The Autumn of Tesso

Not doing much aside from stretching, the physio exercises, massaging etc etc. My knee feels a fair bit better, but to make up for that my hip hurts.

CR Daedal, in a message of support, compared my condition to that of George Costanza's in the Seinfeld episode 'The Summer of George'.

Doctor: Mr. Costanza. Your legs have sustained extensive trauma. Apparently your body was in the state of advanced atrophy, due to a period of extreme inactivity. But with a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck, I think there's a good chance you may, one day, walk again.

Where's There's Life There's Hope

I had a physio appointment booked for Wednesday this week. In it I was to report back with how I felt after two or three easy 5k runs. Well after my sad run on Friday I rescheduled the appointment for today, and meanwhile I wasn't going to attempt another run.

The session was soooooo painful, the worst yet for this injury. Not running is doing me more harm than good! My hips and glutes were so tight, and Adam attributes that to all the sitting. Gonna have to watch TV lying down ;-)

The real cause of the ITBFS is my glutus medius are not doing their job, lazy buggers. And so Adam has given me some strengthening exercises for them. They are difficult though, not so much that they hurt but I have to really focus on switching the surrounding muscles off and using the glutus medius instead when I'm doing them.

Although its not looking good he did say if I can do 10k painfree on the weekend then he's happy for me to run the marathon. With my shifts my weekend doesn't officially end until 7am Tuesday, so I'm gonna leave it to the very last minute to allow for maximum recovery.

Thanks so much to everyone for all the wonderful messages of support. They really do lift ones spirits. If I do manage to get to the start line I know all those good vibes will be more than party responsible.

Prognosis Negative

Rather than do my 5k trial run on the hard surface of the bike path up I drove up to UQ. I wanted a soft surface, and the gravel track seemed perfect.

From about 500 meters onwards the right ITB and glute hurt. I played with the pace to see if it made a difference. It didn't.

I ran to the end of the gravel track then crossed over and did a couple of laps of the cricket oval before heading back to my starting point. I was in pain all the way, though I don't believe it got worse. Well, not much worse anyway.

With Canberra just over two weeks away all I could think was could I put up with the pain for another 3 plus hours.

Bugger :-(

I can run .... on the weekend ... but not very far ....

As always it was a pretty painful session at physio today. I regretted telling Adam I still had a niggle in the left (good) knee and so that side copped a hammering today as well. He reckons I can have a run on the weekend! When he first said it he said Friday but after that said Saturday. But on my current shift rotation my weekend actually starts on Thursday morning at 7:15 :-)

I reckon late Friday afternoon might be a good compromise, though if I feel even slightly apprehensive about it I won't run. I have to limit it to 5kms, and only on the flat. If it doesn't hurt and I pull up okay afterwards I can do 5km every second day for a week. This is one hell of a taper.

Hit the gym later and then wanted to do some water running. The day was overcast, windy, and it looked like rain so I drove all the way to Chandler to use the indoor pool at the aquatic centre. It took 40 minutes to get there, slow because of roadworks. As I was paying I was informed that I only had another 35mins before the 50 meter pool was being closed to the public. Not impressed seeing though it took me longer than that to get there. Still, 35 minutes was better than nothing. I asked about the other pools in the complex and was told they were closed too.

"All closed?"
"Yes"
"All of them?"
"Yes"
"Well you should put that on your web site!"
"It is"
"Oh, I didn't notice"
"You can use the diving pool"
"For water running?"
"Yes"
"Great!"
"At 8pm"

It was 3:25pm!

Weekend Of (Water) Running

Friday arvo for a change of scenery I decided to hit the pool at UQ. Bad move. Not only was it annoying paying to park and paying $1.10 to hire a floatation belt (50c at Centenary Pool) but kids were messing around (dive bombing from the block etc) in the 'slow' lane I was relegated to. Not just that but the lane beside it there were other kids having lessons, and they don't excacly have the non spash smooth swimming style of Thorpey.

After an hour I'd had enough, and left my floatation belt at the end of the pool while I dried off and then zipped in to the ladies. When I came out the belt was gone, one of the brats was playing with it halfway up the pool. Then she just let go of it and swam off and another brat grabbed it. Grrrrrr. I called out to him that it was mine and so he just let go of it and started swimming away. I didn't want to jump back in so like a crabby old bag I yelled at him and told him to go retrieve it and bring it over to me.

