Wow, are you training for an ultra or something? You're already 100k up on me for January. This is really a sterling performance, tough indeed. Keep it up, be careful, poco a poco...etc etc
(15-01-2012, 09:22 AM)Bierzo Baggie Wrote: Wow, are you training for an ultra or something?
Hardly. I couldn't run much more than about 30km in one hit at the moment.
No, I'm just trying to keep my running at about 50km/week, running every second day.
Why? Well, that I'm still trying to figure out. But certainly I want to remain "half mara ready" which I'm doing. How long I can maintain it I don't know, but I intend to find out. And we'll see what happens along the way.
All I know is, I feel better running 50km/week than the more usual 20-30km.
It's a strange journey. I'll let you know what happens as we get along.
After skipping a day due to a bit of shin soreness I put in a very cautious slow jog today to sort things out. What an absolute joy it is to do an easy, flat run - I really must do more of these!
I also took a bit of time to video my gait on the treadmill, which confirmed what I believed: that my foot-strike is now mid-foot; my right foot still splays out some and my cadence is still a little slow at about 83-85 (the experts seem to be saying we should aim for a turnover of 90 paces per minute). I'm happy with the mid-foot strike but I'll keep working on getting my cadence up somewhat higher, the theory being that shorter, faster pacing places less stress on the body and is a more efficient running technique. The foot splaying is apparently a skeletal thing which my podiatrist thinks is not really causing any issues now I'm using orthotics. To my mind it still seems wrong, but there's probably no easy solution.
I've also been doing some research on nutrition and have concluded that it's all very hard to fathom. But I did spend some time in the kitchen today cooking a kind of pinole/chia biscuit - a low GI energy bar that teamed with banana was very palateable. I shall enjoy experimenting with this further on longer runs.
So, on the whole a rather productive day in the MLCM camp.
Wow, gait analysis and your own range of energy bars. Sounds like you're ready to open your own running clinic...
Seriously, the gait self-analysis sounds fascinating. It must be interesting to be able to accurately monitor your gait, whereas those of us who eschew the tready have to rely on feel.
I've read that alot of top runners do most of their running at a comfortable pace; and might just put in 1 or 2 big efforts per week. I guess they've got the time. But I'm definitely now of the opinion that comfortable miles should be the bedrock and you should put the foot down just once a week when it feels right.
Pinole chia and banana biscuits? I do like the sound of those *slurp*
I agree with Glaconman; medium effort at most until the last stage of your long run, then, if the mood takes you, give it all you've got. Sam Lambourne swears by this - effort on tired legs. But for me it simply feels fantastic, to have something in the tank after a tough session. It really boosts my confidence.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Funny how over on Sweder's training blog he and EG were discussing lack of sleep: every few weeks I have a bout of... well I won't call it insomnia exactly; it's more like general restlessness and bad nights of frequent waking and fitful dozing when I do sleep. I'm going through one of those bad patches now, which is not good the night before a planned long run. However, that's the way it panned out.
The result was that I wasn't really compos enough to head off for my run until lunch time, but off I did trot and after a couple of early roughish kilometres I hit my straps and actually felt pretty good.
I continued experimenting with my chia/pinole/banana biscuits (recipe below) for fuel during the run, taking some every 30 minutes with electrolytes, and it seemed to do the trick. The result was a comfortable long run; in fact I think it's the best I've ever felt after a long outing. Yes I could have easily gone on further, but it was enough. Happy again.
Although... today's run was a little shorter. Just a nondescript little 13km plod. Slighter faster than most of my recent runs however, so I'm happy enough. The great plod continues.
I agree with Dan, this is serious, pre-race (with no race planned) kilometerage. My YTD is 107 kms and I have a half (this weekend) and a full (April) on the agenda. As Sam 'the legend' Lambourn likes to say, 'if it feels good, run it'.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
I did post that many moons ago. I have a feeling it was 2:21. He lead the first London marathon at halfway I believe. Went on to ultras; London to Brighton etc. He never talks about his past; stories come from Chinese Whispers and contemporaries like Lycra Tony. After a beer or two, usually on 'medals in the pub' night after London.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
In fact I like it a lot and so that's what I did today. After a looong Australia Day yesterday, which involved copious beer, snags (sausages), cricket, tennis, more beer, lamingtons (coconut/cocoa covered sponge cake things ... something of a tradition in this part of the planet), red wine, other nibbly things and cheesecake, today's planned long run was an unknown.
