Weekends Good, Week Days Not So

Year to Date:

Feb:  194.65 km

Year:  622.4 km in 7 weeks at ave  88.9 km

Altitude gain:  12, 429 metres

It's only the good long running over a weekend, mainly on Saturday mornings, that have been keeping the totals moving forward.
Week days have been a struggle both physically & mentally. May be this is due to the length of the current running phase as I started the rebuild of endurance base back in Oct / Nov after almost 6 months of not much due to injury. These humid warm days are not helping, preferring sunny, warm days with low humidity.
Might be getting a little stale, but I have the CBR 100 km to get done in 4 weeks time. After that, might be a break & some easy crossing training will be needed.

Just Hanging In There

Year to Date:

547.85 kms in 6 weeks at ave  91.3 km p.w.

Altitude gain:  10,380 metres in 6 weeks at ave  1730 metres p.w.

I'm just able to maintain the weekly ave above 90 kms at the emoment courtesy of the long Saturday morning run.
These are around 40 kms, some have more ups and down than others, but never completely flat.

The problem at the moment is the mid week junk kms that have to be done. Seems that the weekend recently has left me more tired/fatigued than in the past so the running is slow at best & short in distance.

So a change in the plan where I will now take Monday's off running & do some easy bike riding to and from work. Four times a day will be around 25 kms plus a chance to get to the river for some cold water therapy.

February - One Week Done

February:

Distance:  90.7 kms
Altitude gain:  1238 metres

Year: 

Distance:  518.45 kms
Altitude gain:  10,038 metres

Two long training runs in last 8 days has given a good boost to confidence with the near 6 hour last Sunday and a near 5 hour today.
Contrary to what would be expected from me, both had little elevation up or down, today, a bit over 500 metres.

However, on both occasions, I was looking for distance & time on feet. So really, a change from strength training to endurance training.

These two long runs plus 4 runs under 10 kms, one only 2.5 kms, one at 11 kms & one at 15 kms has resulted in 144.95 kms covered in past 8 days. It's not that difficult really to build up some big totals.

No problems as long as I stick to the plan, focus on the next main event & still keep in mind the long term goal for the year.

Weather has been very helpful this past week with warm sunny days. Plenty of cross training on the bike, plus a few trips to the river have helped with recovery.

A return to the mountains next weekend. It will be nice to get away from the hard surface bike paths & hit the dirt.

Looking forward to a solid February, building up both the distances & the altitude.

February - A Slow Beginning

Year to Date:

459.5 kms in 5 weeks at ave  91.9 km

Altitude:  9191 metres

A slow start to February, deliberately, after last Saturday's 6 hour.
While a 6 hour to me might be just another long training run, it still takes some recover, especially as you get older. Not that age really is taken into consideration, just a small factor in play.

So, these last few days have been very low key, with 3 trips to the river to get some nice cool water to soothe away any aches. There were none surprising, given the hard surface around Lennox Gardens.

Otherwise, it's take care this week, then ramp up the training with the CBR 100 km now 6 and half weeks away.

January - Training with Purpose

January:

Distance:  427.75 km in 28 / 31 days at ave  15.28 km per run day

Altitude:  8800 metres

11 of those 28 running days had less than 10 kms done with 6 of them over 20 kms.
The longest both in time & distance was yesterday ( Saturday) when I did the Lennox Gardens 6 hour, an unofficial run on the bike path.
Managed to get 54.25 kms done in a few minutes under the 6 hour as I wasn't going around again.
The bike path was hard on my joints after 4 hours of aching but managed to find the magic secret formula to keep going.
Thanks to all those up hill metres for the month, I finished strongly & could have easily kept going if it wasn't for the hard surface.
A good January although well under my normal January where 4 of last 5 January's have been well in excess of this one.
The running plan is nicely on track with the next main event being the CBR 100 km in late March.
So it's back to the trails & that's it for bike paths. Never again unless there is plenty of grass on the edge.