Yes Virginia, there is a Canberra

Just back from Dr Pain. His opening sentence was "Oh, I can fix that easy". Nicest thing he's ever said to me :-) :-)

Gnome

Brief & Ugly

After the weekend, I decided give my body a break and just do water running this week. However, it's getting worse, not better, and at this stage there's a pretty strong chance that I won't be there next week. Physio tomorrow. Let's see what he can do.

Gnome

Artistic Genius...

A good Thursday track session always seems to translate to a good CR5k the following Saturday, and this week was no exception. With the back problems, I was unsure of how things would pan out, but I figured that the bestbubble-wrap method was to go full bore, but pull out if there was any kind of problem.

I started with the 21 minute crew and did the first k pretty much spot on in 4:15. At this point I felt (probably for the first time in my life) that I could go faster than that, so I started to pull away. Everything went really smoothly, and I basically sat on 4:05's for the rest of the way, with each k just slightly faster than the one before. Never done that before! :-) Finished up with a new PB of 20:36 (chipping 12 seconds off the old one).

We had a Run Club BBQ here last night which was great fun & a fantastic night, but my back was pretty sore & tired by the end. There was no way that I was waking up again 5 hours later for the Striders STaR, so I scrapped that idea and slept in a bit instead :-). TA was training WT in at Rozelle this afternoon, so I went in with her with the aim of doing 20k around the bay. Mr WT had the same idea, so we met up there and had a beaut run and chat, comparing marathon plans, strategies and niggles.

I'm feeling pretty beat-up at the moment (much more than I would have expected after just a 20k run) but I'm hopeful that things will continue to get better over the coming week.

Now, as for that artistic genius I alluded to in the title, MicroTA let his imagination run wild during one of his computer periods at school last week and produced this little gem. Poor old TA's picture got a bit squashed (like in one of those coney island fun mirrors), but it's still a lot of fun. Don't think that TA'll use it as an advertising brochure though...



Gnome

*That's* better

Easy Tiger got to have a bit of a dig around my back on Monday. He started by telling me to forget the lie that massages hurt, and then proceeded to do everything in his power to reinforce the concept. Still, it can't have been too bad, 'cause I'm going back tomorrow :-0 :-)

His diagnosis is the kitchen dance didn't do the damage; it was probably just the straw that broke the Gnome's back. There's a whole bunch of things that are tighter than they should be, in particular a couple of muscles that run along my spine. He spent a gentle 3/4 of an hour "spreading them out" before turning to my legs. Tomorrow he gets to do it all again plus work over the rest of me. It's all good!

Tuesday morning I skipped the normal hills session and just did a gentle 8.5k. In fact, when I got up I couldn't bend to put my shoes on (every morning is the same) and I just about pulled the pin when I remembered 2P's exhortation that is written up on my whiteboard - "When you have exhausted all you can do, all that is left to do is NOT QUIT" - so out we went. (When I talked to Easy Tiger about the morning back stiffness, he just said to have a quick shower to warm it up before doing anything and that has worked well).

The first 3.5k were with tiger angel (gee, it's lovely to be running with her again!). As she's limited to 20 minutes at a time at the moment, she walked home at that point and I went on alone. I concentrated on running 'free' and gradually sped up so the middle 3 k were at 5:10, and the last 2 were at 4:40. Confidence goes up a notch, back feeling OK, but quads still hammered.


Wednesday is normally my mid-week longish-run-at-marathon-pace day, but seeing that I'm supposed to be starting into taper, I dropped it back to 12.5k. Averaged 5:10, felt comfortable, but quads still hurting (why??).

Thursday, and I wondered whether my quads would stand the 25k ride to work, but decided to give it a shot. As it turned out, I didn't feel my quads at all, but my back felt a bit stiff if I spent too long on the tri-bars (so I didn't :-)).

I was a bit late for Run Club, so I did my warm up and stretch while they were doing their drills. My back felt a little tight, and I was unsure of how it was going to go. The session was a hill sandwich - 2x hills, 2x 600 (flat), 2x 400, 2x 200 & back to the hills. I wasn't going to risk the hills, so I trotted out a 1k at 5:30 chatting to Trivia Dave (who was also avoiding the hills).

