Quick 5.5k

Had an afternoon meeting in Nth Ryde, so arrived home at about 5:30 (ie about 2-3 hours earlier than normal). Decided to brave the dark and rain at about 6:30 for my standard short run (New Line, Franklin, Castle Hill, New Line again and through some back streets home). Plenty of nice hills. Haven't a clue what time I did, 'cause I just ran for the fun of it, but I do know that I felt like I was flying along Castle Hill Rd. It's a lovely part of that run, because you're well and truly warmed up and there's about a k of long, ever-so-slight down hill to just keep you ticking over. Lovely. I should come home early more often... :-)

sfG

Rolling Hills

After ignoring the alarm this morning and grabbing an extra half hour in bed I eventually got up to make MicroTA's lunch and organise payment of his band fees. sfGnome asked me when I was running but decided he couldn't come with me this morning as he had plenty to do at work. Just as well because MacroTA (married, number 1 son) rang at 8.45am to say he'd just woken up and had to be at an exam at UTS Broadway at 9.30am!! With his wife away he needed a lift pronto so good old Dad went to the rescue while I headed out for my run.

Today was an easy 12k with some rolling hills. I decided to head up New Line rd to Cherrybrook and turn left up County Dr and down into the West Pennant Hills valley before coming back out to Pennant Hills rd and home via Cardinal Av,the local soccor oval and back down Victoria rd. For the hills I focused on running the first half easy then taking the rest strongly and continuing over the top for about 10 metres before backing off. On my last hill there were 2 women chatting to each other about halfway up and they watched me come up slowly. Gave them a quick nod and then put my effort into the second half - must of thought I was a real show-off :-).

Now I really must go and do some housework. Reality bites!

TA

Stick to the Session.

In the past if it was raining it seemed a good idea to go to the gym or call a rest day but not now. There's a programme to follow or friends to meet and the weather is irrelevant unless you're getting over pneumonia!

Saturday morning was the CR5k. I had no great plans for this one and with no one else in my time I decided to try for fairly even splits. They were 24.56,24.58,25.02,24.56 and 24.52. Not bad heh :-). 14secs off my PB but I was really happy to run all but one k sub 5min. I'm starting to get consistency.

With Tim starting to return to good health but the weather being so iffy our mobiles ran hot on Saturday wondering whether we'd get a session in at 4pm. 3pm was decision deadline and with no rain for an hour or so we grabbed the chance. After a 2 lap easy jog Tim explained the session and that there was 2 parts to it. First part was weights covering the total body. We used low weights but did high reps and supersetted the exercises for most body parts.

The second half of the session was leg strength. For this we jogged down to the far end of Balmain Shores and I realised we were heading to the *nasty* hill at the end. Tim set up 4 cones going about halfway up the hill. We'd done a session like this in run club once before and you go around the first cone and back to the start, round the second and back to the start, etc. The first set was walked hard. The second set was a firm jog to each cone but walk down each time (no running down as it wasn't the point of the exercise - 'Stick to the session- another Timism :-) We repeated these 2 sets and Tim said 'that's enough.' Started to head back to the park but then Tim turned left and said 'Now it's stairwork'. Yes !! exclaims me punching the air. This weirdo loves stairs. First set I had to walk every second step placing the whole foot on the step. Second set was to run them.(At this point some guy on a balcony yelled out to Tim that that was cruel!) Third set was same as the first. I wanted to do more but "Stick to the session" so we did some ab work and it was over. Hopped in the car to come home and the rain started again.

Sunday was our long run as Gnome described. I found out who one of the car beeps came from when I got a text from Matt (old trainer) this morning. He was heading up the coast to see his grandparents yesterday and saw us running in the rain. 'Great to see the committment' was his opening line.

Today, Monday , was to be a rest day but managed to talk Tim into letting me 'paddle' about. This week I started as the only person in the pool. It was cold and so misty I couldn't even see the end of the pool but I knew it existed. A little while later I noticed guys in the lanes either side of me but then there was a guy in my lane!! Why choose my lane when there were 5 free lanes. Doesn't this guy get it. Fortunately we swam at different paces and he quit before me. I felt a bit more confident in the water this week and my arms certainly feel stronger than they used too.

12k's tomorrow and the luxury of choosing when I want to do it and not having to fit it in around work :-).

TA

I need a weekend after this weekend...

