Friday morning my boyfriend went to work but soon got back home again as it was raining and they didn't really have any work. I did the laundry, unpacked the rest of my stuff, went food shopping, had lunch, did my stretches and watched some tv.
On Saturday morning me and my boyfriend went jogging for 40min at Hagley Park. I only wanted to do an easy run as I had a running race the next day.
In the afternoon we went to the mall because I needed a few things. And because the sun was shining we decided to go for a walk at the beach as well afterwards. In the evening my friend came over to watch a movie and sleep at my place, but of course I couldn't sleep again and ended up sleeping for only 2 hours that night.
Sunday morning I got up at 6:30 and got ready for my race. I bused to Hagley Park, got my number and got ready. I did a quick warm-up as I was a bit late and went to the start line. I actually felt pretty good and not tired at all as I was a bit nervous. At the start I didn't go with the fastest girls but ran my own pace. I didn't want to make the mistake of starting out too fast and then running on empty. I saw a group of three girls about 400m in front of me but couldn't really close the gap as they were going as fast as I was. On the first lap (we had to do three laps of 3,3 km) I passed a couple of girls who went out too fast and felt pretty good. The lap didn't feel long either and on the second one I sped up a little bit. If I would have kept going the pace I was going, I would have finished in just 50 minutes. The gap between me and the tree girls got a bit smaller, but I still wasn't able to close it. I was pretty out of breath and wondering, if I'd be able to keep up the pace for another 1,5 laps. On the third lap, about 1 km before the finish, I saw that one of the girls got dropped. I sped up even more and with 400m to go, I was pretty close. I was breathing hard and thinking that I'm gonna pass out, it was really hard. For a second I thought that I won't be able to pass her anyway, but I kept trying. With 200m to go there was a guy watching the race and shouting: "Come on, you can get her". And I thought "Nah, I can't", but then "Oh well, I just try, that's what I always train for" :) so I started sprinting, was behind her, next to her, in front of her and ran to the finish line as fast as I could. Somehow the finish line seemed to move further away and I was like, oh my god, she's gonna pass me again, but when I looked back she wasn't right behind me anymore. I even almost passed the two girls in front of me so I was really, really happy with my finish once again. I was even happier when I saw my time 47:57 (new PB :)). Later I found out that I got fourth and was a bit disappointed as I was so close to third place. But well, you can't have everything and considering that this was only my third 10km race I was pretty pleased with myself. After the race I caught the bus home again, had some lunch and was lying in the sun. Suddenly, the tiredness kicked in and I went to bed for a nap. I felt pretty bad and had a huge headache, so after an hour I got up again, had some pain killer, did the laundry and hopped on the wind trainer for an easy 1,5 hours ride. I was still so tired that I went to bed at 9pm already.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
a week at Mount Cook Village
As usual my long run was scheduled for Thursday. My boyfriend came with me on the bike because he didn't have to go to work that day. We headed to Hagley Park and had to dodge a couple of cordoned off roads and closed off buildings as a result of the earthquake, but we made it there. I got a stitch from talking too much and I didn't feel as good as last week, so I tried to concentrate on my running for a while and not to talk so much. It worked and before I could get bored I finished the first lap. It really is way more fun to go on a long run with someone to talk to. I also felt a lot better than at the beginning and the second lap didn't feel too hard either. To get my two hours done, I headed down to the roundabout in the south part and ran back to where I started the lap and then home. On the way home I started to get tired, it got colder all of a sudden and it even started raining. I was glad that we were only about 10min away from home because I started to get cold too. I ran for 2:01 hours and covered 20,82 km. I know, it's not really fast, but long runs aren't supposed to be fast and I think it's not too bad :). Also my heart rate was lower than usual, with my average sitting at 155 (still think something went wrong there, but well…).
Friday morning we went to Mount Cook Village because my boyfriend had to work there for the last week. The trip was pretty long and boring and when we got there just after noon my boyfriend had to start working. Because it was my rest day I just did some stretches and tried not to be too bored in my hotel room.
Saturday
As soon as I got up I went for my run (interval training). It was 7:45 and I was pretty much the only person out there. I started with a 10min warm-up followed by 10 x 400 m (approx. 1 min 50 sec). I didn't feel too good as I just got up and didn't have time for breakfast. I first ran along a path but when it got stony I turned around (didn't want to misstep or something) and headed for the flat road along the valley instead. There was a gravelled path along to the road so that was perfect. I felt pretty lonely because the hotel we were in was in the middle of nowhere and there were only three cars I saw. The hotel is at the bottom of Mount Cook, so all you can see are mountains around you and a few brown fields and that's pretty much it. But at least I found a flat path that I could use for my interval trainings. After I finished the 400s I did a 10min cool-down and some stretches before me and my boyfriend drove to the closest town to get something for his work. We had lunch and in the afternoon I relaxed and got ready again for my second run of the day around 3pm.
I just wanted to go running for an hour so I had a look at the walkways around our hotel. I found one that led to a glacier lake and decided to go have a look at that. It was flat for most of the time but the path wasn't always easy to run on because of all the stones. I made it over the swing bridge and to the lake faster than I thought so I kept running for a bit longer before I turned around. I took photos as well so I had to stop a couple of times. I finished my run with six accelerations and some stretches. Even though it was drizzling all the time, the run was a lot of fun because I could take photos to show my friends and family, so they can see what I've seen on my run.
