Monday, July 9, 2007

On Saturday evening I was absolutely, totally shattered... its not often that it happens like this but I felt that I had used every ounce of energy that I had available in the previous week. Poor Jason bore the brunt of this as well. I literally did not have the energy to even shop for food... I was walking around the supermarket like a zombie. I couldn't even think what to cook for dinner let alone what I needed to buy. Its a sure sign that I am exhausted when I can't even think about food! Surprisingly enough though, as soon as I ate I felt so much better again and after a good night sleep I woke up on Sunday rearing to go again. Kevin and I had a great 90 min hills run on Sunday as well so it is a good sign that I am recovering well.

Hmmm what contributed to this tiredness?? After the mammoth run last weekend up in the Tararua's the training did not let up, I had:
Monday: 45 min wind trainer and 3 km swim
Tuesday: Swim squad and 60 min run (with 800m intervals)
Wednesday: 90 min ride
Thursday: Swim squad and 80 min hills run with 20 min up tempo
Friday: 40 min run, including drills
Saturday: 2 hour ride and a 9km club handicap race
Sunday: 90 min hills run

This was on top of a full on week of work as well. No wonder I was tired. The awesome thing about the human body is its amazing ability to go far beyond what you can ever think that you can achieve. There have been days when I am absolutely shattered yet once I start training I have the best session ever. My swimming coach says that it is the people that can constantly push past the boundaries that achieve the highest and I fully agree. It reminds me of a quate that I read in a magazine once: "Once all is said and done, victory is there for those that can push themselves the most". I agree wholeheartedly with this.

I had to race on Saturday afternoon (was meant to be 8km but was actually 9km) and it was interesting racing when I was feeling really flat beforehand. It was only a club handicap race (where we all start at different intervals and try to all finish on the line together basically) so I wasn't too concerned about the result. I started 18 minutes and 20 seconds after the first runners set out and although I did not feel like running I actually ran well. I started with about 6 other runners who had the same handicap as me and Tina Harris and I set a reasonably fast pace to begin with. The race started with 1km into the southerly and Tina and I were working with each other to take the lead and draft off each other which was nice! It probably made the race easier in the later stages as well. I ran pretty evenly through the whole 9km (over varied terrain- mud, gravel, concrete, grass...) and finished in 35.59. So essentially dead on 4 min kms. I am really pleased with that average over that terrain.

This week my load starts to drop off as the Captain Cooks landing race is jsut two weeks away! Yay, so looking forward to this race!!!

Jason has just finished his first week of training on the new programme and he really enjoyed it. This week he did:

2 swim squad sessions (3km each)
1 * 2km swim (technique focus)
1 * 3km swim; and
1 * 60 min continuous swim. He swum over 4 km during this swim. What a fish!

Jason also had a biomechanical assessment to see what he needs to fix to be in tip top shape to swim all these kms that Ali has planned for him!

I have a hen's night on Saturday night to look forward to, so maybe next week's update might be more than just training :-)

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