14 sleeps til we leave!!

Well and truly on the count down now.  Although some how it doesn't seem real again.  It 2 weeks right now I'll be on the plane from Sydney to LA.  Amazing!

So, last post I talked about upping the long runs each week to add a few km's on.  Not every week went to plan.  But I'm happy with what I've done.  It's too late now anyway.

City to Bay on 16th Sept. 12km.  Spot on 80mins. Felt really comfortable run and had no pace in mind, so it was refreshing to not have any expectations on myself and just run.  Ran with Leanne Green and Assunta Marshall.  First time for Assunta to run the event and Leanne had a time in mind... amazingly 80mins!! It was really great to run with friends.

Other run wise:
27km on 9th Sept.  Running around near home, discovered how steep Regency Road really is.  Not too bad a run and about on pace to what I think is achievable for New York.  It was a tiny bit warm on the day so faded a little towards the end but happy with the distance.

32k on 22nd Sept.  Really bad run for me.  I have been quite naughty and not stretching.  Which I have found out later how much of a mistake this has been.  So I started to cramp up about 16km, then had a massive anxiety attack at about 18km. There was no way I thought I could make it.  Luckily Brad was there to encourage me to push through. Managed to make the 32k but was ridiculously slow and painful.

Lost a lot of confidence after that run.  Decided to take the next weekend off to re-coup and re-invigorate myself and get a bit of confidence back.

Next run on 6th October aiming for around 26-28km.  Had been suffering a cold and turned out not so ideal to be trying to run too far. Managed to struggle through 23km.  Still lacking confidence!  BUT I had started a proper stretching regime and it seemed to be working.

Next corporate cup event I ran pretty much my fastest time and it felt great. No soreness, no pain. Just running!  Felt really great.

So gearing up for my last long run before starting to taper off.  Aiming for 34km on 14th October, which leaves 3 weeks til the big day.  The temperature wasn't going to be ideal for running - 27 or something. Started off at 7.30am from Highbury along the Linear Path into the city.  Ran to the circus on Bonython Park and turned around and come back.  Ended up with 34.24km.  Not a bad pace, had a few clothing malfunctions and not happy with my arm pod for the iphone again. But got there in the end. It was warm and that affected me towards the end.  If it was race day could I have added on another 8km??? Of course!!

This run made me super confident again! Time was good. Legs felt good.  Really really happy to have ended my last big training session on a good run like this.

So what now.  Resting, few short runs, lots of stretching and packing.!!!

All my life I've wanted to go to America.  For a while (not since starting to run in the last 18 months) I've wanted to do a marathon.  In just over 2 weeks I can tick both of these things off my list.  Still unbelieveable!!

So to some exciting things.  Received my running top! Yaay and it looks amazing and is really comfy to run in.

Plus have received my registration card which has all my start details on.  Don't have a picture of that, but I am 39998 Blue Wave#3 and Corral#39.  Which means I'm starting on the right hand side up the top of the Verrazanno Bridge at 10.30am New York Time.

On the fundraising side of things.  I MADE IT!!!  Quiz night, Zumba event and some kind donations my some awesome friends I got to my target of $7,500.  Such a relief to have that out of the way now.  As it meant that if I didn't raise that much, I didnt' get to run!!

So a MASSIVE thanks to everyone that assisted in any way to help me raise this money for the Heart Foundation.  Something that is close to my heart (no pun intended!)

So with not much time to go. ... I'm getting really excited!  Will blog one more post before I leave.

Til then
NY Kel
xx

9 weeks..!!!

In 9 weeks time, it's just clocked over 6am in New York City.  Dare say I'll be up and ready and on my way to the pick up hotel.

So what has happened since the Adelaide half marathon.....

Pulled up quite well after the half.  Standard routine of ice bath, Rapigel and skins for 2 days.  Managed to even teach a Zumba class on the Monday night without any real muscle soreness.  My right knee which has been causing me issues was quite sore for Sunday and Monday and woke up on Tuesday and it was completely back to normal.

Have done a few short runs since the half and then also the 3rd round of Corporate cup where I dropped another 1min30s from my previous time. Dropping a total of 3.30mins from the first run.  Every single run though has been difficult for only a 7k run.

