Got to the bottom (sorry, bad pun!) of my right leg weakness, it’s all in my backside! Somehow I’ve twisted my pelvis and the sacro-iliac joint is out of line. I’ve learned how no muscles actually act on this joint but if it has moved then the muscles that attach nearby are trying to act on the hip joint from a slightly different starting position, hence the sudden feeling of near leg collapse and a leg that won’t do what it’s told! Treatment has been (wo)man handling the joint back in line (thanks Grace!) and lots of exercises (homework for me) aimed at keeping it there. It’s only been a couple of weeks but in that time I have already lost muscle strength in that leg even though it’s working properly again.

I’ve never been so happy to be told it’s a ‘mechanical’ problem. Once you’ve had a cancer diagnosis, every single bodily event becomes the worry that the cancer is back, especially when wakeful at 3am. Once dawn arrives so does some sanity thankfully but I understand from fellow members of the C club that this is a pretty common reaction.

So I went out this morning for a wee test on the ‘downs’ and Kennedy’s followed by some repeats on Shalimar. It went pretty well once I’d given myself the HTFU speech, so I rewarded myself with a trip to a bike shop for some new gloves. Cue silly selfie time!

My latest challenge is the news that my Mum has myeloma and there is little more anyone can do apart from palliative care. My wish is that we can get her home from hospital for Christmas Day and see what happens from there. My training programme has to adapt again, Mum and Dad are not in Christchurch, so I’ll be shifting bases for a bit. This is where I realise that training is so much more for me than the physical aspects. I need my training for my mental health, for friendship, for adventure, for the sheer joy of being outdoors; to make the very most of this wonderful gift called life.

It’s nearly Christmas, take care everyone, it can be a silly season at times. Rest, recover, reflect.  Above all I wish everyone peace.

And I hope that Santa has found my name on his ‘nice’ list 🙂

I had a great time in Queenstown in mid November, living the life of a professional athlete with nothing to do but eat, sleep, train and recover. You may have seen my wee videos that Richard convinced me to do. The week concluded with me taking part in the 10km part of the Queenstown Marathon. I had only planned to walk it but I got so carried away with the great training behind me and the atmosphere on the day that I was even seen running some of it!

The only snag in the plan was the professional, bit; I couldn’t find anyone to pay me to keep this up!

Since then things have gone a little pear shaped. I’ve had a couple of day surgeries which have gone well in and of themselves but I didn’t need the thyroid scare that has been biopsied and found to be benign to my great relief. Now I’ve done something to my back that has resulted in a sudden loss of power in my right leg. I nearly fell off in the carpark last Wednesday night group ride as my leg nearly collapsed under me when taking off! So frustrating because I was so keen to show off the results of my hard work on the bike in the hills. The local hills look very short after trying some of Coronet Peak.

So I am trying to stay calm and not fret about losing my momentum in my mission. Daily yoga is such a help in this. I am still completely focused on riding up Coronet Peak in March. The ride itself will not be easy so I should expect the lead up to have its difficulties too.

Running a marathon is hard.

That may be an obvious statement, but it is really hard and I think that there are few experiences in adult life that require such a sustained force of will. How do I know this…..

Saturday 21 November saw me lining up with 2000+ runners for the Queenstown marathon. I had been nervous all week in the lead up to the run but felt surprisingly calm and abuzz with nervous excitement as I thought about my plan and what lay ahead.  The run went well, a bit slower than I would have liked but I achieved my goal of starting the race uninjured, and better still, completed the race with no major injuries.  The worse I have to show for running 42.2km is two matching black toenails.

I enjoyed most of the run, and was surprised at how my body coped with that distance.  There were aid stations every 4-5km which mentally made the job easier.  I thought about the next distance to the aid station, rather than about how far it was to the finish.  The most enjoyable parts for me was the track around Lake Hayes and the last 10km along Frankton track.  There were a few little hills along the way which made it more interesting – although marathon hill at 30km had the potential to make one doubt what the heck they were doing…..  Needless to say I was glad I had incorporated hill training into my training programme.  Overall it was a great run to do and I enjoyed the challenge of the marathon distance.  Was such a buzz to have completed it and I cant wait to do it again.

So what happened on the day….

