Good weekend

So after a solid week of shorter runs, it was time to hit the weekend with some longer runs. Things didnt get off to a great start as my stomach took the word 'runs' a little too literally and I had a bout of 'runs' on Friday night after a very hot curry at the local thai - with this in mind I was debating whether I should do the long run on Saturday or Sunday, but decided to play it by ear and see how we went. In the end I did a half-way house and ran 11 miles on Saturday, all very steady and surely in around 1hr 30 mins, nothing to set the world alight, but all good. Sunday was then to be my longer run, and about 3 miles in I could already feel thee 11 miles from the previous night, and with the lovely sunshine, this was hard. I almost thought about call it a day at 12 miles, but you have to push yourself, so I did 16 with a nice 2 mile recovery walk home, taking the total to 48 miles for the week. So pretty pleased with that given I was still feeling the chest infection in the early part of this week. It's amazing how much it does affect you as well, but glad that week is out of the way and I can now focus on one or two bigger mileage runs back in the UK now ahead of the Hunter Valley marathon.

Pounding the pavements

So another day another session. This time a nice 7 miler around Balmain, but with 7 x 1 minute faster strides int eh run also. I've taken to mixing things up a little, so instead of running a straight 7 miles as I normally do most nights each week, I put in some sprints and strides, not only to mix it up, but to also help vary the pace at which I run at. There's nothing more boring than running one pace mile after mile! So pleased with the first 3 runs of this week, and I appear to be back on track now, following that god awful chest infection last week. The true test will be the 20+ miler I have planned for tomorrow. Hopefully all will go well, but I'm a little worried having not done a big mileage run for 5 weeks now. I'm sure all will be OK though.

Definitely back on it

So tonight was the first run over 4 miles in over a week and whilst still feeling a bit chesty I was definately feeling a lot stronger, so decided to thrash this one out a bit and push myself (mainly to see if I've stil got it). It's crazy but after 10 days of illness and only sporadic training, it makes me think I've lost fitness. Stupid I know. But fear ye not, I busted a gut to do 7.5 miles in 55 mins, so pretty pleased with that, and I started out pretty slowly, but really motored from about 2 miles onwards. One thing that does concern me is that I haven't done a long distance run now for 5 weeks, and by long distance I mean anything over 13 miles. I've done a fair few half marathon distances, but really need to get a few 20+ milers in, so am going to have a bash at one on Saturday whilst the missus is at yoga. Not sure if I'll be ready, but will take this pretty slowly as I really need to get one in. Then it's a few days and I'm back in the U of the K for a few weeks. Nice...

Back on it... pretty much!

So, despite still not feeling 100% I've decided that enoug is enough and I'm not going to take anymore time off from running. So, with a throat full of green crap, I got up at 5:45am this morning and proceeded to go for a run in the fresh Sydney morning. It's truely beatiful here first thing in the morning, silent and lovely and fresh in the middle of winter (seems really strange saying that in June!). The first 100 yards were not nice as the jogging motion saw me bring up pretty much most of the horrible green stuff that has been inhabiting my chest for the last week, and it is truely disgusting when it does come up - almost makes me want to be sick. Within minutes I was sweating quite a bit, and all through out the short 4 mile run my legs felt pretty drained of energy, but it's a start. So, after going round in just under 35 mins I was pretty happy. Not lightening quick I know, but I've had enough of this damn chest infection and I've decided that it's going away - period! (As the yanks would say).

I'm still in two minds whether to do the merathon in a couple of weeks. It's not the end goal, but I know I'll treat it like a proper race, whereas it should just be part of my training. As such I dont really want to do too much taper for it, and just carry on as normal and not look for a great time. But I know me, and me wants to do a great time. Hopefully over the next 2 weeks I can get two 20+mile runs in which would set the confidence up a bit higher, but with one planned for this weekend (plus I'm moving house) - I'm worried that my body hasnt recovered enough yet to go out and run 20 miles. Only having a crack at it this weekend will tell, so guess I just have to grin and bear it and try it. Another early morning run planned for tomorrow - slightly longer this time, so I can't wait for the coughing and sluttering along the streets at 6am tomorrow - beautiful!

Illness... Blurgh!!!

