It’s Official

I officially registered for the Melbourne Marathon today!!!

No backing out now!

I have setup a Fundraising page too, with a goal of raising $2,200 for the Cerebral Palsy Education Centre, which will buy a walker for a child with Cerebral Palsy.

Any money raised through the ads on this blog will be going to CPEC, along with any donations from our Hero page.

A lovely day for a Sunday run

Today we did a couple of 5km loops around Melton.  Eddie (our black and white Border Collie) came along for half of the run.  He can’t really handle much more than 5km, and especially lately, he has been losing his fitness.  He used to come with me on all my runs while I was following the Couch to 5km Program.  So he slowly built up his fitness at the same time as me… but lately I’ve been running a lot longer distances or riding my bike to the gym, so poor Eddie misses out.

Our second loop was along the creek and ended up being a bit longer than the first, so we ended up doing around 12km in the end.

 

The step-back week

This week is an easy week for us.  I have really been looking forward to the break!  The plan was for :

• Wednesday – 10km
• Friday - 7km
• Sunday - 10km race

Wednesday night we went to the Melbourne Marathon training group.  It was a bit of an adventure to find where we were running from – normally the running groups start at Federation Square… but this one started from Genesis at Southbank.  It was a bit different running around the city at night.  The big ferris wheel looked amazing, but most of the time I didn’t really know where I was, I was too busy watching my footing.  There were two groups to choose from – 10km fast or 10km slow.  We chose the slow group which was supposed to go at about 6 minute kms.  I am so glad that we went with this group… it was a bit of a struggle to keep up. 

The run group started at 6pm, and I had turned down a lunch time run with a running coach that someone had told me about.  The weather looked beautiful at lunch time… and unfortunately by about 4pm some big dark clouds rolled into town with a lot of rain.  I checked the bom site and I was very optimistic that by the time we went out the rain would have stopped.  I wouldn’t really call it rain… but it was drizzling down most of the run.  I did start the run with straight hair… by the time I got home it was looking a bit curly again.

We ended up doing 10.8km in about an hour – so a little bit quicker than 6min/km.

Friday lunch time I did a 7km run which went around the Tan and a bit extra.  Here is a picture of a funny looking statue that is next to the Yarra river. 

I did some research and found out it’s name is Angel:

"Angel' - A mosaic sculptural piece created by Deborah Halpern when she set out to make a sculpture that was “wild, whimsical and colourful”. After standing in front of the National Gallery of Victoria for 18 years, and some restoration of her 4,000 tiles, Angel was relocated to her new home just down from Federation Square.

After running around the Tan once I kept going up to Anderson St and ran back on the other side of the Yarra.  Lucky I did the extra bit, or I wouldn’t have seen this…

There were two cockatoos, sitting right near the path and they barely moved as I ran past.  So I decided to stop and take a photo.  Each time I took a step closer they took a step back.

Tomorrow there is a race at Princess Park… I’m still undecided about whether I will do it or not…

25km - Melton to the U.S.!!

Sunday's run was a long 25km.  Starting off at an early and chilly 6:30am, we set off before the sun was even up.  Our first stop was the tap outside KFC.  It has become a bit of a favourite stop lately! 

Here is the map of where we went.  We also did a few stops at some houses to ‘borrow’ some tap water from the front garden. 

One of the more unusual things we found on our run was this U.S. Mail letter box.  Here is a pic of Carli posing with the letterbox. 

There is also a photo of some trees in the park down near the creek.  It just looked nice in the early morning sun.

We often find that we get to see the best weather on our early Sunday runs.  Perfect clear skies, the sun shining… then we get home, have a shower, have something to eat and the sky has clouded over for the rest of the day!  Now I will be able to get photo proof that there really was some beautiful weather!  It’s the reward for the early riser!!!

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I pulled up ok after this run.  A little bit sore around the knees again, but nothing too serious.  I got to try out my new Aldi running clothes – the long leg pants and the running socks.   I might do a bit of a review of those tomorrow – time for bed now!

