Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Return to the lake

I like the SWEAT sessions we do around the lake. It's a good path and the scenery takes your mind off the pain!

I had 1 x1 lap and then 1 x 2 laps on my programme. Sean told us to go hard on the first rep as we'd have plenty of recovery. So off I went, and by half way I was already feeling it. Once I hit the home straight I managed to catch up with Becky O for the finishing push. Time: 7.45, which I think it probably a lake PB for me as I haven't been below 8 mins before.

A jog recovery for 6 mins and then we were off again. My legs were feeling the first effort and I was considerably slower on these laps and I was conscious that I had two laps rather than one. In the end I went through the first lap in 8.24, and finished in 16.45, only 5 secs slower than I was doing 2 laps before my injury, so I'm quite happy with that.

That's enough 'speedy' stuff for me for a few days, so I'll have a running rest day tomorrow, a slow run on Thursday and Saturday and then I'll be tackling another 5km race. This time we're off to Orange, where Mr lulu and Running Angel are doing the half. There's a 10km as well but for now I'm going to stick to the 5km and aim for the 10km at Canberra.

posted by Lulu @ 9:50 AM 6 comments

Sunday, February 25, 2007

5km plus

Saturday morning, I headed out to the bay for my first CR 5km challenge. I had no idea what I was going to be able to do, so I decided to head out on 30 mins and see what happened.

Luckily, I had the great company of Tiger Angel for the first half, before she pulled away, but at least she stayed in sight so I didn't miss the turn off for the canal last km.

We went out a little fast for me, going through the 1st km in just under 5.30 pace and the next few kms were all around 5.40 pace, so I ended up finishing in 28.50 which I was pretty pleased with considering the limited training I've done this year. That's only 30 seconds off my PB which is over a year old so I'm happy with that as a starting point for this year.

I struggled to hold it together in the last km which seemed to go on forever as we wound our way around the tennis courts. Rags caught me towards the end and checked to see if I was alright and if I wanted any help. Not much help he could give me unless he could give me a new pair of lungs!

Great to see so many people there especially the interstate gals Clairie and Tesso. I set off back to the start fairly quickly as I had to get home. Tiger Angel kept me company and we had a good old chin wag, but it still seemed a long way back.

Looking forward to next month already, when I can stay for the post run socilising!

posted by Lulu @ 4:12 PM 7 comments

Friday, February 23, 2007

Short and sweaty

Just a short 25 mins around Queen's Park this morning. I'm feeling a bit flat and tired after quite a hectic week and so I'm taking it easy! My achilles is also playing up a bit this week despite the best efforts of Easy Tiger. I think a trip to the physio is probably in order as it's been on and off for ages.

I headed to the gym after my run and did a good pilates class and then sat in the steam room for 20 mins. I'm hoping it will help me run better in the sweaty weather!

Looking forward to my first CR 5km challenge in the morning. See some of you there!

posted by Lulu @ 11:03 AM 4 comments

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

SWEATing

Back to SWEAT on Tuesday and another big turn out of runners which makes it fun. I had 3 x1km intervals on my programme this morning and despite Sean trying to persuade me to do 1.4km reps instead I stuck to the plan so I didn't stress anything too much.

As usual I started off too quickly but felt pretty comfortable, but the second and third reps were tough and I had to work hard to stick to a similar time. In the end I did 5.21, 5.22 and 5.24 so relatively consistent.

Good to be back and an hour of fun with Easy Tiger made sure I didn't suffer any ill effects from the return to SWEAT.

Today I'll do a gym and swim as well as taking my younger nephew snorkelling down at Clovelly.

posted by Lulu @ 8:17 AM 3 comments

Monday, February 19, 2007

Spectacular!

I had a choice to make on Sunday morning as to whether I would head to Smithfield and run in the SMC 5km around the barren industrial landscape or, stay at home and do something a little more scenic and do a longer run.

In the end I did this, which as you can see was a little more scenic than Smithfield.


















