Just been busy doing my thing

I did do a strength session at the gym on Wednesday, I kept the weights pretty light and remarkably wasn’t sore in funny places on Thursday.

In spite of the deluge last night I did make it to training and am mighty glad I did. I will admit my mood was as dark as the sky as I set off from the city for the drive to Berwick; work has been giving me grief so I put on some music and tried to put it out of my head. Last time I trekked out to Berwick for club training it only took me 45 minutes; it is highway from door to door. But of course the weather was wet and wild last night and for some inexplicable reason that means instant traffic jam (Ok, closing lanes on the highway for construction work doesn’t really help matters) so the trip took twice as long as usual I was very tempted to jump off at the Eastlink turn off and just head home, but I knew I’d end up regretting it. Anyway, it was either run in the rain and dark on my own or run in the rain and dark with company, the latter won the fight.

The session was the old faithful, 4 by 4 minutes but owing to the conditions we opted for a 3 minute floating recovery rather than standing, best to keep moving and warm(ish). I didn’t run this session as fast as I usually would, I wasn’t familiar with the area and also we had to do a bit of a turnaround because the road wasn’t as long as the path outside Jells Park were I normally do this session. Normally I’d be running around 4:05 to 4:10 Km pace but last night sat comfortably on 4:30 or thereabouts for all 4 reps. Remarkably I managed to avoid all the potholes until the last step of the last rep when I planted my right foot square in the middle of one resulting in squelchy wet foot for the duration of the cool down. In the end, as usual, no matter what the conditions were like I felt great and my mood had improved considerably.

Back at the car and doing some stretches while trying to unlock my car, eeeeep, no reassuring beep beep, try again, and still nothing, once more, no joy, shit! This has happened before and because I have an alarm I can’t just use the manual lock because the alarm won’t disarm. Panicking slightly but keeping it to myself, how the hell I am going to get home from Berwick and because I am an IDIOT my spare key was in my handbag IN the car! Ok, relax, dry key and rub between hands to warm it up, don’t ask my why but it’s worked before, once more, Beep Beep, Yessssss! Phew, not walking home tonight.

I’ve put the less used key on my key ring now and left the old one at home, in future I’ll have to remember to put the key in a little zip lock bag to keep it dry before putting it in my pocket. I never wanted a bloody alarm on my car, they always seem to be more trouble than they are worth, and stupidly I let myself get talked into it.

6km Cross Country at Geelong tomorrow, it’s the heritage round which simply means the boys are running the traditional 10 miler (the Men’s Victorian 10 Mile Championship, dating back to 1890), back then girls were supposed to sit around in corsets and crinoline and spoke when spoken to, running was out of the question, gracious, one wouldn’t want to break out in sweat now! Therefore us chicks will be running only 6km, having done our 4km at Lardner Park already, I am not really complaining, I don’t fancy running 4 laps!

Oh and Pilates twice this week, a mat session on Tuesday and I did a reformer session this morning, good way to start the day, I walked out feeling taller and very relaxed. I’ve got one mat session and 2 reformer sessions booked in for next week, will have abs of steel and a nice strong back by summer.

The world will end at 05:16

I am not sure if I have mentioned it before on these pages, so just in case I haven’t I HATE RUNNING EARLY IN THE MORNING!

I am changing my week around to make Wednesday my rest day, I can’t run after work and the before work run is so crap I almost feel it is pointless trying (though I know it’s not). I had to have a very stern internal dialogue when the alarm insisted on going off at 5:17 this morning (for some insane and unfathomable reason I have a pathological aversion to setting the alarm for an even number, it always has to be “7” something, I am assuming that the world would spin wildly off it’s axis and hurtle into the sun if I do otherwise so I am not willing to tempt it)

Emma quite contrary – Faaaaarrrrrrkkkkkkkk is it 5:17 already?

Voice in my head – Yes, get your lazy arse out of bed

Emma quite contrary – I think I hear rain, I’ll run at lunch time

Voice in my head – it’s the ducted heating

Emma quite contrary – no, I really think it’s rain

Voice in my head – MOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!! You don’t have time for 8km in your lunch break; you’ll have to wash your hair after.

Emma quite contrary – I hate running this early

Voice in my head – when did you turn into such a whining little sook?

Emma quite contrary – Damn, now Asterix and Mab are awake (they are the cats, obviously, not emo midgets I keep under the bed)

Voice in my head – Burn all the non believers, oops, hang on, wrong voice, not supposed to listen to that one.

