Govember

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

I had a strange and vaguely disturbing dream last night, in which I got to the P2P and found to my delight that the last 10km really weren't very steep at all, and in fact were downright easy. I then woke up to the awful realisation that the dream was of course very far from the truth.

Knowing that I needed some serious last-minute hill work if I am to survive the race at all I took to my beloved treadmill today with the angle grinder (simultaneously my most favourite and yet most dangerous power tool) and several blocks of very solid wood to create a slope approaching something like the P2P climb. With the aid of some basic trigonometry I calculated the slope at 6.7%; a little above the P2P average but a little under the roughly 8% slope of the final kilometres. But it would have to do.

The plan was for an hour's run/walk on the endless treadie hill climb at a 10:1 ratio. The first ten minutes were awful, and the second repeat was awful too, but after that I began to feel much better and carried on reasonably well, albeit at a slow, careful, considered pace.

By the time I finished the fourth interval I was feeling much better about it all and knew I was going to do more than an hour. The walk break every ten minutes makes a heck of a difference on these hill climbs, as much mentally as well as physically. Knowing you only have a few minutes to go before a walk break does wonders for your mental endurance, and physically it's surprising how much you can recover in just sixty seconds.

In all I did 99 minutes worth of continual hill climb - not fast, and covering only 12.76km, but doing so relatively comfortably, especially given my lack of training lately.

Another one or two of these before race day will make quite a difference I think.

Track du jour: In honour of those walk breaks...

[marathondan]

I salute your pragmatic approach, both to the training and the hardware. A few of those will do a world of good, mentally and physically.

[Sweder]

Good work, fella. Planning a 'less is less' approach, with a modest Blackcap plus hill reps planned for the weekend. I was gong to attempt part two of the Moyleman, but, frankly, that's just bloody daft.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Seven days to race day! Gulp.

As I type this, it is 0.4C on top of Mt. Wellington with a wind chill of -4.4C and a light dusting of snow... it could be coooold up there on race day, so bring your booties.

This morning was my last chance for a decent long run before D-Day (Death-in-the-mountains Day) so I hit the modified treadie for another hill session.

The result? A pleasing 18.3km at 6.7% in a modest, but "comfortable" 2h22m. I say comfortable, only in the sense that I finished the run pretty confident I had the other 3km in me that I'll need on the mountain to finish the race. But we'll see - that mountain has a habit of taking one's confidence and giving you a giant wedgie with it. Take nothing for granted in P2P is the best advice I can give. The run itself was tough, but the 10:1 run/walk strategy made it very manageable, so it's definitely a strategy that's working. Even with the walk breaks, this run was about PB pace, so Galloway may well be right when he asserts that run/walk will give you faster race times. But, as I say, we shall see.

But whichever way I look at it, 18km of continuous hill climb is a tons better position than I was in even a week ago, so that's got to be good.

OK hold tight, it's race week!

Track du jour: Journey's kitsch but appropriate "Don't Stop Believing" nearly got the gong this time, but in the end there was only one choice really:

[marathondan]

Hey, sounds like it's in the bag! Nothing to worry about.

But seriously, it sounds like you're in great shape considering the lack of recent training. That must be a big confidence boost. And let's face it, you hadn't even really had much preparation for grinding out a tough 2 hours and 22 mins, so well done for finishing that!

Do keep us posted this week!

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

We've landed in old Hobart Town, a quaint little place which harbours a horrible secret. For all its charm: its beautiful docks with yachts bobbing gently at their moorings, gorgeous old sandstone convict-era buildings and generally quiet, friendly demeanour it is never-the-less, the venue for the world's toughest half-marathon, the Point to Pinnacle (P2P).

Yesterday, Suzie, Sweder, Mrs MLCMM and I drove the course to come to terms with Sunday's race. This is my fourth year of P2P, yet driving the course still leaves me flabbergasted as to how the damned thing is possible.

But possible it is. The mountain will chew you up, masticate you severely and spit you out a bedraggled, pummelled wreck, but get to the top we will indeed do.

It is now Saturday morning, and a day of sampling Hobart's delights is in the offing, a relaxing preparation for tomorrow's horror. We're trying not to think about it. And yet, at the same time, it's also exciting the pants off of me!


MLCMM, Suzie and Sweder investigating the P2P course - at this point of the race tomorrow we will *not* be smiling.


MLCMM photographing Suzie photographing Sweder's back at the top of Mt. Wellington where the race ends.


What Sweder's back says.

Think of us, everyone ... it's going to be hell up there.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

6:35 a.m. race day. Still bleary-eyed from a reasonably good night's sleep. Perfect running weather - crystal clear blue skies, cool but calm, just beautiful.

Stephen has already left for his earlier walk start, and Ash and I are filling in the minutes before our inevitable departure.

Only one thing going through my mind, really. Mulling over the weirdest dream I had, in which I was a cub photographer on a newspaper, and everyday I was sent to photograph a plane landing at a local airfield. The place was full of similar photographers, all far more experienced than me and all doing the same thing - trying desperately to come up with a new angle on the landing of a plane that would interest our editors, who each day demanded at least a dozen good photographs for their consideration. Somehow this was meant to be a metaphor for today's race.

But what can it mean?

[Sweder]

Three little words: Race report pressure

[El Gordo]

Graham -- it means nothing at all.

We hope to hear that you all made it to the start, and that you all made it to the end.

After you cross that finish line and get back down the mountain, have a good old soak, then put on some clean clothes and feel extremely pleased with yourself/yourselves.

Go and get moderately drunk. Eat too much. Drink a bit more, talk yet more bullshit and then go back to your beds.

That's it.

Maybe in one, two, five days, it would be great to hear the story (if there is a story).

But deal with the important stuff first (see above).