victorian masters championships and a blonde moment

AKA state champs for oldies..lol

after such a hectic couple of weeks(school has been crrrrrazy), my mind wasnt really focussed enough on the saturday...
Let me start off by saying from the outset..I DID NOT run as fast as last year but NOR am i that disappointed either..i ran well and last years time were really an anomaly-they were a little out of the blue.
both times for the 4 and 8 were clear seasons bests..the 400 by 1s (66.86)
800 37.96 (officially 2:38.36 but we're positive that was wrong(but ewen will work out on 38) as i got 37.9 by my watch(and hit after i crossed,stu had the same as did someone else and no way were we .4 second slow..i think my time was given to the second girl 2:37.96 as they joined a few races and mustve got one of the people out of sync
..the girl who won was magnificent 60.3 in the 400 and 2:16 in the 800- that is really quite PHENOMENAL
the second girl ran a 200 today PLUS a 400 hurdles 40mins before the race and still outsprinted me.. she ran a good race. i sat on her and everytime i drew closer she surged(mustve surged 8times!!!!!!!!!!!!!! with 300 to go i surged a bit,so did she, 150 again, 200 again, 100 again, and about 3 more in the straight..i gave EVRYTHING i had so i am not disappointed at all.and it is a season best by somehwere between 1.6 to 2 sec
400 was second best time EVer
800 was second best time since i went back to running after 20 year break
..am thinking next year to focus on the 1500 and 800

thanks to Em for coming and seeing me.thanks to my BF and beautiful coach of course..all i can say now is THANK CHRIST summer is over..i need a break ...now where is that champers


oh ewen here are my times
post yours
400 -66.86 800 2:38.36 1500 5:44 3km 13.55

BLONDE MOMENT
leaving at 1pm so start packing bag at 12.40
jo: stu..have you seen my spikes
stu: no
more rummaging and throwing stuff around
go and get stus and my keys to check the cars(no luck)
more unpacking and packing of the bag-generall cursing and disbelief
jo: ..ummm stu now im going to make you really mad-
i cant find EITHER of the sets of keys i just took out to the cars(did i mention i get nervous???????????????????????????)
unpack and repack bad 4 more times and give up
..ps i lost a pair of spikes after the 800 last masters)
go and get 2nd pair of spikes that i dont like.,... and try to convince stu (and myself that they are just as GOOD(dont fit properly-too loose but not mentioning this)
i wont even BEGIN to decribe the look stu is giving me..god KNOWS how he managed to bite his tongue(hes already not happy at how early we left..)
stressing is an understatement but trying to hide it(not well) stu saying he didnt want me at the track 'fretting" me replying --but ill be less stressed if i know where spikes are
..get to track
...ask where lost property is..near medal presentation(and told someone had handed some spikes in-not sure what type)
jo: (at medal pres) lost property is near here? ..no love..try upstairs
jo goes upstairs-asks around..no love -nothing been handed in(errr blood pressure rising)-this is where it would be... go next door... no nothing here dear, try next door(where i came from..grrrr-why do i SUCK so much-i hate my 'losing ability-i am an OLYMPIC champion)
go back to medal presentation-
jo: are you sure you dont have lost property here..
no love sorry
jo: but someone said spikes were handed in
sorry -nothing here
i look near his feet-point and say-
jo: um they are my SPIKES there and pick them up... and wander off -quite happy-like a little gal who has found a ollypop that she misplaced
and then started to de-stress just a little (instead of distress..hehe)
errr not what i really wanted B4 i run..someone ...please kick me up the bum and tell me to be an adult-and a normal one at that please....lol

..vic masters state champs tomorrow

am nervous..400m tomorrow(which the block start is going to hurt(been taking naprosyn ALL week..its a bit flared up(doesnt affect my speed though :)
anyway its beddie byes for little miss jo

