Exercise: 20km Run - MMCT (8’s Blue)

I made sure I was up in time to watch the Women’s Marathon this morning.

I haven’t really taken much interest in the Olympics on TV but this is one of 2 things that I really wanted to watch. The other is the Mens Marathon, which, unfortunately is being televised at the same time as our Ultra run on Sunday.

Note to self: Get Hubby to set Video!

Once the Marathon had finished, I raced out the door to meet Michelle at MMCT for a nice easy 20km run. It was great running weather too, as the rain had gone and the sun was trying to come out from behind the clouds.

We ambled along, enjoyin the chat, making a pit stop at McDonalds (another reminder to self: do NOT eat red meat the night before a run!!). Now can anyone who works at, or has worked at McDonalds, answer me this. Are the toilets not supposed to be checked hourly? If so, why is it that there was absolutely NO toilet roll on either of the toilet roll holders

Anyway we ran back down to the cars, had a quick drink and decided that we’d try and find the new Eastlink trail. Just as we were running down towards Eastland who should we see coming the other way but Corrie and her dog Hunter. So they joined us for around 8km. The more the merrier

Why is it that I don’t seem to be able to get any kind of rythmn going until about 10km into the run? And of course we got to the 20km mark and I just felt like I could have carried on for at least another 10km

So this week is a bit of a taper in the lead up to the 53km Ultra on Sunday. Just some nice easy runs, maybe with a couple of hills thrown in on Wednesday

Exercise: 20km Run - Local Streets (7’s Blue)

Bad, bad, bad. That’s all I can say about this run.

Michelle had to listen to me whinge, moan and complain for the whole 20km’s. Poor chick

My legs were like lead, my ankles hurt, my tummy wasn’t happy either

But I was damned if I was going to give up. This week is all about keeping to my training plan, and if it says do a 20km run, I’m doing a 20km run

Luckily I had an appointment with Corrie after my run, which helped my muscles stop hurting. She also found loads of sore spots which I wasn’t aware of

Some new shoes have arrived. One pair for me, one pair for Michelle

These are Saucony Fastwitch. A very lightweight pair of trainers.

Check out what’s written on the bottom of them

Exercise: 10km Run incl 9×400m Yassos - Treadmill (Trigons)

Okay, just to clear up a point that Michelle made in her comment yesterday, I admit that it was only me who didn’t want to run on Sunday. Michelle was happy to go out but I just didn’t want to run in the cold, wet conditions. So it was me who wussed out, not Michelle

So, back to tonight’s run. The treadmill is a great tool for doing speed work. It really keeps you honest and you can’t back off at any point (unless you press the button to slow down of course )

My only mistake tonight was forgetting to put Bodyglide under my arms. Ouchy!

You gotta laugh at some of the Personal Trainers who work at gyms. I was in the middle of doing a Yasso, running at 11.5kph, trying to keep form ( ) when one of the personal trainers, who must have wanted to waste a bit of time, decided she wanted to have a chat, so jumped on the treadmill next to me and started asking questions about what I was doing, what speed, what recovery etc!

Now I’m all for enjoying a chat about running, but not when I’m having enough trouble just trying to breathe in enough air to finish the yasso BUT, it was still nice for someone to be interested, especially as this doesn’t happen very often at the gym I go to!

Exercise: 14km Run - Treadmill (8’s Blue)

So the whole weekend was a write off

I’m kicking myself now that I didn’t take up Michelle’s offer of starting our long run at 6am on Saturday. It was a beautiful morning and would have been great running weather, especially as we were going to do a 30km long run through the hills.

Of course waking up on Sunday morning to torrential rain and freezing conditions certainly didn’t put a smile on my face

We made the decision not to run, especially as we would be running to Olinda, which was having it’s first snowfall for a while. I really wasn’t happy as I’d been looking forward to this run all week, but it would have been quite dangerous to run up and down the hills in those conditions (okay that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!!).

So we changed our plans. Michelle was going to meet me at my place this morning for a 15km run around the streets. I got up at 5.35am to find a text message saying that there was no way Michelle was going to run in the torrential rain that was happening outside - and boy was it torrential

This only left one option for me. The dreaded treadmill at the gym after work

My aim was for 15km, but I just couldn’t run any more at the 14km mark, so called it a day. My right glute has been playing up a bit and I’ve still got a niggle at the back of my left knee. I certainly felt them both tonight.

