HHH*
Wednesday I headed out down to the park for an easy run. I was intending to do 50 mins but had trouble getting going. I passed a potential short cut and managed to talk myself out of taking it and continued around the inside of the park. I actually started to enjoy it after about 4kms and managed the intended 50 mins plus a bit extra to make it up to 8kms. Today was a HHH* session. Due to the ranges of niggles I've had I have not been to any of the SWEAT hill sessions and didn't I know about it today. Wild Wally seems to have grown in length and increased in steepness since my last visit, which was probably last year sometime. I had no companions at the back of the pack today as all the girls in my group seem to have more sense than to inflict that on themselves. In the end I did 4 out of the potential 7 laps which was a bit pathetic really but at least it's a start. I did two at 3.59 and 4.21 and then sat one out. Then it was off again doing 3.53 and 4.19 this time. I obviously started to warm up to the hills a bit. I had some kind of mental breakdown (probably due to lack of oxygen) as I was thinking everyone had finished after I sat the next one out, only to be surprised to see people doing an extra one.. doh that would be the 7th and I should be doing it. As Horrie said, no need to be overdoing it on the first hill session back and I did have to run home afterwards which is about another 3.5kms.I ran back to the car and changed from my old shoes into the new pair of Brooks Adrenalines I bought yesterday. I've been running in Nike structured Triax but the wonder pod wants me to try the Adrenalines. Felt pretty comfy but not as 'bouncy' as the Nike so will take a bit of getting used to.Niggle status after hills: achilles good, right glute a little sore but should be OK.*Horrid hard hills
TTT PB
That's the monthly Tuesday Time Trial, our joyous morning of pain, doing 4 laps of the lake.
It was still pitch black driving to Centennial Park and I was hoping the gates would be open so I didn't have to run in to the oval, which they were. A quick 1.2 kms warm up and the usual drills/strides and then it was up to the lake for 4 laps ~ 5.8km.
It's two months since I did one of these, and May's training has been a bit disrupted, so I had no idea what to expect this morning. I started off with Running Angel and Zoe and I managed to hang on to RA for 1.5 laps before she started to pull away. I knew they were going too fast for me but I decided to stick with them for a while. Struggled with the third lap but managed to pick it back up for the 4th lap, although I was disappointed to be overtaken by a few of the other girls. Mr lulu came back for me for the last 800m or so and the final result was 33.13, a 22 second PB!
Splits were 5.35, 5.44, 5.51, 6.01, 5.47, and 4.13 (5.47 pace). Just need to work on not dropping off in the 3rd and 4th km which is the third lap. Pretty happy with that and no niggles appeared either thanks to my hour with ET yesterday. My glute is sore, but that's more from the massage and the glute workout I did yesterday morning than anything else.
I even managed to do a proper cool down this morning, doing an extra lap of the lake, so a total of 9.5km this morning.
The Bolt
Today was the Randwick Botany Harriers cross country race, The Botany Bolt. I'd already decided not to run it, even though it's just 4km, as I know there's a very nasty hill in it. My achilles doesn't much care for big hills. However, Mr lulu and a number of people from the SWEAT squad were running so I wanted to watch.I also needed to fit in my long run so I came up with a cunning plan. I'll run down to Mutch Park and meet Mr lulu there. All I needed was a running companion and so I recruited Ellie to the mission. So I set off from our place, ran through Centennial to Ellie's and then we set off down to Mutch Park. I now know it's 3.86 km from our house to Ellie's and the last little section is all hills!We set off down Cook Rd and then Anzac Pde. Not the most scenic of runs but nice and flat at least. Then it was off down a side road and a very narrow footpath to Mutch Park. Unfortunately, once we got there I'd still only done about 10.5km so we did a couple of loops of the park, including the nasty hill once. I was right not to do the race as one attempt at the steep hill irritated it a little, nothing a few stretches and calf raises won't fix though. It's a good lesson that it needs to be looked after. Ellie was brave enough to tackle the Botany Bolt along with lots of girls from the squad and they made it all look quite easy. Mr lulu looked very strong and spent most of the race running with the speedy young girls from Sean's elite squad. He was rewarded by winning the over 40's medal and having Sean call him one of the senior stars. As Bernie said, I've got a trophy husband.