And to top off a wonderful day I realised at 9pm I forgot to do my footy tipping for the weekend :-(

******

Had brekky with the gang Saturday morn after they had their last long run before Canberra :-( I decided I should do a long pool run and use my HRM and try to keep my heart rate close to what it would be for a long road run. Got home to discover the battery was flat - dang!

That afternoon I hit the gym for some upper body weights and sit-ups etc then went to UQ. I figured being Saturday arvo maybe it would be relatively kid free. Wandered in and there was the biggest blow up pool toy I've ever seen in my life - it took up half a lane. There was a birthday party going on. Arrgghhh!!!!

The party was confined to lane 8 so jumped into lane 1-2 (the lane rope was off). Still, there were lots of other kids around me. Only just managed to do an hour. There would have been a drowning if I'd stayed any longer and I wouldn't have been me.

Think somebody's missing their running?

******

Started off yesterday like just about every other runner, watching the Comm Games marathon. Chris had organised The Regatta to show it on the big screen and so a group of us got together and watched it over coffee.

Later on I checked out some indoor water running venues on the net. With the cyclone looming up north we're bound to cop some crappy weather. No excuses! I also rang around and managed to get a good deal on a floatation belt - did the old 10% off competitors price thing and picked one up at Amart for $27. Sadly I've got a feeling I'm gonna get my money's worth.

Got to Centenary Pool around 3.30pm. Yahoo - nobody under 5ft tall in sight :-) And they were selling the same floatation belt for $47! Did a solid 90 minutes, trying hard to get the heart rate up and keep it up. And hardly got splashed at all :-)

The Latest ... Not The Greatest

Adam (physio) suggested Monday evening that I try to do some swimming, kickboarding and water running. I had to work 12 hour days Tuesday and Wednesday and any spare time before and after that was spent stretching etc, so yesterday was the first chance I had to hit the water. Got to the Centenary pool at around 11am, which turned out to be a good time as it was quite empty ... of people, not water :-)

Adam had said just to take the water running easy and so just did about 15 minutes of that before ditching the floatation belt. I'd forgotten how boring I find swimming. It made me wonder how others keep their minds occupied, especially Miners who is about to swim 3.8kms. Must work out how to get in 'the zone'.

Its the first time I've swum laps in a couple of years, still I wasn't expecting pain. But after about 250 meters my shoulder started hurting and by 300 meters I had to call it quits. I'm falling apart :-(

At my Monday physio appointment there was a glimmer of hope that I'd be able to do an easy jog Saturday. But I knew yesterday the way my ITB and knee were feeling that there was no chance of that and I didn't need Adam to confirm that at yesterday afternoon's session (although he did).

Ho hum.

Down But Not Out

Rewinding a little ..... after lots of niggles for a couple of weeks I was really looking forward to a massage to try to sort things out and see if there was anything nasty looming. But then I got a cold and had work committments and had to postpone it for a week.

Last Thursday morning at Pat's in between the 50min steady run and the 1k no watch, one of those niggles, the one on the outside of the right knee, turned into a definite pain.

My rescheduled massage was that afternoon, and Mark got stuck into my ITB and it certainly felt way better afterwards. He suggested I rest Friday (I did) before racing at the track Saturday morning and running Sunday morning's half marathon.

I was happy with how I pulled up Saturday. Sunday morning it was tight but not sore.

But by the 11.1k mark in the half marathon, passing the start/finish, it was hurting and I considered pulling up stumps. After the next 5k loop it was worse, and in the final loop was really bad. If it wasn't a championship event I wouldn't have kept going .... well, maybe not. Sunday night I was flat out walking, I could hardly bend my leg.

Luckily I was able to get in to see physio Adam on Monday evening and he confirmed what I suspected - ITB Friction Syndrome :-( He seemed to think that all that Mt Coot-tha running a few weeks ago was a major contributing factor. Anyway, I had an hour of mostly painful treatment, and am going back for more torture tomorrow.

So its no running until Saturday at least, and then it will just be a light jog. Meanwhile lots of stretching, icing etc. Adam wants me to do some pool work, swimming or kickboarding, and maybe a littly easy water running if it does not hurt my knee.

He thinks I'll be training normally again in two weeks and is confident I'll be okay for Canberra. So am I.