Sunday
I got up at 7am and did off-skate 1 hour later. I found a patch of grass in front of the hotel where I could do my jumps. Once I was doing forward and side jumps and when I looked to my left I saw all those people sitting there, having breakfast and staring at me. Haha, I didn't really notice them before so it was pretty funny. I'm sure they asked themselves what I was doing out there.
The rest of the day I spent reading and playing games on my computer as it was raining again outside. I was also pretty tired and needed the rest.
At least the second training of the day around 3pm wasn't too hard. I went jogging but integrated the running ABC so it didn't feel too long and I didn't go fast either. The exercises got me quite out of breath though. I ended up jogging for 45min, doing the running ABC for 20min in the middle of the run.
Monday
Hill sprints – I don't know if I should love them or hate them, I think I do both. They are so hard and make me want to stop halfway through, but on the other hand that's why I like them, because I really have to fight through them. I started training at 8:45 am with a warm-up jog and then did 10 hill sprints of 22 seconds (that's how long the hill was). The sun was shining so it was pretty warm already. The first one went ok, after the second one my legs were tired. "Good start" I thought. I fought through the first five and from there it went relatively easy. After every rest I thought that I could easily do another one, but halfway through the pain kicked in and at the end of the sprint I felt like my legs were about to give up and I couldn't do another one, but after the rest I was fine again. After 20min of pure torture, I had to sit down before I could go for my cool-down because my legs were hurting too much. After a shower and some sunbathing I quickly recovered though and luckily I only had to do 90min of upper body exercises in the afternoon which I survived without being in any more pain :).
Tuesday
I only trained once that day so I could have slept in but I didn't. It was raining, it was windy and it was foggy outside so I was waiting for the weather to get a bit better. When it was still pouring down with rain at 10am I decided to do half of my training inside and so I started with my warm-up and 20min of tapping. I then went outside for 30min of skipping and was glad to be under a canopy as it was still raining like crazy. After I was done I went for a 15min cool-down jog and finished with 5min of stretches. Of course it was still raining in the afternoon so I just relaxed, went on the internet, read my book and later watched some tv.
Wednesday
When I got up at 7:10am the sun was shining and I was really looking forward to my interval run (5 – 5 – 4 – 4 – 3 – 3 – 2 – 2 – 1 – 1 – 30sec). Even though I had yesterday afternoon off I didn't feel rested at all. I went running at 9am, did a 10min warm-up jog and then started the interval. I did the first 5min a bit faster than I normally do and felt good. The rest of the interval didn't seem long either and I was having fun. I didn't notice how worn out I was until I slowed down for my cool-down. I had to walk up the steep parts back to the hotel because my legs felt so tired. All I did for the rest of the day was lying in the sun reading my book – it was wonderful. At 3pm I had my next training planned, 1,5 hours of upper body exercises. I felt exhausted though and so not in the mood for a boring exercise session, but in the end I was glad that I did it. After I was done, me and my boyfriend went for a walk and then to dinner. I just lay on the bed for the rest of the evening, watching tv and trying not to fall asleep already.
Thursday
I was still tired when I got up and my legs felt like jelly. I had to do off-skate, but because it was raining and really windy outside, I decided to jump around in my hotel room. I did a 15min warm-up before I started with the main program. My legs felt even worse than when I woke up and I rather would have stopped. The exercises I normally do without a lot of effort felt really hard today. I was wondering if I might have trained a bit too much lately, or better if I trained too hard.
Before lunc my boyfriend called me and told me to pack my bags, we were leaving after lunch. So I packed, had lunch, got in the car, we drove home (stopped in Timaru to see my boyfriend's parents) and when we finally got home around 7pm I hopped on the wind trainer and did an hour worth of "training" on there. I didn't even bother putting on my heart rate monitor as I was still tired from training in the morning and just wanted to do a really easy session on the bike.
Friday morning we went to Mount Cook Village because my boyfriend had to work there for the last week. The trip was pretty long and boring and when we got there just after noon my boyfriend had to start working. Because it was my rest day I just did some stretches and tried not to be too bored in my hotel room.
Saturday
As soon as I got up I went for my run (interval training). It was 7:45 and I was pretty much the only person out there. I started with a 10min warm-up followed by 10 x 400 m (approx. 1 min 50 sec). I didn't feel too good as I just got up and didn't have time for breakfast. I first ran along a path but when it got stony I turned around (didn't want to misstep or something) and headed for the flat road along the valley instead. There was a gravelled path along to the road so that was perfect. I felt pretty lonely because the hotel we were in was in the middle of nowhere and there were only three cars I saw. The hotel is at the bottom of Mount Cook, so all you can see are mountains around you and a few brown fields and that's pretty much it. But at least I found a flat path that I could use for my interval trainings. After I finished the 400s I did a 10min cool-down and some stretches before me and my boyfriend drove to the closest town to get something for his work. We had lunch and in the afternoon I relaxed and got ready again for my second run of the day around 3pm.
I just wanted to go running for an hour so I had a look at the walkways around our hotel. I found one that led to a glacier lake and decided to go have a look at that. It was flat for most of the time but the path wasn't always easy to run on because of all the stones. I made it over the swing bridge and to the lake faster than I thought so I kept running for a bit longer before I turned around. I took photos as well so I had to stop a couple of times. I finished my run with six accelerations and some stretches. Even though it was drizzling all the time, the run was a lot of fun because I could take photos to show my friends and family, so they can see what I've seen on my run.
