Day 8/112. A rest day today, and indeed I did rest, basically just slobbing around and giving the old limbs and joints a bit of a break. Actually everything feels OK - some minor niggles and soreness but nothing worth noting other than by way of having something to write about. The only thing of note I've done in that regard is to double my glucosamine dosage to 2,000mg per day, just as a precaution because the knees have been complaining just a tad.
Three races in three weekends was a bit of a hoot, but that's all over now and I have a long cold winter (and long cold training runs) ahead.
Turned in a good 6km today, and feeling like I'm benefiting from the weekend races of late. I'm still astonished how much faster one can run in a race. Trying to reach race pace on the treadmill is not easy, and just leaves me wondering how the hell I run so fast for so long on race days. One of those perennial mysteries I guess.
Today was the first outing for my new Brooks Adrenalines - these are similar to the Vapors, but have a narrower toe box and a different sole construction, though what difference this actually makes I haven't a clue. They seem to be a fraction lighter than the Vapors too. But all up a good shoe.
Track du jour: Eric Clapton's Tearin' Us Apart, a ripping running song. Definitely adding it to my running play list.
Cross-training day. At the risk of substituting quantity for quality, I none-the-less hereby declare today's 30 mins of cycling and 30 mins of brisk walking for the record.
There. Hardly elegant prose, but it's important for me to remain accountable - not that I'm foisting responsibility for any inaction on my part on to any of you, but publicly declaring my efforts here is enough to keep me honest with myself - not always easy to do.
Legs and things are feeling good today, despite a reasonably moderate effort on tired and sore legs yesterday, so I'm even more confident that the program is working well thus far. Fingers crossed.
Track du jour: Jo Jo Zep's Shape I'm In... which isn't too bad, just at the mo.
Some days are real bastards, and the last thing you want to do is go for a bleeding run. Today was one such day... :mad:
But run I did - such is the power of the new force in my life in the form of the marathon schedule. It was just an 8km easy, but some days even that seems like an inexcusable and outrageously unfair demand on one's life. But as is usally the case, the bastard runs you really don't want to do turn out to be doddles, and this proved to be one of them, and with a nice endorphin hit to boot.
So ultimately it was a very enjoyable run. I wonder if I'll still be saying that about similar runs another ten or twelve weeks down the track?
Sometimes runs (I seem to recall :o ) turn out best when you least expect them to. I'm really enjoying reading about your campaign - sorry about your track du jour though.
Cross training day. Ha ha! So now I'm into the last 100 days of training - nearly there... :o
A pretty relaxed day today, with just 30 mins on the bike and a token 15 minutes of weights. The weather has turned pretty cold here, which also coincided with a whole bunch of 5 a.m. starts at work for me, which necessitates getting up at 4:15 and getting well rugged up on mornings that are barely above freezing. Yesterday it was just 1 degree above zero and this morning not a whole lot better. So the old running/cycling wardrobe has been subject to some scrutiny of late. With the days getting alarmingly shorter I seem some days to be largely nocturnal. One thing I've done to try and beat the cold is to buy a sleeveless running jacket, which gives me an extra layer without being too warm and offering some protection from wind and (to a certain extent) rain.
Apart from agonising over the athletic wardrobe, everything else is going along pretty well thus far. Of course these early weeks are really just about establishing some weekly base mileage and aren't too taxing, so I'll keep the lid somewhat on my optimism for the time being, but I am feeling pretty good with it all.
Along with maintaining the training, I've also modified my diet a fair bit. For a variety of reasons I've cut out all meat other than fish, and I pretty much stick to that mainly because I feel so much better. I think by eliminating meat I'm eating a much greater proportion of vegetables, fish, fruits and legumes, which is never a bad thing, and I tend to eat less overall, which is probably the deal clincher at the end of the day. I've also cut back the booze considerably, and I'm sure that's helping too.
But golly, just how long will this last?
Holy bat diets, how long can this last?
Answer: I don't know. We'll see. Stay tuned - same bat time, same bat channel.
Rest day. Hooray - after a very long day at work I needed to be able to come home and do nothing. So it's great to have a rest day today. However I have three similarly very long work days next week and have some thinking to do about how I fit my training into an already very full schedule. Ah well, I'll worry about that later. Right now I need sustenance. Catch you tomorrow!
Ay, well here's the rub. The tricky part of running is this: a week ago, I ran 11km comfortably in 61 minutes. Today, I jogged a painful, suffering 12 km in 85 minutes... much, much slower and with considerable distress and discomfort. What's the difference? Why the drastic change in such a short span of time?
I'm not entirely sure, but I do know that when I analysed it, I did actually run it physically quite well - it was only my head that wanted to quit. My brain it seems is the weak link.
