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.

Netball coaching

Netball started today. I'm coaching year 4's (the Budgies) and year 6's (the Kookaburras) and still playing with the Wrens. The year 4's played at 8.15am, the year 6's at 9.55am and we played at 2.05pm. It was the very first game for the Budgies. They have ten players so I had a big job organising ten girls into positions. Luckily, not everyone wants to shoot and some girls chose to play WD. The hard part was I had to choose two girls to be off for two quarters because they had ten. They didn't mind as much as I thought they would though. It's obvious that some girls get it (netball) and some girls don't. One girl, little Emily, was brilliant. She was directing play and getting intercepts everywhere - and it was only her first game! Some of the girls were a bit lost unfortunately but that will improve. Another girl, Rachel didn't do Netta but she was a brilliant defender, she has really long arms. I didn't do such a bad job telling the twins apart. I have to remember Maddy has a freckle on her chin. The Budgies were up 4-0 at one stage but the other team came back and it was a draw 5-5.

I thought I'd be really bored waiting around between games but because they were running 10-15 minutes behind, the Kookaburras started arriving not long after I finished with the Budgies. I was dismayed to see Prue, who has 'taken over' coaching for the three sessions I can't be there came to the game. I feel so pressured when she's there and I feel she undermines me. She's very nice though and some of the feedback was good. The Team we played had a very tall GA. Unfortunately, our defenders (apart from Demi) are very short. The first quarter went well, but in the second quarter, I had to put Demi in goals, so it was the shorter girls defending. I tried to do something about it but I couldn't. Jess had done the positions for me. We started getting thrashed and it wasn't looking good. One of the parents came up to me and very boldly said "Is there a reason why we have two short defenders? Is there a reason? Put Demi into defence!" I replied calmly that we would have only one shooter then so she said "Well put Sophie into shooter, Sophie can shoot!" Well actually, Sophie had never played shooter in her life. I was horrified. Prue spoke to me after the game and said if that happens again, the parent will be dealt with. Hopefully the other parents understood that it's not my fault the girls in our team are short. Despite a great third quarter, we couldn't come back from the deficit and we lost 22-10. Some of the girls had brilliant games though. Laura shot 9 of our 10 goals, she put on some brilliant moves, like any top GS would. April didn't get any goals which is extremely unusual, but she fed Laura very well. It's nice to get back into it though.

It wasn't looking too positive for the Wrens. We were lucky to have 6 players. We had Clare (shooter), Jess, Sally Elyse who's new and I (midcourters) and Zoe (defender) who was sick. So basically we had no defenders, three centres and a shooter. It was decided that Jess, Elyse and I would share C, GD and GK while Zoe played GS so she didn't have to do much. I played GD, C, GA, GD and I was pretty terrible IMO. I just couldn't defend. We didn't do very well - we lost 21-11. We did well in the last quarter with Jess in GS and Zoe and I defending though. I noticed there is a big difference between running fitness and netball fitness!

Hope we have better luck next week.

Nike Run for the Kids training session

Today after a netball coaching training session, I rode into the city planning on going to Port Melbourne for a run alongside the beach. However, I remembered that Nike are holding Run for the Kids training sessions on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, and the Monday ones are at Fed Square at 6pm. So I rode really fast and managed to make it there by 6.03pm - just in time! I've been meaning to go on Saturdays, but I always take the easy option of going to the gym. We had a quick warm up and then split into groups. I joined the fast group (5min/km) who were doing 10km - two laps of the Tan. I didn't really want to do two laps, so I decided to just do one. It was really intimidating, as everyone else was a lot older (and taller!) than me, and it was mostly blokes. I kept up with the group easily - that is until we got to the Anderson St hill! I really struggled - I just had no power in my legs. I dropped from the front of the group to the back. I tried really hard to keep up but another lady and I kinda dropped away from the group with a leader. I left them without really telling them after one lap, I didn't think the leader knew I was with the group (stupid me, we had yellow wristbands on!) and I think that shocked him. I jogged back to Fed Square and got a free red Nike t shirt! What a great run! It was fantastic to run with a group.

Coburg King and Queen of the North

This morning we headed over to Harold Stevens Reserve in Coburg for the 2007 King and Queen of the North. I decided to do the 6km (with a 12km as well). I did two warm up laps on the track which was very nice! The race was due to start at 9am but I was registered and ready at 8.35am. There was a very small field racing - maybe 20-40 people, but that's what I expected. My goal was to get under 30 minutes and place amongst the females.

