A big week...and its not over yet!

Thursday 20th - off
Friday - 10km easy run
Saturday - Twilight Half Marathon. 23.5km including the race and a bit of a warm up beforehand. I had planned a longer warm up and a cooldown but I just didn't feel well. The race was good. Flat course, very strong headwinds in parts (it was a 4 x loop 5km circuit with the last two loops an extra 600m added on). It was a warm night and following the race I was violently ill for 24hrs with gastro so assume that had something to do with how I felt during the race. All things considered I was happy then with my 1:38:50 (was aiming for 1:33) and 1st Place Age Category trophy and cheque woo hoo!
Sunday - Sick! :(
Monday 24th - 21km steady @ 5:14min/km before work.
Tuesday 25th - off
Wednesday 26th -28km average 5:05min/km pace. Lots of slow stuff so some fast km in there too. A good fartlek session without planning that beforehand.
Thursday 27th - 8km easy with two buddies over mostly flat course around Bulimba.
Friday 28th - A magical run - just the fact I could manage 33.5km on my own plus the energy I was feeling was amazing. I practiced my marathon food and had a mouthful of powerade beforehand and a gu at 10km and a gu at 21km. Protein drink recovery of course. I normally run around the city and do only small runs around home (it gets boring otherwise) but out of necessity I ran from home today. Here are my thoughts that I emailed to a friend:

I had a perfect perfect run. Could not have been more magical. In fact I think it had a touch of magic in it. I ran around the neighbourhood – got out the door around 4:25am and just turned left (because right would have been UP a hill!). Travelled in the dark over many many hills through streets I have never ventured down and surprised myself when I came out on streets I knew well. It was so surreal watching all of suburbia come to life in slow motion.

At the halfway mark I needed water and the bubler taps in a park were turned off. A chinese yoga class was happening and they saw me and all yelled out “tap tap” and all 16 of them in one fluid movement pointed together to the tap at the top of the hill. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the weirdness of it. I couldn’t thank them as they got straight back into their silent chanting and movements.

The sun was up by now and having made halfway I figured I needed some encouragement to get me the rest of the way so I put my ipod on.

With 10km to go I found myself going over a small bridge crossing the river with lush greenery. It was like a childs fairy book. I kept following the path and found myself in the Rocks Riverside Park. I’ve been there many times but this was the first time so early in the morning. The grass was dewy, the river was flowing strong and it was so quiet. I ran right to the very end where industrial works have been turned into amazing area for kids. Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol was on and I could have just wept and knelt down for the true beauty I was seeing in every step of my run. I felt it inside me and I was smiling and laughed aloud – more like a ‘weeeeeeee lets do this’ as I turned for home.

There was little beauty in the last 4km but I was still reeling from my moments with mother nature – in my own backyard!!!!

Two Weeks in One!

Been a bit slack so for prosperity's sake here is my last fortnights training.

Thursday 6th Sept - Linda's speed session - 13km all up. 2km warm up 10km @ 4:41 pace and 1km cool down.
Friday - off
Saturday - 37km @ 5:03 pace. Felt easy but running with Tess always does! Had a few spots in it that I mentally could have thrown in the towel but all in all I was so excited about getting this one in the bank. We got caught up in a race in New Farm so did some 4:20 km's as well as a few quick ones going over the Storey Bridge playing leapfrog so that bought the overall average pace down to a decent one.
Sunday - NOTHING!
Monday 10th - 5km easy
Tuesday - off
Wednesday - 20.3km @ 5:09 pace over hills. Happy with this one on my own but was totally wasted. Didn't want to do any speed but found I was progressing quite well. I had a number of breaks to stretch and get water and had to find a toilet at the halfway mark as my stomach was reacting to the heat a bit.

Thursday 13th - Lindas - 13km in total. 3k warm up, 8km @ marathon pace and 1km cooldown.
Friday - off
Saturday - 30km @ 5:06min/km. I loved this run. It was the toughest i have done because it was on my own. I had lots to think about though so it was good to be solo. I was running along Ballina and headed towards Lennox Heads. Didn't quite get there but got close. Did 5km on rocks and the beach and some climbing so a real tough run. About 15km was on trails along the beach - how awesome was that. Totally made me appreciate the beauty of the country we live in. Really helped give me a new respect for what running does to/for the body as well as made me feel closer to Mother Nature. Finished strong with a few
Sunday 16th- NOTHING!
Monday 17th - 10km easy with Tesso. Doing 5:15 pace average but started slow and got progressively faster. Fun! Finished with coffee which made it very pleasant start to the day.
Tuesday 18th - 18.5km - Started at work, met Tess at the GoBe Bridge and we made our way to PCRG for the speed session. Pat took us out to the UQ track where we did 2 x 3min; 1 x 6min, 1 x 4min, 2 x 1min and 1 x 30sec. It was a great setting and I loved being on the track (dirt track alongside UQ ovals) as opposed to concrete or road.  A bit congested in places but for speed work and not a race it was very manageable.
Wednesday 19th - off. Totally wiped out. Little baby is sick so all things stop and time to refocus on the family unit.

Work out what works for you!

I think it works for me to have higher mileage days and more rest days than spreading the same mileage over more days and having only one day off a week (or none!). I have a number of running buddies that prefer the complete opposite but I have spent a number of years contemplating this and I experience no injuries and reduced tiredness/soreness and more motivation when I have two rest days a week. I still need to be running 90-110 km a week though so double up days or high mileage runs twice a week are necessary.

This week shows lots of rest days but the plan was a low week in my NYRR program as well as after doing 99km last week and still trying to ensure the hammy doesn't play up. When I did run this week it was quality sessions. I felt great!

Thursday - Rested
Friday - Rested
Saturday - 25km. Ran from Ship Inn up to Mt Cootha and back. A wonderful run for many reasons and I loved every minute of it.
Sunday - Rest Day
Monday - 12.5km Steady
Tuesday - 6 x 1Mile Repeats: 1 Mile warm up; 1M @ 4:45; 1M @ 4:15; 1M @4:10; 1M @ 4:45 1 Mile Cool down. I did it. Completely exhausting running in the afternoon but this workout was to get you running at marathon pace (4:45) then exhaust you and then get you running at marathon pace tired. It worked. My marathon pace on the last one felt so easy despite my legs being tired and hurting. (10km all up)
Wednesday - Off