I started off on Hopetoun and ran up to Christensen Park and then along the cliff top path to The Gap. I found my way around the Navy base and down to Watson's Bay before setting off along the harbour and traced my way back to home.

It was pretty hilly but I felt a lot stronger than I did a few days ago and really felt my core strength helped me on some of the hills towards the end of the run when I was starting to tire. The good thing about the hills is that I got some fantastic views, first out along the coast and the cliffs and then on the harbour side out across the harbour and the city.

So, all in all, a good run. I ended up doing 10km which is the furthest I've been for a while and felt pretty good at the end of it, with very little grumbling from the hip which is good news.

I'll do the CR 5km challenge next weekend instead, which will be a good way to test out the fitness and hang out with some CRs at the same time.

posted by Lulu @ 1:12 PM 7 comments

Friday, February 16, 2007

South Head

It's been very hectic the last few days and a couple of early morning work commitments and dog walking duties have meant I had two rest days. Luxury!

Today though I headed out at about 7 and followed the road down to Watson's Bay and then found the path way that does a loop around South Head. Fantastic views back across the harbour to the city which I stopped to appreciate before heading back home.

After 5.5km I was absolutely pooped. Fitness MIA! I started off feeling great but after some hills and stairs in the heat and humidity I started to feel really dehydrated. Hopefully that's the main reason! I'm planning on running the 5km at SMC on Sunday; it could be interesting if I'm finding 5.5km a battle at an easy pace. Just doing it to see where I'm up to and I could be in for a nasty shock.

The good news is that the hip is liking the shorter runs and more rest days and I didn't hear a peep out of it. The bad news is I'm losing fitness by the day.

posted by Lulu @ 2:10 PM 7 comments

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Elementary, my dear Watson's (Bay)

No SWEAT for me this morning as the logistics of getting to the park, getting me back to Vaucluse and Mr lulu to the City when we've only got one car was getting too much for my brain. Anyway it's good for the hips!

Instead, I headed off down Hopetoun Ave towards Watson's Bay. A lovely down hill run most of the way there. Once I made it to the Watson's Bay I climbed the stairs for a look down at the Gap and then started up a bush trail I didn't even know was there. I turned back after a few minutes though as I wasn't sure where I'd pop out and I was doing 30 mins only in full Captain Sensible mode.

Back to the water for a short run along the harbour and then the uphill back to the house. Felt pretty good, and the hip only complained marginally on a steep hill section... good excuse to walk I say!

Once I'd made it back I saddled up Max the dog and took him for a short walk. He's been on short walks only since we moved in, as he had stitches in his leg where he'd cut himself. I took him up to the vet this morning and they've been removed so we'll be able to see what sort of running companion he makes. Max is a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever and is very cute and very easy to look after. I'm enjoying having a dog, even if it is only for a short time.

Mr lulu is still Top Dog though :)

posted by Lulu @ 4:37 PM 6 comments

Monday, February 12, 2007

All change

It's been a hectic weekend in the Lulu household. My brother and his wife and the other nephew arrived on Sunday and we had also committed to house/dog/cat sitting for some friends in Vaucluse for a week. This is good actually as our two bed unit would struggle to contain all the family anyway. So Sat, we moved into Vaucluse and got used to the new pet routine.

Sunday I was up early, walked and fed the dog (more about him another day) and then I went to the airport and picked up the family. After settling them in I headed down to Centennial for my 'long'run, which really isn't that long at the moment.

It was already pretty warm and I set off to do some laps of the inside so I could stop at the car on the way around and have a drink if I needed to. After about 500m I realised I hadn't put any sun sreen on so it was back to the car for that. Off again and I managed two further laps of the inside before my hip made it plain that it had had enough. Still not 100% and I only managed 55mins and 8.5km. Still, it's 10 mins more than last week I suppose. I'll be taking it pretty easy again this week and probably won't make SWEAT this week. I think the hip needs a little more TLC before inflicting further speedwork on it.

posted by Lulu @ 9:45 AM 4 comments

Friday, February 09, 2007

Easy day.. really it is !

