30 April 2023

First week of training down. Not too rough a start.

58kms total (500m elevation gain). Long run was 22km, and the two hard sessions were a short Fartlek and a fast finish run.

Sickness everywhere in our household. Thankfully didn't get me too bad, but I didn't get away unscathed. Definitely a bit of gunk coming up out of the lungs in those harder sessions, and heart rate was elevated. Also, I accidentally had a massive night on the Monday and was out of action on the Tuesday. Missing my second training run was not ideal but these things happen. For me, it's critical that I keep on enjoying my running and if it's getting in the way of the occasional bit of fun that's no good.

Notwithstanding that, I'm happy with this week.

It's been about a year since I've done any proper efforts but I felt strong doing them and was happy with the pace. Completely gassed me still, but that's what they're there to do. The long run this week took me up into the trail circuit that runs around the outside of Centennial Park. That place is such a gem to have in inner-city Sydney. The trail circuit is about 6km, relatively quiet, and gives you a nice mix of terrain and a few little climbs. Full Centennial Park write up dropping soon.

A couple of other thoughts:

• Whether we'll see it again this time around I'm not sure, but when I've done a proper 80/20 training plan in the past I've seen massive improvements in my VO2 and resting heart rate. VO2 got smashed post covid 6 months ago and hasn't recovered and resting heart rate is up a bit too. Can't wait to see what happens.

• The Downunder 135 was on this weekend, near the small town of Blackwood in Victoria. I've done a bit of running through those trails and they are out of this world. It's a trail runners playground down there in the Lerderderg and Wombat State forests. The event organisers tout the race as the toughest in the southern hemisphere, with participants truly testing where their limits are. As a good measure of the scale of the race itself, at the 106km halfway mark, runners this year will have put away 6,000m of climbing through gnarly Aussie bush - that's equal to UTMB - CCC, and only half the race. Pretty eye opening. Looking at their socials, I'm loving the support and sentiment I see. It's a small race, with only 40 runners this year, and they were providing updates on each runner and truly celebrating their achievements. Fan-bloody-tastic. I'm not sure how I'd fare out there but I'm keen to give this one a crack. Might be on the list for 2024.

• One final highlight. Had a guy who was running slightly faster than me overtake me during the middle of my fast finish run, and slowly creep ahead. The final 5 minutes of that run get you running up at zone 4, at your 15 minute race-pace, and I caught up to him and passed him. He heard me coming and turned around, big smile breaking out on his face, and gave me a cheer and a clap as I went past. Jeez, nothing much else gives you a lift like that (except maybe a random high-five on the trails). Thanks buddy!

Thanks and see you again soon!