6/10/09: 3.2M @ 9min/mile (28m40s)

On the ipod - Take That Greatest Hits (cheesy but good!)

Time - early morning run before work

Weather - cool under cloud, but warm in the sun

Route - over Bridge, turned at 15 mins

28/9/09 - 4/10/09: Weekly summary

3 runs, 12.5 miles

1 x easy
1 x speed
1 x long/tempo

No extras

Shoes - 201

4/10/09: 6.4M @ 9m10s (58.5mins)

On the ipod - Pablo Honey, Radiohead

Weather - cool, cloudy, heavy rain in last part of run

Route - over bridge, Botanics & back. Turn point just before Art Gallery NSW

Notes - spring has sprung in the gardens - duck & ducklings crossed path in front of me, swallows swooping to protect their nests, jacarinda blossom starting to appear

Pace - out in 30 mins, back in 28.5 mins; ended up going faster than intended after keeping a slow & steady pace at beginning. First third done at good long run pace, second two thirds more like tempo pace

1/10/09: 3M Speed

Skipped a run yesterday as had very long day on Tuesday (in Melbourne for work - early start, late finish) and was feeling pretty puggled for most of yesterday.

Had time to fit it in today though, and did speed session at gym, which I really enjoyed.

1.6km warm up
200m fast, walk recovery
300m fast, walk recovery
300m fast, walk recovery
200m fast, walk recovery
200m fast, walk recovery
1.4km steady - actually kept up quite a good speed on this

Total time 29mins10s, including walking as part of warm up, so pretty pleased with that.

28/9/09: 3.1M @ 9m20s (29 mins)

Bit pushed for time so run slightly shorter than would have liked, but still a good one. Bit faster than meant to go but walked home via shops so got good cool down

20/9/09 - 27/9/09: Weekly Summary

4 runs - 12.6 miles
- 2 easy runs
- 1 speed session
- 1 hill session

Plus one swim

Good week after half marathon last week.

Shoes - 189 miles

27/9/09: 4M @ 9m45 (39 mins)

Up early(ish) today for run as had lunch plans with a friend.

Good to be out and about before 10am, decided to go up to Military Road via Ben Boyd Road. Could have run further but as this is hilly route, and as this was post-race recovery week, decided best not to push it too much. Also thought useful to do as a benchmark time.

Out in 21 mins, back in 18 - reflection of the hills!

Strong wind which was pretty refreshing - was warm when the wind wasn't blowing.

25/9/09: 3M Speed Session

1M warm up @ 10 min / mile ave
400M fast, walking recovery for ~ 1 min - twice
300M fast, walking recovery for ~ 1 min - twice
3/4M steady / cool down @ 10 min / mile ave

Total = 3 miles in 28m50s

Re-read speed training tips in my running book recently and realised I'd been overdoing it in my speed sessions over last month or two. Normally I 'recover' by jogging, but that inevitably means I get slower and slower with every fast bit. Basically I haven't been letting my body recover enough. So today I walked between sprints and it made a big difference - I felt I was just as strong by the end as at the beginning, and felt like I was building speed instead of just draining myself.

Went after work (Friday) which meant I felt nice and virtuous in the pub later!

24/9/09: 3.2 M @ 9m45s (31 mins)

Easyish run, still a little bit stiff after weekend's race. Over bridge and back. Couldn't really be bothered and almost talked myself out of going, but glad to have done it (as always!)

Stretched a bit after my shower, but really, really need to start doing longer sessions

22/09/09: 2.4M @ 10 min (24 mins)

Although my legs were still pretty stiff today, I thought I'd try a gentle run. Took it very easy and only did a few miles, but good to get the legs moving again and although a bit sore to begin with, once I was warmed up, I felt fine.

Was p'ing with rain for the whole time, but after a hot day today, it was lovely to run in that.

Must stretch more...

21/09/09: Swim

30 lengths x 17m (510m) swim today. Took it quite easy.

Good to get muscles into water after half marathon - very sore and tight today but swim helped to ease off a bit

14/9/09 - 20/9/09: Weekly Summary

3.3 M plus Half Marathon (16.4 total)
Plus 1 swim

Shoes - 178 miles

20/9/09: Sydney Half Marathon, 1h49m22s

Up at 6am (yuck) for half marathon, thankfully the start line is only 5 mins from the flat! Didn't get as much sleep last night as I'd have liked (less than 6 hours) and only managed to grab a slice of melon & some water for breakfast, so not as well fuelled as I'd normally like to be before running 13 miles!

