Monday 9th May - no training.  In my defence, I am now working mondays, so my yoga class doesn't happen .

Tuesday - cruise intervals sessions - 3 x 5 mins near race pace.  It was the gymnastics run, so after doing the 3x 5 mins, I walked it out.  It was cold, drizzly and then I had to wait another 30 mins at the YMCA for the girls to finish.  But at least my legs worked nicely.

Wednesday - 90 min yoga class.  Still acing those hand stands, still have a mental thing about the bent arm stands.  Lots of back bend work today - deep lunges, and finished off with back bends like we do in school!!

Thursday - sprint session.  Quite a big one today - 6x 600 m @ 8.5/10 effort.  I was intending to do an early run before work and school, but Luca was poorly overnight so I was helping him, then it was very cold and wet and dark.  Bed was too nice, so it meant I did an arvo session whilst Milla was at trampolining, and Luca kept hibernating at home.  I was building up last weeks failure in my mind, so I was nervous about how I would go given it is a painful session, and I was doing a pm session, which I continue to find very unsatisfying (uncomfortable, slow, tired).  I continue to also not be especially fast, but I have learnt from last week that I will always wear the HR monitor as a reassurance that I am working at the right level.  So I was.  6 x 600m@ HR 170+  (2.30 - 3 mins each) with 2 mins rest between each one.  A sharp and shiny 40 minutes, 7 km session (with a sick boy at home).  Long run on saturday followed by an all day conference, long hike on sunday.

Friday - I decided to break cardinal rule #1 - to not run 2 days in a row, in an effort to get a run done without an early, dark start that could well be wet.  It was dry this evening, so I did my 1 hour trot around the neighbourhood tonight rather than before my long day tomorrow.  60 mins, 11 km.  No records set.

Saturday - at a course all day.  Then a surprise proposal up the top of Mt Lofty and a surprise dinner party for 11 to celebrate.  A very long day (24 hrs for me as I slept very little on friday night, for whatever reason), with a poor sleep (too much wine and champagne, cos I got engaged!).  All good :)

Sunday - crazily enough, an early start to get down to Deep Creek for another of the End to End Heysen trail walks.  14 km, very hilly, lots of waiting for the group.  We are not sure how much we will do with the group, but we like the idea of the support to do the whole length of the trail.  We'll see what we do from here.

Monday 2nd May 2011 - no training

Tuesday - another 5.30 start for a run, to fit it all in.  Gee, I'm committed!!  Cruise interval session - 5x 4 mins at race pace with 2.5 mins recovery between.  It is very dark this early (and chilly today) so I ran a bit further up to Kensington Gardens and ran on the roads around the edges to have the flat ground and the light with no cars.  There remains a slope, so I did try to do more of the pieces running downhill, as my legs were heavy and slow enough with today being day 2 past the half marathon - I woke a bit stiffer today.  However, the downhill runs were pretty swift - managing 4.10 - 4.20 pace consistently.  The first one was slowest and hardest, the rest were better.  55 minute session, then off to work.

Yoga again tonight at Lululemon for a complementary session with Youngblood - a good stretch out.

Wednesday - 90 min level 2 Yoga class at Kensington.  I got straight up on the handstands and head stand, and did the best I have so far in holding my shoulder position in the bent arm stands.  Yay.

Thursday - sprint session.  I felt slow and heavy and slow.  I did my 3x 300m in about 70 secs each (fast enough), but I really struggled with my 4x1000m.  I only did 2 of them.  The first session I have cut short.  I was so slow - slower than on sunday - so got into a really negative mindset.  I was also able to convince myself that seeing as I worked so hard on sunday anyway, I was ahead on percentage, and maybe some of the tiredness and heaviness is still left over from then (I would hope not).  I am 2 kg heavier than I should be, and I haven't been as strict on what I am eating (chocolate is my problem), but I wonder what effect just the carbs has there, given I have been doing all of this in an extremely low carb state.  Maybe having some makes my body realise what it has been missing, craving more, acting like it needs more, when in fact, it has ticked along very nicely with close to none?

Or maybe I was just slack and tired and soft today.  I also didn't wear my HR monitor, figuring it was virtually a max session, so I'd just work hard.  I think having the monitor would have helped me by having an objective measure of how I was doing, and giving me a bit of a kick up the backside - the 1000m sets are meant to be at HR 170 or so, so I could have pushed myself up to that.

