last weeks training didn’t go to schedule. due to my attendance at a two day conference in sydney followed up with a day’s training i sacrificed the easier runs which make up a large part of my training and also allow my legs to recover between the quality sessions. i did however manage to get in most of quality sessions as planned but at the expense that all sessions were tackled during the late afternoon heat.
the heat and quality of the week has added to a lot of stress and by the end of the weekend after two 10km runs on saturday sandwiching my first weight session (squats and lunges) followed up on sunday afternoon with a 2+ hour excursion with (the) sleep train, dr phil and the welsh exchange student into the grose valley which included a short dip in the river has left me very sore and tired. the climb both up and down was made even more challenging due my poor footwear selection. the climb out completely fried my calves as i was trying to find some traction on the loose leaves with my toes and the two steps up one slide back added to my quad fatigue. arriving at the top was a welcomed relief as i was able to start running again but halfway back to the car my quads tightened up further and i could feel the tell-tale signs of cramping coming on. to avoid the unpleasantness of cramping i backed off and enjoyed the fading light as i soaked in my first foray out to faulconbridge point. think i might make this route a regular part of my training…
looking back…
monday: a quick loop of the river on the way back from sydney @ 4:08 /km pace
tuesday: am hilly loop 11 repeats in the alloted time
wednesday: lunch 8.5km steady run, pm 85min trail run up to the oaks gate and back down the singletrack. hot day which ended in the creek.
thursday: pm 95min run with intervals (about 20min worth) followed up with 30+ minutes of climbing (10-15% grade) @ 75% maxhr. again the heat killed me and i had to cut short the hard running.
friday: 35min easy
saturday: am 10km steady, lunch – weights (legs), pm 10k easy
sunday: pm 2h run out to faulconbridge point and down into the grose valley for a swim.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
chillin out at barrington
spent last weekend at Barrington Tops just chillin out with my wife...
friday walked with my wife for an hour up the steep driveway (10%+ grade) and back for an hour. after a marathon sleep my wife and i went for a 20km/4.5 hour walk in the national park which left us both feeling quite fatigued. sunday morning was our last bit of peace before picking up the kids and the photo above shows how i spent some of it. lying on the grass with my legs up looking at the sky... took the dog out for a run when i got home to show him some love...
back to the hill...
17/11/09 tuesday (total 24 km)
short hills (am)
a 5.30am start saw me heading down to glenbrook for some hill work. it was quite warm and humid and the session felt tougher than expected but happy to complete the 3km of climbing finishing faster as the session progressed. run at lunch still to come...
recovery run (pm): 8.55 km (42:14) - 4:56 pace
felt a little stiff and sore through the first two kilometres but loosened up and wanted to run quicker. i didn't give in though and kept the effort controlled.
18/11/09 wednesday (total 19.5 km)
steady run: 19.5 km (1:30) - 4:38 pace
during the start of the run my legs were feeling quite sore from yesterday's hill workout which made me happy that i pushed myself hard enough yesterday. unfortunately my legs didn't get any better or worse and with the heat it made for a tough run.
19/11/09 thursday
workout: 1min hard/30sec float
ran a tough session in the heat (41 degrees) but surprised myself running the hard segments at 3:30 down to 3:20 pace with the floats starting out at 4:20 pace but slipping to 4:40 pace over the final three repeats. legs felt amazing after...
20/11/09 friday
steady run: 7.2 km (29:45) - 4:08 pace + 5 x strides
i'm not sure if this was supposed to be a recovery session or not but it felt short (time) and my legs felt happier running at a slightly faster pace on the grass this morning. finished with my lower back feeling a little sore...
Monday, November 9, 2009
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)