The full monty.... "ultra style"

Sunday 4th Feb 2007

Today: 45km
Week:92km
Month:76km
Year:438km

Today we decided to swap next weeks long run for today so that we can do the striders equaliser on Sunday. So we headed to The track for our full monty version. We decided to do the whole 45kms so I could get a clear idea of the track and what to expect. We were lead out by our fearless team leader Wayne, who reassured us we were doing it "ultra style". This turned out to be fun, relaxed, with lots of breaks and LOTS of food. The plan was to cover the distance and get a good idea of how to run the race on the day. I am so thankful for the experience! Apart from being a brilliant way to spend my day.... with two of my favourite people BUT I feel so relaxed and confident about the race. I am firm in my belief this will be one of the toughest and challenging runs I will do and am ready for the test. .... what ever happens on the day happens! I think the trick will be to run smart! Which is why experiencing that final 19km after Mini Mini and Pluvi was worth its weight in gold!!! I am going to tatoo in my brain that I must reach the top of Pluvi with enough left to run a half marathon distance. I also learnt that despite what I have been told, that final 19kms is just as tough- I can imagine it must claim quite a few scalps along that stretch. When I sit and think about where we ran and what we saw.... I just get stuck on how long it is!! That sounds a stupid comment, but it really is a long way! When we popped out at the last little bit Wayne said to me...."you can hear the crowd from here" I got butterflies and thought Bring it on!!!! I felt really happy how I pulled up, tired but no sore bits to report!! The day was made even more exciting when we got to the end and Deanne and Ray were no where to be seen!! Needless to say I wnet into meltdown mode thinking they were injured on the track or lost or kidnapped by aliens ( ok I was very tired!!). So we lay around on the steps at the front of Caves house waiting for them to appear! I can only imagine what we looked like and how bad we must have smelt!!! Just as I was taking my panic up a notch and getting ready to force wayne to run and find them they appeared! They got a little navigationally challenged found new parts of the track and covered 30km instead of the orginal 15km!! Ray was grinning from ear to ear.... I think he enjoyed himself ;-)

Monday 5th Feb

Today: 5km
Week: 5km
Month: 81km
Year: 443km

Easy 30 mins today. I ran at the gym so I could stop if I felt too sore. Surprisingly I felt only a little sore in my calfs and quads from the hills. The rest of me feels pretty good :-) I covered the 5km in 5:43/km pace and then finished with a pillates class. I left feeling nice and relaxed and stretched!

Tuesday 6th Feb

Today: 10km
Week: 15km
Month:91km
Year: 453km

We had speed work today and we had pre warned Sean to not expect "any record breaking times". I arrived a little earlier than usual to do a longer warm up given the beating I have given the legs it only seemed fair ;-)

By the end of the strides I was actually feeling really good, but not looking forward to two 2km reps and 1 1km rep. Once we got going I tucked in behind a couple of the girls I usually run with and tried to jut keep them a little in front of me. I went through the first km in 4:33 only 5 secs worse than the last time we did this session. The second lap was 4:30.... 9:03 for the rep. My best 2km rep so far was 8:55 so I was pretty happy! The second rep I took off with the girls again and kept with them. The first lap was 4:33 again and the second was 4:36. Then for the stinger... the final 1km rep. My legs were now feeling tired from the weekend but what the hell how bad could it be. Pretty bad :-) I managed to stick with them for almost 800ms and was running at 4min/km pace then I struggled and had to really bully myself to keep it up. I finished with 4:17 which I was very happy with after the little loss of plot at the willow tree :-) It is really good mentally to do these session.... makes your mind know that you can do it even when yuor feeling tired! I think I will need that on race day!!

9:03 (2km), 9:06 (2km), 4:17 (1km)