10 more days...

It’s Thursday – 10 more days till the day. I have already pared back my training. My ITBS is still giving me grief. Imagine this constant mild numbness on the side of your leg - it doesn’t stop me from a gentle jog though (with my dog, say), but it’s annoying and I know I needed to rest more.

Talking about numbness, it is perhaps a good time to start numbing my senses with the course:

http://vimeo.com/42029320

It’s kind of scary looking at this eerily familiar course (aka "Sneak Preview" last Sunday) in fast mode. Ironically it made the course looked slower and longer….

On the 12 days of....

So 12 days to go before my rookie run. I know it’s not big…deal…………I am well aware that tens of thousands of people do marathons annually, so it is not a big deal. But for someone just starting out (both as a runner AND and a marathoner) it's really a big deal.
I always admired people that do marathons on a regular basis. It is a mark of human endurance - both physical and mental endurance. The focus and concentration required is immense. It hard enough to run for that long, let alone concentrating for so so long, and be so motivated to repeat that process over years and years.

And the training behind that...Every Sunday you give up your sleep-ins and crawl out of bed at 4AM to be ready to run at 5:30AM. Every other days you forgo the air conditioned bus, and run home carrying a big fat backpack.

And the constant niggles here and there…you almost forget what it feels like to be pain-free!

But I am glad my training is over for now. These last one to two weeks will be focused on rest and getting my body ready.

On the day we were recommended to follow the 4:15 pacer like ducklings. The reason is that he didn’t want us rookies to go out too hard (from the sheer excitements of the race
) and hit our heads on the concrete at the 10Km mark.

ITB = I Totally Bombed

...well not really...I did ok actually. It was just the last 7 km of the 35/6 km that bombed me. In fact I was doing fine today (blessed with cool weather) and had the perfect rhythm and momentum and was happy with my form: until we turned back from the Harbour Bridge and my knee felt numb.

…as if someone had just Taser my knee. It turns out that awful feeling is Iliotibial Band Syndrome or simply abbreviated as ITBS or THE ITB, a common symptom amongst long distance runners and cyclers. It is an inflamed tendon along the side of your leg, and that seriously hurts. I guess it is the result of Lazy not doing her daily foam roller exercises... I did however manage to crawl my way to the finish at a North Sydney. My coach gave me some Voltaren gel and so the pain somehow was masked in time for the massive hill that greeted us towards the end.

Anyway when I got home I discovered two blisters on each of my foot. One is a bloody pus and the other a clear one. Totally grossed out. I shouldn't have ignored that scratchy pain on my foot earlier today...on a positive note, I know exactly where I need to tape on the day.

Given all the overused injuries that has been appearing the last few weeks of my training program, I won't be completing the 20km next week. I plan to focus on stretching, mobility, and recovery. Hello yoga, gentle gym and swimming.



After today’s run I kicked back to watch Kickass 2. Awesome movie. Violent, but it is good.

And no movie is complete with a hot chocolate. Yum…I totally deserve something decadent today he he.

Saturday at the Polls

I decided to resume my blogging today, since its Election Night and we are getting a new PM, who happened to have done the Iron Man challenge...I think that fact alone is impressive enough. Anyway it’s one of those nights where everybody is an expert on politics. Although I am getting political fatigue from work talks, I do like to know the swings and results so decided to blog with the ABC blasting on the background. It’s nice to learn the names of different electorates…



 

 

Since I haven’t been really training this week I haven't blogged since Monday. I have missed my routine - like - suddenly - I started waking up at 5AM feeling rather purposeless...so sadly, I picked up my notebook and get an early start on work. Sad.

 

On a more positive note, my back is healing well. The pain has not disappeared, but the numbness has disappeared and I no longer feel so debilitated. I know it's there though – for example, when I sneeze I feel that pain pinged in my head. I doubt it will go away in time for the marathon on the 22nd September, but I know it’s not permanent and it is just taking time to heal. Time, baby time. It’s always time, isn’t it?

