Pre-race Hypochondria

Do any of you suffer from pre-event hypochondria? I'm a huge hypochondriac in the week leading up to an event. Is that a tickle in my throat? How many times did I sneeze today? I've got a little sore spot in my calf and a really tight hip flexor. Honestly, the list goes on and on. It gets that way that I've almost talked myself into believing that I can hardly run a 10k let alone a half marathon.

Doesn't matter that I run half marathons nearly every Saturday morning leading up to the event. Doesn't matter that I've run further than a half at least three times in the last 6 weeks. Right about now I'm wishing I could put my brain into neutral and NOT THINK TOO MUCH.

The problem is that all I'm doing is thinking about this weekend. What to bring. What to wear. What time to get up. What to eat. When to eat. Where to park. And right this moment I'm in the throes of event-baking. That involved more thinking - what to bake, how much to bake, when to bake so it stays fresh.

Tomorrow afternoon we'll be heading off to the Gold Coast so tomorrow there will be a little less thinking and a lot more doing. I'm better with doing - it takes my mind off thinking.

Tomorrow will also be the last time I ever have coffee made by my favourite cafe. Things have been tough for them financially (despite my best efforts - but apparently I can't keep them afloat single-handedly) and they're having to shut. So long Ahrbaya and Harsha, I'm going to miss you both.

Appreciating What We Have.

I just need to have a little whinge. It's cold! Not cold like snowing cold just cold like I-can't-run-in-short-sleeves-and-have-to-wear-gloves cold.We're finally down to single digits (yes, that's Celsius not Fahrenheit so what am I whining about). The thing is that we in Queensland are not ever prepared for cold weather. We live in Queenslander houses made of timber with high ceilings and big verandahs and wooden floors. They're impossible to heat effectively or cheaply so here I sit with four layers of clothes on with the outside temperature at 13 degrees and the inside at 15. Still, I'd rather it be Winter than Summer.

I was made more aware of the cold because of our new team member. In Cambodia the temperature manages to stay between 20 and 30 degrees for most of the year. It generally doesn't get below 20C (that's 68F) so I'm thinking that this morning's 7C/45F start was a bit of a rude shock. But it did make for good running conditions. Coach Chris had a lighter session today because of this weekends races. It was just 6 X 400m followed by a few stride-outs.

While we were running I was thinking quite a bit about Bunting (our celebrity team member). I'd googled him on the weekend and found out lots of interesting stuff. He was one of 9 kids to a farming family in a small farming community. Somehow he found he was good at running and managed to get a stipend from the government of $50 a month. He trained at a run-down old athletics stadium doing laps rather than run through the city streets because of safety and pollution issues. He had no coach - just trained himself using programs that he found on the internet and he managed to run a 2:25 marathon. No coach, no physios, no dietitians or sports scientists. Amazing!

I thought a lot about how we must appear to him. We all turn up to training in our own cars wearing all the right running gear. We must seem so rich and privileged and in all honesty we are. It made me realise just how lucky I am and made me appreciate all I have.

Today was the last session before this weekend's races. Time to rest, relax and NOT think about the races much. Should be a fun weekend.

Lost Olympians, Butt Cam and a Blister.

There were a couple of things I wanted to mention today. Firstly, we have a new squad member. His name is Hem Bunting and he's the national champion of Cambodia. How cool is that?! He's training with our squad in the lead up to the Gold Coast Marathon and then Coach Chris will be coaching him electronically up until Melbourne Marathon. He ran at the Beijing Olympics as national champion but didn't qualify on times but he'd like to qualify as an elite athlete for the next Olympics.

He came with us on our long run today for the first time. I'd like to say at this point that he's tiny and doesn't speak much/any English. And he's WAY faster than any of us. Coach Chris gave us the course for the morning and we all took off. Bunting followed behind for a while but the pace was a little slow and he took off. Maybe not such a good idea when you're new to an area and can't speak the language. We were on our way back when C Chris caught up with us and told us that he'd lost his new charge. That's a really big Ooops!! Really poor form as a coach to lose a national champion on your first day. C Chris was really worried but luckily Bunting is savvy enough to find his way around foreign cities. He managed to make his was back all by himself. (much to C Chris's relief)

I went jeans-shopping with two of my boys yesterday. They were the shoppers and I was the cash-cow. We wandered into a shop called Jeans West and found a really nifty gadget. It's called butt cam and it could be the saviour of men who don't know what to say when asked 'Does my butt look big in this?' Basically you just stand in front of it and voila, your butt appears before you in all its radiant magnificence on a screen before you. Yes, we all had to have a go. Luke discovered that he doesn't actually have a butt. His legs just sort-of join onto his torso. Josh has a butt (a Donaldson butt) and my butt is not too shabby for a woman of maturity.

I commented on this new-fangled gadget to the shop assistant. Apparently she's not much of a fan. She often catches her butt up close and personal when she's doing the vacuuming. Maybe not the most flattering time to be butt-watching.

And finally - I have an injury! I wore brand new shoes for today's run and I wore some quite thick socks. It wasn't the best combination. I now have a minute blister on my right little toe. But apart from the blister, I think the shoes are going to be good. (especially if I wear my normal socks) I'll test them out again either for my Monday run or for speed on Tuesday.

Farewell Socceroos. You Fought Valiantly but it was all in Vain

I'm bone weary today. But not from running. I sacrificed my hill run this morning for the sake of patriotism. I got up in the cold and the dark at the inordinately cruel hour of 4:15 am to cheer on the Socceroos in their final World Cup match. Actually I didn't know it was to be their final match - I was hoping and praying for a miracle. We needed a win but it had to be a big win. And we either needed Germany to win big too or for Ghana to do the seemingly impossible and beat Germany.