I haven't run any speed session for 7 weeks, so the first couple of intervals felt a bit flat. However, as I got into them it felt better and better (I love track!). I ended up doing
2:17 and 2:24 for the 600s,
1:27 both for the 400s &
0:38 and 0:37 for the 200
and I was feeling really good by the end.

Time beat us though. We couldn't do the closing hill intervals, so we did some additional strength work instead. Things like squats (oh my aching quads!!!).

I was intending to do a pool session on Saturday instead of my Saturday run, but I've just realised that it's the CR5k, and I ain't missing that. Sunday morning is my 'home' Striders run (starts just down the road from my house), so I can't miss that either. In deference to the taper, I'll just do the 20k option, and push the pool session back to Tuesday.

Just 17 days to go. Doesn't seem so long ago that it was 17 weeks. Can't wait... :-)

Gnome (believe it or not, in bubble wrap - I'm being very careful).

Was it really Tuesday?

Last Thursday was RunClub and we did a track session. I'm slower than last year but it was good to realise at the end I had done every bit and the achilles pulled up well. Breathing was hard though. Friday was a rest day and Saturday saw an early PT session. It was an endurance wts session and interval training on the bike. Sunday morning required a sleep in and with the heat of the day Gnome and I headed out for a run about 7.30pm. I'm finding it hard coming back to the running after such a long break but managed 3.3k in my 20 mins. Circumstances turned Monday into a rest day as well.

Tuesday for the last few months has been my worst day of the week. I wake up feeling dreadful and drag myself around to get the house cleaning done. I hate Tuesdays but about 10am yesterday I realised it was Tuesday and I had done a 20min run ( a block further than Sunday) followed by a good wts session at the gym and not my normal 'how easy can I make this because I'm too sore and tired session'. I was so excited when I realised this that I rang Gnome and messaged Tim. Now 3 of us were pleased :-). Mind you, very tired last night.

Today I did 30mins on the windtrainer and later met Wildthing at Homebush for a road cycle. Showed her lots of new paths around the area and we finished off with well deserved smoothies. A very pleasant morning.

TA

Feel like crap, but at least I'm running again

Not a nice two weeks. After my 32k at 5:10 (planned marathon) pace and feeling good, I got some virus that laid me out for 3 days. Just as I got over that, I got a bruised heel (yep, that's all it was. The physio said that you can get it from lying flat on your back in bed, and he swore that he wasn't pulling my leg). Pretty much over that on Monday and just about to start running again until...

I came in from work on Monday night singing "Happy birthday to me..." and doing a dumb dance around the kitchen, and put my back out. Aaaarrrggggghhh. Not only no running, there was virtually no walking or other movement either :-(


The lovely Lulu lent me her deep water running belt, and I spent time in the water on Wed, Thurs & Friday. The effect is wonderful in that there was absolutely no pain or stress from my back, and I felt like I was doing good stuff to keep the legs in some semblance of shape.

On Saturday I felt like, while my back was still tight, I should be able to attempt a run. I headed off with the attitude that I could pull the pin any time I wanted, but found that although I could feel my back all the time, it wasn't getting any tighter. Ended up doing 5.5km at 5:30 pace. Pretty happy with that.

This morning I intended to do some medium distance (14k?), but found that I was a bit stiff early in the morning (as well as tired :-). Ended up going tonight, doing the first 3.3k with TA, and then continuing on on my own. My quads whinged all the way, and I never got up above a trot, finishing just short of 14k at 6:00 minute pace and feeling absolutely crap.

I think that I'll do some water running tomorrow morning to try and get some of the quad strain out in the gentle water, and then I've got an appointment with Easy Tiger in the afternoon. Let's see what magic he can conjure...

Gnome

2 weeks later

Dr Pain has given me the go ahead to increase to 20mins of running at a session (still do stretches) but no more than 2 days in a row. I supplement this with swimming, cycling and weights and I'm a happy camper.