Still, the pale early morning sun gave the harbour a beautiful calm and pearly sheen and as I had Muse's new album on my iPod ready for a first listen, I was quite looking forward to the race.

Started ok as we headed over the harbour bridge and into the city. Felt I was going a little too quickly so tried to pull back a bit as the km's passed by. Despite the early start, it was still a warm morning and so I took advantage of every water station, taking on lots of water, sports drink when it was offered and a few cups of water over my head to keep me cool. Got to the 1/3 stage at 7km quite comfortably but the middle stretch was a bit less enjoyable. Started to feel hungry and slightly weak and my old left pelvis-hip injury started to twinge a bit at around 11km, which had me feeling like it was going to be a long run-in.

Thankfully the second half of the course is more downhill than up - not that there were any horror hills anywhere, but still, every little helps. Got to the 2/3 mark at 14km feeling like I was through the hardest bit, the pain in my left leg had eased off a little and I was just about managing to stay on track for my target time of 1h50m.

By the time the last 3 or 4kms came round, I was feeling pretty good and as the course reached its final few kms weaving round the harbour foreshore, I started to put my foot down a little bit, getting to the finish line in 1.49.22 - very pleased with that, especially as at 11km I'd pretty much told myself to forget my time goal!

A special thanks to the Muse boys for both the new album (first two listens = thumbs up) but also for old classic Plug In Baby which gave me a real energy boost at the end!

All in all, not the most comfortable race I've ever done and I think a few more long runs in training and more strength / core training sessions would have helped, especially with the pelvic injury - my whole left leg is hurting quite badly now! But still, not bad to come in 429th of 2811 female racers!

Splits:

1km: 5m46
2km: 4m58
3km: 4m43
4km: 5m09
5km: 5m19
6km: 5m00
7km: 5m24
8km: 5m16
9km: 6m13
10km: 4m59
11km: 5m06
12km: 6m09
13km: 5m00
14km: 5m20
15km: 5m02
16km: 5m03
17km: 5m17
18km: 5m00
19km: 4m48
20km: 4m27
21km: 4m57
0.1km: 0m19s

Average pace per km: 5m12s (= 8m25s per mile)

18/09/09: Swim

45 lengths @ 18m lengths

Enjoyable Friday afternoon swim after busy week at work and before heading to the pub for cocktails!

16/9/09: 3.3M @ 9min/mile (30 mins)

Hot day today, and still v warm / humid when went out this evening. Tried to take it fairly easy as just a holding run before half marathon on Sunday.

7/9/09 - 13/9/09: Weekly Summary

13.25 miles inc last long run before half marathon
Plus one gym & swim session

Muscles feeling a bit sore, esp lower back and bum - need to do more stretching & strengthening.

Shoes - 161 miles

12/09/09: 9.25M @ 9m45s (90mins)

Only mad dogs, Englishmen and runners who need to get a long run done go out in heat like today. Must have been close to 30 degrees and I had to do my run in the middle of the day. Not pleasant.

First half was ok, but by the end I was seriously struggling and desperate to finish!

Still, it's done now and I can rest up a bit before next week's Sydney half marathon

9/9/09: Gym & swim

No run this time as wanted to do a bit more weights and want to save legs for a long run at the weekend.

20 mins in the gym, mostly upper body, then 15 mins swimming. Enjoyed the swim, very relaxing and I can feel my form getting a lot better now that I'm swimming regularly again.

8/9/09: 4M @ 8m20s (33m20)

Didn't mean to go quite so quickly on this run, in fact was quite surprised to get to my turn point at entrance to Botanics in 16min20. Took it a bit easier on return split (17 min) but it was still fast.

Needed a good stretch afterwards. Good feeling now!

31/8/09 - 6/9/09: Summary

12.75 miles including long run
1 gym / swim session

Less than planned but not bad given amount of travelling done this week. Would have done another run when in Melbourne but forgot to take my running vest! Irritating as I'd dragged my shoes and so on with me.

Shoes - 148 miles

2 weeks to go till Sydney Half M

6/9/09: 7.75 miles @ 9m40s (74 mins)

Long overdue long run!

