January 2019 ... here we go again!

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

23 January 2019                        19,638 steps                       17 minutes running                       weight 78.8kg

   A bit of a ‘bleah’ run this morning. It was just another two laps of my Burgoyne hill reps, but this time there was no startling night sky, there was a bit of a muggy breeze blowing and everything was quite normal and rather boring. I struggled with it and it wasn’t a pretty run. It was a little quicker, but that’s about the only positive comment I can make.

    Other than that, it was just another run of no great note. But then, I suppose, there’s never anything ‘just’ about a run, no matter how short or unimpressive. I still had to do it, and I did. If nothing else, it busts me clear of those levels of mediocrity that are tirelessly waiting for my inevitable decline. It may be inevitable, but in those fighting words of Roy Batty from Bladerunner as finality closes in on him, ‘Not. Yet.’ *

*Fans of the movie may be relieved to know my utterance of those words was not then followed by the need to stick a 4 inch nail through my hand.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

24 January 2019                   19,734 steps                           17 minutes running                               weight 78.5kg

   A real scorcher around many parts of the country today, with my former home base of Adelaide breaking its maximum temperature record, set in 1939, with a whopping 47.7°C this afternoon. Further north, temperatures nearer 50°C were recorded in several towns.

   Over here in Sydney we were a relatively cool 28°C, and when I headed into the streets for my early morning run it was a genuine surprise to find conditions very pleasant. As a result, despite leg soreness and general weariness, I improved my time for the two laps of my hill climb circuit by some twenty seconds: a ‘season best’, if you will.

   We have some warmer weather again forecast for the next few days, but mercifully nothing like the temperatures they’re experiencing further west.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

25 January 2019                     16,330 steps                          17 minutes running                               weight 77.8kg

   Accumulated weariness, plus warmer conditions this morning made the outing somewhat tougher today, but I was only five seconds slower than yesterday, so I’m happy with the run and my progress in general. That also completes another set of four consecutive 3:45 a.m. runs, with just another hour or so tomorrow to complete my target for this week.

   You might say it’s all going very well, touch wood.

   Also going well are the numbers one and two male tennis players in the world,  Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal, both through to the final of the Australian open tennis championship. Along the way they have ousted the up-and-coming young stars who have been playing superb tennis and threatening the demise of the ‘old guard’. When young Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas beat the greatest ever tennis play Roger Federer in four tight sets in the fourth round it looked as if it could indeed be the beginning of the end for the top four players who have dominated for so long: Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray.

   It was fascinating, then, to see Djokovic demolish Tsitsipas in the first semi-final in straight sets, and then Nadal even more convincingly remove French giant-killer Lucas Pouille in the second-semi. Both young players, who had looked so confident in the preceding rounds left the court after their matches looking despondent and fearful, almost, at the realisation of the amount of work ahead of them if they are indeed going to ascend to the top few spots of the tennis rankings.

   Now the prospect of Djokovic and Nadal in the final on Sunday night awaits us. It’s one of the sporting highlights of the year, and it should be a beauty.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

26 January 2019                        25,101 steps                        90 minutes running                    weight 78.1kg

   Today saw a return to the very hot, muggy weather, but having had a good night’s sleep (no early run for me today), I eventually hit the treadmill mid-afternoon feeling feisty and determined to record a good run despite the mercury registering over 30˚C and the humidity similarly high. 

   Nearly two hours later, the two hours comprising 90 minutes of running plus warm up and cool down, I stepped off the Sisyphean monster tired, certainly, but thoroughly impressed that I had persisted in such conditions and had a worthy hour-and-a-half slog to put in the running log. That gave me a total of just over 4 hours total running for the week, which is a nice progression and a little more than I had hoped, so it’s all still going very well.

   Now for a rest day.

[OutAlongTheRiver]

I can't even imagine 30 mins on a treadmill .... so that's some going. And the heat would kill me. So my planned trot up to Black Cap shortly in 4degreesC seems a positive breeze by comparison!

