Go Hard

Back on it. Unfortunately for my ego I'm not as good as I like to be. Missing is any sort of tolerance to a consistent workload. Backing up running each day is more of struggle than I am used to over the years. However, I'm at where I'm at. Hoping to hit a minimum of about 10km each day turned out to be slightly too high a level to start with. When put against my running background this appeared to be a reasonably conservative starting point. So why wasn't it? Of course basic deconditioning plays a role here, but that doesn't explain the level of difficulty I've through the first week. It stems from technique problems that I've developed over the last six months as a follow on issue after hurting my hamstrings. Basically I became a lazy runner. The body is amazing at finding what it thinks is the easiest and most efficient way of doing something. It also tends to be pretty good at protecting a part that is already injured. At least in the short term....

One week out from this year's edition of the Surfcoast Century . This year I have elected to stay away from covering the full 100km. A decision I made before injury, but turns out it was an even better idea. Instead I am participating in a team of 4. I've scored the 3rd leg which is exactly the one I wanted. Being the longest at 28km with the biggest climbs and descents thrown in it is described as the crux of the course . I am looking forward to hitting this section with having 49km already in the legs. It will be great to attack the hills rather than trying to be efficient. This race will also a test of my rehabilitation. I do not feel race fit. The training kilometres have been limited and I definitely haven't had any of the big sessions that give me confidence leading into event. Instead I've been working on strengthening and redeveloping my hamstrings, especially the proximal tendons. The training has involved almost daily strength work. Running has been a mixt...

I'm starting to feel like a runner again. This really just comes from the fact that I've been for a run nearly every day for the last couple of weeks. I've had to rethink my approach so as not to develop the same problems that limited the marathon. Those problems still exist to a certain extent, so there is a good deal of rehabilitation required within the training. So here's the basic outline of my current training approach... I only have two races planned at this stage. First up is as part of a relay team at the Surfcoast Century in September where I'll be covering 28km in the hilly section. Second on the list is the Two Bays Trail 56km in January. I am hoping to throw a few more events in, but I'll see how the body goes. With those races in mind, the basic structure is a 9 day cycle that looks little something like this... easy Intervals easy Hill sprints easy Threshold easy Long easy The easy runs are exactly that, easy. Something between 40...

Right, I'm building back into running. The blogging should also increase. So what's happened since my marathon in Traralgon fell apart? I took 3 weeks away from running. For me that's is a ridiculously long time, and in the last 17 years, I've only ever gone that long without a run maybe twice at most. Why 3 weeks? It wasn't all injury related. A two week holiday in Malaysia with the family played a big role in the time frame. While there was some good running option where we stayed, I simply had no interest in exploring them. Sun, cocktails and pool were the clear winners. However, I did get into the weights a fair bit and focused on some important rehabilitation. So what went wrong back in the marathon? The short version is I did a hammy . The longer version is more complicated. Unlike a sprinter or football player, the injury wasn't from a one incident where I felt it go . Instead it has been building to be a significant problem over quite a period of t...