Go Hard

As tends to happen over the Christmas period, the opportunity for solid training become restricted. With the joys of working over the festivities, the kids at home and all the catch ups, get-togethers, so on and so on, there is only so much time in each day. The priorities are for family so the training takes a back seat. I've learnt the hard in the past that planning to train at my normal load just doesn't work. This year I took a better mindset. It was simple. Take about a week off training. That meant if I could fit in a run then I would, but everything else took priority. Funny enough it made everything so much more enjoyable. The couple of small runs I threw in were slow, slow, slow, but felt oh so good. Then everything else a mix of food, catch ups, food, work, family and more food. It was a nice reprieve from training, but from a running point of view I'm now back. A long run of 39km helped solidify that statement for me.

Who organisers a roster where you have a week of 06:00 starts? It probably wouldn't be as bad if I wasn't used to forward rotating shift work. That said, there are plenty of benefits to my shift work. Just when you get to the least best part you wish you were in the better part of the roster. The week of earlies makes training a bit different compared to when I'm on my normal rotations. A bonus of this week is I get to spend the late afternoon and evening with the family. The difficulty is balancing training and sleep. The decision to be made is between an early morning session or a session at night after the kids go to bed. I've experimented with both options and the winner is running in the early morning. That means up and 04:00, drive to work, run 30-45 minutes, then shower and change and its time to start the my shift. This tends to add up to a little bit more sleep over the week than if I run late, plus I just feel better at work if I get the run in first. Th...

After some good training, then some not-so-good training it is time kick it up a notch. Whenever I feel I am either ready or need too ramp things up I have a re-read of the Ultra168 article Train Like A Mother . I've referenced this article before for good reason. The layout of the training in it doesn't match what suits me, but I like the concepts it raises. My summary... train hard, train very hard and make sure you recover to train some more . This week has been the start of ramping it up. As usual the plans change on the fly. It went a little something like this... Monday: 9km Easy. While the pace wasn't hard, a lot of concentration is put into technique. There is a slight exaggeration put into some aspects of my running form to help override the body's laziness that leads to problems over time. The level of concentration is the most exhausting element. Tuesday: 90min MP80%. After a warm up the target pace translates to 4:48/km for 90 minutes. I kind of thi...

The training plan looked good. The actual training not so good. Turns out my hayfever has been taken advantage of by the hangover from the recent Thunderstorm Asthma . Trouble breathing isn't something to treat lightly. As a result, the harder and longer runs have been skipped while I get this sorted for myself. A bit of prevention and a back up in case and I think I'm back on track. In the midst of reduced training I also think I backed out of some runs just because I had an excuse. Strangely with less running I also felt like I had less time for things. Maybe I'm just better organised when I'm trying to fit more in. It is a bit of a reminder that if I really want to put in some good training during the silly season, then I have to plan ahead and make sure I get all the other stuff needed to be done ticked off efficiently. The big goal is still the Wilsons Promontory 100km in May next year. It is still a fair way off so some extra motivation is needed along the wa...