gone away for their hols!
Go west young woman!
We were up at 5.15 to pack our bags and head west to Smithfield for the SMC races this morning. We were to pick up Don Juan from Rushcutters Bay at 5.45 and then set off through the contentious Cross City Tunnel and onto all points west. Actually it wasn't as far as we thought it was and we arrived at about 6.30 to find a few CRs gathering for the last race of the year.
We caught up with the Professor, O runner, Rags, and the legend Papa Luigi and a few others while we were registering. Luigi regaled us with tales of his marathon training run last weekend when he completed the full distance in 3.45 and so he's looking good for his debut marathon in Jan at the Hobart races. I don't think there's much doubt he'll cruise home! DJ was set on doing the half marathon so he headed off to the start leaving M rlulu and I kicking our heels before our 7.30 start. Go Girl arrived and then we all jogged over to the start line for the start of the 5 and 10km races.
We had a good start position and after a quick lecture by the starter it was on your marks, go and we were off. I kept to the side and let the quicker runners pass me on the slight incline away from the start area and then we were into the industrial park. Wide roads with factories on either side doesn't give you much to focus on apart from your running and the road. Belinda absolutely flew past me right at the start and I tried to keep her in sight as we headed out into quite a nasty head wind.
I thought I was in for another shocker when the first km past in 6.04 but then I just knuckled down and started plodding away and feeling pretty good. No niggles apparent and a nice open road in front. I could hear someone behind me, getting closer and with a really short stride which was a bit distracting as she was doing 2-3 strides to one of mine. I kept ahead of her until around the 2.5 mark turn around and then I could hear her gaining on me. She caught and past me at about 3.5km but I tried to pick up the pace and keep with her but she was off.
Into the last km and I had a cheer from Springer who had a calf injury and was spectating and I told mysel it was just 2 laps of a track to go, 1 lap of the track to go, 100m's to go and then the finish. Hooray it's a PB at long last! 28.25 . Previous 5km time was 30.21 so nearly a 2 min PB.
I felt quite sick and had to walk around a bit before I could have a drink and a chat with Nando and Rags before heading back up the road to see if I could see Mr lulu and Go Girl. Mr lulu had a shocker and was gallantly showing me that even he could have a very bad day running a 10km race. I ran with him to the finish trying to get him to outsprint someone which was fun. Then Go Girl came along and she was looking very strong and so I ran with her to the finish as well. Yet another PB, taking another 14 seconds off her PB last month which was fantastic.
Then we all walked back out to find DJ in the half. . We saw him coming down the final straight and then he suddenly veered off to the right and started to go up a side road. We shouted and whistled at him and he turned again and headed for the finish, clocking up a good time of 88.49.
After a chat with a few others such as sfGnome (showiing off his new wedding anniversary Garmin), Horrie and Belinda and Springer we started to get a bit chilled from the strong breeze so we walked back to the car. I walked back with John Dawlings who had won the 10km outright and was in very good spirits. Then we hopped back in Alfie and headed back East.
It's a great atmosphere and very supportive group of runners out there and I'll definitely be back next year to try another 5km and probably 10km at some stage. I was pleased with my splits which were 6.04, 5.38, 5.43, 5,43, 5.14, so I finished very strongly. Now I just need to be able to do that in a 10km race which is my aim for next year.
Another catch up post!
After trying Dr DJ perscription of Cab Sav for Vitamin B I found myself unable to get out of bed for Thursday's SWEAT session.. perhaps I used to much! Instead I went to the gym and did Pilates later in the day.
On Friday I did at least manage to do a 40 minute run, heading down to the park and back home, bumping into the good Dr DJ who was out doing his long run so he can do a race on Sunday. It was pretty humid and I was pretty slow ( nothing new there of course!)
On Friday afternoon I went to the gym and had an appointment with one of the instructors who has given me a programme of weights that I can follow which will help strengthen my medialis muscle which should then help with my knee issues. After Sunday's race I am going to have a couple of weeks off running to let my niggles recover and to attempt to fix my right knee. The programme also includes doing a lot of Spin classes to maintain my cardio fitness and again to strengthen the muscles around the knee. Hopefully after a few weeks of that will allow me to build up the running again ready early next year.
So I'm going to just do the 5km race on Sunday and see how I get on and that will give me a 5km time as I haven't done one for ages, and something to beat next year.
