It's good.

Another great run tonight!!  Yay!

It started to rain really hard and I thought, bloody brilliant, perfect running weather for me!  A trifecta of rainy runs!

Decided  not to do the flat river run because I've done that two nights in a row, but the little hilly loop locally.  I added another bit to it to make it 8km and again, I really enjoyed it!

My tummy muscles are sore in that really nice way you get after a good abs session - I had my regular PT session on Monday night before my run.  I am REALLY enjoying his sessions and quite frankly, they are not long enough.  I don't struggle with the strength aspect of the movements, but I do struggle terribly with the co-ordination.  Like patting your tummy and rubbing your head.  And both my physio and this PT have said that my brain is almost "set" to expect certain things, they call it neurological pathways, and he proved this to me this week.  Every time I do a squat he says "go lower" and I try but can't seem to.   I just accepted that I was inflexible in this regard.

So this week, he tells me to get lower and every week I think I CAN'T!!!  Then he says mid squat 'BEND YOUR KNEES" instead of "GET LOWER"  and guess what?  I got lower!  I got right into that squat.  90 degrees.  Him telling me to drop my ass wasn't sending the right message to my oddly wired up brain.  However, telling me to bend my knees worked.  I was quite interested in this.

So......I wonder.......is there something my brain is doing with my running that I could fix as easily???

I recall when I first started doing spin classes, I came out of there totally trashed, with thighs burning like I have never experienced.  I got talking to another, more experienced girl and she told me to take the load in my arse.  (Those were her words).  To this very day I have tried when I am either running or riding to transfer the load to where I have the biggest muscle.  I am not sure if I am doing it right.  And then again, when I am running, and I am thinking about running, it puts me off.  When I am thinking about how great a particular song is, or the construction of the string section in a song, or the clever way the guitars sound like a person wailing, or hang on, maybe that is a person wailing, well then I find myself motoring along fine thank you. 

So I think I have to stop overthinking every single little thing, and wondering if I am doing it right.  Lets face it, when you stand at the finishing chute of any marathon there are so many different styles of running, just like there are people who wouldn't even consider turning up to a race with lipstick or mascara.  Which leads me to wonder, will I be the only entrant in the North Face to be sporting fake hair, lippy and foundation?  And I wonder if it will be too cold for my groovy swirly running skirt?

On Friday I did something really naughty and phoned in sick to work when there was absolutely nothing wrong with me, so that I could spend the day running. 

Friday was beautiful weather so I thought I take myself into the National Park and do that 28 km run up to Woodford that I was talking about.

I was a bit nervous, being in the bush on my own, and I will admit to hiding behind a tree when a car came along at one stage, and being well and truly sprung by the surprised driver. 

Anyway, it was ok until about the 20km mark then it got REALLY hot and I got a bit scared about being in the middle of nowhere on my own in the heat and I think I started to panic a bit, but because I just wanted to get it over with, I ran as much as I could but to be honest it was rather an ugly run and one I won't be doing again in a hurry, especially not at midday in the sun on my own. 

Anyway, I've done that run this week plus done the Boorea Street / Mt Riverview run three times as well as the River Run.  So I've done about 55km this week and my legs feel fine (they are tired but not injured), I am just really really hungry!!!

Don't eat the peas

It is now about 6 weeks away (or four long runs away) from North Face and am I feeling any more prepared?  NOOOOOOO!!!

Last night my friend Marie came to visit and described how she was coming to the finish line, with a picnic table, a range of cheeses (blue vein and camembert), a selection of wines and a variety of in season stonefruit.  Maries' husband was the chef at Lilianfels and Marie herself likes nothing better than menu planning and talking about menu planning.  I didn't have the heart to tell her I will probably be sniffing around for some dry bread and large quantities of water.  It will be cool to have some friends at the finish line and I suspect the shame of letting them and myself down will be a motivator in getting my sorry arse along the course.

Speaking of last night, I got home to find my better half had prepared dinner for our guests and was already stuck into the sauvignon blanc and I didn't have the heart to say that the peas he had used in the curry were the same peas that were in the freezer and acted as an ice pack for my dicky ankle for most of the summer, being defrosted and refrozen more times than I can recall.  I seem to remember reading somewhere that curry sort of preserves food....

