Cold and dark Colac
I managed to get up at 5.45 and get out for a short run around Colac. I'm sure it's a nice town in the daytime but in the dark and cold it's a bit spooky. There was hardly a soul around as I ran up towards the lake. A few groups of cyclists flew past and then I passed a couple of the ladies of the town out for a morning walk. After about 2 km I reached the lake; well I think it was the lake as all I could see was a dark patch and a few lights reflecting off the lake surface. I'm sure you can run along the lake side for a while but the road narrowed and the street lights started to get a bit sparse and I was worried about being kidnapped by a local meat worker and never being seen again so I just did a short loop around and then headed back towards the delights of the Baronga Motor Inn. Note to self; don't let the local abbatoir book your accomodation. I carried on past the hotel so I did a nice round 6km in about 40 mins. Good news is that everything felt pretty good. Even the quad niggled for a while and then retired... must be the cold. I was very glad of my long tights and long sleeved top this morning.A night in Geelong tonight before my early morning flight back to Sydney tomorrow; let's hope Jetstar have their act together and get me back in plenty of time for my flight to London.
Lulu does Colac
Unfortunately, Mr lulu's calf still wasn't good enough to run the half yesterday so we stayed at home. He went out on his bike and I headed down to Centennial for a slightly longer run. I did a loop of the outside and it was one of those days when it's hard work. I think it was the effects of a late night and a few glasses of red. I was quite relieved to see the car again. My left knee is still not 100% as it seems to start niggling after about 30 mins so I think I'll be sticking to some shorter runs again for a few weeks as well as keeping up the physio exercises. It's a good thing we'll be on holiday and I can try and use the next 4 weeks to get it 100% so I can commence proper training when I get back.Now I'm in Colac running a training course so I'll be doing a short run around the streets of Colac tomorrow morning.
A week in view!
I can't believe I've been absent for a week. Partly due to not running much, travelling for work and being busy in the run up to the holiday.What have I done this week in the way of exercise? Well not much really. Two pilates classes and a 5km run. The good news being that my legs have enjoyed the rest. The physio is happy with my progress and thinks we have everything under control so I can go ahead and break myself again now ;) Mainly due to Easy Tiger and his wonder hands I am feeling pretty good. Nothing like a bit of rest I suppose. I will try a longer run tomorrow at some stage. I'm not sure at the moment if Mr lulu is running the half or not. His left calf is still pretty sore and having just returned to full training from last year's half marathon dnf he is reluctant to repeat the process this year. He's going for a test run in the morning but at this stage he's thinking he's less than a 50% chance of starting.So if he doesn't run then we won't be there to cheer either I'm afraid as I have to leave for Colac on Sunday afternoon and have to do all my packing for the London/Venice trip before I leave as I arrive back from Colac at 8am on Weds and we leave for London at 3.50pm.. Let's just hope Qantas have their act together or I will be seriously stressed. Everything is pretty well organised with the house-sitters arranged and all those other pre-trip chores completed.Good luck to everyone running either the SMH half or Warwick this weekend. I look forward to reading all the race reports.
There's hope yet
...for my creaky old knees. Mr lulu and I drove down to Centennial Park this morning so I had the car to hand in case we had a repeat of last weekend's run. As we were about to set off Don Juan appeared with one of the two girls that made up Sean's pack. The rest are at Sean's camp.So we all set off together.... for about 10 metres before the boys started to disappear. I was quite happy to follow in their wake. All felt good and it was great running on what felt more like an English autumn day than an Australian one. Cool and damp and overcast. Good of the weather to acclimatise us before we get on the plane for England soon.After the first km the boys kindly came back to check on me and then hurtled off again. They reappeared on the York Street hill and then again on the down hill section. A bit like running with the fartlek group and it certainly helped me keep going, chasing them along. In fact I was running faster than my long run pace should be but as I didn't know how long I was going to be able to run for I just carried on.DJ stopped when we get back to the Oval and I followed Mr lulu. He thought I'd gone a different way so didn't come back for me any more and he soon disappeared into the distance. When I got back to the car I'd been going 45 mins and only having the odd little twinge in my knee. I decided not to push my luck too much though and had a short walk break of 6 mins, stretched out my quads and then did another 10 mins loop around part of Queen's park and back to the car again.In total about 9kms in an hour including my walk break. Running average speed was 6.09 so I'm very happy with that. My left latteral quad has definitely tightened up a bit again but not as bad as before so hopefully it's on the mend and I didn't get the sharp sudden knee pain I've felt in the last few runs. I'm off to see Easy Tiger again tomorrow so hopefully he'll be able to work his magic again and keep me on the road. I'm feeling much more hopeful it's nothing serious after that run today.
