Monday 2nd September: Strength and Core exercises + 60 min cycling
Easy spinning
No soreness today but I felt a little tired, so I took it really easy. Saw my phsyio, Rob, for a ‘maintenance session’, which alleviated the tightness I had been having in my hips the previous week.
Tuesday 3rd September: Rest
Do we not run because we have a stressful day or have a stressful day because we did not run?
Wednesday 4th September: W/U exercises + 80 min
Repetitions up Lookout track + 20min barefoot
I wanted to unwind a bit and did so with a ‘fun’ session.
Thursday 5th September: Strength and Core exercises + 60 min cycling
Repetitions of front side of Sir Samuel Griffith Drive
I had a massage with Craig yesterday, so was feeling great today.
Friday 6th September: W/U exercises + 90min
40min of tempo on Lookout bike track + 8min hill reps up Lookout trail + 20min barefoot
After a couple of good nights of sleep I was feeling much better than at the start of the week. It was a good session and headed up north in the afternoon to Glasshouse for Dad’s attempt at his first 100 miler.
Saturday 7th September: Glasshouse 30km
Overall it was a very enjoyable outing. Around 20km into the race I wasn’t sure if I was following the right course markings (I hadn’t studied the map carefully!). So I stopped and Steve, who was in second place, caught up and we checked the maps of another runner doing the 100 miler. After that, Steve and I got chatting and when he said this was going to be his longest race I decided I’d help him out since I was saving myself for SSC anyway. It was really satisfying to help push Steve through those last couple of kilometers and overcome a bad stitch. We ended up crossing the line together in equal first place in 2.06.
Unfortunately Dad DNF’d in the 100miler. He had stomach issues (brought on by the heat, which has caused him problems before) and just couldn’t eat or drink anything from 75km onwards. By the 100km mark he had completely crashed and pulled out. The following morning after re-hydrating and eating he was fine (not even walking down the stairs awkwardly!). If it weren’t for the fact he had received assistance, he probably could have been dropped off where we picked him up and still finished under the cut-off time!
Sunday 8th September: W/U exercises + 2 hours
Repetitions up Mt Tibrogargen
It was incredibly fun to spend most of the time scrambling rather than running. When I have more time on the weekends I will definitely take the time to drive out to good scrambling spots. I was planning on staying out longer but the mountain was becoming very crowded and it was hard not to kick up loose rocks (there were a lot) while down climbing quickly. Just not worth the risk to others.
Not long now until SSC and while I am looking forward to it (looks like a beautiful course), I think I will be sticking to predominantly mountain races next year. The fact that when I’m feeling stressed and need to spend more time on my local mountain to unwind really says something!
As always, my training program was created by Andy Dubois at Mile27 personal training.
Perpetual Motion 