I’m at the pointy end of my training. It’s getting tough. The long runs are getting very long and this week I racked up just over 61km of training. Wow!
Corporate life is still busy and emotionally draining. Things will start settling down within the next couple of weeks (hopefully). True to my word I did every single km of my training program. I had moments of moaning and some of pure enjoyment.
Here’s how the week raced by…
Monday 23/11/15
Sunrise at the Cenotaph
Well today was one of those days where I plodded down struggle street. After running over 26km the day before I was a bit tired and achey. Waking up at 5AM could have easily said “nah, don’t feel like it”, rolled over and gone back to bed. I didn’t. I went for my easy 60 on my City circuit. It was a beautiful and warm day for a run, unfortunately I didn’t really appreciate the beauty of the day. I had a very upset tummy. I think it was still suffering the effects of those gels I had on the mountain the day before. I had to pause several times and make two “pitt stips”. Thank you Hobart City Council for maintaining your public toilets to a high standard! Anyway I suffered through and managed 10km at a pace of 6’05” per km. Sometimes you’ve just got to keep on keepin’ on.
Wednesday 25/11/15
I had a bit more energy this morning and while I can’t say I was looking forward to my repeats today I was
A random artistic shot of Sandy Bay Road taken by my back pocket!
really in the mood for a run. Today was to be a very emotionally draining day at the corporate. We were confirming people’s redundancies and exit dates. Even though they were somewhat inevitable it still is not a fantastic message to deliver. I needed this run to get myself ready for the day.
Today I did 4x2km repeats with 90sec rest. I ran it down Sandy Bay Road. My tummy was still giving me grief (hmm maybe it wasn’t those gels after all?) I managed to do OK. I’m not quite happy with the speed. I used to be faster. Not sure if I’m not pushing myself hard enough or what the issue is but I’m a little concerned. Looking at my splits my first km is always better than the second by at least 10sec. I managed to do this session at an average pace of 5’17” with my fastest km at 4’45”.
Friday 26/11/15
Snowy kunyani/Mt Wellington
We had a cold front come through overnight and it really cooled things down. There was even snow on the mountain. In November!!! Here I was thinking I was done with long tights and tops for the year. Anyhow, I bundled myself up in my winter gear and braved the cold sunshine of Friday.
Today I had a spring in my step (well after I got past the first 3km…I hate the first 3km). I was glad the week was coming to a close and I could have a break from the cheesemine for a couple of days. I did the same circuit as Monday but it felt a million times better. I was really enjoying the run and I think I secretly enjoy running in the cold more than I do the heat. It was a little bit windy today and I nearly lost my hat twice. Nothing beats a sprint for your hat as a surprise speed sesh! All in all a good run. Managed 10.5km in an average pace of 5’57”.
Saturday 28/11/15
30 minute tempo today. The morning got away from me. I took John to the airport in the morning and then decided to check out the new Myer before finally doing my run. I definitely think I am a morning runner. I think it makes it harder to find excuses not to run.
Anyhow, after much procrastination I got out there and did my 30 minutes down Sandy Bay Road. I did 5.3km with an average pace of 5’39”. I even managed to do one of my km at 5′.
Sunday 29/11/15
Long run day. Longest run ever again this week! Only one more distance PB (32km) to achieve on the program before I run my 42.2 at the Cadbury Marathon.
There is always a bit of prep to do before a long run. Where/When I am running? What’s the weather likely to do? What will I wear? What fuel? Where are the toilets along the route?
I decided I wanted to run to MONA early in the morning. According to the bike track sign it is 11.5km from the Regatta Grounds making it 23km return. Whack on another 4km to get from home to the bike track and that makes it close enough to the 28km I wanted to run. OK so that takes care of when and where. Now what to wear? I chose my broken in grey Nike Flyknits, black 3/4 tights, flouro Nike singlet, hat and my Salomon Hydration Vest. Wardrobe sorted. Now for the fuel.
After my tummy upsets on the Pipeline last week I decided to go for a more natural gel. After doing some research on the net I found that Clif Shots are 90% organic. I love the energy bars so I thought I’d give them a crack. I bought four in the Citrus flavour. I also bought myself a small (150ml) Salomon Soft Flask to put the gels in. I really hate having to open gels while I run. I also hate the consistency. There were others on the intrawebs that share my feelings. They came up with the brilliant idea of putting all the gels you need into a small container and dilute 4 parts gel to one part water for a nicer consistency. GENIUS! No more fumbling for gels.
I woke at 4:30, made and ate my Elvis Sandwich breakfast and went back to bed. Woke again at 6, had a shower to wake up and a banana for more energy and headed off.
The first 3km were horrible. I really hate them. I think I need to look into some sort of warm-up routine because those first 3 kind of put me in a bad space. Maybe I just need to change my route and not spend my first 3 going uphill. My legs felt like concrete and I felt like I was running in place. Anyhow, I know my pattern so I pushed through and started feeling amazing at km #4. The run felt really great and I liked being able to have a sip of water whenever I wanted. I didn’t start with the water or gels until I hit 10km. The gel solution worked remarkably well and I’m happy to report that I did not have to activate my Toilet Strategy Action Plan at any point of the run. The gels were more palatable diluted slightly and the Clif formula didn’t wreak havoc on my tummy.
I made it to MONA!
I got to MONA and felt a great sense of achievement. I ventured off the bike track to the front gates of MONA and took a few pics before started the long slog back home. During the return journey I reminisced about other runs I’ve done in the area and that really made time and distance fly and before I knew it I was at Cornelian Bay. Now unfortunately, this is where my legs started protesting. As the Nike voice in my ear buds was counting down the kms to “3km to go” another voice in my head was saying “we’re done here, call a cab.” Not sure what happened. It was like a spell had been broken. Anyway I pushed through but it was so hard. I can only imagine it will be harder.
To add to the difficulty, my run calculation was a bit off. I forgotten to account for the fact that from the bike track to my house was 8km return. So if it’s 23km return from the start of the bike track to MONA then its 31km all up to get back home. OOOPSIE! Still I was rather relieved when the Nike voice said “Congratulations you’ve reached your goal of 28km”. Normally I would have just kept running but the sheer thought of running another km was like asking me to climb Mt Everest. I walked home the rest of the way as a “cool down”. I called into Woolies with my salt encrusted face and bought some coconut water to sustain me until I got home.
I did it in 2:45:44 average of 6’16”per km. But I still did it. Bring on next week.
Farthest Run EVER!
