29.04.19 Steady base building

My base was somewhat lost with the 3 weeks of almost no running and I am trying to rebuild with some steady pace and increasing distance.

My focus marathon at the moment is the Gold Coast in about 10 weeks time. My first marathon in the 70+ age group. But I have 6/8 to complete before that one. No real aim for Gold Coast but perhaps in the back of my mind is to go as close to 4 hours as possible. I have a lot or work do do in the time I have if I am to go even close to that time. 

So it is steady base building as I said. 17k this morning and repeat the next day and then next and ...

A off road marathon on Sunday that is always a challenge for me as well as running this and the next 6/8 with really no taper. 

Nice subdued colours for sunrise this morning. 

26.04.19 Friday

Yeah - out for the second day in a row.

Beautiful running conditions. I was out very early as I had to leave home earlier than usual. It was nice running almost alone early on. Some very tired legs this morning after some very irregular running over the last few weeks.

No hills so it was just two laps of the Bay. The times were a long way form the 38's I was running 6 weeks ago but I am sure that pace will come back sooner rather than later.

I took the time to be in the moment this morning and so looks some photos as for most of the first lap it was dark. Nice to see the Bay in darkness early in the morning.

Update 25.04.19

My first run at the Bay for a little over 3 weeks . Many things got in the way work, travel , life issues and just a general no interest. Not my usual mental position. However I know I have to get back into daily runs if I am not get this marathon season started. I was running so well during March and perhaps I just pushed it too much and burnt out.

The break may have been good both mentally and physically. I will see how the next week or so goes to see if I can get back into auto pilot - up early, don't this of anything else but the morning run, get that done and then deal with the day. 

Amy way 14k at a steady pace.

Beautiful conditions and a wonderful sunrise. Yes I missed a dawn service ! but my thoughts were about the significance of today.

Canberra Marathon - more

There have been manta course changes over the 20 marathons I have run here. The new course takes in many parts of the old course and in particular it run through the old finish twice. It was weird running through it and in particular with no other runners around me. 

If you have run the old course you will know there is a long up hill run along side of the park. Just as you reach the end of it there is a marker for 42k a right hand turn and then the finish line in in sight. On the second lap I walked that section recalling the time in 2002 my emotions ran near their highest ever for me as I know that I had less that 200m to run to get that first sub 3. 

I walk and recall that finish that is still clearly in my mind. The very first Canberra marathon finish I unfortunately have no memory of it. 

That walk was a welcome break but it also gave me time to reflect and It brought back some wonderful memories of many past finishes.

I also ran my 100th and 200th marathons here.

In particular my first sub 3 in 2002.

14.04.19 Canberra Marathon

It could have been much worse and I was expecting much worse than the 5.23 I ran.

Life has had many distractions over the last month. My workload in the office and teaching have both increased significantly and I was committed to meet many deadlines. In addition I had assignments due in my uni course. That meant trying to fit more hours into the day and something had to give and really sadly it was my training. 

So over the last three weeks I have run just 3 times. Each being a marathon. Not the way to train for one and it was very evident in the last 15k I suffered because of no training. I hope to put my life back into perspective in the next couple of weeks before my next marathon. I am not sure how I am going to do that but do that I will. 

It was nice to complete my 20th Canberra Marathon but it was not pleasant for the last 2 hours that was a real struggle. At the moment I can run a 4.30 - 4.45 marathon until 25k's and then the lack of training hits in when I am reduced to ugly shuffle and those k's just get long and longer. If you have run a marathon you will know what I mean.

I fully expected that it would struggle to go under 6 hours so I should have been pleased with the result but I was not. I hope the time spurs me onto some serious regular training for the rest of the year.

The weather was perfect. Still and about 14 at the start. The cloud cover stayed for most of the time I was out on the course. The temperature maybe rose to 21 or so. So the conditions were ideal for running a marathon. No photos from the day I was too focused on the job being done and the struggle in the later part.

But .... my first finish in 1998

07.04.19: Newcastle Marathon

We drove to Newcastle mid afternoon on Friday and so had very pleasant Saturday around town and at the beach.

The weather was warm on Saturday and it was expected to be warm on Sunday and that was the case. Daylight saving ended on Saturday night so a 6.00am was sunrise. We were staying not far away form the start and I walked to the start and it was already about 19 degrees.

Soon after the start there was a beautiful sunrise over the ocean. 

It didn't take long for the the weather to warm up. The course was 3 laps of 14k and most of it was unshaded. I have no complaints about that - it is what it is and it is the same for all runners. 

I had not run all week due to many commitments. I therefore knew I was badly out of condition and in particular over the second half as my endurance fitness. I knew it was going to challenging because  of the lack of fitness and the weather : result just a few steps under 6 hours. I thought I might be a bit quicker but life is fall of dreams ....