Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Sorry to Bore You All

But I had another great run today.

Despite yesterday's RPM class.
Despite this morning's lower body weights.
Despite my legs in no way being fresh.

I don't now whether it's the B12 shots. I don't know whether it's simply that cycling increased my fitness more than I realised. Perhaps starting from a more advanced place means I'm getting my running legs back more quickly than I thought I would.

All I know for sure is that today's run rocked. My metabolism was going insane all morning. Despite the cereal before my weights session, the yoghurt after it, the fruit afer that - by 11.00 I could ignore the hunger pangs no more. I caved and bought a noodle broth from Boxo then waited until 12.00 for it to settle.

By 12.15 I was off on my 50 minute hill run. The weather was perfect. It was overcast, a little cooler than it has been of late, and there was no wind. I headed up Bowen then up Glenmore past the gardens. At the top, instead of running over the viaduct I turned left towards Karori.

I was second guessing myself the whole time. I wasn't sure I would make it back to the gym within 50 minutes. However I was feeling great. My heartrate hardly spiked running up the hill and I was maintaining a 6 to 6 and a half minute pace for most of the climb. I wanted to see if I could go all the way, so once I was through the Karori tunnel I headed for Aro Street and enjoyed the bush outlook and the long downhill into the valley. I didn't push the descent, letting gravity do the work. Once I was back on the flat however I picked up the tempo and was mostly able to keep the pace under 5.30.

The bypass has ruined Willis Street for running, so I got to sprint from intersection to intersection pressing stop on my Garmin each time. I should have run up onto the Terrace and avoided all the lights, but I got a bit lazy and didn't want to face another two steepish climbs. Instead I headed up Boulcott Street, which felt insanely easy. I got back to the gym on the Terrace with five minutes to spare, so ran to the end and back, finishing a shade under my 50 minute target.

I'm still a little nervous about my right ankle though. Thankfully all that is on the cards for tomorrow is an RPM, then Friday is a complete rest. I have a twenty minute run off a 2-3 hour bike ride on Saturday, then Sunday is a 110 minute run. Hopefully my ankle will be able to cope provided I continue to rest it. It's getting stronger, it's just taking a little time.

We're off to the Bay of Islands in the morning for a civil union. Cleo is coming with me and I'm taking a camelbak and lots of cool running and cycling gear! I'll be back online Wednesday and hopefully no disasters will have befallen me in the interim. Happy training everyone in the meantime!

5 comments:

Calyx Meredith said...

I wish I were that "boring"! Glad you're running is so strong. Have fun and be nice to that ankle.

Calyx Meredith said...

Errr - don't call the grammar police. I meant "your running" not "you're running".

Unknown said...

You go girl!

Aaron said...

Good stuff! Must be exciting training for the marathon. I'm aiming to do one but not till the end of the year.

Bruce said...

Good to see you back running. Running around the city must be a nightmare with all the lights and inetersections!