Clearing the Cobwebs

Time - 57:44
Distance - 11Km
Avg HR - 80%
Avg Pace - 5:15
Ice Bath - Yes

I had a very light running week this week, despite yesterdays great run I was feeling pretty moody and mopey today. I did have the all clear from the doctor to start rebuilding and really should have aimed for 40Km this week, instead I have finished up with only 22.5Km. A few things conspired to get in my way, I took an extra rest day after racing last Sunday and then a trip to Sydney robbed me of a session as well.

No harm will come from it, apart from me feeling a bit fat and frumpy today

Funnily enough though once I get my running gear on I am transformed and feel all sleek and fast and skinny, unfortunately it is not possible to get around in sporting kit all the time.

I had planned on 65 minutes today, however my ITB protested around the 9Km mark and I decided at 11Km to walk out the rest. Owing to the Spring into Shape 4Km last Sunday I missed my long run so it had been 2 weeks since I had tried a decent hit out. So not all that concerned about the ITB, it is not something that has bothered me much in the past, just my body getting used to running for an hour or more again. I have a massage on Thursday, I expect that will get on top of any residual tightness.

So needing to ice my shins (as per usual) and also the ITB and not having that many ice-packs at my disposal I decided just to bite the bullet and sit in a shallow ice bath for 10 minutes. I hadn’t done this for a while and forgot how much it hurts my feet, major pain because other than that it doesn’t bother me, I hoped in and out a few times before I could handle it.

I just checked the preliminary results for yesterday’s relay, the Div 4 girls came in 5th out of 15th, only about 2 minutes separated us from 1st place, not too bad at all for an under strength team

So now that the winter season is over I can concentrate on re-gaining my fitness, by the time the 2008 season starts I’ll be stronger than ever!

Speaking of which, it seems like all of a sudden these iron tablets have started to work. Day to day I feel about the same, but when I go for a run, wow, what a difference! Apart from the ITB niggle I was running so comfortably today, I set out to cruise along at 5:30s and felt pretty sure that is what I was doing, so was pretty surprised to see a 5:15 average, in fact until the ITB slowed me I was hitting a 5:10 average. Earlier this year, prior to the injury I was feeling quite frustrated as I just didn’t seem to be improving at all. Seems the stressies were a blessing in disguise, had I not had them I would not have seen a doctor and I would not have had the iron test and I would have plodded along thinking that I had gotten as good as I was ever going to.

Ok, that’s all I have to say, guess it’s all about running today, looking forward to a good consistent week, no racing so I’ll aim for a 40Km week. I have another doctor visit on Saturday, maybe she will let me return to some light track work. Not that I’ll be able to for a couple of weeks though anyway, I have to spend the first 2 weeks of October in Sydney filling in for my boss while she is on leave.