Friday - no training

Saturday - no training

Sunday - Mother's Day Classic run.  I did the run with Beck, but the 7.5 km is on the short side for my long rung, so I ran down to the city (5 km), did the run, then walked home to stretch out a bit.  My calves were still pretty tight when I got home to my 'Green Eggs and Ham' breakfast so some stretching was still in order.  After breakfast I spent most of the next 3 hours cleaning and tidying the house ready for a Mother's Day high tea.  So, whilst I ran no carb, the rest of the day was very much carb.  Back on the program tomorrow :)

Monday 25th April - Anzac Day, middle of a very long weekend.  I had one of the best runs I've ever done this morning.  Not the fastest nor the furthest.  Just 70 min of easy jogging at 11km/ h around the outlying areas of Kingscote, Kangaroo Island.  I ran along the beach until I got to the estuary which was just one step too wide for me to leap, so doubled back a bit, then through the golf course to the road for a loop back towards the caravan park.  But even the scenery - 5 black swans serenely gliding by, a couple of pelicans, a stingray slowly sweeping by, the early morning sun rising on another glorious 'Adelaide' autumn day.  My soundtrack this morning was the podcast of a lecture that Gill Hicks gave in Adelaide this month.  What an ispirational woman.  Or perhaps more to the point, how she has handled her situation, how she has used it to redefine and strengthen her life is amazing.  I laughed and cried as I ran.  What she has been through is appalling.  What she has done since is amazing.  The honesty, the humour and the courage in her talk lifted me up.  I will listen again.  Thank you, Gill Hicks.  (click on the link and download it to your ipod and listen in the car, while walking or running sometime when you have 72 mins to listen.  It's worth it)

Tuesday - packing up, getting home, tidying up.  No training. 

Another good article on the hazards of sitting came up via facebook, though.  Here is the link.

Wednesday - I had 3 nieces to stay last night, so 6 kids aged 5 - 10 in the house.  I got up early to do my session - out the door by 5:30 and only Luca knew because he was already up!  No one else awake until after I returned.  So in the very dark, I did my cruise interval session for the morning - 3x 5mins at slightly below race pace (for these purposes, 4:30 min / km is race pace).  I still have trouble maintaining a really consistent speed but it was a good short session.  I must have looked a sight, iPhone in hand, occasionally trying to focus on the bright screen, or use the light from it to read my HR watch.  Just as well there were not many people around, and they couldn't see my face anyway!

Thursday - no training

Friday - Sprint session.  To fit it all in, I was up at 5.15, but because sunrise isn't until nearly 7 am, I had to find a nice straight bit of road to do my 200's and 600's on.  There tends to be an bit of a slope everywhere around here, so I ended up on the road behind the oval.  My 4x 200m were run downhill (of course!), and I did my first 600m there, then went to the track once it was a little less dark.  Sprint sessions are hard to start, but great to finish.  I was still buzzing several hours later, well into my work day.  Even did some stretching and foam roller work as recovery later in the day.  As an aside, although my knee doesn't like prolonged sitting (and therefore being flexed), it isn't waking me at night anymore.  Yay - all that stretching, hip ER exercises and massage is helping.

Saturday - no training, but a good stretch out in the Strong Core class at work

Sunday - Greenbelt Half Marathon.  Turns out, the first 3 km they had us running up stream before we crossed the river and started the downstream trip.  It was a blast!!  I started myself in the middle of the pack and spent most of the run overtaking people.  I decided to start out at a HR of 165 - 170, aiming for a finish somewhere in the 1.45 - 2 hr range, so around 5 min / km pace.  Fortunately, the speed work is paying off because that HR had me at 4.50 pace for most of it.  I made sure to maintain my stride length going uphill where most people really shortened up, so most of my passing was uphill.  Sometimes I was then passed on the high flat bits, and once I was passed going downhill which just reminded me not to shorten up on the downhill sections - you can end up holding back against the hill instead of taking the opportunity to kick out and lengthen the stride again.   

I went through the 10 km mark in just over 49 mins, significantly better than my 10 km time trial a month ago (50 mins 46), and my average pace at that time was still 4.52 mins/ km.  I felt a bit slow and heavy around the 15 km mark, but had decided that with 5 km to go, I would bring the HR up to 170 - 175.  With 3 km to go I was aiming to keep it up over 175.  I never found the wall, so I guess I m still working to easy on myself along the way.

I finished in under 1 hr 44 mins, still on 4.53 min / km pace so was very pleased and proud of myself.  But I still don't think I am aiming for a 3 hr 30 marathon - I just want to have fun on that day in November.

But the training is going really well for me, I am getting much faster and more comfortable and I can see how people get addicted to running.  It was fun today, pacing, passing, listening to some good music (and working out what needs to get dropped from my playlist - there are a few), getting a chill with some of my tunes (Pulp's 'This is Hardcore' is one of my alltime favourites and it came on with 3-4 km to go, just when I needed it, and around another couple of blokes I went).  Apparently, I was around the 20th woman to finish the event.  Very satisfied today :)