Of my 18 week training schedule, I am now officially one month through and I'm feeling pretty good about my distance efforts. My times - well, that's another matter, because they seem to have been a little slower this week. However, I need to tell myself that it's distance, not necessarily time, that counts at this stage. If I can get through the set kilometres each week, then any time improvements are a bonus.
Each week, I will summarise what I have achieved over the past week. Here's how my week four turned out:
Total distance: 32.92km
Cumulative distance: 111.25km
Monday: Weights session with my trainer at the gym. This was TOUGH - she increased the weights on me, and I was exhausted by the end! So much so that I came home completely ravenous and ate my way through some serious tacos that evening.
Tuesday: Enforced rest day, as I had a day trip to Brisbane that day. Five hours of flying in one day does not allow for any training at all.
Wednesday: 6.05km evening run. SB and I went out at 9:00pm for an after dinner run, and I must admit I struggled. I'm not sure if it was because I had just eaten a meal, the lateness of the run, or both, but I didn't run well at all. One upside of running after dark, however, is that we saw lots of possums in the park!
Thursday: Another heavy weights session with my trainer at lunchtime, followed by a 7.25km run after work through the Carlton Gardens. I must admit, I much prefer an early morning run to an afternoon or evening run, but the people watching is quite enjoyable in the late afternoon, particularly around the Melbourne Museum and Exhibition Building. That afternoon, there was an acting group doing some sort of improvised group activity, and a buff Mediterranean dude in a singlet and jeans having his photos taken, no doubt for a portfolio of sorts.
Friday: 5km morning run - normally these runs are good for me, but I think the effect of having done quite a bit of activity in the 24 hours prior depleted my energy somewhat. That night, I also did a Barre Body class for the first time - while I didn't realise it would be so heavily pilates and yoga focused, it was excellent for stretching out and focusing on muscles that I probably haven't paid sufficient attention to over the past few weeks.
Saturday: Rest day. Delicious brunch with SB at South of Johnston.
Sunday: Weekly long run of 14.63km. The run included a couple of good hills (twice up the Anderson St hill, but the mid section was fairly slow.
One of the best things about this week is that my knee has not been hurting nearly as much. Well, I lie - on Wednesday, after my day trip, my knee was really sore, but for some reason since Thursday it has been playing well for me. I can now climb stairs without wincing every time. Fingers crossed this is the start of something good for my knee, and the new sneakers I bought a few weeks ago (my faithful New Balance style, of which this is the third pair I've owned) are starting to take effect.
This week, my weekday runs will incorporate an 8km run alongside two 5kms, followed by 16km on the weekend. I'm off to Brisbane again this week so a humid early morning run will no doubt be scheduled in. Still going strong, which is the main thing!
Great blog Alex. I'm feeling it badly after week 5 and about 140kms of running, including speed intervals. Just a bit exhausted. Keep up your good work.
ReplyDeleteThanks Darragh. I read elsewhere that some people start their training program a few weeks earlier than suggested to allow for a couple of "rest weeks" during the training. I can now very much understand the logic of this. Hopefully this is all good conditioning for when the training gets up to 50km+ each week.
ReplyDeleteYou are doing an equally awesome (and inspiring) job! Wooh!