I have got a lot of "stuff" going on right now. Mostly not good stuff, but stuff which occupies my mind day and night, and is trying very hard to suck the lifeblood out of me. This all culminated on Friday with me having a minor meltdown at the end of the day at work. Fortunately nearly everyone had left for the day and didn't see the carnage, but one poor lady (who I know very well and work closely with thankfully) got the unpleasant task of trying to soothe me while I sobbed uncontrollably. Now I am NOT a cryer. Tears make me uncomfortable. But it all came flooding out on Friday, let me tell you.
On the weekend, I engaged in much therapy to heal my poor sorry self. There was a trip to Harbourtown with several clothing purchases. There was a trip to the kitchen shop to buy an awesome little machine called a Magi Mix (a kick-ass food processor for the non-bakers among you). There was a hair cut and a massage, and there was much baking done. Do I feel better for all this pampering? Hell yes I do. My mood has lightened and I'm feeling like I can cope with the crap that life is going to throw my way again. It was well worth the investment I think (just as well, because the investment was $1000 just in monetary terms...)
But on the flipside of all of this - I didn't do my last long run of my HM program. Saturday was supposed to be a 19km circuit before I start tapering down for the HM on 1st May. Physically I didn't feel like I could do it, and that might have been right, because I haven't been sleeping at all well, and my eating has been appalling. But moreso than physically, I was mentally burnt out and simply not up to facing it on Saturday.
I'm trying hard not to beat myself up about it, but I am a bit worried that I'm going to be too far underdone with my preparation for the race. The furthest I've done is 17.1km, so come race day I'm going to need to add another 4km onto that. Having said that, I know now more than ever that this is a mental game at this point. If I can physically do 17km, I can physically do 21km, it's not THAT big a difference. The difference is in my head, and that's what I need to work on over the next couple of weeks. I need to be feeling mentally tough and be confident in my ability to make the distance. At the end of the day, it's really not going to matter if I have to walk part of the race. In reality, who cares if I walk the whole freaking thing? I'm doing this for me, and all I can expect of myself is to do the best I can do on the big day.
Showing posts with label disaster life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label disaster life. Show all posts
Monday, April 18, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
New update
Wow it's been a while. First things first... FALSE ALARM, FALSE ALARM. All is well (and thank goodness for that!!)
So, back to regular programming. I am currently in the midst of a sloth week - completely unplanned, but it's happening anyway. I ran on Tuesday morning (and pretty fast too actually - 4.8km in 28:33... I really should have gone on another 200m and got my coveted sub-30 minute 5k, but such is life). Today I was supposed to ride to work, and didn't. Monday I was supposed to cross train, and didn't. Tomorrow I am going to run in the morning though. Friday is a scheduled rest day, but I'll try and do something light, because I am feeling a bit slack. Having said that, I am going to make a concerted effort to be kind to myself. I am going through a really, really crap time right now, and putting extra expectations on myself is not helping anyone. Work is a whole new level of stressful, the family is being demanding, and there just aren't enough hours in the day at the moment. Such is life - I'm just going to do the best I can with what I'm facing, and hope for easier and happier times ahead.
Anyway, back to the running. We are now less than 3 weeks out from the HM, and I'm varying between excitement and freaking out. I did really well with my long run of 16km 2 Saturday's ago, including a pretty hilly circuit. But last Saturday's 17.2km was a bit of a disaster, which has dented the confidence a little bit.
It was pretty dismal weather and started raining not long after I set out, which didn't help my mood any. The biggest problem though was the pain in my legs - my right shin in particular. I've had shin splints before in my long distant gymnastics past, and I really don't want to go there again. I've had some soreness in the shins from time to time, but it usually passes pretty quickly as I warm up into the run. This didn't happen on Saturday though, and it just got worse. I eventually stopped about the 6 or 7km mark, and discovered I had a big egg on the side of my shin. I did some self massage and found a spot a bit above the egg which absolutely killed to push on it... so I pushed on it and rubbed it (and swore a lot), and managed to release whatever was causing the problem. Then I resumed the run, and about 3km further along, I was pain free. Weird.