So I got out of bed, fed the cats, dragged my gear on and drove into the city still arguing with myself.

Ummm, shit run, why do my legs feel like they’ve been filled full of lead at that time of day, I am pretty sure I saw a paraplegic slug overtaking me up Anderson Street as I muttered obscenities under my breath for almost 8km.

After that off to the gym for a shower, this saves me having to lug in a hairdryer and straightener which I’d have to do if I used the work showers. I grabbed a coffee from the gym café on the way out, when I went to pay I was told that it’s free between 7am and 9am, finally, my day is looking up. Gonna go back at lunch time and do a light weights session. I did Pilates again yesterday and we had a fab instructor, better than the chick we had last week, it was a good session and I don’t hurt as much today even though I worked harder.

Melbourne Marathon training session last night, I did an easy three loops of the road outside the stadium before we started, around 3.6km. We took the group down to Waverley Park to do hills today, as with last week I stuck with the beginners and ran the session with them, hopefully offering some words of advice and encouragement that were of some use. They were all pretty chuffed at the end and it’s good to see a couple of weeks in that the same faces are returning, as well as some new ones.

Not really a tough session for me though, I need to get my butt into gear and stop mucking about on my own, better get back to club training on Thursday nights and push myself a bit harder.

Just once, still tired

17km long run this morning, haven’t done that in a while but after a couple of weeks at 16 it was time to bump it up.

FED up with my route of late I opted for the main yarra trail starting from the beginning (or is it the end? who knows, it’s a question for the ages) in Templestowe, here I found a map. This section is really lovely, not too hilly, just a few short sharp ones, gravel path for the first 4.5km, then bitumen (well, it’s better than concrete), right next to the river, lots of trees, a handy loo 5km from the start, a couple of well placed water fountains, Kangas and birds for company, why they hell have I stayed away for so long?!

A chilly 5 degrees when I got going but chilly and 5 degrees is a hell of a lot easier to face when you are under a clear blue sky and a sun that is starting to think about Spring.

Despite the tweeting birds and the cackling Kookaburra’s I did opt for the iPod for company today. I had a bit of a nostalgia driven downloading binge on Friday night, it’s official, The Cramps made great running music, the psychobilly madness may not really have been in keeping with the surrounds but Bikini Girls with Machine Guns sure does get you up a hill.

This particular path leads all the way to Southbank in the city, I’ve run the city parts about a million times, it’s about 38km in total. It’s always been in the back of mind that if I ever decide to run a marathon it would make a great point to point training run.

Anyway, good run today, 1km farther than last week and about 10 seconds per km quicker so much happier with myself today. With the AV half marathon only about 7 weeks away I don’t realistically think that I am in any shape for a decent assault, in fact I reckon a PB is even looking pretty shaky. It matters not a whit, it will be a milestone for me to even be there to run a HM, plenty of time for PBs next year.

Thank Mar, I decided just now that I shall exhale, I was getting tired of people remarking about my blue face anyway I think I can finally let go of the spectre of injury, the monkey was getting to heavy to carry anyway, I’ve been so sensible this year, pulling back when I felt I needed to and training conservatively, I am starting to feel like a normal runner again, not a “recovering” runner.

I got stuck into some gardening this afternoon, this warded off the desperate need for a nana nap so I won’t have trouble dropping off tonight.

Did it twice, pretty tired

Ran that is.

Sheesh, what did you think I was talking about?

Scrapbooking?

This morning was all about run leading, it was bloody cold this morning and as per usual I struggled to get moving, even by 830, I am pretty over winter now. I experimented with using complaining to keep warm, it was not particularly effective. Three of us took the 8km group and we just let the paces settle themselves, I ended up with the slower runners and got around at an average of a pretty relaxed 6:20 per km.

After getting home and doing some of the boring Saturday chores I was a bit restless by around 3:30 so I popped out for a quick 4km.

Now I am just a bit weary.

Such are my wild and crazy Saturday nights these days, good carby dinner and then early to bed to rest up for a long run in the morning, yeah haaaaaa, hanging from the rafters over here

17km on the cards for tomorrow.

Shhhhhhh, I’ve now officially been free of serious injury for just over 12 months now, can I exhale yet??