BRRC Half Marathon Champs

Sunday: 23k
Week Total: 84.5k
Month Total: 134.5k
Year Total: 890.5k


First up a quick word about my last post. Thanks for the nice comments about being close to my PB guys, but I was unclear. I ran 12:15 at Pat's in January, but my PB is 11:53 from Feb last year.

*****

Earlier in the week I figured I was in 98 minute shape for the BRRC Half Marathon Champs, but after racing on the track Saturday I put that time back to 100 minutes. At this event last year I ran my PB - 94:03. Oh to be that fit again!

Clairie, Lizzle and I ran a 2k warmup and the way my legs felt that 100 minutes in my head became 105. Tara had said earlier in the week she wanted to stick with me as sub 100 would ensure her a PB, so I told her at the start line she'd better not.

The race began with a 1.1km loop, which took us back to the start line, and from there it was four of the usual 5k loops. I was surprised to find myself not that far behind Clairie, Lizzle and Jen - these girls were all on for sub 95s. Then checking my splits I was running around 4:35s, and wondering how long I could maintain it.

I kept a pretty consistent pace and until 11k Tara was slightly in front but it was here I caught up to her and eventually passed her. I thought she'd come with me, and for her sake I was really hoping she would. Then again, for my sake I was hoping she wouldn't - being Champs there were precious points on the line ;-)

The approx 4:35s kept on coming and with each one I'd calculate my finish time if I were to slow to 5 minute pace, and thought I'd be happy with the outcome. With just 5k to go I spotted Lizzle about 100 meters ahead and a couple of kms later I caught her, a quick word revealed she was really struggling :-(

I still wasn't slowing, as much as I wanted to, and 1k from the end checked my watch and worked out what a 5 minute km would get me. But then Robert Song, who'd been trailing me the entire way (he was out on a training run!) flew past me. I figured if he can fly home I can at least not slow down too much and my final km turned out to be my fastest, if only by a fraction of a second. Thanks mate!

Crossed the line with 96:30 on my watch - woohoo!!!! Best of all 3rd member, though first member not called Claire ;-) And a category win - yay, more bling! A fair way off last year's time but still my second fastest half marathon ever. Very happy with that. Thinking about it I reckon racing on Saturday maybe robbed me of a minute, so sub 96 was on the cards. Doesn't matter! A minute after I finished Lizzle and Tara crossed the line together to dead heat - a very sporting gesture on both their parts not trying to outsprint eachother.

My splits (excluding the fractions) -
4:53 (1.1)
4:35
4:35
4:34
4:34
4:30
4:41
4:34
4:32
4:30
4:33
4:38
4:33
4:36
4:35
4:38
4:38
4:34
4:34
4:35
4:30

Clairie is on fire at the moment, its great to see that Canberra training paying off early. She had Eddie running scared! And what an awesome run by Shane too, he and Clairie posted massive PBs. Though just quietly I had predicted both. Just happy I'm not as accurate with predicting my own time :-)


Tara, Tesso, Lizzle, Clairie.
Thanks to Hannah for the pic!

Masters 3000m and 1500m

Saturday: 10k
Week Total: 61.5k
Month Total: 111.5k
Year Total: 867.5k


Headed out to QEII for the masters again Saturday. Ran a few warmup laps before lining up for the 3000m at 8am. Unlike Monday night there were quite a few entrants, though just before the gun went they got the walkers to move to the right. I think there were more of them than runners. I was hoping to get around in about 12 minutes, my main aim was to better my January 3k TT time from Pat's - 12:15. Went through 1k in 3:54, a little fast I think. The next km was 4:07, and the final one a very sad 4:15. Total - 12:16. Very disappointing. More disappointing was the fact that I was really busting a gut and couldn't have gone a second faster. And I felt like absoute crap the whole way.

Had a good long chat to my ever faithful cheergirl, Clairie, before running a couple of laps around the outside of the main stadium. Also spoke to Barry M, he was there for the 1500m scheduled for 9.30am and it took a while but he convinced me to enter. I ran a couple more laps around the stadium and felt slow, and tired. Waiting for the start (it was about 15mins late) I almost went and crossed my name off the list. But I told myself it was going to be way tougher than this at the end of the marathon, so just do it. The goal was to do just under 4:20 pace, and scrape in a sub 6:30.

