Well things have certainly been progressing and although I haven't had time to update this blog lately, I have found time to run and I have increased my weekly kms to the extent that I finished off 2012 with a 100km week which was the first time I had done that for a few years. I have also done 30km+ runs 3 times over the last month which was the first time I had ran more than 30km since 2009.
The effect of the big training load did show last Saturday when I did an awfully slow 34.17 for 8km. I did throw in the towel over the last few kms but regardless that is still a horrible time for someone who has been running much quicker in training. A recent 24 minute fartlek session saw me cover more than 6km even though the pace was varied due to it being a fartlek.
My weight has now come down to 71kg and I will probably lose a couple more between now and March.
So now there is less than 8 weeks until the marathon although I am not going to be as focused as I have been with previous marathon campaigns, it will still be a great experience. Rather than just focus on one race, I want to focus more on maintaining my fitness level for the rest of 2013. With all marathons that I have done in the past, I have had recovery issues that have led to my fitness declining over the months that followed. This time I am determined to recover properly and keep that level of fitness no matter what it takes. I think nutrition will play a big part.
So although the marathon will be a fun experience, the focus is clearly on a consistent 2013. The year has started off well so lets hope I can keep building and then maintain it.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Friday, November 23, 2012
Time for some serious training!
So things are finally starting to come together and I am looking forward to 3 months of solid work before March 3rd.
My weight is down to 72kg and last week I managed just over 90km. I also did a 5km time trial in 19.05 which was very good considering the lack of quality training I have done lately. I have no doubt I can take at least a minute off that time over the next 3 months.
Time now to keep the momentum building. After a long wait, I seem to be finally making some progress.
My weight is down to 72kg and last week I managed just over 90km. I also did a 5km time trial in 19.05 which was very good considering the lack of quality training I have done lately. I have no doubt I can take at least a minute off that time over the next 3 months.
Time now to keep the momentum building. After a long wait, I seem to be finally making some progress.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
The will to survive
Well, 2012 is a year that is just getting crazier and crazier for me but mostly in a good way. Over the last few weeks something major happened again that prevented me from running for more than a week although I certainly wasn't complaining.
I have since ran every day for the last 10 days and I am now determined to finally get back into some consistent training and make it to sessions consistently which is the one thing I have really failed to do this year.
There is now four and a half months to go until my marathon and its time to really pull the finger out and start working towards a very overdue PB.
Stay tuned for more.
I have since ran every day for the last 10 days and I am now determined to finally get back into some consistent training and make it to sessions consistently which is the one thing I have really failed to do this year.
There is now four and a half months to go until my marathon and its time to really pull the finger out and start working towards a very overdue PB.
Stay tuned for more.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Life's other distractions clearly taking over.
Well I have been a bit slack updating this once again. The last months has been ok and I have done some reasonably good kms however I have missed some key sessions due to my mind being elsewhere. I don't like to write about personal stuff on this blog but those who have run with me recently will know that I have a lot going on at the moment and I also had something major happen just a few weeks ago which meant I didn't run for a about 4-5 days. Sadly when I am stressed or not in a good mood, I just can't run which is something that most others are the complete opposite about. Most will run to take away a bad mood or stress, for me I can only run if I am in a good mood and I have always been like that.
Anyway the last four weeks have seen me average about 75km which is good progress as far as I am concerned. My weight is down to 73kg which is pretty good also.
I did my first race for the year at the De Castella 15km and I realised the importance of race fitness. I need to do some races to get back into it so I will be heading to Burnley this weekend to take part in a 10km fun run just to turn the legs over and have some sort of hitout. Should be fun.
Anyway thats all for the moment, hope to update this in a few weeks.
Anyway the last four weeks have seen me average about 75km which is good progress as far as I am concerned. My weight is down to 73kg which is pretty good also.
I did my first race for the year at the De Castella 15km and I realised the importance of race fitness. I need to do some races to get back into it so I will be heading to Burnley this weekend to take part in a 10km fun run just to turn the legs over and have some sort of hitout. Should be fun.
Anyway thats all for the moment, hope to update this in a few weeks.
Monday, August 20, 2012
A bit of momentum once again.
Well it's been a while since I updated this but I am happy to report that I have done some good kms over the last month or so. Sadly there have been no races and not much quality training but I am getting back to a good base so I can't complain.
Here is how the last few weeks have looked:
Week ending 19/8 - 82kms
Week ending 12/8 - 55kms
Week ending 5/8 - 76kms
Week ending 29/7 - 68kms
Week ending 22/7 - 44kms
Week ending 15/7 - 62kms
So overall things are slowly coming together. I have more than six months left before my marathon in NZ so I will keep building the base and try to do some more quality sessions.
