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)
posted by Ellie80 @ 11:59 am
16 Comments:
Looks like a great location, nice pics.
The increase in training that you have been doing in terms of swimming and cycling will effect your performance somewhat. A little time is needed for your body to adjust, im sure you notice an improvement soon.
Apart from the tough conditions it sounded like an enjoyable few days, im not too sure how much you will enjoy this afternoons run though :)
Owly is lying down on the job again.
Hopefully you're just going though a temporary slump. Make sure you're getting enough easy/rest days, good food and sleep ;) If that doesn't work, try a blood test for iron levels.
Gotta love a good road trip. But geez, I love the 'what happens on the road, stays on the road' rule!
BTW, don't be hard on yourself. Your training has significantly increased over the last few weeks. Once your body adjusts to it, the time improvements will flow through. Trust me :-)
PS I was amazed though that i got through the road trip without getting grilled about my new goals - forgot, didn't ya ;-)
Good on you for powering through a tough run on a tough day Ellie. Unc rode his bike home ?!?!?!
Nice photos Ellie. Tough day to run a 10k especially doing child minding duties during the race.
Oh well, a slower time means more time spent on your feet thus increasing your endurance. Is this some kind of warped logic? It's what consoles me after a not-so-good run.
Great to meet you for the first of many times, Ellie!
Go Ellie!
Sounds like a fantastic weekend, even if you think your running sucks, you'll come right soon.
I bought that kid some lollies after the race and he never said thanks so he was an ungrateful little bugger hehehe!
His name is Kerem and he is fine today with only a few scratches.I came down with his aunt.
I have to totally agree with everyone elses advice...just look at the mileage your doing,i should be doing those sort of k's but i'm too lazy!
Nice to see you again...was that "The Owl" with you at the start line?
I had to leave with my lift after the 10k so i didn't hang around as long as i would have liked...
If it's any consolation i did a nice big positive split too.
Cheers R2B
Mate fantastic Sunday run... and don't feel too bad about the 67 mins for FF - I only did 3 mins better than that on a flat Striders 10k the other day!
Oh and as for the wheezing Sudafed works great for me during spring time ;-)
Hope you're feeling better today and you've recovered from a big weekend. I'm sure you'll soon adjust to the training increase and be back to your normal self.
Looking forward to many more runs.
great to see you had such a great time over the weekend. And in trawling back a bit, I see you've done a few laps of Centennial, and been for some serious-looking pool sessions. Can't wait to see you get yourself through a tri soon. Nice weather for it lately ...
btw - any significance in the fact that owly's number piccie is side-on? ;)
no - i know two of the photos are the wrong way up - but i can't figure out how to upright them!!! technomoron alert...
What a weekend! Gees, you girls have got it figured out - you still go out partying yet still manage to squeeze in both racing and training. I think I'll get you to write me a program :-)
PS Somebody once told me to run down hills like a kid - wheeeeee!!!!! It works.
PPS Somebody else told me if you feel like you are going too fast down a hill throw in a 'skip' to steady you up. It works too.
Thanks for the (dis)honourable mention. It really was a great race, and a great weekend...at least until 3 crazy chicks tried to run me off the road when I was half way to Moss Vale! :-)
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