I thought I'd recovered well from last week's race. I didn't run on Monday, then I had speed on Tuesday. We did our warmup, then some strides and then bam! My right quad decided it didn't like me any more. I guess it was a cramp, I was worried I'd torn something initially. I stopped running immediately, went home and by Thursday it was ok.
I've been pretty lucky with running. I guess I back off straight away if I think something's going to become a problem so I normally avoid major drama.
The rest of the week was pretty ordinary. I ran 9km on Thursday, then speed on Friday (3km reps) plus a big cool down. I then went for an easy run Friday afternoon, then a long run yesterday. I'm now in the northern territory again so it'll be an easy week.
I like traveling, but I don't like how it affects my running!
Sunday 30 October 2011
Monday 24 October 2011
Travelling
I'm at the airport. Again. I don't mind flying but I really dislike airports. Especially driving to/from airports - they always make it so complicated!
I've been in Melbourne for a conference this weekend. Typical Melbourne, we had one day of incredible weather, with the 2 other days being miserable!
I did the 4.2 km spring into shape yesterday, and ran 18:03. I'm really happy with my time, but not so happy with how I ran the race. I got there early enough and did a good warm up. I managed to start in about the position I though suited my speed, and I noticed a girl with a nsw ccc top on so she looked like a semi serious runner. I ran the first km just behind her which was great because it was just under 4min pace. The second km was down to 4:44, which serves me right for not trusting my own pacing! I was thinking it felt easy but I didn't realize it was quite that easy! After this I overtook the girl (and a fair few other females that went out too hard), and ended up 5th. My other frustration is with my finish. I'd checked out the course before the race and I knew there was a timing mat at 4km, and then a sharp left bend about 50m before the finish. I left my kick until then, and went over the line less than a second behind another girl (who I think won a prize!). So lesson number 2: start pushing further out from the line.
All racing is still good experience, and I'm happy with my level of fitness now so overall it was a good race!
I'm definitely going to keep up the swimming and core/strengthening, because it looks like it's making a difference!
I've been in Melbourne for a conference this weekend. Typical Melbourne, we had one day of incredible weather, with the 2 other days being miserable!
I did the 4.2 km spring into shape yesterday, and ran 18:03. I'm really happy with my time, but not so happy with how I ran the race. I got there early enough and did a good warm up. I managed to start in about the position I though suited my speed, and I noticed a girl with a nsw ccc top on so she looked like a semi serious runner. I ran the first km just behind her which was great because it was just under 4min pace. The second km was down to 4:44, which serves me right for not trusting my own pacing! I was thinking it felt easy but I didn't realize it was quite that easy! After this I overtook the girl (and a fair few other females that went out too hard), and ended up 5th. My other frustration is with my finish. I'd checked out the course before the race and I knew there was a timing mat at 4km, and then a sharp left bend about 50m before the finish. I left my kick until then, and went over the line less than a second behind another girl (who I think won a prize!). So lesson number 2: start pushing further out from the line.
All racing is still good experience, and I'm happy with my level of fitness now so overall it was a good race!
Friday 21 October 2011
Travelling
I'm flying out to Melbourne tonight for a work conference. It's only a 3 night trip, and it's going to be super busy! I think I need to skip out on a couple lectures, just so I can get some 'me' time in! I have managed to enter a fun run on sunday (Spring into Shape) and then a visit to my grandma on the monday.
I spent last week in the NT, which was great. The road we were supposed to be leaving on is impassable after rain - so guess what? We had massive storms on the thursday night, before we were supposed to be leaving on the friday! We ended up going a different way (which was a pretty epic drive), but we needed to wait until saturday so that we could travel with a second car. If you get stuck out there no one will find you for days. We have a sat phone, but it was still nice to follow someone who knew the road!
My biggest concern was having to extend my running break! I can't run in communities - too many dogs, plus issues with being a girl and not being able to travel around by myself. Occasionally I will use an airstrip, but normally I just allow for a rest week. I did a lot of strengthening exercises so I didn't go completely nuts from no exercise!
There's definitely been no rest since I got back! The week so far:
Tues (am): easy 7km
Tues (pm): 1km reps with about 30 sec recovery (we were doing them on 4:30 cycles)
Wed: swim 1km (I've only just started swimming again, I'm pretty unfit! It's amazing how much better my legs felt afterwards though) and walking to/from the pool
Thur: 14km trail run
Fri (today): Speed session (500m, 1000m, 1500m then repeat) + 5km extra at the end + swim + walk home
The plan for the weekend is an easy run tomorrow morning, maybe use the hotel gym tomorrow night, then the fun run on sunday. It will be great to see where my fitness is at!
Friday 7 October 2011
Where's summer?
Ok, I know it's only just officially spring, but normally in Brisbane that should mean that it feels like summer already. Qld has 2 seasons: a short (very mild) winter, and a long humid summer that lasts for about 8 months. Last year was a bit strange, with all the extra rain that we had - and then the floods. I hope this year's not the same. Today (and the past few days) has been rainy, and colder than average. It makes for good running weather at least!