Sunday
I got up at 7am and did off-skate 1 hour later. I found a patch of grass in front of the hotel where I could do my jumps. Once I was doing forward and side jumps and when I looked to my left I saw all those people sitting there, having breakfast and staring at me. Haha, I didn't really notice them before so it was pretty funny. I'm sure they asked themselves what I was doing out there.
The rest of the day I spent reading and playing games on my computer as it was raining again outside. I was also pretty tired and needed the rest.
At least the second training of the day around 3pm wasn't too hard. I went jogging but integrated the running ABC so it didn't feel too long and I didn't go fast either. The exercises got me quite out of breath though. I ended up jogging for 45min, doing the running ABC for 20min in the middle of the run.
Monday
Hill sprints – I don't know if I should love them or hate them, I think I do both. They are so hard and make me want to stop halfway through, but on the other hand that's why I like them, because I really have to fight through them. I started training at 8:45 am with a warm-up jog and then did 10 hill sprints of 22 seconds (that's how long the hill was). The sun was shining so it was pretty warm already. The first one went ok, after the second one my legs were tired. "Good start" I thought. I fought through the first five and from there it went relatively easy. After every rest I thought that I could easily do another one, but halfway through the pain kicked in and at the end of the sprint I felt like my legs were about to give up and I couldn't do another one, but after the rest I was fine again. After 20min of pure torture, I had to sit down before I could go for my cool-down because my legs were hurting too much. After a shower and some sunbathing I quickly recovered though and luckily I only had to do 90min of upper body exercises in the afternoon which I survived without being in any more pain :).
Tuesday
I only trained once that day so I could have slept in but I didn't. It was raining, it was windy and it was foggy outside so I was waiting for the weather to get a bit better. When it was still pouring down with rain at 10am I decided to do half of my training inside and so I started with my warm-up and 20min of tapping. I then went outside for 30min of skipping and was glad to be under a canopy as it was still raining like crazy. After I was done I went for a 15min cool-down jog and finished with 5min of stretches. Of course it was still raining in the afternoon so I just relaxed, went on the internet, read my book and later watched some tv.
Wednesday
When I got up at 7:10am the sun was shining and I was really looking forward to my interval run (5 – 5 – 4 – 4 – 3 – 3 – 2 – 2 – 1 – 1 – 30sec). Even though I had yesterday afternoon off I didn't feel rested at all. I went running at 9am, did a 10min warm-up jog and then started the interval. I did the first 5min a bit faster than I normally do and felt good. The rest of the interval didn't seem long either and I was having fun. I didn't notice how worn out I was until I slowed down for my cool-down. I had to walk up the steep parts back to the hotel because my legs felt so tired. All I did for the rest of the day was lying in the sun reading my book – it was wonderful. At 3pm I had my next training planned, 1,5 hours of upper body exercises. I felt exhausted though and so not in the mood for a boring exercise session, but in the end I was glad that I did it. After I was done, me and my boyfriend went for a walk and then to dinner. I just lay on the bed for the rest of the evening, watching tv and trying not to fall asleep already.
Thursday
I was still tired when I got up and my legs felt like jelly. I had to do off-skate, but because it was raining and really windy outside, I decided to jump around in my hotel room. I did a 15min warm-up before I started with the main program. My legs felt even worse than when I woke up and I rather would have stopped. The exercises I normally do without a lot of effort felt really hard today. I was wondering if I might have trained a bit too much lately, or better if I trained too hard.
Before lunc my boyfriend called me and told me to pack my bags, we were leaving after lunch. So I packed, had lunch, got in the car, we drove home (stopped in Timaru to see my boyfriend's parents) and when we finally got home around 7pm I hopped on the wind trainer and did an hour worth of "training" on there. I didn't even bother putting on my heart rate monitor as I was still tired from training in the morning and just wanted to do a really easy session on the bike.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
earthquake
I haven't been able to write for the last couple of days because there was so much stuff going on… On Saturday we got woken up by an earthquake at 4:35 am (7,1 on the Richter scale). It was terrifying and of course we couldn't go back to sleep afterwards. The walls were shaking as if we were in a cardboard box and our bed was about to collapse. As soon as it was a bit brighter outside, we started putting back all the stuff that fell down. Fortunately our place is quite new so we didn't have any damage. My boyfriend's dad was supposed to fly in in the afternoon as well, but the airport was closed so we had a bit of organising and researching to do. Training on that day was cancelled, so I ended up spending an hour on the wind trainer, being shaken by aftershocks. On Sunday I did some off-skate and we went to the airport in the evening to finally pick up my boyfriend's dad. We also went to the supermarket to do some shopping and we hoped we'd find some water as well as we're not allowed to drink the tap water, but all the water was sold out.
On Monday the sun was shining, it was 18 degrees at 9am and apart from some buildings which were quite destroyed and the central city which was closed off, nothing really reminded of the earthquake. I headed out for a 40min interval run and got really hot real quick. I did 1 x 200m and 4 x 400m before heading back home again. My boyfriend didn't have to go to work because of the earthquake so he was home with me and I was soooo glad.
In the evening we went to club training and did 9 x 400m which were easier than usual. Last week I couldn't even keep up with Mark and had to do the intervals by myself, but this week everything was fine again and I had no porblems at all to keep up with him. I was pretty glad cos otherwise I would have been pretty worried. That night we had two pretty good aftershocks again and until now I haven't had a night where I could sleep through.
Tuesday I only did some exercises for 1 hour 25 and went shopping with my boyfriend. I also helped him to pack because he had to leave this morning to go back to work up Mount Cook.
