Yikes, nearly 3 weeks without blogging. Sorry folks. So, what has been going on eh!?

THE NIGHTS – DARK TIMES

Well, it got pretty dark there for a while. Two weeks ago I was on nights, a big run of them too (8) and I had forgotten how much night shifts can take out of one, especially when one is ALSO training for a marathon, so my mileage was low-ish, again. But I pushed through the week, training after nights in the early morning twilight, getting in the runs and the x-fit before hitting the pillow.

AND THEN I GOT SICK

Yup, I got ill. Probably just man-flu but it was compounded by nights and a drug free resistance program, plus the air conditioning was really playing havoc with my throat – yes I know first world problems but they are MY first world problems and this is ALL about the subjective.

I felt it coming, the 5 liters of orange juice that I consumed post night-shift Friday morning club run was the clue. And I managed to hold it off until the next Tuesday. This subsequently ruined the week as I was too ill to stay awake beyond 8pm. Let alone run!!

AND THEN I DOUBLED UP

This last week just gone has been much better though, I have begun to double up on the running most days. This comes after the realisation that running outside for longer than 90-120 minutes in one go, despite the dropped humidity, does more damage than good; form tends to crumble after about 45 minutes and the rest of the run becomes a hot, unpleasant mess.

So at the moment I am working on hitting between 15 and 20K on double days and up to 10K on single days. This also allows me to maybe get some 30+ K mileage on my long run days with two 15Ker’s bracketing my waking hours. With temperatures still mid 30’s+ (believe me it is not as pleasant as it sounds) it’s not easy, but it is persevere-able . Cue more moments of clarity and understanding RE: training.

THE ORGANISM OF RUNNING – A PHILOSOPHY

So the more I work through my training plan, and read up on training for marathons, and change my plan to get around life, I begin to notice that training is more like an organism than a system of processes, an organism with a symbiotic relationship to the trainee. What this means, is that in the same way that life in unpredictable, so is marathon training.

I guess this is pretty obvious. Modern lifestyles regularly change (well, mine does anyway), so how is one expected to stick to a regiment of 16 weeks of specific training when our world, our work, our health, our fitness, the sociological, philosophical and spiritual constructs that define us, are constantly tweaking with the flow of life?

MOVING ON

But that’s enough of that stuff.  As I run towards my racing goals and the end of my current contract in this great big desertie place I hope that I am doing enough, that I would have done enough, to get through 42 hilly kilometers. Only time will tell.

 

 

 

 

There is more running on the horizon as the weeks count down and down, plus the missus is coming to visit this week so it will be nice to see her again, face to face. Wait, nice is an understatement. After nearly 6 months, it will be awesome to see her again!

I have been playing with a new handheld hydration system and listening to an awesome new running podcast, blog on those to follow shortly.

Well, that’s about it for now.

Keep running!!