It was great at the start - I went out hard and there were people around me, but certainly not too many people. I could see the leaders for the first km, before they sped off and you could no longer see very far up the trail. It was held along the Merri Creek trail which is similar to any bike path alongside Gardiner's Creek or the Yarra so it was a lovely run. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling very well so I was kinda wishing for it to be over (just a little bit). The turnaround at the 3km mark came about quicker than I expected (at about 13 minutes 50). I was first amongst the females for the first 2-2.5km and then a lady passed me. However, she was doing the 12km, I realised as she didn't turn around at 3km. So I was in the lead, and quite comfortably. I kept looking back but could not see anyone behind me, in fact I couldn't see anyone in front of me either! I got very excited when I passed the bridge marshal at 21 minutes, as I had passed him in 5 minutes 35 at the start. I thought I was in for a 26, 27 minute race! However, I got a bit lost, there was a fork in the path and I didn't know where to go! Luckily I chose the right path, but it probably added 15-20 seconds onto my time. I didn't have a very good finish from then on, I didn't realised we had to run a lap around the track to finish and I was very confused as to where the finish line was, so I didn't have a nice sprint finish.

I finished in a time of 29.14, a bit disappointing. However, I FINISHED FIRST out of all the females, and got under 30 minutes, so I completed my two goals. I waited around a bit coz I knew I would get a trophy. Little did I realise how big the trophies would be! Bigger than any of my netball trophies! I was very embarassed when I got presented it, but I was very proud.

It was a great race, only $10 and I got a trophy! I will definitely try and do another Coburg event. So I am now the 2007 QUEEN OF THE NORTH (6km)!

Super Sunset Series Races 2 and 3

I completed the last two races of the Super Sunset Series on February 21st and March 7th at Princes Park and the Tan respectively.

My time for Princes Park was 40.29 and the Tan 40.30.33 (8kms). I was again troubled by ITB or a hip injury. I'm very disappointed not to get under 40 minutes but it's hard racing on a Wednesday after a full day at school (plus cricket training). I won the junior female 8km in all three races (can't say I had much competition). I think the races were quite badly organised and the times were so inaccurate. I'll be very surprised if I do the series next year.

Racing every fortnight is very disruptive to training, as I don't like to run hard in the 3-4 days leading up to a race. I will try and get some good speedwork in before Run for the Kids. I wish i didn't have a hip injury though!

Woe is February!

I've not had a very good month running. I've had lots of work to do at school and I was sick but I have also had a hip injury this week which has kept me from running as I don't want to make it worse for next Wednesday SSS run.

I just entered the Run for the Kids run which is 15.2km. They're estimating the field to be around 30,000 people. It is going to be mighty crowded and very crazy!

Photos

Here are some photos from the Sri Chinmoy Princes Park run.

Super Sunset Series - Zoo Run

On Wednesday I left early from indoor cricket training so I could get to the SSS zoo run. I caught the 75 tram to Fitzroy Gardens/Lansdowne St and met Dad there. We parked in the carpark of the SNHC and eventually found where the run was being held. There was a lot of confusion at the start because the juniors (with blue race numbers) were supposed to start 5 minutes later than the adults (with white numbers). I'm a junior - right? - but I was given a white number! I ended up starting with the juniors, which was annoying coz I had to keep taking over walkers walking 3 or 4 abreast. It wasn't a PB course (although I did get a PB) because inside the zoo there were many twists and turns and you could really only keep at a certain pace to avoid slipping. I really enjoyed the race nevertheless. Only about one kilometre (out of four) on each lap was inside the zoo. I saw a few monkeys and you could certainly hear the lions. I was aiming for a time somewhere around 38-40 minutes. I ended up finishing right on 40 minutes I thought. However, in the official results it says I finished in a time of 37.24. I'd love to say I finished in that time but I think it is unlikely. Plus I realised maybe I'm not a junior... for some STUPID reason they count juniors as under 15! I don't think I would have done the race if I had known that! Oh well...

Year 11

I LOVE YEAR 11... so far! The best things are...

>I am doing the subjects I've chosen, which are a mix of easy and hard, fun and boring
>I can do homework in my spares
>Only 6 subjects so less to worry about
>Lots of work, but so far it's easy work
>3/4 PE is great!
>GM* is easy and interesting so far
>I'm with people I like and have things in common with in my classes
>I feel like I'm working towards something
>I like being senior in the school and doing VCE which is given preference over all other year levels

I'm not looking forward to doing assignments in chemistry, biology and english (especially research assignments). I'm not really enjoying english as well. So far it's great though, I enjoy doing question/answer work.

No school... yet...

I have very much been looking forward to starting Year 11. Everyone else started back on Thursday but I have been sick so I haven't been yet. It's so disruptive not starting on the first day - I'm behind the eight-ball right from the start! It's so despressing, I've hardly eaten for 4 days and haven't exercised for 5 days. I donated blood on Wednesday and afterwards I started feeling clammy and dizzy. I got up to tell someone I wasn't feeling well and totally blacked out - so embarassing! But they paid for me to get a taxi home so that was good. I've haven't stopped working this weekend though coz I can't really bail out. I babysat for Ali on Friday afternoon ($25) and Saturday night ($50) as well as two Dinosaur Diggers parties ($90 for both). So it was a rich weekend for me.

When the going gets tough...

