Woosh………

That is the sound of another year flying by, when I turned 21 my step father rather helpfully told me that the years were going to start rolling by at a frightening pace.

Now I am 35 (only just) and damn him he was right!

I am not making resolutions. I only made one last year and have done absolutely nothing and find myself in the exact same situation that was making me unhappy this time last year, therefore I shall make no resolutions and just try to find a way to resolve the situation. I suppose that pretty much is a resolution though isn’t it?

Of course it goes without saying that I will NOT get injured next year, I repeat, I will NOT get injured next year!!!

Work has been very slow this week, it is to be expected when I am a change manager and we are in a change freeze

Taking advantage of the slow patch before things pick up again in the new year I had a nice easy 12km run with my mate Carol at lunch time yesterday. Then today I had a 2 hour lunch break with my best mate and another friend. It was lovely, we went to a good restaurant, shared a bottle of wine and ate some very good food, I had a chili crab risotto that was so good I almost wept. Tomorrow morning I am meeting Carol again on The Tan and we are running the VRR 4km time trial before going out for breakfast before work.

It’s gonna be tough when things start to return to normal again in January and I have to start earning my wage again

Speaking of which, I am really really really over working in the corporate world, sure the money is good but the level of job satisfaction is so low you would need some sort of intricate low level measuring stuff physicky type instrument to measure how low it is and my care factor and ability to fake it is even lower. Lately I have been starting to think about going back to uni and doing a Dip Ed, I almost did a BEd the first time around but ended up with just the BA. Then because I was supporting myself through Uni and was sick of being poor and living on no name 2 minute noodles and struggling to pay the rent and bills I jumped straight into the workforce after the 3 years and have been stuck in corporate hell ever since. So my choices are thus, hang on where I am for another year and hope like hell they decide to retrench me (a better than 50% chance) thereby giving me the means to take a year off and study full time (bliss) or suck it up and quit and support myself for the year of study with a part time job.

Decisions decisions decisions

Is 35 too old to take a career 180?

It is going to be an interesting year.

Going to have a picnic in the city and watch the fireworks with some mates tomorrow night, hope the rain hold off!

Shouldn’t I be hurting?

I managed to stay awake for most of the evening yesterday, though I was not the most coherent of company. Great to catch up with family though as I didn’t see my Aunty and Uncle on Xmas day and of course it was wonderful to have my sister and her husband in Melbourne at this time of year. My sister is about 3 months preggers now and just starting to show, she was also pretty tired so we sacked out on the couch together.

For dessert we had some gorgeous cupcakes just like these ones

They tasted as good as they looked, I should know, I had two last night and another two today

Surely at this time of year it is acceptable practice to eat chocolate cupcakes for breakfast?

I have been of little use today, I slept pretty fitfully last night and ended up doing quite a bit of napping today. I suppose yesterday was pretty physical and my body just needed the rest.

I finally concluded yesterday that my hydration pack is just not right for me, I got horribly chaffed again and I kept mucking about with it all day. It is fine for mountain biking or hiking but it bounces too much when running even though all the straps are pulled in as tight as they will go. A trip to Kathmandu (the store, I didn’t pop off to Nepal for the morning) yielded a great little pack designed specifically for woman and half price too! I looked a bit daft jogging up and down the shop wearing it but I am sure they are used to that. The shoulders are much narrower and the chest strap fastens above the boobs rather than right across them, even with my less than impressive assets that used to be pretty damn uncomfortable. So unlike the old one I’ll be able to adjust this one so it sits nice and tight against my back. There is one little design flaw though, it doesn’t have a nifty little clip for the hydration tube like my Blackwolf one does.

I popped out for a run this afternoon, after it had started to cool down a bit. I was expecting all sorts of creaks and groans of protest from my body, tuned out I felt pretty good after yesterday. My poor big toes are a little bashed about from the down hill running and there is still a tender spot on the top of my foot from my run in with the big stick but apart from that all was well. The first 500 metres or so felt pretty ordinary but I soon warmed up to it, I kept it nice and easy though and rolled out 6km in just over 32 minutes, it was stupidly easy.

I am totally sold on the compression socks now, another day after a long run and my calves feel fine. My quads and hammies are not suffering from the hills either, I don’t think I will ever be crazy in love with hill running but at least my body is getting used to it.

