StairMaster, Bibra Lake and a hollow body

Things are going well, while autumn struggles to kick in, at least here in the West.

Two weeks have gone, of which one I did not run, as I had to go interstate for work, carrying a cold from my kids. I did, however, lots of work in the gym, especially on the StairMaster. It's a whole new level compared to the standard treadmill - it burns your legs, lungs and heart in about 10 minutes.

However, not running is not great for running purposes, so when I eventually returned to Fremantle, I adopted a low profile and a "let's start again, once again" attitude. Instead, a surprisingly positive week followed. Here are the details:

Monday - 8km in progression with the guys from WAMC 

1. 4.26
2. 4.26
3. 4.06
4. 3.56
5. 3.52
6. 3.45
7. 3.39
8. 3.37

Tuesday - 10km at 4.46
Wednesday - Rest (core work at home) - (have you tried hollow body holds?)
Thursday - 10km at 4.37, with 6x1' (3.25-35) and 1' jog
Friday - 11km at 4.48
Saturday (today) - Park Run in 17.50 (average 3.34/km, passing the first km in 3.47)

If I make it for a recovery run tomorrow, that'll be around 60km total this week, which is spot on. Still a very long way to go, but it feels good!

A good week

A surprising two weeks of continuity in running. I managed to bring the daily runs to 10km, this week I clocked in 50 km in 5 sessions, even with some "attempted speed".

On Monday, I did a good progression over 8km with the people from WAMC. We started at 4.30/km, then I built up km by km, the last one was 3.38.

On Thursday, I brought my body back into a long forgotten world, aka sub 3.30/km speed, with 3x1 km on the road: 3.34, 3.31, 3.23 rec 3, jogging.

Saturday was ParkRun day. I ran the first 2km at 3.35, then fatigue kicked in but I still managed to finish at 3.40 average (18.20). It made me aware of how crazy this all project is. But I also know I don't not qualify as "trained", with my total 2 weeks of running...


The plan for next week is to increase slowly the mileage, aiming for 55/60km weekly. I will have to travel interstate for work , and am donating blood on Tuesday - so will see how that goes!

In the beginning

Back to the Park Run after a long absence, it was nice to run with a bunch of happy people and to be challenged into no sinking. Did not know what to expect, given the non-training - but I liked to think that running 5k at around 3.40 per minute was possible.

Turns out I was right, as I did clock in 18.45 overall - which is not average 3.40mk/km, true, but that's because the first 2km went cautiously at 3.50 average. I was feeling OK though, so I  sped up a bit, caught up with a couple of fast starters, running the last 3km at 3.40 sharp. I usually tend to slow down towards the end, while today I was full of beams on the finish line- so that was good.

Now, it could be pointed out that in 24 weeks I am expecting myself to run a whole marathon at a faster pace than I did 5 km today. That's a fair comment, but it ignores where I am coming from. I just went through my Garmin history, and noticed that in 2017 I never ran more than 30 km in a week. In fact, I did not even make it to running 10km all at once. This could add to the "You are a fool" party, but also could support a more ethereal idea, according to which I am fresher than I would have been had I ran like crazy last year, and despite a total of ten training session in 2018 (averaging 30mins each..), I can put my shoes on and run 3.40mins per km.

I don't know what's going to happen or how I am going to do this - which is great! The plan is, obviously, to increase the weekly load - there isn't much more to do, in order to run a marathon. The real risk is to do too much too soon, which would end with me injured and depressed.

The strategy, for now, is to run 4-5 sessions per week, increasing the daily load of 1 km each week. This week I run 9km per session (every other day, so 4 sessions/week), so next week I'll take that to 10km, then 11 etc. One speed work out per week (will probably do a lot of fartlek), and then either the Saturday Parkrun or the Monday tempo runs with the folks from WAMC. I'll definitely focus on quantity rather than quality, including what Canova calls junk miles.

In the background, lots of work especially on the posterior kinetic chain (i.e. glute bridges, single leg squats - plus side-planks for hip-stabilisation) to keep my crazy calves at bay. A couple of 10ks in the near future (this and this) will tell me how much of a fool I am :)