Judith's Marathon Journey

Monday: Made up for the extra rest day on Sunday with a solid 14km run today, around the southern end of the Miramar Peninsula. Finished strongly, but tired and sore later. Soreness in the SI joint is now happening earlier in my run (20 minutes), but it seems to ease off after an hour or so. Responds well to stretching mid-run. Very much looking forward to seeing osteo this week.

Tuesday: Yoga tonight.

The tiredness caught up with me as the week went on. All I’ve done this week is a 5k treadmill run, a yoga class, Express Fit and three quarters of a netball game!

My nutrition went out the window, so have had a bit of an upset tummy – too much chocolate, not enough vegetables. Back to training tomorrow!

I ran 2:23:19 in the Wellington Armstrong Group half-marathon yesterday, 10 minutes faster than my February effort. The first half went really well, and I turned around in 1:07. Initial soreness in the sacroiliac joint had eased off, and I thought I had a real chance at cracking 2hrs 15 minutes.

But the northerly took its toll, and then some pain kicked in. Two-thirds of the way through, I was feeling pretty bad – my feet (especially the left) hurt and I just wanted it to be over – it seemed like such a long way to go, and I remembered how in ‘the good old days’ this was the point where I lifted the pace to finish strongly! Huh!

I stopped to stretch and walk for a minute or so, and then somehow my mental strength came back. For the rest of the run, I was in a dark place, but I could keep going. The wind was strong, and the sun was relatively low in the sky, so I couldn’t see where I was going at some points. My foot pained with every footstrike, and my back and hips just seized up. I kept telling myself that I could walk if I really had to – but not yet…. There were signs every kilometre, and so I knew I was slowing down, but I also knew that if I could just keep going I would beat February’s time. In fact, until the last two kilometres even 2:20 was still a possibility (remote!). Then suddenly one of the marshalls called out that we just had 800m to go! I knew I could get there then! I also knew about the climb up the ramp to the Stadium concourse, and I was determined not to walk that bit! And then I was up there, and could just about make out the finish line… I even managed to get back into a decent rhythm for that last few hundred metres. Then it was over – I’d done it. I had a finisher’s medal around my neck, I talked to people I’d seen out on the course, and my mate Charlotte was there!

Today is a rest day…. no kidding??? To my surprise, I’m pain-free and feeling good! Back to training tomorrow, for the last 14 weeks of the journey….

Rest day yesterday, and only played one quarter of netball today – so all good for tomorrow….

Just Express Fit today – hard work, but I just tried to imagine hanging in there over the last 5k on Sunday!

Did some gardening later, so feeling really good!

Monday: Rest!

Tuesday: A very slow 5km run – felt stiff and out of sorts, with a sore knee, although better as run went on. Yoga in the evening helped heaps.

Wednesday: An excellent last hard workout – ran 7km with 4 x 1km @ threshold pace (2 @ 5:45, 1 @ 6, last one a bit slower – but had to stop for traffic lights!) – the first two were with the wind. Felt really good and strong! Now just have to take it easy for the rest of the week….

But there’s still next week’s half-marathon to nail first….

Today’s run was a pretty comfortable 13km in about 1:27 – which is about the same as I usuall do this southern Miramar Peninsula route. The SI joint was rather sore, although slightly better after stopping to stretch about half way through the run, Glad I’m seeing Sandi (osteopath) this week!

Friday: Just 4k, but a speed session – 8 x 30 seconds hard, with 90 seconds rest.

Saturday: 2k to warm up for netball umpiring and playing.

I was in Auckland for my NetFit course over the weekend, and wasn’t able to squeeze in a run for three days! This means I’m one long run down for the half-marathon the weekend after next. I was going to try to make it up, but dental work got in the way, and so I’ll just have to flag it.

Monday: had a 35 minute run around Queen Street and the waterfront, probably about 5km. I felt pretty stiff and sore, although it started to ease as the run went on.

Tuesday: 5km on the treadmill, gradually increasing my pace; finished with 5x100m strides.

Wednesday: Surprisingly, after the dental work yesterday, I had a good long hill run – it was just under 12km, and quite slow! But I was happy with the effort. Although it looked like a lovely day, it was damn freezing out there!

Thursday: Express Fit – felt sluggish and tight. Not eating solids yet, so that probably explains it.

ExpressFit today – missed last week, so it was rather hard work!!

To warm up, jogged 3k on the treadmill – with a few surges towards the end, since I was running out of time!

In Auckland for a few days, so probably won’t blog again until Monday….