Monday 21 March – Not much lighter this week, but I will blame hormones for that.  I did some walking and I got to my 90 min yoga class – I did pretty well, so I will try a level 2 class soon.  I’ll see how the timetable looks.  I also plan to get to the Lululemon free classes tomorrow and Wednesday night – I’ll see how hard it is to get a park in town for those.  We did go in to see the new store yesterday – quite exciting to see everything in the flesh instead of online as I have been for the last 2 years.  I have bought online, and have followed Lulul on Facebook for over a year, so have been very aware of what they offer.  Goodness, my shorter running playlist is one that Lulu had on their website!!!! 

Tuesday – Yoga class 1 hour ashtanga complementary class at Lululemon Athletica in the city.
http://www.cancer.org.au/Newsmedia/mediareleases/mediareleases2011/
22March2011.htm
scary statistics about the growth in Bowel cancer rates – but we can protect ourselves and our loved ones.   Awareness is all we need.  Get a kit if you are around 40 or older.  Do a poo.  Send it off to be tested.  A bit gross, but easy. 
http://www.continence.org.au/news.php/44/bowel-cancer-screening-saves-lives

http://www.theage.com.au/national/too-late-but-sufferer-praises-bowel-screening-program-20110321-1c3v6.html
For the sake of paying $40 at the chemist, we can take responsibility for our own health.  We just need to know we can do, and where to get them.

Wednesday - Yoga class level 2.  Wow.  Hard, aggressive standing poses (done before, but these had attitude!), hand stands, head stands (first time!), shoulder stands, didn’t quite manage the bent arm stand.  I’m all shakey after that.  It was good, but hard.  Still plan on a wet run later- it is pouring down.

Owwww.  I put my new orthotics in my shoes.  They hurt before I got to the end of the street but I persisted.  Brave and strong, you see.  By the time I got to the top of the hill (20 mins or so), my left foot was so raw I had to stop and take the orthotic out, meaning I was running with a leg length difference and no inner on the left.  Not good.  Raw patches on both feet, and a really sore left buttock from running unevenly.  Silly.  And it rained.

On a brighter note, my new Lululemon Run: Record Breaker crops were great – snug and sleek and comfy.  I will end up with another pair by the end of the winter, I am sure.

Also on a very exciting note, I was contacted today by Tiffany at the Jodi Lee Foundation.   Turns out my shopping expedition on Sunday and Monday at Morrison (www.morrisonshop.com) has yielded good results other than my lovely new tops and jacket (I had to do it) and the addition to their bottom line.  Morrison supported the foundation at the Little Black Dress party / launch in January and when I was speaking to my friend behind the counter, she said she would contact the manager about some sponsorship.  A VIP event will now be held at the shop on Rundle St on April 13th!!  I have been checking out the rest of the clothes online, and I think some pants could be in order by then.

After yoga and a run, I then went back to Lululemon in town for a complementary Pilates class with Antje.  A good stretch, and a reminder to use my abs!!

Thursday – still without a car.  Long work day, including running and participating in the pregnancy ball class.  SLSq and clams and stretching.  Trying to make nice after the bad run yesterday, but at least walking in normal shoes is no problem as the blisters are up in the arch of my foot – it doesn’t normally touch the bottom of the shoe.

Friday – still no car.  Ride to work and school, picnic, walk home.  Was planning a run, but Charlie went out, and I am pretty tired…

Saturday – a quick run up to work with my 6 year old (literally – we ran) so I could see a couple of patients, then we were off to Little Athletics for the morning.  After some lunch, we did a family hike at Morialta for 6.3 km in 1hr 40 mins with 3 kids aged 6,7 and 8.  They did good.  So, my 6 year old exercised more than me today, as she competed in the 700m, 100m, 60m hurdles, long jump and discus.  Oh, and I picked up my car!!!

Sunday – I got out for a run.  This time, up the Parade to Penfold Rd, up to Kensi Rd, up Hallett Rd, down Greenhill Rd to King William, through town to Rundle Mall / St, to Beulah Rd and home.  18 km, 1 hr 45 mins, pace 5.50 km/min average, 10.3 km / hr average.  I didn’t feel good, but I checked my stats when I got onto Beulah rd and saw that I was still averaging 10.2 km/hr and had just done 17 km.  I decided to keep pushing up the very slight but leg sapping hill home to keep the average up, and finish on the even round figure of 18km.

My plan for the next week or so is to do a 10km time trial, so I can get some more pace targets.  I think I am ready for that now.   I also weighed in this morning at 15 kg lost in 11 weeks.  Yay.

