Run the City to Surf

Not going to happen. It’s not me.

yeah well i got sick during the first couple of weeks of uni, hence no sport. Then i tried to make up for it by doing a good sprint during my usual jogging time, and it didn’t work out quite so well. The arch of my foot ended up being sore, and it got worse during the week walking round at uni (exacerbated by arch-unfriendly converses, i reckon). So no jogging for a few weeks…. The last time I jogged was last friday, for 20min, way off the amount of time that it takes for the city to surf. And exams, man, I used to exercise during exams in the past few years but what has gone wrong this year? Some days I had this pain in my back, due to sitting at my desk crouched over calculations all day, no doubt. I must get fitter these holis, even if i don’t run the city to surf.

I can now run for 30min, and jog for 50min. Thankfully the last few days were quite cool, but before that, hell. I started running at 7.30 and could already feel the heat rising up around me. Pretty boring though, just running in my backyard. But it’s fantastic on a cool morning, hearing the birds and smelling the air and that. Feels fresh and untouched. That’s why “camp in the backyard” has recently made it onto my 43T list as well.

yay, I have started training. I am going to see if I can follow the sample training schedule for 8 weeks these holidays. If I can achieve that this summer, there’s a better chance I can follow it again in the weeks leading up to the race. So far, I have increased my jogging time from 20 mins to a max of 47 mins! Wow, today, I ran for 47min and I didn’t feel very puffed out. But on the other hand, if you asked me to sprint, start, stop, start, stop for 5 mins I would be exasperated. So maybe I’ll work on my short distance running as well.
The actual city to surf race takes an amateur runner 120min to complete. So I’ve still got heaps far to go… run run run run….

Not walk, run, an actual proper attempt that has me training before hand and giving it my absolute best even if it kills me.

Went to the gym today and Alesha worked out a new program for me. If all goes to plan I should be able to run 5.5km in 6 weeks!

I had only managed to increase my run to a maximum of 4km before the big day, but I had included a couple of hills.
Imagine my surprise when I got to the downhill section from Dover Heights to Bondi and realised I was actually going to make it. I expected to run about 5 or 6 kms and walk the rest. In the end, I only stopped for a minute or two along the whole course.

A key part of my preparation was running from Rose Bay up Heartbreak Hill the week before. It really helped me psychologically get up the hill, even though on the day I’d run from the city.

I’m aiming for 2008. I ran 10 minutes on the treadmill today and it almost killed me.

Today I increased my morning run from 10 to 12mins.
I figure that I’ve got at least 26 weeks till the CtS (actually more like 30 if it’s on the 12th of August).
If I can run just an extra 2mins each week, I’ll be able to run for over an hour by June!
Put another way, every 2mins is about 0.5 km, so I should be to run 14km in six months. The only thing now is to stick to it!

I currently run about 2km in 10mins three times a week. The city-to-surf is a good 14km. It’s going to take me at least 70mins, probably more. But I’d like to run it, maybe in two halves, with a planned walking section in the middle. I’m really going to have to set more time aside for running, if I’m going to achieve this. That means getting up earlier or shifting to the afternoon.