The first 25km went by quite quickly; partly due to running with someone I knew which led to chatting and just enjoying the scenery and the run.  Weariness and some achy niggles settled in around the 26 km mark and it was between the 26 and 32km mark where I had a few struggles mentally as it was awhile since I had set off, and I knew, it would be awhile until I saw the finish line. Psychologically though I knew if I could make it to the 32km mark (which I had done in training) I could walk the rest of the way.  My mind started to have its own way for a while though and the little naggy voice kept telling me, but you only did 32km in training….  The other part of me was like yeah well I did Mission Mt Somers and that was four hours on my feet so you will be FINE!  Mental bargaining started to play a factor as I ran through the km’s.

After a while I started to notice the parts of my body that hurt.

— “What the… what is that going on with my knee?  Haven’t had that before. I hope my knee holds together until the end”

— “OMG I just want to sit down, my feet are so tired!”

— “Why is my arm sore?”

— “Ugh my laces are too tight but I don’t have the energy to bend down”

At the 35-40km there is now absolutely no talking – just the odd check in with my run partner that she is still there, breathing and moving. I felt completely focussed at this point on keeping up my pace and trying to have some semblance of form.  From some of the photos I have seen, the form bit wasn’t actually going so well but it gave me something to think about and concentrate on.  Being fatigued, mentally and physically, there are a myriad of thoughts that go through your mind and running long distances for me, becomes an argument between my body and my mind.

— “Stop, slow down.”

— “No.”

— “Stop.”

— “No.”

— “Slow down!”

— “No.”

—Your legs hurt don’t they? Go on just walk for a bit”

— “No.”

— “Feel that ache in your hips, what about that pain in your calves? Stop.”

— “No.”

And so on.

Then suddenly this thing, the end, that I could only imagine many hours earlier, was suddenly in reach.

So how does it feel at the finish – amazing! It was a surge of emotions crossing the finish line – relief, fatigue, exhausting exhilaration.

My immediate thoughts, after hugs and congratulations from my husband and friends, were to find a drink that wasn’t water, and a patch of grass to lie down on and take my shoes off.  They say it’s the small things in life that matter – on marathon day it was heaven to remove my shoes and ecstasy to have something other than warm water and sticky super sweet gels. It took a few days for the reality to set in that I had completed my BHAG – while still on the ‘high’ I compiled a list of want to do runs for 2016.  We will see how many are still on the list once training resumes!

The biggest thing I have gained from this adventure is self-belief – my longest distance in training was only 32km, and there’s only so much that you think you can do. But when you go past that barrier and keep going, you’ve entered the world of the impossible.

Well, since the last report, I’ve managed to clock up a fair few miles on the bike and got in a few nights away from home, so all the gear is getting a good test.

Milage wise, I did both the Mcleans Island 6hrs – day one as a team and night one as a solo, then did The Navigator Mini-Brevet with a couple of friends, (we shortened the course a bit, pre-planned) but still got in my first 200km day on a fully loaded Brevet Bike and 440km over the 3 days. Two weeks ago I did the 10hr solo at Timaru 10hr MTB, clocking up 156km and followed that up last weekend with a trip on Alps 2 Ocean trail from Oamaru. Made it up to Twizel before returning – 2 nights camping and 386km for the 3 days.

Gear wise, I am fairly settled on clothing, food and misc gear. I have just changed my rear carrying rack from a seat post mounted rack, to a Thule Pack n Pedal tour rack. I had my seat post clamp break and think the extra stress of the seat post mounted rack was probably the clause.

Tyre selection is the current “hot” topic. I’m currently running Specialized fast track on the rear and a Maxxis Icon on the front. I’m fairly happy with the rear Fast Track, but found the Fast Track on the front “wandered” on loose gravel descents. The Icon improved that but doesn’t roll as fast. I think the next one to try is a Vittoria Saguro on the front, probably in UST form. Whilst I would love to have tyres as light as possible, the piece of mind of a “durable” tyre is more important in the long term.

So, what have I learned over the last month?

• Check your mtb shoes have the inner soles in them before you leave home, so you don’t have to do 3 days without them!
• Pack to a list, so you don’t leave your wind jacket at home!
• Riding for most of a day and a half uphill into a head wind plays havoc with your state of mind – take a break, spend an hour and a half in a cafe at lunchtime….but don’t give up – keep riding ( I turned a “nearly got a ride home after 50km” day into a 160km day by just keeping on going)
• My recovery from the long rides is pretty good, mainly a result of keeping heartrate down

What can I do better?

