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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