Getting my mojo back

Finally feel like I am starting to get somewhere and my enthusiasm is on the same upward slope.  I have been perservering rather than enjoying a lot of my running since my knee has started coming good.  I think this was due partly to still feeling a bit low after a disappointing race which wasn't the the result I was looking for after a few months of pretty hard work and some equally high expectations (even after the knee) - I guess a positive attitude isn't always enough.

Another contributing factor has been that I have been finding running really hard work a lot of the time until this past week.  I did put on 3-4 kilos which didn't help but I think they are gone now (although I haven't jumped on the scales but you sort of know ... ).

This week has been a totally different story.  I think running on Sunday helped - starting the week on Monday with 12km already in the bank (10km race + 2km warm up) helped build a positive attitude and even though Tuesday's intervals were only solid (as per my last post), a really good tempo session with Clown on Thursday set up a good second half of the week.  Even though I ran only slightly slower than last week, I felt it was an easier and far more even effort than the previous week.  We had a bit of a chat along the way and cranked it up a bit on the last km.  I was taking 2km splits from WAMC markers off my wathc while Clown took 1km splits on his Garmin.

I think I could have run faster than I did last time with a harder effort over the first 6km but what we did felt good and was also very enjoyable. Total 33:24 – 2km splits as follows – 8:20/8:30/8:25/8:08 so a negative split as well which is good going.  Clown got the 1km splits as 4:06, 4:18, 4:09, 4:11, 4:08, 4:14, 4:12, 3:56.  Map My Run has this total run for me as 16.2km so it is serving a dual purpose as medium long run as well as a tempo run.

Clown is doing the Steve Moneghetti training camp in Dwellingup in March.  It lools fantastic - Moneghetti is one of my all time running heroes and I'm really tempted although it is a weekend away (probably home early Sunday afternoon) and I had tentatively planned to do the 60km Freeway Bike Hike on the Sunday morning.  The camp is limited to 60 people so I will need to make a fairly quick decision (and seek a leave pass if going the camp).

Recovery run Friday followed by long run Saturday.  Ran with Sandgroper and we set out from my place at 6am.  1 hour 47 mins was total time which included a few drink stops at water fountains and one pit stop for me. . Longest run for a while would have been a real slog by myself but was very enjoyable with company.  I'd estimated the run at 22.4km whereas Sangroper got it at 22.2km. so approx 4km further than the long run I have been doing.  Lots of chatting kept us at a very comfortable and pretty much perfect long run pace. Not sure what the actual running time was but I'll be looking to bump this out by around 10 mins a week over the next few weeks (may be every second week) and I think that this will suit Sandgroper too.  He is doing a few track workouts as well, which are logisitically a bit difficult for me without a car which is pity although I'm a bit nervous about going hard on the track as it was after my hard Yasso 800 session that my knee injury first appeared.

Just over 90km for the week Sunday - Saturday which is probably more than I will average over the next few weeks so it was pleasing to get through without feeling overly fatigued.

Another early start on Sunday when I set out from my house at 6.15am to ride to Neil's for a 7am meet.  We then rode through Floreat, Claremont, Dalkeith and then down into Nedlands.  The ride through Dalkeith was sensational, heaps of other cyclists out and it seems to be a very popular route.  We then rode back past the Brewery (thought I might have spotted Epi as we rode past - not sure) and around the Bridges before heading back towards Leederville where we stopped for a coffee.  Went our separate ways from there and by the time I was home I had clocked up 61km which was a good steady bit of cross training for a non running day.  Unfortunately, when I got home, Rox reminded me that I had promised the kids a bike ride so it was onto the mountain bike with Sammies bike hooked up on to mine on the TrailGator so 61km + a heavy bike + towing Sammie + 12km made for hard going.  Luckily the rest of the day was very easy going as I went to the cricket with my Dad.  Turned out to be a great day and a very close finish.  Only low point was the pitch invader who tackled one of the Pakistanis.  Hopeless security - the guy was going so slow and I think he only laid the tackle because he didn't know what else to do having expected to be tackled himself way before then.  Chubby Checker and the other security guards were obviously distracted by confiscating beach balls and stopping beer cup snakes.  Hope the coppers gave him a couple to go on with.

So the most enjoyable runs/ride I did this week were when I was running/riding with someone else.   They also seemed much easier than they would have if I had done them on my own.  The following video is interesting in that context:



This morning I went out for my 12.8km bridges loop and ran at a moderate effort/pace. 56 mins so around 4.22km. Felt good and another sign that I am on the improve. Saw Simon out there - going along at a good pace. I'm still a bit off that pace but hopefully I'll be back close to hitting similar paces.

Interval session tomorrow. I'm going to do something different tomorrow but am still tossing up between doing a 1 and 2 minute interval workout (with equivalent jog recoveries) or a hill repeat workout.

I'm looking towards doing the 5km at Point Walter on 14 Feb. Sandgroper and Clown have both said that they will probably be doing it so that will make things interesting. My WAMC number arrived the other day - I am now the proud owner of WAMC #9102.

So I definitely feel like I have turned the corner - a few more hard and solid weeks with decent mileage and I'll start to feel like I might be able to go close to PB by the time the Bridges comes around at the end of March.