Definitely going back next year to give it a proper crack

Ughh, back to work tomorrow.

2 Bays Trail

I am too tired to come up with a clever or witty title today.

My alarm went off at 430am today and for a brief moment where I had the early morning horrors I considered texting Jay and Michelle and telling them I was choosing sleep! Of course I didn’t, so up I popped and after scoffing a serve of Bircher Muesli with lovely fresh raspberries I started to wake up and feel almost human.

The Two Bays Trail starts in Dromana (or equally it could finish there if you start at the other end) and finishes up at the Cape Schanck Lighthouse, all told it is 26km, however we started a bit before the trail proper and also due to a wrong turn later on I ended up with 28.5km (more or less).

I parked at the end and Jay, Michelle and Mark picked me up and we drove back to the start. There were about 20 people gathered around and as we were running a little late we got started straight away.

Cruelly the trail immediately started to go up a long steep suburban street, then we had a steep climb up Arthur’s Seat, so there was not too much running in the early stages. One of the participants (AKA the Trail Marking Fairy) had been out on Xmas eve and had marked key points on the trail with orange line marking paint which meant for pretty easy going as I didn’t have to refer to a map.

After Arthur’s Seat we spent a decent amount of time heading down hill and on the flat. The landscape was beautiful and changed from mountain trail and into grasslands, there were also a few kangaroos about and later on some black wallabies as well, in fact one leaped out in front of me and scared me half to death.

Unfortunately at around the 14km mark we think Jay must have gone straight ahead at one point, instead of turning right and Michelle and I lost her. A couple of other runners happened by after about 5 minutes and said they hadn’t seen her so after doubling back about a km and waiting a bit longer we made the decision that Michelle would go back and look for her and I would continue on to the end as my car was there. No! we couldn’t just call her, this was the bush, there was no mobile phone reception.

I was a bit daunted facing the remaining 14km on my own, but the trail has been well marked by the TMF so I was pretty confident I would be OK so long as I paid attention. The path was undulating from here and I was able to run about 95% of it, I did walk up some of the hilly bits though

This was my favourite section, it went though quite a bit of forrest before opening out into open grassland and finally coastal trail for about the last 3km. Crossing Boneo Road one of the support crew was there with a very very welcome lemonade icy pole and I don’t care that I had to loose time to eat it! The last 5km were a bit tough as I was getting tired and the trail was pretty narrow in parts and there were lots of tree roots. The inevitable happened and I ended up tripping twice on the way to the finish and landed once on my front and the second time pretty heavily on my side, but I jumped right up again and pressed on coz I am a brave little soldier.

About 3km from the end I found Mark who had doubled back to try and find us (sorry, only me!) and it was a boost to have some company to the end. Finally I rounded a corner and saw the Lighthouse, almost there, not before taking a quick picture of the bay and also stopping to pose for a picture taken by a retuning lunatic runner who was doing the out and back.

At the kiosk in the carpark I have never been so happy in my life to pay $4.80 for a 600ml bottle of lemonade, ripped off? sure, but by that stage I’d have paid $20.

Poor John who had finished in something ridiculous like 2 hours 30 minutes had been waiting patiently in the car park for over an hour for me to drag my sorry arse over the line. I was really keen to finish in around 3 hours, it wasn’t to be and it ended up taking me over 4 hours, though the running time was 3 hours 15 minutes. I was an honest little camper and kept the garmin running during the walk breaks so I am happy with just under 7 minute Kms for the terrain I was on today. There was a bit of stop start at the beginning but I ran pretty freely over the last half, I’d be very keen to try again next year with hopefully a year injury free and better fitness.

I drove Mark and John back to Dromana and we all had a wade in the lovely cool ocean (OK, mark went for full submersion, John and I were not so brave), that, along with my lovely compression socks should mean I pull up OK tomorrow. We were also finally able to get a hold of Jay and Michelle who had met up again and found out that they had pushed on to the end so Mark headed back to Cape Schanck to pick the weary duo up.

I have to give a massive thanks to the support crew, this was an unsupported run but these guys really looked after us and I probably could have gotten away with not using my hydration pack. There were a couple of big 60 litre water containers left at about 14km and 22km, along with a big bag of jelly lollies, not to mention Steve with the Icy Poles

So apart from a sore hip and knee from my fall, a chafed shoulder from the hydration pack, some tender toes and a bruise forming on the top of my right foot after having a stick ram into it on a particularly enthusiastic down hill section I am feeling pretty good, although a little tired.