Sunday night and I'm exhausted. I think I need a lazy weekend :-)

Saturday morning was the monthly CR 5k. Not as cold as I expected, but much wetter (I'm an optimist :-). Still, the lovely double rainbow half way around made the water worthwhile (OK. Don't shoot me for not wanting it to rain. I love rain - think it should fall everywhere it's needed in all the quantities that are needed - just not on me early on a cold morning!!)

I set a fairly solid pb of 22:50 last time using the unsubtle technique of running as hard as I could till I got to the finish line. Now, this is probably indicative of my lack of mental toughness, but I really don't like running that way - it hurts too much. This time, I decided to try some of the stuff that Tim has been trying to teach me for the last six months (who said I'm a slow learner :-) regarding what he calls 'clawback' (I call it leg lift). This is basically just making sure that each pace finishes with the heel up in the air behind you rather than near the ground. I've tried it plenty of times, but it makes me run faster, and then my brain tells me to slow down because I have to pace myself. Of course, if it is more efficient, then I don't have to slow down, but I could never bring myself to keep going and find out. During the week I decided that Saturday was going to be experiment day.

I went out with the 23 minute group (myself, Psychoma and L'il Elf). We ran strongly through the first 2k's a little faster than I expected, but not so fast as to make me worry. Unfortunately, both Psychoma and L'il Elf suffered shoelace malfunctions and had to stop briefly, leaving me to continue on my own. It's amazing just how much difference a running partner makes. As soon as I was by myself, my breathing felt laboured and my legs heavy. Anyhow, I concentrated on keeping the leg lift going and pretty soon noticed tiger angel up ahead (she'd started at 25 minutes by herself, which is tough). I got to her just before the 4k marker, by which time I had my second wind and I pushed home in 4:16 for a 40 second pb of 22:11. Very very happy gnome. The best part was that I really didn't feel too stuffed while doing it, so maybe there's something in this 'technique' business after all :-)

The run back to breakfast was nice. I had the opportunity to run with Owl and Caro for a little while, and then Martina for the bulk of the way. Breakfast lived up to expectations - I love those blueberry pancakes with maple syrup and cream. Healthy, huh! :-)

Watched MicroTA's footy match, then went home and collapsed on the bed for the next 3 hours - I think my body was trying to tell me something - then got up, prepared and went to watch the fabulous Swannies put that Collingwood mob in their place, despite some of the most inexplicable umpiring that this very umpire-friendly writer has ever seen. Anyhow, all's well that ends well. (Get home and collapse in bed again).

Sunday morning was church, followed by lunch and shopping with number one daughter. Finally at about 3:30 TA and I went for a 2 hour run. It's funny to think how we once thought it pretty magnificent to be able to run up to the shops (a fraction over 1k) and them, what's more, run home again! Now it seems that we're doing just short of a half marathon every week. Weird.

We went out through Pennant Hills, along the back road up to Hornsby (very hilly) and then back down the highway to home. We managed to get honked twice, high-beam flashed once and have "Hey Sexy" yelled out the window in the space of about 30 minutes. I can only presume that this had nothing to do with TA's lissome figure in skin tight lycra, but was more aimed at my new running tights under shorts :-)

Now, I should be in bed, but I really had to catch up on the blog, so I'll start a new work week exhausted yet again... Lucky this running's so healthy :-)

sfG

Don't rain on my parade...

Normal Thursady morning ride to work. Overtook another rider going up over Gladesville Bridge. Turned out to be one of my staff who rides everywhere, went to the Australian Championship Mountain biking in Tassie this/last(?) year, etc, etc. he must have been going to sleep at the time I caught him, because I didn't see much of him after that! :-)

I think it would have snowed at Run club tonight if we weren't right next to the water, so it did the next best thing and rained instead (but not, of course, until we'd done the warm up & drills and were about to start the main session). Pretty short on brave (foolhardy) club members - only 8 or 9 of the old reliables. Actually, there was a new girl. She'd only been once before, on a night that was called off because of rain. I think that Mr Sartor should pay her to go and run around Warragamba...

Anyhow, to the session. The first (and as it turned out, the only) part was a 1600 time trial, as input to a Jack Daniels (the coach, not the drink) table of running/training speeds. TA did 7:31, which puts her 5k time at 25 something. Seeing she's done 24:30, she figured that she was having a slow night tonight (the torrential rain probably didn't help). However, on a closer look, her 800 split was the fastest 800 she's ever done, and the second 800 was only 10sec slower, so either the table is a little off or she's better at longer stuff than she is at the short.

