Ellie's Run to the New York Marathon

Less than 2 months!

Well it has been a couple of weeks since my last update, but I did actually type a long (and extremely funny and poignant) post last weekend, but the connection in Perth was pretty dodgy.

In summary, things are going really well! My long runs over the last few weeks have been increasing steadily. The last weekends have been 2hr 20m - just over 21k, a half marathon in 2hr26m and today I ran ran for 2 hr and 40 minutes!!!! Things are looking good!

The back/SIJ/hip business is going very well also. I had a bit of a drama with my shin prior to the half marathon but turns out it was just a very very tight tib ant... all good now though.

next weekend I will be in vanuatu so doing 2 hr 40 is going to be challenging - but I'll get there!! Then it is the Sydney half marathon and then I think I get stuck into some really long ones...

abortive speed work attempt

I headed out to do a speed session that involved 3 x (2 min hard, 30s jog recovery, 1 min hard, 30s jog recovery, 30s hard) plus 3 mins hard. I survived until the last 30s when the hip/adductor started to hurt. So I slowed down to do a cool down but it still hurt so I walked home and felt a bit sorry for myself.

Fortunately it doesn't feel like a serious injury, just like I am obviously not strong enough to push that hard for that long. I wasn't going super fast but according to the garmin I hit 4.04 pace at one point, but that was probably the millisecond when the garmin connected the dots funny :)

So it looks like my speed work will have to remain in the pool with the water belt (hah - remain! ok... start...) where there is less impact. Sigh. I probably should have eased into it gradually as well.

I am not a quick learner sometimes.

back in the pool

Well today my goal was to get to a pool and do some water running and/or swimming. The goal was simply getting there and figuring out whether it was going to be too much of a pain or not. Turns out at 6am Cook & Phillip Park is not too bad and I could water run in the slow lane without too much drama. I only did a short session (25 mins) but in future I will add a bit of swimming after the running. Actually I think it has helped my post run legs a lot - with none of the impact of an actual run!

I have had my first couple of coffees and now have a LOT of work to get on with. In particular I need to buy a video camera or sort out my computer to record a 30 min coaching session for uni. Cool!

I am also loving the olympics. It turns out that I have a short attention span, so the races that take under a minute are my favourites :) (except the marathon - that was cool - but there was a lot of multitasking - chatting, breakfast etc, during it!).

Go Tomescu!

Well, in honour of the women's olympic marathon this morning I rustled the troops for a run followed by a brunch and viewing of the marathon.

The run was very pleasant. I had to break it into 3 starting groups as everyone wanted to do different times. This was not so bad in the end as I did 20 mins on my own, then 25 with Sam/RA then Lulu and Zoe joined us for another 75. It made the two hours i did go very fast, and the pace was very comfortable. I am a little bit stiff and sore this afternoon, but felt (relatively!) really good at the end of the run.

Brunch was awesome. Ben made cupcakes and we had olympic (i mean burger) rings, as well as fruit, icecream and everything in between. So good to see everyone who came for brunch and cheering. Thanks to Channel 7 for actually showing the whole race - well up until the first 3 finishers - I was pretty happy with that! I hope that Paula Radcliffe is ok, as she didn't look real flash. 

52% bloke

Well so says this funny little calculator. Ah well. It would explain that unexplained urge to burp in public. (just kidding!)

I had a lovely morning this morning. Ran (nice and slowly) with Sam along the coastal path at bondi this morning, and finished up with a gorgeous breakfast as a cafe called Trio on Campbell Parade in Bondi. I had the vegetarian breakfast which had eggs, carrot sourdough (?), mushrooms and spinach, avocado and persian feta. Heaven! 

Oh the run was ok too :) actually i am a bit sore but will do my exercises again tonight and then a class tomorrow should sort me out a bit. Hopefully. Not going to despair just yet.

Peer pressure

Well I have been asked for an update on the NY progress and the good news is that all is proceeding according to plan. For me the main consideration is getting the runs done, and getting my long runs up to a decent amount. I won't be as well trained as I would like to be, or what I would have been last year, but I will do one run close to 30k and hope for the best. I don't have any expectations time wise although 4.45ish would be nice.

It was so great to see my friend PlodBod finish her marathon around that time and smiling and enjoying herself and that is exactly what I want. (does that sound a bit single white female-esque??? oops).

Ok, that said, I have run a couple of times so far this week (I am on a 4 run per week schedule). Tuesday's run was a shocker. Post C2S and post massage it was like running through mud. Just shy of 6k and I was pleased to just get it done. Yesterday I did closer to 7k, an outside loop of the park so a few hills to challenge me. I felt much better. Thank god. 

