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