This month has been particularly good to me, I think the cold dry weather really helps me to cope better. When I compare how I felt in summertime to how I feel now, the difference is huge.
This month has been my best yet! If I run 6km this evening, which I will, then my monthly total will be 88km! I'm normally running 6km per training session at the moment and I'm trying to do a 10km every 3 weekends. Sometimes this doesn't work out. I wanted to do one next weekend but was roped into helping out with the race as our club is hosting. So I ended up doing a "slow" 10km yesterday morning. What was really cool was that I really had thought it would be a slow one, like 90mins total. Even with a 2min rest interval and a running time of 45s the total time for the 10km was 79mins.
Upcoming runs/races/events that are already planned are: the 702 Walk the Talk 30km walk, and the Spar 10km Ladies race. But there will need to be a few more 10km soon and then I will need to look at 10-15km races aswell, so that I can get closer to the 21km mark. However considering yesterday's run, I'm sure that I would be able to maintain that pace for a long time and that would mean finishing a 21 in 2:46. I think the cutoff time for the 2 oceans half marathon is 3hrs, but if I'm wrong and it's 2,5hrs then I think I should be able to get to a pace that I can maintain to acheive that time quite easily. I must just make sure I can do the distance.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Saturday, June 21, 2008
A week away from the office
I spent most of this week in the county's "playground" Durban. It was cold and wet and there were an unbelievable number of traffic lights out of order! But Durban is great as it seems to have no traffic, atleast nothing compared to the M3 in Cape Town or the N1 between Joburg and Pretoria.
I was there to run a robotics competition for school kids. On the whole it was alright, and the competition was mostly a success. I think next year will be much better if we are kept on as the technical team.
Whats the point? I don't travel and exercise well. Luckily this time it was only 1 run missed. I felt really shoddy on Friday after a late Thursday night prize giving and a 6:30 flight back to Gauteng, but I went intending only to walk 4km but ended up being encouraged to do a normal 6km. As usual I felt much better afterwards.
So after a "mamoth" 25km week last week I only managed a measly 12 this week, but considering I was clocking 12 a week 3 months ago, as I was only doing 4km three times a week it's still pretty cool.
I still can't get my "Running Total" updated as I still haven't properly sorted out my log book. There are certain days on which I'm not sure I ran, I can't remember not running, but I can't be sure. Anyway thats pretty much all I have this week. I think I must find another 10km to do on the 5th of July and I must definitely enter the Spar ladies 10km... cause it's fun.
I was there to run a robotics competition for school kids. On the whole it was alright, and the competition was mostly a success. I think next year will be much better if we are kept on as the technical team.
Whats the point? I don't travel and exercise well. Luckily this time it was only 1 run missed. I felt really shoddy on Friday after a late Thursday night prize giving and a 6:30 flight back to Gauteng, but I went intending only to walk 4km but ended up being encouraged to do a normal 6km. As usual I felt much better afterwards.
So after a "mamoth" 25km week last week I only managed a measly 12 this week, but considering I was clocking 12 a week 3 months ago, as I was only doing 4km three times a week it's still pretty cool.
I still can't get my "Running Total" updated as I still haven't properly sorted out my log book. There are certain days on which I'm not sure I ran, I can't remember not running, but I can't be sure. Anyway thats pretty much all I have this week. I think I must find another 10km to do on the 5th of July and I must definitely enter the Spar ladies 10km... cause it's fun.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Good one!
So I ran the "Silver Oaks Crossing : Race for faith" 9.3km this morning. When I got out of bed I could have sworn I was insane, when I got out of the car into the crisp... no crisp sounds too nice... the biting morning air, I knew I deserved to be in an asylumn, but 7:30 came, really late for the start of a race and we ran it.
My watch beeped away merrily and kept us well paced. I'm currently runnning intervals of 40/60 seconds, thats 40 running and 60 walking. The combined pace is quite good at 7:13, about 67mins for the 9.3km. I'm quite happy with that, if the race was another 700m long I probably would have made it in about 72/73mins. Which I think is a significant improvement on 76mins.
I'm unable to write a proper log this week and haven't been able for a while as my log book went missing. I think I've figured out what happened. It fell out of my bag while I was on my motorbike. Luckily it's quite new so not much data is lost.
I recieved a "1000km with Run Walk For Life" certificate at a little prize giving on Wednesday, which considering everything I think is quite fantastic. More than 600km of it has been in the past year. The other distance was from when I was less enthusiastic in Cape Town.