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

I can't even imagine 30 mins on a treadmill .... so that's some going.  And the heat would kill me. So my planned trot up to Black Cap shortly in 4degreesC seems a positive breeze by comparison!

I'd certainly prefer a run up Black Cap, maybe even in 4 degrees, but with my running playlist blaring out on the iPlod, and a video of a Norwegian train journey through the snow (on this occasion) it's still enjoyable, and beats running outdoors in the heat.

Whatever works, is best.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

27 January 2019                           19,045 steps                   no running                       weight 78.0kg

   I give up. It’s just as well I’m no gambler, because all my predictions in recent times prove oh so terribly wrong. My latest: in the Australian Open tennis championship final between Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic, I stated Nadal would win simply because he seemed to me to be in the best form of his life, and his wins in the preceding six rounds had been supreme examples of a champion player at his very best. Djokovic, whilst similarly imperious, seemed to me to be at his usual level of imperiousness, whereas Nadal had stepped things up somewhat.

   That Djokovic essentially annihilated Nadal 6-3 6-2 6-3 speaks volumes for the Serb’s brilliance, and for my complete inability to forecast outcomes. If I was to take up gambling, I’d be well-advised to place my bets on whatever it was I didn’t think would win.

   For similar reasons I’m reluctant to think too much about where my current training is taking me. It’s going very well, of course, even on a rest day from running such as today in which I tallied more than 19,000 steps (all of it walked). When it’s all going so well it’s very tempting to make race plans and to create elaborate training schedules to take advantage of my new-found enthusiasm and a semblance of running fitness, but of course only fools rush in to these things.

   I do have a week off work from tomorrow, and so the opportunity to do some quality training at civilised times of the day presents itself as an opportunity that ought to be taken advantage of. And so, I shall, but to what end? Well, to a large extent that’s out of my hands as wholesale changes at work soon to be announced will mean there’s little point planning or scheduling anything until more is known. So, I’ll simply try to log a decent week of base mileage once again and see how things look after that. 

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

28 January 2019                                  25,535 steps        30 minutes running            weight 77.6kg

   What do we do now? It’s always the same the day after the final of the Australian tennis open: bereft of tennis, we’re left uncertain what to do with ourselves after weeks of feasting on Hopman Cup, Brisbane International, Sydney International and Australian Open tennis tournaments.

   Ah well, nothing for it now but to lace up the running shoes and knock over a few more kilometres. This wasn’t quite so simple with the hot weather having returned; the humidity in full flight causing modest temperatures of 29°C to feel much hotter. The worst part about the humidity is never being dry. You have a shower, ‘dry’ yourself with a damp towel that won’t ever dry and find yourself sweating profusely anyhow. So you dress yourself while still wet in damp clothes and wonder what life might be like in the Yukon or somewhere.

   Whingeing aside, the run was done well enough and I still feel pretty good about myself.  

   Even if I can’t quite get dry.

[Charliecat5]

28 January 2019                                  25,535 steps        30 minutes running            weight 77.6kg

   What do we do now? It’s always the same the day after the final of the Australian tennis open: bereft of tennis, we’re left uncertain what to do with ourselves after weeks of feasting on Hopman Cup, Brisbane International, Sydney International and Australian Open tennis tournaments.

   Ah well, nothing for it now but to lace up the running shoes and knock over a few more kilometres. This wasn’t quite so simple with the hot weather having returned; the humidity in full flight causing modest temperatures of 29°C to feel much hotter. The worst part about the humidity is never being dry. You have a shower, ‘dry’ yourself with a damp towel that won’t ever dry and find yourself sweating profusely anyhow. So you dress yourself while still wet in damp clothes and wonder what life might be like in the Yukon or somewhere.

   Whingeing aside, the run was done well enough and I still feel pretty good about myself.  

   Even if I can’t quite get dry.

We did something far more constructive... last night was the Moyleman Thank The Marshal's Night (MTTMN for short).  It involved special pint glasses and beer.  Lots of beer.  Today has not been quite a focused as I might have liked.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

We did something far more constructive... last night was the Moyleman Thank The Marshal's Night (MTTMN for short).  It involved special pint glasses and beer.  Lots of beer.  Today has not been quite a focused as I might have liked.

