Last Days Of Chez Noosa

Friday 27th Oct

Did the Breakfast 5k Fun Run but didn't intend to go flat out, rather around 5 min kms. I was cruising up the hill about 500m not pushing too hard when I spotted this super fit looking woman just in front. I'd seen her before the start some serious warmup exercises. Of course I had to pass her ;-)

At about the 3k mark I started playing cat and mouse with a girl in tiger ears. This continued on all the way along the beach until about 100m from the finish when I made my final move. Alas 50m later she made her final move and finished a few seconds in front.

My time was 22:16. Happy with that. Its a tough course (2ks of hills, 1500m on the flat, 1500m on the beach) and I wasn't going 100%. Might've been a different story if that tiger girl had have been wearing bunny ears ;-)

All up 8k including warmup and warmdown.


*****


Saturday 28th Oct

Met up with Clairie and Ciaran at 5:30am at Cafe Le Monde. We wanted to do 30k or 3 hours, whatever came first. Lucky the 30k came first (in 2hr 42min) as I was really stuggling. We ran around Noosa Woods for a bit then headed out to and around Tewantin, then back to Noosa Springs before coming home via the Sunshine Beach turnoff. Back near the starting point was 27k and the ever enthusiastic Clairie made sure we didn't stop there. So we ran an out and back and around to bring up the distance.

The rest of the day I was totally knackered! This was my longest run since early March. I forgot how much these things take out of you.


*****

Sunday 29th Oct

Clairie and I did a steady 10k starting at 5.15am. It was fun watching all the triathletes walking to the start line, quietly anticipating what lay ahead.

That little run brought up 87k for the week, my biggest in about 8 months.


*****


Tuesday 31st Oct

I really didn't have it in me to do something speedwork-ish in place of Pat's so thought instead I'd do a longish run. After 30 mins I was ready to call it a day but hadn't done the National Park all week so forced myself to continue. In there I bumped into Jan, Tori and Steve who'd already been running for over 90 mins. I figured if they could do that after doing the tri on Sunday I should do a little more so ran towards Hells Gates. The path just before there was blocked so ran back and did about 3k up and back on the main beach and then around a bit to total 16k or so for the morning.


*****


Back in Brissie now .... *yawn*

Walking (well ... running) on Sunshine

Wednesday morn I was due for a longish run so set out along the boardwalk along the beach before heading into Noosa Woods. It was nice and cool, with lots of shade on the pathways amongst the trees.

Checking the Garmin the first couple of kms were around the 5:30 mark so I thought I'd turn it into a decent session and try to do the next 10k under 5 minute pace. Spent a bit more time running around The Woods then headed out along the trusty Noosa Half course. After about 8k at sub 5:00s I decided to stretch it to 12k at that pace. Ran a couple of kms slower as a warmdown.

So 16k all up, with the middle 12k averaging 4:50s. Happy with that though it wasn't as easy as it should've been.

*****

Thursday morn I wanted to do some speedwork or hills but the body was a bit tired and sore so just set out on an easy one. Ran over Noosa Hill and around to Sunshine Beach. Ran south through the streets for a while before heading to the beach and going back north on the hard sand for about 15 minutes.

I wondered if I could get back to Noosa via that end of the National Park and after walking up a squillion steps and then running a bit of a steep trail decided to turn around and go back to the beach just in case and ran back to Noosa along the road.

80 mins of running all up, not sure how many kms I covered.

30/30s at Pat's

It was one of those sessions at Pat's this morn where I couldn't work out what hurt most, my legs or my lungs. We did the circuit (about 350 meters) in the middle of The Gardens, 30 secs fast then 30 secs jog.

I was pretty happy to be in the vicinity of Simmo and Tori, and had not choice but to try to keep up with Simmo screaming encouragement with each fast bit. Right at the end, just after the start/finish point we began what we thought was another 30 seconds fast when Pat called out "all the way to the end" ... arrgghhh!!

A killer session but no doubt the perfect one for those in the group competing in the Noosa Tri on the weekend.

Speaking of Noosa I'm already there :-) But the local internet cafe is super duper expensive so visits to Bloggsville this week have to be short and sweet.