As for me, I did 6:36, which relates to a sub 22min 5k. Maybe this is a good omen for the 5k challenge this weekend, who knows ;-) I did try to concentrate on better back lift on my legs - maybe it helps. I'll find out on Saturday...

sfG

"Dr Pain"

I was glad to do a weights session indoors yesterday away from the bitter cold. While my shoulder seems better Tim said keep it light but with higher reps. So I did one exercise per body part and plenty of abs. The shoulder was a bit sore afterwards but in a slightly different area.

When I saw Mick (the physio) today he asked where I'd felt the pain. Ahh he says knowingly and mumbles something about my ribs and spine while pressing on my back and moving my arm about. The next minute there is this excruitating pain in both my upper front and back and Mick proudly proclaims 'he has just moved my rib back to where it should be.' I never knew ribs could get out of position but he reckons it's been like it for a few years and caused posture problems. It will be interesting to see if it improves.

Meet CR Psychoma there who was seeing Mick too. Mick laughed at our CR names and asked for suggestions for him. I suggested 'The Torturer' but he thought 'Dr Pain' was better, so that is what I shall call him from now on.

TA

Gnome plays hookey

TA decided to celebrate her release from last week's over-full time work (60 hours a week for 10 days straight!) by coming in to where I work and having lunch with me yesterday. She decided that as she was supposed to be doing a 10k easy run that day, she might as well have a break from our boring old roads and do it near work.

This sounded like a good idea to me, so I ducked out at 11:30 and we both went for the run. I've never been running in the middle of the day when I'm supposed to be working, but it's something I could get used to :-) Run, then lunch together, then back to work by 1:30. Wonderful! The only fly in the ointment was that work's really, really busy at the moment, so I had to make up the 2 hours at the other end of the day... Ah well. It was fun while it lasted :-)

sfG

It's cold getting out.

Is there anyone else out there who goes swimming at night in winter? Obviously very few as there were only 4 others in the pool when I arrived about 7.30pm tonight. The water was reasonably warm and I just enjoyed turning the legs and arms over for the next 40 mins. Tonight was an easy swim but I know that soon I will have to start putting the hard yards in if I want to increase my tri distance this summer.

I really enjoyed the last 10 minutes when I had the pool to myself BUT I didn't enjoy getting out and making the cold dash to the showers.

TA

A 5 Vomit Run

When we started running a couple of years ago, Gnome measured the distance by my vomits. ie 1k/vomit.Well today didn't start well with 5 vomits in the first 30 mins. but the next 90 mins were great. We decided since we had to go for 2 hours we'd do an out and back course from our home in West Pennant Hills to the industrial area of Castle Hill. We'd never run this direction before and although the area goes up and down quite alot we felt it was a reasonably *flat* run. We were a bit naughty and picked up our pace over the last 4ks home but it felt good to still have that in us. We also got to try out our new leggings and long sleeve tops bought at Rebel earlier today - should be good when it's cold unlike today :-(.

TA

Dance the Night Away

With working long hours at the moment it's been very early gym starts every day this week. After doing Cheetacat's PT Wednesday before work, I fronted up at the gym again on Thursday for a bike session. I caught up with a couple of gym buddies who were already on the bikes but then they moved on. The main part was 3x10min AT with 2min spin recovery and 50mins later I was off to work.

Tim had been back in hospital earlier this week so we cancelled Sat's training and he suggested I do a weights session instead. I decided to swop Friday's 12k run (with 5x3min @3kTT pace) to Saturday and booked a 1hr session with Matt for before work Friday. Fine until Tim talked to Gnome at Run club that night and said the run had to be Friday so as not to affect Sunday's long run. Tim suggested I reduce it to 8k and rest Saturday. The problem was I didn't get this message till 11pm (microTA's band concert) and Matt's session was 6am. Too late to cancel!!

The compromise was to get up at 5.20am and go and run on the treadmill at the gym. I did a 1k warmup then 4x(3min @3kTT, 3min easy) and a cooldown for a total 6k followed by a 50min session with Matt. Would you believe after giving me a quick stretch he did supersets of leg presses and lunges with increasing wts each time followed by box jumps, skipping and the x-trainer. My legs died on the second half of the x trainer and felt like two lead pipes.

