June 2005 Archives

Yesterday afternoon myself and Andy went to do our first speedwork session since we started running. The track that we planned to use was occupied by some archers, and since we had no wish to be pierced with any sharp object, we took our positions on the football fields that are just next to the track - the football fields aren't really for use though, as it slopes towards the one side, leaving you with 2 stretches of uphill, and 2 stretches of downhill. When you run along the edges of these fields, you get a total of 540m per lap.

We were going to do 600m repeats (only 4 of those), so we figured 540m repeats were going to have to do, as we didn't want to measure out the last 60m - lazy, I know! We set off, nearly dying on the first lap. We didn't quite know how long the field was at that stage, so Andy pushed it a little harder than he should have, as did I. Once we finished that first lap, we took a breather and ran the second one - even faster than the first one. Having a sip of water was in order now. Then we did the third, and my legs were starting to give in, but I still managed to run a time similar to the first 2 laps. The fourth one was the killer. I really pushed all the way and managed to make the last one my fastest and the one that ultimately made my legs as wobbly as jelly.

I felt really good after this run, but I'm glad we don't have to do something similar today - today is just an easy longish run. Fun :)

This morning when I woke, I was tired, but the first thing I realised when I woke, was how heavy my legs felt. It was as if someone had tied a bag of bricks to both of them. It took me about 30 minutes to just properly wake up and convince myself to get out of the bed.

Myself and Andy DID go for our run last night – I did it not really knowing that it was already past 20h00! We started off quite easy, with our legs feeling really heavy and like there was only going to be about 10 minutes of running. 30 minutes later we stopped – with 5km behind us. The run was relaxing and did me a world of good – now I’m looking forward to our speedwork tonight – even though I still feel a little like a corpse, drained of all energy and as if I’m going to fall over with the slighest bit of exertion. We’ll see how it goes though. Afterwards I’ll attempt swimming the 16 lengths required of me tonight – that I don’t feel will be a problem.

Yesterday after our warmup, we wanted to complete our 30 minute run, but we didn’t really feel like doing just the plain run as we have been doing for the past 9 weeks… so instead we did 2 X 5 minute intervals with a 5 minute jog inbetween, followed by some easy jogging. My legs wanted to kill me after the first 5 minutes … and the second one was quite the revelation – Andy is a natural runner and runs away from me by miles!

The route we took was directly onto the Cloud trail – it is EXTREMELY beautiful, I have to tell you. The trees make a tunnel with their branches, shielding you from the sun and keeping us perfectly cool, although it still felt humid and there was a fair amount of itty bitty little flies that managed to get stuck on our shirts (luckily not in our eyes and mouthes). We passed a signpost which said that Derby was 12 miles on … we might try to run there sometime and catch a bus or something back to home. I think that if the whole route is like the part we ran, it’ll be a really relaxing run.

I felt really tired after the run, and we went off to the spa where he swam while I relaxed in the sauna for about 20 minutes. I think the tiredness that I felt was just due to the fact that I got to bed a little late the previous evening – something that I think is true, because this morning (after getting to bed just before midnight), I still have that tired feeling in my body. Luckily tonight is a rest night (not sure how good that is J )

Tomorrow we’ll go for a shortish run, with Sunday our long run day. We’ll probably only run about 50 – 60 minutes, and hopefully manage to make it past 25km for the week….

I love afternoon meetings. Afterwards I always feel like I could do more work – and with only half an hour left I have just enough to keep me busy until I go home. My head is a little sore and so is my nose, but I think we’ll make it out for that run tonight and manage to not die. It has cooled down considerably outside so I won’t need to put on any sunscreen. Lovely :)

I love the new running shorts I got – they feel really comfortable and I needed them since it was becoming hotter. I ran with long ones, but once it gets hot, those are really uncomfortable, so its better to run in short ones. We’re only going to go for a 30 minute run tonight – in 2 weeks we start doing some speedwork on Tuesdays just to improve our general running. I’m really looking forward to it, since it’ll end up making us do better in races, and therefor I’ll feel better after races, knowing that I did what I needed to in order to finish in a good time.

That’s something that’ll stick with me for the rest of my life I guess – having to run against time. I don’t have to run faster than anyone else, just as long as I run faster than I’ve ever run before. It something that some of my earliest coaches has programmed into me in a way, considering that I never had to win (although I won my fair amount of races), but I had to run a good time. A PR would definitely brighten my day at that stage. Now I just want to get to a point where I’ll be happy with the pace I’m running, whenever I’m running.

I remember a time when I was aiming towards a certain time – over the distance of 1000m. The time I was aiming to run was 11 seconds faster than I’ve run it before, but my coach was sure I could run it. Sadly, till this day I haven’t run it in a race. I have done it twice during training though. There’s just something about running that sort of time during a race though.