The Ferris Wheel

Today I aimed for a 9km run, but only managed to get it to 7.3km!!! I ran down the yarra to Chapel st and back up the other side to the Princess St Bridge... well the foot bridge actually - you can see the Princess St bridge in the photo below.

How many Melbourne icons could I get in one photo? The Yarra River, the MCG, there is a glimpse of a tram on the bridge, oh and not forgetting the cloudy sky! lol It was actually quite a nice sunny winters day run for most of the way.

This is the big ferris wheel which has been set up on the Yarra. It looks really pretty at night all lit up. I don't think you will find me up there though! I might go sky diving, and all sorts of other crazy things, but I have a bad memory of throwing up while on a ferris wheel!

My poor feet are not liking me at the moment... pressure spots on my little toes, and blisters on the inside ball of my foot. That is something I definitely need to look into.

Run Keeper

On Wednesday I had left my iPod and my stop watch at home, so I tried to think of an alternative way to track my run. I found a new app for my iPhone called RunKeeper.

"RunKeeper is an application built for the new iPhone 3G that uses the built-in GPS to enable runners (and walkers, cyclists, hikers, etc.) to track their outdoor fitness activities including duration, distance, pace, speed, calories burned, and path traveled on a map."

It was very easy to use, and I could even use my camera while using the app (I paused the workout while I took the photo, then resumed afterwards).

Below is what my run looked like when I got back to my computer:

I love that it also gives splits - something missing from the Nike+.

pros:
1. I had everything in one - camera, music, phone and the run keeper program.
2. Very easy to use. Just need to remember to turn WiFi off. Then just push the button to start running. Pause when you want to.
3. It automatically gets sent to the website to view later. No connections or downloads required.
4. It's free!!!

Cons:
1. It was a bit awkward carrying the iPhone while running. I need to look into some sort of belt or clip to hold the phone
3. A bit fiddly when you want to check how fast you are going, or to pause the workout... need to unlock the screen first. (I believe this is fixed in the $10 version of the app.)
4. The map takes a long time to load on the website.

I thought the downloads would be high, and that that would be a negative about this tool. I have just logged in to Telstra to check my downloads, and this is what it has:

Wed 15 Jul 2009 01:01 PM 54KB 93:45 min $1.41

The bigger hit came after the run was finished when I wanted to view the map...

Wed 15 Jul 2009 02:35 PM 2,100KB 11:07 min $46.42

(now that I know this I will just look at the map from my pc. Oh and I won't actually pay that much, as long as I don't go over my 150MB downloads for the month)

While on my run I spotted a couple of police on horse. So I stopped them to ask for a photo... "for things that I see on my run!"

Two police patrolling the Tan

The Eynesbury Half

Yesterday the plan was to run 23km. Since it can get a bit boring running the same areas, and also get hard to find such long routes, I thought it might be a good idea to have a run around the new Eynesbury estate.

We parked the car at Exford Primary School (Josh's school) and ran from there, heading down the main road to Eynesbury.
Once in the estate we just followed a few paths and turned into streets when we felt like it (note: most of the streets on the map above don't actually exist yet. I think we only saw Stage 1 and Stage 2.) We found a few nice paths that followed the edge of the golf course. We ended up doing 2 laps around the estate following these paths, plus a few detours to look at things of interest (I tried to find the Eynesbury Park that Josh's school had a competition to name. We did end up finding it eventually, but it was a bit disappointing. It is only the size of 2 house blocks, and there is nothing there yet.)

At about the half way mark we stopped at the golf club to use the toilets. They were so nice inside! A great place to grab a quick drink.


The run back to the carpark was a killer. The wind was strong and our legs were so tired. We made it up to the corner, only to find that we still had another 3km to go!!! So we ended up doing three laps along the drive to the Melton Reservoir.