Well the illness has really knocked for me six over the last week. I've still managed to train, and indeed, whilst I was ill I did do some running. However the cold turned itself into a chest infection which is every runners worst nightmare. I can generally run when I have a cold, it doesnt affect me too much. But as soon as the chest becomes infected and I start bringing up loads of crap, that's when running becomes impossible. Essentially the last two weeks training have been dessimated by my illness, which whilst frustrating is just a fact of life I suppose. I took a lighter week the week before last as I was feeling incredibly weak towards the end of it, and thought the rest would do me good. Which it did. However that then manifested itself into a head cold, but I carried on training (and did some bloody quick times), however by Thursday last week it all started to go wrong and before you know it, all this horrible green shit comes up each morning.

So after 3 days of coughing like a madman, I attempted a long run on Sunday, but just 3 miles in, and despite taking it very slowly, breathing was very difficult - so I called it a day realising that trying to attempt a 15-20 miler was just going to do more damage than good. The plan then is to rest up today (as it would have been my rest day anyway), and then get back on it tomorrow. I'm getting there, but it's bloody annoying. That's now two weeks or pretty low milage (23 and 28 miles respectively), and I have another marathon in 4 weeks, so really need to get a couple of longer runs in. However c'est la vie, that's the way it goes and at last it's not a physical injury and just an illness!

No trails...

Well not there that isnt any, just that the bloody train to get me there is not working this weekend due to track work! What a load of bollocks, anyone would think that we're back in the UK again! Hmmmm, will have to re-think the strategy now - might have to head to the Blue Mountains again and kill myself up the massive climbs again!

Illness and training

Well I knew it, I knew I was getting ill. You can always tell and a couple of day before you get ill, because that's when training is the hardest - I personally blame the rain at the Manly Soft Sand Classic! A few days afterwards, I was really struggling on my hill sprints and intervals, and feeling very weak - now I know why. This Monday saw the damn thing start to flush out, coughing, chest infection, the lot. But does it stop me running? Does it heck. I've actually pulled in a pretty decent time over 8 miles last night. I've also changed my course again. I think I was getting horrendously bored with the route I'd been taking and not varying things up enough. I'd do the same old course week in week out and it was starting to do my nut in. So this week I've reverted back to my old route, which is back on the country lanes of Balmain where I really feel at home. Monday was a gentle 8 miler in 64 m ins, Tuesday was 5 miles in 40 mins, and last night was a speedier 62 mins for 8 miles. I've been taking it fairly easy this week, as on Saturday (illness depending), I want to head to the national park about an hour south of Sydney and do the coastal run, there and back, which is around 30-34 miles, depending on which route you take. I really want a crack at a longer distance than 26 miles. And with another marathon coming up in a month, it's time to crank out one of two 20+ milers before the real thing. I'm also going to really push myself in mid-August to mid-September with 2 trail marathons and a 100km race to cap it all off... God knows what state my body will be in. Despite being ill I feel like my pace and strength are pretty strong now. I'm running 8 min miles very comfortably, and now I'm wondering if I could break 3hrs 30mins at the Hunter Valley marathon in a month. Although I know that if I do try and push this, I'll be buggered for a few weeks afterwards - we'll see. I'm stupid, so I know I will try and push it!

No running!

Well for the first weekend in a very very very long time i did nothing, zip, bugger all. As I've posted about before, my shins have been giving me grief and I've generally been feeling pretty tired, and now I know why, I'm sitting here, Monday morning and starting to feel ill. So it's all catching up with me a bit. I was going to take the weekend off anyway, just to get some R+R and a bit of recovery as I was feeling so tired. And now I'm feeling ill, great! But hey ho, it explains a few things really, and it was good to give the legs a rest.

The plan is to try and get back on it this week. I woke up at 5:30am this morning with a view of going for a run, but I felt rough, so went back to bed and think it was a good decision to be honest. So will see how I feel tonight, but want to try and get out for a run, and then I have a big weekend planned. I'm goign to try and to a 36 miler along the coast, so this will be my first big ultra so to speak of... but again I need to see how I feel, but really want to give it a bash - its time to step up the game a little!

