September 2006 Archives

Does anyone know of any stretches/exercises I can do to make sure I don't run into problems with my ITB?

I have to say that the new schedule that my coach gave me is a lot ... how to put it ... not less training, but it feels like it is. There are two less days of running and two more days of cycling. And Andy's taken a sadistic turn and now does not fail to kick me out of bed at 6 in the morning.

This morning I got up and did my cycle session - it felt hard at the time, but right now I am pretty glad I did it. It means I don't have to tonight :) Of the three disciplines, cycling is the one that I don't like training for, even though I do enjoy cycling. It can get incredibly lonely without someone there to talk to, but this morning I had the television on and Lilo & Stitch helped me through my ride on the trainer.

Afterwards I was feeling tired, sweating like a pig and wishing that I didn't have to go to work. I took a shower and the world seemed like a better place. As I cycled, I was trying to keep myself motivated, because I knew that the bed was just a short trip up the stairs away. If at any stage I had gotten off that bike, I wouldn't have gotten back on.

It was so different than the swim last night. I had to do 3 X 500m (timed) and whereas the first two 500m's was completely open water, the third one was swum with 5 other people in the lane. It felt like a true openwater swim - I had to watch out or get another swollen lip. The RLAB man was there again - I found myself behind him on the third 100m and swam really wide to make sure that he didn't give me a kick. I really enjoyed the session though. I didn't need to keep myself motivated.

I guess there'll be a fair few ups and downs, but in the end I'll get there :)

Because I have nothing else to say - my mind has gone numb with realisation of what I've just done :

From: '2007 IRONMAN UK '
To: 'Karin Bassitt'
Sent: Fri Sep 22 15:55
Subject: Fwd: 2007 IRONMAN UK : Online Entry Receipt

Dear Competitor,

Thank you for completing the IRONMAN 2007 entry application form. You will know if you have been accepted when your name appears on the competitor list. This could take up to 14 days.

For the most up to date information on the IRONMAN UK race course and race day please check the official web site regularly.

http://www.ironmanuk.com

Regards,
Race Office

Tonight's swimming was fun. We arrived there just as the lane swimming started and for the first 15 minutes there were only 3 people in the pool. Then it filled up and things got tricky as we had our local rocking-like-a-boat swimmer (RLAB) and we had the granny who felt that anyone that dared to splash anything around her (even though she's in the next lane), needed to burn in the fires of hell.

I didn't really make any notice of them, but RLAB and myself were in for a bit of a struggle as to who were supposed to be where in the lane. At some stage he decided to cool down without moving over into a slower lane, which is all fair, as it is wide and we could swim past him. The problem with RLAB swimmers though, is that they kick in different directions and keep the lane pretty much occupied.

It was during one of these overtakes that I got to know his left heel a little better. I stopped at the end and rubbed my very sore lip and made sure there was no blood. Great. Then turned and started swimming, now not so willing to overtake him, but I started moving so that if I moved closer, I wouldn't be in his way. It was out of the blue that he then, as luck would have it, had a particularly wild kick and the next moment I could taste the blood in my mouth.

This time I had indeed bit through the skin and the pain was enough to bring tears to my eyes (as if the water that came in through my goggles at the same time wasn't enough already).

So tonight, I'm doctoring a bit of a thick lip, soothing my eyes, and looking forward to sleeping a little.

This morning I woke up at 5:45 and my alarm told me that I had committed to going for a run at 6. My body groaned and told me there was no way I was getting it out in the cold. I replied with a thought that if it didn't get up, I'd have to set my alarm for 5 to have the same conversation every morning. My body told me it'd just go back to sleep if I did that. I said I'd only hit the snoozer. My body gave in and got up and finally I made it out the door at 6:30.

I headed to the cloud trail, my legs wobbling a little, but feeling relatively good. My head felt a little fuzzy, but the air was crisp and the sun was glowing on the horizon - what I could see of it through the trees. The whole area was quiet, not even the cows moving. As I closed back in on Worthington, I noticed a car - Andy's car. He stopped and offered to take me home, but I just gave him a quick kiss and carried on towards home.

Something I noticed while I was running, was a huge amoung of slugs making their way across the trail and roads. It seemed a little odd, but at the time I thought it was pretty amusing.

There are only 335 days until Ironman UK 2007 and a lot of training needs to flow into the logs before then :)

Right, since this might take a while to load... I'm putting this under the extended entry text. For a few pictures of Jeff, me and our war wounds, follow the road there.

For all the pictures at the Robin Hood Marathon - you can go here. There are some pictures of the winners, and others, but mostly the ones of myself and Jeff you'll find below.

On Saturday morning when I woke up, the first thing I realized was that it was 6h30. The second thing I realized was that Jeff hadn’t called yet to say that he had made it to England. I figured that he was probably exhausted and must’ve fallen asleep at his hotel. I wasn’t too worried, but at about noon I started getting worried as I knew that you could pick up your race packs between 2 and 4pm and if he hadn’t caught a train to Tamworth yet, we might not be able to get it!

I found out from the Robin Hood Marathon race organizers that we could pick it up from the help desk at the race site the next morning and worried a little less, but since I still hadn’t heard from Jeff, I wasn’t sure that he was still going to run.

It was half an hour later that we got the call – he was finally in England! Just after 5pm we picked him up at the station and after a quick stop at home, we headed to Amore – a lovely little Italian restaurant in Beeston to get some pasta in our stomachs and get to know each other a bit.

After supper we were pretty much tired and ready to get some sleep and we drove home.