Had decided that each weekend on the long run to add 2km each week up until 3 weeks out.  The first weekend didn't really work out that well for one reason or another.  

This weekend just past we spent in Angaston on a travel voucher that Mum had.  Decided to get up early on the Saturday and do my long run.  Aiming for 24-26k and was scared shitless of running that far.  Even though I'd already run 21.1k twice before.

Got out the hotel room door at 6.45am and set off back into town for a few km and then head to the bike/walking path that the Barossa marathon was run on. But instead of turning off the path to head to Tanunda, I stayed on the path as that ended up going to Nuri and then onto Tanunda.  The weather looked a bit dodgy and had a few moments of a very light sprinkle of rain.  Also very glad I took my gloves with me as it was icy cold.

Have been experimenting with Chia Seeds in my breakfast smoothie and wasn't sure if they'd work as an energy release as how I've read about them.  But it was worth a try.  Took 3 gels with me just in case.

Decided to see how I went without taking any gels.  Well... happy to say the Chia Seeds DO seem to have a slow release energy and I only ended up having 1 get at about 15k as I was starving.  I did have a protein bar with me but it was going to be too difficult to eat.  So in the end I didn't really need the gel.

Ended up doing 24.11km.  Had a few moments where I wasn't sure if I was going to make it back under my own steam.  Had a few moments of pause so I could stretch the legs and take in some water (no longer that 10-15seconds) and then got to a point where I felt completely comfortable again running that I reckon I could of at least done another 5km.  I definately hope that I'm feeling that good on the actual day of marathon.

Decided not to do the extra 2km as it was around 9.30 by that time and the streets were getting quite busy with the farmers market, and didn't want to spend too much time away from Trent and Amali as this was a weekend away for the family.

And the best thing is, no muscle soreness what so ever! I mean at all!! Nothing! Didn't wear my skins or have an ice bath or any of that junk. Just had a shower, got dressed then we spent the day out.  My body definately doesn't feel like it's just run 24km.  So that's good right?  Muscle memory or something?  Either way, I'm happy my body is reacting like this and gives me hope that New York won't be as hard as I imagine... or actually it probably will be. But whatever, I'm on a high right now, may as well ride it as long as possible.

So next.... up the km each week aiming to get to 36k before D day.

Quiz night this Saturday, and Zumba party on the 23rd. That will hopefully be the end of my fundraising. Hopefully!

Until next time.

Kel

x

11 weeks today!!! On the Count down

Probably not the ideal time to be writing on my blog as I sit on the couch in a world of pain after running a half marathon this morning.  But here goes anyway.

Since my last update I've had 1 fundraising event. 23rd July at Zumba with Nat and De, we had an in-house Zumbathon.  Nat and I put on a class of the favourite tracks and we had 36 ladies come along in support of me and the Heart Foundation.  Never seen the hall packed out as much as that before.  In total raised $300 and had a tonne of fun (and a few glasses of bubbles after the class).
Here's a pic of us all after the class

Not on the running side of things, but had the last swimming interclub meet at the start of August and I ended up winning my age group for all the Interclub meets for SA. And will be presented with a medal at the Presentation Dinner the day we land back in Australia after the trip to the US and A.

Back to the running.

29th July was the Hills to Henley 15k event. Started at Adelaide rowing club near the convention centre and ran along the linear trail out the Henley Beach. Always a really nice run along the linear path.  Finished in 1hr36, so a pace of 6:19.  Felt pretty good on the run and really happy with that time. It's consistent with where I have been lately.

I had only run twice in the week leading up to this event, and these were the only 2 runs I had done in 5 weeks.  I was struck down with the flu as I mentioned in my prior blog update, so to have this pace over 15km was not a bad effort.

The week after H2H the Corporate Cup started.  I had developed an issue with my right knee, probably too much Zumba, but what can you do!!  I ran the first CC with a really sore knee and posted probably my worst time for a short event - 7km. But as the CC is all about improvement then I'm not stressed.

But I had to get my knee checked out.  Visit to Dr Brad fixed it right up, but couldn't run for about 4-5 days.  All I had coming up commitment wise was the final swim meet for Interclubs.  And I knew I could give my knee the rest it needed as we were then off to Sydney for World Time Attack and the schedule didn't allow for any training. But being at the race track for 3 full days I was wrecked anyway.