• Need to get more consistancy of riding during the week. Currently tending to have long rides at weekend and very little else
• Need to get back swimming, partly as something different to biking, but also good for arm strength, which is quite important on long days on the bike
• Need to get a 4 day trip done
  

  My room for the night, Qualburn historic woolshed. It was cheap, but room service was rubbish!

  

  A2O trail, near Duntroon

After taking masses and masses of baby steps (and masses of pictures of steps!) I feel I have taken a giant leap. I’ve walked 21km for the Pink Star walk, practiced yoga every single day for weeks now and cycled (after a fashion) up Kennedys Bush and Westmorland. Now I am sampling the life of a professional athlete having a 10 day stretch of having nothing more to do than train, practice yoga and rest. I am absolutely loving it!

Next up is the Queenstown Marathon, a goal all by itself for many CP athletes. I’m walking the 10km and feeling a bit of cheat frankly so I hope to make up for it by cheering on the real athletes!

My real reason for being in QT is to suss out the Coronet Peak road. Richard convinced me to do some videos along the way and they are turning up on the CP Facebook page I hope. I am not really a computer type and have been a bit lost on links and such but I think it’s working!

The miracles of modern communications means Fleur and I can tweak my training as the weather and body dictates. I can also send jealousy inducing photos of the glorious landscape. Just being able to get out and about in this beautiful country of ours is such a privilege. This time last year I was toxed to my eyeballs with chemo and not having a good time of it. If nothing else ever goes according to plan I’ll have this experience of being in the hills, breathing the clear air and feeling strong again to look back on. I am deeply grateful.

No post is complete without a picture of steps, these are nearly a ladder they are so steep!

Five more sleeps…… I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit nervous….Even though it has been months in the making, it still feels like marathon day is coming around way too fast! Last week was my first of two taper weeks and it feels very odd to be having at least every second day as a rest day. Am not used to having so much down time and have to admit that I have had the odd moment of freaking out and thinking that I should be doing more to prepare. However, Richard assures me that in these two final weeks, less is more! So, I am doing as the schedule says and have been doing some faster, but much shorter runs interspersed with rest days.

I am fortunate that another CP member, Charlene is also doing the Queenstown marathon and we met up last week to discuss progress and how our runs are going. We talked about not taking any run for granted and respect what each runs gives to the overall training plan. I did my last long run (22km) last Sunday and I have to admit I neglected a lot of my usual preparation. Just 22kms I thought, I’ll be fine (seemed much easier than having to do 30 or 35km…) Usually before a long run I would have a quiet night at home making sure I was rested and prepared for the run the next day. However last weekend I went out the night before, consumed a smorgasbord of bbq food (including copious amounts of dessert!), then, being tired from the festivities the night before, I slept later than I planned and didn’t allow enough time between breakfast and running. Needless to say my run was a very looong one and the most of my run was spent lamenting about what I should have done for preparation. In hind sight I would never go and do a half a marathon without good mental and physical preparation, including being conscious of my nutrition, so I am not sure why I thought I could get away doing a training run of similar distance with the preparation that I did on Saturday!

So, back to the business of trusting the process – even though I am nervous about race day, I have every intention of enjoying the day as much as I have the journey of training for a run of this distance.   There is something a little bit exciting about doing something out of your comfort zone….

I am now less than two weeks from The Ultimate Goal and my last long run was yesterday. I completed my 7th half marathon race – the Selwyn half marathon.

My goal for a long time has been to do a half marathon under two hours, it has always been in the back of my head. The aim for my half marathon yesterday was to get to as close to 2 hours as I could – considering the amount of running and distance I have been doing recently in the lead up to the marathon I thought I could do it. I knew it would be tough but I really thought that I would be able to crack that 2 hour mark. And plus…isn’t 21.1km like nothing compared to the 35km run the weekend before?!

Note: Let me premise my next paragraphs by saying that I did actually run a personal best time yesterday, it just wasn’t as fast as I was hoping it would be. I ran it in 2:04:41.

Before the run Pauline and I were talking about respecting each and every run, because no matter how much you have trained things don’t always go to plan.

Honestly, the first 4km sucked, plain and simple, they were not fun at all. Especially km 4 – my legs felt like lead and I thought that my run was shot! I thought how the heck am I going to continue for the entire 21.1km if I was feeling like this this early in! I was thirsty and was dying for the first water station. Just after 5km the water station appeared, I was so happy to see it and all I could think was, I wonder if I can stop now? Water downed and off I went.