It was just me and a handful of guys for this one, at least there was one other lady racing in the 3000m. This time I just ran as comfortably fast as I could, and to my surprise was sitting around 4 minute pace. Crossed the line in 6 mintues flat, a bit better than I was aiming for.

So left there feeling a little happier. Still, lots of work to be done in the speed department.

An Easy Run & A Not As Easy Easy Run

Tuesday: 8k
Wednesday: 16k
Thursday: 11k
Week Total: 51.5k
Month Total: 101.5k
Year Total: 857.5k


There was a crowd of about 10 or so at The Regatta for the 5:30am start on Wednesday, though most were doing a shorter fartlek session. Clairie, Robbie and I planned a cruisey 16k.

Running along under the freeway the Garmin cut out as it always does, but for the first time I noticed when it did find the signal again it had cut out 500 meters from our run. We got to the palm tree in The Gardens that is the 5k point and the trusty Garmin said we'd only done 4.5kms. We continued on to almost the very end of the floating walkway at New Farm, the Garmin reading 7.5km when we turned around. On the trip back along the exact same course it measured 8km.

We were going at a cruisey pace, though it was fast enough for me. All up 16k in 1h25m, so we averaged about 5:18s.

It was pretty humid out there, and when we stopped we were drenched and looked as if we'd been running in the rain, but it was just sweat - gross!


*****


Pat's this morning was an 'easy' session plus the usual 'guess your time no watch 1k'. He said to just run out for 25 to 27 minutes before turning for home and regrouping in The Gardens for the 1k.

I started out not really pushing it and got chatting to first timer Jackie for a bit. Then I realised I had some targets ahead, so upped the pace to reel them in before the 27 minutes was up. Running over the floating walkway I could hear a fair bit of cooee-ing coming from behind. I guessed it was Clairie. So now I had a second goal, to stay in front of her!

I passed everyone I was chasing except Tara, I'd got to within about 10 meters of her and it was time to head for home. On the way back I got talking to Gerard and so the pace picked up somewhat. A km or so later Pat joined in and the two of them sped up, I just tried to maintain the pace I'd been running.

I'd nominated 4:30 for my 1k, as had Tara, so we ran together for it. Clairie was after 4:27 but was out of sight within seconds, I thought we must've been way to slow. But Pat called out 4:20 as we crossed the line - close but not close enough. Afterwards there was some conjecture as to whether or not its an accurate 1k. I'm guessing its a little short, I was averaging just under 4:20s in my 5k at the track Monday night and today's 1k felt more comfortable than that. In fact we agreed that the 4k or whatever back from New Farm seemed faster. Might have to get out there and measure it with the not so trusty Garmin.

Pacing and PBs

After racing on the track last night I thought it best to take it a little easy at Pat's this morning. It was the monthly 3k TT. Considering what I'd done the previous couple of days there's no way I was going to do a great time and I didn't want to risk hurting myself trying to. During the warm-up I chatted a bit to Sarah, she was aiming for a sub 13:30 today. That got me thinking, maybe I should run with her. I talked to Tori, who is around my speed, and she said she had a bike TT tomorrow so wanted to take it easy as well.

Pat put the call out yesterday for anyone coming back from injury etc who may want to pace this morning. So we thought it would be fun to run a sub 13:30 pack. Though thinking about it, its more about providing encouragement than setting a pace and we hoped to be able to do that.

Not long after we took off Matty moved up and acted like a shepherd at the back of the pack, doing a mighty fine job of keeping everyone up with us. You'd be hard pressed to find somebody more motivating than our Matty, he was cheering on every man and his dog!

We were a little ahead of schedule as we hit the first turnaround, but those around seemed to be running comfortably. The second km is always the slowest due to a slight uphill so by the 2k mark we'd lost some of the time we'd gained. With around 500m to go I realised some of the group were a little behind, so I suggested Tori take Sarah and co and I waited and egged on the others. I wondered why Donna, who had been sticking comfortably with us, had dropped back and was a little concerned about her. She had stopped to tie up a shoelace at 2k but wasn't going to let that stop her today and in 500m made up for several lost seconds.

