running

Progress report

2009-11-30T11:07:00.002+10:30

It turns out that the Street Soccer training has not moved to Thursdays. I got myself all hyped up and excited ... lucky I called the coach before heading down there last Thursday. I'll have to see if it will work for me for Wednesdays.

On Friday I was supposed to do a 40 minute run. I had a huge battle with the 'black dog'. The beast won. I was immobilised with grief/depression/ennui ... whatever. The awful thing is, I know that getting out and doing something active will help lift my mood. I just could not muster up the will to do it. This meant that I had more to beat myself up about, which of course made me feel worse. Conversely, when I do get out, even for a half-hearted effort, I am inordinately pleased with myself. I'd really like to get to a place where there is more emotional equilibrium in my life.

Anyway, on Saturday I planned to go to join a group of CRs at Brighton Baths for a run then breakfast where we would give our last lot of encouragement to Sharyn before she heads off to do her marathon in the Antarctic. On Friday evening I had a long phone call with my sister relating to going over to Mum and Dad's to do some clearing out on Saturday afternoon. There's family politics ... isn't there always? The issues preyed on my mind so much that I didn't sleep well, then wanted to stay in bed at 6 am when it was time to get up.

The temptation to stay there was so strong, but I resisted. I was, however, a little late arriving at the Baths - the others had already left on their run. It didn't matter - I had a lovely time doing my 9.38kms in exactly one hour. Then I waited for the others to arrive back before having breakfast together, then heading to Mum and Dad's.

On Sunday morning (rest or cross-train day) I packed my bike into the car and drove to Belgrave. From there I rode to Ferntree Gully (mostly cruised downhill!) and then back to Belgrave (an uphill slog with some walking!), a distance of just under 14.5kms. It took me about 55 minutes, but this did include losing my way once or twice, asking directions once, and stopping at traffic lights when I felt it was too dangerous to ride on the roads. I felt very proud of myself.

Then, after the best of intentions last night, I just could not get up this morning for a run before work. I have, however, brought my running gear with me and will go out at lunchtime.

Thursday's update

2009-11-26T09:12:00.003+10:30

Back to work on Monday, with a long (for me) lunchtime to have another myotherapy session on my leg/back/glutes.

Missed Monday's run, so did 40 mins at lunchtime on Tuesday (6.48kms). 'Speed' session last night; managed 4x1min at 80% effort with jogging recoveries.

Legs felt mostly ok on Monday - slight quad pain on the left leg, but nothing too dramatic. Had the strangest sensation in my left calf, though. It felt as if it was dis-attached from the bone and was jiggling about as I ran. Weird.

Then last night the left quad screamed for the entire warm up. Some good strong stretches before starting the speedwork seemed to help.

I had an email the other day from the Street Soccer people. I used to help out with the Dandenong team when it was just starting out, and before I changed jobs, no longer working in Dandenong. On contacting the organisers I found out that they now have 40 people turn up there ... and they've changed the time of their training to 4-6pm on Thursdays.

I had a chat with my team leader at work with the result that I can start and end early on Thursdays, and nip down Eastlink to Dandenong to help out again. That's tonight, and I'm really looking forward to it. Great cross-training, eh?

Dad

2009-11-24T08:32:00.003+10:30

Well, I got to my brother's place in Blackwood on the night of Saturday 14 November so that I would not have a long drive to get to Trentham the next day - the two towns are only 15 minutes apart.

However, we'd all just settled down to sleep when the phone rang. I thought it was either something to do with Andrew's business ... or Dad. It turned out to be Dad. He'd developed pneumonia and had been transferred from rehab to a medical ward. We all got up and dressed, and headed to the city - a 90 minute drive - to be with Dad and the rest of the family.

Long story, short ... Dad died at 6.26pm on Sunday 15 November. All the family except for five grandchildren (three were deemed too young, one was on holiday and reliant on someone else for transport, and one could not cope with seeing his grandfather 'like that') managed to get to see Dad over the last 17 hours of his life. Eighteen of us were actually with him at the time he died - we (they) prayed, and we sang to him and told stories about him to the end ... as is the way with our family we also told terrible jokes!

Needless to say, for the past week or so I've been rather preoccupied. I feel lost and very, very sad. Because I live so far from where all the arrangements were taking place I spent a lot of time in the car driving to and fro. The funeral was on Friday 20th November.

I did no running last week - of course, I missed the Trentham run on the Sunday Dad died. I did a CPR refresher on Saturday morning and refereed six games of 6-a-side soccer at the Corporate Games on Sunday. I'll be getting back on top of the running again this week - I've got to start doing something positive to alleviate this overwhelming grief.

One positive is that, with only one parent to have to drive a long way to see I may have some more time available. Mum is in secure care in Ballarat, which is where my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter live ... and they are expecting a new baby next week. I can see some runs on the Moneghetti Track around Lake Wendouree coming up.

Running, not shuffling

2009-11-14T08:21:00.003+10:30

My eldest daughter came over for a couple of days to help me in the garden. Yesterday she came out on the bike with me while I went for a run. For the first time in a long time I felt as if I was running rather than shuffling at the beginning.

My legs were swinging freely from the hips, I was pushing off with my feet better and I felt a little faster. I got to the steps on the forest trail where I had clumped down the other day. In contrast, yesterday I was leaping down them like a gazelle! Well ... relatively speaking.

Coming back up the hill on Baynes Park Road, I was able to run three times further before stopping to walk, than I had the last time. Before long I'll be running all the way!

Today I'm going to concentrate on drinking plenty of water, as the Trentham 10km run tomorrow does not start until 10.30am and the temperature is forecast to be 31 degrees. It was useful going out at 11.30am yesterday to get a feel for it. I find running in the sun more of a problem than just the heat. At least a 10km run only takes about an hour, rather than the awful Melbourne Marathon last year, or the less awful but still unseasonably hot Alice Springs half this year.

Feeling hopeful again. I don't know if feeling as if I'm running better is as a result of the myotherapy treatment (and ongoing exercises that I've been prescribed) or the enforced four day rest because of having a cold ... or a combination thereof. Whatever the reason, I'm glad.

That's all from Pollyanna for now.

:(

2009-11-12T15:31:00.001+10:30

After Sunday I came down with a running, itchy, scratchy cold. Feeling washed out and limp. I've only got a little more than one day of sick leave left until early March. I don't want to risk getting sick, so I've held off running for the past couple of days.

This is really annoying, just as I was beginning to enjoy running again, and after my myotherapy appointment on Monday to fix my left leg niggles. Not only was I enjoying the running, but I was also beginning to organise my time around when I could run, instead of fitting running in where I could. The old urge is back again ... or at least it was at the beginning of the week.

And, there's the Trentham Lions Cool Country Classic 10km on Sunday, which I've registered for.

Ah well - I'll do what I can.

Friday-Sunday

2009-11-08T20:05:00.002+10:30

Busy day on Friday, but I still managed to get out for my run even if it was in the last 45 minutes before guests were due for dinner! That is why I only did 30 minutes - but I made sure I did it.

Saturday was full on. After the dinner the night before I had to be up at 6am to get to the hospital where Dad is so that I could connect him and his older sister (who is 87; Dad is 81) by video on Skype. By the time Dad had been sorted out, dressed, etc, and we'd managed to get him in his mechanical wheelchair down to an area outside where the computer would work it was 10am (11pm on Friday night in England). I finally left him about midday - the drive home normally takes an hour, but I stopped at several places for shopping on the way.

When I got home I did some work around the house, sat down fore a moment and was so exhausted I fell asleep. As a result I ran out of time for a run as I was to head off to Narbethong where I was camping for the night before getting to Marysville at 7.30am to volunteer at the first Marysville Marathon.

I was assigned as a marshall at one of the intersections on the Buxton Road for the marathoners. My short report is on coolrunning. I was home by just after 2pm and again, exhausted, had another daytime sleep.

I was determined not to let the weekend be a waste in terms of my own running, so I waited until 7pm when it was a bit cooler (it was 32 degrees here today) and went out for a 50 minute run.

I started off very slowly again and went beyond the town to the forest track as I knew it would be cooler there. I got as far as Kensley's Picnic Ground before turning back, returning via Baynes Park Road. I had a few minutes up my sleeve when I got back home, so I continued on for a while, ending up doing 7km in just over 50 mins. Still slow, but I actually enjoyed it ... after the first 30 minutes!

Thursday - rest day

2009-11-05T10:42:00.002+10:30

So far I've just done a light workout (with a client) this morning - 1.km walk; walking hill repeats (about 50m) with dumb bell arm/shoulder exercises; 5 mins cardio; stretches.

May get a more vigorous workout done this evening when my daughter comes over.

It can only get better ...

2009-11-04T11:12:00.003+10:30

My first speed session this morning. What a joke!

Arrived at Lewis Park, did one lap (2.13km) as a warm up then some dynamic stretches. Did the 6x80m 'sprints'! That started off with me going really slowly for the first one, but did get better as I went on. So much for sprinting!!

Then I was to do 6x1min (at 80% effort) with 45sec standing recoveries. I could only manage to keep up the 80% effort for about 25-30seconds each time, gradually slowing down until I was walking for some of the time (but not every lap)!

Oh, well ... I suppose it's like running a particular distance for the first time. That gives a baseline by which to gauge improvements. I only hope there is an improvement in the future.

One thing I did learn was not to run around a football oval in the off season. The grass was long, and it was quite tussocky around the perimeter. I think I'll check out the athletics track that I almost pass on the way to work for speed sessions. I don't want to be worrying about the possibility of twisting an ankle or otherwise injuring myself.

Still on track

2009-11-02T09:16:00.003+10:30

Why does it hurt so much for the first 30 minutes?!

Left home early and parked at Lewis Park before doing 2 laps, plus a 2.22km detour towards the Dandenong Creek Trail. Each lap on the running trail is 2:13kms. All up 6.48 kms in 40:37. Still starting off very slowly and carefully.

Rest day

2009-11-01T22:29:00.003+10:30

Rest or X-train day.

Did 30 mins cardio (stationary bike and cross trainer) and weights. Felt good.

Slow and steady

2009-10-31T19:24:00.002+10:30

Sadly, I didn't get to do any workout yesterday. Had long phone calls from my sister and one of my brothers who have been doing a lot for Mum and Dad. They needed to debrief and it didn't feel right to fob them off, especially as I do the least, being so much further away.

Anyway, today was hot so I waited until 7pm to run. After the last few experiences I decided to go out vewy vewy slowly and vewy vewy carefully. I was going so slowly and carefully that I could have race-walked faster! But it worked! No quad cramps, no niggles, no nothing. Other than the normal response from my muscles ... WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO US?! By the time I got to the first turn around I was actually feeling good and enjoying the run.

Everything was fine except for the clouds of little insects - moths from the way they were flying. I felt as if I should have had glasses and a face mask on - but I don't think I inhaled any either nasally or orally!

So - I ran from home to the Olinda Road turn off (15:15), turned around and came back past home (14:14), on to the high school (4:34 - mostly downhill) and back home again (4:46 - obviously mostly uphill) for a total of 5.57kms in 38:49. And I ran all the way - Rocky music, please .. dun de de dah da, dun de de dah da ...

Still slow, but better - and more heartening- than the recent runs.

Common sense and grief

2009-10-30T13:28:00.002+10:30

Yesterday (Thursday) was 'rest or xtrain' day. I had intended to do a gym workout when I got home from work. However, my legs still felt very heavy and, for the first time in many years, I gave blood. The mobile blood bank was at work, so there was no excuse.

So - I decided to be sensible and make it a real rest day.

Today is supposed to be a 30-40 min run day. It took me ages to get to sleep again last night, so I woke at just after 8. Put my running gear on with trackies over, intending to do a few things around the house first (I don't go to work on Fridays). However, Dad rang a little while ago to say that he's being moved from the neurosurgery ward to rehab today. He also told me that he's heard that Mum no longer recognises Andrew, one of my brothers.

Since then I've been hit by a might wave of pre-emptive grief. Even when I can manage to stop crying, my eyes still leak. I think I might just take it easy, maybe do that gym workout today, and run again tomorrow.

heavy legs

2009-10-29T12:36:00.002+10:30

Got up early yesterday and drove to Lewis Park (behind work) to run laps there. It's about 2km around. I was going to use the Garmin to measure exactly but took a couple of wrong turns, so I'll do it next time.

Still running like an old woman ... hang on, I know an old woman (Luckylegs, aged 80) who runs far better than I could manage yesterday! I can't believe that I've run four half-marathons in four months, and now can't even do 40 minutes!

Just into the second km my left quad started to cramp again, like it did on Monday. I stopped to massage and stretch it and it eased a little so I kept running. It still didn't feel right, so after a while I walked. I ended up walking for about 500m. When I started running again the crampy pain had gone, but my legs felt like lead. I completed the 40 minutes with a combination of walking and running. The distance was just 6.5km.

It has to get better ... it can't get any worse.

I'm eating well so that shouldn't be a problem, but I'm not sleeping at all well. That probably doesn't help.

Trying again - with help

2009-10-27T22:02:00.003+10:30

After having no motivation for a long time, and just entering races with no preparation, I finally decided to get some online coaching from Pat Carroll. So, a week and a half ago I registered with him.

However, when I was supposed to start Dad was in hospital again. This time he needed surgery to remove a tumor from his spine. The surgery was postponed for three days, finally taking place on Saturday. In addition, I was sliding into the black pit again. Despite having the program, I had less than no motivation. It was not until Sunday that I got back on track again, and did my first training run.

I did 6.1 kms in 36:55, from Dorset Road almost to Upper Ferntree Gully railway station and back. It felt good.

I went out again on Monday, yesterday, night. I could not get it together. My left quad started cramping in the first km. I had to stop two or three times to massage it. I kept on going, and ended up doing only 4.67km in 30mins. I struggled all the way, but made sure I got to at least 30 minutes.

Today was a 'rest or xtrain' day. I rode my bike from Dorset Road to work, did the Bike Ed course, then rode back to the car again after work - a total of about 15kms. Then yoga tonight. I need to be up early tomorrow to get a run in before work, then visiting Dad in the evening.

goals

2007-01-13T19:48:00.000+10:30

Thanks for the encouragement, folks.

After some hesitation and hard thinking I've come up with what I think are achieveable goals for 2007. It's going to be a challenge to fit everything in, with study until the beginning of March, then soccer refereeing during the winter (because I need the money), then starting my own business sometime between April and June, but here goes ...

Times:-
1. A sub 50 min 10 km (PB 52 m ??s)
2. A sub 2hr half marathon (PB 1 hr 56 min ?? sec in my first half marathon in 2004, then nothing under 2 hrs since)

Major events:-
Puffing Billy Race (May)
Sri Chinmoy half marathon (late May)
Gold Coast half marathon (early July)
Melbourne Marathon (mid October).

Since my last entry I've only managed a couple of sessions in the gym, one of them on the treadmill and one a strength training session, and a pretty full on game of touch rugby at class on Thursday night. But the itch to do more is definitely increasing.

I'll get there.

2007-01-10T07:58:00.000+10:30

Saturday 6th January 2007 - Portsea Twilight Run (6.7 km). Lots of fun and at 44m 05s a few seconds quicker than last year so I'm happy.

Monday 8th January 2007 - half an hour on the treadmill at the gym.

ready ...

2007-01-03T14:10:00.000+10:30

A bit of a slow start, but at least a start - just spent my lunchtime at the gym. An 'accelerated strength training' session (as taught in out Cert III coruse) followed by a strenuous 10 minutes on the stepper.

Shhhh ....

