Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Post Noosa Update

After Stefan gave me a blast for not updating the blog, its time to get off my ass and update:


Post Noosa - Week 1

Had my usual recovery week with no speedwork. Battled considerable DOMS. Clocked up 94k's including 170 min Sunday long run at about 4:50's with an hour around 4:40's.


Post Noosa - Week 2

My proud streak of eight consecutive sub 10's between 9:40 and 9:57 came grinding to a shuddering halt this week. The legs were just too battered to go fast. I gave myself a sniff going through 1k with Stef in 3:16 before fading with 3:28 and 3:30 for a 10:14. Sure, I was disappointed but also pleased that I was able to compile such a streak in the first place. Good healthy, avoiding injury and the fortunate timing of most races after a time trial played a big part in compiling the streak. Another 170 min long run at about 4:50's doing a fair bit of it on Kingsford Smith Drive, watching the B2B. 96k's for the week.

Post Noosa - Week 3
Legs getting back to normal - When getting physio, I had a good discussion with Shane about battling DOMS for two weeks after Noosa. We agreed that whilst I did many things right post race (2k cool down, wading recovery, Skins, stretching and a handful of nine to ten hour sleeps the fortnight afterwards) my recovery was too inactive. I paid the price for sitting down for 2.5 hours to watch the Oympic Marathon, then sitting down for 1hr 40 mins to drive home, then sitting down in the office for 6 hours that afternoon. Will make more of an effort to partake in active recovery from here on such as several 20 minute walks the day of half marathons and marathons. Got my mojo back at speedwork and churned out another 170 mins on Sunday. 97k's for the week.

Post Noosa - Week 4
Picked up a cold on Sunday night - first time in almost six months. Fortunately, I only missed Tuesday and Wednesday. Did easy runs on Thursday and Saturday and speedwork by myself at 3:45's on Friday when still getting the strength back. Fifth and last long run of 170mins for 36k's at about 4:40's on the Sunday. Would have preferred to get the cold on the first week of the taper, but the most important thing is that I got that last long run done whilst accumilating 73k's in four days.

More to report soon.

Monday, September 01, 2008

Recovery week

Well after the Noosa Half, I had my usual week off speedwork that is the norm for me after a Half Marathon. Not surprisingly, I had considerable DOMS and much of the week was spend doing easy recovery runs. I also threw in about four 9-10 hour sleeps to assist the body's recovery.

On Sunday, it was time for my body to once again answer the call and I joined Glenda, Mike H and Wayne. 170 minutes was on the agenda and it went surprisingly quickly once the last hour arrived. Most of the run was done about 4:50 pace with some 4:40 pace in the middle and towards the end. The legs were still pretty tired and didn't want to go and I had to concentrate on pushing them a little at times. Backed up with an easy 30 minutes at twilight.