This will be a grumpy post. I may as well set the tone up front.
After my last post, I headed out for 6.5km, on very sore legs (having done 35km the previous day). It went suprisingly well pace wise, although every step had my quads screaming at me.
On my return home I still felt normal... however within the space of an hour I was freezing cold, my body was aching all over (not just the legs) and I felt like i was going to be sick. I spent the next 24 hours in bed and had to take 1.5 days off work. Nasty.
Needless to say monday's training was out. On Tuesday I was much better but still had quite bad stomach pains so that was a no go too. Wednesday I didn't think things through overly well and swam at 6.30am when i should have hit the pavement. We've had very hot days both here in Wellington and as usual in Nelson so even running at 6-7pm is almost still too hot. The swim was a nice ease back into it. I had a long overdue deep tissue massage mid afternoon and decided that my legs would get more benefit from another day off running.
Which brings me to today. Thursday. I'd decided to do my mid week mid distance (12km) this morning. However after my 2nd night of only 5 hours sleep I feel like i've been run over by truck. By eyes are so bloodshot and sore that I don't think i'd be able to see where i was running anyway.
So here I am, fourth rest day from running and i'm grumpy. Not even Polly and Grant's cat/gareth morgan jokes could turn the corners of my mouth for me this morning.
This was meant to be an easy week though. So saturday's run will drop back to a 20km, followed by something between 5-7 on sunday. Tomorrow I can probably manage 10km + a swim.
Hopefully the rest will prepare me for next week's 65-70km.
In the meantime, give me coffee, and don't let me see any runners!
Wednesday 30 January 2013
Saturday 26 January 2013
The runners high: Peaceful pounding?
It's the day after 35km and i'm doing alot of thinking/reading about ultra running. Not that 35km is regarded as ultra... but the 60km we will do in 2 months time certainly is.
I just read this article, Ultrarunning ultimate runners high, which talks about the runners high, which the writer believes is even stronger in ultra running. The jury is still out as to which chemical substance causes the high but the strong contenders are still endorphins, dopamine, seratonin, and strangely (or not) the natural cannabis like chemical that our bodies produce. Fascinating.
The writer, an ultra runner, talks about his experience of being in unbearable pain and then being lifted to euphoria. Like a different state of mind.
I'm not sure I experienced this yesterday but i have to say that in some ways while the pain got worse after 20km, I think my mind hit this state where it was telling my body 'this is what we are doing, so shut up and just do it'. It's absolutely mind over body after a few hours of running.
I'm trying hard to remember 6 years ago when we ran our first ultra - the Oxfam 100km trailwalker event. Unfortunatley i have a pretty shocking memory so there isn't much to go on! I know that we did really well for the first 40km or so and were even coming 4th place!
Here we are coming into one of the checkpoints. About 37km in. What i seem to remember is that we were feeling pretty darn good at this stage and it's from here that things got progressively harder. But i also think that after another 20-30km of things getting harder they kind of leveled out. I think one thing that helps at this stage is the strange peacefullness of the pounding. The above article talks about this too. You get to a stage where nothing else really matters. Your body just needs to keep going in some sort of forward motion. But other than that, your mind almost becomes emptyed out. You don't remember other stressors going on in your life, you forget about work and other committments. It's relaxing - in a bizzare form!
An integral part of ultra training is running back to back's on the weekend. It helps your body prepare for running on very sore legs. Thus far i've been very slack on this front. But with the email last week confirming out entry i've decided to get my AintoG and do it today. A short 6-7km will bring my weekend mileage to 42km and total week to 60km.
At this moment, as i get out my running gear, i'm unsure how i'm actually going to run through 6km when i'm struggling to get up and down stairs (like seriously, using the rail to brace myself).
Mind over body.
I just read this article, Ultrarunning ultimate runners high, which talks about the runners high, which the writer believes is even stronger in ultra running. The jury is still out as to which chemical substance causes the high but the strong contenders are still endorphins, dopamine, seratonin, and strangely (or not) the natural cannabis like chemical that our bodies produce. Fascinating.
The writer, an ultra runner, talks about his experience of being in unbearable pain and then being lifted to euphoria. Like a different state of mind.
