Run Melbourne

Better late than never 🙄   It was a great morning for running, cool and just a sprinkling of rain.  I had decided to just run this 10km on the way I felt on the day as my longest run over the past few weeks had only 6.5km.  I met up with RJ and it we headed to the start.  We found ourselves way up the front and I said to RJ we better move  back as this must be the 1st wave of runners.  It was actually hard to see where to place ourselves so we just moved back a bit and hoped for the best.

Race started and it wasn’t long when I was thinking I had made a mistake in wearing my new runners for the first time.  I usually don’t have a problem with the Glycerins and have done it in the past but my left calve was hurting a little and all I could think about was the fact that it may get worse.  Thankfully as I got further down the track it settled.  I then felt warm so took the jacket off and tied it around my waist.  Another mistake, I had put my mobile in the pocket of jacket and it kept thumping me on the back of the leg.  This continued to annoy me the entire race and it was hard to concentrate as I was trying to find the best spot to position it.  I ended up tucking it the corner of my jacket down the side of my skins which was still annoying but not as annoying than the thump.  Just one more thing to annoy me on the day was that I had to use my Samsung MP3 player as I couldn’t find my iPod shuffle and because it doesn’t have a clip, I ended up having to carry that.  I did try and tuck that in my skins but that wasn’t working for me.  This is probably the first event ever where I had lots of annoyances while running and it was hard to keep focused 😦   I lost RJ somewhere along the track, I think it was at the bottleneck under the Swan Street bridge, she didn’t run under it, she kept on the street.  So I continued in a steady pace, I don’t mind running by myself because then I can run my own pace and not go into competitive mode 😆   Kept chugging along and have to say everything bodywise felt great.  I am so glad I had a massage as once that initial niggle in calve settled, I never gave them a second thought.  Usually when I run, I have to stop and stretch all the time so the massage did the trick for sure.  Spotted RJ on the loop around the MCG and she was quite a distance away and I thought there was no way I would catch her up but have to admit, I kept thinking I wonder if I could.  Anyway, she must have slowed down a bit because I did end up catching her up 😉   We soon found ourselves at that very rude incline on Lansdown Street heading towards Peter Mac and we did a short walk up it.  Started running again and was so glad when I hit Batman Ave because there was some guy on the sidelines giving encouragement and he screamed out “come on guys only another 100mts”, and sure enough turned the corner and there was a sign confirming exactly that.  I had absolutely know idea how far we had run as I seemed to miss the km markers and I thought my Garmin was out so I didn’t bother looking at that.  It was so nice to just all off a sudden finish 😆   I wasn’t happy about the muddy finish with my new shoes on!  Finished in just over 63 minutes which I sort grunted about but when I saw the elevations on the Garmin, I don’t feel too bad about that now. 

Went to the Transport afterwards and caught up with a few CR’s, no ausrunners in sight 😦   The service in that joint is just shocking and after waiting 1/2hour for a coffee we decided to have breaky somewhere else.

Monday

My quads were a little sore but I did go and do my Pilates at the Physio’s.  Had intended to stretch and massage yesterday but the day somehow got away from me, so didn’t end up doing anything else.

Tuesday

Today I didn’t feel like hitting the streets for a run so decided to run on the tready.  I noticed a little gym walking distance from home and thought I would go there casually for $4.  Well, I can see why it was only $4, two treadies in whole gym and they looked like they were 100 years old.  There was a big note on them saying, “due to insurance reasons, no running on treadmills”, pmsl!!!  The girl running the place did let me run as I said I didn’t want to walk on it.  She looked at me and said, ooh, you’re runner aren’t you so that is ok 😀   Made my day actually but I only ran for 30 minutes with a 5 minute walk warm-up and 5min cool down because I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of there!  There a few bogan muscle heads floating around 😆   I am still sore today and I do intend to stretch and massage as soon as I catch up on the housework…. damn that housework!!!!

