Catching Up ... Again!

I think I last posted Thursday? ... okay ...

Friday - Rest Day - Physio Appointment

Off I went Friday morning to the physio, the really nice thing about him is after going through my history, what I'm up to etc, he told me has run the London Marathon twice - yay - it's always nice to talk to someone, especially one working with your muscles and body, that knows what you're talking about, and doesn't think you are totally nuts LOL. Of course, on Friday the pain wasn't so bad, thats pretty typical. After going through lots of exercises and talking about it, the most important thing he said is that movement, including the running, seems to be good for it - it is probably the sitting at work that is actually causing more problems, and the fact that I am a terrible terrible sloucher, with a noticeably curved spine to show for it - the pain isn't there, but its all part of it. He has given me some exercises, instructions to make sure I get up every 30min from my computer at work and do a couple of stretches, and I'll see him again this week to see how it is all going.

And how is it going? Well, Friday and Saturday it was pretty good, Sunday morning I took a painkiller/anti-flammatory before my 10k race, ran hard (more on that later), and felt it Monday. After Tuesday's (yesterday) slower run, it felt loosened up and pretty good - so I think it is improving - yay!

Right on to the running since Thursday ...

Saturday - 5km - 30:01

Good run - 5km feels so comfortable now ... I can remember when I first got to 5k and pretty much straightaway started training towards 10k and thinking holy moly how will ever get to 10k, 5k is SO hard ... I've come a long way!

Sunday - 10km Race - (ready for it ...) - 59:28 Yay!!!

Yep - I did it, a sub-60 10km! But boy, I worked for it. I had my Nike+ all hooked up to my ipod so I could check my pace as I went around. Hmmm back to the beginning, the race started at 9.30 - I usually run at about 7.00 ... so late for me. There were a few women from work and a couple of mothers from school running it as well, we all lined up together and when we started I took off ahead of them, and did think, oh no I hope I'm not going to fast and then they'll all pass me further on and have a good laugh!

It was HOT, well actually, probably not really really hot, but we're moving into spring/summer and it was a lovely spring, sunny day, later than I normally run, and it sure felt lots hotter than normal. When I run 10k I don't generally stop for drinks or anything. I got to 5km, checked my time - it was pretty bang on 30min, I tried to up my pace slightly - passed the drink station, then a couple of km's down the road thought I should have had a drink, I was hot, working harder than normal and really feeling it - but not wanting to give up!

I slogged out the last few k's, knew I was pretty close to 60min and managed to speed up for the last couple of 100m's ... and got there, just under the 60min - woooohooooo! My two girls were at the end to cheer me in, which was really nice. I had to bring them with me (David works every second weekend) and was a bit worried about them faring for themselves around the race headquarters, luckily one of the woman from work had her two kids and husband there so he very nicely kept an eye on them for me - so it all worked out fine :)

... and I did stay ahead of all of them! Something I did notice this time is the runners I am with seem faster to me now, I've definitely sped up and I feel like I'm running with the "runners" rather than the, well, the ones like me - not sure how to put it - its just different.

Monday - Rest Day

... and I needed it, my back was sore again, my legs were stiff ... boy I worked it on Sunday!

Tuesday - 10km - 1:05:10

Much slower than Sunday! My body was still really stiff and not very co-operative when I started, it loosened up and starting feeling good at about 3km, I took it easy though. This is my biggest week in the half marathon training - so I won't be out to break any records, just jogging through it :)

The nice thing is that after the run, my back felt SO much better, that gentle jog seemed to loosen everything up just nicely.

Wednesday - 11.3km - 1:11:26

Another slow slog ... I'm still feeling stiff, but slowly getting there. It seemed to take a long time this morning - I'm looking forward to a sleep in and day off tomorrow!

Friday is another 10km, then Saturday 18km (big gulp). We're going away for a few days on Saturday so I'm going to have to run my 18km and then sit and drive for about 4-5hrs, not sure that is going to be great for the 'ole body ... but you do what you have to do, right?

I haven't really said a lot about what I do in my "spare" (ha ha ha) time ... but one of my little part-time jobs is helping my Dad with a delivery job. So often when I've run in the morning, I also spend about 2-3hrs on my bike! So, like tomorrow is a rest day, I know I've got a big delivery day - probably more like four hours. I'm not sure that it is great for the training, I try to take it easy and its not big heart racing stuff as I'm obviously stopping at letterboxes as I go - but it is all physical. For now it seems to be fine, but I'm hoping it still is in a few months when I start full on marathon training - hopefully it is loosening and keeping the muscles moving which is a good thing!