It's icing time!

I had a great finish to the week. Saturday's run was another strong GA (general aerobic) run at 4:40 pace, concluding with a 3:40 last km, which felt effortless. After a nice long sleep in, I got ready to go for my long run. My dad had said he wanted to come with me at 11.30, so I waited til then, only to discover that he was in the middle of working on a project and wouldn't be ready for an hour, grr:P So I went on the cross trainer for 45 minutes instead, even though I knew it'd mean I'd be glycogen depleted before the end of the run.

We did the usual 8k loop, and I thought we were going really slowly, slower than 6:00/k, but I just mapped it, and it is actually a good 8.2km. So that means we did the first lap together in 5:30/k, which is a lot better than I expected from him given how little training he's been doing lately. It was 2 minutes better than last week too. He was pushing pretty hard, probably going 80% the whole way and he put in a good spurt at the end. He actually outsprinted me lol! I wasn't expecting it, and in the last 50m, he really put the after burners on, and I couldn't match him.

After saying goodbye to him, I turned back and did another two loops. I wasn't feeling that great - a little nauseous and just general off-kilterness - but I felt a bit better once I got moving at a good clip. I did the second lap in 36:20ish - 4:23 pace! I remember wanting to stop and pee, but instead, just sped up, so my kidneys would be starved of blood and I wouldn't have to worry about it:P

I was already flagging at the start of the second lap and had to force myself to get going. It helped that I kept running past these goth 'kids', including this big, fat guy who yelled out 'Hello there handsome!' every time I did. After the second time, I made sure to think up a good come-back for the next time (I think they were following me:S), and so after he said his line, I yelled back "Love you big boy!", which hit the mark quite well:P

Glycogen depletion hit around the end of the second lap. I didn't slow as much as I thought I had - it was 37:00 for the lap, which is still sub 4:30 pace:) But I was soon reduced to a very slow jog after that and just could not go any faster. I stopped and had a few walking breaks going up hills because it pretty much meant I was going the same pace:P I was feeling quite sore when I got home, but I wasn't that tired or hungry (although I should've been - it's funny how long runs cause suppressed appetite).

Having mapped it, I'm very, very pleased with this. To be running sub 4:30 pace for a good 16k shows that I've improved still more from last week and it is just a bloody good workout. Ideally I wouldn't have done that cross trainer workout beforehand because it did weaken me quite a bit, and it meant a good 500 kcal got burnt before the run started, which cut at least 5k off my run.

After giving myself half an hour to refuel, I hopped on my bike and rode to my favourite rollerblading course along the Gardiner Creek bike path. It was already getting quite late, so I only managed one lap (~8k) before it was too late to use the path anymore. Anxious to do two hours, I skated back to the velodrome that's three-quarters of the way down the path, and did some laps round there. It's always tough going round the velodrome because the banked surface means you can't really skate properly and can only really use one leg, while steering with the other. To make sure both legs were getting something out of it, I switch directions every five laps. After about half an hour, I was shot. My legs were hurting and I didn't have the energy to push through the discomfort. Hitting the wall twice in one day is unpleasant but inevitable when you do two long workouts in a row. It would be impossible to replace the 2500 calories I burnt earlier in the day. I just can't eat that much. I really don't know how ultrarunners do it. They're probably going at a lower intensity, so most of their energy needs are met by fat supplies, but even so, at some point you'd hit the wall. To keep going once you reach that point requires a supreme mental effort. I could barely manage the 3.5km skate back to my bike. My legs kept buckling under me and to an uninformed observer, I'd have looked like I was drunk, because I definitely wasn't going in a straight line!

Sensibly, I'd brought some fruit with me, so I sat on the bench next to my bike for a while, not feeling the cold in my desperate lust for the two mandarines and apples in my bag. The ride home actually wasn't that bad. Being in a different position seemed to mean my legs didn't complain as much and although I went slowly, I didn't have to force myself to keep going, like I usually do at the ends of these workouts. As soon as I got home, I stuffed my face with baked beans, toast, muesli, juice and fruit, lots of fruit. Breakfast foods always seem the most attractive after long runs. I just want sweet things and anything too dinnerish just seems unpalatable.