During the run I'd told them about the Ray thing (thanks again Kit!) - pick up the pace for six steps and the momentum keeps you going. Well they all agreed it worked an absolute treat! I think all of our little pack ran PBs including Sarah who did 13:08, a whopping 38 seconds faster than last month (sub 13 next time for sure) and Donna with 13:22, 30 seconds faster than last month. Exciting stuff!

But wait, there's more ...

Soon after we ran in a slightly excited Clairie came over to tell me she'd done 11:49!!!! Woohoo! I knew she had it in her, and I know she's got an even faster time in her. But for now we're celebrating that great achievement.

Still more ...

Ally ran 12:43 - a 24 second PB! Amazing stuff from somebody who is only just back from injury.

And finally ...

Shane on his first outing with the PCRG did a blistering 10:38 (a PB). I wondered what he was doing out the front with all the fast guys :-)

Well done fellow bloggers and PGRG runners. What a terrific morning!

The President and The First Lady

Monday: 16.5k
Week Total: 16.5k
Month Total: 66.5k
Year Total: 823.5k


Mr President, Dave, (hmmmm, reminds me of a Kevin Kline movie) was in town this morning and keen for a run. Of course such a VIP he needs a couple of bodyguards so Clairie and I put our hands up. We met up just before 6am outside Fitness First in the city. Dave was incognito, no Sydney Striders singlet - whew, our job was going to be easier.

We zipped down to the bikeway and ran towards The Gardens and beyond. The plan was for a nice easy run though after my big run yesterday nothing was going to be easy. There was one close call, an anti-Strider protester disguised as a cyclist came hurtling up behind us, but the ever faithful Clairie threw herself in front of him to protect Dave.

As the floating walkway wasn't open last time he was here we had to take Dave out along it, and up to the first tap where Clairie and I tested the water and deemed it safe for our distinguished guest to drink.

Heading back to base I could feel the pace increasing and with about 1 1/2 kms to go told them that if they wanted to sprint home it was fine by my, though I wasn't going to join them :-) I trusted Clairie to keep Mr President safe, and she did so. He arrived back at base camp safe and sound - mission accomplished.

All up just over 10k (in about 53:20 for me).

*****

I joined Queensland Masters Athletics a couple of weeks ago and hit the track tonight for a 5000m - my first ever track race! I ran 21:12 at the January CR Challenge but coming off my 40k yesterday and the 10k or so this morning with Dave and Clairie I was guessing I'd do around 22:30 to 23:00.

I was nervous going there but when I realised I could only see one other person I knew, and he was really fast, I didn't feel so bad. Then my cheersquad arrived - Clairie and Al. Chatted to them for a while and Clairie said something about a warm-up. Whoops, good idea! Ran a couple of laps.

Not being championship night I figured it would be low key and so much less pressure. Well, it was low key alright. It came time to line up at the start and it was just me and six guys, and they all looked fast - gulp!

The gun went and within 100 meters it was obvious that three of us were a tad slower than the rest of the field. I passed one guy and then pushed to get past the second one. From then on I was determined to keep him at bay. Thanks to Ray, via Kit, for the advice about upping the pace for just six steps and keeping the momentum going. It seemed to work! I wasn't taking any notice of my splits, I was more worried about running the correct number of laps, though I know the first km was 4:10. Needless to say they got slower after that. I think Clairie said my last one was a 4:15.

I ended up using the Adrian (CR Run67) method of lap counting - count how many times the first guy passes you and once he's finished that's how many more laps you have to do. Well the leader, Shane George, lapped me three times.

Crossed the line in 21:31, a good minute faster than I thought I'd run and less than 30 seconds slower than my PB. And I was the first lady too ;-)

Ran a couple of laps to warm down with Tony, a lovely Irish fellow who came in just behind me. He was the one who I was worried was going to come back at me after I passed him.

Thanks so much to Clairie and Al for coming out to watch and timing my splits and counting my laps etc etc. Bring your running gear next time!

Battling The Elements

Sunday: 40k
Week Total: 60k
Month Total: 51k
Year Total: 807k


After missing my long run with the gang yesterday I was out there on my lonesome this morn. That's two weeks in a row I've made a liar out of myself on Steve's long run poll :-)

Had everything prepared the night before but still managed to take 40 mins to get out the door. It was pretty overcast so figured there was no need for the Camelbak, and just carried a couple of very weak Endura mixes in my fuelbelt. I spotted some of the Jonesy gang including Robbie across the road at The Regatta so slipped over for a quick hello.