I'm going through a bit of an "up" at the moment, I'm feeling strong and "fast" and I feel like I'm definitely going to get there. Running a 10km and not really being tired afterwards just lets me know that I'm doing this thing right and not hurting myself. I think I want to do atleast 2 more 10km runs and then I will give a 15km a try. We are currently running 6km three times a week and will probably push that up to 7km in the next month or two. Then I think I'll be happy that I can do a little more than double that in a race.
Sorry if I'm rambling, but I'm just putting some thoughts down. I'm a little frustrated with my watch at the moment. My Polar S610i, which I think is a fantastic training watch on the whole, lets me down in races. I set intervals so that I can move at a comfortable pace. Unfortunately it seems that it can only handle 30 interval repetitions! So after 50 minutes (30 * 100 seconds) my watch decides it is time for me to cool down. So I have to stop it completely and restart! This not only stuffs up my intervals but also messes up my full race time! I wrote to Polar to find out if there is a fix, I'll post what the result is.
What else I can tell you is that including this morning I did 25.3km this week and from now on I should be doing about 18km a week, which I find to be quite hectic. Thats my two cents worth for now, I hope to update my "Running Total" with an accurate number as soon as I have replaced my log book. I think it should be at about 700km by now though.
My watch beeped away merrily and kept us well paced. I'm currently runnning intervals of 40/60 seconds, thats 40 running and 60 walking. The combined pace is quite good at 7:13, about 67mins for the 9.3km. I'm quite happy with that, if the race was another 700m long I probably would have made it in about 72/73mins. Which I think is a significant improvement on 76mins.
I'm unable to write a proper log this week and haven't been able for a while as my log book went missing. I think I've figured out what happened. It fell out of my bag while I was on my motorbike. Luckily it's quite new so not much data is lost.
I recieved a "1000km with Run Walk For Life" certificate at a little prize giving on Wednesday, which considering everything I think is quite fantastic. More than 600km of it has been in the past year. The other distance was from when I was less enthusiastic in Cape Town.
I'm going through a bit of an "up" at the moment, I'm feeling strong and "fast" and I feel like I'm definitely going to get there. Running a 10km and not really being tired afterwards just lets me know that I'm doing this thing right and not hurting myself. I think I want to do atleast 2 more 10km runs and then I will give a 15km a try. We are currently running 6km three times a week and will probably push that up to 7km in the next month or two. Then I think I'll be happy that I can do a little more than double that in a race.
Sorry if I'm rambling, but I'm just putting some thoughts down. I'm a little frustrated with my watch at the moment. My Polar S610i, which I think is a fantastic training watch on the whole, lets me down in races. I set intervals so that I can move at a comfortable pace. Unfortunately it seems that it can only handle 30 interval repetitions! So after 50 minutes (30 * 100 seconds) my watch decides it is time for me to cool down. So I have to stop it completely and restart! This not only stuffs up my intervals but also messes up my full race time! I wrote to Polar to find out if there is a fix, I'll post what the result is.
What else I can tell you is that including this morning I did 25.3km this week and from now on I should be doing about 18km a week, which I find to be quite hectic. Thats my two cents worth for now, I hope to update my "Running Total" with an accurate number as soon as I have replaced my log book. I think it should be at about 700km by now though.
Friday, May 30, 2008
What the cardiologist said about my atrial flutter...
This post is more than 2 months late as my last cardiologist appointment was before the Mpumalanga bike ride in April, but it was written already, not sure why I didn't put it up, so here it is for posterity sake. The "about the atrial flutter" thing is actually to get more hits so if you're reading this as a link to find out more about atrial flutter, I do have it, read more about my cardiac history to see what I'm doing about it.
I was a little apprehensive going back to the cardiologist, it was 6 months down the line and when we parted last time he had hinted at a possible implanted device. I'm up for most things but I don't want to be THAT dependent on technology. So if he did suggest surgery I was gonna go running back to my old doctor and ask him for a second opinion.
Mildly paranoid as I am, I also had visions of him telling me that I've been abusing my body... I must stop exercising... I have deteriorated etc. But those weren't to be the results I would receive from him.
As per usual I went for an ECG where I still found it strange to sit while she stuck the, not so sticky, electrodes all over my chest. I watched as my heart rate fluctuated between 60 and 75. Somehow she picked a set of waves somewhere in the middle and I was done.
