Go Hard

The Victorian Police and Emergency Services Games is back on. As has become my usual I've entered both the 10km cross country and the Half Marathon. These events are a week apart. First up was the cross country. My expectations weren't as high this year. I haven't been able to get in the type of training that has helped me achieve some pretty good results in previous years. I still didn't want to miss it. Some good rivalries has developed over time, and I might be lucky and pull out a break through performance. The course is two laps that are each billed as 5km, but being the same as previous years the consensus is its long. My GPS gave my 10.7km for the full race, but I will accept its about 500-600m long. Not an issue being cross country, but it helps knowing this when comparing times. I like the setup. Starting with an uphill grassed section, then some downhill, with a couple of turn going from grass, to dirt road and finally onto a paved bike track. The ground t...

With four races in five weeks there is the enjoyable challenge of trying to find a way to improve from race to race. Having one week between the 10km cross country and the half marathon, doesn't leave much opportunity for a big session if I want fresh legs on race day. So what's the approach? Sunday : Race, 10km Cross Country Monday: Relaxed 14km over some of the more technical trails in Plenty Gorge. Keeping the intensity down, should help move the blood and lymph through the legs, but the difficulty of terrain should provide a technique challenge and stimulus for the smaller, intrinsic muscles used on more difficult trail that will come into play at Marysville and the Great Train Race in following weeks. Tuesday: Easy 14km, but reasonably quick run back into different trails in Plenty Gorge. The legs were showing a fair bit of soreness carried over from the cross country, but they were flicking over nicely over the rocky ups and downs. Again general condition and techniqu...

Finally the tests start. Race number one of four over the next five weeks. First up, a 10km cross country. It is one of the many events of the Victoria Police & Emergency Services Games . Last year I was lucky enough to take the outright win, and this time I felt like I was in similar, if not better form. Of course who turns up on the day has a lot to do with placings. Whatever the case this time I was in the mindset for a top effort. Weather conditions were perfect, sunny and warm. The course had some minor changes again this year. Looks like a bit of extra distance was added again. Consensus after the race seems there was an extra 600m or so for the 10km, or 300m for each of the two 5km laps. Even allowing for the issues with GPS accuracy, I've since compared last year's map with this year and it is longer. Not meant to be easy, and I prefer a course that is too long than too short. The run starts with a decent uphill over grass, recently mowed this year, so not too s...

Into the final few days before the first of a series of races means there isn't much training I can do to add to my fitness. Call it tapering, peaking or whatever, the focus is now on ensuring I am recovered from training, have skills, efficiency, mental state and tactics to make the most of the fitness I have built. Seems like the ideal time to go over my recent preparation. The outline for the training plan was: My version of week is 8 days 2 key runs: 1 long 1 intervals around race pace Long run alternates between 3 hour on trails, with 23-25km at set speed faster each time Intervals progress with distance of fast pace, then increase recovery pace Hill repeats are included Near weekly hill sprints or drills for speed and technique All other runs vary between recovery to easy but moderate volume efforts Recovery is important Being able to perform the key sessions at required standard is paramount The details can be read in: It Goes A Little Something Like Thi...

One week between the 10km cross country and the half marathon. To get the peak right, this is where experience and the art of training really comes into play. There just isn't enough science to give definitive guidelines here. That leaves me working from a subjective base. This is not a typical training week. I have built all the fitness I can. Instead, the training and resting is only about being able to get the most out of myself for a top half marathon on Sunday. Rest hard, recover and spike the system to prevent a loss of form and grease the groove to feel natural on race day. Sounds almost like a near meaningless mission statement. Time for what really happened. The 10km cross country, was run within my abilities. Even with a fast surge for a bit over 1km, I didn't overly extend myself. That combined with a mixture of gravel and grass for half the course, meant my legs weren't too beaten up. I pulled up with just some moderate tightness and no injury concerns. So ...

Now that it's here, it feels like I haven't spent much time training. That might be because my body seems so rested after the taper. Haven't felt like that for a while. Awake a little earlier than planned thanks to an enthusiastic 3 year old. A relatively warm morning suggests the race will be great conditions. My wife is also racing the 5km version too. First time we've competed in something at the same time. Should be fun. The 10km is a two lap course. A significant hill on each lap but about 3/4'ers being mainly flat. Despite having worked hard to improve my hill running, I'm under no illusion that it is my strength. That is still the down hill and false flats. That said, hopefully the uphill won't be an area I lose position or time. My plan for the race was to go for the overall win. I haven't achieved that yet, but have always been at least in the top 5. To achieve this the aim of the first lap was to just keep myself right up at the pointy en...

The final week before the Emergency Services Games. No more killer sessions. The hard work in training has been done. No hard runs will add to my fitness now. Instead this week is about ensuring I am recovered enough from the previous weeks of training and making sure I am primed to run fast on race day. The taper is a mixture of art and science. This is what mine looks like. My taper is seven days. Sunday to Saturday inclusive, with my first race, the 10km cross country being the following day. The half marathon will be exactly one week later. Getting out of bed on the first day was painful. The accumulated stress of the 5 weeks of training had come to a head. The 10 hill repeats up the 245 the previous day certainly added to that. My usual tibialis posterior difficulties were showing up. Adding to this my left leg and foot had some new flare ups. The tibialis anterior was fairly tender, but my worry was the pain across the top of my foot. The extensor tendons were sore, there was...

I now consider the base training to be completed. The last 3 months of training was aimed at reestablishing a reasonable fitness base, become structurally & biomechanical sound, develop efficient fuel (fat/carbohydrate) metabolism and generally set myself for the harder training to follow. The mainstay of training was low intensity runs 60-70%HRmax, with the harder sessions really just being longer runs with the intensity creeping up to 75%. Only a very small amount of faster running was scattered throughout amongst this. Early on I didn't hit the level of consistency I wanted. A few too many of the shorter easy runs were missed. As a result this limited the speed and distance of my long runs. Despite this, I would still consider this phase of training successful, as proven by my above expectations performance at the Maroondah Dam 50km. An ultramarathon, 50km over the hardest terrain I've ever raced on will definitely highlight weaknesses. Yes, there are quite a few gaps...