A Month to Boston

Week 9: Monday March 23, 2015 - Four weeks to Boston (50 km)

Monday - gym and swim. It is great to be swimming outdoors in an ocean pool while the weather is still warm.

Tuesday - intervals, 5*1min, 8*30sec with 30secJR.   Woke up very and drove to North Head to run the intervals session. As daylight approached I realised that the sunrise was going to be quite spectacular and I just happen to have my camera with me. My heart was fluttering, I was giddy with excitement. This morning I could have it all, exercise and photography. I didn't have to choose, what a privilege to live where I do. The sunrise was quite something.

I did the longer intervals at 4.26 min/km pace and the shorter intervals were surprising slower at 4.30min/km. Although I did manage to complete the task which was to come back to the starting point before I finished the shorter intervals. A very humid morning with sweat dripping off my by the time I finished. A total of 8.5km in 44 minutes. A refreshing swim afterwards was a treat. 

Wednesday - social 10km at St Ives. I arrived earlier to warm up and ran 3km before setting off with the group for a run a short 7km loop around St Ives. Celebrations afterwards of monthly achievement for the group. This month there was lots to celebrate as most of us had finished the Six Foot Track Marathon. Something I never thought I would do again. It still seems a bit unreal. 

Thursday - rest

Friday  - intervals 2*5min, 8*30sec hills. It was still windy, cold and dark when I left the house. I ended up not really doing the session properly as it was really too dark to run faster on the poorly lit local roads. The run was further disrupted by painful gastric distress.  The hills were also a near miss as I nearly fell over a dog. It was too dark too see the walkers with the dog as they approached me. Best pace was 4.40min/km. The run was followed by my last swimming session - a stroke correction session at Narrabeen ocean pool. The water temperature is a beautiful 23 degrees but the winds was so cold I lost feeling in my hands after 45 minutes in the water. 

Saturday - long run aimed to run at 6.10min/km pace. I joined a local group who were tapering for the Canberra marathon. I ran for 45 minutes before I joined the group at 6am for a run from Dee Why to Narrabeen Lagoon and back.  The road to Freshwater beach was deserted I had it all to myself. I felt a bit sluggish at the start and got better as I warmed up, but still way off the pace. Once I joined the group and we headed north towards Narrabeen the pace picked up and we ran about 6.10min/k until it got light then on 5.45 pace for a few kilometres and finished off at 6min/k. Did not feel comfortable at many stages through the run except the last 5km.   I guess it is just tired legs. Also developed lower back pain, something I have not had since I first started training for marathons.  Pleased to get the long run out of the day. 

Sunday - rest. I had intended to do a short club run this morning but a combination of a very late night, too much cake and sparkling shiraz the night before meant a sleep-in this morning. The cake was damn fine.

Boston Focus

Week 8: Monday March 16, 2015 - Five weeks to Boston (47 km)

Overall not a big week of running, due to the race last weekend, need for treatment and need for recovery. Feeling  a little bit panicky now that Boston Marathon is in sight.

Monday - strength training.   Physical strength and discipline required in spades, if I am to achieve my goal.

Tuesday - recovery, 7km short easy run to Mona Vale Headland. Have not been on this route for some time.  Legs were feeling remarkably fresh after running Six Foot Track Marathon last Saturday. 

Wednesday -  treatment, time to return to my other normal life. Still have to steel myself to enter the hospital and acknowledge my other life, that of being a patient. The cannula entering my vein still makes me nauseous and it was also very painful this time. Treated myself to coffee and muffin afterwards. 

Thursday - 10km pace run, to Collaroy. With treatment out of the way yesterday it was time to focus on Boston Marathon. I have about 2 weeks left to get some structured training done and recalibrate my race goals based on what I manage to complete in that time.  Today was an early start for a local run, all completed before sunrise. I always feel like I can run faster in the dark. Happy with my average pace of 5.30 min/k. Followed up with a swim at Narrabeen Ocean Pool. 

Friday - 10km social run, to Church Point.  Feeling remarkably privileged to be healthy, fit and to live in such a spectacular city.  This morning my cup of gratitude was overflowing. Just so happy to be able to run free and without pressure. 

Church Point just before sunrise - Photo Credit_BEXI

Church Point jetty - Photo Credit_BEXI

Saturday - had intended to get to my first ParkRun but I chickened out when I saw the howling wind and rain. I knew I would regret it later in the day, which I did, but it still was not enough to get me out the door. 

Sunday - long slow distance run, 21km on the IronCover Bolter STaR with the Sydney Striders.  It was dark, cool and rainy as we huddled under the one light in the car-park waiting to be sent off on the long Sunday run.  My plan was to run about 25km and see how I feel, running on no fuel and little water.  
The first 15km were done at a variable choppy pace between 5.30 and 6.00 min/k. As it was around the bay it felt a little bit crowded and I was a little concerned about tripping and falling over. It was the first in along time that the training group stayed together for over and hour before splintering. As soon as it got light, the pace cranked up and  the group split. Great to run with different people and share stories of their Six Foot Track experience. 
I finished running on my own as I skipped running the Huntley Point loop. As a result I got lost a little and had to stop quite a few times to work out where to go. Hoping the rest of the group would catch up, but it was not to be. Lesson learnt, better to be with a group and not worry about navigation. 

Feeling almost as nervous as this little bunny.

