I got the job done.

Well that was a hard fought battle.  So many times while out there running I doubted if I could come in under 1:55. 

While we were all lined up I was running on the spot.  I was on the far left side of the road and then realised if there was any hope of Mark getting a photo of me leaving I needed to be on the far right.

I weaved in an out and then was just about to move a little more to the right when Ange called out my name, I was walking right in front of her.  I’d placed myself at the 1:50 group.  I figured if I could hold onto that group for the first 1/2 I might have a chance of coming in under 1:55.

So we chatted for a little bit, and Ange asked where Mark was so I explained. 

Right around the time the gun went off (and I don’t recall hearing it) the hail started.  Poor Ange had no hat and I imagine it wasn’t pleasant.  I had a beanie and my sun visor so it didn’t trouble me at all.  Thankfully it was just a short burst of hail.

While we were jogging closer to the start Ange spotted Mark before me.  I quickly waved and called out and Mark snapped a few shots.

What I can never understand is the number of walkers that you have to run past.  They have a designated spot for the walkers.  Right at the back after the runners.

Why do walkers intentionally start well up the pack?  It’s such an annoyance to have to run around them.

When we started I actually doubted that we’d started.  I thought maybe the start was up at Colombo Street, and the reason I suspected that was the pace of the people ahead of me.  They were way to slow for a 1:50 finish time.

So not only were there lots of walkers to navigate around, but a good number of runners as well.

My hands warmed up much quicker than I thought.  Probably about 3k into the run.  I was trying to work out whether I’d ditch my gloves at Peters house (right across the road from the first drinks station).  There were so many beanies and gloves littered in the road.

I didn’t ditch my gloves.  I realised the run back toward town would be considerably colder since we’d be headed into the wind.  And a SW wind is be no means warm, quite the opposite.

I had my eye on a couple ahead of me and decided I’d keep them in sight and use them to pace off.  I lost them at the first drinks station.  It went through my head that they might have been doing the 10k run.

The most embarrassing thing was calling out to some lady I thought was Mum.  I’d had a quick chat with Mum’s bridesmaid who was in the queue for the toilets and she said Mum would be at the bridge.  I thought the Gloucester Street Bridge but Margaret had thought the Armagh Street bridge.  I was so intent that Mum would be ON the bridge that I never looked to my right.

So here I was waving and yelling "Mum".  The person never even glanced my way.  Then Mum calls out from my right and there she was waving at me.  Cripes, how can you not recognise your own Mum

At this point this tiny little dot of a girl with a hydration pack on was running just a few feet in front of me, between me and the couple that I’d eyed up.

She had the tiniest little bottom.  I was somewhat jealous.  Anyway, we ran all the way to the park together.  We even managed a few words.  I asked what time she was aiming for.  She wanted 2 hours.  She asked what time I was aiming for.  I said 1:55 and assured her we were on track.

While running I’d figure out how many minutes I expected the rest of the run to take at the next 1km marker.  Sometimes I was OK, and other times I was in trouble.

The wind was bitterly cold.  It was quite hard to run against it.  And I knew it was killing my speed. Anyway the couple who I thought we’d lost as 10k runners ended up just in front of us again.  Them and another couple, some girl in a bright pink Adidas top. They were my targets.

At times I felt they were slipping away, and then I’d put in a little extra effort to reign them in.  And then the horrible cold nasty wind would pick up and it would almost deflate my hopes of finishing at 1:55.

I tried to concentrate on using my glutes but my bum was so cold I couldn’t really feel them.  At the 10km mark I remembered that I was supposed to be hitting my lap button and that I was also supposed to be eating my raspberry liquorice.

None of the run felt comfortable like the run I did two weekends ago.  That was almost a joy to run.  Today was hard.  There were a couple of spells where it was nice, just because the wind died down and you were no longer fighting it.

As we got to the park, the bit where you leave the road and run into the path I picked up my pace.  Well actually I didn’t (according to my lap markers) but I thought I had.  I’d lost the tiny butt red-head girl so I thought I had improved my speed.  I was desperate to see 18k marker.  Last marker we’d seen was 15k.

Again I was figuring out that if I’d dropped back to my nice comfortable 6min k’s at 18km what my finish time would be.

Sometimes when I calculated and then looked at my watch we had a couple of minutes up our sleeve, other times I was right on the money.

I knew I needed to work harder – assuming that gave me more speed – in order to get my 1:55.  It was touch and go.

Working harder was much harder.  I didn’t like it.  But I knew it needed to be done.  I pumped my arms faster and I certainly felt like I was working harder.  Just 12 minutes more of pain and I knew I’d be in.  And that would get me in bang on 1:55.  I’d sort of tossed up getting in between 1:55 and 1:56 but that seemed a waste.

Honestly, I really wasn’t confident I could do it.

