snippets of everything

In two weeks time I am finally at my goal; Onehunga half marathon.  While I am not actually doing the half marathon, but doing the 10k, I’m still aiming for a good day out, which for me is a 55min 10k (or less).  Ultimately I want to do a full marathon, and that is definitely a long term project.  I’ve only been working at running for four years, so hey, what’s another 2-3 to get there?!  While the journey has been frustrating, it has by default identified every imbalance in my body which I have slowly gone about correcting.  That has to be a good thing in my mind, despite the frustration.

I don’t want to slog my way through a 5-hour marathon.  No way – I want to do it, at least quicker than Oprah (4:30!).  In fact somewhere between 3:00 and 4:00 would satisfy my marathon ambition.  At the moment I suppose I am working at about the 3:49 marathon pace – for quarter of the distance.

There are a few running training theories out there.  The first being the traditional view of building endurance, then speed.  The second is build speed, with endurance. I’m going for the second one, and thus far it’s worked well, as my volume has increased, my pace has improved 2-2.5 kph in the past four months.  I like the second theory, as I don’t see the point in being an endurance monster and doing 5-6-hour marathons.  You may as well walk.  And, following the traditional view in marathon training, you barely do any speed work at all, in fact it’s 99% about volume.   I like the new view because you build speed, and aim to hold it.  Plus your body then gets used to the extra pounding that speed entails.  You can’t turn a donkey into a race horse, but I think you can make race horse run for longer.

While Onehunga is nearly here, it’s just the beginning, especially since I still haven’t got the half under my belt.

My woe to gazelle is going well, yet at the same time not so well. A new PB last night, floating around a 5.5km loop b

ut to the detriment of my calf which still isn’t right. So this week I really need to shorten volume, and take care of my tibialis anterior & stride through which is causing the problem. This doesn’t bode well for the half as I’m at crucial volume times, bu

t I’m ok with that. I’d rather get rid of this problem – or in other words fix yet another muscle imbalance, and do the 10k, instead of wrecking myself completely to run the 21k. A sharp 10k would still be satisfying. In fact, just being able to run, and improve is satisfying.

Every run is like meditation. It empties my head as I can’t think of anything else except my breathing, and one step at a time. If I think of something else I have to to stop, as I get the stitch or my heart rate climbs to max! It takes away all of my concerns, things to do, and worries. I can’t do that riding, unless I ride at max all the time. So running is relaxing in that way – returning to the simple thing in life of just breathing, and one step at a time.

A rather painful week, before recovering this week. A 9k run, a 5k run, and a 2.5k run coupled with a sore calf muscle and 90% humidity. The humidity did me in on the 9k run, well before the calf.

“You just learn to run through the niggles.” Aaron stated about my calf questioning. Problem being that a niggle to me is a massive oh no, not another injury! After 3 years of trying to run and constantly getting injured a niggle may as well be everest. So my recovery week is well timed to take care of my calf, IT band that is grumbling, and my technique that is irritating my calf. Don’t slap the foot down! Don’t slap the foot down!

Done and dusted. 72mins, longest run 6.2 kilometres. Long way to go, but I have 15 weeks so I’m relaxed about that.