Week 13 - Final Saturday run

This was the big test. 5 days of stretches and glute-strengthening exercises in an attempt to ward off knee pain...

Our final Saturday run before the race was an 11km course which included the last part of next week's half-marathon. We joined the other CanToo pods from around the city and met at Hyde Park for a brisk start on a cold morning. It's crazy to think how the weather has changed over the lifetime of this programme. I remember starting out at 7:30am with sunscreen dripping off my face with sweat! Now we all stand around shivering before things take shape. It was something like 9 degrees celsius this morning..
I was given strict instructions by the coach to stop as soon as I felt any pain. This would minimise injury for race day at least.

The first part of the run involved a trip around Mrs Macquarie's chair - again! This will be the very final stage of the race so it's good to be sick of it. We then ran down through the CBD via King St., past all the dodgy characters hanging around outside pubs, past the stragglers making their way home after a big night and onto Pyrmont Bridge to cross Darling Harbour and head down to the Accenture building. It was a beautiful morning and the sights were enough to keep my mind off the running element for a while. I felt quite energetic and stayed with the group who are pacing for a 2 hr 30 min run on race day. My breathing was fine, I could keep a conversation going and I felt good.

Until I came back across Pyrmont Bridge, that is. I felt my quads tightening and knew what was coming next. By the time we reached half-way up King Street's hill my right knee started to twinge. By the time I reached Pitt Street I made a decision to stop. That was the 7km mark. I was so frustrated to have to stop. I knew it was the right decision, but I had so much more energy left in me and I would have been able to finish off the run. I laugh when I think how times have changed, and I'm frustrated I can 'only' run 7km....!!

I limped back to Hyde Park  where some of the faster gazelles were already finishing their run. They looked so happy! Dave looked very concerned but was happy I didn't push myself to injury. What a disaster of a morning. Pent up energy was still waiting to be released and I didn't even think I had earned a big breakfast afterwards with the others! Better to be safe than sorry. More stretches and bum exercises for the next week. On a positive note, the pain didn't set in this time until the 7th km, as opposed to after 1km the week before. Whatever I'm doing must be helping :-)

“Of all the stratagems, to know when to quit is the best”
Chinese Proverb

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Week 13 - Injury

No running this Wednesday for me. After my knee pain at the weekend I spoke to the coach who recommended seeing a physio. The best decision ever, I believe!

It turns out there are a couple of reasons for the knee pain. I don't appear to have any muscle strength in my glutes (bum) and this means I'm overworking my quads (muscles on the front of my thigh). So they in turn become too tight and pull my knee-cap upwards, causing friction and inflammation! Now it all makes sense. When one of the coaches told me to try to run with my glutes a few weeks back I could't make the connection between my brain and my bum muscles. I didn't know how to engage them. Of course I couldn't, if they weren't there in the first place! As well as that I'm apparently very flexible around my hips and this means my quads have to work harder to keep my body rigid and strong while I'm running. I'm literally not made for running. Who would have thought....?!

Luckily I've been given some glute-strenghtening exercises and stretches for my quads. Fingers crossed that these, coupled with some rest this week will help.

Week 12 - Tapering!

We were in Melbourne for a weekend so couldn't join the group on Saturday morning. But I cleverly (?) booked early flights back to Sydney so we could fit the run in on Sunday.
We're now 'tapering' which means we drop down to shorter distances so that we give our body time to recover. Yay! Because in fairness, that 18km run was quite a shock to the body. The next big run will be the race - 21km.

I don't know if it's a result of becoming a bit too cocky after doing an 18km run, or a good 5km time trial, but this 10km run turned out to be a lot harder than I expected. Dave and I set out together from our place and headed down to the harbour, along Cremorne Point and followed the Taronga Zoo route along the water. I expected it to be easy peasy seeing I had just completed such a massive run the week before, it wasn't raining and we were on a familiar route. I suppose it didn't help that my knees started to twinge with pain after about 1km...

I really really struggled with this run. The knee pain and mental pain took me by surprise. And I suppose you could say it took the spring out of my step. Thankfully Dave found it hard as well and later on I got reports that most of the team had found their Saturday run (albeit 11km) difficult too.

I sat on the couch feeling very sorry for myself afterward, with frozen sweetcorn on one knee and frozen peas on the other. The next day I found it difficult to walk up until around lunchtime so I started to worry a bit. Now is not the time to get an injury!!



"Education is the path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty.”
Mark Twain


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Week 12 - Final Time Trial

Our final time-trial! It was raining again on Wednesday and the track was closed. We went to Kirribilli instead, which I was excited about. But when I got there I was so disappointed to find out we were going to have to run across the dreaded Harbour Bridge! A nasty surprise.

Despite my initial negative projections, a run across the bridge a night time turned out to be a more exciting experience than during the day. The lights of the city and Circular Quay really made it a much nicer run than any other Saturday run. As it was a 5km TT, my pace was a bit quicker, so it didn't feel like I was on the bridge all that long. Thank God my attitude changed within the first five minutes, I've no doubt the excitement of running across the bridge at night helped shape the success of this time-trial.

On the way back, coming back up the Cahill Expressway hill onto the Bridge, I started to struggle a little. It's hard to keep a good pace on a hill, and harder to keep positive when you're slowing down! I joined one of the girls in my pace group, Celia, and stuck with her for the rest of the 5km. We maintained a really great speed and my final time was 29:30 mins. Compare that to my first time-trial 9 weeks ago, which was 40:28 mins!! I was exhausted and couldn't speak for a few minutes, but very proud of myself.