Mind you they recovered nicely with a rest on Saturday and rather enjoyed dancing at the 80's trivia night we went to. We were very excited to come first in the quiz section but eventually were second by the time they included the table questionaires. Damn.

TA

A very model of consistency...

Top night at run club tonight (don't tell TA - she's "very annoyed" that she had to work). We did the Rollercoaster. Not, as you may expect, a hill session, but a sequence of 200, 400, 800, 400 and repeat with reasonably short recovery breaks.

The good news is that I felt good the whole way, with just a slight twinge in the groin after pushing pretty hard on the final couple. The even better news is that I really flew (for me) around some of the shorter lengths. On one of the middle 400s, Tim sent off group 2 first, waited until they were at the end of the straight and said "OK, catch 'em". Andrew got to the back of the pack in the back straight - I didn't see whether he caught everyone - but the back of the pack were half way up the back straight when I got to the start, so I knew I had made up half the ground. I just flew around the last curve and picked up two or three people. I don't think that I've ever run so fast in my life, and the really good part was that it just felt *good*.

Tim's response was "Throwing up on Monday, absolutely flying tonight - the very model of consistency..." :-) :-)

The journo from the Herald was there, taking full part in the whole session. It was really interesting seeing him transformed from a galumpher (definitely not a shuffler) to something resembling a runner in just one night. Pity he won't be back. He's got the size to have a good stride on him. Now we get to see what he thought about it on Saturday.

sfG

Helping Cheetacat

It was great to get the long run in Sunday and then run club Monday. Fortunately I was not felled by Gnome's bug and ran some good intervals. Caro decided to hang on to me in the last 500m and there was no way I was going to let her pass. We came home in 2.04 & 2.06 respectively - fastest either of us has done. We lay down exhausted on the grass feeling very chuffed with ourselves.

Tim got a phone call from a SMH reporter during the week asking if he could come down to run club and write an article for Saturday's Herald. The guy is coming Thursday night and dammit!! I have to work and then go straight to MicroTA's band night. Gnome will get there as usual. I hope Tim will be feeling better than he looked Monday.

My friend Leonie (CR Cheetacat) is a Personal Trainer in her second life. She normally does outdoor hour sessions but is doing some at our gym and needs to be able to offer a 30min session. So guess who was the guinea pig today?? We train as friends but don't normally cross the PT barrier. Anyway she did a good job and balanced her half hour well. She's a real trainer - loses count and lies about how many or for how long!. I think it must have been quite amusing for the other gym members to watch me hopping on one foot and kneeing the fitball with the other on every fourth count :-)

TA

If 'e were an 'orse, they'd a shot 'im...

None too succesful night at Run Club last night. OK, I had spent the day helping number one son move house, but apart from all the stairs, that was basically upper body work. I noticed in the warm-up that I was really flat, but I figured that I'd get over that soon enough.

The session was long intervals - 2k, 1.5k, 1k and a firm 500 to finish. I thought that I went out OK in the 2k, running with Julia, but at about the 1.7k mark I just fell over a cliff. Julia slowed a bit but even then I couldn't keep it going (and I don't think that we were travelling particularly fast). I told her to go on and just flopped my way through the last few hundred. I took a drink, and I should have thought about why I immediately wanted to return it to the green, green grass around me - I never do that.

Anyhow, I started slower in the 1.5k, but after about 600 I felt like my body just shut down, and about 200 later I started getting a really crook gut ache. Stayed bent over for a little while, then grabbed the car keys from TA as she whizzed past and miserabled my way back to the car. All the seats were out of the back because of the move, so I grabbed a jumper for a pillow and lay down and tried to sleep (how's that for a warm down and stretch :-)

Don't know what it was, but I feel OK this morning, so it wasn't anything permanent. Just one of those days, I guess.

sfG

Running in Gronksville

Finally, we managed a run! 6 days off. Ah well. After the Swannies game today, we headed to Centennial Park aiming for a 90 run. Seeing that we didn't start till 4:30, it was going to be dark long before we got back. We started with a lap of the park on the path around the road, and on the next lap headed out around Queens Park (that's a looooong hill up along the edge of that park past the playing fields :-)