2006-12-29T15:04:00.000+10:30

I almost hesitate to say it because I've had so many false starts in the last 13 months or so, but (whisper) I'm on the comeback trail. As a soon-to-be-qualified personal trainer I sat down today and wrote out all the reasons for running. They are:

I like it;
It makes me feel good;
I need to be able to motivate myself if I want to be able to motivate others;
I need to be able to show prospective employers/business partners that I'm committed/motivated;
It helps me keep my weight under control therefore my clothes fit better and I feel better about myself;
I like entering fun runs/races;
I have PBs to achieve;
I want to run more half and full marathons;
I want to run ultramarathons - or at least ultramarathon distances;
I like the friends I've made on coolrunning and want to see more of them;
I want to volunteer at Colac and other events and would feel better doing so as a runner;
I need to do something for myself;
I need to get fit for refereeing, especially as they have raised my grading for this year;
I need to improve my speed for refereeing;
I need to counter the effects of menopause;
I need to prevent the arthritis getting worse;
I need to minimise the risk of osteoporosis;
I want to minimise the risk of heart disease;
I definitely need to combat the risk of depression;
It's a good example to set;
It's one way of getting outdoors more often;
It gives me more energy;
I want to be able to take my little granddaughter out in the running pram I bought when I heard she was on the way;
It gives me more reasons/opportunites for getting together with certain friends;
I like how I look when I'm fit;
It gives me the opportunity to travel interstate for special races;
I've spent so much money on nice running gear that it's a shame to have it all just sitting in the drawer.

Think that's enough?

First goal of the year - the Portsea Twilight run on Saturday 6th January. I'd also like to think I could finally make it to Canberra for the marathon this year, and to the Gold Coast for at least the half. Won't put all the goals down yet as I know I'll feel like such a dill if I don't make them.

So - wish me luck.

I'm b-a-c-k ... well, sort of.

2006-02-16T14:52:00.000+10:30

Thanks to all my CR and other friends for the messages of support you sent in the past three months. Although life did not grind to a halt with the relationship breakup, it did knock me back for quite some time.

The good news is that I have sold my old house (which I rented out and left to move in with my partner last May) and I've bought a new house which I'll be moving into with my two youngest children (Theo, 17 and Mo, 15) in about five weeks. So life has been pretty hectic.

On the running front, while the frequency/distance has been diminished I've still managed to keep it together ... somewhat. I did the Portsea run on 7th January, meeting up with the other CRs and running most of the way with Louise. We came in at about 44 mins which I was happy with in the circumstances.

The Tuesday night running group continued until 7th February, with varying numbers of people attending, though far fewer than at the beginning. Since the Monbulk Women's Soccer team has started training two nights a week there was hardly anyone there so I called an end to it.

I've run intermittently and have lost, to some extent, my long distance capability. I've booked in for the Canberra marathon (at least the flights and the accomodation ... still working out logistics re Mo's 10k the night before and something else we might be involved in, but I have until 10th March to register).

I was hoping to do enought training so that I could go for a respectable time. With everything that life has thrown me lately I've changed my plan to working up to being able to do the distance by 9th April, and bugger the time! I'll just be going out to have a good time, catch up with other CRs and cheer Luckylegs on!

Looking forward to being a full on contributing member of CR once again, and to catching up with as many CRs as possible at Canberra and elsewhere.

another little run

2005-11-15T21:34:00.000+10:30

Running group tonight. This week there were nine of us (and a dog) compared with just four last week.

Did our first bush track run - 15 minutes out and 15 back along the Monbulk - Emerald section of the Sassafrass trail. Everyone said they enjoyed it. Although it rained very heavily last night today was quite fine, so there were few soggy spots.

Will plan to do the Thousand Steps at Ferntree Gully next Tuesday.

My legs seemed to hold up ok, though I was wearing my skins (bought with my birthday money) ... seemed to help.

a little run

2005-11-15T17:26:00.000+10:30

Thanks to all of you who have sent support. I really appreciate it.

Did a little (about 6km) run yesterday - Cook's corner to Kallista village then along the track to home. The 'cheat' part of it is that it was mostly downhill.

There is still a problem with my right quad ... will try more stretching and if that does not work will go and see Matt the myotherapist in a few days.

not much action

2005-11-13T17:37:00.000+10:30

Major distractions as the result of the breakdown of a 14 year relationship. Not much heart for blogging, only a little running happening. Much heartache.

I'll be back, just not yet.

my legs feel like mine again!

2005-10-25T22:48:00.000+09:30

A bit to catch up on.

My legs felt hideous at indoor on Thursday night - I ended up taking myself off after only about 5 minutes each time. We still won (yesssssssssss - take that Kermit!) 8-3 and have found that Rachel is a treasure in goals. We will even be able to alter the way we play on the court now that we have someone capable in goals, as always in the past we have kept one player in defence to protect the goalie. This will be interesting.

I did as I said and rested my legs then until Sunday. My full report is on the CoolRunning site (http://www.coolrunning.com.au/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=39;t=000520;p=3#000094 ). My legs were not good, but I went out moderately fast without overdoing it. Afterwards I suddenly remembered that I had some arnica cream in my sports bag, so I began using it several times a day on my quads, the right one in particular.

We had a hectic weekend - I had friends around for dinner on Friday night; Sally went out for dinner and stayed the night; I had to work Saturday afternoon while Sally and Morwenna went looking at houses; Monbulk Soccer Club presentation night on Saturday night (Sally won highest goal scorer - 24 - and Best & Fairest) before getting up early for the run on Sunday. Was it any wonder we had little energy for our personal training session on Monday morning? Chester went a little easy on us - making us do 2 reps instead of 3 for some of the exercises.

Tonight's running group was good - and I think I have my legs back!!! Sally could not make it because she had a late shift, so I had to take the dog. Even so, it was not too bad at all ... no pain! I chose to do the shorter distance just as a precaution and will try to fit a couple more runs in this week as I'll have to miss indoor soccer to watch my son Theo in a play at school on Thursday night.

running group no 5

2005-10-20T09:31:00.000+09:30

Tuesday's running group was amazing ... there were 22 people and two dogs! I was concerned that people might have been getting bored with the same old route, but they seem to be ok with it. I'm also a bit concerned that the group breaks up the way it does, especially in the dark. I'm looking forward to the light nights after daylight saving starts - we can vary the routes and people (kids in particular) will need to stay closer together.

Sally and I had actually done a 40 minute run along the Sassafras trail immediately prior to running group - her suggestion! My how things have changed! She also talked on that run about how well she is now doing with her running. I think her confidence has improved a lot, especially since finishing the half-marathon a couple of weeks ago ... and pulling up so well afterwards.

On the other hand, I had a hideous run on the trail (the group run was ok - I must have warmed up by then, and I was going particularly slowly as I stuck with the back-of-the-packers). My legs really really hurt! Sally was off like a rabbit and I was shuffling along behind like an old sloth. I really must still be recovering from the two half marathons. Thanks everyone for your comments re this - as you can see I have taken it to heart. No more runs for me now until Sunday when I'll try and just do a wobble, not a race. However I will play indoor soccer tonight.

On the indoor soccer front, Rachel, who was at the group on Tuesday night, has volunteered to be goalie. YAY! I'm sure some of us will give her a break now and again, but if she can do most of it that will be great! We're playing Kermit tonight - a bit of a grudge match as far as Sally is concerned as this is the team that always complained when she was refereeing. This will be interesting to watch ...

Until next time.

Someone else's legs?

2005-10-17T13:10:00.000+09:30

The intention - after feeling soooooooooo good at the Melb Marathon half on 9th Oct and at the running group run on the Tuesday afterwards I was planning to run to Tecoma, do a personal training session, and then run home. A total of about 18kms running, plus the session.

The reality - the first 2km were fine. Then the pain started. It was like running the Sri Chinmoy half all over again, but at 2km instead of 11km then. Heavy legs, pain in the quads. I walked (as fast as I could) up most of the hills and it took me 45 minutes to get to Grant's Picnic Ground.

As it's downhill from there I thought I would enjoy the rest of the run as I have in the past after struggling for the first bit. But today it was not to be. I hardly enjoyed any of it. My legs felt as if they belonged to someone else ... and I wished they did!

Did ok at the training session, though I did get light headed at one stage, then opted out of the run home ... I let Sally drive me instead.

I've now booked in to have a sports massage on Saturday morning hoping to do well at the 5km wobble on Sunday. I need to feel as if I've achieved something. Would like to think that I can do the 5km in 25mins but, on this year's form - who knows?!

Start of the new indoor soccer season

2005-10-14T16:37:00.000+09:30

We had our first game last night. Fortunately it was against Chica Bonitas rather than one of the better teams. Sally had a late shift and could not play, Hayley has decided not to play this season, and we had two new team members who have never played indoor soccer before.

Both Rachel and Anna play rugby, and Rachel is a fantastic outdoor soccer player. However indoor is a different kettle of fish.

However, we ended up with a 2-2 draw ... at least we did not lose. We are going to have problems with the goalie position. No-one wants to play there so we might have to make it that everyone has to play half a game in goals on a rotating basis, just so it is fair. We might have to manipulate the 'rotating' bit so that players like Sally do not play in goals against the better teams!

Had fun, so that is the main thing.

recovery from half/running group report

2005-10-12T12:06:00.000+09:30

Have pulled up really well from Sunday - the only residual soreness was tight Achilles tendons until yesterday. Much better today. Saw the podiatrist this morning - surprise, surprise he's recommending orthotics. He seemed more concerned about the foot I don't have pain in than the one I do! Oh well - I'll see how the money goes and consider it.

Our fourth running group session last night - 14 people and the obligatory dog! Returned to the original route as this allows a longer run to start off with, then the option of a shorter addition. Most of the adults opted for the shorter one. All the kids (aged about 10-14) along with Aleisha, Amie and I did the extra section. Felt fine and it was good to stride out and notch up the speed for the last 100m or so. Total of 5.4 km.

As we were starting it was still almost light - it'll be good when we are able to vary the runs a bit by doing some trails through the bush etc.

so much to catch up on

2005-10-11T11:39:00.000+09:30

I know I shouldn't leave it so long ...

Sri Chinmoy half marathon
Two weeks ago I ran the Sri Chinmoy Yarra Boulevard half-marathon. Sally and Morwenna did the 10km.

I was using that run as my hit out at a good time for the half, knowing that I would be pacing Sally for her first half on 9th Oct - same day as the Melbourne Marathon. Two wonderful CRs (and I've yet to meet one who is not wonderful) had volunteered to pace me ... SlimDJ and Tiger Boy, who were both preparing for their first marathon and were just doing the Sri Chinmoy as a training run.

At the start we met up with a bunch of other CRs - Greybeard, Wobblyman, the unmissable Eat 'Em, Slowjo and Running Bear and others. As usual at Sri Chinmoy the atmosphere was friendly, relaxed and very encouraging.

Started off fine. For once I had not checked the route so just tagged along with the guys. I was hoping for a time of 1:55.00 as my PB - which was in my first ever half at Sandy Point last year - was 1:56.?? SlimDJ had written the 5km splits on his arm and we were cruising along, just ahead of time by a few seconds until the 10km mark. Soon after that it felt as if my legs had turned to lead weights. I struggled on for a while before telling the guys that I had heavy legs. The next thing I knew my right quad started to seize up. I pushed through for a while, but when my left quad started to do the same thing I had to stop.

At about 13 kms I pulled over to the side, tried massaging the thighs but that was useless, then did some stretches. That helped, so we were soon off again. At 15 kms I stopped and did the same. By this time I knew a pb was out of the window, as I knew I would never be able to keep up the pace we had been doing. I downgraded my goal to finishing in under 2 hours.

At about 17 kms the pain in my quads was a killer. I couldn't understand what the problem was ... I had done nothing differently from previous times and had never had the problem before. At the last cross over of the start/finish line Sally and Morwenna, who had well finished their runs, were waiting to cheer us on. All I could say was 'I'm struggling.' There was still about 4 km to go. I did hear that Mo had come first in her age group and was sporting a medal.

I down graded my goal to just finishing.

I struggled on with the gallant assistance of my two knights in running gear. Slim and TB talked me through each km, up the little hill each time we looped around to it again, and through the pain. Without them I would have stopped and walked, or even given up. I was managing to run 1 km at a time. Somewhere between 19 and 20 km I was down to coping with 500m at a time, then at the end 100m at a time.

The pain was so bad that I could not help myself from gasping at each step. But according to SlimDJs timing we were close to the 2 hours so I pushed as hard as I could. I finally came home in 2:00.18, which at least was not a PW! The best bit was that, as I crossed the finish line, one of the organisers told me I'd come 3rd in my age group!

It felt so good to stop, and I was so grateful to my two pacers, but very disappointed at my time. Apart from the marathon at the Gold Coast I have not managed a single PB this year.

The gathering of the CoolRunners at the end was great - we're a fine looking bunch! Lots of photos which have been put up on the site. Lots of lovely pancakes and of course the lovely atmosphere. Couldn't stay too disappointed for long under the circumstances.

[A few days later I was analysing what might have caused the quad problem. Then I remembered - just before half time in out last soccer game of the season someone kicked the ball hard and high into the air. It landed on my right thigh and left the imprint of the ball on it. Two weeks later the imprint was still, just, visible. It must have bruised quite deeply and I was not aware of it.]

Running Group and Bootcamp
The running group is going well - 8 people and a dog on the first night, 9 people and a different dog on the second, and 15 people and a dog on the third, with more interest being shown. Tonight will be our 4th night which we will still do around the fairly well lit streets of Monbulk until it's light enough in the evenings to do some of the trails.

I've started promoting the bootcamp so should, I hope, soon be getting registrations for that. I've still to promote it through the Monbulk Soccer Club presentation night in a couple of weeks, so should get more interest then.

Soccer
We had the Sherbrooke Soccer Club presentation night last Friday - a bunch of us from the senior women's team turned up in a limo which was a hoot! I was extremely honoured and surprised to be presented with a big bunch of flowers for all the help I gave the team over the season, and was awarded the runner-up 'player's player' trophy!

Melbourne (half)Marathon
After the disappointment of the Sri Chinmoy half I was not sure what to expect of the Melbourne run. This time I was going to be helping Sally through her first half marathon. She was convinced, leading up to the run, that she would not be able to do it in less than about 2:30 or 2:20. Based on her 10km times (around about the hour) I knew she could do better than that as long as she had someone (me) to stop her going hell for leather for the first 4kms then not being able to move much more than a crawl the rest of the way.

I was nervous and anxious. We'd had a busy week leading up to the run. My work during the week was extremely stressful, then there was the presentation night on Friday - at least we could sleep in on the Saturday. Then picking up the race packs, shopping with two of my older children, booking in to our city accomodation and going out for a birthday dinner with an old friend on Saturday. As we were staying in St Kilda and the restaurant was in Middle Park we had only a five minute drive to get back, which was good. Our friend teaches cooking at a TAFE and the restaurant is owned by two of her ex-students, hence the opening night being on her birthday and (bonus) there being no charge for the food! It was an Indian restaurant so I carbed up on the rice and the naan bread!

Next morning we had to be up at an ugly time (5.15) in order to catch the buses to our various starting points (Morwenna to Point Ormond for the 7.5km and Sally and I for Ricketts Point). I was up, getting drinks etc, and no-one seemed to be moving! I became very anxious and teary and lost control for a little while. It wasn't until we were actually in the queue for the bus that I started to relax a little. Though that was tempered by the fact that the buses seemed to take for ever. We were supposed to leave at 6.30; Mo's bus left before ours and we didn't get going until after 7am. The best thing was ... there was a toilet on the bus! Many of us made use of it!

It all seemed a bit of a schemozzle at Ricketts Point. We found the clothes bags, stuffed our stuff into them and then waited at the back of a big crowd to get them loaded onto the bus. Saw Greybeard in the mob, who offered to put ours away for us ... we gratefully accepted. Headed off to where we thought the start was, saw a queue for the toilets so used a strategic bush. It's amazing how much dignity you are willing to sacrifice when necessary.

