I feel so extraordinary
Something's got a hold of me
I get this feeling I'm in motion
A sudden sense of liberty.
"True Faith" - New Order
Wow - a great run today, not because it was fast or in any way particularly brilliant, but because I felt really and truly stuffed and buggered after five long hard days at work and desperately wanting to not do this run. However, I'm on a roll now and I wasn't about to let a fabulous January of running go to waste, so run I did.
And somewhere along the way - toward the end when I'd already conquered a small mountain of "let's call it quits, that's enough" thoughts and "gosh my knee hurts, perhaps that really IS enough" false alarms and had basically run out of excuses, I suddenly found myself in that exalted place of realisation that says, "Hey! This is actually not that hard, and gee, it feels really, really good and boy, you're actually running at quite a decent pace!" And it wasn't just the endorphins - I really did find a whole new level of enjoyment in pushing myself to new running heights.
I dunno, it just felt brilliant for some reason.
There was a whole heap of other stuff I was going to yabber about, but it doesn't seem to matter much by comparison. I had a great run today, and that's the important thing.
Summer has finally arrived down here after weeks of cold, wet weather which has left everybody grumpy and large slabs of the country under water as floods again swamp (in particualr) northern New South Wales and southern Queensland.
It wasn't until late January that here in Sydney we had our first 30C day and after returning to a few days of continuous rain, yesterday the heat and humidity reappeared once more.
So today's longer run was completed again on the treadmill in front of a couple of fans which helped, but eventually even that couldn't overcome the heat and I pulled up short of what I hoped.
Still a reasonable 20km covered and so the adventure continues. And the absence of hills has helped my legs to shed the slight but persistent shin splints of last week.
Well, compared to the mighty efforts of other members of RC of late, this morning's 10km out-and-back seems quite tame. However, given the early hour (4 a.m.) and my time of under an hour I was quite happy with it. It's the shortest run I've been doing this year, so it's nice to give it a little bit of welly (as much as i can muster at that hour at least) and get inside sixty minutes for it.
A nice way to start the day.
Only saw one other runner, passed two walkers and a man at a bus stop. Pretty quiet, really.
I can't imagine I'll ever run 10k at 4am. But who knows what the future holds? Maybe I should do it just for the hell of it. I would have to go back to bed afterwards though.
(08-02-2012, 11:16 AM)glaconman Wrote: I can't imagine I'll ever run 10k at 4am. But who knows what the future holds? Maybe I should do it just for the hell of it.
Here's a good read if you're looking for some lightweight, inspirational fodder:
The book's as much about Bikila's Finnish coach and the Ethiopian Emporer Haille Selassie I (who figured large in Bikila's life) as about Bikila himself, and large slabs of it are, I suspect, heavily fictionalised, but it's still a really enjoyble read.
Thanks. That's emperor Selassie as opposed to Haile Gabreselassie, the fabled runner who singularly failed to lap myself and the mighty Niguel in the 2005 Medio Maraton de Almeria
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Read this book a couple of years ago. It's a great story but ultimately a tragic one (a car crash left him in a wheelchair and he died aged 41).
Bikila was the top marathon runner of the 60s. He was partly responsible for my dad and a couple of uncles choosing to organize and run a sponsored marathon around the streets of the Black country in 1969. Mum was manning the final drinks station several months pregnant ... so I was there too. He's got a lot to answer for that Bikili fellow...
Yes I fancy I vaguely remember him from the 60s. Certainly I remember the Mexico Olympics and the marathon (Bikila pulled out after 15km chasing his third successive Olympic marathon gold).
At least today I ran further than he did at the Mexico Games (albeit not after a serious car crash as he did). I really didn't feel up to much today, having already had a big running week, but I'd agreed to hit the streets early(ish) with Chris (MLCM Jr#1) and so off we went.
My left achilles was a little tender today so we took it easy. Just as well really as I was pretty much depleted and so it was a slow, "dignified" run. The weather was kind - there have been severe storms all around Sydney the last 24 hours with hail damage and flash flooding, pretty much evrywhere except right here in our little suburb. Grey and gloomy and the odd sprinkle of rain, but by and large cool conditions thorughout.
The usual street circuit with a couple of laps of a sports ground thrown in for good measure (Chris ran those barefoot, while I stuck to my brand new Brooks Adrenalines which suit me fine, thanks).
A pedestrian 16.5km with (I am assured by SportTracks) 37% of that distance being uphill, so a good workout.