This evening I am out at Mums for a family BBQ, my sister and brother in law head back to Qld tomorrow so we are having my birthday celebration a day early. I am afraid I am going to fall asleep, it may get a bit Weekend at Bernie’s (now that ages me!) My Aunty is making me a big tray of scalloped potatoes, I love her so much right now, I don’t think I will share, surely no one else earned them today.

This is me at the end waiting for the others to arrive to ferry me back to the start, trying to look complicated and interesting as I pose for the self timer.

One of the prettiest parts of the trail

Orange marked the spot

A rather rewarding view close to the finish

Fa la la la

Decking the halls and getting too jolly at lunch time.

Didn’t get up to much at work today and we had champers and food at midday. You probably don’t need me to tell you but take it from me, BBQ chips and cheap champagne do not a good pre run snack make!

At about 1pm I called it a day and went for a slow 12km run, about 64 minutes all told. Nothing spectacular to report, people were lining up for the Carols at the music tonight, they are in for a long day, bet there will be tears before bedtime.

I braved the Victoria Market this morning, got there at about 730 and the joint was jumping. Everyone was pretty relaxed though and it only took me about 10 minutes to get to the front of the line. People were buying so much stuff, my modest purchase of 750 gms of peeled prawns was nothing in comparison to what others were getting. I have a very very relaxed day tomorrow, tempo run in the morning, RELAXING, then Mum, Sis and baby bump and brother and step dad over for an easy dinner. Prawns and chicken on the barbie and Pav for dessert, I don’t have many Xmas traditions but I gotta have Pav.

You know, some people really need to learn which battles to fight and which ones are just not worth the bother, take Gays Outraged by Popes Homophobic Attack for example.

I am not sure it is worth getting all het up about the opinions of a 81 year old Roman Catholic, while you are at it you may as well try to convince the Taliban that women aren’t the devils handmaidens.

I do plenty of things that the Pope probably wouldn’t be too keen on either, I am not too bothered by his opinion.

There was a picture in the paper of a big pack of blokes cramming into Tiffany and Co in Collins Street yesterday. My mate at work said “wouldn’t it be funny if you saw your boyfriend or husband in the picture?”, “yep” I said, “especially if you don’t get a little blue box on Xmas morning”

That’s more like it

With my usual Tuesday night group on hiatus for 2 weeks over Xmas I made up my own session tonight.

I was kindly invited out to the You Yangs this afternoon to train with Jojo and her group, unfortunately I wasn’t going to be able to get out of the office on time so I wasn’t able to make it Don’t you hate it when your employer actually expects you to do some work for your wage

Anyway, another mate, Carol ended up being free to meet me so we headed over to The Tan together. With another 5km race planned on 11 January I decided to do some 750 metre reps at race pace as a confidence booster (60 second recovery). I was aiming to hit around 3:23 for each rep but I ended up a touch faster but most importantly nice and even –

3:15
3:16
3:15
3:16
3:15

Carol is recovering from a recent marathon and a big year of racing which meant she slowed down and ran at my pace for a change it was good to have the company and surprisingly I was able to chat so the pace was pretty comfortable.

There was something on at the music bowl so the track was crawling with little kids running about the place and getting under our feet, worse than bloody dogs off leads they were!

I felt great at the end and after each recovery I was raring to go.

For the first time in a while I am feeling pretty confident, it’s starting to come together.

This looks just like my cat Asterix, though he has a slightly different attitude, the big boofy dufus is rather loveable and I usually have a job stopping him from climbing all over me looking for affection, it is particularly challenging trying to share my lap with a laptop computer and 7kg worth of Russian Blue!

more animals

If I knew why I’d bottle it

Because I feel great today! After all the downhill running I did yesterday I was expecting my quads to be a quivering mess, last time I did a long hilly run I could barely get out of a chair the next day.

Could it be possible, am I getting used to it?

I didn’t even do anything to help my recovery yesterday, I barely ate (apart, to my great shame, from a chocolate thick shake from maccas, it’s Michelle’s fault, she put the idea in my head), was too lazy to stop at the servo for a bag of ice and spent most of the afternoon flopped out on a bean bag outside on the deck.

