Hard hills
Feeling a lot better after a rest day and my usual monday meeting with the Easy Tiger massage table. Despite ET saying I would be OK to do SWEAT I ignored him and did my own little session on the three beaches course.
I haven't done this for so long I'd forgotten that it was hard work. Down to Coogee around the back streets and then up and down the coast path through Gordon's Bay and Clovelly to Bronte beach. I tried to keep the pace up a bit on the hills but Bronte Hill defeated me and I walked the last 100 ms. Honestly, I'm such a wimp at times! I did run the last hill home for a total of 6 km in about 40 mins and a good solid workout of the legs and lungs.
Off to pilates later on this afternoon and all niggles feeling pretty good. Will test out the hammie on Thursday with a SWEAT session and see what happens.
It's hard work.....
...
getting fit and keeping up the momentum. A few times this week I've wanted to stay in bed but have managed to keep up all my intended sessions.
Thurs: The hardest Pilates class I've ever done. Jen_runs and I were expecting sore abs the next day, but strangely mine never arrived. Note to self; don't do the advanced Pilates class when you haven't done many classes in the last month!
Fri: A rest day from running so I headed to the gym, did 20 mins on the elliptical thingie, my weights programme and then a Spin class. Felt pretty good after all that and staggered home.
Spin seems to have upset my left itb a bit though so will stick to the elliptical trainer instead for extra cardio I think.
Sat: No CR challenge for me as I'm nursing those niggles. Instead I headed out for 40 mins around the park and back up the hill. Felt a bit tired but managed to push up the hill on the way home for a total of 6.3km.
Spent the rest of the day watching horses doing all the work at the races at Rosehill. Sadly, I couldn't get in touch with the racing genes ( my grandfather was a race horse trainer) and we came home out of pocket, with me only managing to pick one winner all day.
Sun: Felt tired the minute I woke up and the start of daylight saving didn't help. Fortunately there was only 90 mins on the programme today so I intended to do a more hilly course. I started off down to the park but knew it was going to be a hard day so decided to stick to an easier course than I'd originally planned and just did one loop through the middle of the park and a couple of laps of the inside fence before heading back down to Randwick gate and then back up Clovelly road. I used all sorts of little goals to keep myself moving today. First, it was just get to an hour and see how you feel, then it was just do 12km and see how you feel, then it was just get to 1000 cals and see you how you feel, then it was well you can do the 13km now then, and then it was done. I was back at home 13km in 1 hr 26 mins. Glad that's over and tomorrow's a rest day.
Ups and downs
I had a rushed morning yesterday when I didn't wake up early enough to fit in my planned run and gym session but managed to do 45 mins run and a solid stretching session at least.
It was hard work yesterday with 45 mins seeming to last forever and I was very pleased to see the end of it: about 7km
Today I felt much better but rather than risk aggravating the current bag of niggles I just did a short 5km hilly run from home. I haven't done the two beaches run for ages and so headed down to Clovelly. I felt quite strong on the hills, plodded up Bronte hill and back home and then did my extra Evans Street loop for a total of 5.3km at an average pace of 6.19/km. I think this is probably a PB for me in terms of time over that course and I felt strong at the end so I think my hill running is improving.
I'm in two minds whether to do the CR challenge on Sat or not and will probably give it a miss. I seem to have a small collection of niggles that I don't want to aggravate, including a new one in the left hip flexor. Seeing as my goal is to make it to the Central Coast Half then it's probably wise to easy back on the speed for a week or so and see whether we can get these niggles to go away. The good news is that the knee is behaving which is a big relief and I'm sure these others will go if I look after them.
600ish
I was tempted to turn over and go back to sleep this morning but managed to get out of bed and down to the park for SWEAT.
After consulting Easy Tiger yesterday the knee was a lot better today so whatever he did seems to have worked. That was the good news, the bad news being that the stoopid hamstring started playing up again. Fine during the warm-up drills and strides. Still fine for the first rep and then it was all down hill from there.
I tried to ignore it on the 3rd rep and Ellie was tantalisingly close and not getting any further away which kept me pushing along. I started the fourth rep and my hamstring started complaining more loudly and so I jogged out the rep and then did a few laps of the oval with Bernie G. Disappointed not to be able to do the last 2 reps but better that than not being able to train for the rest of the week I suppose.
