High mileage gamble

“You’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya punk?”

First week on the quest for more mileage and so far so good.

Mon 11 35 MIN RR 5:19 to 5:38 per K
Tue 12 10K @ MARA PACE sub 4:15 per K
Wed 13 1HR 30 MIN 4:50 - 5:27 per K
Thu 14 50 MIN RR 5:19 to 538 per K
Fri 15 3KTT warm up warm down did 11:56
Sat 16 15K around 5:15 per K
Sun 17 26K 4:50 - 5:27 per K

Total 98kms

First week done in my countdown to Townsville marathon. Didn't quite hit 100kms but happy nonetheless as this is my most kms in one week ever.My legs are a little sore around the knees but I'm not feeling too beat up as I had an hour massage yesterday and that helped get a bit of tiredness out of the old pins.

Another good sign for this stage of my build up is that I've been able to lose a fair bit of weight. Been doing core exercises, weights and eating high protein small meals at regular intervals.The gut is starting to lose its layer of fat. I don't have six pack abs yet but with all this training and this eating regime I should be looking like our friend above come race day. Of course with a bit more skin ;)

Thanks to Ewen, Robert Song and Steve Lacey, I read and am taking your advice which I will adjust week by week according to how I'm holding up. You're all right as well, too much speed work maybe counter productive at this stage I'll just try for some sustained quality and to build my endurance.

Plan

May 2008

WEEK 11

Mon 11 35 MIN RR 5:19 to 5:38 per K
Tue 12 10K @ MARA PACE sub 4:30 per K
Wed 13 1HR 30 MIN 4:50 - 5:27 per K
Thu 14 3 X 3K sub 4mins per K 90sec rest between efforts
Fri 15 35 MIN RR 5:19 to 5:38 per K
Sat 16 1.5K X 4 6:30 per 1.5K 60sec rest between efforts
Sun 17 2HRS 30 MIN 4:50 - 5:27 per K

week total about 90kms

The above is the 1st week of an 11 week marathon plan that will take me to the Townsville Marathon. I want to basically repeat this plan for the first 4 weeks, in
the 5th week cut back on the speedwork and mileage a little just to give the body a little rest. For the last weeks until the taper go back to following the same basic pattern. The only things I think I will change are the speed at which I do my fast runs, I want to run them at the paces recommended for those capable of a sub 3 hour marathon and I want to increase the Tuesday marathon pace run slowly each week so as by 4 weeks out I'm running close to 30kms @ marathon pace.

So what do you think about this? I will be busy with work but I'm going to try very hard not to miss any planned sessions as I know that even a bad plan done with consistency is going to work better than a good plan done sporadically.

I've had professional advice about strength training and diet that I will implement as well because a couple of weeks ago I had a fitness test and was found lacking in many areas. This came as I bit of a shock as I'd considered myself a pretty healthy specimen. For example, I was told that my body fat % was 23. That is mainly on my love handles. Now that's not what it should be if I want to run sub 3 hour marathon.

Still it does give me some hope cause if I'm able to get all the numbers down or in place then it just may be possible to run some times that I can't even imagine yet.

Anyway, any advice on these topics by you would be much appreciated.

And I'd like to apologize for the last karaoke post. I know it was a bit of a disaster, but if I was going to butcher a song it's better to do it to that song than to a good one, don't you agree?

I think I love you!

Just mucking around with this karaoke program I found. Normal posts will resume shortly.

Taking it slow..

No speedwork for a couple of weeks, just slow paced mid ranged runs for me at the moment. I was pretty beat up after that last marathon. Looking back over my training schedule I'd only done 1 long run of 30 kms in the 10 weeks before that marathon. Mostly I was doing a lot of fast mid distance runs, like 20kms at sub 4:20 per K. Good for the half but they left me wanting in the full.

Anyway, going to have to really look at what I'm doing for my next marathon. In fact I'm in the process of writing a plan that I will show you all and hopefully get your advice on what looks good and/or what you reckon is missing etc.

In the time being have a look at this clip. I Really love Bob Marley and that line: "It'll make you rebel..............Against what?!"

Blowout!

Did a full marathon in Ishikawa prefecture today. Ishikawa is on the sea of Japan, a beautiful, mostly rural place about 6 hours drive from my home here. We went to this area because it has a lot of hot springs and me and the family were able to stay over night at a resort there.