It was tough, but I still had one more workout to do for the day. A good four hours later, after watching Flight of the Concords till 11:20 (best show ever - why do they keep making it later!), I hopped on the cross trainer for another 65 minutes. As you can imagine, the resistance setting was down very low:P

So that was it:) A 70km/6:45 day to top off a 210km/20:17 week (113k of running @5:04 pace). It seemed an apt way to finish off the base building phase. From now on, I'm going to be doing quite a few more tough workouts and hopefully I'll reap the benefits of faster race times. Doing seven months of base training has helped a lot already. Back in March (can't really look at data before that as I don't trust my distance estimates), my average pace was close to 6:00/k and it wasn't strange for me to do recovery runs at slower than 7:00 pace! Nowadays, I'm averaging 5:04 pace and hitting low 4s for most of my easy runs:D I'm also racing faster than I ever have before, smashing some PBs that I set last year in the midst of interval training. So I guess this is concrete proof that base training alone will make you faster. I've really enjoyed the training too. Mentally, it's not been that tough to do the schedule I've been following (see below for details) and I think I'd keep getting faster if I just kept doing what I've been doing. But I've decided to move on to the next stage of Lydiard's periodisation system and start getting into hill work in a big way. Not only will it help my running, but I think it's going to really help me in a cross country ski race (the HM option in the Kangaroo Hoppet) in August. After doing a month of this, I'll be much stronger and the hill bounding component will increase my power dramatically:).

So here's a contrast of what I've been doing up to this point and what I'll be doing in the next stage (base training workout in brackets):
Monday:
AM: 65 minutes recovery (same)
PM: 30 minutes on cross trainer (same)

Tuesday:
AM: 15 minute warmup, 60 minutes hill work, 15 minute cooldown (40 min warmup, 60 mins hill work, 20 minute cooldown)
PM: 30 minutes on cross trainer (same)

Wednesday:
AM: 65 minutes easy (same)
PM: 30 minutes on cross trainer (same)

Thursday:
AM: 15 minute warmup, 60 minutes hill work, 15 minute cooldown (30 min warmup, 50 mins tempo, 40 mins cooldown)
PM: 30 minutes on cross trainer (same)

Friday:
AM: 65 minutes easy (same)
PM: 30 minutes on cross trainer (same)

Saturday:
AM: 15 minute warmup, 60 minutes hill work, 15 minute cooldown (65 minutes easy)
PM: 30 minutes on cross trainer (same)

Sunday:
Long run plus cross training - maybe 45k worth (same, but 70k worth)

So as you can see, there's a bit more intensity compared to the base training phase, and correspondingly a bit less volume. I haven't ever done a dedicated lydiardesque training cycle, so it's going to be a bit new to me. I don't really know how to 'bound' up hills, but I figure just running up them will help and hopefully, people won't laugh at me too much if I do attempt to imitate a 'deer jumping over a fence':P If you're interested in the Lydiard training method, there's some good info at the Lydiard Foundation website.

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Oh and I forgot to mention that I'm currently in taper mode for the Run Melbourne Half on Sunday! Hill training will start after that. I'm feeling pretty dead-legged at the moment, having struggled to run faster than 6:00/k for the last two days, but after a week as tough as last week, that's to be expected. I'm pretty sure I'll be feeling fresh tomorrow and by Sunday, I'll be feeling great! My aim is 1:24:24 - 4:00/k pace. It's a bit of an ask because it assumes that I've gotten fitter since my 8k time trial on the 7th. My 30:34 there would predict a 1:25:43, but I can tell by my workouts that I have gotten fitter since then, so I don't think 1:24 would be impossible. I wouldn't be disappointed with 1:25:43 though because I always have been weaker over longer events. We'll have to see how things turn out on Sunday! That is if I can actually get there! Normally I'd get a lift with my dad, but because the HM starts so early and he's doing the 10k, which starts a good 2 hours later, I'm not sure whether that's going to be possible. I'll try and convince him that the best possible way to spend his Sunday morning would be to get up at 6, drive me to Fed Square, watch me start, and then sit in the car for two hours, but if that doesn't appeal (and I don't know why it wouldn't:P), then I can always ride my bike. My best races have come after riding to the start of them, and I know I'm comfortable running up to 25k, which would be equivalent to riding to Fed Square and then running the HM, so I wouldn't mind doing that (and it gives me an excuse if I don't meet my goals:P).

Good luck to everyone else racing on Sunday!