Running update

Well, it's been a huge couple of weeks, hence the lack of updates recently. I won't bore you with the details and I can't remember many sessions in much detail, so here is a general update...
Last week I did a couple of normal runs (around 20 min jogging with warm up and cool down added). I'm loving the Forerunner. I've also been trying out some of Lyle's running training ideas (that he kindly supplied to give me some ideas to mix up my cross training). One of these included some stair/hill running intervals. I went to the local beach and whilst mum watched the boys running around I did 3 lots of shuffling up the stairs and recovering on the way down, then repeated it but shuffling up the steep ramp and recovering on the way down. Gee it was hard. It took me about 90 seconds to get to the top each time and the legs were truly burning. But it was great to do something different. I'll definately try it again.

I also went down to the local footy field and let the boys play in the middle whilst I did intervals around the edge. Each lap was about 700m, and I did 1 lap easy, 1 hard, 1 easy, 1 hard, 1 easy...with all jogging. I found it hard and it makes me realise how unfit I still am. I was a bit dissapointed with that one.

This week, I did another 20 min jog on Monday and due to parent-teacher night, couldn't do anything on Tuesday or Wednesday.

I also had a procedure done at the specialists yesterday (won't go into details, but it's for "chick stuff"), and had a fair bit of pain from this yesterday. Pain killers weren't really helping too much and I was very thankful when Chris got home as I went to bed for the rest of the afternoon/night. This morning I woke up feeling much better and decided to ease into a run. I only did 10 minutes because I could feel that I was stirring it up, and the pain was returning.

I'm getting disappointed in my lack of progress running at the moment. I still feel slow and unfit, and I really need to increase the intensity and length of my runs now.

Beautiful boys in the pram

This morning I attempted to go for another run with the boys in the double pram. After some stern words on Thursday and this morning I think I frightened them into good behaviour. They have missed out on going to the park afterwards for a couple of times in a row now (due to their behaviour), so I thought I'd give them another go.
They were beautiful. They were such good boys. If Clayton started doing the wrong thing, Connor would tell him to stop it because he was being naughty and wouldn't get to go to the park etc. They sang, and talked, and played games and kept their hand off each other. They said hello to people we passed. I was sooooo proud of them.
I ran the usual bridge to end of path and back, felt good and thoroughly enjoyed it. And the boys got to go to the park again.

Naughty boys in the pram

Well most of my run this morning was spent refereeing the 2 boys. They were yelling at each other, hitting each other, pulling heads, throwing items and anything else you can imagine. That's the only problem with the double pram...that they sit right next to each other within easy reach. I was fuming and boy did they know they were in trouble.
I somehow managed to do the usual bridge to end of path and back run, but did not enjoy it at all. In fact I hated it.

The boys are getting heavy!

I did my run this afternoon with mum - from the bridge to the end of the path and back. I pushed the boys in the double pram and wow are they getting heavy. It's quite hard now pushing them and I feel every incline. Mum was also running quicker than she has been over the last few weeks, so I think I was feeling it more because of that. I really can't run fast pushing them because of only having 1 hand on the pram, having to keep swapping hands, and basically not being able to run normally. The system I've got worked out works well, but I think I'm at the top of my speed limit now.
Anyway, at the end of it we'd done a pretty fast run, and I was happy with the effort I put in.

Finally, another jog

After several plans to do another jog this week, and several things happening to prevent me, I finally got out this morning to do one. I pushed both boys in the double pram and wow - are they getting heavy to push. It's so much harder running and pushing a pram with over 30kg in it. Not to mention the constant referreeing and negotiating (and occassional yelling) that I have to do as well. Anyway, I ran to the end of the path and back, and felt pretty good. I'll have to start running further with the double pram now that I can do this distance ok.

A monday aftenoon jog.

After much deliberation and discussion, Mum and I decided to go out for a jog this afternoon. I pushed Clayton in the pram and Connor rode his bike. My legs still felt fatigued after my longer run on the weekend, and the going was slow, but I felt generally ok. We jogged to the end of the path and half-way back, and then walked the rest. Mum can't run too much at the moment due to an injury. We then watched the boys playing in the park afterwards for a while. All in all...a pleasant run, and I'm glad we made ourselves go.