Anyway, training this last few weeks has been going ok:

Monday 5km run - blisters not very happy, it was hot and I felt unfit and yuck.

Tuesday 12km run home - using the term "run" loosely as still suffering from blisters etc - felt decidedly like a loser with my camelbak, garmin only to be seen WALKING.  All the gear and no idea kept going over and over in my head.

Wed 25km on the bike

Thurs - 5 ugly kms round the lake - hard.  I hate running around that lake.  It is soooo boring and flat and hard!!

Friday - NOTHING!

Saturday - 10km incorporating the stairs up to Elizabeth Lookout - good run, enjoyed this.  Experimented with "draining" my legs of lactic acid by lying on the ground with my feet up in the air.  Remarkably this worked wonderfully and was able to run all the hills home - I wonder if I can employ this tactic at the top of the Golden Staircase in the actual race.....

Sunday - SMC 10km (crap time but felt nice.  Really enjoyed this run )

Monday - Personal Training session with Sven / Darrren and a 9kg kettle bell followed by the River Run - ouch in the legs!   No really, OUCH!  Tried lying on a picnic table with legs in the air to drain legs again.  I will admit that I thought about Sundays run lots on Monday and really couldn't wait to get out there and run again on Monday night.  I LOVE that feeling and it has been missing for quite some time.

Tuesday - 6.5km local run featuring upwards up Boorea Street - legs v tired after last night but kept going out of pride mainly, certainly not fitness.

Today I plan to have a nanna nap right now, having declared the working day over due to lack of interest and later I will either do the Boorea Street run again or the river run.  On Saturday I am going to run from Glenbrook up the Oaks Trail.  Not sure if I will go all the way to Woodford and get the train home (hard going) or will go 14km up and 14km down (easier option but no need for trains etc).  I will commit to 28 km anyway.  There - said it, have to do it.  Yikes!

Song of the Day Mark 2

Dirty Window by Metallica.  Absolutely fantastic when running and you feel tired and weary.  Like I did the other night running home up the big hill.  Didn't help that a lolipop stick from about three months ago got stuck in my camelbak bladder and made sucking a useless exercise - so run home in hot weather + no water + blisters + already trashed legs = long hard journey.

So yesterday I brought the trusty bike to work and did 2 laps of the lake at lunchtime (it was all I had time for) then bike school and sprints and more laps of the lake last night.  Feeling very tired in the quads but otherwise great and I have lost 2 kilos!  Lets hope they stay lost!

About to go for a run around the lake today and thinking perhaps another shortish run tonight.  Tomorrow I won't be able to do much as we have busy busy day in the morning then KAYAK POLO in the arvo.  So I must remember to work on my stabbing action with an oar - I have a feeling it will degenerate into a competition to see who can push who out of their kayak.  All good clean fun for a Friday afternoon.

Song of the Day

"Animals" by Sparkadia. 

Thought for the day:  "Fark - I have to run home up that massive big hill".

And - "ouch my thighs hurt from jumping up and down off a box".

That is all.

Soft baby skin on my foot

Before I get to my foot, I have a gripe.  It is a general gripe, aimed at people who think that BANJO music is hip.  It isn't.  So Mr Mumford and your Offspring, GET OFF MY HOTTEST 100 CD.  John Butler Trio?  Go swing your dreadlocks in someone elses ear.  I just noticed today that banjo music is everywhere. On lots of songs.  And it is WRONG.
 

Anyway, back to music, now that I'm on the subject.  How freaking good is Muses "Unnatural Selection" to do intervals to?  How good I ask you?  Bloody brilliant, that's how good.  I made another new playlist this weekend, boy do I have some great music on there.  Who remembers "The Ace of Spades" by Motorhead?  "Children of the Grave" by Black Sabbath?  "The Number of the Beast" by Iron Maiden?  "Counter Culture" by British India? 

So anyway, back to my foot.  

Last week you may recall photo of gross blister.  Well it is all healed up now and I have special baby skin there that I am taking very special care of now.  But I can run again - yahoo!  And - even better, motivation appears to have returned!  