I’d told Mark that when I got to the end of the park that I’d be pumping my arms harder and going for it.  As I was approaching the end of the park I willed it to take longer.  I really didn’t want to work any harder than I was already.  But I sucked it up and gave it more of a boost.  At this time tiny butt red-head girl came along side me.  I congratulated her and she thanked me, then she was gone.  I want a tiny butt!

I heard Darren yell words of encouragement from the side of the road.  I was just trying to hang in there.  I could see the official time and it was 1:56 something.  But I knew I’d started after the gun had gone.

At the finish tiny butt red-head girl shook my hand and thanked me for getting her in under 2 hours.  I wish I had paid attention to her race number so I could see what her time was.  I don’t know if she started before or after me.  All I know is she finished ahead of me.  Bugger!

So I’m all done.  1:54:22 according to my watch.  I did it.  It hurt, it wasn’t pleasant but it wasn’t as awful as Le Race. 

I really wanted it to be like the time I went out by myself.  I had a good run and felt quite pleased with myself.  Today I did what I set out to do but the weather conditions made it much harder and it was a battle of wills (mine and Mother Nature).

I can’t help wondering what I would have done if there’d been no wind.  There wont be a next time.  So I have to settle for today’s victory and get on with the next thing – after my 3 weeks off

It’s going to take drugs to get this done

Some will know this week my back has been bothering me.

I got a foam roller on Friday and given some lessons about how to use it to massage your back.  I must be doing it wrong.  Friday night I ended up with pain in my lower back on the right side which I’d not had before.

This morning my upper back is really stiff.  So I’ll need panadol.

I don’t do drugs, not unless I REALLY need it.  I’ll go days with a nagging headache and only by about day 3 take panadol.

However the idea of running for a couple of hours with a sore back has no appeal to me.

I’m also really tired.  I was awake just before 3:30 and took quite a while to get back to sleep.  All I could hear was the wind and rain.  I did get up and check there was no white stuff on the ground – there wasn’t.

So I’ve also pulled out the bottle of caffeine tablets.  I think I’ll be taking one of these too.

Besides, it might make me all giddy and happy and I think I’ll need some of that to look forward to running in the 39km SSW winds we have right now, and the rain.

My idea to get up at 5am to have my porridge, then go back to bed for another hours sleep hasn’t happened.  I let Mark know last night we’d need to leave home at 7:30 (we’re all supposed to be at the start by 8am).  He said he better get up at 6am.  Yes it takes him 1.5hrs to get dressed, washed and eat breakfast.

Lets see, me up at 5am, eat breakfast and back in bed by 5:30 when Mark’s up at 6.  Nope, wasn’t going to work out.  So I was up at 6am instead.

We lay in bed listening to the news, then the sport, and as happens SO often, the radio station went all silent at the weather time.  So after seconds of dead air time they put music on.  There was no weather report.

Of all the days I really wanted a weather report they don’t provide one.

Still, what was it going to offer me?  No hope.  I’ll still have to be rugged up with several layers of clothing on.

Now at 6:40 I’ve got everything sorted, except to have made my Protein shake.  I’ve got a bottle of Leppin.  I don’t want to stop at the water stations.  I fear any stop will lead to cold and then more misery and an inability to get going again.

I’ll be sipping on my bottle all the way in.  That ought to do it.

Another thing I will worry about is my bowel.  Please don’t let me have any urges to get to a toilet.  I’ve decided if it happens then it happens.  I can’t turn it off. I’ll try to mentally but everyone who’s suffered will know how difficult it can be.  And it does slow you down even when you’re trying to ignore the crippling discomfort.

If I have to go I’ll hit the lap marker so I know how much time I wasted.  It’s important to know what impact it has on my over all time.

As for my overall time.  I don’t know now.  I don’t know who much of a force the weather is to know if it’s likely to hamper my efforts.

I’m glad I’ve already knocked off a 1:55 1/2 marathon.  Today was about getting recognition via an event that I could do it.  But really I’m happy enough to know that I’ve already achieved it.

From that point of view the pressure, mentally, isn’t so great.

Today might literally be about survival of the fittest.  Maybe I’d have benefited from some of that body fat I’ve lost over the past few week

Why now?

Why the day of the SBS Marathon (1/2 for me) would it want to snow.  Not just snow, but sleet and "cut-in-half" winds.  Why?

WHY?

Sure we all joked about it a little on Friday when Stuff had a Met Service report warning about the awful wintry weather due on Sunday.

I suppose I hoped that the predictions would be wrong, or at least the timing would be off.

According to tonight’s weather, around midnight tonight we get the snow, sleet and wind.  The cut-in-half type winds.  SW winds.  So from the Arctic and from the Alps.

Noooooo!!!!

And up until tonight’s weather segment I thought the only real worry I had was getting my timing chip onto my shoe.

Of course there’s no instructions.  These are the same timing chips that usually have velcroe threaded through and then put around your ankle.  So there’s no real whole in which to put an end of your shoes lace. Though they’ve got a sort of cable tie (obviously a very small loop) through it, which I presume is where you put your lace through.

