The too slowwwwwww road back to running….

My attendance at the gym has slipped into what I am happy to call a “regular routine”. I have been a few times now, and as it’s only a block away from work, and I’m at work 4 days a week, really it’s difficult to find an excuse not to go. Wait. That’s not the complete truth. I have the universe subtly suggesting that being at the gym isn’t for me. For example – every single time I’ve been so far I’ve forgotten some kind of vital accessory required for gym attendance. One time I forgot my socks. Oh come on! My socks? So the choice was to either go home (thanks universe) or for fuck sake train in no socks… blergh!! I opted out of the treadmill session that day and just went with weights… Next day – forgot hair tie. Again, no running for me. Next visit – forgot my asthma puffer and my training schedule thing. Oh really? Jesus why is the universe so against me? I need an extra half an hour at night to plan and re-plan my gym bag to be able to cope with every kind of contingency. Tuesday night this genius forgot her towel. Just kill me now. Whyyyyyyy is it so hard?

I will give myself snaps for continuous attendance and obtaining value for money for fees paid so far. Insert narcissistic photo of post workout abs here:   

I went for a run at lunch time yesterday and made the mistake of running with a faster runner. I needed to stay at a 6:10-15 pace. Instead I smashed out 2km at a 5:48 pace. You’ll remember that my recent 1km PB was 5:48. So, I totes managed that time over TWO kilometres. The self-imposed glory was shortlived. I felt my knee twinge all afternoon. FOR. FUCK. SAKE. I can’t seem to get it right. No more flat out runs, only medium pace runs. Physio Steve did say this. It’s hard not to get disheartened when rehab takes so fucking long. In my head I’ve been to the gym 5 times so I should be super strong by now and ready to run the 12km HBF Run for a Reason on the 25th of May right? *Sigh* Nope. Seasoned runners keep telling me to stick with the rehab for a few months, ease my way back into it rather than rushing and failing. Dammit Dammit Dammit.

 

 

Smashing it out at the City2Surf…

Sunday was race day. It was time to put all my training to the test and see how fast these little legs could carry me across the 12km City2Surf course. The training had been going really well. I felt confident. I made sure there was some serious carbs happening the night before the race.

I was up at 7am, my phone busy with texts to and from Frances, Josh and Samantha who were all in the throes of squeezing into fitness gear, wolfing down breakfast and trying to get to the train on time. Fran and Josh are married, but she left him behind because he was taking too long – Josh had to catch a later train – it’s every man for himself in this race, apparently even before you get to the start line. I had all my gear ready. Garmin charged. GU’s. Favourite undies. Favourite socks. Race bib. All set. Made it to the train on time and joined the masses making their way to the Perth Convention Centre to start the race. I do believe this year 48,000 people participated in this event (marathon, half, 12km, 4km) that’s a HUGE event!

So, after surviving a tongue lashing from an irate volunteer at the bag drop-off section (clearly she needed coffee) we headed to the start line. I was a bit nervous, a bit excited, and more than ready to go. We crossed the start line and took off. As expected our Garmin’s had a heart attack with all the GPS activity going on at once so we had to try to figure out our own pace. Pretty sure Fran and I were running about 15km an hour or something – we’d sprung out of the traps pretty quickly, determined to conquer THE HILL. Malcolm Street hill in the first km. We did. We conquered the hill. Way too fast and not in accordance with our plan to just take it easy up the damn hill. So, 1.5km in finally up and over the big fucking hill and that was it, I was sure there was no way in hell I could keep running. Seriously? 1.5km in?! The mental games started. Man my brain is MEAN! It started belittling me, started telling me I should stop, there was no way I was going to make it and to kiss my half marathon dreams goodbye… Stupid jerk brain. I did the only thing I could do, I just. kept. running. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other and hoped my legs and lungs would recover eventually. I lost Fran shortly after this, but she was still in my head “keep running while your legs recover, you’ve trained for this, don’t stop running“. I came good about 3km in, and smashed down some of my GU lollies hoping they’d give me a bit more oomph. Between 3km and 8km I smashed out a pretty decent pace. It was well below 6min kms and it did occur to me that I was going way too fast to be able to maintain that speed for the whole race but I thought “oh fuck it, I might get the whole way at this speed, why slow down?” In the back of my mind I was wary that in reality maintaining this speed may actually make me hit a wall rather than the finish line. And that’s what happened. At about the 8km mark I hurt. A lot. That’s when the hills showed themselves.