Joined the crush of the crowd heading towards the start only to have people beginning to run - we had heard nothing, and could see no evidence of a banner or mat or anything that indicated the start. Sally started the watch when we realised that we were on our way.

We'd driven the route on Thursday and had commented on the little hill at the start. Fortunately we began part way up that, then navigated the undulations really well - Sally said she did not notice them. We cruised the first 10 km. My first job was to see that Sally did not go out like a bullet from a gun. It was impossible at the beginning with all the people around, and it only took me saying 'Sally, slow DOWN!' about twice before she settled into a nice smooth rhythm.

At about 4-5km I could feel unwelcome twinges in my right quad ... at that stage I mentioned to Sally that if my legs gave way she was to go on ahead. As it turned out I think it was the cold that was bothering me (it felt freezing) and as I warmed up more the legs felt ok. I had no more problem with them for the rest of the race.

We walked through the water stations, taking a drink at each one. Sally was surprised at how easily she did the first 10km, which would have been a pb for her except for the water station immediately before it! We were a minute or two over 2:00.00 pace, which was fantastic. The next few kms were still pretty cruisey, a nice smooth rhythm. We seemed to lose a little bit of time but actually picked up over a minute by pushing a little harder for a km or two.

The icypoles and quick chat with the Lostboys at Elwood were most welcome. Sally was still doing fine, and I (think I) kept up the positive chat all the way. The Fitzroy Street hill had loomed high in Sally's mind, but as it turned out the cheer from CathyP part way along, from the Gunn Runners and FitzCameron a bit further on, and the water station half way up all took the sting out of it.

Then the turn into St Kilda Road, and the last leg. Sally was still coping fine, and I ... I was just holding back the horses. I don't know where it came from, but I just wanted to go for it. I had energy, I had fire ... I felt FANTASTIC.

WHY COULDN'T IT HAVE BEEN LIKE THIS TWO WEEKS AGO?!!!!!

So I just chanelled all that energy into keeping Sally going. It's amazing what sort of gabble comes out of your mouth sometimes! By now it was a one-way conversation - Sally was entirely focussed on getting to the end and coping with how much her legs hurt. I started to give her little challenges. 'See that mob up there with the corporate t-shirts on? You don't want to let some corporate mob beat you. You've got 2 kms to catch up to them.' Five hundred metres later we were overtaking them.

'Next challenge - the woman in the white singlet.' Challenge accomplished.

It was good knowing the route. I could point out that once we hit the grass at the base of the Shrine we were almost home (almost being about a km away!).

It was only the final challenge that eluded Sally - 'The bald man in the Nike t-shirt. You don't want someone in a Nike t-shirt to beat you, do you?!' However, she was pushing on so well, had picked up the pace a fraction. There were cheers from Wobbly Man, Greybeard and other CRs just before the end, then from Morwenna close to the end, before the relief of crossing over the finish line. The time was 2:08.?? far less than the 2:30 or 2:20 she had supposed earlier in the week.

We'd made some CR colour streamers and had some lovely tooters and other noise makers to cheer people on with. Sally and Mo stayed with me for about half an hour before needing to sit down. They headed over to the bar while I stayed behind for another hour.

Then when I got to the bar ... what a great crowd of CRs! Met Aunty Karin, Truckie, Digger, MPHaz and a bunch of other interstaters as well as the Melbourne crew. Some of them very kindly agreed to be interviewed on my whizzbang new mp3 player (now uploaded to the CR site). We had a drink and some food, lots of chat, then I had to get us home as we were all beginning to flag. After a quick shower we all had a nanna nap. Sally was walking around a bit stiffly yesterday, but seems to be fine today.

Now I want another half marathon to run ... I know I can break the 1:56!

our new running group

2005-09-22T14:33:00.000+09:30

Have been keeping up the running a bit better, but the thing that is going to get me motivated is our new running group.

All of us who play soccer over the winter would like to keep up some of the fitness we've built up. With this in mind I've organised a few events. Some of the women are going to be forming indoor soccer teams and joining our comp, we're having a boot camp and barbeque one morning in November and some fitness sessions in February and March. In addition, I'm leading a running group each Tuesday night.

Last night was our first session. There were seven of us (and a dog) and while most did a gentle 4.2 km, three of us continued and did an extra 1.4 km. As it's still dark at 7 pm at the moment we'll stick to the well lit and paved paths around the town, but once daylight savings starts we'll go out on some of the trails around here, and slowly build up the distances. The girls seemed to have fun last night and said they would be back, so that is a good thing.

Bad blogger

2005-09-17T04:26:00.000+09:30

I've been a bad blogger!

And for quite some time I was not doing too well in the running department, either. I seemed to hit a low spot, life-wise, and was struggling to stay on top of things.

Fortunately I seem to be out the other side and back on top of things.

Soccer is over. Sally's team came top of the league, having been undefeated all season. They drew five games and won all the rest. This means they will be promoted to second division next season. Our team - the Bush Chooks (the Lyrebirds really) - came in seventh place out of eleven teams, which is pretty terrific considering this is our first year. Some of our team had never played soccer before, some had never played sport since school, and at our first training some could not even run across the pitch (across!!) without getting puffed out.

Morwenna's team came runners up in their league, having only lost two games all season. In the battle of the goal scorers Morwenna just pipped Sally by getting 25 for the season compared to Sally's 24.

Now we have the presentation day/nights to look forward to. Tomorrow is the presentation day for the juniors, then in the evening Sally and I have been asked along to the senior presentation night for the Victorian Churches Soccer Association (the league that the Bush Chooks play in). I only hope that two obvious lesbians turning up at the function does not create a problem, either on the night or for the Sherbrooke club as a whole. Tom, the president, is not worried but I'm a little concerned.

The Sherbrooke seniors will be having their Dinner Dance/Presentation night on 7th October, and the Monbulk club have theirs on 22nd October. It's all a giddy social whirl!

Running! As I mentioned earlier this all fell off for a while, but we're back on track again now. Sally has joined me on a few runs including a 90min run along the Warburton Trail last Friday. I'm getting out a few times a week.

One thing that will help is the running group that I am taking on Tuesday nights. The women from both our teams are keen not to lose the fitness they've gained ove winter. I'm taking a running group on the Tuesdays, starting off slowly and with a range of distances from 3km to about 7km so people can choose what distance they want to do. We'll vary it by using different trails, venues etc so that it stays interesting.

In addition we think we have enough interest for another two teams to be registered in our indoor competition. We've had a break from indoor this season, but the new season starts on 13th October, and we're really looking forward to that.

Anyway, my most recent training has consisted of:

90mins on the Warburton Trail last Friday
last soccer game of the season on Saturday
6km run with Morwenna on Sunday
a very heavy workout on Monday
90mins on the Franktson-Baxter Trail on Wednesday night (I had to stay back for work and used the time between finishing work at 5 pm and setting up for a 7.30 pm meeting to fit in a run)

This is all leading up to the Sri Chinmoy half marathon on 25th September. I'll go at my own pace for this one as Sally and Morwenna will be doing the 10km. Then the half marathon again on 9th October - where Sally will be doing her first half and I'll pace/support her. Mo will do the 7km marafun.

Getting over the 'blearghs'?

2005-07-28T08:48:00.000+09:30

It feels as if lots of things are getting better. Although I'm still feeling very tired I don't feel that utter exhaustion I was experiencing last week. Mentally I'm also improving - which is strange since I went for a promotion last week and didn't get it! For a few weeks there I was really struggling to maintain my emotional/mental equilibrium and not slide into the slough of despond once again.

Work is still full on, and will be for the next two weeks - then I have a week off to celebrate my 50th birthday and prepare for the big party.

In the meantime I'm aching all over from the personal training session on Monday morning. Who would have thought that just 4 short weeks away from it would have made that much difference?

No exercise yesterday - I went to my second part-time job and forgot to take my glasses. At the end of a day spent reading I was too brain-fogged to do anything so had a lazy night. Tonight I'll go to soccer training.

I think one of the things that is helping to lighten me up is that I can see the beginning of the end of winter. It is perceptibly lighter in the mornings and evenings - even just a little bit. The wattle is beginning to bloom. And the 'honesty' stall at the local daffodil farm is up and running - always a good sign.

Will try and fit in a run tomorrow, take Friday as a rest day because I'll need all the energy I can get on Saturday for the soccer semi-final, then do a long run on Sunday.

This week's update

2005-07-26T10:13:00.000+09:30

After the run at Sandy Point I've been pretty exhausted. It didn't help that, even though I only go out to work 4 days per week, it was full on. I needed to stay late and start early several days this week, as well as take work home which kept me up late some nights. It all took more out of me than I expected. I decided to listen to my body and not push too hard. Although I am probably fitter than most people of my age I suppose I still have to take certain facts into consideration and make allowances for myself. I really am not in my 20s any more, even if I think I am - or would like to be!

Anyway, no exercise on Monday or Tuesday.

Soccer training on Wedesday - a fast skills session with David, then a game against the boys. I could tell then that I was still struggling as it took me ages to get going again each time I sprinted forward with the ball, or to defend.

Arrived home late on Thursday - well after 7 pm. I knew Sally wanted to go for a run that night, so off we went. She pulled up after about 3 km with a painful calf, so we walked most of the rest of the way home. I had been struggling to keep up with her - I had to tell her afterwards that we were doing a training run together in order for her to get some kms in her legs, not for her to practice being Speedy Gonzalez! I realised afterwards that I was still probably struggling anyway.

Decided to rest on Friday - it had been the most horrifically stressful day at work and I just couldn't face the thought of doing anything else when I got home. Tried to go to bed early but couldn't sleep until Theo got home very late - close to midnight. This was really bugging me as I knew I had to be up early to get him to work on Saturday. The other apprentice who lives nearby and who used to drive Theo to and from work most of the time has moved to a different restaurant. The chef can drive Theo to and from work during the week, and home at weekends, but I now have to get him there on Saturdays and Sundays.

Sally left early for work on Saturday, telling me that Theo had left a note saying he did not need to be up until 7.20 - he's normally well on his way at this time. I adjusted the alarm to allow for this. Then, when the alarm went off I knocked on the wall until I heard he was awake. I little while later I got up, showered, dressed and was getting my bag ready. He'd heard all this but it wasn't until I was getting my car keys that he said 'You don't have to drive me to work today, Mum. Gary's picking me up!!!'

I was so tired that I cried! I knew that was my last chance for a long sleep for ... who knows how long? He could have added that information to the note about not getting him up until 7.20 ... the little ****!

We played soccer on Saturday - just 11 players (therefore no substitutes) and our best players (Sally and Morwenna) not available. We played creditably, but still lost 1-0. Again, I seemed to run out of legs.

I had been in touch with Chilliman who was organising a run at Gembrook - not far from here - on Sunday. I was hoping to catch up with him, Cathy and anyone else who was there and join them. It would have meant getting Theo to work a little early so that I could make it back to Gembrook in time, but I thought that was a small price to pay for what he had done to me the day before! However, when I got up on Sunday morning I knew I was in no condition to do a 25 km run. I messaged Chilliman to let him know that I would not be there. Instead I went back to bed after getting Theo to work, and slept until after 9.30 am. Spent the rest of the day doing household things and watching Sally's soccer game - they won 5-0 but Sally was disappointed that after about 10-12 shots on goal she only managed to get one in!

This morning, got up in time to run to Tecoma (9 km) before a personal training session. I started off ok, but really struggled between The Patch and Kallista. It was not too cold, and I had dressed appropriately, but it was wet (erk), muddy (erk), and dangerously slippery (double erk) after heavy rain last night. I lost my way at one point and had to run alongside a narrow bit of road against oncoming traffic. There were trees down in places. And from here to Kallista is all uphill. I must still be tired out, because I was really toying with the idea of ringing Sally and asking her to stop and pick me up at Micawber's Tavern, half way between Kallista and Belgrave.

Stopped at Grant's picnic ground for a drink of water from the bubbler and to take my jacket off, then started off again and really enjoyed the next part of the run - mostly downhill into Belgrave. Sally drove past when I was in the main street of Belgrave, so I got to the studio not long after her and already warmed up.

Chester tried to get us to do a hard workout, but towards the end I just could not do it - not having done any bodywork since before the Gold Coast really made a difference. Lucky I was not running home again - I don't think I'd have made it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With Sally's running training we've decided that rather than trying to follow a program while she is still playing soccer she'll just add one run a week to her other exercise. We'll gradually increase it - she's doing 3-5km at the moment, until she's on about 15 km by the end of the soccer season. After that there's about a 5 weeks before the Melbourne Marathon for her to increase her distance so that she is ready for the half.

Sandy Point 10km - 17 July 2005

2005-07-20T13:01:00.000+09:30

This run is pretty special to me as it was here that I did my first half marathon and met my first CRs in the flesh last year.

It was difficult getting up in the dark and getting ready to go out into the cold. Especially after the hideous experience in the cold, wet and mud on Saturday. I'd make sure to pack an entire extra set of clothes in case it did rain, as well as plenty of warm things to put on for cheering afterwards.

Despite being all prepared the night before I was a little late heading off and was glad that there was almost no traffic on the roads. It only took me about 45 minutes to get to Sandringham. Finding a car park took a little time, but not too much. The whole lay-out was totally different from last year - I found out later that several marquees had blown down in the wind during the night.

My first stop was at the toilet - insurance in case I did not get there again - then to find the table to pick up my bib number with timing chip. On my way to the table I caught up with Lostboy and had a quick chat with him. Once bibbed up I dropped my gear off and headed over to the start just in time to see the half-marathoners head out.

Saw two CR caps in the crowd waiting for the 10k and went to join them. Turned out to be Blueboy whom I'd met here last year, and Cato whom I'd met only two weeks ago at the Gold Coast. When Cato heard that I would like to achieve 50mins for the 10k, but was going to be heading out with the over 50mins group (a staggered start had been organised because of the conditions) he offered to pace me. He was, he said, just doing this as a fun run and did not want to go out too hard as he was going to be competing in the 10km at the Masters Games in Edmonton next week.

Anyway, it was about to start so I decided to give it a go. In deference to the weather I was wearing bike shorts under my running shorts and a long sleeved top under my CR singlet. Not high fashion, but I was not freezing either. When I'm rich and famous I'll get me some of those fancy running tights! As we started off Cato started the first of his commentary, alerting me to what to expect of the course. It seemed as if we were going awfully fast! I remember thinking 'I hope I can keep this up for the entire way!'

We soon settled down to a steady pace, and there was not too much of a crowd around. The only problem was my nose started to run and I had left my large hanky in my tracksuit pocket! At one stage I managed to get out 'You know that Nike ad about run yourself ugly? That's me at the moment because my nose is running.'

I also recalled something that I'd read in someone's report of one of the runs at the Gold Coast recently - if you can cheer others on/talk (I'm not sure which) then you're not trying hard enough! Well, I tell you what - I was trying hard because except for the first few kms I was totally unable to call out 'Go CoolRunner' to anyone at all. It was all I could do to keep up with Cato. At one stage I told him to go ahead, but he just said no - he'd stay with me. When I tried to thank him, he said 'That's what Cool Runners are for.'

There was a fairly strong headwind on the way out, but the undulations were ok. The turn was closer than I expected, but when Cato told me we'd be picking up speed soon, I didn't know where I was going to get it from. I just hung on with him, and I know that he slowed down for me a couple of times.

Although at the turn we should have had the wind behind us I did find that it was quite swirly at times. Each time Cato encouraged me I tried to pick up speed, but I knew that there was not much there to draw on. All I wanted to do was to stop and walk, but I knew I'd never forgive myself if I did.

