Life On The Upswing

It happens every Easter - well, every Easter since I've been in my running squad. I think "great, I've got a bit of time off work so it'll be awesome to do some extra running" and every year Coach Chris sends out a NO RUN ban for the long weekend. I truly understand his logic. Lots of people are away. We've been training hard for a few months and a weekend off won't hurt and can only help those with niggly injuries. It'll refresh us for the next few months leading up to the racing season. But I have my needs. And sanity over the long Easter break where nothing has been planned involves running. And the guilt-free consumption of copious amounts of Easter eggs also involves running. So every year I have broken Coach Chris's NO RUN rule and gone out on a surreptitious run.

But this year will be different. This year I have permission to run. And Coach Chris is actually leading a run of a few select squad members (ones that have important events in the very near future). Woohoo!

And even better than this - he's mapped out a whole new run for the occasion. 25k of virgin territory for our little group. The only downside is the number of hills and I know that there'll be lots and we all know how I feel about hills.

Running has been so uplifting for me lately. Every runs a winner baby, that's the truth. It's nice to be able to run and then back up the next day if I want to. Saturday I had my long run which was 23k along one of my least favourite (hilly) areas and apart from matching little toe blisters (new socks), a bush toilet visit and a burst blood vessel in my finger (from retying my shoes after trying to wiggle the sock seam off the sore spot) it was a good run.

Sunday was supposed to be a rest day but I'd missed a run during the week and Sam was playing a soccer match at the Uni so I decided to do a split run - run to the Uni, watch the match then run home. I even convinced my youngest Luke to run with me. He now gets that his Mum is quite fit. He took the easy option home (Dad in the car) while I rounded out my 11k.

Tuesday was speed session and it was 1 mile repeats. It's a tough set because the course has a hill at the beginning. I ran 4 repeats - 7:18 (a bit fast), 7:31, 7:33 (both spot on) then 7:40. When I got home I compared the times to the last few times that I ran this set and they were better!! That makes me smile.

Then today I went for a nice 11k run trying to stay relaxed and keep my heart rate down. 155 bpm is pretty good for me so again :)

Yesterday was also a very good work day because
a) I got paid by a group I'd been waiting on for a couple of weeks
b) One of my fabric suppliers sent a parcel of fabric and included a whole pile of chewy mints as a little Easter gift AND
c) The customer who I'd had to explain my pricing to last week ($220 for 14 hours of labour is really good value whether you've supplied the fabric or not) came to pick up the leotard and brought me a bottle of wine as a thank you.

These nice little things totally made up for the fact that I cut out 12 leotards in the wrong fabric and now have to re-cut them. I think it's time for a little holiday from work so I can put my head back in gear.