Saturday, May 1, 2010

Saturday Is No Day Off

Yesterday was huge!! It started at 3:30 am with this weird dream where I kept hearing a strange sound. My dear hubby was snoring and I'd managed to incorporate it into my subconscious. Seeing as I was awake I had to go to the toilet and then the dogs decided that they did too. It was a bit over an hour till I had to be up for my run and I tried snoozing. Failed!

Our long run was 21k and I was well rested because I skipped hills this week. Coach Chris emailed us about the need for nutrition on longer runs so I decided that I'd try one of the gels Jenny had given me for my birthday. Jenny is a big gel-user and couldn't believe I wasn't. I have tried one a couple of years back and it wasn't a pleasant experience (stomach cramps and urgent calls of nature) so I've been a bit scared of trying again. But if I'm to do a marathon I'm going to have to find some way of getting calories in.

I planned my gel-stop very carefully. It had to be near a water fountain and within reasonable running distance to toilets. It was around the 12k mark. Luckily there was no intestinal fallout and even more luckily the gel seemed to have a positive effect. I managed to run the last 9k with no pace drop-off (which is normal for me) and my last k was my fastest. Go figure! 21k done in 1:52:56. I'm happy.

After the run it was my usual Saturday breakfast with hubby and family then off to the markets for our weekly fruit and vege shop then I had to help out at a sausage sizzle. The squad is raising money for our yearly relay (500k charity relay in November) I helped man the grill for 3 hours and smelt of fried onions for the rest of the day.

Back home for a quick cup of tea. Into the city to pick up Luke from his school. Back home again to put up my tired feet. Then off on a two hour walk with my walking friend Natalie. We tried a different route to our favourite coffee shop. It was my route and I made a fundamental mistake. I took us down a road that was marked Private. It took us to a dead end so we either had to back track or go cross country through the scrub to reach the road. By cross country I mean pretty much a vertical ascent. We chose that option and our little walk became a quest for survival (okay I'm exaggerating a little - but it was tough) It was such a relief to finally reach the safe haven of the coffee shop.

I got back home around 8:30 pm, tried to stay up and watch a movie but kept falling asleep.

Today my feet are a little sore. I wonder why?!!

6 comments:

  1. I hope you rewarded yourself at the coffee shop after such an ordeal!

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  2. Sounds like a very full day! Glad the gel agreed with you. Love your background--reminds me of sunshine!:)

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  3. What an early start to a busy day! It sounds like you did some trail blazing, fun!

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  4. Some gels work wonders for me and some only upset my stomach. It is a trial and error thing.
    What a busy day you had. Hope you got some good sleep. 3:30 is early to get up.

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  5. I am with Meg: what an early start!
    Congrats for the 21k done in 1:52:56.

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  6. That is one busy day!

    Great job on the long run, and I'm glad the gel went down well.

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