Longest run so far - 17km

Set off this morning from the Regatta with the usual crowd, I'd already decided today was going to be the longest run yet at 17km and worked out the route for it. I was to go along the river, in to town, over the Story Bridge, Victoria Bridge and back to the Regatta for breaky.
The weather was perfect, dry and cool. I soon found my pace and settled in nicely, about 5.30min as I didnt want to go out too fast not having covered so far before. At the Story Bridge I usually find myself tiring, but not today, I honestly felt like I could have picked up the pace and raced back to the Regatta. Two weeks earlier, about 3km from the Regatta I'd found myself really hurting and it had been quite a struggle to finish, today however I was almost wanting to sprint!! I felt strong, fresh and like I could do the whole thing again if I'd wanted too! The run was a great confidence booster for my GC half campaign, I know a lot can happen on the day and there is still another 4.3km to go till I get to my target but I'm feeling happy about it all now.

After breakfast I went down to Intraining and got myself a second pair of shoes, I feel like a real runner now, a pair to rotate with! 3km time trial on Tuesday, so they'll probably sit in the box until Wednesday now, but I'm looking forward to taking them out then!

CR recognised blogger!

Official rest day today, so didnt think I'd have much to write about - then I noticed that my blog has been picked up on the CR blog thread and was given a very lovely introduction by Just Tri It

"The gorgeous Chelle has joined our CR blog family and is loving running! She used to struggle with 10k, but not only is running that distance not an issue now, but she ENJOYS getting out of bed at 5am to run! Did the LWF 8k run in Brisbane – first run with the help of a running program. Was hoping for 5min k’s, and did the 8k in 39.05 – woohoo! Also done a number of runs in the rain (I am incredibly impressed, I hate running in the rain!)."

Certainly the blogging keeps you honest!

I'm aiming for 17km tomorrow morning; starting at the Regatta at 6am and hoping to run up and over the Story Bridge, back to the Regatta. 17km will be my longest run by 2km so I'm really hoping it all goes well!

A blog entry for Tess!

Another training session this morning with Pats group. 4*1kms with 90sec SR. Really hurt this morning, I think I am starting to get very tired with 4 5am starts a week, not sure that there is a way around that though really, not if I'm to keep up with my plan! Still, another long weekend this week so a day to sleep in till it gets light at least.

This entry is dedicated to Tess, who yelled at me as she ran off into the distance this morning 'do it for your blog'. Well, I ran that last 500meters as hard as I could and finished knowing I couldn't have tried harder if I wanted to :)

Early morning run, in the rain

Well the rain storm woke me up at 4.30am, at which point I vowed if it was raining that hard when my alarm went off in an hour I was going back to sleep and would run tonight instead! Fortunately (though not for my sleep) the rain had eased off a lot so my 50min run went to ahead. On the back of Pat's advice I took the run very slowly, though not slow enough it would seem as I arrived back home after my loop at 45mins. Ordinarily I would have run to the end of the street and back or something for those extra 5mins, but the rain was setting in again and I needed to get off to work. Always feel good about getting out of bed and going running before work, something very satisfying about knowing my day started so well.

Tuesday morning training...with sore legs!

First run this morning after the LWF. Met at the usual time (6am) at The Ship Inn, seemed to be quite a lot of new people this morning, most of them keen to enter the Gold Coast. I can't believe how quickly thats approaching, 10weeks I think it is now, maybe slightly less!! EEEkk! I was feeling quite happy, but have just scared myself a little bit by looking at the calendar, I think not doing a long run last weekend has also gotten me a bit worried too. I'm really keen to keep pressing on and increasing that long run slowly, but not too slowly or I wont make my taper, gosh, who'd have thought there was so much to putting one foot in front of the other! :) I think this weekend I'm down for 80mins which I've done before, might try for 17km loop though which will be my longest distance wise by 2km.

Got a Pat Carroll top this morning too, just waiting on my CR visor and I'll look more like a real runner!

Recovery Day

An official 'rest day' in my programme. My calves were a bit tight from the previous days' run, so I was quite happy to use this day properly!

LWF 8km, Brisbane

Big day today, my first race since about October last year, and my first ever race while taking part in a running programme.

I had a timeplan in my head of what I wanted to do, when. I got up at about 6.30am. Had my usual pre-run espresso, chewed a few gummi bears and hoped in the car off to Southbank, bottle of water in hand. Arrived down at Southbank at about 8am, ready to cheer in the early finishers for the half & full. The atmosphere there was pretty good, and although it was threatening to rain, there were plenty of spectators around to keep things lively.