Last night I cleaned out my t-shirt collection and packed away about a dozen or more. So what do I do first up, run into South Bank to collect my free t-shirt for the IWD Fun Run :-) I grabbed it then found bag lady Clairie and gave it to her and continued on my merry way. Ran into The Gardens where the McRadar clan were setting up a the drink station. But there were no costumes yet, so ran a few kms out and back and by then they kilted up and looked a hoot. Of course they couldn't resist showing me what they wore under them ;-)

At about 12k my legs were so heavy I contemplated calling it a day and running back home, but thought I'd forge on. I had some $$ in my fuelbelt and could always jump on a Citycat.

Not sure when the rain started, think it was just after that. Headed out towards New Farm and beyond after that, passing big Dan and Liz on the way just before the floating walkway. By now the rain was blowing sideways! Going along the river towards New Farm Park was particularly unpleasant, and near the bowls club I realised my trusty Garmin just turned itself off. I waited until I was well into the park before switching it on again and luckily it just picked up where it left off.

After this I tried to avoid the direct riverfront, it was just way too windy. Trouble was, sticking to the road meant running through huge puddles and getting spashed by every passing vehicle :-( Oh well, it was pouring rain, I was already drenched and my shoes full of water.

Got back to NF Park and thought about the ferry, but figured I'd at least run on to the next stop, then the next stop. I hit the floating walkway and for the first time I can remember didn't see another person all the way along it. Wonder why ;-) I ran up the hill past All Hallows (that was for you Ally!) and over the Story Bridge and it was halfway across it that I realised I wasn't the only idiot out there, a couple of guys were running the other direction.

Ran back to South Bank to see if Clairie was still around. Saw Lizzle and Glenno on the way, there'd been a birthday celebration for Chris that I'd missed. Of course they had to tell me how good the cake was. Got to race headquarters but Clairie had just left. Stopped and chatted to Radar and Runner-Bee before hitting the home stretch. Checked the Garmin thought I'd get 38k or so for the day. What the hell, I felt okay, might add a little on and make it 40k. In fact it was a few hundred meters over 40k as the Garmin had cut out, but I won't bother counting that.

So very happy with how it all panned out, especially considering I was ready to pull the pin at 12k. The legs did feel better as time wore on, though its probably because I had better things to think about like trying to stay upright in the wind and rain. Best of all I did it on no brekky, and no fuel at all along the way, sticking to my plan of alternating a fast, fuelled long run and a slow no-fuel run week about.

Time was just under 3h35m, average 5:22 per km :-) Feeling a bit more confident about April 9 now.

Oh, and according to tonight's news the weather today was similar to a category 2 cyclone!

How Would You Like Your Eggs?

Saturday: 11k
Week Total: 20k
Month Total: 11k
Year Total: 767k


Friday morning I was still a bit on the crook side and so rested. As the day progressed I started feeling a little better, champers and wine at a four hour lunch with some old school friends may have helped :-) Followed that up with a latish night out at the theatre and so decided even though I'd get up and run the next morning, it wasn't going to be the 35-38k the other Canberrites were doing, nor would it be a 5am start.

Hit the road at 9am and ran into South Bank. From the first step my legs felt like lead, even after 3 days of doing nothing. I recall Pat telling me a couple of years ago when I had a cold (also about a month out from Canberra) that it affects the big muscles in the body. So of course my big muscley quads were bound to hurt ;-) My breathing was very laboured. Again, to be expected.

Found the gang at the usual haunt enjoying a well earned big brekky after their long run. Though Cairan's poached eggs were on the floor under my chair, the waiter didn't quite make it to the table. Clairie's banana pancakes were bananaless. Tara's serviette had blood on it (gross!). And Lizzle's brekky didn't even turn up!

Glad I was just there for a chat and a glass of water. 50 minutes later I was back on the road home.

Ran without a watch though couldn't help sneak a look at the time every now and then. The whole 11k was probably just under 5 minute pace. I was pretty happy with that considering.

Crook As A Chook

Well, Tuesday I wasn't 100% but went along to Pat's, and felt better for it. Wednesday I went downhill (and I don't mean running) and so rested. And today I'm worse again. Its just a head cold, but so annoying. Its going around at work. So no running for me for a couple of days :-(