There’s no such thing as a bad run…

Really…?
What makes up a bad run. Slow speed or pace. Niggly old or new injuries. Mental or emotional worries and stress?
We may certainly use these as a reason for a bad run, but I think it comes down to something a lot more simple. You had a plan or expectation in mind which didn’t meet the end result. So it may have been from being stressed about work or family, or an old injury seems to be coming back but these are also things that others have channelled and gotten themselves further or faster than previous runs.
When we put expectations on ourselves it can be our downfall. Not always, but I’d say it becomes a factor if it all ‘falls in a heap’.
My 10k plan had me doing a fast run recently and I thought, I don’t want to do my usual route for the distance, I feel like something more scenic and maybe doing a longer distance, not fast but at a good pace.
Talk about fall in a heap. The weather had been warm but wasn’t overly hot, the breeze was good and there was very little traffic. So why did my run not work out how I wanted.
I can say all the things I want, when in reality, I haven’t stretched or gotten as much effective rest as I should have. Those are why my foot twinged, my limbs felt heavy and I just had trouble moving.

I had wanted to run along the coast line, fairly flat and easy. Thinking along the lines of 12-15 instead of 10. Not a problem. Usually.
I just made it to 5k slowly (40 mins) before deciding to head home. Walking if I had to. The only problem is to get home I would have to do a 30km run, call for help or walk up a huge steep hill. Well there was no way I was doing 30k.
The message was sent out and I got 6km over the hill and down the side before a lift arrived.
Was this a bad run? Maybe. It was also me getting out there and doing 10 kms even if it wasn’t fast or terribly easy. So while disappointed I am still happy with my efforts.
There are no bad runs, there are only easy or hard runs. Any run you do is good. It is better than sitting on the couch at home.

Do you believe in bad runs or just runs that don’t quite work the way you hoped..?

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The 10km plan

You’ve run a marathon, you’ve run more halves than you can count (training runs included) and now you decided you want to have a training plan for 10km runs.

Whaaat???

The answer is pretty simple.
To help me get enjoyment out of running again.
Less pressure on performance, and more on fun.

At Ross last year when I had finished my half I made the decision. At least I think it it was at this point. It really doesn’t matter where or when I decided, I am just to very happy that I did.
I’ve taken all the pressure off me for this year.
2018 is about the 10km Run. One of my runs are longer than 10 (ok, city to casino is 11, but it’s so close, it really doesn’t count as more, does it?) with a few fivers thrown in for good measure. This means training is short and sweet, no long days with me recovering from a 25+ km run. Just me and basic runs, having fun.
Part of the decision was because I wanted to run each race that both Cadbury and Ross have (10, 21 and 42 + 5 for Cadbury) and have the full collection of medals.

So why do a plan for a distance I can almost run it in my sleep? After Point to Pinnacle, (which took more out of me than expected), add in the Christmas rush I have with work that starts about the same time, and my work partner needing medical time off, I was stuffed before I started and never really got a proper reprieve. (No wonder I got a cold the day we broke up for xmas).

Mojo – gone. Running oomph – gone. Enjoyment – kinda gone.

Dont get me wrong, I still itched to get out and do something I just couldn’t seem to make it happen, call it laziness, I just had no will to move.

The plan with the plan, was to help me get moving, I’m good at following rules if you will, so having something to be accountable with makes it easier to just get out and do it.

I’ve done up my years worth of races, hubby is happy with them, there is one weekend trip and a few long days coming up – he’s an awesome support to me driving 3 to 4 hours and then hang around while I run about with hundreds of others and then drive me home.
So it’s now time to get moving, and see what I can achieve with a year full of 10k training. Intervals, speed work and regular rest days. Aiming for consistent sub 60 mins, although finishing each race means I’ve still achieved what I wanted.

Check my race page for this years events and happy training.

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The toughest race is ahead….

Yep, it’s that time of the year again. Point to Pinnacle is coming up in just over a week (not 4 days like I thought) and I’m starting to get those nervous feels. The everyday regular nerves that come before something big happens. Nerves that happen in various degrees before a race – the bigger the race (or the first timeI do a particular race) the bigger the nerves.
I’m pretty confident of my chances in making it to the top despite several hazards along the way this year. I’ve had numerous injuries and my training has been all over the place. My mojo has come and gone and I’ve had moments of ‘negative Nancy’ being all over me. The distance is not the issue, it’s the incline that scares me.

