Sunday, May 30, 2010

Planned run 3 hours

Date: 30 May 2010
Time: 2:59:02 min
Distance: 34.17km km


http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34997928

Finally I have completed a decent _long_ run. The pace and distance is exactly what I had hoped for. In this run I tried not to monitor my watch so much to get feedback on my pace. I just ran to how I felt.

As per usual, I ran much faster than I should early on, lots of 1km splits under 5min per km, and most at around 4:50min/km. That pace slowed to about 5:10 after 20km or so, and after 24km's I slowed even more. I ultimately ground down to slower than 5:30min/km pace after 27km's with the pace blowing out to 6min/km after 30km's.

The 6min/km pace coincided with hills that have in the past _stopped_ me in 50min runs in the past. So the fact I held 6min/km pace on those hills in the last few km's of a 3hr is really good.

SO overall realy satisfied with this one. I legs were massively fatigued, and I had signs of low energy at the end - Hands tingling, teeth tingling. I did not take any food along the way except for a bannana. I certainly will take a Gu every 10kms in the race, and slurp 200mls of water with it. That will likely eliminate that energy loss.

Injury wise, I have none of the old problems. The week off seems to have helped the left knee recover almost completely. There is an ever so slight twinge there but it is fine. The only real worry is that my left heel is painful. It looks a lot like this Retrocalcaneal Bursitis


The symptoms I have match precisely. The treatment is 'stop running' etc etc.. I am certainly not going to do that after nearly 6 months build up to the marathon. I have had the issue on and off and in varying severity ever since I began running. If it is bad after the marathon, I will seek treatment and stop running for a while until it is totally recovered.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Planned run 4x1km speed with 1min30 standing recovery

Date: 28 May 2010
Time: 21:24 min
Distance: 4.42 km


http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34818538

Not the greatest speed run for me today. Felt quite tired and lacking energy. If a speed run goes well for me I feel strong and have a good springing step. Today none of that I had to grind it out.

Looking at previous runs I have done of this type, I did a more consistent pace over all reps, all around 3:50 last time. Last year I could not manage any better than 4:00 for each rep. Today I did :

3:35
3:48
4:00
3:59

I guess it is not so bad considering I am feeling crap.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Planned run 1 hour 20 minutes

Date: 26 May 2010
Time: 1:20:39 min
Distance: 16.37 km

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34606816

Good longish run for the mid-week. The pace I did this one in - 4:57min/km - is pretty much what I need to do for the full marathon distance if I want to get in under 3hr30min. I am seriously fatigued right now, sore from an accumulation of all the runs I have done since I returned from travelling. I also did a pretty hard gym session last night - hard on legs, buttocks and stomach muscles.

I am having a whole day off tomorrow so as to recover properly. I will do some sit ups though just to keep building core strength. 4x 1km on Friday, and then gym again Friday night, and Saturday off. Sunday another 3hr run :)

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Planned run 6 x 500 metres with 1 minute standing recovery

Date: 25 May 2010
Time: 15:20 min
Distance: 3.26 km

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34497310

Decent speed session considering how sore I am. I have returned from travelling for work, when I missed 19 days of planned runs - I managed to get a little bit of running in that time, but ended up with 7 days straight no running at all.

When I returned, I did a 1hr20 run straight up, then a 50min run the next night ( Friday last week). Then I did a really tough 3hr run Sunday. I had Monday off, and went to the gym last night Monday. That all added up to very sore legs!

I worked out steadily at the gym, easy weights on these 'Smart Strength' machines. I like them because they are smooth. There are a collection of 10 of them, each working all the muscle groups, including legs. I worked legs much harder than anything else.

I also did 15min on a cross trainer machine, set on 'Round the World' and maximum effort setting 25. It is a good strength/aerobic work out with no impact.

I have a 1hr20 run tomorrow, I might see if I can do that a little harder than I have recently, depending on how my legs are tomorrow.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Planned run 3 hours

Date: 23 May 2010
Time: 2:56:20 min
Distance: 31.55 km

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34206981

Yet another mile stone distance, I did 31.55km in 2hr56. Farthest I have ever gone, but I did do it very slowly.

The disruption to my training schedule that my work travel has caused certainly made me lose condition. I have taken a small step backward, but it is not too bad. I have speed sessions this week, relatively low km's, so that will give me a chance to recover for my next 3hr run next week. I hope to do a slightly faster pace next week.

