I am willing myself to run this last week. Exhaustion, physical and emotional, is wrapping me up like a doona. The only trouble is there is no time to snuggle under it and recover. I’m still working with the notion of getting dressed to run even though I don’t have the energy for it, which seemed to work last night. I needed to run, but with my calf beginning to ache (well still aching from Monday’s 10km) I kept it short. At least I am still getting some kms under my shoes!
I headed out for a 5+km route and ended up doing 6km on the nose by the time I ended up back at the house. It was a struggle, but my watch and the pace wasn’t telling me so; so I figured the struggle was more mental than physical. I averaged 5:21min/km for the 6km, around 32 minutes. The irony is that as I am struggling to keep this “thing” going… my body seems to be getting fitter; that is except for my right calf. It has begun to ache again which is frustrating; I’m just icing it 2-3 times a day and leaving it up to the running gods! I’m too tired to do otherwise.
The laundry/bathroom is finally finished, except for re-hanging 2 doors and doing the painting. I am not in a hurry to pay the incompetent guy I’d hired too quickly… it will be interesting to watch him squirm while he asks for the last payment. In the end it hasn’t turned out too badly, but I can see all the things that I had to change and “compromise” on due to mistakes made by him! Hopefully in term the raw nerve will heal and I’ll be happy with the space. At least now I’ve officially got two bathrooms which will improve the value of the house!
28 more sleeps until holidays… bring it on. I knew that when I began this journey, to run myself into the ground…lol… that I was doing it partly as a distraction to things in my life I couldn’t find answers for. Those things have not gone away, and I have been duly distracted… but when I get home from holidays it is time to look for a new job; one that affords me opportunity for advancement and change. I’m looking forward to a new challenge in the New Year, as this one is going stale.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
November 8th 2010 – Running on empty…
Or so I thought. I’d promised myself to run last night. Part of my apathy lately is that it is difficult to find a rhythm for running/training with all the other commitments in life. I just wish I knew when I woke up and wanted to run on any given day that nothing would get in the way. That would hardly be real life though, would it? When I got home from work yesterday afternoon I was exhausted but knew I had to put some kms under my shoes. I read somewhere in a book, that even if you don’t feel like training you should just get dressed and ready to go. The battle is half over when you dressed and ready, so it follows that you just go anyway. So I tried this. Avoiding actually laying down on my bed, I sat on the side… compression leggings on, socks on, shoes on… my bed was calling me!
With no excuses left, I plugged the iPod into my head and set off out the door. It was a nice time of afternoon to run, not too hot. I really will need to do some runs in warmer weather so this was a good introduction into that, compared to the early morning chill. A quick stretch and I was off. Reason told me that all I needed to do was get moving, fast or slow, at the moment I just need to keep the kms building. I opted for a new route altogether, one that I’d run years ago, hoping for close to 10kms. I always develop these scenarios in my head, trying to make 4 runs a week add up to 100kms. This is where I’ll need to be running come April next year but at the moment it’s hard to fathom. That’s 10-11 hours of running, more if it’s in the hills. I figure if I can get 3 runs a week to work a about 15kms each, that will give me 45-50kms; meaning my ‘long’ run on a weekend will need to top 5+ hours (again more in the hills). I figured that was doable, but not unless I keep running now! I’ll run out of time.
With holidays looming in about 4 weeks, I don’t want to try to rev up the distances too much before I go away as I’m not sure how much running I will get in while travelling. I plan to run, along the Thames, along the Seine, around Germany, through the snow in Oregon… but realistically speaking I’m not sure how much I will get done. I figure that if I keep running 10kms 3 times a week and a longer 15+km run on the weekends at the moment… that should keep me in pace to rev up the training and the kms by the end of January when we return.
So, I headed out on this (hopefully) 10km route on a balmy Monday evening, not sure I would make it the full way around as I was feeling so tired. I avoided looking at my watch so as not to put pressure on myself, but that only lasted for the first few kms. I realised I was actually feeling quite good now that I was going, felt like I was in a good rhythm. The kids have loaded songs onto my iPod and Mambo #5 came on. This song always reminds me of CBoy as he was about 5 years old when the song came out and it was his favourite. We listened to it all the time; he’d bop and sing along; getting the words all confused and the names all wrong. It was the cutest thing! So as I was running with Sandra, and Rita… I looked down at my watch to see a pace of 4:44min/kms… Kind of shocked I looked again after a few more strides to see I was actually running that fast (fast for me!). the beat of the song was matching the rhythm of my stride and I was happily running faster than I was built to!! Cresting a hill past the train station I slowed down but over the top I was back around 5:15. The competitive streak in me then decided it would be a good goal to see if I could maintain the 10kms at a sub 5:30min/km pace. With the challenge set I powered on, fully expecting to flatten and tire… but I never seemed to. I ended up back at home 9.5kms later at around 52 minutes. If I’d tacked the last 600m on past the house I know it would’ve been a sub 55min 10km. Needless to say I was very happy with that… at least a 3 minute improvement on the last 10km time trial I did, and when I thought I was feeling tired.