However, it felt good. So I ran it. And just sort of kept going. Only vaguely aware of the distance and time I just kept up a comfortable pace and kept going until I ran out of water, electrolyte and those chia/pinole/banana biscuity things which seem to be working well for me.
I really feel I'm starting to get the hang of this endurance running thing. Very enjoyable it is, too.
(27-01-2012, 10:10 AM)Sweder Wrote: That's a monster session mate, worthy of some sort of award. 3 HOURS on a treadmill? Purgatory.
Well yes and no. I've had some niggling shin splints which are aggravated by the hills, so a slow flat run was the cure. Only flat place to run around here is the treadie.
And yep, it's true - you can run off shin splints! The shins are absolutely fine now.
Ah well now, first up a revelation! I’ve finally figured out why I sometimes lose all my work when typing in a reply in the RC forum. Highlight any text in your missive, hit [ESC] and bingo, you lose the lot. Not just the bit you highlighted but everything you typed and haven’t yet saved/posted. Irretrievably (unless someone has discovered a magic way to get it back that I haven’t found). Annoying, but at least I now know. I only found this out because out of habit I sometimes hit [CTRL-I] when wanting to italicise a word, but in Internet Explorer of course this just opens your “favourites” folder. I was then sometimes double-hitting [ESC] and inexplicably suddenly finding an empty edit window. Very frustrating!
Anyway, to this morning’s run (this is the second time I’ve typed all this, by the way)... determined to get in a quick 10km before work I was up at 3:50 a.m. only to find it a warm 26C with an oppressive 80% humidity. But you know what it’s like – you’ve already made the effort to get up, so you might as well tackle the darned thing. So I headed down the Pacific Highway on my out-and-back course determined to take it easy and not look at my watch until I returned, as I wanted to set my pace according to how I felt rather than what the Garmin told me.
It was incredibly warm for 4 in the morning but I forged on, wondering if I was going fast enough to ensure I was back in time to get cleaned up and catch my train to w*rk. The 5km out is a net downhill, but even that was tough going and by the time I reached the turnaround point I was struggling. The killer hill (on mornings like this at least) is a 700m slow climb at the 7km mark. By the time I reached this point I was pondering the wisdom of all this running. At the worst of it I passed the only other runner mad enough to be out there and he looked fresh and strong, so I hate to think what he thought of the stressed, dishevelled plodder coming in the other direction.
Never mind, soon enough I had covered the worst of it and once I reached the Gordon Uniting Church I knew there was only 1km to go and I’d get home. I eschewed the short cuts and completed the 10km course feeling I’d done a good day’s work, and all of it before 5 a.m.
I estimated my time at a tad over 65 minutes, but in fact it was 60:33, so not so bad really. The last time I ran this course (at the start of the month) I ran it in 57 something, so I’m relatively pleased given the conditions.
It also meant I clocked up just over 200km for the month, which surely must be a record for me. I think my physio’s advice to not run on consecutive days has not only helped the joints but perhaps unwittingly forced me to run further, as my shortest runs are these 10km semi-sprints while my standard run is 15 - 16km. Which in turn means the long slowies at 20 – 30km are very manageable and so my mileage goes up. Most encouraging!
A tremendous morning's work, all achieved as you say before you have to go and do that distracting other thing all day. Yay for not running on consecutive days, too. I've barely (if at all) done that for the last 4 years. I'm all for running on tired muscles, but I prefer to do that within a session. Rest days are when your muscles grow. Oversimplified of course, and maybe I'd be a better runner if I did run 5-6 times a week, but right now I'd rather be an OK and injury-free runner.
And 200km for the month! I challenge anyone here to go back through their diaries and find they've ever achieved that. Long may it continue.
Superb stuff from the colonies. Just what I need to forge on after the distraction of Almeria. I shall re-double my long-run efforts and, as the man says, not run on consecutive days. Apart from when I feel like it of course. Well done OM
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
January 2012 - Here We Go Again
