Week 10 – The End

I maybe on the road to a half marathon, but we are also half way through a marathon celebration of our 50th birthdays.  It all started in early September and will continue in various styles until the 9th of November.  Saturday night was the peak of those celebrations with a “family dinner” that bought both our families together.  While it was great to spend time with the ones you love there is always the shadow of an upcoming 21km run over everything you do.

I had to change the route of my run this week to get the right distance.  I ran past my old high school, my old footy ground and my childhood home.  It felt like a cross between a lap of honour and a funeral cortèg

My last major training run of this campaign yesterday, and in the interest of tapering, was only 12ks. Just 28kms for the week.  Every run I do is still hard work, it certainly hasn’t got easy, but I do feel better, even over longer distances.  A couple of short runs this week, maybe a 4k and an 8k, will see the training over and lead me to the start of the event.  I am confident about going the distance, it’s just a matter of how long it takes, and what condition I’m in at the finish.

I’ve been driving to work, Terang to Camperdown, 23ks, for more than 30 years.  It has only been this week that I’ve realised I would actually be able to run the distance.  I’d have to leave two hours earlier and wouldn’t get much done once I got there, but I could get there.

As many of you would know I’m a numbers man at heart so here’s some for the fans.  In the past four months I’ve run over 450km. That’s Melbourne and back.  Although all this started out as a weight loss exercise I’ve actually put on more the 5kgs.  There’s been one rule I’ve had in the back of my head all this time, When the running stops so does the eating!  Six meals a days can’t continue when I go back to just sitting behind a desk.  This week though, I’m supposed to increase my carb intake even further.  I’m not sure how I’m going to fit it in, but I’ll keep trying.

For a guy who’s never been big on writing I’ve actually enjoyed doing this blog.  It has acted as a distraction while I’ve been running.  Thinking about what happened for the week and how the story goes, has taken away from the pain.

So, if you hear from me next week, you know I’ve made it!

 

See you all at the finish.

 

5 days to go.

Week 3 – The Not-So-Fun Run

The Terang Noorat fun run was a creation of the Terang Lions Club in the 1983, after the Ash Wednesday fires, to bring the community together. It has grown to be a feature of the Terang calendar.  Every year an eclectic mix of over 300 runners and walkers gather in front of the Noorat pub to tackle the 5.9 km road to Terang. It features semi-professional runners, (Steve Moneghetti still holds the record), school kids, footy and netball clubs, casual runners and a few old stagers.

Thanks to the continuing Achilles injuries, I arrived at the start in Noorat having done one small jog on the grass at the golf course, just to see if I could still run, and still walking like I had fused ankles.

It had been a stinking hot day, as normally happens in February, still in the mid 30s by the start of the event, and a gusty northerly wind to make things uncomfortable.  Fortunately we would be heading south.

I set off a steady pace, determined to ignore the pain that occurred every time either foot hit the road.  Only 5.8 km to go.  I eventually got into a fairly monotone rhythm, not a great pace, but one I felt I could maintain.  I had managed to get to the town boundary, with about 2 ks to go, and really feeling the effects of the evening heat and the hard surface of the road, I felt the dreaded pop in one leg.  I knew it wasn’t good, but also knew if I stopped at that point, that would be it.  So I battled on, focusing on the goal of completing what I had set out to do.

1km to go, and heading for the final stretch to the finish, another pop in the other leg.  This time I knew it could be serious, but concentrated on keeping one foot in front of the other.  The pain continued with every step.  Form, style and pace had all gone out the window, all I had left was sheer pig headedness.

Somehow I struggled up Baynes St, past the now dwindling crowd at the finish, got a greeting from Justin Staunton (I’m sure Justin has compèred everyone of the 30 years) and literally staggered across the finish.  I thought at that point I might live to regret it, but I had completed the challenge I had set myself months earlier.  I had to be assisted over to a shady spot and never moved for 20 minutes.  I had to be all but carried out of there, as I couldn’t walk on my own.  I made sure we went out the back way though, so nobody saw me.

It would be 3 months before I could walk without pain.  Curse those two people.

I laugh now as I write that, (enough time has passed), because at that point I thought I would never be able to run again let alone do 5.9 ks on the road.  Now as a training run I go to Noorat and back.

