No Pain, No Gain!!

It back out to Kalamunda today for some more hills and single-track. Saturday night found me debating the idea of running at all as my sciatic nerve has been driving me crazy, but when I woke up at 5:30 a.m. I figured I may as well give it a go. I arrived at Jorgenson Park about a half an hour early and tried to motivate myself with loud music in my car while I waited for the others to arrive.

The running group regulars soon appeared and we shared some light banter before things got serious, Now Bernadette, who normally coordinates these little excursions  has neglected to tell me that today’s outing would be speed specific…or so it seemed.

It all started innocently enough as we meandered down a section of the Bib Track. However, about 5 minutes later things kicked into high gear and the pace setters (you know who you are) descended into a valley at breakneck speed, disappearing into blanket of fog on the valley floor.

“Holy shit!” I thought. Surely they don’t intent to keep this up…but they did.

Sucking hard at my camelback straw, I dug deep and followed as fast as my feet would go. “Kamikazing” my way through ankle breaking rocks and slippery mud slicks, eventually reaching the fore runners at the intersection and trying in vain to catch my breath, next would come the climb!

Climbing used to be my forte…(Note: Used to be) I had to dig deep but I made it up and over the hill without losing too much time, then into another neck breaking descend…and on, and on, and on it went…until it was done.

Surprisingly, I didn’t feel dead, I’d even say I felt okay! I was pushed beyond my limit and I’d passed, that’s progress!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Run in a group…preferably in a group full of sadists and watch how fast you’ll improve.

An hour later I was home…and still mobile; I headed out to the park with the kids and had a nice barefoot recovery run. Big gains this week, and recovering much better than two weeks ago. Watch this space.

all pics by Bernadette.