This morning I felt an exhaustion flow through my body that I haven’t felt in a while – it is probably just the iron levels that have dropped to below some acceptable level again. I stood up from my chair at work earlier and my legs felt heavy without me trying to pick them up. At first I thought it was just that I had sat down for too long, but then I felt a dull pain spreading from my feet up into my quads. It only left me once I sat down again … which leads me to ask whether I have actually done too much exercise in the past couple of weeks and need a break from it?

Then I thought again and realised that it was probably just a lack of sleep – I only got to bed around midnight last night and was up again this morning just after six. Andy nudged me at about 6h35 and in return got whapped with Buttons (one of the 101 Dalmation stuffed toys) … he just chuckled as I tried to get some measure of sleepiness out of my body and some life into my thoughts. A cup of coffee would have done me good.

The reason he woke me up was that we were going to go for a run this morning, but … I just wouldn’t have made it past the street in front of our house. I desperately needed that extra hour or two of sleep that I usually manage to get in when I go to bed at normal times.

So this afternoon we’ll try again – I’ll arrive home and he’ll probably ask me when we’re going to run to which I will HAVE to answer “Now.” , or it just won’t be a run.

I’m looking forward to it, don’t get me wrong. After a hard day at work though, the only thing I crave is the couch. Running makes me energetic and I think that’s what my brain fears the most. That it will get out of the state of couch-potato and actually WANT to go to the gym after the run and relax in the pool for a few lengths before hitting the sauna for a good 20-minute sweat.

So it shall be….

Soooo, yesterday afternoon I didn't really feel like a run. I must admit. But after supper (we had some curried chicken), I felt this little nudge from my conscience and myself and Andy went for our run. We only planned to run for 30 minutes...

We started on our run, heading up Bull Hill lane to do our normal run on the Cloud trail, but for some reason, I decided that we needed to turn right instead of our normal left and this started one of many little mistakes that I made - our run turned into a classic one of climbing over hedges, trying to find the public footpath, chasing sheep and fending off murderous thorns. After 14 minutes we managed to find the road again and as could be expected, some hills was there to greet us. We enjoyed it though and after finding the road, the pace turned up quite a bit.

Our turnaround point was near a gate, and we pushed the pace, finishing the 30 minutes at about 15km/hour - which is a lot faster than we normally run.

Now, our normal cooldown consists of stretching, walking a few 100m, jogging a few minutes and then walking till we find home. Today was to be no different. After our run, we walked a bit, climbed over a hedge onto a public footpath and then stood in the field, stretching. 5 minutes later Andy noticed that some cows were jogging our way. No problem, right? That's where you're wrong. These two cows were of the male species and shortly after they reached us, they started jumping in a threatening way... I screamed a little, and they seemed to back off.

During this time, a third and fourth one had reached us... and the one seemed keen to engage in battle with me. I walked 3 steps backwards, he bounded three steps towards me.

"STOP!" I shouted. He stopped. Then he realised that I was about 10 times smaller than he was and came for me again. I looked at the hedge where we climbed over. Two more cows had blocked that exit, meaning that if we were to leave the field, we were doing it via the gate, 500m away on the other side of the field.

I looked over at Andy.

"Do you think you can sprint 500m?" I asked.

"Can you?" he asked.

"I don't know. Want to try?" I replied.

"Sure... " came the answer.

So I turned around and sprinted, the cows following us ...

I have never been that afraid. Never. I didn't think we'd make the gate, but we did... greeted by a horse who luckily had no intention to scare us even further.

And that... was our first speed training session since we started running....

When I was 9 years old, I was in a school where taking part in Athletics (Track & Field) was compulsory. So I went to training as was required. At our house meeting, I took part in my first 800m. I finished second, but felt so good about the run and wanted to do it again.

At the next meeting, two weeks later, I took part in the 800m again. And the next meeting. I finished second in every race. At the Pietermaritzburg and Districts meeting I ran and finished last. But the running bug had bit me and I wasn’t about to give up.

The next year (1989), my mom told me to take part in landsdiens and when I heard the word landloop (cross-country) on the intercom, I thought that was what she meant and went to the meeting. I loved training.. the coach was fun and she kept the training sessions interesting. I never got bored.

My first cross-country race took place at Crystal Springs near Kokstad (South Africa). My mom came to watch. I was incredibly nervous and afraid of the run, so to calm me down, she started braiding two pigtails down the sides of my head. She was just starting to do the second one, when my coach came up to us, looking a little confused and surprised to see me there. I had missed the start of my race!

I rushed off to catch up with the rest of the runner and didn’t slow down. I had so much adrenalin rushing through me that I didn’t feel a thing – not even when I lost a shoe in the mud on the course.

By the time I reached the end, I was exhausted. I finished and a marshal came to give me a place disk. My face morphed into one big smile. I had won the race, even though I started a minute behind the field! For days after my parents and coach teased me, but that was the last and only time I missed the start of a race.

That season was what planted my love for running firmly in me forever.