After waiting for what seemed like forever, considering the fortune my medical aid is paying for this appointment, I finally got to see the doctor. He was incessantly answering the phone, but after umming and ahing and taking what seemed like an awful amount of time doing the hands on physical examination...checking the pulse, and, I assume, water retention in my ankles, then listening to my heart from all sorts of positions, then listening to my breathing, again I assume for water on the lungs. Finally he tapped my on my back, which I assume has something to do with my kidneys... need to read more about why.
Then he did the echo cardiogram... it continually surprises me that he does it himself... anyway the good news is that he found my ejection fraction(EF) to be between 44 and 46%. I'm not sure how accurate the measurement techniques are but he seemed quite confident that there was an improvement. The thing is that I can't say that I FEEL an improvement. Sure I go about my day much like I assume any other "normal" person does. I work a full day, go for a run and then go to bed between 9 and 11 without being completely exhausted. But I've felt this way for ages... what does a 10% increase in heart function (previous EF was 36%) do, or feel like.
So I'm going to continue being an eternal pessimist and assume that the last EF of 36% was under measured and this EF of 44% was over measured, and assume that I'm somewhere in between at about 40%. I wish I knew exactly what my EF was when I was first diagnosed 9yrs ago, but considering climbing a flight of stairs was a problem I'm sure there is a huge improvement. And then if I look at my exercise log book, last May I started out doing very short runs, now I do 5km three times a week... I sometimes find the run itself tough, but I recover fine. So maybe there is a definite improvement... I will convince my self when I do my first half marathon.
First I need to survive next week's 400km bicycle tour...
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Ok ok!! I know I must be more consistent!
So I haven't posted for more than a month, terrible I know, but in all honesty I have been REALLY busy. I try to blog on weekends and I honestly haven't managed to get to a PC on the weekend for ages!
The good news is that I have been pretty consistent with my running. Except for a week in the Western Cape when I went to visit my sister and her new baby... oh and a week where I did the cycle ride mentioned in my previous post... IT WAS TORTURE by the way... otherwise I have been consistently exercising three times a week, recently more.
So here's what I've been up to in brief:
Cardiologist visit
I actually wrote a post which I must put up later this week. But the jist was that my echo indicated a significant improvement in Ejection Fraction. I'm always a little sceptical because I know that you can have errors in measurement, but it was good news.
Great Mpumalanga bike ride
Scenery: Fantastic!
People: Awesome!
Route: Hell
The route advertised and mentioned in my last post was SO not the route followed! Because there were so few entrants the organisers had to use smaller venues and so the route had to change. I wish they had told me because I probably would not have gone. I completed day 1, 6 and 7, for the rest I took the sag wagon at some point as the hills and the distance were just too great. My body was saying "dude, you're pushing too hard" by the last day I had a bit of a cold and I decided not to ride.
Do I regret going? No.
Would I do the same route again? No.
Would I go on another cycling holiday? Very likely yes.
Western Cape visit
Managed to get in one 15km ride and a 2,5hr hike up table mountain. It's always cool to come back and appreciate what you've left behind. But I should have done more and I felt it for a week or two when I got back.
Since then
Somewhere along the line I realised that I have less than a year left to get to my goal of a 21km, so I kindof decided I need to commit to some longer runs than just doing a 5km 3 times a week. So I've decided with my training partner that we will do atleast 1 10km run a month, and as those get easier or quicker we will start to do some slightly longer runs aswell.
I also decided that I would like to lose a bit of my belly so I'm following a mild weight training regime. So far I am down to my long time minimum weight of 74kg's I hope to get to about 70, I'll be happy with that.
So we did the first 10km yesterday and I thought I wasn't ready for it. It seemed like an easy route and as I got to the finish I realised I had lots left over. I completed it in 1hr16 which is fine for me although under 70mins would be much better, but I'm not looking for a time, my first priority is always just to finish. Time will look after itself.
I feel like perhaps the extra strength in my legs... and perhaps the rest of my body... helped me out yesterday, so I'm going to continue with the weights as long as it's helping me to do so.
I also looked online for info about "alternative" treatments for heart conditions. I've seen Carnitine and Co-Enzyme Q10 mentioned regularly so I will try a small dose of this for the next two months. Hopefully I feel more energetic and these items will help my heart get stronger aswell.
