Last week we all ran the Fremantle half and afterwards it was back to City beach and the best pancakes we can find in Perth at the moment. If you follow this blog you’ll know we run for pancakes. The bling, kudos, wellness, fitness etc is all well and good but the bottom line is the pancakes after the Sunday long run. Running magazines even talk up pancakes as recovery food so it must be good. (Please no one write anything to the contrary as you will be banned from this site and all access blocked. I only have pancakes in my life bar running. I hope the Wife and kids don’t read that!)

I digress , as always. So this morning we all meet at 6am outside Clancys (  http://clancysfishpub.com.au/city-beach.html ) and off we go on another ( and the last pre-Masters marathon) long run. The obligatory 30k out and back with no stops. I believe this method of training teaches your body to use fat as fuel and not substitute this fat burning with Gu’s etc. helps on race day. My view anyhow.  So the six of us start and even pick up another runner on the way, a Sports Doctor no less who of course is invited to be part of the group moving forward. We all make the 15k turn around together and pick up the pace for the return leg. (as is the way off most running groups globally).

Once we finish we notice one of our group seems to have be left behind and the last two runners return and put in an order for pancakes and a flat white coffee as Mark L., has been passed and put in his order as he knows he’s in trouble. The image below shows what a considerate guy I am, you’ll notice Mark’s pancakes and coffee eating for him.

So eventually Mark turns up and he’d hit the wall at about 25k in the 30k run and went from feeling fine to ‘finished’ in a short period of time. Heart rate was fine just he had nothing in his legs. Must admit when he staggered in he’d looked better. The pancakes, coffee, a shake and water helped and he soon regains his composure. Compare this to last week when Mark ran a great PB without pushing himself. This was due to a block of training that had pushed his average distance well beyond his norm.

So the point of this post is sometimes the run kicks your backside when you least expect it. Everybody has bad days but you must realise when your training you’re running on tired legs continuously and sometimes you just push too hard and it’s time to ‘pay the piper’, today Mark paid in full.

It’s important to also realise that when you eventually face your goal race you’re normally rested, carbo-loaded and hydrated. Add this to the extra incentive to do well and sometimes those last long runs are harder than the race itself.

If you have a bad run and hit the wall that’s ok. You’ve found a tipping point which you can use as a baseline for your next block of training and move past it. Sometimes you learn more from these runs that constant easy runs that don’t test you. Of course it helps when you know you got probably the best pancakes in Perth and a decent coffee waiting for you.