My fatigue is improving and it's nice to wake up and think "well, what session will I do today" ;-). As long as I keep them at an aerobic endurance pace I'm backing up most days. I still get a couple of crap days a week and just take them as a rest day.

Tuesday was a crap day but I'd promised to give Micro his first PT session (after school) to supplement his AFL training. I ran 2 laps of the oval for warmup with him and felt dreadful but didn't let on. He trained quite well and whinged gently the whole time calling me "Pain Master Sue". At the end he asked if we could do it again next week. Silly boy....

TA

Black-hole week

How's this for a weekly distance total four weeks out from a marathon - 7km. Not 70km. 7. Am I panicking? Maybe not, but I've been doing a pretty good imitation of a headless chook all weekend.

Here's the story. Having recovered from the lurgy by Friday morning, I swung out of bed, put my feet on the floor and said ouch. I think that I have a bruised heel, though how I managed to bruise it by lying flat on my back for the previous 3 days is beyond me. Weight bearing for long periods gets very sore. Walking hurts, and running is totally out of the question.

Plan is to move to deep water running essentially following the same program that I was (with certain road<->water translations that I've read up on) and give it a chance to heal. Depending on how it goes, I might move some of the program into the water even after I'm back on the road just to cut down on the wear and tear. Before I can do that though, I have to get my hands on a belt. If anyone knows where you can buy the belts in Sydney, feel free to tell me (please :-))

Until I do, I'll have to use cycling to keep the general fitness up. Tonight - 60min on the wind trainer

Gnome

Uuuurrrrgggghhhhh.....

Monday - went back to Dr Pain for his tender ministrations on my calf. It must be better because I didn't die on the table :-). His news was especially good. Do half the normal hill reps on Tuesday and half the track session on Thursday and all the long stuff as normal. If there's no problems, then everything is back to full bore. He's packing his bags for Melbourne to look after his Comm. Games athletes (told you he's good!).

Tuesday - When I woke up with the alarm, I could hardly move. I was seriously sore all over my body. My darling TA made a few remarks about DOMS hitting 2 days later (Sunday to Tues - yep, made sense), so I forced myself to get up and ready. TA and I did the warm up 2k to the bottom of my chosen hill together, although for her, that was the sum total of the run. Still, from little acorns, etc. etc.

Still feeling less than optimal, I duly did my 4 reps in the same times as last, and then did a 4k cool down jog home. So many times I just wanted to turn and take the shortest route, but I stuck to it (silly, as it turned out). When I went to stretch, I discovered that I was shaking, had lost my balance and most of the control of my gastric system... uuuuurrrrgggghhh.

Simply, I didn't have DOMS, but a full on lurgy. Collapsed into bed.

Wednesday - Still there.

Thursday - emerging from the cocoon. Not sure that it looks too much like a butterfly, but it'll have to do :-)

I'll head back to work tomorrow, but I won't run until Saturday. I figure that if I do a comfortable run without looking at the watch and it turns out to be 5m/km, then my body's recovered enough to start picking it back up. If I do 6m/km, then I'll keep running, but I'll keep it easy. It's definitely listen-to-body time :-)

A top weekend (and a great confidence booster)

Caution: Unashamedly ecstatic post follows...

What a top weekend. I think that I've been floating in a sea of endorphins for the last 36 hours, although I've also spent much of this afternoon drifting off to sleep. I wonder when the DOMS is going to kick in?

Saturday - TA is getting better all the time, but she still isn't up to a 10k race, so she volunteered as a catcher in the finishing shute at the Striders 10k at Homebush. She said afterwards (& I agree, because I've done that job too) that the catchers should be issued with rubber gloves! There's all sorts of bodily fluids flying at the end of the race :-)

I had a good race - absolutely steady all the way through with a dead even 5k split - to post a 12 second pb (43:42). What's more, I had two friends doing it for the first time (Darren from last week's CR5k & my Tuesday morning training partner Angela) , and both were very pleased with their showing.

