Time for a quick update
I can't believe how time flies! It's been nearly two weeks since I posted. I had a bad week the week before last with only two runs and one gym workout as I felt so exhausted all the time.This week has been a lot better and I've just come back from the park. I'm still working on the speed and it seems to be coming together but I don't have a lot of endurance at the moment. I'm thinking of adding in one Spin class or something similar a week so that I can do a longer aerobic session without adding too many miles.Today I drove down to the park with the idea to see how long I could run at a reasonable pace before needing a walk break. The answer is I could manage 2.25km at 5.50/km pace before I stopped for a short walk. I then did another 1km at 5.54 pace and another 750m a bit slower for a total of 4km with a average pace of 6 min pace. Not too shabby considering! Now I just need to work on keeping it up for longer...That's all for now, I'll try and catch up with everyone's blogs after the weekend, as we're off to visit Mr Lulu's Dad for the weekend. Happy running Australia Day all youse!
Back in the park
I managed to sleep through my alarm on Friday morning and so I was running a bit short of time to get my run in and get to work, so it was another evening run. I drove down to the park and went to the lake where we train with SWEAT. A 10 minute warm up around the lake and then 8 x 30 second intervals with 1.30 jog/walk rest periods. Another 10 mins to cool down a bit and a total of about 4.5km.This morning I headed out from home, down to the park and then around the inside. I should have left earlier as it was getting very hot by 8am. I did the first 3 kms of my run as 1 km warm-up then kms 2 and 3 fartlek, at just under 6 min pace average, and then it was run/walk for the next 3 km. Pretty pleased with that as I did 6km and an average of 6.38 including walk breaks. I then walked the 1.5km home as a cool down. Not that I was very cool by the time by the time I got home! This week I'm off to sunny Brisvegas for a couple of days Mon/Tues so my next run will be around the streets of Brisbane.This week's plan is as follows:Mon: Glute Torturer @ gymTues: 40 mins easy runWeds: 40 mins fartlek pmThurs: GymFri: 10 x30 sec intervalsSat: GymSun: 60 mins run/walk.
Back again already!
Blogging two days in a row.. .it's almost like the good old days. Thanks for the positive feedback on the new approach, that gives me further confidence to continue.I had a massage early this morning so it was an evening run for me. I'm not a big fan of running in the evening as I'm usually tired and it's still quite hot so I didn't expect a stellar performance.I started out well on my fartlek well doing 2 km without a walk break with km times of 6.13 and 5.56 which I was quite pleased with. Then I had a few walk breaks and it was all down hill from there. I pulled the pin at 4kms and 27 mins as I was really starting to flag and I know that's when I'm more likely to lose form. It was 4km at an average of 6.40 pace which isn't too bad considering the walk breaks in the fartlek! It will be good to see the average pace gradually come down as I get a bit fitter, faster and and take less walk breaks.I'm not too worried as I'm back on a fairy strict diet at the moment and so am trying to balance the right intake to exercise ratio and I definitely ran out of energy this afternoon. However, it's probably more important to lose some more weight than worry too much about training volumes at this stage. Before I went to Europe in Sept I managed to get down to 64.5kg which was a big achievement for me. After Dad died I took up comfort eating and drinking and I'm currently 67kgs again. I'd like to lose another 5kgs so we'll see how we get on. When I did the SMH half in 2005 I was 77kgs so I have made quite good progress, albeit over 2.5 years!! I'm still battling the under active thyroid issue; a trip to the Dr this week revealed that it's still not firing on all cylinders despite the medication, which explains the lack of energy and difficulty in losing weight. Anyway we plod on for now in the attempt to fly as SpeedyGeoff recommends!Mr lulu is in very good form at the moment, for anyone who is interested in the other half! He is back in full training for the Canberra marathon and his crack at going sub 3hrs. Fingers crossed for an injury free 3 months for both of us. I'm not sure if I'll be doing the 10km at Canberra at this stage due to the new approach, so I might try the 5km instead. It will depend on how long it takes for me to get some fitness back.
A new year, a new approach
Happy New Year to the blogging team. I collapsed in a heap when the Christmas holidays started but now I'm back at work I'm back into blogging. I did manage to keep up the training though, despite finding it very tough for a week or so.
Now, what's this new approach? Well, both Easy Tiger and the Glute Torturer have advised that before I start putting in too many kms, I need to learn to run a bit faster. I've always been a plodder and they both think that has been part of the problem in terms of injuries. Too long on the ground on each stride, time for the glutes to switch off and then problems occur.
So for the last few weeks I have been doing mainly shorter runs, either interval training or fartlek. It's an interesting experiment and is a bit counter intuitive because we associate speed work with injury but so far I have to say I feel really good. It's much easier to hold good form when I'm running a bit faster and I stop as soon as I get fatigued and don't think I can hold my form any more. My fartlek includes some walk breaks to regain my form.
I had an opportunity to try out whether this was actually getting me fitter as well when I went for a run with Ellie last week. Ellie had 40 mins on her programme so that's what we did and I was pleased to see that I managed the 40 mins non-stop quite comfortably and it's the longest run I've done for about 6 months. So I'll continue with the experiment for a while. Doing it the traditional lots of LSD approach first seems to result in injury so I have nothing to lose in trying something a bit different this time.
So, my week this week looks like this:
Mon: gym with the glute torturer
Tues: interval 10 min w/u, 6 x 30sec intervals with 1.30 recovery, 5 mins warm down
Weds: 40 mins fartlek
Thurs: Gym
Fri: As Tues but 8 intervals
Sat: Gym
Sun: 45 mins Fartlek
