Where Has This Summer Gone

Monday February 20, 2011 

Taper Week 1 (Only 3 weeks to Six Foot Track Marathon)

What a difference a year makes. This time last year, I was dreading the prospect of being savaged by the Black Range having struggled to regain fitness and not really confident I could actually finish the Six Foot Track Marathon. This year has been quite the reverse. I have had the best preparation yet. I am following a structured 12 week program which has given me much more consistency in running. But with confidence in training comes a rise in expectations on race day. For me this is somewhat tempered by the nature of the program which has  focused on tempo and interval running, in addition to the long runs, and not so much focus on hills.   So it will be interesting to see how this translates to a result on race day. It is part of the lure of training and racing - to see how it all fits together and then tweaking it for next time.

It has been a challenge to run in the heat and humidity this summer. With five days to go before summer ends, my summer mileage totals 770km,  running no more than five times per week.  Hammer and I started quite a few of the long weekend runs at 5am  to avoid the sun – even if there was no avoiding the heat with temperatures in the high 20’s even at 5am.  I did not think there was anything strange with waking at 3.30am to go for a long run until a friend laughed when we told him why we couldn't come to dinner on Saturday night.

An outstanding run in January was being pushed over by the Pymble Pushover STaR. I got lost, bonked badly and finished in a PW of 4hours for 32km – lightheaded and dizzy. In January I also started to ride my new bike (a beautiful Scott Contessa), getting used to different gearing and cleats. I fell on my second ride bruising my right hip badly and aggravating the ‘never quite gone away’ hamstring tendon strain. But I continued to run. Consistency in training has been my mantra. This was followed by two further falls while running the Narrabeen Trail run on Saturday 12th Feb and then the Equaliser on Sat 19^th Feb, resulting in a fractured rib one week and dislocated bones in my hand, the following week. With three falls in four weeks, I think I have repaid any debts to the cosmic karma and it is time for the klutz in me to take a back seat.

Last Sundays Hornsby Hurricane STaR lived up to its legendary status delivering its brutal best, temperature at 29 degrees at the 6am start and it just got warmer as the sun came out. Running wounded with grazed knees and bandaged hand, I was slow through the tricky bush sections along Cowan Creek, enjoyed the always lovely decent into Apple Tree Bay and from there stayed on Mt Kurringai Road running in silent suffering with small group of guys barely hanging in to the end. Finished 27km in 3hrs10 and very pleased to stop. Now it is time to heal, enjoy the taper and get excited about the big dance on the 12^th March.