Summary
Basically if you thought I had gotten lazy you are wrong, I've been working hard, sometimes feeling like I'm getting nowhere, but whether I'm going through an optimistic or pessimistic phase (I know I do!! LOTS) I'm still keeping active and getting slowly closer to my goal. Watch this space :)
The good news is that I have been pretty consistent with my running. Except for a week in the Western Cape when I went to visit my sister and her new baby... oh and a week where I did the cycle ride mentioned in my previous post... IT WAS TORTURE by the way... otherwise I have been consistently exercising three times a week, recently more.
So here's what I've been up to in brief:
Cardiologist visit
I actually wrote a post which I must put up later this week. But the jist was that my echo indicated a significant improvement in Ejection Fraction. I'm always a little sceptical because I know that you can have errors in measurement, but it was good news.
Great Mpumalanga bike ride
Scenery: Fantastic!
People: Awesome!
Route: Hell
The route advertised and mentioned in my last post was SO not the route followed! Because there were so few entrants the organisers had to use smaller venues and so the route had to change. I wish they had told me because I probably would not have gone. I completed day 1, 6 and 7, for the rest I took the sag wagon at some point as the hills and the distance were just too great. My body was saying "dude, you're pushing too hard" by the last day I had a bit of a cold and I decided not to ride.
Do I regret going? No.
Would I do the same route again? No.
Would I go on another cycling holiday? Very likely yes.
Western Cape visit
Managed to get in one 15km ride and a 2,5hr hike up table mountain. It's always cool to come back and appreciate what you've left behind. But I should have done more and I felt it for a week or two when I got back.
Since then
Somewhere along the line I realised that I have less than a year left to get to my goal of a 21km, so I kindof decided I need to commit to some longer runs than just doing a 5km 3 times a week. So I've decided with my training partner that we will do atleast 1 10km run a month, and as those get easier or quicker we will start to do some slightly longer runs aswell.
I also decided that I would like to lose a bit of my belly so I'm following a mild weight training regime. So far I am down to my long time minimum weight of 74kg's I hope to get to about 70, I'll be happy with that.
So we did the first 10km yesterday and I thought I wasn't ready for it. It seemed like an easy route and as I got to the finish I realised I had lots left over. I completed it in 1hr16 which is fine for me although under 70mins would be much better, but I'm not looking for a time, my first priority is always just to finish. Time will look after itself.
I feel like perhaps the extra strength in my legs... and perhaps the rest of my body... helped me out yesterday, so I'm going to continue with the weights as long as it's helping me to do so.
I also looked online for info about "alternative" treatments for heart conditions. I've seen Carnitine and Co-Enzyme Q10 mentioned regularly so I will try a small dose of this for the next two months. Hopefully I feel more energetic and these items will help my heart get stronger aswell.
Summary
Basically if you thought I had gotten lazy you are wrong, I've been working hard, sometimes feeling like I'm getting nowhere, but whether I'm going through an optimistic or pessimistic phase (I know I do!! LOTS) I'm still keeping active and getting slowly closer to my goal. Watch this space :)
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Cycling is still easier... I think.
Because I'm going to do this big cycle ride I've been riding twice a week, more to get my butt used to the saddle more than anything else. But what has become quite clear to me again is that I find cycling a lot easier than running. I don't know why but I suspect that it's because while running you are continually lifting your body of the ground, energy that is expended which doesn't move you forward. Perhaps I run badly. With cycling all your effort goes into forward motion, so perhaps thats why it seems easier to me.
About the Great Mpumalanga Bike Ride that I'm doing early next month, I thought I'd give an over view for those of you who think I'm mad. I know the ride will be quite hilly, but considering we have an entire day to get to the next camp site, I hope I can take it slow enough not to be entirely exhausted at the end of every day. I'm sure the scenery will make up for the effort required to get from site to site. I'm going to try to keep a diary, which I might post when I get back.
The route is as follows:
Day 1 Saturday 5 April - Nelspruit to Sabie 45km
Day 2 Sunday - Sabie to Lydenberg 43km
Day 3 Monday - Lydenberg to Brandraai 62km
Day 4 Tuesday - Brandraai to Pilgrems Rest 77km
Day 5 Wednesday - Rest day at Pilgrims Rest, I think I might need this day!!
Day 6 Thursday - Pilgrims Rest to Hazy View 47km
Day 7 Friday - Hazy View to White River 38km
Day 8 Saturday - White River to Nelspruit 20km
Ok so now that I put it down like that and look at it... and look at it again I'm a bit scared!! But I think I'm pretty fit, if anything I'll just fall into bed every evening and sleep like I've never slept before. Oh and it's a camping trip so no terribly comfy bed... I think I'm going to invest in one of those expensive self inflatinf airmattresses.
