over before it began

i decided today to just do my 10k slow and easy and not got to sweat for 300m reps. yeah - good in theory. I got to about 1k and felt alright, at 2k after a monster downhill i felt pretty puffed and would have put my pace around 6.20 - looked at my watch and i was doing 7.30s. still that was ok - i knew i was a bit washed out so just wanted to get through it.

the at around 2.5k i started feeling a bit light headed and dizzy. this is no good i thought so i started walking for a bit. walked a bit and thought - maybe i just need to push through it... and so i ran a hundred metres or so then had to sit down cause i thought i might fall over. bloody hell. ended up walking home via sweat training for 6k all up. I had a quick chat to Sean but he didn't have much to say and lost attention v quickly :)

anyway so that is all crap. i probably was being a bit optimistic that things would be better after one day on the little red iron pills. but maybe its all in my head and I should have pushed through. i dunno.

ah well. what is done is done. i did give it a shot. should have stayed in bed though...

Definitely NOT an iron woman

went back to the doctor who wanted to discuss my blood test results this morning and then verdict was apparently very clear - very very low iron levels. On the plus side this explains the lethargy and tiredness and can be easily remedied with iron supplements (1 per day for a week and if it is ok I have to go up to 2 a day after that, another blood test in 6 weeks). So combined with my increase in protein i should be raring to go. Its quite a relief actually to know that there is a reason for my steady decline in energy levels. Just popped my first pill...

Sydney 20-10 challenge...

Well what a Sunday! Will and I caught the train up to Crows Nest for the start of what I am sure will be the annually occuring 20-10 race over a 20k course with 10 pub stops. There were 3 girls there so I was a shoe in for a podium finish ;) but given that i cut out 2 pubs (mostly for the running not so much the drinking although drinking with beer in my stomach was a whole new experience is icky...).

I ran with Gefjam and Amjan for most of it and was very grateful for them slowing down to keep me company.

Was a fun day all up although next year with iron levels intact and more training under the belt I won't be taking shortcuts! (that is my excuse anyways :)

Catching up with everyone post event was hilarious. Because I was (relatively) sober I really noticed that really drunk people get really repetitive... But that was ok - they'd had a big day! was great to catch up with everyone and get to know a few new coolrunners too.

anyway - work calls...

EDIT - also - I had a number (ok 2...) people telling me yesterday that I was doing too much and should cut back my training. A valid point (despite the fact that they were sh*tfaced) for sure but I am going to keep going on the following basis: my thurs night session is just an optional one and I might actually make it a jog rather than a squad session... Sat afternoon swim squad is also optional and I am only going to do it if I feel like it. Plus everything should be heaps better when I get my iron back to a good level so all is a-ok. I know its just cause you care guys ;) thank you!

the good stuff

today was my first ride/run with the bondifit mob. i was pretty anxious/nervy about it - particularly now that I had the heads up that 'beginners' meant no such thing. it just meant you might have only done 2 ironmans and a bazillion shorter ones... true to form the starters were all pretty advanced relative to me and so we were told what to do and everyone took off and i was standing there going 'wot? i can barely even clip in... what's a hill lap...???'

when everyone took off and i was still there like an idiot they realised i might need some attention. so we started in a very scary way (for me) by making me ride around a very small circle while clipping in and out. it was scary!! but i didn't fall off and it did give me a bit more confidence.

so for the next lap i joined in. We were doing a hill lap (about 2.5k i guess including a strong uphill and some scary fast downhills) followed by 500m lap running. Then repeat ad nauseum :) a major part of this was practising transitions so getting your cycling shoes on and running your bike about 150m on grass before you jump on. Some people did it with the shoes already clipped in, but i reckon that'll take me a while....

the hills killed me. my quads burned. the downhills scared me. the only bit i loved was a flat stretch at the bottom of the hills where i could finally ride hard and go fast cause i still had momentum! then it was off the bike, run it back down to transition, change shoes and run. my first three times my legs were cactus!! on my last one i felt better (perhaps cause i had missed one out...:) and i actually overtook someone!!! ace! (ok so they were on their 6th or 7th rep and it was my 4th... but i'll take it!!!

