Bathing Beauty

Week 5: Monday February 23, 2015 - Eight weeks to Boston (65km)

Monday - rest.

I wish I bought this beauty at ArtSpot

Tuesday - intervals. Overcast and extremely humid morning with little breeze. I averaged  4.40 min/k pace for 5*1min intervals,  followed by 8*30sec intervals with 30 sec jogging rest.  It was a constant struggle to switch of my brain off - telling my legs to slow down or walk. Not sure what the legs were feeding the brain? I was dripping in sweat at the end.  A swim followed by a cinnamon chai at Shelly Beach was a marvellous reward for overcoming my inner chatter.

Amazing the difference a week makes

Love Fairy Bower

 Wednesday - social run,  with my old running group . An easy 7km over the rolling hills at St Ives.

Thursday -intervals, another day just like Tuesday. Humid and overcast and a bit cooler. It is noticeably darker in the morning now and it feels like cooler weather is fast approaching. I ran 2*5min intervals at 75% and 1*10 min at 80% returning to the start at a disappointing pace of 4.56  and 4.52min/k . Still struggling with the overriding urge to stop running hard. All sorts of excuses cross my mind. But I did managed to stay on track.  Happy with that. Rewarded with a Cinnamon chai at the end.

I admired the window decorations in the restaurant while having my tea.

Friday - long run, finally got to run long on the road, on my old long run route to Manly and back.  Started in the dark and it was great to reminisce of  past runs on this course when I first trained for a marathon over 15 years ago. I had intended to run 30km, which in hindsight was a bit of overreach considering the lack of consistent road running in the past 8 months.

Had a great run till about 20km and after that it was a bit of a mental struggle to keep moving. Could not switch off the brain registering the niggle in the hip and the foot and the throbbing Achilles pain.  I guess it is all part of developing confidence in my body. Pushed on for another 5km and then walked the rest of the way.  Happy with my pace and the run overall - 25km at average pace of 6.12min/km.

On my way back, made it to Curly by sunrise

Saturday - rest. 

Sunday-race, a 14km trail run at the Striders' Equaliser course.  It has been some time since I've raced and I think today I worked out that maybe the key to overcoming the mental chatter and developing a bit more resilience to fatigue is to race a bit more often.

A very humid morning. Sections of the first part of the trail felt like a sauna. At about 9km I heard what sounded like a steam locomotive panting on the uphills behind me - I was walking. This was enough for me to flipp a switch and I was determined not to get caught.  Finished in 1hr28min - happy with the time which was about 7min off my PB for this course. If only I ran more of the hills.

I think I can, I know I can, could be my new motto!