Nattie's introduction to Ironman training

Due to my slothfulness after the Gold Coast Half Ironman and then my subsequent hamstring injury Nattie the wonder dog dalmatian hadn't been on a run for a number of weeks.

I recently noticed that she looked as though she had put on a bit of weight.

So, this morning's run was a hilly 5km run from home around Kenmore with Nattie.

Nattie was so excited to be going for a run she was beside herself.  It took me ages to calm her down; she normally takes around 5 minutes to settle into a run, but this morning it took about 15 minutes of frustration.  Once she settled down she was great.  She'll get better the more regularly she goes out and I am hoping to give her 2 runs a week and Craig might give her 1 run as well.

She is lovely once she settles down and she will run quite happily beside me, although she does get very perplexed as to why I have to slow down for the hills.  Why do dogs NOT need to slow down for the hills?

This morning I left a little later as I was picking up my allergy de-sensitisation vaccines from the doctor at Kenmore to take them into town where it is going to be more convenient for me to continue with weekly vaccinations - sigh.

As a consequence we didn't start the run until just after 7am and it was HOT.  The last 10 minutes of the run Nattie really struggled; her tongue was hanging out of her mouth and she was panting heavily.  I got a bit worried about her and walked a bit for her.  When she got home she dived into her water bowl and ended up on the kitchen floor under the air-con.  Her eyes were bloodshot and she was flat out like a lizard drinking - poor thing.  So, I will see how she progresses over the next couple of weeks, but the runs will certainly be done a lot earlier in the day and hopefully this will get her fitness up and then she may be able to cope a bit better in the heat.  I'll always have water for her too once the run gets to be around an hour. I remember last year leading up to Mooloolaba I was running with her so I think it is just a fitness thing and she picks her fitness up so quickly unlike us humans!