Live, love, run

Recovery week following the Perth Half. My training changes now to focus on speed for the upcoming ASICs Run for Gold 10km.

This week I ran 6.8km, 5.4km tempo and a 10km longish run today. I am sticking to 3 runs a week, with one weight session and I am going to try to add a spin class in which I am hearing is great for leg strength with low impact.

Speed sessions are a mix of timed speed intervals during runs, tempo runs and hill training. It will be good to mix the training up a bit. 

I am thinking of doing the City to Surf Half Marathon instead of the 12km this year which will have me completing three halfs for the year if all goes well. I’ll see how the 1okm race goes first.

No injury concerns from the Half which is great stuff.

My first half marathon. Finally.

Woke up to the sound of rain on the roof at 6:15am. The weather reports had said a cold front was moving through about 8am. By the time I had eaten breakfast and got on the road the rain was torrential!

There was great numbers for the race, maybe 1,000 plus. Everyone was crammed into the WAMC Club Rooms trying to stay out of the wet.

Race time came and the rain looked like it had set in. We took off and I stuck with the plan to start slow with the first 7kms planned at around 40 minutes. I ended up doing the first 7 in 39:12.

Phase 2 I pushed a bit harder. The rain was heavy but not alot of wind which helped. I took a Gu at about 8kms but ran through the drink station. I also had a Carbo Shot at the turnaround point near UWA. I ran through the second 7kms in 36:25 which was better than I had hoped.

An English guy asked me how many kilometres the race was at about the 13km mark! When I said 21.1kms he said “well bugger me!”. Surely he knew how far?! Or did he?

I was still feeling good. Legs were sore but really only calves. The rain and puddles made it tough. I got a bad stitch going over the Narrows bridge for the second time but managed to run it off. The 16, 17 and 18 kilometres were the worst. Each one felt like three kilometres. My music from my iPod had become a dull noise, and I felt like I was shuffling. In the end I did the final 7.1km in 38:35 for a grand total of:

 1 hour, 54 minutes and 17 seconds. 5:24 min per kilometre pace.

Placed 422 of 648.

That last kilometre or so was amazing. At that point I knew I was going to make it, and the pain just disappeared. People were yelling support, and each time I looked at my watch it became clearer that I would definitely run under 2 hours. 

I never would have dreamed I could run a half marathon in under 2. It was a great feeling. 

The best bit was Louie, Amy and Tyler waiting for me in the rain which was nice - for me! I’m not sure they understand why I love to run, but they know I like the support. On such a horrible weather day it must have been tough to get out of the warm house and come down to see me finish. For me it made it a pretty special day.

Here’s my Half Carb Loading Plan from my Sports Dietician:

Day Before

You are aiming for ~700 grams of carbohydrate for the day. The day might look like:

Breakfast

4 Weet-Bix with milk (2 cups)

2 slices of toast with jam/honey

3 tablespoons Sustagen Sport with 250ml milk

Morning and Afternoon Tea

3 tablespoons Sustagen Sport with 250ml milk

2 cinnamon bun or 4 slices fruit bread

1 fruit bar

Lunch

2 ½ cups cooked rice or pasta with 150g meat/chicken or fish and vegetables or salad

Dinner

150g meat, chicken or fish

2 ½ cups cooked pasta or rice

Veggies/salad

Supper

6 tablespoons Sustagen Sport with 250 ml milk
2000ml sports drink throughout the day plus 2000ml water

Race-Day

Breakfast (2 hours prior)

4 Weet-Bix with milk

2 slices of toast with jam/honey

Or 2 serves of Sustagen Sport and

1 x Yakult

Plenty of water and/or sports drink (1 litre) in the couple of hours leading up to the race.

During the Run

You will still be aiming for a minimum of 750ml of fluid per hour. Make sure that 750 ml of this is sports drink and the remainder can be water or coke.

You will pass through an aid station every 2 km. This is ~5 every hour.

The fluid will be in plastic cups of approximately 250ml in volume (but likely to be only half-filled). If stopping at every aid station you will need to consume approx. 150ml (big gulp) of sports drink plus two big gulps of water with every additional carbohydrate.

In addition you will need one gel with water after the first hour. If you feel like coke, substitute one of your carbohydrate options not the sports drink.

A rough guide for the run is 1-2 gels plus fluids.

This is my little mate Tyler. He’s 7 years old and as you can see from his picture he suits his current nickname- Windows.

He’s a sensitive and considered little fellow, and as he grows becomes cheekier, but in that cute kind of “oh he doesn’t mean it” kind of way. He loves horses, stationary (as in whiteboard markers, pens, sticky notes!) and Gladiators!

Two good runs this week. A nice crisp 7km run on Wednesday, and 15km long run today.

It won’t be my aerobic fitness that lets me down for the Perth Half this weekend, more the muscular side of things. I haven’t been able to do as many kms as consistently as I would have liked, so the last 5kms could be tough this weekend.

I’ll gobble a few anti inflamatories during this week, and keep the training light but consistent to have a good run in. Based on the times I have run for 18km and 15km in the last few weeks I think I’ll run somewhere between 2 hours and 2:15 depending on how I go in those last few kilometres.

My plan is to break the run into three parts:

1. First 7km - run at around 6 minute per km pace. Take it out easy.
2. Middle 7km- faster pace at 5:30 per km pace.
3. Final 7.1km - try and hold the middle kms pace if I can and get to the finish.

I will walk through each drink stop and take a Gu at the halfway mark drink station. I’m not sure if they’ll offer sports drink for the race as I have never seen any at a WAMC event, but if they do I’ll keep that up too.

It’s exciting, but I am also a little nervous. Probably a good thing.

My Challenge Fun Run 1okm time is now official at 49:59. Talk about cutting it fine!

Thanks to the WAMC who confirmed my missing time. If you want to run in Perth, visit www.wamc.org.au.