On Sunday morning I went out to the the start by myself leaving the family still eating breakfast at the hotel. It started at 9, although the wind was strong it was otherwise perfect weather, not a cloud in the sky.

This is a very small marathon by Japanese standards with only about 400 people doing the full marathon, nevertheless well organised, picturesque course out and back with rolling hills none much above 35%.

I set off feeling great stayed with the top 20 leaders almost up till the 30km mark and then everything fell apart. My first 5km split was 20:31 and I kept under 22:00 right up until 30K but my legs just gave up the ghost. By 35kms the poor old pins were "swimming in a sea of lactic acid", (always wanted to write that ;) ) and I walked/ran Galloway style to the finish.

I know some of you are going to say I'm an idiot and it was never an option to to run a fast PB after doing a fast half only the week before. But nobody has ever accused me of being running smart ( I used to think "lactate threshold" was something you carried your pregnant wife across) besides I had convinced myself that the rules didn't apply to me and I kept repeating "Rob the Runner"'s last comment like a mantra: "You're on fire" "You're on fire" You're on fire."

Well as I sit here something is definitely "on fire" but it's my calves and ankles. Anyway not disappointed with this for one thing I didn't drop out like I wanted to on many occasions and I toughed out the last 10kms like I haven't done before in a marathon. So it's a lesson well learnt and I did survive.

No more racing for the next 12 weeks I'm going to relax a bit and train like a mad man to PB in Townsville come August. Thanks for your continuing support.

Photos, the day before the marathon and today limping into the finish with Casey, my son, showing his old man how it should be done.

Almost forgot. Finishing time 3:23:32

PB and a half

I'm looking forward to reading all your blogs on how things in Canberra went so post as soon as you can. I couldn't wait to post this one. I had a half marathon today and PBed by a whopping 4 mins! Only two months ago I was running 1:35 for the half and today I did 1:23 and some change. Really doubted this at first but it was a chip time and this course is the same one I ran a couple of times before.

To say I'm happy would be to understate it. I have a full marathon next weekend and if all things work out there I should be PBing again :)

I'm going to have a bath and spend the night with my family and my nephew who is in Japan now and visiting with us, see photos. My nephew said to me, after the race today, "You're bloody fast." That's enough to make an old uncle very proud ;)

Anyway hurry up with those Canberra reports.

My official time 1:23:41 43rd place, that's out of 2010 people entered.

Spring

Things are fine, although I haven't posted in a while it's only because I've been busy preparing to go back to work after a nice break. I start in earnest on April 7th and will be pretty much full time until the next holiday which starts at the end of July.

For those that have been following this blog you'd know that I was asking you for suggestions about where I should run when coming to Australia. Thanks for your suggestions by the way. Well after much thought I have decided to come and do two runs in Australia. In late July my family and I will fly into Cairns, stay with my sister there, see my father, and also do some camping in the general region. As for running I plan to go down to Townsville with my family to run a full marathon there on August the 3rd.

The other race I want to do is the Noosa half, I was thinking to leave the kids with my sister for a few days and fly down to Noosa with the missus and do the race. I've been able to swing this with my wife saying it will be a romantic long weekend, just the two of us ;) We runners will sink to almost any depths to do a race ;)

This is as certain as can be so I hope I will see as many of you as I can while I'm there. Has anyone of you done the Townsville marathon? It looks good, relatively small event, but fast and not too hot about 10 degrees at the start and 25 at the finish. I should be able to handle the humidity as I will have been training for it in the early summer here Japan time. How about a few of you come up to Townsville for this race?

Just one more thing for now. I did a good session on the treadmill the other day 8 x 800m each just under 3mins. I was happy with that but wondering if doing that on the tready is the same, effort/difficultly as on the track. I suppose I will try next week as see for myself but I have a feeling its easier to run this inside.

I'll upload a photo of me and the boys taken yesterday among the cherry trees.

Family or running?

I had a chance to think about the above question the other day. Last Thursday, a public holiday here, I set off to my Bulgarian mate's house for a spring BBQ. My wife went somewhere else so I took the kids as "Tiho" has kids too and I thought with the kids playing we would be able to get down to some serious talking, eating and drinking. A win win situation :)

About 20 minutes into the BBQ my youngest "Tyler" and Tiho's youngest "George" 4 and 5 respectively said they were going to the park next door and we waved them off in that direction busy with putting the first slabs of meat on the barbie.

