Week 11 March 13- 19 When the going gets tough ....

Chasing Ducks

EAGLES --- EASY PEACEFUL FEELING

The Mid point of training has just passed on 10 March 2017 and it is now the back end of training with a solid 8 weeks before a slow taper before the Ultra Trail Australia 100 in the Blue Mountains

A good solid week of training with a 15km run off the back of the Sunday long run . I split my run with an 8km run in the morning and a 7 km run in the evening with the last 2kms with Molly aka Irondog just to get her running a bit more.

The legs pulled up pretty well..

On Tuesday another wind trainer session with 45 minutes on Zwift with 12 x 30 secs at 380 watts along the way and 2 minutes plus of recovery between.

Wednesday  Just aiming for 3 minutes up Mount Street and easy jog down managed 11 repeats and just 6.5km with 440m elevation .

Thursday Cross fit session  as in the photo.

Friday Another hills session at Jacobs Ladder and Mount Street with 6 repeats of Jacobs and 6 repeats of Mount Street with about 500m of elevation and 4km

Saturday a wet bike ride with CRT , a shortened ride of 60km

Sunday a 5hr run with 1200 m of elevation and managed 26kms just doing lots of Kokoda repeats and DNA and Mount Street and running around Kings Park .

Comparably small volume of running  this week compared to last year with 51 kms and about 2300m of elevation.

Week 10 Are we there yet

 Keep On Running 

Steve Winwood and the Spencer Davis Group

More of Mount Street

Recovery

After the five hour run on Sunday , I am thankful for the Labour Day Monday Holiday and late start.I ran at Reabolt hill doing an easy 8km run it was supposed to be 10km with 600m of elevation but just managed about 300 m.The legs felt tired but mentally I was tired

Tuesday , an easy day with an evening wind trainer session on Zwift riding 20km with 1 minute efforts at over 200 watts.

Wednesday , back at Mount street running 2 minutes up  and easy down for 60 minutes .I managed 13 repeats of Mount street (nearly to the top) for about400m of elevation I would expect and then coffee at the Mount Street Breakfast Bar .

Thursday Crossfit in the evening with 100 squats , 15 toes to bar , 30 GHD , 100 crunches , 70 hollow rocks  , then followed by 1 to 8 repeats of clean and jerks and snatches for a total of 36 repeats of each exercise .

Friday Stairs with the run pack and did 10 repeats of Jacobs Ladder and then coffee at Mount Street. Total distance was just 3km and 450m .Ran a slow 4km in the evening as well .

Saturday had a rest day as my daughter was graduating and so missed the CRT ride.


Sunday .Long run at Kings Park at 5.30am covering 4.5 hours . I ran and walked for 4hr 20 mins and managed 22.5km with 1250m of elevation including 12 repeats of the Kokoda Trail at 71meters and then 10 repeats of Mount street at 40m . The weather was nice and cool and so found it a lot more comfortable than last week.



This week slightly less running with about 43km and 2400m of elevation .

Week 9

Its getting really hot in Perth and I still weigh 75 kgs although the weight fluctuates depending on when I weigh myself . But I have started to lose some fat and feel stronger . The amount of walking up hills and steps is a  lot more than last year.

I am running a lot slower as well

Monday

started with a slow 10km run which I took 78 mins to do so it was really slow.Irondog ran for 3kms with me.

Tuesday I missed cross fit but rode on the wind trainer doing a 15km ride on Zwift .

Wednesday it was back in Kings park running along Forrest and down to Stirling Hwy for as many repeats of a 2km  hill run I could get . Managed 10.5km in 80 mins .

Thursday

Back to Cross fit with a hard session of various exercises over 40 minutes with 5 medicine ball squats after each exercise which included cleans , push press, snatches  ,crunches etc .

Friday.
Morning start at Jacobs ladder with 30 minutes of climbing then 10 minutes of hills ( mount street ) and repeated that for about 4.2km in 70 minutes only. Saturday back with the CRT ride around the river .It was a hot day at 39C and a fast ride with 75 kms . Managed to sneak in the sprint finish at the end of the Stirling Highway section before heading back to Subiaco for coffee.





In the afternoon  crossfit did a 30 minutes session of 75 squats followed by 25 clean and jerks and bur pees and then 25 crunches followed by 20 of the same, 15, 10 and 5 before finishing with 75 squats.

On Sunday , longest run so far .I did a 4.50 mins run with the first 3 hours we ran along the river from Kings Park and back before I did 9 repeats of Kokoda and a few short runs along the paths in Kings Park for a total of 28kms and about 700 to 800 m of elevation and it was really hot at the end .Started at 5.30am and finished at 10.30am.

The weeks are progressing with about 50km in running (low by last years standards ) but with a lot more elevation .This week I hit about 1600m of elevation. 

UltraTrail Australia Week 5-8

Somebody Told Me -The Killers

A Walk in the Park

Sunday's run

Kings Park Every Sunday

The amount of vertical elevation is getting harder and it has been getting hotter.

The second month of training started to ramp up with still low mileage but more elevation .A different approach to last year's trainning. I have also not ben religious on the diet and have lost a little weight more notably around the waist but at 75kgs I am fairly stable but needing to get closer to 70 kg .

Week4 Jan 30th to 5 Feb

Monday

Matilda Bay run

Slow start with a 7.5km easy run .Just tired from Sunday .Was suppose to be a 12lm easy run .

Tuesday

Crossfit session

Crossfit

Wedensday

Hills run and ran from the office to Kings Park where I ran along the bike path ,Malcolm street  and Mount street  all with gradients varying between 5 to 8% and managed just 9km in 80 minutes of running in the heat .