I think watching the finish of the Six Foot Track at the weekend helped to get the old running juices flowing, although I must admit, by the time I got down that scary windy road I was ready for a very stiff brandy.  And coming up it with a car full of guys talking about penises wasn't all that helpful either.  Anyway, the good thing is, motivation is back.  The bad thing is, my two friends doing the run each had a bad day in their own way.  So instead of the ecstatic high fiving that I was expecting, it was a matter of me trying to say as little as possible, as I never seem to be able to say the right thing in these situations. 

So - Sunday I took off for a local run just around the streets, and this morning I got up at sparrow fart and ran around the streets again, then tonight I went to my personal trainer, who I would like to be called Sven and be very handsome, but the truth is he is a 'ranger and his name is Darren and he probably comes from Shalvey because he talks with that annoying inflection at the end that makes every sentence sound like a question. 

Anyway, he is allright in the personal training stakes, I told him I don't want any mucking around, just core exercises AND NO BLOODY SIT UPS.  So tonight he had me jumping up onto a large box for about ten minutes (good for explosive leg strength apparently), lunging with my eyes closed, standing on a bosu ball with my eyes closed and lunging to the side with weights (thankfully with my eyes open this time).  I was quite sweaty at the end.  Then I jumped on the tready (that's an endurance sport in itself, just staying on it for longer than five minutes, how BORING) and did 35 mins of hills and fast intervals.  My eyemakeup was on my chin when I finished but it was actually allright once the Black Sabbath and Muse kicked in on the iPlod.

 

Bernie reminded me that it is only 8 weeks till the North Face.  By now I should have been training my little sneakers off, but with one thing and another, here I am having to ramp it up now.  7 weeks if you count taper.  Goodbye the rest of my life, hello training. 

Do you ever notice that all runners go on about is either injuries when they or down or PB's when they're up? 

Well there aren't too many PB's in this blog, but I have plenty to talk about on the injury front!

Last week I was rather despondent, not quite sure what to be at, with being left child-free since the departure of our beloved offspring to Party Central in Bathurst.  You'd have thought with all that free time on my hands I'd be smashing it up, but for some reason I didn't know what to be at.

By the weekend, and with him safely home, motivation returned!!  Bizarre!!

Mitchells Pass has been closed to cars, so I thought I would treat myself to a run down there and back up the stairs to Elizabeth Lookout. Fitness is still there, in fact, dare I say, the stairs were not as challenging as they once were?  Maybe those intervals on the bike have been useful after all.  Did a nice hour and half run and felt good.

Sunday I went out with Bernie and Blue Dog to part of the North Face course.  The combination of the wet weather and my already blistered feet from the orthotics wasn't great and I had to ask them to walk the last few kms.  However the last few kms included the Golden Staircase which was good to experience (lots of huffing and puffing by me) and I saw my first ever leech.  Well actually hundreds of the little suckers, the ground was teeming with them.

I felt so good at having seen some of the course and was starting to feel really positive again about NF until I got home, had a shower and realised I had no skin at all on the spot where I had the blister. 

Cue gross picture of blister.

This kept me very quiet for a few days, but went to see Nice Physio Man again (who by now must be sick to the back teeth of me) - he put some "Opsite" on it, and 8hrs later, it is feeling really good. 

Yesterday putting my weight down flat on my foot would have meant it cracking (the very thought of this grosses me out) - but the Opsite keeps it moist so that I am not getting that cracking skin.  Bargain!!

So am back to feeling like a happy camper.  Will be biking and pumping for a good few days till this heals, but feeling positive, looking forward to getting out on some nice trail runs over the next few weeks and months, ankles are feeling good!  Going to head up to watch the finish of Six Foot at the weekend (just to see what really smashed up looks like!!) I am looking forward to see some of my favourite people finish their race, hopefully with lots of PBs and smiles and of course BEER!

Farrk!!! 2 months till the North Face! Farrrkkkkkkkk!!!

Sweet Mother of Jesus, it is March already.   

That's about two months of training till the North Face.  Farrrrk!  

So - when did this realisation suddenly hit? 

