Monday 14th March 2011
My longest run to date.  My lightest weigh in to date.  I am now weighing what I did when I finished school (including the exam weight gain), so I think I am probably a bit fitter than then.  Certainly my head is different.
My goal today was to try to do a longer run and break through the 15 km mental barrier.  And to mix it up, I included a few hills, because I am crazy.  I ran up Glynburn Rd again, but kept going to the very top, down Dashwood, up Sunnyside, down Gilles, across to Pridmore then down to Portrush / Cross Rd.  Along Cross Rd to Duthy St, to South Tce, to East Tce, through the park (Clipsal car race will be this week, so I just skirted around the southern edge of the race course), along Alexandra Ave to Giles St, William St, Phillips St and home.  17.88 km of running, in 1 hr 47.  Average pace of 9.8 km/hr, 6.08 mins / km.  It was up and down hill for the first hour, then I settled onto the flat, with a slight incline home again from town.  My phone tells me my max speed was 21 km/hr!!!  I’m not sure how I would manage that other than by throwing my phone.  Some of the downhills were steep, and I felt good in bits of it, and I ran fast across roads, but really!!!  Once again, the first hour was really comfortable but that chages pretty fast in the second hour, especially when I am still quite a way from home.  But even when I felt I was plodding and slow as I ran across the race course, I was still doing 9.5 km/hr.  So I am continuing to get faster.
I am tired and my legs are heavy, but I did a good quads session.
My left knee continues to wake me every night, I got up for an hour last night to try to settle it, and took some panadol, but it continues to be fine when I run.  I could be over pronating on the left, so will order some foam orthotics this week and see if that helps.  Then make an appointment to see Nigel Rowe to get real ones made if that is the way to go.  For the knee – I must do more gluteus medius work (hip external rotators, mainly).

Tuesday – work, groceries, kids.  Call it a rest?

Wednesday – a gentle 30 min run to get out some cobwebs.  My car is in for a service, so I also rode my bike around a bit, and a massage.   The run was a mainly slightly uphill, 30 minute, 5 km (6.05 min/km) steady jog.  A recovery run, as I am still feeling tight from Monday’s ride.  I will be on my bike for transport for the next week or so, but will keep most trips very local, as I did today (norwood, burnside, school, will add work to the list).  The car race is on this week, so there are lots of road closures, and I am not very upset to be unable to fight the traffic this week.  The massage itself was ok – I think I will give her another go before I am too negative.

Thursday – work, kids – another rest day?

Friday – another rest day

Saturday – 25 mins yoga and a Strong Core Class at work.  Hmmm, lots of rest days this week.  I have been feeling a little flat and sluggish, and my kid week is always that much busier.  I have been on my bike each day to get a round, so that has done a little leg strength work, and I have been very diligent with my left SLSq with maximal ER and my clams to try to improve my control of my left knee.  I am also taking voltaren 3 times per day, and I am taking antibiotics after seeing the GP on Wednesday for an ingrown hair (seriously!).

Sunday – I went for a run!  80 mins, 13 km, not setting the world on fire.  Humid heavy air this morning.  I felt good running downhill (who doesn’t?), but sluggish in the flat and slower again on the slight incline all the way home.  I was on my feet all night at a party wearing heels – could that account for it?  Or just the fact I had a slack week, and they always seem to make you feel tireder anyway?  But on reflection, I did run over 3.5 hours this week, so perhaps it wasn’t really so slack, after all.

I had a couple of conversations with experienced distance runners over the weekend and it was interesting to hear what they said.  One friend who is a bit younger than me, very much lighter, male and has run several marathons insisted that I should do a bigger run – 45 – 50 km around 6-8 weeks before the marathon just to show myself that I can.  So then I will be able to enjoy the race day all the more, having already done that distance and more in the past.  I wasn’t convinced – I reckon just being in New York will be pretty inspiring, having 45,000 people running and many more than that cheering along the way will egg me on, and a bit of that bloody mindedness that I am known for will probably see me through (along with a good training program).  The other guy I spoke to was considerably older than me – around 60 years old and regularly competing in Ironman events (3.8 km swim, 180 km bike, 42 km run) including New Zealand a few weeks ago.  He said first off, don’t do junk km – long km for no good reason.  He never runs longer than 2.5 hours and thought any more than that risks injury.  I must say, this opinion sat better with me, as a runner without much background, being a little older, and being heavier.  He also recommended finding out my VO2 estimates to get my pace – I will do that before my program starts in July.  There are a few websites around that will calculate it from a 10km run time.  http://www.brianmac.co.uk/vo2max.htm