Here is how the last few weeks have looked:
Week ending 19/8 - 82kms
Week ending 12/8 - 55kms
Week ending 5/8 - 76kms
Week ending 29/7 - 68kms
Week ending 22/7 - 44kms
Week ending 15/7 - 62kms
So overall things are slowly coming together. I have more than six months left before my marathon in NZ so I will keep building the base and try to do some more quality sessions.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
The new goal
Although I am prone to a bit of disaster and 90% of races that I plan to do never see me make the start line, I have decided to roll the dice and commit to a race that is 8 months away and in another country. Qantas were offering cheap flights so I decided to take the punt and book them before they went up.
The race I am going to commit to is one that I have been fascinated with for a while. It is a marathon in New Zealand which is mostly downhill. It features a 460m decline over the 42km journey. There is also a few uphill sections. Here is the website http://mountaintosurf.co.nz/
I have been interested in this race ever since I discovered that I seem to have some ability as a downhill runner. Maybe its all in my mind but when I completed the Great Ocean Road half marathon in 2011, I would pass faster runners on the downhill and they would then catch me when we went uphill and this continued until the end of the race. There is one way to find out for sure and that is to compete in a race that is mostly downhill. If I finish with a time that sounds unrealistic, they I will know that I am a gifted downhill runner. If I finish with a time that is nothing special flash compared with how fit I am at the time then I will know not to get too excited about it.
There are two main reasons why I have waited so long to do this race. Firstly it is in New Plymouth which does not have an international airport so that means I need to catch two flights to get there. As you can imagine catching two flights is not like getting two trains where you only have to wait a few minutes for the second one and the idea of flying to Auckland, hanging around an airport for 4-5 hours, catching another flight, enduring a time zone difference and then finally checking in to a hotel just sounded like too much of a hassle and not a very good preparation for a marathon. To get around this I have decided to spread the flights out over separate days so I can carb load and relax in style in preparation. Also its the same deal on the way back so I can recover nice and easily.
The other thing that put me off this event initially is the potential for hot weather. It is in the first weekend of March which means warm weather is very likely. I struggle in the heat so I was not too impressed with this however I figure that I will have Melbourne's summer to train through so I should be well adjusted to it. I plan to do some long runs when the temperature is in the high 20's/low 30's so I should be well suited if the mercury soars.
So at this stage here is the plan:
- get to a good level of fitness, averaging about 100km per week
- lose enough weight to get down to my proper race weight. I currently weigh about 77kg and I would want to have my weight down to about 66kg before I run a marathon
- 3-4 months before the race begin to do some training that is specific to this race such as downhill reps, long runs in hot weather and other things.
- do plenty of races during the lead up to ensure I have a good idea of my likely time.
Another thing that is not great is that I cannot do a half-marathon in the lead up. Having the lead up in the summer months means that I will be restricted to 5-10km races. A half marathon would be ideal but I would have to fly over to Hobart for that to be possible and I don't think I will be allowed a leave pass considering that I am going O/S in March. So the plan will be do to some races over shorter distances, then use the McMillan calculator to work out an expected marathon time. Once I have done that I can subtract 10-15 minutes due to the downhill factor. I believe if I put together 8 months solid training I would run a marathon in under 3 hours in a flat course so that means a very fast time by my standards on a downhill course but lets not get too excited. It's a long way off and I have made other ambitious goals in the past that have never seen light of day so I will keep it zipped for the moment!
This race does not feature a half marathon or a 10km race to downgrade to so it's an all or nothing affair. If I get an injury or some other disaster, I am not sure what I will do. The flights are all paid for but I did get them pretty cheap so it won't be the end of the world if something goes wrong. Anyway I should start thinking positive.
So getting back to the present. I have just finished a 14km run which gives me a total of 70km for the week.
The previous week I completed about 60km so I am building up slowly again. Let's see if I can get towards 80km this week.
I have entered the de Castella 15km run on August 26th which will be my first race of the year. Let's hope I can make the start line for once!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The race I am going to commit to is one that I have been fascinated with for a while. It is a marathon in New Zealand which is mostly downhill. It features a 460m decline over the 42km journey. There is also a few uphill sections. Here is the website http://mountaintosurf.co.nz/
I have been interested in this race ever since I discovered that I seem to have some ability as a downhill runner. Maybe its all in my mind but when I completed the Great Ocean Road half marathon in 2011, I would pass faster runners on the downhill and they would then catch me when we went uphill and this continued until the end of the race. There is one way to find out for sure and that is to compete in a race that is mostly downhill. If I finish with a time that sounds unrealistic, they I will know that I am a gifted downhill runner. If I finish with a time that is nothing special flash compared with how fit I am at the time then I will know not to get too excited about it.
