It has been a week of extremes for me both in running and corporate life. Corporately speaking, it was an emotionally challenging week of saying goodbye to someone very loved in the team. I had to juggle my emotions while trying to stay on top of tasks. I worked my longest day ever, physically leaving work at 8PM on Wednesday night and not “clocking off” until after midnight. Throw in an exec visit, Portuguese tarts plus a few schnitters for lunch and I didn’t exactly have the right kind of week for training. Nevertheless, I did it. No excuses.
Here is how my running week panned out.
Monday 6/7/15
This was my easy “30” day. I usually run to a specific distance or loop so doing 30 minutes was a challenge in itself. I’m also a “one speed” type of person so I purposefully held back a bit and eased into it. I managed 5km in the 30 minutes averaging 6 minutes a km. I could have done better pace wise. I had to run/walk the last km or so because I kept getting stomach cramps. I ran one of my usual routes through Fitzroy gardens, up Davey Street, St David’s park and down Sandy Bay Road. It was a bit fresh at 4 degrees but nothing too bad.
Wednesday 8/7/15
3km time trial day which also happened to be the COLDEST morning of the year! Phone says it felt like -3 and I really struggled to get out of my nice warm bed. I rugged up, spent a good 15 minutes warming up and then I set off down Sandy Bay Road. It was HARD. I struggled to breathe in the cold air. I pushed HARD but didn’t break any land speed records. I ended up doing it in 16:09 putting me at a 5:19 per km average. I would like to see this get to sub 5 at some stage down the track. I was one hot mess at the end of it – the steam coming off me was impressive!
Friday 10/7/15
Today it was time for an “easy 45”. I’m usually a morning runner and set off at 5:30AM with the best intentions. Unfortunately the schnitzel I had for lunch the day before had different ideas and I had to ditch after 600m to sprint to the nearest loo. To add to my misery and abject horror, the public toilet I choose to sprint to was closed for renovations! With my cheeks fully clenched and doing the run/waddle of shame I went home with my dignity lost.
However, it takes more than a shitty schnitty (pardon the pun) to keep this girl down! After a long day at the corporate cheesemine and a more sensible lunch, I got out there and ran my 45 minutes. I managed 8km with no tummy trouble! Yay! It was a hard slog as I prefer running at the start of the day but I felt great at the end.
Sunday 12/7/15
On Saturday we had the final farewell function for my work friend which in the true style of the corporate I work for involves alcohol and lots of it! I steered clear of the schnitzel on offer at the restaurant and had many lovely G&T’s. I’m usually a champagne/beer drinker but wasn’t quite in the mood. I even had a couple of shots and finished up with a rather nice vanilla stout. I wasn’t quite sure of how bad I’d feel in the morning – but luckily enough I felt fine!
The sun was shining when I set off on my 12km run – the longest of the week. I enjoyed running in the daylight for a change and I was feeling good. Was I still drunk? I also decided to run a different course by running along the bike track for a bit. 5kms in and the heavens opened up letting loose a torrential rain storm. Within seconds I was saturated. My newish Nike Flyknits soaked. What do you do? You just keep running. Squish, squish, squish! I actually loved it and clocked a decent time too 1:06:44. I also hit a running milestone clocking over 3,000 lifetime kms on my Nike App since I started tracking my progress in July 2012. I’ve come a long way and have even further to go. Bring it.
Final thoughts for the week
Although I normally run more kms during a normal running week. This week was very challenging. Extreme weather, extreme emotion, extreme corporate exhaustion. The way to successfully be a marathoner is to overcome and embrace the extremes and not give up. Ever.
Here’s hoping next week is easier! It probably won’t be but I’m ready.
