329min or 41km then inundated with the rat race.

I began the 2011 attack better than in the first week of 2010 with 329 minutes of running (41.5km), and had a solid 6 x500m intervals session and a solid 25.5km long run. Didn't get to my blogging that week, and disappeared into the bermuda triangle of work, worry, bills and the rat race. I started week 2 with a slow 3.5km on the monday and had high hopes of getting back on track, but it never eventuated. Really need a big turnaround to get things back on track, as I don't want too many dud weeks like this in 2011...A lot of walking around streets and plenty of sleep this week, means the resting heart rate is still around the 41-45 mark on my better days, but if i want to get back into the sub 40 domain I was in for about the last 21 weeks of 2010, I need to arrest this slide in motivation, and deal with the obstacles in my path quick smart. Hopefully the remaining 2 weeks of January will see me back on track and by mid February will be building some momentum again...

Monday 10/01/11;
Ran 3.5km in 17min 41 HR 162 Temperature about 24 degrees.
3.33/ 3.13/ 3.45/ 3.42/ 3.28 for 700m splits (laps of local park).
Easy run to get me in the right frame of mind for stage 2 of the big challenges we are facing as a family at the moment. We negotiated the insurance payout one last week after more than 2 months of trying, and so everything in January is sorted. But there is still another critically important matter to negotiate in the next few weeks, and until its sorted, its hard for me to just trust God, and I will be on edge and distracted mentally and logistically until its sorted out. Anyhow back to the run; bit slow and sluggish, plus conditioning has slipped a lot in the last 7 days, also a bit chafed from yesterdays 9km with Jacob in the pram…as it took more than 1 hour, and I didnt wear body glide or proper running shorts…so am paying for that a bit today…
Pleased I could push the pace a little on the second lap, but was just cruising along today, had no zip at all…
Usual collection of dogs off the lead, but no major dramas with them this time thankfully, not that I really cared that much this morning, the main thing was just to get the legs turning over at somewhere around 5min per K, wasn’t really in condition mentally or physically to attack any time goals…
However that should get my week off to a better than nothing start, and after a fairly solid start to the year last week, (heaps better than the 2010 effort), if I can survive this week, hopefully will be getting back on track by the weekend…

WEEK 1 2011;
41.5km of running, 329 minutes covered in 3 sessions, best RHR for week 42.

Sunday 9/01/11;
9km run with Jacob in the pram...

Saturday 8/01/11;
Ran about 25.5km in 3 hrs 9 min 35 seconds. HR 144 at end. 12.75km splits; 1.31 / 1.38
Regular walk breaks on the bluemetal sections, while not running the tricky hilly terrain of my local limestone trails.
Temperature 19 degrees when I started, and about 27 when I finished.Took 2.55L of drinks in hydration pak. That was adequate drinks, but would not have liked to have run with any less drinks. Saw about 3 rabbits this time, and had the trails to myself. Used my local parks and Ulak course to access the trails. Worked hard from 8.75K to 16.75k, hitting the 4km sections there in 26minutes and 29 minutes. Still an LSD (long slow distance) style run, with a lot of walk breaks, but the surges in pace from 8k to 16k especially, the hills, terrain and warm temperatures, combined with carrying a lot of much needed drinks, took it into the higher echelon of heart rates for an LSD workout. On the boundary of becoming more of an LFD style run. (Long fast distance), which is good, because I need to start doing some LFD long runs as well as the LSD and OD (overdistance) style long runs, if I am to improve quickly, although I don’t want to make the mistake that a lot of runners seem to make which is to do all long runs at LFD intensity. That said, what is LFD pace for me, maybe LSD pace for someone else, and also if I improve a lot, then what used to be LFD pace will become LSD pace and so forth, just one of the many reasons why measuring training by minutes instead of km is a superior way to measure training volume, although if used well, both can be useful. Heart rate is the primary determinant of intensity and therefore style of run, not pace, although obviously an LFD run tends to have a faster pace generally.

A good solid long run, my first really good one from distance and duration points of view since 6 inch a few weeks ago, so its serious game on for 6 foot now I hope. So a good way to kick off my long runs for 2011. Hopefully some big improvements in the coming weeks.

I signed up for the Moneghetti camp today also… That bumps up my January total to 51.5km in the 100 day 6 foot challenge (mileage target of 300km per month), and gets me back to being almost on track again. Hope to get to 70km-90km -ish before the weekend is over. To use a more powerful and superior measure of training volume that gets me to 252minutes of training volume for this week, after the good 62minutes (and 7km) in Mondays intervals/easy warm down run (6×500m @ 3.57 per K HR’s 171-186 and 4km easy run) combo session.
The 252 minutes so far this week, puts me above my “satisfactory” weekly target of 240minutes, which I have had for many years, and a chance of getting to the “good” target zone for this week maybe. The “sensational” target of 10 hours (600minutes) won’t happen this week, but maybe in the next few weeks…Cleared up a major insurance matter in the last few days which has been dogging my family for more than 2 months, so big thanks to God for that, and if we can get our other big issue sorted soon, I can hopefully focus more on training and less on major domestic issues…Game on maybe this time…I hope…

Ran 6 x500m @ 3.57 per Km Heart rates 171-186.Temperature 34 degrees 40% humidity.
500m times; 1.55/ 1.58/ 2.00/ 1.55/ 1.58/ 2.02…Strong north winds to push into made it tough.
Hard to be motivated in these conditions on a grass track which was so faded it was very hard to tell where to run, but I got used to it. Almost gave up and went home, (council needs to come and remark the track!) but got inspired by a young triathlete by the name of Jenelle who was doing a few laps there, and decided to give it a go.
Pleased to average under 4 minutes a Km for the reps, although I took very long 4 minute rests, which I would want to get down to 2-3 minute rests in future sessions I think maybe.

Afterwards did a few laps of the entire park for about 4km with a bloke I saw running there by the name of Matt. I nice easy run to do to consolidate the intervals, and we chatted about cricket, soccer and other stuff, which made the 30 minutes rush by very quickly. A good solid session to kick off the week.