Rhi and I fell into Week 5 with the panicked knowledge that we were to experience our first 'long run' this week: On Sunday we were to run for a solid 20minutes without walk rests.
Placing my tread dread in my back pocket, Tuesday started the exercise week with three 5min run intervals and 3min rests in between. We were both apprehensive, but I considered the run a success...
...regardless of monolith mirages disguised as drinking fountains which at one point lead me to run off-track down the grassy riverbank with Rhi standing back on the track wondering if I was going to dive head first into the river...
...regardless of Rhi madly sprinting up one of the inclines to "get it over with" (isn't that my line?) with me close in pursuit, and then both of us continuing to jog (without stopping!) even though I thought my body would fall apart like some demented possessed mannequin.
Yeah, I had the best intentions to use my robin-belt today but last minute, decided to leave it behind and stop at the drinking fountains if I needed to.
There was only one working fountain on the entire track we ran (excluding the mirage, which was magical).
I will be taking the belt next time.
Wednesday's cross-training bike ride took us around the Little Para River Trail which has become a happy routine. It also gave me a chance to try out my new Camelbak.
Tip for you: Rinse it out first. Gross. Derp.
Tip for the manufacturer: Maybe place the chest strap a little lower so that a human with breasts can actually close the chest strap buckle!
I was in denial of Friday right up until the point that I put my trainers on that morning.
I knew that Rhi and I had to run two 8min intervals that morning and I was not looking forward to it. It was one of those crazy-lady mornings and I felt bloated and cramped and wanted nothing more than to stay in bed and sleep forever.
When I finally dragged my butt out of bed, I made myself a drink-bottle filled with Staminade (at my boss's recommendation) to see if it would boost my energy and hydration levels, quickly stuffed my face with a home-made protein ball and made tracks to the early train.
Today was also the day that Rhi and I decided to suck it up and wear our new robin-(hydration)-belts. I filled up both the little bottles with water, shoved my keys and my phone in the little joey-pouch and off we went.
I was sad to admit that it wasn't as comfortable as I had hoped. I wore mine tight on my hips with the bottles and pouch at the front and within 5 steps, the belt buckle had crawled up my back to sit on my waist, which meant that the higher the back went, the lower and looser the bottles sat at the front.
By the end of the first interval, I had a belt sitting at a 45 degree angle with the bottles bouncing 10cm out from my body with every step. Annoying.
The second interval, I decided to wear the belt really tight around my waist. The belt didn't move from here but I felt utterly Urckle-stupid and it distracted me from my breathing as I always try to breathe really deeply with my stomach.
Rhi didn't have as much trouble as I did, wedging hers nice and tight over her hips, but she also had the bottles facing backwards with the joey-pouch over her butt. Might have to give that a go.
The intervals however were over before we knew it. We high-fived our success and, as per usual, discussed at length our shock at how much we continue to achieve.
It was worth noting how much better I had recovered today, whether by chance of a good combination of hydration, sleep and diet, having that bottle of Staminade mix in the morning seemed to boost my recovery and I didn't crash as badly as I usually would by the end of the day.
I must have snoozed my alarm about 700 times on Saturday morning in the hope that the next time I looked at that little cheery LED screen, there might be a text from Rhi telling me she wasn't going to make it for our usual Saturday hike.
No such luck on that rain-check.
Chris and I had stayed out at his parents place in Uraidla so we wouldn't have to be up so early, and we wanted to walk the Uraidla hike again to gauge how much we had improved in our fitness since Week 1.
Coffee, brekky, trainers, sunnies and Rhi arrives. Here we go.
I noticed the difference in the difficulty of the walk almost straight away. I was really aware of the muscles in my legs which felt stronger, and the natural breathing pattern that I fell into as soon as the paths began to climb uphill.
We all made it to the bottom of the near-vertical bush track without stopping once and Rhi and I decided that this was probably not just because we were getting fitter, but also because our pain threshold seems to be a lot higher than it was. Like, it sucked, but we were able to push and breathe through it.
The 'suicide track' as I like to call it, was still insane, but we didn't have to stop half as much, and we were very disciplined with timed stops to catch our breath as we slowly made it up to the top of Mt Lofty.
It still felt as though the path was steep enough to curl back on itself and dump us at the bottom.
We required only a few minutes for a toilet stop and drink at the top, before we started our way back down again and made it back to the start point in record time.
I felt absolutely giddy at how strong I felt.
Dear God, was Sunday really already here?! I had another episode of wistful-alarm-snoozing before Chris finally motivated me out of bed.
Coffee, protein-ball, Staminade, water, trainers, sunnies. Let's go.
I feel like a routine is hatching here.
It was a beautiful morning; The temperature was Sheldon-perfect.
Chris and I got down to Semaphore jetty just after 8am and met Rhi for a quick stretch before we were on our way south on the shared walking track.
I hadn't even began to walk and I was already struggling so I knew that I was going to have to 'dig deep' for this 20min run.
In an attempt to give me the least amount of distractions I had decided to ditch the robin-belt for this run as I wouldn't have an opportunity to stop and adjust it if it pissed me off.
A minute into the run and Rhi and I were already creepily breathing encouraging words to each other about 'just making it to the half way mark'.
The track we were running on went alongside the beach and was literally shared with almost every person in Adelaide and their dogs, who all needing to sniff and meet us right at that very moment.
10 minutes later, when Rhi and I heard that beautiful electronic voice from our C25K app telling us that we were half way, we panted to a stop, turned around and I started walking back towards the car.
"1-minute rest" Rhi reckoned. I made some kind of Darth Vader throaty agreement and tried to focus on walking out my shin splints and catching my breath.
Unfortunately in that last few minutes before the half way mark, I began suffering muscular turbulence in my lady regions. This simultaneously triggered unexpected tummy trouble which had me worried.
We had just run from the nearest toilet-block I had seen and there was no way I was in any shape to sprint back to it.
After about 2 minutes, we started jogging again, regardless of my cramping torso/hips/butt/tummy/oh god am I dying?
Thankfully, after about a minute into running, the cramps eased away and I could focus again on the slap, slap, slap of feet on pavement and try to make it back to the car without vomiting/passing out/pooping myself in public.
Note to self: Take some painkillers in advance if you have to run on shark week.
The run back was mostly uneventful other than a singular suicidal fly camping out in one of my nostrils for a few seconds. Why me?! I must have cavernous nostrils.
We ran until that beautiful 'beep' told us to start our warm-down, and then ran another two minutes to make up for the stop at the half-way mark.
Note: When trying to find a hilarious meme regarding the suicidal fly moment DO NOT google "fly in nostril". NSFW. I warned you.
My attitude towards this run was entirely different to what my brain is used to.
Sure, during the run I was having a non-stop argument with myself - simultaneously berating myself for wanting to stop, and encouraging myself because I was even running in the first place; because I had gotten up at 7 on a Sunday and driven to the beach just to run; because I was still running regardless of wanting to stop every moment.
But at the end of the run, even though we had stopped to rest when the app told us we weren't supposed to, I was still so proud of all of us for even being there, and for being able to run at all.
Go, positive me!
We rewarded ourselves with a walk in the water followed by a full English Brekky and Coffee to refuel.
Bring on next week!