First 2 weeks done

'Train hard and race easy' a little mantra that the African runners live by and I really like. At the moment I'm in the 'train hard' phase and I can tell you that it is HARD!!! I've just completed the first 2 weeks of training in 2011 and I feel like I need a rest week already. 110k and 111k respectively so the k's aren't incredible but still it's been hard yakka with some good quality mixed in there. I've been doing 3 quality sessions a week with a track session on Tuesday (400's), Tempo run (6k 2 4min/k) on Thursday and then Long run on Saturday.

The week just gone I was showing some real signs of fatigue (and probably suffering a little from the heat). Track session at AK was tough with the 400's being 3-5sec slower than usual, but is was about 35 degrees! Tempo on Thursday was a disaster, definitely the worst tempo I've ever done. First 2k in 8:06 and I started to think I might be in trouble. Again it was well over 30 degrees and the course was extremely windy. When I hit 3k in 12:09 I knew I was gone. Struggled home to finish in 24:48 (4:08 pace) and almost a full minute slower than last week. Not too upset after the run, they can't all be good sessions and I have a feeling I was still struggling from the track session on Tuesday.

Long runs at the moment are alternating between a long slow distance (40-50k somewhere below 6min/k) and a shorter, sharper effort (30-40k somewhere below 5min/k). After last weeks 44k, this week it was time to get some speed on. Got up at 3:30am on Sat and was back in bed but 3:40am, I was so tired and figured I needed some more sleep. Long Story short was I started my run @ 10:15am!!! Plan was to go about 35k at a decent pace. I decided that because I was running in the middle of the day I wouldn't push the pace early but just work into it. Got to 3k in 13:45 and couldn't believe I was running that fast as I felt like I was just cruising. I decided to check my pace using the bike path markings which are very accurate and it turns out I was consistently running 4:40's or just below. I was running into a slight headwind so the heat wasn't a factor. My 10k between 3k and 13k was 45:56 and I knew I was in for something a bit special. I turned around at 1:21 (which I calculated was about 18k) and set about the run home. Tailwind made it pretty hot and I struggled to push the pace over the last 10k or so. This was probably a combination of the heat, pushing hard early, and the fact that I did the run on a single gel. Filled my handheld bottle twice over the last hour (about 1lt) and finished in 2:44.23 for the 36k. Very happy with the run and the time and even happy to park myself in front of the airconditioner when I got home.

All in all, I'm happy with the first 2 weeks of my year, slowly building up the k's and getting in shape. I'll have another 2 solid weeks before kicking off my year with the Busselton Half Marathon in Feb.