I'm not sure I experienced this yesterday but i have to say that in some ways while the pain got worse after 20km, I think my mind hit this state where it was telling my body 'this is what we are doing, so shut up and just do it'. It's absolutely mind over body after a few hours of running.
I'm trying hard to remember 6 years ago when we ran our first ultra - the Oxfam 100km trailwalker event. Unfortunatley i have a pretty shocking memory so there isn't much to go on! I know that we did really well for the first 40km or so and were even coming 4th place!
Here we are coming into one of the checkpoints. About 37km in. What i seem to remember is that we were feeling pretty darn good at this stage and it's from here that things got progressively harder. But i also think that after another 20-30km of things getting harder they kind of leveled out. I think one thing that helps at this stage is the strange peacefullness of the pounding. The above article talks about this too. You get to a stage where nothing else really matters. Your body just needs to keep going in some sort of forward motion. But other than that, your mind almost becomes emptyed out. You don't remember other stressors going on in your life, you forget about work and other committments. It's relaxing - in a bizzare form!
An integral part of ultra training is running back to back's on the weekend. It helps your body prepare for running on very sore legs. Thus far i've been very slack on this front. But with the email last week confirming out entry i've decided to get my AintoG and do it today. A short 6-7km will bring my weekend mileage to 42km and total week to 60km.
At this moment, as i get out my running gear, i'm unsure how i'm actually going to run through 6km when i'm struggling to get up and down stairs (like seriously, using the rail to brace myself).
Mind over body.
Friday 25 January 2013
35km road run OUCH
I am sore
Just thought i'd get that out of the way first.
Today Jesh & I started out at 8.30am with a 35km road run planned. Nice to finally meet the mileage goal!
Firstly, Jesh was coming off a night shift so that wasn't ideal. But sometimes you just have to fit things anyway, otherwise they just don't get done. And I think the decision to go straight from his shift, rather than wait till he had slept a few hours, was definitely the right one. It's much cooler, anytime before noon.
Starting in stoke we headed out to richmond along the road, then over to the cycle track and around through to Tahuna. We had kinda planned to do a loop around town but as we were going decided to change it to out and back instead. We didn't know that we'd definitely get the full 35km in if we looped, and sometimes out and backs are just psychologically easier. Not really sure why... i think it's just easier to know how far you've got to go.
First 20km were pretty good, hot, but I felt pretty good. We stopped at a dairy at 20km for a good 10mins to refuel. We weren't very prepared for this run and were only carrying a few gels each. You just really want something more 'foodlike' after a couple of hours!
Fuel = 1 x Mother, 1 x Loaded, shared between us. Cookie time for me, bumper bar for Jesh.
Our running time (not including stops for toilet and food) by 20km was 2:14. Not bad.
From then on it basically got pretty hard. Jesh was obviously starting to really feel it with having been up all night and from 20km on the walking breaks got more frequent and longer. We needed the walking breaks but man it made it hard to get back into a decent rythm. Need to do a bit more investigating as to the best tactics for using walking breaks in ultras....
It's weird having had the run over with so early in the day. I think it's helped to keep moving, keep the muscles from completely seizing up.
This weekend i'm definitely doing a double up. Not a big one. Will just aim for a short 6-7km tomorrow night. My legs will have had 30ish hours, won't be recovered fully but that's the idea. Get the body used to running on sore tired legs.
Thats enough for now. I'm trying to psyc myself up to get into the spa. Such an effort to move anywhere! I also need to stretch a bit more and spend some time with my legs in the air!
Just thought i'd get that out of the way first.
Today Jesh & I started out at 8.30am with a 35km road run planned. Nice to finally meet the mileage goal!
Firstly, Jesh was coming off a night shift so that wasn't ideal. But sometimes you just have to fit things anyway, otherwise they just don't get done. And I think the decision to go straight from his shift, rather than wait till he had slept a few hours, was definitely the right one. It's much cooler, anytime before noon.
Starting in stoke we headed out to richmond along the road, then over to the cycle track and around through to Tahuna. We had kinda planned to do a loop around town but as we were going decided to change it to out and back instead. We didn't know that we'd definitely get the full 35km in if we looped, and sometimes out and backs are just psychologically easier. Not really sure why... i think it's just easier to know how far you've got to go.
