My training journey to my first City to Bay
Week 1:
Run 1: This is awesome. I ran faster and further than I thought I would!
Sun 8am. Fartlek – 4km in 33mins
Run 2: Probably chatted a little too much during the run. Didn’t push, but was happy to just get moving.
Tues 6am. Fartlek – 4km in 33mins.
Run 3: (Pre run) I’m tired. I can’t be assed getting up.
(Post run) I wouldn’t have gone without my ladies being there. It was a tougher run than the others. Tried to pace with Bel- hard but worth it. Feeling great. Definitely need to foam roll my shins!
Thurs 6am. 30:30 intervals – 4km in 28mins 54sec.
Week 2
Run 4: Had a two day boxing course – didn’t run. The other ladies did!
Sun AM.
Run 5: Decided to take my dog. My run is not fast enough so she was dragging me everywhere. Nearly fell on my face three times. Turned into a much shorter walk.
Tues 6am. 1.5km walk
Run 6: Wow, feeling great! Started a little early and did a lone run for some distance- very happy with it! Definitely need to get my shin looked at.
Thurs 6am. Ran 2km, walked 1km, ran 1km. 4km in 33mins.
Week 3
Run 7: Had a wedding the night before. Three wines plus 6hrs sleep = very sluggish Deanna. Felt the run was abnormally hard, struggled with my breathing. Walked way more than I had planned. Was very surprised to see that we ran so much faster than before and smashed our times! (Got my shin looked at by my coach yesterday- zero pain today!)
Sun 8.20ish am. Ran 1km, jog/walked intervals for 3kms. 4kms in 29mins 45sec.
Run 8: Ran solo today. Run felt hard again, but I ran a better time. Maybe I need to adjust my expectations. Feeling a bit niggly in my knees today. Possibly from time of the month hormones.
Tues 5.30am. Ran 2km, fartlek 1km, ran 1km. 4km in 29mins 15sec.
Run 9: I run SO much better with my ladies next to me (and talking the whole time to distract myself hahaha). Running is starting to feel like more of a flow. Also feeling good about myself in general. Self esteem and confidence are very high as of late. However my body and mind are exhausted. Time for a big sleep!
Thurs 6am. Ran 2km, Fartlek 2km – minimal walking. 4km in 30mins 15sec.
Week 4
Run 10: Man I love Bel. She doesn’t leave my side and has no idea how much she keeps me going when I want to stop. Run was good, apart from my shin being on fire most of the time. My coach thinks its blood flow issues and what I’m feeling is the burn of muscle death… Not fun.
Sun 7am. Ran 2km, fartlek 1km, ran 1km. 4km in 29mins 37sec.
Run 11: Holy crap! We just ran the whole 4kms! Not sure where that came from but I’m SO flippin happy!! Emma joined us, please come back 🙂 oh, and Bel, you are legit my homegirl.
Tues 6am. Ran 4km in 29mins 23 sec.
Run 12: I saw my osteo last night. He released the tightness in my shoulder/neck and also my shin without touching any of them… #Magician. Then ripped the inners out of my shoes and told me to stop running when I fatigued or anything hurt so that I keep my new range of motion and won’t return to rubbish patterns. Run felt great but stopped to walk a fair bit more than I would have liked. Learning to trust the process and listen.
Thurs 6am. Ran 1km, Fartlek 3km. 4km in 32mins 18sec.
Week 5
Run 13: Everyone ran separately today. Was a bit nervous to not have Bel next to me. Turns out that I ran my best times. Must have been the Spanish beats in my ear haha. Shin started to play up, probably ignored it a little too much. One more run until second osteo appt.
Sun 8am. Ran 2km, fartlek 2km. 4km in 28mins 19sec.
Run 14: Omg it literally rained sideways into our faces. Wind was so strong we had to lean so far forward. SO COLD! Not funny at the time. Hilarious now.
Wed 6am. Ran 2km. Fartlek 2km. 4km in 32mins 8sec.
Run 15: Forgot to write about it afterwards. Essentially; ran, walked lots because shin still sucks, ran again.
Thurs 6am. Ran 2km. Fartlek 2km. 4km in 30mins 11sec.
