I had a positive week last week, despite the lack of kms. This week was supposed to be MY week. I had one glorious week away from the corporate hamster wheel and the universe decides that this would be the perfect time to give me a virus. Great!
I had plans to run and run far. Discover new trails and head into the gym for those cross training workouts I keep harping on about. Life had other plans. I was actually tempted not to write this week because of the lack of any serious marathon worthy training I was able to do. However, this is part and parcel of it. Things don’t always go to plan and it is the mindset of perseverance that will help me reach my goals.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom. The week started well, I spent time with family in Wynyard and I did what I don’t normally do much of….nothing! Maybe the silver lining is that I’m getting illness out of the way well before Cadbury.
Here’s the non-week went down.
Coastal track from Gutteridge Gardens
Monday 19/10/15
I stayed on in Wynyard for a couple of days after the Burnie 10 with my sister, brother in law and my two gorgeous nephews Alex and Theo. Keen to keep the momentum up from running the B10, I set out to do my easy 45. My sister thought that running from Gutteridge Gardens along the coastal track would be a nice run. She was right! There was something really lovely about running along the waterfront and just seeing water on the horizon. It was a great sunshiney day and I did nearly 8km at at 6′ pace. I didn’t do my usual OCD thing of getting up to 8 because we had to pick up my oldest nephew Alex from School.
Alex was a bit naughty and I thought we might have to miss out on our afternoon tea treat – chocolate milkshakes! It was touch and go but Alex came right in the end and we headed to Ladybugs Cafe where I had the most amazing Iced Coffee. Maybe not the best post run nutrition but it certainly hit the spot!
Amazing Ice Coffee
Wednesday 21/10/15
On the Romilly Trail
I spent a good chunk of my rest day on Tuesday driving back to Hobart. I didn’t have a program to follow this week so I was winging it. I didn’t really feel like doing repeats today so I challenged myself to some nasty hills and along a trail I hadn’t been on for a while. Nasty hills are good because I’m going to go up one particularly nasty hill in about 3 weeks…Mt Wellington! Anyhow, this run was good because I ran a tiny section of the P2P course up Davey St to Romilly Street and onto the trail to Waterworks Reserve. Man do those hills take it out of you!
I used to run this course all the time. These days I seem to favour the flatter runs. I need to make sure I vary my terrain a bit to keep me in shape. I had forgotten what a nice run this is despite the hills. Need to get back here more often.
Thursday 22/10/15
Today hell unleashed it’s fury on my body. My throat felt like I was swallowing razor blades, I had chills, fever and a cough. I wanted to DIE. It turns out I brought back a nasty little souvenir from my time in Wynyard. My darling nephew Theo gave me a virus. I’m not sure what it is but it certainly has flu like symptoms. Needless to say, running was the last thing on my mind. Trying to breathe was my top priority.
Friday 23/10/15
Another day of agony. Netflix I LOVE YOU.
Saturday 24/10/15
What day is it? I can’t even remember what day it is. I’m drowning in snot, phlegm and self-pity alonside my piles of tissues. I’ve exhausted all period dramas on Netflix….onto the horror.
Sunday 25/10/15
Finally in the land of the “living” after a good night of restful sleep. Just in time for the last day of my holidays. I say “living” because I sound like an 80 year old chain smoking prostitute and have the lung capacity to match. No long run today but I did get myself on the treadmill. I read an article earlier in the week on the effects of detraining and it scared the be-jesus out of me. So I just had to get back on the horse so to speak. I only did a bit over 5km but I felt good after. I even did my hip training exercises. I was on a bit of an endorphin high after 3 days of sloth mode and thought I’d do some more kms in the afternoon. I had wild dreams of doing a slow 15km…. that didn’t happen. I spent the afternoon in my studio sketching and drinking heaps of tea with lemon and honey. My 80 year old alter-ego Beryl (stage name Bambi) won out in the end. I just hope the bitch lets me sleep.
Next week is another week and hopefully I’ll be right to run more than 20kms in the week. If my luck is anything to go by, then I’ll be fit as a fiddle in time to go back to the cheesemine tomorrow. Here’s hoping!
One of my favourite trails – Romilly Street to Waterworks