Probably a good decision then not to have the night too close to race day.

But what a great idea ... marshals are worthy of every bit of thanks, of course. Great effort, everyone! Is The Moyleman becoming one of the planet's best races? I'd like to think so.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

29 January 2019                         22,747 steps        90 minutes running            weight 78.1kg

   I am of the belief that for endurance running the best time to train is when you least feel like it, on the basis that this better simulates the end of a long race when you’re often tired, fed up and just want to be out of there. I therefore got stuck into my longish run this morning prior to breakfast, when all I really wanted was a good coffee, a garlicky omelette and some crispy bacon. With more hot, sticky weather forecast it in any case made sense to get the run done early, and so I did.

   I think I must have jumped up one of those ill-defined but clearly felt levels of fitness; you know, when you feel as if you’ve leapt to a higher level all of a sudden simply because the perceived level of effort is less than it was. It was nothing especially significant, perhaps, but I definitely felt stronger in the legs. So, given the warm conditions and my general feeling of not wanting to be there, this goes down as a good run and a good result. I guess 90 minutes is always going to be a good run no matter how I feel about it afterwards, but also given that it came only three days after my previous 90 minute run, this was a very pleasing effort.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

30 January 2019                17,955 steps        30 minutes running            weight 78.1kg
     

   Climate change is once again in the headlines as several U.S. states declare a state of emergency with temperatures expected to plummet to the kinds of lows not experienced for several decades. President Trump has taken the opportunity to again demonstrate his ignorance of such matters, poking fun at the concept of global warming and steadfastly ignoring the peril that is actually at hand.

   Meanwhile here in Australia we are fully experiencing the impact of global warming, with record heatwaves and extreme weather events, not the least of which are severe bushfires in my home state of Tasmania.

   I avoided the worst of the daytime heat today by running early: which was in any case a necessarily short one on the back of two long runs in recent days. We’ve one more day of high temperatures (a forecast maximum of 38°C tomorrow) then February begins thankfully with some cooler weather and possibly some rain. That will be most welcome.

   And here, purely for RC forumites is a sneak preview of my next book. Five years in the making it features an Introduction written by our very own El Gordo. Available very soon. Exciting!

   

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

31 January 2019                          15,655 steps        45 minutes running            weight 78.9kg

   An old friend was in town yesterday, so naturally we caught up for a few drinks. Then upon returning home discovered we needed to visit Jane’s elderly aunt to fix her back door, which wouldn’t lock. Door fixed, she then plied us with red wine, which was all very pleasant until I stepped on the scales this morning. January, now at an end, had seen my weight slowly, but definitely trending downward… until today. Instead of the 2 to 3 kilos I had expected the shed over the course of the month, I have reduced in bulk by less than one. Looking back on past spreadsheet running/weight logs though, I see that I rarely lost significant weight before hitting in the order of 150km per month or more, so I shouldn’t be so surprised.

   So, anyway, there was nothing for it other than to once again hit the treadmill today and try to make some amends. With the revised forecast maximum now expected to reach 40°C, I got going as early as I could, but the mercury was already over the 30 mark. The only saving grace was that the humidity was down a little on previous days.

   Despite yesterday’s excesses and the unpleasant conditions, the run went pretty well. I even contemplated adding an extra quarter hour to my scheduled 45 minutes, but thought better of it. I’m tracking well and don’t want to risk over-doing things through sheer enthusiasm.

   And so my first base-building month is now complete with a modest, but important 120km of ground covered, and that doesn’t include my warm-up and cool-down sessions, so I’m pretty pleased. In February I will begin to add some tempo runs and make the long run a little longer again.

   But first, there’s news, both good and bad from my place employment which may yet impact my training schedule. More of that later. For the moment, I’ll bask in a good first month of base building.

Monthly totals:
Running: 120.6km
Steps: 571,714
Weight loss/gain: -0.9kg