At one stage Cato pointed out a green mobile phone tower in the distance and told me that just beyond that was the finishing line. Excuse me, but I thought 'Fuck! I can hardly see it! It's miles away!' And decided not to look at it again. I did, however, catch a glimpse of it now and again and ... fortunately ... each time I did it was much closer! Funny that!

It was such a relief to see the end coming up ... Cato was urging me on almost every step of the way. I think I did speed up a little. I know that we were not going to get me a pb, but I didn't want to be too far behind it. According to the watch we did it in about 52:29 which is only 11 seconds off. Considering it was only two weeks after the GC marathon and I was still carrying a cold from then it wasn't too bad.

Took us an age to get our bags because the poor kids looking after them were in a shemozzle. Finally got some warm clothes on and got to the corner leading in to the finish to be the much thinned down version of the CR cheersquad. Cato had seen the first CR half-marathoner go through, and we waited to see the rest of them through. Also saw Wobbly Man running in an unofficial capacity!

Several of the guys (I saw no other girl CRs that day) came and had a chat incuding RMC, Rev Shankly, SlimDJ, Eat 'Em, Jonny and other new or lurker CRs (and others I've forgotten). It was great to be doing a bit of PR for the site, and I know Cato was able to help someone with local running group information.

When everyone else was heading off I decided I'd better go too - I was really beginning to feel cold despite all the warm gear I had put on, and if I left then I could get to Morwenna's soccer game. I turned up there in plenty of time to add even more warm clothes - it gets mighty cold on the top of a mountain at Menzies Creek! I was muching on a sausage in bread with a mug of tea in the other hand when one of my friends, the mother of one of the other players, came over with the linesman's flag.

'Do I wave it this way, or that way?' asked Janet, flipping the flag around indiscriminately.

'Here, give it to me.' I said.

'Oooh, it worked!' she responded!

She really had no idea when it came to running the line, and I don't mind doing it, but she and the rest of the parents did keep distracting me and making me laugh. It didn't help that I was only in runners, not having thought I'd need my soccer boots, and the ground was v-e-r-y slippery. It was difficult in the first half when most of the play was where I was situated, but in the second half all the play was at the other end and I had hardly anything to do. Needless to say, our team had most of the play and my little goal-scoring girl got the one and only goal of the game, the final score being 1-0. (Her tally for the season = 18 goals from 7 games!)

After that we went home ... and I had a nana nap!

Did I say 'bog'??!!

2005-07-17T10:28:00.000+09:30

The ground was an absolute quagmire. It was relatively ok to start with - just mud the consistency of plasticine. Then the rain started. We were freezing cold, soaked to the skin and looked like a team (two teams) of mud people by the end of the game. The water just sat on top of the mud, prevented the ball from going anywhere, and splashed up in fountains each step we took. To add insult to injury - we lost 5-0.

It was a relief to finish and go home. I hope it's not too bad for the run tomorrow morning.

Cold's gone at last

2005-07-17T02:18:00.000+09:30

Well, it took long enough but my cold has just about gone. Just a remnant of nose and cough problems but not enough to slow me down for much longer.

Having said that I still went out to soccer training on Wednesday night. I was feeling really twitchy from not being able to do any exercise. Once the initial pain had gone after the marathon* I've been eager to get moving again but the severity of the cold has prevented it. On Wednesday I was still feeling really lousy cold-wise but decided to train anyway.

It was a wet and drizzly night, but I rugged up well - I normally wear as little as possible (respectably speaking!) when training, of any sort, because I get so hot, but to be on the safe side I wore bike shorts under my trackpants, a long sleeved top, my waterproof running jacket, my Sherbrooke waterproof jacket, gloves and a hat. Needless to say, as I warmed up (it was a strenuous skills session followed by a game with one of the junior boys sides) the layers were discarded until I was just in long sleeved top and trackpants/shorts. It was exhilarating to be moving about again.

As an aside - our soccer team is predominantly made up of mums of junior players - we're called the Lyrebirds because there is a lyrebird on our club logo but we jokingly call ourselves the 'Bush Chooks'! The partner of one of the other players and I were having a conversation a few weeks ago. Shaun was saying that Kim is more excited about her games than their boys are about theirs. I pointed out to him that every game we play at our age is a bonus while the boys just take it for granted. He agreed, and so did Kim.

For me, that's how each run, each training session, each game, each time I go for fitness training feels. After so many years of watching from the sidelines and itching to be in there playing, not having time because the needs of the rest of the family came first, not having energy because of all the time I had to put into the family and work, not having the motivation or impetus to start because of depression, not feeling comfortable physically or emotionally taking part in strenuous activity because of the stress incontinence - it is such a joy to be able to just get out there and do it.

At the moment I'm looking forward to the game this afternoon - even though the ground is a bog. And then a run in the morning - the 10km held in conjunction with the Sandy Point Half which, last year, was my first half marathon. I'll be joining some of the other 10k-ers and non-runners to be part of the CR cheer squad for the runners in the half. Should be fun.

I've been having some thoughts and it would be a good idea if Sally and I mapped out a training program for running leading up the the Melb marathon (me) and half (her), taking the rest of the soccer season and work into consideration. That way, if both of us know what we shouldbe doing there is more chance that we will actually do it! Even though she's still only done a couple of runs Sally says she has noticed an improvement in her stamina during soccer training and games.

So - as they say in the movies - th-th-th-th-that's all folks! ... at least for today.

*A memory returned ... Sunday night after the marathon the pain in my knees was excruciating ... each time I moved in bed the joints screamed and I woke fully. Fortunately it was much better by the next day.

Easing back into it

2005-07-12T14:35:00.000+09:30

Went for a few laps of the soccer pitch while Morwenna was at training tonight. Wanted to test out the new gloves and hat from Aldi. Unfortunately it was not as cold as it could have been, but the gloves will be great - they feel as if they will certainly stop the blanching and pain in my hands from the Reynauds.

Sally came too - she did about 7 laps or so. I think I did 11 or 12. Part of me wanted to do more, but I'm still fairly bunged up with this cold so I did not want to push it too soon. I'll pick up soon.

Have registered for the 10km on Sunday run in conjunction with the Sandy Point Half - I think the half would be too much so soon after the GC marathon. I'd have been tempted except for the cold. Hope it's gone by then.

First run since the marathon

2005-07-11T15:52:00.000+09:30

Sally came out with me yesterday (Saturday) morning in the cold and wet for a 5km run. Didn't push too hard because of still recovering from the head cold. It felt good to be moving again.

My (very long) Gold Coast report

2005-07-09T14:22:00.000+09:30

The preparation wasn't the best. Not enough (and not long enough) long runs. A broken rib. Too busy in the last few days to eat well ... even to eat regularly. The delayed plane flight making our arrival in Brisbane verylate - we didn't get to bed unitl well after 2am on Saturday.

Didn't eat well on Friday or Saturday. Lunch on Saturday was at nearly 3pm followed by the carbo loading party where we ate at about 6.30pm. Having piled two plates high with food to make up for the previous inadequacies I overheard someone (CathyP?) say that you shouldn't have too big a meal the night before! The food was good (remarkably so for the quantities they made) and I knew I needed all the energy I could manage, so I had to ignore the comment.

Just like I ignored the comments about running with a broken rib. I knew the rib would be the least of my problems. I thought my problems would be a) not enough training and b) not enough energy. I was pretty confident about the first 20-25km - the rest was a big unknown.

Didn't manage to meet Luckylegs, Tesso and SlowSue at the front of Oscars - the meeting time had been brought forward and I didn't know. Morwenna and I walked over together in the pre-dawn, bats flitting overhead in the dim light. We caught up with Cathy, Jo and George almost immediately in the queue for the toilets. Some poor people who had registered for the half were still waiting in the queue when the race started.

By the time I had used the facilities it was time to go and join the throng at the starting line for the marathon. Saw lots and lots of CR gear but was more concerned to find the orange balloons for the 4:30 pacers. I found them and not far away was the CR I'd been really hanging out to meet - Luckylegs. It was lovely to meet her and we had a little chat then a quick hug before the start. Morwenna took my gear with her as she would be both starting and finishing the 10km (with Sally and Theo) before I'd be back.

There were so many runners lined up that when the start was sounded it took about two minutes to get across the timing mat. In fact the crowd did not really thin out until the first turn around at 13km. There was plenty of room to run comfortably but there were runners all around.

This first leg was really interesting, running through crowds of people cheering along the sidelines and lots of music. At Surfer's Paradise there was a great Japanese drumming group. Not only were the drums great to hear, but also their shouts of encouragement. They'd also gathered around them a crowd of onlookers/supporters including an older Japanese man in a business suit (at 7.30 on a Sunday morning!) who was very excitedly cheering the runners on.

It was after Surfer's that the lead runners passed us going the other way. There were two in the lead, one of whom was a CR so I gave him a 'Go CoolRunner' - the first of many that morning.It wasn't long before the first woman came by. She and the next few women got a lot of 'Go girls!'

Beofer we got to the 15km turn around, at about the 5km mark in fact, I started to feel concerned about my left ITB. I could remember how painful it had been at the end of the Puffing Billy Race and knew if the pain continued to increase liek that that I'd never finish. I concentrated on finding a way of running, by altering my gait slightly, that didn't exacerbate the problem. The only thing was, this led to the outside of my left foot beginning to hurt - just like it had on my longest training run. I decided to just push through for as long as I could and just take it one km at a time.

I knew I coul ddo the first 25km fairly easily after recently enjoying the Sri Chinmoy Williamstown Half so much. However, some time on the way back from the first turn around - at about 14kms, the toes on my right foot went numb. As LL said afterwards, they may have been numb, but boy they hurt! Again I decided to just keep going as long as I could. I only had to do a series of short runs - a few kms to where we started, 8kms to the last turn, then 8kms 'home'. Easy!

I'd started off with the orange (4:30) balloons but somewhere before the 13k turn I'd been so preoccupied with looking out for CRs to cheer that I had speeded up the pace and ahead of the pacer and his pack. At some stage they caught up with me and we were together for quite a while. Then at about 18km I stopped to use the toilet (one of three toilet stops in all). When I started running again they were about 100m ahead. I decided that I would keep them in sight. I did this until after we passed the starting point - the 26km mark. Just as I went through here the 10km race started. I managed to catch sight of Theo - we shouted encouragement to one another across the median strip - but I didn't see anyone else I knew. There were crowds along the median strip blocking the view. I mentally wished the girls - Sally, Morwenna and Sue - well.

Now I was accustomed to the discomfort in my feet and was able to just plod along. The orange balloons were still with sight and I aimed to keep it that way. However this part of the course was long, straight and boring with almost no support along the sidelines.

Some around the 30km mark (I think) the back-marker of the 4:30 pace caught up with me. He was pretty much on his own so I decided to hang on with him for as long as I could. I knew the turn around was at 34kms, but I also knew there was a head wind once we made the final turn. However, I was quite looking forward to turning around knowing that then I'd be on the final 'leg'. The pacer, who I later found out is John) was very good - instead of saying something negative as we turning into the wind said 'That breeze will keep us cool'.

We chatted for a while and he was very encouraging. I think I stayed with him until about 37-38 kms when I said 'I'm slowing'. I knew I had enough in me to finish - it was only another 4kms or so - but not at that pace. I kept jumping on negtive thoughts about walking for a while and telling myself how disappointed I would be at the end if I did. I did know that, barring a disaster, I was on course for cutting a big chunk off my Melbourne marathon time.

At the second last drink station where the PB drink was available I took a cup of each (PB and water) as I had done at each station. This time the PB began to make me feel sick. I drank it all, finishing the last half of the cupful by pouring it into the water, thereby diluting it to almost tasteless, figuring that I needed as much energy as I could get. At the final table that had PB I again took some but could take no more than a mouthful as my stomach was really ready to rebel by now!

I'd taken a couple of pockets of jelly snakes with me - about 10-12. Yellow and orange in the right pocket (least favourite flavours) and pink and purple in the left (favourite flavours). I'd really enjoyed these when, in the Melbourne marathon, some onlookers had been handing them out at about the 36km mark. I'd decided to save them until after half way when I knew I would be struggling - they would be little treats that would keep me going.

I was very good and refrained from eating any until way after the half way mark - it was at about 27kms that I had one from my right pocket (sounds like something out of 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, doesn't it?), a yellow one I think. Sadly it was not nearly as good as I'd hoped - it took me quite some time to eat it, biting it off piece by piece. I didn't eat any more until well after the race had finished.

After I parted company with John, the pacer, I was running alone for a while. Then I came up to a guy who was being supported by a mate on a bike. They were chatting - in a fashion - with a couple of young Japanese men. I joined in the conversation, not that I can remember what it was about! After a while one of the young Japanese and I pulled away from the others.

A little further along I stopped to walk, he kept running but when I started running again I caught up with him as he had slowed to a walk. From there on we kept each other going - he'd slow down and I'd encourage him, I'd slow down and he'd encourage me. Each time another km sign came into view whoever saw it first would let the other one know.

Sally and Theo, having completed their 10km nearly an hour earlier (Sally in 1:02:30 and Theo in 48:?:?) came out to meet me and ran alongside for a while. By now, although I was weary and footsore (not being used to running on bitumen for such a long way had a lot to do with it), I was full of energy - I could sniff the finish on the wind. I knew I was going to make it. I soon ran through the CR cheersquad which was just fantastic. Morwenna was there with her new, 10km finishers orange tee-shirt and CR coloured pom-poms waving away like mad. SlowSue was also there cheering away. There were many others whom I did not know then, but got to meet afterwards.

Cathy, Jo and George were on the sidelines cheering - I managed to find out that Cathy had done her first marathon in 3:25! And Jo was happy with her 2:02:? half (after a 2:13:? at Williamstown).

It was not long before we hit the finishing chute with the time saying 4:33:? - I'd well and truly come in at less than 4:50:?. I grabbed the young Japanese guy's hand (poor fella) and we ran through in identical times with our arms in the air. I had a big smile on my face.

It sseeded to take forever to go through the process of taking off and handing back the timing chip, grabbing a drink and a slice of orange, being handed the finisher's tee-shirt and medal, and finally getting out of the finishers area to hugs from Sally and Theo. I felt so much better than I had at the end of the Melbourne except that my feet were killing me. They'd been very hot from the bitumen for quite some time, as well as the various pains. This time I had forgotten to pack my thongs so decided that I'd better keep my shoes and socks on as once off I would not want to wear them again.

We made our way over to where the cheer squad was - it seemed a very long way to my poor tired feet - and I finally got to meet them all. Lorna the Owl, Jen_runs, cirque, Kato, Cato, Bellthorpe, Bennyr, Tim Turner and plu, amongst others. Martin (plu) had his pod-thingy there and was interviewing people for the podcasts, including me. The squad was cheering everyone who went past.

After a while we started to get a bit impatient, wondering where Luckylegs was. It was some time later when a police officer on a motorbike came over to us. As we were pretty much the only people within sight on the course I thought he was going to ask us to move off to the side. Instead he told us that there was a woman in her 50s about 1.5kms back who was struggling a bit and she was wearing our colours - was she one of us? 'Luckylegs!' we cried, and after asking for, and being denied, a ride on his bike to get her, we all walked back to meet her. All, that is, except Morwenna who ran. According to Martin we caught up with LL at about the 40km mark (I would have thought it was more like 41kms). Morwenna had already been with her for a few minutes and was talking her through.

Although a little distressed LL was looking strong and moving at a reasonable pace. I couldn't keep up - my legs had seized up while I had been sitting down chatting and my attempts to run to keep up with LL caused extreme pain in my ITB. I dropped back in tears for a while, but was close enough to see her cross the finish line in less than 6 hours. We'd been cheering and chanting all the way, and Martin was taking photographs. We stood outside the fence that enclosed the finishing compound, still cheering her on.

