16km - longest run since gold coast!

Well, I was more than a bit nervous this morning, it was the first time I had joined the group since I became injured before the GC. The target was 1.40, but I had already decided I would be happy with a comfortable 90mins. I chatted to a couple of other girls who were working to the same times/distances and we all headed out in a big group together.

My leg was not a happy leg this morning, I looked at my watch almost every minute for the first 20mins wondering if it was justifiable to turn back so early, or if I should keep going and try and run through it. After about 25mins we all stopped for water and to collect back together again. A couple of people who were just out for an hour turned back at this point, I was really tempted to join them. I felt slow and my legs felt like lead, I was NOT having much fun at all, and despite chatting to Suze about everthing and anything the time really felt like it was dragging.
A decision was made that one group was going to do the Riverloop (about 22km) and a few others were going to head down to St Lucia Golf Course before turning back. I actually really like the hills around St Lucia, so decided to go for broke and head off that way. It was like something lifted at about the 30min mark and I could run again!! We stopped at one point to wait for traffic, and I gave my leg a good stretch then, then again at St Lucia for water… stretch stretch stretch!! I found it a bit tough starting up again, straight back up the hill to the main road, but I got to the top without losing too much speed and was good to go for the run back down towards the river and home to the Ship Inn via the Goodwill Bridge. 87mins and 16km later and I was done. Not too bad for my first proper long run in a while. My leg came up a bit sore, but nothing that staying off it for most of the rest of the day and a decent stretch didn’t solve.

That light is getting closer!

4x1km's

This morning was the first of Pats session I have felt good at since pre-GC. 4x 1km efforts, which I completed in 4.26/4.26/4.34/.4.28 - fairly consistent, not completely up to speed but definitely feeling better.... the light at the end of that tunnel is starting to glow!

Ten mins pain free!!

Well this morning started off well. Instead of the usual pain in my leg I managed about ten mins completely pain free. The idea was to do a 50min run, but due to a bit of a carefree hand and a snooze button the run was already reduced to 40mins by the time I started, so to make it in to work without being late.
After the first ten mins a bit of an ache and a niggle began to form, nothing too painful though and I managed just 37mins fairly comfortably; there was a dull light at the end of the tunnel this morning for sure!

An alternative route to New Farm

This morning Pat announced a 'change', turns out the change was just that the warm-up to New Farm was on the other side of the river and across the Story Bridge, still always nice to keep things varied, even if only slightly.

I felt like stopping at one point this morning and screaming out 'its not fair, my leg shouldn't still be hurting', but as with last week I found once I got warmed up properly it eased off a bit... in fact by the time I was running back to the Ship Inn it almost felt normal.. hmmmmm. Making myself go slow at the moment, which is really frustrating, but there you have it. Got a quiet night planned tonight, which is going to incorporate LOTS of stretching and practicing of the exercises. I was mean't to see the physio at the end of the week, but I'm contemplating doing my 50mins tomorrow (longest run since GC) and then the 1.40 on Saturday and going back on Monday.. .damage would be done by then of course, but at the moment I am not really any different from the last time I saw him. Decisions decisions....

Touch footy

Played my first game of touch this season where I felt right for the whole time, hopefully this is a good sign. I'm taking it easy with the Touch though, 9pm game next week just before the 3KTT so I probably won't play.

Only an okay run, but placed all the same

5km Jetty 2 Jetty this morning to look forward to, I had not been feeling confident about it for the past couple of days, so decided to take the pressure of a goal time of 22.30 off and just run it sub 25mins... of course, its all very well saying this, but when you're at the start line and the end is just 5km away, all you really want to do is get there as quick as possible!! :)

The first K was hard, but I always find it a struggle to get my pace and I hit the 1K marker in 4.20, not my quickest by a long way but on target. I prepared to settle in to my pace and keep those splits up. It never really happened though, I couldn't seem to just switch off, relax and enjoy the run. The 2K marker came up at 8.50, and that was representative of things to come really. At the 2.5km turnaround I got bunched up with the 50min 10km finishers (as usual, a large bunch), that combined with the headwind and hill, although Pats sessions are obviously doing my favours because I did manage to run up the hill and pick quite a few people off brought me home in a disappointing 23.27. Disappointed more because I know I should have easily been a minute faster, than because I didnt try hard.. it was just one of those days where the legs didnt want to play ball!

