Week 4 & 5 Dec 7-20

 The fourth week into a year long programme is moving slowly. The days are warmer and the training on hot days are harder .My coughing comes and goes and is a real nuisance to training but settles down after 10-20 minutes but i will need to see if I can get it sorted. 

 

The training is building slowly with a 2.5 hr run walk session on Sunday .otherwise it has been fairly light.I have continued to practice the meditation and slowly learning to try and focus the mind and not getting too disconcerted with the thoughts flooding in .Just refocusing back to the present.  It is slow going and not a quick panacea for the run becoming effortless but I am finding like all things it is a slow progression with having faith that in time all these small endeavors will surely help the ultimate goal of running ultra distances.

7 Rest Day: Rest Day Meditation: Meditation: See, Hear Feel, 5... 10:00

8 1:03 PM Run: 20 min warmup, 20 min hilly... 7.72 km ~ 1:09:59 Meditation: Meditation: See, Hear Feel, 5... 10:00

9 Rest Day: Rest Day Meditation: Meditation: See, Hear Feel, 5... 10:00

10 2:42 PM Run: Run easy 8.88 km ~ 1:00:07 3:50 PM Strength Training 0 km ~ 20:05 Meditation: Meditation: See, Hear Feel, 5... 10:00

11 Rest Day: Rest Day Meditation: Meditation: See, Hear Feel, 5... 10:00

12 7:50 AM Run: Walk 20 /20 /20 1.46 km ~ 22:28 8:17 AM Run 6.58 km ~ 1:01:56 2:14 PM Strength Training 0 km ~ 36:01 3:02 PM Cross Training 0 km ~ 1:29:31 Meditation: Meditation: See, Hear Feel, 5... 10:00

13 10:24 AM Run: Run 6 minutes, walk 3 minutes... 18.82 km ~ 2:30:03 Meditation: Meditation: See, Hear Fe

The following week is the same with the focus on now trying to practice relaxing and focusing on the runs . Great article on smiling whilst running which I read on training Peaks and which was discussed in our session that somehow it does make the run feel better . Can Smiling make you run faster

14 Rest Day: Rest Day 6:43 AM Run 1.36 km ~ 23:09 7:08 AM Bike 17.07 km ~ 48:54 5:07 PM Bike 19.43 km ~ 49:05 Meditation: Meditation: See, Hear Feel, 5... (10:00)	15 11:59 AM Run: Run with 6 x 1 minute efforts 7.77 km ~ 53:02 Meditation: Meditation: See, Hear Feel, 5... 10:00	16 Rest Day: Rest Day Meditation: Meditation: See, Hear Feel, 5... (10:00)	17 12:06 PM Run: Run easy 7.5 km ~ 56:02 4:02 PM Strength Training 0 km ~ 46:24 Meditation: Meditation: See, Hear Feel, 5... 10:00	18 Rest Day: Rest Day Meditation: Meditation: See, Hear Feel, 5... (10:00)	19 2:19 PM Strength Training 0 km ~ 30:01 Meditation: Meditation: See, Hear Feel, 5... 20:00 3:04 PM Cross Training 0 km ~ 1:36:38 9:08 AM Run: Walk Steady Pace: Find some... 6.33 km ~ 1:00:43	20 6:04 AM Run: Run 6 minutes, walk 3 minutes... 22.43 km ~ 3:02:25 Meditation: Meditation: See, Hear Feel, 5... 13:00
Run: 45.4 km ~ 6:15:23 (6:00:00) // Bike: 36.5 km ~ 1:38:00 // Meditation: 53:00 (1:10:00) // Strength Training: 0.0 km ~ 1:16:26 // Cross Training: 0.0 km ~ 1:36:38 // Total: 81.9 km ~ 11:39:28 (7:10:00

I did a 3 hour run on Sunday and ran to Sherbet for breakfast and then a run home for the 3 hours and about 23kms .The weight is slowly coming off but a long way to go yet.

WEEK 3 - Kintsugi

 

Cape walk in September

It is settling into a more consistent routine with the inconsistent parts the cross training not part of the programme. That adds a little spice in the mundane training of a single sport .

I lack strength and fitness so the long road to building the strength with weights and cycling on my mountain bike and even Yoga with body balance such as standing on one leg has been helpful.