So since getting back from Sydney has seen the running of the 2nd corporate cup, and knocked 2 mins off my time.

Which brings us to today.  The Athletes Foot Adelaide Marathon where I ran the half.  Feeling completely shattered at the moment, as you do.  After my first half my hips were quite sore, today not so much, just in a bit of struggle town with my knee, so think I'm going to have to get it looked at again.

So today... I really wanted to run this half faster than the Barossa, which was a 2hr16min race.  But on the other hand I didn't want the pressure of a time to make me run too fast and tire out.  I was a bit nervous as again I don't think my actual running training is adequate, but my cardio fitness is there being active with other things (Zumba and Swimming).  Wore my new Skins top to stop rubbing on my arms and again my NB sneakers proving their worth.  Never had an issue with rubbing, blisters, black toe nails.  They rock!!  The course was changed from last year to be purely around the CBD and a bit of Nth Adelaide finishing at University Oval.

It was a semi challenging course and there were a few inclines, but overall it was a really nice course and felt much more among spectators than a run along linear.  Started off reasonable.  KM 4/5 was a struggle as that was a bit uphill through North Adelaide then I think I settled into my pace after that.  Started to hurt at 17km again and felt like I was struggling to breath.  It took a lot of mental strength to not lay down and give up. I really wanted too.  I knew I was on a faster pace so just had to stay with it and trust that my legs would get me there.  It was good to see Trent and Amali with just under 1km to go.  Ended up with a time of 2hr13min, so a 3min PB.  YAAY!

My knee is killing me now, the rest of me not too bad.  Really wondering how I could go on and run another 21km after that!!! I guess in 11 weeks time I'll find out.  And I've got that long to make sure my legs are in shape.

Whats next... Quiz night 8th Sept, City to Bay 16th Sept, Zumba event 23rd Sept, McLaren Vale half 14th Oct.

Until next time

Kel
x

110 days to go and counting

So it appears I'm not that good at the upkeep of a blog. This was going to be a monthly update. But seems whilst also trying to achieve the biggest goal ever, I'm pretty much doing everything else possible as well!

So where were we?

Sunday 13th May, Mothers Day classic.  7.5km.  Struggle town on this run, went out too hard.  Haven't done that in an event for a while, but got caught up in the moment and also seeing someone who I didn't know was a runner... and they were going faster than me! Unheard of!! haha!  Actually didn't do too badly on this run. Was probably about this time that I stopped worrying about how long events took me and just concentrate on finding a nice pace and enjoying it.
Photo from MDC

Saturday 19th May - QUIZ NIGHT
My first big fundraising event was a Quiz Night held at the Morphett Vale Football Club. About 100 people in attendance.  Was a really fun night, although I was quite stressed about it running smoothly - which it did.  Everyone said they had a great time and ended up raising $1,533.49, so fantastic effort and much appreciated support from family and friends and others that just were there for support (who I didn't know)

Sunday 27th May - Barossa Half Marathon
Holy crap.  I couldn't have been more unprepared for an event if I tried! Not good prep at all.  Seems life gets in the way and I only ever ended up doing about 3 10km runs and a few other shorter ones (as events) So really had no idea what to expect for this.  I'd done 21km before, but it wasn't all in one run, half way, then rest and stretch, then the rest, but only ever made it to about 18km before I had to walk the rest of the way - which wa murder!  So I knew I had to at least keep up some kind of running motion or I wouldn't make it to the end.

Even though I'd just decided that times didn't matter anymore, I really wanted to achieve a 2hr 30min race.  Felt really good of the morning and took in my gels. It was cold, but decided not to run with any layers and I new it would warm up.  Felt my pace to start with felt comfortable and maintainable.  Had 2 further gels to take with me and planned them out well.  About 17km in was when it started to hurt.  I took my mind to other places and just took in the scenery and didn't worry much about what my legs were doing.  Concentrated on a few people to try and over take, but didn't do anything ridiculous.  Kept my pace nice and smooth and really felt fantastic.  When my legs started to hurt, it was fatigue really more than anything and just soreness.  I pushed through knowing that there was no way I could slow down to a walk.  I ended up finishing with a 2hr 16min race and felt amazing to have finished it - 21.1km non-stop running.  So that was 6min 27sec pace. Stoked!

