Monday:
Race results just came in. My time was 10:36 (so my guess of 11 min was pretty close). This was not a particularly good time. I came 230th of 236 people who finished the race; 140th of 145 women. When you take out the serious runners, I came 124th out of 129 walk/joggers. The average time was 6:11.
I didn't come last!
Interestingly, the winning time was 3:16 this year (4:15 for fastest female), but last year it was 2:47 (3:26 female). I am assuming that they added the run at the start this year, that would account for the longer time. I certainly wasn't expecting that run. For me, at my fitness level, I know it added way more to my time than the actual run itself which probably took me a bit over a minute.
Time to start working towards the 5K.
Showing posts with label Verti-cool. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Verti-cool. Show all posts
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Verti-cool challenge completed
Sunday:
This morning I did the race up Telstra Tower, 403 stairs. I was pretty confident, even though I had hardly trained at all, that I could run up quite a few of them and get a decent time (I was hoping for something like 6 minutes, my primary goal being that no-one from the following group overtook me). But then we got there and found that they get you to run a few hundred metres to the Tower first.
For any runner, those few hundred metres would seem like nothing. But I would say (going by my body's response) that it was probably further than I've ever run before. They sent small groups off every three minutes, I was in group 26 with three young fit-looking men and two slender young women dressed in cute leopard costumes. We started, and I was instantly lagging behind the group. Up a short hill, then around a marker and back down the hill past the onlookers (it's the only place they could see us as the rest of the race was inside the Tower), looping round behind the building and into the basement. The others in my group were well ahead and out of sight by the time I got halfway down the hill.
I got to the bottom of the stairs completely exhausted. I'd run at a good pace (for me) because everyone was watching, but I had already depleted most of my energy and hadn't even climbed a stair yet! Gone were my dreams of sprinting up. I started to walk up. And up. And up. They had a steward every 100 stairs or so to urge you on. It was a narrow stairwell with metal steps, no windows or anything. My legs were ok, but my breathing was horrible. I was gasping, my lungs burning, the whole way. At the halfway point, people from the next group started to pass me. They were strung out, but by the end I think six people had passed me so that would be the whole next group that left three minutes after me.
At about 250 stairs I was starting to wonder if I could even do it. I had to stop and crouch for a moment, trying not to vomit or pass out, and got my panting under control a bit. Very short break, then off I went again. Finally made it to the top, and out into the fresh air of the viewing balcony.
I don't know my time yet, I didn't check my iPhone at any significant moments but I am guessing around 11 minutes. A bit over my goal!
Oh well, I did it.
As usual, I was too tired to feel a real sense of achievement (I don't think I've ever had any kind of high from exercise). Also a bit disappointed that I didn't do nearly as well as I'd hoped, the run at the start completely undid me. The whole thing was a lot harder that I had expected, and I let myself down with my lack of fitness. I am not feeling at all keen to do this 5K in three weeks, that I also haven't trained for (yet). But I'll keep trudging on.
This morning I did the race up Telstra Tower, 403 stairs. I was pretty confident, even though I had hardly trained at all, that I could run up quite a few of them and get a decent time (I was hoping for something like 6 minutes, my primary goal being that no-one from the following group overtook me). But then we got there and found that they get you to run a few hundred metres to the Tower first.
For any runner, those few hundred metres would seem like nothing. But I would say (going by my body's response) that it was probably further than I've ever run before. They sent small groups off every three minutes, I was in group 26 with three young fit-looking men and two slender young women dressed in cute leopard costumes. We started, and I was instantly lagging behind the group. Up a short hill, then around a marker and back down the hill past the onlookers (it's the only place they could see us as the rest of the race was inside the Tower), looping round behind the building and into the basement. The others in my group were well ahead and out of sight by the time I got halfway down the hill.
I got to the bottom of the stairs completely exhausted. I'd run at a good pace (for me) because everyone was watching, but I had already depleted most of my energy and hadn't even climbed a stair yet! Gone were my dreams of sprinting up. I started to walk up. And up. And up. They had a steward every 100 stairs or so to urge you on. It was a narrow stairwell with metal steps, no windows or anything. My legs were ok, but my breathing was horrible. I was gasping, my lungs burning, the whole way. At the halfway point, people from the next group started to pass me. They were strung out, but by the end I think six people had passed me so that would be the whole next group that left three minutes after me.