 Luca then wanted to go to Waterfall Gully this afternoon.  I wanted a nap, really.  But off to Waterfall Gully, for the walk up Mt Lofty.  I kept suggesting we could just go to Cleland and then go back down, even get a milkshake not from the top café but from somewhere on the way home.  No, he says, I really want the sense of achievement in going all the way to the top.  OK.  He got an icecream, I had a coffee (should mean I am awake til 8.30 at any rate) and we went back down.  11.5 km trip.  It means my legs have taken me over 30 km today  ;-)

This is the one way track.  We came down the same way.

Monday 14th March 2011
My longest run to date.  My lightest weigh in to date.  I am now weighing what I did when I finished school (including the exam weight gain), so I think I am probably a bit fitter than then.  Certainly my head is different.
My goal today was to try to do a longer run and break through the 15 km mental barrier.  And to mix it up, I included a few hills, because I am crazy.  I ran up Glynburn Rd again, but kept going to the very top, down Dashwood, up Sunnyside, down Gilles, across to Pridmore then down to Portrush / Cross Rd.  Along Cross Rd to Duthy St, to South Tce, to East Tce, through the park (Clipsal car race will be this week, so I just skirted around the southern edge of the race course), along Alexandra Ave to Giles St, William St, Phillips St and home.  17.88 km of running, in 1 hr 47.  Average pace of 9.8 km/hr, 6.08 mins / km.  It was up and down hill for the first hour, then I settled onto the flat, with a slight incline home again from town.  My phone tells me my max speed was 21 km/hr!!!  I’m not sure how I would manage that other than by throwing my phone.  Some of the downhills were steep, and I felt good in bits of it, and I ran fast across roads, but really!!!  Once again, the first hour was really comfortable but that chages pretty fast in the second hour, especially when I am still quite a way from home.  But even when I felt I was plodding and slow as I ran across the race course, I was still doing 9.5 km/hr.  So I am continuing to get faster.
I am tired and my legs are heavy, but I did a good quads session.
My left knee continues to wake me every night, I got up for an hour last night to try to settle it, and took some panadol, but it continues to be fine when I run.  I could be over pronating on the left, so will order some foam orthotics this week and see if that helps.  Then make an appointment to see Nigel Rowe to get real ones made if that is the way to go.  For the knee – I must do more gluteus medius work (hip external rotators, mainly).

Tuesday – work, groceries, kids.  Call it a rest?

Wednesday – a gentle 30 min run to get out some cobwebs.  My car is in for a service, so I also rode my bike around a bit, and a massage.   The run was a mainly slightly uphill, 30 minute, 5 km (6.05 min/km) steady jog.  A recovery run, as I am still feeling tight from Monday’s ride.  I will be on my bike for transport for the next week or so, but will keep most trips very local, as I did today (norwood, burnside, school, will add work to the list).  The car race is on this week, so there are lots of road closures, and I am not very upset to be unable to fight the traffic this week.  The massage itself was ok – I think I will give her another go before I am too negative.

Thursday – work, kids – another rest day?

Friday – another rest day

Saturday – 25 mins yoga and a Strong Core Class at work.  Hmmm, lots of rest days this week.  I have been feeling a little flat and sluggish, and my kid week is always that much busier.  I have been on my bike each day to get a round, so that has done a little leg strength work, and I have been very diligent with my left SLSq with maximal ER and my clams to try to improve my control of my left knee.  I am also taking voltaren 3 times per day, and I am taking antibiotics after seeing the GP on Wednesday for an ingrown hair (seriously!).

Sunday – I went for a run!  80 mins, 13 km, not setting the world on fire.  Humid heavy air this morning.  I felt good running downhill (who doesn’t?), but sluggish in the flat and slower again on the slight incline all the way home.  I was on my feet all night at a party wearing heels – could that account for it?  Or just the fact I had a slack week, and they always seem to make you feel tireder anyway?  But on reflection, I did run over 3.5 hours this week, so perhaps it wasn’t really so slack, after all.