Last night we had 12 aftershocks in total, only one woke me up though. As soon as my boyfriend left this morning, there was another huge one and even a few things fell off the shelves again. It was "only" 5,1 on the Richter scale, but it was only 6km deep and closer from Christchurch than the other ones, that's why it felt so big. It really freaked me out and I am so over these aftershocks so I called my boyfriend telling him to come back home. Stupid, I know, he was on his way to Mount Cook and he just told me he'll see what he can do. We had a couple of other smaller aftershocks – freaked me out even more.
I still did my Power-Workout though, trying to keep myself occupied. My legs were still pretty shaky which made it difficult to jump around. I was planning on going to the mall later, but heard that they closed it because of the aftershock. I then texted my friend to ask her if I can stay at her place for the night. I was planning on going there later this afternoon, but then my boyfriend called me from Mount Cook, telling me they're coming home. Thank god! I asked why and he said all his work mates got calls from their girlfriends, wives who are all scared after this morning's aftershock. I'm now waiting until 4:30 pm to see if it will still be dry and I can go to club training or if I have to go on the wind trainer.
On Monday the sun was shining, it was 18 degrees at 9am and apart from some buildings which were quite destroyed and the central city which was closed off, nothing really reminded of the earthquake. I headed out for a 40min interval run and got really hot real quick. I did 1 x 200m and 4 x 400m before heading back home again. My boyfriend didn't have to go to work because of the earthquake so he was home with me and I was soooo glad.
In the evening we went to club training and did 9 x 400m which were easier than usual. Last week I couldn't even keep up with Mark and had to do the intervals by myself, but this week everything was fine again and I had no porblems at all to keep up with him. I was pretty glad cos otherwise I would have been pretty worried. That night we had two pretty good aftershocks again and until now I haven't had a night where I could sleep through.
Tuesday I only did some exercises for 1 hour 25 and went shopping with my boyfriend. I also helped him to pack because he had to leave this morning to go back to work up Mount Cook.
Last night we had 12 aftershocks in total, only one woke me up though. As soon as my boyfriend left this morning, there was another huge one and even a few things fell off the shelves again. It was "only" 5,1 on the Richter scale, but it was only 6km deep and closer from Christchurch than the other ones, that's why it felt so big. It really freaked me out and I am so over these aftershocks so I called my boyfriend telling him to come back home. Stupid, I know, he was on his way to Mount Cook and he just told me he'll see what he can do. We had a couple of other smaller aftershocks – freaked me out even more.
I still did my Power-Workout though, trying to keep myself occupied. My legs were still pretty shaky which made it difficult to jump around. I was planning on going to the mall later, but heard that they closed it because of the aftershock. I then texted my friend to ask her if I can stay at her place for the night. I was planning on going there later this afternoon, but then my boyfriend called me from Mount Cook, telling me they're coming home. Thank god! I asked why and he said all his work mates got calls from their girlfriends, wives who are all scared after this morning's aftershock. I'm now waiting until 4:30 pm to see if it will still be dry and I can go to club training or if I have to go on the wind trainer.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
some skating and an awesome long run
On Monday morning I was away until 2pm and after I got home I had to leave again 10min later to go to a job interview in the city.
Back home again I was so tired that I just watched tv for an hour until my boyfriend got home and we had to get ready to go to club training (it hasn't been raining so the track was dry). I wasn't motivated at all but we still went there, knowing that if we didn't I'd be grumpy fort he rest of the night. Only 7 skaters (including me and my boyfriend) showed up so no one was really motivated. We started with the warm-up and instead of doing starts or accelerations we went straight to the intervals. We did 6 x 1'200m and me and Mark skated together. I had trouble keeping up with him and finally got dropped with 2 laps to go. My ankle kinda hurt as well and I was in a pretty bad mood. I did the next 1'200m by myself because I just wasn't able to keep up with Mark that night. My legs were so sore and heavy, it felt horrible. It might have something to do with the fact that yesterday was rest day (My legs never feel good after a rest day) but I'm not sure… I was about to stop and take my skates off, but I kept skating, leading the first two laps for Mark and then skating by myself. It sucked. After only 50min of training we cooled down, got changed and went home. I couldn't even be bothered doing stretches when we got home.
Yesterday morning I did 1 hour 25 worth of exercises and that was it for the day. We were supposed to go to club training in the evening, but my boyfriend got home late from work and I couldn't really be bothered going there only to do 2 x 5km (they're soooo boring). Instead we went to Burger King and got ice cream afterwards. I think that's a good alternative for training :D. I didn't even have to feel guilty cos hey, it's recovery week, I'm allowed to do things like that. God I love recovery weeks :).
Today though training was gonna be tough. I got up with my boyfriend when he had to go to work, had breakfast and waited until 10am until I headed out for my long run. I prefer to go running in the afternoon when it's a bit warmer, but the weather forecast said it's gonna rain in the afternoon, so I chose to go in the morning. I went to Hagley Park to do my two laps and a bit more to get to 1 hour 50min. When I started it was cloudy but the sun came out after about 30min. I felt pretty good on the first lap, although I got pretty hot and thirsty. Good thing there's a drink fountain 20min away from where I start my lap so I always stop there to have a drink. The first lap felt longer than usual and I wasn't really looking forward to doing another one of those long laps, but I didn't have much choice. On the second lap the sun was gone again and the wind picked up. My legs started to feel a bit tired and knowing that I still had more than 30min to go didn't really help either. I finished the second lap a liiiiiittle bit slower than the first and jogged down Hagley Park South for 5min before I turned around and went home. On my way home I had to stop at the traffic lights again a couple of times (annoying) and it even started drizzling. I had clouds, sun, wind and rain all in one run :). I made it home in 1:50.06 and covered 19,89 km. That's the longest run I've ever done and I'm pretty proud of myself :). My average heart rate was 165 and my average pace 5:32 per km. A bit too fast for a long run, I know, but I just couldn't go slower. I'd be ready for a half marathon right now, but unfortunately there's none around except for one on a 3,3km lap – and I'm not gonna do this to myself. After I got home from the run I was pretty worn out and tired so I took a shower, had something to eat and a sports drink and then just relaxed on the couch watching German tv shows for the rest of the afternoon – there's nothing better after a long hard run like this.