I often have really bad days running and I guess I have flukey days too. The other day I rode into the Tan to do a flat 5km tempo. My goal time was 23 minutes, 55 seconds (4.47 per km). I didn't think it'd be too difficult considering I'd ran 23.05 only 10 days earlier. But it was hard! I ran and ran and ran as fast as I could but I still finished in 24.24. Maybe I was tired from the ride in (or the speedwork two days before). Or maybe I was just having one of those days.

2007 Goals

My running goals for 2007 are...

*Run 2000km for the year
*Compete in about 20 races
*Complete at least one half marathon (preferably up to 4)
*Do speedwork at least once a week
*Stay uninjured
*Cycle 4000km as cross training
*Try a duathlon (run, cycle, run)

PB Goals
3km - 13.30
4km - 18.00
5km - 22.30
8km - 38.00
10km - 47.00
21.1km - 1.44.00

Dinosaur Diggers

I've started working with a lady named Sandra who has a company called Dinosaur Diggers. She runs kids birthday parties with a dinosaur theme and she's got me to help her. It's a really good set up. We drive out to the party an hour before it starts to set up. The party then goes for 2 hours. There's another hour of packing up so altogether it's 5 hours. That means $50 per party for me. I just have to help Sandra set up (lots of heavy lifting) and pack up as well as helping with the kids. At the party, Sandra does a 30-45 minute presentation, then have the kids divide into two groups to do two activities. I take the gemstone panning while Sandra does the fossil digs. I've done two parties so far and I'm really enjoying it. The work isn't too hard (because it's what I enjoy) and it's really good money for me.

Annual Cape Paterson holiday

Yesterday Mum and I got back from Cape Paterson where we have our annual beach holiday. It's nice to get away for a week of hanging out at the beach, lots of exercise, shopping, reading (studying a bit too this year) and watching the cricket on TV. We rent a house from a friend and stay for a week. Tim hasn't come with us the last few years, but he did come down with Anna for part of our second day.

The weather in Melbourne was supposed to be over 30 degrees for most of our holiday, but we didn't feel it down there because of the sea breezes. Still, the beach was so pleasant even though I was freezing most of the time. I perfected my bodysurfing because the waves were a perfect size. I also didn't get very sunburnt as we mostly went to the beach after 3pm.

I didn't get to do as much running as I wanted to as my legs felt pretty tired. I'm still building up after not being able to run much in December. However, I had a really good session doing hill sprints on a perfect sized hill and afterwards, 200m laps of the local oval. I also got to run on the beach but it made my legs really sore so I only did it once. We also rode into Wonthaggi and back a couple of times.

On the Sunday we were there, an aquathon was being held in Cape Paterson. I was really excited as I thought they might have a fun run. Alas, they only had one event, a 400m swim and 3.5km run. I was so tempted to do it but I think I would have drowned doing the swim. I thought I especially couldn't take the chance as swimming 400m in rough seas would be very hard. But on the day the sea was perfectly calm, it was perfect conditions for the race. Mum and I went and watched the swim start and then walked back to watch the runners. There were people of all ages and abilities and it was really fun to watch. It made me really want to do it though!

Mum and I both bought a lot of clothes etc as well. I managed to spend a lot of my money from working but also got some great things at the op shop.

To be continued...

My first Sri Chinmoy race

This morning I ran my first race with Sri Chinmoy. I thought the advantages were numerous - it was only $10, a small field, medals for placings etc and these outweighed the 8am start time. I'm very glad ran it and I'll definitely do another. Sri Chinmoy have a really good set up. It's cheap, they have a loyal following and you get a lot for your money. There's no fancy timing devices but it's not really needed with only a small group racing.

The race was at Princes Park which I haven't run before. It actually took us a while to find the start line. It was so easy to register and hand over a $10 and we were there in perfect time for the start. I managed to start in about the fourth row but the start was very hectic. The track isn't too wide so I was running on grass for a bit. Last night for some reason I had the number 4.22 in my head as the first split. I thought no way can I do a 4.22 split! But guess what my first split was... 4.22! Heading into the second and third kilometre I thought I was really behind and I thought there were lots of people in my age category in front of me. between 3 and 4 kilometres we did a 'dog leg' and so we could see everyone who was ahead of us. I looked at everyone's bib which displays which race they're doing and which age category they're in and realised I was 2nd in my age group and the little girl ahead of me wasn't far away. i actually caught her just after 4km and tried to pull away so she couldn't get in front of me again. I finished in a time of 23.05 (although I'm not sure where the actual finish was) and the lady that took down my time told me I was 1st in my age category and 4th out of all the females!!! Wow! I was very happy. They had good food and drinks for after the race including their legendary pancakes, bananas, nectarines and Endura and cordial. I'll definitely do another SC race!

My km splits were
4.22
8.56 (4.34)
13.47 (4.51)
18.27 (4.40)
23.05 (4.38)
They are great splits and I'm very happy with my race as I really felt I pushed myself to my limits.