Rain this morning, so FD#1 and I opted for a sleep in. I know I’ll regret this later, missing out on clocking more km’s for me and I will be watching FD#1 bouncing around tonight full of beans! A sleep in is lovely, but a missed opportunity is gone. I can’t make it up, and if I lose it due to being slack I have no room for losing the opportunity later in the week due to no cause of my own. I think I’d better get better at getting out of bed on time!
Today’s training was a 50-60 minute long run at 74-80% heart rate. One way of calculating your maximum heart rate (though not the most accurate) is to take your age away from 220. So based on the gut wrenching fact that I am 43 next week, my maximum heart rate is 177. To run at 74-80% meant I had to keep my heart rate at between 128 and 138. This is so hard! It means I had to run so, so slow that I was thankful it was dark! I must admit that when I ran into the light (traffic lights or street lights) I did run a little faster; I couldn’t look too slow! I felt like I was almost running on the spot, but any time I took bigger steps, my heart rate went too high. So, small steps I made (just like Cliff) and I managed to get around the 60minutes with an average heart rate of 137. In target range, just!!
Less than 5 minutes into the run I realised I should’ve cut my toe nails, especially the one on my right little toe. It was no digging into my next toe, and I spent the hour focusing on my toenail and hoping it wasn’t cutting too much into its neighbour. The run was actually enjoyable, toe nail aside, and I think I could’ve done another hour if I’d needed to. Focusing on my toe, I realised I was running more on my forefoot in order to avoid the rubbing. I could almost see how people could run faster this way, small, small steps and just increasing foot speed. I might try it another time and see what it feels like.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
July 26th – Buyer’s Remorse
There is a fantastic website for sporting equipment that I know about – www.eastbay.com . We found out about this website through baseball friends last season, and I was cruising through it for new running shoes. I run in Brooks Ariel shoes and was looking for a Brooks trail running shoe. I went into my local store where I have bought my Ariel’s from before to ask about which shoe might best fit my needs. The Adrenaline was the shoe I was after, so once I tried it for size I went home and went shopping on Eastbay. In store the Adrenaline’s were about $260, what I’ve paid for the Ariel’s in the past. On Eastbay the Ariel’s would cost me about $149 AUD, and I found the Adrenaline’s for $79!! After getting them delivered for $105 all up...I discovered I’d ordered the wrong Adrenaline. Doh!!! There were a few different ones, and being a D width foot I knew this was important. Somehow I ended up ordering an Adrenaline ASR which they only have in a B width! Now I have to return it and get the right ones. I am frustrated, but it’s my fault; I think I got cross-eyed looking at too many shoes that day.
That aside, the website has a huge range of products, from shoes and clothing to equipment, and delivery from the USA was only a week! Give it a go, I am sure you will find something you want, and at a much reduced cost compared to what you can pay for things in Australia.
I woke this morning and was able to take my HR which was 57. I only hit the snooze button once and got up and took FD#1 out walking, managing to get nearly all the way home before the rain started lightly sprinkling. After my effort yesterday at the “fun run” I was feeling more tired as the morning went on and I was thankful today is an off-running day. I checked out my program for the rest of the week and I’ve got to get a run in Tuesday and Thursday this week, as Friday evening I am off to Broome!! Yeah, I will get to do my long run Sunday along Cable Beach. I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard it is a long beach, so I should be able to manage an 80 minute run with some of the best scenery in the world! I hope I can, as Saturday is the races...so I’ll see how I manage.
I am off to blow up my yoga ball, a gift from my father last Christmas. I finally have floor space enough to use it. I am going to use it while watching “Hot in Cleveland”, it looks funny!
That aside, the website has a huge range of products, from shoes and clothing to equipment, and delivery from the USA was only a week! Give it a go, I am sure you will find something you want, and at a much reduced cost compared to what you can pay for things in Australia.
I woke this morning and was able to take my HR which was 57. I only hit the snooze button once and got up and took FD#1 out walking, managing to get nearly all the way home before the rain started lightly sprinkling. After my effort yesterday at the “fun run” I was feeling more tired as the morning went on and I was thankful today is an off-running day. I checked out my program for the rest of the week and I’ve got to get a run in Tuesday and Thursday this week, as Friday evening I am off to Broome!! Yeah, I will get to do my long run Sunday along Cable Beach. I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard it is a long beach, so I should be able to manage an 80 minute run with some of the best scenery in the world! I hope I can, as Saturday is the races...so I’ll see how I manage.
