Mojo lost and found
After such a good run on Sunday strangely I found it hard to get motivated this week. I managed a trip to the gym on Monday and then it was Thursday afternoon before I managed to get out for a run. I happened to be at a conference in Adelaide and so I snuck out before it had finished and headed down to the river for a short hit out. I didn't enjoy it, but it was another 5km in the bank.
This morning I had arranged to pick up Running Angel to head over to the bay for the CR 5km challenge. If I hadn't arranged that I think I would definitely have stayed in bed.
I did a short warm up and then headed off on 29 mins as I really didn't think I would be able to much better today. Once I got going though I felt OK and according to Garth my splits were 5.36, 5.43, 5.41, 5.41, 5.36 to finish in 28.36, which considering my frame of mind I was pretty pleased with. It's 14 seconds quicker than last month and now only 16 seconds off my PB so I'll definitely have to go for that next month. I was also pleased that my legs felt strong all the way and I didn't feel totally spent at the end so there was probably a few extra seconds to be had. The head wind in the last km didn't help though!
Had an easy run back for the first few kms and then picked up the pace in the last two to 10km race pace to see how it felt and it didn't feel too bad; in fact I think this is where my mojo returned to me. Even better was that there was no niggle at all from the hip and only a minor complaint from the achilles on the way back.
Now let's hope the mojo doesn't run off again this week. I'll be travelling down to Canberra again and it would be nice to have a whole week at home one day soon, as that would probably help. I don't seem to have any routine at the moment.
A big catch-up
Thursday I had to get up at 5 to set off for Canberra, again! I had a two day workshop for one of my clients to attend and not much time for anything else, so I'm sorry to didn't see any of the Canberra CRs this time. I'll be back in two weeks though so I'll try and see you then!
After the workshop ended on the Thursday I decided to head out and do my run. It was still really hot but I intended to only do 5km or so... that was the intention. I headed up from the hotel towards Red Hill and found a very nice track which ran around the bottom so I followed that for a while. When I got to 2.5km I turned around. I then saw another track which appeared to follow the road back to my hotel and merrily headed along that, behind the houses. I got the sense that is was going away from the road so at the next available point I did a right hand turn and headed in the direction of the road. A few more twists and turns and I still didn't appear where I thought I should. By now I'd done well over 5km...hmmm. I had a pretty good idea of where I thought the hotel was, but not really how to get there. I was starting to feel a bit tired and thirsty by now so I asked a local Canberrite who was innocently putting his rubbish bin away where the hotel was. After a few directions I set off again and fortunately was soon back at the hotel. Now I remember why Mr lulu won't let me run on my own when we're in strange cities!! All up 7kms.
Another early start on Friday and then I drove back to Sydney in the mid afternoon. What I needed after 3.5 hours in the car was a bit of exercise so I headed down to Centennial Park for a lazy 5kms. My legs felt like lead and I felt really tired but I was glad I'd done it.
Lucky I'd arranged to meet Ellie this morning as the wind was howling around our place this morning and it looked very unattractive out there. Obviously there was no sympathy from Mr lulu who had three hours on his programme. I met Ellie at her pad and then we headed off down Oxford St, through the domain, around the Opera House, up Pitt and Hunter Sts and then back up Oxord and Moore Park road. There was then a bit of running up and down Ellie's street to do to take us to exactly 12 kms.
We saw Gronk doing his last long run before Canberra *waves* and shortly after this I tripped and twisted my ankle. Unfortunately, it had to be the ankle with the dodgy achilles which is now feeling a little bit upset with me. It had been feeling a lot better this week so I'm hoping it's a temporary glitch and with a bit of tlc will be OK.
Apart from that I felt really strong this morning and could have gone further but I'm still under instructions to limit my kms, and breakfast was calling. We picked up Running Angel and then headed to one of our fav cafes in Bondi to wait for Mr lulu and have a great brekkie.