First 20km were pretty good, hot, but I felt pretty good. We stopped at a dairy at 20km for a good 10mins to refuel. We weren't very prepared for this run and were only carrying a few gels each. You just really want something more 'foodlike' after a couple of hours!
Fuel = 1 x Mother, 1 x Loaded, shared between us. Cookie time for me, bumper bar for Jesh.
Our running time (not including stops for toilet and food) by 20km was 2:14. Not bad.
From then on it basically got pretty hard. Jesh was obviously starting to really feel it with having been up all night and from 20km on the walking breaks got more frequent and longer. We needed the walking breaks but man it made it hard to get back into a decent rythm. Need to do a bit more investigating as to the best tactics for using walking breaks in ultras....
It's weird having had the run over with so early in the day. I think it's helped to keep moving, keep the muscles from completely seizing up.
This weekend i'm definitely doing a double up. Not a big one. Will just aim for a short 6-7km tomorrow night. My legs will have had 30ish hours, won't be recovered fully but that's the idea. Get the body used to running on sore tired legs.
Thats enough for now. I'm trying to psyc myself up to get into the spa. Such an effort to move anywhere! I also need to stretch a bit more and spend some time with my legs in the air!
Wednesday 23 January 2013
A better week?
Yesterdays session called for 12km of hills *lol - hills!*
I was not feeling confident about achieving 12km even on the flat! I still felt like I was recovering from sunday's long run and the addition of the fast 5km less that 12 hours before. My goal for this year is to work towards my mid distance runs (7-15km) being on average 5.45km/hr. However this isn't always going to be possible and it's a goal to be achieved over the next 11 months!
However, despite all this and having to go out at lunchtime (25+ degrees), I managed a comfortable 6min pace for the 12km. I felt alot better than i thought i would for most of it too!
Today is meant to be a bike, swim and only short run off the bike. That won't be happening though as I had to take my bike into the shop for it's first service yesterday. I may still manage a swim and short run but I'm pretty exhausted today...
I was not feeling confident about achieving 12km even on the flat! I still felt like I was recovering from sunday's long run and the addition of the fast 5km less that 12 hours before. My goal for this year is to work towards my mid distance runs (7-15km) being on average 5.45km/hr. However this isn't always going to be possible and it's a goal to be achieved over the next 11 months!
However, despite all this and having to go out at lunchtime (25+ degrees), I managed a comfortable 6min pace for the 12km. I felt alot better than i thought i would for most of it too!
Today is meant to be a bike, swim and only short run off the bike. That won't be happening though as I had to take my bike into the shop for it's first service yesterday. I may still manage a swim and short run but I'm pretty exhausted today...
Tuesday 22 January 2013
Tarawera Ultra - Officially IN!!
After being on the waitlist for a couple of months we've just received our official invite to compete! We are planning on the 60km option. There is also 85km and 100km and the great thing about this race is that if you are feeling good after 60km you can just carry on - the likelihood of that happening is about 0.00001 but i guess it's good to know your options :P
So, time to start planning the trip to Rotorua mid-march.
And we need a couple of people to crew with us i think... might have to put an ad out on facebook and see if we can recruit anyone for the job.
I really did need the motivation to go out and do my 12km today. My legs still don't feel like they've recovered properly from sunday's long run, and add to that the hammering of last nights fast run... eek. Could be a tough slow 12km.
So, time to start planning the trip to Rotorua mid-march.
And we need a couple of people to crew with us i think... might have to put an ad out on facebook and see if we can recruit anyone for the job.
I really did need the motivation to go out and do my 12km today. My legs still don't feel like they've recovered properly from sunday's long run, and add to that the hammering of last nights fast run... eek. Could be a tough slow 12km.
Finally, a good day at the 'office'
Today's training consisted of a swim and a run.
I swam a good 2400 set today including a bit of speed work and some work with the pull buoy and fins. Total time in the pool was 60mins.
Need to figure out what's going on with my left calf... last few swims i keep getting cramp and it literally stops me it's so painful.
Also need new googles again dammit.
Ran at 6pm tonight and I swear it was still in the late 20's. And no shade. Made for a tough run but I was determined to harden up and get on with it tonight.
4.83km (i know, annoying distance but it's round the block x 2!) in 25.57. I went out way too fast and almost had my left quad cramping after 2km's. Was pretty hard going in that heat but my body always seems to be able to run faster at that time of the day.