When we got around to the exit it turned out that LL was not feeling too good and was being taken to the medical tent. After arranging with everyone else to either meet them back at the apartment or at the after-party I stayed with LL. It only took as long as me picking up her bag for her to start feeling better. We phoned cirque to come back with the car to pick us up, then drove past the Surf Club on the way to the apartment so that we would know where to go later, then went to shower and change. I made sure LL got off at the right floor!

Sally, Theo and Morwenna were still getting ready and we met Sue at the front of the building before walking (or in my case hobbling) to the club. The room Tesso had booked was full and we were hungry so we stayed out in the main part to get something to eat. Our table was just near the stairs to the CR room and it felt as if we were holding court - everyone who went past had to run through a barrage of comments from Sue who seemed to know everyone. Then Cathy, Jo and George sat with us after a while and joined in the banter. We met up with Tesso, Wombatface, Tuttle and the Tuttlettes, RMC and a whole heap more. Missed out on meeting Mister G.

It was lucky we ordered food when we did as the kitchen was closed not long afterwards. Boy, did those nachos taste good - and the beer!

We wandered back after a couple of hours or so, only to meet LL at the door of our building - she'd had a shower and a snooze and was ready to party. We headed up to our rooms while she headed off to the Surf Club.

That night I didn't sleep very well because of the pain in my joints - particularly my knees - and my sore feet. I hobbled around on Monday, though the massage on Monday afternoon was very welcome. The masseur was amazed at how good my muscles felt. So was I ... I just wished my joints and feet would feel better. Sleep on Monday night was much better - no joint pain and a bandaid over the worst toenail. Tuesday - walking almost normally except that I wore my smaller runners and we went to Dreamworld. I was more than happy to sit on benches minding bags while everyone else queued up for scary rides!

Tuesday night - didn't sleep well as obviously my body was reacting to the stress of the run and my immune system was down. I was coming down with a lurgy ... bunged up nose, stuffy head, etc. Worse on Wednesday. I went back to bed after breakfast before heading off to Roni's for lunch then had LL over for dinner.

Now on the plane back to Melbourne having packed and driven to Brisbane this morning where we left Michelle her car (which they'd been kind enough to lend us) and Chrisy drove us to the airport. Hope this lurgy goes soon!

(Transcribed from notes taken progressively up to 12.30 pm 7 July 2005)

last update before the Gold Coast

2005-07-02T03:37:00.000+09:30

Havn't managed to get any more long runs in since going to Tecoma and back on that Monday.

Stayed second on the ladder at indoor soccer by beating the team that was third, then met them the following Thursday for the semi-final, which we won 12-4. They were not happy, saying that the referee was on our side. Can't really argue with a comprehensive loss like that, though!

Went on to the grand final against the team we had had to forfeit to in the final last season after we were undefeated for a season and 7 games. Sweet revenge came when - after a great, tough game - we won 7-4. We were level pegging with them matching us goal for goal until half time when we were 3-3. The same happened at the beginning of the second half but then we pulled away from them.

In outdoor soccer we've had three wins in a row!!! The first was the one I noted in my last entry, we then played the better team from the same club and beat them 2-0. Then, surprise surprise, we were in one of the cup games. We thought, seeing that we had been defeated in our first cup game, that we were out of contention. However, seeing we were the best losing team we were needed to make up the numbers. Again we met the same club as in the two previous games and this time defeated them 5-1! Sally - coming straight from work - scored a hat-trick, Kim ... finally... scored a fantastic goal and was ecstatic, and I scored the other. I only played in the second half as I had to work earlier in the afternoon. Against all odds - we were a real doofus team when we started at the beginning of the season - we are now in the semi-final!

HOWEVER, the other thing that happened was that in the game three weeks ago I was shoulder charged and hit high up in the chest, almost under my arm, on the right and ended up with a broken rib. It was ok for the first week. I did a 10k run and was fine, and the pain was minimal. I was ok for the half a game I played last Saturday - no pain, no difficulty breathing. I played in goals for the indoor grand final so did not have a lot of running around to do and again felt fine. It was only during a fairly strenuous work out with Cory on Monday morning that I started to have trouble. I was unable to do some of the exercises, and since then have been in a great deal of pain. Having trouble breathing, sneezing or coughing are killers, and even turning over in bed hurts. Have held off doing any runs, though I did go to soccer training and ran around a bit on Wedesday night, which was ok - not too painful.

Last night was the first night I did not have to take painkillers when I went to bed and it was fine. Will take it easy today and see how it goes. Hoping it does not make too big an impact on the run on Sunday!

Off to Brisbane tonight, then driving to the Gold Coast tomorrow. Looking forward to finally meeting Luckylegs and the rest of the CR crew. And ... having a bit of a holiday.

Since the last time ...

2005-06-14T14:03:00.000+09:30

Wednesday: no soccer training (therefore no training at all) as I had to work late again tonight.

Thursday: indoor soccer - tough game against the top side (we are second and had to forfeit to them in the grand final last season after being undefeated). They are the only team we've lost to for ages (twice already this season) so it was a bit of a grudge match. It didn't help that one of our top players did not turn up and had not let us know she wasn't coming. Mo fell early in the game and badly grazed her knee and elbow - she was not on top of things from there on. Sally hurt her hamstring in the first half and had to go off injured in the second half. We were 3-3 at half time, got the first goal in the second half but ended up losing 7-5 even though I saved a penalty. As long as we win the next two games we will meet them again in the final - real grudge match!

Friday: no training.

Saturday: was meant to go out on a long run but I chickened out when I woke up and it was freezing cold and pouring with rain - three hours in that? I don't think so! I know, I know - I should have.

Sunday: should have made up the long run but instead went to Sally's soccer game - the second half, at least. They won 2-0, Sally having played in spite of her hammy injury, and scored one goal and set up the other. She stayed off for most of the second half.

Then went to Mo's game where she scored an incredible 6 goals! They won 6-2. She's now on 17 goals for the season (from 7 games - Sally's scored 12 for the season).

Monday: ran from home to Tecoma (about 9km) cutting 4 minutes off the time it took me (in the opposite direction) last week despite taking a wrong turn and stopping to talk to John at the flower stall on the way.

Did a fairly heavy upper body session at Powerplay (As well as Sally, Theo and Mo came today as they were off school for the public holiday - they enjoyed themselves.)

Then Mo and I ran back home again, taking a little longer than on the way out. Left knee (ITB) was hurting for the last few k, then in the last 1-2k my left foot was really painful. Hope it's nothing serious. Felt good, but tired, afterwards ... and hungry.

Over a week to catch up on

2005-06-09T04:50:00.000+09:30

S'pose it's not a good idea to slack off on the blogging when slacking off on the training. Keeping up with one could help with keeping up with the other. Except ... when there really is no time whatsoever for either. I have an extra day's work each week at the moment and we've had computer/internet problems since moving which I hope are finally cleared up.

Anyway ...

Monday: drove Sally to the hospital in the morning as she needed yet another iron infusion (third in two years). Glad she's having some tests done to try and find out what is causing the problem. Went straight from the hospital to Cory's for a training session. Felt very lacklustre, though some of this may have been due to Cory's lack of energy because he's not been sleeping well. Also, because Sally was not there I could only afford a 30 minute session.

Tuesday: worked, called in to old house on the way home to help move stuff out for the hard garbage. No time for training.

Wednesday: soccer training in the evening - again felt very sluggish.

Thursday: indoor soccer - with the help of Robyn (from the outdoor team) we had 5 players. Played Chica Bonitas and won 10-4. Still felt sluggish, and didn't feel as if I played well, though the others said I was ok.

Friday: felt exhausted. Glad I had decided not to go out in the evening. Had quiet night with Theo (home early from the restaurant) and Morwenna.

Saturday: soccer at Knox. We had 16 players and Andrew (Sarah's dad) did a great job of coaching us - he's agreed to be our proper coach at the end of his semester in a couple of weeks. We ended up with our first win (2-0)! For some reason I did not feel the excitement I thought I would. Maybe it was because we had to head off straight after the game to get to a party in town. Maybe it's because I felt that I played really badly.

Sunday: drove from city (where we'd stayed overnight) to Morwenna's ground to drop her off, home to drop Sally off and pick Theo up to take him to school for a dress rehearsal (he'd organised a lift to and from his soccer game for the afternoon), then back to watch Morwenna's game. Went from there to watch Sally's game (great game - they ended up winning 3-2 after being down 2-0 at half time) and then home about 3.45pm. I was supposed to be going out for a long run, but by the time I had organised the school clothes for the next day it was after 4pm and I was a) exhausted and b) would have run out of daylight. Felt grumpy.

Monday: a really hard session with Chester pushing us at the gym. I'm sure we were there for well over our allotted hour. Afterwards I ran home from Tecoma to Monbulk then did an additional 7km. Felt fantastic. A beautiful crisp autumn day, a track I'd never run before but where I knew the general area so was not stressed about getting lost, plenty of time ... bliss. Had a big lunch, then slept for two hours in the afternoon. Felt very refreshed after it all.

Tuesday: worked during the day at the second job, a farewell funtion for a staff member at the secondary school where I had been on school council for 7 years in the evening - no training time.

Sunday long run

2005-05-30T15:06:00.000+09:30

Not happy, Jan!

I was supposed to go out for a 25-30 km run this morning. Nothing went right. First I could not get up when the alarm went off at 6.30. Theo, my 16yr old son who is an apprentice chef did not get home until 1.30 am and I only went to sleep after that, making it difficult in the morning.

It was so cold. It's taken its time to get cold here in Melbourne, but out along the Warburton Trail this morning there was a misty drizzle and it was freezing. I had not dressed warmly enough - I'm still experimenting with what feels right, as normally I get very hot when I run. This morning was a good lesson.

After I had gone about 5k I realised that I have not eaten particularly well for the last few days - I was too tired to eat dinner after indoor soccer on Thursday night, and though I've had plenty of protein etc since then, I've not had nearly enough carbs. This was brought home to me when I was eating a muesli bar on the trail ... instead of only eating half of it, I scoffed the lot without noticing - uh oh! Not a good sign.

Also, the Warby Trail is a rather boring run without company, making it extra hard when there are already disadvantages.

The good bits were seeing two little rabbits frolicking near the trail, spying some beautiful fungi at various stages, hearing peewits, saying 'Good Morning' to almost everyone else on the trail, and that I actually got out and did it.

The bad bits were that I never got into a rhythm, was cold to the core, walked far more than I wanted to, and did not do the distance I had hoped, finishing up doing about 18 or 19kms.

Notes to self:

eat better before long runs
make an arrangement with Theo that he is to let me know if he is going to be home very late after work
maybe try having Sunday as a rest day (after the soccer game on Saturday) and do the long run on Monday
dress more warmly when it is cold.

The good news - we went out on Saturday and bought Sally some new runners just for running in, so (once her back is better) she can come out and start training for the 10km at the GC.

[Edit - forgot to mention that I wuz robbed on Saturday - a kick that was going straight into the goal, miles away from the goalie, was tapped - but not quite hard enough - by one of the defenders to become an own goal. We ultimately lost 2-1 on a foul pitch that was more like a mud bath than a sports field.]

Post-half marathon report

2005-05-28T08:12:00.000+09:30

I'm surprised how well - in terms of muscles and joints - I felt/feel after Sunday's run. The only complaint I have is that this dratted cold is taking its time to go.

It doesn't help that the rest of my life - aside from running and other sport - is hectic and stressful. Problems with and worries about some of the children, both those living with me and those who have moved out; trying to squash all our stuff into Sally's little house ... or get rid of it; pressures at work including waiting to hear about an interview I had for another job; having to finish off the garden at my old house for the new tenant; hoping that the move does lead to an easier financial circumstances; and now Sally has both hurt her back again and needs to go into hospital on Monday for yet another iron infusion. I suppose it's no wonder I feel a little weary sometimes.

Anyway, back to the point.

Monday - rest day.

Tuesday - despite feeling drained from the cold I still accompanied Sally to the personal trainer's on Tuesday afternoon. Although Cory did not push us as hard as Chester had done the previous week I still came away feeling exhilarated. Lots of leg work, especially on the calves, which are still tender.

Wednesday - although it looked as if it was going to be cold and wet, and I really thought I should stay inside and keep warm, I went to soccer training. It did not rain, though the ground was wet and muddy. We kept warm (after an initial discussion about our individual weak points and strengths, and where the team needs to improve) by having a practice game with the U12 (?) boys, which was lots of fun. Finished off with some drills that Helma had organised. Again, glad I made the effort.

Thursday - indoor soccer. Let down by two players who only informed us at 9am that they would not be able to play. If we do not give 48 hours notice of a forfeit we have to pay the full cost of the game ($100) and we lose 6 points. We're tired of being let down at the last moment week after week and have decided to suggest we have the next season off and reassess things in the spring. In the meantime, having so few players became an issue when Sally's back went out again ... good old 'nurse's back'. It was impossible for her to play, so I made a quick phone call to Robyn from our outdoor team who had said she would be interested in playing indoor. Fortunately she was able to make it.

For the first time ever we struggled against the bottom team - who had picked up a good player or two since the last time we played them. I think it was one of the lowest scoring games we've ever played - we only just won 4-3, scoing the last goal less than two minutes before the end. Thankfully Robyn picked up the flow of the play quickly in the first half, then made a very good goalkeeper in the second half.

That's it up to today. Am planning a long run on Sunday (soccer game on Saturday). Will probably conserve my energy and really try and knock this cold on the head before then.

Sri Chinmoy half - Williamstown

2005-05-24T15:22:00.000+09:30

The week did not quite work out the way I planned. Not nearly enough training - a combination of factors. It took longer to pick Judith (and her cat) up from the airport than I had anticipated and there was no time left around the rest of my commitments on Tuesday.

Having risen at 4.30am on Tuesday (after a very hectic weekend and Monday) I was too exhausted to get up early on Wednesday knowing that I would not be getting home from work until 9.30 or 10 that night. So no running on Wednesday, either.

Played a full game of indoor soccer on Thursday night, including about 10 minutes on the court at the end after starting off in goals. Could feel that my knee was still not 'normal' but it only hampered me a little and did not hurt.

On Friday I woke up with a throat that was full of razor blades. Oh no! Got straight into the vitamin C, echinacaea, zinc, chamomile and herb tea with honey and lemon. Managed to get through the morning ok, but felt progressively worse as the afternoon wore on. When I got home I had a warm bath, then rugged myself up in the doona and tried to sweat it out. It seemed to work.

Saturday I woke up not feeling too bad at all ... not 100% but not ill, either, like I had felt on Friday afternoon. Packed up everything for the afternoon's soccer game, the night at my parent's, and the half marathon on Sunday. Included some cold & flu tablets.

Got to Hoppers Crossing in plenty of time for the game and took one of the tablets about 20 minutes before it started. We all played well, with only one substitute, and ended up with a 1-1 draw. The first game we have not lost. The tablet had been a mistake ... it really dried up my mouth which made me feel really bad until half time when I could get a good long drink.

Headed back to my parents' place at Wyndham Vale for the night, with the specially ordered dinner of spaghetti bolognaise ... I think it's the only pasta they know! Still it was yum, as was the home made fruit cake afterwards.

Slept ok, only waking once in the night but picking up and reading the book that had bored me to sleep in the first place worked well at 1 am. Up at 6, breakfast while chatting to my dad, then off to Williamstown by 6.45. Felt fine, hardly any sign of the cold.

Arrived in plenty of time and, as the weather was so warm, decided not to wear all the layers I had taken, just the long sleeved top I'd picked up at the op shop the day before over my CR singlet and shorts. I discarded it well before the start on a chair near the clubrooms - had a bit of a look for it afterwards but it was not there. Didn't matter - only cost me $3 and it was not my colour anyway!

