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.

Changed plans and a run down in Sydney

I won't go into the long story but the quick version is that I got casual work on Wednesday and ended up driving down to Mum's house straight after work. This meant that my weeks training plan (ie paddle on Wednesday night and run Thursday morning) had to change. Mum kindly offered me the opportunity this morning to go for a run on my own whilst she minded the boys. I really am so lucky to have such a supportive family. There is no way I'd be able to be doing all this training if it wasn't for them. So as early as possible I headed off towards Mum's usual running path. It was only 7am but very hot already. I ended up doing a 25min run (plus warm up and cool down) and covered around 4km. This is probably the best run I've done in ages. Still a long way to go - I know, but I'm improving well. When I got back to the house I looked so hot. I'm really not a pretty exerciser. I go red and blotchy and really look quite terrible, but today I was dripping in sweat and it didn't stop for almost an hour after I had stopped exercising. But, it was sooooo worth it!

Run with Mum

Today was my first 'real' day back at work after the holidays. I had a 5 period day (full day) and barely time to eat. When I got home I was stuffed, and knew that by the time it was cool enough to go for a run I wouldn't want to go. Well I was wrong. Somehow at 5:30pm I just got off the chair and convinced Mum to go for a run with me. It was still hot but bareable. We did the usual lake path and it felt hard, but we did it in 21:05 and my average heart rate was 171bpm. I guess the huge improvement is due to me being able to run without pushing the pram, but still I was impressed. When we got back home we were both happy that we made the effort.

Kayak training session - intervals

Tonights session almost didn't happen, with Chris unexpectedly having to work back. I had been looking forward to the session and had it all planned. The aim was to get down to the river early and get a nice long warm up in before Anton got there, and then to do some interval training. Anyway, poor Chris called and said that he had to stay back until something was completed. He was not happy, and either was I. Anyway I had reluctantly resigned myself to missing the session, when he called to say he was on his way home and would I still like to go for my paddle. What a trooper. I was tempted just to give it a miss since I had already told Anton I wouldn't be there. But I thought to myself..."This is the difference between being successful or not. It is the people who train in bad weather or when they don't feel like it, that are the best." So I went...and what a great session!!! We were there later than normal but it was still hot, windy, choppy, and not very inviting, but again...these are the sessions that make you better. This is what we did...
3 km warm up (bridge and back)
700m 'fast' (pontoon to powerlines), 700m recovery *decided it was too windy and glary so changed the interval location
400m 'fast'(pontoon to blue boat), 400m recovery,
400m fast, 400m recovery,
400m fast, 400m recovery,
3km cool down (bridge and back)
So it worked out to be about a 10km session all up. I felt strong in the intervals. Anton had a hard time keeping up in his Mirage (especially in that wind and heat). He said that I seem to be "getting faster in that thing", which I think I am. I can go hard now without having to stop my rhythm to regain balance or brace. There's still a long way to go, but I'm starting to see the improvements in the K1. At the end of the session I felt a great sense of achievement. I completed a hard interval session and felt strong. A great way to get the endorphins going.

A Hot Jog with No Music

Chris kindly offered to look after the boys this afternoon so I could go for my run. I always appreciate being able to go for a run on my own, and was looking forward to using my Mp3 player and listening to my music. Well, here's a lesson...always check your batteries before you go. When I got the player out and tried to turn it on, the empty battery sign came on. Damn! So I headed off for my run without my music, and realised that it was very hot. I knew it was hot before I started, but as I got jogging I realised just how hot and humid it was. Yuk - won't do that again. I was the only person out on the bike track that was jogging. I guess all the other runners had enough sense to wait until it got a bit cooler. Well it was very tough and I felt like giving in several times, but didn't. I think that when you give up, it doesn't do too much harm physically, but more so mentally. I think that every time you tough it out, it makes you a bit tougher mentally too. I finished the planned 5 min walk, 10 min run, 2 min walk, 10 min run, 5 min walk and stretch. Stuffed, hot, dripping in sweat, horribly red and blotchy in the face, but satisfied.