Two day update
Monday 12th DecemberI decided to take a few days off running to see if some of my niggles would settle down and to try and recoup some energy. I had a massage on Sunday and spent most of the weekend trying to and sleeping. The extra sleep seemed to help with feeling less tired and I was up at 5.30 to do a short run before heading to Brisbane for the day. I decided as it was a short run that I'd do some hills so I headed down to Clovelly and then down to Bronte and up Bronte hill. Legs felt ok and I tried to keep the pace up on the hills. Had to stop and walk up Bronte hill for a few minutes when I had one of my strange dizzy spells which I haven't had while running for a while. It passed pretty quickly and I made it to the top of Bronte hill, although my right knee was complaining a bit at this point. About 30 mins and 4.5km. A few niggles there, particularly the right knee so I think I'm going to have to go back to my original plan of doing some cross training for a few weeks to try and build up the muscles around the knee and let the tendon recover a bit. As this is what the physio told me to do I suppose I should do as I'm told!Tuesday 13th DecemberA few busy days ahead and so I decided to miss SWEAT this morning as it means a slightly later start to the day. I was out the door by 6 and headed down to Centennial park. I decided to do the session I missed on Saturday; 1 hr with 30 mins hard in the middle. I did 15 mins and then started picking up the pace. This harder section started at the bottom of the York Road hill and then I had some flat and downhill sections before flat and slightly uphill. I managed to keep a reasonable pace through the 3o mins hard but was very glad when the 30 mins was up. I walked for a few minutes and then ran back up the hill to home.I'm definitely missing some stamina as keeping up any sort of pace over any distance seems to be very taxing at the moment. Mr lulu assures me it will come back soon. I think it's probably connected to my lack of energy generally, and I have made an appointment to see the Owl's Dr Ludka, unfortunately not until Jan as she can't fit me in before then. I'm going to try and squeeze in a Pilates class later on between meetings and getting ready for a training session tomorrow.
An encounter with Big Bertha
Having returned safely from the badlands of Bordertown last night, this morning I was feeling surprisingy perky after about 14 hours travelling in the last 2 days.This mornings session was 10 laps of Big Bertha. This is a hill in Centennial Park that Sean likes to train on and has named Big Bertha. She's definitely big and a little unforgiving I thought! After some warm-up drills and stride outs we set off on the main workout. This is like doing a 5km time trial really as you don't get any rest between laps. It's just keep on going up Big Bertha, down Big Bertha and repeat x 10. I started off at what I thought was a pace I could maintain 10 laps for and off we went. I was soon being lapped by the speedy DJ and Royworlds and eventually everyone had lapped me. Coming down to my last lap Sean said if I put in a good one I could go under 28 mins so I pushed on. Coach Kit, ready as ever to encourage me on, lept into action and started off up the hill with me to give me an extra push. Now that's what I call dedication doing an extra lap of Big Bertha for me, thanks Kit. Anyway we made it to the top and then let rip for the final downhill and finished in 27.50. Not bad for a first encounter with Big Bertha and something to beat in the future.Poor Mr lulu is now suffering from shin splints, so he headed down to the beach for a swim this morning. We hope he'lll be back in action in a few days. He's been having a few too many niggles lately which is unusual for him and perhaps he has stepped up the training a bit too quickly after a long lay off with his calf injury.
300s in the park
Firstly, thank you all very much for your support. I wouldn't have finished at all on Sunday without your virtual cheering and I really appreciate your comments here.I went to bed at 8pm last night and it's amazing how a good long sleep can make you feel a lot better. 48 hours post race and I'm feeling a bit more rational about things and realise I probably expected way too much of the dayand myself and that's why I was so disappointed. I sort of suspected that things were not going to go according to plan but tried to remain optimistic. At least it wasn't a PW and I didn't injure myself. So that, combined with a stern email talking to by "cold" Don Juan, helped me get out of bed and head to the SWEAT session. I was also a bit worried that if I didn't go today that I would find it very hard to go running later in the week. Have to get straight back on the horse, so to speak! Actually, a horse would have come in very handy on Sunday!The programme today was 12 x 300s. I decided to try a slightly different approach and start out a bit more relaxed and see if I could maintain the pace or at least keep the same pace. It didn't work too well and I still faded so I think I may as well go out a bit harder and try and hang on. It's all a learning process! I ended up doing 8 out of the 12 reps with Sean giving me a couple of breaks as I don't get much of a rest between reps due to being the last one round the track. I was hoping he would forget I had raced on Sunday and I think he had but then one of the girls asked me about it and he overheard. I just said it wasn't worth discussing, particularly as some of the squad had done so well at the Central Coast half at the weekend, including Sean coming third in the half and his wife winning the 9km. Anyway I feel a lot better today and so I've decided I'm going to give the SMC 10km a go in two weeks time. The worse that can happen is I can run a PW and really depress myself!Now I'm off to Bordertown and will be back tomorrow night in time for the SWEAT session no Thursday, which will be a hills session.
A disappointing day.
