Hmm, I really must be in mid-life crisis mode. I've just bought Stallone's "Rocky" DVD on ebay. Actually, I do have an excuse... a mate of mine is a professional triathlete (he did the last Hawaii Ironman in 10:14 with stress fractures to both shins!), and he swears by the Rocky movies - he has the complete collection and keeps telling me to watch them. Other than that, he's quite a normal person. Anyway, I caved in and bought the original Rocky. I can honestly say I've never seen any of the Rocky movies, so it's a leap of faith for me.
Another leap of faith has been my mid-week runs, which I have forced into my schedule, and so far so good. My times are rapidly coming back to somewhere near respectable (by my humble standards anyway), and I'm getting fantastic endorphin hits which are fabbo for me but annoy the heck out of the family. Despite my best efforts, none of them seem the least bit inclined to join me on my runs. One quick look out the window seems to be as far as they get before giving me a resounding "NO". Can't understand their reluctance myself ... maybe I need to have a family viewing of Rocky.
Today was a stunningly beautiful winter's day - vivid blue sky, no wind and that sunlit crisp air that really awakens the senses. Absolutely 100% perfect for running...
Sadly, it was a rest day. So I had to force myself to have a couple of beers instead.
The day wasn't totally bereft of runningness however, with the arrival of a heart rate monitor in the MLC Man household. I had mentioned to one of the office sporty types that I was on the lookout for a sports watch with multiple lap times, and was overheard by a bloke with a seldom used HRM. Today he lent it to me to try out for a bit. So now I'm geeky too. I guess it's potentially useful to have digital confirmation of an impending cardiac arrest. And if the ambulance crew happen to have a laptop with them they could download your data for on the spot analysis... I can hear them now: "There you go Bert, that's where he went wrong, pulling out the big ones at the 15 kilometre mark." "Yeah, silly sod should've pulled back below 80% of MHR, instead he's upped it over 90 and carked it good and proper... bloody runners."
Awoke this morning with a streaming cold, sore knees and a headache. Which all came as something of a surprise. It was also a damn nuisance because the weather forecast was for the rain to return by lunchtime, and I wanted to get my long(ish) run out the way before then. Instead I spent the morning drinking honey and lemon drinks, watching the rain set in right on cue at midday, and then sleeping in the afternoon. Oh, there was also a small epidsode of driving all over town to three different hardware stores in order to buy a (normally) very common spark plug for our very common lawnmower so that no.2 ankle biter could mow the lawns before the rain came. Frustrating.
Anyway, did feel better by this evening, but with the rain teeming down I opted for a half hour on the exercise bike in the garage.
Just for the hell of it I've attached the current weather radar image showing us in between rain bands... my location marked with an "X".
Nigel, I'll attach another photo of my running territory next time.
Feeling better today, so headed out for my "long" run in cool, showery conditions. Left knee playing up a bit, so had already cut this run back from 8km to 5km, but funnily enough the knee was fine. Instead, my ankles both screamed at me for the whole run, which is odd because they've never complained before.
This run was really awful, and I knew things were up for me fairly quickly. The last 1.5 km of my 5km loop is uphill, and I only got as far as the 4km mark before pulling the plug and limping home. I felt terrible, and both my time and HRM confirmed that things were grim. So I walked home and at least felt happy that I'd made the right decision. And at least I'd run 4km, which is a lot better than nothing, especially in this weather.
Overall, the week was OK I guess. 4 short runs (2x5km, 1 x 2.4km sprint and today's 4km) and a cross training session. Not bad for pre-training. I still have 5 weeks before the serious marathon training starts, so I'm glad to get this rubbishy stuff out of the way now before the pressure starts.
Summary
Weeks to race day: 23
Training level: Fair to middling
Diet: OK
Motivation: OK
Energy: Moderate
Injuries: Niggling left knee and ankles, nothing serious.
Attached is a view looking south from the top of Anstey Hill, near where I live, and where I like to run when I'm mad enough to do hill training. This view takes in the line of the Adelaide Hills, with the city to the right. There are tons of walking and running trails through these hills, and is the venue for the annual 100km Oxfam trail run, where teams of 4 have to complete the 100km run/walk in 48 hours. Needless to say, I haven't attempted it yet... except in my dreams of course.
Gonna fly now...
