Four weeks down brings me 25% of the way through! A step back week this week and then it starts getting tough. But so far so good - I've weathered the initiation month with barely a hiccup, so I've every reason to be confident.
Only a slight left hip aching today and some slight leg weariness following yesterday's 20km, so not too bad, and nothing a bit of moving around didn't fix.
Third day without running Insomnia (or more to the point, the resultant exhaustion) is again robbing me of the running desire. This week isn't such a problem, but training is going to be hard over the next few weeks if I don't overcome this wretched sleepleeness. It (the insomnia) tends to come in waves of a few days and then leaves me alone for a few weeks, so hopefully it'll pass soon and I'll be back to normal for the tougher training ahead. This wave has been going on for nearly two weeks though...
On a positive note I gained possession today of a Forerunner 201, which is going to be very handy over the coming weeks. Looking forward to taking it for a trot tomorrow.
You have my sympathies mate. I too am a night owl, and not always by choice. You can ride it (lack of sleep) out for a while but eventually it tells in the legs and the lungs. You might try getting hold of a tape of that Greece v Sweden match from last night though; worked a treat on me
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Finally shook off the shackles off sleeplessness and took to the streets for a hi-tech plod. I set out intending to run about 6km but ended up covering 8.7km. I took such delight in being able to explore the neighbourhood knowing that the Garmin Forerunner was looking after the distance calculations for me that I just went where I pleased. And it was a great run, really very, very enjoyable and one that uncovered a few worthy running routes.
I say it was a "hi tech" plod because I took the works with me tonight - GPS, heart rate monitor and the iPlod. Overkill, but what the heck, life's too short to be half-hearted about such things.
Fear not, I won't bore you with the reams of stats and maps that the Garmin pumps out - but I will say how delighted I was at how well the Garmin software works, even using an antique serial port cable that Noah would have thought twice about. And the Garmin worked well all round actually. I was expecting trouble with trees, buildings and the like but it held up pretty well. So another convert there is.
TdJ: Has to be Tom Petty's Running Down A Dream, as the lyrics were spot on:[INDENT]Felt so good,
Like anything was possible...
[/INDENT]8.7km, 50m11s (ave pace 5:46/km)
Pic du jour: The Geeky Runner with GPS, HRM & iPlod
No running today, but have spent some time contemplating my training schedule for the next few weeks and reviewing mundane things such as diet. The km's start ramping up from next week, and it's also time to start getting serious about such things as intervals and hills. But I'll write more about that next week.
The good news for now is that I've seen my last early morning shift for a couple of weeks, so no more getting up in the dark and getting to work 1-2 hours before sunrise.
Am thinking I'll turn my long run this weekend into a half marathon. I'm scheduled 20km, and would rather like to see what time I knock out for the half. Stay tuned.
I was going to write some more too about diet and alcohol, but I might leave that for tomorrow. I'm sleepy and looking forward to a good night's sleep at last without any need to get up early. Thank God.
looking forward to reading about your training regime MLCM glad you like the Garmin, had to send my elderly one back just recently, but they sent me a replacement which so far has been better as far as not losing signal under the merest suggestion of tree shade etc! I don't get on with heart rate monitors too well though.
Rest day. Have been thinking about diet and training schedules of late, as things start to ramp up alarmingly from next week. In recent weeks I've modified my diet considerably, and it's been all to the good. I've basically eliminated all red and white meat: in fact I've had one meat meal in the last 8 weeks. I am instead eating a lot more fish, which I eat every day, and much more vegies, fruits and carbohydrates.
Apart from just feeling a lot better for not eating meat, I'm fairly certain it has helped in cutting down the flab. This is probably because I'm eating less overall (I just seem to eat less when there's no meat involved) and probably because there's a higher proportion of carbs which helps the running, which in turn of course helps with the flab reduction.
I've also cut out alcohol to a large extent. Instead of drinking 5-6 times per week it's only once or twice, and I'm more likely to be satisfied with one beer, so it's in fact a quite substantial reduction.
