This week at the corporate I battled paperwork. Luckily I survived the week with only a few paper cuts and a super sore arm from stapling a gazillion contracts. Thank god for running to keep me sane! The temperature was mild this week and dare I say it even got balmy on Friday night.
I had a few training challenges this week but I pulled through. I think I was nervous about and almost dreading my 20km long run this week. I’m yet to formalise my running mantra for when I hit that inevitable wall. For now its “Focus and keep your eye on the prize” and I visualise myself crossing the finish.
Here is how the week went down.
Monday 17/8/15
I woke at 5:30 ready to go for my easy 40 run. I dressed, walked out the door and was slapped in the face by howling wind and freezing rain. No thank you. Back to bed.
I woke back up at around 7 and was crapped off with myself for being such a wussbag. So I packed my running gear in my work bag and was determined to run at lunch. Lunchtime comes around and I look up from my pile of contracts to see dark grey sky, howling wind and what looked like sleet out the wind. Wussbag Jelly 2 – Marathoner Jelly 0.
5:30PM rolls around and I’m ready to leave the cheesemine for the night. I go to change out of corporate shoes into my runners for the walk home and I can hardly put my shoe on! My right foot had swollen to nearly twice its normal size. Yeah it was a bit sore but I didn’t take any notice but this looked serious. I must have pushed myself a bit too hard on the long run yesterday…maybe that was why I wussed out of running today? Anyhow, no walk home for me…bus it was. At home I soaked my foot in cold water and elevated it after. I asked Dr Google for a diagnosis and I thought I might need to get it amputated or worse stop running. I shut down my laptop, took an ibuprofen and went to bed. Rest will fix it.
Tuesday 18/8/15
Today was meant to be my rest day. I did sleep in because I was tired but miraculously my foot was its normal size! Thank you baby cheeses! I packed my gear to run at work and actually ran.
Tuesday lunchtime the sun shone and it was glorious. I usually run before sunrise or after sunset during the week so this made a welcome change. I ran from the office to the bike track and did a little over 7km in 40mins. I was flying because I felt GOOD! So glad I ran today. Maybe my body just needed a rest day swapping around.
Wednesday 19/8/15
Speed Day today. I have to say I was a bit lacking in motivation to get out there in the darkness after such an amazing experience the day before. I did it but I was tired from running hard the day before. When will I learn that “easy” means don’t run at race pace?
I ran 2 x 3km @ 10km pace with 120 secs rest. The good news is that I actually did it at 10km pace and not ridiculously fast (well for me anyway) like last week.
Friday 21/8/15
I had another lazy morning where I just couldn’t be bothered getting up to run. I’m starting to fret about the state of my motivation…. Anyhow, I slogged through the last day of the week at work determined to run after work. A bit of extra motivation came in the form of a colleague resigning and me having to spend the whole of next week in Sydney to handover and help cover her role. I run better on stress.
Bananas are good for you!
I got home and it was a balmy 14 degrees. I didn’t waste any time getting my running gear on and out I went. It was MAGIC! So nice to run in the relative warmth for a change. I can’t remember the last time I ran without layers on. This was my first t shirt run in a LONG time. It was my easy 55 but I stretched it slightly to a 10km and I’d say it was a “moderate 57.29” as I wasn’t very far off my usual 10km pace. I’ll learn to slow down one day….
Saturday 22/8/15
Another Parkrun non-appearance. I was tired from the night before and wanted to stick close to home. I ran a non-eventful 5km around Hobart. I was a bit sore and I don’t think I had enough rest between running the 10 the night before and running the 5 this morning. I slogged through and finished it at a slow 28’48”.
Tonight we had dinner with friends and feeling anxious about being fuelled for the run I had potatoes with my meal (I usually don’t eat them) and decided to carb load on some dessert at Honey Badger Dessert Cafe. I can’t claim that there is any scientific value to eating a Deconstructed Banoffee but bananas are good for you right???
These are not camouflage leggings
Sunday 23/8/15
OK the day was finally here. The long run of the week. The one I’ve been nervous about all week. 20 freaking km! I’ve run that distance (and a bit further) before but haven’t done so since Point to Pinnacle last year. I don’t know why I’m getting so freaked out about distance. I decided to run it on the Pipeline Track because it is softer underfoot and I didn’t want a reprise of my injury last week.
I got a late start because I had to drop my husband off to the Marina in Kettering to bring the boat to Hobart. That is a story for another blog post. My tardiness meant that I was passing most of the TRR on the 2km mark. They were on their way to enjoy Jay’s scones after their run. It was nice to see their smiling faces and I even got a high 5 from Shelley. At that point I had the naughty idea of turning around and just having a scone.
Pipeline Selfie
The Pipeline was muddy but fun. It was easier to run than a couple of weeks ago because the ice has gone. I love the scenery and tranquility of this track. One day I would like to run it without music or maybe some classical stuff. It is really stunning and makes me appreciate the fact that I can run this whenever I want.
I ran well and didn’t pressure myself to run fast. It was all about making it through and I did. I did have a couple of stops for a drink and the odd photo/selfie but they were at a minimum. Despite being so nervous I finished it and I probably could have gone further. It just goes to show that sometimes you can be your own worst enemy by doubting yourself.
A challenging week but I rose to the top. Next week will be even more of a challenge as I’ll be out of my comfort zone in another city. No worries. I’ve got my gear packed and ready to run!
Happy Trails