Met up with heaps and heaps of CRs - too many to mention and I'm sure I'll forget many. As Wobbly Man, Slowjo and I were all aiming to do the run in 2 hours we decided to run together. Jo, too, was suffering from a cold and had dosed up on lots of 'drugs' she told us.

The weather and the route were just perfect. It was magic running along the sea front and past the timeball tower. It brought back many memories of the time I had lived in Williamstown - my first three children were born while we were living there, the second and third were born at home.

While the sea front had not changed much the shops and cafes certainly had. By the time we were running back Jo was beginning to feel the effects of her cold. Gallant Wobbly Man continued to run with her, but selfish me went on ahead. There was a little head wind going in that direction, but nothing too serious.

It was disconcerting, having seen all the km markers up till 10km, not to see any more for the half marathon, only for the marathon. Apparently there was one at 15 km but I missed it. Anyway, I just cruised along enjoying the view ... the stalls in the farmer's market that we ran between, the swans and the pelicans on the water, the beautiful day. It was lovely to have cheers and waves from all the other CRs, and the marshals and drink station attendants were all extremely supportive.

The route took us past the start and up to the beginning of the West Gate Bridge. We then returned and went past the start again. It was at this drink station that I found out there were about 4 kms to go. I felt quite strong and knew I could finish well, but had no idea of my time. Down to the sea scouts, another walk through the drink station - I'd had enough Enduro sports drink and was sticking with water at this stage. Then a turn around and back into the head wind again.

I was not so much struggling as getting a bit tired. Still felt I could finish well, but I really wanted to slow down. However, I thought to myself that if I slowed down then came in only a squeak over 2 hours I would not be happy with myself, so I pushed on fairly hard. It was difficult at this stage as I was totally alone. There was a big gap between me and the runners ahead, as there had been since the West Gate Bridge turn around. I was keeping myself entertained by looking out for other CRs to cheer on going in the opposite direction, and by gradually ... oh so gradually ... reeling in runners ahead of me. I was so pleased that I was able to do this right up until actually entering the athletics ground.

It was a great feeling to see the end, and to have a cheer from the CRs who had already come in or who had completed the 10k. Managed to pick up a creditable speed, you couldn't really call it a sprint, at the end to finish in 2 hours 2 mins and some seconds.

Had fun catching up with how everyone else had gone, eating yummy pancakes and apple crumble, having a massage, and protecting Eat 'Ems teeth by eating his jelly beans. Waited around for the presentations and spot prizes - so close, eh Obi Wan? Then headed off to the Atomic cafe where a big bunch of us had beer or coffee.

While I had a great day and loved every minute of the run I was not entirely happy with my time, but I suppose I need to be realistic. My training has been really haphazard since I hurt my knee, with almost no training over the past two weeks, and I did have a cold. The cold really hit with a vengeance in the afternoon. I nearly fell asleep twice driving home, then became (and still am) a soggy, sneezing mess with a tight chest, sore throat, cough and no energy. Still, I'm glad I did it, and look forward to the next run.

I got a goal!

2005-05-17T14:16:00.000+09:30

Friday: No exercise to speak of, other than continuing to pack and move. This must be the longest and most complicated house shift in history!

Saturday: saw me all ready to play in my first soccer game this season. It was a good, fast game and lots of fun, even though we lost 5-4. Sally, my partner, scored three of our goals ... and I got the other one! My first goal in over a quarter of a century, and my second one ever! And no knee problems whatsoever.

Sunday: Sally's 'real' team plays on Sundays. A little voice told me to pack my boots and shinpads. When we got to Mornington there were plenty of Monbulk players, so I was resigned to watching, until we found out that Mornington were considering forfeiting the game as they only had 9 players. I volunteered to play ... and they let me! Played centre forward again and didn't do too bad a job. They were completely overrun by Monbulk who won 7-1. But as Mornington were expecting to lose 15 or 20 nil, and they still had only ten players on the pitch, they thought that was a good result.

Still no problems with the knee, though my hamstring on that side was feeling a little stressed by the end of the game. Maybe the way I had been favouring the knee over the past few weeks has had an effect on that muscle. A bit of a twinge in the ITB, but nothing too bad.

Monday: A really great workout at Cory's studio. Chester had us working really hard, with lots of upper body work. After such a hectic weekend, and with still loads and loads of boxes to unpack, I decided not to go for a run when M was at her training this evening.

Hammy feeling ok, and ITB still just a little twinge.

Plan for the rest of this week: a run tomorrow (after picking Judith up at the airport at 5.50am!), and again on Wednesday morning. (No soccer training on Wednesday night as I have to work). Indoor soccer, probably in goals, on Thursday night, rest on Friday, soccer game on Saturday, half-marathon on Sunday.

Another quick update ...

2005-05-13T14:43:00.000+09:30

... as the move is taking f-o-r-e-v-e-r! I'll be glad when it is all over.

Took part in my first full on soccer training session last night. All was well, with only one little twinge at one stage. Less flexibility in the left leg and less power in the kicks, though I'm not sure if that is purely physiological, or if I'm still favouring it. We'll see how I go on Saturday.

Unexpectedly I had to play indoor soccer tonight as we were short of players - I stayed in goals and did ok ... for a change. We won 11-1!

Must get out for a few runs between now and the 22nd when the Sri Chinmoy half is on. I'm really looking forward to it - both the training runs and the day itself.

A quick update amongst the boxes

2005-05-11T08:32:00.000+09:30

In the midst of moving house. No time for anything other than packing and cleaning at the moment. Will post as soon as I can.

Post-Puffing Billy musings and knee treatment progress report (long)

2005-05-04T11:05:00.000+09:30

I've been replaying Sunday's race in my head and working out what I learned from it.

Even though I said I was not 'racing' just running I still went out knowing I wanted to do my best and to achieve a decent time. There's just no way this competetive streak I was born with (set me a challenge and I rise to it) is going to go away. However, when I saw that the first train was further over the trestle bridge near the beginning of the race this year than last year when I went under it I pretty much decided then not to go out too hard.

I did set myself a goal at that stage which I had been toying with for days but not confirmed for myself. This was to run up all the hills without slowing to a walk. I wanted to get to the end of the race with something positive even if I could not manage a good time. I really felt I had little hope of beating the second train.

I had also set out to enjoy the run. I really enjoyed it last year and wanted to recreate that sensation if I could. I could remember almost dancing down the steep bit at the end like a gazelle last year, but knew, with the knee and all, that would not be happening this time.

It was fun watching all the other people ... what they were wearing, how they ran ... and trying not to copy their gaits which is something I sometimes find myself doing. It was very helpful knowing the route and the conditions. When we came to the first big hill I thought - ok, this is it. My last attempt at it about 5 weeks ago was a disaster. I'd eaten too close to going out to train and felt very, very bad. Couldn't even get part way up the hill. I put all that out of my mind and just kept a very steady pace.

At times I could feel that my pace was getting too fast, so I was able to back off a bit but still keep going. Each time we came to a less steep bit I told myself that it was level. This helped. I was so pleased when I saw the railway crossing signpost near the top. Just 150 m or so and I knew I had done it - I'd run all the way up the 2km incline. That prompted me to call out 'Rocky music, please - I just ran all the way up without stopping' which got a laugh from the spectators.

There was another slight incline (up) before the big steep downhill section. I can normally do downhill well, but was not willing to risk injuring the knee again so took it very carefully, still managing to overtake a few people on the way. Two more slight upward inclines for a couple of hundred metres or so on the way into Emerald - just kept a steady pace and told myself that Cory (personal trainer and boot camp 'sergeant') would not be happy if I slowed to a walk.

I heard the second train tooting away behind and picked up the pace a little. I told someone close to me that if we did not beat the train to the next crossing then we would have to stop for it. He took off like a hare leaving me eating his dust. Didn't to him much good, though - we were stopped at the crossing ... but not for the train. For cars. There was a lot of complaining, especially as the train was continuing to sing away getting closer and closer. They finally let us through and we took off along the track next to the station where I knew the train had to stop for a while. At that stage I thought I might have a chance of beating it, so picked up the pace a little.

It was round about here that my knee started to hurt - not the medial ligament, but the ITB on the same leg. It does sometimes niggle, but has never come to anything much, so I just kept going ... only 3k to go and a chance to beat the train! That competetive streak started working again. I was not going to give up now.

A little upward bit through Emerald before heading down into the park. This was the fun bit. Mostly downhill, close to the end. The sound of the train coming up behind us tooting it's whistle, and as we got closer to the end the sound of the announcer and the crowds at the finish line. Then, the train overtook us. 'That's it' I thought 'No chance of beating it now.' Though I did say to some of the other runners around me that there was always a chance the driver could fall over between stopping the train and running to the finish line.

For the last km or so the ITB was shrieking at every step, especially as it was mostly downhill. At the steep bit with the bend, instead of dancing down like a gazelle, I almost hobbled, 'ouching' at every second step. Then - there was Paul calling out 'Go Elisabeth' and did I go! I pushed into a respectable sprint and overtook a heap of people, then lost all momentum up the last little hill. By this time I was convinced that the train was well and truly in, so I just ran as I could to the finish instead of pushing hard.

I was absolutely amazed to see that my time was 75:00. I had beaten my time from last year. I didn't care about where the train had come, I had achieved two goals - running up all the hills and getting a PB. My partner S, my daughter M (whose time was 71:??) and my son Th (who had not run) were waiting at the finish line. As I was greeting them and getting hugs and pats on the back, in came the driver of the second train - I had beaten it! Three goals ... a hat-trick!!

What I learned - to pace myself up hills; that I'm fitter than I thought I was; I can go faster next year; once again I learned that I can push through pain (though this may not always be a good thing); I can't help being competetive, I just have to keep it in control.

By the way, yesterday the ITB was twinging a little and today hardly at all.

Knee progress report - after another visit to Sani today my knee (ligament and ITB) are much improved. He advises getting back to normal activities and training - carefully - and if I still feel it is a problem in two weeks to go and see him again. I can start soccer again next week. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

I di-id it! I di-id it!

2005-05-02T10:32:00.000+09:30

I beat the second train! I wasn't trying to. W-e-l-l , not at the beginning. Not until I thought I could. And then I did!

My full report on CR is here. It was a perfect day, and I'm so pleased that I was able to both improve my time by over 40 secs* and come in ahead of the second train. It was also great to meet up with so many other CRs. The lunch at Micawber's was a great way to finish off after the run, even if I did have to skip out early.

Anyway, for the record, my time today was 75:00. And that's carrying an injury that has left me doing very little training for the past 4 weeks. Am I happy? Just look at the smile on my face!

Edit: * oops - make that 38 secs ... I just checked last years certificate.

Progress report

2005-04-30T04:24:00.000+09:30

Tuesday - personal training session. The usual stuff in the studio, then a run up the hill and back ... and I did it without having to stop and walk! Well, we did it twice because Cory left 4 playing cards on the step outside the studio, four 8s and an ace. If we turned up the ace we did not have to run again. S, saying she is never lucky, had me pick the first card - an 8! The one she would have picked? You guessed it - the ace! Anyway, the two runs up the hill felt good and the knee was fine.

A session with Sani in the afternoon - more acupuncture needles and electrical stimulus. Came away feeling great. He seemed ok that I had run 7km yesterday. Instructions for Sunday's Puffing Billy race are: only one more training run before the day, warm up well especially if the weather is cold, don't race - just run, if it hurts ... stop! He'll see me again next Tuesday.

Wednesday - took soccer training again, only doing the warm up laps myself. I did kick the ball out for one of the goal shooting drills, and this time felt no twinges in the injured knee at all - great improvement on last week.

Thursday - took M to indoor soccer (where we won 21-11!).

I've decided not to play indoor again until either the last regular game (16 June) or the semi-final (23 June). That will be 11 or 12 weeks from the day of the injury. It feels good to have made that decision. While I still sit and twitch with the desire to play while I am watching, having spontaneously made the decision means I am very settled with it.

Although Sani is happy for me to be running again, he was adamant about not beginning to play soccer yet. I hope to be ok to play on 21 May (how ridiculous is this ... nearly 50 and I want my mum and dad to come and watch that game because it is way over the other side of town where they live?!) and would ideally like to play again before then if we are short of players. Like with the decision about indoor, I'm much better with a definite date, even if it is further away than I would like. I don't cope well with indecision.

Really looking forward to Sunday's Puffing Billy race.

Courtly can run!

2005-04-26T04:57:00.000+09:30

Courtly can run. Look, look, Courtly runs! Courtly is happy. Courtly can run.

Went out this morning and did a 47 min (?7k) run in a big figure of eight around Monbulk. This is where I am in the process of moving to over the next couple of weeks.

It felt so good!!!

Beginning again

2005-04-25T14:30:00.000+09:30

It's Sunday night and time for an update.

Thursday - went to indoor soccer to watch and the girls did really well. S played for the first time since dislocating her shoulder and got most of the goals - as usual! The final score ended up being 19-2. M, A, H, and L made up the rest of the team. The player from one of the other teams who said she wants to play with us still did not turn up. Maybe next week.

I checked to see if I have played in four games which would make me eligible to play in the finals. I have, so I've decided not to play again until either the last game before the finals, or in the semi. That will give my knee a good long rest from the most stressful activity I do.

Our regular soccer team had a bye on Saturday which was just as well because I had to work. I could have gone for a 3-4k run, but did not have time. Instead I went this morning. I probably only did about 2.5 k. For the second half I was very conscious of the injured part of my knee ... it was not exactly hurting but I definitely had a sensation each time my foot hit the ground.

I was looking forward to watching S's soccer game in the afternoon but, as there was no-one else who could do it I had to run the line. I was very careful doing it but did feel a bit of a ping now and again.

It felt good to be active again. I'm just wondering how my stamina will be for the Puffing Billy run next week. I'm not thinking of it as a race or I will start to get competetive about my time. Also wondering about the possibility of working up to the marathon in ... only 10 weeks - eek!

Baby steps

2005-04-22T04:21:00.000+09:30

Had a good session with Cory at the gym on Tuesday - mainly strength, core and upper body work. Did a short run (about 200-300 m) which felt great.

Then went to soccer training last night all ready to coach but Rod turned up, so I just did some fitness work with the team. I joined in with the warm up laps and exercises, then started on the skills stuff with Rod. Once it speeded up a bit and my knee was under more stress I stopped and did a few more laps of the pitch. It felt good to be running again, but I just wonder when my knee will feel normal again. I keep wanting to put a date on when I can play again, but hesitate until I see what sort of improvement I make.

The BEST news!

2005-04-20T12:08:00.000+09:30

I saw Sani again today for another treatment on my knee. He said I can start doing 500m runs followed by power walks each day, with a 3-4 k run on Saturday to test the knee. If it starts to hurt I'm to stop and walk, but otherwise it should be ok. I'm to go back and see him again next Tuesday.

AND ... he said that I'd have plenty of time, seeing my fitness was so good when I was injured 3 weeks ago, to train for the full marathon at the Gold Coast. I CAN RUN WITH LUCKYLEGS!!

AND ... what's more, he said he would like to coach M when she finishes with soccer later this year and concentrates on running.

There really WAS a reason why I hurt my knee!

Up early tomorrow for my little run/walk ... and to get to work early so that I can leave early in order to get to the storage place to buy boxes so that I can start packing to move in a couple of weeks. Life's full!

What an incentive!

2005-04-19T10:48:00.000+09:30

I have a goal that I am determined to keep. One way or another I am going to be at the Gold Coast to either run with or cheer on Luckylegs!

If the running gods really smile on me I will be doing the marathon; if they just give me a bit of a grin I will do the half and still be there at the end to great the Great Lady. Otherwise, the fares are already booked - come hell or high water I WILL be there to cheer her on.