My calves would also usually be pretty sore the day after a long run and they also feel fine, the compression socks are fanbloodytastic.

I was too tired to type much yesterday so I forgot to mention the wildlife sightings. Before setting out we saw a family of Kangaroos hopping though the car park and another mob not long after setting off down the trail, coming back down from the turnaround point we saw a big group of bush turkeys and then coming around through the wetlands a fat blue tongue lizard sunning itself. I kept my eyes peeled but unfortunately no snake sightings yesterday.

I bought my running gear with me today, thinking I would just do an easy 5km. Then I checked my training plan for the week and realised that I had scheduled today as a rest day, I arranged my week so I could get the most out the 4 days I have off work.

Mon – Rest Day
Tues – Either a session on the tan (was thinking 5 by 750 mtre at 5km race pace) or out West with Jo if I fancy more hills
Weds – 12km easy
Thurs – 6 km tempo
Fri – Rest Day
Sat – 27.5 km Two Bays trail run from Arthur’s Seat to Camp Schanck
Sun – 6km easy

Here is the elevation chart from yesterday

And The Girls are Back in Town before setting off, note my rather fetching knee high compression socks.

Long, hilly, hot, hilly, dusty

Must be another day on the trail training for Trailwalker.

Today we met in the car park at Lysterfield Lake and ran up through Belgrave and further up to Grant’s picnic ground. Belgrave is not a suburb famous for it’s long generous expanses of flat terrain, I’ll have to post the elevation chart tomorrow when I have downloaded the data. There were a couple of hills walked, mostly though Belgrave because I can walk up them faster than I can run them anyway.

I didn’t pause the Garmin during the walk breaks, we covered 25km (thanks to an extra 70 mtre dash in the car park) in 2:33:56, just a touch over 6 minute kms isn’t bad considering the walk breaks.

Yesterday I bought myself a pair of compression socks, I have previously resisted not really believing they would make much of a difference. Happily, after parting with $50 they really did make a difference, I always get really tight calves after about 15km but today I felt pretty fresh right to the end. Yeah they do look a little daggy but if they help me get though long runs I don’t care, they weren’t at all hot either.

Bloody tired this afternoon and rather than doing chores I have been napping outside in a bean bag.

JH, the picture in my banner was taken in a laneway that I walk though most days on my way to the office, Mr Happy is a stencil that has been pasted up on the wall.

’tis the season

and all that, been a bit busy, for a change my absence is not due to some sort of mental meltdown.

Since we last spoke the running has unfolded thusly –

I had a nice easy paced longer run of 11km on Wednesday afternoon, the mid week long run needs to be back in my program, ideally a minimum of 13km but I am still rebuilding the base.

Thursday was a rest day after running 5 days in a row for the first time since returning from injury. I got though it fine, calves a little tight but that is what the weekly massage is for.

Friday morning at about 6am I did a 8.3km run, warmed up for 2km, it takes me longer to warm up at that time of day I am not a good early morning runner, followed by 6.3km at tempo pace around 4:50 per km.

Today is another rest day as I don’t want to run 6 day weeks yet. Correction, I do want to run 6 day weeks but probably shouldn’t.

Tomorrow will be 27km along the Lysterfield to Grant’s picnic ground section of the Trailwalker course, we will do it as a return journey to save mucking about with the cars.

Last night I had some mates over for a BBQ, it was a little chilly outside but fortunately the rain stayed away and after my third glass of bubbly I couldn’t feel much anyway Alot of laughs and a fun night, by the time we wrapped up I’ll admit to being a bit unsteady on my feet but some sort of Xmas miracle was bestowed upon me in the night and somehow I awoke hangover free!

The pictures from the 5km race I ran 2 weeks ago are available now, do you want to see what pissed off about not running a PB looks like? And why do my legs look so bloody chubby, I have lost all my injury weight, stupid front on shot!?

I have figured out all the ins and outs of my Garmin now and I can officially say I LOVE it, for a data nut like myself there is nothing quite like it. I especially love the maps and the elevation graphs when you download the data into the software.

That is not a bin!

OK, what day is it? When did I last write? What’s my name again, how did I get here?

Hang on let me think about this, Wednesday, Monday, Em and something my Mum and Dad did that doesn’t really bear thinking about.