Test run 1
After 4 days of doing no exercise I was beginning to feel very sloth-like but at least my knee felt OK. I set off down to the normal testing ground of Queen's Park and everything felt great. It didn't last that long though as I felt the first twinge on the slight incline going back up Macpherson Street and then another more severe one just as I arrived back home which was about 25 mins into the run. This is nothing like the pain I used to get in the other knee, more a sharp sudden pain which stopped as soon as I stopped running.
So the verdict is; definitely better than last Sunday but not 100% and not really sure what's causing it. Will take another rest day tomorrow although I'll do something at the gym and then do a further test run on Sunday and see what happens. It's @#$% annoying that now I've spent the last 5 months getting my right knee fixed the left one decides to play up but that's running for you I suppose!
Resting and recovering
No running to report as I decided to have a good break of 3 or 4 days and let everything settle down after Sunday's incident. Monday I saw Easy Tiger who spent a delightful hour loosening up my quads. Nice big paw prints to prove it too. His diagnosis was over tight rectus femoris and lateral quads which are responsible for hip and knee flexion, which would explain the pain in the knee. Today I had a physio appointment. He is very pleased with the progress on the original knee problem but a bit perplexed by the new one. He agrees that the left quads are tighter than the right so it could have been the cause. If they really tightened up they would have pulled the knee cap over to the right which would have caused the knee pain alright. Couldn't replicate it there of course so I can try a short gentle run on Thursday and see what happens. He is also a bit concerned about a bit of soreness in the cartilage area. That has to be kept a close eye on as that's obviously a bit more serious. I left feeling a bit flat after that. Onwards and upwards with the VMO and glute and hip strengthening and hopefully back to running by the weekend. Just might not be as long as I would like.On the bright side I did lose half a kilo last week taking my total weight loss to nearly 4kgs.
A minor set-back
I met Jen_runs, Owly and Ellie this morning for our planned 70 mins around the park. A nice easy pace was established with the intention of doing on outside lap of the park and then an inside lap.
My left knee didn't feel that happy right from the start but I was hoping it would improve with time. Unfortunately not in this case and after 25 mins or so I had to stop as suddenly my knee started to really hurt all underneath and I was beginning to have trouble bending my leg. I sent the girls on their way and started to walk back to the car. Of course I had to be the furthest away from the car on the other side of the park.
I limped to the inside track of the park and bumped into D. Good thing I did because as I was talking to her the front of Sean's squad appeared. After a few minutes Easy Tiger appeared and I told him I'd broken myself and then Mr lulu. Mr lulu stopped, took the car key off me and told me to wait and he would get the car. I was sitting waiting in the sun when I heard Tiger calling my name and he had driven round in his van, what service, to see what was up. He was getting me to do various stretches when Mr lulu arrived in the car. It was like ambulances roaring up to a scene of an accident! I thought it was my itb but ET didn't think so and it's not really tight my itb on that side. He thinks more likely my quads. I booked in to see him properly tomorrow and it's a good thing I already had a physio appointment this week, although supposedly about the original knee problem in the other knee.
Hopefully as ET said it's only a minor set-back and I'll be back on the road again soon.
We all reconvened as planned at a local cafe in Clovelly and had a great breakfast where we met Sparkie. Horrie, Belinda and Tim pulled up as they were going to the bike shop we were sitting next too so we caught up with them as well. I don't think I've ever seen so many CRs in one weekend!
A day at the races
Mr grandfather used to train racehorses and had a string of horses; I had a string of runners to shepherd out to the races this afternoon. Along with Mr lulu we picked up Don Juan and Sparkie and headed out to the NSW road running championships to be held at Holsworthy army barracks. After Mr lulu showing his ID and the rest of us restraining from making Osama jokes we were admitted into the barracks. I didn't see one soldier the whole time which was a little disappointing as I do like a man in uniform.After parking the car and paying Mr lulu's registration I headed off to do my own run around the course. I had 45 mins on the programme today so I did one lap of the course and then went out a short distance and back again, covering 6.5 km in 42 mins. I passed a few of the boys warming up and made it back to the start in time to give Mr lulu and DJ the low down on the course and then assume my position to take photos.The starters gun went off and the pack came by with Mr lulu in the middle of the pack with Blue Dog on his tail. My other runners Sparkie and DJ were also looking in good form. I had 15 mins or so to kill before they came around again so I introduced myself to Easy Tiger and Knoxie's wives and we formed a mini cheersquad cheering on anyone we knew as they went past.Knoxie was the first to appear but not in the lead much to Mrs Knoxie's disappointment. Then came Tiger who on the first lap was only 15 secs ahead of DJ. I had brokered a bet between the two of them and Tiger had to beat DJ by 50 secs. Mr lulu was looking strong but still had Blue Dog on his tail. They disappeared off into the distance and we past the time cheering on others and gossiping. What else can running wives do? They approaced the finish, Knoxie appearing in about 7th I think (can't find the official results anywhere yet) . Easy Tiger appeared without DJ hot on his tail. In fact there was only a 55 sec gap so it was pretty close and they both ran PBs: Tiger doing 36.01 and DJ 36.56 so great running from them both.Mr lulu appeared but now Blue Dog had overtaken him and was slightly ahead. Mr lulu finished around 40.30 which was under the 41 mins he wanted so he's pretty happy with that considering the stage of his training. Sparkie didn't have a great run ( by his standards!) running 38.xx. He'll be back in form soon enough though I'm sure.The boys went off for their cool down run and I started passing out the muffins I'd made this morning for the runners. Very popular were my pear and lemon muffins so I'll have to make them a regular item at race meets in the future. A fun day.We had a fun night last night too with lots of CRs in town; Portrunnr and Minersrun from Port Macquarie and Tesso from Brissie so we all enjoyed a nice dinner at an Italian at the rocks.Minersrun stayed at the lulu house last night and I got up just in the nick of time to wish him luck at 5.20 before he headed off to run a PB of 39.08 at the Striders 10km. Seems like it was a good day for running today.
