Since 3 May...

...I have done HEAPS. Ran my first half marathon 20 May, time completed was 2:21:36.2. Read about it here.

Since the half marathon I have been training with my friend Nyasha to prepare her for her first race - the 10km Run to the G. It's this weekend. So I've been running semi-regularly ~ two to three times per week. Nowhere near the same intensity as when I was preparing for the marathon.

Which is probably a good thing. It's sort of a recovery period for me, if you want to look at it from a periodisation point of view. Once I settle into a new routine with work and have all my assignments and exams out of the way I'll be able to re-focus on a new goal.

As for my resistance training, part of my new job has included being trained there "as a client" in order to gain firsthand experience as to what it's like to be a client of each of the trainers. So I've been going in to my local gym only once a week and doing some light stuff, saving myself up for the training sessions so I can go harder there. The sessions I've been doing on my own have been more of a play around, experimenting with all the new exercises i've been learning.

Some new exercises I've found intriguing, challenging, and effective:
- Single leg dead lifts using a Smith machine
- Swiss ball pikes
- L sits
- Working with gymnastics rings

Habit, not Hassle

The ironic thing about keeping a TRAINING bLOG is that if one is busy training, one is likely to not have time to blog. I've probably been busy with neither - more inundated with trying to balance job, study and work experience.

I am probably only training only JUST enough to feel somewhat okay with the thought of running this half marathon (which I have already signed up and paid for so there's no turning back now).

All posts after 8 April are recaps that I am writing up only today. Will work backwards, and if I can't remember beyond a certain day I guess I'll just leave it.

Today I did my normal run. Started raining quite heavily at the halfway mark. I don't know whether this succeeded in speeding me up or if it only served to get me very wet. More than anything, I was concerned about getting my iPod wet!

As I type this, there is one thing about my lifestyle that I have only realized today. Exercise for me is no longer a hassle, it is now a habit. In the past a "bad exercise week" would mean no exercise, typically for at least 2 weeks in a row. Now, a "bad week" is considered only getting out 2-3 times.

I can't wait to be a fully registered PT so I can get alongside others and motivate them to build a healthy habit into their lifestyles.

Run with Nyasha

The route we ran today was longer than the last one we ran together. I am so proud of Nyasha, this is the third week in a row she's come out running with me.

17k run... ouch!

Yes, it was a long one today. And really slow too, took us (James and me) over 2 hours. Considering Run for the Kids took me 1 1/2 hours for 15k, that puts us at a super-slow pace for this one.

Scotchman's Creek Trail, highly recommended by Dan. Thanks, it was beautiful! We ran from Blackburn Rd (near Waverley Private Hospital) along the trail to East Malvern train station and back.

My left adductor or one of my gluteal muscles or something back there was aching a lot even before we hit the halfway mark. Will see how I pull up tomorrow. Lots of stretches are in order, that's for sure.

Run with Nyasha

Went for a run with Nyasha again this morning. We met later than normal seeing as neither of us had work to get to.

Distance was less this time, but instead we did some hills, including Blackburn Rd hill and Holland Rd hill, both twice. Good job, Nyash!

Anzac Day Casual Run

Went for the usual run with James today. Took it at a mild to moderate pace, probably could have gone harder but knew I'd be going for a second run right after this one.

It's nice running on public holidays - have I mentioned that before? No morning traffic noise and all that.

11-12km Run

This was the first of a series of Saturday morning long runs.

An explanation: when training for a race it is common practice to schedule one day a week to do a longer run than normal, and then gradually increase the distance run each week in preparation for a longer distance race.

So James and I have set aside Saturday mornings for the next 4 weeks for our longer training runs. The "half marathon" is just a little longer than a half at 23km, and takes place Sunday 20 May.

Today was supposed to help us ease into things. I don't know the exact distance we ran, which is why I estimated 11-12km. Next week I need to get up earlier and eat breakfast an hour before our run. Today I did it before breakfast... not a good idea as I was pretty hungry within the first 4-5km.