BRRC 5k Champs

Met up with Lizzle a bit early on Saturday and we put in about 4 1/2k before joining the rest of the bunch at 6am. We ended up doing 21k. I was hoping to do a bit further but in the last 5 or 6 kms the legs felt the way they do near the end of 35k run, it became a real grind.

*****

Sunday was the 5k Champs at BRRC. My goal was 21:30 (ie 4:18 pace), well 21:29 really. So for the first time ever I set the virtual trainer on the Garmin up. Ran a bit of a warmup with Clairie. And a bit with Robert Song who told me about his celebrity encounter (an ongoing one too) that, believe it or not, is more impressive than my Bobby Flynn story.

After a few strides we were off and running. I kept a close eye on the Garmin the whole race, and stayed slightly ahead of my animated little running mate. Watching this means you don't see the time at all. With 100m to go I was still in front of him and figured I had it nailed, but still upped the pace just a little to put in a big finish.

Yay! The Garmin told me I'd averaged 4:16s and beat my goal by 8 seconds. But then a guy who finished right near me said something about our times being "21:50 something". Huh??? I felt like I'd really busted a gut and that I'd run better than the CR 5k Challenge a few weeks ago (my time there was 21:43). I pushed a couple of buttons on the Garmin to get the summary. According to it I had averaged 4:16s .... but it measured the course at 5.13kms and so my total time was 21:54. Arghhh!!!!! It was 21:22 at 5k.

Apparently the course mightn't be accurate and had recently been remeasured, but not yet altered. At a post race committee meeting this was to be discussed. I hope to find out the result today. Meanwhile I am left to ponder whether if I'd just used my normal Nike watch to pace myself if I would have, or could have, done an official sub 21:30.

Idol Chatter

R2B asked if I enjoyed the time based session better than the distance based one. What I like about the time based ones is you can bust a gut and be happy that you gave it everything for 4 mins, or 3 mins, or whatever. With the set distances I can bust a gut and give it everything but end up disappointed because my 1k time or 500m time isn't what I hoped for.

*****

I was up at 6am but didn't feel like running. Instead I went outside and checked if Pat had the Friday gang doing the same session as we did yesterday. How cool, I could spot them across the river at West End! And I could even hear Pat calling out instructions :-)

I eventually got ready to go for a trot but dillied-dallied around and next thing it was almost 9am. I wanted to watch that morning show with David Reyne on Channel 10 because when I was talking to ex Australian Idol contestant Bobby Flynn last night he mentioned to me that he was going to be on it. Not sure if that was before or after I told him I was never watching it again now that he had been voted off.

So it was after 11am when I got out for some secret heat training for Kurrawa.

Or not so secret training. I ran into Phil the Photographer from BRRC and stopped for a chat about the closure of the part of the bikeway and roads etc. And I spotted Dom running in the other direction and so we stopped and caught up on what eachother is up to. And there was someone else who called out 'Tesso' from a car with TINTED WINDOWS. Of course I waved and smiled and said hello. But I'm fessing up now, I have no idea who it was.

Maybe Robert Song.

Or Toasty.

Or ............ (insert name here).

The same person in the same car with the same TINTED WINDOWS has called out before and I've just pretended to know who it is.

I'm not too sure how far I did, around 12k or so I guess. All I know is it was hot. Not like Bobby Flynn, he is cool. Oh, speaking of Bobby, did I mention I was talking to him last night ...

Short, Fast, Loud

In answer to a couple of queries the Cool Night Classic is an annual event, always one evening in the first week of November. It starts and ends in the city and draws about 3000 entrants, mostly corporate teams. Each year a different charity benefits.

*****

After talking to Clairie yesterday afternoon about calories burnt when you run I thought I'd set out and try to get rid of at least the ones my post lunch chocolate hit had added. I did a nice cruisey 6k. That even gave me some burnt up energy in the bank to have a little rocky road after dinner.

*****

It was another great session at Pat's this morning. Tough though. We ran out to Riverside Dve at West End and did 3 min, 2 min, 1 min & 30 sec fast with a 30 sec jog recovery between each which seemed soooo short. Then we turned around and did the same back. Funny, the group gets pretty spread out but Pat's voice carries so well. We can all hear him clearly, especially when he yells out 'jog' :-)

My legs felt okay but my breathing was pretty laboured. And I felt just a wee bit nauseous at times. If I can just get rid of this stupid lurgy I reckon everything will be spot on.