Saturday sleep in
I had said I was going to do the CR 5km challenge this morning, but it wasn't to be. A nasty headache last night was gone by the morning, but I still felt tired so I decided an extra hour in bed and an easy run around the park was the go.I'm glad I did as the first few kms were a real struggle. All came good after about 4km and I pottered around Centennial Park and then home for a total of 8kms. The pesky right glute is a bit sore now but it's not serious and shouldn't stop me doing my long run tomorrow. The good news is that nothing else hurts.... no achilles or left hip problems so all we need to do now is fix the right glute for good and I'll be set.
SWEAT slowly
I am happy to report that Easy Tiger still holds the title of 'legend'. I headed off to SWEAT this morning a little anxious about whether my glute/hammy was going to hold up to a SWEAT session.
I did the warm up and the strides and gradually increased the pressure in the strides to see what happened. Nothing happened, not a twinge.. miracle really considering I could hardly run at all yesterday morning.
So off we went to tackle up to 8 x 400s. I didn't really push it today as I didn't want to undo any good work. Consequently, my times were 20-30 secs slower than I've done 400s in the past.
I took a break on rep 6 and then came back for 7 and 8. I had RA to keep me honest on rep 7 and so I pushed that one a bit more. I also caught sight of Mr lulu coming past me right near the line and so I tried to keep up.. foolish thought really but Sean said I could have taken him if I'd just dipped a bit more! Of course he'd been doing 600s rather than 400s but it was still fun. Thanks to that this was at least back to just over 2 mins rather than 2.10. Last one wasn't too bad either and I was getting a bit more confident that the legs were not going to break again so I was happy to push the last couple.
Good to be back at training and hopefully I'll soon re-gain a bit of speed over the next few weeks. I just need to remember what it's like to push myself, and that I won't explode if I do!
Back in action
Ok, so it's been ages since I've blogged. I've been lacking energy and motivation since returning from Asia nearly a week ago. I have been doing some running though!Hong Kong was a bit disappointing as it has changed so much since I was there 10 years ago and the air quality has deteriorated dramatically. I'll post some pics on the other blog I'm setting up shortly and you'll see what I mean. You can hardly see HK island from Kowloon these days and that has to be only about 1km.Consequently, no running there but we did do another session in the gym as well as some swimming in the pool.Once back in the land of Oz I was back on the road on Saturday and making up for missing a long run by doing 14kms. That was hard after a week of slacking off. My legs were a bit stiff on Sunday but we were up bright and early to act as chauffeurs to Ms Ellie and Ms Running Angel as they were running in the SMH half.Our chauffeur duties complete, we headed to the finish to enrol as volunteers. I was hoping for medalling duties but ended up with the delightful task of de-chipping. Many chipped finger nails and being dripped on by sweaty runners later and our work was done. Great to see Lucky Legs come over the line and I gave her a bit hug:) There were some interesting configurations on the lace tying/chip combo and I couldn't believe how many knots some people put in their laces.Lots of great runs by many CRs and Ms Ellie and RA did us proud with their great efforts. Not long now ladies before the sub 2 hour goal is achieved.Monday became another rest day but on Tuesday I woke up and actually felt I had some energy for the first time in weeks. Yippee I thought. I wasn't energetic enough to tackle Big Bertha though so I decided on my own little fartie session. I did my normal 40 mins loop through the park with 3km fartlek in the middle. Fartlek kms were 6.02, 5.43, and 6.07. Some of the fast bits had hills so I was quite pleased with that.I might have been but my poor old hammie/glute wasn't and going out this morning to test it out wasn't good. 5kms I did, but I discovered running up hills with only one glute working is quite hard. Fortunately, Mr lulu had an appointment with the Tiger today so I stole it. I'd already had one session with him on Monday where he fixed my left hip. Today I had the joys of an hour focussed on one half of my butt. Feels magic now though so hopefully he's fixed it up and it will survive tomorrow's run. I'm going to go to SWEAT and do the warm up and if it survives that I'll do the rest of the session; 5 x400s tomorrow.I'm even planning a bit of a race schedule for the next few months as I find it hard to stay motivated unless i'm aiming for something and the target for the next few months is to break that stoopid 60 mins 10km barrier. I'm sure I can do it!
