A week of sore legs and junk miles

.

I was very happy to complete the Maroondah Dam 50km ultramarathon last Sunday. So happy that a week of relatively unproductive running make very little difference to my motivation.
The legs were very sore almost all week and all running was done at an easy pace so that I could recover. In terms of significant events this week. I managed to get my entry for the six foot track marathon lodged which was accepted. And I joined AURA, the Ultra Runners Assoc. I'll need to make sure that this coming week is a semi hard week and then I'll do a one week taper for the six foot track. After that I'll be in training for the Canberra 50km which is my target event to qualify for the Comrades Marathon in Sth Africa in June.

In terms of weight management I had a good week and ate healthy while dropping a bit of balast. This plan of not drinking Sunday to Thursday will make a big difference. So.... Going back from today the week looked like this....

Sunday 27/2 ~ 22km
What a great way to spend a day. The temperature was perfect , the sun was out for a flat "easy" long run today. I just decided to run for an hour in one direction then turn around. Was surprised how much distance was covered almost made it to the Westgate bridge. Managed to stay focussed on keeping the intensity down and relaxing. No heart rate monitors or GPS just me and the walkman. I figure I still should be recovering from last weeks race so I'll do another 22km type distance next Sunday in prep for the following weeks race in the Blue Mountains.

Saturday 26/2 ~ 6km
Easy one with my running pal. Good that it was easy because I was a little foggy from the wine the night before.

Friday 25/2 ~ 14km
Ran to work via Port Melbourne. Very happy to have done this two days in a row.

Thursday ~ 14km
Strapped on the Garmin 301 and rant to work via Port Melbourne. Felt very weak after about 10km and walked for a while. Still very sore from the race last Sunday.

Wednesday 23/2 ~ 0km
Day of rest. I can hardly walk. Decending stairs still present the biggest challenge.

Tuesday 22/2 ~ 10km
Ran along the bay past St Kilda to Middle Park. Major problems just walking, why am I doing this to myself?

Monday 21/2 ~ 6km
Easy jog to get the blood flowing. Was almost impossible to do up my shoe laces. Very sore but surprisingly my joints are in good shape which is amazing.

A slack week then BOOM! ~ 50km in the hills

.

After a completely slack week because we were chaperoning some business visitors from my HQ in the USA and averaging about 3-4hrs per night I found myself in the unusual position of facing a diary that looked like this…

Saturday 12th Feb – 10km against the Virtual Competitor on the Garmin 301.

Sunday – Nothing

Monday – Nothing

Tuesday – Nothing

Wednesday – Nothing

Thursday – Nothing

Friday – Nothing

Saturday 19th Feb – 6km Easy

Realising that I had had a solid preparation up until this complete and slack departure from the program I decided that my planned race of 30km was perfectly tapered, in fact I was probably overtapered.

So I decided to take the 50km race option at the Aust Ultra Runners ~ Maroondah Dam Trail Run

Sunday 20th Feb – 50km

After a nothing week of training I figured I’d use this to my advantage and treat the Maroondah Dam Ultra as a 50km ultramarathon rather my planned 30km.

So I fronted up to the start with each of the rest of the field looking less than 50% of my body weight with three objectives.

To make the 20km in 2hr 45min cutoff. An easy task by anyone’s standard, right? Not as easy as you may think. The hills were steeper than I have ever experienced, in fact I was on all fours on one or two occasions just trying to scamper up them.

to finish, uninjured - Which I did

to beat 8hrs – which was the slowest finisher last year.. My time was about 7:20 according to my stopwatch

I learnt a few things yesterday

I learnt that hills and 100kg of bodyweight are not compatible and therefore I MUST reduce my body weight. No more wine during the week as defined by Sunday to Thursday. And look after my diet more. Water not Gatorade, less fizzy drinks, reduce starches after lunch etc….

I learnt that I can run 50km in the mountains at this point in the schedule therefore, I will be able to finish the Comrades 89km Marathon, in June if I keep up the training and lose weight.

I learnt that if always err on the side of eating and drinking more during runs this pays off at the end.

Finally, I have a pathway and schedule that will almost guarantee a finish in South Africa in June..

Plan for the Comrades 89km Marathon in Sth Africa on 16th June

20-Feb-05 Maroondah 50km - Done
13-Mar-05 6 foot track 46km
10-Apr-05 Canberra 50km
24-Apr-05 Brisbane 42km
8-May-05 Walhalla 55km
22-May-05 Williamstown 42km
16-June-05 Comrades 89km

Slight flaw here because I'll need to do a 65km training run in there somewhere so I may run for 10km prior to the beginning of Walhalla. (Is this weird? Running 10km before an ultramarathon?)

If I can do all this without an injury I should be right for the last one on the list.

The ultimate object COMRADES 2005!

Brendan's Blustery Bounding Blog

Well overdue for a blog!

The toy of my dreams arrived today. A Garmin 301. It does distance, speed, pace using GPS satellites, it has a heart rate monitor with the usual target zones and a really cool training software package which allows you to analyse the workouts. In fact it has so many features that you don't need to exercise anymore. It does it all for you! The other good news is that I managed to sell my old Polar heart rate monitor on ebay today for roughly the same price as the new gadget cost me. The best of all worlds..

Here is a summary of last week.

Today Tues 8 February - 9km
Gave the time trial a miss. I'm still sick. Instead I ran home from work at an easy pace. And tooled around with the new gadget.

Yesterday Mon 7 February - Day off
Spent most of the day in bed eradicating the bug that went through the kids and Mrs blog last week. Still aching and creaking.

Sunday 6 Feb - 32km
Went out with Schepisi's group and ran with a few old buddies from Brighton down the bay, had a great old yak fest. Was fairly spent at the end as I felt the sickness coming on and didn't drink enough water. As a result I was very thirsty most of the way. I have since read Horries blog which shocked me, so I have resolved to drink more water at all times and wear a water bottle more often.

Saturday 5 Feb - 9km
Along the bay. Disgusting, smelly, debris everywhere, polluted aftermath of the storms. Not much fun. Where has Middle Park beach gone. It's been washed away!

Friday 4 Feb - 10km
My running partner stands me up! So did a sprightly 10km in and around the Port Melbourne area.

Thursday 5 Feb - 10km
MAJOR STORMS LAST NIGHT. The most rain in 150yrs. The Yarra river has burst it's banks, trees down everywhere, roads cut. Did two laps of the Tan, around the botanical gardens which felt like a steeple chase not a early morning jog.

Wednesday 6 Feb - 10km
Ran to work. In the rain. The most wet I have ever been. This is the mother of all storms. Not many others out training??? Wimps.

Tuesday 5 Feb - 8km Time Trial
Actually 7.75km time trial. (2 laps of the Tan). PB of 39min 44sec. Very Very happy with the improvement. five weeks ago it was 44min 20sec..