Sometimes you have those weeks where you feel tired and are lacking a bit of mojo. This was one of those weeks for me. Corporate life has had a few challenges this week but I managed to get on top of them (sort of) and this spilled into my running life. The kms I’m running are slowly creeping up and some niggling pains are starting to spring up. Despite the challenges, I kept my eye on the prize and that (plus a little ibuprofen) got me through this week.
Here is how it went down.
Monday 10/8/15
Easy 40 minute trot today. Easy may be what it is called on my program but it certainly didn’t feel it! I have to admit that I was feeling a bit tired from my long run along the pipeline the day before. I managed to do 7km on my Sandy Bay loop. I probably should have eased off the pace a bit more but I find that I usually only have one speed! Though it took a bit of effort getting out of bed it was worth it in the end.
Wednesday 12/8/15
Wednesday is interval day. Today I was meant to do 2 x 2km @ 10km pace with 90” rest which should be about 5’40” per km but I ended up doing them at 5’15”. It may not seem much but the effort (in my opinion) is significantly harder. I think I go harder because I know I can rest at the end of the set. I’m still to understand my pace and how to stick to it. Maybe a Garmin will help. Maybe I just need to pay more attention when I run. I’ll work it out one day!
Friday 14/8/15
Easy 55 day today. I seriously struggled today. Definitely had one of those days where I questioned why am I even doing this? I felt tired and about 6km into the run my right hip was really sore. I have had a hip injury in the past and sincerely hope this isn’t the start of something nasty. We’ll see how we go! I pushed through the pain and did 10km by adding an extra 3’19” to the run. My average pace was 5’50” and I really probably should have run it at 6″. I might make that my goal for next week.
Saturday 15/8/15
Parkrun day! I actually made it to Parkrun!!! I can’t believe it. I dosed up on ibuprofen because my hip was still a bit sore and I made my way to Risdon Brook Dam. I’ve lived in Tasmania for coming up to 23 years and I have never been there before….shame on me! I’ve been missing out! For those who don’t know Parkrun is a free community event that provides a 5km timed run every Saturday morning. It is really amazing what these guys do. I was lucky enough to do my debut run on their first anniversary. (I’d been meaning to go for over a year…again shame on me!) Oh and they offered cake and pikelets at the end YUMMO!
Risdon Brook Dam is absolutely beautiful. The course is gravel and very scenic but beware of the hills! There were times during the run I thought that I should re-think running the Point to Pinnacle. Despite the hills it was a great run with amazing sunshine despite the chilly winter’s air. Not proud of my time (28’07”) but I definitely want to run the course again. Next time I promise to take some photos too.
Sunday 16/8/15
The start of the Bike Track
Today was my longest run of the program so far. 18km! I actually half dreaded (more worried) about this day all week. I procrastinated getting out of bed but I pulled myself together in the end and just did it. I did feel a bit tired and achy this morning. I went to an engagement party last night and I don’t think the drinks or me wearing heels helped my motivation. Somehow I managed to scrape together some mojo and I headed out.
As soon as I headed out the door the howling wind slapped me in the face and continued to slap me around for the next 9km of my run! I ran from my place to the bike track up to the back of New Town High and then back again. The wind made it very hard but the sunshine made it bearable and beautiful. I tried to find a nice steady pace to run and during some bits of the run I felt that “running euphoria” where you’re in the zone and the kms just go by. Unfortunately the europhoria vanished around 14km and those final kms HURT! I just soldiered on and actually got a bit of courage from thinking of Shelley Miller who was running the Alice Springs Marathon at exactly the same time. I thought to myself, I won’t become a marathoner like Shelley if I give up or whinge and moan. 18km is not even a half marathon it is only 42% of a marathon. I WANT to do this so I WILL put in the training kms.
I did it with a couple of tiny rests along the last 4km. Next week I’m going to smash 20. Feet don’t fail me now!
Not really the end…5km to go!