The trick is to build and be consistent.In addition it is now a week of starting the day meditating.Not always successful with the mind wandering but always recognizing the mind is imperfect and bringing ones thoughts back to focusing on the meditation Being in the now. In addition reading Grahaks book and Sri Chinmoys book on meditation,makes the exercise quite time consuming .

I have also listened to the odd podcast including Ultra running Podcast called DNF .this week it was an interview with   Ben Gibbard from  Death Cab for Cutie,( A short piece on him in Men's Health Journal)

The discussion is about ultra running and how it can heal .that is the take away line I got. the title of the podcast is Kintsugi the Japanese Art  of porcelain repair :

Kintsugi (金継ぎ, "golden joinery"), also known as kintsukuroi (金繕い, "golden repair"),^[1] is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, a method similar to the maki-e technique.^[2][3][4] As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.^[5]

  It displays the cracks and makes it the focus.Like Kintsugi , ultra running can be the glue or gold that repairs the fault lines of our lives as in the case of Ben Gibbard. 

Like all endurance events there is the mundane element of training and the freedom of the surrounds of trail running .The suffering to replace the pain for some .The joy of overcoming the challenge.

This week a bit of coughing on the runs whichis the norm for me presently but the throat settles down after a few kms on the run. The hard session is hill work on Mount Street .Other than that it has been fine.

this week the sessions are :

Monday 

Meditation for 10 minutes in the morning

Cycle session at the Gym and 15 minutes strength work at the Gym

Tuesday

Meditaion and a hill work out at  the end of the day on Mount Street.

Wednesday

Gym strength, Yoga for an hour and meditation

Thursday

Easy Run, meditation and weights at the Gym for 40 minutes

Friday

Dog walk ,Bike to work and back and meditation

Saturday

1 hour walking with hard fast for 20 minutes and meditation

Sunday

2 hours with 6 minutes run and 3 minutes walk for 15 kms and meditation

Total 12 hours 

The run on Sunday was hard and slow and felt a little tired despite the very low volume.

Still overweight and slowly dropping the kgs and trying to build fitness slowly. Still coughing every run but once I have coughed it out I settle to breathing easily.

The meditation is hard as the mind struggles to focus but I have to just keep bringing it back from rambling thoughts that enter the head .Somedays are better than others.

In a way my own cracks in respect to the ups and down of my fitness health life feelings are all that make it part of that journey the uniqueness that our experiences brings in moving forward and the uniqueness' in the cracks that are our Kintsugi. We can treasure them and build from them or dissolve in them ,forever defining us and being our weakness our achilless heal., forever holding us back.

If anything 2020 has been a year that has shown us what is important and what is not .Life is precious and to live it is to experience everything even the bad days ,are lessons we can cherish , Learn and thrive from all the experiences  if we allow ourselves the opportunity. This week has been pretty average but I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

 

Meditation

 ‘The success-road is paved with patience and perseverance"

 Sri Chinmoy 

The Second week of training has the added leg of starting to practice meditation . We had an hour long discussion with Rob by zoom and then several videos I watched about the benefits .I have posted some here. I have also started reading Grahak's book called Running Beyond the Marathon about his experience running the transcendental3100 race in New York .Winning it once and doing it 4 times .Each race 3100 miles round a Block in Brooklyn measuring about 890meteres .

A staggering feat of  human endurance and the ability to overcome the physical discomfort and mental stresses over nearly 50 days.

Here is a snynopsis of the book:

 Willis, Christopher. "On My Bookshelf: Running Around the Block." Ultrarunning, May/June 2013.

BEYOND THE MARATHON; INSIGHTS INTO THE LONGEST FOOT RACE IN THE WORLD. By Grahak Cunningham. Available for $5.99 from www.grahakcunningham.com(link is external).

The Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race was founded in 1997 by running guru Sri Chinmoy to exemplify the endless possibilities of the human spirit. It is held on a concrete footpath around an883 metre (roughly half-mile) block in Queens, New York. 

 Running Beyond the Marathon

 Grahak Cunningham

 

 Why Meditate

 

 I have after 26 November started to practice meditating at least 10 minutes each day . It is obviously not simple and constantly trying to bring the mind back to a focus of the experience here and now .It is an activity ,that will take time to develop and grow into.As the 2 videos above show there are many reasons and empirical data to show the benefits of the practice. 