Tomorrow i am heading to Bondi to tackle a bit of the Coastal Path. Noice.

Today I have lots of work to do and I also need to do some work on sorting out all the stuff in my house that is taking up my energy. 

To that end - if anyone is in the market for a road bike (Trek 1400 barely used, I am 170cm tall), a Dell 1330 laptop that is also hardly used, a digital camera (cute and small, little bit older though) or anything else, odds are I have one that I am looking to get rid of.

City 2 Surf Redemption ... of sorts

Yesterday was the city to surf in Sydney and I am very pleased to say that I (a) ran, (b) finished, (c) enjoyed, (d) remained uninjured, (e) ran under my expected 90 mins with around 88.xx mins.

This time two years ago was one of the best races I have ever had. The C2S I ran in 84.3x mins and had an absolute ball. Partied the rest of the day and was full of confidence about my first 1/2 mara around the corner. Fast forward to this time last year and things weren't so great. I was pretty down about my injury, in fact I was on crutches and visited the post race celebrations only briefly and wasn't in the mood to party really.

This year was different altogether. I am still nursing the injury, but ran pain free. I wasn't racing and was inside my comfort zone the whole run. Which is great. But still not quite the rush of racing and doing a pb... Still I wouldn't say that the run was less satisfying. Just different.

Anyway - all round a great day. Less so for the lovely Ben who is a bit under the weather but still managed to pull out a 62.xx - what a rock star. And that is before the 5k run home when we couldn't get a bus or cab :)

Was awesome to have Miners, Nigel and Go Girl staying with us - sorry about the key drama! Thanks to the cheerers Lulu/WTR/LovelyLorna/Beki/BlkBox and some others that I couldn't quite identify. Much appreciated :)

I had a massage this morning with EasyTiger who was thanked by the Female winner of the C2S. It is only going to get harder to get an appointment though! I haven't been for a while and cripes it hurt, I even have a bruise for the first time. Still everything definitely feels better so a nice gentle run tomorrow is in order.

over and out.

I'm still here and running!

I think that this has been the longest without posting in a long time, I am thinking that this blog is coming to the end of its natural life. But, as my friend Shufflin Sam has done here I have been thinking that I would like to expand my blog to encompass some of the other stuff in my life.

Not sure just yet, but will keep you posted!

That said, my running training is going mostly well. Injurywise my non interventionist approach seems to be working. But I feel a little like I am on borrowed time so now that my work has eased a little I am going back to the core lady, I am going to do some swimming and water running and I need to really look at my diet. 

My long runs are up to 90 mins (woohoo!) which I have done twice. Not covering huge amounts of k's - 13 and 13.6ish but both very hilly courses so not too worried. I am mildy worried about the fact that i am running 2 HRS this weekend (EEEEEKK!!!!!) but Lulu has said she will keep me company for 90 mins of that. I might also check whether 1hr45 might be more sensible...

Other than that I am looking forward to the City to Surf in a couple of weeks and then the Perth City to Surf half marathon 2 weeks after than which will be interesting - just a long slow run for me rather than a race of course - but should still be fun.

Over and out.

I thought up a great post title while I was in the shower

But of course now I can't remember it!

Another nice run this morning. 42 minutes and I finished with the nasty double peak hill up Cook Rd to my house. Truly awful but it seems that there is no way to get home without running up a hill. Whatever doesn't kill you etc etc.

So what i have been doing for the last 2 weeks (well part of it) is all through the newspapers today - www.tivo.com.au has just launched. My role is on the training side. Some interesting press coverage. My personal thoughts are that I had a play with one over a weekend and it was the best thing since sliced bread, or at least since I got my first iPod. I will be investing as soon as they go on sale!

Project update the blog more often

Project is in full swing - 2 updates in a few days. Practically a habit again!

Ran this morning around the park - was a good run - I was going a bit slower I think, or perhaps not talking - but I felt awesome! Until the hill at the end... but that has never been fun per se...

Gold Coast Marathon this weekend. B is tapering and looking like having a great run. I am not tapering, but only doing the 10k so it doesn't really matter. This race last year was quite a watershed for me. It is where B and I kinda got together (awww) and was also the last big race before the big injury. Still I had a blast and intend to do so again!

BEtter run - I am part of a press conference for a product launch all day today (i get to be an expert - haha) - will tell you what it is when it is in the papers tomorrow (maybe this arvo).