Back home again I was so tired that I just watched tv for an hour until my boyfriend got home and we had to get ready to go to club training (it hasn't been raining so the track was dry). I wasn't motivated at all but we still went there, knowing that if we didn't I'd be grumpy fort he rest of the night. Only 7 skaters (including me and my boyfriend) showed up so no one was really motivated. We started with the warm-up and instead of doing starts or accelerations we went straight to the intervals. We did 6 x 1'200m and me and Mark skated together. I had trouble keeping up with him and finally got dropped with 2 laps to go. My ankle kinda hurt as well and I was in a pretty bad mood. I did the next 1'200m by myself because I just wasn't able to keep up with Mark that night. My legs were so sore and heavy, it felt horrible. It might have something to do with the fact that yesterday was rest day (My legs never feel good after a rest day) but I'm not sure… I was about to stop and take my skates off, but I kept skating, leading the first two laps for Mark and then skating by myself. It sucked. After only 50min of training we cooled down, got changed and went home. I couldn't even be bothered doing stretches when we got home.
Yesterday morning I did 1 hour 25 worth of exercises and that was it for the day. We were supposed to go to club training in the evening, but my boyfriend got home late from work and I couldn't really be bothered going there only to do 2 x 5km (they're soooo boring). Instead we went to Burger King and got ice cream afterwards. I think that's a good alternative for training :D. I didn't even have to feel guilty cos hey, it's recovery week, I'm allowed to do things like that. God I love recovery weeks :).
Today though training was gonna be tough. I got up with my boyfriend when he had to go to work, had breakfast and waited until 10am until I headed out for my long run. I prefer to go running in the afternoon when it's a bit warmer, but the weather forecast said it's gonna rain in the afternoon, so I chose to go in the morning. I went to Hagley Park to do my two laps and a bit more to get to 1 hour 50min. When I started it was cloudy but the sun came out after about 30min. I felt pretty good on the first lap, although I got pretty hot and thirsty. Good thing there's a drink fountain 20min away from where I start my lap so I always stop there to have a drink. The first lap felt longer than usual and I wasn't really looking forward to doing another one of those long laps, but I didn't have much choice. On the second lap the sun was gone again and the wind picked up. My legs started to feel a bit tired and knowing that I still had more than 30min to go didn't really help either. I finished the second lap a liiiiiittle bit slower than the first and jogged down Hagley Park South for 5min before I turned around and went home. On my way home I had to stop at the traffic lights again a couple of times (annoying) and it even started drizzling. I had clouds, sun, wind and rain all in one run :). I made it home in 1:50.06 and covered 19,89 km. That's the longest run I've ever done and I'm pretty proud of myself :). My average heart rate was 165 and my average pace 5:32 per km. A bit too fast for a long run, I know, but I just couldn't go slower. I'd be ready for a half marathon right now, but unfortunately there's none around except for one on a 3,3km lap – and I'm not gonna do this to myself. After I got home from the run I was pretty worn out and tired so I took a shower, had something to eat and a sports drink and then just relaxed on the couch watching German tv shows for the rest of the afternoon – there's nothing better after a long hard run like this.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Southern Regionals
The Southern Regionals flat track races were held at the Pioneer Recreation and Sport Centre in Christchurch on Saturday. We got there around 8:20am and warm-up started at 9:15am. Enough time for me to get everything sorted and changed. During the warm-up I soon found out that my wheel choice wasn't the best as I was slipping in the corners, but someone from the club said that they're gonna wipe the floor before racing starts. No need to worry then… We started with a 300 m time trial and I was the last one to start. I watched all the others slipping around the corners and even Mark who I normally skate with at training slipped. I asked him if the track isn't any better than before and he said no. Yay. I didn't have time to change my wheels or anything, so I just had to put up with it. I started and slid through the first corner. This was no fun at all. I skated to the corner, slid, slid, slid, started skating again and sprinted out of the corner to get enough speed again, got to the next corner, slid, slid, slid and so on. Fortunately I only had to do three laps, but it was still very tiring. I ended up getting second overall (behind Mark) and won my categorie (we were only three girls). Next up was a 1'200 m relay. I was with Vicky from our club and we skated against two other teams but because Vicky was always too late in the changes, I couldn't push her properly so we fell back and ended up being third overall and second in our categorie, but that was ok. We then had a 800 m (8 laps) where we started with the skaters from the intermediate categorie. I was second off the start line but couldn't really hold up with Mark and still slid around the corners, but I comfortably got second. I then changed my wheels and hoped the new ones would grip a bit better. We had quite a long break as artistic skating was on so we had time to go outside for a bit and have lunch. In the afternoon we had a 1'500 m with the intermediates again. My wheels gripped a bit better so me and Mark shared the leads. With five laps to go he sped up though and I couldn't keep up anymore but got second again and first in my categorie. We then had another 1'200 m relay but this time I was with Mark and we won it easily. All the changes were perfect and we just ruled it :D. The last race of the day was a 3'000 m open, so that meant we had 4 categories in one race. I first thought that some of the Juniors might beat me because they didn't look too slow when I watched their races, but when we started and I was second off the start again, I wasn't worried anymore. Me and Mark shared the leads again but my legs got more tired with every lap. We had 30 laps in total and after about 15 laps I couldn't keep up with Mark anymore. I don't know what happened a couple of laps later, but I suddenly fell in one of the corners. There wasn't even anyone around me and I can't remember if I tripped or something, I just fell. However, I quickly got up and started skating again when the guy who skated about half a lap behind me ran straight into me and we both fell again but this time hurt more because of the impact. He got up a bit quicker than me but it only took me two laps to catch up to him again. I then just skated behind him and let him do all the work and with four laps to go I attacked but he couldn't follow me so I finished half a lap in front of him and got second in the race. I asked the guy who ran me over why he ran straight into me (cos there was enough space to go around me) and he just said that he didn't see me. Duh! I'm not that small… The others from my club were pretty concerned though and everyone asked if I was ok. I only had two little grazes on my knee, but it seemed like a big deal to them. It was cute :). By the time all the races and presentations were over it was 6:50 pm and we were all pretty tired from a long day. We drove home, quickly took a shower, got dressed and went out the door again to go to the fundraising dinner for Mark (so that he can go to worlds). By the time we got home it was 11:00 pm and I was so tired that I just fell into bed.