Run with Nyasha

Our first early morning run together. At the Thousand Stairs on Sunday, we agreed to try and meet up once a week.

Those stairs sure can do funny things to your brain.

It was of course dark when we met up but by the time we finished our run, the sun was out. Not sure how much longer that will happen as the days continue to get shorter over the winter season.

This Week

I have been too busy to blog this week. Quick summary of the entire week:

Sunday 1 April:
Run for the Kids - ran 15.2km in 90 minutes. Read about it here.

Monday & Tuesday:
Post-race apathy, didn't do any exercise - no running, no weights.

Wednesday:
Tried to break out of post-race apathy, went for a short run in Brighton right before my class, it was about 20mins and speed was moderate so assuming it was my average pace it must have been about 3kms, maybe a little more.

Thursday:
Ran my usual route backwards, 5.6km. It was cold. And it drizzled slightly so I was also a little wet. The cold weather is good to keep me running because I know as soon as I stop I will be cold. Nice little bit of motivation there for me.

Friday:
Had planned to do nothing, seeing as it was Good Friday and I was still feeling apathetic. But I woke up at 6am, knew I would not be able to get back to sleep so decided in that moment to go for a long run. Ran 10km! But I was a bit slow, it took me 71 mins. However, it did mean that I was able to really enjoy my breakfast that morning with friends at Las Chicas in East St Kilda. Yum!

Today:
30-40 min Marine Workout this morning with James, Asher, Brian and Carina. This was a series of nine 30 second exercises ~ three types of pushups, three types of sit ups/crunches, three types of leg work ~ with a short jog in between each exercise and a sprint at the end. Did the whole thing twice, followed with some chin-ups. i still can't do more than two chin ups unassisted. But one day I will be able to do ten!

Tomorrow:
Running Group at 4pm. Hopefully that will mark the definite end of my post-race apathetic week as we have a time trial.

Finally feel ready for R4K! (sort of)

Katie and I went for a long run this evening. Dan told me that if I can do 12km then I will definitely be fine for 15km. So tonight we ran 12km, or thereabouts.

I am now the proud owner of a piece of string that is 11km long (not actually 11km - just in accordance with the Melways). I made it myself!

I used it to find us a route to run that would make up 12km. Wanted to avoid major roads, thus avoiding the hecklers and honkers - they always do it so suddenly that it makes me jump which is embarrassing. I found a nice little route running beside a little river that I didn't even know existed until now! The route started at a park on Eley Rd, and took us across Station St and then diagonally towards Warrigal Rd, crossing Burwood Hwy, Highbury Rd and High Street Rd in the process. Turned around at Warrigal and came back.

The run was quite easy, probably because Katie and I had a great time chatting about all sorts of things along the way.

We stretched well afterward, but I still the legs might be sore tomorrow, which means I'm going to be killed during tomorrow's Running Group because we're doing sprint work.

Well, tonight it the last night of Daylight Saving. Looking forward to the extra hour's sleep! And also looking forward to the coming week... even though I will miss the daylight during the evening hours, at least it won't still look like midnight at 6:30-7:00am!

Usual Route

James came with me this morning. Did the usual route - forwards. About 5.5km in total.

Run

Went for a brief run, distance wasn't too far, however I included some sprint work into my run, 10 laps of a short stretch of grass in a park.

Distances

Okay so I finally got around to measuring the distances for my runs.

Here they are:

1. Run on 8/03/07 - 7.4km
2. Run on 9/03/07 - 7.5km
3. My "usual route" - 5.6km
   

You can imagine how disappointed I was to find these distances out - particularly because I thought maybe the second run was closer to 9km.

So that just gave me an incentive to do a long one today. James is so wonderful, he came too! You will know how wonderful in a minute when I disclose the distance.

