Don't you love this time of year? We are hitting chaotic ... and every year I seem to forget how busy it actually gets. For some silly reason (oh yeah, December babies fitted in with the outdoor shooting season ...) we have three of the kids' birthdays between now and Christmas, not to mention Christmas, end of the school year ... etc etc ...
Soooo Sunday after Saturday's Incline run was a lovely rest day - I got my Christmas Class (Stamping) ready - I have three classes in different places all doing the same class over the next few weeks and then went and watched Cameron play his rep Cricket game - which they lost, badly!
Yesterday (Monday) I ran a short 6.5km and it was hard work, I seem to have got sluggish and lost all speed (if I ever had what you could call "speed"), I'm sure it will pass, but I feel like I've spent months getting no where. Did my delivering and managed to get to the shops to make sure I had Charlotte's birthday gifts organised (yay! only Monday, and I'm feeling organised for her birthday onFriday).
Today, Tuesday, is usually my short run and spin class day - I either struggle and get up earlier to do the run before spin, or do it after spin, which usualy means the whole day seems to disappear quickly. So I tried a new idea today, I ran to the gym, did spin class, then ran home - now, that is a good workout! 5km pretty much exactly to the gym and the same home. Felt pretty good too, I've just been delivering and now just need to hop in the shower, try and get dinner semi ready, pick up the girls from school, get Charlotte organised for her Dance lesson then back to the school for the first of three teacher interviews (I'm on the Board of Trustees as the Personnel person so its time to do the annual new staff interviews - just one place to fill this year, which is an extra teacher as our numbers have gone up - must be a good sign of a good school when the teachers don't leave!), I'll quickly take Charlotte to dance between two of the interviews, once that is done, I'll rush Rhiannon off to her Touch (rugby) game, watch that and then get home for dinner *phew*.
I'm pretty sure I'll have no trouble sleeping tonight!!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Rimutaka Incline
18.4km - 1:45:27 (5:43/km)
Fun run - so no places :)
I love this run, off road - first 11k is up to the summit with a gradual incline the whole way, last 7km is down from 500m to 60m (I think, it is a really steep down!). It follows the old railway course, tracks are long gone, but the tunnels are still there and pretty cool to run through - if not pretty dark and worrying about twisting an ankle!
I even have photos - kind of. My two sisters walked it, they left 2hrs before me with the walkers and chatted, had fun, took photos ... kind of sounds like a better deal than running ;)
I left home at about 8am - a lot more relaxed after David realised on Friday that he wasn't actually working like he thought this weekend, so instead of worrying about kids getting to places on time and having the right people pick them up, and rushing back for other drop offs, I could just relax and enjoy the day off and let him worry about it. Got to the carpark at 9.00, got on one of buses to shuttle us to the start, picked up my number, trip to the toilet, and I was ready to go!
There was a misty rain the whole drive over, and still slightly misty wet when we started - bonus though, the wind was blowing the right way and for a point to point run, wind blowing the right way is a bonus!
Set off - I found I was puffing way too much, my body just didn't really feel in the groove, possibly tired - its been a busy week with a trip to Auckland, meetings, work, tonight will be the first evening I'm home for nearly two weeks or eating crap (although I tried hard not to and wasn't as bad as I could have been) for a few days in Auckland, then really not getting back to the good eating after we got back ... whatever, I felt sluggish. Groin muscle was soreish to start, but not too bad.
5km Drink stop - this is Julie ... just imagine it is two hours later and I'm running up to it! Ha Ha
I wanted to finish the run with a 5:40 pace, I started off pretty much bang on that and kept it there until about the 8th km when the incline gets steeper for the last 3k up to the top, I kept on slogging/jogging and felt pretty slow, but was passing people rather than being passed so I was probably doing fine. Got to the top absolutely stuffed and stopped at the waterstop and took my time having some water and a gel, brought my pace right up to nearly 6:00/km, but I knew the downhill would be lots faster!
Nearly at the summit!
Old remains of the train at the top
Crossed the creek slowly ;), went through a tunnel, again slowly ... finally set off down the hill and picked up speed, had to slow down again for the very stoney steep gully ... and then finally it was all down hill, with a couple of slow tunnels (slow because I didn't want to trip!).
One of the tunnels
Most of the downhill is spent looking down making sure you're not going to trip on any stones, or turn an ankle - but fun!
2.5km to Finish! Really?!
The advertising for this course says 17.5k, I knew it was more like 18k from last year, but even still, I thought I had about 1k to go when I reached the sign that said 2.5k to go! What! I was ready to be finished by then, and that 2.5k felt like a long long way. I ran this is 1:48 last year and thought I would blast that for a PB easily, but was getting a bit nervous that I would be slower. Ended up 3min faster - but really, thinking about it afterwards, I was definitely more sluggish than I would have liked ... probably the first time I've run a race where I just haven't run as well as I can, well, as well as I could on the day, but definitely not where I think my fitness is at.
Here I am, at last!
Nice thing about being the runner, not the walker, is that my sisters were there to cheer me in at the finish - poor things had to wait for an hour because they walk so fast! Julie's partner had nicely offered to come and pick us up at the finish end, so he did the patient wait as well. So, came in, stretched, hopped in the car, went and got some lunch - Les drove us over the hill where Georgie and I picked up our cars and I headed home.
