carolbaby

I’ll just say it now – FIFTEEN KILOMETRES!!!!! Less than 6 months ago I could barely run 2.5km. I’m delighted.

It was difficult – my ipod died halfway (which was torture) and I did have to stop for 1 minute at the 7.5km mark because I was panicking about the dead ipod and how far I still had to go and the negative self-talk was strong and loud (see aforementioned lack of tunes) and I was comparing myself to other, better (younger) runners and I am just and old lady and I’m so very slow and just how did I think I would ever run that far. So I stopped and took some deep breaths and talked kindly to myself for that 1 minute and kept going.

Sometimes my brain needs a good talking-to.

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I was becoming tired of the old minimalist exercise tracking format (as I am sure were you!) – so we’re going even more minimalist:

Rather than doing two long runs on the weekend, I’m trying one really long and one shorter (but longer than the weekday morning runs) in an attempt to build up distance.

I’m still doing the abs 6 times a week and it is proving a little easier and so quick that it is over before I can hate it. The abs are still jelly though.

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I’m now stuck between going for distance or trying to improve my 14km time for the City2Surf. I really am quite keen to get to the half-marathon mark, but don’t want to push it too quickly. I experienced a bit of soreness / tightness around my left knee on the 13km run on Saturday (and afterward), it has fixed itself – but I need to be super-careful, as I am also quite keen not to break myself.

After my pleasing result in the Mother’s Day Classic, I was considering running a fun run a month for the next little while.

Somewhat daunting list of upcoming runs:
June 2
MS Fun Run
8km
July 14
Sydney Harbour 10k
10km
August 4
Bay Run
7km
August 11
City to Surf
14km
September 22
Blackmore’s Bridge Run
9km

On Saturday, with the MS Fun Run pending, I was considering abandoning the run-a-month plan to focus on working on getting to a longer distance.

When I woke up on Sunday morning at 6am, it was absolutely pouring with rain and the forecast was for rain and rain and more rain – with strong winds – not the most tempting conditions for a ‘fun’ run. I gave serious thought to remaining snuggled in bed, but after a shower and a coffee decided to suck it up (princess) and get out there.

The route was described as challenging and Holy!Goodness! that was an understatement. There was boardwalk, grass, steps, asphalt, pavers, concrete and so, so many hills! And everything was exceedingly slippery. Fortunately the rain had eased to a drizzle before the start and wasn’t too troublesome until about the last kilometre when it began bucketing down again.

Apart from some bottlenecks at various sets of stairs, I managed to run all the way – which thrilled me because those hills were extremely hilly. I was prepared for my time to be much worse than the mother’s day classic which was almost flat and on on a nice, wide road. The field was quite a good deal smaller as well, so I was also prepared to come WAY down the list of finishers (I was aiming to be in the top 90%), particularly as the rain would have driven the less-than-keen away.

I knew Don would be at the finish line to cheer me so I really sprinted (such as I am able) the last 250m – because I am a sucker for an audience. I was feeling a smidge ouchy and exhausted afterward, but I am exceedingly pleased with my under 55min time and delighted that I finished in the top 71% of all finishers and top 59% of females!

Am now reconsidering my reconsidering – running with others really does push me to go faster and I get a kick out of the company.

Tuesday (21/05):
run
5.02km | 35:03
abs
I have abs of jelly, so am easing into doing something about it by attempting this 4 minute abs workout before bed for the next couple of weeks.

Wednesday (22/05):
run
5.01km | 35:48
abs
It is a testament to how jelly-like they are that I find this ridiculously challenging!

Thursday (23/05):
run
5km | 33:59
There’s all manner of horrid stuff going down at SML. Rage fuelled this run – a record time for this route.
abs
I fear it will be about 6-8 weeks before this gets any easier.

Friday (24/05):
workout dvd
ARGH! It was pouring, so I was forced to come up with an alternative. Plus, really, I think I am just asking for trouble running 6 days a week. I busted out Level 1 of 30 day shred which I’ve been holding onto for ages. Holy!Goodness! Exhausting! Definitely brought home that I need to mix some strength stuff in with all the cardio. Maybe I can add this to the evenings?
abs
Still persisting.

Saturday (25/05): run
13:38km | 1:34:31
Fortunately a gorgeous day. ANZAC bridge again. My goal for the weekend was to do 12km and 13km. Felt excellent! Another personal best for 10km (beat last week by 2 min).

Sunday (26/05): run
12.18km | 1:30:27
This was just hard. Really hard. Not sure if it was because I went faster than normal yesterday, or that it was a new (very, very crowded) route, but I got about half-way up a steep hill on the way home from the circuit of the Bay (ran there, did the circuit and hoped to run back) and had to walk about 350m. And my ipod ran out of juice – bah! to running without a soundtrack.

I need to keep reminding myself: “you just ran 12km doofus, you couldn’t run 5km at the beginning of the year, it is supposed to be hard!”.

Total kilometre-age = 40.59km