..tapering,cranky and UNMOTIVATED

tapering.. thats sucks in itself(read ems blog-she understands) todays run was C......RAP
feeling UNMOTIVATED-which sucks-been training for this race since sep/oct last year... when i found out there is a girl who is 20s faster than me ..i have quite succinctly...DROPPED MY BUNDLE...i need to get my head back into the right space..
so the ABSOLUTE best i can achieve is SILVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :( so i cant do as well as i did last year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ...GET over it you little sooky la-la
..anyway..i need to get my head right...its got about 40 hours til i pull out the bat and start hitting mmyself on the head...lol

am starting to get over the cold..yay ") my year 9s did VERY well on their Maths test...bigger YAY...proud of the little buggers... have been marking papers like im an Olympic champion at it
/// need to just get it all together at the moment EVRYTHING is pissing me off

good luck to my trailwaker buddies...

light session tomorrow,..my poor bf has gout ..hugs for him x0x0x0x

sister here fri(dont get to see her for a while though :(

..a quickie

Sooooo it’s a 30 min break in between parent teacher night..yippeeee..they did provide a nice dinner
Also found out that this weekend..i will not be defending my title.there is not ONE iota of a chance that I will retain it. One of the girls running can run a 2:16 800m(which is VERY QUICK) and 20 secs ahead of me and she can run a 61s 400 which is 5s ahead of me.Another girls though, I should be able to have a good contest with and im not sure about the others…oh well-I will try but I do happen to know my limits
..i turned to stu and said…so can you speed me up by 20s this week honey….. I wont bother telling you his response…..lol

Sunday was just a brief 30min run(not sure if I posted or not…memory like a sieve… still feeling average but at least today im feeling a tad better..not over my cold yet,,but not as phlegm central-ish-ness and less coughing –oh and I can occasionally manage two coherent thoughts IN A ROW,,hehe

Okerly dokerly better get back to work-and soz I haven’t read blogs lately-it has been insane and I will catch up

Ciao bellas

...ugugugugugugugugughghghghgh week from hell

..first of all i really have to apologise to my bf.. i have been horrible to live with...
i have been sick and OMG so ridiculously tired... wed i had to do an extra 2.5hours extra time with year 12s then straight to doctors for a VERY painful dry needling session, and pilates and skipped running -too sick and then met gfs for dinner where i stayed one hour only came home and almost went to bed by 9:15!
still tired thursday... trained ok..luckily stu knew i still wasnt well and altered my session to 8 1x150s...at stride pace-went a bit faster than that 25,26s and then last two were a bit faster
...friday rest day-only JUST managed to stay awake through the day..felt overwhelmingly tired...had a couple of drinks...was crankiest girl on earth-went to bed very early

couldnt sleep past7am tho-spoke to my sis in america(she comes over in a week..yay) and then went on a shopping bonanza..lol..its stu's bday soon so i bought afew things for him... shhhhhhh
and a tee for each of his boys and a bra for me and one for my sister(it was cheap and im sure its her size) and 2 water bottles as i keep losing them and then the shopping for dinner began
bought prawns(making prawn rice paper rolls for entree) and then salmon for dinner still deciding what to go with it and fresh pineapple for dessert

..trained llike a dog

..what a difference a day can make. i felt super strong yesterday, on my supposed easy run, i just kinda let the legs do what they like, and ended up running 20mins at 5:03pace and felt comfortable...anyway today was not so!

it was supposed to be easy-ish with an 800 that would be pushing a bit
4x200(43/43/39/39)800(2:54)400(80)300(under60)200(under 40)

anyway even before i started running i was feeling kinda weak and floppy(super tired) so the 1km warm up didnt improve much, the 4 strides felt harder than they should and i was starting to get worried(i had woken up with a cough and was super phlegm-y this morning)

200's hit all the times and for the first two there was 200m float recovery-i hate FLOAT recovery, then i got to walk recovery for the last 2, 200s
stu saw how hard i was pushing for 39s(which last week was super easy) and decided to let me do 600m instead-struggled through the first lap,the wind just about killed me and finished in 2:15 and was wheezing at the end of it-and just couldnt get my breath back for a long long time..couldnt breathe
so stu changed the 400 to a 300, and i did it in 66s as he asked me to, then another 300m and it was supposed to be fast-stu said under 60s so i ran 55seconds
then 200 in 37s

i made the session, but as stu said..i trained like an absolute dog...and i have to agree.. i was complete rubbish today
dry needling and pilates tomorrow, so i might skip the run

dont know how i can fit it in..
im meeting student before school and after school, then off to karen(needling) and then off to pilates and then meeting a freind for dinner...yep not much time in there

