And it begins! This may be week 27, but it is also week 16 in the countdown of only 16 weeks to go to the KI Half Marathon!
Let's do this!
In order to really make shit super real for us, the skies opened and dumped a genuinely scarey early winter storm on Monday. After a quick look at the weather forecast for the week, we realised we were probably going to be met with cold, windy, rain all week.
Perfect weather for a new running plan that generally takes place OUTSIDE.
I decided, since I was going to do it anyway, that I would sign up to the gym so I could go for a run and not be at the mercy of the insane rain and wind that was tearing around the CBD.
I made an appointment to meet with someone called Tash down at the local Anytime Fitness club and signed up to their 7-day trial. With the orientation and paperwork completed, I stowed my bag and jumped on a treddy with anticipation. I haven't run on a REAL treadmill in a long time. In years.
And it felt good! I mean, it was a TREADMILL which does not compare to running through beautiful native bush and Adelaid-ian parklands, but it wasn't as bad as I remember.
Even better? Nothing hurt. Nothing. My knees were fine. My hips were fine. My shins were fine. I had even gotten over how weird my orthotics felt. They must be softening up.
One thing I did forget was to wear my Nike visor, which I didn't even think about until sweat began dripping off my face in torrents. Ew.
I easily smashed out my 3km requirement for the day and was pleasantly surprised by the way my treadmill synced up with my phone to store all the information about my workout. Yay, science!
I stumbled off the treddy (why does it always feel so weird walking around afterwards?!) and made my way over the free-weights area.
My dog, Nova, had clearly noticed that I had slept through my early alarm on Tuesday morning as she woke me up gagging and dry-retching on the bed at 5.30am.
Dog vomit aside, I was up and ready in time to do my first official strength workout: Pilates.
I used an old DVD that I religiously followed 5days a week through my last term of my senior year at high-school.
In one school term (10-ish weeks) I had completely toned my legs and butt, had extreme flexibility in my lower body and had flattened my stomach. I suppose anything works when you stick with it.
I hadn't watched the old DVD in over 10 years, and yet I could still remember every single bloody word of it. Why did I even need the DVD? Also, how have DVD's not gone extinct yet?
I was sore from my run and strength session the night before, but I managed to get through the routine with a lot of weird noises and unsightly sweating.
Wednesday was cross-training day and since I still had use of a gym trial, I figured I should probably use it even thought my lonely Elliptical machine at home would probably do the trick.
So I plodding down to the gym after work and had a quick look around the equipment in the cardio area before settling on an upright spin bike. Yes.
Like the Treddy I was on the other night, the bike also had an awesome interactive screen that allowed you to browse the internet, or watch TV or simply stalk your workout stats at your leisure.
I wasn't really sure what to do on the bike, so I set it to a random workout and started.... well, spinning.
Turns out the "random" program ended up being "let's climb a hill for half an hour" program. I decided to stick with it anyway and managed to complete my half hour no worries. I don't know why, but bike work just doesn't seem as difficult for me as anything else!
I tried so hard this week to get up early and get my workouts over and done with, but it just wasn't my week for early starts.
I literally had no idea I had slept through 3 alarms until my body decided it was time to get up on Thursday morning with only just enough time to get ready before I had to start work. I had a look at my phone and had a text from Rhi along the lines of "afternoon run then, I guess?".
I felt terrible. Early nights, early starts. Ugh.
I stubbornly took my gear in and Rhi and I were able to finally run together again after work.
I noticed straight away as soon as I started running that my shin were a little tender. I pushed through that initial horrid 10min warming up period and noticed that my shin pain had also gone away. Weird.
It was a beautiful night, and the run was over before we knew it with another 3km logged. Yay!
My shins were quite tender the next day however, and I made a mental note that I should probably go and buy some of that rigid tape so I can tape my feet until I see the podiatrist again since it does seem to help a little.
My next run was supposed to be on Saturday, but Rhi and I decided to swap it with Sundays rest day so we could join in with the new Woman's Recreational Running Network (WRRN) group in Victoria Park.
That, and I also had a meet & greet with a wedding photographer on Saturday. Excite!
Sunday morning came around however and I was not in any kind of mood for going for a run with a bunch of empowering overly excitable women. If I am in a bad mood, sometimes I want to stay that way!
Chris had been away in Perth for work all week and was due to arrive back in Adelaide Sunday night, so I made sure I smashed the run out in the afternoon before he returned to get it out of the way.
It was only 3km but it was still hard. Not only that, but I noticed once I was done that my shins were definately tender. Eep.
I was also worried about how knackered I was after running such small distances. I mean, come on! I can run 10km people! 3km should be nothing!
I was so busy being excited when I started running again that I could still run, that I didn't really take any notice of where I was at distance wise.
Rhi and I had been running 3km distances for 2 weeks and it was still hard.
Next week the run program will start to increase our distance and it is going to SUCK.
Bring it on.