Running again

Since I missed my paddle this morning due to the weather (and my wussiness, hehehe), Chris kindly offered for me to go for a run this afternoon. I said we could all go together, but he said that he would look after the boys so I could have a break and enjoy a run on my own. What a man!!!
So I drove to the lake and with MP3 player in hand started doing my usual warm-up walk, when I suddenly had the desire to turn around and go the other direction for today. I normally don't go the other way because even though the path is excellent, it is windy (as in curves around too much) and it's a pain trying to run with the pram whilst turning corners all the time. However on my own it was lovely. The music was pumping, I felt great and decided at the turn around time..to just keep running a bit further. I had planned to run 10 minutes and turn around for a 20 minute total run. But I decided to turn around after 15 minutes and did a 30 minute run. I felt great the whole way and could have run further.
Now, I know this distance isn't anything special, but for me it was. I haven't run 30 minutes since before state when I got injured. So this was my longest run in a while. I now feel like I'm running properly again.

Tuesday's run

I felt a bit off last night and was still not quite right this afternoon, but decided to go for a short run anyway. Mum came along too and I pushed Clayton in the pram and Connor rode his bike. We ran up to the end of the path, and powerwalked back. The run ended up being about 12 min and that was enough for me today.

Running summary

I've been slowly building my running up again. I've been slack though and haven't been putting in every run session in this blog (which I really should do). I've done a couple of runs down to the beach, which reminds me of how lucky I am to be living where I am. I've also done some down at the usual lake path pushing both boys in the pram (which is getting to be hard work now they are getting bigger). I've done a few 20min runs, and now a couple of 25 min runs. I've also got a new pair of my running shoes (Brooks Addiction 8) which feel lovely.

Today I ran down at the Soccer park again. I walked the boys down in the double pram, put them in the middle with 2 soccer balls, plastic golf clubs, and plastic golf balls, and I ran around the perimeter. I did one lap with my GPS so I could work out how far 1 lap is, and it's 480m. I ended up doing 7.5 laps in 25 minutes, and kicked the balls around with the boys afterwards. A very enjoyable way to do a run. Though I definately find it harder running on the grass than on my usual paved path.

A family jog

Since Chris didn't have any work on today he decided to join me for my usual Wednesday run. We dropped Connor off at Preschool and drove stright to the lake. I pushed Clayton in the single pram and we walked to the double bridge, ran to the end of the path and back, and walked from the double bridge back to the car again. I felt good but we were running faster than I normally do and by the end of it was pretty stuffed. It was nice to have Chris come along too and a lovely way to start the day.

The rain strikes again

As I worked yesterday and couldn't paddle in the afternoon, I was going to go for my run when Chris got home last night. Well he got home at 5:30 and be darned it was already dark. What the *&%$ is going on there. How can it be already dark at 5:30pm? I think this winter is really going to frustrate me and play havoc with my training!!!
Anyway the plan was to get up this morning, feed the boys breakie and go for a nice early morning run down at the lake. Of course it started raining just as we were about to get in the car. Now this used to never worry me, as I like running in the rain and I just put a wet weather cover over the boys, but Connor is getting so tall now that he barely fits in the pram anymore and the rain cover hits him in the head now.
So I decided to go to the shops (which I was going to do afterwards), and hoped that on the way home the weather would be better and I'd get my run in. The thought had even occurred to me to go to the gym there and put the boys in the creche, but that would have turned out a bit expensive. Anyway after the shops the weather had cleared and I drove to the lake. It was looking a bit ominous as I started my warm-up walk, but I thought I'd be able to get back before it rained again. I was wrong. After a 5 min walk and 5 minutes into my run it started raining again. I turned around and ran back to the car (the boys thought the rain was fun and called out wheeeeeeeeeee, wheeeeeeeee the whole way back). Oh well at least I got a 10 minute run in.

A good run

First thing this morning I headed out to the lake with the 2 boys for a run. Connor wanted to sit in the pram today so I had the 2 boys in the double pram. They were both dressed in their Superman outfits (their choice) and we got lots of cute comments from other people.

I felt good straight away. I decided to just go slow (pushing over 30kg whilst running is hard enough), and I felt good the whole way. I feel ready to go for a bit longer next time.

Just not 'meant' to do a run

The World Masters Games information seminar last night was good. It was mostly stuff I knew anyway, but Jack & Jen, Dave, Leah, Craig & Marg Dodd were there too and it was great to catch up with them and hear their rundown of the Aussies (Australian Marathon Championships).

I had hoped to do a run this morning and the plan was to take Connor to preschool and go straight to the lake with Clayton for my run. Just as we got there it started to pour. Of course I didn't have my rain cover with me (it was fine when I left), so eventhough the rain wouldn't have bothered me (I actually like running in the rain), I didn't want to do that to Clay.

So I decided to go for a drive down to Woy Woy as I had to visit a shop there and thought that maybe I could go for a run somewhere different. As we drove there the weather cleared up and I was looking forward to running. Again, about 5 minutes before we got there it bucketted down again. Even after visiting a couple of shops I had to go to, it was still pouring.

