Eureka !!!!

Sounds weird but today I had a eureka !!!! moment.  My left foot is still aching but it's coming from the big toe joint so I googled 'running with bunions' and VOILA there it was on my screen.

No not why my foot hurt but advice on relacing shoes to cope with bunions. 

Now I'm not saying I have a bunion but the pain is in the same area so ergo same solution.

Anyhoos have relaced shoes to only lace from half way up and all pressure is taken off the big toe joint and amazingly comfortable. 

I guess the true proof will come tomorrow morning with a short slow jog. 

Haven't jogged for a couple of weeks coz my foot hurt and christmas make and do was in full swing in my house which usually means lots of late nights.

Christmas is finished and now life can get back to what is loosly termed 'normal'

Even relaced the Asics that I reckon gave me the trouble to begin with and I'm thinking that it actually comes from the 'uber fantastic' asymetrical lacing system and WOOHOO all of the pressure is off the toe joint and the shoe is actually not too bad. 

Whodda thunk it huh !!

Day out with Inspirational Uncle

Well..............Wednesday saw us all up early and out to the marina to boat across to Keswick Island to do some mowing.  Wish it was as easy as it sounds.  It took us 7 hours and 4 people operating 2 lawn mowers and 2 brush cutters or whipper snippers to clear 1600 sqm of 45* slopping ground.  YIP the view was amazing looking across the channel to St Bees island where there is a large colony of koalas [no we couldn't see any]  and the breeze was soooo wonderful but the novelty had worn off before the work was half way through.

 Mr I.U and I decided to miss our much anticipated jog around the national park in favour of a cool drink and a trip back across the ditch to home [it was getting late].  He joked that running 250 kms through the desert is easier than all the mowing and clearing we did. 

His block is incredible though.  It's on top of the hill overlooking Horseshoe Bay and WOW is about how I'd sum it up.    The boy kids came with us and spent the day swimming in Basil Bay [it was a long hilly walk ha ha ha so we didn't see much of them], they were welcome to stay with us and help clear damn rocks - OMG was there some rocks.  Girl kid went to grannies for the day and was leisurely lounging around eating and sleeping like a queen. 

Humph...............she HATES boats and completely refused to come with us!!!!  Bring back the little cherub who didn't argue and then find alternative arrangements.

....MMMMMMmmmmm........

Yay !!!!

Welcome home my old friend. 

Nike Pegasus 27

These were by far the best shoes my feet ran in when I was a younger and more energetic version of me and so like all great things I returned to my favs after sampling nearly every other brand on the market and finding that the advertised hype is not appreciated by my footsies.  After all I do ask alot of my feet and have so many more plans in store for them......

I had my first run in these lil babies this morning and WOW KAPOW it's like coming home after being stuck in the rain in winter on the side of the road all by my lil lonesome !?!

The tread is more than a road shoe and less than a trail shoe, which suits me just fine.  Not over cushioned, GREAT price, no hype and not what the salesperson wanted to sell me !!  He, he, he.

Hmmmmm......my guilty pleasure !!! : D

What's yours.

Luv 'em with coffee

Luv 'em on their own

LUV 'EM LUV 'EM LUV 'EM

This should be how they are packaged so kiddy-monsters don't sneak them...

[only mummy-monsters]

p.s - have I mentioned how much I LURVE tim tams.

YAY for the inventor : D

Sooky Me !!!

I'm such a sook !!!

I went to bed last night all fired up and ready to run in the rain this morning - had a little personal pep-talk about being slack.

This morning it was raining cats and dogs and so I snuggled down deeper under the covers and went back to sleep :}

It was fabulous too...mwah, ha, ha.

I may have to go up to the 24 hour gym and go on their treadmill just to get my compulsory brain-taming jog. Otherwise I'll drive everyone nuts in my cave - erm house I meant.

I must, I must, I must learn to run in the rain first thing in the morning - yuck, yuck, yuck - oh, erm I meant YAY, YAY, YAY !!! I guess I don't REALLY need to stay in my nice, comfy warm bed with big fluffy pillows. It's soooo much more fun in the cold, cold, heartless rain, dripping down on my once warm body. Yeah,yeah toughen up me - but it's just so wet and drippy and super unfun.