I had to laugh though, as there was a Step class starting whilst I was running on the treadmill, and the looks on some of the women’s faces when they walked out after their class to still see me running was priceless. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone run more than about 5km on the treadmills, so to see someone on the treadmill for more than 1.5 hours must have been a bit of a shock for them.

Hope everyone’s water tanks are filling up fast

Exercise: 18.5km Run - Local Streets (8’s)

Yes, I’m still here. You all know by now that lack of posting on blog means lack of running

I’ve now arranged my working week so that I can leave work early one day per week to do a long run. This means that I don’t have to get up ultra early or run late in the evening, which suits me just fine.

Michelle was already waiting at my place as I raced home from work to get changed and back out the door in double quick time. Even though I got to finish work early, there are still time constraints with picking up Alana after school.

I’d mapped out a 20km run which took in a few inclines and a couple of hills (honest Michelle, I forgot about the bigger hills when I mapped it out!!!).

It took me a while to get into the run, and poor Michelle had done a 15km hill run yesterday afternoon so her legs were feeling it too.

We needed a loo break during the run, and luckily we ran past my Sister’s house and she was home. I knew Sisters were there for a reason

Back out again and we were on the home straight. Okay, it wasn’t actually straight and there were still a few hills, but we were heading home

All up we had to cut it a bit short as I ran out of time, but 18.5km is still a good hitout midweek for me. I need to start incorporating more hills now due to the events that Michelle and I want to enter, so we’ll probably be doing alot more running through the mountains, up hill and down dale

And did I tell you that I got 8 correct in my footy tipping last week

Exercise: Netball Game (Propels)

I had decided that I wasn’t going to play the winter season of Netball but had told the team that if they were desparate I could fill in. They were desparate

I do enjoy playing Netball, and tonight’s game was no exception. We even won

Sometimes I wonder how people get employed. I’m sure so many people lie on their Resume’s to make themselves sound more experienced than they are. We’ve got a couple of IT people working for us who are absolute morons!!

I got to work at 9am this morning to be told that the network was offline due to a problem that happened on Saturday. This meant that I could not access email, internet or print anything out on our printers (because they’re networked!!).

And these 2 idiots didn’t keep anyone informed as to what was happening, so there were people asking all day “what’s happening, can we do anything yet?” I mean, what would it have taken to just put a PA announcement out to staff explaining where they were with it.

Then, because they couldn’t fix it themselves, even though they’d created the problem, they had to get somebody from outside to come in and fix it! I’m still shaking my head at the stupidity of these people…..and I’m sure they’re getting paid more than me too

So do you like the latest addition to my running collection?

These are Saucony Grid Sinisters…….

Exercise: 34km Run - Bellarine Rail Trail (8’s)

Well after getting minimal sleep last night and waking up with a nasty headache, I was probably not in the right frame of mind to do the run today.

But after the Advil took effect and the stomach was full of coffee, I jumped in the car to head over to Michelle’s place a much happier person

Eat Em drove us down to Geelong, with myself, Michelle and Tiger Boy as company. We arrived with about 30 minutes to spare, so of course me and Michelle made a beeline to the toilets. It was only when we got back, after trekking through the showground for a good 5 minutes to get to the toilets, that we were told the ones in front of where we were parked had been opened up

There were plenty of familiar faces, inclduing WOOH, Sam and Kevin Cassidy. There were also lots of familiar faces who I do not actually know to name, but just to recognise their face.

There was a big crowd doing this Fat Ass run today and I think that was due to the fact that Lee Troop was doing the run, and also doing a talk at a local cafe after the run. How cool is it to be within spitting distance to one of Australia’s great runners

Michelle and I got into our normal stride pretty early and we were also joined by Coolrunner’s Courtley Love (Elizabeth). I’m not sure who talked more, her or Michelle, but it was good just to be able to run along without having to exert too much energy on talking. I’m not saying that I didn’t do any talking, but there was always conversation flowing

I am so happy with today’s run. I felt so strong and Michelle had to reel me back in a couple of times as I just wanted to get to the finish so my pace increased. I know that she did the right thing in pulling me back as I would hate to be too sore to run for the rest of the week

So once we got to the finish line we got changed, put on the Skins and had a little wander into Queenscliff (which is where the run finished). We found a bakery and I grabbed a Latte. My stomach just couldn’t seem to handle the thought of any food at that time, which is a little concerning as I really need to find food that I will be able to eat when doing the upcoming 52km Ultra Round The Tan. Need to keep working on that.