i wasn't sure i'd do any more after 3 but decided to rest one and then go one more. and it was a great thing that i did because it turned out i was in the big ring still the whole time despite thinking i was in the small ring, so we changed that. he also discovered that my back tyre was at about half the pressure it should be... so we pumped that up and on my bike shopping list is a big pump that can tell me how much is in it etc. It was much easier the next lap - although i still struggled up the hills. next on the to do list is be comfortable to get out of the saddle and also to feel confident to indicate where i'm going....

anyway - so all up i didn't do that much but it was at pretty high intensity and i feel good for having got out there and given it a shot. and it gets less scary. talk about getting out of my bloody comfort zone... :)

EDIT - was supposed to go to swim squad this afternoon but decided not to (when i got into bed to read a book and suddenly it was 3pm.... so instead i went for a quick 4k. very pleasant indeed - but hows the wind today??? 4k, avg pace 5.49. noice.

swimming again

5.45 start at a pool in a gym in alexandria. I didn't really enjoy this mornings session. There was a different coach there to usual and she didn't know me at all and didn't really seem all that interested in the beginners (there were 3 of us - but the other 2 were quite a bit ahead of me). So i had no idea what the drills were, she didn't say whether or not to use flippers or a pull bouy so it didn't feel like i got that much out of it. still good to be in the pool though getting in the laps!

i can never quite remember but it was something like this:

6 x 50's - straight arm

4 x 50's (25 back, 25 fs)
4 x 50 fs
4 x 50's (25 fs, 25 breastroke)
4 x 50 fs

then i get a bit murky in the memory banks...

think it was a mixture of one arm drills scooping, and then breathing ones, ended with crocodile something or other but i got out to get home in time.

bit average and now i smell like chlorine!

swimming and cycling (and some socialising in the middle :)

Wednesday PM: Swim Squad

A pretty good session that I warmed into although I thought at first that it was going to be really rough. turns out with swimming that i pick up after about 500m. Or relax or something. The session looked like this:
-100m warm up
- 6 x 50 free then 2 x 50 kick only
- repeat
- the main set: 10 x 150's - building (50 easy, 50 med, 50 hard).
- cool down 200m

out of that I missed 2 x 50 in the first set and then in the main set I only got up to 8 x 150. So all up 2200m for me. All with flippers. Got some interesting feedback - I roll too much in the water and need to twist in the shoulders not all down through my hips (which is the opposite to what the book said but hey - these guys are the pros!)

Thursday AM: Ride with bondifit squad

Found out yesterday that as of next week this will be a girls only session. Is aimed at beginners but 5 people showed up (1 boy.. seems rough that his session gets cut!) and i was far and away the most beginner-y. (3rd time with clip in shoes!!).

So they were doing 3 laps warm up and then hill things. I was told just to ride. All up I did 22.5 or so k's in nearly an hour. It was hard. I don't understand the gears and i think i am doing it wrong. but maybe its also just hard for me. :)

Other stuff...

I have decided that Thursday evening track (not with sweat, with the other mob) is going to be an optional 'see how i go' session. i find the 2 x a day thing quite hard. I want to do it, but yesterday after swimming i walked to the rocks to join the crew (jen, owly, blkbox, beki, dj and portrunr - guest of honour!) for dinner and i was a bit zombie-esque. sorry if i wasn't being particularly witty and entertaining (more like a grouchy cow) - i was tired. still am! but i am feeling better about everything. i'll get there - one day!

have also been eating really well for 2 whole days now so i feel good about that too.

EDIT - just spoke with the doctors surgery about my blood test. apparently i have to go in and talk to the doctor about it :( i managed to drag out of the receptionist that she wants to talk about my cholesterol (apparently high - which shits me because i just had a 'heart health check' which said it was fine!!! but not all that surprising as lots of my family have high cholesterol despite being very healthy/active hmmm), also wants to talk about my iron levels being (and i quote) 'unusual' (what the???) and also about my protein. hmm. made an appointment monday... but don't realllllly want to go.....