On the warmdown we looked across the river to the SE Freeway and could clearly see the 'hairline' crack in the Ann St on ramp. I'm surprised the Echo didn't disappear down it when I drove over there Monday morning.

"I was hoping you know, that you might be interested in... changing teams?"

I had a top session at Pat's yesterday. With this annoying cough hanging around I wasn't expecting much, especially when he told us what was on the agenda - continual lots of 1min, 30sec & 15 sec, with a 30 sec jog recovery. We did the 1 min up one way and turned around and did the shorter ones back.

Once we started the fast stuff I just put the foot down and went for it. I was able to keep up with Clairie .... for about the first ten seconds at the start of each set :-) But luckily she wore her blue and yellow CR cap and in the mass of runners that was easy to keep in my sights and chase. I knew I was working extra hard when it was an effort trying not to walk the recoveries.

I had nothing left at the end, which was not good as it wasn't the end. We had to do 'Gold Coast Hill' - that really hurt. Just to check that it wasn't phantom pain I was feeling I joined Clairie and a few of others who followed the fasties and ran a second one. Funny, it always seems easier than the first. Might do three next time :-)

The Cool Night Classic on November 2nd. I've always worn the corporate t-shirt, its the only time of year it sees the light of day. Out of our work mob (about 200 enter) I usually finish as first lady and in the top few overall ... ok, so the other 197 of them walk. But I've decided this year the t-shirt is going to stay at the bottom of the pile and I'll run for the PCRG team. I'm telling my workmates I was head-hunted :-)

Off The Grog

CJ asked when Canberra was on the agenda. Mid December I'll be there for a weekend for a 50th birthday party ... not mine!!! I'm hoping to do a long run on the Saturday morning (16th) to clear the head from Friday's pre-party party and work up a thirst for the real party :-)

*****

Even though the stupid sore throat and cough were still hanging around I thought I'd go to Pat's on Thursday morning and just take it easy. The worse that could happen was I'd have to stop and not complete the session.

We had a long warmup around Riverside and back to the Goodwill Bridge then it was a mix of four and two minute efforts. Of course as soon as we took off I couldn't help myself and just ran as hard as I could. Considering my breathing wasn't the best I was pretty happy with how I went, almost keeping in touch with Jules. I'm so pleased she's joined the group, its great to have another female of similar ability to keep me on my toes.

*****

There was still no improvement in the cough thing Saturday morning and so I contemplated not running at all. I even went back to bed for a minute or two after getting up. Here was the perfect excuse for a sleep in but I couldn't stand the thought of not going! So I headed over to meet the gang at The Regatta with the plan of doing a very short run, and maybe even a walk.

I fell in beside Hannah right at the start. She wasn't sure how far she'd go, maybe 10k at most. It was great, just running and chatting and catching up on what's been happening in Hannah-Land lately. And we started planning our Caboolture Dusk To Dawn training - this time we are going to do it properly! Before we knew it we were at the 5k mark and just kept going. Same thing at the 6k. And the 7k. We eventually turned around at 7.5k to make up 15k for the morning. Not bad considering neither of us planned to go anywhere near that far. That's what happens when you have great company I guess :-)

*****

I thought it best to take a couple of days off running to try to knock this bug on the head and Sunday hit the gym for some weights and ab work.

But after a restless night (coughing) at 5 this morning I was wide awake. I was feeling pretty shabby but with a 7am start at work I knew there wasn't much point in trying to get back to sleep so went and did an easy no-watch 8k. I felt way better afterwards.

*****

Thanks to Matty a few of us had a great night out in front row seats at the basketball last night - Let's Go Bron ... whoops, Bullets :-) In the bar pre game a certain running buddy informed me, over a glass of wine, that she is swearing off alcohol for two weeks. I said I'd go out in sympathy. For one week. Sorry Clairie, but I can't not drink while on hols at Noosa next week.

Anyone want to volunteer to do the second week for me?

Home And Away

I missed my Sunday morning long run as we stopped overnight Saturday in Coffs and wanted to hit the road fairly early to get back to Brisbane. So instead I moved it to Monday. I ran out to the floating walkway at New Farm and back, 16k all up. I struggled a little with motivation, guess that's what happens when you aren't used to running on your own. Afterwards I finished unpacking from Sydney .... and started packing for Adelaide, I was heading there late in the afternoon for work for a couple of days.

