Saturday, March 31, 2007

I'm Still Standing

M minus 15

Saturday Total: 28.6k
Week Total: 35.4k
Month Total: 195.9k
Year Total: 800.1k

Time: 2hr 45.20min
Av pace: 5.45min/km
AHR: 157; MHR: 180
Av Temp: 13.7*c (7.42am)
Rel. Humidity Av: 53.1%
Wind Spd Avg: 19.8kph (SSW)
Started with: Sams Town - The Killers
Finished with: Its the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine) - REM

It was a cool morning but it was perfect weather for running - clear blue skies, hardly any wind, perfect. There was a small group of us who met out at the Cotter for a long run this morning: Strewth, Steve, Ewen, Jill, Chris and me. For Jill and Strewth it was their first experience of doing a training run at the Cotter; for me it was my third time, the last being in November last year.

Its an undulating course and the surface varies from relatively smooth, to rocky, to wet (Vanity's Crossing) and then to finish it off, there's a couple of hills after Vanity's, when you have already run about 20 or so kms.

Overall it was a good run, just what I needed after my stop-start running experiences of the last 3 weeks. I did start to feel the hills, especially after Vanity's (but I never walked and I did the Vanity's to finish bit in 33mins), but given that last week the thought of even running a hill tired me out, I have improved!

And then we sat in the f...f...f...freezing river to aid our recovery. I discovered that if I sat perfectly still I didn't feel the cold, but move even oh so slightly and it was ffffffffreezing. However, my legs and glute have felt great since the run so obviously the frostbite was worth it. Once out of the water, it was time for a well deserved coffee (I actually remembered to take a thermos and some coffee bags) before heading home and a hot shower.

The afternoon was spent fruit and vegie shopping at the markets, washing, housework, and then whipping up Costolette di Maiale con Salvia for dinner.

So, good run, great weather, and as always, excellent company. Can't ask for more than that.......well, maybe some chocolate........ :-)

8 comments:

Toasty said...

Glad to see you are still running so close to Canberra. I can only imagine how cold that river was.

Two Fruits said...

Well done today,thanks for the company.Speedygeoff needs a good training partner thru winter, better put your hand up! Year total, love the .1k, did you run that with coffee and chocolate in both hands. Beaut day.

Lulu said...

Glad to see you're back on the track and feeling better. I'm not sure I could have been persuaded into a freezing river even if I knew it would be good for me!

speedygeoff said...

I agree with you, CJ. Cold water is supposed to be good for you, but it is SO painful.

Ewen said...

You're soft CJ. The water was merely refreshingly cool. When we try it in August you'll be able to say f...f...f...

L'acqua fredda รจ buona!

Anonymous said...

you're halfway to being minnesotan

Hilda said...

These are crucial weeks, woow!

Canberra is so close again!

Mat said...

Sounds like a nice way to ease back into the running. Even the river dip sounds good (just a little :-o).