Gotta go knock on wood, steal a foot from a rabbit, put the ladder away and make sure all the mirrors in the house are securely fixed.

still ouch

Finally, some couch time

Thursday is another long one because I coach at the crack of a sparrows then as well. After a milder Tuesday it was fffffffreezing again on Thursday so for the second day in a row I managed an early AM run, rather than standing around and supervising while I slowly froze to the spot I ran with some of the runners I am coaching. I had them doing a Mona Fartlek yesterday so I ran about with the slower ones so as not to damage my poor still asleep muscles, I ran about for just under 6 easy Kms.

Then at lunch time I went to my first Pilates class in about 3 years, I still remember all the basics so it was 45 minutes of heavy breathing and communing with my pelvic floor, the joy! After the core class on Tuesday and then Pilates yesterday I am feeling every giggle, sneeze, stretch or cough

This better be doing me some good!

After work yesterday I went for a 10km Fartlek run, I was not feeling spritely enough to commit to a proper tempo run.

Today was a full rest day, I was booked in for a Spin Class but was feeling seriously delicate today after having an upset stomach last night so I gave it a miss.

Now I know I said I wasn’t going to talk about dreams, but……..I keep having weird dreams about weird zombie like monsters lately, not really zombies but I can’t find a better way of describing them, a bit of a cross between Voldemort and these things. The really weird part is that in the dream they are not really scary and aren’t trying to hurt me, they are just there with a sort of latent malice.

Maybe I should just watch more Romantic Comedies and less Horror Movies.

But the romantic comedies are scarier

Especially the ones with Matthew McConaughey, I don’t really fancy dreaming about him, I think I’ll stick with the monsters.

LOL ouch

No time for chat last night, Tuesdays are a loooooooooong day for me, up at 5am, coaching for an hour from 6, work, gym at lunch time, work, drive out to Waverley Park, Run leading and then finally home after 8pm, make dinner, shower and then finally bed within an hour of getting home because I am completely and utterly stuffed.

Still, keeps me from developing a crack habit so I can’t complain.

Life would be a lot less hectic without the pesky day job getting in the way.

I did a 30 minute core workout class at the gym yesterday lunch time, at first I didn’t think it was much use, until I woke up today and a whole lot of places on my body that don’t usually hurt are hurting today. We had to do squats, so my quads and bum are sore; we had to do push ups (not just any push ups but a plank/push up combo! I am so pathetically weak I could only manage one before resorting to the girly option), so my chest and shoulders are sore and we had to do heaps of crunches so laughing hurts.

I am doing Pilates tomorrow so it’s only going to get worse

Last night I started the Melbourne Marathon training sessions, as a bit of a departure from previous years we have decided to make Tuesday the traditional quality session day and Saturday the longer run day. This has kept it more interesting for the run leaders/coaches as we are not just fronting up a couple of days a week and leading groups around the streets and bike paths. It is also great for the runners to have a chance to participate in a structured quality session with experienced coaches, especially runners who are not used to this sort of training, for some it can be a daunting task on their own and they just won’t do it. I took care of a group of ladies who had never done this sort of training before and they all seemed to enjoy themselves, it was certainly more fun for me, hopefully this will put some people on track for a PB in October and help push their running to another level. I really enjoyed myself last night, if the group that came along last night sticks with it and hopefully some more join us in the coming weeks it will be a good series

For anyone interested in joining in a free Melbourne Marathon training session here are the details, I am coaching and run leading the Eastern Suburbs sessions on Tuesday and Saturday –

Saturday
8.00am at Jells Park, Cnr Jells & Waverley Rds, Wheelers Hill
Meet at Madelaine’s cafe for a long run catering for 10km or HM Runners

Sunday
Genesis Fitness Ctr, 441 St Kilda Rd
8.30am For Half Marathon and Marathon runners doing the long run
9.00am For 10km and 5km runners

Tuesday
6.15pm at Waverley Park, Cnr Sir Kenneth Luke Bvd & Stadium Circuit, Mulgrave
Meet at the VFL Mosaic for a structured quality session of intervals, fartlek or hills.

Wednesday
6.00pm at Genesis Fitness Ctr, Freshwater Place, Southbank
Involves a medium length run for 10km, HM or Marathon runners.

There is no cost to these sessions; however we encourage a gold coin donation to CPEC, the official Charity for the 2009 St.George Melbourne Marathon.

8km this morning because I have a massage tonight, bit of a slog because I don’t run well that early in the day but I got though it. Despite being an early riser I still need a good 90 minutes after rolling out of bed before I am sufficiently warmed up to cope with running, with only 45 minutes between getting up and getting moving I was a semi conscious zombie for the first 3km at least.

