Another 400min+ (60km+) week banked...

About half a dozen of the West Australians doing 6 foot in 2011 in this bunch of runners. Most of this group did 6 inch 2010 in December also. I am the third runner to the left of the lady with the orange shirt.

I am building some momentum, my 6 foot base is starting to take shape, and the zig zag rd 28km run last Saturday 22nd January(see photo above thanks to Jane and Paddy.) with the C-team was one of the key runs, as was the 35km on Australia Day.
Only just nudging the 200km mark for January, so hoping to get to 300km+ in February, but at least now I have 2 weeks of half-decent base K's to work with in 2011. Just need to keep ramping things up, and now that the domestic issues of bills, transition into new job, new car, etc etc..., hopefully I can get back into some high intensity short stuff, and do some track racing, but first there is the Busselton Half marathon next weekend. Either way, I feel like I've come through the worst of a dark tunnel in recent months, and hopefully in February I can start hitting my targets again...

Sunday 30th January 2011 A.D.
Ran 17.5km in 2hrs 01min 41secs HR 153 at end Splits 62.26 / 59.15.
1st downhill 1k 5.38! last uphill (hot and humid!!) 1k 5.31!!!
Effectively a slowish LFD run with a lot of speedplay/fartlek type flavour to it…tried to minimise the walk breaks today to only the designated walk break sections (the bluemetal), and run hard the rest of the trails…saw 5 rabbits…..
About 80% humidity and 24 degrees at the start was ok, but 65% humidity and 30 degrees in the last 30-40minutes was a bit hard to cope with, especially in a longsleeve top…When it gets over 27 degrees humidity inflates the effect of temperature on the body, in a similiar way to the way wind chill works…According to a heat index converter @ http://www.easysurf.cc/cnver16.htm thats equivalent to running in 34 degrees dry heat…which explains why I was sweating bucketloads…plus because its humid your sweat doesn’t work properly…if I’d been out there much longer cramps would have occurred…

Managed a 3 minute negative split which is very pleasing…bucketloads of sweat, only carried 2L drinks and that was only just adequate. Extra keen to run when I could see from the weather advice cyclone not going to arrive this morning, and is downgraded to a tropical low now anyhow…wasted a bit of time replying to a text message from my dad…Overall a pretty satisfying run, and nice to dip under 7min per K which was one of my goals for the morning… That gets me to 488minutes for this week compared to 444min for last week, and takes me to 65k compared to 66k last week, so starting to hit the sort of base maintenance I want for 6 foot. I’m running every second day (only 3 non running days this week, and although disappointed not to do planned sessions on Thursday and Saturday, its another very good week. Not where I want to be yet, but thats a solid 2 week slab of base done…just need to keep the momentum going and bring in some high intensity stuff soon…

Friday
Ran 9.5km in 58min 12 in 33 degree heat...HR 138.


Wednesday January 26th (Australia Day)
Celebrated Australia day with a solo 35km trail run overdistance (OD) style session. HR 126
splits (not that it matters much with this type of run); 2.08.50 / 2.37.33
Adventure/explore type run.

Carried 4 litres of drinks (hydration pack AND handhelds), as I knew I’d be out there for 4 hours or more, and in the end probably could have done with another 600ml. The weight of all the drinks was slowing me down a bit for the first 30-60minutes, but still managed to get to 12.75k in 1hr 32min which is just over the 7 min per K pace. On these fairly tough terrain trails (with blue metal walk break sections), and a few hills and gates, soft sand in a few places, thats a fairly good pace. Wasn’t in the mood to go fast anyhow. Main goal was to do an overdistance long run (OD is my lowest intensity long run, aim is to keep heart rates below 140 throughout and preferably around the 110-130 mark, so its like a slow LSD session, except the other goal for this session is to be out there for longer time than I would generally race much, in my case I needed to be putting more than 4 hours of time on my feet))
with 4 hours+ of time out there. Aimed to be under 7min 30 per K for the first 17.5km which is 2.11.15. Did that with 2 minutes to spare with the 2.08.50. That was mainly to stay motivated, and ensure I got to the halfway mark quick enough to still have enough drinks to survive the trip back. Main aim is to spend maximum time on feet with low intensity, as 6 foot is likely to take me 5-7 hours so I need the body to be ready for that sort of duration…

Then I took it easy as fat burning kicked in in a big way, I ran out of carbs, got mildly dehydrated, the temperature headed for 28degrees+, the UV started tanning my legs, and the rabbits,kangarroos, sheep, and reptiles in the bushes refused to respond to my shouts of Aussie,Aussie,Aussie, as I celebrated Australia Day mostly with no humans in earshot or sight…

Took some big breaks to send some long text messages to my mum and wife, regarding a few matters for today, and walk-breaked through the blue metal and dune sand type sections, before getting running again on the limestone trail. A couple of big hills, and I was noticing the heat, and thinking about when to have my last powerade, which I decided to drink at about the 26km mark. The 80-90min gaps between sports drinks was perhaps a bit too long (I like to keep it to 45-60min), but I was sipping water from another bottle along most of the way, and I had to ration my drinks a bit to survive the run back. Tried to aim some of the water I had left at my carotid artery as thats a key area to keeping core temperature low.

With a couple of km to go and getting pretty dehydrated (not desperate, but starting to notice it a fair bit),
I came across a couple of young teens/early 20’s blokes playing cricket in the park. I did a streaker run (without removing any clothes) through their pitch which pleased them greatly, and they offered me a beer (beers seemed to be the primary activity, while cricket was the secondary activity) which I didn’t take of course partly because I’m a lifelong non-drinker, but I yelled Aussie,Aussie, Aussie, which pleased them greatly again, and they responded Oi,Oi,OI, which pleased me greatly as finally I had found someone to share Australia Day with, after the sheep ignored me, the rabbits did a runner, and the kangaroos and reptiles hid in the bush.
This buoyed my somewhat tired spirits, but I couldn’t stay as I had a 4 lane road to navigate in and out of the traffic (with hydration pack on and very tired legs not keen on stepping up onto a kerb, let alone sprinting across to beat the traffic) , and 1.5km to get back home before my parents visit to see their grandkids was over.

So an enjoyable low intensity run that became pretty grind-planetariumish/slow plod/jog by the end, but mission accomplished a good overdistance run done just over 6 weeks out from 6 foot 45km in the blue mountains race.
I’m aiming at higher km for this week. I’ve decided to get on the mileage bandwagon a bit in 2011 and use km as a secondary measure so I can compare what I am doing with others who use that measure, although I still think its an inferior, flawed, limited way to measure training. Anyhow first big run for this week done. Did a slow 3.5km on Monday, so up to 38.5km for this week so far. Its time to get serious about 6 foot training, and todays run along with the 28km on the zig zag on last saturday will help a lot. Need to get back to hill reps, and start getting consistent with daily or at least every 2nd day sessions, before I start bringing in the track work to sharpen up, and go after some track PB’s hopefully from late February onwards…maybe earlier if I finally get my act together.

Monday 24th January 2011 A.D. Ran a slow 3.5km on the local oval in 21min 41...HR 123.