The weekly report...

with some upcoming ultras i've decided that i need to get back onto more trails and start focusing on hitting as many hills as i can in order to regain some of the strength i have lost over the last few years. i've decided to start focusing on ultra and trail races next year and for this i've decided that it's going to take plenty of work on the trails and up and down hills.


i think my focus will be to run the hills till i'm drop dead tired and then run some more until the body adapts to all this vertical gain that i throw at it.


my biggest weak leading into North Face this year was a 17 hour/200km week and my plan is to hit that a few months out and build on it - a 20 hour week sounds about right. not sure how i'm going to do that with a 40 hour work week and my desire to spend as much time with my wife and kids as i can but i'll work something out. thankfully they are very supportive but it'll be an interesting period of time management juggling. what usually goes first is sleep and i seem to be able to cope with that loss better than most.


ok enough of the blab and on to what was last week...


2/11/09 - 90min trail run workout: 4 x 6min hard (3min easy)


1h30' run in the National Park starting at the rangers station and heading up the oaks fire trail put in some quality with 4 x 6min efforts at around half marathon effort. Tough work but felt strong on the climb in and out. Hot day!


3/11/09 - easy trail run


a very hot day and when i got out after work it was a nice 38C. parked the car in Glenbrook and headed up onto the knapsack trails where i met up with fellow BMMC runner scam bullant. tough run and felt like i was breathing with a mask on in front of the oven.


4/11/09 - SANDWICH DAY (3 runs - 10k easy run (am), hill session totalling 14k (lunch), 10k steady home (pm))


i'm thinking that 3 run session days might become a big part of my training. it will essentially invoves the 10k run commute to and from work with a hard lunchtime workout sandwiched in the middle. today it involved 6 x The Sanctuary (Drive) hill repeats (12-15% slope) which were tough. the climb home up mitchells pass though was not as tough as expected and i was stoked to make it home feeling so strong. that feeling ended quickly when i took monty (the dog) for 3km of walking and jogging through the neighbourhood. i was done...


5/11/09 - hilly run


back into the hills during lunch and for the first 10 minutes things weren't looking good. my body was feeling a little ragged but what felt like 5min pace was actually 4:30 pace when i looked at the watch and by the time i reached the start of the trail up to lapstone station i was feeling good to go again. the climb was tough but i down shifted into low gear and motored up and by the time i reached glenbrook and headed back down the old highway onto mitchells pass i was feeling ready to roll through 15 minutes of tempo on my way back to work. the wheels fell off about 10 minutes out and i backed off to make sure that the legs are not too shattered for tomorrow morning's long journey to work.


6/11/09 - flat easy run


got in another run which included some vertical gain but mainly flat to give the legs a little break. the legs were feeling the previous runs as they barked at me to take it slow for the first few kilometres and i listened. after loosening up though they felt good and the pace easily settled into something a little slower than marathon pace...


7/11/09 - easy run


managed to slip in an easy run...


8/11/09 - long easy run (trails)


the day almost flew on by with kid's swimming lessons and house work but managed to slip out just before lunch for some trail love...


managed 2h13' of trail time for about 28km which included running some aid for a lady who had slipped on some wet rocks. her family were with her but she wasn't moving or making any noise which was quite scary. ran to get help so that they could assess her condition. i felt completely wiped out mentally and physically after that ordeal and struggled for the final 10km.


with aching legs i quickly showered and jumped in the car for a BMMC barbie at MrGs. recovery nutrition was enjoyed which included a lentil burger and roasted veggies all washed down with carbon-neutral beer (first beer in months... thinking back the last beer consumed was with Blue Dog on a post-morning NF recon run).


the numbers: running 135km, 10:43 total time, avg pace 4:45/km

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week two - running and diet thoughts...

the title suggests that i am currently training towards some goal. not sure what that is yet....

thought i would also post a few random days of food consumption here and there for those that have asked about it. i've started eating more cooked food than usual but as the days get warmer i'll probably move closer to eating at least 60% of my daily food consumption in fresh fruit. i've noticed more and more vegan ultra-endurance athletes popping up or perhaps i am just becoming more aware...

my eating is largely based on eastern nutritional philosophy and healing my body through plant-based nutrition and is influenced by books such as healing with whole foods, the china study, nutrition and athletic performance, and i'm waiting for brendan brazier's thrive book to arrive.