..a very short long run

my 'long; run, which is in inverted commas because i dont know that 8.5kms can really be classified as a long run.
anyway i did the run upn turntable(on the road) felt strong going up which was good..was avergaing 5:35 pace up the hill...only managed 6:30min kms down the hill...i dont like the really steep downhill sections...so it was a good run-someone running my pace the whole way.with 10 mins to go i picked the pace up to sub 5min kms for a bit(trail runs are always going to be sloer than the road runs etc.. finished with 3 pretty quick strides
amyway a good run..felt good..back is okkkkkkkkkk, a bit tight(its been pretty average the last two weeks-hyave been taking naprosyn 750 fairly regualrly :(

anyway, im all tuckered out, havent done my hwk yet :(

..hmmmmmm

so maybe i shouldnt even be running winter season
.stu set me a session of 10min jog and then at 4:30 pace which is faster than my 10km(45:36) pace-which is also my 5km pace(havent even actually run that fast for 5kms before my 5km race pb is 23:12(yes soft) , and not much faster than my 3km race pace(13:15 is my fastest)

...anyway he then said.... 'well if you cant manage 4:30 pace then you are going to have a horrible winter season(my 6km pb is about 27mins-i get to that pace and just stay there. Anyway i dont think as a coach he should be making me feel like a crap runner, which is exactly what he made me feel like. i mean seriously(lucky my bf is nice cos my coach is not on my christmas card list...lol)
..anyway i decided to change the plan somewhat- and run 10min jog, then 3kms at 4:30pace and then beg Ewen to let me use that as my 3km race time. i reset it to zero, i used my garmin which is very accurate had to do two 180degree turns which slows you and ran the last 8mins into a fierce headwind. managed to be nearly on time for the first 2kms but then couldnt maintain into the wind : averaging in the end 4:38 and running 13:55(may i use that time please Ewen...please please please)

anyway two weeks til the champs and then we can tally up Ewen

so glad its the weekend -am completely stuffed after one helluva week. bought a coat for myself today which is pretty nice

..is there anything better???

..is there ANYTHING and i mean anything better than 200m reps????? i love them, they are my faves... dont get me wrong i work! but they are just perfect..

the set was progressively faster 200s(10) supposed to be 43,42,41,40,39,38,37,36,35,34

my pacing was OK! 43, 41.8,40.6,38.9,37.9, 36.8,36.4,(oops skipped the 35) 34.8, 34.4 then asked stu if last one was flat out, 32.7 for the last so pretty happy with that, felt REALLY good, easy easy except for the last 3....

..was supposed to do an 800m time trial, but i can tell you-i was so tired today-it would not have been pretty, no grunt today....200m was about my max... anyway it was also windy, so a TT wouldve done little except make me feel crap and UNDERMINE my confidence- so was happy that stu had changed the set..

stu and i then went out to dinner-i had had an AWFUL AWFUL day at work, the driving is killing me...its close to 1h50min for the day each day.. i need to make a few decisions regarding remuneration vs lifestyle methinks

feel much more relaxed now-i am a lucky gal to have such a nice bf, nice family, nice friends
-if i could just have 5 mins NOT being exhausted, then life would be grand :)

..an easy session

YAY
an easy session///woohoo.. well i may not have found it so easy a few months ago, but it was relatively easy
1.8km warm up, 500m drills 400m strides, 6x200 @ 42s with 100m walk and 100m float and 1.8km cool down so approx 7km

actual pacing- one 40s, 3 lots of 39-39.5 s and 2 x 38.5 sec.. was pretty happy wiht how easy they felt-i still had to work a little(mainly 60-90 m) then kinda floated

super duper amount of hwk tonight so gotta go... parent teacher night tomorrow night...hectic week this week-its just insane

ciao bellas :)

