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Giving it some welly.
It's 3:55 a.m. and I'm standing in my running gear outside my house contemplating the insanity of our sport (or is it just me?). The normally busy street is bereft of life. The railway station across the road won't see a train for another 35 minutes and its three commuter car parks are empty. It's still dark of course, and Autumn is beginning to throw cooler nights at us, not as a full-on assault but as a clear and not-too-subtle reminder that its dark-horse cousin, Winter, will soon be paying us a visit and will expect to stay with us - uninvited and unwanted like some horrid distant relative - not just for the weekend, but for a whole sodding three months.
But it's not yet very cold, and in any case I try to remind myself that compared to the proper cold of my previous abode in Tasmania, even in the depths of winter here in Sydney it's still fine for running, and judging by what I read in RC forums of the wintry conditions on the other side of the planet, conditions here must seem balmy. But that's not how it seems to me now. Perhaps it's just a mental thing - summer's over, and pleasant, lazy evenings of gins and tonic and al fresco dining are being replaced by thoughts about gas heating, mulled wine and casseroles. Hummph.
However I can't stop to think about such matters. For one thing, I don't have the time - I have to get this run done so I can get to work. For another, it's hard enough as it is to get motivated for these ridiculously early runs without thinking depressing thoughts about summers past and the winter to come. No, it's time to press "start" on the trusty Garmin and head up the hill which is the first part of my more-or-less regular 10km highway run.
Even so, as I tentatively stretch my reluctant hamstrings I pause to consider my situation. I have to say I believe I'm in good condition at the moment. The last 12 months have seen me run a huge number (for me) of kilometres, along the way reaching most of the goals I set myself and running some good races. I've met and run with the mighty Sweder and Seafront Plodder and am in perhaps the best running form of my life. And yet, in recent weeks I've become accutely aware of two significant things: the first is that I have this undeniable feeling that I'm merely on the stepping stone to an even better year of running ahead - that if I apply myself there are greater highlights in store yet for MLCMan. And the other point I am reminded about every time I see my modest collection of race medals hanging on my man-cave wall: and that is that I still haven't run a full length marathon.
So, what of this marathon? To be honest, I feel ready enough to tackle one, even tomorrow if it were possible. I've plenty of long runs under my belt, including recent 32 and 36 kilometre monsters which I completed with relative ease. Truth to tell though, there's only a couple of possible races I can consider this year, and the first one isn't until the end of July, still 13 weeks away and the other isn't until September. That got me thinking - as I'm in such good form this far out from a possible race date (and for a couple of significant reasons there's no guarantee I'll be able to run either race), and as I have to maintain my current good form anyway, I may as well make an effort to ensure that if I get the chance to run either marathon, that I'll not just finish the thing, but put in a very respectable debut performance.
With that in mind I've been doing a tremendous amount of reading about running and marathon training, and rather a lot of number crunching (courtesy of my beloved spreadsheet). I have two main - well I'll call them "hindrances" - when it comes to training (although I really should use a more positive turn of phrase I suppose): the first is that my physio last year insisted I run only every second day, which to be honest seems to have helped both my joints and muscles even with a heavily ramped mileage but which does make it a little trickier to run a decent number of kilometres each week. The second is the nature of my work, which involves very long days and some nights, and which vary from week to week, which makes planning a training schedule a rather convoluted, if not impossible affair. You could say consistency is somewhat lacking.
All my reading however leads me to the conclusion that three runs per week is sufficient training to run a good marathon. The trade-off is that they (of course) have to be three very good and very specific types of run. It's no secret - we all know what they are: the long run, the tempo run and the speed/interval session. It is of course tempting to just do three longish runs, and that is what I did in the first three months of this year, putting away 50km each week and rarely running anything less than 15km at a time. While this gave me good endurance, it did nothing for my pace which actually fell, and which I wasn't in good conscience able to write off as a mere by-product of ageing. Something about my training has to change.
And that - by way of an extremely convoluted explanation - is why I've risen in the middle of the night to run what I am now going to think of as my 10km tempo run for the week. But I've also been motivated by this weird feeling I mentioned before of "being on the cusp of something even better" to work on improving my times. My best for this 10km highway run is a touch over 55 minutes, but that was some time ago and my PB for a 10km race is some 5 minutes better again.
So yesterday as I sat pondering all this, I made up my mind to start working on that today ... this morning ... and I'll start by bringing my PB for this highway out-and-back to below 55 minutes, and see where we go from there. It's not exactly a hilly course, but it's definitely undulating, with the return leg's main climb being the money segment - a reasonably demanding 1.5km climb from the 7km point, which makes it a hard run when pushing it, doubly so at this time of night. The steepest climb though is the very first part - it's a mere 100 metres from my house to the first corner, but it's the very start of the run and it's too early in the morning for such heart-starters (or heart-stoppers, as the case may worringly be) and just not a good way to begin any run.
Oh well. Too bad, lambykins - let's just get on with it and give this some welly.
So, I bound up the hill, turn left across the railway bridge where I encountered the possum last time (no wildlife today though) then left onto the Pacific Highway and ... whoa! Four people unexpectedly waiting at the bus stop and blocking the footpath somewhat - I've never seen that before; the 3:30 NightRide bus must be running late today. On past the Gordon shops, being careful when passing the 24-hour McDonalds as people sometimes walk straight out of there and across your path to get to their vehicles at the kerb (this early hour being the only time they can actually park there), then up a small hill alongside the memorial park containing the bust of "Sudan" General Gordon of Khartoum, for whom the suburb is named (I live on Khartoum Avenue), then along to the Gordon Uniting Church where my Garmin beeps for the first kilometre. Hmm, 5:27 - a very good first kilometre, which is more generally a slow one.
From there it's a short climb to Powell Street and then it's downhill to the next suburb of Killara and onto Lindfield - this is the fastest part of the course and my splits reflect this: 4:56 and then 4:49 - probably my fastest kilometre time in years, and now as if to emphasise the point I have a stitch in my right side and my breathing is pronounced, so I figure I'm probably going a bit too fast. I ease back a bit and concentrate on rhythm as I work uphill into Roseville, where the late-running NightRide bus finally passes me, screaming along to make up lost time. The fourth kilometre takes 5:10 and the fifth ticks over in 5:11 exactly at the moment I touch the traffic lights at Boundary Road which is my turn-around point.
By now I'm a bit winded and my right hammie is hurting slightly, so I ease back a little more and focus on cadence. I reached the 5km point in 25:33 - waaaay ahead of where I need to be, so I can safely slow down a bit and concentrate on maintaining form and still easily beat my PB.
From here I'm pretty consistent - the three uphill kilometres each take 5:29 and the two flat or downhill sections take 5:06 and 5:11. I get back for a final time of 52:19 and have not only beaten my PB, but have pulverised it into submission. Now I can begin to understand how I once ran a 10km race in 50:07 - on a flat course I may even be able to go close to that again.
This feels good!
I slurp down some water, do some careful and gentle stretching of (particularly) the right hamstring and (sigh) prepare to head off to work.
But what a good way to start the day!
10.0km, 52:19 (5:14 pace) fast!
YTD: 590.5km
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Stable April