Of course it wasn't helped by the fact that at the very same time as I was running, the Australian cricket team was being demolished by the West Indian bowlers in the closing stages of day three of the first test. But that is just an excuse. The reality is that I ran into my first major mental hurdle of this campaign; and I'm pleased to report that somehow I managed to survive. 12 km in 85 minutes is no great feat of course, but actually running non-stop for 85 minutes when your mind is screaming "Nooooooooooooooooo" isn't actually too bad an effort, so in that regard I am happy.
Even better, I felt ludicrously, deliriously buoyant for the rest of the day, as if I'd scaled Everest or something. In fact I was dangerous! Regrettably, no-one asked, and I had no reason to tell anyone of my great achievement, so you, gentle viewer, are the rare recipient of this good news that running is indeed a brilliant, mind-altering experience that can transform your day into abject amazingness. It is now some 15 hours since I completed my humble, yet transcendent run, and I am still buzzing with the effort.
Sometimes, it seems the best-fought fights are with yourself!
Well done, MLCM! The important thing is to manage to be running longer time and larger distances. Don´t worry if you think you´re going too slowly. It is different training from taking part in a race. In a few weeks´ time, you´ll be able to go for a two hour run and longer. Try to enjoy as much as possible and don´t worry how long it takes you. I think that´s the path to manage to finish a marathon. Your legs, and what is more important, your mind need getting used to being running, jogging, walking for a long time. By the way, in long runs I advise you to take a one-minute walk after 9 minutes running. It makes your muscles suffer less and makes you run more confidenly.
The time between the walk breaks can be shorter or longer, it depends on you.
Thanks Antonio - what perplexes me is how important preparation (especially the mental type) appears to be. I can already run two hours non-stop with relatively little problem having run a 2h13m half marathon without a walk break just four weeks ago. But then out of the blue I've had a couple of tough runs such as yesterday that have been difficult to complete. I really think it's a case of the "body is willing but the spirit is weak" because in reality many of these runs aren't that difficult. The only difference seems to be preparation (or lack of). Yesterday I was mentally under the gun because I only had one small window of opportunity to get the run done and that was early in the morning and I simply wasn't mentally ready for it.
I have been an advocate of the run/walk strategy in the past and it certainly is useful for getting started and in overcoming injuries. I think the basic problem with it though is that if you need to recuperate every few minutes then obviously you are running too fast. If instead you find a steady, slow pace that suits your level, then you can settle into a rhythm that I, at least, always struggled to find when adopting the run/walk method. And judging by the numbers of run/walkers I played leapfrog with in my last two races, I'd suggest I wasn't alone in that. Most of the run/walkers I saw were simply running way too fast. We need to get them on this forum so you can coach them Antonio. Doubtless when we get our RC club colours that will begin to happen!
But at least you got out and did it, unlike me. For one reason or another, I didn't get out there today* for my long run. Tomorrow* is a holiday in the UK, so I'll get it done then -- and later make two public confessions.
[SIZE=2]*Just noticed the time. I should have said 'yesterday' and 'today'.[/SIZE]
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
I remember running a difficult 2 hour run a few of weeks before my one-and-only marathon and thinking how inconceivable it was that I would be able to run for twice that length of time, or even longer.
But I think we must mentally and physically calibrate for the challenge placed before us. And the physiological peaks and troughs, that we seem to have little control over, ensure that no two runs are alike.
Personally I wouldn't advocate run/walking unless you're managing an injury or a specific condition. It's not that I feel that strongly about the issue. It just seems like the wrong approach to take when you're trying to build up running stamina.
Mid Life Crisis Man prior to some bollox about cricket Wrote:Ay, well here's the rub. The tricky part of running is this: a week ago, I ran 11km comfortably in 61 minutes. Today, I jogged a painful, suffering 12 km in 85 minutes... much, much slower and with considerable distress and discomfort. What's the difference? Why the drastic change in such a short span of time?
I'm not entirely sure, but I do know that when I analysed it, I did actually run it physically quite well - it was only my head that wanted to quit. My brain it seems is the weak link. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I covered this dilemma in my (now dropped off the bottom) training diary. :mad:
I found the brain wanted to quit as soon as it knew I had covered a certain mileage, even though I wanted to push for a few miles more.
My solution to get over this mental hurdle, was to forget distance and run for time. If you know you can do (say) 10k in 1 hour, but you struggle to extend that mileage in a training run, then run for 75 or 90 minutes and forget all about distance. Said brain seems to treat the time on your feet as its new goal. Amazing how it worked for me. Mileage can be worked out afterwards.
Adelaide Marathon Campaign - Week 2 of 16