After a beer, a chat and a nibble I left the BBQ zone to just check in on the kids.
I briefly looked through the hedges and a nonchalantly commented to Tiho, "Kids aren't in the park." "I'll go and get them and we'll put the sausages on for them eh" "Right then" said Tiho. It was from this moment that one of the worst days of my life played out.

Forward 7 hours later, it was dark, I was searching the reed beds that fringed a large nearby pond and elsewhere, neighbours, friends, family and dozens of local police were also searching for our two little boys. About 9:30pm I got a call on my mobile phone. It was Tiho saying "They found the boys!" I promptly sat down in the long grass and cried tears of pure joy and relief.

Apparently they were found about 8 kms away trying to get a bus home,with no money and to where they had no idea. A person getting off the bus at the same time took them to the police station.

As I was searching all those hours, in vain, for the boys I thought a lot about my values and my family and I can tell you I didn't think about "running" at all. But to be fair when I'm running I don't think about my "family" either ;) Still there is no question what my first priority is. Without the presence, love and support of my family I couldn't enjoy anything life has to offer.

So I'd better start with some actions to prove my supposition. The first being to not complain about my wife's cooking. See comic below ;)

Half Marathon PB

Had a nice run today and feel I made up for the last half I ran. It was perfect weather the course was mostly flat, very scenic, with only 3 long hills to slow us down, still made up for it on the downsides.

Happy today because apart from finally getting some good weather I felt in control. Usually when I PB I feel at the limit of my potential but today, at least after the race, I felt I could have gone faster.

My time was 1:27:26 (chip) a PB for me and bit of redemption. Also I feel like I'm on the right track with my training and my hamstring problem wasn't a problem today. So onwards and upwards. Thanks for your continued support :)

I'll upload a few photos from the day. Me my kids and I.
The whole family stayed at a hotspring resort the night before so the weekend in total was very enjoyable and relaxing.

Miyama marathon (half)

Hello, thanks to everyone for their understanding in regards to Canberra, sure it's disappointing but put in perspective not so bad. I will have the chance to meet you all at some stage, I'm sure. Got to be happy just to run in any capacity.

Well things on the running front aren't too bad, I've been doing a lot of weights and eating well and have dropped a couple of kilos in three weeks. I have been doing some core exercises and generally feel much stronger than I did when I ran my last half marathon almost 4 weeks ago.

I have another half this Sunday, "The Miyama Marathon", so I will be able to see how the drop in weight and extra strength will translate to in time. I want to at least break 1:30:00 but I'll see how it goes on the day.

I've heard that it takes at least 12 weeks of good training, be it weights or running, for it to really show up with improved performance so I'll keep up the training regime until it bears fruit.

The photo above was taken at Miyama by my, "Kawachinagano Running Club" buddy Mr. Kato. Thanks for that :)

Canberra a go go? Canberra a no go!

This song's related to what I wanted to do, "cry" and dedicated to my dear mother a Canberra native and a great fan of Elvis.



I've been very much planning and looking forward to running in Canberra. Particularly to meeting my friends that will go there and up until a week ago I was still in countdown mode but circumstances have conspired to bugger up my plans as I'll explain.

Firstly I'd like to let you know that I agonized over this decision but in the end it was the way I think I had to go.

My bum leg, hamstring strain, has stubbornly stuck with me and although it hasn't stopped me from running it's meant that I've been running shorter mileage so as not to aggravate it further. I thought that was going to be OK as I was doing a lot of extra cross training that was keeping up the fitness and bringing down my weight so it was all going to even out. I was happy thinking I could run a half decent race even though it wouldn't be a PB.

I really think just running would have been OK in this case as I would be among friends, so to speak, and frankly I wanted to see this race and see what Canberra is like now. It's been such a long time since I've been there. I have a strong connection to Canberra as my Mother was born there, I've been there heaps and I have many cousins still living there.

