Ode to My Assistant Coach (Because He Has the Spatula)

Tom, my lovely husband, is my assistant coach. In fact, he's my only coach so I really should promote him. (And yes, I do have the lovely Peter but he's more an overseer and guide offering email and phone advice). If you're wondering about the spatula reference, that, along with the 'Assistant Coach' line, is from 'Run Fatboy Run', just in case there's any undue concern about whether my husband has kitchen utensil issues. (I attach a YouTube clip featuring the fabulous Mr Ghoshdashtidar from the movie. It's all good but the 'spatula' line is at 3.45 to 4.25. You can watch it by clicking here.)

Tom accompanies me every Sunday when I do my week's long run and I really appreciate the company. But more than that, since December Tom has been nothing other than a huge support to me and my mad-cap scheme. I've decided that Tom is a JFK kind of husband - he asks not what his wife can do for him but what he can do for his wife. When I first told him I wanted to run the New York marathon Tom reacted with nothing more than a benign raised right eyebrow. And even though this running business has become quite normal now, at the time it would have been just as likely for me to tell him I was getting a face tattoo. Or that I'd been selected to participate in a nude ascent of Everest. Or that I was joining a monastery and taking a vow of silence (now, that really WOULD be unlikely). And yet, no scepticism,  no giggles, no 'Whaaaaaaa....?' - just a raised eyebrow and an almost immediate 'OK then. What can I do to help?' I think I say it every week but just in case I ever forget - Thank you Tom. I couldn't do it without you.

This is a not very flattering picture of my Assistant Coach. He's much better looking in real life. But hey, you work with the materials to hand. And in this photo he's holding a SPATULA!!

The running over the last two weeks has been going...well, swimmingly, if that's not a complete contradiction in terms. My knee has been behaving itself and I am getting into a bit of rhythm with training. Sunday is the long run, Monday is a recovery swim at uni and then I fit in two or three runs mid-week, either on the treadmill or as part of the cycle/run commute to uni. I aim for three, of course, and that's what the Novice Supreme states but sometimes it isn't always possible. I find fitting in two runs unproblematic but for some reason fitting in that third one is disproportionately hard and also, REALLY takes it out of me. But I am just going to be resignedly optimistic from hereon in, do my best to do it all but not beat myself up if a run here and there gets missed. A girl can only do what she can do. Even if her Assistant Coach is holding a spatula.

The Tim and I

After the excitement of my trip to Sydney to meet with the other WorldVision marathoners, you'd have thought that the following week would be something of a let down. Not so. The past week has had some seriously big ticket items - firstly, I got to meet the wonderful Rev Tim Costello, CEO of WorldVision. Secondly, we had the 'Red Dog' movie fundraiser and thirdly, donations and funds raised passed an incredible $15 000!!

Me with Tim Costello  

Tim has, of course, been very visible this past week as he tries to bring the world's attention away from the stockmarket and on to the huge humanitarian crisis that has engulfed the Horn of Africa. He stopped off in Perth on his way there and I was very lucky to get to meet him at the WorldVision office - what an authentic and truly inspirational human being he is.

The movie fundraiser was very well attended and we raised over $1400 towards the total which is now sitting at $15 058!! A huge THANK YOU to everyone who donated prizes, who came and watched the movie (sniff, what a weepie) and also, of course, to everyone who has contributed to that incredible pool of money since December.

Oh and the running! It's almost been an afterthought this week. But I've managed Week 1 of the Revised Novice Supreme pretty well. The long run this week was 8km. I've hired a treadmill for 6 months and it's been great - we have had an unseasonally wet winter so I've been doing most of my weekly runs inside. (Not such a tough endurance athlete then, really. Don't like to get wet or anything) Fortunately, Sunday was sunny and clear. It was so lovely to be running outside and around the bridges again and I am happy to report that it went well EXCEPT for some disturbing niggling in that naughty left illio-tibial band again at the 7km mark. It's ba-ack. My heart sank when I realised. But, instead of running the last kilometre I channelled Gerard the sports physio and stopped and walked.

There's an upside to all this though. In the Women's Classic this problem showed up at the 3km mark - at least it didn't show until the 7km this time. And - GUILTY! - I have been slacking off with those ITB stretches and the strengthening exercises Gerard gave me. It was kind of annoying to have to stop at 7km as I felt I could have kept running and running but I learned that particular lesson the hard way once before when I tried to push on through. So it was back to the icepacks and anti-inflammatories. Back to the stretches and leg lifts. And back to feeling that particular combination of terror and excitement that is the realisation that the marathon is a-coming. And awfully quickly too.

But I can't let it get overwhelming. I just have to keep focussed on each step (literally), take each week as it comes and not get too far ahead. Just take it one game at a time. (Thank you, Bull Durham.) 

Sydney the Musical

What a week it has been! In fact so much has happened that I'm not going to be able to get it all out for this one post and may need to drip feed all the fabulosity that was my weekend with Team World Vision in Sydney over a few installments.

But let's start at the very beginning, which is, after all, a very good place to start (I may have used that line before, sorry. Too tired to check.). Last week, I got the all clear from lovely sports physio Gerard to start full-on training again. Which is just as well as it is now less than THREE months until the big day! [insert muffled scream here!] Lovely trainer Peter has re-jigged the program to take my knee-related absence into account and get me through to the big day.

As I've built back up over the last few weeks on a modified program, I haven't been doing long runs and that's what needs to really start happening now. According to Peter I need to increase the distance of the long run by about 10- 15% each time. Unfortunately, the revised program and the delicate illio-tibial band 'situation' means that the half-marathon in the City to Surf won't be happening. Regular readers may remember that the half-marathon coincided perfectly with the Novice Supreme plan. The revised program has a 12km run for that weekend which I thought meant I could at least do the normal 12km City to Surf run but, as the course is so hilly, Peter has strongly advised against it for fear of upsetting my ITB. (And New York is a relatively flat course so it's not like I need to practice). I really can't risk an injury that requires any time off at this stage so it looks like I am out of the City to Surf. But I'll still be there to support Team WorldVision, of course! And I'll just do my 12km on some other route.

And so, to Syd-er-ney. I was lucky enough to get to spend the weekend staying with my lovely friend Teresa and family and got to catch up with old friend Ricardo for lunch on Friday.  Thank you Teresa and Ricardo!
I hadn't been to Sydney for YEARS (falling, as I do, into Camp Melbourne. Sorry, Sydney) and had forgotten how STUNNING that Harbour is.

Saturday was Team WorldVision day and Rose and Collette had organised some terrific speakers for us. I learned a lot, both about marathoning and about WorldVision (as well as recovery, chafing and socks. More about those topics later). But, the BEST thing (aside from Rose's flapjacks) was getting to meet the people I'll be sharing this whole mad experience with, especially Janey and Mike who I felt I had already got to know a bit through email and Facebook.

Appropriately, this weeks running song(s) : Keating! the Musical soundtrack. (It was the 'Redfern' thing (both suburb and song from the album) that got it back into my high rotation list with its suitably Sydney-esque theme.)