EDIT EDIT - have decided against track session this week. i am actually feeling ok - but realised that i lost my goggles and have swimming tomorrow AM so will have to replace them!! darn... looks like a trip to rebel is on the cards :) need some new shoes also actually... hmmm... better start warming the credit card up now.

half arsed but happy with that :)

i had 90 mins on the program and 13k. started out feeling rubbish and felt thirsty and dehydrated. i probably wasn't - but felt it. it wasn't till 5k that i started to relax and feel good - and it was such a relief. problem is - that is precisely when i started to feel the burning on the inside of my arches that is a surefire sign of a blister forming.

so rather than get a big nasty one i stopped at 8k and called it a day. i am going to swimming training after work anyway so its not like i won't be getting enough exercise!

i am not sure why the blister - if i get blisters its always there. i think my shoes were still wet from the grass at the park yesterday, bad socks, and cause i was tired i might have been pronating more than usual? on the plus side i think they will just be little blisters, no running till saturday too so should heal a-ok.

8k - avg pace 6.28 - 52.27 mins.

what you see isn't always what you get

with me either - apparently i have the ability to look like i am fine whereas I am screaming on the inside - "make this torture stop now!!!"

yeah so anyway i was back to training today. Sweat - Sean had programmed me for 6 x 600m reps. planned to take it a little easy, but it ended up being extremely hard. I guess that was inevitable. and I suspect I am not quite back to my best. I am seriously hating this constant backsliding though!!!

Rob told me that I looked ok (thanks rob!) but i was seriously hating every second of it. it hurt and i was getting so angry with myself for being so slow and unfit and not seeming to be able to improve any more. All completely counter productive thoughts for running well but there you have it. and just to top it off, me and alex were the only ones to have 6 reps - everyone else had 3,4 or 5.

afterwards i just sat down (not for long because sean was bugging me to cool down and run a few k - i did about 700m...) and felt rubbish. but i feel pretty good now for having got out there and done it. it wasn't pretty - but it is my first hard session back and i bloody did it. hmph. :)

splits were - 2.51, 3.00, 3.03, 3.02, 3.02, 3.06
7k all up

choices

Well i am still clinging to a few shards of motivation (if not fitness...) so this week I am back into it. The doctor wants me to get a blood test this week so I'll do that, but she was fairly convinced that I was just a bit run down and that made me susceptible to something or other. So I stopped at the right time (phew - did something right!)...

Anyway - back to the full training schedule this week but at 80% according the tri fellas. (I feel like 80% might be 100% now though... but we'll see...)

The way the training is going to unfold for a while looks like this:
- Mon - rest (yay!)
- Tues - Sweat - track session
- Wed morning - mid week long run, Wed evening - swim squad
- Thurs morning - ride with the bondifit squad (beginners one), Thursday evening - track session with bondifit squad
- Fri morning - swim squad (stroke correction)
- Sat morning - ride/run/ride/run session with the squad, Sat afternoon - swim squad (stroke correction)
- Sun - Long run

So that is a lot - but I am pretty committed to doing this so we shall see. I'm going to try and be a bit moderate about it because I have a habit of giving myself a hard time for not doing things as well as I want to - and this probably needs a bit of time to settle into.

I have thought a lot this last week about choices. I am thinking about choices I've made and why and where they take me. Also about choices that I want or need to make at the moment. In some areas of my life I make choices and do hard things that put me outside my comfort zone and that I am proud of. But in other areas I am clueless and I make choices that make no sense and don't do me any favours. I know that everything probably adds to a greater sense of who i am but sometimes I would like my choose-your-own-adventure book to have notes telling me which choice will take me to the good ending and not the crap one that you have to backtrack from and start again :)

but wanting to be fit and healthy is a good choice :) so I will focus on that!!!

a week off

after a night tossing and turning and waking up feeling better but still a bit shit i have decided to take the rest of the week off. i thought i'd just see how i went but then i got on the bus and had to stand up and my heart rate was right up and i was so grateful when someone got off and i got to sit down.

that isn't normal for me! so the week it is. this will be my first protracted break since i started running in feb and i feel a bit icky about it. the worry is that really i am just being pathetic and i should toughen up, or that i will lose all my fitness and put on 10kg and lose all my motivation for everything and never run again.

i'm going to go to the doctor - because i have seriously never felt like this before (hehe that sounds like a line out of a love song... if only!) and take it easy and eat lots of vegies. lots of sleep too would be in order i think.

so there you have it - hope i'm not just being a drama queen :)

no running, no nuthin

sick of not getting better so today i'm doing nothing and intend to spend as much time as possible in bed. the sore throat doesn't seem to be getting better and i also woke up today with a massive swollen eye. what is that about? i think i'm falling apart...