Recovery was pretty good too.  Ice bath when I got home, rapigel then long skins for almost 48hrs.  By Tuesday legs felt not bad. 

Went to an interesting seminar held by SARRC at the Hackney Hotel where there was a talk by a Sports Dietician.  Took a lot out of the session and also referred to a few websites to help with nutrition leading up too, during and after the race. A lot to consider really.

June 17th Right Royal Fun Run
With new Sneakers - woo hoo!!! Realised my old ones were 12months old, and should have replaced them a long time ago, so got some new ones and didn't get a chance to run them in, so 10km run was their first outing and they were fabulous as I expected.  I wasn't though. Did not feel good before the event, hit a brick wall at 7km and finished really weak.  It wasn't a bad time compared to other events - still under 6min/km, but felt terrible.  When I got home actually felt quick nauseous and faint.  Ate a stack of carbs and sugar then felt okay again. Well okay enough to back it up with a 9km Mt Lofty hike with Matt Bubner!

22nd June - Wine & Cheese Fundraiser - Griffins Hotel.
Co-hosted by Brad Trenwith, great night, lots of fun, probably a bit too much wine, but we raised around $2k.  Enough said.!

Since then I have had the flu - big time. I was off work for a week and now 2 weeks later I'm just starting to feel almost 100% again.  I haven't done any running since the Right Royal 10km. But had a swimming carnival yesterday.  Definately no world records this time in the pool. But I'm still sitting top of the points for my age group. 

So with 16 weeks to go until the big day, I'm starting to feel weird about this whole thing.  Hard to explain. It sometimes still doesn't feel real that I am actually doing this.  So many other things going on in life at the moment that it's hard to comprehend that it is going to happen.

Running officially starts again tonite - 3 runs a week, minimum!!! I have too!!  Next event - Hills to Henley 15km on 29th July.  Have already entered Adelaide Marathon to do the half on 19th August. Then City to Bay 16th Sept, McLaren Vale half on 30th Sept.  Maybe Trailblazer 50km the week after!!! Cos I'm crazy like that, and finally Race for Life a few days before we board the plane for NY - 9km I think.  4.5km seems ridiculous!

Well and truly on the count down now.  CAN NOT WAIT!!!

Kel

6 months to go...

It's been a few months since my last post. A sign of how hectic my schedule has been this year so far.  Working, Zumba, running, raising a child and I started CPA. Yep I've been busy.

So what have I been up too since my last post.?? Let's see...

Whilst not running, I've been ramping up my swimming this year after competing in the Australian Masters Games last October, the Australian Nationals were held in Adelaide in April, so I was keeping up my swimming training to be able to compete.

Back to my running though.

Dolphin Run - an event held by SARRC was on 5th February.  I had only intended on entering the 5km run and make it a speed event.
Woke up that morning (early!!), the event started at 7.30am ish at Semaphore along the esplanade.  It was raining possibly as hard as it could.  Thoughts went through my head to pull out - it would be silly to run in such extreme conditions (extreme... really?) Anyway that thought didn't last long, I mean what if it was raining in New York, I'm not going to pull out of that.  So I went, the rain didn't ease at all, it was bucketing down the entire run.  It was freezing, and I had a total brain fade and didn't take a jumper or a towel to dry myself with.  I also thought running with my ipod was a good idea.

The rain affected my phone, so therefore stuffed up my run keeper and also wrecked my headphones.  Despite all of this I completed the run in a new PB for me. I think it was the cold, rainy conditions that made me run faster so I could get home quicker.

Pretty proud of my efforts on this run.  There was an older lady that come up to me at the end and thanked me for being her inspiration.  She was getting over a chest infection and was struggling to breath throughout the run and had to stop quite a few times. She had a fast pace so always managed to claw back the distance to me after a short break.  She said I was the inspiration she needed to keep going.  Poor lady! But I felt a sense of yaay-ness for inspiring someone else.

Next event was the Greenbelt half marathon - again put on by SARRC.  SA road runners club for those playing at home.  I completed the 10km even for this as I was always training up to do the half marathon at Barossa - in a few weeks.