 

So as per my previous post, during my rest week I have been walking/chin-upping/dog walking. I even managed to do a shuffle-run with my obese dog (I think she might have slimmed down a bit too…). Well recall my earlier post on my work pedometer challenge? Well turns out it was such a motivation for me to go and walk my dog. As this week was a rehab week for me (i.e. no gym means 9600 steps less for me) I forced myself to do at least 5km with her every evening. Today in particular I did 10km with her (morning and evening), so she is looking very tired tonight. I wanted to make sure I achieve at least 20K steps per day.

I thought I will do some stretches on my mat, but my (tired) dog took over it.

 

On a social note, I was invited to a surprise birthday lunch for a dear friend of mine today. The place was Limani’s at Narrabeen. It was so nice to be with my friends again. I felt like work and training has put me out of touch with people since April. I think I will managed it better for the next marathon. It’s just the first time that is and will be a shocker.

Limani's special menu. Bargain.

 

Toblerone Pate slice with ice cream and glace cherry...perfect for carb loading...(sure...)

 

Tomorrow will be the Sneak Preview. i.e. a rehearsal for the marathon. I am confident I can complete the course without any dramas.

Missing routine

I already miss my conditioning class every morning…I miss the routine. But my back still hurts so looking after me is the priority here. So to keep myself in shape I did a 5KM walk at lunch time. Naturally I stopped by at the chin up bar as per usual to keep my muscles in reasonable shape. Seriously - running eats away your hard earned muscles and fats......

On the happier side, since I am not going to class in the morning, I get to go to a leisurely paddling session on Friday morning on the one man.
Paddling is also a low impact workout that won't cause any grief on my back. It’s a nice, leisurely way to slowly get back to paddling too. It is, after all, one of my favourite sport.

Surviving Mondayitis

I decided to take a week off my official conditioning session and treat it as a take it easy week. I mean, since I won’t be able (or allowed) do any oly lifts this week or until my back heals, there is no point of me going to the gym. I will resort to my own programming. If it work out well I might end up taking the entire September off so I will be energised for the run. I want to be in race mode this Sunday for the Sneak Preview. In fact, I am treating this week as a rehearsal to the marathon on the 22 September.
There are some conditionings you can DIY san the main equipment, such as sit ups, lunges, squats, push ups (my favourite) and planks. I also have a 12kg kettlebell and a skip rope. What is missing is a strict discipline. Hopefully I can maintain that...:p
Anyhoo, today is my rest day, and I will make the most out of it :)

Bungled Balmain Run

Today's run is called the Balmain Bungle. It is basically the Bay Run, and some ins and outs making up 30-31km. In theory it is a neat loop of the inner west. In practice it was a tough slog of flat terrain.

It was particularly difficult for me because I am useless on flats (a bit like the Pegasus, if we are talking about canoes...). I usually catch up with the crew when we going up hills but there were not much hills today. It’s good as it forced me to speed up more, but it was tough. And I was also in pain today. Very-bad-pain. I don't exactly know how I ended up getting a lower back pain (some ratio of gym:weight:stepped on a stick while walking dog – the GP ended up saying it’s a strain and it’s inflamed…), but boy I was out of gas today. From the beginning of the run I was feeling it. Not only I got lost around Balmain (because I was lagging behind so much), but I lost the rest of the crew. I ended up tagging along another crew and got out of the Balmain maze. Even then I was struggling with the pain that came with every step. I had to cut my run short of the 30KM target today. Quite unfortunate, but it was the right decision.

Despite the pain I find it to be a "positive" experience, in a sense that I get an idea of what could happen on the day. I could be in this sort of pain. And I know Nurofen doesn't help me dealing with the pain. I have decided that, given Sydney will be my rookie run, I will take it easy. Like this bloke in the crew said, “...when I did my first marathon, rather than aiming for a time, I just aim to enjoy it, because, the next time you do it, you will be chasing a time and you won’t be able to enjoy it.”