Thursday

skipped crossfit

Friday

Jacobs Ladder

Jacobs Ladder with 10 minute warm up then with the running pack did 30 minutes of stairs and 10 minutes running flat before returning and doing another 30 minutes . Managed 10 repeats of Jacobs Ladder which is 240 steps or 45 metres .Distance a miserly 4.5km

Saturday

I was supposed to ride but slept in

Sunday

Long run with 3.5 hours at Kings Park starting at 6.30am and we did a run for the first hour then repeats of Kokoda and Mount Street getting to about 1200m of elevation although the Garmin says 975m.Distance run 18.5kms only .

Week2  Feb 6 to 12

Pretty much the same with 15 km easy on Monday which I did along the river in the evening.
Then on Wednesday did the same hill repeats but in Kings Park running along May Drive for 11km on a gentler gradient and 200m of elevation .Friday Jacobs ladder again with about 5kmsof running on stairs and nearly 500m of elevation

Sunday 3.5 hours with only 15.5kms but managed 1200m of elevation and lots of repeats on Kokoda

Week 3 Feb13 to 19

Same routine as week 2 and on Sunday was a 4 hour session with 1400 m of elevation and only managed 16kms again with lots of Kokoda trail repeats and some at the DNA tower . I started late and ran by myself for the first hour .

Week 4 Feb 20 to 26

Monday was an easy 16 km run which I did in 2 hours slow. Wednesday hills with 80 or 4 x 20 mins with a rest between and 11km with 200m of elevation .Friday the stairs with 5 km and just 75 minutes with a break along the way.Did Jacobs for the first 30 mins and then ran Mount street for 40 minutes or really hiked up the hill for a distance of 5kms only and 500m of elevation.Saturday started riding again with CRT and did a 75km ride and managed to hang in with group 5 .Then in the afternoon a cross fit session at BorisFit.Sunday the long run but not so long this week with a 2 hour run at Reabolt and coffee at Georges after the run.

The first break in the programme with elevation being the key. I managed about 1500 to 2000m of elevation each week in the past few weeks .  It hopefully gets better because it doesn't get easier.

Ultra Trail Australia...the journey begins Weeks 1-4

My Support Crew

Back on Jacobs Ladder, Perth

Not a bad view

King's Park circa 2017

Its more than two months into the new year , new goals and not so new challenges. I have been slow and tardy in getting my thoughts together and blogging about the start of preparation for the next challenge . The Ultra trail Australia 100km run or NorthFace 100 .

I have had a few easy months off and the weight has come back on . Like me Irondog aka Molly has got lazy . The great challenge is to motivate and move and learn to improve.This race has been a challenge. Despite the best efforts and lots of run training it has thrown up lots of twist...last year the heat and the lack probably of elevation in the run programme made for legs that didn't quite have enough steam to get me through the last 20 kms . I made the cut off but just. This year hopefully with the vertical elevation done , I will get a PB .

The month of January is always the start for the last 3 years at least ,of run training for the ultra trail and with Perth's summer in full swing it is always a shock to the system.

Week 1

Monday 2 January started off with an easy 10.5km run on the flats going slow and taking 95 mins to do it . Tuesday 50 mins cross fit session . Wednesday first hill session at Mount Street with 15 min warm up and then 7 x 2 mins up Mount street and 2  mins recovery followed by 20 mins cool down
Thursday 45 min cross fit session just doing clean and jerks .
Friday Jacob's ladder with 3 x 10 min going up the stairs 2 at a time with 10 min warm up and cool down .Sunday 2 hour session  around Kings Park with trails and not as much vertical elevation.
Total distance 30 plus km .

Week 2

It starts to get harder . Monday an easy 10 km in 80 mins. Wednesday 7 x 3 mins hills with easy recovery and followed by 20 mins cool down . Friday Jacobs ladder with 3 x 12 min up the stairs with a warm up and cool down I managed only  4km . Sunday  2.5 hours with 500m of elevation. Did 8 repeats of Kokoda Trail , 8 repeats of the DNA Tower and One repeat of Mount street with a total of 10kms  In between the runs I rode on Thursday and Saturday and had cross fit on Saturday afternoon.

Week 3
Monday easy run 12.3km done in 100mins
Tuesday had a rest day
Wednesday warmup of 15 mins followed by 7 repeats of Mount street on for 2 mins up and then recovery of 30secs at the bottom and 30 min recovery .Total 65 mins
Thursday rested
Friday 85 mins at Jacobs Ladder with 9 climbs up Jacobs or 12 mins x 3 repeats and 90 secs recovery followed by 30 mins slow jog/recovery.
Saturday Did not ride
Sunday 15km in 3 hours around Kings Park with 5 climbs up Kokoda Trail and 6.5 climbs up Mount Street for an elevation of 685 metres (est)

Week 4

Monday easy run 12.3km done in 100mins again
Tuesday rode 17 km on the wind trainer
Wednesday warm up of 15 mins followed by 8 repeats of Mount street on for 2 mins up and then recovery of 90secs at the bottom and 15 min recovery .Total 65 mins and 7kms
Thursday wind trainer of Zwift with 27kms for 60 minutes.
Friday 90 mins at Jacobs Ladder with 12 climbs up Jacobs or 15 mins x 3 repeats and 90 secs recovery followed by 20 mins slow jog/recovery.
Saturday 70 km ride round the river and got dropped .
Sunday 15km in 3 hours around Kings Park with climbs up Kokoda Trail and climbs up Mount Street for an elevation of over 1000 metres (est)


A start to a 5 month training schedule .It only took me a year to forget how painful this race is.