Well we did win - but only by one goal. And Germany also won - but only by one goal. So the World Cup is now over for me. I'll continue to be a little interested (mostly because I'm in a tipping comp and I'm hoping my ability to pick winners improves) but I've heard there's a little tennis tournament happening in England and there's a few Aussies that haven't been knocked out yet.

And on to my own sporting pursuits - I have the Gold Coast Marathon weekend coming up in 9 days. I'm registered for the 10k on Saturday and the half marathon on Sunday. No I'm not a masochist. I've got perfectly valid reasons for doing both events plus I have the blessing of Coach Chris. But I need to come up with a strategy. At the moment I'm thinking to do the 10 really comfortably, maybe 5:30 pace (which will give me a PW but I'll get the medal and t-shirt regardless). Then back up with a solid hit-out at the half keeping as close to 5 min k's as possible. Opinions anyone?

Time Trial

Coach Chris has a little evil streak. I'm not dissing him - he'd fully agree with me and rub his hands together in delight. He'd told me that we were doing a 3 k time trial at speed yesterday but he didn't tell me the rest.

So yesterday I rock up at 5:30 only to be told we're starting the session with short sprints. We NEVER do anything before a time trial EXCEPT the warm-up. It put the fear of God in me. How was I going to survive sprints with the time trial at the end? So I did what any reasonably intelligent, scared runner would do. I held back a little on the sprints.

We did 12 sprints then had a 2 min breather and then we lined up. I tried to go out conservatively but of course my first k was the fastest of the lot - 4:27. The second k I just tried to maintain speed but conserve energy. I did slow a little - 4:37. The last k was just holding on for dear life and trying to finish without barfing - 4:33. Finish time - 13:37, a good minute and a bit less than in Feb. My best ever time is 13:10 but on a different course which only included 2 turn-arounds (yesterday's had 5!) and one up-hill (yesterday's had 3)

Am I happy? Yep! And today I've managed to talk my no 2 son, Josh into coming down to Sydney to do the half marathon in September. Happy ... I'm overjoyed!

Protecting the Minds of the Innocent

Exams are over!! (Can you hear me cheering across the water?) All the pressure and tension has gone from our house and spirits are definitely higher.

Iven and I spent a lot of time on the weekend doing odd jobs that we'd put off. A month ago we received a registered letter from our council telling us that our bamboo (which has been in our yard for the 23 years that we've lived here plus who knows how long before that) was a pest plant and had to be removed within the month. Now we have a LOT of bamboo and the bamboo was performing a very important moral function. It was shielding our bathroom from the prying eyes of students at the high school next door. Iven worked really hard chopping down the bamboo and poisoning all the stems but the end result was a little more exposure than I was comfortable with. (Iven kindly checked how much of our bathroom could be seen one day while I was showering and he happily informed me that the view was amazing)

We did procrastinate for about a fortnight but last weekend we bought roller blinds and now they are installed and the innocent minds of the teenagers next door are now safe. (Yes I know that innocent minds and teenagers aren't words usually put into the same sentence but the school is a special academy for Science, Maths and Technology so I assume there are a lot of virgins on campus)

We also did a big clean-up of my workroom. Because the business is now solely mine, I decided that I should take some ownership and change things up a little. I even treated myself to a new TV which has been mounted on the wall for better visibility. I cleaned out drawers and cupboards and threw away a ton of junk. It was amazingly cathartic.

Our next project will be the kitchen. It's due to start on the 12th of July and between now and then I have to clean out all the cupboards. I'm not looking forward to that.

Tomorrow I have a 3k time trial to run. Being friends with the coach gives me insider knowledge. Last time I ran a time trial I was just coming back from overtraining syndrome and ran around 15 mins. I'm hoping to go quite a bit faster this time. Wish me luck!

A Boost in Confidence

I had an awesome run today. Let me back up a week. Last Saturday's run was hard. It was 24k and I only survived it because of Brendan the chatty Irishman. I had done a lot of k's that week and I think they'd all caught up with me.

So fast forward to this morning - I hadn't slept well, was up at 2 am taking ibuprofen for stomach cramps then up again at 4 because the anti-inflams hadn't worked so well. I gave up any thought of more sleep and turned on the tv to watch the first half of the England v Algeria match. I had my banana and a couple of spoonfuls of honey and headed off to meet the group, secretly dreading what was ahead but grateful that I had the group to run with.

We set out at 5:30 and I felt like I was running a little faster than I should be (but I was chatting with a new girl and it would have spoilt the conversation if I hadn't kept up). Before I knew it we were running with the faster group which made me worry that the return trip was going to be ugly but at this point I was in an area that I'm not totally familiar with and felt like if I didn't stick with them I might get lost. I got to the turn around point and all of a sudden I was by myself - no sweat, I thought, I just have to backtrack.

Hah! Easier said than done. I was okay for the first couple of k but then the route got a little complicated and I lost all confidence in my memory. Luckily it wasn't long till I came across one of our group who hadn't run as far. Dave knew the area better than me and guided me through the tricky bit. I'd hit around 16k at this point, had taken a gel and was feeling okay so I just kept running at around the same pace. I got to the finish in 2:01 for the 23k - 7 mins faster than when I did the same route 5 weeks ago.

So why is it that some days you run crap and other days it seems easy? I've never had honey before a run before - maybe it's the golden elixir. Maybe I timed the gel just right. Maybe all the planets aligned just right. I'm just grateful that my last really long run before Gold Coast was good.