It was like a miracle, I instantly felt better, felt on top of the world. The next 5km went so well, I was in a good head and running space, maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad after all?!

I have been training with gels, sports drinks and everything I will need for the marathon and learnt that it is so important to make sure you take your gels with water. At about the 15km mark I decided that I would take my last gel (my favourite GU mint chocolate) in the hope that the drink station wasn’t too far away, it felt like eternity! After the 17km drink station I felt like I was going to be sick, I had to walk for about 50m. I thought are you actually joking me?! Why is this so hard today?!

Despite all of my “slip ups” during the run I did do a personal best and improved my time by more than 10min from the Christchurch half marathon in June and I know that I can do under 2 hours which I plan to do soon! Maybe a few months or after the marathon….

Respect the run and make sure you hydrate sufficiently, something I am going to do for the marathon.

The final stretch on the run!

My training life lately has been along peaks and troughs that are not just geographic in nature. The ups and downs of the Port Hills have mirrored my erratic confidence levels. I have been plagued with doubts; that I’m running out of time, I’ll not be ready in time, I’ll not be able to make it etc. And this is for an event that has been postponed a year! The situation has not been helped by really struggling up Kennedys Bush Rd the other day; and  I mean struggled. I had to zig zag like mad and hope there wouldn’t be a car coming! I took this picture at the top but didn’t feel I’d earned it. It was a gorgeous morning though. It was only much later I remembered that I was doing repeats on this hill five years ago, BEQ…the mind has a funny way of storing old stuff. As fellow blogger, Jennifer, has written, the self talk can really impose itself.

On the upside though there is heaps to report. I won a Fitbit for a start, from the conference I attended a fortnight back. I’m having all sort of fun with it. I wrote that story on my fundraising page,  and that fund continues to see the total $$$ rise. I have some more photos of steps for my collection, I especially love the gnarly ones. The hill walking component of my training is a real highlight and I simply love my little adventures. My knees haven’t been quite so keen on the downhills but a quick trip to the physio has put them literally back on track. Like many people I had begun to experience that little kneecap straying out of its snug groove and causing grief. I am also still really enjoying my daily yoga practice and almost imperceptibly I am getting stronger. But amongst all this good stuff I can still feel very uncertain of myself.

This is where great coaching comes in. Fleur, Beck and Richard can all offer a much more balanced and clear headed view of where things are at, and more importantly can remind my of how far I have come on my come back. Its really easy for me to forget that and simply fall back on what I remember I used to be able to do.

Coming up this month are three charity walks though that should take some of the heat off my cycling obsession!

The Pink Star 21km, the Queenstown Marathon 10km and the Summer Starter 10km. I hope to see fellow CPers out these events too.

What did I spy? Steps of course!

It seemed like just yesterday that I committed to running a full marathon, it was actually nearly 11 months ago and we are now heading for the final countdown! It is just over two weeks to go before I can officially call myself a marathon runner.

The Queenstown Marathon has been my focus for nearly a year and it is pretty exciting to think that this massive goal is going to be completed very soon.

My runs have been long as of late – this past weekend I completed the longest run of my training, 35km, it was tough but it was so good to have this run done! Note to self: make sure you put on sunscreen before you set out on your run, even if it is cloudy, because the next day your skin will be as sore as your muscles…..whoops.

I even tried out an ice bath (Richard’s suggestion) after the 35km run – it was very tough getting into the bath, sheesh it was freezing (guess that is the point), but once I was in it wasn’t too bad! I think it has helped my muscles in their recovery. Only time will tell. I do take my hat off to all those professional athletes who do this on a regular basis!

I am now into the taper phase of my running programme – I do have the Selwyn Half Marathon to do this weekend which I am looking forward to, I am aiming to do as close to a 2 hour half as I can! I am hoping that all my training will help in in being able to do this.

The funniest thing is that once upon a time I used to really struggle with running 21km the last 3 was always the hardest, now I can run 21km without even thinking about it and its only when my watch beeps to tell me I have run 21km that I realise that I have! I know weird.

I am looking at my race plan as well as making sure I have everything that I need for the race day! The culmination of 11 months of training and hard work is coming to an end in a few short weeks and I am pretty excited and pumped to do it! I know its going to be hard but I also know that I have done all the work and preparation that I can do to be able to do my best on the morning of the 21st of November in the scenic setting of Queenstown.