This is an annoying little niggle, not there most of the time but everynow and then during a speed session it rears it's ugly head.
ET had set me the goal of running my 600s in 3 mins but I was a little way off with times being 3.06, 3.09, 3.06. However, Mr lulu said he thought Sean's track was a little long this morning and when I checked Garth he had measure 640m and a pace of about 4.54/km for the reps, so I can say I acheived it in the world according to Garth!
Off to Pilates later for the first time in a week or so which should be interesting and the rest of the week's plan is:
Weds: 45 mins easy, and gym session
Thurs: Wild Wally and Pilates with Jen_runs
Fri:Spin and Pilates
Sat: 60 mins (might do the CR challenge if hammie is co-operative)
Sun: 90 mins
Melbelaide
This week has been a blur of planes, training sessions, and runs in different cities, not to mention linking up with inter-state CR bloggers which has been fun.
Wednesday
On a plane first thing and so my run took place in the afternoon, once the day's training was over. Just a short easy run along the banks of the Yarra in Melbourne, 4.3km and half an hour. Very pleasant afternoon along the river, watching the rowers train.
Thursday
A bit of a late night with the meat men (and they know how to drink) saw me unable to get out of bed early this morning so I swapped my rest day from Friday to Thursday. This probably wasn't a bad idea as my legs were still a bit stiff from the weekend's run and the rest day helped them recover. After work I headed out to meet Wobbly Man for a couple of drinks and had the pleasure of inspecting the newly shaven legs. Very smooth apart from the lovely scabs where he had taken off the skin on his shin bone with dodgy shaving techniques... ouch!
Friday
Up and along the river this morning and Wobbly had given me clear instructions on finding the Tan from my hotel and so I did a tempo run around then Tan and then back to the hotel. Anderson St hill slowed me down a bit and so the splits for the 4km tempo were 6.23, 5.41, 5.34, 5.58 and then a jog back to the hotel for a total of 6.6km.
Saturday
Flew in from Melbourne on Friday night and had an early night before meeting Simlin for our morning's run. Simlin picked me up from outside the hotel and we headed off around the streets of North Adelaide and then down to the river. A great run and it was fantastic to have a local guide to show me the sights of Adelaide. It certainly makes the run a lot easier when you don't have to worry about getting lost, not to mention the charming company! We took it nice and easy and cruised along at 6.30 pace for about 9.7km. Thanks again Simlin, very enjoyable running.
Sunday
Having arrived back on Saturday night and feeling a bit tired from the weeks travels I had a bit of a late start this morning before heading out for my long run. I was running solo this week as Ellie was helping Kit out at the Striders internal half. I ran down to the park and then did an outside loop including the golf course and stopped briefly to say hello to Mr lulu who was playing touch football in a work team comp which was being held near Moore Park. Another lap of the outside and back to see Mr lulu and steal some Gaterade from their supplies and then Mr lulu ran back home with me. I'd undestimated the distance back home and so we ended up walking the last little section home. This 18km didn't seem quite as easy as last weekend but I've had a much heavier training week but I still felt pretty good at the end and managed to pick up the pace a little once I'd picked up Mr lulu. Let's hope the legs recover a bit quicker this week than last week.
I'm a bit concerned about my knee but it's got a bit better this week and I'll have a chat with the Tiger tomorrow and see what he thinks before I start to panic too much. I really don't want a reoccurance at this stage when my training seems to be going well. I've done 43km this week which is the most I've done for a year or so and am beginning to feel the benefits.
A rest day tomorrow but I'll try and get to the gym and do a Pilates class as I've hardly done any the last week or so and I need all the strength work I can get if I'm going to keep the knee issues at bay.
Lake 300s
My legs were really quite sore yesterday after the long run on Sunday, particularly the quads. I had a massage with ET but that was it yesterday.
This morning I was down at the park by 6 in time to do 1.5km to try and get the legs to losen up a bit which they did but I did have a worrying pain in my original dodgy knee so I hope that's not going to start bothering me again. It went away once I'd started the main session though so I'll keep a careful eye on it and increase the VMO and glute strengthening again.
This morning's session was 10 x300s for me and as the oval is still undergoing maintenance we were doing it on the lake track, running out and back. One way was definitely shorter than the other which was a bit disconcerting as I thought my times were really inconsistent until K told me she was 5 secs faster one way than the other too.