On Sunday we slept in (8 am, haha) and lay in bed for a little bit before I had breakfast and finally unpacked my bag from Saturday. I did a two hours training on the wind trainer and felt pretty good. Racing on Saturday felt more like a training cos there wasn't really anyone who could have challenged me and the races were too short to make me tired (except for the last one). We had pancakes for lunch, I did the laundry, we went to the mall and by the time we were back home it was 5:30pm already. I was tired from walking around so I really couldn't be bothered doing off-skate but I knew I should. So I got ready sometime after 6pm and did my warm-up, 40min worth of off-skate and a cool-down. It was a loooong day again and no need to say that I was very tired again that night.
This week is recovery week so I'm more than happy about that. In the afternoon all I wanted to do was sit on the couch and watch a German tv show or so but it is Monday and that means I had to do some cleaning. I just finished before so I finally have time to sit down for a couple of minutes. It looks like it's gonna rain, so I don't think we'll be going to club training tonight. Either way I'm gonna have to leave soon because we have to go food shopping as well. I also have to change the wheels from my skates, fix my track pants… yes, you're right – it's another busy day :).
On Sunday we slept in (8 am, haha) and lay in bed for a little bit before I had breakfast and finally unpacked my bag from Saturday. I did a two hours training on the wind trainer and felt pretty good. Racing on Saturday felt more like a training cos there wasn't really anyone who could have challenged me and the races were too short to make me tired (except for the last one). We had pancakes for lunch, I did the laundry, we went to the mall and by the time we were back home it was 5:30pm already. I was tired from walking around so I really couldn't be bothered doing off-skate but I knew I should. So I got ready sometime after 6pm and did my warm-up, 40min worth of off-skate and a cool-down. It was a loooong day again and no need to say that I was very tired again that night.
This week is recovery week so I'm more than happy about that. In the afternoon all I wanted to do was sit on the couch and watch a German tv show or so but it is Monday and that means I had to do some cleaning. I just finished before so I finally have time to sit down for a couple of minutes. It looks like it's gonna rain, so I don't think we'll be going to club training tonight. Either way I'm gonna have to leave soon because we have to go food shopping as well. I also have to change the wheels from my skates, fix my track pants… yes, you're right – it's another busy day :).
Thursday, August 26, 2010
ouch! my calf and shin muscles are pretty sore
Yesterday when I woke up I just wanted to go back to sleep and stay in bed all day. My calves were sore, I had a headache and I was still tired. I couldn't go back to sleep though so I got up at 7:30 am and had breakfast. I seriously thought about not going training this morning because I was kind of scared that my body couldn't take it and I'd get into overtraining again (been there, done that). But after being up for a while I felt better and better and the only thing that could have held me back was my calves. I wanted to try a new workout today so I wasn't sure if it would be hard or not. But I did know that my calfs would hurt a lot because it involved a lot of jumping. Well, I wanted to give it a try so I got changed and headed out to Woolston Park at 9am. I used the 10min jog there as a warm-up and when I got to the park I started with 15min of running exercises such as knee lift, jumps, etc. I then did about 10min of tapping. This is supposed to help your muscles move faster. For example you stand in the skating position, both feet next to each other and then tap a line in front of you with the heel of your foot, put it back next to the other foot, tap the line… as fast as you can for 10 sec. The reps are really short but you have to do them as fast as you can. I did 6 different exercises (running on the spot as fast as I could, arm swing, touching line sideways…), each for 10 sec and repeated the whole thing three times. I couldn't do all the exercises I wanted to because my calves hurt too much and I didn't want to get an injury. After this I did some skipping for about 10min (both feet, one foot, backwards, "running"…). All in all it took me a bit more than 40min and with the jog there and back home it took me exactly an hour. In the afternoon I didn't do much. I put some Axa Nova on my calves to make them feel a bit better for training in the evening (didn't work though), went to the mall to buy a few things and watched German X Factor. I wasn't exactly looking forward to go training because I knew it would be tough with my sore calf muscles, but it turned out to be ok. After the 15min warm-up and some stretches we did 2 x 5km. I didn't really feel my calves but with a couple of laps to go in the first 5km, my hamstrings started to hurt. The second 5km was a bit harder than the first one, but we still didn't skate too fast. With about 10 laps to go my thighs started burning and I started to feel really tired (and hungry), but apart from that it was ok.