Dear God. No. This race is renowned for its evil hills. It’s not the pissy little HBF Run for a Reason which is completely flat and gives out PB’s willy nilly. Oh no. The hills are immense and right when you’re not in the mood for them. After the biggest hill I heard someone comment “Oh thank God, that’s the last one“… Yes… the last one… thank God… They. Were. Wrong. My heart had lifted temporarily in the face of this news, however it sank just as fast as I came around the corner to another series of hills. Not huge hills, but godammn hills all the same – 3 in fact. FML. I think at that point I wanted to cry. Fran later said she was hurting so badly then she DID shed a single tear hahaha… Pretty much the only thing that kept me going at this stage was the fact that I saw the 11km banner, and because I knew my family was at the finish line waiting to see me finish. I dug deep. I told myself there was less than 6 minutes to go until it was all over and I ran as hard as I could. Coming up to the finish line I saw my sister with one of my boys waving furiously screaming “go mummy go!”, I passed my husband with our other 3 sons cheering loudly, then I passed mum videoing my moment of glory. I did not see them, but Jane and Bryan were also there to see me finish! My God it was over! Josh was waiting for me at the finish line. He’d actually stopped, taken a toilet break, then caught me up again about 8km then raced ahead to finish before me. That man is a running machine! Fran came in about 90 seconds later. It was over!! We found Mighty Mouse, Tom and Will and Toby too!

I finished the race in a glorious 1:12:29!! Right on target!! Even with all the bitch hills I managed a 5:59km pace! Here are the results for our other tough mudders:

• Frances: 1:14:02 – beat her last 12km time!
• Josh: 1:11:03 –  in a cow suit
• Mighty Mouse: 1:09:55 – a lazy 12km run for triathlete MM
• Tom: 1:05:19 – an impressive run!
• Will: 1:07:44 – first time racer what a champion!
• Toby: 1:00:10 – just shy of cracking the 60min mark – super effort!

I have to say, although it was a mammoth effort for spectators to negotiate all the road closures, it meant so much to me to have my family at the finish line. Knowing they were there waiting for me was pretty much the only thing that kept me moving when I thought I’d have to walk. I was so glad to see them and share the experience with them. It means a lot that they take the time out of their weekend to support me. The race was also important because it was the last time we would run with Mighty Mouse for a whole year! She left to work in Mongolia the next day. I aspire to be like her, to be as fast as her, and I will miss her gentle encouragement while she is away. She’s aiming to run her first marathon in Mongolia – I’ll be following her blog closely to see how’s she’s going. When she gets back we can do one together 🙂

Sam managed a super effort with her first half marathon in 2:01:51!! With 1km to go Sam said she didn’t think she could finish. She started to walk. A woman behind her said “I’ve been following you this whole race mate, don’t stop now, you keep fucking running!” hahaa… so she did… An impressive time for a course with so many hills. SO proud of Sam! Fran and I are doing the Fremantle half marathon with her in 6 weeks – nice, flat course. Should be easy 😉

The power of The Running Centre – smashing PB’s outta the park

This morning I braved the 6 degree morning to join a running group run by The Running Centre. With Jane out of action this week, and Fran and Josh away in Europe, motivation has been low. Luckily, Toby agreed to be my running buddy and brave the cold with me. Good thing too because the only thing that got my arse out of bed this morning at 6am was knowing that I would let Toby down if I slept in. I’d made a commitment to run, there was no bailing.

Today’s run was an 11km course from the UWA Boat Shed into the CBD, up St George’s Terrace, and around Kings Park back to the Boat Shed. Some clever dick decided that a course that included Malcolm Street would be a great idea. Malcolm Street is the start line for the City2Surf, it’s also pretty much the same hideous incline as that bastard hill that is Mount Street. Lucky for me I’ve been doing regular training up that damn hill for this exact reason. I’ll give you a rundown of my uh… run…

1-5km: The journey into the CBD. Flat, fucking freezing cold and the usual thoughts along the lines of “I can’t believe I voluntarily got out of bed to do this” and “fuck-me-it’s-cold-fuck-me-it’s-cold-fuck-me-it’s-cold-fuck-me-it’s-cold-fuck-me-it’s-cold-fuck-me-it’s-cold-” and just plain old “Left. Right. Repeat.” I dunno whyyyy it takes a whole 5km for my body to decide it’s actually enjoying the run dammit.

5-7km: We zipped through the CBD, which is a bit of a bitch considering there was tonnes of road/pavement works going on. At one point Garmin says I was running 20km/hr for a few seconds… that was me scooting my backside across the highway quick smart when the little man was red and a car was coming… hahahaha… This was the point where we all hugged each other, wished each other the best and good luck up “The Hill”. Ok so not really but farrrr outtt…. it’s a big hill. But this is what happened:

1. I made a conscious effort to look up, not at my feet, improved posture made a lot of difference.
2. I decided that I was going to own Malcom Street.
3. As I powered up the hill, I watched some faster runners start to slow.
4. About halfway up the hill my body hit a huge wave of “runner’s high” or something.
5. Me, the non-runner, the beginner runner, actually PASSED some other runners while going UP the hill! This gave me a huge boost of confidence.