Plus I have been waiting all year to get my Ferg Burger…..

And I also have a strange feeling that I might want to run another marathon after this one….something I never thought I would say!

It is now only 12 days until race day or you might say 288 hours or 17,280 minutes or perhaps 1,036,800 seconds. The last of the long runs happened during Labour weekend and it was 28 wonderful kilometres along the Little River Rail trail. The previous week I did a 30km run along Summit Road and Crater Rim. It was the Saturday where the wind was ferocious to the point where mountain bikers couldn’t even stay on their bike with the wind. I set off with Jenn (my directionally challenged partner in crime) and I kept the car keys in my bag as I’m usually back at the car first. Jenn wasn’t feeling so hot at the start of the run so I said I would keep her in sight in case we needed to turn back. What a big fat lie that was!! I took off and didn’t even look back. I turned after about 1 hour where Mount Pleasant Road joints Summit Road as there was a rally on. On the way back towards the Rapaki I was pretty surprised that I didn’t see Jenn running towards me. I then started to feel really bad at the 2.5 hour mark when I didn’t see her and imagined her hiding in the toilets at the Sign of the Kiwi ill and trying to keep warm and sheltered from the wind and probably cursing me. I ran to Sign of the Kiwi and no Jenn in sight. I ran on towards Kennedy Bush track but the wind was so strong it was like being on a treadmill so I turned back towards the car. I did a quick stop by the loos again just to make sure Jenn definitely wasn’t there and frightened some poor unsuspecting woman. Talk about tormenting myself running past the car twice with 8km to go the first time and 4km to go the second time. I finished up and hung out in the car until about 30 minutes later Jenn arrived. While I had stuck to the lower tracks to shelter from the wind, Jenn ‘legs of steel’ Chowaniec stuck to the tracks, got slightly misplaced, mistook a man in an orange t-shirt for me and shouted and followed him thinking it was me then dropped in on a car rally only to be told she would have to go back over the hill as the road was closed. You can imagine she was a super happy camper but it was nothing a pint later that day couldn’t fix! Character building eh!

I’ve found with subsequent runs that I really have trained myself to start taking on nutrition and liquid early on. I headed out on a 15km run last weekend and left my fuel filled drinks bottles on the sink where I had filled them up before I left – blonde moment! It really made a difference to my run. I’ve found taking a sip every kilometre is a good way to get the fluids in. I’m not great at taking on lots of fluids but this is a good way to tip away at it. My watch beeps at every kilometre so it is a handy reminder. Eating wise, I find Nakd bars work best for me when running but have recently discovered a recipe online to make your own and they are great. I can now start eating 30 minutes into a run – something I never thought I’d be able to do.

So here I am 287 hours and 30 minutes away from the start line and the official tapering has begun. This is the part I’m usually really bad at. When training for previous races, I tend to peak too early and taper wwaaaayyy too soon. I see this whole experience as reaching a goal but also a very personal journey where I get to test my body, my motivation and dedication. I’ve learned so many new and wonderful skills, met a lot of interesting inspiring people along the way and have really challenged myself. The last month has been quite busy and it has made fitting in training a challenge but also it has given me a great excuse to explore new places. I spent 1 week in Brisbane at a conference. I took the opportunity run along the river. Even at 5.30am it was 20 degrees and warm unlike warm Christchurch which is 20 degrees with a southerly. The river front at 5.30am was as busy as the Port Hills on a Sunday morning with runners and cyclists. There was the added bonus of watching the rowing crews too. The picture inset is me post run in Brisbane flying the TeamCP flag. It seems that CPers took over Aussie that week with a great showing in Adelaide. I also spent a few days in Wellington at another conference and got one of “those” days in Wellington and got to enjoy running around the waterfront without having to battle a tornado style wind. The taper plan over the next two week is reducing the long runs at the weekend to one medium run and just keeping up some speed work and hill work during the week. I am enjoying this time and haven’t got ants in my pants just yet. For me, it is great knowing that I already have my next challenge lined up with coast to coast and I am looking forward to adding road biking into the training mix.

I look forward to reporting the result of the fruits of my labour in a few weeks.

Thanks to everyone at both Tuesday and Thursday run group who have kept me honest!

Big shout out to Simon – none of this would be possible without your careful planning and rocket jumps 🙂