Running crossroads

So another week, and some more running. After a rest day on Monday (also slightly hungover from Sunday night), Tuesday was another 13 miler to follow-up the 13 miles on soft sand from Sunday morning. With my backpack of around 4kgs I went round in a leisurely 1hr 47 mins and generally felt pretty good, but was tiring towards miles 12 and 13, but understandable. This week is a hard week, as I'm off to New Zealand at the weekend to watch England play the All Blacks which will be great fun. However this puts pressure on my week as invariably long run now has to be done during the week, and this means a Friday night 18-20 miler if I can.

The reality though at the moment is that I'm pretty shattered. Following the 13 miler on Tuesday night, I've done two other hard sessions back-to-back as well. Wednesday night was some hill reps. Like I've mentioned before, I have a real nasty hill near me which is great for running up and down. So after a mile and a half warm-up last night I went off and did 9 reps of that. The hill is bang on 200 metres long and there's a total elevation of 108ft, so it makes it about a 1 in 5.5, so pretty tough going. After the first 2 reps I knew I was in for a hard night, and still had the two 13 milers in my legs from Sunday and Tuesday too. I also probably started out doing them a bit too hard (around 80%), but dropped that to about 60% and got through them. Each time I do the hill reps I have to do one more than I did before, so tonight was 9. By number 9 I was literally ready to thrown up :) But I managed things OK, and did the 1.5 miles to warm down.

The shins are really giving me grief though at the moment, and have been now for about 3 weeks. God knows how I've managed to keep the mileage up with the hassles Ive been getting from them. Today was another interval session, again a mile warm-up followed by one mile slow, one mile quick, then half a 1/3 mile slow and then 2/3 a mile quick. Again, was was beat afterwards and I think my body needs a rest - so much for the 20 miler planned tomorrow. We'll see how we go.

I think the whole shins situation is also getting me down a bit. I've just looked at my training and in the 9.5 months I've been training I've managed to train (i.e. run) at least 3 times a week every week. No wonder I'm shagged! I also think I probably need a good old massage on the legs too. Its a combination of a few things that I think I need to do to get back on focused again. I'm finding training really hard at the moment, and quite boring at times too, but only another 8.5 months to go!!! Maybe a little rest of a 3 days would do me good. Although I have another marathon coming up soon, and really need to get a couple of longer runs in before that - we'll see how I feel tomorrow. Guess this is what training is all about, the highs and the lows!

Pictures from my recent sand exploits!

My first foreray into soft sand running. This is the finish at the Bondi Barefoot. I mis-judged the finish, thinking it was 400 metres further back and lost around a minute on my finish time! I was very annoyed with that!


This is early into the 21km race at Manly Beach. Driving wind and rain made it hell on earth for the first 5-6 laps. Decided to wear the backpack on this one, much to the amusement of commentators and spectators alike.

Manly Soft Sand Classic

So after a 'painful' 9 miler on Friday night, with my shins still giving me grief, a welcomed rest day on Saturday was taken in the lead up to the Manly soft sand half marathon. It's only 13 miles I thought, but 13 miles on soft sand. Hard bloody work as I was due to find out. With a 7am start, the crazy few of us all gathered down at the beach. Despite getting up at 5:30am, I still managed to be slightly late getting down there, and didn't have much time for a warm-up, something that I really felt in the first few laps.

At the last minute I also decided to run with my backpack on too, so stuff my kit and a 2 litre camelbac in there, and I was ready to rock and roll. It had been raining most of the night, so in theory, this makes things much easier when running on the sand. Had it not been raining, I'd have thought twice about taking the backpack, but my theory was, if I'm doing it in the actual race next year, then why not run with it now? So after starters orders, we all sped off, and to be fair, I did the first lap far too quickly, getting caught up in the event a little, but soon settled into a nice rhythm. The trick with soft sand running is to get yourself behind someone and let them do the work. The theory goes that it makes it that much easier to run in someone else's footsteps, because the sand is firmer and you're running in the path they have dug out. This was OK for me for around the first 3-4 laps, but then I suddenly found myself on my own, making out my own path, which means you work a lot harder.