My plan for the run was to make it 5min/k. I'd never ran an 8km before, but this seemed like an achievable target, while still providing a challenge and a hard race. Unfortunately the start was typical of a lot of runs, and bottle-necked to begin with, making the first 500meters or so more of a 'dodge the stroller/walkers' than a run. Once I'd gotten around these and enter the Botanical Gardens I really started to get my pace and feel comfortable. My first split was at 5.15min, but felt things were going well given the slow start. From there on I seemed to creep up a bit faster with each Km. At the 4km mark I was on 19.50 and felt comfortable to meet my 40min target. At 6km I approached the Goodwill Bridge, with previous run's around Brisbane I had always found this really painful, but having been running over it now a couple of times a week for a while, just the once up was easy! At 7km I was starting to hurt, it was now 9.30am, the sun had come out and was shining down hard as we ran back along Southbank. As I exited the tunnel and headed down to the straight, I could see the markers for the 42 and 21km, the finish was just past these - with one of the other CR's yelling at me to 'get my knees up', I put everything I had in to the last 100meters and finished with a time of 39.05!

Spent the rest of the day drinking lots of water and trying to stay awake, amazing how a race of half the distance of my longrun can take so much more out of you. Looking forward to the results being published now, and seeing where I came overall :)

Day off & dinner, pre LWF 8km

What a weird sensation; Saturday morning, almost 7am and I was till in bed! First time all year (other than two sessions when I was in LA) that I haven't gone for a Saturday morning longrun with the Brisbane Buddies. Felt quite strange and I must admit, I was a little bit lost as to what to do before 10am, the time I usual start my normal day!

I'd decided to use the 8km as a test to what to eat/drink pre-race in preparation for the GC half. Being just 8km, this mainly just was drinking a lot of water throughout the day, with some Gatorade for variety too.

Tesso had booked us in for pasta & pizza with some of the Cool Runnings gang that evening. It was great to talk to some more experienced runners and get their take on things, and also just to chill out before the race. http://www.coolrunning.com.au/gallery/Brisbane-LWF-2005-Pasta-Night/Ciaran_and_Chelle

A rainy day run

Well, after missing Wednesday run due to complete tiredness (horseriding, touch competition and Tuesday morning session all within three days had knackered me out!) I felt I had to make an effort this morning to get out of bed. Not got a longrun planned this week as I'm racing on Sunday, so felt it all the more important to go and get those miles up! :)

Got out of bed at 5.45am, seemed to be a bit rainy but nothing that a cap wouldnt keep off my face.... got about half-way down the street and it began to pour!! Figured I was going to get soaked either way so just continued on down the street to do my complete run. In the end I did cut it short by 10mins as I could hardly see the rain was coming down that hard. Paying for it now too, feel like I have a cold coming on. Hopefully nothing more than a 24hour thing, got my first timed event this year and my first timed 8km ever on Sunday, as part of the Brisbane Marathon. Should be good, I'm hoping to get around the 40min mark I think, would fit in with my 10km time.

Another beautiful morning

Its definitely getting easier and easier when the alarm goes off at 5am to get out of bed. I don't even think about it anymore; the alarm goes off, I spring out of bed, flick the kettle on and make my espresso. I worked out quite quickly that I couldn't handle a full cup of coffee in the morning, but a little shotglass amount does the trick just perfectly! I then toddle off to get my pre-sorted running gear on, pick up my bag packed with work clothes, tip back the espresso and off I go. Out of the house in near 10mins flat :)

Thursday morning, down to Southbank with the usual crowd. This morning was down at New Farm for 30sec sprints, with 30sec standing recovery. I feel at the moment that with each week I am improving, and enjoying my running more and more. I was trying to organise a night out with a friend earlier and realised that 4 out of the next 5 weekend are taken up with running!! AAaahhhhhh my life is being overtaken, a couple of hours more each week. It wasnt that long ago that my long run was a 10km struggle, and if I got a mid-week 5km in I thought I'd pushed myself hard :)

my reason to run!

May 2004 and I was asked by work to take part in the Manchester 10km. Having previously run for my school and district ten years earlier, I thought this would be a challenge and a bit of fun as a group of us from work decided to do it for charity.

Doing the bare minimum of training (ie, not much at all) my goal was simply to finish, prefereably within an hour if I could. I finished in 57mins, the feeling was fantastic and I was inspired as to how much better I can do, and how much more I could enjoy it if I trained!

I moved back to Australia in July 2004; I entered the Riverrun (52mins) and the Nike 10km (49mins) and started looking properly in to joining a running club!

My new years resolution (and the only one I have ever kept to past January 2nd) was to commit to train. I joined the Brisbane Running Buddies and have been every Saturday (apart from hols) since. At the end of March I also joined Pat Carrolls runners, and now have an established training programme, which I am enjoying more and more with every run that I do!!

My motivation at the beginning of the year was to be able to run the Gold Coast half, something that seemed huge given that 10km was still a challenge. Now I am up to 40km+ a week, and increasing it every fortnight. I actually enjoy getting out of bed at 5am to go for my runs, something that seems crazy to a lot of people, and was very alien to me just three months ago!