Route: from our house, right at Burwood Hwy, right at Station St, right at Canterbury Rd, right at Blackburn Rd, right at Burwood Hwy and back to our house.

Total distance = 10km! YAY.

Finally hit the double digit mark. Now how am I going to get this distance closer to 15km? I am starting to realise 15 km is a very far distance. Short of doing a 7.5km route twice, I am running out of ideas for how to construct a circular route 15km long.

Slept in, rushed for a run

I overslept half an hour this morning. So I only had just enough time to squeeze in my "usual" run before I had to prepare and head over to work. Actually, I was 5 minutes late to work... which I wouldn't have been if I hadn't slept in!

A usual run for me means going from my house to Burwood Hwy, then doing a big almost rectangular shape route going along Burwood Hwy, Blackburn Rd, Eley Rd, Holland Rd, Fulton Rd, Middleborough Rd, back to Burwood Hwy and home.

Sometimes I do that route backwards - today was one of those days. The two directions have their various advantages and disadvantages in that the hills vary. When doing it backwards I am faced with Holland and Blackburn Hills (not their real names, but my nicknames for them) at the end of my run which helps me training my anaerobic fitness.

It was a good run... I think I might even be getting slightly faster. Anaerobic fitness is definitely improving, for sure.

Short Run

I was meant to go for another medium to long run this morning - desperately trying to get my kilometres up in time for 1st April. But I was tired from the last two days... plus I overslept half an hour and had to be at work by 9:30 today.

So instead I did a short one, took it easy. Have Running Group tomorrow anyway which includes a fitness test so maybe I should aim to have fresh-ish legs for a good result tomorrow.

Route: my house, away from Burwood Hwy across to Eley Rd, up Eley to Blackburn Rd, right at Blackburn, right at hwy, right at Holland, left at Eley, back to my house.

Good thing about the run - it included a couple of hills (which I will now nickname the Blackburn and Holland Hills). I am getting better at those hills, I remember the first time I ran up Blackburn Hill my lungs wanted to die... today was pretty good, but maybe I ran it too slow and that's why I felt no strain on the lungs. However, this time the legs were the limiting factor - might have something to do with the last two days' runs.

Thanks for the comments and encouragement both from Blogger and Multiply world. I may seem a little hardcore to you guys but it doesn't seem that way to me at all - I know I probably shouldn't compare myself to the train-twice-a-day community, but I do. Consider it an aspiration that I am working myself towards.

Long(ish) Run

Trying to increase my distances in preparation for Run for the Kids on 1 April. However it doesn't help that I have no idea what distances I'm running because I still haven't gotten around to measuring them in a Melways.

Today's route: from my house toward Burwood Hwy, right at hwy, right at Middleborough Rd, right at Canterbury Rd, right at Blackburn Rd, right at Burwood Hwy, back to my house.

A nice big square. It took me just under 1 hr, given that it was a moderate to slow jog, I would say that was nowhere near 10km because I doubt I was even doing a pace of 6:00. But then again I could surprise myself.

I'll try measure the distance sometime this weekend and edit it into this post.

Edit 15/03/07: The distance was 7.5km

How far have I gone?

One of these days I'll have saved up enough money to buy myself a flashy heart rate monitor complete with foot pod that measure my pace and distance. For now, I'll just say my pace was fairly moderate. I think my pace has improved over the last couple of weeks since picking the running back up - Run for the Kids in 4 weeks' time is certainly providing the motivation for me to keep up the training, particularly at a time in my life when I feel too busy to exercise.

Running route: my house to Burwood Hwy, left at hwy, left at Blackburn Rd, left at Eley Rd, right at Holland Rd, left at Fulton, left at Middleborough Rd, right at Eley Rd, left at Station St, left at Burwood Hwy all the way back to my house.

Distance: no idea, I think maybe 8-9km? I really need to measure it in the Melways.

Edit 15/03/07: The distance was actually 7.4km