One More Race Week

Week 7: Monday March 9, 2015 - Six weeks to Boston (53 km )

A few longish walks were interspersed among only two runs this week, a short easy run on Wednesday and the Six Foot Track Marathon on Saturday.

Wednesday - short easy run. A gentle stretch out before the big day on Saturday. A slow 8km around the hilly streets of St Ives followed by a late afternoon blood test. Hoping all blood markers are normal before the  treatment review next week. Fingers crossed.

Saturday - Six Foot Track Marathon, a 45km trail run.  I can't believe how easy it is to run slowly. I had a ball pacing the 7-hour cutoff. I had never descended Nellies at the back of the pack. So I had no idea how slow some people would be in this section. The back end of our group took 30 minutes to get to the bottom of the stairs. Clearly if you are aiming for a good race time you would want to be close to the front of your wave. We then had to run sub 6min/k for the next 5k to get back on pacing target. I was abit nervous about missing our first milestone so probably did not enjoy the surroundings. Although the mist was limiting how far in the distance you can see anyhow.  We reached Megalong Rd right on the 70min target time. Happy to meet the first pacing milestone. 

The descent to Cox's was just as pretty as it the last time I ran on this section. Sound of bellbirds was surprising chirpy considering the number of runners that had gone through before us.  The fog we had at the start of the run was beginning to lift and patches of blue sky were appearing. It promised to be a great day for racing. Our river crossing was also on target at 2:10.  Three runners from our wave retired here, all due to injury. 

The climb up MiniMini and the Pluviometer just had to get done. We spent a lot of time chatting to runners around us to distract them from negative thoughts. We left another of our runners behind when she just could not pick up pace to stay on target after the MiniMini climb.  I really enjoyed this section as it was so familiar having been here in training and in a far less fit state. Had plenty of energy to run ahead and take photos.  We reached Pluviometer timing mat around 5 minutes ahead of cut-off. I thought we may loose some tome in the next 10km of undulating trail along the Black Range.  I probably had 5-10min along here that I was not happy. I really wanted to run just so I could get out of there. And run we did as we had no runners from our wave around us. And hoping a slightly quicker pace would help runners around us pick up a little bit. This worked and we reached the deviation in what felt like no time. The next section was the ugly short hills before the road crossing. Most runners that came though with us were moving quite well along this section. The euphoria as we reached the road crossing was palpable and they all took off. This left us to walk most of the next 4km to the cabins to lose a bit of time.  Then a gentle jog on the descent to the Arch and we walked it in a minute ahead of the cut-off.  

Morning after

Morning after

 

Dewy Grass

Week 6: Monday March 3, 2015 - Seven weeks to Boston (25km run and 55km walk)

Monday - rest day. 

Tuesday - intervals, ran   6*500m intervals at 4.28 min/k pace at Rat Park. Pink sky just before sunrise and a cool morning with dropping humidity. It was perfect conditions for running. I took my shoes off when I reached the park. Such a delicious and refreshing  feeling to feel the dewy grass on my bare feet. Miraculously Achilles pain disappeared when I ran without shoes.  Felt so refreshed and bouncy. A great session which left me feeling high for the rest of the day.

Wednesday - easy. After such a good run yesterday I had intended to do another interval session which was scheduled for Thursday, a 4*1km interval. But as I started out out I realise it was a mistake to do back to back intervals. Just to be safe, as I have do a blood test to do on Thursday which is not confounded by running and I have Coastrek on Friday. After the warm up I ran 2*1km intervals at an easy pace on a grassy oval at Mosman in barefeet. Beautiful views of Eastern suburbs and the city in the distance. Not sure if I am being sensible or lazy. 

Thursday - rest day. 

Friday - walk, Coastrek, a  55km walk from Coogee Beach to Balmoral.  For many reasons, I have been nervous about this event. Uncertainty about my fitness and that of a member of the team made me wonder if I had maybe overcommitted myself too many events too close together. I was awake at 3.30 and left home at 4.15 to park the car at Kirribilli, from where I was picked  up by the rest of the team at 5am. Race started in the dark at Coogee Beach at 6.00am. 

It struck me how busy Coogee is at this early hour. There were several large fitness groups at the Northern end doing sprinting drills and other exercises, while hundreds of eager walker/runners were nervously waiting for the starters gun. And before too long we were off across the sand. I love running in the dark and found myself floating effortlessly across the sand.   

It did not take long for the running teams to take off and for the rest of us to spread out. We did not experience any crowding at all and pretty much ran/walked according to our own rhythm for the whole event. Brilliant to see the sunrise over Tamarama and Bondi and I so wished I could have stopped for longer to take in the view and compose a better photograph.

Cool breeze and shade for much of the early sections, contributed to very pleasant running conditions. Apart form one of our team members falling over at Watsons Bay and suffering calf cramps, we really had no issues. 

We had a great boost in moral when we made the Harbour Bridge and felt that we were on the home stretch. This was also the section of the course I had walked earlier so was familiar with what was ahead. The last 20km were blissful for me. I felt that I could have run a lot more of the trail than we did, but that was OK.  We finished in 7hrs 28minutes and were 7th team overall. Pretty happy with that result. 

Saturday - rest day, hosting lunch for my sisters 60th birthday and popping  blisters.

Sunday - easy 10km around Narrabeen Lake. Felt great to get out for a run early. Easy run with a 'fast' finish to test the legs. All good. Spent the rest of the day packing race packs for next weekends race.