Marathon Here We Come

Our trainer emailed us a few days ago to ask for a commitment if we wanted to run the Canberra Marathon next April....Ive decided Im in! Looking at the Intermediate training schedules it doesnt seem all that daunting, with the longest run at only 30kms at the peak....after my ankle injury Ive been testing myself before comitting and have run every morning this week and will all week, 7km runs but mostly either hard trail runs or hilly runs....so far my injury has improved not gotten worse and Im feeling strong again....and excited...

Anyone got any tips?

So far my thoughts are

* Dont be tempted to overtrain
* Dont worry about times for the first one
* Stick to the training program like a religion
* Always watch my posture, especially when going over the 21km mark

* Dont be too lazy to stretch (I have been too lazy)

* Try and ditch the music sometimes

Keith Jarrett and the Great North Walk

Today before work I ran part of The Great North Walk near my house for the first time ever....it starts about about 1.5kms from my house and has a variety of routes as short as long as you like...today I took a short exploratory run from home to the entrance near Bellamy St Pennant Hills through the bush to Eloura Road, Westleigh..

Had to walk in a few very slippery places, get my feet wet across two streams and climb some reasonably steep hills....it did a fantastic job of breaking the monotony of road running and brought back that joyous free feeling you sometimes get in the bush......just me, nature and my ipod playing the incredible Keith Jarrett...he's the most amazing jazz pianist and much better than church!

Injury-Free Hills!!!!

Great run today with the Warriors, my first in 4 weeks with no ankle pain and first with no strapping....ran a roller coaster route with 8 steep hills and only about 3 out of 10 kms on the flat.....nice and rainy with many testing themselves for the 10km Homebush run in a few weeks...had that feeling driving home like "did I just run ? did I dream it ? have I woken up yet?"....ate a bucket full of oats molasses and sultanas after weighing myself this morning and finding out i was losing more than i want to....time now for coffee, the paper and maybe even back to bed..



Ran to an old school play list, including this classic from Humble PIe's brilliant Smokin' album (the band that spawned Peter Frampton)..one of the best lesser known classic rock acts of all time ?!

What a Day ! Sydney in Spring Rocks!

I couldnt help myself today, the first day Ive felt no ankle pain and the first really warm spring day, 26C without a cloud in the sky...started off with a 6km run with a few Warriors then came home and worked a few hours....then cycle 5kms to Hornsby pool and swam 2kms in the glistening sun and rode home for more work....

It's days like this, where work can be done flexibly and at home and where the weather's perfect that make me so glad Im not doing nine to five anymore but working 40 hours a week all over the place....thoroughly enjoyable and topped off by a couple of wines, home made pizza and ice cream!

Oh My God Why Didnt I Get This Earlier!

The SAN Run For Life Report

What a fantastic morning for the 10km Sydney Adventist Hospital Run For Life....11C and no clouds...perfect running weather...twenty or more Warriors were present, some to run and others to walk around with their little kids...

At the start of the race we stood way too close to the elite-looking runners for my comfort and when we took off the bulk of the Warriors went out like the clappers....I took my time due to my ankle but remember last year knackering myself before the steep hill of the Glade...I was running 5 min pace at the 2 km mark and the others were nowhere is sight....I just kept to my new injury-prevention robot form, stretching out on the flat and running slowly up the hills and gingerly down...at the 5km mark my pace was still 5.3 which i was really happy with, a pace i kept to religiously from that point on...

I have to say that I felt really relaxed with my new posture..so much less stressful than my swinging stooped lurch and death face from before!!...things just seemed to feel calmer, even though I really tried to do a few surges on 2 occasions.....I saw our lead runner at the 6km mark on the way back....he was placed in the top thirty or so and killing it with his 4.3mins/k pace...

Sprinted the last 500 metres and crossed the line very happily with 53.37....last year my time was 58 but i was around 12KG's heavier back then...

All up a thoroughly enjoyable run and a good omen for my future after a pretty tough month on the injury front....I notice from the results that my age group (41-50) actually had the fastest average time of all runners at 54.09, faster than the 18 year olds (55) or the 18-25's (58)...

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE RUNS OF ALL TIME ?

Last night was one of my favourite runs off all time, mostly because it was back to pace and longish (over 11.3kms) for the first time in four weeks, the longest break Ive had since I started 18 months ago.

It started at 7pm with a complete downpour with very heavy rain, which combined with Public Enemy on the ipod and no pain in my ankle or knee was a pretty irriesistable combination...plus the fact that most of the superfast runners in our group didnt show so me and one other runner had the rare pleasure of taking the lead...kept a pace of 5.4 for about 10kms, very hilly, then slowed down in the last km after a very slight twinge in my ankle from a steep downhill....

....other favourite runs ?

1. 10kms in the Blue Mountains Three Sisters to Leura Cascades
2. 15kms Avalon to Palm Beach and back
3. A bush bashing run out the back of Pennant Hills with my butcher-friend
4. 12km beach run at Manyana South Coast

What about you ?

Why Do Injuries Improve When You Run ? Any ideas ?

The body is a strange and unpredictable thing. Im trying to work out some strange happenings with mine ?

Why does my sore ankle get better when I run ?

How much of pain is real vs psychological ?

Is there a link between worrying your injured and being hypervigilant and careful leading to more injury ?

I hurt my ankle again slightly today running hills and tried an experiment. Later in the day I stopped off at an oval on my way to pick up the kids and ran round it once...hey presto..no more pain...what the ?...how come..am I stretching it....are the remnants of an injury tightness ?

Any thoughts?

Finally Back to Running

After nearly three weeks off due to ankle and knee problems im finally back having run two ten km runs in Melbourne around the Tan track...the interesting thing was that it actually took running to complete the recovery as the pain only finally went away when I got fed up waiting and just got out there courtesy of strapping and a light knee brace...after a few kms all niggles went away and havent really come back...why is this ? I was in danger of thinking it would never heal but was lucky enough to have a running friend tell me her similar story...anyway what a bloody relief after lots of angst...three weeks off, however, can really take fitness away, ive been aching like crazy even after a ten km run.....the kind of pain Im loving!

Slow Return

Its been 2 weeks since I ran and if you add the Half marathon taper a long time since i did any decent running...the good news is my ankle and knee are totally on the mend, Im back to cross training and cycling for this week then ill gradually increase over the following 2 weeks until im back to where i started...god its good to have a physio who tells me not to run and to come back slowly....he has explained how ankle injuries relapse if you dont wait long enough and it makes total sense...

For the time being Ive lost another kg, probably because ive been overly concerned about putting weight on without running...plus ive been fair to my upper body which has missed out on an equal share of exercise time over the past year...

Looking forward to the gradual return.....now off to Melbourne for a week...