Whilst it's OK running on the flat, it was kinda nice to get into the hills around Queens Park. It adds a bit of variety (although there's one little steep pinch coming back around the other side of queens park that had my knee whinging a bit). By the time we got back into Centennial park proper, it was pitch black. Still, maybe we can call that the high stepping, 'knee lift' training (didn't want to fall over any tree roots :-)

The end of the second lap left us 20 minutes short, so we headed up from the function place to the Paddington gate and headed down towards the SCG. Wound around some back streets and hit the car at 89 minutes. Close enough, I guess :-)

After stretching (and consuming a bottle of powerade in about two seconds flat, we shot back to my work (Balmain) for a shower, then off to the CR long weekend drinkies in Woolloomoloo. It was really good to put some more faces to names well known, and although I managed to find out a few more 'real' names, there's still a large number of people that I only know by their CR moniker. I think that the scariest part about going to nights like tonight is finding yourself admitting to half-formed, hitherto secret goals. Still, with a bit of luck, no one was listening and I can hide them away back where they came from... :-)

sfG

Wecome back Matt.

Matt was the one who got me off the ground and running. He took me beyond my limits and ignited my desire to keep on improving. He suggested I do a small triathlon and then guided me through a year as I learnt to run, swim and cycle and then after 20 months he changed jobs and I had to find a new trainer. I never quite gelled with the next one and was very lucky to start with Tim late last year. We gel :-)

Anyway, Matt and I have kept contact as friends over the last 18 months and this week he rang to say he was coming back to the gym. He isn't trying to poach me back because he knows I'm very happy training with Tim but like today I can grab a PT session with him if Tim is sick (like now) or away. I get the best of both worlds.

It was a fun but hard session today. After a bike warmup, Matt decided to 'check' me out and put me through some of his old tricks - squats with the free bar then box lunges (form/leg strength), rowing (form/cardio), fitball kneel with catching and throwing a boxing glove ( core/balance), forward DB row (strength/back), sprints on bike (cardio),and abs work (core). I passed with flying colours. I was pleased to not have let him or Tim down. I then did a 3.5k treadmill run to complete the session. TA

Ps. Tim - Please get better for next week. I'm missing Saturday arvos already.

The blog drags me back to the real (running) world...

Hmmm. Thinks - I haven't blogged since Tuesday. Thinks - that's because I haven't run since Monday. Thinks - slack sod... :-( :-(

I've actually been flat chat with work, and if the truth be known I haven't even thought about running at all. Ah well, I guess that we'll make amends on the weekend.

sfG

p.s. I looked at the snow cams tonight. Not a jot, even right up on top. Hope it does something in the next 6 weeks or we've done our dough :-0 :-(

Unexpected trip to the Dark Side.

Thursday morning I had a session with 'Mick the Torturer' and although my shoulder was better after a week's rest, he still wants me to take it easy and see him in 2 weeks. At one point I said it felt like the muscle was bruised and he said 'no,but it will be when I'm finished!!' and then he complained that I call him "the torturer" in my blog.

Thursday night is run club but with Tim having pneumonia I assumed Steve (26miles) would be running it. Wrong.. Tim was there. Wrong again. He had arrived to set up and explain the session and to drop the bombshell that I was to run the session. Talk about being thrown in the deep end. It's strange having to continually think what to do next rather than just follow what you are told. After warmup, stretches and drills,the guys had a track session to do. ie 3x400 with 1min then 45sec rec. between. Full recovery before 2x800 with 2min rec between. Another 3x400 ( same rec.) and 1x800 to finish. Each one is to start at the same pace you finish and good form takes precedence over speed. We finished up with strength work and stretches.

It was a good experience and looking back I think I even enjoyed it but I will be delighted to see Tim back. TA

Ps Gnome and MicroTA had to attend the Yamaha band festival instead of runclub. Sad,sad but the band did really well and won Gold on their first year in A grade.

Pilates and a happy dog make an easy day.

Tim had suggested another easy day, so after weighing up my options I chose a Pilates class. Turned up at the gym to do the Pilates reformer at 9.30am but it was booked out and had to settle for a Pilates floor class at 10.30am. It's a long time since I've done this class and I'd forgotten about the 100's (pulsed crunches). Just my luck because today we did 2x100's. During the final stretches, Maryse (instructor) called out to me and commented on my 'lack of flexability' :-(.