Hot off that little run, TA and I pulled our bikes out of the car and coerced Ben (Cptn Chunderbolt) into a little 25k jaunt around the Olympic site. I have to admit that my quads had all sorts of arguments with my brain at first, but they very soon settled down and we had a ball - pushing it when we felt like it and easing off when we needed. I haven't had a session where we just played around like that for ages. It was so much fun after all the focused training (and especially just to be out exercising with TA again. I've missed that so much!). Finally, we found a cafe and tucked into some most welcome breakfast while TA interrogated Chunderbolt on his life outside of running :-)

Of course, such an extended exercise day is not to be recommended just before the major long run I had planned for Sunday, but I wouldn't have missed it for quids. I did have every intention of going to bed early, but TA hired Cinderella Man, and I have to admit (totally against my prejudice) that I quite enjoyed it (was that the endorphins still active?? :-))

Sunday - started dark and early, because I had PLANS... (which I wanted to get through in time to get to Church). The plan was simple; run the first part of my marathon strategy. The strategy comprises two parts - a) get to 32k in 2:50 feeling reasonably comfortable, and b) see what happens then! Starting at 5:30am, I did exactly that on a two loop path around local (hilly) streets. I was really pleased to prove to myself that I could do it - dead even the whole way and actually finishing the 32k in 2:45 (and on top of yesterday's sessions too).

Did I feel fresh at the end? Who are you kidding? I'd just run 32k :-)
Did I think that I could run another 10k? Absolutely!
Did I think that I could keep going at that pace? I thiiiiiink so... :-)

I was pretty weary this afternoon, so when TA said she was going swimming, I tagged along just to rest my legs in the cool water. Unfortunately, I stink as a swimmer, so after thrashing up and down the pool a few times, I just floated and let the aches float away too. A few nanna-naps this afternoon and I'm as good as new (and very glad that tomorrow is a rest day! :-)

Gnome

Back in the saddle

Well, Dr Pain might have said that I was OK to continue, but I must admit that I wasn't sure he was right. Hence, on Tuesday morning Angela and I went for a nice 10k at about 6 minute pace. Not exactly pushing it... :-) The leg felt a little uncomfortable for the first 5 k's, but it was never bad.

Wednesday, and still feeling unsure, I just did a 14k at 5:00 pace. Nice and comfortable, and less twinges. Good...

Tonight (Thursday), Run Club was called off because of the inclement weather, so TA and Vat Lady headed off in one direction around the bay, and a group of us went the other. TA and Vat Lady weren't aiming on doing the whole bay, on account of TA is still on an on/off regime for no more than 10 minutes at a time. It'd take a while to get around the bay at that rate :-)

Anyhow, we all ran together until we got to the Dog loop. Christie headed straight back from there while the rest of us did the dog loop. The rest headed back at that point, leaving Dilli and I to run the bay in the opposite direction. Pleasant chat (he's very encouraging about my Marathon training) which made the run pass in double quick time. All up 13k, being 5k at 6 minute pace, 2k at 5:30, and the remainder at 5 minute. Leg whinged a little at the start, but fine after that, so definitely appears to be surviving the beating. Looks like I might have to venture on to the hills a little next week (but only a little!).

Looking forward to Strider's 10k on Saturday, then a 32k (haven't decided where yet) on Sunday.

Gnome

Back abit more.

Last week was a big leap forward in exercise terms. Still keeping things very easy I backed up 4 days in a row, rested and then managed a PT on Saturday for the first time in a month. Again was very sensible but how good to be back :-). Sunday morning I felt great but took a rest day and Sunday night I was sore and exhausted.

Monday I swam better than last week but still hit exhaustion about 1.2k, Tuesday I did some body weight exercises while waiting for a client and then we ran 7x 1min on/off in the session (seemed a good way to fit my stuff in !) and today at the gym walked on the treadmill throwing in 3run,1 walk,3run,1 walk,4 run in the middle and then did a bike workout and some stretching. Now I'm tired again :-).

Funny thing was that I didn't think I'd come back to blogging but through a study I'm doing at the moment it made me realise you can't expect to be a part of a community if you don't join in.

TA