A double weekend coming up

A testing weekend coming up. Bob Fickel the head of the Australian 1oo m Marathon Club has given approval for a marathon that is being run as part of the Sutherland Relay for Life (supported by the Cancer Council of Australian to be counted as an official marathon. Nice work Bobby.

So I am of for another track marathon ..grrrrrrr... Did I swear that the one a few weeks ago was the last one I would do or at least would do this year. Well not so. Maybe I will deal with 105 and half laps better that I did last time. Lets hope so.

The Sunday a trail marathon ... another of my worst nightmares when it come to running marathons. Trails and me and marathons are not the ideal combination. Give me a black surface with a broken down the centre and I am fine .. rocks, tree stumps, mud, water for ever changing running surfaces and I am challenged. A Sri Chimnoy in the Royal National Park just south of Sydney.

4th time I have run it so I know what to expect.

None of these comments should be considered as complaining just they the type of course just adds to the challenge on the day and when finished the greater since of achievement and satisfaction. If they were all road marathons I would complain wanting variety. Well I have variety this weekend.

Again time is no goal. Off course to finish is the first objective, then enjoy the atmosphere on Saturday supporting the Cancer Council with a lot of other like minded people and on Sunday the scenery on the course could not be so different to Saturday and to pinch myself at the start to look and take in some iconic Australia bush.

Marathon at Toowoomba

Another marathon yesterday at Toowoomba in south eastern Queensland. 

I have not been in that area before so it was all new. It is a charity marathon supporting Autism for children. A tough course with hills, hills and just a few more hills until the last 10k. Well organised with 4 x 10.5k loops that each came back to the starting line. The weather was very pleasant at the start but soon warmed up.

A challenging course. Very pleasant city worth the slightly less than 2 hours drive west of Brisbane.

I did not have any time expectation because I did not know the course. I was pleased to complete it in 5.52 for the 3rd in 3 weeks. A week off before an off road marathon in the Royal National Park just on the southern outskirts of Sydney.

Canberra Marathon 2002

Where has 14 year gone????

Canberra Walking Festival - marathon

So how did it go walking a whole marathon. Tougher than running one but in different sort of way that is hard to explain. It is not so much the time taken its definitely something but I am not sure what ...

I have to confess I did run some short parts but just to change my stride etc. I would say 40k was walked. I enjoyed the experience and know I need to do more walking in training so that it is not so uncomfortable in a race. I am sure I will have to walk me often in marathons as time goes on.

Time for hills and on a trail 6.45.02 I was pleased as all I wanted to do was be under 7 hours.

Some recovery and a few easy runs during the week before the Canberra (running) Marathon on Sunday.

Short update

I did not go away at Easter and so was able to do 4 mornings of some solid running. Increasing the distance of the run to just over 18k up from 13k. As I increased the distance each day I was able to also reduce the overall pace. Overall a pleasant break from work, some pleasant things seen and done around Sydney in the 4 days and a nice short block of training to get me back into it.

The training continued into the week with just Wednesday off for rest and recovery. A quick lap of the Bay (6.9k) in 38 minutes. I am okay with that for where my fitness is at the moment.

Later this afternoon I am back in Canberra for a WALKING  marathon. It is part of a walking festival and it against the rules to run. I have never ever walked that far and it should be interesting to see if I can do it under 7 hours. That is Saturday.

The following weekend back to the Canberra marathon that is off course all about running. No doubt during the event all I will want to do is walk.

No rest as the weekend after that a marathon in Toowoomba.  Yes the marathon season for me has certainly started.