And I’ve got to be different.  I don’t have shoe laces.  I’ve got elastic laces.  Yes I know usually you have those only during the Tri season.  But mine are just fine.  And they’re a little complicated to lace up, so I’m inclined to just leave them be becuase there’s no reason to change.

There’s a couple of plastic bits to the lace system, and so the timing chip sort of sits underneath, until it sort of moved to the inside of the shoe.

That made me worry that I might continuously knock it when I was running.  Though that would mean I had a very funny (awkward) run style.  You can’t really see the two bits of plastic.  They both hold a loop of the lace.  You lace from the top down, and the top has a loop which you then secure to the bottom plastic bit.  It’s too hard to explain.

If I’ve left you confused and you really want to see, then you can watch the YouTube demo on how to lace.

 

Even after watching the weather report and knowing it was likely to be atrocious conditions tomorrow, I headed out the door to test-drive the timing chip. 

1. To make sure that I didn’t keep tripping up on the chip
2. To make sure the timing chip didn’t knock into the lace system and basically undo it.

Everything seems to be in working order.  Naturally I don’t want to worry all through the event about whether my shoe lace is going to hold firm.

No, what I’ve got to worry about is what the weather will be like and make a judgement call about how insane I am.

I’m crossing my fingers that it wont be snowing, there wont be any sleet, and the wind chill wont kill me. 

I do feel for those running the full marathon.

Pulled out another 5min k avg. run

That’s lucky.

It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t meant to be easy.  Actually I wonder if it’ll ever feel easy.  That would be nice.

I realise all these hard and really hard runs almost take the joy out of running. That doesn’t seem right.  What’s to encourage a person to keep running?

Ahhh, that’s right, the fact that you actually end up faster.  I’ll buy that.

When I left this morning at 6am it was 1 deg and foggy.  Those cold mornings don’t do me any favours trying to get an easy breathing pattern going.

I didn’t have my GPS.  My plan was to run to the same place I got to a few weeks back when I had a level 6 intensity run for 30 minutes.  This was the day before my 22km 1:59 run.

The good news is that my average remained at 5min/k.  Nice.

I’m confident then that I can manage the first 5 or so k’s on Sunday at a slightly higher pace than the average I need in order to get my 1:55.  And really now I’m wondering, not if, but how much I might be able to get under 1:55.

So far my training has gone really well.  Sunday shouldn’t offer up any surprises. Touch wood.

Hopefully not famous last words.

My training for the SBS is officially over.  Just have to rock up on Sunday and get on with it.

To pass away the time Mark will be at Real Groovy eyeing up records and DVDs.  I suggested he go off for breakfast. 

Wouldn’t it be a hoot if I finished earlier than 1:55 and I’m standing around waiting for Mark to reappear.  Possibly with an armful of vinyl.

Slowly does it

Clearly this post will NOT be categorised in my Training Diary.

I’m talking about eating.

As well as cutting out the crap (expect Sunday’s), I realised I needed to eat slower. 

This isn’t news really.  I’ve heard many people on diet shows say that you need to eat slower, then your body has a chance to register that it’s full.  And that feeling can take up to 20 minutes after a meal.

Generally I hoover down my food.  I’m not sure why.  In fact all through life I’ve been a fast eater. But certainly since training I just inhale my food.

Maybe it’s got something to do with getting home late and wanting some time with Mark, and when I do end up eating on my own, not much liking the isolation and just wanting to get on with it.

Eating slowly sounds like it should be simple.  For the first couple of weeks it was, and it did make a difference.

I’d say that I struggled last week, from about Wednesday.  For some reason I was hungry.  Maybe I ate more quickly.  I think it might have been more influenced by the type of work I was doing at work.  I was training one person for four days.  That’s a long time training in a row.  We had some laughs (until the tears rolled down my eyes), but it wasn’t very interesting – for me. 

I think out of boredom I ate.  I had a whole packet of fruit slice (the Griffins ones, can’t remember if their name) over the week.  And I started eating Marshmallows on Friday night.  Saturday I had 1/2 a Cookie Time cookie and the hot chocolate.

This week I’ve eaten a Crunchie bar (over 2 days) with dried apricots and a few pieces of raspberry liquorice.

Yester I was back to being good.

I know my eating has fallen back into the old rhythm of chucking it down my throat as quickly as possible.  I realise I’m doing that because usually I’m at my desk doing work stuff (or not) at the computer.

Even this morning I wolfed down my toast while catching up on Facebook.

I must eat slower.  I know it makes a positive difference and yet somehow my brain doesn’t kick into gear and stop me from being distracted where eating is a subconscious function.

My worry is that while on my three weeks off-season, I’ll pig out and treat every day like Sunday.  I must be more disciplined, I must be more aware of how I’m eating.