It's not what happens to you when you fall off the proverbial horse, it's how you get back up and get on with it that counts.
Yesterday was a shocker. No, really it was. I was both mentally and physically exhausted and my scheduled run ended extraordinarily early after just 15 minutes. I'd covered a pitiful 2km and was utterly spent. I chucked in the towel and sought solace in the only place I knew that was dark, comforting and full of alcohol - my wine cellar.
This morning I awoke after a restless night, with a puffy, gluggy eye and general lethargy. My first thought was conjunctivitis, which I hate, and which began the day on a very sour note.
However.
Sometimes, even when you don't know why, there are things you just gotta do. Things you just have to get on with - in basic terms, a few things you just got to squarely punch in the face in order to put things right and feel better.
No lousy bout of conjunctivitis was going to stop me, and one bad, mangy 2km run was not going to totally stuff up my training plan! If I was ever going to test the power of positive thinking, this was it. I still felt lousy physically, but I wasn't about to quit just yet. I changed into my running gear, flexed my muscles and ... still felt like crap.
Mrs MLCM saved me at that point by heading out for her regular daily 3 - 4 hour gym session (no exaggeration, she really does put in around 20 hours/week in the gym). And so in the face of such inspiring grit, off I trotted too. Slow to begin with for sure, but the run actually felt much better than the previous days so I gradually picked up the pace a bit. By the time Emerson, Lake & Palmer's "Fanfare For The Common Man" came through the earphones I was cranking it out and feeling just fine, thanks. Indeed, to hell with it, I was actually feeling so determined that I did Saturday's run as well! I'm still not sure how it happened, but somehow I just turned around a horror day yesterday into a fine, reasonably fast and very fit run today, even when I felt like rubbish at the start. All I had to do was get mad with myself, at least a bit.
See what you can do when you get grumpy with it? Grumpiness is good. A new running formula to remember - grumpy stubbornness is worth ... oh, at least five energy gels I reckon. Maybe more.
So later in the day I received my six-monthly superannuation statement from my fund which proudly stated that not only are they a multi-award winning super fund and that they are so proud to be "socially aware" that they are on Facebook, Twitter *and* YouTube, but they also managed to lose 4.6% of my money over the last six months. Without a hint of explanation or even the slightest tinge of regret. But it's OK, because they are on Facebook. And you know what? I suddenly felt I could run another half marathon, especially if the fund managers were waiting at the finish line for me to snap their necks. Grrr. Maybe make that grumpiness equivalent to 8 - 10 gels.
So, I'm going to write to them and ask very nicely if they could send a member statement just before my next race (whatever that may be), because there's a darn load of motivation in such nauseatingly conceited behaviour.
There you are then - a very emotional but successful start to March. After such a bad end to February (well, one bad run is not so bad really I suppose) it was just what I needed.
If you are reading this and you are a superannuation fund manager... well maybe keep quiet about it, OK?
24.0km, 2:33:38
YTD: 433.5km
P.S. The eye is fine - was probably just hay fever!
After a gloriously running-free four days, today's appointment with destiny was not to be postponed any longer.
It was a simple proposition - could I run for four hours without hitting the wall? To find out I loaded the iBeast with "Top 1000 Pop Hits of the 80s" (God knows why - for the most part it was effing awful), loaded drink bottles with water and isotonic goop, counted out the right number of chia/pinole biscuity things and cut a banana into three pieces, set the treadmill to a stately 9kmh and in ideal running conditions (24C, no humidity for once) launched into the unknown.
Four hours later I stepped off happy that I'd covered 36km without once feeling I was in any difficulty, other than sheer frustation at yet another Human Effing League song coming up on random play.
OK so a treadmill run doesn't fully equate to hitting the streets, but as a test of my in-race feeding system (one chia/pinole biscuit twice an hour and one third of a banana once per hour) it worked a treat, and I don't doubt I could have gone on for the full 42.2 had I been so inclined (which, at that pace would have taken about 4h42).
All good. All happy.
36.1km, 4h01m
YTD: 469.6km
Track du jour: You Win Again - Bee Gees, because it was exactly on my cadence and (taken out of context) seemed rather fitting.
