Deadish December 2012

[Sweder]

I like the cut of that elevation map's jib, I must say.
Agree with Dan, a terrific launchpad. So the Mara is ... counts on fingers, toes ... first week of April?
Just before Brighton! We'll be training in parallel, though I'm a few miles behind you on the long runs.

On, on!!!

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Strewth, if you're in this form in week 0, you'll be on fire by race week. I'm sure there'll be the odd hiccup in the next 16 weeks, but this is a fantastic base to start from.

That's the plan, Dan.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

So the Mara is ... counts on fingers, toes ... first week of April?

April 14, Sweder, same as yours. Same bat day, same bat distance. Should be interesting!

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Hot, muggy conditions and leg tiredness cut this morning's run short, but I'm not too upset about it. I've done plenty of running this last week and so a few kilometres left out for the sake of prudence isn't going to hurt.

Again I headed out dark and early (5 a.m.) with Chris, but our pace ... 6:31/km ... told the story of the conditions. Fairly brutal, to be honest. I wore my Sydney Marathon Finisher's t-shirt for the first time today and it was like a sweat suit. Awful! I must save it for cool weather runs in future.

So it was a battle, and although I had 16km planned, I opted to cut it short as I was really struggling. No harm done and I've still notched up 46kms in five days, so I'm hardly skiving off, especially as they've all been tough, hilly runs.

One more shortish run (10km) this week and then the 16 week program begins next Monday. Week 1 coincides with Christmas of course, so it will be "interesting" to see how I go.

11.2km 1h13m

YTD: 1,401.6km

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

The last run of week 0 was a disaster - after a horrid night I awoke feverish and green about the gills, but hit the streets anyway at 4 a.m. but what a joke it was. Streaming with sweat before I even started this was never a run that ought to have been even contemplated. Fortunately I woke up to myself and abandoned the attempt a few minutes in before something bad happened. Never mind, days like these come along from time to time.

I really just popped in to wish everyone a merry Christmas and trust Santa brings you all the running shoes and athlete's paraphernalia that you will need for a big year of running ahead.

Have a great time and keep safe!

2.7km, 18min

YTD: 1,404.3km

[Sweder]

Feel better soon, and back atcha.
I need to order some new Mizunos. My current batch are shredded; holes, sides falling apart. There's a bewildering array on offer, that's for sure. Now, do I run Almeria in road shoes or trail shoes? Hmm ...

[Antonio247]

The last run of week 0 was a disaster - after a horrid night I awoke feverish and green about the gills, but hit the streets anyway at 4 a.m. but what a joke it was. Streaming with sweat before I even started this was never a run that ought to have been even contemplated. Fortunately I woke up to myself and abandoned the attempt a few minutes in before something bad happened. Never mind, days like these come along from time to time.

I really just popped in to wish everyone a merry Christmas and trust Santa brings you all the running shoes and athlete's paraphernalia that you will need for a big year of running ahead.

Have a great time and keep safe!

2.7km, 18min

YTD: 1,404.3km

Get better soon, MLCMM! You've got plenty of time to train for Camberra marathon. Besides, you've already trained a lot.

Happy Christmas! ¡Feliz Navidad!

[glaconman]

Seasons Greetings MLCMM.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Right. Here we go then. As a result of a combination of Christmas indulgence, work and some wretched bug-thing that refused to leave the bod (probably as result of the Christmas indulgence), eight days passed between runs. And the run eight days ago was a wretched, aborted affair of just shy of 3km... terrible.

Anyway, with the worst of the excesses behind us now, Next Door Andy and I headed out under grey, misty, drizzly skies to Lane Cove National Park for a repeat of our 18km run two weeks ago. We were pleased to see loads and loads of runners out there this morning and relatively few cyclists (softies!). Being basically the off-season down here for running the numbers of them in the park this morning was surprising. They were all cheerful too, with shouted greetings all round, unlike a fortnight ago when we seemed to encounter only grumble bums.

After an initial torrid couple of kilometres I started to get into the swing of things and pretty soon we were putting in quite decent kilometres at a good pace. At the 9km turnaround point where we touch the boom gate southern entrance to the park we were on about the same schedule as last time but feeling a lot better, and so was confident of a decent uphill return leg. I took a vanilla bean Gu energy gel at this point - my first ever consumption of such gloop. It was probably unnecessary (although I think it certainly helped get me up the hills) but I wanted to see how well my stomach coped with them. It wasn't too bad although the thought of taking a second one (not that I had to on this run) wasn't appealing.

The return leg went well - even the last brutal climb which has always slowed me to a walk in the past was totally run without too much discomfort, and we returned home in 1 hour 50 minutes, over six minutes faster than last time, so we're well pleased with that effort. Or rather, I'm well-pleased. I think Next Door Andy is still holding back for my sake, as he's clearly a much faster runner than I. He seemed happy enough however.

So that ends a pretty decent year of running for me. Not as consistent as I would have hoped, and not as many kilometres as planned, but OK, and my main goals achieved, and it would have been completely injury-free if I hadn't over-done it by returning to training so soon after the marathon. Oh well, lesson learned. I did stick to my physio's advice and not run on consecutive days, which I am sure helped enormously in preventing injury. As it was, I ran 95 times this year, with an average distance of 15.0 kilometres per run which I am well pleased with.

Now for 2013!



18.12km, 1h50:04

YTD: 1,422.5km

[Sweder]

A superb year, not least for slaying that Marathon dragon and bagging another brutal P2P.
Good effort on the latest run but do continue to take rest days until you're chomping at the bit. Looks like a return to full force is just around the corner.