New treatment update

2005-04-17T10:25:00.000+09:30

A few days since reporting in and things are still going far too slowly for me. But patience never was my strong point, even though it might look like it from the outside.

Tues - did nothing in relation to exercise or fitness.

Wed - coached our soccer team but was very good and refrained from kicking the ball back very often when it came near me. The team seemed to enjoy the coaching even though I was flying by the seat of my pants! I've never coached anything before, and only know the rudiments of soccer rules etc. Also, because they are so unfit there is only so much I can do there without risking injury.

Thur - watched our indoor team win. Itched to play. Felt I had not earned the post-game beer.

Fri - after getting a big earful from Paul last Sunday about how I was doing too much and was jeopardising my long term prospects he gave me the name of the guy he sees when he is injured. I saw him on Friday - he was excellent. His name is Suni Badic and he is a long distance runner himself. He apparently holds the Australian record for 100km (6 hrs 37 mins!!). He used acupuncture with electrodes and cupping. He also gave me a herbal patch to use over the damaged area. My knee felt so much looser and freer when he had finished. Still stiff and slightly painful in the damaged area, but much better. He says I will be running again in 10 days-2 weeks, and can do the Puffing Billy run as a training run. I've booked in to see him again next Tuesday and have cancelled my hospital physio appointment for Monday.

Sat - coached the soccer team. They played so much better than last week. Most of them managed to last the game without feeling as if they were dying or getting injured. We still lost 3-1, but as I said at the end - the score is irrelevant, they had fun.

Felt quite depressed before going to see Suni - the lack of exercise was really affecting my mood. Since the improvement in how my knee feels, and the fact that I am allowed to get on the exercise bike (which I will do when I have finished this post) I am beginning to feel a bit better.

Still impatient - but slowly improving

2005-04-12T09:39:00.000+09:30

Each morning when I wake up and test out how my knee feels it is always a little better than it was the day before. This is very satisfying, even though I want it to be better now! Two days ago it felt fine and I would consider breaking into a bit of a trot as I was walking along and - PING! - it would warn me that I would be over doing it. Today, there are no pings.

I had my third physiotherapy appointment today - Renae was very pleased that I am walking normally again. (I returned my crutches today as I have not used them since last Wednesday). She had a new patient to deal with so, after the ultrasound, she left me to take the cups off at the end of the electric treatment (still can't remember what it's called) and book another appoinment for next week. Unfortunately Renae will be on leave for the next 6 months so I'll be seen by someone else - Dave. He will be checking the movement in my knee, and the healing/damage in the ligament and cartilage. That should be interesting.

Over the weekend I was pretty good. Orange and ice supplier for our soccer team, and fill in coach for the game too, as Rod did not turn up - poor form. I never realised what a lot of responsibility there is in coaching! It was fun - the players were a little fitter than last week and had fun, even though we lost 2-1. S got our one goal from a penalty kick.

We had even more fun staying and watching the men's game. They too lost 2-1, but it was a very entertaining game. Lots of silly banter, and a goalie who deserves an Oscar for his performing to the crowd.

After physio this morning I had a session in the gym - plenty of upper body and abdominal work, with a little on the rower and the leg press while favouring the bad knee. Once again it felt good to get hot and sweaty. Cory had S and I race each other - her on the bike doing 5k and me on the rower doing 2k. We were level at the half way mark but with extra coaching and support from Coru she just beat me. Wait till next time!

Last day of boot camp

2005-04-10T01:00:00.000+09:30

I went along to the last day of bootcamp yesterday and did all the assessments except the running. I managed 47 push-ups in one minute ('girlie' ones, but on one knee), 67 sit-ups in two minutes and was the only one of the team to hold the squat for over 4 minutes!

I've arranged to go to the run session of the last day of the next boot camp series to get a time for the 2km. That is in 4 weeks and will be 5 weeks after my injury, so I'm hoping it will be ok by then.

Today I'm off to watch my daughter M in a practice soccer match, then to watch my own team in their first real match of the season. I'll be orange girl on the sidelines again - and as frustrated as you can imagine.

Physio visit number two

2005-04-08T02:40:00.000+09:30

Another session with the electrical treatment and ultrasound yesterday morning. Knee felt great straight afterwards, but stiffened up somewhat by nighttime.

Of course this could be related to a) I went to boot camp in the morning and walked (I only walked) up the Thousand Steps and back - with a walking stick and not carrying the 'rifle', b) it was my first day back at work in the afternoon, and c) I went and watched S and her soccer team in their practice match in the evening - I was sitting down, but the cold seemed to make my knee seize up.

Other than that I am being good - keeping my leg up on a chair at work, using ice a few times per day, rubbing on voltaren and/or arnica.

We've had to forfeit our indoor soccer game for tonight - with S still not willing to risk a fall on her shoulder (higher risk in indoor than outdoor, hence her decision to rejoin training with the outdoor team), L having to work, H still having a sore ankle though she is able to play in goals and my ****** knee, it only leaves two players. We're seriously thinking of recruiting another player but ideally we'd like someone with experience. My daughter, A, thinks she knows someone - a former member of another team who left because she did not get on with them. I hope that does not mean that she is difficult to get on with! Having six players for a four-a-side team is fine when there are no injuries or work commitments, but a bit difficult for us at the moment.

I'm feeling very frustrated that I can't do what I want to. I know it's only been a week but it seems forever. I just want it to get better!!!

After seeing the physio.

2005-04-06T06:32:00.000+09:30

The visit to the physio yesterday morning was very promising. Although she is not a 'sports' physio - working as she does in a hospital physio department - she is a physio who plays sport and knows the need to get active again and not lose condition. She both plays and coaches tennis, did the Great New Zealand Bike Ride last year, and ran the 1/2 marathon in Melbourne last October.

She gave my some sort of electrical treatment - I did ask twice what it was but have forgotten again! - and ultrasound on my knee. She's also given me exercises to do to keep the quads and other thigh muscles going, and for my calves. Her suggestion for maintaining cardio is boxing!

On the way home from there S had her personal training session - this is at the place owned by Cory the guy who runs boot camp. Anyway, because I went in with her they assumed I was there for a session too. I did not say no! So I did lots of upper body work, and some work with my legs where I could keep my knee in a straight line - no twisting. I did a 20 min cardio session on the rowing machine to finish off and I felt great! It felt so good to be hot and sweaty and out of breath! (I was aiming for 4000m and almost made it - 3941m. And that was only because Cory made me stop and take my feet out of the stirrups to make it more difficult!)

Oh, and my knee felt a whole lot better! The swelling had almost disappeared and I could walk almost normally. I've booked another session next week - I can't really afford it, but I really don't want to lose any more fitness than necessary.

By this morning it was a little tender, but the swelling still had not returned. I slept without a pillow under my knee for the first time last night and it was quite comfortable. I'm keeping up the voltaren gel (night) and arnica cream (mornings), as well as icing it frequently and taking glucosamine, chondroitin and salmon oil. I've another physio appointment tomorrow morning and then again on Monday morning.

Renae, the physio, did initially say that I would not be running for about 6 weeks - two weeks later than the Puffing Billy Race. We'll see. She also said that the GC marathon would be fine, until I reminded her that it's not just the marathon, it's the long runs in training beforehand. I may have to swallow my pride and just aim for the half at the GC and go for a couple of marathons later in the year.

So, this little black duck, waddling around as she is, is a little happier than four days ago.

Pre-physio progress report

2005-04-04T10:29:00.000+09:30

Three days of RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation) - along with that old healer 'time' - have led to a great improvement in my knee already. I'm being so conservative and careful, even if I am impatient and frustrated.

I have an appointment with the local hospital physio first thing tomorrow morning so should have some more idea about my progress, and what I will and will not be able to do in the next few weeks. If she turns out to be not so understanding of sports issues - including the need to get back to training soon then I'm prepared to follow the advice of other CRs and see a sports physio at Olympic Park - not that I can really afford it.

Went and watched the team playing in the soccer lightning premiership yesterday morning - I was 'orange girl' which they appreciated. They did much better in terms of scores than I anticipated. Three games with scores of 0-0, 0-0 and 2-0 was pretty good. However they were absolutely hopeless when it came to stamina and fitness, and many ended up with pulled muscles and cramp. It was so frustrating to stand on the sidelines jigging up and down on the crutches and whining 'I want to play'!

Cory won't let me do the last four sessions of the next boot camp series, so I'll miss tomorrow's and go to the last two (Wed and Fri) of this series and just do the upper body work. I'm really disappointed that I will not be able to gauge the improvements I've made in speed, strength and fitness. Oh, well ...

I'm trying to stay optomistic. I'd like to think that I could still run the Puffing Billy Race but not necessarily go out for an improvement in my time. I'm not sure if the Wilson's Prom run will still be happening because of the bushfires there so that may not be so much of an issue. And I may have to scale down to the half marathon at the Gold Coast and look at my next marathon being the Melbourne.

All is not lost.

The best laid plans ...

2005-04-02T04:40:00.000+09:30

Am I allowed to swear on here? I'll just stick with the Absolutlely Fabulous-ish 'bloody, buggery, bollocks'!

I fell and twisted my knee at indoor soccer last night. The doctor at Casualty says I've 'only' strained the medial ligament. When I asked how long it would take to heal he more or less shrugged.

There go all my plans for the weekend - the soccer lightning premiership where they were struggling to make up a full team anyway, the Sri Chinmoy race (and pancakes!) on Sunday. There goes the final 4 days of boot camp - which, perversely, I was beginning to enjoy! There goes, most probably the Puffing Billy practice run next weekend.

Who knows, it could even be that there goes the Puffing Billy Race, the Wilson's Prom ultra and the Gold Coast Marathon. It was these thoughts that were making me more upset last night than the pain in my knee while waiting for the girls to finish the game. And the fact that we were being thrashed. Our first loss in a season and 4 games!

But the plans I had! I only hope that, with rest, ice, elevation, crutches, arnica, Vitamin E, glucosamine/chondroitin and anything else I can think of, it will get better soon.

I've never been as fit as I am now and I'd hate to think that I could lose all that. I just have to be sensible and patient (me? patient?) and give it every chance to heal.

BLOODY, BUGGERY, BOLLOCKS!!!

On the downward run

2005-04-01T05:47:00.000+09:30

After this morning there are only 4 sessions of boot camp to go! Two thirds over, one third to go.

Actually, this morning was not too bad - except for the soldier crawl through the cold wet grass pushing the 'rifle' (log) ahead of us. Prior to that a fair bit of running and some strength work. I managed to keep up with the guys most of the time, except Sam who is quite a fast runner. After I had warmed up, that is. I always take at least 2-3 laps to get going. It reminds me of Paul - my ultrarunner friend - who doesn't warm up for 40 minutes!

I must admit that I am feeling fitter and stronger for it, even if exhausted. I was prepared for getting up early on the alternating days of the week, but the Easter holiday has meant that this week they are three consecutive days (Wed-Fri) and this coincides with soccer training (Wed) and indoor soccer. And I did runs on Monday and Tuesday. This I was not prepared for. I only hope I have what it takes for the soccer lighting tournament on Saturday morning and the Sri Chinmoy 15k on Sunday.

I must admit - keeping this blog is a REAL incentive to keep up the training. When I've written it here for who knows how many people to read I feel as if I MUST do what I've said or I'll look a right idiot.

Looking forward to a) a rest day on Tuesday and b) the end of boot camp next Friday!

It's only Wednesday and I'm exhausted!

2005-03-31T12:28:00.000+09:30

Took S to the personal trainer's on Tuesday for her lower body workout. She will not be doing any upper body work for some time since she dislocated her shoulder. While she was there I did the same run that we were introduced to at boot camp last Thursday. Not a very long run - probably about 4k - but challenging due to the two very steep hills that are incorporated. Did not look at the time or anything - just went out to enjoy it ... and I did!

Back to boot camp this morning. I did much better than last time. One of the drills involves running up and down stairs and out and back to a further lamp-post each time until we get to the seventh and back. The first time we did it last week it took me 7:01, this morning I did it in 6:33 so that was very satisfying.

Soccer training tonight - I really don't feel like going but we have a lightning premiership on Saturday morning and as the team has not once been all together I feel compelled to go. Not looking forward either to getting up for the next two mornings in a row for boot camp (three days in a row this week due to the Easter holiday).

Nor am I looking forward - for the first time ever - to the indoor soccer game tomorrow night. Once again there are only four of us to play and we are against the top team (on percentages). We have not lost for a whole season and three games, but I'm not too confident we'll be able to keep up that record.

No let up at the weekend, either, with the lightning premiership on Saturday morning and the Sri Chinmoy 15k on Sunday - oh, well ... they say there's no rest for the wicked!

Easter Monday CR run and BBQ

2005-03-29T07:37:00.000+09:30

Got up early (for a holiday!) and went down to Cardinia Reservoir Park to meet up some other CRs. I'd met Greybeard before, but there were others coming for a social run and a bit of a get together.

It turned out to be Greybeard, wobblyman, CathyP, pbig and me. We did one circuit of the track which culminates in a run across the dam wall. Then instead of heading back around the wall the way I normally do we did the hillier double back along the road then returned back along the original track we took. Probably about 9 k.

It was fun to run with company for a change. GB and wobblyman had to leave early, but CathyP, pbig, my partner S (with Kia the dog) and I stayed and had a BBQ brunch. Lots of fun, and good to meet up with other CRs in the flesh. Pics to follow on the CR website.

I wish I hadn't bothered ... almost

2005-03-28T04:04:00.000+09:30

I managed to get out for the Puffing Billy training run yesterday afternoon. The weather was perfect for it - sunny and cool. I started off fine, just cruising along the first part of Selby-Aura Road, which is bitumen. But as soon as I turned on to the gravel - and the uphill gradient - I lost all energy in my legs and began to feel sick.

I realised I had eaten a sandwich and not left enough time before running. I stomach was really rebelling. The legs were alternately heavy or jelly and I felt awful.

I pushed on up the hill running as far as I could before slowing to a walk for a while. I had been hoping to run most if not all the way this time. The last time I'd done this run I had M with me and she was struggling so we walked for a fair way. However yesterday it was not to be.

I reached the top of the hill with gratitude feeling as if my stomach was going to rebel at any moment. I decided to push on to at least make the outing worthwhile, however I knew after about another km that I was not going to be doing much more so turned around. As I'd just run down a steep hill I had this to now climb to head back. I struggled, walking most of the way.

The only easy bit was the long downhill from Menzies Creek. However, even at the end of this I did not get a break because a long-standing shoulder pain (which NO-ONE has been able to diagnose the cause of or cure for) began. It was so bad, and so distracting, that again I could not run, just walk more slowly than ever, right arm hanging down lifeless as this was the most comfortable position, whimpering with pain every now and again.

My only consolation is that I got out there and did it, and that I learned something today. Do not eat too soon before a long run!

Next run - tomorrow morning at Cardinia Reservoir. I'll probably do the two circuits of my favourite track which equals about 9km.

About time for an update.

2005-03-27T05:30:00.000+09:30

Computer problems at home and too much to do at work have meant that I have not updated for a while. Adolescent son to the rescue (an essential accessory when it come to computers) and the home computer is working again.

I've just checked back and it's a week and a day since my last posting here - how did that happen!

To the update ...

Had a lovely rest day (from running or other exercise - housework still needed to be done) on Saturday then headed out on Sunday afternoon with M and Paul for our 2-3 hours around Churchill National Park. It's a very hilly track and usually challenges me - especially with Paul leading the way. That man just seems to be able to go on forever.

The previous time we had been out there it was wet, muddy and miserable, and I developed a cramp in my calf soon after we started running. It turned into an awful day for me. The only good thing about it was that we met another CR - DiJ. She had parked at a different entrance to the one Paul and I had used, so we went there when I was struggling, as it was closer, and she was able to drive me to my car while Paul continued his run.