We got dropped back at the car and then waited for Tiger Boy, who was in the next wave of people being dropped back from Queenscliff. A nice casual drive back to Michelle’s place and then on to home

Here are a few photos from the day. And might I add that the weather was absolutely fantastic. I was so worried last night when it was still pouring with rain at 8pm. How quickly Melbourne weather changes

Exercise: 10km Run - Croydon Hills (7’s Blue)

Pinch, punch, first day of the month

What a great feeling after a run to think “that wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be!!”.

I haven’t really run many hills since Trailwalker so I was a bit dubious about being able to do our run this morning without having to walk up some of the hills. Not once did we stop for a walk break, and I can even brag that we talked the whole way round

I was reminded last night that there is a 4 day event coming up in November that I was very keen to put in my diary last year. It’s suddenly not far away so a decision needs to be made whether to do it or not. Spoke to Michelle this morning and the outcome is YES, we are going to do it

Amazing, amazing, amazing sunset last night. I wish I’d had my good camera as the mobile phone just didn’t do it justice

These photos were over the course of about 10 minutes. It’s amazing how quickly it changes!

Exercise: 5km Run - Treadmill (8’s Blue)

Just a quick 5km run at lunchtime. Sticking to the plan

Going to see Corrie tonight. My right glute is giving me a bit of hassle and I seem to have acquired another little niggle behind my left knee

And can you please all pop over to Michelle’s new blog and say hi…..yep she’s finally entered the 21st century

I’ve got lots of good viewing to watch. Have downloaded the whole series of the latest US “So You Think U Can Dance”. Means that I don’t have to sit through millions of adverts and I don’t have to wait to see who won

Exercise: 10km incl 8 x 400m Yassos at 11kph - Treadmill (8’s)

OMG, how cold was it

Hands up everyone who had to scrape ice off their windscreens this morning

So taking that into account, and the fact that I had a really late night, there was no way I was getting out of bed to go running. Roll on Spring

By not getting out of bed, this meant that I had to get my a*se into gear and do my running tonight, and once again it was freezing cold. Just as well I have a gym membership

Doing Yassos on the treadmill was not as boring as I thought it was going to be. I started off with a 2km warm up, and then jumped straight into it. I had the treadmill on 11.5kph, but after 2 Yassos (with a 2 min 15 sec recovery inbetween) I felt that I was quite fatigued so I reduced the speed to 11kph. This felt much more comfortable, but still pushing a bit.

My aim was to do 10 Yassos of 400m, but unfortunately I ran out of time as I had to go and pick Alana up from Cubs. I may need to change my week around so that I can do them on a night where I don’t have time constraints.

So I’ve brought 3 new running bras in the last month or so and thought I’d give you a bit of feedback for anyone interested.

The first one is the Champion Double Dry Marathon Bra. I bought this last month from Ladies Only Sports in the US (I think they are an old line now as they’re really hard to find) and it is really supportive but still has a bit of bounce in it. Not bad if you’re not aiming to run a marathon. It has adjustable straps and is underwired but the cup is fairly soft, so you don’t look like you have Madonna boobs

Then there’s the Moving Comfort - Maia Bra. I bought this one from Running Warehouse @ $33.95US. Ran in it last night and it’s better than the Champion one, although there’s no adjustable straps on it (apart from the doing up bit) and the straps are quite large. I’m normally a 34DD but I bought a 34D (as that’s all they had) and it fits me fine.

Lastly there’s the sports bra I bought from Bras ‘n Things. When I tried it on I thought it was a 12DD (as that’s what was on the hanger). It was only when I got it home that I realised it was a 12D. This one cost me $50 and I have to say that I was quite impressed with it. Still a little bit of bounce, but not enough that you really notice.

Of course the Enell is still the bra of choice when it comes to minimum bounce (they hold the jugs in really, really tight) and they are definitely worth the money, it’s just when it comes to looks, they are way down the bottom of the list.

Thought to self……..maybe my boobs are shrinking