Harbour Bridge - Botanics - Kings Cross & back. Weather good - cool breeze - ran just before sunset - beautiful views especially of sunset on way back over bridge. Run was fine - took it v easy and kept steady pace. Bit of lower back / glute stiffness now, tried to stretch it out, but think just because of lack of running this week / lack of recent long runs.

2/9/09: Run / gym / swim

15 mins run, 5 mins warm up, 6 mins sprint intervals, 4 mins warm down, 2.6km total
10 mins upper body / core exercises
40 lengths @ pool - 680m - 20mins or so

31/8/09: 3.5M @ 8m30s (35mins)

Neutral Bay Hills and back, really tough run, had to drag myself out the door in the first place as LONG day at work and really just wanted to collapse in a heap on the couch. Ran faster than I meant to but that seems to happen when I'm in need of destressing from work!

Glad to have done it, especially after skipping long run yesterday. Also know this week is going to be tricky to fit things in as got lots of travel on, so good to get at least one run under the belt!

24/8/09 - 30/8/09: Summary

11.25 miles
plus one gym & swim session
long run skipped (2 weeks in a row - very bad!)

28/8/09: 3M @ 8mins55s (26.75 mins)

Aiming for a fairly slow pace but ended up a wee bit quicker than planned. Ran along front of harbour, past Luna Park and up steps. Out in 13.5, back in 13.25.

27/8/09: 4M @ 8.1 mins (32.5mins)

Stressy day at work = felt the need to run off steam = pretty damn fast run!

Over H Bridge to Botanics & back, felt pretty good on way out but lungs bursting on the return leg. Outward split - 15.5 mins, back split 17 mins.

26/8/09: Run / gym / swim

15 mins treadmill / 2.6km
- 5 mins warm-up
- 2 repeats of 2 mins fast / 1 min slow
- 4 mins steady

10 mins weights - arms & legs

15 mins swim

24/8/09: 2.75M @ 9.25mins (25m30s)

Dragged myself out today after missing scheduled long run yesterday (hungover!) Bit of an effort and I ran quicker than I should've, given how crap I was feeling. But probably good to have done it.

Out in 12 mins 30, back in 13 mins

17/8/09 - 23/8/09: Summary

13.5 miles
2 x gym & swim sessions
Planned long run not done

Shoes - 133 miles

Quite a big week, definitely needed couple of rest days at end of week but shame not to do the longer run at the weekend after too much excess on Sat!

20/08/09: 2.5M @ 10.00 (25mins)

West along the foreshore towards McMahon's Point & back again

Had to fit in run before work this morning as thought I had something on this evening (only to find out later I don't after all!) Oh well, was good to get it done anyway!

Tried to run as easy as possible today as conscious of muscles tightening up a bit at moment and need to avoid overdoing it. Harder than it sounds (for me anyway) as I have a real tendency to run at a medium-hard pace as it's just what I'm comfortable with. Don't like running slowly as feel like I'm jogging not running and it's an effort to hold myself back.

Anyway, did ok today and decided to keep it short at 2.5 miles.

Now for a few days rest before a long run on Sunday...

19/8/09: Run / gym / swim

Another session at the gym today:

15 mins run (2.4K)
- 5 mins warm up
- 2 repeats of 2 mins uphill, 1 min down hill
- 4 mins steady

15 mins weights

15 mins swim

Muscles still a bit achy from the session 2 days ago and starting to feel tired from all the exercise this week, so need to watch don't overdo it. Will run easy tomorrow as planned and then have a couple of rest days scheduled.

Signed up for half marathon on 20 Sep and 10K in October, so those are my targets for rest of this year's 'running season'.

18/8/09: 4M (34.5 mins)

Harbour Bridge / Botanics entrance & back

Split 1 - 17 mins 30
Split 2 - 17 mins

17/8/09: Run / gym / swim

"Strength sandwich" today:

15 mins treadmill run
- 5 mins warm up
- 2 mins fast & 1 min slow x 2 repeats
- 4 mins steady

15 mins weights

15 mins swim

16/8/09: 4M (35 mins)

Across Harbour Bridge, extending on to entrance to Botanics, then back.

Out in 17min45, back in 17min15

28 degrees today so ran once it was dark and cooler!

Shoes - 125 miles to date

10/8/09 - 16/8/09: Summary

Post race recovery week

6.75 miles plus one session at gym

14/8/09: 2.75M (25.5mins)

First run post City 2 Surf.