So, by the 10km mark or thereabouts, I found my rhythm and did pretty well for the last 7km. Seriously, a 10km lead-in to the comfortable section? That's ridiculous. Anyway, the final time was 1:50, at an average pace of 9.3km. I have one more long run (19km) this Saturday, then it's taper time and the big race the following weekend. And then 2 weeks after that, I'll be sailing the South Pacific :-)
So, back to regular programming. I am currently in the midst of a sloth week - completely unplanned, but it's happening anyway. I ran on Tuesday morning (and pretty fast too actually - 4.8km in 28:33... I really should have gone on another 200m and got my coveted sub-30 minute 5k, but such is life). Today I was supposed to ride to work, and didn't. Monday I was supposed to cross train, and didn't. Tomorrow I am going to run in the morning though. Friday is a scheduled rest day, but I'll try and do something light, because I am feeling a bit slack. Having said that, I am going to make a concerted effort to be kind to myself. I am going through a really, really crap time right now, and putting extra expectations on myself is not helping anyone. Work is a whole new level of stressful, the family is being demanding, and there just aren't enough hours in the day at the moment. Such is life - I'm just going to do the best I can with what I'm facing, and hope for easier and happier times ahead.
Anyway, back to the running. We are now less than 3 weeks out from the HM, and I'm varying between excitement and freaking out. I did really well with my long run of 16km 2 Saturday's ago, including a pretty hilly circuit. But last Saturday's 17.2km was a bit of a disaster, which has dented the confidence a little bit.
It was pretty dismal weather and started raining not long after I set out, which didn't help my mood any. The biggest problem though was the pain in my legs - my right shin in particular. I've had shin splints before in my long distant gymnastics past, and I really don't want to go there again. I've had some soreness in the shins from time to time, but it usually passes pretty quickly as I warm up into the run. This didn't happen on Saturday though, and it just got worse. I eventually stopped about the 6 or 7km mark, and discovered I had a big egg on the side of my shin. I did some self massage and found a spot a bit above the egg which absolutely killed to push on it... so I pushed on it and rubbed it (and swore a lot), and managed to release whatever was causing the problem. Then I resumed the run, and about 3km further along, I was pain free. Weird.
So, by the 10km mark or thereabouts, I found my rhythm and did pretty well for the last 7km. Seriously, a 10km lead-in to the comfortable section? That's ridiculous. Anyway, the final time was 1:50, at an average pace of 9.3km. I have one more long run (19km) this Saturday, then it's taper time and the big race the following weekend. And then 2 weeks after that, I'll be sailing the South Pacific :-)
Sunday, February 6, 2011
I am still alive... just
Howdy peeps, long time no blog.
EDITED TO DELETE WORK INFO
Anyway, I've been wandering in the wilderness with all this crap going on, and eating my way through the metaphorical jungle. I have got to cut that out, and today seems as good a day as any to get back on track. Today is also the first official day of half marathon training - it starts out nice and easy the first couple of weeks, but ramps up pretty significantly from there. I think my biggest challenge is going to be "long run Saturday" - I've gotten pretty accustomed to sleeping late and being generally sloth-like on Saturday mornings, but given it's still summer and often quite hot, I'm going to have to suck it up, get up early, and get the run done. At least the first couple of weeks the "long runs" aren't really that long (4.8km this week, increasing by 1.6km per week until we get to 19.2km, eek), so it will give me a chance to get back into a good routine.
I do feel slightly better for getting all this crap off my chest in blog form, even if it hasn't actually helped to make any progress. I should come here more often :p
Just before signing off - I have still been reading other blogs, if not commenting on them to let you know I'm there. I'll try to get back to doing that too. Thanks to those who checked up on me in my absence too, kind words much appreciated xx
EDITED TO DELETE WORK INFO
Anyway, I've been wandering in the wilderness with all this crap going on, and eating my way through the metaphorical jungle. I have got to cut that out, and today seems as good a day as any to get back on track. Today is also the first official day of half marathon training - it starts out nice and easy the first couple of weeks, but ramps up pretty significantly from there. I think my biggest challenge is going to be "long run Saturday" - I've gotten pretty accustomed to sleeping late and being generally sloth-like on Saturday mornings, but given it's still summer and often quite hot, I'm going to have to suck it up, get up early, and get the run done. At least the first couple of weeks the "long runs" aren't really that long (4.8km this week, increasing by 1.6km per week until we get to 19.2km, eek), so it will give me a chance to get back into a good routine.
I do feel slightly better for getting all this crap off my chest in blog form, even if it hasn't actually helped to make any progress. I should come here more often :p
Just before signing off - I have still been reading other blogs, if not commenting on them to let you know I'm there. I'll try to get back to doing that too. Thanks to those who checked up on me in my absence too, kind words much appreciated xx
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