Splits were 1.30; 1.35; 1.32;1.37;1.30;1.40;1.33;1.45;1.33; 1.37
I was relatively pleased to maintain the pace apart from the 8th one which I deliberately did a bit slower to try and regain my composure! It's a long time since I've done 300s but looking at my blog the last time we did this session, the times were about the same but I couldn't manage to do all ten, so that's an improvement at least.
Off to Melbourne and Adelaide first thing tomorrow so will have to be disciplined to do my runs and keep myself moving over the next few days, especially as my quads feel totally stuffed now!
It's been a long time..
...since I've felt this good when I've been running. Had one of those great runs today when everything seemed to be quite easy.
Owlie and Ellie were out on the town last night picking up boys and so they didn't want to do an early morning run so we met this afternoon at 4pm instead. I don't normally run in the afternoon and I felt I couldn't settle down to anything during the day knowing a 2hr run was hanging over me. I was relieved when the time came for me to go down to the park.
Met the girls and we set off on a outside loop of the park, did a loop of the golf course and then back to our starting point where Owly set off for home and Ellie and I had a quick drink stop before heading out to do another outside loop minus the golf course. 2 hrs and just under 18kms later we were finished. The last 15 minutes just seemed to feel easy, I even put on a spurt of speed at the end because I was feeling so good.
Perhaps running later in the day when I've plenty of fuel in the system is the reason but I can't remember the last time I felt that good after a run and it's pretty good considering I haven't run that far this year. Let's hope I have few more of those in the next few weeks.
It was great to be running with the girls again as it's been a while since we were all doing our long runs together and the company was excellent and made the time go very quickly.
Very happy Lulu this evening, with only a slightly tight foot in the niggles department too. That will be sorted out tomorrow when I see Easy Tiger.
Back to SWEAT
I managed to heave myself out of bed and get to SWEAT this morning and that's another good cure for jetlag!
Today's session involved 1km fartlek loops with one long surge and one short surge and two floats in between. I made the mistake of going out too fast and trying to keep up with Ellie on the first one and paid for it on the next three loops. The first lap was 5.18 and it was all downhill from there. Next laps were 5.50, 5.48, 5.48 so at least they were consistent! Garth seems to think the average pace was 5.32 but that doesn't make sense based on the times and Ellie's was 5.36 and she finished about 30 secs ahead of me. I didn't have the 1km split timer on which would have been useful. Anyway it was a good session and nothing hurt which is even more remarkable!
Testing, testing...
A terrible jet-lagged, awake-half-the-night, type sleep last night saw me unable to peel myself out from under the doona. I had a dentist's appointment first thing so I stumbled into the city and back before forcing myself out of the door for a short test drive of the legs.
Feeling a lot better than yesterday, a little grumble in the achilles but a night wrapped in cling-film and Voltaren seems to have calmed it down, that and the threat of Easy Tiger getting stuck into it would be enough to scare it off!
I definitely feel stronger since all that hill walking and stair climbing we did on holiday. I even ran up the stairs and steep hill at the end of Queen's Park up to Carrington Road which I don't think I've ever done before. I don't feel so bad about running hills slowly now that I know that even walking up them seems to be good for you!
Just an easy 4km today and I'll head off to the gym later for a return to Pilates. That's going to be fun, after two weeks off. Stand-by abs!
Easing back into it
Just about over the jet lag now but we still couldn't get out of bed early this morning so running took place at lunchtime.
I took the car down to Centennial park and did an outside loop plus a bit of Queen's Park to make it up to 7km. My legs felt nice and fresh after a week off running and a massage with ET yesterday afternoon; a definite cure for jetlag!
He was a little surprised the mess I'd made of my calves but nothing an hour of gripping the massage table won't fix. They didn't feel too bad today, except a niggle appeared in my achilles which I haven't had for ages. No doubt we'll be chasing the niggles around my calves until they recover from all that hill and stair climbing in Italy.
Now, I have 8 weeks left until the central coast half. I was going to do the Fitzroy Falls 10km this weekend but as I'm nursing a few niggles I think I'll give it a miss, possibly do the 5km out at SMC on Sunday depending on how my legs feel after doing SWEAT on Thursday.
I managed to not put on any weight while I was away, and am now intent on losing a few more kilos before the half marathon; 5kgs would be nice and is probably achievable in 8 weeks, so it's back to the protein shakes and giving wine a miss. I did drink plenty of lovely wine in Italy to keep me going for a few weeks.