Make it to the top!
Training – I am both excited and apprehensive about the coming week and my last few workouts. My incline training has been non-existent for a good month so I know, should we get to go all the way up, my legs are going to kill me the next day. The thought of being able to say ‘I did it!, I conquered the Mountain’ is what will keep me going, that mind over matter. The challenge to push myself to the limits. The weather has been good so the odds of getting to the top are in our favour.
Weather – I am in two minds about this – do I want it to be wet and miserable like last year, or fine and sunny. Wet and miserable means we will be taking the alternate route and doing 21kms to the Longley Pub, which would be a beautiful run up and over the hill, which would be an awesome and non stressfull finish.
Sunny, of course, means a trip to the top. Which I really want to achieve.
PB? – This of course, will happen if we get to all the way. Should we go up and over and finish at the pub..? then I will trot along like I did last year, and hope for the best. Running in that sort of rain, I am more worried about falling arse over and doing serious injury than making a PB. Like I said to a lady at work today, I don’t care if I come last, so long as I make it to the top before the bus has to pick me up. My goal is simply to finish.

Get to the start line.
Run the race.
Have fun.
Cross the finish line!

Getting to the start is half the battle. I will be reading over and (loosely) following my plan from last years run (even though I didn’t need it in the end). My splits for last years run was around the 70 min mark for the turnaround at 10k. That was right on time, about 35 mins per 5km. If I can manage that this year then it gives me 2 hours – another 120 mins to get 11 more kms under my belt. Doable..? I think so.

Train well, be consistent, Enjoy the run.
Jennifer

Marathon dreams

Eight months ago I had a dream. One my husband was happy to help me with. And we started right then and there – booking flights to my second marathon.
Today, I write that my marathon dreams are over. At this stage I highly doubt I will do another one. I won’t write it off completely, but right now it’s nowhere on my horizon.
Shortly after my DNF in January while I was in recovery mode I made a decision. Do two more marathons (GCAM and give Cadbury another go) then ‘retire’. Concentrate on halves and 10k runs. Races that are relatively easy to train for and don’t take up all my time and energy. As I’ve written before, training for a marathon takes a hell of a lot of time and effort. By the time you have finished the race you have been on the go for up to six months. Totally exhausted.

I am 3 weeks out from what would be my third marathon start and I have dropped to the half. Last week signalled the end of my marathon dream. It also signalled the start of a whole new chapter. One I will start on the Gold Coast, not in Hobart.

The history of this decision..? Week 7 of marathon training and I roll my ankle during a short run. Somehow I manage a tough but excellent timed 25k 3 days later. The following week I am planning a good 30k and all hell breaks loose. My body and head were fine, it was a beautiful day, the weather was perfect – especially a long run like I had planned. My foot on the other hand had other ideas. From 6k mark it just wanted to shut up shop and disappear. Every step was painful and it felt like my whole foot was a bruise. To touch it hurt like the proverbial. Putting my pride aside I made the call at 13k and finished fifteen of the slowest kilometres I have ever done.
It was at that point I knew I should probably not push the distance. Hubby agreed when he got home from work and it was as easy as that.

My feelings about all this… well I realised the next day how much stress I had put on myself to do it. Which on the day would have resulted in another injury or meant the day before I would change to the half and then be disappointed right when I should be feeling on top of the world. By making that decision now means I can spend 3 weeks preparing my best for 21kms.
I cancelled the app with my marathon training and will make small adjustments to the written version to finish the deal.
The aim is to keep doing the main runs (2 small/med and 1 long) while concentrating on strength and stretching in between days.

All this aside there is one very special reason why I want to finish this race, enjoy the run and have a blast. I want to arrive home on a high, enjoy the trip, cry tears of joy and embrace the atmosphere – it’s my husbands birthday on race day and he will be at home with our boys. If there was ever a non-selfish-most-supportive thing a person could do,this is it. Pay for your wife to travel interstate on her own to do something she loves. Now that is what I call support and honest to goodness deep love.
That is the reason I am happy to do the half not the full, to look after my body so it is healthy and able to love for a long time to come.

Keep training, look after yourself and do what you love, jennifer.

From strength to strength

I’ve always known I should do more strength training and this weekend just gone reinforced that fact. I’ll go into detail on the weekends shenanigans in another post, but first let me talk about my strength training or lack thereof.
Knowing you should do something and actually doing it are two completely different things. I’m sure there are things in all our lives where this rears its head occasionally. If it’s more often than that then you probably should do something about it. Like figure out how you are going to fit it in and make it a habit.
I’ve resisted doing extra training on top of my running because of where I work, 45+ hours and a reasonable amount of lifting is involved, and squats, or squat type movements anyway, and because I can be incredibly lazy. Can’t be bothered. It’s too hard. All excuses, not reasons why I can’t do it. And then came my latest big race. My second marathon. It was not good (another post about this, remember). I was reminded of what I had said I would do, and realised what happened would not have, or may not have been so harsh if I had been dong more.