These things can only help as I move into the more difficult part of the training schedule. Not only are the distances ramping up, but I really should pay some serious attention to intervals and hills. I need to include some hill training so I don't leave myself with too much to do between finishing the Adelaide marathon and training for the Point to Pinnacle mountain climb in November.
Such things have been occupying my mind recently, probably to the exclusion of cross-training, which has very much fallen by the wayside. Still, problems with insomnia have left me exhausted for much of the last two weeks (that, and early morning shift work) and it's better that cross-training fall short than the actual running, which I have pretty much kept intact.
So in short: less saturated fat and more carbs in my diet, less alcohol and more running has been the order of the day. Just need to get the sleep situation sorted out and I'm full tilt into the next part of the schedule.
Long slowie. Got caught out a bit today. I didn't pay the distance the respect it deserved and it hurt a bit. In contrast to last Sunday's sublime dawn beach run, today's was painful and difficult, though not without a good result.
I'd had another difficult night of little sleep, but not having to be up early for any particular reason was at least able to stay in bed until nearly 9 o'clock, so felt reasonably rested. The prospect of the half marathon distance I had scheduled for this morning barely registered any concern - in fact I felt ridiculously confident, which is really saying something. You really know you've made some progress when your biggest concern about running 21.1km is making sure you have enough fuel in the car to get you to the beach and back...!
So after a bit of breakfast and getting myself ready I finally hit the beach close to 11 on a beautiful sunny Sunday. The time and the weather of course meant the beach was relatively crowded and I spent the first 5km on constant dog watch, as the beach seemed full of 'em. However they weren't really an issue. The main problem was that I just hadn't mentally prepared myself properly, and I went out too fast and totally failed to find any rhythm for the first 9 - 10km.
The turn around half-way point came up in 61 minutes, and I knew then that I'd gone out too fast and was now struggling. I had been foolishly thinking I might be able to crack two hours for the half, but that seemed now unlikely. 61 minutes at the halfway mark was good, but I was shagged and knew I couldn't maintain that pace.
I kept going, but the Garmin GPS confirmed what I already knew - my pace had slowed from 5:45/km on the outward leg to 6:15/km on the homeward stretch.
I did make it to the finish in a PB time, and without stopping, but it physically and mentally hurt and really dented my confidence, despite knocking 6 minutes off my half marathon race time - the mind doesn't always work logically in this game.
However, after getting home and luxuriating in a hot shower, fresh clothes and some toast and honey and half a plunger of very fine coffee, I felt much better. And now, several hours later, I'm pretty much stoked.
So that's five weeks done. Eleven more to go, so although it's really only just begun, it's a bloomin' good start. I'm running further, faster and with barely a twinge (except for today) from the aging bod... I just need to prepare myself better for these long runs so I don't have the wobbles like today.
congrats on thehalf mara pb:-) absolutely great time MLCM...keep up the good work, I'm impressed with our booze reductions etc. As for fish, the govt. here only recommend it twice a week, you must have much cleaner seas than us.
stillwaddler Wrote:As for fish, the govt. here only recommend it twice a week, you must have much cleaner seas than us.
I was so intrigued (and not a little horrified) to read that, that I Googled it and found a BBC report which stated you should only eat fish once per week and this was alarming as it followed a similar warning about dangerous levels of pesticides in vegetables and of antibiotics in meat... And now you're running out of lemons so no gin and tonic either. What's left to live on over there? It's making Guinness to look like a rather sensible health food!
Adelaide Marathon Campaign - Week 5 of 16.
Insomnia (or more to the point, the resultant exhaustion) is again robbing me of the running desire. This week isn't such a problem, but training is going to be hard over the next few weeks if I don't overcome this wretched sleepleeness. It (the insomnia) tends to come in waves of a few days and then leaves me alone for a few weeks, so hopefully it'll pass soon and I'll be back to normal for the tougher training ahead. This wave has been going on for nearly two weeks though...
And now you're running out of lemons so no gin and tonic either. What's left to live on over there? It's making Guinness to look like a rather sensible health food!