I’m going to try and keep it short and sweet this week. I had huge week and even bigger weekend which is why I didn’t quite get around to publishing my usual Sunday digest. This week of training was all about keeping focus and working through my hip injury. I popped ibuprofens like they were lollies, gave Mr Foam Roller a workout and had some therapeutic massage. I didn’t skip a km of training and I’m proud of that. That’s a whole 3 months of training down! Wow!
On the personal front, corporate life whizzed by and on Saturday we celebrated the wedding of my step-son Greg and Caitlin my new daughter in law. It was a beautiful heartfelt ceremony on a perfect day. I wish those two the best that married life has to offer. For me weddings are a time of reflection, I thought back on my perfect day and also the possibility that I may be a grandmother sooner rather than later…. This kind of makes me feel old but at the same time makes me even more determined not to be old! I want to continue running and being the best me well into my old age. I want to be the grandma that runs alongside her grandkids at fun runs and cheers them on at the athletics carnivals. No walking frame for me ever! This is why I train.
Here’s the running week that was:
Monday 21/9/15
Easy 45 today. Anything but easy! Only managed to do 7.2km when I can usually scrape in at least 8km. My left hip hurt so bad. It slowed me down by 45sec per km. It might not seem like much but it adds up! Anyhow go me for pushing through and running my Sandy Bay Loop.
Wednesday 23/9/15
Even after a rest day I woke up feeling sore and sooky but dragged myself out of bed and did my interval session. Today’s effort was to be 3 x 3km with 120 secs rest. I took the easy option and ran on the treadmill at the gym. My hip felt better running on the treadmill. I ran 5min kms but it felt a bit easy. I always think treadmills are cheating and I felt like a cheater today but hell I did still run 9km cheating or not.
Friday 25/9/15
Easy 60 today. I did 63 minutes because my OCD compelled me to run an even 10km. I had a massage on my rest day yesterday and reassurance that I haven’t done serious damage to my hip. Ibuprofen and foam rollering are helping. This hip injury has taught me the importance of a good quad and hip flexor stretch at the end of a run! I still ran very slow 6’05” per km average. I’m not happy with it but at least I’m running.
Saturday 26/9/15
Today I had other things on my mind. Today was the day of the wedding. I had a ton to do and didn’t really feel like running my faux parkrun. It also didn’t help that I had one too many gins last night. It wasn’t too hard to push past the devil on my shoulder to take 30 minutes out of my morning to go for a trot. I’m always hard on myself and today the bad self talk was what I needed to get out the door. I’m glad I did! It was a nice sunny morning and miraculously Billy Idol’s “White Wedding” shuffled on my playlist. Perfect! Not so perfect was my time…29’53” to do a 5km….shame 🙁
Sunday 27/9/15
Understandably, the day after the wedding I was WRECKED. Funnily enough I didn’t drink nor did we stay out late. I was tucked away in bed before 11….ok yes I’m old. I think the big week got to both me and my husband and we wanted to be sloths in the morning. Ahhh I love a good sleep in. I made up my mind that I was going to run so I postponed it until lunchtime. At mid day I headed out. The sun was shining and it was warm and glorious outside. I was a bit worried about the distance. I had 18kms to run today. I made my way to the bike track with no real course in mind. I ran to the New Town Station Nursery and then discovered the Cornelian Bay Foreshore track on the way back. I was feeling a bit adventurous so I ran across the Tasman Bridge and back for a bit of fun. The day was spectacular. It felt amazing to be out there and enjoying life. I wasn’t fast but I didn’t care. I did an average pace of 6’08” per km. My app stuffed up at the 6.2 km mark and clocked me at running a 54 second km. I don’t think Usain Bolt could run that fast! To make up for the stuff up I ran an extra 1.68km to ensure I got my 18. You know what? I probably could have kept going. However, as soon as I stopped the pain hit and limped around for the rest of the day. Ouch.
Here’s hoping the pain will subside this week. Cross your fingers for me.