This years goal was to get more definition in my limbs, strengthen my core, and get my glutes working. All this will help my running, making me stronger, more fluid.
Now I know what I am like when starting a new regime (aside from running), I tend to go gung-ho, flat-out, bull at a gate…you get the drift….wearing myself out after only a few days. Now this is not the any to do it, if you’re going to make anything a habit, to keep doing it without even thinking, it takes approximately two weeks. And that is exactly what I want to happen. For it to become such a part of my day that I spend 20 mins like I would get changed, make a drink. Second nature.

My regime is going to be easy and not really taxing, in that I won’t be doing an hour workout each day. The benefit in this, while not exerting myself, means I will feel comfortable, I am more likely to keep it going and over time the body will change. I will do a pretty similar routine for two weeks, and then when I’m used to that and my body says ‘oh, I know what we’re doing here’ I’ll change it. Either add something in or do something completely different.

My routine will have certain aspects to them. The bits I want to work on. Now I know that just working on those areas will not make it all toned and lean on its own, (ie: to tone the tummy, you have to do more than just crunches) so by making it part of a whole I am tricking the body as such. My goal areas to start with are butt and thighs (good for running and strengthening the knees), core/ab work and my triceps. Not a fan of my tuckshop arms, and my biceps have more definition, so a little evening up with be nice.

I’ve done three days and am feeling ok about it, only time will tell.

Keep moving, keep motivated and have a great day.

Exercise that is not running (getting started)

There is one door in my house that is nearly half covered in A4 paper with several body part workouts. Arms, legs, abs, the LBD workout, a full body challenge.. you name it I’ve printed it out and it’s up there ready for me to do something about it.
I know that running (and diet) alone is going to stop the jiggly bits, give me toned legs and arms, fix the belly flab and give me a strength outside of distance I just have trouble getting started. I know that getting started is the hardest part. And it is never as hard as you convince yourself it will be. It’s about looking at the big picture. Seeing the end results. Imagining that feeling of having done it. Knowing that you did it. You pushed through (I feel psyched up just writing this and ready to leave you hanging so I can go do it..)!

I bought myself a women’s running magazine yesterday. Thinking maybe it will help me push through that barrier I have in my head. Rather than looking at what was on the cover I picked one that looked pretty, that looked more like my calibre. Not advertising shakes and supplements. No professional looking mumbo jumbo. Just good old information. And inside. Holy wow. So much great stuff. Lots of new workouts (to put on the wall) and some great recipes as well. There is one I really want to try to will post about it.

It got me thinking – these new mini workouts. How do I go about organising what I do and when. Do I try to make them a daily thing. Or like a friend does and have a leg day, arm day etc. Have the whole body workout I do everyday, so when I’m not able to run I’m not lost or struggling.
Aside from my runs which take from 30mins – these workouts are like 10 min jobs. I can do them anytime I want.
I found one in the magazine that I would like to fall out of bed and do. The Good Morning Exercise! Not the full 3 sets, just one set to pick me up first thing in the morning. Especially on those day I need to run out the door. A little kick-start.
On days I run I can then adjust it to having a body part day.
The last two weeks of May will be super busy with definitely no time for a proper run which means I have to get this into a habit. And now! Where to start?

My workouts on the wall as we speak – dancers legs beginner arms, simple Abs workout, 30 day LDB challenge, 21 day arm challenge, 30 day all body workout x 2. To add to that the Skinny jeans workout (4 weeks), Booty camp and the shoulder shapers.
I need to find that thing to help me push past this mind fuck barrier of getting started. Getting started sucks.

Sometime later after I went off and googled ‘how to set up an exercise routine’ … and was subsequently overwhelmed by the response. There are many ways – which all are dependant on what goals you want to meet – to set up your own routine.
I like pictures so went through the images folder to see if something caught my eye. The thing with me is that I get bored with doing the same thing all the time. Running wont bore me as there is always times, distance and pace to challenge me. So making each day a set thing will probably piss me off eventually.
What I found though, was a neat concept. Probably done by someone similar to me and/or a million times before. Coloured popsicle sticks with an exercise written on them. For each day, pick one of each colour and do what it says. This way each day I wont know what is coming and am more likely to be willing.
Tomorrow I shall pick up said sticks and start filling them out.