Full breakdown of run here
Tuesday's 5km
I swam a good 2400 set today including a bit of speed work and some work with the pull buoy and fins. Total time in the pool was 60mins.
Need to figure out what's going on with my left calf... last few swims i keep getting cramp and it literally stops me it's so painful.
Also need new googles again dammit.
Ran at 6pm tonight and I swear it was still in the late 20's. And no shade. Made for a tough run but I was determined to harden up and get on with it tonight.
4.83km (i know, annoying distance but it's round the block x 2!) in 25.57. I went out way too fast and almost had my left quad cramping after 2km's. Was pretty hard going in that heat but my body always seems to be able to run faster at that time of the day.
Full breakdown of run here
Tuesday's 5km
Sunday 20 January 2013
Long trail run report: blistex mirages and cicada's!
Yesterday's long run was the worst one so far :-(
I felt exhausted from the start... and the heat sucked out the last few drops of energy i had during the first few km's. It might be time to rethink the timing of these runs.
Started out at 2pm-ish. First 10kms were a real struggle and i was very tempted to make the turn at 10km.
Realised by 7km in when i went to have my first gel that i'd left my blistex behind! If you know me resonably well you'll know this was a great cause for concern! I seriously considered turning around then and there! By the end of the run i was literally having visions of blistex in front of me.... well not quite literatlly but give another 20km and i'm sure i could have been hallucinating blistex!
I kept going to Cleopatra's pool (12ish kms in) and had a quick dip hoping it would refresh my legs enough to continue a few more km's. It did.
I made it to about 15km. Well ok mapmyrun app said 14.4km but it's been pretty unreliable at correct distances lately so i'm not entirely sure.
Decided to turn gps app off at this point and conserve battery. I've discovered that after being charged to 100% my phone only lasts about 3.5-4hours using GPS.
The next 10ish km's felt much better and i got into a nice groove. After about 22km the pain in my legs started to set it.
The final 5km's were ridicously hard and i walked the last km. Would have walked more in that run than the any of the last long runs. By this time I was feeling a dehydration headache looming and this was not helped by the enormous amount of noise being made by approx. 1 million cicada's. Seriously i'm pretty sure there were 1 million of them. I wanted to kill each and every one of them by the end.
So didn't quite get to the 33-35km i was wanting to but given the heat and exhuastion i felt from the get go i'm ok with it.
Final time was approx 3:40.
I'm sore today - and didn't sleep well last night. Need a massage but can't afford it this pay!
I felt exhausted from the start... and the heat sucked out the last few drops of energy i had during the first few km's. It might be time to rethink the timing of these runs.
Started out at 2pm-ish. First 10kms were a real struggle and i was very tempted to make the turn at 10km.
Realised by 7km in when i went to have my first gel that i'd left my blistex behind! If you know me resonably well you'll know this was a great cause for concern! I seriously considered turning around then and there! By the end of the run i was literally having visions of blistex in front of me.... well not quite literatlly but give another 20km and i'm sure i could have been hallucinating blistex!
I kept going to Cleopatra's pool (12ish kms in) and had a quick dip hoping it would refresh my legs enough to continue a few more km's. It did.
I made it to about 15km. Well ok mapmyrun app said 14.4km but it's been pretty unreliable at correct distances lately so i'm not entirely sure.
Decided to turn gps app off at this point and conserve battery. I've discovered that after being charged to 100% my phone only lasts about 3.5-4hours using GPS.
The next 10ish km's felt much better and i got into a nice groove. After about 22km the pain in my legs started to set it.
The final 5km's were ridicously hard and i walked the last km. Would have walked more in that run than the any of the last long runs. By this time I was feeling a dehydration headache looming and this was not helped by the enormous amount of noise being made by approx. 1 million cicada's. Seriously i'm pretty sure there were 1 million of them. I wanted to kill each and every one of them by the end.
So didn't quite get to the 33-35km i was wanting to but given the heat and exhuastion i felt from the get go i'm ok with it.
Final time was approx 3:40.
I'm sore today - and didn't sleep well last night. Need a massage but can't afford it this pay!
Saturday 19 January 2013
Vasoline + jet planes = long run!