But in between Dolphin and Greenbelt, I cancelled my gym membership and bought myself a treadmill for home.  I found I was only using the treadmill at the gym, so why not just get one for home. I get to stay home and can train whenever I liked.

Easter.... We went up the shack as we always do. I did a run along the road from the Shack to Aruma Resort which is a 8km round trip, well that was always my intention, but after a few drinkies the night before it was suggested that I should in fact go further than Aruma and run up the hill part. So I did. Went up the the look out and took some photos, then ran back - all up 9.5km trip.  And at a pretty reasonable pace as well. Felt really great on my legs and no knee or ankle pain during or after.

So then CPA study took over and the running slowed down quite considerably.  Then come Greenbelt.
I'd bought some energy gels as I want to use them for Barossa half, so I thought I'd try one out for Greenbelt.  Took it  10mins before the start and I reckon it kicked in around the 5km mark.  I felt AMAZING. No fatigue, no leg soreness, and also felt strong with my breathing.  I had decided ages ago to turn off the coaching on my runkeeper as it was doing my head in, so I had no idea what my pace was. But wanted to complete in an hour (so a 6min/km pace) as that's about where I had left off over a month ago.  Was pretty pleased to firstly not have stopped during the run, but also to come in at 1hr 1min.  Got home, put my skins on, legs felt fantastic afterwards.

So... Barossa half marathon... yes 21.1 fricken kilometres is next.  2 weeks Sunday to be exact.  Not worried about it at all though.  I've done the distance before, and I'm really not worried about times anymore.  I have an idea what I think I can do it in. But I'm not going to get all emotional if I go slower.   My lead up hasn't been ideal.

Downloaded a training program from ASICS, that I'll commence after Barossa.  Looking forward to the next 6 months of training actually. It's getting closer and starting to become a reality now.  Starting to sink in... yes in 6 months I'll be running one of the worlds biggest and most prestigious marathons.

On the fundraising front... first event is next Saturday (19th May) Quiz Night at the Morphett Vale Football Club.  Have lots of people coming and have been blown away by the generosity of the business's that have kindly donated items for the raffle.

Til next time... and it won't be so long I promise.
NY Kel
xx

1 month in ....

So January was a pretty busy month!  Hadn't done a lot of actual running towards the end of 2011, and with Resolution Run looming in the 2nd week of January I had my work cut out to get back my running pace.

I officially started following a 20 week program for running a half marathon.  Which initially starts off with 3 runs per week at a nice casual pace - so you can still talk.... cos you really want to be having a full on conversation with someone whilst you are running??  The first run was probably the worst - I'd not run for a period of time for a while, but I got through it okay.  Surprising what you are capable of when you have a target time or distance in mind.

Next run was Resolution Run at the Adelaide Zoo on 13th Jan.  7.5km - which turned out to be 7.8km because they had to change the finish as they thought too many people around the zoo would freak the animals out or something.?  They didn't tell us this until it actually finished.  Whilst I've always put really high expectations on myself for running time, I did my best pace per km that I'd done in a longer distance run - and that is even with 2 months off getting over my knee injury so I was pretty pleased with my efforts.  But I will say... I do not like running in the early evening.  It may have been that I hadn't hydrated properly during the day - not sure?

Here is a couple of photos from the day:

 Simone and I before the run

Sally, Jodie and I - clearly after the run! Shredded!

Since this event, I've just been concentrating on getting some km's on the board with my training.  I also participated in the Facebook KM challenge a few of my friends were doing in January.  Basically 'like' my status and I'll dedicate a km for you to be completed by 31st Jan.  I ended up with 100km to complete and I agreed to do this either as a run, bike, swim or walk.

100km easily completed and I reckon it actually helped boost my cardio fitness back to where it was and more so since before christmas.

The proof was at a SARRC event on Sunday 5th Feb at Semaphore - the 5 or 10km Dolphin Run.  And boy were we dolphins!!.  It was pouring with rain and so good to see everyone still out there slogging it out.  I entered the 5km event as a chance to test my speed.  And was surprised to have knocked 40sec of my per km pace.