It’s funny with running; some days I wake and feel energetic and run slowly. When I’m tired I run quickly. Very confusing… but as long as I’m running I’m on target I guess. Just need to get into the hills more, lots more! I have plans for twice weekly runs up there when I get back from holidays, fingers crossed.
With no excuses left, I plugged the iPod into my head and set off out the door. It was a nice time of afternoon to run, not too hot. I really will need to do some runs in warmer weather so this was a good introduction into that, compared to the early morning chill. A quick stretch and I was off. Reason told me that all I needed to do was get moving, fast or slow, at the moment I just need to keep the kms building. I opted for a new route altogether, one that I’d run years ago, hoping for close to 10kms. I always develop these scenarios in my head, trying to make 4 runs a week add up to 100kms. This is where I’ll need to be running come April next year but at the moment it’s hard to fathom. That’s 10-11 hours of running, more if it’s in the hills. I figure if I can get 3 runs a week to work a about 15kms each, that will give me 45-50kms; meaning my ‘long’ run on a weekend will need to top 5+ hours (again more in the hills). I figured that was doable, but not unless I keep running now! I’ll run out of time.
With holidays looming in about 4 weeks, I don’t want to try to rev up the distances too much before I go away as I’m not sure how much running I will get in while travelling. I plan to run, along the Thames, along the Seine, around Germany, through the snow in Oregon… but realistically speaking I’m not sure how much I will get done. I figure that if I keep running 10kms 3 times a week and a longer 15+km run on the weekends at the moment… that should keep me in pace to rev up the training and the kms by the end of January when we return.
So, I headed out on this (hopefully) 10km route on a balmy Monday evening, not sure I would make it the full way around as I was feeling so tired. I avoided looking at my watch so as not to put pressure on myself, but that only lasted for the first few kms. I realised I was actually feeling quite good now that I was going, felt like I was in a good rhythm. The kids have loaded songs onto my iPod and Mambo #5 came on. This song always reminds me of CBoy as he was about 5 years old when the song came out and it was his favourite. We listened to it all the time; he’d bop and sing along; getting the words all confused and the names all wrong. It was the cutest thing! So as I was running with Sandra, and Rita… I looked down at my watch to see a pace of 4:44min/kms… Kind of shocked I looked again after a few more strides to see I was actually running that fast (fast for me!). the beat of the song was matching the rhythm of my stride and I was happily running faster than I was built to!! Cresting a hill past the train station I slowed down but over the top I was back around 5:15. The competitive streak in me then decided it would be a good goal to see if I could maintain the 10kms at a sub 5:30min/km pace. With the challenge set I powered on, fully expecting to flatten and tire… but I never seemed to. I ended up back at home 9.5kms later at around 52 minutes. If I’d tacked the last 600m on past the house I know it would’ve been a sub 55min 10km. Needless to say I was very happy with that… at least a 3 minute improvement on the last 10km time trial I did, and when I thought I was feeling tired.
It’s funny with running; some days I wake and feel energetic and run slowly. When I’m tired I run quickly. Very confusing… but as long as I’m running I’m on target I guess. Just need to get into the hills more, lots more! I have plans for twice weekly runs up there when I get back from holidays, fingers crossed.
Monday, November 8, 2010
November 8th- On a countdown!!!
As the house renovations draw to a conclusion, fiscally and physically; I can begin to start getting excited about the holiday. And to be honest it can’t come soon enough. The attempt to install a shower cubicle and retile the laundry has turned into the biggest nightmare of everything I’ve attempted to do, and none of it has been my fault! I’ve lost so much sleep over it during the last 3 weeks, I hope I will sleep more soundly before the end of the week as it’s close to finished!
Friday did not turn into a cycle to work… somehow I knew I was setting myself up for failure when I said it “would” happen. I had to wait until the tiler turned up to fix a problem, which on Saturday turned out not to be a problem; which has now since turned into a problem! (The list goes on and on). I also had to wait for the deck man to turn up to “discuss” his work with him; as it turns out I’m stuffed and he isn’t changing it! Friday was such a bad day from start to finish and by the end of the day all I wanted to do was go home and have a bourbon and see my kids. MGirl and I painted the final coat on a feature wall, the colour is awesome. We also undercoated some new plasterboard walls in readiness for colour. By 9pm we decided it was too late to start on anything else, even though we wanted more colour!!!