..you-ies a day last

..well i was still pretty tired yesterday after the hike(and had met michelle and mark for dinner the night before which was lovely-although poor sick stu wasnt quite himself) so decided to take ANOTHER rest day. went shopping..ooh-how much fun-went to smith street. bought a couple of things for the boys and then bucktloads of stuff for myself
a pair of black work pants plus a nice black dress(pinafore style) with some funky black(quite high heeled) shoes
..then off to the sports shops- from new balance-2 green crop tops plus a nice green running short, then off to brooks(nothing which is unusual) then adidas-water bottles and thats a bout it, and then i stoppped into the Bendon outlet where ALL bras were $20...... i spent a bit of time in there and bought(cos they even had quite anumber of the correct cup size too which was exciting ) a sports bra(was 45) a purple bra(was 65) a white bra-was 45, and a running top(was 60)

then today for my 30-40 min run stu took me to the you yangs-where we did a 30 min(what i would call hilly) but stu being the P.I.T.B that he is probably wouldnt. anyway it was a good run.. and then off to brunch at willy, where i bought a couple of little trinkets for my nieces who arrive in 3 weeks..>HOW COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLL

oh yeah -had dinner at my bros last night with my nephew and niece to be(they get married in 3 weeks) which was nice

..anyway gotta go do some homework(and try NOT to look at the TV since stu is watching I am legend which i find scary)
ciao

...im not a BABY man!

..thats putting it mildly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
up at 6am thursday morming(after still packing at midnight the night before) stop at the supermarket on the way to buy food for the overnight camp, full on day at work(5 classes plus yard duty), then off to camp(i was in charge of the year 9 bus-straight off the bus to the camp and then on duty til 8pm. then decided to go for a walk til midnight(13.7km) then off to bed til 4.50 am and back on duty 5am -8am then decided to walk with the boys, so did a 20 km loop(with some running downhills-not much tho) tehn did an 8.6km loop with katrina..then was pretty sore- then some hanging around, then back on the bus(no sleep as i had to manage a boy who was feeling sick) then a 45 min drive
OMG-to say i was tired is the biggest understatement on the face of the earth!!!! had texted stu to say dont wait for me-go out to dinner with the people he had over(as i was planing on then NOT going at all-having a wine/relax and snooze

nope he refused to go , refused to let me just drop them off and i was informed that i had to drive.(the others wouldve just got take away as they are very helpful :) anyway dinner was nice but i was oh so tired

still tired today -just had a massage -still extremely sore

hows this-i was rostered on duty 5-8pm and 5-8am with sleep designated bw 9am and 5am right! ok i didnt resalise that meant i HAD to sleep at that time(which is why i went for the walk.

when i got up for my 5am shift-the guy has gone to me i wouldnt have let you go for a walk-you were supposed to be sleeping..initially i thought he was joking..but then he said ...maybe we wont invite you back...i was flabbergasted-the other teachers were looking at him going ...what the?????
anyway my retort(which was nicer than it shouldve been at 5am) was ..."im not FOUR! i cant sleep at 9pm!!!!!! " lol anyway i didnt realise that i wasnt supposed to walk- i thought as an adult i could decided what time i could go to be...i spoke with katrina(who was in charge-who said ''well youre no help to us if your dead on yuor feet(which i agree with-but as i said to her, its only 1 hour less sleep than i USUALLY get and i was the most alert person on the shift... apparently when the roster was made i shouldve told her to put me down to sleep from 12-5( yeah like im gonna do that-then they will just give me extra shifts

anyway- it was a great hike-the kids raised $20,000 which goes to oxfam, the leaders made 130kms which is awesome, 12 of the boys made over 100km in the 24 hours
i did 44kms as a non hiker and arent i feeling it...lol

..dinner dinner

..so a busy day-yes i sound like im on repeat at the moment dont i...lol
but well super super busy-it was a draw until the last minute today(had to cut short the run(water) i was running way late-had to supervise detention til way after 4-then held up in traffic then went home deciding no time for a water run(as it adds on 20 mins(10mins each way)) so got home-got outa the car and went whoa there girly-cant stand up properly(BACK WAY SORE) a run so far outa the picture its not funny-so managed to JUST squeeze in a 30min water run(instead of 35-40 min run) as i had to be out for dinner at 7pm!
so at that stage after dinner-supposedly i need to shop for the camp, pack for the camp and also do a running session(plus spend 45 mins driving to work) all b4 7:30 tomorrow morning-something has to give- UBFORTUNATELY it is the running session :(

eeek

..thank goodness not every day is like today

..thank goodness not every day is like today.................. an hour to get to work leaving me minimal prep time(also had to re-mark a few questions from a test once i confirmed the mark scheme.... FLAT CHAT alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll day.. no time for brekky so ended up grabbing a couple of biccies, lasagne for lunch(homemade so nice and healthy(ish) ) and that was it till i had a few nuts b4 training.didnt drink anywhere NEAR enough water

