Half way there

Week 9 of 18


Monday 7km Run – Intervals
Started the week with a few intervals – 5 x 2 minutes with 1 minute jog recovery. I did a loop over to Flynns Beach but didn’t really plan it well as most of the intervals coincided with the uphill sections, and it wasn’t supposed to be hill reps today! Also spent one of the reps dodging a dog…he was friendly enough, but he threw me right off by crossing my path for a while before he turned around to head back home.


Tuesday 14km Aerobic Run
Out along the beaches and the river to Westport Park before heading home via a more inland route.


Thursday 11km Tempo / Hill Reps
After a 40 minute warm up to take the freshness out of the legs I upped the pace for a 6 minute interval which ended at the bottom of today’s hill – Mimosa for 3 x 90 second hill reps. This is a tough hill and the incline builds near the top and you don’t get any more than 90 seconds out of it. Perhaps a bit too steep for what I wanted to achieve.


Saturday 30km Long Run
In an effort to avoid cross streets and the associated hassles of running in a suburban environment I ran down Ocean Drive to Lake Cathie and back this morning.

Like a couple of weeks ago, much of this run was done in fog, particularly down at Lake Cathie. It’s a popular cycling route and there was a steady stream of cyclists heading south with a few familiar faces passing by, including a local Ironwoman in training that was out for a ride on her wedding day! Because of the fog I couldn’t actually see the lake until I got to the bridge and at the bridge you could just make out the silhouettes of the trees surrounding the lake but certainly no view to the ocean.
I ran to the far end of Lake Cathie before turning back. On my way back past the lake I had a quick refuel and washed some sweat off using the outdoor shower. I quite liked the long stretch between Port and LC, but the shoulders were a bit narrow for a few kilometres at the Port end, leaving only about 5km of nice wide shoulder to run on. I didn’t particularly enjoy the rotten stench of decaying road kill in a couple of spots though.
The last 3km was a climb right to the finish, which seemed like a good idea when I was comfortably sitting at the computer planning the route, but it was really tough at the end of a long run when it was getting steamy with the sun now out.

During the run I used a couple of Hammer Gels and some Endura Electrolyte on top of the usual water and Gatorade.

I got to soak my legs in a tub of ice water for half an hour or so, and grabbed a quick nap at lunchtime, but that was about it for rest as it was Jodie’s Grandparents 50th Wedding Anniversary in the evening. There was much organisation going on around the place and a few of Jodie’s family crashing on mattresses and lounges throughout the house.


I've been really slack in skipping all of my recent cross training sessions. I really need to do something about that.

Hmmm, looks like I can't hold out any longer...Blogger is going to force me to upgrade next time I log on.