Antartica Marathon starts in 
| Week 19 - 18 Weeks to go |
| Thursday, 07 July 2011 22:34 |
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Monday July 4th 2011 - the start of the official 18 week countdown and training program!! But no run today after yesterday's effort. A 'Power plate' session at a local place. The lady there has never met someone fit before. Not much of a session first time. Stretching session at home afterwards. Very tired, so early to bed. Tuesday - a run - 10 min warm up, 6x1 min sprint, then 10 min cool down. Nice session, trying to run fast :) Still very tired - had to leave a meeting early I was so tired and was asleep within 20 minutes of leaving!! Wednesday - stretching only. Very good having the foam roller at home. And a 'power plate' session. Not sure if it is the cross training format for me. Thursday - another run - this time 3.2 km easy, 3.2 km at tempo - just slower than 10K pace, then 3.2 km easy again. I was feeling good, kept the tempo pretty much at my target pace of 4.30, and despite settling down afterwards, decided to finish off 10k rather than stopping at 9.6 .... I finished in 47.22. This made it my 2nd fastest 10k after sunday!!!!! With far less pain and suffering. I am in two minds a bit at the moment - I have read a lot about making sure your easy runs are easy - nothing to be gained by working harder, but I wonder if I am just settling too easily and letting the numbers dictate if I am working hard enough instead of really working hard enough to improve. Then again, I haven't done any really long runs yet. It did make me think of a conversation I had with an older friend just last week. He said he read recently of a study in the US where they asked college athletes to do a maximal effort test. He was not sure of the distance or time or even the test. The results were measured, then a couple of days later they were asked to do the same thing at only 95%. They all did better. Less pressure, less discomfort, more relaxed, better result. I'll need to remind myself of that as I go along. Friday - Stretching with the roller. Saturday - Strong core class at work, then 90 mins yoga in the late afternoon. I gave my hips a really good workout!! Sunday - 14 km trail run on the Pioneer Women's Trail from Beaumont. Wet, slippery, misting rain, but a good session. 90 minutes, still feeling really comfortable and enjoying the process, the experience. Thank goodness for good health. Everyday.
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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.