Anyway a week ago I was offered a job at a decent University here and basically couldn't turn it down. With this new job comes a lot of benefits but I will have to start on April 7th and they don't want me taking my second week at work off. I will get almost 20 weeks holidays but none during the Canberra Marathon. I guess I could have pushed it, lied and said I have to go back for a funeral but I can't do it being the honest guy I am ;)

I think that once I'm in I will be able to swing a few unscheduled holidays to coincide with the Canberra and Gold Coast Marathons but not this year :(

My wife seeing that I was so upset about missing Canberra promised we could go to Oz on a family vacation for the whole of August and half of September I could stay there by myself to do anything, well almost anything, I wanted. Got to be happy with that consolation prize ;)

I'm really sorry mainly cause I'm not going to have the chance to met you all next month and besides I really hate to go back on my word in any situation. But I will continue to work toward the goal of running PBs and running a few of them on Aussie soil. And you know, us Australians, we rarely if ever give up ;)

Pre

Thought those with a fast internet connection and a few spare minutes might enjoy this clip as I did. Steve Prefontaine and this song are my favorites :)

Yes, sorry I lost that first clip on youtube, it was a series of shots of Prefontaine running with the Church song "Under the milkyway." Well I'm going to
upload another one in its place. Nothing related but we are thinking about getting a pet for the kids and after watching this I don't think it will be a cat! Don't want either of my boys to end up like this. Any suggestions for a boys first pet?

Happiness defined

Continuing on from my last post on the topic of happiness I thought I’d relate it to this post about my half marathon last Sunday.

I've heard happiness defined as "the experience of meaning and pleasure." That is, what you enjoy and what is important to you. When both factors come together you can be pretty sure that, that is "happiness."

As you might know already I think running is "important." The whys are numerous but you all know them at different levels in different patterns. After all if we didn't think running was important we wouldn’t keep these blogs would we?

Enjoyment is the other factor and although most of us, except for the insane and Tesso, rarely smile while training or racing we all love what we do and get pleasure out of it.

So did the experience of meaning and pleasure come together last Sunday to make me happy? Decidedly not!

I had high expectations in this race, always a mistake when looking for happiness. High expectations in life and running can often lead to disappointments. So in this case when I ran “badly” it undermined my sense of “meaning” that comes from my ability to keep improving in some way despite the obstacles whatever they are. Add to this bitterly cold winds that left me shaking for an hour after the race and an aggravated hamstring injury that had me stopping 3 times to walk a little and you can see that the enjoyment factor was sorely lacking.

Some might say that enjoyment doesn’t mean simply that everything is perfect, and I’d agree, I like pain but only if it doesn’t hurt ;) no I like pain if it is the sort that comes from entering a new level of fitness, but last Sundays pain mostly came from the hills, 4 long high ones, and the realization that I was totally unprepared to make a decent job of this race.

Although the finishing time of 1:35:20 seconds doesn’t seem too “bad” the only time I’ve ran slower for the half was 4 years ago on my very first half marathon race. I’m too young to be contemplating PW (personal worst’s.) And, as I sit here 7 weeks from my first Canberra marathon (is that math right, Aussie Eddie?) nursing a sore hamstring, 8 kilos above my “perfect running weight” and way under the fitness level I need, I’m a tad depressed.

No need to hide the razor blades yet. If there is one thing above all else that I love about this sport is that it offers one a chance of redemption. And this I will take.

Besides I vowed to cream Eddie my American running mate here, who handed me my head by running last Sunday, his very first half marathon, in 1:28:00! I wonder if I should have said that now. Still nothing like a friendly rivalry is there? ;)

If it makes you happy then why the hell are you so sad?

I have a half marathon this Sunday and I was going to have a whinge, that is, complain about the weather, the course or about being under done, slightly injured etc etc.

But this song reminded me not to!

Wish me luck ;)

And have a nice marathon in Tokyo this Sunday too Steve, we'll be thinking of you.

Slow start

Things are OK, just starting to get rolling after a few set backs. Like I mentioned last post a bit of sickness and more recently an injury. I had a mystery pain at the back of the knee on my right leg that hurt a bit especially going up hills but after a a few sessions with the doctor and a couple more days of rest it is definitely on the mend.

I was ready to get back an do a run this morning but woke to snow again. See above photo that is our house taken from the 2nd floor of our little home school. I couldn't face going back on the treadmill again so I'll take today off as well and start seriously tomorrow.

Not a good start for my Canberra preparation but not a total loss as still have 8 weeks and I reckon I only really train well under tight deadline pressure ;)