Choo Choo - Full steam ahead.

What a productive 2 days I have had. Yesterday I went to see my regular physio's boss. He is a really nice guy, softly spoken and extremely informative. Lisa thought it would be a good idea to see him as he too is an Ironman, and I come to find out he is doing IM Port Macquarie next year as well. It was great chatting with him and he was genuinely interested in me and my goals. He too was a swimmer as a young boy and he knew my coach's wife and brother, as well as my older brother's arch nemesis in the pool. We live in such a small world. This 6 degrees of separation has just shrunk to 3.

Talking to the physio made my 40mins go by really quickly, it also made the pain not so bad but once again I came out red and the infamous bruises quickly pop up. No probs - I am getting used to it. We got to speaking about my runners - and well - my runners are to now be used as "mowing shoes". They have outlived their purpose and I now have to invest in a new pair. Two options - Asics 2150 or Asics Kayano. I need to try these on ASAP and find the pair that suits me. I am guessing these will cost a bit and so I may have to look at purchasing these overseas.

So I left the physio rooms with a renewed sense of worth and it got my brain ticking overtime once again. I have come to realise that when people tell me I should try something cause they think I can do it, I seriously give it alot of thought. A half marathon was thrown around in conversation during my physio session and well - I woke up this morning and registered for the Sydney Running Festival Half Marathon on September 19th, 2010. I figure if I can run 8km now and I have 102 days to train for 21.1km - I can do this "no sweat". I know, I know, it's another 13km but whats another 13km between friends :)

So because I have this as a goal I went out for my run today - 8km was my chosen distance. And I did it in 44mins 42sec. Almost 2 minutes faster than Sunday's race. Ahhh, the joy of no hills. What a difference that made. This was the time I wanted to run it in on Sunday, so I am glad today I could do it - better late than never I say.

When I got home I gave my Tri Club coach a call and told him everything that I had been doing and he seemed quite chuffed with my progress. He said that he had been waiting to here back from me about my knee and now that I have the "green light"so to speak, he is going to email me a base program to get me up and going to reach each goal at a time. First on the list - Half Marathon.

Welcome to my "WooHoo"

I am all for keeping my experiences real hence writing this blog. But I also wanted a way to display my accomplishments so everytime I faltered in my belief I would just have to look at it and know that "I did it". My WooHoo board is my way of feeling proud of all that I have done. I know that I will have this board filled by the end of the year and when I can no longer fit another thing on it I will make another. Setting goal after goal keeps me going. Its what makes me realise that I can and will succeed at all that I set my mind to do.

How do you guys display your bibs? How do you commemorate your accomplishments?

Wait, there's more.

Here are the official results. I cant believe it - for a swimmer and beginner runner i didn't do too bad.

http://results.au.eventdirector.net/View.asp?EventID=4098&Bib=98

Be gone rain and hit me with some rays.

The weather forecast a week ago stated rain, but low and behold I woke up this morning to sun. I couldn't believe it - all week I had been psyching myself up to run in rain and even had my outfit decked out for this weather and then when I saw rays of sun and a clear sky from the apartment window I was like "YES". However, that being said - the wait underneath the Harbour Bridge to get started was excruciatingly frrreeezzziiinnnggg! Kind of made me wish I had worn my long sleeve, but I knew I would heat up quickly running. And that I did.

Everyone was on a high, you could feel and see the BUZZ - it was so very tangible. You could see that there were many runners who went there for the fun of a run and to help bring to an end their Fundraising for such a worthy cause. But then their were others who were definately in it for the thrill of the race and to compete against others or possibly to beat their own personal bests. I was a mixed bag. I had fundraised for a great cause as a friend of the family had passed away from MS some many years ago and I also wanted to feel the the thrill of racing in a big group like this as well as try to beat a time I had set in my head.
With 10 minutes to go the organiser's ushered us to the starting line and it was there the frantic hype of the hour before settled. It was like the "calm before the storm". Everyone was getting their IPods ready set to their favourite song, fixing up their shoes laces so as not to lose the timing chip, jumping up and down on the spot to keep warm or just staring into the starting sign. It's amazing to watch how unique everyone is and how differently everyone handles nerves. So with that said it was 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 - GOOOOOOOO
Starting off where I was standing (middle of the pack - to the side) was very slow. You could say it was a shuffle. I was trying not to step on people, trying not to get stepped on or pushed out of the way. I had forgotten what is was like. The last time I had gone in a running race like this I was 12 yrs old and did the 14km City to Surf . Eventually, the pace picked up and I was able to get a good rhythm going whilst juggling moving through the crowd. It's amazing how fast the momentum is at the beginning. I tried not to get caught up in it but I think I failed, you just go with the flow until the pack thins out a bit.
The initial part of the run was a flat run, zig zagging on the boardwalk alongside Luna Park (our oldest amusement park in Sydney). I was passing people, and I was getting passed at about the same pace. Until we went under a railway bridge and it was there I encountered my first hill - instinctively my brain went "What the?". I thought we were running along the foreshore of Sydney Harbour - . WRONG. Some it was, but most of it was through the back streets of Sydney suburbs. And there were hills, many of them but I not once walked, even though at times I could have walked faster than I ran but my goal was to not walk.
The route itself was good mix of hills, stairs, uphill zig zag pathways and down hill stretches. And it was also a good mix of pace for me. At times it bottlenecked to get us up those stairs so it slowed down the pack alot and other times I felt I had to put on the brakes as the down hill pace got a bit scary. I thought to spice things up a bit I would set myself a personal goal to pick a person up front and reach them then overtake them - which I did too. But there was this one lady in a pink T-shirt who I played cat and mouse with the whole way.
I am sure she was as determined as I was to get to the finishing line first. So I would overtake her on the uphill stretch and she would cruise by me on the downhill run. A little healthy competition never hurt anyone. One thing I did notice was that my IPod songs suck for this sort of thing. I had some fast songs but many slow songs in between so I was constantly searching for some songs with some "kick ass attitude". (note to self: rejig playlist). How can you possibly run to "Love story" by Taylor Swift.
Heading back to the finishing line was great. The momentum picked up again and I was once again striding out to keep up and finish strong. Alas, the "Pink shirt lady" had a little more zing in her sting and she took off with about 300m to go. Good on her. I was happy to finish strong in my own way.
I had hoped for a time of around 44mins but I finished with an unofficial time of 46mins 10sec. Not bad considering there were hills and some unexpected slow down spots. And this was officially my first run on my own - without any friends by my side. I liked it. I was my own master, I decided my own pace and encouraged myself the whole way. YAY for me.
All in all it was a great day - perfect weather, a great cause, good time and great company - my husband the photographer.