At about 250 stairs I was starting to wonder if I could even do it. I had to stop and crouch for a moment, trying not to vomit or pass out, and got my panting under control a bit. Very short break, then off I went again. Finally made it to the top, and out into the fresh air of the viewing balcony.
I don't know my time yet, I didn't check my iPhone at any significant moments but I am guessing around 11 minutes. A bit over my goal!
Oh well, I did it.
As usual, I was too tired to feel a real sense of achievement (I don't think I've ever had any kind of high from exercise). Also a bit disappointed that I didn't do nearly as well as I'd hoped, the run at the start completely undid me. The whole thing was a lot harder that I had expected, and I let myself down with my lack of fitness. I am not feeling at all keen to do this 5K in three weeks, that I also haven't trained for (yet). But I'll keep trudging on.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Elegant birthday lunch
Friday:
Yesterday was Tim's birthday. I hope he had a good day. We started with presents in bed, then French toast with raspberries for breakfast (my blood glucose was a bit high after). He went to work for half a day then I picked him up and we went to a swish restaurant; the kind that has beautifully plated food that also tastes delicious. We had three courses but each one was quite small so the total amount of food was just right for a decadent but not gluttonous lunch. Then back just in time to pick up the kids from school. Aiden begged off gymnastics because he was so excited about the computer game he had given daddy for his birthday, so that was how the boys spent the rest of the afternoon.
Unfortunately that cake I bought yesterday wasn't very nice, we had some for afternoon tea but it was rather disappointing. Oh well, you can't win them all and the rest of the day went very well. I made the requested veal schnitzel and potato bake for dinner, and everyone chose vanilla icecream instead of more cake for dessert (I didn't have anything). A rather carb-laden day.
And I have paid for it today with intense carb cravings, which I have totally given in to. I'm also very tired and lurgy. It's going to take a big effort to put the brakes back on.
I've spent the day finishing an editing job, got that done and sent off.
Totally under/un-prepared for the stair climb on Sunday! I've used work and rain as excuses not to do some stair-climbing the past couple of days. I've done a bit of dancing, but no sprint work which is what I really need.
Yesterday was Tim's birthday. I hope he had a good day. We started with presents in bed, then French toast with raspberries for breakfast (my blood glucose was a bit high after). He went to work for half a day then I picked him up and we went to a swish restaurant; the kind that has beautifully plated food that also tastes delicious. We had three courses but each one was quite small so the total amount of food was just right for a decadent but not gluttonous lunch. Then back just in time to pick up the kids from school. Aiden begged off gymnastics because he was so excited about the computer game he had given daddy for his birthday, so that was how the boys spent the rest of the afternoon.
Unfortunately that cake I bought yesterday wasn't very nice, we had some for afternoon tea but it was rather disappointing. Oh well, you can't win them all and the rest of the day went very well. I made the requested veal schnitzel and potato bake for dinner, and everyone chose vanilla icecream instead of more cake for dessert (I didn't have anything). A rather carb-laden day.
And I have paid for it today with intense carb cravings, which I have totally given in to. I'm also very tired and lurgy. It's going to take a big effort to put the brakes back on.
I've spent the day finishing an editing job, got that done and sent off.
Totally under/un-prepared for the stair climb on Sunday! I've used work and rain as excuses not to do some stair-climbing the past couple of days. I've done a bit of dancing, but no sprint work which is what I really need.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Training Goals
more Saturday:
I just signed up for a 5K (the Canberra Times fun run) -- my first 5K. So now I have two things to train for.
