Strava
The day after the long run up the 'Nongs and I was really feeling it. I was sore. But I battled out of bed, got compressed up and headed out the door for a nice easy recovery run.
Two laps of my local loop just to keep on running. Nothing interesting happened. It was slow and it wasn't overly enjoyable. I never really enjoy my recovery runs. They're too slow and a bit boring. I'm thinking I might start listening to some music on this run just to keep my mind off things.
I ended up battling through 9km @ 5:26/km - although it felt much slower. I've just clocked over 500km for the year and up to 168km for March. The goal of 200k in March shouldn't be too hard for the last week since I have a 30k run planned for Saturday.
Month to Date: 168km
Year to Date: 502.9km
Saturday 22nd Mar
Strava
I decided to change things up a bit this week for my long run. I had 27.5k pencilled in but I'm getting a bit bored of bitumen running, so I decided to run to my folks who live up the Dandenongs. I've never run up the 'Nongs before so I didn't know what to expect from a) the trails and b) how my legs would handle the vertical. Turns out I enjoyed the trails and my legs didn't mind the vert!
My route took me about 10k to the Dandenong Creek Trail, then another 5ish until the trails started. I was feeling really good and those first 15k flew by. I love the Dandenongs in the early morning. The sun comes up behind the hill, and mist is settled into the many valleys. It's just a beautiful site and keeps one's mind off the running. Today was no exception, it was a gorgeous morning for running!
So I got to the start of Ridge Track at the end of Simpsons Rd, pulled on the arm warmers and set off. And it went UP! Not gently, just UP! I thought this would be the case, but didn't realise just how difficult running at those sorts of gradients is. I probably managed to run for 300m before I was forced to walk. I tried to walk as quickly as I could, but it was an effort.
Luckily the turn off to Banksia Track came soon. I specifically picked Banksia Tk because the average gradient is quite shallow. It started off as I expected. Gentle up. Then it plunged down! Not good! Then up, and sharp! More walking, bugger! Whenever it went up, it went down just as quickly. While the average gradient might be shallow, the actual up was painful! My legs were burning by the end of it, but at the same time I hadn't had as much fun on a run for a long time.
Banskia Tk turned into Basin-Olinda Rd, then a quick turn off onto Bradley Tk and it was more up. But at least this bit was runnable! A few more twists and turns on School Tk and onto Old Bayswater-Sassafras Rd, a bit more walking, and then into Sassafras.
I continued up the hill towards Olinda were I was meeting my old man for the remaining 5k dash down Olinda-Monbulk Rd. I took it very easy down the hill as my legs were feeling pretty tight and I didn't want to over stride.
I was feeling pretty good as I finished and definitely felt like I had more in the legs, but 5 minutes after stopping and I was starting to feel quite sore. A different sore to a normal flattish long run. I was feeling it a lot more in my calfs and achillies. Even now two days later I am tighter than usual despite having a really solid rolling session on Saturday.
All in all, a great morning out. The trails were all well formed and pretty easy to follow (my handwritten directions lacked a couple of times - I said turn right and it was actually a left).
Month to Date: 159km
Year to Date: 493.9km
Wednesday 19th Mar
Strava
Melbourne really turned on the charm today. Perfect weather like today make lunch runs firstly incredibly enjoyable, but then very annoying as I have to stop and return to the office.
I decided to do an easier pace workout this week as my previous hard workout really left me sore and it took quite a while to recover. So I called upon my regular progressive run in which I attempt 1.5k at varying speeds. When time is short it's 4 intervals at approximately Marathon, Half Marathon, 10k & 8k paces. Which for me, according to McMillan pace calculator are:
Marathon Pace : 5:13/km
Half Marathon Pace : 4:57/km
10k Pace : 4:41/km
8k Pace : 4:38/km
My end results were a bit slower than this. It's really hard to gauge pace with a Garmin Edge as it's a bike GPS and the "instantaneous" speeds are just all over the place, but the end results sound about right.
So todays intervals were 5:10, 5:00, 4:56, 4:50. The 10k & 8k paces were considerably slower than goal pace. I'm really not that bothered about it though as I felt I was doing it fairly easy and didn't really want to push myself too hard with a 27.5k coming up on Saturday.
All in I did 7.3k @ 5:03/km pace. Not the hardest of hard sessions, but it was still a session with some quicker work in there.
Month to Date: 134.1km
Year to Date: 469.0km
Tuesday 18th MarStrava
Back in Melbourne and back to some cool, fresh mornings. What a difference something as simple, and uncontrollable, as the weather can be.
It must have been about 15 degrees for my run commute this morning, and it felt fantastic. Everything was just easier. The energy levels stayed high for the whole run and I didn't feel fatigue setting in at all.
Last week on an 8k run in Noosa, I felt fatigued by the 3-4km mark and was left really struggling to just finish. No such problems today. 9k and just cruised the whole thing.
A great way to start to the training week.
9.1km @ 4:55/km pace. Very happy with this as I didn't exert myself really at all.
Month to Date: 126.8km
Year to Date: 461.7km
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