KnockKnocktober

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Knock knock.

Who's there?

Jew.

Jew who?

Jew realise there's only five weeks left until race day and you've barely run at all this mon...

[sound of door being hurriedly slammed shut]

Regrettably it's true... October has been a wash-out thus far with crazy work schedules and a persistent fatigue that has dogged me in recent weeks and killed off my training. I've all but written off any chance of a "good" race now, and it's just a matter of getting enough done to finish the jolly thing and have a good time with our little RC crowd that is gathering on yonder shores.

By the way, last Saturday I checked out the weather down there. Here in Sydney, it was at that moment 33C. Down in Hobart it was instead just 6C, and on top of Mt. Wellington it was -4C with a wind chill of -15C.

Just thought you'd like to know.

[Sweder]

October has been a wash-out thus far with crazy work schedules and a persistent fatigue that has dogged me in recent weeks and killed off my training. I've all but written off any chance of a "good" race now, and it's just a matter of getting enough done to finish the jolly thing and have a good time with our little RC crowd that is gathering on yonder shores.

Thanks for writing my post for me, mate. What a crock.
3 shows in 4 weeks*, pre-dawn starts, 22:00 finishes, no prospect of a waddle, no hotel gym. On the plus side, I've not turned into a beer monster. Weissbier aside (well, who wouldn't?) I've been pretty good but after a month pounding unrelenting concrete in work boots my legs are like roadkill.

I have a two week window here where I can get some speed work and a couple of medium-range slogs in. I've not covered the distance in over two months, which says it all. The biggest concern is injury, so let's all avoid the foolery that is playing catch-up and stay fit for the start-line.

Solidarity, brother!!

*apologies, I sound ungrateful. I'm not. It's great to be busy in the current climate, but the timing sucks

[suzieq]

Boy, the two of you have had a tough go running wise this month. As long as we are fit enough to line up for the race, it doesn't matter how well we do it, as long as we can do it. As Sweder said, don't try to play catch-up and get injured! That's what I'm thinking as my hill training doesn't come close to what I should be doing.

On another note - I love the weather forecast for Mt. Wellington! A little chilly on top, but hopefully that improves a bit. I was worried about running in the heat.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Just a quick one ... I have only managed a couple of short runs (60 mins, 30 mins) in the last few days - better than nothing, but only a little. Actually the half-hour run was a bad one: very sluggish, very slow and which left me feeling shattered. I think I'm just plain dog-tired from a very hectic schedule. Work has been particualrly draining, with serious bushfires in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney causing us much grief and extra, frustratingly tedious work. The fires have also shrouded Sydney in thick smoke for several days which of course doesn't help with one's breathing, etc.

Anyway, what it all means is that the P2P doesn't have the tight, concentrated focus of attention from me that it did prior to this onslught of madness. What comes of it race day, I don't honestly know. We can only wait and see, but I do have visions of me being the last straggler up that mountain. Oh well, if so, it hardly matters I guess. The last one home still gets a medal. I kinda like that.

Gotta go whoosh. Ciao, RCers.

[suzieq]

The wildfires have been all over the news here; my heart goes out to everyone there. I sure hope the weather starts to help instead of what it seems to be doing now.

[Sweder]

The wildfires have been all over the news here; my heart goes out to everyone there.

Same here
The tales of lost homes is bad enough. The toll on wildlife in those beautiful stretches of wilderness must be devastating.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

I couldn't be less motivated for running at the moment. Every little thing is a chore and every day I feel tired as hell. I'm seriously considering changing my P2P entry to "walker". I'll see what the next couple of days bring, but right now it looks bleak. One way or another though, I'll be there, and I'll climb the sod, even if it's a head-down, drag-the-feet-along effort the whole way.

No runs to report.

[Sweder]

Grim news indeed. My paltry efforts feel like pissing in the wind. If it were any other race I'd say 'she'll be right, mate', but it isn't. It's the Antichrist.