BAck to fartlek
I was a bit concerned that I wouln't be able to get around the park at pace after not doing many long runs but apparently I needn't have worried.
A quick couple of laps of the oval to warm up and then we were off. Again it was a big group of us with people like Fats, Sparkie and Liz Miller leading the charge and then a big middle of the pack and then us tail enders. Billy Idol was there today and had an interesting running style keeping his hands in his pockets. I'm not sure he's totally grasped the concept of surges either as he appeared to walk some of them.
Ellie and I mostly stuck together and I felt strong at the beginning, died in the middle going up that @#$% of a hill on York Road and then picked it up towards the end.
My km splits were 5.33, 6.06, 6.10, 6.43, 6.44, 6.16 and 6.08 so now I have a bench mark for improving over the next few months. Av pace was 6.17. It's the hill in the middle that really drops my pace back.
I took the shorter option today as I was beginning to fatigue and thought I'd quit whilst I was ahead. I'm sure Sean won't be letting me get away with that for long! All in all feeling good and no niggles. I'm particularly pleased that the right knee which had the tendonitis is feeling totally pain free. Obviously between Easy Tiger and the physio exercises I am keeping on top of it.
Minimal fallout
I was a little anxious that all Easy Tiger's good work would be undone by my return to SWEAT but I'm pleased to report minimal fallout. My legs felt a bit flat this morning but nothing more than that so I'm starting to feel more confident that I'm well and truly on the recovery trail.
Today was a nice gentle cruise around Queen's Park for 30 minutes. I even ran up the stairs at the end of the park so I must be feeling energetic.
I introduced Jen_runs to the joys of the Pilates reformer class last night as she wanted to try out my gym. It would be most excellent if she joins so we can do the odd Pilates class together.
Food:
B: Tropical organge PS
MT: coffee and choc peanut protein bar
L: Vanilla PS
AT: some nuts and seeds and an apple
D: Spinach and grilled salmon sushi and rice at Japanese restaurant.
I'm Baaaaaaaack!
I woke up before the alarm went off at 5.30 this morning for my first session back with SWEAT. I'm not sure if it was nerves or excitement that caused that but at least it was easy to get up. First goal achieved!I drove down whilst Mr lulu got his extra warm up in by running down. I had an unexpected warm-up when I discovered the gate to the park was shut. I parked and then had to jog, carrying the back pack, over to the oval. Felt tired by the time I got there!It was great to see everyone again and there's so many people there these days it's quite a crowd. All the old faces were there, except Kit adn Kerrie, plus lots of new ones. My return to the track started with the normal drills which didn't seem as hard as they used to. It probably helps not carrying around a spare 4kgs! My programme had me doing 2 x 1600 with 5 mins recovery and then a 1200. I ran the first one with Ellie which was excellent and we kept each other going. The second one I took a little bit easier and Ellie was ahead of me most of the way around. On the shorter one I took it a little quicker and overtook Ellie, which was a bit cheeky as she was valiantly doing another 1600. My times were 8.54; 9.06; and 6.50. Not bad for a first attempt and as I have something to aim for in the next few weeks.I didn't feel totally stuffed at the end of it either which surprised me and the only niggle that emerged was a strange aching pain in the left itb which has recovered after some stretching.I really enjoyed it and it's great having some company at the back of the pack; I don't feel quite so conspicuous now! So now I feel very enthusiastic about my running and motivated to keep on with the weight loss so I can really improve. I'm excited!Food:B: Blackforest PS
MT: 1/2 choc cherry protein bar and coffeeL: As BAT: other half of protein bar a few almondsD: Ocean trout, pureed cauli and corn, 1/2 apple