However a couple of guys caught me up and we pretty much stayed together for the bulk of the race, taking it in turns to do the work. The weather as I mentioned was truly atrocious for the first 6-7 laps. Going away from the start line was OK, as the wind and rain was at our backs, but coming back in was horrible. Driving wind and rain and not having anyone else's footsteps to run in made the workload very very hard, especially with a backpack too! But we got through it, and I started to feel pretty good. This race was very different to Bondi, in that during the race there, a path started to be created, due to having 400 runners running along the same bit. As we were only 71, no real path was marked out, so you were pretty much running in new sand and trying to take the least line of resistance. With around four laps to go, there was me and another bloke, and he nestled himself right behind me (bastard!), only joking, I did it to someone at Bondi! But I thought there's no way in the world he's sitting behind me and then overtaking. So with around a couple of hundred metres to go, I pulled away from him and finished in a respectable 2 hours 4 mins, 37th overall. Not bad I thought, given it's only the third time I've run on soft sand too.

I really enjoyed this one, and it was really hard work. Makes me realise that in the six months leading up the the MDS next year, I should be doing one of these a week. Not only is it much better on the shins, which at the moment are taking a beating from the roads, but it's bloody good training for the MDS, given that we're in the Sahara!

Midweek running

So this week I'm trying to cram in as much as possible during the week, as I have my Manly Soft Sand Classic run on Sunday. So the plan has been to run Tue, Wed, Thur and Friday, with a rest day Saturday and then the run on Sunday. The race itself is a 21km run on soft sand. Fortunately its been raining loads here, so it will make it easier to run, but that also means that the times will be quicker too!!! So Tuesday was an evening run, more tempo like with a 2.5 mile warm-up, then 2.5 miles hard, and then 3.5 miles warm-down - doing the 8.5 miles in 64 mins, not a bad pace. The 2.5 miles hard were done at 6 min 45secs pace, and it felt quite comfortable too.

Yesterday was a lunchtime run, and I'm beginning to dislike doing these more and more. One because it's been pissing down the last week, so I've got soaking wet. But more importantly, the surfaces around where I work are hell on earth for my shins and calfs. It's mainly really hard concrete with very little actual road running, so by the end of it yesterday (7 miles), I was feeling it. But it was a pretty decent session which started slowly, and then finished faster, so good for the old heartrate.

Lastly today was a bit of a crappy one to be honest - another 5 mile city loop, but this time by the end of it my shins were saying stop. I'm going to have to reconsider my lunchtime route as I can't run on the really really hard concrete. Tarmac and asphalt is much much better for me, as apparently it's around 10 times softer than the pavement and the concrete there. Plus where I run, although beautfiul (I run under the Harbour Bridge and by the Opera House), it's all just hard concrete again. So this was just a gentle session after the two harder runs earlier this week.

Tomorrow will be a casual 13 miler to get up to 33 miles for the week, and then the half marathon on Sunday. I'm then planning to do a fairly long run the day after to see what the whole "bouncebackability" is like too.

New trainers weekend

So after a rest day on Friday, it was back to the grind on the weekend, and I actually ended up doing more than I thought I would. I'm still evaluating which trainers I'm going to wear in the MDS next year. Many people go for a trail shoe, because of the varied terrain. However having taken my Asics Kayano's for a stretch on the Six Foot Track (http://www.sixfoot.com/) the other week, they held up pretty well and I was pleased at how they went, and also, given that they were on their last legs. So this weekend was a very casual 10 miler on Saturday with a few strides thrown in for good measure, going round in 1hr 18 mins, again a reflection on how much fitter I'm getting.

Sunday was a buy some new trainers day - and the latest and greatest pair of Kayanos. It's funny because I can't imagine wearing any other trainers now. The cost of them is not great ($249), so I thought I'd try on a cheaper pair of Asics, and the difference was immense. So fork out for the Kayano's I did, and then took them on a gentle 5 miler to break them in, running from the city down to Bondi Beach to do some soft sand running. I did 8 lengths of the beach, which equates roughly to about 5 1/2 miles in barefoot. I really enjoy the soft sand stuff, and half of me thinks that when it comes to the sand in the Sahara, should I just take my trainers off and run in barefoot? Maybe a little silly, but hey, who knows :) So all in another 10 mile day, taking the slightly chilled week to a nice 33 miles, before ramping back up again this week and the Manly Soft Sand Classic on Sunday - a half marathon on soft sand, awesome!