January 2007 Archives

January 2007 whisked by in what seemed like record time. I swear the months are getting shorter; the clocks are spinning faster, the nights are being clipped off early, and some mysterious plot has been set in motion to lead us all to believe that it is just our imagination.

Thankfully, January for me was a record month in more ways than its fleetiness. With a return of my cross-training at the same time that I stepped up my running again, the number of hours I've trained for the month is more than two and a half times my previous monthly record. All this with almost a week off due to a nasty case of sunburn.

Not only was it a naughty weekend, it was also a long weekend. As you may guess, my antics were not restricted to only Saturday and Sunday.

And no, you dirty minded fiends have it all wrong. I am, of course, talking about food. I sabotaged my training the past few days by eating way too much fast food.

Most people have more difficulty with snack foods than main meals, but in my typical abnormal ways I've once again shown myself to be the total opposite. My snacks have consisted of grapes, strawberries, and peaches, chased down by a glass or two of icy cold water. My main meals, on the other hand... ugh. What's more, I didn't get much of the work done that I had planned on.

... did you just say I can't do this?

This weekend has been quite a mixup. I had planned for a long, slow run on Sunday, but I've been wanting to try joining up with a running group that does a 15km trail run on Saturday mornings out at Toohey Forest. I decided, since after this weekend I'm probably going to be unable to run on Saturdays for the next several weeks, that I would bump my slow run and do the 15km trail.

However, it didn't work out. I've been sleeping terribly the past few weeks, tossing and turning for hours before eventually fading out much later than intended. As someone who normally has no problem sleeping, this has completely thrown me out of whack. The end result? I was late getting away from home in the morning and didn't arrive at the meeting point until about 10 minutes after the group was scheduled to set out.

I decided to just do a little hiking and explore some of the trails - since I'd never been to Toohey Forest before - and save my legs for my originally scheduled long, slow run the following day.

Today I somehow managed to stumble into the Womens section of a running related message board and place a couple of posts.

Admittedly I was drawn by a message title that directly relates to a project I've been working on, but I didn't even realise where I was until much later. Once I realised, I felt terribly creepy! Needless to say, I high-tailed it out of there with record speed, but I'm afraid to go to sleep tonight for fear of nightmares.

One would think that after all these years I might have learned to watch where I'm going!

Losing a limb is never easy. I don't know this from experience, but trust my hunch when I tell you that this is so.

Sometimes they give you warning. You have time to mentally prepare and accept that your life is going to change drastically. Other times it happens by accident and it's done before you're even aware of it. Then, sometimes they take you and get you all comfortable, and when you're most vulnerable they spring it on you with no warning.

Today, they tried to take my arms.

As frustrating as it can be to have injury-forced downtime, I do so love that first run after a good few days of rest.

There are two types of situation where I really feel empowered while pounding the pavement : rainy days, and that first time back out after recovery. The mind is clearer, the road glides beneath you more smoothly, and the kms peel away seemingly faster and easier.

After a tiring week, I decided to begin my weekend with a cruisy bike ride and a relaxed outing in the kayak early Saturday morning. Perhaps I tried to do a little too much... Okay, skip the perhaps. I flaked out and slept for a large portion of Saturday afternoon and forgot to pack the kayak away. It was still strapped to the roof of the car when I got up on Sunday.

Considering it a crime to waste the opportunity, I decided I would make the most of it and free up some time to take the kayak out on the bay again, but not until after going for my morning run! This time, I thought I'd paddle out to Macleay Island as well as Coochie. A few km longer than I'm used to, it makes a triangular circuit so I could break it up into smaller stages if I needed to.

In theory.

I've been lurking for perhaps 18 months off and on over at runnersworld.com, catching the occasional article and scanning for tips, until finally yesterday I signed up on their forums.

I've always known there was a mass of good information over there, but I've avoided signing up because I know just how much time I can waste on a good message forum. I've managed to free myself from my forum addictions of a few years ago and so decided, with no small amount of hesitation, to create an account.

I have - or had - a very full weekend planned between training, work, housework, studies, writing nifty new BTT toys, and a little pinch of socialising. I should have known that by clicking "accept" I would blow half of my day... and that's exactly what happened.

Still, I came away with some great new info on things I hadn't even thought to try. If you've never been there, or haven't had a close look, there's a wealth of relevant information waiting for you at Runner's World dot com.

I kinda-sorta got tagged for a meme, and although it's not really my sort of thing, since I've never done one before I figured what the heck. Here's my response to the ABC meme that's going around.

Tonight I gave my body a little taste of what I'll be expecting from it from now on. While my overall pace was nothing remarkable by many runners' standards, it was a significant jump from the level at which I've been training.

And it felt good.

Though I did wuss out at 6.9km, it served as a decent speed workout and stepping stone to much bigger things. Perhaps last night on the bike helped to bring out the speed freak in me once again. Or perhaps it's the kg or two I lost since I returned home and stopped eating all that pizza and Mexican food that is so readily available in Southern California. :-)

The home stretch was particularly encouraging. I reeled in the last 400m at a sweet 4:13 pace, and felt like I could have kicked in earlier. I may have to look at practicing sprints for the last km rather than the 400-500m that I'm used to.

I still have a lot of work to do if I want to reach my April 10km goal, but it's still around 15-16 weeks away, and if I'm smart about it that 50 minute target will be well within my reach.
Tonight, baby, I was born to run.

A 'Mental as Anything' tune rattled around my brain as I poured another. Yes, they were indeed getting bigger, but it was New Years and the company was grand.

It's a good thing for me - though you may all hate me for it - that I don't get hangovers. Admittedly I stopped early, though the party continued much later. Much. much later, evidently - my watch told me it was 4:45am as I arrived home with the sun beginning to dawn. It's no wonder I barely managed two hours sleep. I'm kind of grateful it's raining today, as it gives me a convenient excuse to lay on the couch and watch a DVD instead of mowing the lawn.

Anyway... the long and short of it? Happy New Year everyone. May you have fulfilled many of the previous year's goals and resolutions.