Judith's Marathon Journey

All my running life, the long Sunday run has been a tradition. But now I’m trying a change-up! I’m finding the netball (and Express Fit!) hard on my body, and so I’ve decided to make Sunday either a rest day or an easy day, and run long on Monday – just for a couple of weeks to see how it goes…..

Here’s the run down on how I got to this point!

Day 187: Ran from work to the gym (about 6.5km in about 45:30) and then another 2.5km on the treadmill with 5×30 sec at faster than 5k pace. I was really happy with this workout, so no hint of the dramas of the following week!

Day 188: Ran about 2km slowly as warm-up for netball; also umpired 4 games. Very sore and weary afterwards.

Day 189: Felt really tired, but this didn’t really affect my running, once I got into a rhythm. I ran the same 13km week as in 2 of the last 3 Sundays, and it was about 2 minutes faster than the first time. So running going well.

Day 190: Rest – and truly weary!

Day 191: Should have been Express Fit – but I just couldn’t face getting out of bed and heading out in the pouring rain to go through all that incredible effort and pain! So another rest day…

Day 192: Again, ran from work to the gym, pushing a little harder up Constable Street hill – so slightly quicker than last time. I then did 2.5km on the treadmill, this time with 4×90 secs steady uphill (incline value 5), and happy with this. Running is just fine.

Day 193: Express Fit meltdown! Suddenly everything seemed just too hard. I felt too old to push myself through some of the exercises – jumping squats, bicycle crunches, up-down planks… and I just had no energy. Long talk with staff afterwards – for a trial period I’m going to cut down Express Fit to once a week – maybe none for two weeks, depending on how I feel. And I won’t renew in July – because by then I’ll be wanting to ramp up the mileage for the marathon!

Day 194: Again running is good, although I cut it down to a 6k run in under 40 minutes – I added in 5 x30 seconds hard, with 2 min recovery. I didn’t intend to do that, but I was feeling OK!

Day 195: Played half a game of netball and umpired 3 games, and ran about 2k in warm-up – including a dash from EBIS courts to ASB Centre! Aching afterwards!

Day 196: Overslept again – and hence the change of plan, to have a rest day on a Sunday!

Day 197: Monday – ran 14.5km in about 1:36 – it felt like a pretty constant pace, and the hill over Pass of Branda didn’t feel impossible – although I was very glad to stop for a drink and a stretch! Felt lots of niggly sore spots, but nothing serious.

Express Fit today – that’s it! Our focus was mostly on core work, using the Swiss Ball – planks, wall sits and leg-raises. Had a good stretch afterwards, and I intend to stretch again tonight.

Monday: Well, that’s easy – rest! Totally exhausted/sore after the weekend’s activities…

Tuesday: Express Fit in the morning – lots of toe-taps, planks, complicated burpees – actually today’s workout included almost all my least favourite exercises!

I did a Yoga class in the evening (after an afternoon back at work!), and warmed up with 2km on the treadmill (included 4x40m sprints for netball training) – it was quite a sustained workout, and another reminder of how inflexible I am! But I think I’ll go again!

Wednesday: 5km on the treadmill (33:57) – included 4 x 90 seconds hill climb at steady pace – incline 5.0. Good work!

Saturday: Only about 2km of jogging between home and netball courts – a warm-up of sorts! I umpired 3 junior games, and played 3 quarters. All good, but very weary by the end of the day – 6 hours on my feet!

Sunday: Another glorious Wellington autumn day – I repeated my 13k South Coast run from 2 weeks ago – about 13km, and slightly faster than last time! I was really happy with the run, especially as I’d felt so exhausted earlier in the week. So all good!

The weather forecast was for ‘not much wind’ – well, not so much…..

I felt sluggish running into the northerly, but finished strongly. I ran 9km in an hour, and included 4×30 seconds at slightly faster than race pace. I also threw in 4×20 sideways skipping, and 2×10 zigzag leaps! Just for fun! Ha! A token gesture towards improving my agility for netball!

Express Fit this morning was an awesome cardio and core workout. Our warm-up comprised three rounds of toe-taps, jumping squats, wide-leg squat creep, toe-taps: 50 seconds on, 10 seconds rest. Then we worked in pairs, with one lying on the floor and doing sit-ups with boxing gloves and a combination of punches, while the partner held a squat and another pair of gloves for meeting the jabs. Then a prone hold and jumping squats before resuming the boxing work. Then change partners and do it all again! Great fun and my abs/arms will be sore tomorrow!

All my soreness seems to have gone, and I was happy with my run today! I ran for an hour – probably about 9km – a bit more than I intended when I set out!  I added a ‘hill drill’ towards the end: 90 seconds running strongly up a hill, jog down – four times!  Quite out of breath after that lot!

A good day’s work…

Monday: just a rest day! I did some stretching in the evening, which probably helped the sore muscles quite a lot.

Tuesday: Express Fit this morning – couldn’t really complete all the exercises – my body feels as if it’s in shock! And I keep finding new bruises! Instead of Yoga tonight, I’m going to have a sauna. I do feel better than yesterday, so hopefully I’ll be up for a run tomorrow!

Since it’s Anzac Weekend, I decided to include the Attaturk Memorial in my run… which involved running the Eastern Walkway trail…. so tough. Once upon a time I could run all the way – now I have to walk the steepest steps – not enough spring in my step now! I fell twice, both times my right foot tripping, once on a step edge and once on an exposed tree root. No real damage done, except to my pride! Clearly I’m not lifting my feet enough – too much of a shuffle….

Anyway, about 13k done and dusted, but obviously a lot slower than last week – 1:44:30. I used Map My Run for the distance, and not sure if it’s accurate for the trail part. So could have been more than 13k.

Looking forward to the rest day tomorrow!

Just 1.5km to the netball courts – as a warm-up, with a couple of half-hearted bursts – feeling sluggish, no sleep last night!

Netball – played three quarters, hard work but enjoyable, and we had a good win again.