8-11km: Not even kidding, AFTER I powered up that massive hill, I got faster and faster. I finished my last 4km with negative splits! And not just any old negative splits, fucking awesome ones…

• km 8 – 5:59
• km 9 – 5:44
• km 10 – 5:36
• km 11 – 5:43 which would have been better except for a minor hiccup here as I got lost briefly trying to find my way through the uni and had to double back…

While running the last 4 kms I actually thought my heart was going to burst with some kind of joy/pride.. Seems dumb I know, but I was powering faster than I’d ever run before. I waited for the lactic acid burn that would tell me to slow down, that I was overdoing it. It did not come. Not at the top of the hill, not in the last 4km. The guy I was pacing myself behind was suddenly too close to me, wait no… I was too close to him… I am usually reluctant to pass other runners because you look like a dickhead if you pass someone only for them to pass you 500m later because you’re too slow and were trying to be a hero… but finally I had to bite the bullet and just go round him. He never caught me. Towards the final 500m I caught up with some of the runners who’d been out in front and in the first 5km I’d wished I could be as fast as them… well…. we finished together.

Today I ran 3 PBs:

• 5km in 29:21
• 10km in 1.00.41
• 11.14km in 1:07:50

I finished running today and I was high as a kite. hahahahaah… It was wonderful. I felt amazing. I felt like I only stopped because the loop was over. Toby had left me behind in the CBD – I’m glad he didn’t wait for me, he needed to take his new Sunto out for a spin. He finished the course in a little over 58 minutes – what a champion!! I met up with Sam a few minutes later as she finished up the 16km loop. Her longest distance ever and she smashed it out like a boss. We enjoyed a celebratory hug, said soft sweet nothings to our Garmins and then went to West Perth to carb load. Man I burned over 800 calories on my run – ffs how on earth am I going to replace those calories!! Time to get serious about some kind of supplement I think. I just cannot eat enough…

I am on track to kill the City to Surf this year. Last year I envied Sam who completed it in about 1:15. Look at my time today – I could make that time and hopefully run it a bit faster even… dare to dream big mate? Yessir… Going for glory in a month’s time. Go Team White Lightning. I am so glad Sam talked me into running with TRC today. I was worried I’d be hilariously slow. That people would think I was too slow to run with them, but I wasn’t. I said g’day at the shop afterwards and their staff were interested how I’d gone, and even said I’d done a really good time! I was going to write “I think they were just being nice” but honestly I think they were being truthful. I was super proud of myself and saw a glimmer of recognition as a runner and I thought maybe, just maybe I could fit in there, that I was good enough to run with them. Wow.

PS: If you’re reading this and thinking “I could never do this” – I don’t wanna hear it. I started 6 months ago. I could barely run 300m. I have 4 kids. I work 4 days a week and parent pretty much every other moment I’m not working. I have every excuse. I put them in the bin and changed my life. I love running. You can do it too…

Smashing the Bridges – distance PB of 10km!!!

This morning not even the lure of a rare sleep in couldn’t keep me in bed when my alarm went off at 6:50am. The babies are at nanna’s place so I could have slept until 10am if I wanted to. Unlucky! My “see you in 5” text to Jane actually rocketed her out of bed and into her running gear (most of it) in record time. Poor love, she got into the car barefoot and in need of a hairbrush but her enthusiasm improved as she smashed her cuppa and vegemite toast. At the Mends St jetty we met Toby (poor guy waited in the cold a bit coz we were a teeny bit late) then the usual struggle saying a teary seeya later to our jumpers and off we went. Garmin failed to locate our position for the first 1km stupid bloody thing, but we know how far the circuit is, 9.3km. So we just kept running. Last week our average pace was 6:25 per km. This week we improved to 6:17 per km! Ok so we’d aimed for 6:10 but 6:17 is damn good for us! We finished in under an hour. Toby and I ran a little bit further to round off the 10km bragging rights. Today felt good. It was a good, steady run. I miss Fran and Josh if I’m honest, it’s nice to run in a bigger group. Hopefully they’re smashing out some runs in Amsterdam. Looking forward to a guest blog from Fran soon. So, home before 10am, run smashed out for the weekend- have you worked out today??

Mount Street hill sprints in the rain

Why? Wrong question… Why not?!!! Bring it!!

45 minutes later…
We completed 5 hill sprints up Mount Street and walked back down after each one. Doesn’t sound like much but it takes me nearly 2 minutes to get up that bitch of a gradient. 2 minutes of serious thigh burning, soul destroying “sprinting” up hill. Taylor and Toby can get up it a good 30 seconds faster than me, they’re so much stronger than me, but I’m not too fussed, they’re polite, they wait for me at the top lol. Taylor pushed himself a tad too hard and spewed his guts up after the second lap haha he must have given it a bit too much stick too early. He came good though and finished up the 5 laps. Garmin (and my husband with a physics degree) tells me the hill incline is 8 degrees. When I park the car the handbreak is on hard. Garmin says the hill is 300m long with a 43m elevation. It’s huge. I love it. I hate it. I did it.