January 30th 2012

I am a little horrified to realise that I have been so long between posts here.  I compose so many words of wisdom while I am running and then get so busy and 'not at my computer' when I am not running, that I actually forget that I never wrote them down.  I am now only 4 weeks away from departure to Africa - continent #4 on my quest to run a marathon on each continent.  

Quick precis for those only just joining the journey - it is all on this site if you can trawl through it - I started running in early 2011 once I had announced that I was going to run the NY marathon later that year.  I had never run regularly, only 2 or 3 times per year(!)  But I was ready for a challenge, and really wanted to get fitter. There is a day by day account of that journey on this site  - you've been warned! When in NY (which was awesome - I highly, highly recommend the experience), I met another Aussie runner, who was planning on doing a marathon on each continent.  I had read about it a few weeks earlier (a different Victorian doing the same thing), and my mind was boggled by logistics as well as fascination that you can run a marathon on Antractica.  You can run 2, plus a 100km ultra, in case you are wondering.  Once home again, and especially in the post Christmas lull, I decided, with goading from my friend Beck, to run the Great Wall of China marathon in May 2012.  We did that one together - I had a really fun time, while she describes it as one of the most painful experiences of her life.  Actually, I think it wins as her most painful experience ever, given the list she was rattling off that day :-)

In August 2012, I ran the Adelaide marathon, my hometown, with a goal of a fast time.  I trained hard in the lead up, posted some very good times for 30km and 10km, but had a bad day at the office that day.  I have posted about it, in waaaaay too much detail for some.  The Kilimanjaro marathon is next on the list, Antarctica is confirmed for March 2014, and I need to work out how to slot in Europe (Amsterdam October 2013 looks the likely candidate) and South America (Caracas March 2014, pending political stability in Venezuela).

I have been following yet another different program this time.  The speed work I was doing in the lead up to August left me tired, tired, tired, and I am not sure that I was really able to convert that speed work into actual faster turnover in a long run.  I may revisit it in the future, but I was keen for something different. I did enjoy the two programs I did before that - the beginner marathon program that I have printed and distributed widely as a great way to get to your first marathon safely, with only 3 runs per week.  The other program was its big brother - designed to keep pushing and forcing adaptation in the quest to get faster, stronger.  This time, it is another web based program, the RunKeeper 3:30 target marathon program, for 16 weeks.  I started in November, once I had decided that I liked the look of this one.  There are still 3 main runs per week, although the speed work is over longer distances, and with way more volume (yesterday I did 6x 1 mile repeats - 10km of 'speed' work, whereas the other programs had me doing 4-6km total speed work in a session).  There are also 2 recovery runs per week, so my total mileage is significantly higher.  November I ran over 200km in a month, I think for the first time.  December was over 250km, and this month is over 350km.  Last week was 87km - my biggest ever (so long as we don't include the funrun I did on 5/6 January when I ran from Brighton Beach to Mt Lofty summit via Linear park - 66km, 11 hrs through a blustery and surprisingly chilly summer night).

I have really enjoyed this program, enjoyed pushing limits again, feeling fitter, feeling good that I am coping with the workload, enjoying waking early to run (as it is mid summer and far too hot most days to contemplate running at any time other than in the dark early mornings) and enjoying the app interface that gives me a green tick for every session completed.  I did miss one speed session - after running 66km over the weekend and through the night.  The legs were still tired.  Total mileage was the same.  But I am on target to have 74/75 sessions with green ticks once the next month is done.  

I have also been playing more with diet.  Most of what I am doing is currently very much 'on trend' - I prefer whole foods, preparing things myself so I know and can control what is in them.  I am eating less wheat products, less meat (having read Scott Jurek's book, Brendan Brazier's books, Ironman Champ Chrissie Wellington's book as well as various websites along the way), less dairy and way more fresh produce.  We have planted veggies, finally, and are reaping what we have sown  Last night, we ate corn, zucchini, another squash and broccoli - all grown by us or one of our friends.  I followed it with chocolate zucchini cake, which did have some flour and sugar in it, along with 2 cups of grated zucchini.  It was good, thanks for asking.  I have been making various super smoothies:

beetroot, purple kale, black cherries, ice

coconut yogurt, almond butter, frozen spinach, apple, cucumber

cucumber, clelery, spinach, apple, banana, ginger, coconut yogurt

celery, cucumber, plum, apple, strawberry, cherry

apple, ginger, mango, lemon juice, lemon peel, 'super greens' powder, maca

I have also had a few obnoxiously disgusting ones where I have been a bit overzealous in packing it with goodness.  Very green and very red produce together makes for a very brown drink.  Too much kale is very fibrous, so it is very thick.  Even with fruit in there to sweeten it, it looks and smells and has a texture that is quite awful.  There is much to be said for whizzing up some ice with it (cold is better) and adding water as needed (thinner is better, especially when there is much fibre).  I use my thermomix to blend it all, so I do get to keep all the fibre.  I do rate the thermomix - expensive, the sort of thing you hear about for a few years before you are brave enough to shell out all that money for one, but then wonder why you waited so long once you do have one.  But, I am making my own butter, yogurt, almond butter, raw brownies, smoothies, I can make easy, awesome risotto in it, it makes the best custards, white sauce / hollandaise, mashed potato ever (doesn't sound very 'diet', does it?).   So far, I love it.

And, as always, if you want to learn more about the Jodi Lee Foundation, screening for bowel cancer or would like to donate to the Jodi Lee Foundation and support my quest to run a marathon on each of the seven continents, please click on the links.  Or follow me on facebook :)