Week 16 of 18

Tuesday 11km Tempo Run
I skipped my recovery run this week and after three and a half days rest plus a massage I still had a sore hamstring, but at least the hip was improving. By Tuesday night I decided it was time for a test run to see how it would hold up.
After a thorough go at loosening and warming the area up I headed out. After a really easy 20 minutes through Mortdale and Oatley I start the first of 2 x 15 minute efforts (reduced from 20 minute efforts). Everything felt great. The pain disappeared once I was warm, and I felt like I was running fast with relatively little effort. I finished the first effort comfortably in under 5 minute/km pace, then had a 6 minute easy jog recovery. The second effort was similar.
I got home, stretched and waited for the pain to return. It wasn’t really bad at all, and not until the next day that I did feel it a bit, but not as bad as before the run. Looks like active recovery worked well in this case.


Thursday 10km VO2 Intervals
I headed over to Renown Park for 6 x 800m intervals with 2 minute jog recoveries. Again the leg was a little sore still, but once warm it was mostly fine. I could feel it during the 4th interval so I decided that I’d only do 5 today instead of 6 as there was no point risking any harm.
Went to Sydney CR drinks on the Thursday night in at the James Squire Brewhouse. Was great to see lots of people again and meet more for the first time, including some who will be heading down to Canberra in a couple of weeks. Many thanks to Plu for the lift back to Milsons Point.


Saturday 21km Long Run
This was going to be a 28km run, but after considering much advice and the state of my leg I reduced the distance.
It was quite a cool morning and I didn’t have a specific distance mapped out, just an idea of a roughly 20km route to follow to see me through for 2 hours.
I went through the Lighthouse Beach area, Emerald Downs, Greenmeadows, Lake Road, a lap of Kooloonbung Creek the back home via Granite Street with a couple of diversions.
I felt really good the whole run and there was little effort involved. I didn’t drink as much as I expected as I wasn’t sweating much, mostly due to the cool weather. This distance training run was marginal for having a gel but it stayed in my pocket for today.
After I got home and cooled down I felt fine. No problems with the legs and very little fatigue. Just as well with the Ironman taking place and lots of standing and walking to do, but that’s a story for another post.

I’m putting off my nutrition and hydration thoughts again until I have more time. After a busy weekend and with three days to go until I’m on holidays things are a bit busy at the moment. As for a full test of all the race gear, pretty much all my long runs of 30km or more have been done with that in mind and it all seems to work fine for the 3 hour plus runs.

Edit: That brings my March total to 261km, which is by far my biggest ever month. The taper and recovery from Canberra should bring April right back down to Earth.