Why is the dog happy? Well I had to fill in the hour before my class, so I went home and took him for a walk and posted my c2s entry. I've had to apply for the A group as last year I was unable to compete because I'd had a bad fall off my bike 4 days before. (The photo was taken the night of my accident). TA

It's only another hill.

With this being a lighter week, I decided to call a couple of tri buddies to see if we could fit in an easy ride or swim but no luck - too busy. Maybe next time.

Today was an easy 40min run before school Canteen. Gnome was doing trombone practice with microTA and I didn't have to make microTA's lunch so I slept in and went for my run at 8.15am. About 2k in and thinking about c2s I changed course into the Forestry Commision to tackle the big hill in it. It's been a long time since we've done it. It was tough but I kept thinking of Lane Cove and our desire to run the lot of Heartbreak Hill this year. Gnome ran c2s by himself last year as I was injured. He didn't enjoy it very much but this year we hope to do close to 75mins.

Messaged Tim today and he says he'll live. Pleased to hear that :-). TA

Get well Tim

This is a *really* quick one, 'cause it's stupidly late (again). Went to run club tonight instead of the normal Thursday, on account of microTA's band recital on that night, only to find out that Tim had gone to hospital with Pneumonia (aack!). This is commonly known as Not A Good Thing. Tim, take it easy, have a good rest, stop eating so many lollies and get well soon. :-)

Now, put a bunch of runners together and what do they do? Go running of course. We headed off around the bay, breaking pretty much immediately into two groups. I went with the faster one, and it was just a marvellous run. Not so fast that I couldn't breathe, but fast enough to make talking moderately laboured. We stopped and regrouped at the canal, where half decided to go straight back, while five of us did the dog-park deviation. We ran in a train, where every couple of minutes the back runner would sprint to the front and take over leading. We did the two-and-a-bit k's up and back at about a (guessed at) 4:30 pace. Truly fun running :-)

I was leading when we went up the ramp and over the bridge, and then someone wisely called a halt at Montage. We took it easy back to the park (especially over the badlands - there was no moon, no light, nothing), finishing the 9+ km in 48minutes. Given the slow badlands and the wait at the bridge, I'm very happy with the run as it's probably the fastest that I've ever done over that distance. I run 3 & 5k time trials at my own pace, but I want to run anything longer with tigerangel, which means that I run at a fraction slower than my fastest (although the fraction is getting smaller by the day - won't be long till she's dragging me around :-)

Mood? Happy as larry. Pleased as punch. Like a puppy in a street full of lamp posts :-)

sfG

60 mins on Sunday

Gnome slept in today while I went for an easy 60 mins run. It was lovely and clear and not too cold. I reflected on my week and thought of Kellie from run club who is going to Melbourne. We will miss her enthusiasm and the laughs we had. Also thought about the people we have met thru Run club, CR and Striders. They are a very encouraging group and it's great to share their running adventures. Love to hear their PB's esp 26miles who is closest to our age :-). He's so enthusiastic.

As for my run. Well, about halfway it was turning into a nasty shuffle. Tim, once said it took no more effort to pick up the cadence and increase the clawback, so now was a good time to try out his theory. I had to really think about it and wasn't entirely comfortable but I decided to persevere past the first few 100ms through to the end of the run (another 5k). I enjoyed the experiment and at times I felt as I was moving faster without my breathing getting heavier. Think I need to do some more work in this area. TA

We came, we sore, we conquered.

Gnome has instructed me to do the blog tonight as he's tired and sore and is off to bed.

As Gnome said it was 3kTT at runclub on Thursday. I hoped to take off 10-15 secs by slightly increasing my pace but even though I tried to pull back in the first k I still went thru in 4.26. As I went past Tim, he muttered 'Awesome Sue' but I knew it was dumb. Next k was 4.45 so was lucky to reel in the last and PB by 5 secs for 13.55. I need to work on pacing.

After a rest day Friday, today was Striders 10k. I guess I was a bit scared of this course because everyone said it was hilly. Tim talked me thru the course and suggested I really try to work the downhills. We had done a session a few weeks earlier on down hill running and I'd found it good at the Half. He also said Lane Cove's not usually a PB course but he thought I might do one. Argh the pressure!!