Despite all that, I still managed to claim third place in my category and had a really enjoyable morning. All good practice, and hopefully a few more weeks and I will be 100% injury free again and back up to speed :)

Missed run

After deciding to do my run on Friday night, instead of morning to aid recovery time, I ended up missing it completely. By the time I got home from work, we already had friends on the doorstep for dinner.... sometimes there's just not enough hours in the day!

Surges with hills and then more hills!!

One of my favourite sessions (yes, I am sadistic!) is the hill work on the Goodwill Bridge, not because I find it easy, but because I feel like I am really really working hard and pushing myself.

This morning Pat decided to start the session with 2.5min out, 2.5min back n a different route to usual; this route took in 2 hills in each direction. I found as with Tuesdays session, I took a while to warm up and it wasn't until the second set of surges I was beginining to feel comfortable and find my stride. The session then ended with hill work on the Bridge. I just love accelerating around the roundabout thing and powering up the bridge (even if I do slow down considerably half way!).

Today brings me to two sessions this week, the first time in a month. Feeling a bit niggly and sore, hopefully that will subside and not get worse.

The plan for tomorrow is a 40min run, but I may reduce this to 30mins and do it in the evening to allow more recovery time. No run Saturday as I'm taking part in the Jetty 2 Jetty on Sunday, just the 5km so not to aggrevate anything.

30 secs on.... 30 secs off....

Back in to it this morning, probably about 75%, but how much did I want to be putting in 100%!! My legs just wouldn't turn over fast enough though, I have definitely lost some speed over the last couple of weeks, guess there's nothing for it but to work my way back to it again.

Todays session was at New Farm and was 30 secs on, 30secs off, ending with what was meant to be an extra set but turned in to just a 1 min run. I did find that towards the end of the session I was feeling better, so perhaps I'm just taking longer to get warmed up than usual.

Think I am going to give myself tomorrow off, I want to get back to 100% asap and I think the only way to do this is slowly but surely.

Gentle jog by the sea

With the formal dinner tonight and still not feeling up to a long run, I decided to opt for a gentle 40-45mins run near home this morning. I met up with MJ at about 8am in Sandgate and we started off down the coast path. The headwind was pretty strong and this was my first run (bar one speed session) since the GC, I definitely felt slow and fatigued far earlier on that I normally would do, in fact walking/dropping the pace crossed my mind more than a couple of times. Still, the 45min run was completed and the leg didnt flare up..... on to get ready for the formal dinner!!! :)

Enforced Rest!

Just received my programme for the next month and I have been told I should take this week of running and only run next week if I'm feeling comfortable with it. I had intended on doing at least one more run this week of sorts, I am now thinking perhaps just 30 mins on Saturday for some exercise, or I might try and do some cross-training. Still, I don't feel quite as guilty now for not setting my alarm tomorrow morning!!

Back at Pats!

Well, today was the day the alarm went off at 5am again. I got up suprisingly easy given it had been a couple of weeks since the last session. It was so good to see everyone at The Ship Inn, so many happy running faces.
The session was fairly easy; 6x 500m. I took it very easy though and felt very slow, not too much pain on my leg, more just a bit of an ache so this was good. My times varied between 2.02 to 2.25, which I wasn't too unhappy with, hopefully over the next couple of sessions I will regain some of my speed and get those times more consistent again.
I waited all day to see if my leg was going to flare up, but it held up well, the stretching and resting must be helping. I can't wait to get back to the sessions 100% though, I felt like I'd gone back a couple of months training!!!

