Some steady running over the past couple of weeks.
I’m now in week 7 of the 12 week program for the Melbourne half marathon on Sunday 18 October. I’ve also been trying the two-sessions-a-day strategy for at least a couple of days a week now, and that’s bumped up the weekly mileage a little. In week 4, I managed 48.88K, followed by 48.61K and then 40.02K for the week just gone. That included an outdoor 7K Bay Run (40:36) as well as a 5K time trial this past weekend. I substituted the 5K at the expense of the programmed 10K time trial to try and make amends for the appalling 27:28 I’d recorded for the 5K three weeks previous.
This time, I was aiming for a sub-25 minute time and paced myself accordingly, starting out at 11.5km/h, and then periodically increasing the speed to reach 12.5km/h after 20 minutes. With the sprint finish over the last couple of minutes, I ended up with a time of 24:46 - a much happier outcome. Albeit it was still some way off the 23:52 time set back in March, or the 22:55 on Christmas Eve last year. On that, it’s instructive to compare the race-day weights for each of those runs, with 22:55 recorded with a weight of 92.3kgs, 23:52 at 94.4kgs, and 24:46 at 99.6kgs. I obviously have some work to do.
This past week has also seen the arrival of some new running shoes. I’d just passed the 700K mark on the old set (Mizuno Wave Enigma 4, size 11.5) and so went back to my regular Potts Point running shoe shop to get fitted for a new pair. This time, Alister, the proprietor, recommended the Asics Gel Fortitude 7 (2E), size 11. And what he says about my running shoes, goes. They feel fine after the first few outings and should see me through Melbourne next month and well into the lead-up to the New York half marathon next March.
By the way, there’s still no confirmation as to whether 20 March 2016 will actually be the date for that one. Evidently, it’s something to do with delays in nailing down all the necessary approvals from the various local authorities. But I’m trying hard to avoid the temptation to take advantage of some very attractive air fares and to pre-pay as much as possible now to cushion the fall-out from the rapidly sinking $A. I just hope they all get their respective acts together before all the convenient flights are filled and the $A crashes below $US0.50.
All going well, the next few weeks should see a few 50+K weekly totals as the second half of the 12-week program progresses. It will also include a final 10K time trial on 26 September (the goal is sub-50 minutes), and the 3.5K Sydney Harbour Bridge run on 20 September. I’ve only done five 50+K weeks in the past 78 weeks since I started preparations back in March 2014 for the Gold Coast half marathon in July 2014. And only once in that time have I managed consecutive 50+K weeks. So the likely increase in fatigue is yet another issue that will need to be managed.