I had a couple of conversations with experienced distance runners over the weekend and it was interesting to hear what they said.  One friend who is a bit younger than me, very much lighter, male and has run several marathons insisted that I should do a bigger run – 45 – 50 km around 6-8 weeks before the marathon just to show myself that I can.  So then I will be able to enjoy the race day all the more, having already done that distance and more in the past.  I wasn’t convinced – I reckon just being in New York will be pretty inspiring, having 45,000 people running and many more than that cheering along the way will egg me on, and a bit of that bloody mindedness that I am known for will probably see me through (along with a good training program).  The other guy I spoke to was considerably older than me – around 60 years old and regularly competing in Ironman events (3.8 km swim, 180 km bike, 42 km run) including New Zealand a few weeks ago.  He said first off, don’t do junk km – long km for no good reason.  He never runs longer than 2.5 hours and thought any more than that risks injury.  I must say, this opinion sat better with me, as a runner without much background, being a little older, and being heavier.  He also recommended finding out my VO2 estimates to get my pace – I will do that before my program starts in July.  There are a few websites around that will calculate it from a 10km run time.  http://www.brianmac.co.uk/vo2max.htm

Monday March 7th - A bit of a crazy busy recovery day.  I went down to WestLakes this morning, the first day of the Australian Rowing Championships, where I was to be volunteering my time and hands as a physio.  Whilst the organizer was expecting me, not many others were, so after a couple of hours of seeing no one, I made it to my yoga class – the first one in a month.  It was lovely!!   Some house work, then off to work, then another movie.

Tuesday – a short (2.5 km) jog to a free yoga class put on by Lululemon (who are about to open their first store in Adelaide!!).  It was obviously pretty close by, some different moves to what I normally do in my Iyengar class and a warm walk home in the rain.  My left knee is still very sore and waking me at night, so I will get more physio on it.  I have a massage booked for tomorrow, and had chiro today, everything else is feeling good, but I need to get on top of these knees.

Wednesday – I went down to Westlakes again today to see some rowing and rowing people, and did a run before I socialized.  A lap of the lake, following the coaches path to the causeway and then a loop of the rowing course – 11.2 km, 67 mins, pace 6.02 mins / km, so just shy of the 10 km/hr mark, again!!
http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/29363580
After coming home and walking to the shops andback, it was time for a hike with Charlie – up to Waterfall Gully via the Pingara spur trail to Cleland, across to the main Mt Lofty track to the summit, to the waterfalls and car park and back down the road to where we left the car.  1 hr 47, 10.4 km.  I’ll add a link from Charlie’s Garmin site.  My massage was rescheduled for  next week – d’oh!!!

Thursday – long day at work, but did start with 40 mins of yoga from a podcast at home, and finished with my preggie exercise class at work.  So I have stretched and limbered and worked my legs a bit, in a good way.  My knee was better last night, but sore today.  Flat out for all of us at work, so reluctant to block time off for me, but I am getting to the point where I need help with it – I am not self managing it well enough but 3 yoga sessions in 4 days might get me on track….

Friday – 25 mins self directed yoga (amazing how you can put a quick program together when you do a few consecutive sessions!), a work day and a 4 km walk with kids to the shops.  Let’s call it a recovery day.

Saturday – To fit everything in, I had to get up at 6 (no!!) to do my run – I decided that hill sprints was a good idea, in an effort to get some leg speed up.  I ran to Glynburn rd again, but just did the Glynburn Rd - Moore Rd to Cooper Pl segment 4 times.  My run there was faster than 2 weeks ago (22 mins vs nearly 30 mins), I did my 4 reps (struggled with the last one and calling them ‘sprints’ is generous, but I certainly got up to max HR, which is the idea).  I then jogged home, same route as last time, and for the very first time, did a 62 minute session with an average pace of 5.55mins / km.  Turns out, my sprints must have been a bit fast.  My elevation map also shows the extent to which the entire journey to my start point is up hill (and the entire run home is downhill), with my 4 little pimple bumps on the top.  Hard session, and 2 hours later my legs are still feeling very worked.  Good feeling
iMapMyRun: 12/03/2011 7:41 AM

Sunday – family day (I was going to call it a rest day as I did no specific training.  But I can’t call it a rest day.

Monday 28th February
This is not really my first week, but I need to start somewhere.  I have been training for 7 weeks now, but have not recorded my training sessions.  I have been running 2-3 per week, for 60 – 90 mins, trying to increase my speed.  I did a 12 km run yesterday in which I did some hill sprints for the first time – 4 reps up Glynburn Rd, down Cooper Pl, Up Cooper Pl, down Glynburn Rd.  After looking at my trail afterwards (via MapMyRun), my Coopers Pl legs, which felt shorter and flatter, were a bit remarkably so – I need to go much further down the road next time!!
Mondays are becoming a yoga / recovery day as a rule, but today I didn’t even get to my yoga class.  In fact, I have only been twice.  Just as well I am calling this week ‘week one’, so I have a chance to improve my stats.

In my 7 weeks of training so far, I have lost nearly 11 kg (by being very strict with my diet as well) and planning on losing another ten kg by the time the big run comes along.  I’m planning on losing another 7 from here for my regular training.  That weight puts me at the weight I was when I turned 16, so I’ll see how I go maintaining that.  At least the physical activity levels I have planned for the year will help.