The verdict, I still hate running early in the morning but it’s better than an unscheduled rest day.

they just tickled me so

I did a spin class today, was much easier than I remembered, but then again I have 4 years of running fitness under my belt since the last time I did one. I had to keep the tension pretty high to work hard enough to make it worth while, it was a good 40 minutes of active recovery in my lunch break, some of the others in the class were total slacko’s, just spinning the wheels around with no obvious tension, why bother?!

I’ve a core class tomorrow lunch time, don’t make me laugh on Wednesday

Slower but better

I pulled up fine after yesterdays XC escapades, though I was pretty stiff last night. I had dinner at a friends house, heaps of yummy food, a few glasses of bubbly (not too many, had to drive home afterall) and plenty of laughs, until I stood up after sitting for a couple of hours and could barely walk

Another odd restless night though with some more weird dreams, my sub conscious is probably trying to tell me something important but I remain blissfully ignorant.

The last 16ker I did was pretty ordinary, a very cold morning was a shock after 5 days in Queensland and it was just a crappy slog really. Bearing this in mind the plan this morning was to just bloody take it easy and keep it relaxed, the result was a much more comfortable 16km in just over 90 minutes, slow, steady, much less frustrating, amazing the difference an extra 20 seconds per km can make.

After that I finished the week just shy of 55km

XCR09 Rd 6 – 8km XC Bundoora Park

Just to get to this round is an achievement in itself, I’ve not made it this far since I started AV competition. Not that my demeanor prior to the race would have led the casual observer to believe that I was happy about my current position. I had a face like a slapped arse, only because it was quite cold, windy as hell and I had serious misgivings about my ability to complete 8km of XC, apart from that I was rapt

Though I know that once I get going I’ll get over myself and I did. We almost had a women’s team today but it didn’t happen so it ended up being just me again. The lads delivered me to the start line (maybe my 45 minutes of complaining led them to believe I may abscond) and cheered me off at the start, I also caught up with Jo and Corrie and we all agreed it was going to be a toughie today.

I won’t give a blow by blow, needless to say it was hilly, exposed, windy and challenging, the extra special super fun part was that the uphills had all the headwind and the downhills had the tailwind

Definitely not a goal run for me, just glad to be out there this time and not on the sidelines, I figured I may as well slog out the up hills and make the most of the flat and downhill and write it up as a fartlek session, this saw me finish in 41:07.

Afterwards Jo, Corrie and I did a bit of a cooldown and cheered the guys on, poor buggers had to do 12km today.

I had the weirdest dreams last night, however because there is nothing more tedious than having someone describe their dreams (apart from listening to someone’s poetry, I used to live with someone who was obsessed with both writing down her dreams AND writing poetry AND then reading the stuff out to me, I had to move out, it was either that or smother her in her sleep) I won’t go into it, apart from the fact that it is clear that I have watched too many episodes of Torchwood, Doctor Who (both old and new) and X-Files for my own good.

A so called swim

Today is a rest day so I just popped into the gym for a little swim to finish off the week. Have I mentioned that I can’t actually swim? I can keep my head above water but that is about the sum of it. Thank the water gods for a little thing called a pullbuoy which you shove between the thighs (Hmmmm, maybe I should consider buying my own instead of using the one at the pool) and helps keep you afloat. I floundered away for a while, I didn’t bother counting the laps, mercifully the pool is 25 metres so I could make it to each end without too much bother, needless to say I don’t think I did very many.

After that I had a little dip in the spa, normally I am very anti spa, or as I prefer to call them, bacteria soup, but it is new and I am sure all the chlorine takes care of the nasties AND there was no one else in it. I sat for a while on a bench with hard jets of water on my neck, quite relaxing. Then a guy got in, then he started talking to me (was he cute, who the hell knows, I didn’t have my specs on) and then it felt a bit boom chika wow wow so I was outta there Though admittedly totally innocent and no where near as weird as the time some guy tried to hit on me one time I was deep water running by asking me if I wanted to “have a sauna”, umm, fuck no!

They have a cold plunge pool as well, would be great after a long run and also not so bad after a warm spa, the only thing missing was some birch branches with which to thrash myself.

In all a rather relaxing way to finish what was a bit of a stressful week back at work.

My bloody shoulders will probably be killing me tomorrow, they are not used to having to do any work.

Eeeeep, 8km XC tomorrow, I’ve been injured for this round the last two years so I’ve not run more than 6km XC ever! Not feeling at all confident, probably going to disgrace myself totally, the mens race starts 40 minutes after us and I probably won’t be finished by then