Night and Day
I have been visiting Centennial Park at all hours of the early morning (night) and not so early morning (day) for my last two runs.As per the plan I met up with Ellie again on Friday morning in the cold and dark and we did a 10 min warm up and then 15 mins of fartlek with 30secs hardish and 1 min recovery. Nothing too serious but at least it got us moving and on the path to a return to some more serious speedwork. According to Garth the Garmin our speedy bits were at 5.12 pace but he did lose signal a few times so it may not be true. We then had to plod up to the Paddington Gates which was quite torturous after the fartlek. Today, we actually got to run in daylight and it was a nice cool sunny morning too, with a big moon still hanging in the sky. An outside loop plus a loop of CP plus a loop of the Golf course was the plan. It's a long time since I've done that course; probably over a year. My intention was to do 10km just to check I could before I decide if I'm going to do the 10km at the Gold Coast.All went very well up to about 7kms, when the lack of miles in my legs started to show. My legs just started feeling fatigued. I decided that instead of slowing down I'd actually speed up instead and that helped a bit as it feels like a more natural pace and so the last few kms were close to 6 min pace. I was very pleased when the 10km ticked over and I could stop. At least I know I can make the distance now and assuming I feel OK on the day I'll give it a go.This week's plan is similar:Mon: Glute TorturerTues: Easy Tiger and rest dayWeds: Run 45minsThurs: Spin class and gymFri: Run - 40 mins with some fartlekSat: Crazy Ab LadySun: 70 mins
Less is more ??
Hello there blogland. I'm back and hoping to keep being back. I have let work take over my life and it's going to stop here. If I was coaching myself I'd be giving myself a stern talking to about values, life balance etc...Good thing that most of my friends are coaches so there's not much chance of being allowed to get away with it for too long...Anyway, I'll put the last few weeks behind me and move on. Strangely though despite sporadic training, the runs I have done have been good ones and faster than I used to run. I'm assuming it's like being in a permanent taper; legs always fresh and lots of energy. I'm also lighter ( although not as light as I was at the end of last year) and I think some of the hormones are a bit more under control. We'll see what happens over the next few months.So a few highlights: A run along the river at Perth; 4km at 5.55paceA run around Centennial Park last weekend - 8km at 6.05 paceEllie and I starting our own training squad to ensure that I get my act together. All recovering Eastern Suburbs cripples welcome :) Our first squad run set off from Ellie's pad at 5.45 yesterday morning for a nice 6.5km around the park. We even made it all the way up the hill to Ellie's at the end. My quads were crying for mercy as they were trying to recover from being tortured by the glute torturer on Monday.A consultation with Easy Tiger this morning and a plan was devised to build up slowly now that most of my niggles seem to be under control. I'm not even taping my calf anymore as they seem to be holding up. I have been relatively good at keeping up my strength and physio exercises, if not doing heaps of training.Three runs this week: Tues, Fri and 10km Sun plus Glute Torturer, crazy ab lady and 1 or 2 max cross training. I'll probably do a Spin class and some weights tomorrow.Same sort of thing for next week with an 11km runSame the next with GC 10km race at the weekendEasy week before adding in another run for 4 a week after that.Sounds very sensible and if I get through that without any of the injuries re-appearing I will be a happy camper.I'll dip into blog land later today and see how the rest of you are getting on.