Right-ho here we go again...
Another jaunt through the Abel tasman about to be started. Aiming for 33-35 today but will see how I go.
Starting to take a long time to prep for these runs.
2 litre camel bak been in freezer for 3 hours.
Vasolined the heck out of the inside of my bra.
Strapping around both ankles.
Phone fully charged.
Nutrition packed - today is 3 gels, 1 nut bar, handful of jetplanes, and handful of salty dorrito's.
Extra hard core strapping and small scissors just in case.
Feeling slightly more motivated now. Beautiful day and about 25 degrees so won't be too bad in the shade of the track.
Training report later :-)
Another jaunt through the Abel tasman about to be started. Aiming for 33-35 today but will see how I go.
Starting to take a long time to prep for these runs.
2 litre camel bak been in freezer for 3 hours.
Vasolined the heck out of the inside of my bra.
Strapping around both ankles.
Phone fully charged.
Nutrition packed - today is 3 gels, 1 nut bar, handful of jetplanes, and handful of salty dorrito's.
Extra hard core strapping and small scissors just in case.
Feeling slightly more motivated now. Beautiful day and about 25 degrees so won't be too bad in the shade of the track.
Training report later :-)
Thursday 17 January 2013
2nd bad run of the week :-(
Cripes that was terrible.
This morning started at 5.40am when i was rudely awoken by my alarm. I realised immediately that things weren't going to be fantastic when i felt slightly nauseous (weird). But i made it to the gym, and got on the spin bike. It was a pretty awful workout compared to the class on Tuesday. I took ALL the easy options and left to get on the treadmill before stretches.
Run this morning was meant to be 6km. I made it 5km. And it took me 29.30... AND i had the stitch the whole time :-(
Need to concentrate on recovery and fuelling today for tomorrow's 33-35km trail run. At the moment i'm feeling very unenthused for it. And it doesn't help that i'll be doing it by myself. DH did his yesterday without me!
Thankfully I only have to work for 4 hours today as i'm catching a flight home earlier. Might even grab a nap on the plane or when i get home!
This morning started at 5.40am when i was rudely awoken by my alarm. I realised immediately that things weren't going to be fantastic when i felt slightly nauseous (weird). But i made it to the gym, and got on the spin bike. It was a pretty awful workout compared to the class on Tuesday. I took ALL the easy options and left to get on the treadmill before stretches.
Run this morning was meant to be 6km. I made it 5km. And it took me 29.30... AND i had the stitch the whole time :-(
Need to concentrate on recovery and fuelling today for tomorrow's 33-35km trail run. At the moment i'm feeling very unenthused for it. And it doesn't help that i'll be doing it by myself. DH did his yesterday without me!
Thankfully I only have to work for 4 hours today as i'm catching a flight home earlier. Might even grab a nap on the plane or when i get home!
Wednesday 16 January 2013
Swim before the storm!
Again, feeling quite unmotivated today. And tired. First week back at work is doing it's damage!
Today's plan is swim and run. I just made it to the pool before the stormy weather closed in. The first 20 lengths (33mt pool) were a right struggle and i fancied hopping out there and then. But every time i got to the end of the pool i just thought - turn around and push off... then you just have to do it! Made it to 2km. Certainly wasn't fast or flash... just a boring steady freestyle swim.
One of my swim goals for this year is to regulary do alot more drills and push myself to do different stuff in the pool. Sometimes i prefer just ticking off the laps, but i suspect that's not what's gonna make me stronger/faster!
Meant to be running tonight after work but we are in for rain, thunderstorms and hail! And i didn't bring my gear to do treadmill at the gym :-(
Other option - if i'm hell bent on getting the mileage in (which i really should be) is to run the 6km off the spin bike tomorrow morning... not ideal but doable.
Right. Back to work!
Today's plan is swim and run. I just made it to the pool before the stormy weather closed in. The first 20 lengths (33mt pool) were a right struggle and i fancied hopping out there and then. But every time i got to the end of the pool i just thought - turn around and push off... then you just have to do it! Made it to 2km. Certainly wasn't fast or flash... just a boring steady freestyle swim.
One of my swim goals for this year is to regulary do alot more drills and push myself to do different stuff in the pool. Sometimes i prefer just ticking off the laps, but i suspect that's not what's gonna make me stronger/faster!