I was driving home, resigned to not doing my run, when the weather cleared up remarkable and even became warm. Beauty...it was only 11am and I still had time to do a run at the lake before Clay's nap. I turned around to check on him in the back seat and he was sound asleep. I tickled hjs feet, but he was well and truly out to it. I guess I was just not meant to do a run today.

Back into running

After several weeks of not running due to my injured back, I finally headed out for a slow short jog this morning. I pushed Clayton in the pram and Connor rode his bike. The plan was to do 10 minutes and I was amazed at how quickly I had lost my running fitness. I felt ok, but was glad I didn't have to go any longer. I'll have to slowly increase my time/distance again over a couple of weeks. It's soooo frustrating to feel like this again, after I was going so well.

Monday's run

I ran on my own this afternoon as Mum's hip was still sore and she walked instead. I started off as usual, but by the half-way turnaround realised that I must have been going a bit faster than usual. I couldn't know for sure as I left my watch at home, but the rest of the run felt fast (for me). I pushed it a bit more than usual because I was feeling good and would love to have known what time I did.

Changed plans and a run down in Sydney 2

Due to various reasons I ended up staying down in Sydney (at Mum's place) last night. I couldn't do my Wednesday night paddle, but I took the double pram with me so I could still do my Thursday morning run. Mum's hip was still a bit sore so she pushed the boys in the pram whilst I ran. We did Mum's usual loop around the park (with paved track), and this time I did 2 laps. It's pretty hilly so a lot harder than my usual flat run at the lake. Anyway, I felt good and ran for 30 minutes (the first time I've run continuously for 30 min in about 5 months) and I did around 5km. Very happy with that.

A hot fast run with Mum

We went a bit earlier today because we thought the weather had cooled down. We were wrong. Anyway, we did the usual path and road run and it was hard the whole way. Mum was seriously moving (she's a little machine), and it was all I could do just to keep up. We did the run in 24:59 (min:sec) which is a personal best for us. A great sense of achievement to do that time in hot weather.

Friday run

I ended up down the lake a bit later than usual and it was warming up quickly. I was pushing Clayton in the pram and Connor was riding his bike so I decided to do just the path run today (I don't want Connor to start getting tired of riding again). Anyway - I felt crap. Even when walking for the warm up I just didn't feel right. But I persisted anyway, and eventhough I planned a short walk at the halfway turnaround point, when I got there I just kept running. Connor rides like a demon now (he's so quick and rides so well), and we did the run in 21:15 (min:sec). So considering I was pushing the pram I ended up doing a pretty quick run after all. Sometimes you just have to push through it I guess.

I need the running for my head

As Mum and I were on our return lap running along the lake, I said "I need the running for my head". Eventhough the Monday run's are perhaps the hardest for me to get motivated for (due to a hard day at work), mentally I really need them (due to a hard day at work).
We did the path and road lap in about 22 min and my average heart rate was 163bpm though it felt a lot harder than that. We both felt like it was hard today but we always feel better afterwards.

A wet jog and a bit of philosophy

I knew the weather was going to be miserable today by the forcast of heavy rain and 40km/hr winds. Early this morning it was pouring and gusty, but I still told the boys we were going for a run and that Connor would have to sit in the pram today as it was too wet to ride his bike. I got us all dressed and ready (boys in warm trackies and me in sports tights and Chris's wet weather golf vest) and waited for a break in the weather. As soon as it was only a drizzle I drove us all to the lake. I set the boys up in the Mountain Buggy Double Pram with the rain cover on and I headed off along the lake. It was drizzling the whole way to the end of the path, but on the way back it was barely spitting. It was actually an enjoyable run. The boys were dry and toasty in the pram, and I was dry and toasty in Chris's golf top. The heart rate monitor didn't pick up my heart rate properly today, so no measurements there, but I completed the path run in 21:31 (min:sec) which is great for pushing the double pram. It's really quite a good workout pushing 30kg in the pram with the rain cover acting as a nice wind break.

It got me thinking though, at what point does it become unreasonable/stupid to keep training. For some people just the look of rain is enough to call a session off. Others train in absolutely horrendous weather. I try to find middle ground. I think that you could pretty much come up with an excuse to miss any session (too hot, cold, wet, windy, sunny, tired, hungry, thirsty, etc). I also think it's silly to jeapordise your health by taking it too far and training in weather that will likely make you end up sick. For some people it seems to be a measure of how tough/serious/dedicated/focused a person is. Sometimes it's something to brag about and almost becomes a competition. I'm interested to hear others thoughts on this, and at what point they decide to call a session off.