Yes, that IS a Rocky t-shirt! (Thanks again Josh, love it!). And yes, I did put my camera on a self-timer mode to take this red-faced shot, haha...

So, I know these stairs aren't exactly the terrain I'll be running on, but I hope they'll prepare me somewhat for some of the uneven surfaces and up and down sections (which, I'm pretty sure form the majority of the trail race).

All the best to those runners who have gone back for a second year running - you guys are amazing! Once was enough for me, haha.

Once the rain subsided I made it (at last) to the track for the following run: 3.22 easy pace, 6.44 threshold pace, 3.22 easy. My threshold pace is supposed to be between 4.07 and 4.15, and I stuck to this range, sometimes going up to 4.15 but sometimes going too low to 4.00 or 4.05. When I remembered to take note when Garmin beeped at my kilometre marks, my average times were 4.07, 4.07, 4.08, 4.09, and then 4.03 (oops, the last one was a little fast then). Total time of 58:07.  Fastest 5 km was 20:38. Felt great. LOVED leaving the track, haha…

So, come on people, HOW do I change my trackitude and learn to LOVE going there for a run, rather than having to psych myself up to even get there? It is definitely a love/hate relationship. Ok, let’s look at the positive aspects of running at the school’s track:

• It is accurate in terms of distance and speed (now that I’ve got my trusty Garmin)
  
  
• There is no traffic or lights to have to stop at
  
  
• No pedestrians to avoid (or motorbikes on the pavement coming straight at you)
  
  
• Most of the time I have got it all to myself
  
  
• It is 300 metres from my apartment
  
  
• I feel amazing at the end of a workout at the track
  
  

Ok, a couple of those pesky (but substantial) negative aspects:

• It is kind of (ok, sometimes, very) monotonous. Akin to an outside treadmill?
  
  
• It is synonymous with speedwork (or attempting speedwork on some days)
  
  
• Sometimes there are some awkward moments when others are on the track and I attempt some ‘excellent’, mid-running Chinglish.
  
  

So, you see, lots more good than bad going on down at the track, so I hope this helps me next week to bound on out there full of enthusiasm and genuine excitement for my speed session. Ahem. Watch this space.

Yesterday’s run at the track bombed. I did indeed get myself out there at about half 7 last night, and started warming up (1.6kms). Felt ok. Then, I didn’t even complete ONE of my six 1.6kms intervals at VO2max pace, but stopped after just 800m to walk. WTF?! Yep, some weird, random, intense pain that I get from time to time, and its kind of crippling and agonizing (they have investigated at various hospitals but everything looks normal, so it’s hard to explain when it’s not happening). So, that was kind of (= very) frustrating, and I called it a night there, after oh, maybe just 15 minutes. Went home and ate some amazingly tasty carb-laden food prepared by Husband (who is a not-so-secret, awesome chef, just sayin), surely that counts as training instead? J

 

So, this morning’s training is an 11km (ish – depends on the route I end up taking) run this morning, and a short 4km run later in the day. Yep, a double-up day. First time I’ve done this or seen this on my training schedule, but it looks like this is to be the norm for Thursdays now. So, I hope I like it! Do you ever run more than ONCE in a day?

Ahh, trackwork done and dusted, yeewww! Feel like I smashed it this morning. Well, for me personally anyhoo. This morning was a 1.6km warm up, then 6x 1.6 at VO2max pace (between 3:45-3:55 for me) with 3 minute rests and then 1.6 cool down. Felt really strong and much better at this workout than two weeks ago, so wow, training must be working hey. Who knew?! My fastest kilometer according to trusty Garmin was 3:47, woohoo! Last time it was 3:55. And my fastest mile, although I don’t work in miles so this is fairly meaningless for me, ohwell, was 6:05. I still very much needed those 3 minute rests though, and walked to recover during those delicious 3 minutes.

 

So, training for this week = very much on track = happy Lou J

 

Another thing making me happy this week = finally having found a wine that I love here in China – and it’s only taken me almost 2 years to find it, haha. It’s a Chilean Sav Blanc that one of the bigger supermarket sells and is slightly pricier than the Chinese reds we usually buy, but sooo much nicer and one bottle usually lasts me three days, so I feel fully justified in this purchase.