"You must start with a positive attitude or you will surely end without one. "
Carrie Latet


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Week 11 - Saturday 18KM RUN!!

The longest run we have to do before race day. I know it was only 2km up on last week’s long run, but still...! A nerve-wrecking morning, without a doubt. It was raining again, but nowhere as bad as last week. I feel like a seasoned runner now that I’m not put off by the rain!
The run out over the Harbour Bridge was the easiest so far. It would want to be after the amount of times we’ve run over it! As I ran up Macquarie Street and past Hyde Park, I remarked to one of my mates, Richard, that the first time I ran up this street on the first 6km run, I couldn’t make it to the 3km turnaround! We jogged on past that very spot where I had nearly fallen over with exhaustion and pain 

:-D

We ran down Art Gallery Road and around Mrs Macquarie’s chair AGAIN. This track is actually the final stage of the half-marathon, so it’s a good sign that I’m used to (sick of) running around it! When I get to the last few kms of the race, it will be great to have confidence in getting through the last bit! We ran around Farm Cove, around Sydney Harbour house (in the company of Cantoo founder Annie Crawford), around Circular Quay until I reached the Overseas Passenger Terminal. This was my 9km turnaround point. I had to remain focused on my goals and ignore all the other gazelles continuing on to their 10km turn around for their 20km run.

And so, back the way I came. I joined another group for this part of the run. Rob, the coach joined in for a while. I was glad - I started to really struggle on my way back around Farm Cove. I had to concentrate on my technique, which is hard when you start to feel heavy. I tried to channel a bit of Rob to do that! Copying his technique and listening to his advice on my posture and rhythm. Once I got around that seemingly endless cove, I got a spring back into my step. Up the hills again - I managed them well. I stopped for a quick cup of water outside the Art Gallery where one of the Cantoo ‘energy champions’ set up camp. I cheered up a bit when I saw Sarah coming running with white suds coming out of her knees. She hadn’t rinsed her joggers out properly and the rain was causing the suds to form. Ahhh, a good laugh is obviously all one needs to get momentum to go on!

The next few kilometres were really really hard. My knee had started to twinge and was getting quite painful. I struggled for at least 2km until I got up onto the Harbour Bridge. By this stage I was sick of this running and I wanted to be over. So Susannah (mentor) and I picked up our pace a bit and didn’t speak, just ran. Once we hit the half way mark of the bridge I decided a proper run (not job) was required! I’ve no idea where the energy or stamina came from, but I managed to finish at a great speed. I came in at 2:10 hrs! Again I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. I found it hard to walk, or talk for that matter. But what a feeling - I had just run 18km!!

"Impossible is a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools".  

Napoleon

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Week 10 - 16KM Run in the rain!!!!

We have run in the rain before now. There have been a few Saturdays where the odd shower came along and we were actually grateful to feel refreshed, especially on the warm days.

But this was rain like no other. Apparently it was the wettest April day Sydney had seen in ten years. It even warranted a Channel 7 news slot - one which we featured in! I remember running past the camera-man thinking what on earth would possess someone to stand in the rain at 7:30am to photograph Sydney Harbour on such a disgusting morning. For proof, just click here!

http://au.news.yahoo.com/video/national/248153/?q=rain Look for “Sydney Swamped By Rain (Apr 16th), and skip to 0:34 mins.

Torrential rain. From the start. I foolishly believed if I kept my feet dry, everything would be fine. Alas, they were saturated within 10 minutes, despite my best puddle-jumping efforts. We ran to the other end of Luna Park and back first to get a quick 2km in before heading up through the hills of Kirribilli. Running up hills with wet heavy shoes and socks is a miserable feeling! The fact that there were another 30+ people ‘in the same boat’ must have contributed to my self-reassurance that running in torrential rain and gale winds was not a sign of madness. Or maybe we were all mad that morning.

The rain finally eased - near the 7km turning point! To look on the positive side we reassured ourselves that at least if it rained on race day, we wouldn’t be at risk of being put off. PMA. Positive Mental Attitude! As for me, this run turned out to be one of my best ones yet. I took on the hills really well and my mind was positive and strong. It also helped that I had borrowed a ‘fuel belt’ to carry water with me around my waist and knocked back a couple of Gu Chomps. I took off on my own on the way back and I came in at around 01:50 hrs. The hardest part was trying to keep focused and positive as Dave overtook me on the last big hill into Kirribilli (he was in the faster group that did 18km that morning). It was hard to ignore the fact that he had run an extra 2km and passed me on a steep hill about 1km from the end! But that’s another lesson to be learned for the race. Focus on your own efforts and not on everyone else around you!


“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
Oscar Wilde

Week 10 - Wednesday Interval Training

Daylight savings is over and the clocks have gone back. Which means in some ways it’s easier to run on Wednesday nights because the sun is no longer shining down on us and draining our energy before we even run! At the same time, the prospect of going out to run on a dark cold night is not as appealing as bright summer evening training was.


Track this week was 6 x 800m with a 400m jogging recovery. As in, 2 laps of the field, followed by one slow jog around the field - six times! I can definitely see the improvement I have made now. Stopping to walk is definitely not an option, I rarely finish up in a panting state and I don’t mind the recovery jog (as in I’m not trying to get out of it by walking anymore).

The long runs at the weekend are obviously helping to build up my stamina and that’s a big part of running. My fitness levels are slowly becoming more obvious, so stamina and strength of mind are what require some exercising now!

"Positive anything is better than negative thinking. "

Elbert Hubbard

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