Anyway, last Sunday was beautiful, if a little warm. We had plenty of water and were able to get more half way through the run. M did really well keeping up with us, but began to struggle at about the half way mark. This was at Lysterfield Lake park carpark, so we left her there with the remainder of the packet of jelly babies we had been eating and continued to the end. To be honest, I would have loved to have stopped then too but had to keep going to get to the car so I could pick her up!

Paul and I took 90 minutes to finish the run for a total of over 3 and a quarter hours. Towards the end we were running past groups of kangaroos, who all looked quizzically at us as we ran past. M was safe at the carpark when I arrived there even though the gates (for cars) were locked by then. Her only problem was she was bored silly.

Monday was day 4 of boot camp (day 3 for me because of missing the first day). We met at the foot of the Thousand Steps (Kokoda Trail) in Upper Ferntree Gully. Because it was still dark we did not run up the steps, but used a very hilly road close by. Various forms of torture took place, but much of it was running. I found I was able to keep up a little better than before. There was the beginning of group formation happening, which was good. I found the lack of this very hard to take over the first few days.

Tuesday should have been a 10-11 k run while M was at soccer training but that did not happen (again) because I had a retirement function for one of the assistant principals at the kids' school to attend. I had been on school council for several years and worked closely with this man so the function took precendence.

It was also a busy day driving my partner S around. She dislocated her shoulder last Thursday, went on to play indoor soccer that night, carried on as usual on Friday, and it was only when she got to work on Saturday (she is a midwife) that she thought she had better go down to A&E and have it looked at! They x-rayed it - no bone damage, but soft tissue and ligament damage. She was not allowed to drive home that day, is not allowed to drive or work for at least 2 weeks, and has to keep her arm immobilised in a sling. This is not an easy thing for S to do - she is one of those people who is busy ALL THE TIME. Enforced idleness is hard for her to take. We'd been doing a lot of running around on Tuesday getting things sorted out for her.

Wednesday morning was the next boot camp day. Another session at Belgrave, with slightly different routines. I found it to be a little easier, especially as much of it, again, was running. I've come to the conclusion that all this running up hills and stairs is going to be good practice for the Puffing Billy Race in a few weeks.

That night - soccer training again. Rod was not there (don't know why) so we did some more self directed training. There were a couple more women there, but still not a full team. It will be interesting to see how we go if we do get a practice game with the under 16 girls (M's team) next week. I think some of our players will get a shock.

Because of Good Friday our last day of boot camp for the week was held on Thursday morning. This time it was ALL running - YAY! (Except for a few runs up and down stairs.) We did a long circuit around Tecoma and Belgrave that took in two v-e-r-y long hills. I began to quite enjoy boot camp for the first time. I can't quite admit to looking forward to the rest of it though.

Then, on Thursday night - at 9pm (after having been up at 5 for the previous two mornings ... and remember - I'm not a morning person!) we had indoor soccer again. This time S could not play because of her dislocated shoulder, and L, another of our better players, was unable to play because of work. That left H who was playing in goal because her ankle was still sore, my two daughters A and M, and me. Fortunately we played one of the teams who are lower on the ladder.

We played like a dream! My two girls and I on the court, and H in goal, did a fantastic job. My kicking feet (cos I scored with both right and left) finally found the target and I ended up with about 7 or 8 goals! M scored another 6 or 7 (you begin to lose count after a while!), and A got 4! We won 18-2! It was such fun playing on the same team with my girls, though I did begin to tire in the second half.

After that I had a well deserved rest day yesterday - out to lunch with S to the restaurant where my 16 year old son has this year started his apprenticeship as a chef. Today, I plan to do a Puffing Billy Race practice run, and I'm organising a CR run/BBQ at Cardinia Reservior Park at 9am Monday. Should be fun.

Better get going, or I'll run out of time.

When am I going to run again?

2005-03-19T07:10:00.000+10:30

Having read over the previous posts I realise that I've been a bit repetetive. I'll try and remember what I've written and not go over the same stuff again. Takes a bit of skill, this blogging, doesn't it?

Indoor soccer last night and I thought we would only have four players again. M had soccer academy training and A had to work. At least this left three good players and me! H twisted her ankle last Thursday. She is one of those valuable players who can play in any position on the field, so when she said she'd go in goal for a few weeks until she feels her ankle is recovered, that was ok.

Anyway, M decided that she was not going to training as 'I've got sore legs'. Bad mother that I am I thought that was a bit strange, but did not question her about it. She decided to come to indoor and only be available as a sub if absolutely necessary. It turned out, after S questioned her more closely than I had, that M has shin splints. Must look up cause and treatment.

Although the team we played last night are in the lower half of the league they really challenged us last night. The score (we won 8-1) does not really reflect the difficulty of the game. If we did not have S on our team - a goal machine ... she got 6 of the 8 goals last night - it might be a different story. I was really tired and asked M, just before half time, if she wanted to come on, but she did not. During the half time break I said that she might have to for a few minutes. She did, with three minutes to go. As players need to have played in a minimum of four games over the season to be eligible to play in finals this will count for her.

My second day of boot camp. Not nearly as bad as Wednesday. One of the women I spoke to this morning has done it before and she said it was very unusual to have such a tough day as Wednesday in the first week. That made me feel better. I almost enjoyed this morning. All the running was fine but I really have difficulty with the upper body work except for bicep curls for some unknown reason.

I put myself in the running/walking group this morning and when Cory asked why I said because I had slowed the group down on the first day and that I have a dodgy knee from soccer training. I realised yesterday morning that it is the long hard kicks that we have been practicing on Wednesday nights, unlike the shorter kicks needed in indoor, that have been stressing the knee a little. It feels ok most of the time but if I bend right down it feels 'fat' under the kneecap. It's happened before - last year when I first started running and went out on trail runs with Paul. Since taking glucosamine/chondroitin it has improved immeasurably so I'll keep doing that. I was excused from just one of the drills this morning - walking uphill while squatting is the only way I can describe it - because of my knee, so that's not too bad.

So ... when am I going to run again? Good question. Glad you asked.

I'll have a bit of a rest day from exercise tomorrow and will go out on a 2-3 hour trail run at Churchill National Park with Paul on Sunday afternoon. It will be a bit of a challenge to turn up for a tough boot camp on Monday morning, which is what Cory has said it will be, but - I gotta run some time!

The start of Boot Camp

2005-03-17T17:17:00.000+10:30

Cory - the guy running boot camp - had told me where he does the 2k time trial on the first day. As I had missed the first day (Monday) due to being away for the long weeked, I got up early yesterday, Tuesday, to do it on my own. The only trouble was ... the stopwatch did not work!

As it turned out that 2k was the only running I did yesterday as I met up with some of the soccer club organisers while our kids were at VSF Academy training in the evening and we had a long discussion about 'stuff'. That was the time for my 10-11 k run, so I missed out.

Got up insanely early this morning - 5.20 - to get to my first day of boot camp. Went into the running group to start with. There was also a running/walking group and a walking group. I was with three burly, look-like-they-play-footy guys and another woman arrived late and joined us.

Seemed ok at first - we were to do laps of the oval. The first just running, the second running and carrying a 'rifle' (in reality a bloody great log of wood), and the third running and carrying two bricks, then back to just running again. The only problem was each time we got to the 'just running' lap Cory was there to add an element of torture to it. One was to go in single file with the last runner sprinting to the front, and so on. That was ok, except that the guys who got to the front kept on sprinting instead of slowing down to a jog again! I really struggled to keep up, however, by the time we got to some of the later laps they were slowing down and I knew that, if we could only go slowly enough, I could keep going as long as I had to ... more or less.

After 30 minutes of this we went on to the next torture session. Pushing the logs up over our heads - ten times for each participant and there were 15 of us! Then when someone either swore, dropped their 'rifle' or said 'can't' everyone had to do 20 push-ups. I think we ended up doing 140 push ups for the morning (or at least we were supposed to, but some of us were a bit slow with them and Cory was not looking too closely - thank goodness it was still fairly dark).

The next bit was bilateral bicep curls with the 'rifles' ... and so it went on for a whole hour. At the end of it my arms and shoulders were shaking with fatique. They were still weak 90 minutes later when I was driving to work.

This evening was soccer training - we're still not doing enough fitness work. Some of the women cannot even run around the oval. How in heaven's name are they going to play a full game of soccer - 90 minutes - on a full sized pitch in just three weeks? Rod, the coach, finally made some time for us after he finished with the boys team he coaches. We did some work on dribbling and other ball skills, but I really think we are going to be the duds of the league.

Indoor soccer tomorrow night, then another session of unmitigated torture (boot camp) on Friday morning. I think I might take Saturday off before going for a long (2-3 hr) run with friends at Churchill National Park on Sunday afternoon.

A week since ...

2005-03-15T06:45:00.000+10:30

A week since my last entry. It's been a mixed week. Was planning an 8k run on Monday night and a 10-11 k on Tuesday when my daughter was at her two different soccer trainings. But she had been kicked in the knee during the game at the weekend and took those nights off to recover. Instead of going out anyway, I wimped out. SHAME! I'll never get anywhere like this!

Went to soccer training on Wednesday night. This is going to be an interesting experience ...

Last year I played with a team of predominantly younger women (19-23, with the exception of my partner who was then 42) and was pretty much out of my depth most of the season. It had been over a quarter of a century since I had played and was only filling in because they were short of players. The best part of the season was two games from the end when they put me on the left wing. Within two minutes the body-memory came back. 'This is where I used to play!' For the first time I was not being yelled at about where to go, who to mark, etc, etc.

Anyway, I digress.

This year the parents at the junior club that my children have played for have created a senior men's and a senior women's team. Many of the women have either never played soccer before or never played sport before. Most have not played any sport for a long time and are very unfit. Compared to last year, when I was the dud of the team, it looks like I will at least be able to survive two 45 minute halves and come out looking relatively good!

While the training last week was not as vigorous as I was used to (we are having to share the coach with one of the junior teams and that took priority last week) it was still 90 minutes of exercise.

Thursday night is indoor soccer night.

We had just got through a season unbeaten, including the semi-final, and had to forfeit the grand final due to it being played on a Sunday instead of a Thursday for the first time since we've been involved with that particular sports centre (16 months). There are three good teams (us and two others) in the comp with a big gap to the rest of them. We were to play the team that came third last season. One of our best players was recovering from a twisted ankle and could not play. Another star player could not make the 9pm game as she was to start work at 5am the next day.

With 3 hours notice that left me (aged 49 and probably the worst player on the team), my partner ('S' 43, but one of the stars) and my two daughters ('A' aged 21 - not a bad player but needs to improve her skills, and 'M' 14 - another star player) to play one of the top teams with no substitutes. We really didn't think we would even start the season with an unbeaten record.

We discussed tactics beforehand. With no dedicated goalie we decided that those of us who can play in goal (all but S) would do so, but with the other good onfield player (M) only going in goal at the end of the game if she was tired or if we were way ahead. The rest of us would play a defensive game.

Our tactics worked. We ended up winning 11-8 and feeling very pleased with ourselves.

The other good aspect of it was that I got to play for the whole 40 minutes, even if about half of that time was in goal - M didn't end up there as she was playing so well on the court and was not tired. So that was my exercise for Thursday.

Friday was busy as we were preparing to go away for the long weekend. Planned to do a couple of runs while we were there; 'there' being Daylesford/Hepburn Springs. A friend who runs ultras has told me about one of the walking trails around there and said it is good to run. As well as this the run from Hep Springs to Daylesford and back is about 7k and is a real workout on the way out as it is mainly uphill. The only trouble was, I had twisted my knee towards the end of the soccer game on Thursday night. It did not feel too bad, so I was sure that by taking Friday off it would be fine.

Now S has always said that the only time she wants to run is when there is a soccer ball in front of her. The rest of the time she is totally not interested. However, on the Saturday she asked that, if I was doing a short run, could she come with me. As my knee was still a bit of a problem I thought a short run would be ok. It was very hot anyway and I was not inclined to go for a long run.

So we set off towards Daylesford along the walking track. She went out like a bullet from a gun. Now I know she is 7 years younger than me, but that was ridiculous. I yelled at her to slow down. Fortunately she did.

'Maybe that's been my problem,' she gasped 'I run too fast to start with.'

I had to agree!

We went well for the first k or so, then she started finding the hills a little difficult, so we walked for a while. We ended up going for a little less than 2 k then turned around and really enjoyed the downhill run back to our accomodation.

Not a long run for me, but lots of fun to do it with S, who enjoyed it and now might come out with me again. It was ok for my knee, too.

Despite the heat I was still planning to do a long run on the trail on the Sunday afternoon. However, when I knelt to pick something up on Sunday morning something in my knee, on the opposite side from where the pain was from twisting it, went 'ping' and hurt like hell. 'No running till that feels better,' I thought. In the meantime I upped my glucosamine/chondroitin intake ... I'd been neglecting it for a while and I'm not sure if that had anything to do with the knee problem.

Monday involved packing up and driving home, with a detour to Ballarat to visit my son and his girlfriend. Very, very hot day, with knee not feeling too bad.

To this morning. Boot camp started yesterday in my absence. The organiser knew I would be away and told me what the first morning would consist of - assessments. He told me where the 2k time trial was to take place, so I went there this morning and ran it. But the ***** stop watch didn't work! I did consider doing it again, but needed to get home to get the kids off to school. Will get there early tomorrow and do it before the workout. M and her older brother T will be able to help me timing the sit-ups, push-ups and squat tonight.

I'm not sure how I'm going to manage getting up at 5.30 am, three times per week for four weeks. I love my bed!

gotta start somewhere

2005-03-08T08:49:00.000+10:30

Just caught up on the last couple of pages of CR bloggers and thought 'why not?'. I don't have to let anyone know that this blog exists for a while - at least until I feel as if I am getting out there often enough.

I certainly think about running enough - sometimes I think it's all I do think about ... well, almost. It's as if my whole life is consumed with 'when I will be able to run again?'. With kids, partner, job (sometimes more than one) and a household to organise on my own it takes a lot of juggling. It would really help if I could just summon up whatever it needs to get up early in the mornings. But alas ...

Having said that, I am going to have to get up early in the mornings, at least for three days per week, soon having booked in to do 'boot camp' at a local personal trainers. It starts on Monday 14th which is a public holiday and I'll be away, but having spoken to Cory - the personal trainer - he said that the first morning is just about fitness assessment and seeing I am already fairly fit I will be excused. It will be a real challenge to be up at 5.30 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for four weeks.

It's also hard to fit running around the other things I do - indoor soccer and, now that the season is starting again, regular soccer.

So ... what are my goals at the moment and how am I going to achieve them?
Goals:-
1. to improve my weekly distances (currently about 30-50k per week) to 50-80k per week.
2. to incorportate a long run into my schedule each week, aiming to get up to about 35-50k regularly by the end of the year.
3. to beat the second train in the Puffing Billy Race on 1 May.
4. to run in the Gold Coast Marathon and the Melbourne Marathon. Ideally, running all the way (not walking part way) and in close to 4h - 4h 15m.
5. to get my 10k time down to under 50m at least once.

To do this I need to get out there more - simple!

Starting next Monday my schedule for the following four weeks will be something like this:
Monday - boot camp in morning (including a 2k run I gather), 3-8 k run in the evenings
Tuesday - 10 k run in the evening
Wednesday - boot camp in the morning; 90mins soccer training in the evening - some speed work
Thursday - indoor soccer in the evening (less than 40mins on the court) - equivalent of rest day
Friday - boot camp in the morning
Saturday - 10-15 k run(intil the soccer season starts, then 90 mins of soccer in the afternoon - equivalent to speed work)
Sunday - 15-20 k run

Well - that's the big plan. Let's see how I go!