Wow, fabulous achievement! And as if 4 hours on the tready wasn't mental torture enough, you subject yourself to 1000 hits of the 80s! (I can only manage half an hour of that.) Great work, not only on the running but on the hydration / nutrition strategy.
I guess it's not an issue on the tready, but do the biscuits survive on a road run? I've found that any baked goods just disintegrate in a bum bag. Bananas are even worse. Hence I seem to be stuck with jelly babies or raisins (both of which cloy after a while).
BTW, 24C would be considered on the hot side around here for running. I reckon around 18C is perfect for a marathon; colder for a short race.
We still await the marathon annoucement with bated breath - but appreciate that you can't make any commitments.
(06-03-2012, 12:19 PM)marathondan Wrote: I guess it's not an issue on the tready, but do the biscuits survive on a road run? I've found that any baked goods just disintegrate in a bum bag. Bananas are even worse.
Yes, this will be the next part of the testing process. I think the biscuits will hold up, being small and dense, but bananas are always a problem. A work in progress...
(06-03-2012, 08:37 PM)Seafront Plodder Wrote: That is tremendous work MLC. You need to get on the start line of a 26.2 asap. And that's an order!
Thanks SP. There's only one marathon around these parts anytime soon - the Canberra marathon on April 15 - but work has already put the kybosh on that one. After that there's pretty much nothing at all until July.
Well, I'm beginning to get ever so slightly nervous on your behalf, MLCM. Here you are in the running form of your life, astonishing us almost daily. After your troubles of recent years, no one deserves a break more than you. You're now a pre-packaged achievement looking for a slot in the calendar. But there aren't any slots just now, which has to increase the risk of injury or burnout before one becomes available. April 15 plus or minus a couple of weeks would have been perfect. You would be approaching peak fitness at a great time.
I just hope -- really really hope -- that you hold it together until July or whenever.
That said, even if the worst happened, what you've done so far is wonderful.
El Gordo
Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
Wise words from the Great One. It almost sounds like, if you were to identify a date in July, you should cut back a bit for a month or so - say by 20% - and then go for a two month push for the marathon. But you may not have the luxury of that much notice.
or, being the fine outstanding chap that I know you to be, you could pack up a little of that uber fitness and fire off a courier package to the Motherland. I know a couple of plodders who would make grateful good use of it
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Well as it happens life intervenes again, as it so often does. New South Wales is currently being ravaged by major flooding which has made work utterly chaotic and I've been way too tired to contemplate early morning runs, whilst today's run (Saturday) has been gazumped by overtime and a cancelled day off. Net result: just one run this week, albeit the 36km beast.
And so, in something of an anticlimax my ten-week base-building program comes quite suddenly to an end. And with no race in sight.
What do I do now?
After all your dire warnings I feel I should perhaps ease back a bit, but to be honest I'm feeling fine. At the pace I've been running which is well under race pace, I'm free of any real injuries with only very minor niggles from my left achilles and left knee on occasion which really don't even merit a mention. But they're enough to make me realise that I'm doing the right thing and there's no need to push the pace more than I have. I'm really not trying to win anything and I'd rather be slow and injury-free, thank you.
But yes, the question remains - what now?
Well first up there's MLCM Jr #1 (Chris)'s wedding in three weeks time on March 31st. I think I should focus on that for the moment and training can fit in as best it can. One unexpected benefit of this year's running has been that my weight is now down to 76kgs and I can again fit into my tuxedo, which I haven't worn since 1990. So that may well get a run at the wedding... even if it is a couple of decades out of style.
I'm relaxed about the running, but not overly so - I need to keep the mileage up or it'll just slip away again, along with my fitness. So I'll keep trudging along at a sedate pace and notch up a few more entries in the spreadsheet and see where it all leads. At some point though I need to start hitting the serious hills again as Chris is very keen to have another crack at the P2P in November. This time, it could well be a race.
Now that would be something.
At least now though I know for sure that I can get marathon-ready in a relatively short space of time and can do so without major risk of injury.
So that's a big plus, and even if there's no race on the horizon just yet, I'm happy to have got through this ten-week period with green lights and a big tick in the "injury free" box.
Frog March
![[Image: frustration_relief.png?w=330&h=400]](http://lost100pounds.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/frustration_relief.png?w=330&h=400)
