my training focus currently is simply to build up to being capable of running/walking 60km per day, 6 days a week, for 4 months.
I have an overall plan, which basically sets a weekly target for total kms, increasing at a rate of 12km per week between now and the middle of April 2015 (click here to see online log)
Just to mix it up, I sometimes receive the occasional challenge from my friend and mentor, Markus Forest of Run Forest Run fame.
This week the challenge is to cover 100km between Friday and Monday; 20km Friday, 30km Saturday, 30km Sunday and 20km Monday.
So today (Friday) the plan is a morning run/walk of 15km, a lunchtime walk of 5km.
I managed roughly 12km of slow running before I simply had to stop and walk. Bearing in mind this is the end of a week where I have already covered 55km in 3 days, there were a couple of key obsevations made this morning:
- My new Hoka shoes seem to be doing a great job of reducing the impact on my bones, joints and overall frame
- I need to pay attention to morning run hydration and nutrition – I am typically running out of steam between 10 and 12km, and that could be due to hydration and/or nutrition issues
Typically I am not drinking much water before or during the run, and I haven’t been eating until after the run. Even at the incredibly slow pace I am going at, these are areas that probably warrant a little more attention, especially as the distances (and therefore the duration of runs) increase.
On the plus side, it’s really gratifying to note that I am thinking in this way, identifying possible issues, and coming up with ways to test potential solutions.
My other main observation to date is how significant the mental aspect of the ongoing training, and this 100km challenge, will be. It is so tempting, and so easy to give in to temptation, to just roll over and get a few more minutes sleep, to pay attention to a niggle in one or both legs, to listen to the little voice that says “you already ran 3 days this week, a day off won’t hurt” – or to notice that it is a bit cold…
Once I hit the Nullarbor, or indeed anywhere on the open road next year, not moving forwards cannot ever be an option. so learning to just get on with it is a good habit to acquire.
besides which, once I do get started, I always end up enjoying it and being glad I forced myself to get out there!
Featured image, courtesy of Wicker Paradise, on Flickr