October 18, 2016
As I come to the end of this intense block of training I must admit to looking forward to the odd rest day. For the last 12 weeks I think I’ve had 3 days of not running. One was after the City to Surf marathon (call me weak!) and the other two was my attempt at a taper for the Fremantle half. On top of that I’ve been running twice a day for the most part and have ran 14 times a week on a number of occasion recently.
This intense training is working though as I’ve ran a 5k, 10k and half PB in that time, something I considered beyond me as I move into my 5th decade. (does that sound better or worse than 50?) My mate Jon , I mention him a lot, has started to compare me to Thelma and Louise in the cliff top scene where they are about to drive off the edge. Always the optimist is Jon. He feels that with the intensity and distance of this training block the only output is the ‘I’ word. (injury for the less informed) He’s probably got a good point and I’m not saying that won’t happen.
So many runners give it away because of the constant stream of injuries. They can occur when you least expect them. My friend Mike got second degree burns when he was getting a massage and they put a heat pack on his calf. He was asked to call out if it got too hot but in typical ‘man mode’ Mike just lay there while his skin started to burn. He did admit it was a tad uncomfortable afterwards. another one of friend Gareth often says running is something he does between injuries. I’ve mentioned that before in a post but it’s worth repeating.
So will a rest day cure all these ills and save you from the ‘I’ word, it probably won’t do any harm. I personally prefer a recovery run to complete rest because I still get to run. I must admit though todays second run was into a stiff headwind and I was glad to finish. It didn’t feel like a recovery run I had planned, I was just plain knackered at the end. In this situation I am a big believer in listening to your body, if you have ‘niggles’ be careful. These can easily turn into ‘strain’, ‘fractures’ or even ‘breaks’. This means more time out of the game so sometimes doing nothing is the best thing to do, as well as a trip to your local health care professional for some advice and/or remedial work. Today I was physically tired but the legs feel ok, no niggles to speak off, so tomorrow it’ll probably be back up at 5am for my pre-work 10k and then something light and easy for lunch, maybe a 12k trail loop in Kings Park. You need to remember, I’m getting on, I’ll have plenty of time to rest in my box…..
This weekend is the Rottnest marathon, probably my favourite marathon and one unfortunately this year I am going to have to miss. I’ve ran ‘Rotto’ ten times but being two weeks out from the World Masters marathon was just too close. I am big believer in a day a kilometre (‘ish) to recover, at my age anyway. It normally takes me between 3-4 weeks to really get over a marathon. I know other runners who can recover a lot quicker. My mate Tony ‘T-train’ Smith takes about 12 hours and always winds me up on Strava the day following a marathon by running a sub 4min/k average run. Suicide but he seems to get away with it.
Rottnest is a small Island 30k from the Perth coastline. A pristine Island with numerous untouched beaches and no cars allowed so everybody bikes, or runs. It really is from a by-gone age and I’ve been holidaying there since the kids were babies. This year there is an inaugural half marathon so I have a race to keep me interested but it’ll be just two laps rather than the obligatory four I’m use to. ( http://www.rottnestisland.com )
Each year we stay in the same apartment on the beach and as you can see from the photo below when I say on the beach I mean on the beach. A week at Rottnest is the perfect ‘down time’ after the Winter running season and the last marathon of the year. I have the 6 inch ultra marathon in December ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com ) but that’s more of a long training run getting back to nature running some glorious trails. Next race of any significance isn’t until March next year when I race the Darlington half, then it’s Perth, City to Surf and Rottnest again. Maybe throw in an ultra or two, a sprinkling of shorter races and off we go again. Almost forgot the Australia Day Ultra in January ( http://australiadayultra.com ). I may race the 100k but I’m worried I’ll put too much weight on !!
Right back to Rottnest. A four lap course, with four good hills, runner unfriendly in my view. i.e. long undulating up sections with sharp down sections where you seem to get to the bottom too quickly before the next rise. It also gets pretty warm and windy. Finally did I mention the four hills, remember you need to times that by four for the four laps. So 16 runner unfriendly hills, 4 laps, it gets hot (and humid!) and windy. I’m not selling this am I, but the reason I love it so much is because of all the aforementioned issues. It is a hard marathon and these days there are fewer and fewer hard marathons where everybody is looking for a quick course. Rottnest is more about finishing rather than a time. It’s about going back to a by-gone age where life was just simpler and enjoying running a small marathon with good friends. There’s even a good pub on the Island where everybody congregates afterwards with the compulsory marathon war stories which get wilder and wilder the more they drink. This is then followed by the obligatory run to the last ferry when you realise you’re late.
Rottnest really is special and I urge you to click on the link at the start of this post to see the Island for yourself if you are not in Western Australia. You never know next year we may be lining up together at the start line together.