Fitzroy Falls 10k

Well what a lovely - albeit exhausting and (again???) humbling one.

Friday night Jen, the Owl and I met up for a road trip down to Kangaroo Valley to the guesthouse we were staying at so that we didn't have to have a stupidly early start for the race on Saturday. The photos above are the view from our balcony - it was gorgeous! Having never been down that way I loved it. Not to mention the company - it was hard to wrench ourselves away from the view to actually go and run - particularly as even at 6.30 we could feel the heat kicking in.

We got there early enough to watch the marathoners take off and then we finished registering for our runs (Owly got a special recall because her nmber was a double up and so she was specifically allocated this one...




we finally took off and I felt stuffed immediately. i stopped for a few minutes when a little fella stacked it - he seemed pretty upset but once i knew he was in safe hands i kept going. he did too and whooped my ass. ungrateful little bugger. :) I seriously struggled the entire run. It was hot, hilly and i just had nothing to give. I feel like recently my ability to push and find some more energy inside has completely disappeared and sure enough it wasn't there again. I really noticed how crap I am at downhills - everyone would overtake me on the downs and I would catch up and/or overtake on the uphills where i would usually keep running about 25% longer than them and then I would walk too and then we'd start running again hit a downhill and the pattern would repeat...

i am really hoping that this slump i've been having is because i'm tired, adding other training, a bit sick still etc etc and not because i have just suddenly lost it and am never going to improve again and in fact will continue to get slower and slower. that is how it feels a little bit - but i am sure its just a temporary backslide and i'll get my mojo back soon :)

on the plus side then we got to cheer the marathoners home - uncle dave getting an honourable mention for 2nd in the marathon and 1st in the crazy bastard awards cause he proceeded to ride the dave-mobile home. luckily we caught him on the drive home for a bit of drive-by heckling.

it was also lovely to hang out with a bunch of buddies and also heading out last night for a bit of a big one with the Owl - so today's long run is going to be an experiment in afternoon running :)

Huge thanks to Jen for being support squad and chauffeur - despite not being able to run herself which we know sucks big time. Thanks matey :)

edit: forgot the main part! time was 1.07.46 according to my watch but will be more on the official time i think cause i took a while to cross the line. splits were - 6.02, 6.13, 6.14, 6.50, 6.32, 7.04, 7.41, 7.31, 6.21, 7.13 - nothing like a massive positive split hey???

Edit again...

SUNDAY RUN:

After a few drinks and a late night last night it was an afternoon run on the schedule today. Lulu had the 2 hours on her program too so it was a centennial special for us and we were lucky to have Lorna along for the first 10k. I was pretty happy with the afternoon energy levels although i felt quite wheezy at the start of the run and was a bit worried. I kind of warmed into it and 10 - 15k went really fast! i got some really bad stomach cramps around 15.5-16.5k which i think could be due to the whole day of eating and stuff which i don't usually have to worry about.

really happy that i finished that run actually despite just feeling a bit off at the moment. Although i am feeling slow and sluggish really averaging 6.46 is still 15s per k faster than when i started doing long runs for the same effort so i shouldn't complain i guess.

Ended up with 17.7km in 2 hours on the dot - average pace 6.46. splits were: 7.04, 6.47, 6.59, 6.41, 6.30, 6.54, 6.40, 6.41, 6.37, 6.51, 7.06, 6.42, 6.52, 6.36, 6.29, 6.56, 6.43, 4.45 (700m)

proof!

that ironmanning isn't in my future - i didn't go to swim squad this morning because last night i had to go to a cocktail making function with one of my suppliers and had one too many caprioskas. no serious athlete would do that :)

anyway - i'm not too worried because i have also developed a rather attractive cough which i didn't want to test out in the pool.

aside from that - this afternoon i'm off in the Jen_mobile with Lorna and the driver-lady to Fitzroy Falls - we are staying in Kangaroo Valley. i'm really looking forward to it as I have never been down that way. Lorna's delicious apricot slice is also making a guest appearance which i am happy about! i shall be supplying apples and lollies I have decided.