The Verti-cool Challenge, a 403 stair race up Telstra Tower, is on 24 March -- 4 weeks from tomorrow. As I have no continuous set of stairs to train on, it is very difficult to set a realistic goal based on my current knowledge. I nearly died doing up + down in under 10 minutes yesterday, but I should be fitter than that by race day (and won't have any "down" to worry about). I plan to be. I looked up last year's results and the winner did it in 2:47. OMG, right? The first woman (12th place overall) took 3:26. She probably wasn't over 40, but who knows. The first 100 or so people did it in 5:00 or less. So that is my goal, 5:00. That may be unrealistic, I just don't know. It is something to aim for.
To train for it I will use the library steps again at least once a week, plus climb Mt Ainslie (only 50 or so stairs, but lots and lots of "up") with Caroline on Saturdays. Which means I may never get around to doing Parkrun on Saturday mornings, but I'd rather climb with my friend. If she can't go some weeks I could do Parkrun then.
The Fun Run is on 13 April, so I have 7 weeks for that. I am going to start up my C25K training again, this afternoon I organised with a friend to run at the local oval two mornings a week, getting out of bed a bit earlier than usual. He is much fitter than me (like most people!) and has even run a marathon but we'll just be doing laps of the oval so we don't have to be going at the same pace. It's just nice to have a companion to make sure you get up and do it, and keep you company.
Unfortunately we have storms forcast all week so I'm not sure how that is going to go.
I had a look at my C25K app to see how many weeks the training course was (it's 9, I only have 7 -- and only plan to do two days a week not three, but then I don't expect to run the whole 5K) and it's been so long since I'd done it a suggestion came up that I start again from the beginning! I'd only done the first two days anyway, so I didn't have that much fitness to lose.
Last year's results for this particular fun run included the first woman in my age group of 40-49 (91st overall) with a time of 23:48. Since my best ever time is about 52 minutes, and I still can't run eight 1-minute intervals in a row, I don't expect to get anywhere near that time. I have seven weeks to train so of course I will get better ... I'll set a goal closer to the time but atm I think 40 mins would be pretty good for me.
And on in-between days, I'll keep on dancing at home!
I just signed up for a 5K (the Canberra Times fun run) -- my first 5K. So now I have two things to train for.
The Verti-cool Challenge, a 403 stair race up Telstra Tower, is on 24 March -- 4 weeks from tomorrow. As I have no continuous set of stairs to train on, it is very difficult to set a realistic goal based on my current knowledge. I nearly died doing up + down in under 10 minutes yesterday, but I should be fitter than that by race day (and won't have any "down" to worry about). I plan to be. I looked up last year's results and the winner did it in 2:47. OMG, right? The first woman (12th place overall) took 3:26. She probably wasn't over 40, but who knows. The first 100 or so people did it in 5:00 or less. So that is my goal, 5:00. That may be unrealistic, I just don't know. It is something to aim for.
To train for it I will use the library steps again at least once a week, plus climb Mt Ainslie (only 50 or so stairs, but lots and lots of "up") with Caroline on Saturdays. Which means I may never get around to doing Parkrun on Saturday mornings, but I'd rather climb with my friend. If she can't go some weeks I could do Parkrun then.
The Fun Run is on 13 April, so I have 7 weeks for that. I am going to start up my C25K training again, this afternoon I organised with a friend to run at the local oval two mornings a week, getting out of bed a bit earlier than usual. He is much fitter than me (like most people!) and has even run a marathon but we'll just be doing laps of the oval so we don't have to be going at the same pace. It's just nice to have a companion to make sure you get up and do it, and keep you company.
Unfortunately we have storms forcast all week so I'm not sure how that is going to go.
I had a look at my C25K app to see how many weeks the training course was (it's 9, I only have 7 -- and only plan to do two days a week not three, but then I don't expect to run the whole 5K) and it's been so long since I'd done it a suggestion came up that I start again from the beginning! I'd only done the first two days anyway, so I didn't have that much fitness to lose.
Last year's results for this particular fun run included the first woman in my age group of 40-49 (91st overall) with a time of 23:48. Since my best ever time is about 52 minutes, and I still can't run eight 1-minute intervals in a row, I don't expect to get anywhere near that time. I have seven weeks to train so of course I will get better ... I'll set a goal closer to the time but atm I think 40 mins would be pretty good for me.
And on in-between days, I'll keep on dancing at home!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)