This week marks the commencement of tapering for the Cadbury Marathon. I’m decreasing from 5 runs a week to 4 and also decreasing the kilometers run. I did end up running a few “extra” kms for the hell of it (well maybe because I just didn’t read my training schedule right and forgot to turn back when I was supposed to…ooops!) I also wrapped up my corporate life for the year. It was a great feeling to walk out the door on Wednesday afternoon knowing that I wouldn’t have to be back until February!!
This was also the week I hosted Christmas Eve Dinner. It was a quite a number of weeks in the planning. I even had a spreadsheet to help me keep track of the dishes I was making. I made a traditional Polish Christmas and made everything from scratch. It was a big undertaking but it was so worth it. I don’t know how mum managed to feed the army of extended family that arrived at our house for Christmas Eve dinners past. I really take my hat off to her.
Festivities aside, I kept on with my training program and didn’t skip a beat. Here is how the week went down.
Monday 21/12/15
Today was meant to be an easy 40 day. Don’t know why but I got it in my head that it was meant to be an easy 45 day. I did a couple of extra minutes (48 all up) to run 8.6km with an average pace of 5’38” per km. I ran it down Sandy Bay road. I felt great and just went with it. I saw David Bailey again so I reckon that might have given me an extra boost. Hopefully seeing the other amazing runners on the day of the Cadbury Marathon will give me that extra push to go harder. I can’t believe how good I felt after doing 26km the day before.
Wednesday 23/12/15
Today I did my final 3x3km with 120 sec rest session. Now I think I’ve mentioned before that they are not my favourite session. I don’t enjoy them. 3km of trying to run at full pelt is murder for me. Ask me to run 25 at a steady slower pace and I’d do that any day over a 3×3 session. However, I do know that these sessions are important and they are building my speed and endurance so I bumble along and give it my best. I ran along Marieville Esplanade again. I so wish I had done all of my repeats here… oh well at least I know for when I start train for the Chicago Marathon. I had a bit of a tummy upset (yes again!) so I had to make a pit stop at about 2km in. Apart from that it was OK, a bit painful in terms of my laboured breathing but amazing in some spots where I felt I flew! I ran my 9km in 49’12” with an average pace of 5’27” not my best effort at all but I do struggle with these sessions. My best km was 5’14” and the “middle” km of each set was the best one. The variances were all over the place demonstrating that I am not running consistently. Must work on that.
Friday 25/12/15
Merry Christmas! Our family celebrates on Christmas Eve so Christmas day is a bit of a non event for us. It is usually spent eating leftovers, cleaning up and just chilling out. Chillin’ was a bit hard to do today because it was hot as HELL! It got up to 36 degrees and unfortunately I took advantage of a sleep in this morning so I didn’t get out for my run before it got ridiculously hot.
The heat and the fact that it was Christmas was no excuse not to run so I got myself down to our workshop/storage area under the house to run on the treadmill. It was quite cool down there compared to the outside temperatures and the rest of the house. I ran an easy 40 while watching some mindless crap on the iPad and burned off a bit of last night’s Christmas Feast. I felt really great afterwards – nothing like a run to perk you up and bring you out of lethargy. I ran 7.3km in 40 minutes with an average pace of 5’28”.
Love this Trail
Sunday 27/12/15
Let me start by saying that it was very weird not running on Saturday. However, the weather was so crappy that I was actually glad that it was a rest day.
Today’s run was the last run over 20km for the program – 24km. I got up super early (4AM) to have my breakfast and promptly returned to bed. Woke again at 5:30 and got myself ready and was starting my run by 6:30. It was very “crisp” at the Pipeline a mere 8 degrees – remember it was 36 just 2 days ago! I actually had to wear a long sleeve top…in summer.
Selfie with a beautiful peak
I ran without music again and took in the sights, sounds and smells of the trail. I spotted 11 “skippies” along the way (wallabies and pademelons). I count them – it’s a bit of a game with me now. It was a magic run. I felt great after the first 3km which I find the hardest on this track. The trail felt softer than last week as there had been a lot of rain the day before.
Time flew and I really enjoyed the run. I really think I enjoy running in the cool, crisp air more than I do in the heat. Here’s hoping for a cool, crisp day for the Cadbury Marathon and for Chicago for that matter. I did wear my hydration vest but only needed 200mls out of my 1 litre during the run. I only used 2 gels and that was plenty. It is amazing how much weather conditions impact on your fuel and hydration requirements.
I was really pleased with how I ran it today. I ran really well and probably clocked my best Pipeline time with an average pace of 5’38”per km over the 24.7km run. It took me 2:19:15 to complete. My fastest km was the 16th at 4’59”! I surprised myself with how well I did. Let’s hope I can repeat this performance on D-day!
Next week is my final full week of training. I can’t believe how close it is getting. I can almost feel it.
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