still not planning to race the 10k tomorrow but intend to enjoy and treat it like a good solid hit out. my program for sunday appears to have a 20k ride before my long run (of 2 hours) which seems a little excessive... but maybe i just need to toughen up.

but for now back to my powerade...

backing up...

today was fartlek day at sweat. i had 5 1k loops on my program. no probs - except that i am still feeling a bit shabby in the mornings and to say i was somewhat lacking in energy following yesterdays exertions would be an understatement.

still - i thought it would be fine if i just took it easy. so i tooked it easy :) well easyish because i was still pretty stuffed. i ended up doing only 4k because everyone else who is running on saturday at fitzroy falls only did 3 - and i was feeling left out. talk about a sheep :)

times were - 5.15, 5.33, 5.39, 5.41. nice downward trend hey? about 8k all up for the morning. a highlight was having the lovely lulu back at training - hurray!

anyway - glad i have a full 24 hours till my next session - which is stroke correction tomorrow morning at 5.45...

PS - if i hear the word ironman come out of anyone elses mouth (dave i'm talking to you....) there'll be trouble... lets get me out of flippers in the pool and able to not lose circulation in my fingers while i ride because i am holding on so tight before we even start talking about baby triathlons!!!!

this morning was my first solo voyage on the bike and it felt like my first day at school - so many potential hazards and mistakes that i could make without even knowing!

firstly i had to get the wheels back on the bike. no worries. then i had to take off and clip in (i know this sounds basic - but i've only done it less than 10 times before and mostly with our friendly bike shop assistant waiting to catch me!). then i had to actually ride the thing - and the quads were burning in lap one! this is going to be very good for my hill running...

ended up doing 6 laps of centennial park. laps 3 & 5 were nominally harder efforts but i was really just wanting to get into the swing of it this morning - so all up just under 24k in just over an hour. it is definitely humbling just being constantly overtaken - but hey - i'm used to that from sweat training... as my blog title points out - i'm slow :) but at least i'm enthusiastic... hehe

swim squad tonight... but i dunno how much use my legs are going to be???

edit: went to squad despite some serious resistance and fatigue in the afternoon (caused by eating too much lunch i think...). it was a bit scary because the other 2 sessions that i will be going to are more stroke correction and are in the 25 m pool - this is a real squad session. anyway - it ended up being ok - and i was only probably 3rd slowest!

i can't quite remember but it went like this:
- warm up: 6 x 100 (50 free, 50 backstroke(!))
- 200's - supposed to be 3 lots - i did 2 and a half.
- 100's - up to 10 - think i did 5 or 6
- 200m cool down

all up looks like it was around 1800m?

they were all off certain times but i am yet to work out what that means... nothing really unless you are leading or at the front of the lane. which - i wasn't :)

...but at least i tried :)

felt crappy when i woke up - runny nose, blocked up head etc. but i wasn't sure whether it might clear up and just be allergies. i am still not sure because i feel pretty alright now.

on my program was 2 x 1200m, 1 x 1600m - but i was struggling to breathe freely after the accelerations so i decided to do 3 x 1000m. First one i thought i'd see how i went and did it in 4.52. but my chest was screaming so i decided to run the next two with the new girl sara and we did it in 5.27 and 5.25. i was amazed at how easy that felt - but in a good way!

cruised home for a total of 7.5km.

felt messy and straggly and almost like a cop out but looking at it its not too bad for a morning out. hoping that this quasi-cold that i have had for a while now will disappear. its not welcome! especially cause tomorrow is ride and swim day. is swimming with a cold particularly bad?

