Go Hard

My first week of training began after a few days off. This continued straight on with the training load. No days off leading in. Would that make a difference? A lack of sleep before my early start, had the run into work feeling terrible. Through those 5km, all I wanted to do was go back to bed. At the other end of the day, the 8km route home felt like gold. Running was just so easy. Early to bed and a recharge for the next morning's hill repeats. It's not even Winter, but the second day's running was in 1 degree Celsius. That's cold, at least it wasn't raining. Wearing some extra gear, I ended up warm enough for some hill plyometrics. A different course this time, not quite as steep, slightly longer up and and an extra minute on the return. It felt good. I was very happy with the session except for a bit of a twist against some tightness in my left knee on a bend during one of the descents. I didn't think much of it, as I carried no pain for the rest of the ...

Saturday was day one. The few days leading in I went against my usual style and didn't do any running. I just didn't feel like it until training officially began. That had me feeling pretty refreshed on that first day. Starting with the MAF test gave me some base line data. The result was a pace of 4:58/km. Not my fastest (4:28/km), but far from my slowest (5:38/km). A place t begin. Other than for the MAF test, I never checked my heart rate during any other runs. The first week was all about finding a feel for the training. All runs had the HR recorded, but that will be more important in the future after a bit of analysis. Scheduling everything was a little tight, and my long run was placed on the 8th and final day of my week. To fit that in required a very early start. The first seven days felt quite comfortable. Nothing seemed to take too much out of me. What I did learn was that my basic endurance is quite lacking. In order to keep the intensity down, my speeds at the ...

Here it is. This is the document that is guiding my preparation for the Surfcoast Century. For a training plan it goes beyond a simple spreadsheet marked with distances and a couple of footnotes. It is a little more detailed than is seen in magazines or on the internet. Quite a wordy description of how the plan is to be put together and executed is what follows. It might seem complicated, and over prescriptive to some, but there is good reasoning behind this approach. First off the plan is just a guide and will be modified as needed. What the plan doesn't do is prescribe exact distances, speed and number of repeats. Instead it combines the intent of each training session and phase with what I believe will be the most likely style of training to get the adaptations I seek. The plan highlights what to look for to see appropriate progression or what may be problems in the mix. It gives guidelines on how the program should be modified based on how the training is progressing. I am pu...

Here I present a very basic outline of my training plan in preparation for the SC100. Developing this plan involved a good number of scribbled potential plans on scraps of paper that were written over, annotated, thrown out and rewritten. On the side was usually a calendar and list of potential development races. It is a mix of what I know does work for me, what I expect will work for me, all placed through a filter of what I believe is required to race an 100km trail ultra. While the plan wasn't modeled on any one else's, after it came together I was surprised at how clear and obvious some of the influences are. I'm sure these will be picked up by running geeks despite differences in terminology. All discussion on my training plan must be made under the assumption that consistency and injury prevention is paramount. Since the race is an ultra endurance event then endurance is the most important attribute required. Endurance development requires volume which require...

Just simply a great event. Awesome hills, scenery and an obscure distance. Best of all is the added challenge and atmosphere that goes with racing the steam engine, Puffing Billy, with the sounds, steam and smells, plus the race within the race to make the rail crossings so as not too lose time. This is a race I will always come back too, even though it is often very cold and wet. This year the race fell in my down time from training. So after a holiday up north where running was replaced by plenty of alcohol and food I didn't have any genuine expectations. Instead the plan was to turn up and race hard to see where that got me. It's usually very cold and wet for the GTR. This year there was a gap in the rain for the event, but it was wet and muddy on the ground. The temperature sat at 8-9 degrees Celsius, a bit warmer than in the past. Pretty good conditions. This year there was seeded start based on your best 10km performance in the past 6 months. Mine put me in the 1s...

I've hinted at it for a little while. I tested things a bit at the Maroondah Dam 50 . The thoughts and inspiration from many sources have been building over a couple of years. Now I've made the commitment. On 22nd September this year I will be racing my first 100km trail ultramarathon. The event I've picked is the Surfcoast Century in Anglesea. The course description sounds perfect for me. It appears to be runnable the whole distance if you get things right. I've already seen a few comments in the negative that it isn't as tough as a race like TNF100 or the GNW , but to me that is a style of snobbery. It simply is a different event. It should have faster times, but that doesn't make it easier. Running 100km on an athletics track is definitely not easy, so throwing in sand, cliffs, wind and various other terrain doesn't lesson the event either. It is still a massive challenge. Rant over. So why the Surfcoast Century? First up I am sticking with run...