getting sorted

Well its been a busy week again but with most of it being all about me 😳  I cancelled my pod appointment and decided to have a massage done instead as my calves have been really screaming out to me.  I couldn’t get in at the sports clinic at the drop of a hat so I booked in somewhere else.  Oh my fecking god!!  Did it hurt or what???!!  Now I know what you have all been talking about 😆   It did really hurt but sort of in a good way 😯 I had lower back, glutes, hamstrings and calves massaged.  I also had some cupping done on my calves and that was a joyful experience not, especially when she was dragging it around to other areas.  I was trying not to think about the fact that there was probably about 12 inches of skin sucked into the cup and I actually had to deep breathe……. something I haven’t done since childbirth!

I also had my physio appointment and I know I am definitely going to get sorted out, hooray!!  She basically said that I do my entire running on my left leg and the right leg just goes along for the free ride, in fact she said alot of things that are going on with me but I came out feeling so optimistic.  I have been checking out my butt in the mirror as she said I have a great left glute muscle but absolutely nothing in the right due to my imbalances 😳   I hope you can’t notice that!  She has given me heaps of self massages to do on my hotspots with a foam roller and also a spiky ball, and some adductor strengthening exercises to do with a weight around my ankle.  I have to continue with Pilates once a week and do all the other exercises that I have been doing a home.  The best news is I can get right back into my running, woo hoo!!  Now which training program for the half 😆  

I have only done one session of Pilates and one 6km run this week, I was going to run today but have to say my lower back is feeling a bit tender.  I am doing the 10km Run Melbourne on Sunday so I will just do heaps of stretching between now and then.  I plan to just run leisurely and enjoy the sights.

I couldn’t help myself but I have bought some more running gear 😳  I bought another pair of Brooks Glycerin’s and some Body Glide from Running Warehouse which arrived yesterday, and today I bought some long skins.  Running gear makes me happy 😀  

 

half marathon, here I come

running

Since the Mothers Day Classic I have been putting all my energy into treating my hip bursitis.  I have been using the reformers at the Physio twice a week and over the last 10 days have been also doing home exercises everyday specifically for the hip.  I have still been able to run but keeping the distances short, 5 – 6.5kms three times a week.  I have to say I am loving my running at the moment 😀   I can honestly say, my hip feels so much better in taking these steps and I feel like such a doofus as I should have done this a very long time ago!!  I couldn’t make an appointment for a review with the original physio I saw as she only works evenings now, so, I had to swap to another physio.  I read the profiles on each physio and picked one who is a long distance runner.  When I was reading about her on the Alphington Sports Medicine website, I was thinking her name rang a bell and I have since found out it is the Karen Natoli, the womens winner of the 2006 half marathon at MM  😯   Very excited about this appointment!

 I have also made an appointment with the Pod on Monday to get my orthotics reviewed as it has been over a year since I have had them.  It is my intention to to run my first half at the Melbourne Marathon in October so I want to get on top of absolutely everything.

I did enter the 10km Run Melbourne but I am going to check with physio to make sure it’s ok to do.  My instructions were to only do shorter runs but my hip is feeling so much better so I am hoping I can do the 10km.  If I have to, I will downgrade to 5km.

ramblings

Life on the home front has been really busy which is why I haven’t really been blogging much.  I tried a couple of times to do a quick “the week that was” but before I knew it, I was half way into the next week.  In the end I just decided to take the pressure off and not blog so much.  I have mainly been reading and posting a little on the Ausrun and Coolrunning forums to keep my finger in the pie and for a bit of a laugh, Coolrunning has supplied a few laughs I must say 😆        

So all is well in my world apart from my chaotic home life but my running world is certainly making up for that, can’t wait to start increasing distance again 😀

P.S  As you can see I have changed my template again, I think I am having a mid-life crisis, pms!!  I think this one is here to stay, if I do get bored with it, I can change the colours 😉