 

So, another sunny but hazy (polluted?) day here in our part of China. Kind of counting down the weeks now til AUSTRALIA!!! Just a bit excited. Then it’s our Chinese road-trip to Inner Mongolia straight after that! Roll on July. Have a GREAT day everyone!

My husband (and coach!) is full of good ideas hey. Last night, for example, he put it out there, that why don't I still try and get a track workout in, later that night? (maybe my uber-grumpy mood about the rain stopping play was that obvious??) So, hmm, I thought, maybe just maybe there's a chance of getting my speed session in after all. We had a very early dinner at around 4:30-5 ish, so I thought, yeah, why not? Wait til about 8pm then give it a go. Now, bearing in mind this is usually when we're definitely winding down for the day and not drinking coffee to go and do some speedwork around the school's track, this was definitely new ground for me. But the rain had all but dissipated to nothing more than a gentle, light mist (like running through a cloud I reckon), and the light pollution around town meant that I wasn't running in complete darkness and so threw out my fear of tripping in the dark and twisting an ankle again. So there I was, warming up in these perfect running conditions, plus I had the whole track to myself, when I began my first interval: on the plan for this session was 12x 400m ran at economy pace (my pace calculator tells me that this should be between 3:30 - 3:45), with a 400m jog in between, with the usual 1.6 warm-up and cool down. I did it, made the correct pace all the way around, then happily settled down to my jog. Then interval number two. Ok, that didn't feel so good. Weird heartburn / sick feeling, and was a bit of a struggle. This got worse and worse until on my 5th interval I thought I was going to actually heave and vomit everywhere in the not-so-pitch-black open space of the track. Hmmm, maybe I wouldn't finish the twelve planned economy pace laps as planned, and instead focused on not throwing up everywhere as I slowed it back down to cool down and retreat back home. I wasn't sick in the end, hurrah! But note to self: do not attempt speedwork within 4 hours of eating (maybe 5?). I thought 3 hours would have been enough time, but definitely not. Sucks, as the conditions were perfect and my legs felt great. Still, happy that I got a short session in at least. But, I'll definitely be trying out some more night-time runs in the future, so thanks Husband!

This morning's run was a 12.8km run at easy pace, and that was all fine and dandy. Except upon returning having no power for the start of the day. An electrical mystery, which is all fixed now, luckily.

So, back on track with the training and running, and the rain has stopped for now. Fingers crossed this continues!

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone! What are your running, or otherwise, plans for today?

Ahh, speedwork. I love it and I hate it. (Hate it when I’m in the middle of it and pushing myself so much that am well and truly out of puff and feeling a bit sick at times / Love it when it’s over and I feel amazing and badass at having done it and showing myself that yes, I can do that.)

 

This morning’s training saw me back at the track doing this: 1.6km warm-up, then SIX times: 1.6km at VO2Max pace with 3 mins rest, then finish with another 1.6km cool-down. According to a pace calculator (where you plug in the time you are aiming for and the length of the race), my VO2Max pace should be between 3:46 – 3:56. This was tough hey, not going to lie. So, most of the time (according to Garmin) my pace crept back up to about 4:05 and sometimes 4:10 (even though it felt like I was running at the same speed). Garmin told me at the end that my fastest km took 3:55, so I guess I kept it pretty close to the target pace. It was tough but I feel AWESOME now. J

 

Yesterday’s run was a nice 10 km (I think – Garmin reckons it is 10, but mapmyrun.com had it at almost 12km?! wtf??) run on a usual route down by the river. Spring has definitely sprung and the beautiful pink, purple, and white flowers adorning trees all around town = a beautiful, early morning run.

 

So, we’ve got the usual four lessons today, but quite frankly, I kind of just feel like staying in our flat and organizing and having a massive spring-clean instead. Better snap out of it, as Tuesdays are great lesson-wise and student-wise.

 

Husband is busy studying and preparing for his Chinese driving test (theory) tomorrow. Wish him luck! He will ace it I’m sure. The only trouble being that most of the questions do not make any sense (very bad translations) and some are completely wrong but you have to put the answer that they say IS correct (even when it’s clearly not). Hey-ho. Positive thoughts he will pass first time, and then we can get one of these babies to tour around China in and to drive up to Inner Mongolia with our puppy: