On the Road Again ~~

The air was thick and heavy this morning.....just like my breathing!  That's about the only thing holding me back now, so I took a few very short walk breaks when I felt breathing difficulties...and still some coughing.

Old South Road + Airstrip

I changed location too; started at the Highlands School, heading north along Old South Road, past the historic Mittagong Airport, for 30 minutes and back same road.  Change of scenery was good, fairly free from traffic and what traffic there is, is going so fast they're hardly visible!  Except for the clammy weather and laboured breathing, this was an easy run with a couple of long hills.....and marks the end of another month.

This morning's run along Old South Road

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I think I'll get back to my program next week; would be good start to the new month.  For the next few days, however, I'll just continue with 1 hour of easy running each day.

Today  :  1 hour easy running (with fewer and shorter walk breaks)
Distance :  7.5km
Stretches at finish.

Today ~~~

OFF!

Same As Yesterday ~~~

Pretty much the same streets, with a few extra bits thrown in to take the total to one hour.  Started in Renwick and on to surrounding area.  I felt better today; it was still humid but cooler than yesterday with a nice breeze.  Breathing still not right but improving.  I think I did better today, didn't mind it too much, could feel some rhythm coming back, even sort of enjoyed it!

Aim:  Time on feet 1 hour.

1 hour jog/walk

Time today....1 hour
Jog/walk .... (800m/200m mostly.)
Distance ....7.3km
Walk  to car after 1 hour jog....700m.....and I'm counting that too!
 Some drills before start + stretching and drills after.

Total for Today =  8km 
  

A DNF! ~~~

I did it!  By Jove, I did it!  My first DNF** in a while!


Aim : To keep moving for 1 hour!  

I parked in Renwick and set off from there to surrounding streets.  Paddocks flooded after storms and heavy rain much to the delight of the many ducks swimming where horses recently grazed.

 Walk/Jog (90/10%)!  It wasn't easy.  I didn't enjoy it much.  Not at all really.  Breathing not good and I coughed a lot. At least no none could hear me! I wasn't so much thinking, "Gee, this is great.  I could keep going all day" as against, "Gee, this is a struggle.. so hot and so humid.  I can't wait to finish!"  I can only improve from there!

Back at the car, I did some stretches and 2 drills...walking butt kicks and goose steps!

For Today......67 minutes.   7.2km

**  DID NOT FAIL!

I DNF!

Exploring My Options ~~

...or seeing what's what...that's what I have to do today!  I have only two options....to start back tomorrow or not to start back tomorrow!  And so, today I'm going to commit to the first option which means that if I welsh on that, I'm committed to coming back here and admitting to failure!

With that awful thought in mind, I plan to to jog/walk for a set time each day in the coming weeks.  I still have a cough and head cold but I know I should be able to do something instead of the nothing that has been my lifestyle over the past four or five weeks.  I hope the storms have been and gone because that will be my only excuse for not getting out tomorrow morning.

Now, I'll click on 'Publish' before I have doubts about my will power!

I Can't Get Started!

"Next patient!"

I just can't get a clear break!  I must be falling apart and, in the process, quietly losing motivation to run again.  The sore throat developed into a whacking head cold and grave-yard cough during which time I felt extremely unwell.  I hardly ever catch a cold but when I do, it's always a beauty.  I've stayed mostly indoors apart from a few things that had to be done outside including giving Amy and Oscar their daily walk which, for the three of us, was a real breath of fresh air!

I will feel well enough to start something next week, but......will I be able to muster up the lost motivation?  I'll know on Monday!

For the Time Being.....Mon, Tues, Wed....cont. ~~

.......and at least till the end of this month, the plan for each day is to walk or walk/run 5km each day.  By so doing, speed sessions will be on hold and hip flexor strain will be under less stress and disappear for good!

Monday  :  5km run/walk

Tuesday   :6km....some short walk breaks

Wednesday    6km Run/Walk.  Few drills to start, stretches to finish.

Thursday  :    6km Easy Running....same drills and stretches

Friday  :     5km + F.I.R.S.T. ( RLRF)  Strength & Stretch

Saturday  :  Nil Running ~~~  Mittagong Markets instead!

Sunday  :     Nil.....Have developed very sore throat making this weeks restart, of several aborted restarts, unlikely....stumped for words!!

Missed ~~~

I missed out on today's tempo run but will try for it tomorrow and move the long run from Saturday to Sunday.  That's the plan anyhow!

Cross-Training ~~~

Today, cross-train........walking.  Forgot to turn the Garmin on for first kilometre.  A very humid morning; walk OK;  flies bothersome!  Tempo run tomorrow - probably do this at Chev track and more than likely shorten the distance for this week.

5km Walk

Today.....  5.2km

Track at Chev. ~ Workout #1

Getting back to my program is hugely motivating!  I felt like a kid getting a new toy as I drove across to Bowral for the first real running in weeks!  I need a program and a goal and without either one, I'm just no good at all at this running business.....bored to tears walking, not walking, jog/walking etc...does nothing much for me at all, which is why I was all smiles by the time I reached the track at Chevalier College.

2km warm-up

For the warm-up, I ran on the roads through the grounds to avoid the long wet grass.  On the way I came across the very obliging groundsman  from last year.  He was on a huge grass cutter on one of the top ovals facing Moss Vale Road.  We both stopped for a few seconds and, as I was about to continue, he called out, "It's too wet on the track;  nothing worse than wet feet.  I'll come down and mow a section for you."  And he did!  Roared past me on the grass-cutter and, by the time I ran back to the track, he'd cut a strip about 2m wide just inside the oval fence....if that's not a kind and thoughtful thing to do for a person, I don't know what is!  The 'track' measured a distance of 455m, but I had the Garmin set to alert vibration at 400m so no problem with the exact distance....just kept running till I felt the vibration on my wrist.  Changed directions after every two reps.

I had VP set at the correct pace but didn't dare look at him till after I stopped! I ran what I felt was my best for my first day back.  However, I only did half the number of repeats from the program because I felt the remaining ones would just go from bad to worse.  I could feel myself slowing down in the sixth repeat.  As it was, I did well, I think, for six of the twelve and thought it better to quit whilst ahead and feel good rather than grind out the full program and go home disappointed in myself.

Program : F.I.R.S.T. Half Marathon, Week 18.

10-20 min warm-up
12x400m in 2:21 (5.52m/k)
90 sec RI
10 min cool-down.

400m of 455m!

2km warm-up
4 drills with strides between
2:23 (75/85%);   2:22 (73/86%);   2:27 (77/87%);   2:23 (77/88%);   2:20 (77/895);  2:24 (77/88%). 
Timed 90 sec RI between
1km cool-down + stretches. 

........drove home, no niggles, feeling quite chuffed with my effort!

For today....5.4km 

Cross Training ~~~

I'm hoping that this will be Week 1 of my half marathon program...hoping!  The only thing that will put yet another temporary halt to that will be if the hip flexor misbehaves!  Tomorrow, Tuesday, I'll start very conservatively on the track at Chevalier College with the first week of sixteen.  I hope the usual lane has been got ready for me at Chev!

Today  :  5.7km brisk walk

Today's 5.7km Walk

It Might As Well Be Winter!

Today, was to be a cross training, walking day, but it is so cold here, 12 degrees now at 1:00pm - 10 degrees when I set off earlier -  that my fingers started to turn blue!  It was then I decided to make the session a combo of walk/run just to keep warm. The same fog and misty rain in the air as the past few days and the wind very cold!  I know it's supposed to be summer, but I prefer this to the heat any day.  I started and finished at home.

8km walk/jog in 73 minutes
No HR monitor

Walk/Jog Combo

Today.....8km

First of the Month ~~~

A few heavy drops of rain just as I reached the door....a storm well and truly on the way now at 12:30pm.  No sign of it while I did another easy run; in fact, it was a cool, breezy morning just right for a longer run.

Amy, my little dog, is terrified of storms and knows well in advance when one is approaching.  Nothing can calm her nervous shaking even when she is huddled in a shivering heap on my lap, which is where she is right now, puffing and panting with fear and making my typing effort more difficult than I'd like!  Spell check will have a job to do later.

So.....before all of this, I ran easily out and back along Diamond Fields Road for a change of scenery and a softer surface on the dirt road.  The council must have sent out their steam roller recently because the surface was good, with rocks and stones embedded in the dirt instead of waiting there for me to do another face plant!  I walked for a few seconds at the top of a couple of steep rises just to catch my breath before the next one!  An enjoyable, longer run.

Where I ran today

9km in 68 minutes
AHR 75%;   MHR 86%

No niggles from recent injury, so........I hope that by next week I can start my half marathon program, having in mind, if I'm fit and fast enough by May, to run a half marathon in Canberra.

Today :  9km

 (So dark outside, even I'm getting scared of the black skies and approaching storm.  All is eerily quiet.......I think I'll join Amy who is hiding under the table now!)

Who's afraid of storms?  I am!