Not happy Jan :(Race day morning was clear and sunny after a stormy looking Saturday and predictions for rain on Sunday. We got to the start about 7.30 and I did my own short warm up and stretch whilst the aerobics warm-up was happening.Felt pretty good at the warm up and the weather was still cool but a wind was starting to blow from the North which would cause me problems later.First km went according to plan and it was basically all down hill (metaphorically speaking!) from there. I couldn't get into a rhythm at the pace I wanted to run and my breathing wouldn't co-operate. At the 5km mark I passed the start again and was tempted to pull out at this stage as I wasn't feeling too great but passed the 5km at 29.29 (nice symmetary at least and if I could keep that up would still run under 60 mins). One of the main reasons I kept going was thinking of my CR buddies and how they would be disappointed if I DNFd and that a bad time was probably preferable to that. I really struggled even more from about 7km onwards. I stopped at a drink station and walked for longer than I should have, trying to catch my breath so I could actually take in some water. Stopped again about 500 ms later as the water now seemed to be lodged like a brick in my pipeline! A large and somewhat satisfying belch sorted that and we were off again. I was now seriously behind and had to put in some effort to get anywhere close. Tried to pick up the pace and but now we were running into quite a nasty headwind and the last couple of kms were simply shocking. I tried to keep myself going by chasing down and passing a few people which I did for a while but the final little hill up to the finish put paid to that as my legs just died. Crossed over the finish line in 60 mins and 56 seconds according to Garth, who also thinks the course was 30 metres short. Haven't been able to get the official result as yet.Km splits were: 5.40, 5.56,5.54,5.56, 6.03, 6.02, 6.31, 6.10, 6.27, 6.28.I was pretty inconsolable at the end, although Mr lulu tried his best. This is nearly a minute outside my pb for 10kms which is over a year old. After slogging away all year, and losing some weight, I've managed to go backwards. Quite frankly I gutted and not even Mr lulu buying me French Champagne could cheer me up last night. I felt absolutely buggered for the rest of the day but managed to put on a brave face for the CR BBQ which we finally got too at about 1pm.It was great to catch up with the lovely Melbourne CRs. I can't remember everyone but of course the delicious Wobbly Man was there. I really enjoyed talking to Mr and Mrs Lostboy who are delightful and engaged in some interesting conversation with the Reindeer. I also met the legend Kelvin plus Chilliman, Pbig, Cato and lovely Courtley love. Went home about 3 and collapsed in a heap until it was time to go out for a nice dinner. Had possibly one of the worst nights sleep ever (about 3 hours) and then we flew back to Sydney this morning. I've now got get myself sorted for a flight to Adelaide tomorrow followed by a drive to the delights of Bordertown. So where too from here? Not sure really. I could have another crack at 10kms in a couple of weeks or I could just become a couch potato, which at this point in the proceedings is looking very tempting. I realise that I can't judge myself on one performance but I felt sure that I should be able to at least do slightly better than 60 mins even on a bad day. I've run faster than that in training for a start and it felt easy. I just find it hard to believe that after all that work I've achieved absolutely bugger all.
And we're off!
An easy 25 mins around Queen's Park this morning and we're off to the airport. Garth , check; running shoes, check; Bodyglide, check; mr lulu, check; sombrero :)Feeling much perkier today and so tomorrow I'm going to be in fine form I can tell :) Will text you, Jen when I've finished!
Just keeping moving
I woke up feeling tired again. I might have to take TA's suggestion and go and visit the Owl's Dr Quack in Double Bay for a check-up. Good thing I wasn't racing this morning as I couldn't get going and after 10 mins running, stopped and walked up the hills along the coast path. I did another 10 mins running and then walked up the hill to home.Feeling a bit better now I've had some breakfast and a rest while icing the vergin' shin splints which have almost disappeared, Yay!Just 20 mins first thing in the morning tomorrow before we go to the airport for our 8am flight to Mexico, I mean Melbourne
Forest Fartlek
I went to bed at 8.30 last night, but then my mother rang from England and so my planned early night didn't go quite as I expected. Nevertheless I felt a lot better this morning than I have for a few weeks.Mr lulu and I headed to SWEAT at the park and after a quick warm up and stretch Cindy had us belting through the woods around Centennial Park. I wasn't pushing it too hard but just stretching the legs out before Sunday's race. It was lovely to have Kit back with us after injury and holiday and she will soon be back to her pre injury form. The others all left me in their wake going up the hill and I had the pleasure of Mr lulu and Don Juan's company on the last stretch of the hill to keep me going, whilst they chatted away to each other over my puffing billy impression in between them. Mr lulu is still nursing his achilles which is much improved but still twinges and so we both did the short version of the course this morning. No guilt on my part; that's what I was instructed to do on my programme! 7kms with an average pace of 6.23 which is OK for not really pushing it, particularly on the recoveries.That's the last real run before Sunday with just a couple of short easy runs tomorrow and Saturday just to keep the legs moving. I find this works better for me than resting completely.
