Week 1, Day 1

I'm training to do the 12km City to Bay fun run in Adelaide. I've done it before a few years ago. I'd never run before and didn't think I could do it, so just finishing was a real high and big achievement for me. After that, I had no goal and I never really ran again. A few half ditch attempts at the Couch to 5km program, but I could never seem to make it past week 3. About two months ago, I decided to do something utterly crazy: run from my house to the nearest town (which was 10km away). And you know what? It felt AMAZING!

Eager to keep this elusive runner's high, I decided I would make it a weekly run. I'm roughly 20kg overweight and play social netball twice a week, but even so, I was very unfit. I've never been a big fan of exercise. I like the idea of it, and I like group things like aerobics classes or netball, but after a few weeks, I start to get even more self conscious of myself and eventually make an excuse and drop out. I'm also a planner - I could plan something til I'm blue in the face. I've written up detailed exercise plans that incorporate my ability, potential growth, and encompass a whole body fitness plan so that I don't fatigue a particular muscle and forget another. But somehow, I never finish any of my plans. Life gets in the way. I'm a bit of a faux party girl - I love to have my best friends over and get stuck into the alcohol. I say 'faux' party girl because I just as equally love my bed and have a hard time extracting myself from it on the weekends. Especially when my husband is off to work - no one there to come into the room and say "are you still in bed?!".

But I digress.

Today I went for my 5th long run. And man, did it take some pushing. I started the day by lazing in bed, catching up on the Grey's Anatomy and Offspring episodes I've missed in the past two weeks. Yesterday I'd written yet another highly specific training plan for the next 9 weeks leading up to City to Bay. Including calculating my total weekly distance, incorporating any work meetings I have that may hold me back from training on a particular day, and colour coding each week so I can read my chart easily. And to make it look pretty! Today is Week 1, Day 1, and I'd scheduled myself for a long run. My normal route was not very enticing. After doing it a few times now, its become boring. I sat in my lounge room debating with myself:

"Maybe I'll do the run tomorrow"
"No you won't. You've been saying all week that you'll run 'tomorrow'. Tomorrow is now!"
"That's very Zen of you, but I don't wanna. Its boring!"
"But you told your husband that you were running today."
"I know...... but there's half a packet of bbq chips and a block of cadbury cashew chocolate here and there's a rerun of The Love Boat on tv."
"Oh, by all means - gorge yourself on junk food! That will make you feel better about yourself and also provide optimum nutrition so that you really can complete the City to Bay (which you registered for yesterday by the way)."
"Ok...... but where else can I run today? Oh wait I know - the beach! I could drive to the beach and do that walking trail!"

So that's exactly what I did. I drove about 30 mins to the beach and set off on this cute 5km walking trail that goes between two beach towns. My normal long run is pretty flat terrain. This walking trail is as up and down as a seesaw. I honestly had to push myself every step. It was excruciating - not physically, but mentally. About 2km into it, I was stuffed. All over, red rover. Contemplating turning around and calling it quits. But somehow, I kept going. I remembered an article from an old Runner's World mag (old meaning last month or the month before) about running styles. I decided to try one - I'm a pretty flat footed runner, so I decided to mix things up with a style that made me run off the balls of my feet, apparently propelling myself forward thus taking some of the effort out. I must admit, it felt as if I was running on tiptoes. But you know what? It felt so much easier. Weird, but easier. When I started to get tired, the old flat foot came back and I really noticed a big difference. I made good time with my kms around the 9m 7sec mark - still very much a turtle but its an improvement from my initial 10m kilometre I started with a few weeks ago.

5 hours later and I don't feel too bad. I have some blisters on my big toes and the balls of my feet are sore if I put a lot of pressure on them, but overall I feel good. I might not say the same thing tomorrow!

Today's stats:

Distance: 8.81km (thought the walking trail was 5km long therefore would add up to 10km round trip, but apparently I was wrong)
Time: 1hr 22m 36sec
Average km: 9m 7sec
Weather: sunny - surprisingly warm for winter. Perfect running day due to cool breeze.