Lake lapping
The SWEAT session this morning was 2 laps of the lake with 4 mins recovery followed by one lap of the lake. Regular readers with good memories will know that a lap of the lake is about 1.45km.I did my warm up with Deanne, who dragged me around the oval at a faster pace than I normally do my warm up and I thought the session had started already! Once I'd done the drills and strides I felt almost human.Up to the lake, and we were off. I decided to run just under my 5km PB pace (5.40/km) and see how I went. The first km went quite smoothly in 5.41, a bit slower than intended.There were a few girls ahead so I decided to see if I could catch them and keep ahead, which I did. Consequently, the next km was quicker at 5.35 and the final 900m were at 5.36 pace which gave me a total for the 2 laps of 16.07. That's a massive 2 lap training PB for me. Previous 2 lap times were around 16.40.. yay for me! No dry retching this morning, but I did feel sick on the second lap :)Sadly, the little leggies weren't so happy about doing another lap. I think someone had replaced them with lumps of lead in the recovery. I should probably try and keep jogging in the recovery as that seems to help, but today I had to walk and have a drink. I set off and the girls I had successfully passed in the 2 lapper easily beat me on the 1 lapper, which I did in 8.20, not such a good time.... but hey I finished in one piece with hardly a peep out of the hip and achilles...mainly due to Easy Tiger giving them a stern talking to, or maybe it was his new "scientologist" technique.
Canberra training camp
Friday 16th
I've been neglecting my 8/12 interval training of late so I headed to the gym for a 30 min session on the bike, followed by 500m swimming and a steam.
Late afternoon we headed down to Canberra so Mr lulu could do his training on the marathon course this weekend. The traffic was shocking leaving Sydney and consequently we didn't arrive until 9pm.
Sat 17th
I headed out for about 40 mins around the lake. It was nice and cool in Canberra and I enjoyed the cooler temps after some of the hot and humid days we have had in Sydney. My legs felt decidedly leaden this morning so I took it very easy and did about 6km.
Then it was off to lunch with fellow bloggers CJ, Strewth and Ewen. Very nice pic on CJs blog. Great to see everyone, and needless to say there was lots of talk about running and Italy :) A very nice way to spend a long lunch!
Sun 18th
Whilst Mr lulu headed out to do a lap or so of the marathon course I headed back to Lake BG. I headed in the opposite direction to Sat and passed the Australian Museum, and then past Black Mountain peninsula before turning around and heading back. I felt much better today, the hip and achilles were relatively well behaved and I enjoyed the change of scene on a basically flat course with the odd speed bump to keep me interested. About 11.5km in 75mins.
All in all a very nice weekend which was topped off by a trip to a winery and lunch at the Lynwood cafe at Collector.
Another day, another physio
As my achilles has been bothering me for a few weeks now and it's not getting any better, Easy Tiger sent me off to see the foot and ankle physio expert. The good news is I don't have to stop running, although she doesn't want me to increase my kms at the moment. I have a mild case of achilles tendonosis, and the cure is lots of eccentric calf exercises. So I'm now to be found standing at the bottom of our stairs, twice a day, doing my exercises like a good girl. She's hopeful that in three weeks there will be a big improvement and by the end of her rehab programme it will be fixed... that's good news. Apparently, tendonosis is not an inflammatory condition but a degenerative one and so anti-inflams are no use. They are not quite sure what causes the pain but some ulta sounds show blood vessels in the tendon where they shouldn't be. The eccentric calf exercises apparently shut them down as well as strengthening that calf, which is a bit wasted. Fingers crossed it all goes according to plan. So after a few days of rest, I headed off to SWEAT this morning for a 4km fartlek session. I felt a bit sluggish in the warm up but started off way to fast as usual once the session started and each lap was getting slower and slower. I pushed hard in the last surge to try and catch one of the other girls but she stayed ahead of me. When I stopped I was surprised by a dry heave.. first one ever, so I must have been working hard :) Ellie tells me Sean would be proud of me!I've entered the Canberra 10km which should be interesting as I won't be able to do that much training in the meantime, but at least I know I can run 10km although it will be slow one I suspect.
A big weekend
I
t's been another busy week, which included a quick trip to Perth and back. Perth was 42 degrees and I was glad to be in a hotel for most of the time I was there. I'd intended to run but the heat and the fact that I'd left my sports bra in Sydney seemed a good excuse to stay in bed!
Friday, I made up for it by doing an 8km run around Centennial. I felt really good and neither my hip or achilles complained.
After that it is was get ready, and head out to pick up Don Juan and then Jen, and head to the Blue Mountains.