The run was quite painful. I began with sore legs from the previous two runs I did this week. My energy levels were ok, no sign of any fade or 'wall' in that respect. I did hit a point where fatigue in my legs was a bit too much. I maintained a reasonably good pace until around 29kms, a bit better than 5:25min/km, but nose dived from there.

The distance I can do before the fatigue nose dive happens seems to be steadily extending to further, so hopefully that trend will continue.

Friday, May 21, 2010

7 weeks to go

So, it is now 7 weeks to go before my first full marathon race. I had planned to do the Noosa Winter Festival Half Marathon on 23rd May, but decided not to. I have one of the total of three 3 hour runs scheduled on the 23rd, and I was willing to do a half marathon race instead. The other two 3 hour runs happen on 30 May and 6 June.

But since all the disruption that this travelling has caused, I was in no shape at all to do a decent HM, and the benefit of such a race is minimal. I really need to get the endurance aspect of training done so the 3 hour run is more important at this stage in training.

Just to summarise - I went to Canberra on the Monday, May 3rd. I did the following runs while away:

- 5km on May 4
- 18km on May 5
- 10km on May 7
- 4km on May 13

I returned to Australia on 19 May, and needed a day to recover from jetlag and the horror of the travelling itself:

- Up at 5AM in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia on 17 May
- Worked up until 5:15PM in Al Khobar , finally found evidence required to locate where a technical issue could be resolved. It ended up being in a third party software module
- Got back to Hotel, grabbed a limo to Bahrain, had dinner in a Turkish Restaurant
- Had to catch a plane from Bahrain to Dubai at 3:50AM 18 May, so went to a late night bar, had a few beers
- Got to Airport Bahrain at about midnight, checked in
- Flew to Dubai, had a few hours wait there then 6:50AM flight to Brisbane.
- 14 hours to Brisbane.

I was lucky the aircraft was not full, and I had seat D, with two seats vacant. That allowed me to stretch out and sleep a little. Even then I was sleep deprived.

From now on I need to make every run count, and hit the gym to build up strength again. The 3 hour run in two days will be very hard, so I will take it really slow.

Planned run 50 minutes

Date: 21 May 2010
Time: 50:02 min
Distance: 10.47 km

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/33998240

I felt quite sore from the 1hr 20 run yesterday. Ordinarily I would have had a day rest after that run. I did the run Thursday instead of Wednesday, because I was so tired after the travelling. I am keen to get back into the schedule so I did the next run (this one) on the day specified. The 50 minute run was not too bad.

I managed a reasonable pace considering how sore I am, 4:46min/km average. I did the last three km 4:30, 4:37 and 4:35 min/km, which is not too bad. I am still able to run fastish and feel ok aerobically, so I think I retained some speed. Just that the muscles have gone backwards a little in conditioning.

Planned run 1 hour 20 minutes

Date: 20 May 2010
Time: 1:22:16 min
Distance: 15.85 km

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/33998207

I am finally back from work trip. It was altogether an ordeal. Too hot to run at all in Saudi Arabia, even at night!! The Gym at the Hotel was useless, a few free weights and a broken stationary bike. So I could not even do some strength work or a spin session.

I am hoping that the cold I got will be the last one for the year for me, and I will have nothing else leading up to the marathon. Considering the last decent _planned_ run I did was 19 days ago, this run was ok. I certainly lost some condition, and the run was quite hard - I felt aerobically ok, but just did not have the strength in my legs. I write this the next day, and I have muscle soreness that has not been present after a run in a long time!!

Pace was slow, deliberately slow so as to ease into the running again. Overall a satisfactory return to proper training.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Unplanned run 4km

In Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia for work. It is quite remarkable that I actually got here after the ordeals endured last week.

Anyway, I have had a classic and proper 'airport cold'. The type you can only get in airports. It started in Canberra with a sore throat, caught international flight from Sydney to Dubai via Bangkok, and then on to Bahrain and finally Al Khobar by car. So the basic cold was worsened by the long flights.

If I was not so sick I may have had the chance to actually enjoy myself !!! Anyway I am here for work, things are going much better today than they were when I arrived on Monday. My own plan had me gone and home by the 12 May, but that is a long forgotten idea.

It is Thursday 13 May here, and I am _almost_ over my jetlag, and my cold. So I decided to go for a run. The temperature was between 34 and 37 degrees I estimate, and the weather stations here say that the morning temp would range between a min of 37 and a max of 42 today.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/33109619

The run was quite bad. I was still slightly ill, and breathing was hard right at the beginning. The heat was terrible, so I decided to do a short run. 4kms!! I might do a longer run tomorrow, get out a lot earlier, with the sun just coming up and it should be better.