Decided to keep it short and simple. Ran across the Harbour Bridge to the end of the walkway and then back. Touched halfway in 12m.30 and then took 13mins on way back (poss due to waiting for traffic lights!)

Will see if I can shave some time off this over next few weeks as thinking my next race might be a 10K and I'd like to get my speed up.

13/8/09: Stretch 'n' Tone (!)

After City 2 Surf exploits, thought I'd give my muscles a bit of a rest this week so no running so far. Decided to go to "Stretch & Tone" class at my gym which is quite gentle but gets in a few strength-building exercises too. I'm rubbish at stretching usually and almost never stretch either before or after running (bad, bad, bad), which is no doubt why I'm so inflexible that I can no longer touch my toes!

Anyway, the class was good and I figure if I can get to that most weeks that will be better than nothing stretching-wise...

9/8/09: City to Surf 14K (71m 20s)

Up at 7am today to get ready for the City to Surf.

At the start area by 8.30, long wait till the start of our group at approx 9.15. Weather has taken a turn for the cold here so kept jacket & jogging bottoms on for as long as poss before giving to K (who had retired due to injury!).

75,000 entrants this year so a pretty good atmosphere, really enjoyed the whole race and was especially pleased with my time of 71mins 20secs, which is a lot quicker than I'd expected!

Splits as follows:

Km 1-4, 21m37s
Km 5, 4m27s
Km 6, 5m18s
Km 7, 6m07s (Heartbreak Hill!)
Km 8, 5m02s
Km 9, 4m23s
Km 10, 5m28s
Km 11, 5m16s
Km 12, 4m40s
Km 13, 3m59s
Km 14, 4m55s

Met up with K and a few friends at the end, fortified with a bacon & egg roll before heading to the pub for a few beers and good chat. A good day!

PS: according to official results, I was in top 16% of all runners, top 5% of all female runners and top 6% of all female runners in my age group. Not bad!!

5/8/09: 4K (24mins)

Interval run at gym today, a little bit shorter than usual as saving legs for Sunday's race.

1km warm up - ave 10km/hr
400m @ 14km/hr then 200m slow jog / walk - 3 repeats
200m @ 15km/hr then 100m slow jog / walk - 2 repeats
600m cool down - ave 10km/hr

Felt quite good afterwards, glad to have done it. Probably won't run again till Sunday now.

2/8/09: 5.5-6M (56 mins)

Harbour Bridge-Botanics & back

Today was my first run for about 10 days and last chance to get a decent distance under my belt before next week's City to Surf (14km including "Heartbreak Hill" which is apparently a killer).

I didn't get out of the door till early afternoon, by which time the temperature was up to the hot part of the day. I didn't feel like tackling the Neutral Bay hills I usually do, so decided to head out over the Harbour Bridge and then on to the Botanic Gardens, a route I'd done before and knew was both pretty, relatively flat and not too busy with other people.

I turned round at the 30 min mark, feeling okay although I really should have taken water with me as I was probably a bit dehydrated. Unfortunately by about 45 mins, the lack of training over the last few weeks started to make itself known and I could feel my left knee starting to twinge, followed a few minutes later by my right ankle - not good!

I kept on till the end of the Harbour Bridge (56 mins) and then decided to walk the final bit home, which is probably sensible in terms of cooling down anyway. Handily there's a water fountain just there, which was much needed!!

So, not feeling as prepared for next week as I'd like to be, but feel I've got enough in the tank to make it round in one piece, which is the main thing!

Introduction

I've been running on and off since 2002. On my very first run I could barely manage 5 minutes before I felt like I was going to die. But within 6 months I'd run my first 10K race in just about an hour, a year later I ran my first half marathon in 2hrs 20 mins and a year after that, I ran my first marathon in 4hrs 30mins.

Since then I've had ups and downs, run lots more 10Ks, half marathons, 10 miles, random distances and one more marathon (Paris, 2008). This year (2009) I've managed to keep up a steady pattern of running a couple of times a week, ran the Sydney half marathon in a respectable 1hr52 and am hoping to get another one under my belt in October.

This blog is where I'll keep a record of my training from now on; it's meant to be a way for me to keep track of my progress, give me a bit of motivation and, hopefully, share my experiences with others, runners and non-runners alike.