Rollin on by.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow are indoor trainer riding days. Why? Well the dreaded head cold has hit my house and I have my daughter home sick. She has been coughing and spluttering for 2 days and needs to have the remainder of the week off school. I'm lucky in that she is not a little child anymore and doesn't need the constant attention of a toddler so I can still get some exercise in. It just has to be indoors.

Yesterday while I fitted in 30 minutes of spinning and all my regular stretches and strengthening exercises I started to think about how inconsistent my training is. Every magazine I read says I need to have 3-4 sessions of running, the same of cycling and swimming. How do I do that with a family? I am happy to just focus on doing one session a week swimming for now but that still means I have all those other sessions to squeeze in and make them consistent.

The plan I came up with goes like this:

• Monday - Bike ride
• Tuesday - Run
• Wednesday - Gym, run intervals
• Thursday - Swim
• Friday - Run (short) as my morning is spent training my friend.
  
• Saturday - Run (long)
  
• Sunday - Bike (long)

Problem I already see, there is no actual REST day. I could label Friday as my rest day but I am still doing something. So how important at this stage is a rest day? I would really appreciate some input. My brain is totally saturated with information and it is all getting totally overwhelming. And, how close to the day does the training actually become very hard?

What do you guys think?

Sundays outfit. Do you like?

Predicted weather forecast for this Sundays 8km Run to raise money for MS awareness

• Showers
• Low of 9 degrees celsius
• High of 14.

May have to add my rain jacket to this mix.

Hurts so good.

Today was a double delight day. Physio and intervals on the treadmill - what more can I say. Today was Day 4 with Lisa and although it was still painful and I cringe at the thought of going through pain, I actually look forward to it. Alot more focus was placed on the area of impingement of the Peroneal Nerve. It is half way up the outer part of my lower leg and believe me when she is rubbing I can pinpoint with direct accuracy the area. There is pain, pain, pain - OMG you really need to stop NOW. I see stars of all varieties - nice little white ones, shooting stars and even ones that spin around my head like a carousel. But it is doing me good.

My next appointment she wants me to see her boss who is an ex-ironman himself several times over. She wants to see if he can come up with any other idea as to what is going on and what else I should be doing. He can also advise me on the type of runners I should be wearing. The pair I am wearing now is coming up to its used by date as I have had them since September last year. The tread on them is still okay but I feel they are losing their cushioning and this could definately be affecting my running gait. Every piece of information I get I willingly accept. Being a total amateur in this arena I need to learn as much as I can if I want to stay safe and injury free for many years to come. Good piece of information I recieved from Lisa is that I don't have to alter my running regime - the only thing she wants me to do is not run on uneven surfaces like down near the river. She wants me sticking to the road or flat surfaces in general. The uneven surface made my knee ache a bit as I stated on the previous post, so its road running for now.

After physio I headed to the gym for an interval training session on the treadmill. I have never done this before so it was very new and alot of hard work to boot. A friend of mine from DailyMile, Sandi, who is studying to be a personal trainer set me up this program. It was sets of 400m with 800m rest zones inbetween. She said I could do between 4/6 reps but I only lasted for 4. And I altered the times cause I still cant run too fast but I was happy with the speeds I achieved. Here is how it went:

• 5 min warm up
• 400m @ 11kph
• 800m @ 8.5kph
• 400m @ 11.5kph
• 800m @ 8.5kph
• 400m @ 12kph
• 800m @ 8.5kph
• 400m @ 12.5kph
• 800m @ 8.5kph
• cooldown

I was happy with the outcome. I was also okay'd by the physio to do squats on the Bosu Ball so long as they were not too bouncy - they had to be nicely controlled. So I did :

• 3 x 15 alternating squats on Bosu Ball
• 3 x 20 ab curls on Swiss Ball
• 2 x 20 oblique crunches
• Core strengthening exercises with swiss ball.

All in all it was an extremely eventful day. I do believe I am making progress. YAY for me.