No events lined up for a while, I might try my hand at a mini triathlon at the end of March for something different, otherwise the next 'event' will be the Greenbelt marathon on 29th April. As I'm building up to run the Barossa as a half, I'll enter this event doing 10km.  By then 10km should be a breeze!  Until then, I'll keep slogging it out on the treadmill and the pavement.  I'm going to start incorporating some strength training as well to mix things up a bit.

On the fundraising side of things, I've booked in my first event.  A Wine Tasting evening which will be held at The Griffins Head on Tuesday 20th March.  For a minimal entry fee, you can come along and taste wines from about 4 different wineries, with the option of buying full glasses at a ridiculous price per glass.  Tuesday is also Steak night at the Griffins so why not stay and have a steak with your lovely glass of wine.  Raffles on the night to win some cool wine prizes.  Hope to see you all there.  Thanks to Drew from the Griffins. 

A Quiz night in the southern suburbs is also being organised and will be towards the end of April.  I have an AMAZING photography raffle available on that night! You don't want to miss out it!!  More details to follow for both.

There is no chance I could do any of this without an amazing support network.  Trent - for being the parent so I can get out the house to train as much as I am. Also for supporting me taking on my Zumba classes to earn the bucks to go towards our trip to America.  Simone Harvey - for doing heaps and heaps!! Narelle Smith - your assistance with the Wine night has been fantastic and also your trip notes for America!  Brandon Scammell for making a few phone calls for me!  There are so many people to thank! And I appreciate everything that anyone has done for me so far.

Til next time
NY Kel
xx

And so it begins

For those that don't already know, yes I am competing in the 2012 ING New York Marathon and will be representing the Heart Foundation (so yes that means fundraising!)

Wow - that is actually THIS YEAR.  It's always seemed so far away, and it still is, but to now be able to say it's this year is beginning to become a bit daunting.

So I guess the time has come to commence training.  I've decided that I won't actually do any full marathons in Australia before heading over to NY.  I had originally thought that it might be a good idea to do the Adelaide Marathon full 42.2km in August, but I have since changed my mind.

A good friend Tim Scarman, has been kind enough to send me some half and full marathon training diaries where you take 20 weeks to train for a half or full marathon.  The training concentrates on the duration of running rather than the distance.  You don't need to do a marathon in training to do a marathon - you just have to be able to run for 4hrs or something ridiculous like that.

I joined the SA Road Runners club towards the end of 2011 and penciled a lot of events into my diary.  I'll now go through these again and co-ordinate with my training diary which ones will be most beneficial for my training to compete in.  One of their events in May is the Barossa marathon, so commencing the 2nd week of January, I will follow the 20 week training program for a half marathon which will bring me to 27th May - where I will compete in the Barossa half marathon.

After a 2 week break and re-evaluation, I'll then commence the 20 week full marathon program which will lead me up to the week of the New York, which is scheduled for Sunday 4th November.

The training program will commence with 3 runs per week, 2 of which at a nice easy pace running for 40mins, then the third being the longer run, building up length of time each week.

At 4-5 week intervals throughout the program will be rest weeks where the training is backed off slightly - these usually follow a planned event - so as I said before I'll have to go back through the SARRC calendar and see which events line up with my training the best.

I will start the year off with an event though.  The Resolution Run on Friday 13th Jan, 7.5km which starts and end in the Adelaide Zoo.  It's a late arvo/evening run, commencing at around 5.30pm.  I've not done a whole lot of running in the last couple of months, getting over a slight niggle in my knee and also illness over the christmas period.  So I don't hold any expectations for this run, although it's a short distance, so I'll just use it as one of my training sessions.  But it will be nice to be in a competitive atmosphere, hopefully the weather gods are nice to everyone that day.

There are no other events in January that I plan to do, so for this month I'll concentrate on my training schedule, I don't doubt it is going to be exhausting initially to take up so much running, but I am looking forward to the challenge.... not so much having to buy new sneakers every couple of months though.

On the fund raising side of things, I've already commenced with Chocolate drives around the place, which will continue throughout the year.  Thanks so far to Simone Harvey, Trent Levi and Graham Glendenning for selling chocolates for me.

I've got some great events lined up with year, including a Wine tasting night, Zumbathon and a Quiz Night, so watch our for these events and I hope to see you all at one to support my Heart Challenge.

Until the next post....  thanks for reading

NY Kel

xx