Saturday was an early start, up at 5am for a run with MGal. She wanted to “go flat” this morning, and I was happy just to have company so we headed out around the local area and ended up doing 14km+, with a few stops for water and toilets. MGal has a route that has a few drinking fountains and toilets along the way… perfect for not having to carry water. I still took my Camelbak, practice makes perfect?! I did ride my bike the few kms to her house and run complete, jumped on a pedaled home. The rest of the day was already allocated and after a quick shower I was off to a 2nd hand brick and paver place to find 3sqm of the terracotta paver I’d run short of for the deck. Then a quick trip to the bathroom supply store to return taps and a shower head I can’t use (because of the bathroom installation company), the dentist and the travel agent; I arrived back home at 12.45pm. Just enough time to make a sandwich and head out with CBoy to his baseball game, 45 minutes drive away.
Finally at about 2pm I got to sit down and shivered through the afternoon (it had turned windy) watching CBoy’s team thrash one of the close-to-the-top-of-the-table teams, 10-2. Home in time to cook dinner, while MGirl was studying for 3 exams this week and CBoy was chilling in front of the TV. I am getting good at dropping into bed before the kids these days and was out like a light by about 9.30pm.
Sunday started almost as early, up at 6am to leave at 7am for MGirl’s baseball game; at the same field as yesterday, 45 minutes away. Unfortunately MGirl’s team didn’t have a win, but we were home by lunch time which was nice. After a sandwich and making sure MGirl was in study mode, I headed out the back to lift some pavers around the pool in readiness for the pavers coming Monday to re-lay them. I thought it would only take me a couple of hours; 3 ½ hours later I was about half way through the area I was lifting and my back was killing me! I went inside for some Nurofen and a bourbon and dry! Just the trick, after sitting for about 20 minutes my back was feeling much better, and I went out for another 2 hours and got it finished. So all up about 5 1/2 hours of steady slow work… good for my core muscles and I was ready for bed by 8pm. Luckily we’d been given some leftover roast beef legs from CBoy’s work that day… so I didn’t have to cook either.
When I got up this morning my HR was higher, on 60bpm. Still pooped from the weekend I guess. I opted to walk FD#1 and hope to run for an hour tonight. With baseball training nights rescheduled, Monday night’s are now free. So a run and a good meal and another early night are on my agenda.
Friday did not turn into a cycle to work… somehow I knew I was setting myself up for failure when I said it “would” happen. I had to wait until the tiler turned up to fix a problem, which on Saturday turned out not to be a problem; which has now since turned into a problem! (The list goes on and on). I also had to wait for the deck man to turn up to “discuss” his work with him; as it turns out I’m stuffed and he isn’t changing it! Friday was such a bad day from start to finish and by the end of the day all I wanted to do was go home and have a bourbon and see my kids. MGirl and I painted the final coat on a feature wall, the colour is awesome. We also undercoated some new plasterboard walls in readiness for colour. By 9pm we decided it was too late to start on anything else, even though we wanted more colour!!!
Saturday was an early start, up at 5am for a run with MGal. She wanted to “go flat” this morning, and I was happy just to have company so we headed out around the local area and ended up doing 14km+, with a few stops for water and toilets. MGal has a route that has a few drinking fountains and toilets along the way… perfect for not having to carry water. I still took my Camelbak, practice makes perfect?! I did ride my bike the few kms to her house and run complete, jumped on a pedaled home. The rest of the day was already allocated and after a quick shower I was off to a 2nd hand brick and paver place to find 3sqm of the terracotta paver I’d run short of for the deck. Then a quick trip to the bathroom supply store to return taps and a shower head I can’t use (because of the bathroom installation company), the dentist and the travel agent; I arrived back home at 12.45pm. Just enough time to make a sandwich and head out with CBoy to his baseball game, 45 minutes drive away.
Finally at about 2pm I got to sit down and shivered through the afternoon (it had turned windy) watching CBoy’s team thrash one of the close-to-the-top-of-the-table teams, 10-2. Home in time to cook dinner, while MGirl was studying for 3 exams this week and CBoy was chilling in front of the TV. I am getting good at dropping into bed before the kids these days and was out like a light by about 9.30pm.
Sunday started almost as early, up at 6am to leave at 7am for MGirl’s baseball game; at the same field as yesterday, 45 minutes away. Unfortunately MGirl’s team didn’t have a win, but we were home by lunch time which was nice. After a sandwich and making sure MGirl was in study mode, I headed out the back to lift some pavers around the pool in readiness for the pavers coming Monday to re-lay them. I thought it would only take me a couple of hours; 3 ½ hours later I was about half way through the area I was lifting and my back was killing me! I went inside for some Nurofen and a bourbon and dry! Just the trick, after sitting for about 20 minutes my back was feeling much better, and I went out for another 2 hours and got it finished. So all up about 5 1/2 hours of steady slow work… good for my core muscles and I was ready for bed by 8pm. Luckily we’d been given some leftover roast beef legs from CBoy’s work that day… so I didn’t have to cook either.
When I got up this morning my HR was higher, on 60bpm. Still pooped from the weekend I guess. I opted to walk FD#1 and hope to run for an hour tonight. With baseball training nights rescheduled, Monday night’s are now free. So a run and a good meal and another early night are on my agenda.
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