As I had planned, I spent 2 weeks doing easy aerobic runs and started getting back in the habit of the weekend long run. I didn't do massive kms but it was more about consistency. The most significant day was last thur - I ran 11km in the morning, then went to the gym in the afternoon and spent 1hr 15min on the bike (just easy pedalling), plus a short swim. My long run was just 17km, hopefully this week I'll do 20km.
I'm making more of an effort with cross training at the moment. I've started doing BodyRock, which is HIIT and intense. I generally modify the workouts a little bit so far, because they freak me out but I'm building up to it and I think that the variety is really good for me. I like that each day is slightly different!
I've been back in Brisbane this week, which meant a reintroduction to speed. Most of my squad is running in Melbourne this weekend, so tuesday was about short, sharp workouts. We did 200m and 400m, both with 200m recovery. I knew it would be a lighter session, so I decided to run there and home which made it up to around 17km total. I've never added extra kms to a speed session before, it was a great idea! I was buggered by the time I got home but the sets weren't compromised at all by the extra long warmup. My times averaged between 41 and 43 sec for the 200m (we did 6), I went out way to hard in the 400m so it started with 1:27 for the first couple, then blew out to 1:39, then finished off with a few at 1:34 (which is the pace I should've started with...)
Today's speed session wasn't really speed. There were 3 of us there, and the 2 others are running the marathon on sunday. They wanted to do an easy run, which was more of a comfortable (but not easy!) pace for me. They're both a fair bit faster than me and it was good to have a chance to run together for once. Normally we do intervals and just pass each other going in the opposite directions!
We've bought a house! Super exciting. It will go unconditional on monday. When we move into the house it's the perfect opportunity for me to buy a bike. I hate the thought of riding on roads, but our new house has a bike path at the end of the street and is really close to other bike friendly routes. Massive win! I also plan on getting a wind trainer so that I can exercise at home after dark.
I'm away again next week, and I'll be in the middle of nowhere. I won't be able to run much, luckily I've got bodyrock as an option now!
Diet's been average. I've definitely made a positive change with breakfast, and I'm thinking more about what I'm having for lunch. I think I need to be a bit more proactive with it all, but it's so much easier to let J do all the cooking. One big change has been planning what I'm going eat throughout the day. I used to wait until lunchtime to decide what I felt like, but now I've been deciding way before that point so I'm less tempted to sneak in a chocolate bar, or to eat other junk.
Until next time :)
As I had planned, I spent 2 weeks doing easy aerobic runs and started getting back in the habit of the weekend long run. I didn't do massive kms but it was more about consistency. The most significant day was last thur - I ran 11km in the morning, then went to the gym in the afternoon and spent 1hr 15min on the bike (just easy pedalling), plus a short swim. My long run was just 17km, hopefully this week I'll do 20km.
I'm making more of an effort with cross training at the moment. I've started doing BodyRock, which is HIIT and intense. I generally modify the workouts a little bit so far, because they freak me out but I'm building up to it and I think that the variety is really good for me. I like that each day is slightly different!
I've been back in Brisbane this week, which meant a reintroduction to speed. Most of my squad is running in Melbourne this weekend, so tuesday was about short, sharp workouts. We did 200m and 400m, both with 200m recovery. I knew it would be a lighter session, so I decided to run there and home which made it up to around 17km total. I've never added extra kms to a speed session before, it was a great idea! I was buggered by the time I got home but the sets weren't compromised at all by the extra long warmup. My times averaged between 41 and 43 sec for the 200m (we did 6), I went out way to hard in the 400m so it started with 1:27 for the first couple, then blew out to 1:39, then finished off with a few at 1:34 (which is the pace I should've started with...)
Today's speed session wasn't really speed. There were 3 of us there, and the 2 others are running the marathon on sunday. They wanted to do an easy run, which was more of a comfortable (but not easy!) pace for me. They're both a fair bit faster than me and it was good to have a chance to run together for once. Normally we do intervals and just pass each other going in the opposite directions!
We've bought a house! Super exciting. It will go unconditional on monday. When we move into the house it's the perfect opportunity for me to buy a bike. I hate the thought of riding on roads, but our new house has a bike path at the end of the street and is really close to other bike friendly routes. Massive win! I also plan on getting a wind trainer so that I can exercise at home after dark.
I'm away again next week, and I'll be in the middle of nowhere. I won't be able to run much, luckily I've got bodyrock as an option now!
Diet's been average. I've definitely made a positive change with breakfast, and I'm thinking more about what I'm having for lunch. I think I need to be a bit more proactive with it all, but it's so much easier to let J do all the cooking. One big change has been planning what I'm going eat throughout the day. I used to wait until lunchtime to decide what I felt like, but now I've been deciding way before that point so I'm less tempted to sneak in a chocolate bar, or to eat other junk.
Until next time :)
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