There are two main reasons why I have waited so long to do this race. Firstly it is in New Plymouth which does not have an international airport so that means I need to catch two flights to get there. As you can imagine catching two flights is not like getting two trains where you only have to wait a few minutes for the second one and the idea of flying to Auckland, hanging around an airport for 4-5 hours, catching another flight, enduring a time zone difference and then finally checking in to a hotel just sounded like too much of a hassle and not a very good preparation for a marathon. To get around this I have decided to spread the flights out over separate days so I can carb load and relax in style in preparation. Also its the same deal on the way back so I can recover nice and easily.
The other thing that put me off this event initially is the potential for hot weather. It is in the first weekend of March which means warm weather is very likely. I struggle in the heat so I was not too impressed with this however I figure that I will have Melbourne's summer to train through so I should be well adjusted to it. I plan to do some long runs when the temperature is in the high 20's/low 30's so I should be well suited if the mercury soars.
So at this stage here is the plan:
- get to a good level of fitness, averaging about 100km per week
- lose enough weight to get down to my proper race weight. I currently weigh about 77kg and I would want to have my weight down to about 66kg before I run a marathon
- 3-4 months before the race begin to do some training that is specific to this race such as downhill reps, long runs in hot weather and other things.
- do plenty of races during the lead up to ensure I have a good idea of my likely time.
Another thing that is not great is that I cannot do a half-marathon in the lead up. Having the lead up in the summer months means that I will be restricted to 5-10km races. A half marathon would be ideal but I would have to fly over to Hobart for that to be possible and I don't think I will be allowed a leave pass considering that I am going O/S in March. So the plan will be do to some races over shorter distances, then use the McMillan calculator to work out an expected marathon time. Once I have done that I can subtract 10-15 minutes due to the downhill factor. I believe if I put together 8 months solid training I would run a marathon in under 3 hours in a flat course so that means a very fast time by my standards on a downhill course but lets not get too excited. It's a long way off and I have made other ambitious goals in the past that have never seen light of day so I will keep it zipped for the moment!
This race does not feature a half marathon or a 10km race to downgrade to so it's an all or nothing affair. If I get an injury or some other disaster, I am not sure what I will do. The flights are all paid for but I did get them pretty cheap so it won't be the end of the world if something goes wrong. Anyway I should start thinking positive.
So getting back to the present. I have just finished a 14km run which gives me a total of 70km for the week.
The previous week I completed about 60km so I am building up slowly again. Let's see if I can get towards 80km this week.
I have entered the de Castella 15km run on August 26th which will be my first race of the year. Let's hope I can make the start line for once!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, June 18, 2012
Getting back into it once again....
Well despite 4 weeks on the sidelines doing no running at all, I have managed to start again. Sadly the bike accident really took my confidence away as it seems that every time I get some momentum, disaster is always around the corner.
I have been running again now for about 2 weeks and I should manage about 60km this week. My weight has ballooned out to 78kg which always happens when I dont run.
I attented the Traralgon Marathon recently which was a lot of fun. I made a video which is on Youtube. Several people showed their appreciation for having their great memories captured and I must say those small country marathons really have a great feel to them. It's definitely a race I will be thinking about in coming years.
So for the moment its now just a case of trying to run every day again and get back to my previous mileage of 100km per week and hopefully stay there for a while. I have not done a race all year and my long term goal is now going to be the Mountain To Surf Marathon in New Zealand which will be held in March next year. It's a marathon that feautures a 460m decline so it should be very fast! I have over 8 months to train and also get my weight down to what it was when I last did a marathon. My only concern with this race is the possibility of the weather being very warm but then again I will have all summer to train through it so I will be used to the heat by the time the race comes along.
I have been running again now for about 2 weeks and I should manage about 60km this week. My weight has ballooned out to 78kg which always happens when I dont run.
I attented the Traralgon Marathon recently which was a lot of fun. I made a video which is on Youtube. Several people showed their appreciation for having their great memories captured and I must say those small country marathons really have a great feel to them. It's definitely a race I will be thinking about in coming years.
So for the moment its now just a case of trying to run every day again and get back to my previous mileage of 100km per week and hopefully stay there for a while. I have not done a race all year and my long term goal is now going to be the Mountain To Surf Marathon in New Zealand which will be held in March next year. It's a marathon that feautures a 460m decline so it should be very fast! I have over 8 months to train and also get my weight down to what it was when I last did a marathon. My only concern with this race is the possibility of the weather being very warm but then again I will have all summer to train through it so I will be used to the heat by the time the race comes along.
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