We loaded all Jen's stuff in the car and pointed the Lulumobile towards Katoomba. First stop lunch, as none of us had eaten and it was now 3pm. Next stop, The Edge to pick up Jen and Go Girl's race packs. Jen started to look a bit edgy herself at this point, so after a bit of socialising it was back in the car and off to our house in Mount Victoria. It probably didn't help that I kept saying things like "She's going over the edge" in a movie trailer voice-over type of voice. Actually, I'm surprised she didn't push me over the edge at this point.
The Evil Twin Sister was kind enough to let us have her house in Mount Victoria for the weekend. She'd conveniently gone to Vietnam for work, so we had the place to ourselves. This was lucky as we ended up with 9 of us staying there on Friday night as well as 2P dropping in for a Friday night dinner at the pub. Let's just say it's a good thing it's a big house, although an extra bathroom would have been useful.
I distracted Jen for 10 mins by showing her how to make Tiramisu and then everyone else started arriving at the house. After dinner in the pub, we all bedded down for the night.
Saturday, we headed to the start. Jen and Go Girl were both very calm and relaxed. We waved GG off in Wave 2 and then Jen off in Wave 4. Good photos of this on Jen's blog.
A yummy breakfast at Blackheath, and then we headed for the finish. We dropped Don Juan off at the Caves Road crossing so he could cheer from there. The atmosphere at the finish line was fantastic. Sadly, we just missed Fats finishing but what a great run by him to win and set a course record. I can at least claim that I train in the same squad as him, albeit I'm at the back whilst he is at the front!
Then we settled in to wait for our three valiant crew members. We were beginning to worry about Go Girl when her expected finish time came and went. Then she appeared at the finish and we found out that her run had ended when she had fallen twice and done some damage to her ribs, which became to too painful to run with. Devastating after all that training, but in true GG style she said, 'well, I'll just do Canberra then'.
2P made a triumphant descent down the stairs but he was by no means unscathed, with a calf blowing up in the first 5km and then he fell and opened up some nice wounds on his hand.
As the 7 hour cut off got closer we started to get anxious for Jen, but then we heard that she was coming down the path. We gave her a huge cheer as she came down the steps and headed for the finish chute in a fabulous 6 hours and 50 mins. What an achievement with such an interrupted preparation. I don't think I would have had the guts to start, so she showed us all what can be achieved with the right attitude and by sticking to her plan, which she executed perfectly. I don't think I've ever been so relieved to see anyone :)
There were some other great performances, especially Kit turning in a fantastic 5.15 debut run and CJ 5.25 as well as Ewen's 6.30! It was great to see everyone at the finish.
Back to the house for recovery champagne (not for Jen though as Easy Tiger had sent her a text saying no alcohol, which she obeyed!). The rest of us enjoyed it for her though. Then once we'd got her clean we took her to the pub where she devoured a juicy recovery steak. She also enjoyed her celebratory Tiramisu.
Sunday morning, Ellie, the Owl, and I headed off for our own mountain run. We were accompanied for the first 15 mins by Don Juan who is on the comeback trail. I think this will be the only time that we'll be able to keep up with him! We headed down to the Victoria falls turnoff. Mr lulu said it was relatively flat but I really should know better than to believe him when he says that! There were a few ups and downs, and then one long down which I knew would be a long up on the way back. Ellie and I turned around after 35 mins but the Owl continued to the end of the track. I ended up walking up some of the long hill and my hip and achilles weren't too happy about the rough track and hills so I was glad when Garth said I'd done 10kms and I could stop.
A great weekend with some great company. Thanks to Cirque for coming down from Brisvegas to share the experience, and to Don Juan and the girls for making it a fun weekend. Looking forward to next year already!
Special guest appearance!
Last night we celebrated Ellie's birthday at a very nice tapas bar. She even introduced us to some of her non-running friends which I thought was very brave!
Jen_runs needed a bed to sleep in so we kicked out the nephew from the spare room and installed Jen. This meant that this morning we could do our run together. Happy days :)
I feel pretty good after the weekend and a session with Easy Tiger yesterday but I didn't want to do anything too energetic, so we settled for a couple of laps of the inside of the park.