*****

I'd planned to find somewhere in Adelaide to do a bit of speed work Tuesday morning but woke up feeling a touch fluey so opted for a normal run. I wanted to find 'the lake' where RunDave would be running in the Corporate Cup the next morning. One ex-Adelaidian had tried to tell me there was no lake there. After exploring a few streets and some of the river I found it. Well, its not really a lake but the river does widen a little :-) I'd forgot to take my Garmin with me but going by the time I was out there I guess did at least 17k.

*****

Wednesday morning I still wasn't feeling 100% but didn't want to miss out on meeting RunDave so I ran around a bit and then got to 'the lake' just before 6.30am. I did a bit of stretching and watched the hordes of people signing on and running or walking in the Corporate Cup. I'm amazed at the number of people participating in this, its fantastic. This month's Runners World has a bit of a story about it and other similar events. Anyway, there was no sign of RunDave, I wasn't sure exactly what time he'd be there (you start when it suits you) but figured if I ran the course in the opposite direction I'd eventually see him.

I'd done a fair bit of the loop when I saw a blue and yellow cap hurtling towards me - RunDave! As he flew by I said I'd see him at the end. It was so exciting, he crossed the line in a PB of 16:12 for the 4.5k course. I thought he was moving fast! I can't wait to see what he can do for the final run of the series in a fortnight. We had a bit of a chat and it was time for me to start heading back so he joined me for a couple of kms as his warmdown. Ha ha, his warmdown pace was the faster than I'd run all morning! By the time I'd got back to the hotel I figured I'd run about 14k.

It really was fantastic to finally meet RunDave after visiting his blog for so long - it made sitting through two days of a boring work meeting worthwhile. Wonder where I can con them into sending me next time .... hmmmm, now who haven't I met???

Sydney - Part 2

I was hoping to maintain the momentum from the previous big week of training but with factoring the drive back to Brissie it wasn't to be. In hindsight it was probably best to follow it up with an easy week anyway.


Sun Evening 1/10 - LET'S GO BRONCOS!!!!!!. Or did I say that already :-)


Tue 3/10 - Lillyfield Rd hill reps. The legs were feeling heavy from the Star run. Still, I planned to do 10 of these but figured I'd be slower than last week and nowhere near the goal of 31:30. Again I managed to stick with JD on the first few but then he got right away from me. After the 8th I was I really hit the straps to salvage a sub 32. On the final uphill I got within about 5 seconds of JD and flew down the hill to finish a 1 second behind him in 31:31!!! Yay, a PB for both of us! We threw in a slower 11th rep afterwards 'just to keep us honest' :-)


Wed 4/10 - 2 laps of The Bay. We took these ones much easier than last week. I can't remember the time but the second was a bit faster than the first. 16k all up including the warmup and warmdown.


Thu 5/10 - Timbrell Park. It was back with the fast dudes again who this week decided to take it easy and just do 3 x 1k reps. I was really struggling and did 4:02, 4:03 and 4:05. After the others headed home JD and I did a final km of 30sec fast/30 sec jog just for something to do.


Fri 6/10 - Easy around The Bay. 9k altogether including a lap of The Bay. Bumped into The Prof and Aunty K and stopped for a lovely chat about her race and a not so lovely chat about his chest infection.


Sat 7/10 - Striders 10k at Homebush. I've been in Sydney the last two years for the October 10k at Homebush and have had shockers both times so wasn't really looking forward to this one. I hoped to go somewhere around 45 mins so locked in behind the pacer at the start line. He and the rest of the train got away after about 1km or so, still my splits were all around 4:30 so I didn't worry, and I hit halfway at exactly 22:30. I went to grab a drink but all the cups were empty and had to wait to have one filled so lost about 5 seconds or more. It was a little annoying because I had passed a few people just prior to that now they were ahead of me again. The second half my splits just got slower and slower, the legs just wouldn't move too fast.
My finish time was 45:35, not as close to 45mins as I'd hoped. Not to worry. It was just good to catch up with so many of the locals. There were some great runs out there especially from Belinda who knocked a whopping 54 seconds off her PB - you couldn't get the smile off her face!