This weekend we happened to be in Melbourne so I took the opportunity to run in the area the half marathon event will be.  Firstly through Melbourne famous sporting precinct, Olympic Park, MCG and the Tennis Centre.  I was excited to be running in the shadows of such great sporting venues.

I then headed out, the length of St Kilda Rd, turned and came back the same way.  This may not help performance the day of the event, but at least I won’t get lost.

On a normal Saturday morning I might see two or three other people running or walking the dog, so St Kilda Rd was a bit extreme, as you had to weave your way through everyone exercising, the dogs, prams and all the tourists.  The biggest challenge of the day though, was managing the traffic lights and manoeuvring around the cars and trams. It gave you more to think about than just what your legs were doing or how you were feeling.

15.2 kms @ 5:30/km.  25 ks for the week. Why is it that no matter how far you run it’s always the last two ks that hurt the most.  Although the pain was eased by the beauty of the Fitzroy Gardens.

I have worked out that to complete the half marathon, I need to do today’s run, 15.2kms, then a Terang Noorat, 5.9kms.  A long way to go.

54 days to go.

Week 2 – The Pain

As part of a new health and fitness campaign I had managed to run 1km, but had committed myself to completing a 5.9km fun run. At that stage I had 4 months to build up to that distance. I could only run laps of “the Rec” at that point, as I didn’t want to put undue strain on the old dodgy knees. I knew enough to know that I had to slowly extend myself to run extra distance each week. This was one of those cases of a little bit of knowledge being dangerous.

“The internet” told me the best way to build up your distance is interval training. ie. short distances at varying speeds. The first lap at a steady pace was no trouble. The next lap I increased my speed and within 100 mtrs I had strained a calf, hobbled through the rest of the lap, then had to pull up. No more training for two weeks

The next time I started training I took a softer more sensible approach, slowly building the distance while maintaining a steady pace. This approach proved more successful as I slowly increased the distance up to around 4 ks. All this time though my Achilles would be sore first thing but would be fine as I warmed up.

Eventually I was able to take my training to the road. Either running to the Rec, to complete the last couple of ks on the grass, or completing a circuit of the softer walking track around the lake in Terang.

There are those from neighbouring towns, that have more traditional lakes, that find it hard grasp the Terang lake. I see lakes in other towns that are used only for fishing and water sking and have a golf course clinging to the side of a hill. In addition to the 4.5 km walking track, the lake in Terang has the golf course in the prime position in its flat bed., our lake also hosts many other sports, cricket, bowls, croquet, tennis and pony club and ironically also has our swimming pool.

The fitness levels continued to increase to the point I would do 4 – 5 ks a couple of times a week. Unfortunately the pain in my Achilles was increasing at the same rate. I could work through the pain while I was running but would suffer for most of the day, hobbling around the office like an “old man”

A constant round of chiro, massage and physio was trying to keep me going, but the physio had told me the only way to stop the pain was to stop the running. Another two weeks off training

Two weeks of special exercises and strength training had made some improvement, but it was now 1 week before the fun run and I hadn’t run for two weeks and still couldn’t really walk straight. I had made a commitment 4 months earlier to complete the Noorat – Terang fun run for the first time, and despite all the advice I was still going to do it.

Down to series training this week. 14kms yesterday @ 5.29 per k. A bit windy today so made hard work of it. 24 ks for the week. Increasing the distance but still a fair way to go. Thank god for the treadmill. The weather has been pretty ordinary the past week or two, so I didn’t fancy heading out in the dark at zero degrees, or at night in wild and windy conditions.

Still working on the carb diet. I’m actually struggling to fit it all in, time wise and quantity wise, but I’m prepared to keep eating for the good of the cause. Back on the Powerade again today, but it still haven’t mastered the art of drinking while on the move.

My fitness gurus introduced me to energy gels this week. Red cordial in a packet. They wouldn’t let me use the happy gas during child birth, so this was the biggest brain buzz I’ve experienced. It was good stuff. After having a good shot of one of these gels I was feeling no pain for the next few ks, but the last couple of ks were still hard work. 9 weeks to go.

61 Days to go