Back on the road (cough, splutter)

When last we left our intrepid heroine and her dashing manservant, she was suffering at the hands of her evil trainer, and he was suffering at the hands of... well, he was just suffering. What new problems will befall them in this episode of:
The amazing adventures of
Super TA and the Gnome wonder!

Last week, I was recovering from my back issues. Mostly they were fine, though some mornings I had to put a hot pack behind my back for a little while before I got going. I timed a 1k in the pool on Tuesday at 27 minutes which confirmed my assumption about my position in the pack at Nepean. I had a few days riding to work now I'm at Nth Ryde, and a few runs culminated in a 15k run on Saturday. Happy that the running is coming back together, even though it was only a 26km week.

This week, however, was pretty much a disaster. I got run over by an ugly virus and spent the best part of the week at home asleep. Back to work on Friday, still a bit under the weather, but by Saturday morning was feeling well enough to run with tiger angel in the CR5k (more of this later). I was half expecting to have to turn back early, but as it turned out, the 10k suited me fine and there were no after effects. Emboldened by this, I did a trial run from Pennant Hills oval down to work through the bush this morning (Sunday) and apart from getting lost quite a few times, I think that running to work once a week is going to be a viable option. Good end to a very ordinary week.

Tiger angel's weeks have been a little more successful. She's been doing a number of long walks (1.5 hour) as her time-on-feet element, plus the normal weights, swimming and stationary bike. In addition, Run Club last week comprised a 3k, 2k & 1k all at race pace (she ran steady 5:45's the whole time), and on Wednesday this week she did a trial 40 minutes on the pushie down at Homebush. The pain in her wrist every time she stopped or turned the handlebars means that it'll still be a while before she's back in the saddle in a big way, but it's a start! :-)

Finally, yesterday morning at the CR5k, she ran her first 10k since the hip blow-up at the herald half in May (5 months!). The 28:14 was very pleasing; she was expecting closer to 30 minutes. And so the progression continues... :-)

Gnome

p.s. I have to admit to starting to get a bit excited about this Nepean thingy. 3 weeks to go!

Not much of anything

It's been a little while since I blogged, mainly because it's been a little while since I ran :-(

Those at last weekend's Striders' 10k may have seen me once again with a camera around my neck. The sad story was that my back had a spasm while I was pulling on my trousers on Friday morning. (What is it about me and dressing? It was putting on my shoes that did the damage back in January!). I took the week off and then did the run/walk thing at Run Club on Thursday, and while it didn't feel comfortable, it didn't feel worse afterwards. A slow 3k by myself on Saturday and a 50 minute run with tiger angel today (Sunday) confirmed that running is possible, but I don't think that I'll be running any marathons in the next few weeks... :-) TA was really whacked after her PT session on Saturday, so we were both happy with the 6:25 pace.

I'll just keep trying to go around slowly until it feels more comfortable, and see what happens then. As of tomorrow, my work has transferred to Nth Ryde, so I'm expecting to be able to ride to work more often, and possibly even run occasionally. I'm looking forward to that now; I wonder how I'll feel about it after a few weeks :-)

TA's trainer has declared "no more mister nice guy" and has upped the intensity of her training somewhat. Hence, she's been pretty tired and achy lately, but I think that it's that good form of tired when you know why and you can see a purpose. It sure beats the other type! :-) At this stage, her training continues the broad range of disciplines - weights, riding, swimming & running, so she only gets to run twice a week. I don't think that I could cope with this tri-style training; I like the running too much.

Speaking of Triathlons, we got an email the other day advertising the Nepean Tri and it got me thinking. Now that (thanks to TA's excellent tuition) I *can* swim a km - albeit slowly - there's no real reason why I shouldn't go and have some fun in the sun out Penriff way. They may be packing up the course around me, but having no illusions about my capabilities frees me up to just enjoy the day, wave to the crowds and chat with the other battlers down the back. (Note, if you see me waving to the crowds during the swim leg, hop in and rescue me, won't you?? :-0 ). TA doesn't think that she's up to the full distance at this stage (lack of movement in her wrist means that control of the bike is still untested and unknown), but if she decides that the enticer is an option, then I'll be in there like a shot. Doing a short one with her beats doing anything by myself!

Gnome

p.s. we went to Micro's footy club Presentation Dinner last night where they did the whole 'Brownlow type' round-by-round vote counting for B&F. Macro excelled himself by coming 7th (even topping the votes for one round). 'Twas quite a new experience for TA and myself to see one of our children up on the big screen in a sporting context. Most chuffed! :-)

The fun-est kind of morning

I had such a fun morning this morning (Wednesday). Tiger angel had a client session locally at 6:15, so she was going to get home about 7:30 before going out for her own session. Consequently, I headed out at 7am for a 1/2 hour AT run (5.5k at 4:40 pace), and then went with TA for hers. 2.5k warm up jog down to the oval, then 2 x 800 at AT pace with a 400 walk recovery. 400m splits were 2:08, 2:10, 2:09, 2:11, so you're not going to get much more even than that. She walked home while I ran (2k @5:05 pace). Actually, I walked with her for the first 500m or so, though I'm not sure whether it was because I was tired or because I love walking with her :-)

I don't really know what it was, but mixing the session up like that; starting with AT, then a slow jog, then TA's ATs and finally my run home was both really wearying and a whole bunch of fun at the same time. Maybe it was the fun of the different, maybe it was having TA around, maybe it was both. Either way, top morning.

Working back through the week, we both went swimming on Tuesday (1.5k for me, 1k for TA) and we did a nice 5.5k @ 6:45 pace on Monday evening (when it had cooled down a bit!).

TA created a new type of CR5k challenge on Saturday. She created the CR3k challenge, but driving around to Rodd Point and starting from the 2k mark. Her 3k time was 17:20, which is super pleasing for where she's been. Told you she was coming back! :-) I managed 21:23 as well (with the able pacing assistance of CR Vurt), which chops another 20 seconds off the old PBP-PB. Both especially happy given the strength of the WIND!

Gnome