Run 16: Did an extra run as I will be away this weekend. Best run to date. Taped my shin, changed my shoes and changed my laces. Shin had about 15% of the normal pain. Smashed my times. Weeeeeow.
Fri 6am. Ran 4km in 28mins 25sec.
Week 6 – was in Melb most of the week
Run 17: Ran. Fast. (And also forgot to write about run afterwards so can’t remember haha)
Tues 6am. Ran 4km in 27mins 54sec.
Week 7 – was in Sydney most of the week
Run 18: Just a sneaky 5km… Lol let’s be honest, it was my first ever non stop 5km run. Feeling like I’ve got some rhythm here. Now to get the pace back up! Zero shin pain, WIN!!!
Tues 6am. Ran 5kms in 37mins 8sec.
Week 8
Run 19: Ran alone. Planned to run 5km, didn’t happen. Strong wind and started raining. Period pain. Excuses. Did a fair bit of walking. And only 4km. Oh well.
Sun 9am. Ran/walked 4kms in 28mins 57secs.
Run 20: Ran 5km. Somehow. Almost gave up at least 5 times. Bel is literally my rock. My running rock.
Tues 6am. Ran 5km in 36mins 5sec.
Run 21: Ran 5km again. Started to actually enjoy it! Or maybe I just enjoy running with Bel haha.
Thurs 6am. Ran 5km in 35mins 28sec.
Week 9
Run 22: Holy crap, ran 5km! Was 2mins late and Bel wanted me to play catch up. LOL. Just turned around when I saw Bel. Really good run considering I’d been crook over the weekend.
Wed 6am. Ran 5km in 35mins 8sec.
Week 10
Run 23: I just ran 8km!!!! I am wonder woman.
Sun 8.30am. Ran 8km in 55mins 19sec.
Run 24: Body wasn’t 100%- tight hammies and calves, and my left side was kind of lagging behind- so I didn’t push for a good time. I am starting to really feel like a runner as most of the time I run on autopilot. Win! 3 weeks out!! Eeeek.
Tues 6am. Ran 5km in 35mins 32sec.
Week 11
Run 25: Haven’t run in about 10days. Wet weather plus laziness took over. Took it easy. And my knee hurts. WAAAA not now!!
Thurs 6am. Ran 5km in 36mins 35sec.
Week 12
Run 26: My knee has been very sore after the last two runs. Chose to rest instead. Today did our final run before the race on Sunday – Eeeeeek! Excited. Nervous.
Tues 6am. Ran 5km in 37mins 16sec.
City to Bay
1-3km. This sucks. This is so much harder than I thought it would be. I just want to walk. If Bel wasn’t next to me, I’d probably just start walking home lol
3-5km. This sucks slightly less. Omg water!!
6km. Halfway. I’ve totally got this.
7-9km. This is easy. I mean, I cant feel my kneecap anymore but it’s mentally easy now. Running on autopilot. Started collecting as many high 5s as I could.
10-12km. Home stretch baby. Knee is on fire. This is not good. But could run faster if I wanted to. All of Coach Waynes tips helped so much!!
Finish line: OMG we did it!! Holy hell that freaking hurt so bad WHY do people do this!! I’m relieved and so so damn happy. What a morning! I cannot believe we just ran 12km. THE. WHOLE. TWELVE. KILOMETRES. Amazing. Absolutely amazing. Where are those free bananas???
Looking back now, I’d totally do that again. Next time I would prepare better and definitely plan my recovery. I had no idea how much my knees would hurt afterwards. However, the pain passed pretty quickly.
Our post race refuel was on point. We all went to a cafe and ate LOADS. It was delicious and I pretty much scoffed an entire bowl of communal sweet potato fries, before the meals even arrived. My bad ladies!
Now to keep moving and slowly get back into regular training (I’m taking a week or two off from running) while my body let’s go of the inflammation and begins healing.
I want to relive the race over and over.
I achieved one of my new year’s resolutions.
I got to run side by side with my homie.
My wonderful man came to watch me cross the finish line.
We all got to have a huge refeed together.
Now it’s time that we set our sights on achieving MORE goals.
2017, I’m not done with you yet.