So that was it. A few hours later my sister and I were in the car and counting down the kms back to Brissie. The annual Sydney holiday over. Now I have to wait an eternity for the annual Noosa holiday to begin ... well, a week and half anyway :-)

Sydney - Part 1

As well as a holiday from work I've had a holiday from my PC. So I've had very little opportunity to read other people's blogs, or write my own. Its been three weeks since my last entry. Thankfully it hasn't been three weeks since my last run.


Fri 22/9 - easy 7k around The Bay. Ran with JD and we bumped into Eagle and Aunty K along the way. She was looking so incredibly fit, I thought at the time she'd have a great half ironman the following weekend at the GC. And she did!


Sun 24/9 - SMC Half Marathon. I wanted a sub 97 for this one, but most of all I wanted to run a better time than I did at the Noosa Half in August (97:56). Ha ha, I finished in 97:55. Its a much tougher course so I should be happy with that. Still, can't think of any other excuses why I'm so far off my PB from March last year (94:03).


**********


Tues 26/9 - Lillyfield Rd hill reps. I've only done a handfull of hill sessions since the ITB injury in early March so was a bit worried about how I'd fare. JD was planning 10, and trying to beat his best time. I wondered if I'd be up to that many but at the end of every downhill I felt recovered enough to go up again. He was probably 10 seconds or more in front after the first 4 or 5 and I couldn't bridge the gap. On the last one I gave it may all and got closer and closer. But that made him run even faster! I managed to catch up on the downhill and we finished all 10 in 31:55 - a PB for him. And one for me I guess as I'd never done 10 of these before.


Wed 27/9 - 2 laps of The Bay. These (7k each) were done averaging just under 5 minute kms. With a 1k warmup and 1k warmdown it was 16k all up for the morning.


Thurs 28/9 - Timbrell Park. I wasn't sure what was on the agenda here, in fact the bunch of runners that meet here on Thursday mornings at 6:15 seem to decide on the spot what they'll do. This time it was out and backs - 2 x 2mins, 2 x 3 mins, 2 x 4 mins. I forget how much recovery we had. Each trip out I felt slow and so pushed it on the returns. On those I checked the km markings and managed a 1:52 500m, the next two were closer to 2 minutes. It was a tough workout. After a few of the guys left and Tim suggested the remaining three of us do another 500m 'just to keep us honest'. I think I was dishonest, I ran 2:04 :-(


Fri 29/9 - easy 7k around The Bay. Plus the warmup and warmdown brought it to 9k for the morning.


Sat 30/9 - CR 5k Challenge. The way my legs felt I put aside any thoughts of going close to 21 mins and set a goal of 21:30 to 21:40. I set off with the 22s, along with JD and Tim (Redback). I managed to keep up with them for the first km (4:12) but then they got away from me. I totally lost the plot in the next two ks, clocking close to 4:30 for each. I'd been warned about slacking off in the 4th so concentrated on it and did a 4:18. Now I really was tiring. I caught up to 2P who'd started with an earlier group and the bugger decided to run with me and gee me up - I couldn't slack off at all! He hung in there for about 400 meters and probably saved me about 10 seconds just in that stretch - it was another 4:18 km. Though I probably didn't seem it at the time I was truly grateful. I finished in 21:43 (PB is 21:03). Pity 2P didn't run all the way with me, I reckon I would've done a sub 20 :-)
With the warmup and warmdown it was a 16k morning.


Sun 1/10 - Cherrybrook Star Run. The plan was to do 32k. I didn't realise that the 'H' in the Striders H4 rating meant horrible ;-) Well, the course wasn't horrible, but the hills were. They were unrelenting. I set off with the 6.10am pack that included lots of familiar faces (JD, Gnome, Redback, O'Runner, Spud, Amjan). The hills went on and on. And on. And on. Gnome was doing the shorter version (24k) at around 11k I thought that sounded like a damn good idea. That was one of the toughest training runs I've done in a long time. Did I mention it was really really hilly? My Garmin informed me that we ran the 24k at an average pace of 5:14s.

That brought up my biggest week since early March - 83kms :-)


Sun Evening 1/10 - LET'S GO BRONCOS!!!!!!.