Judgement Day - back to the physio

Well, today was the day, back to the physio for a post GC assessment and to see ‘what next’.
The physio blokey told me I was making very good progress, and apart from still being slightly weak on my right side things are shaping up quite nicely. He has sent me away with some advanced (ooooooooooooooooooooooo!) exercises to do to try and really get in to the strengthening work and he also taught me a couple of rather ingenious ways to use a towel to help stretch out properly. I didn’t have to make another appointment today, he said it would be better to run for a week and see how I go, that way I can decide whether I need to go back for more treatment straight away, or if a good stretching and manipulation session in a few weeks would be just as beneficial. As I’ve not been feeling the best recently, he suggested I take it very easy this week, just a couple of light runs… accordingly I think I will go to Pats session tomorrow morning and then aim for either another session of Pats and a small long-run on the weekend, or just a couple of small runs during the week. Whichever way I am looking forward to getting back in to it for sure :)

Sick, yet happy!

Must have caught some sort of flu-like bug this week; by Wednesday all my glands were swollen up, Thursday morning I got up to go to training and my body just laughed at me, every bit of me was aching and I'd woken up several times during the night with a fever. I will be kind to myself and have this full week of training and start again in ernest next week.

On a much better note though, the net times have been published for Gold Coast marathon, and rather than 1.47.59 as I previously thought, I actually did it in 1.47.35, which is a bit more convincing of a sub 1.48 :) Copied my results from the website for prosperity on to here!

Michelle Bonner
354
2005
Asics Half Marathon
H25-29F
1306
59
1:48:53
1:47:35
F
340

Sore, but okay

Three days later and I am starting to feel normal again. I had a bit of a nightmarish Monday and Tuesday getting my usual morning coffee. The route I take from the station means I only walk up two steps to the coffee place, but have to walk down 6, I know there are six, because everyone one of them has been painful the last two days. Today was a little better and by tomorrow I am hoping to go back to not noticing them anymore... I must have looked an idiot trying to get down them though :)

The plan for this week was to do one training session and a 10km run at the weekend, then back to the physio on Monday for 'damage assessment' and go from there. I am definitely feeling better though, have only had one twinge in my leg today and I managed to keep walking through it, things seem to be on the up.

Noosa is the next big one on the calendar, though there are a couple of smaller ones I am thinking of going in for, will see how that goes.

longest run EVER (aka as a HALF MARATHON!!!! )

Well, its official, I am no longer a half-marathon virgin :)


On the morning of the half I woke up at 4.30am. I'd actually slept really well from about 9pm till 2.30am when I was woken up by some guys street racing out the front. I shut my window but couldnt fall back to sleep again straight away, deciding to break the cardinal rule of never trying anything new on race day, I ate half a muffin, drank some more water and went back to bed. Dozed for about 2 hours until 4.30am.

Jumped out of bed, got the kettle boiling and had a shower, just a quick one to wake up. Got the coffee made and had some more water, before getting my race gear on. At 5am I called MJ as agreed the previous night, she was cooking oats in preparation for her Marathon, so I left her to it and did some stretching. I must admit I wouldn't usually do too much race stretching until I got to the site, but given the need to be cautious I spent 10mins just doing some key stretches. Drank some more water, ate some sour worms, chocolate coated coffee beans and finished packing up my bag.