Today my legs feel good - quads from running down that hill? Don't really hurt at all - that Maungatook training I do, plus all the biking must be good for something! Groin muscle is kind of sore, but not too bad considering it was a hard, long run the day before so hopefully it is on the mend.
Rest day today - I'm liking my switch to long run on Saturdays and a total rest/family day on the Sunday :)
Fun run - so no places :)
I love this run, off road - first 11k is up to the summit with a gradual incline the whole way, last 7km is down from 500m to 60m (I think, it is a really steep down!). It follows the old railway course, tracks are long gone, but the tunnels are still there and pretty cool to run through - if not pretty dark and worrying about twisting an ankle!
I even have photos - kind of. My two sisters walked it, they left 2hrs before me with the walkers and chatted, had fun, took photos ... kind of sounds like a better deal than running ;)
I left home at about 8am - a lot more relaxed after David realised on Friday that he wasn't actually working like he thought this weekend, so instead of worrying about kids getting to places on time and having the right people pick them up, and rushing back for other drop offs, I could just relax and enjoy the day off and let him worry about it. Got to the carpark at 9.00, got on one of buses to shuttle us to the start, picked up my number, trip to the toilet, and I was ready to go!
There was a misty rain the whole drive over, and still slightly misty wet when we started - bonus though, the wind was blowing the right way and for a point to point run, wind blowing the right way is a bonus!
Set off - I found I was puffing way too much, my body just didn't really feel in the groove, possibly tired - its been a busy week with a trip to Auckland, meetings, work, tonight will be the first evening I'm home for nearly two weeks or eating crap (although I tried hard not to and wasn't as bad as I could have been) for a few days in Auckland, then really not getting back to the good eating after we got back ... whatever, I felt sluggish. Groin muscle was soreish to start, but not too bad.
5km Drink stop - this is Julie ... just imagine it is two hours later and I'm running up to it! Ha Ha
I wanted to finish the run with a 5:40 pace, I started off pretty much bang on that and kept it there until about the 8th km when the incline gets steeper for the last 3k up to the top, I kept on slogging/jogging and felt pretty slow, but was passing people rather than being passed so I was probably doing fine. Got to the top absolutely stuffed and stopped at the waterstop and took my time having some water and a gel, brought my pace right up to nearly 6:00/km, but I knew the downhill would be lots faster!
Nearly at the summit!
Old remains of the train at the top
Crossed the creek slowly ;), went through a tunnel, again slowly ... finally set off down the hill and picked up speed, had to slow down again for the very stoney steep gully ... and then finally it was all down hill, with a couple of slow tunnels (slow because I didn't want to trip!).
One of the tunnels
Most of the downhill is spent looking down making sure you're not going to trip on any stones, or turn an ankle - but fun!
2.5km to Finish! Really?!
The advertising for this course says 17.5k, I knew it was more like 18k from last year, but even still, I thought I had about 1k to go when I reached the sign that said 2.5k to go! What! I was ready to be finished by then, and that 2.5k felt like a long long way. I ran this is 1:48 last year and thought I would blast that for a PB easily, but was getting a bit nervous that I would be slower. Ended up 3min faster - but really, thinking about it afterwards, I was definitely more sluggish than I would have liked ... probably the first time I've run a race where I just haven't run as well as I can, well, as well as I could on the day, but definitely not where I think my fitness is at.
Here I am, at last!
Nice thing about being the runner, not the walker, is that my sisters were there to cheer me in at the finish - poor things had to wait for an hour because they walk so fast! Julie's partner had nicely offered to come and pick us up at the finish end, so he did the patient wait as well. So, came in, stretched, hopped in the car, went and got some lunch - Les drove us over the hill where Georgie and I picked up our cars and I headed home.
Today my legs feel good - quads from running down that hill? Don't really hurt at all - that Maungatook training I do, plus all the biking must be good for something! Groin muscle is kind of sore, but not too bad considering it was a hard, long run the day before so hopefully it is on the mend.
Rest day today - I'm liking my switch to long run on Saturdays and a total rest/family day on the Sunday :)
Friday, November 12, 2010
Is it still Thursday?
Actually, here, it definitely isn't - it is Friday afternoon! But I can still pretend and do Three Things Thursday can't I?
- It's been a long time since I wrote anything here - no reason really, I just didn't get around to it, and the longer you leave it, the worse the mojo gets ... so it's been a while.
- I planned my training for London 2011 today, for the upteenth time ;) But I think this is definitely what I'm going with. I had dreams of speed work, hill work, all the serious stuff I read about and admire and will make me a faster runner. I've discovered everytime I push it to hard something gives. I recovered from the hamstring injury well - no twinges or pain at all anymore. But now my groin is sore. I've decided I need to just concentrate on getting the distances in and building that endurance, the speed will come when the last 5kg finally comes off and with the training. With that in mind, I'm going with my original plan of doing Hal Higdon Intermediate II programme, I followed Intermediate I for my first marathon and it worked well so there is no reason to change what isn't broken - except to make it a bit harder.
- I have about a month until the Wanganui Half Marathon, I've tried to train hard for it, and am definitely building a good base. Not sure I will be as fast as I want, in fact I know I won't, but I'm still hoping for a goodish half marathon and then marathon training will start straight after, I'm excited, and nervous.
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