Tuesday – the kids have gymnastics for 90 mins, so I load Luca’s bike onto the back of the car so he can accompany me as I run from Walkerville along the Torrens through town to the weir and return.  I first did this route 2 weeks ago, on a warm day (35 degrees or so), and felt very flat.  Most of the last 30 minutes of it I wanted to stop and walk, but I kept plugging away.  Today, with my chatterbox 8 year old son, I was not holding out for any particular speed.  Just the chance to do a run.  It was a milder day (23 degrees), and although I still felt flat and slow and distracted, I was surprised to see my stats at the end – my 12.12 km in 73 minutes meant that my pace was my fastest yet (6.04 mins / km), averaging 9.9 km per hour.  If only I had looked at my phone towards the end – I could have  tipped that up to the magic mark!!  

My goals as I go along are to get over 10 km per hour for my typical runs, to do the city – bay fun run in September in under an hour (that’ll be 12 km / hr or better), and of course, run that marathon!!

Wednesday – a bike ride, as I have the Coast to Coast ride from Glenelg to Victor Harbour to do on Sunday.  I have done 4 rides now in the last month -  55 km flat mountain bike ride, a 72 km flat road ride, a 55 km hill ride last Wednesday and another 53 km hill ride today (much hillier today than last week).  2.5 hrs, so it was very slow, but it was also very hilly – I even had to stand up out of my seat for 4 sections of uphill to keep going!

Very exciting today, though – my bright orange asics official ‘ING New York City Marathon Training 2011’ t shirt arrived!!  It fits, and I will wear it proudly, and secretly wishing the writing on it was bigger so I can show it off to the world!!!  


Thursday – a work and rest day.  Booked a massage for next week, though.

Friday – a short run after work and a Dr appointment with Milla – just 28 mins, 5.5 km, record (!) pace of 5.22 mins / km (11.3 km /hr).  Much better than a month or so ago, and so augers well for more pace as I keep training.  Good also just to do a short run –  for the last month every run has been at least an hour, so it was nice to force myself to run faster, safe in the knowledge that I was not going to get stranded miles from home.  Felt good, and treated ourselves to a trip to the movies afterwards, where although my left knee is sore, I didn’t completely cramp up!!

Saturday – Strong Core ball class, and rest.  Bike ride tomorrow.

Sunday - A gorgeous Adelaide autumn day of 32 degree forecast. I headed off at 7.30 to get to the top of Portrush Rd and pick up the rest if the back coming from the beach. When I got there, the lane closure was already in effect and plenty of other people had the same idea as me (starting from somewhere in town other than Glenelg) and were heading up the hill. So I didn't need to stop and wait. The ride felt good. I stopped at each of the 4 rest stops to top up on water and I collected a couple of the ‘shotz’ carb gel things to try out at the meadows stop.
Around the 85 km mark I felt really flat and couldn't get my groove at all, so had one of the gels. Sickly sweet with a jelly consistency, it was gross but sat well. Of course, as soon as I had put the empty packet in my pocket I saw the sign that said refreshment stop 500 m!!  I could have managed with Powerade and water and kept the gel to try when I was running (which was my plan).
I picked up a couple of bunches along the way - or they picked me up and I got dragged along in the second half of the group. Amazing at times - cruising along at 45km/hr on the flat, going up hills still on the big cog, and I am not as awful at climbing as I always think I am. I guess that's what happens when you always train alone - no benchmark except for the faster people that pass you.
The last climb into victor harbor was cruel- it kept stepping up and up and up, but I felt great knowing it was the last one, and that I was nearly done :) I finished at Victor in 4 hrs 17 mins, which was my time from home, so includes my stop to remove my long sleeved top below Eagle on the Hill and my 4 drink and toilet breaks. According to MapMyRide, I averaged a little over 26km/hr, which I was really pleased with, especially considering I took an hour to do my first 17km, and 2 hrs to get to 45 km. My knee felt good, my feet were fine (last time I rode 100km my feet were burning with pain at the 70-80km mark), my shoulders and bum were numb at times and my left hand kept getting pins and needles, but I felt good.
Lunch, a sit down on the grass in the shade, shoes off, and I was feeling great. Not so great that I wanted to join my friend Neil in a ride back home again, though!! My 4 training rides in the 4 weeks leading up to this weekend was just the right amount of training, and I feel good that I can do 4 hrs without being written off. Running is entirely different to riding, but I did do a lot of the ride at a good pace, and at a working heartrate. Running for 4 hours will be harder, but I am confident I can build up the stamina and strength to do it.