TRAINING


monday: 14.53 km (1:04) - 4:25 pace // yoga session - core & back
a steady run out to the lakes. the last 5k was challenging with the wind blowing in my face but finished strongly running the last kilometres in 3:36. finished up the day with a yoga session with my wife before bed. a great way to unwind...


tuesday: hills - 12 loops (560m) - total time 1:18 (14.5 km)
a tough session with short recovery. averaged the same as last time i did this workout but this week i added two repeats and shortened the recovery by 30 seconds.


splits - 2:08, 2:05, 2:02, 2:03, 2:00, 2:04, 2:05, 2:07, 2:08, 2:08, 2:03 - average 2:04.9 (3:43 / km)

food highlights:-
immediately post-run: beet, apple, orange, romaine smoothie
breakfast: oats w/ almond milk, raisins
snack: fresh dates
lunch: lentil & tomato dhal w/ brown rice
dinner: quinoa pudding (actually ended up more like a yummy dessert than a dinner - cooked with fried banana, coconut oil, milk & meat, raisins and carrot)

wednesday: 10 km (0:45) - 4:30/km
easy run to work. legs felt a little tired from yesterday but happy to get there and enjoy last nights leftovers.

pm run: 18 km (1:26) - hilly run
ran home and made sure i included all the hills i could including the sanctuary drive in leonay, mitchells pass and hare street glenbrook. felt spent when i crawled through the gate. loving it!!

thursday: 16.1 km (1:10) - 4:26/km easy run
went out with no plans for the run and ended up running around the river and up mitchells pass before looping back to work running the last 15 minutes around threshold. pushed the climb from emu plains up mitchells and felt good.

food:-
breakfast: large bowl of rockmelon, blueberries, raisins, almonds
snack: dates, almonds (pre-run)
post-run: 2l of water, fresh dates, pumpkin seeds (high in iron), almonds
lunch (late): lentil & tomato dhal w/ brown rice, green tea
dinner: black bean chilli w/ grilled veggies & avocado


friday: 12 km (0:56) - run workout
at home with the kids today so booked them into the gym and jumped on the treadmill. got bored within five minutes so upped the pace every 500m starting at 4:40 pace and ending at 3:40 pace for the last kilometre. added to the fun setting the incline to 12.5% were i held the pace with my heartrate settling on 83% of max till it was time to grab the kids (18 minutes total climbing ~400m over 3.7km). rounded out the session with some 200m repeats at maximum warp speed. still had some energy left in the tank which was disappointing. need to think of a harder strategy to crush myself next time.


saturday & sunday: family time...
wife out of town...


summary:
mileage was not as high as i would like but overall not bad considering my wife has been away for four days. managed to put in two solid workouts and a couple of strong runs which made me feel like my fitness is improving.


the workouts need to be made harder and with more volume if i'm going to continue to build fitness but built over time and not rushed to avoid burnout, overtraining or worse, injury. of course that means i need to give consideration to my easy days both before and after my sessions to allow my body to recuperate and take on the full benefits of the workout. easy days are my weakness. i know that i should include them in my weekly schedule but i always feel weak and stale the day following... perhaps a change of scenery and more time spent on the trails will help relax the effort.


can't wait for next week...

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overcoming sickness...

not much happening on the running front lately due to sickness but thankfully i've finally recovered from my experience with chicken pox... not something i would want to get again.


after taking a week off and missing most of the world masters training is finally getting becoming a regular thing again... this time away from running allowed me some to sit back and reflect upon what running means to me and what i would like to get out of it. now i'm feeling highly motivated to build my training up to another level.


the plan is to take the next couple of months and work on building base endurance and focus on some of the strength issues that i have been concerned about over the last 12 months.


now on to the training. i'm feeling good right now and even though my races didn't go as planned at the world masters the training i did before hand gave me the confidence that if i wasn't brought down with the pox i would have reached my goal times. no time for thinking about it now...


training summary - a solid start with week one being all about getting healthy and getting back in the running groove...


-- week one --


sunday (oct 18) - 9.02 km, 40:18, 4:28 pace
sunday marked a return to running after taking a few days off and my legs were aware of it. felt loose but fatigued towards the end as my lungs rebelled with infection...


monday: 12.61 km, 58:36, 4:39 pace


tuesday: 11 km, 1:00 -- 20 minutes of hill repeats
ran down to glenbrook in the afternoon and spent 20 minutes running around the hills. very tired...


wednesday: 13 km, 1:00
easy out and back from work


thursday: 14.59 km, 1:06, 4:33 pace (lunch) // 11.24 km, 57:26, 5:07 pace
first double run today. ran around the river at lunch and then backed up with a run home due to a flat battery. the run home was tough up mitchells pass.


friday: rest day


saturday: 8.4 km, 36:35, 4:21 pace // 13.35 km, 1:00, 4:31 pace
the am run was mostly at tempo pace and the evening run was out to finch look out and took in a few trails up at warrimoo. beautiful day...


sunday: 17.66 km, 1:20, 4:32 pace
interesting run out to mulgoa. i had planned for my wife to pick me up after about an hour so with that in mind i went out harder than normal and made it through what felt like 80 minutes at 60 minute pace on the hillls. 30 minutes later when my wife found me i was a mess. still enjoy these challenges but need to be more prepared and carry some money or nutrition.


