The finishing touches

Sun: 11K @ 6:24 pace
Mon: 5.5K @ 6:33 pace
Wed: 8K @ 6.08 pace

We are now well into taper for this weekend's Gold Coast Half Marathon.

Saturday became a de facto rest day as we prepared for our party to
celebrate moving out of the Greater Western suburbs of Sydney. We had a
Westie Party. I dressed in a 10 year old pair of Lowes tracky dacks, a
black Metallica T-Shirt, a flanno and a pair of Ugg boots. I got a
mullet at Just Cuts especially for the occasion.

We provided VB & Passion Pop (and prepared enough food to feed a small
army). Our guests got right into it - even to the point of urinating on
our fence and starting a fire in our wheelbarrow. All in all it was an
excellent party.

One unfortunate consequence of the party was that a cold night in the
backyard worsened the symptoms of the virus that I was nearly over. The
policy then became to run on alternate days to minimise my exposure to
the cold mornings.

Since I had to clean up and feeling somewhat seedy, I did my Sunday run
in the afternoon. Considering the excess consumption of the previous
night the run went extraordinarily well. It was an easy run on light
legs.

Wednesday was an awesome run. I got out at 5:30 and just went at a pace
that felt comfortable. After warm up some of the K's were under 6:00 and
I felt the whole thing was at "conversation" pace.

My nose is still a little runny and I've still got some signs of the
"Love God" radio announcer voice that has come with the virus, but I
will be right for Sunday.

So the plan is to fly up tomorrow morning into Brisbane, spend Friday
and Saturday on a quick tour of DJ's Brisbane friends and relatives. On
Sunday we drive to the Gold Coast in the morning, I run the race and
cheer, rehydrate and replenish carbs (read eat and drink junk) for the
rest of the day.

I'm pumped.

Manic

Sun: 21.1K @ 6:23
Mon: 5.8K @ 6:40
Tue: 12K @ 6:05
Fri: 5.8K @ 6:15

This week has absolutely manic. DJ and I are having a party to celebrate
our impending departure from the Western Suburbs this weekend, it's been
incredibly full-on at work and we are also trying to pack for our
impending move.

Sunday's long run was a bit rough. I was at a party on Saturday night
and so I was slightly worse for wear, and by the end of what should've
been an easy long run I felt and looked like I'd just run a really hard
half-marathon. The original plan was another four laps of the regatta
centre, but it was booked for other uses, so I did 10K of local running
around the nearby Whit Water complex, and finished with two laps of the
regatta centre.

Tuesday was a better run. I went a bit quicker and felt pretty good, but
I came dome with a sore throat on Tuesday night. It was a viral thing
that went away pretty quickly, but I felt it was best to stay warm for a
couple of days, and took two rest days.

I was back into it this morning. Initially the plan was 1K warm up, 4K
hard (5:30) and 1K warm down. After the first hard K I did a
reassessment of how well I was and jogge3d the rest of the run. The one
5:30 K was a real challenge, but the rest of the run was comfortable.
And the timing was perfect: I had just walked into the lounge room after
showering and dressing for the football to start 20 seconds later. Woo
Hoo!

Then tragedy struck - I tore a hole in my skins putting them on!!!!!!
Arrghh!

I'll stay out of the pool this weekend to keep the bugs away. Taper
time!

Going the Distance

Sat: 1250m Swim
Sun: 21.1K @ 6:24
Mon: 6K Recovery Run
Tue: 8.5K Easy @ 6:25
Wed: 12K @ 6:04

I'm happy with how the build up to GC has gone in the last few days.

My second swim back on Saturday was good. I'd left myself a little short
on time, so instead of increasing the distance from last week I went
from 100m efforts to 150m efforts, and I set a 4:30 time on the efforts.
After a 350m warm up I churned through six of the efforts before I
packed it in.

I treated Sunday as a slow dress rehearsal for GC. I went out to the
'Riff Regatta centre, which has a flat 5K course with a couple of bumps,
much like the GC course, and ran until the Garmin said 21.1K. All went
smoothly, and I kept a pretty constant pace throughout, except for about
500m when I got bored and cranked it to 5:30. Again, I pulled up really
well from the run. The combination of the slower pace of the last few
weeks and the 5 hours my legs spend in Skins after each run has me
feeling fresher than I have in ages.

After a couple of easy, uneventful runs on Monday and Tuesday I got out
on Wednesday morning for my midweek long run, which went really well.
The Garmin 301 heartrate function decided to have a flexi, and didn't
register for the whole run, so I just went at a "able to hold a
conversation" pace, which turned out to be just a shade over six minute
pace.

Today is a rest day. I'll do 400s again tomorrow - I think the faster
running should sharpen me up for the Gold Coast.

Contented 400s

Tue: 12K @ 6:10
Wed: 8K @ 6:25
Fri: 8 * 400m @ 4:32 with 200m jog intervals

I'm loving my training at the moment. The slower pace is setting me up for the day, and I am enjoying the new routine. I also think the skins are helping me recover for my next session.

Perhaps much of the good attitude has to do with the routine I have set up. DJ and I get up at stupid o'clock and spend half an hour over a leisurely cup of tea, and then I take off on my run, getting back in time to have breakfast with DJ and the girls before I go to work. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have located a shower at work, so I can run in the light after the drive to work if I choose to skip the breakfast. I choose not to - I like the above routine. In case you haven't picked up on it I'm a pretty contented bugger these days.

Anyway, the training has been smooth. On Tuesday morning I hit a rhythm for the whole run. I hovered around 80% max HR and was breathing pretty easily, no doubt startling the rabbits on the golf course with loud, off key renditions of various Australian folk-rock songs.

Wednesday night I just went out with the intention of not looking at the Garmin and taking it slowly. The run turned out to be just what I'd hoped - 8K reeled off with no hassles a little faster than 6:30, which I consider to be my slow recovery pace.

This morning I decided my speedwork needed something a bit sharper than the 1K intervals I have been doing, so I went out for 8 400s with 200m jog intervals. It was great to go just that little bit faster, and I reckon it's just what I needed. I did most of them at about 4:30 pace, but I went balls to the wall for the last one, and did it at 4:19 pace. Pleasantly stuffed by the end.

Solid

Thu: 7K @ 6:30
Fri: 6 * 1K Intervals (avge 5:52)
Sat: 1.2K Swim
Sun: 20K Long Run @ 6:24
Mon: 5.8K Recovery Run

A pretty solid weekend's training. The speedwork on Friday was an
improvement on the previous intervals: all were under 5 minutes and the
last one I use all the petrol I had left and finished with a 4:40.

Saturday had me back at the pool for the first time in ages. My stroke
felt alright, but four laps of a 25m pool left me breathing like a pack
a day smoker. I did twelve slow 100m efforts before packing it in.

Sundays' long run was excellent. Some poor course planning had me run
20K instead of my planned 19K, but unlike last week I just churned them
out with very little discomfort.

I must admit that I fell off the wagon in terms of food on Saturday
night and ate far too much pide. As a result I feel slightly guilty
about the PB I set on Sunday: six consecutive farting strides. Who needs
lentils?

Apart from that, the weight seems to be coming off. I did weigh in at
81.2 on Saturday, which was a long way down on the last trip to the
scales.

At the moment I think two hours might be the sensible target for the
Gold Coast half, but I'll see how I'm travelling in the week before.