EDIT - just had my 'heart health test' at work. all is ok - it looks like i am ok to run another day :) blood pressure low-ish, cholesterol 4.35 so could be lower, waist measurement was below the recommended so i'm happy. my resting heart rate was high (73) but i think that was my heart still beating fast after the finger prick for the cholesterol test!! it didn't hurt at all but i do get nervy about needles!

good day for it...

but jeez it was hot and humid early on! then i got blown away later this afternoon in the gale force winds!

i had 2 hours on my program this morning but amended to include some cycling... i did 50 odd minutes and then Jen met me for another 30. All up around 12k. Then our very helpful sales assistant from the Clarence St Cyclery kindly came and met us at the park to give me a cycling lesson... aka - how to use the funny clip in shoes.

the lesson started with an immediate stack and a near decision to never ever ever ride again. it hurt!! and i am going to have a monster bruise on my thigh and already have little ones on my arms and lower legs. :(

but i somehow decided to start again - and then it was all good and i unclipped safely the rest of the time. we only did about 5 k but i got into a nice rhythm as we did a whole lap of the park. managed to get up a bit of speed and i reckon that the bike is amazing - its rider just needs to get some stronger legs :)

hehe - here are the spokey dokes...



EDIT - meant to say - wildthing - no - its not a womens frame because in this make they didn't have one and the one they did have was even more expensive! so a boy bike for me! also - in case you were curious i took the spokey dokes off before taking to the road - so as to avoid the wrath of the scary roadies in centennial park... :)

personal worst - but still smiling :)

i wasn't sure how i was going to go this morning - but I had katie and deanne as my personal pacing group! My friend Mel was on her striders debut so she came along for the ride too (although she could have gone loads faster!).

as everyone knows the goal was 55 or below... i crossed the line in 56.55 (or thereabouts - i forgot the garmin!!)

we went out pretty fast (5min first km) but i felt pretty good and we slowed down. at 3 - 4 k i got a stitch but was able to run through it. it was at about 5k when i went - uh oh - there is nothing left. i've got NUTHIN. i don't think it was cause we went out too hard - i think that today i was just running at half strength. i've got lots of reasons (excuses...) why it was a shitty run but instead i am going to have a glass half full moment:

- i won't be able to appreciate the good runs if i don't have some shit ones!
- i can't keep having pb's every race i do
- i had a fantastic support team - katie and deanne looked after me the whole way even when i wanted to stop and when i got a bit teary at the end (what is that about? i am actually ok about it - i think i was just feeling awful!!)
- i have no doubt that i will get there eventually!
- i ran 10k!!!!

anyway - it was so great to see everyone again and we had a hilarious moment at the end when katie and i went to our matching dirty white mazda 121's and opened our boots and theirs was full of videos they are getting rid of and mine is full of self help books! me friend mel relieved us both of a bunch and katie took a bunch of books so it was a run-slash-swapmeet. excellent - my car is loads lighter now!

anyway - off to pick up the new bike this morning! hurray!!!!!!

EDIT - the bike is gorgeous - i will update with pictures tomorrow (including spokey dokeys....)

Also, just in case i hadn't had enough punishment for the day, i went to my first stroke correction squad swim session. fark!! intense. even the warm up! used the pull bouy in the warm up and flippers for a lot of the breathing drills. some of the breathing drills were really good and i even kept up with a 10 x 25 hard that we did. i dropped off (and indeed out...) during the 8 x 100 hard swim at the end and the coach actually told me to stop (he knew i'd run in the morning - but then again practically everyone had done a brick session that day so i wasn't hoping for much sympathy. i think it was more a beginners thing and i feel glad that i've done it once now. won't be so scary next time.

now to practice on the bike tomorrow... this should be interesting... :)

couldn't think of a good title for today - so we'll do without today.

yesterday i had a bad afternoon at work and I went home feeling terrible. the problem was that it starting spiralling into other areas of my life so i put myself to bed around 7 o'clock. also thought that might be a good idea because of early morning swim squad.

i did notice though that i was getting a sore throat and sniffing and the glands on my neck were really sore to touch. this morning i woke with the same things and decided not to go swimming (blocked ears etc etc).

but this decision was not made without a lot of thinking. did i make myself sick by getting stressed about work and going to the squad for the first time, and a bunch of other stuff that is on my mind? or was it the fact that i was getting sick that made me get a bit down on everything?

no answers - just lots of questions. decided to coem into the office (very) early to try and get some perspective on that side of things.

hope i'm good for striders tomorrow!!

