Weekly update

Well, it's been a great exercise week, even if I have been recovering from my wonderful holiday in China. We arrived home at 1:30 pm on Monday and I was out running at 7:30 am the next day. It sounded like a good idea at the time, when I organised it with Krissi a few days earlier, but it certainly did not seem sensible when the alarm went off on Tuesday morning. I was really tempted to pike out on my first half marathon training session. Fortunately I thought about (1) how good I'd feel after getting out there and running; (2) how one more hour's sleep wasn't going to make that much difference; and (3) how guilty I'd feel if I missed out on the run. After I finished running I felt great!

Although I was up in plenty of time, I ended up being late for the run. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. I think it was me who was moving slowly! Krissi and Lola were just about to leave when I arrived. We ran along the bike path towards Lyneham. It's a familiar run, which made it a lot easier for me. I was able to chat away about China as we went. I think people will find that my China trip improves their running speed, as they frantically try to get away from me!

I wasn't too worried about the time, which is just as well. We ran about 5.3 km in just over 45 mins. As we went, Krissi chatted about our half marathon training program. My personal goals for the half are to enjoy the run, to complete the distance and to run as much of the way as I can manage. I'm not too fussed about time. I know I can run 8 min kms fairly consistently, so I'm expecting to get around in under 3 hours. How much under, I don't know or care at the moment. I guess I'll have a better idea after we've done some longer runs.

Lola had arranged to run with her friend, Julie, on Thursday. She kindly invited me along, which solved my "get out of bed and run on your own" problem. I met up with them at Lake Ginnenderra at 7 am. It was weird. I felt like we were running so slowly. In fact, I was wondering if running with the others was such a good idea, as it was a major effort for me to keep back with them. When we finished, I realised we'd covered 6.3 km in 49 mins. We'd actually run a little faster than we'd run on Tuesday. I must have been tired on Tuesday morning!

It was a pleasant chatty run. I've run around the lake a few times, doing the ABS fun run and the Ben Donohoe fun run. It was good to run it again. The last time I did it I really struggled to get around. This time it seemed easy.

I don't remember when I've looked forward to a run so much. Lately it's been a real struggle to get my butt out there, but this morning I was keen to go. I bounded out of bed enthusiastically.

One thing about running with other people, the time just flies. I also find that it's easier to stop and stretch properly as I'm still chatting away at the end.

We're running again on Sunday - 10 km. We're going out and back along the lake. I'm pretty sure the route has been chosen so that we are running up University Hill at the end, when we're tired.

This morning (Friday) was my usual PT session with Krissi. It was good to be back to normal. After 15 mins on the stationary bike (a great way to catch up on all the news) and some stretching we moved on to squats. Normally I do three sets and then move on to something else. Today I did 12 squats (30 kg on the bar), then 12 lunges on the step, then 12 hamstring curls, then repeated the set. I remembered Lola saying that Krissi had caned her legs on Wednesday at her PT session so I figured she was doing it to mine too. After that we did some floor exercises that had my legs crying! My abs got a workout too. Some upper body work and then some side bridges. I suck at those. I have a feeling that Krissi is going to make sure that I don't suck at them soon.

I'm in the middle of decision mode at the moment, working out whether or not I'll play hockey this year. My club isn't fielding a grass team. The advantages for me of playing grass are (1) it's social, so you don't have to train; (2) it's grass so it's slower than turf; and (3) I don't have turf stick skills as I never played on turf back in the old days. If I decide to play turf I'll have to train. Mind you, because I'm going to be running more I'll be the fittest I've ever been for a hockey season. That would be novel. Tomorrow is grading but I have been invited to a friend's wedding ceremony at that time. I'd like to do both. I guess that grading is really only important if you're trying to get into the 1sts. I'm pretty sure that they can grade me within 5 minutes of my showing up at training. My other option is to play with a different team in the grass competition. Decisions, decisions! I'm leaning towards playing turf except for fitting training and playing into my schedule.

One thing for sure, much as I loved my holiday in China, it's good to be home and getting back into my exercise routine!