Meant to be running tonight after work but we are in for rain, thunderstorms and hail! And i didn't bring my gear to do treadmill at the gym :-(
Other option - if i'm hell bent on getting the mileage in (which i really should be) is to run the 6km off the spin bike tomorrow morning... not ideal but doable.
Right. Back to work!
Yesterday's run...
Oh dear. Was meant to be 12km of hills. Final distance was 8.8km with a total time of 59.34! Errrr what the heck. That's the worst run i've done in months.
http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/166258536
What went wrong?
I drank a cider approximatley 40mins prior to hitting the pavement.
It was a hill run... and very steep at that.
It was VERY hot and windy.
I was feeling very unmotivated.
These runs will happen so gotta just move on. Lesson = cut the alcohol. At least until Tarawera is over with.
Today will be a 6-7km flat run. Aiming for 5.30 pace. Will need to wait till early evening if i want to get anywhere near acheiving this.
http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/166258536
What went wrong?
I drank a cider approximatley 40mins prior to hitting the pavement.
It was a hill run... and very steep at that.
It was VERY hot and windy.
I was feeling very unmotivated.
These runs will happen so gotta just move on. Lesson = cut the alcohol. At least until Tarawera is over with.
Today will be a 6-7km flat run. Aiming for 5.30 pace. Will need to wait till early evening if i want to get anywhere near acheiving this.
Tuesday 15 January 2013
First training report post
I plan to use this homepage for my main training reports as they will be the most frequent.
Monday was a rest day for me, recovering from big weekend - wedding and travel back from holiday.
Tuesday
First spin class in a few weeks. I was very unenthused for this session but begrudeningly managed to get through the 50min class. Took it fairly easy as my legs were still sore from the long dancing session on saturday night!
Followed the spin class with a short 2km run on the treadmill and was then starting to get into the groove a bit more. Managed 5.30km pace pretty easily and felt good at the end.
Followed that brick up with a weights session, only 25mins but i'm all about just sticking to the sessions per week with my weights at the moment. It's pretty hard fitting it in on top of the 3 main disciplines and yoga but it's proving essential to moving the last bit of weight (5kg to go!).
Today
Lovely centergy class. First one in over a month. Felt pretty tough and unbalanced today but looking forward to the next class.
Heading home to do 12km hill run shortly!
Monday was a rest day for me, recovering from big weekend - wedding and travel back from holiday.
Tuesday
First spin class in a few weeks. I was very unenthused for this session but begrudeningly managed to get through the 50min class. Took it fairly easy as my legs were still sore from the long dancing session on saturday night!
Followed the spin class with a short 2km run on the treadmill and was then starting to get into the groove a bit more. Managed 5.30km pace pretty easily and felt good at the end.
Followed that brick up with a weights session, only 25mins but i'm all about just sticking to the sessions per week with my weights at the moment. It's pretty hard fitting it in on top of the 3 main disciplines and yoga but it's proving essential to moving the last bit of weight (5kg to go!).
Today
Lovely centergy class. First one in over a month. Felt pretty tough and unbalanced today but looking forward to the next class.
Heading home to do 12km hill run shortly!
New Year, New Blog
This year i've decided to start a blog to record my training. The blog has several objectives, but the main one is to provide training and race reports. I already log all my workouts pretty religiously on mapmyrun.com and am currently in the process of switching over to trainingpeaks.com.
The other main reason for the blog is to provide myself a place to put all the links to training/nutrition/injury articles that I find helpful but always end up losing!
Other things i'll pop into here are links to my training plans, training goals, and links to other cool tri/run blogs.
And I also just love writing... so this is another opportunity to do so in a non-work related way! Something I don't make enough time to do.
So here we go, brace yourself... it's half way through Jan, two months until Tarawera and i'm about to ramp things up again!
The other main reason for the blog is to provide myself a place to put all the links to training/nutrition/injury articles that I find helpful but always end up losing!
Other things i'll pop into here are links to my training plans, training goals, and links to other cool tri/run blogs.
And I also just love writing... so this is another opportunity to do so in a non-work related way! Something I don't make enough time to do.
So here we go, brace yourself... it's half way through Jan, two months until Tarawera and i'm about to ramp things up again!
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