Netball

Netball returned after the holidays on Saturday.

Results
Year 4's lost 3-5 to Malvern who always have awesome junior teams. My girls really well considering the Malvern team had access to a lot more training and knew how to play more than my girls. The really positive thing was I found two girls who actually wanted to stay in GD and GK, so now I have 3 defenders!

Year 6's lost 9-18 to these MASSIVE girls who had to be in year 7 or 8. My girls played well again, they were down by about 7 or 8 in the first quarter but fought back to win the second half. They played with speed instead of biffo like the other team did.

We lost 17-21 to cap off a weekend of losing (which I don't mind). It was pouring with rain the whole game and we were freezing! We were down 4-14 at half time and played really well in the second half to come close.

Running on empty

Today I went for an early morning 'speedwork' session because I failed to do it last night. I've never done speedwork in the morning before - I usually just do a comfortable 6-10km. I have to run 'on empty' because if I eat something before I go I feel a bit sick. At that early stage of the morning, I failed to realise that doing speedwork on empty would be extremely hard. I was planning on doing 4x800m (in about 3.25) with 20 minutes warm up and cool down and 2 and a half minutes recovery. Running on empty is alright as long as you are going at a comfortable pace, but speedwork requires a significant proportion of energy from anaerobic glycolysis (lactic acid system) - burning carbohydrates. I probably used up most of my glycogen stores in the 20 minute warm up so I didn't have as much energy as I would have liked when I came to do my speedwork. I'd be really interested to measure what fuels and energy systems I used during my run. My heart rate and breathing rate were much higher than usual which indicates possibly using fat as fuel. Anyway, it was a good session, well it felt very much like it was a good, hard session so I am happy.

Richmond/Malvern Challenge

I had my first race for Richmond Harriers today! It was 8km at the Tan. I was hoping to run sub 39 minutes and get an 8km race PB. However I could tell in the first 100m of the race that my legs did not want to run a PB. I wished I hadn't run yesterday! The race was hard (Anderson St hill the second time!!!!) but I enjoyed it. I never run fast on the Tan so I probably shouldn't have expected too much. I'm glad I didn't come last (ok I suppose that was another of my goals) because I thought everyone else would be way faster than me. Unfortunately, Richmond lost to Malvern 500 to 480. I think Malvern had the good front runners but we had a good middle pack. I ended up finishing in 41.10 which I'm quite unhappy with. That time is closer to my run at the Lorne Mountain to Surf (hot and hilly and hard) than any of the races in the Super Sunset series. I can't believe I've never got under 5 min/km for 8km (in a race)!!!!

I got to meet quite a few club members and I got my Richmond uniform. I really like it. I'm so glad I joined Richmond and not Malvern. I got to see both clubs today and noticed Malvern had a lot of bratty little kids that have a whole lot of natural talent and would kick my butt. I'm the only junior girl who'll be running winter season and that's how I like it. Everyone at the club is really nice and I know I'm going to really enjoy running for Richmond.

Running alone vs running with a group

I usually train on my own and until recently, hadn't thought of doing it any differently. In fact, I thought running with someone else could really annoy me. I suppose I've thought negatively about running with a group because of the ocassional school cross country training I attended(boring!). However, I did a Nike training session for Run for the Kids and LOVED it (pity I could only get to one). Now, I'm joining Richmond Harriers and I'm training with Andrew when I can. Although I probably won't get to train much with Richmond during the winter when it gets dark so early!!! Now I love running with other people (only if they run at my pace though!).

Indoor Cricket Premiership

I've been really slack lately with updating my blog. I can't believe I missed out on a post about our indoor cricket premiership!

On Monday 26th March we played our final game of indoor cricket for the season. It wasn't the grand final - it was our last round match and whoever finished on top of the ladder won the premiership. So it was a bit of an anti-climax because even if we lost we would still top the table. We were to play Toorak College who we knew we'd thrash. They tried to bail out on us - they only had 6 players but Dan, our coach, made them play. I left school at recess coz I was sick (story of my life!) but I came back to play. We hoped to have a big crowd but we only had Crystal and Erin in year 12 watching. They're so fun so they made up for it.