Well, last Tuesday we took Curtis out to Bathurst to see the Uni campus and find out all the guff you need to find out when your only child is leaving the nest and attending Uni 200km away.  (That distance might not actually be accurate, but it is a two hour drive, so feels like 200km).

We were sitting chatting with the Head of Computer Studies and he mentioned that Curtis would need to be there at 9am next Monday.  "Next Monday?" I thought into myself, but didn't like to say anything.  Where the fark had February gone?  I was busy telling people he was going to Uni in three weeks.  It was more like four days!!   

Anyway, the world just keeps turning and the days keep ticking over and I do enjoy every day and relish all the good things like my family and my dog and the sunshine and vodka, but god almighty, could it just slow it down a tad????

So here I am with just over two months of training left before North Face and I am feeling terribly under prepared. 

Last week was my first week back running, and I managed a staggering 22km over four runs.  By Friday I had an enormous blister from my new orthotics, in fact on Friday night it woke me up several times to remind me of its existence.

Anyway, as luck would have it, the bike shop rang me on Friday afternoon and said they were doing a bunch ride from the shop at 7am - so I said I would be there.   I asked them to change my pedals and they said they would.  Back to baby pedals, but hey, it is far better to be out riding and doing something than stressing over it and ignoring the bike (which is what I had been doing for a while).

The plan was a 30km ride before their shop opened.  In the first 500m I got a puncture!!  So we had to stop and the kind guy from the shop changed my tube or whatever you do when you have a puncture.  Yes, I know, I have to learn this.  Later. 

So we got to ride together, which was great because he was a really experienced rider and I got hints and tips along the way and in return I dazzled him with my sparkling conversation and witty repartee.  Hmmm.....!!

Anyway, my first reaction to a Very Large Roundabout was "fang it" but I learnt that if you have been motoring along at a particular speed, you will freak out drivers if you suddenly speed up.  He also advised making eye contact with drivers so they don't run you over.  Well, those weren't his EXACT words... 

Anyway, the ride was utterly gorgeous and very very enjoyable.  Brilliant weather, great views (we went up along Castlereagh Road to Agnes Banks, very very pretty, with the Blue Mountains in the background, and our gorgeous lakes along to the left).  

Came home LOVING my bike all over again. 

Sunday morning, John was going to soccer training, so I decided to go with him, take my bike down to the river and do three or four laps, about 20km.  Again, another beautiful ride, although trying to judge speeding up enough to get up the ramp ended in disaster when I rode directly into a fence.  This was good, because it doesn't do to be too cocky on a bike.  

Anyway, after we'd finished, we decided to have coffee in Glenbrook, and after that, all buoyed up from a brilliant ride, I said I would ride home. 

Hehehehe.....welcome to REAL riding - mountains style.  Getting up the "hill" which is really a gentle incline from the coffee shop to the swimming pool had me panting like an overweight labrador, but I was too stubborn to get off, and too worried I might get run over.  Across the bridge and meandered through various streets until the realisation hit me.  Allen Street.  Big Hill.  One I struggle to run up.  Remembered how the bike shop guy helped me get my bike in a really low gear, pedalled like crazy, out of the seat, got to the crest AND TURNED TO JELLY!!!  Was totally scundered because I had to get off and PUSH the bike up the remainder of the hill.  Everything was wobbling.  I was furtively looking around HOPING that I wouldn't come across anyone I knew.  All this bike riding on flat terrain has been lovely, but those hills are TOTALLY BRILLIANT to get the heart pumping.  It is something I am not really capable of when I run, I just cannot go fast enough.  When you are on a bike it is not as easy to stop, get off and walk,  and there is that pride thing too, it's not like you can just pretend you are out for a walk - like, who WALKS a road bike for exercise???  So, it really wouldn't be bad training for me to just do that hill a couple of times a week.  

Today my blister is healing nicely, so I did a pump class and went for a 5km run.  I added in a little hill.  It wasn't pretty.  And mentally I am calculating my "time left" for North Face.  But, as always, have faith, keep up the training, increase gradually, get used to the orthotics and throw in some hill repeats on the bike!!!   No matter what, I am going to have fun over the next two months, life has been speeding by....I need to remind myself every day AM I HAVING FUN????