In the end we did 1 lap and then a loop around the road through the middle as neither of us felt very energetic and my hip was giving me a tiny bit of grief. I'll have to give it lots of attention in the next few days to make sure it settles down again. All up, depending on whose Garmin you believe we did 6.7 or 6.82 kms at about 6.30 pace. It was great to run with Jen again as it's been ages and I was very excited to be accompanying her on her last run before that race at the weekend ;)
Hot Orange
Leaving Sydney at lunchtime on Friday Mr lulu, Running Angel and Mr RA headed off to Orange. We had an excellent dinner at Lolli Redini, which is one of the nicest restaurants in the town and then a relatively early night.
Saturday morning, Mr lulu and I went out for a short trot up the main street of Orange and back, about 4kms and 25 mins. I found it hard work and wondered why but then Mr lulu said that we were at about 900m above sea level and that could be making it seem harder than normal.
After brekkie we all drove around the half marathon course so Mr lulu and RA could see what they were in for. It didn't look too bad, although it was definitely undulating! It was incredibly hot by mid morning and we were questioning the wisdom of the organisers to start the race at 9am.
A spot of wine tasting and a nice lunch at La Colline winery was followed by a nana nap before a carbo loading pasta dinner for the HMers.
Sunday we headed out to the race start at about 8am so RA could register. Fortunately, the weather was overcast and relatively cool and it actually started raining at the start of the half so we hoped it wouldn't be too hot for them. Then it was my turn. I lined up with the 10km and 5km run/walkers and we were off. A nice downhill for the first km soon turned into lots of ups and downs. I couldn't get into much of a rhythm as it seemed as soon as I'd gone up and down one hill, there was the next one. I even had a walk break at the top of one hill. Once I'd turned around and was heading back up the road to the finish I managed to pick up the pace a bit and head for home. At least I managed to come in under 30 mins at 29.30, finishing 12th in the 5km and second woman. Clearly, not a very big field and it was the 5km walk I was running in! Mr RA also did the 5km and came second in 22.58; not bad for someone who has only run twice this year!
Then it was time to wait for the half marathoners to arrive. We saw Barry Keen win, and Andrew Knox came second. At that stage I thought it might be a tough out there as Knoxie finished in 71 mins when I think he was aiming for 68 mins. By now the rain had gone and it was blazing sunshine, and so very humid. I was very glad I hadn't attempted the 10km as I would definitely be walking by now!
Mr lulu came into view and he didn't look happy, finishing in 91.30 which is close to being his slowest ever half time. He said the hills were a lot worse than they looked in the car and that they, and the heat, just started sapping his energy after the turnaround.
We then waited for RA to appear. She had also found the hills and heat hard to deal with so didn't achieve her goal time, but she showed that she could tough it out in those conditions. Next time, you'll get your goal RA! We hung around for some of the prize giving before heading back to the motel, showering and heading back to Sydney via a quick lunch at the Bathhurst bakery.
A great weekend with great company, food and wine. We didn't break any PBs but at least we had fun! Overall the event was well organised but it definitely needs to be started at least an hour earlier if they don't want people keeling over with heat exhaustion. The ambos were called to cart one poor person off and I think they were lucky that there weren't more. By the time we left town the temperature was about 35 degrees.
Is it March already?
Crikey, the year is really getting away from me as I can't believe it's March already. Hopefully, things will settle down to a normal pattern now that the family as returned to colder climes, and even the remaining nephew announced yesterday that he too is returning to England next week.
Mr lulu and I will have our spare room back, so book in now folks for any Sydney visits you're planning :) I'm looking forward to it just being the two of us again, and I know Mr lulu is looking forward to being centre of attention again ;)
Anyhoo, enough of the random dribblings and on to the running. An easy 6km around my 40 mins loop this morning. A bit steamy again but I felt pretty strong this morning. I even managed a decent pace up the hill on the way back from the park. My core strength seems to be really helping me on the hills. My hip and achilles are definitely improving..all good.
A slight change of plan for the Orange running festival. Mr lulu entered me for the 5km, and when my number arrived it said 5km walk... I'm quite happy with an easy saunter around the park but I'm sure it won't be the best thing for my running. I've emailed them and asked if I can run the 5km, can't see why not? Alternatively, I'll swap to the 10km and either do 5km hard and then jog back or go out at 10km race pace and see how long I last before the wheels fall off, or I could just do it easy. Decisions, decisions. Suggestions anyone, bearing in mind lack of long runs and the goal being not to break anything?
