Janathon 2011

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Seven Hills

The race organisers made this run simply a fabulous experience. Great communication, thoughtful planning, beautiful weather, fun course. I ran faster than planned, but kept my head attached. I've got a 25km tomorrow (less than a week later). 

I just had an outstanding day. Gorgeous weather, great course, wonderful execution by the race directors. My last three km were my fastest. I finished in 1:43, each five km was faster than the last. I broke a mental barrier, running 5:30 during the last couple km, thinking I can't run that fast, but I did.  


It was a bit of a challenge to pace myself in the beginning. The crowd was moving more quickly than I wanted to start out. I ran in my comfort zone, and kept an eye on my heart rate. Enough water. Well, one short pit stop, so maybe too much water! Good energy throughout. I like hammer gel a lot. And I feel really good. 

Really good advice from Jeff Galloway

THE MOST IMPORTANT TRAINING PRINCIPLE

Most of us know that if we want to improve, we must stress ourselves in some of our training sessions. Exercise stresses the muscles, stimulating them to grow stronger and work more efficiently. Without enough rest after the stress, however, the muscles are driven to exhaustion or injury. Stress must be balanced by rest in sufficient quantity and quality for adequate growth.

Hard or long runs must always be followed by several easy days in which the pace or distance is reduced. In addition, you must build rest weeks into your program: every second or third week, you should automatically reduce total mileage. This gives your muscles the extra time to "catch up."

Improvement is based upon the quality of your speedwork and the length of your long run. By taking a day off and then running easily between these two "quality days" you will recover, rebuild stronger and reduce the chance of injury. Common mistakes that lead to injury are

* Trying to attain a high mileage level week after week
* Running daily runs too fast
* Not enough rest

Jeff writes here

Just gorgeous

So I just got back from the most gorgeous 16 k run - I picked the right pace and ran faster than targeted most of the time (between 7:30 & 7:45/km) 10 of the 16 were in this range. the other six included warm up, cool down and dressing/undressing for the weather. I started with my new cool wind-proof running hat I got at the marathon expo. I had been wanting one for a year, but they are so expensive for just a stupid hat. Well, the expo had a special. so I got one. I saw a friend on the beach who complimented the great hat. You know, that's the death knell for a precious possession. Well, I got too hot. So I took it off. And tucked it into my coat, between me and the coat. I ignored the angel who whispered in my ear to put it into one of the zippered pockets in my coat.

At some point, I pulled my arms out of the coat, again too hot and tied the coat around my waist, still zipped. I think I probably looked silly trying to Houdini out of the coat while still trying to run at pace. waddle waddle waddle.

Well, at 8 km these gorgeous leaden clouds opened up and pelted me with the juiciest rain drops ever. I scrambled to try to get back into my coat before getting soaked. It didn't work, and I'm quite sure at this point I dropped the hat without realising it. I had looped back to avoid one cloud burst and tried this trick again. And then realised my hat was gone. And I figured in my burst of get-out-of-this-cold-rain-quick energy that the hat must have fallen out when I had wiggled my arms out of the coat. Looking for the hat on the remainder of the run turned every piece of garbage into a potential find. I never found it. I imagine now it's far away at the turning point where I momentarily lost my mind in the excitement of the rain storm.

I hope someone finds the hat and that whoever finds it is a runner who appreciates this little number. (It is wind-proof and has a bright neon yellow stripe to tell other people not to run you over at night.) Losing it gave me the chance to live in joy - some things we have want new homes, so they find them. We only borrow them for a short while.

I just love running without those six pounds. It is so much easier. Plus I discovered if I lengthen my stride just a tiny little bit, my pace increases quite a bit without any perceptible increase in effort. I have a pretty quick stride, but i guess not a very long one! 

off season. Off the couch, that is.

I've been resting. Well, not really. I've been trying to run faster, following the FIRST method with a liberal dose of common sense.  And nursing my left hamstring, which has taken to raising objections to running faster. And preparing for the races later this month. And swimming at least once a week. And rowing at least once a week. Cycling. yep, at least once a week. Running x3. Lifting x2. And focusing on eliminating drag - that is, getting lean. Since August, I've dropped 10 lbs. Running feels easier already.  Though, without the carbs, I feel a little flat. Still. I will be at my goal weight by the Paris Marathon. I will.