[suzieq]

Sounds like we're all battling something right now. I haven't run for days because of a horrible cold.

I think your strategy should be the run/walk method MLCMM. I do it all the time (and we saw how EG made it work!). I do 10 minutes running and a one minute walk break. You could even do less running - anything to help you get up the mountain. It really does make a difference.

We need to gather our strength somehow and keep going.

[El Gordo]

I think your strategy should be the run/walk method MLCMM. I do it all the time (and we saw how EG made it work!). I do 10 minutes running and a one minute walk break. You could even do less running - anything to help you get up the mountain. It really does make a difference.

Hi Suze -- I remember exactly when and where you first told me about run-walk. It was in the first mile or two of the Almeria Half in 2005. It sounded a bit weird to me, and as you stopped for your walk break, I decided to run on ahead. Needless to say, you overtook me soon after, and I never saw you again -- or not before the end of the race. You probably finished half an hour ahead of me, and you looked as if you'd hardly broken sweat.

In Berlin I was struck by how many people seemed to be on some sort of run-walk.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

With just two-and-a-half men weeks to race day, time to scrap training plans 'A' and 'B' and go into damage-control-mode, aka deep-abiding-panic-stations.

Run/walk it is going to have to be, but how much training can I cram into the last night-shift-addled fortnight? Well, anything is better than nothing, so let's just see what I can cram in there without busting a boiler, or more importantly, a tendon.

I am feeling somewhat better now, though it still takes me a while to get going in the mornings (afternoons when on graveyard shifts). In that regard, run/walk is the perfect compromise, and with it looking like the only feasible option for race day, I kicked it off today with a treadmill run/walk session. Using Suzie's 10:1 formula, I completed nine of these reps, i.e. ninety minutes of running with nine one-minute walk breaks tossed into the mix. The result was a not displeasing 15.6 km covered in the 99 minutes. Given that I barely managed to get through my last half-hour plod some nine days prior, this was a very encouraging result and left me keen for more. I'll still restrict it to alternate days of course, but it gives me hope for completing the race before the organisers pack everything up and give the place over to the tourists again.

Track du jour: A gentle reminder that today's run was flat ... race day has a slight hill to contend with... Bono and the boys at Slane castle.

[El Gordo]

With just two-and-a-half men weeks to race day, time to scrap training plans 'A' and 'B' and go into damage-control-mode, aka deep-abiding-panic-stations.

Run/walk it is going to have to be, but how much training can I cram into the last night-shift-addled fortnight? Well, anything is better than nothing, so let's just see what I can cram in there without busting a boiler, or more importantly, a tendon.

I am feeling somewhat better now, though it still takes me a while to get going in the mornings (afternoons when on graveyard shifts). In that regard, run/walk is the perfect compromise, and with it looking like the only feasible option for race day, I kicked it off today with a treadmill run/walk session. Using Suzie's 10:1 formula, I completed nine of these reps, i.e. ninety minutes of running with nine one-minute walk breaks tossed into the mix. The result was a not displeasing 15.6 km covered in the 99 minutes. Given that I barely managed to get through my last half-hour plod some nine days prior, this was a very encouraging result and left me keen for more. I'll still restrict it to alternate days of course, but it gives me hope for completing the race before the organisers pack everything up and give the place over to the tourists again.

Track du jour: A gentle reminder that today's run was flat ... race day has a slight hill to contend with... Bono and the boys at Slane castle.

Good news. One of the hardest things to decide is what the run-walk ratio should be. 10:1 is getting towards the end of the scale from what I've read, but if you're not recovering from injury or a long layoff, then go for it if that seems comfortable. Galloway has formulas based on projected pace -- the faster your pace, the bigger the run element. That said, he claims that switching from say 5:1 to 6:1 has a negligible effect on final time -- maybe because there will be less of a decline if your body is less stressed.

Another approach is distance-based. You quite often see people stop for a walk break at the KM or mile markers in races.

The most important thing is to make a decision and stick to it from the very start. It seems to work.