I'll add a few more pics over the next few days. Blogger is playing up now and won't load them.
When in Roma
We arrived in Rome on Sunday afternoon and went for a walk around our hotel area, looking for somewhere to run in the morning. We found another good sized park about a ten minute run away and so that is where we set off to on the Monday morning. We overslept a bit and so it was about 7.30 by the time we went out and so starting to get a bit busy.
I followed Mr lulu around the park and as you can see by the google map we went on an interesting course!
Although the niggling hamstring was gone, my niggling tib posterior was definitely not happy this morning and seemed to be spreading to my shins so after a hour and about 9km we called it a day and made our way back to the hotel. This was an interesting journey as by now the pavements were packed with Roman's on their way to work and crossing roads was taking your life in your hands as you dodge the many Vespas and mad Italian drivers.
Lots of massage of my shins for the next few days but in the end we decided to give running a miss whilst we were in Rome to try and let things recover. It also meant that we got some sleep ins which was very nice. We were on holiday after all.
Instead we did masses of walking around the sights of Roma. It was a bit overwhelming after being in the quiet of beautiful Riomaggiore for a week. Rome is manic with people, cars and motor scooters all dashing around. They certainly know how to share the road and once we'd got used to it we decided they were actually quite good at missing us on the pedestrian crossings!
We had a great book of walks around Rome and so as well as doing all the usual sights such as the Colloseum and the Forum we also visited some more residential areas which were also beautiful. We also sampled lots of great food and wine of course!
Now it's Sunday evening and we're back in lovely Bronte. Royworlds looked after our place very well for us and can house sit again anytime he likes. If the party DJ was threatening took place you all cleared up after yourselves very well and the wine cellar hasn't been touched!!
Mountain Training Camp
The Cinque Terre are five small fishing villages perched on the edge of the mountains where they meet the Meditteranean sea. Until the 1960's they were completely cut off from the rest of the world except for a network of paths that linked the villages. Now a train links the villages. There is a path that runs along the coast between the villages and many paths leading up into the mountains,Our room was in an apartment in the first town, Riomaggiore and half way up the hillside. The first day here it was raining but as I needed to send a document back to the UK we headed by train into the nearest big town; La Spezia on the train where I managed to deal with the charming postmaster entirely in Italian. I'm not sure if the letter will ever get there but I think I sent it to UK, express post!The following day the weather was a gorgeous sunny, warm autumn day so we headed out for a run in the morning along the coast path that links the villages. It is flat and paved to the first village, Manorola, but then becomes a rocky, hilly track up to the next village of Corniglia. At one point in the run it became too steep for me to run up and was a bit hazardous on the way down, but no ankles were broken. Back in Riomaggiore I had to make it back up to our apartment and only made it half way up the hill before I had to walk. In total 6km.After breakfast Mr lulu decided a long walk was in order so we looked at the map and he decided that the coast path was too easy ' only for running ' and he identified the highest point above the village as our target for the day, 635m above the village. It seemed to be straight up most f the way and took us just over an hour of climbing up through the vineyards and olive groves on steps and a rocky path to the top. Once we got there we walked along a path at the top until we came to a bar and another path back down to the village. It took us about 3.5 hours in total to do the walk and going down was nearly as bad as going up.No run for me the next day but we decided to walk all the way along the five villages. It might be an easy path to the first two but the following two it's quite a tough path going up and down to each of the villages and even Mr lulu was glad to arrive in the last one, Monterosso after about 4 hours of walking. That includes stops for refreshment along the way of course!
Here are a couple of pictures:
First is a picture from the walking trail that goes between the five villages. You can see me (wearing a CR cap!) having made it to the fourth village, Vernazza which is one of the prettiest. The section between the previous town and this one is the worst section of the path, lots of ups and downs, very narrow and rough so we were pleased to see the town ahead.
Second, is a pic of Riomaggiore, taken from the water on the day when we didn't do a long walk and took a boat trip instead. A very lovely place to stay and our apartment was in the orange building on the left of the picture towards the top of the village.
Two more runs along the path between the villages of 7.5km and 6km as well as some shorter walks and our time in the mountain training camp is over as we head to Rome today. More from there later as we have to go and catch our train now. Ciao!