I really wish that I had taken my camera. There were so many interesting things that we saw. There were 2 pelicans flying above the reservoir, and five kangaroos in the bush. When we got back to the primary school there was a firetruck there - no fire, they just needed to take the truck out for a drive to get its kilometres up that week! lol

The Tan

Last Wednesday I did my usual lunch time run... jog to The Tan (Botanical Gardens in Melb), then set my watch for a Fartlek lap. Basically this means that I run some fast bits, then some regular speed bits, then more fast bits. Usually I aim for things like a fast sprint to the next driveway, or park bench. The objective is to eventually be doing more fast running and less of the slower running.


My pb for the Tan is 17:45. Wednesday I got 17:55.

According to Wiki, the current record is 10:08 by Craig Mottram in 2004.

The Tan is 3.82km long. The traditional starting place (which lines up with the distance markers around the track) is at the 'Pillars of Wisdom'. These are a set of small pillars around in a semi circle. This is a great spot to do stretches and have a drink at the drinking fountain.


Most people run clockwise around the Tan, and this is the way the distance markers go. For a change I have tried running around the opposite direction. It feels a bit strange, and like you are going against the tide. I like going clockwise because you get the Anderson st near the start of the run, then it is mostly downhill or flat for the rest of the run.


I also tried to recalibrate my Nike+. This is a little chip that I have that attaches to an iPod, with the other part in the shoe. It tracks how far and how fast you are running. I love my Nike+ but I noticed that it wasn't quite as accurate compared to Carli's Polar watch and footpod. After one run mine said we had run 19km while hers said 17km. When I checked at the sign posts around the Tan it seemed to be off by about 100m each km... which doesn't sound like much, but when you start running 20km it makes a big difference! I did the calibration at 500m using the Tan markers... and it seemed to work, but when I tested it by running back to the start it said .51km!!! So it is still not right!

Merimbula 9km

While in Merimbula for our little holiday, I picked a nice boardwalk out of the travel brochures for my first big run after the Half.



The actual boardwalk was only 3km return so I decided to run there and back as well. One thing that they can't really show on the map though... HILLS!!! First thing out of the holiday park is a sharp incline, followed by a very long decline. First I went past the fishing club jetty and Rotary Park. I saw some pelicans here, and got a nice shot of the sun lighting up the hills on the other side.


The boardwalk was great... though it didn't have any rails on the sides. I had to keep my mind on what I was doing to make sure I didn't wander to the side and end up in the water! I had to take a map too, to make sure I didn't get lost! lol.

There were a few boats on the lake. The water was very low, and so still. I saw a few other people going for walks or runs on the boardwalk. Later that night I brought the boys out for a walk while the sun set.

I really enjoyed getting to run with such beautiful scenary. My legs felt good, though I did walk up a few of the really steep hills! And I got to jump in the spa when I got home!

Run Melbourne - Half Marathon

On the 28th June I ran in the Run Melbourne Half Marathon. Our goal was to get under 2 hours. The start line was really well organised with a group of about 200 runners starting every 2 minutes. This meant that we didn't have to walk at all during the start. Runners World gave out pacing bands to wear around our wrists, next to our watch so we knew if we were on track to meet our target time.

Carli kept us on pace and we came through the finish line at 1:58!!!

I felt really good after the run, like I could run some more if I needed to.

The next day I spent sitting in the car driving to Merimbula for 12 hours.
Each stop I tried to stretch out my legs. On our first morning in Merimbula I went for a very short run along the beach. I didn't last long though, the sand was too soft, and the hard sand near the water edge was on too much of an angle. I went back to the road and did a loop back to the holiday park. My left hamstring was very sore, so I ended up stopping after only 2km.

A new challenge

Last year I got talked into running a half Marathon. It was a huge leap for me, going from 10km all the way up to 21.1km. But I did it, in a smidge over 2 hours. It is amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it!

This year I decided to challenge myself further, and complete the Melbourne Marathon - 42.2km.

I decided to start a blog to capture my journey as I train for the marathon, which is on Sunday 11th October 2009. Thirteen weeks to go.