This morning though I could barely walk when I first got up. My calves were on fiiiiire… It got better after an hour or so though, reason enough to do my long run today. Yesterday night I wasn't too sure if I should do my long run today, but now I'm pretty positive about it even though I know that my calves will hurt like crazy again, but tomorrow is rest day so it doesn't really matter. I just hope they won't hurt anymore on Saturday, cos that's when the Southern Regionals are on and I don't really wanna have sore calves for that as it's already hard enough.
At 1:20pm I went for my long run. The sun was shining and it was about 14 degrees, so I really looked forward to it. But of course the sun got covered by a huge cloud 20min into my run and stayed away for the rest of it and because it was pretty windy too I got quite cold. In other words, it sucked.
I thought my calves would hurt but I didn't really feel them. All I could feel was my shin muscles from yesterday and they hurt pretty bad. However, I kept running and did two laps around Hagley Park. So with the run there and back I covered 18,05 km in 1 hour 40min. It was still a good run even though I didn't feel as good as I did on my last week's run but you can't always feel good so that's ok. I'm gonna rub some Axa Nova on my calves and shins again tonight and hope they'll feel a bit better tomorrow.
This morning though I could barely walk when I first got up. My calves were on fiiiiire… It got better after an hour or so though, reason enough to do my long run today. Yesterday night I wasn't too sure if I should do my long run today, but now I'm pretty positive about it even though I know that my calves will hurt like crazy again, but tomorrow is rest day so it doesn't really matter. I just hope they won't hurt anymore on Saturday, cos that's when the Southern Regionals are on and I don't really wanna have sore calves for that as it's already hard enough.
At 1:20pm I went for my long run. The sun was shining and it was about 14 degrees, so I really looked forward to it. But of course the sun got covered by a huge cloud 20min into my run and stayed away for the rest of it and because it was pretty windy too I got quite cold. In other words, it sucked.
I thought my calves would hurt but I didn't really feel them. All I could feel was my shin muscles from yesterday and they hurt pretty bad. However, I kept running and did two laps around Hagley Park. So with the run there and back I covered 18,05 km in 1 hour 40min. It was still a good run even though I didn't feel as good as I did on my last week's run but you can't always feel good so that's ok. I'm gonna rub some Axa Nova on my calves and shins again tonight and hope they'll feel a bit better tomorrow.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
training, training and more training = very tired
Training this weekend wasn't too exciting. Saturday morning I did exercises for my upper body for 1,5 hours and by the time I was finished it was 11:30am, we had lunch, did some other stuff and went training again at 2:30pm. I so didn't want to go because it was 6 degrees (felt like 4) outside and windy. I rather would have stayed home where it was nice and warm… My boyfriend insisted on driving me there though cos he knew that I'd be grumpy for the rest of the day if I didn't go. When we got to the Airforce Museum the wind picked up even more and I put all my clothes on that I brought with me. We did the warm-up and I actually got hot so I took off my gloves and one of my two pairs of tights I was wearing. We did 2 x 10km but they were a lot slower than the ones we did a week ago so it didn't even feel too hard and I never really got out of breath. Me and Mark were talking through the whole training, normally we can't talk anymore cos we're so out of breath :). I didn't do a cool-down because as soon as I stopped skating I got really cold so I quickly got changed and we drove home in the warm car (I put it on 27 degrees :). And yes, I was glad that I went training and yes, I had fun and no, it wasn't too bad.
On Sunday morning I sat on the wind trainer for 2 hours watching German tv shows. I had to choose a really high resistance because my heart rate didn't want to go up once again, so my legs got a bit tired in the end. But I was proud of myself because sitting on a wind trainer for 2 hours really is a good effort :). Normally people get way too bored to sit on a wind trainer for that long. I also got hungry so I was happy that my boyfriend made me pancakes for lunch. After I had about 5 big pancakes (just never can get enough of them), we went shopping. My boyfriend wanted to look for some running shoes and we needed a few other things as well. We spent quite a long time at Rebel Sport looking at shoes and trying them on, but he didn't buy any. We then went to Dresssmart where I bought a new running shirt. Well, my boyfriend bought it for me. By the time we got home it was dinner time already and the weekend was almost over again.