Yesterday I was up and at the gym by 6 and doing a GRC pilates class. Then it was off to do my 8/12 session on the bike. I had the resistance on 6 this time and found it a hard session but it didn't leave me feeling trashed.

Then I headed for the steam room where I sat for about 20 mins before getting in a cold shower. It's supposed to be good for you isn't it? I'm not keen on the cold shower bit though.

After all that I headed off to work before meeting the CR gals for lunch at the Lindt cafe, with a special appearance from this fellow.
Back to the gym in the evening for my swim squad session. Lots of practice improving my arm work, pushing through to the end of the stroke, stretching out and pulling my arm through the water. Needless to say my shoulders and upper back are a tad sore this morning. At least it gives the legs a rest though:)

This morning I woke at 5.30 as usual and turned over and went back to sleep for an hour and still felt like I'd been run over by a bus. I staggered out the door and started to feel better after about 5 mins. In the end I took it very easy and did about 30 mins. That's it for the day apart form some glute exercises later on, oh and a CR dinner at a Japanese restaurant later.

posted by Lulu @ 9:27 AM 2 comments

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Will I ever learn?

Yesterday, as planned I went to SWEAT. It was really hard and I was really slow...anything else you want to know?

We had 2 x2 km reps and then 1 x1km. I was obviously overcome with excitement on the first one and took off like a startled rabbit, and keeping up with people who I clearly shouldn't have been near... only to be a flagging startled rabbit on the second km. The next rep I took a lot slower but it still hurt so I sped up again to get it over and done with :)

The 1km rep was just hard. A tough re-introduction to SWEAT sessions.

Times: 11.24, 11.46, and 5.46 v e r y s l o w.... Still it's start I suppose.

Today I thought I'd just back that up with a gentle 50 mins jog. It was really hard and I probably underestimated how much the SWEAT session took out of me yesterday. My legs weren't stiff but there just didn't seem to be any oomph. I ended up doing some walking breaks and then realising that I would be late leaving for the city so I had to run again. It turned into quite a stressful 55 mins!

As usual I've been trying to do too much too soon. I should have scheduled a day off running after SWEAT yesterday. The good news is the hip is feeling OK so hopefully no damage done. I was going to gym later but I'll be sensible and save that for tomorrow.

Ewen asked about the 8/12 and last week I had to give them a miss as I was travelling and there was no gym at the hotel. Back to that tomorrow though. I did ask Prof. Boutcher, who was online at the Daily Tele last week about how much benefit you'd get if you were already relatively fit and a runner. His answer was that if you weren't already doing sprint interval training then you would get some benefit. So I'm going to count my SWEAT sessions as one session and try and do two other 8/12s at the gym. Sounds like a plan!

I'm being forced to migrate to Blogger 2 so if you subscribe to my blog through bloglines you will have to re-sucsribe I think.

posted by Lulu @ 9:06 AM 7 comments

Monday, February 05, 2007

A week's worth!

After prompting by DJ I thought I'd better update the old blog. Haven't felt like blogging.. probably too busy!

A spent three days in Perth last week and managed two runs along the river which were great. I did 8km on the Weds am and 5km with 2 500m surges on the Thursday. First time running two days in a row for a while and felt fine, in fact the hip was better on the second day.

Back in Sydney feeling pretty tired from the work and travel and so I ended up having two rest days before heading out with The Owl and Ellie on Sunday morning. It was hot and Ellie is still struggling with her cold and The Owl says she thinks she was still a bit tipsy from the night before :) We ended up pulling the plug at 50 mins and 7.5km as my left lateral quad started to niggle. This bothered me last year and put me back a few weeks on my last recovery so I'm being extremely cautious at the moment. No rush, and I'd rather build up slowly than incur another problem.

Having said that, my plan this week includes doing a SWEAT session tomorrow, but taking it relatively easy. I'm also going to do a longer run on Weds before having a day off. We'll see how it goes.

posted by Lulu @ 9:14 AM 10 comments