Back out on the road today. Finally some sunshine.
Winter has taken Wellington firmly in its grip and is giving the city a good old squeeze. It’s been really cold this last week, so I’ve been at the gym again in the mornings.
I’m well into my taper now, so I’m only running three or four times a week, and only doing about 10kms each run. For most of them I’m taking things pretty easy, just keeping the legs working for most of the run. For the last bit however I’ve been pushing the speed up, and up, and up.
It really seems to be working!
My last session in the gym went really well, with me running the second 5kms quite hard, and then bumping up even further for the last kilometre. Before I started treadmill work, 12km/h was my hard-out pace. Now that’s quickly becoming my comfortable pace, and 14-15km/h is now my hard-out pace.
To put that in perspective where it counts, out in the real world, I went for a run this morning around my 10km circuit. I intentionally went really slow, barely breaking a sweat. I stopped three times to go to the bathroom (too much beer last night watching the All Blacks beat France). I got a bit of an assist with a tail wind for a bit, but that was balanced out by the head wind for the rest of the run.
I still managed the 10kms in 1:03. But more importantly I didn’t feel as if I was pushing the pace at all. It was all just relaxed running. Previously ‘relaxed running’ would see me finish the circuit in around 1:10, or longer.
Also my heart rate was way down on this run. My average BPM was 136. Contrast that with the same circuit a few weeks ago where I ran a slower time, and my heart rate was between 140 and 150 BPM.
So with one week to go until my first race, I think I’m in a good position physically and mentally to have a good day out. All we need now is for the weather to play ball. And in Wellington you never know what you’re going to get until after the race is finished.
I have two new batches of energy gels in a freezer, thanks to my lovely wife, and legs that are hungry to run. So now we just get through the next week and try not to get sick or fall over and break something important.
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wanted: good weather for your run, you seem to have everything else sorted.
the weather is looking ok at the moment - a moderately strong southerly, no rain.
I'll take that ;-)
Most of the course should be reasonably sheltered from the southerly, and I'll have a tail wind for the second half of the race. It is typically calmer first thing in the morning - last year it was still until about half-way through the race. So with any luck I'll have no head wind on the way out and a tail wind on the way back.
That should help the tired legs ;-)
Just think of the beer and ice cream waiting at the end. Ahhhhh
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*When someone tells you that what you want to do is impossible, change the word in your head to hard. What you want to do is hard. Hard is doable – it just requires dedicated work and effort and you can make it happen.
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You are stronger man, that’s for sure