Where they hell has the year gone? Around this time last year I made a decision that I was unhappy with something and it had to change, a year on and nothing! I suffer from terminal inertia, I sit and wait and sit and wait and just hope that the whole thing will go away, I am worse than an ostrich, Glaciers (are there any left?) commit quicker than I do.

Yesterday I was crabbier than a really crabby crab who has been sitting in the dirty tank at the local Chinese with its claws taped shut waiting to be “picked”.

The mood was not only because of aforementioned terminal inertia but also because people are basically idiots, Satre was right. Of course I exaggerate; Hell is just an idiot at work who shall remain nameless who has all the sensitivity and tact of and Australian Idol judge in front of a fat contestant. Hell is also the other moron at work who thinks the toner recycling bin is also an appropriate place to dump takeaway coffee cups and banana peels, despite said receptacle being clearly marked “Toner Recycling” and being full of empty toner cartridges on top of which banana peel has been delicately balanced. Finally Hell is also the precipitously asinine young P plate chick screeching around my local streets last night at break neck speed. I have no issues what so ever with her wrapping her idiot self around a light pole, so long as she does not hurt anyone else or cause a power outage that leaves me having to reset all the clocks in my house.

Mostly I just live and let live, but some days (yesterday, obviously) the selfishness and stupidity of some people really grinds my gears.

Hell is not my wonderful mates both running and not who always make me smile and know when to say all the right things.

By the time I got to Jells Park yesterday afternoon I was working up a good head of pissed off, fed up and frustrated, not least of all with myself for letting pointless garbage get on top of me.

Thank the Heavens and all the little angels in the fluffy clouds playing their little harps for a good training session, the inertia may still be there but damn it by the time I was done yesterday I was almost fun to be around again.

It was the last session for the year and not as many turned up as usual so we had a bit of fun, a lap of Jells Lake when the aim was to take the shortest route around. We set off at 30 second intervals, using 10km PBs to determine slowest to fastest with slowest going first, I was second.

I didn’t take the shortest route, rather I took the route of least resistance, opting to stick to paths rather than the grass, I was being wussy and was worried about turning my ankle coz the ground had been messed up by cars setting up for carols the previous weekend. The shortest route clocked was about 1.93 km and I clocked 2.05km and finished in 9:08 minutes, I just set out to run at what should be my 5km race pace rather then flat out, there were a couple of gates to open that slowed things a wee bit and I was only over taken by one runner. Also we could run in any direction, I chose anti-clockwise so I could run down the hill at the end.

With warm up and cool down a 7km day.

All the smart kids are eating carbs

Good news! After my 24km long run yesterday I feel great today, calves a little tight but otherwise I am tickety boo thanks.

After an excruciating day at work I was finally released from my cell cubicle to discover that the grey morning had turned into a beautiful afternoon. I got changed into my running gear and walked back to my car on the tan, dumped the bags and headed off for a run. Because I will be running 5 days in a row I opted for a cruisey 5km in just over 27 minutes. I could have gone faster and farther but have to train smart and save myself for whatever Rupert has in store for us tomorrow.

Canute, I am very pleased with my level of fitness considering the no running lay off for 5 weeks in July/August and the subsequent 2 months of rehab running. When I had stress fractures last year my only exercise was deep water running, granted I did this almost every day and worked pretty hard, but it wasn’t enough and I had to battle to regain fitness. This time around I started the DWR immediately but only stuck it for 10 days before switching to the bike. As much as I resented the damn thing and as hard as it was some days to get on it there is no denying how well it helped me maintain my cardiovascular fitness and I knew my perseverance would be rewarded.

I still have a way to go, I reckon I am about 90% off my “best” (what ever that is), my speed and endurance are lacking but I have only been doing speedwork again for 5 weeks now and it is returning bit by bit. I also still need to win the mental fight too, I am still a bit tentative and feel that injury is my Sword of Damocles and can often be heard to say “next time I am injured” etc etc.

Work is a bit tedious at the moment, we are in change freeze so not much is happening, I am someone who needs to be kept busy otherwise I start paying attention to the voices.

I notice in The Age today that science has finally validated what I have always known, Less Carbs Could Mean Less Brains. I didn’t need some boffin in a lab coat to tell me that people who don’t like potato, bread, rice and sugar are stupid, but it is nice to be validated