Off to the Sunshine Coast

After arriving back from Sydney a week and a half ago I didn’t even have time to unpack before reloading the car with the rest of the family for the drive up to the Sunshine Coast on the Thursday. We broke up the drive each way with an overnight stay in Ballina with Jodie’s brother and uncle, which is about half way. We were staying at my boss’ “home away from home” at Maroochy River (near Bli Bli) for our work Christmas party that was on last weekend.
I was going to post a photo of the view, but blogger is being a pain, so maybe later.


Last Saturday Run 14km
I thought I’d better get my long run out of the way early on the weekend so I took off at 5am (4am Qld time) and returned before anyone else was up. It turned out to be only 14km, but it was much, much tougher than my previous 14km efforts. There were some serious hills involved, over a variety of terrain and along a route that I made up as I went along.
I made my way to Dunethin Rock, to the river, past the scout camp, and down a long straight stretch to Ninderry Nursery before turning back.

Saturday night’s dinner was followed by some Texas Hold ‘em (where I cleaned up) until the small hours of the morning, so I wasn’t up for any sort of recovery run on Sunday.
Monday morning I took the option to head down the beach for some bodysurfing.


Tuesday Run 6km
I ventured over to the relatively new Parklakes estate and worked my way through most of the streets therein. I included about 6x200m intervals to mix things up a bit, although they weren’t really all that intense.

I was a bit wary because my “good calf” was fairly tight, although it became that way only the day before and I suspect because of so much carrying kids up and down stairs. So it turns out that running was not a problem for it, and in fact seemed to cure the stiffness as the “good calf” was no longer tight or sore after the run.


Thursday Run 9.5km
I made my way through the Lighthouse and Emerald Downs areas, working in 3x8minute tempo efforts along the way. I had about 3 minute jog recoveries, although one of them turned into a standing recovery as Miners pulled over for a chat whilst on his way to the pool.
We’d only arrived back home late Wednesday after the drive from the Sunshine Coast via Ballina, which was an adventure in itself. I was very happy to have been able to drag myself out of bed for this run.


Saturday Run 17km
Seeing as I hadn’t run further than 15km since July I figured I really should do so before the CC Half next weekend. It’s no longer a goal race for me as I’m just not prepared enough, so I’m not too concerned about the fact that my longest run shouldn’t be the week before the race!
I headed down Pacific Drive to Town Beach, along the river to Westport Park, through Clifton and back via Gordon Street and Kennedy Drive.
At Flynns Beach I bumped into Blues Buffet and Miners starting out their run. After a brief chat we headed our separate ways.
The run was fairly uneventful otherwise. At about the 1 hour mark I stopped to refill the bottles in my fuel belt, popped a GU and washed the sweat off my face. It was amazing how refreshed I felt after just that short break, and I can see how a break of a minute or so during a marathon or longer could be very useful.
The run was followed by breakfast, then a couple of hours work in the yard including mowing the lawns. I’m happy to report that apart from being a little tired, I pulled up extremely well from the morning’s exertions. I did manage a snooze in the afternoon, but that didn't stop me nodding off during the Tri Nations rugby league final.

The 17km was taken at a pace for a 1:50 half marathon. It was a bit of a hilly route and I finished strongly during the final uphill sections. I'm reasonably confident of a decent run next weekend on the flat CC course but I'll just have to see how I go on the day!