I am looking formward to getting home and returning to my routine - proper training.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Plan leading up to HM in Noosa 23rd May

I plan to do the Noosa Winter Festival Half Marathon on 23rd May.

I have had my training schedule disrupted due to work travel, and so I am getting some runs in where I can right now. I _should_ be back on Wed 12th May, with my last run done on 7th May. I may get another run in somewhere but it is doubtful.

So I will hook straight in to the usual speed sessions pattern from 12 May on assuming I am back by then:

Wed 12 1hr run
Thu 13 REST
Fri 14 4x1km 1:30 recovery
Sat 15 REST
Sun 16 2 hour run
Mon 17 REST
Tue 18 3km TT
Wed 19 50 min run
Thu 20 10x30 speed with 30second jog recovery
Fri 21 REST
Sat 22 REST
Sun 23 RACE

Unplanned run 10km

I am currently still in Canberra, and have finally received my Visa to travel Internationally. My flight leaves tomorrow (Saturday).

This week has been a bit of an ordeal, and I don't feel any satisfaction at all in finally getting the Visa. I have had enough, and look forward to getting home.

Anyway, another run I did today, simply to get something good happening for the end of the week. I have not followed any of my training schedule, only did a couple of runs this week. I will miss my weekly long run on Sunday, as I am scheduled to arrive at my destination Sunday morning and expect to get to work / consulting immediately.

So I did a run where I started slow and steadily built up speed. I ended up doing better than 4:20 pace quite easily in the last 4 kms, ( one km I was slowed by pedestrian traffic ) so that is a good sign. I am definately fast now, and all I need to do is try to maintain this fitness until I can return to proper training. Luckily this weekend is a scheduled low km week so it is a good chance to allow legs joints, tendons, muscles to recover.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/32477125

I did a short jog to the City Centre to grab a taxi back to the hotel:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/32477140

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Unplanned runs in Canberra

I am currently stuck in Canberra, a work thing. Meant to be on my way to somewhere else. Lets just say that it has been a terribly frustrating time so far.

To help me stay sane I have managed to get two runs in - neither match any of my planned runs, but I needed to run just for the fun of it.

The first one was on Tuesday night, 4 May:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/32281910

I took off just to enjoy it, it had been raining heavily earlier in the day. It began raining heavily during the run, hence I pulled up at 5km to get shelter. Luckily there was some available. I then walked back to the hotel.

The second is a longer run of 18km done on 5 May:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/32281920

I set off aiming to run around a section of Lake Burley Griffin. But I made a wrong turn up Clunies ROss Road instead of follow Parkes way. It was night by then - and got pretty lost. I asked someone where Capitol Hill was and he was amused as I was heading in completely the wrong direction. I turned around, reached the City Centre and found an IGA super market. There I bought some bananas and a few other bits and pieces and grabbed a taxi back to the hotel.

The run did its job, cheered me up. And it was very scenic while the sun was up.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Planned run 2 hours 30 minutes

Date: 2 May 2010
Time: 2:30:55 min
Distance: 29.04 km

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/31894965


Another milestone run, and a greatest distance ever. 29.04km in 2:30:55. Average pace 5:12min/km. That is after tanking terribly at 25km's and slowing to almost a shuffle. The last 3 km's were all slower than 6min, the last one 6:40min/km!! If this were a full Marathon I would have had over 13km left to run. It would have been abject misery!!

So I have a clear picture of what going too fast for my capability will do to my run. I reckon if I paced sensibly at the beginning, 5:10min/km, I would be able to hold that pace the whole way, and not feel so wasted at the end.

One thing to note here is that I have worn my water belt for the last two long runs. And those runs have been very difficult in the last 6-8 kms. The one great long run I have done is the first 2hr20, where I did 28km's. I felt really good in that one, and I did NOT wear the water belt. However I also had to stop at 13km mark in that run to get water and toilet, so I had a break to freshen up. Today I wore the belt and my mobile, and that is close to an extra 1kg weight. And I ran completely non-stop.

So it seems clear that the extra weight does make a difference, as does a break at 13km!!.

I have a good idea were I am at right now. I am not in a condition to run 5min/km for the full Marathon distance. I have 9 weeks to go to build that endurance up. I wont be using the water belt, and I will have tapered so I will definitely be in it with a good chance to make it to 5min/km and around 3hr 30min goal finish time.