This morning was not as cool as expected and we did a k warmup and some stretches. I was not feeling great and found most of the first half hard. Despite this we averaged 5.10/k for the first 4k but I was slower on the long uphill. A quick drink at the top and I told myself I had to stretch out and pick up the cadence for the downhill. Usually I mentally drop off somewhere round the 6-8k but today I just got stronger. My run over the last 4k's was great. Gnome commented to me later that in the first half I was always behind him but after the turnaround I often pulled away from him.

He also said that at the 6k point he thought to himself that he didn't think we could break 53min. By the 8k he thought 52 something was possible and at the 9k he remarked to me I was looking good for 52.10. He said he was wondering when to suggest the pickup in the last k when I started to pickup then and there. He was scared I'd blow out but I kept going and all of a sudden we were looking at sub 52. So with a 4.42min last k we came home in 51.48, a new 27sec PB!!!!!!!!! Felt awesome and jelly legged all at once.

We then completed our day doing shared boundary umpiring at MicroTA's very close but won game and tonight the 3 of us went out for tea and saw "Hell on Wheels". It's a fascinating doco on a team in the "Tour de France" and although it goes for over 2 hours it went as quickly as the riders in it. Go and check it out.

I've got a very easy week coming up. My shoulder is ok but the physio has limited weights for a week so Tim suggested I take the whole week lightly and even cancelled today's PT. At this stage I'm not racing again till late July as we will be in Tas. when the next Striders is on. TA

What's this about getting enough sleep?

We're going to have to be up at 5:45 tomorrow morning for Striders, so I should have been in bed long ago. However, I didn't get home from work till about 10pm, so there's not much chance of that :-(

Run club last night was the infamous 3k time trial. I figured that I'd try a new race plan. Normally, I know when I'm near my limits, because my arms start hurting. I don't know why it is; it's been that way all my life. It doesn't matter whether my arms are still or moving, up or down, or whatever. When I go too hard, they hurt. Back off a bit and they stop hurting. That's always been my limiting factor. Anyhow, tonight I decided to run into the hurting zone, and then keep runing instead of backing off. After all, it's only 13 minutes of pain, and my physio manages to inflict 45 miniutes of pain without any difficulty (see - proof that going to the physio does help your running :-)

Well, if I started too fast, then so did every one else. It seemed that every one I talked to dropped 20 seconds betwen their first and second k's. In my case, I guess I was focussing on the upcoming pain rather than on running a controlled race - that's my excuse anyhow. The good news was that I managed a 15 second PB (yeah!), the bad news was that when I ignored the pain in my arms, I found that my legs just didn't want to respond. Were my legs giving up in sympathy with my arms, or because I went out too fast and had nothing left? I guess I'll find out when I run a much better race next time (you will, won't you Bruce!).

Out of interest, my splits were
3:55! (told you it was too fast),
4:13 (that's more like it), and
4:22 (so much for the big kick home)
for a total of 12:30.

I told MicroTA about "our" new PB (his PB was a second faster than mine, but he wasn't able to be there last night, so he's going to have to get down there next time), and his reaction was "couldn't you have just taken a second off it??" :-)

For the record, tiger angel also got a good PB, but I don't know exactly what it was, and she's been asleep now for ages so I'd better not wake her up to find out.

Off to bed now, and lets see how we do in the cold and on the hills tomorrow morning...

sfG

p.s. oh, and, suckers for punishment that we are, we're running boundary at microTA's footy match a few hours after striders. I think I'll be sleeping very soundly tomorrow afternoon :-)

21 Years Ago yesterday

..I gave birth to a huge baby boy (4.5kg) named Tim. Last night my 183cm, 85kg son came home to celebrate with his family and grandparents. Not so unusual you say but he brought his wife and he was there to celebrate. Tim was diagonised with AML just before 16 and only given a 30% chance of survival. At one stage during his treatment when things looked hopeless we talked about having a 21st party even if he was only 16. So to make yesterday was a great blessing and we had a fabulous night.

It's a funny thing but when people hear Tim had cancer they pity us. We, on the other hand, are very grateful for the experience. We got the chance to say,'if I had a second chance at life what would I do with it?' For me that was to face the fear of failure and do all the things I was 'gonna do' but never got around to. So from an overweight, extremely unfit mum emerged a snowboarder, a runner, a (little) triathlete, a bikie chick (luv my ZX6R) and the confidence to be growth group leader at church.

I now treasure opportunities and second chances. Go for it :-). TA

Ps Wednesday was a rest day and tonight is run club- yeh!