On Monday I got up at 6:30am, had two slices of bread and got ready for training. 20min after I got up, I started with a 15min warm-up, then did the Power-Workout for 40min and a 15min cool-down. I really struggled with the workout today. My legs were so sore and I even had to take little breaks during the exercises because I was so worn out. I don't really know why my legs were so sore because training at the weekend wasn't that hard. I managed to do all the exercises though, took a shower, had some muesli, quickly checked my emails and got ready to go to "work". I spent the morning at a day care for people with a mental disability to see if that would be a job for me. It was ok, but more exhausting and tiring than I thought. I was back home again around lunch time and quite tired. I had something to eat and started cleaning soon afterwards. Bad idea. Made me even more tired. After I finished cleaning I had to take a break and just sit on the couch in front of the computer for a while before I hung out the washing and did other stuff again. I was soooo tired. I was planning on going for a run in the late afternoon cos I thought it was gonna rain, but because I was too tired I decided to just do exercises. It didn't rain though and we ended up going skating. The warm-up and the starts were ok and even the accelerations felt ok, but when we got to the 6 x 400m I was suffering. My boyfriend lead the first one so it was damn fast and I couldn't keep up with him and Mark. I also stumbled around the corners because I just can't skate the corners at the bottom when I go fast. Mark lead the second one and at least this time I stayed behind him. It was still hard though. I lead the third one but felt like I was going really slow. In the fourth one it was my boyfriends turn to lead so I couldn't keep up again and it started to really frustrate me. And I felt my calves as well from training in the morning. They were pretty thight and I tried to relax them but it didn't really work. The last two 400's were the worst. I was so out of breath and my legs and especially my calfs were burning and
I was quite grumpy, but at least I always past Mark on the last lap because apparently he was just as worn out as I was and stopped skating with half a lap to go.
Yesterday morning I had my 10km run planned but because I can't go to the running race in three weeks time, I just wanted to run a comfortable pace and not go all out on this one. I still felt a bit tired and my calf muscles got sorer over night as well. I started running, not really looking at my watch and by the time I got to the turnaround, I was 2min slower than usual but not really out of breath. I didn't even feel the need to speed up in the second half of the run, I just couldn't care enough :). I kept running "slowly" and enjoyed the weather (sunshine and 11 degrees at 10am). I finished the 10km in 53:15, more than 5min slower than usual, but I didn't care. I just looked forward to getting a drink and not moving my calves for the rest of the day because gosh, they hurt!
In the afternoon I just watched tv and tried not to fall asleep. I was sooo tired. I eventually got off the couch and did exercises for my upper body for 1,5 hours, went food shopping with my boyfriend, had dinner and got tired again around 8:30pm. Hello?! I managed to stay awake until just before 10pm though, I think that was a pretty good effort :).
On Sunday morning I sat on the wind trainer for 2 hours watching German tv shows. I had to choose a really high resistance because my heart rate didn't want to go up once again, so my legs got a bit tired in the end. But I was proud of myself because sitting on a wind trainer for 2 hours really is a good effort :). Normally people get way too bored to sit on a wind trainer for that long. I also got hungry so I was happy that my boyfriend made me pancakes for lunch. After I had about 5 big pancakes (just never can get enough of them), we went shopping. My boyfriend wanted to look for some running shoes and we needed a few other things as well. We spent quite a long time at Rebel Sport looking at shoes and trying them on, but he didn't buy any. We then went to Dresssmart where I bought a new running shirt. Well, my boyfriend bought it for me. By the time we got home it was dinner time already and the weekend was almost over again.
On Monday I got up at 6:30am, had two slices of bread and got ready for training. 20min after I got up, I started with a 15min warm-up, then did the Power-Workout for 40min and a 15min cool-down. I really struggled with the workout today. My legs were so sore and I even had to take little breaks during the exercises because I was so worn out. I don't really know why my legs were so sore because training at the weekend wasn't that hard. I managed to do all the exercises though, took a shower, had some muesli, quickly checked my emails and got ready to go to "work". I spent the morning at a day care for people with a mental disability to see if that would be a job for me. It was ok, but more exhausting and tiring than I thought. I was back home again around lunch time and quite tired. I had something to eat and started cleaning soon afterwards. Bad idea. Made me even more tired. After I finished cleaning I had to take a break and just sit on the couch in front of the computer for a while before I hung out the washing and did other stuff again. I was soooo tired. I was planning on going for a run in the late afternoon cos I thought it was gonna rain, but because I was too tired I decided to just do exercises. It didn't rain though and we ended up going skating. The warm-up and the starts were ok and even the accelerations felt ok, but when we got to the 6 x 400m I was suffering. My boyfriend lead the first one so it was damn fast and I couldn't keep up with him and Mark. I also stumbled around the corners because I just can't skate the corners at the bottom when I go fast. Mark lead the second one and at least this time I stayed behind him. It was still hard though. I lead the third one but felt like I was going really slow. In the fourth one it was my boyfriends turn to lead so I couldn't keep up again and it started to really frustrate me. And I felt my calves as well from training in the morning. They were pretty thight and I tried to relax them but it didn't really work. The last two 400's were the worst. I was so out of breath and my legs and especially my calfs were burning and
I was quite grumpy, but at least I always past Mark on the last lap because apparently he was just as worn out as I was and stopped skating with half a lap to go.
Yesterday morning I had my 10km run planned but because I can't go to the running race in three weeks time, I just wanted to run a comfortable pace and not go all out on this one. I still felt a bit tired and my calf muscles got sorer over night as well. I started running, not really looking at my watch and by the time I got to the turnaround, I was 2min slower than usual but not really out of breath. I didn't even feel the need to speed up in the second half of the run, I just couldn't care enough :). I kept running "slowly" and enjoyed the weather (sunshine and 11 degrees at 10am). I finished the 10km in 53:15, more than 5min slower than usual, but I didn't care. I just looked forward to getting a drink and not moving my calves for the rest of the day because gosh, they hurt!
In the afternoon I just watched tv and tried not to fall asleep. I was sooo tired. I eventually got off the couch and did exercises for my upper body for 1,5 hours, went food shopping with my boyfriend, had dinner and got tired again around 8:30pm. Hello?! I managed to stay awake until just before 10pm though, I think that was a pretty good effort :).
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