Does anyone ACTUALLY like running in the rain ???

Hmmm......I'm sure there are special doctors that treat problems like that.

Not a doctor I'm ever gunna see for that problem - I may trot slowly in the gentle showers but I AINT EVER,NEVER,EVER gunna enjoy it, no siree, definatly not me !!!!


[disclaimer:this author is in no way responsible for any enjoyment brought about by running in the rain and splashing in puddles like a 5 year old. Stay posted as it's been heavy showers consistently here for a few weeks and the wet season hasn't started. If the author so chooses in the future to run in the rain and jump in puddles and finds it immensely enjoyable then she is in no way responsible for the silly grin as she jogs along the streets soaking wet and splashing mud on days when not even the neighbourhood mongel dogs will chase her and try their darnedest to enhance her use of interval training or at least try to bite her beckoning backside.]

Found my 'GUMP'tion

WooHoo what a fabulously awesome week last week was......bush runs, daily 5kms, no arch pain and topped the week off with a Sunday visit to inspirational uncle up near Airlie Beach where we spent the day kayaking and then running local trails. Up huge hills and then down huge hills, along the beach and then return along the beach and then we had to go home as the sun was going down. Sad, sad, sad. We'd been out for 2 hours and hadn't noticed, the conversation flowed smoothly and the pace was comfortable. The thing about IU [inspirational uncle] is that he doesn't go out to win - just to finish. His main objective is to stay injury free. I found that really refreshing and reassuring that it's not about winning or going as hard as you can, beating the people in front or feeding the ego - I don't really care about any of those things. I'm naturally not competitve and definatly happy with that. IU is the most non-fuss runner I've come across and that is so inspiring. It's ironic what inspires us and why !!!! He has completed ALOT of ultras, usually at the tail end of the pack but he just keeps on going and that REALLY inspires me.

Soo....to explain finding my 'GUMP'tion - IU's pace was slow and steady and just kept going. I am now at home and up to my regular 10kms that I was doing before changing shoes and hurting my foot and at a pace just slightly faster than IU's and slightly slower than my regular pace and I'm finding I can just keep going. I haven't worn my Garmin as it's been showering and I'm not sure how water resistant it is so I'm assuming I'm going about 6min/km or 6:10min/km, I can slow down a bit if I want but I seem to be able to maintain this pace non-stop for the full 10 kms even up the hills. Like Forest Gump I think I can just keep going.

My plan is to stick with 10kms daily now for the next fortnight to give my foot time to have a hissy fit if it's gunna and then I'll start back on my longer runs.

Ohhh I've got a partner for the 2012 North Face 100 Australia :D Didn't need one but reassured to find one and guess who it is ???? Yip IU. Here's hoping we can both get tickets. Another run that's really taken my eye is 'The Great North Walk 100's' in Victoria running this weekend, here's the link www.terrigaltrotters.com.au/GNW100s_Home_Page.htm . Maybe next year....food for thought I'll have to stick with IU's pace and keep on going.

Butterfly Speed

I had to take it easy for a couple of weeks as my left foot arch played up again so I walked for 2 weeks and then last week jogged 5 kms/day with a mid jog walk - boring, boring, boring but then this week......woah baby.....this week I jogged 7 kms with hills then I disappeared up to Cape Hillsborough National Park for a trail run!!! WOW it outlived all of my expectations or rather lived up to all of my expectations. No lady-eating snakes, no purple people eaters BUT... there is some HUGE lizards that may have mistaken me for Bear Grilles on a lunch hunt cos they outran me like their very lives depended on it. Personally I'm not entirely into the whole bug, rodent, snake, lizard & frog eating thing !!! Go figure huh!! I did one track twice for a total of 5.6kms then walked down to explore another track and found another track that joined up so I walked that one too. On the way back to the car, which happened to be about 2.5 kms away, I started jogging when I looked up and discovered that I jog at approx the speed of a butterfly !?! Definatly not at lizard speed he he he.


p.s I'm back in my old faithful shoes not the new fandangled ones.

YAAA HOOO !!!!!!!!