A big week for me - 66km all up. Just as well as next week will be a little more difficult to squeeze the miles into.
Look back over the last 18 months and take stock of where you are now. What a remarkable journey!
You're knocking these distances out rather like a farmer's wife shells peas. It must feel fantastic to be in such terrific shape, just reward for determination and, the staple diet of all successful sportsmen, damned hard work. Great stuff, an inspiration to those of us working our way back to form.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
(11-02-2012, 11:48 AM)Sweder Wrote: Look back over the last 18 months... It must feel fantastic to be in such terrific shape, just reward for determination and, the staple diet of all successful sportsmen, damned hard work. Great stuff, an inspiration to those of us working our way back to form.
Well cheers Sweder. It does feel great at the moment - running well and feeling very fit. Still some way to go however, and improvement is getting harder as the body slows down a tad. Worth the effort, but.
This morning was another 10km splod (sprint/plod) along the highway at 4 a.m. before work. You know you're running very early in the morning when you pass more TVs than people. Such was the case today - I passed two walkers (the same two walkers I frequently see on these outings) and four television sets - all of them CRT-types dumped by the roadside.
A sign of the times, perhaps?
Anyway, a reasonable outing. It felt as if it should have been a course PB, but it wasn't quite that. Good pace though.
(06-02-2012, 08:01 PM)marathondan Wrote: 10K at 4am sounds pretty exceptional to me, MLCM. Great work!
I've mentioned this before I think, but I met a bunch of Texans at the Chicago Marathon pre-race pasta party who had done all their marathon training in the middle of the night because it was too hot to run when the sun was up. Their running club met at about 3.30 or 4am if I remember right.
Great to see MLCM in such good form after that long spell of frustration.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
3:50 a.m. and the alarm sounds. No time to think about it, just get up and get going. Out the door before I've even realised it's raining. Dash back to grab a cap and off again, still finishing off the dream I had upon waking. Seriously, this lucid dreaming caper is an interesting way to avoid actually thinking about what I'm doing, which is essentially insanity.
Ideal running conditions really - mild and drizzly and I pound along the highway for my 10km, seeing my legs move beneath me but not really conscious yet. I continue the dream, which is a bit of nonsense about two young guys I know (but not really) who make it big as a rap duo called Anne R.K. I seem to be the guy organising time off school for them. Whatever, it gets me through my run.
And wow - a massive course PB! Where the hell did that come from?
I celebrate back home with a big plate of sausages and eggs.
I'm wide awake now and fully chuffed. Not just a PB but this morning's run brings up the 300km for the year for me. And it's only half way through February! Cool!
Bit of an experiment for my long run today. I've been reading a lot lately about training methods and nutrition. Much of it is contradictory, but some of the basics make at least some sense. I've come to the conclusion that in order to run longer distances I need to not only log a lot of base miles but also run them slower (in the aerobic zone 3 for HRM fans) and sort out my intra-run running fuel.
To that end I took to the treadmill again, as the hills around here don't really allow for zone 3 running. I'd also baked a fresh batch of my chia/pinole biscuits and made them in 250kJ sizes. The plan was to eat one of these every 20 minutes, which along with a half litre or so of electrolyte per hour should give me the fuel I need.
So I set the treadmill at a steady 6:30/km pace and took off, with only a couple of fans to keep the heat at bay and several episodes of "The Shadow Line" to keep me amused.
Three and a half hours later I was fed up and had had enough. I think I proved that my plan is basically workable - I can run at that pace quite comfortably for long periods and my fuel choice seemed to do the job (although the biscuits were a bit too dry and started getting stuck in my throat toward the end).
I'm quietly confident I could have run for perhaps another hour with a bit of effort at that pace, but was happy enough with what I achieved and felt fine at the end. Not overdone at all.
That ends week 7 of my ten-week base mileage plan, the main aim of which was to run 50km per week without running on consecutive days. Well I'm averaging 48km per week which is near enough, and am feeling very good for having 3 - 4 rest days each week. Very happy with the way it's all going thus far. And my average run distance is up to 16km, with no run having been under 10km so far this year.
In all, it's looking good ... for ... whatever it is I'm setting out to do.
Ahem.
32.4km 3:31:52
YTD: 336.1km
P.S. "The Shadow Line" is boring as bat-do. *YAWN*
February 2012 - Base Camp
![[Image: Barefoot-Runner.jpg]](http://barefootrunningshoes.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Barefoot-Runner.jpg)
Not just a PB but this morning's run brings up the 300km for the year for me. And it's only 