5.30am I met up with MJ and Puntermatt to walk the ten minutes to the start. The atmosphere was huge, almost festival like really. We walked around until we found Pats tent and before I knew it, it was time to get to the start and find my 1.50 pacing group. The race started quickly, or perhaps now its over it felt like it went quickly, bit dream like really. Took about 40seconds for us to get over the line and watches were started. The first K or so was a bit uncomfortable for space, as people got in to their pace. The morning was beautiful though, cool but not cold, light but not too bright. We reached the first K in 5.10, perfect pacing by our lead pacer, the second K was 10.18, I definitely felt the pacer had things under control and was glad I'd opted to follow the pace group. At about 2.5km I took on some water and actually took my earphones out to have a chat with a couple of cool runners who had collected in the 1.50 group. We got to the 5km mark at 26mins, completely on target for a sub 1.50 run. I was getting a bit frustrated with all the bumping around, feeling like I was taking more side-steps at one stage than forward ones. To compound this the course had been narrowed to one side of the street so that the wheelies and super-quick guys who would soon be on their way back could make their way through easily. I chatted to a couple of runners I knew, drunk some gatorade that I was carrying and really begun to enjoy myself.
At 7km I was still frustrated by the crowd and decided to run just slightly ahead of the pacer to give myself some more space. Immediately I felt better, I wasn't stepping on anyone, or being knocked by people trying to squeeze past. I took on some more water, did a quick check, pacer was about ten meters behind and I while my leg was feeling slightly sore, it wasnt getting any worse and I was happy with how things were going... so happy in fact I must have picked up the pace, as I got to 10km 30seconds under 1.50 pace time. In fact, I must have been really happy with how things were going, as soon after the 11km marker I couldnt easily spot the pacer behind me anymore. Things were going well right up until the 14km marker, suddenly I started to get the sharp pain I'd been experiencing the previous week in my leg. NOT happy. I tried lots of mind games, you name the game, I played it. I drunk some water, drunk some gatorade, turned my music up, told myself it didnt really hurt, played 'catch the person in front', anything I could think of to take my mind off it. I was (almost) considering stopping when I had one last thought; I found my favourite track on my mp3-player and turned it up loud... loved that song and made a big effort to singalong (in my head) to the music. It worked, I was distracted long enough, that the next thing I knew I was at the 15km marker and in almost 90seconds under 1.50 pace time!
It didnt get much easier after 15km, but I continued with the mind-games, I was too close now to give up! At 20km I hurt, but there was lots of CR cheering, including a huge cheersquad, which definitely put a smile on my face. As I turned off the road and on to the park I put a couple of quicker steps down, wasn't going to happen though, there was to be no speed finish today. I crossed the line, the clock said 1.48 and some seconds, my watch was stopped at 1.47.59, will have to wait for the official times to be published. Who cares though, first half is done... sooooooooooooooo happy!!


After the run we cheered on the marathon runners, before meeting up at Pats tent again for a couple of drinks. Spa recovery back at my room, and then off for drinks with some of the CR's which was great fun also. All-in-all, a very tiring but enjoyable day!

Going down the Gold Coast!!!

Not done my blog for a little while; partly to do with the fact I've not been running, but more to do with end of financial year taking over my life for the week!


Physio on Tuesday was good, he seemed pretty pleased with the increased movement in my leg and apparently some of the tighteness in my back had reduced (still hurt when he was pushing around on it though!!). He suggested I try doing a 30min run that night and go from there.....

30 mins of running around the block in the pouring rain probably wasnt the best way to test out my leg, however, test it out it did. I felt like I'd lost all co-ordination and there was definitely some pain at the top of my leg. After ten mins I'd had enough and decided to turn back and go home, I couldn't run 10mins pain-free, no way was I going to manage the Half. After about 15mins though I got in to a bit more of a steady rhythm and while there was a definite pull on my leg, the pain seemed to subside and I found myself relaxing and starting to enjoy the run. I did another loop and finished after 27mins. The next big test was going to be how I felt the next morning, as previously every run had finished with a bit of pain, but this had increased over time. After ice, stretching, anti-inflamatory pills and gel used I went off to bed.

Wednesday morning....... no pain!! Yaaay!! On the physio's information, there is no need for cortisone and up to me if I run on the weekend and what pace I set. Though no speed work or distance is recommended beforehand, and dropping the pace back was advised. Yippppeeee, GC is still an option!

Wednesday afternoon: no pain
Wednesday night: no pain
Thursday morning - Friday morning: no pain

Painfree, though having only run about 5km in the past 10 days I will be going to the GC. I have revised my goal from sub 1.50, to just finish happily... there will be other races for pb's and pushing the limits. I'm just happy to be going at all!!

Thanks to all who have posted on here, sent emails and texts enquiring how I've been going. Bit scared and no where near as confident as I was about the GC now, but I am definitely looking fwd to just being part of the event and seeing all my running friends again... I've missed you guys!! :)