Antartica Marathon starts in 
| Week 13 - 25 weeks to go |
| Monday, 23 May 2011 21:36 |
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Monday 23rd May - a short run as part of my taper week. My 10 km TT will happen this week, likely in the dark on Thursday morning, so although this run is meant to be 4 days out, this is the best I can do between work, kids and another late night planned on Saturday. 4 x 600m sprints, which I mainly did downhill on Park St behind the oval. Not much warm down run as I was keen to get out of the rain! Tuesday - another short run. There is meant to be 2 days between sessions this week, but 36 hours is the best I can do if I am to do this TT this week. The rain held off as I did a quick 30 min run around the river with 4 x 30 sec surges at race pace, with 2 minutes recovery. Walked 20 mins afterwards. Feeling good Wednesday - 90 minute level 2 yoga class, and a massage - lovely. Thursday - 10 k TT. I felt slow and sluggish with short strides and I felt low to the ground. I kept thinking - 'a marathon isn't going to be at this high a HR', and thought about the fact I have been a little under the weather and working so much and busy and... It was better than last time in terms of the time - 48 mins 26 sec. 15 seconds faster per Km or so, average pace of 4.50 min/km. But I was hoping for 45 mins. And that is another 20 seconds faster per km. Yikes. But overall, not especially relevant. I did improve my 10k time as an exercise over the last 8 weeks. It broke up my training. I start my marathon program in another month. So I'll repeat bits of this program for interest. Friday - work Saturday - work and rest Sunday - 12 km gentle run, recovery, rest day. I've been tired, and only just holding off a cold. A quiet weekend is just what I need. |
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My quiet year!
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This weeks links
The Cancer Council came out this week and announced that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption, and that alcohol should be considered to be as carcinogenic as smoking and asbestos are. As well as being highly associated with throat and mouth cancers, it is now found to correlate highly with breast and bowel cancers. Perhaps it should not be so surprising that a substance that can so alter mood and ability, even at very mild levels should turn out to be in fact, not good for us.
This story, an editorial from the British Journal of Sports Medicine earlier this year has some amazing targets - it ties in with our look at sitting and health, and is about developing healthcare systems that support exercise - recognise it as being as vital a measure of our health as is blood sugar levels or blood pressure. It recommends 150 minutes of physical activity per week for adults as a minimum. 30 mins on 5 days. For children, it is 420 mins / week - 60 minutes every day. How close are you?
This is another article on inactivity / obesity and health from Sports Medicine Australia, highlighting the link between an inactive childhood and a lifetime of battling depression. It is food for thought (!) these days where there seems to be much paranoia about safety of children away from their parents watchful eyes, and therefore a tendency to want to keep them closely under watch instead of encouraging more activity and indeed risk taking behaviours. The ability to judge situations for risk and to be able to take appropriate risks builds self esteem and resilience. Not much to do with bowel cancer awareness, but close to my heart as well.
Another article on sitting
This one is in really simple terms - if you walk 30 mins (as recommended) and sleep 8 hours, most of us still have 15.5 hours per day not moving. You cannot sit all day behind a screen, then drive your car and sit and watch tv with out it being bad for you. A good read.