I'm back in business baby!!!! I'm still doing the leprechaun dance of victory. 2 days now with shoe inserts and arch support thongs [jandals] as well and I'm back !!!! 2 days of 11 kms and no pain - no arch aches, no heel pain, no niggles at all !!! Hills tomorrow [Friday] then flats for Saturday but no long run this week, probably shouldn't over do it too much :] I've been lucky so far.

FIDDLE-DEE-DEE :o]

FIDDLE-DEE-DEE I'M SURE HAPPY WITH ME !!!

What started out as a plan to slowly jog 5 kms in my new over-the-chemist-counter $41.95 orthotic shoe inserts for arch support turned into an epic 8 km run 'coz my feet felt amazingly good. YAY for me!!! [see my dancing leprechaun - that's ME !! Fiddle-dee-dee!!!] I didn't mean to go quite so far as I was coming back after 2 very epically long weeks of no jogs and was gunna take it easy - ha big fat ha !!!!
That run was then followed up with Steve's morning stroll and all up it's been roughly 11 kms with no arch pain. OMG!!! OMG!!! OMG!!! Roll on tomorrow :]

Caged Tiger

Grrr......no run for 2 weeks now and I'm feeling as toey as a caged tiger Grrrr.......

Mixed Blessings

It's been a mixed couple of weeks in the land of jog. Firstly school holidays happened and life gets thrown into complete and utter chaos. Between camping and working and then camping again there is not much routine. Mr gosh darned foot arch hurt so I decided to take 1 week off from jogging completely which unfortunatly co-incided with my favourite tracks being laid out in front of me like chocolate in front of a choco-holic. I could look but I couldn't do !! Sad poor me !! I did a sneeky little jog around the fences while we were camping but that was a really bad idea [I found out the hard way]. So then I resigned myself to having to sit on my bum for a week. I did go for sneeky walks but definatly not jogs. Now it is the end of week 2 almost and my foot for the most part is really good. I've been around the Goosies and done some bush walking and it [naughty foot] feels pretty good [all done in my old faithful 'Brooks'. So in review - I officially don't like 'Asics' shoes !!!! -It's not a good idea to ignore a sore foot, - it's REALLY not a good idea to go for a long run in new stupid shoes and ignore a sore foot !! - and I'm not able to sit still for long.


Sooo......what do you do with a new pair of stupid shoes that you paid great money for, for comfort and softness and your feet hate with a passion - well - I took out the super soft cushiony inner soles and hardened them up a bit. I've been for a walk and they are heaps better, so tomorrow I'll take said stupid shoes for a 5km jog and see how they are. If they are heaps better then I'll ditch the stupid inner soles and leave my shoes as is, if not then it's back to the drawing board. [or the shoe shop]