On Sunday morning I woke up at 5am and my mind started turning – I was going to run a marathon! I couldn’t fall asleep again and eventually just got up and grabbed some water. When the alarm went off, I told Andy that I’d wait 5 or 10 minutes before checking whether Jeff was awake, but as it turns out, Jeff was already awake – his light went on just as I finished my sentence.

After porridge and a shower, we headed out to the race HQ. Jeff picked up his race pack and after that we wandered around, looking here and there until it was time to take our places at the start. We stood at the sub-4:00 board, but was quickly pushed forward and ended up in the sub 3:30 zone.

Jeff was running with me for the first few miles and it was great to have some company. With a massive 11000 athletes competing in the half-marathon and only 1800 competing in the full marathon, you could see bobbing heads ahead of you and thousands more behind you.

The route was extremely pretty with rolling hills, but as Jeff mentioned, nothing too challenging in the first half. The first hill caused me a bit of concern, but seeing as I didn’t walk up it, I was pretty happy.

After 12.5 miles I spotted Andy and the camera. He took two pictures as I waved at him and I just smiled. I turned onto the bridge which split the marathoners from the half-marathoners and started out on the more quiet part of the course. It was pretty amusing how, just before the split, everyone kept saying “Well done! You’re almost there!” and I knew that I wasn’t even half-way yet.

The second half of the course was slightly hotter than the first one. I was starting to feel a little bit of fatigue, but nothing serious. I was enjoying the run too much. At 17 miles I felt hot, but not so hot that it bothered me. I felt a slight twinge in my calves and just hoped that nothing would come of it. I kept on running steady.

At mile 20 I knew that the wall was ahead of me and half a mile later I had to slow down to a fast-ish walk that still hurt. My calves weren’t playing anymore. Neither were my hamstrings. And to add to it, we were next to water which seemed to cool you down and heat you up at the same time. I wasn’t enjoying the run so much anymore, but whenever I wanted to cry in frustration, I just thought to myself that I was more than three quarters there already. I couldn’t lose more fluids by crying!

I jogged on and off for the next few miles and at mile 25 decided that I was going to walk again. I finally started jogging just before mile 26 and then I spotted Jeff next to the side of the road!

There’s something about seeing the finish line though. Once I saw it I couldn’t get there fast enough. I did something close to a sprint and nearly collapsed once I was over the line. My legs had gone on holiday and left me to get past the medals, get my champion chip off and collect a blanket all by myself.

Afterwards we stood in line to get me a massage for a while, but finally I decided to just change into some clothes and head home. We walked to a point where Andy could pick us up and after stopping at home, grabbed some food and a local pub. I was incredibly tired, and standing up from a chair was already starting to become a problem.

We dropped Jeff off at his hotel and on the way home, I fell asleep. Perfectly happy that it had been a great day! My sense of humour might not have been all that sharp at that point (as Jeff and Andy can provide testimony to), but I was glad I crossed the finish line and I felt like I deserved a bit of sleep.

Now I have three days off before my next training session – I am going to sleep, watch television and in general, just relax.

I know its a day late, but we did finish the marathon - Jeff had a great race and I had a good race, despite some cramps. I even finished with a sprint! Race report to follow!

Well, here's where i'll be posting the basic "real time" blog for Karin and Jeff as they run the Robin Hood Marathon. Sadly its not going to be as real time as i'd like because i dont think i can match pace with either of them whilst lugging the laptop, camera, spare clothes, sports drinks and so on and so on.. but here goes.

We got here at around 7:30am to pick up Jeff's race pack and hung around chatting and genereally getting psyched up beforehand. Jeff is just SO excited to be here and its amazingly contageous... i think it even helped dull Karin's nerves. AFter a couple of hours hanging around, they made their way to the start line. They've both opted to start ih the "sub 4 hour" category. At 10am they got started, both of them seemed in high spirits, the weather was cool and humid, but literally at the buzzer to start, the sun popped through, and now the temperature is rising. It'll proably hit the mid 20's (centegrade) later. i heard that the first runners did the first mile in 4 minutes and 50 seconds.

I'm currently sitting at the 13 mile point, and will be taking photo's as I see them both. THen i'll "run" to the end, sit in the grandstand and wait for them both to finish. I'm hoping Karin enjoys it as much as Jeff will.

Will update in about .. an hour i figure...

345 days to go.

For nearly two weeks I’ve been absent from blogging and from real life. I was down in South Africa on a short trip to see my parents, but fear not – I am back here now.

Tomorrow I get to meet our great, legendary leader – Jeff! (if he gets to make it out of Chicago) and on Sunday we get to do the Robin Hood Marathon! Life is good and life is busy.

I’m sorry I’ve been so quiet – I’ve not been ignoring you. I’ve just not been here. As I was down in SA, I was pretty much cut off from everything internet. My parents don’t have internet (not even dial-up) at their home and the one or two trips I made to my dad’s office – they were just too short to do anything.

After being held up in Johannesburg for a day due to a missed flight, I finally made it back home on Tuesday and then had a million things to catch up with at work. At least I still got in two swims (which I should remember to put in my log) and a few runs and I’m feeling fairly confident that I’ll be able to at least finish the marathon on Sunday. I’m not expecting a fast time – I just expect to finish.

I’ll keep you up to date – Andy (for those who don’t know, my husband) will be posting pics during the marathon – so watch this space to see me and Jeff around the course. He might even give some wordy updates every now and again as well!

A race report will be done during next week. And for now, that’s all I have to say. I’m super excited about this weekend!