The Month of March

Really - where has this time gone!  And what a month it has been.  I feel I have achieved so much over this past month in terms of my running.

*   At the beginning of the month I decided to swap one of my mid week runs for a core strength workout.  I have done these workouts at least once a week for the month and while I'm not sure how much they have benefit they have been I can say I did it.
*   I also aimed to run at least 100km again over the month and was lucky enough to clock up 121km.  This is outstanding given I was running twice during the week and then one longer run on the weekend.  And that longer weekend run was usually about time and not about the distance!
*  I also took part in my first ever park run.  It was called the Feilding 5's and ran for 5 Thursday nights with the option of running one 2.5km loop or completing it twice to reach 5km.  I was very nervous about doing this by myself but rocked on up the first night (my birthday present to myself) and really enjoyed the challenge it gave me.  It was mostly running on grass and I never realised just how hard that could be.  I completed 4 of the 5 nights and while I had hoped for a personal best on the last night I was surprised that we ended up running the circuit in the opposite direction which was hard mentally and left me with my slowest run of them all.
*  I ran trails!  And they were hard trails!!  First up was the Manawatu Gorge track from Ashhurst through to the Balance end.  That was hard going and I really wanted to give up at times but of course once you start there is no backing out.  Then there was two hours of trail running around Palmerston North with Kate.  This once again challenged me but I needed to remember all the good it was doing me.  And I can proudly say that even falling over 7km into this run (resulting in some nasty swearing) I did get up and carry on until we had covered the trails we planned.
*  Our 20km run!  Well I have written all about this before and head back a couple of blogs and you can read all about it.
*  I've also had some very surprising and fast paces over this past month.  Those certainly help to boost your confidence from time to time.
*  I think most importantly I have achieved all of this while still spending quality time with my family and working full time.  At times I don't know how I achieved it all but somehow I managed.

Now for April and my second time running the Great Forest Event at Waitarere.  This time next week I will be making sure my gear is all sorted out, drinks sorted, and quality dinner in my belly (well not quite at this exact time as I will be just rapping up my Kindergarten disco!!).  The things I do for my fun!!

Taper Time

Believe it or not I have reached taper time for my 1/2 marathon already.  I the past I have really been looking forward to reaching this time and cutting back on the kilometers because the journey has always felt so long.  This time around it feels different though. I really do think that having a running partner has helped me this time.  The long runs haven't felt so long (yes, running for 2 hours didn't feel like 2 hours honestly!!).  I have also had the opportunity to add a lot more variety into my runs.  The days of running the same blocks week in and week out have gone because in the past increased distances just meant running the same roads in a circuit.  My runs this time have taken me on trails, country roads and then still a bit of what I am use to.  I some ways, I really like to think that this different training has made me a stronger runner for my up coming event.  Waitarere, you are only two weeks way!  Yes my mind is wandering a bit but I know I can tackle you again this year, I know I can run the distance.  Just a few little short runs for the next two weeks and 10km to plod out at the weekend and I will be as ready as ever for you!

THE 20KM RUN!

So this weekend we had planned for a 20km run.  Back and forth the discussion went around this run and by Sunday morning the plan was to run for 2 hours and hopefully (just hopefully) we might get close to the 20km.  We had decided a 2 hour run was a good long training run.  Because we needed more time, we decided we needed to be out running by 7.30 - a little earlier than we had been use to but really we couldn't have asked for a better morning!

The sun was rising, the temperature a little chilly but it didn't take us long to warm up.  Knowing I had a running buddy to head out with me, I decided to tackle some of the country roads around Feilding.  I had run them before but not for about 3 years.  I heard my watch 'beep' over the first 4km and while we weren't worried about pace I did have a sneaky look and saw we were keeping a pretty steady pace of just over 6min/km.  I also found that this time around, the roads didn't seem as difficult to run and I was really enjoying myself!  10km in and we were heading back into town.  Our pace had stayed very constant.  It seemed though that there was still some steam left in our legs and our pace quicken.  It also seemed that we were both pushing ourselves and each other along to just keep on going.  The kilometers just seemed to keep on coming and time was looking good.  All of a sudden it was like "We are can make 20km, lets keep going!" and we did.  To add to that, we did that 20km in under 2 hours!!

Gosh, it looks a long way when you look at it like that, and I guess 20km is a long way BUT... I'm so proud of how the run when.  I'm so proud we stuck at it, we pushed ourselves along.  We owned the run and I still had a smile at the end.

Park Run Take Two

So Thursday night means the opportunity to take part in the local park run.  I didn't really know if I wanted to run it last night either.  I think it all comes down to those nerves really.  Just like not wanting to do it the first week either because what if I'm last, what if I can't run it (even though I know I can run 5km), what if there are too many people for me, where do I put my keys!!!  All silly little things.  BUT ....  luckily I have this friend.  She encouraged me to run it last week, she suggested I go back and run it again last night.  And I'm glad I did.  I battled the wind last night and I still managed to knock 30 seconds off last weeks time!

I'm so, so thankful for friends.  Friends who are also runners.  Friends who give me that little push when I need it.  Thank you so much!

Manawatu Gorge Track

What a way to celebrate birthdays!  My running buddy Kate celebrated her birthday earlier in February and I celebrated mine just last week so over the weekend we headed out to celebrate.  And how exactly did we do this?  By running the Manawatu Gorge Track.  I remember from walking the Loop last year that there are a lot of steps at the beginning but I don't think I was fully aware of just how much uphill there is for the first 3km!  I struggled.  Walking up the hills felt like the best thing to do to conserve some energy and I really think this did play off with being able to 'fly' through some of the other parts later in the run.  Now while time isn't really an issue we had kind of set ourselves a mini goal of completing it in 1.5hours.  We did it!  Here's just some of the fun we had on Saturday:

I really think this does show just how much fun we had.  I will never say it wasn't hard.  I also won't say that at times I didn't wish I could just give up and be at the end without having to run it at all.  I won't say it wasn't one of the hardest 10km I have done before.  But I will say, I am proud I did it and yes I will go back and do it again.  And just so you can see what I mean about the hills etc and why I walked some, here is the graph showing the elevation of the run:

Till next time :)

A New Month

It's March already!!  I just heard the other week that here in Feilding they are putting on a Feilding Fives Park run for the month of March.  The first one just happened to fall on my birthday as well so thought - well what better present to give myself than run my first ever park run.  I rocked on down last night, registered for it and headed off for my run.  Firstly, running on grass is HARD.  Secondly, Timona Park has lots of hilly bits!!  But I did it.  And I'm stoked with how I did considering the conditions out there.  Here's the photo proof of my run from last night:

Roll on next Thursday when I can do it all again!