...ok.breathe jojo
and ewen..you cant call him soft with this...the wind was so bad in melb today that yesterday VIC police texted all mobile phones to tell them to watch out and be alerted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so werribee track which is always windy...well lol...i cant even begin to describe it today...i was puffing BIG time trying to jog my warm up.... i swear my steps were about 10cm long... i had pre-rung stu and said...... "i hope youre already thinking about what to modify today to...to which he just laughed...
but upon arrival at the track- it was pretty obvious 600s and 400s were not going to be beneficial, nay even be managed, by us sooky girls ;) -im not saying girls are sooky..but our group wouldve SERIOUSLY MUTINIED had stu tried to stick to that program(the other coaches also altered their programs!) even the one who rarely does short reps

so 12x200s at somewhere near 800 pace(supposed to be slower but we knew would be slightly faster due to the serious hand that you could feel pushing you forward(yes the wind was THAT strong)
the legs were decidedly fatigued today-which is weird since i took a rest day yesterday(was allowed-it was a choice day-run or rest..so did homework instead(year 12 test! conchy gal jojo)

anyway first rep 36(too fast) jog back the next rep 40s and all the rest ranged from 37-39 with the majority being 38s... could only jog back between for the first 7 reps then had to walk...was feeling annihilated... jog recovery-PAH-theres two words which dont go well together..change shoes after 7 reps as well-spikies were giving me little love blisters(cos my spikes were being a too friendly with my skin--hehe yes a tired crappy little joke-but hey its the BEST i can manage..gotta be some kudos for trying)

stus at another meeting tonight :(

busy week.he had a meeting yesterday and tonight, we have a dinner with his training group tomorrow, im at a camp thurday night(24hour hike) i am on duty 5-8pm, and 5am-8am (officially-really on duty a lot longer)
so this is the next two days... leave home at 6:30-40 get to school, prepare and leave work for fridays classes plus teach at school all day-have detention supervision after school, then try to fit in a 35 min run, plus pilates plus also be at the restaurant in hopppers by 7pm till whenever-at some stage get to a supermarket to buy stuff for thurs?????(when i dont know), get to work early thursday(7am so leave home 6:15) so i can do a running session, work all day including yard duty at lunch, straight from school go to the 24 hour hike(im in charge of a bus(not driving), as soon as we get there im on duty for the first 3 hour shift, probs go for a walk for 2-3 hours with the boys at 8:30, then try to sleep(although nowehere quiet to sleep, back on duty 5am -8am-(but really longer) then leave camp at 4-5pmish, and drive home from school and ummm try VERY VERY hard to NOT fall asleep driving home(that will be hard -i wonder if stu would pick me up from school? i will be a right little dennis(the menace) oh did i mention somehwere in there i need to eat and also pack and at some stage say HI to stu....

oooh and i need to correct tests tomorrow night and start marking the year 12 assignments...ummmm i dont need sleep do i?????????

ive also been thinking long and hard about some changes-big changes career wise... not actual career of course(i love my job)

..a PIN in the foot..nope, not a typo

..its hard to be always clumsy you know... last night i was walking in my room felt something prick my foot-pulled it away quickly and felt a bit of pain- brought my foot out and there is half a pin sticking out of my foot. When stu pulled it out, it was also bent in half...yowsers
..anyway during my 50min run(plus 3strides) i could feel it but it wasnt ridiculous
..then minded the boys while stu went running, then off to olympic park for a pre comp session with John
...err he changed pretty much everything about my discus technique-i really suck! anyway, when the other girls were throwing their warm ups i was pretty embarassed-one of them throws 38m-yikes
anyway i threw ok-16.7m and we got a bronze medal in the relay(woo hoo) lol-one of the teams pulled out so there were only 3 of us..... hehe

am pretty tired