-- week two --


the plan is for more volume, more runs plus some yoga and strength sessions thrown in before my wife leaves for a four day weekend with the girls in tasmania...

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thursday short and fast...

stepping out of the office i was again greeted with the cold wind which has been hanging around for the last few days. i was hoping for a windless lunchbreak to run my final short fast session before the 10k race this sunday but it wasn't happening. still had to make the most of it though...

the wind was chilly but i managed to get through a 5 km warmup in 22:10 feeling ready to get into it. i had planned on running 4-5 sets of 600m at 3-5k pace + 300m at 1500m pace with a 1 minute recovery between each. i managed to get through the first two sets feeling ok but i started suffering some bad stomach cramping issues which added some pain to the session. to ease the pain i modified the session and ended up running 4 x 300m repeats alternating 5k pace and 1500m pace with 45 seconds recovery between each. i was happy to finish this workout and hold the paces i was trying to hit. stomach sorted itself out on the cooldown back to work. it at least probably helped me control the pace without pushing harder than was necessary.

workout: 2 x (600m (3k pace)-300m (1500m pace)) (1' recovery), 4 x 300m (45" recovery) alt. 3k pace/1500m pace

warmup: 4 km (22:10)

2 x (600m-300m)
600m - 2:02 - 3:23/km (49)
300m - 56.2 - 3:07/km (70)
600m - 2:02 - 3:23/km (56)
300m - 57.3 - 3:11/km (1:57)

4 x 300m
300m - 1:02 - 3:26/km (47)
300m - 54.8 - 3:02/km (44)
300m - 1:01 - 3:23/km (47)
300m - 54.5 - 3:01/km

cooldown: 2 km (10:00)

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wednesday windy speed session

wednesday:

i went out with the intentions of running a session of quarters but the wind had other ideas. i felt nice and relaxed heading over to the grass track and after running my strides i was ready to go. i wasn't feeling fired up but i thought i would be able to work for it today.

after the first repeat i knew it was going to be tough. on the second repeat the sprinklers came on. and by the third i was thinking one more and i'm going back to work. i think i'll try and have another go at it tomorrow.

run: 3.2k easy, 4x100m strides, 4x400m (1min recovery), 3k easy
warmup: 3.2k - 4:50/km pace

4x100m - 114m-21sec-(3:05/km), 115m-19sec-(2:46/km), 108m-19sec-(3:02/km), 114m-16sec-(2:28/km) - it's easy to see which way the wind was blowing.

4x400m
1) 1:16 (419m) (3:02/km)
2) 1:19 (422m) (3:10/km)
3) 1:17 (401m) (3:12/km)
4) 1:13 (405m) (3:02/km)

2.5k cooldown w/ 500m @ 3:40/km

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tuesday easy

i was greeted with perfect weather at the start of my run which made for a pleasant loop around the river during my lunch break. just an easy cruise to allow my legs to absorb the work i have been putting into them ready for another blitz on them tomorrow.

run stats:

easy run 59:29 (13 km)
avg pace: 4:34/km

splits: 4:48-4:37-4:46-4:27-4:34-4:37-4:29-4:38-4:29-4:36-4:27-4:31-4:20

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monday speed workout

i was planning on just heading out around home for a 60-70 minute run but as it was still raining i decided to run a workout instead. my legs were feeling quite fresh from yesterday's run and i've been enjoying them lately.

after a good 15 minute warmup i got stuck into the workout. the plan was to run 2 x 800m (1' rest), 2 x 400m on 2', 6 x 200m on 1' and then finish up with 1km at 10k effort. having run faster than normal during yesterday's long run i was fully expecting to be struggling throughout this session today due to the shorter rest intervals that i had planned. after the first 800m repeat i settled into a good pace and i knew i was going to have a good workout. i was consistent throughout the workout hitting all my target paces and when it came to run the 1km to finish up i was surprised how effortless it felt running at 3:38 pace. hopefully a sign of good things to come. i have been continuously amazed at the moment with how good my legs are feeling post-run and how quickly i feel like i'm recoverying from session to session.

workout stats:

3.2k warmup (5:00 down to 3:50 pace)
workout: 2 x 800m (60" rest), 2 x 400m (40" rest), 6 x 200 (30" rest), 2-3' jog, 1k @ 10k effort
800 - 2:39
800 - 2:39 (started slow, finished fast)
400 - 1:19
400 - 1:18
200 - 0:38
200 - 37
200 - 37
200 - 37
200 - 38
200 - 35
2-3 minute jog (until HR below 110)
1000 - 3:38

10 minute cooldown

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