I am off to blow up my yoga ball, a gift from my father last Christmas. I finally have floor space enough to use it. I am going to use it while watching “Hot in Cleveland”, it looks funny!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
July 25th – Funday
Who needs a sleep in anyway? Not when I get the chance to go running with one of my children. I had entered for the Asics Run for Gold today, and MGirl agreed to come with me. She has never run that far before, though very fit most of her runs have been a maximum of 6km. When we got to the Marathon Club it was a whole 8 degrees! It was cold, but sunny, and a big turnout of runners who all headed out at 8am! I kept with MGirl for about, oh, 400m!! Too many people and going too fast for me to attempt to keep up with her. I knew I was running faster than my normal pace, but when I got overtaken by a lady with the name handwritten on her hat “Turtle Runner”...I though surely I run faster that a turtle!! I was hoping I would catch up with her but that was never to happen. I tried to take my mind off my own struggle by making sure I said “thank you” to all the volunteers on the course. That’s the least I could for them allowing me to suffer!!
At first I thought I was near the back of the pack until we turned a corner and I could see quite a few people behind me, so that made me feel a little better. What I couldn’t understand was that even at the 6-7km mark, there were still people running past me! I wasn’t running backwards for god sake...yet still I was being reeled in by people that should’ve been tired at that point. This lady came up behind me breathing like a fog horn and it made me really aware of my own breathing. I wasn’t struggling aerobically, I just didn’t feel like my legs could roll over any quicker. And so Fog Horn ran on by. At the 8km mark I decided to try to reel in a few people, and managed about 4! Then I just wanted to cross the finish line. Which I did in 58.27 minutes.
In reality, I should be happy with this effort. On my way around I was pondering on my previous 3 half-marathon efforts ranging between 1h59mins and about 2h5mins. The best was when I was super fit and part of a half ironman, the other two were straight half-marathons, when I was somewhat fitter than I am now. So I think I’m going well, based on me! If I compared myself to the others on the course I would be setting myself up for disappointment! The winners came in on 32mins...I can’t begin to fathom how people can run that fast! And why I can’t!
I consoled myself with the fact that it was a gorgeous sunny morning, I got a 10km training run in at an average HR of 174bpm (which is about 97%!!) and I got to do it all with MGirl...well about half a km behind her! The 97% did mean that I’d worked really hard, and that I’ve got a long way to go with my fitness! But I’m happy, I’ve got a starting point to measure from!
The rest of the day included some more housework...and a fantastic ride out on Pepe with MGirl to watch the State League netball final! Which Morgan’s club won, in a hard fought game. One day MGirl might be there too! All in all, Sunday was a Funday. Sorry for CBoy, he spent most of the day at work!!!
At first I thought I was near the back of the pack until we turned a corner and I could see quite a few people behind me, so that made me feel a little better. What I couldn’t understand was that even at the 6-7km mark, there were still people running past me! I wasn’t running backwards for god sake...yet still I was being reeled in by people that should’ve been tired at that point. This lady came up behind me breathing like a fog horn and it made me really aware of my own breathing. I wasn’t struggling aerobically, I just didn’t feel like my legs could roll over any quicker. And so Fog Horn ran on by. At the 8km mark I decided to try to reel in a few people, and managed about 4! Then I just wanted to cross the finish line. Which I did in 58.27 minutes.
In reality, I should be happy with this effort. On my way around I was pondering on my previous 3 half-marathon efforts ranging between 1h59mins and about 2h5mins. The best was when I was super fit and part of a half ironman, the other two were straight half-marathons, when I was somewhat fitter than I am now. So I think I’m going well, based on me! If I compared myself to the others on the course I would be setting myself up for disappointment! The winners came in on 32mins...I can’t begin to fathom how people can run that fast! And why I can’t!
I consoled myself with the fact that it was a gorgeous sunny morning, I got a 10km training run in at an average HR of 174bpm (which is about 97%!!) and I got to do it all with MGirl...well about half a km behind her! The 97% did mean that I’d worked really hard, and that I’ve got a long way to go with my fitness! But I’m happy, I’ve got a starting point to measure from!
The rest of the day included some more housework...and a fantastic ride out on Pepe with MGirl to watch the State League netball final! Which Morgan’s club won, in a hard fought game. One day MGirl might be there too! All in all, Sunday was a Funday. Sorry for CBoy, he spent most of the day at work!!!
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