I turning Chinese!
I've just logged on to Blogger and everything is in Chinese characeters. Good thing I know my way around!!Time is flying by and we've been in Shanghai for three days. The pollution here is truly terrible. For example, from my 20th floor hotel room I should have a good view across the city, particularly at night when all the buildings are lit up. Sadly, it's all a bit hazy and is particularly bad today. So on the running front it's been the hotel gym or nothing and I have to confess, mainly nothing! I did manage 6kms on Sunday but since then it's been a hectic few days of shopping and sightseeing. At the moment I'm debating with myself for a swim or more shopping. Having just taken an order from Ellie for some pearls I think the shopping might just win the day... I can go running in Sydney anytime, but I'm only likely to see Shanghai once... sounds like a good justification to me!! Maybe I should change the name of my blog to Lulushops.I'm going to set up another blog with all our travel stuff on it so I'll put that up in the next day or so. Yesterday we went out of Shanghai for the day and visited the Venice of China a small water village called ZhouZuong. Very pretty and well worth the slightly hair raising journey with a local driver and a people mover!!
Back on home turf
Back to Sydney this afternoon so once I'd got myself a bit organised I headed out to do a lap of the outside of Centennial in the afternoon sun. I felt a lot better than yesterday afternoon and quite enjoyed my plod around the park. I made it back to the car and had 300 metres to go to get to 7kms so I continued up York Road until I made it. I still hate that hill but the only way to get better at running it is to run it I suppose!I've actually managed to stay pretty much on track with exercise this week. I even managed to get up and do the Pilates DVD this morning before running my training. My diet has been all over the place though so I'll be glad to get back to cooking my own food once we get back from China. I'm sure my diet will be very interesting for the next week.Off first thing tomorrow and the CR house-sitting service will be in action with one of my avian friends looking after the lulu household for us. Watch out for the party invite!
The delights of Dubbo
I've managed two runs whilst I've been in Dubbo. Wednesday morning I dragged myself out of bed at 5.30 and headed out to explore the streets of Dubbo. I managed to find my way into the town centre and out the other side before turning around. I did notice a nice path along the river but wasn't game for that in the dark! Managed 8.5km in 55 mins
My training group wanted to start early in the morning so at 7am I was already in the training room yesterday so it was an afternoon run for me. My legs felt very heavy and I was feeling tired but a quick motivational chat with Mr lulu and I managed to go out. Not only that, but I managed to do a speed session on my own. 2 x1km and 1 x 500 metres. Not particularly fast and my lack of speed work since Canberra is showing up, but at least it was a start. The lolly pop man who happened to be outside my hotel pointed me in the direction of the river path and I headed along there until I found a big football ground. A quick stretch, my reps and then I continued along the river path back across a bridge and back to the hotel. All up 6.5km
The people of Dubbo are very polite to runners. If you're trying to cross the road they'll actually stop and let you go.. unheard of in Sydney.
I'm about to start training again this morning so I'll do a run when I get back to Sydney this afternoon.
Brief touch down
Well, I survived 4 days in the bush with my lovely meaty men and they did behave themselves most of the time. I think we all learned quite a bit and I even managed to overcome my fear of heights and abseiled down a 60 metre cliff. Apart from that there was various team building challenges to be met and I'm pleased to say the meat men did me proud. Some of my training must be working ! No running took place but I think the bush walking and hill climbing was probably a good compensation and, as Ewen suggested, it gave my hammie time to sort itself out.Sunday saw me head down to the Lady Carrington Drive with Mr lulu, Running Angel and Ellie for our long run. It was nice to catch up on some girl time after 4 days of blokey blokes. I was only doing 90 mins and somehow this became infectious as we all ended up stopping. A lovely picnic breakfast in the sun followed. Nice way to spend a Sunday.I'm off again tomorrow and the next stop is Dubbo for the rest of the week, followed by Shanghai on Saturday. The challenge is going to be keeping up some form of training in the meantime. Let's start with doing a bit of speed work on my own tomorrow as I won't have time to get to SWEAT. Should be interesting!