Anudda Week Down

I'm not sure if I would call this week a successful week but after last saturdays long run my foot hurt. Normally rest and staying off the foot is the right thing to do, but oh no, not for me !! Sunday I mowed lawns and walked in the bush for a couple of hours then Monday 10 kms hills and the foot was niggly then a walk Monday night and shopping all day, oh yeah and 20 km bike ride, should I stop there - YIP - did I stop there - NOP - instead I got up on Tuesday morning and went for a 5 km run then did 10 x 400m sprints in barefeet on the footy fields then it was about 3 kms home. It felt great but my calves were not as keen on the whole process as I had thought, perhaps only 5 x 400m sprints next time, 20 km bike ride then I hobbled to work for the day. The end?? No way, we went for a beach walk that night and then Wednesday I had to stay in bed as I couldn't get down the steps to the loo. Major problem !! Did I stop there though?? Nah no point. We went for another beach walk Wednesday night but I stayed in bed Thursday and Friday morning. I'm not proud of this but hey it's what happened. Oh yeah it wasn't only my foot it was my bloody calf muscles they ached !!!!! BAD!!!! Bloody sprints!!!! So here it is Saturday morning again and I headed out for my 2 hr run. Today I headed out to the harbour to run out to East Point and sailed along beautifully until I turned to head for home and realised, too late, that maybe sand or unstable ground may not have been a wise choice for this weeks long run. Anyhoo, middle of somewhere, no phone, no people and 8 kms from home there's nothin else to do but one foot in front of the other, so that's what I did. By the end of the sandy area my foot was niggly and my calf was starting to really be noticable. I perserved until I hit the Goosies when I just couldn't run any further so I walked - well that was until I spotted some plovers so I thought if I jogged on VERY reluctant legs the plovers may leave me alone out of sheer pity for seeing something that resembled human but moved like a drunken walrus. Honestly the hunchback moved more gracefully than I did at this stage - well that was until I discovered that the plovers had no sense of humor or understanding for an ailing, pitiful shuffler whose body was very uncooperatively moving faster than it wanted to. I did my best Usain Bolt impersonation when I realised that the pretty plovers [not] were happily lining me up for their energetic swooping practice. My foot and calves stopped hurting really quick !!!!! And I got the best pace of the day happening. Sprints be damned I did better today swooped by plovers than I did on Tuesday when I tried to run fast but obviously I didn't have the right motivation back then. The olympic prodigy dreams faded as soon as my subconcious realised that it was safe and everything started to hurt again. Walking seemed like a really enjoyable activity at that stage and one I enjoyed all the way home [which fortunatly wasn't far]. So here I am now all finished and I won't go so far as to say recovered but my left foot aches a bit and my right calf hurts so I think I'll slink off to the taxi, sit on my bum for the rest of the day and if my bum starts to hurt I'm gunna visit Mum at work and get spoon fed by someone else, sit in the corner and dribble until I stop hurting. Sounds like a pretty good option to me at this stage.

17.5kms

Well today was my first truly LONG run. I had a goal of 20 kms in 2 hours at 6 mins/km = 10 kms/hr hence the 2 hr goal. So I put on the camelbak and stuffed a couple of gels in my pocket and off I chuffed at 5:30 am. I sat on 6 mins/km and had sips of plasticky water every 10 mins and the first gel at 1/2 hr and BLECK it didn't go down well. I had tried a gel on a bike ride after a 10 km run and stomached it okay but apparently not so good when I'm jogging. BLECK!! It was thick, sticky and hard to keep down. I stayed at 6 min/kms which was a really great pace as I wasn't puffing but between the water and the gel things were getting ordinary. I finally stopped for a bit of a walk and went into Whitsunday Anglican School for a drink of yummy water and WOW that was super reviving. I set off a very polite alarm that reminded me I was on private property. Anyway I had a belly full of lovely cool fresh water not plasticky, warm water so I was off again sticking to the game plan of 6 min/km and went on to Fitzgerald School for another drink of yummy cool fresh water, then, feeling revived once again I set the course for home via the Goosies. With a couple of walks and water stops I ended up with 17.5km in 2 hours. Not quite what the game plan was but I'm happy. Definatly plan on improving. When I got home I sat in a cold bath for about 10 mins to cool the leg muscles and hopefully halt any lactic acid build up and , hey, it worked. No sore legs.

Spin Cycle

Sounds cool huh?? Kinda like a washing machine and that's about what I looked like I'd been through after finishing 20km in 55 mins on the bike. It's pretty warm here today so I sweated LOTS. HMMM......love the bike.

Wired Fuzzy Brain Day

Well I gave today a miss for running - WHY ?? - I don't really know !?! Seemed like a good idea until I woke up properly and realised that my chance for a run was over for today :[ OMG Not happy with me but that's life. I reckon my brain is clogged with everyday mish mash and so I feel tired without having done anything really to be tired. Weird huh?? Any way yesterday was 10 km hills in 1:01:33. How amazingly precise is that!! Last week I bought a Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch that is the ABSOLUTE bees knees. It's not that I needed any help reading a watch or clock for times but distance was getting me pipped a bit and so far I'm surprised at how much further I am going as opposed to how far I thought I was going. So I seem to have mastered slow trotting, maybe it's now time to up the ante a little - keep tuned I'll share my mad ideas over the next few weeks. - happy trottin y'all.

p.s. The pictures pretty much speak for themselves the first one is a scan of my brain and the second is my super dooper fabulously awesome newest and only trottin buddy. :]