"It's a treat being a runner, out in the world by yourself with not a soul to make you bad-tempered or tell you what to do." - Allan Sillitoe


Monday, October 24, 2011

Recovery week (134km)

I took a step back last week after 5 weeks of ratcheting up the mileage and dropped back to 134km. Given that 134km was a big week for me during my last marathon training segment, it felt very comfortable coming down from 150km.

The reduction came from dropping one of my double days, minor reductions to my mid week medium long runs and reducing the Sunday long run to 26.5km. Apart from a slightly uptempo mdium long run with Simon Elliott on Wednesday (we always seem to go slightly quicker than either of us actually planned to and also doing some strides on Tuesday, all of my runs last week were very much in the "easy" bracket.

Right back into it this week with three double days, 24k and 21km medium long runs midweek and also a 3 x 3km interval session with Simon and the BT RunClub on Tuesday. My program had me down for an 8km tempo that morning but I am substituting the 3 x 3km with half an eye on the John Gilmour 10,000m on 4 November as I would like to try to run a 10km PB that night.

Great results at the Rottnest Marathon on the weekend with 6 guys going sub 3hrs on a pretty warm and windy day (isn't it always at Rottnest ...?)  Not sure if I will ever try Rottnest again.  I can't see myself ever doing more than 2 marathons a year and I'm not sure I want to waste one on course which is so slow.   Credit to those who go and smash it out over there year after year.  I like Rotto for a holiday and for training but racing, no thanks.

I have put some videos and a link below. The first video shows what I thought was the new Saucony Cortana that I reviewed a few weeks back but I since found out is the new Guide 5. As the video shows, there is a reduced heel to toe ratio (8%) compared to what has usually been the norm (12%). This is still more than the Kinvara (4%), but I am enjoying the Cortana as a more supportive shoe on days when I don't want to go too hard. Not to say that it is heavy, but it is heavier relative to the Kinvara.



One of the blogs I follow is Reid Coolsaet's "Float On". Coolsaet is the top Canadian marathon runner and last weekend booked his spot at the London Olympics with 2:10 performance in Toronto. This is a really good 1 hour highlights package with a profile piece included as well. It is an example of how good a marathon highlights package can be compared to the crap that we get dished up after the Perth City to Surf each year.

http://t.co/57F2kg0b

One of the highlights of our trip to Houston in January will be the opportunity to watch the USA Men's and Women's Olympic Marathon trials on a multi loop course the day before. This video is the trailer for an upcoming online series profiling some of the runners and their training as they prepare for the Trials.

2 comments:

Epi said...

I was going to ask which races you had scheduled in the leadup - any others beyon JG10k ?(will hopefully see you there)

How's nutrition/weight going with the mileage jump?

Biscuitman said...

I will do Deepwater Point (15k) and City Beach (8k). I may also do Peninsula 10k but as a tempo effort with a long warm up and a long cool down.

Weight is down slightly, not as much as I would like but that is because I eat too much food (carbs). It's a balancing act and I am coming down more on the side of more carbs to stay fuelled rather than risk reducing them.