We started the game and Toorak batted first and made 37. That's a big score against us and we were a bit disappointed with it. Technically they cheated though - we were supposed to choose their last batting pair coz they were missing two players but their two best players came in and batted and we just let them do it. We hoped to have a good batting performance ourselves to make up for our 'poor' bowling and fielding performance. We didn't have much of a problem - our first pair made more than 60 and we went on to score 230 - one of our highest totals. We could get away with anything because Toorak looked like they weren't even trying. So we topped the ladder with 35 points and 517.5%! The next closest to us on the ladder was Shelford on 27 points and 96.8. So you can tell we thrashed every team in the competition.

These are the results of all the matches
PLC 114 def Melbourne 50 (I didn't play - sick)
PLC 221 def Genazzano 10
PLC 178 def Camberwell 66
PLC 157 def Lauriston 41 (I didn't play - Biology camp)
PLC 198 def Shelford 33
PLC 144 def Kilvington 3
PLC 230 def Toorak 37

So congratulations to my fantastic teammates - Mad Dog, Fan Dog, Dhaliwal (my great batting partner), Groundzie, Wong, Roastie and our captain Chanmi.
And to Fan Dog, Groundzie, Wong and I - OUR THIRD PREMIERSHIP IN A ROW!!!

We are the champions - 2005, 2006, 2007!

Run for the Kids 07

Last Sunday was Run for the Kids. I was a bit worried I would struggle, as I haven't been training as much lately coz I have a niggly hip. Unfortunately, some idiot had given me a cold and I didn't go to school on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. So when Sunday came around I was still pretty sick. And coz we only had 6 players at netball, I had to play and I played 3 quarters of centre. I was worried my legs would be tired from that (netball makes my legs sore in weird ways). I persisted and did the run anyway, with the plan just to cruise. My original goal was 70-75 minutes for the 15.2km, but I changed that to 80 minutes (85 at the very, very slowest).

I travelled to Alexandra Gardens with Karen, and her friends Jeff and Julia. We caught the earliest train 7.41 at Camberwell. Unfortunately, everyone else had that idea. We squished into the carriage and it was more packed that I've probably ever seen. I was almost sufficating in there. I was hoping some people would get out at Richmond but everyone got out at Flinder's St. I have to say, I enjoyed flaunting my blue race number. I really needed to go to the toilet (as usual) and I was worried I would have to queue for ages and maybe go twice. Luckily, the queue at Flinder's St wasn't too long and Karen and Julia were happy to go too. However, by the time we found where we were supposed to start, it was 8.21. Karen still had to drop off her bag and the race was due to start at 8.30! I had put my jumper in Karen's bag. I decided to get into the queue to start and I left Karen to put her bag away. I waited, and waited for them to start the race. For some strange reason, I wasn't too nervous! Probably because I had tried to forget I had Run for the Kids in the lead up to the race. Anyway it was probably almost 9am before I got over the line. I was glad to start. I can't say much for the race except it was hard. I felt really gross coz I was still sick. I also had a major stitch (like my whole stomach!) and my hip was a bit sore. I thought I'd struggle to make it under 80 minutes. I met Karen inside the very hot Domain Tunnel (about the 2km mark) but pushed on ahead of her. I thought she must have snuck past me again as she was hoping to get under 75 minutes. Anyway, I finished in a time of 1.16.41 (by my watch)!! I was very happy with that. What I thought was about 500m after the 14km mark, a marshall encouraging us said "only 100m to go!". I thought bullshit! But it really was only 100m to go! I think the course was actually around 14.9km not 15.2. At the end, we had to wait more than 20 minutes in the queue for a crappy showbag and we (the 15km runners) desperately needed water. We were in with the slower 3.4km participants and once again, I felt proud to wear a blue bib. I really needed a tissue because my two tissues had disintigrated. I finally got my showbag and found Dad and headed home.

I checked out the results in Tuesday's paper and online and Karen came in behind me! She did it in just under 80 minutes. Unfortunately, I think she had a bit of a bad day like me in the Melbourne Marathon. Anna Thompson (woohoo!) and Lee Troop won.

I came 850th in a time of 1.16.41.