I would have liked to take a GPS to record this, alas my GPS willl run out of juice after the first day. Perhaps I can rig up some kind of charger so I can record the route... and especially the contour!!
I'm sure this won't be my last post about this, I'm getting quite excited.
About the Great Mpumalanga Bike Ride that I'm doing early next month, I thought I'd give an over view for those of you who think I'm mad. I know the ride will be quite hilly, but considering we have an entire day to get to the next camp site, I hope I can take it slow enough not to be entirely exhausted at the end of every day. I'm sure the scenery will make up for the effort required to get from site to site. I'm going to try to keep a diary, which I might post when I get back.
The route is as follows:
Day 1 Saturday 5 April - Nelspruit to Sabie 45km
Day 2 Sunday - Sabie to Lydenberg 43km
Day 3 Monday - Lydenberg to Brandraai 62km
Day 4 Tuesday - Brandraai to Pilgrems Rest 77km
Day 5 Wednesday - Rest day at Pilgrims Rest, I think I might need this day!!
Day 6 Thursday - Pilgrims Rest to Hazy View 47km
Day 7 Friday - Hazy View to White River 38km
Day 8 Saturday - White River to Nelspruit 20km
Ok so now that I put it down like that and look at it... and look at it again I'm a bit scared!! But I think I'm pretty fit, if anything I'll just fall into bed every evening and sleep like I've never slept before. Oh and it's a camping trip so no terribly comfy bed... I think I'm going to invest in one of those expensive self inflatinf airmattresses.
I would have liked to take a GPS to record this, alas my GPS willl run out of juice after the first day. Perhaps I can rig up some kind of charger so I can record the route... and especially the contour!!
I'm sure this won't be my last post about this, I'm getting quite excited.
Week 11 Exercise Log
Enjoyed this week a lot, the weather seems to be cooling off and I'm finding I have more energy. Also cycled on Sunday and Tuesday in preparation for the bike ride next month. I put the running interval up by 5 seconds which actually makes a surprising difference to the average pace that I end up running.
Monday 10 March 2008
Distance: 5.5km
Total time: 40:13
Intervals: 35/60
Pace: 7:29 min/km
Average HR:
Route: Spiral
Wednesday 5 March 2008
Distance: 5.1km
Total time: 38:00
Intervals: 35/60
Pace: 7:27 min/km
Average HR:
Route: Nicholson
Friday 29 February 2008
Distance: 5km
Total time: 40
Intervals: Didn't have a watch
Pace: 8 min/km
Average HR:
Route: Lynwood
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Training plans
As it seems to be going better again, I think I must think of how fast I want to be going and then keep it there if possible. The problem is that there are two aims that I have in mind, going a little faster and going a lot further. The question is how to do both?
While running yesterday I think I came up with a plan. At the moment I can comfortably complete 4, 5, 6 and at a push even 10km. Problem is that my ultimate goal, to complete the Two Oceans Half Marathon, means that I need to be able to run at a pace faster than 8.5km for the entire race. At the moment I'm quite close to that, so I think I need to speed up a bit. I would be more comfortable at a pace of about 7min/km. That should have me finishing in about 2hrs 15, with a lot of time left till the three hour cuttoff. Question is how to get there and maintian it for greater distances.
What I'm going to do is stick to my "style" of running, where I run and walk. At the moment my walking time is 1min and my running time is 30s. This allows an average pace of around 8min/km, which in itself will be fast enough to allow me to complete the race in time, but I don't want to cut it too fine. Then at a certain training distance, 5/6km at the moment I will keep the walking time the same and slowly increase my running time till I reach the 7min/km mark. Only once I can comfortably run that distance at 7min/km will I start training to go another km.
It's pretty simple, but it makes sense to me and should allow me to progress without hurting myself. I will try to keep doing a monthly 10km race aswell to keep track of my progress. Once I can run a 10km in under 70 minutes then I will start looking to run slightly longer distances. A great suggestion from one of the Run Walk For Life coaches was that in a race if you can find 2 km markers you can run from one back to the previous one, and then continue running, this immediately adds 2km to your race distance, which is a great way to start moving towards the final goal of 21.1km.
While running yesterday I think I came up with a plan. At the moment I can comfortably complete 4, 5, 6 and at a push even 10km. Problem is that my ultimate goal, to complete the Two Oceans Half Marathon, means that I need to be able to run at a pace faster than 8.5km for the entire race. At the moment I'm quite close to that, so I think I need to speed up a bit. I would be more comfortable at a pace of about 7min/km. That should have me finishing in about 2hrs 15, with a lot of time left till the three hour cuttoff. Question is how to get there and maintian it for greater distances.
What I'm going to do is stick to my "style" of running, where I run and walk. At the moment my walking time is 1min and my running time is 30s. This allows an average pace of around 8min/km, which in itself will be fast enough to allow me to complete the race in time, but I don't want to cut it too fine. Then at a certain training distance, 5/6km at the moment I will keep the walking time the same and slowly increase my running time till I reach the 7min/km mark. Only once I can comfortably run that distance at 7min/km will I start training to go another km.
It's pretty simple, but it makes sense to me and should allow me to progress without hurting myself. I will try to keep doing a monthly 10km race aswell to keep track of my progress. Once I can run a 10km in under 70 minutes then I will start looking to run slightly longer distances. A great suggestion from one of the Run Walk For Life coaches was that in a race if you can find 2 km markers you can run from one back to the previous one, and then continue running, this immediately adds 2km to your race distance, which is a great way to start moving towards the final goal of 21.1km.
Week 10 Exercise Log
Took things very easy this week, except for on Wednesday's time trial which I pushed just a little bit. I think last time I did a 10km I didn't give myself enough rest afterwards, so this week I only did 4kms every day. Although on Sunday I went for an hours ride and on Tuesday I went for another 45min ride, so I guess I had quite a busy week. Work is a little stressful at the moment, so it's probably good to be getting some more exercise. I am reminded that I find cycling a lot easier than running, but the risks of cycling seem to be greater, so I'd rather run for now...besides I have a goal to achieve.
Monday 3 March 2008
Distance: 4km
Total time: 30:28
Intervals: 30/60
Pace: 8:04 min/km
Average HR: 139
Route: Boys High
Wednesday 5 March 2008
Distance: 4km
Total time: 28:14
Intervals: 45/60
Pace: 7:12 min/km
Average HR: 146
Route: Time Trial Clockwise
Friday 29 February 2008
Distance: 4.02km
Total time: 31:59
Intervals: 30/60
Pace: 7:57 min/km
Average HR: 139
Route: Clarke
What's cool for me about this week is that I'm back below the 8min/km mark. I'll try and keep it there
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Deloitte Pretoria 10km race
I wasn't expecting much from this race as I really haven't been feeling strong lately. We decided to do it because we are attempting to do one 10km every month, this is the one for March... I missed February as I was sick and I will miss the April one as I will be away on the bike ride.
For those of you who know that my creative writing sucks scroll down tow paragraphs.
As for the race, as always I hated getting out of bed. It was so warm and comfortable... I pressed the snooze button and rolled over. My conscience pricked me and two minutes later I was out of bed, walking into walls and doors etc. This is where everything got forgotten. I took my meds, took a bight of an energy bar, drank some energade and realised I had no apples... I looked at a very miserable looking banana... when it smiled back, with a gooey grin, I threw it in the bin. I threw some rediculously short shorts on...the slightly less short shorts had been destroyed in a garage walkby... never mind. I was supposed to put my licence number on my shirt the night before but I rather went to bed. Ofcourse that meant I forgot the safety pins. I got fetched by an overly keen and chirpy lady from run walk for life two seconds later, meaning that I forgot my heart rate monitor and GPS.
Then instead of walking to the start, which was literally three hundred meters from my bed, we drove to a secure parking lot... I should have suspected something when the walk to the race start was DOWNHILL all the way, I was still asleep. We got our numbers and they had safety pins! YAY.
Ambled to the start, we were there for not more than five minutes when the gun went off and everyone surged ahead. I felt pretty good most of the way, because I had forgotten my watch I kept a count of how many paces we had run and walked. Depending on how I felt we ran for longer or shorter usually longer on the downhills and shorter on the uphills. All in all it was a good race, I didn't feel particularly tired and we finished in a not too terrible 1:19. Granted it's 2 minutes slower than the last race, but then I was quite sick three weeks ago!
Then came the comical ending, after collecting our goddie bags and taking full advantage of the run walk for life hospitality tent, we began the great trek back to the car. The temptation to rag Melinda about the UPHILL and the distance to her car was impossible to resist. When she couldn't get back to her car because the code on the gate had changed... well living this down will take a LONG time.
But it was all good fun, and whats more is that at the end of the 10km I didn't feel dead tire, I think I could have pushed on for another few km... maybe the 21 is doable afterall.
For those of you who know that my creative writing sucks scroll down tow paragraphs.
As for the race, as always I hated getting out of bed. It was so warm and comfortable... I pressed the snooze button and rolled over. My conscience pricked me and two minutes later I was out of bed, walking into walls and doors etc. This is where everything got forgotten. I took my meds, took a bight of an energy bar, drank some energade and realised I had no apples... I looked at a very miserable looking banana... when it smiled back, with a gooey grin, I threw it in the bin. I threw some rediculously short shorts on...the slightly less short shorts had been destroyed in a garage walkby... never mind. I was supposed to put my licence number on my shirt the night before but I rather went to bed. Ofcourse that meant I forgot the safety pins. I got fetched by an overly keen and chirpy lady from run walk for life two seconds later, meaning that I forgot my heart rate monitor and GPS.
Then instead of walking to the start, which was literally three hundred meters from my bed, we drove to a secure parking lot... I should have suspected something when the walk to the race start was DOWNHILL all the way, I was still asleep. We got our numbers and they had safety pins! YAY.
Ambled to the start, we were there for not more than five minutes when the gun went off and everyone surged ahead. I felt pretty good most of the way, because I had forgotten my watch I kept a count of how many paces we had run and walked. Depending on how I felt we ran for longer or shorter usually longer on the downhills and shorter on the uphills. All in all it was a good race, I didn't feel particularly tired and we finished in a not too terrible 1:19. Granted it's 2 minutes slower than the last race, but then I was quite sick three weeks ago!
Then came the comical ending, after collecting our goddie bags and taking full advantage of the run walk for life hospitality tent, we began the great trek back to the car. The temptation to rag Melinda about the UPHILL and the distance to her car was impossible to resist. When she couldn't get back to her car because the code on the gate had changed... well living this down will take a LONG time.
But it was all good fun, and whats more is that at the end of the 10km I didn't feel dead tire, I think I could have pushed on for another few km... maybe the 21 is doable afterall.
Week 9 Exercise Log
Felt a lot better this week, my lungs were clear and I didn't cough as much. I didn't go any faster but it felt easier, it also feels like it's been cooler the past few days, maybe that's why. I'm not sure if I posted about it yet, but I'm going to do the Great Mpumalanga Bike Ride next month. It is not a race, it's a tour of the countryside at a snails pace. Nevertheless, I feel I should at least get my butt used to sitting in a saddle again, so my alarm time has been changed to 5:30... I'm lucky if I can drag myself out of bed, and even when I do get out of bed and get dressed, it's very lucky if I don't go back to sleep for another "2 minutes". However on Wednesday I did manage to do 20 minutes on an exercise bike, and another 30 minutes on Thursday, and the plan is to do more on Sunday. Oh and I almost forgot this week I did the Deloitte Pretoria 10km Race
Monday 25 February 2008Distance: 6km
Total time: 55:00
Intervals: 30/60
Pace: 8:59
Average HR: 129
Route: Lynwood
Wednesday 27 February 2008
Distance: 5.2km
Total time: 42:12
Intervals: 30/60
Pace: 8:18 min/km
Average HR: 150
Route: Death on tar... I mean Premier
Friday 29 February 2008
Rained out
Saturday 1 March 2008
Distance: 10km
Total time: 1:19
Intervals: Don't know
Pace: just under 8min/km
Average HR: Don't know
Route: Deloitte 10km
Week 8 Exercise Log
Still trying to get over my cold. Got myself a venteze inhaler... ok so it wasn't prescribed but I have used one before, it just allows me to breathe easier and to clear my lungs.
Sunday 17 February 2008Distance: 5km
Total time: 54:00
Intervals: walked
Pace: 10:48
Average HR: 118
Route: Random
Monday 18 February 2008
Distance: 5km
Total time: 42
Intervals:
Pace: 8:24 min/km
Average HR: Don't know
Route: Clarke
Wednesday 20 February 2007
Distance: 4.8km
Total time: 39:00
Intervals: 30/60
Pace: 8:08 min/km
Average HR: 145
Route: Nicholson
Friday 15 February 2007
Rained out
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