EDIT - what a grumpy pants???!!! changed my mind and now I am very happy :) (not to mention motivated, professionally fulfilled, imbued with an inner sense of peace and really, truly, exceptionally, ridiculously good-looking) hehehehe

mixin' it up

wednesday night

didn't get out of my meeting till 6.30 so was definitely not going to make the 6pm swim squad. still i trundled down and had a chat to the coach as the squad was finishing up. He suggested that i do 1500m with the flippers (ok training fins if you want to be technical - like really really short flippers).

i sort of followed instructions (not a strong point) and did 500m without flippers and then i did the 1500m with flippers. a few points about using them. it did make me much better at concentrating on my stroke. it makes your legs more bouyant which is good. but it is still hard work! i thought it would be a total bludge but it wasn't at all. in fact it was harder on my legs cause i was forced to kick from the hips not the knees.

all good but i noticed a lot of fatigue afterwards especially cause i didn't drink anything. was curious how i would go this morning...

thursday morning

sweat training. i had 2 sets this morning, 1 of 2 laps of the lake (about 3k) and one 1 lapper (just under 1.5k). I felt pretty tired in the legs but struggled through with the first 2 laps in 14.56 (avg pace 5.17) and the 1 lap in 7.30 (5.20 pace).

not as fast as i would have liked but not too bad given last night and the fact that i want to run strongly on saturday at striders 10k.

all up 8.5km.


and one extra added bonus from today is that kit and deanne - my lovely sweat mates :) - have offered to run with me on Saturday to help me to 55mins. I am so lucky to have so many gorgeous (and fast!) friends who really take me that extra step when I'm a bit lacking in confidence. thanks guys :)

oops

look what i accidentally upgraded to without really noticing. i should bloody have 2 bikes for that price... :)

and so it begins...

well there is a lot going on at the moment. yesterday i didn't go to training for a few reasons (excuses?) - i was tired (huge weekend and also did my long run monday), i have been sniffling a bit which is either the start of a cold or allergies - my preferred option! and it was going to be a long day at the office (ended up leaving at 9.30ish following our cocktail party for summer clerk candidates).

but now its today so its all good. a running rest day, but today is the start of the official triathlon training. eek. i had gotten a bit worried because i hadn't heard from the training people but when i pushed them it turned out one of the guys computers had crashed etc etc. (dog ate his homework?). anyway - we are all sorted now.

tonight is swimming squad. this is really scary for me. i am not a strong swimmer. nonetheless i get to wear flippers if i need to and hey - i managed to get through Sweat training when I first started! looking forward to some input on my stroke and getting comfortable in the water.

i have also decided that i am going to get a road bike not the mountain bike (here's hoping they have pretty road bikes too....) so i'll be back down to the shop at lunch today (wanted to go with jen tomorrow but darn meetings keep getting in the way!!). apparently it would be best for me to go the whole hog straight away (tri bars, funny clip in shoes etc etc) and deal with the discomfort early rather than upgrading later. so there you have it.

having a lot of 'woah i'm so far out of my depth' type feelings at the moment. but i figure that at least having some sort of fitness base will have to make this easier than starting to run... and if i am really shit at it and hate it - then i don't have to keep going.

anyway... a few big running weeks too! this saturday is striders 10k - gunning for 55 mins... and then the weekend after that is fitzroy falls which I am really looking forward to!

(i have also started doing one of those 100 things about me lists - more for myself. it is really hard! and most likely i will never post it... but very interesting to thing about yourself in list format!)

monday long run

well following the excesses of saturday night... decided not to get up at 5 (2 hours after i crawled into bed) and do my long run before my course. so today was long run day!

met the owl down at the bay after I had done 20 mins to even our times out. She decided to take me on a very new and exciting route (for me) that went up lilyfield road (big ass hill!!!) over the anzac bridge (big ass climb too!!) and then through glebe and annandale and back to the bay. it was a gorgeous run and was excellent to run somewhere new. my legs were a bit tired and it felt like a bit of a grind but nonetheless 1hr50mins was completed with excellent company (and some giggling about saturday night hijinks) and we finished off with a marvellous breakfast with jen and chonky in leichardt.

noice. now i am feeling a bit energised again (must be the breakfast) so am contemplating a walk down to the pool and a bit of a swim. but not sure that is such a good idea in the interests of getting to sweat training in reasonable shape tomorrow... might give it an hour or so...