On Friday 27 November I went down to Subiaco Community Centre to watch the Doco above and meet Grahak. In addition on Saturday I spent the afternoon at a introduction to Meditation run by Sri Chinmoy Perth. The speaker was Anuba and her lecture was engaging and enlightening . There are numerous techniques and everyone finds the one that they are comfortable with . Most important is to be consistent. This will be an interesting journey of self discovery and trying to quieten the mind and becoming more focused..

 

WEEK 2 23-30 November 2020

 I must begin my life
Once again
By dreaming the impossible.

Sri Chinmoy, Emperor-smiles. Orphan-tears

 

The schedule of training has been easy. After all it is the start of a very long programme to build fitness and mental capacity for ultra running with the aim of a 100km run in June then a 100 miler in September before considering longer distances.The aim is to finish and to be as prepared as I can .

 This week :

23 Rest Day: Rest Day 6:53 AM Run 1.71 km ~ 25:22 7:22 AM Bike 19.21 km ~ 49:22 5:14 PM Bike 19.45 km ~ 48:13

24 12:09 PM Run: Run with 6 x 1 minute efforts 9.05 km ~ 1:02:51

25 Rest Day: Rest Day 6:59 AM Run 1.17 km ~ 20:29 7:23 AM Bike 19.4 km ~ 54:28 5:16 PM Bike 10.05 km ~ 30:37 6:01 PM Cross Training 0 km ~ 1:01:00 7:04 PM Bike 6.27 km ~ 20:48

26 12:35 PM Run: Run easy 8.55 km ~ 57:09 8:45 PM Meditation: Meditation: See, Hear Feel, 5... 10:00

27 5:17 PM Strength Training 0 km ~ 34:13 6:45 AM Meditation: Meditation: See, Hear Feel, 5... 10:00 Rest Day: Rest Day

28 8:12 AM Run 6.52 km ~ 1:00:09 Meditation: Meditation: See, Hear Feel, 5... 10:00 7:29 AM Run: Walk 20 /20 /20 3.07 km ~ 38:27

29 5:19 PM Run: Run easy: HR < 150 8.41 km ~ 1:00:01

The main focus is preparation. Aside from the running , I had2 days of riding , a Yoga session and a short strength session .The interesting part of preparation is the commencing of meditation each morning for 10 minutes to try and get the mind more focused.

There were a number of videos on You Tube recommended and I have attached a few . This is as suggested the last frontier for training . The mind is or can be our greatest ally or worse enemy in a race . As the videos discuss it it that inner Monkey(voice) we try and quieten as it is usually full of negativity . 

 

Week 1 November 16 2020

 

 “I compete only with myself, and I try to become a better human being. This is my goal.”

Sri Chinmoy

Molly and her view of a Walk on Sunday

The beginning of the journey  always commences with the first step. Even one that is hopefully to end in 2022. More than a 15 months to its conclusion.

It started with first contact with Rob Donkersloot to start a programme with the view of preparing and completing a hundred miler and Delirious 2022.

Week 1 is an easy start with 4 hours of running .Easy introduction and a zoom meeting on the introduction to the mental preparation .

Between training I rode to work twice this week and did my Bodypump class on Tuesday and Yoga on Saturday and one 45 min Weight session on Friday.

The emphasis is getting my weight down ,building strength I have lost over the past 10 months with a dedicated weight programme and building core .

The runs , included an easy run for an hour which was about 8km.On Thursday an easy 20 min warm up and then 4 x 2 minutes up a hill and then 20 minutes cooldown.Struggled with the hill work but managed 7.5km .

Saturday ,did a 1 hour steady walk .Harder than it seems with aiming for a 9 min per km pace ended up with a 10min pace and 6km.On Sunday a warm day in perth I ran an easy 9 km for an hour easy run.I did have a coughing fit which I get regularly but once I have coughed it out I am fine.

Easy start to a year long program. Also a gentle introduction to mindfullness and meditation with the view to trying to harness the mind in the negative inner thoughts that will surely invade one's thoughts whilst running. 

Prior to starting a training programme I had signed up for a introduction to Meditation twice with the Sri Chinmoy Group only to have had to cancel as I was unwell. Finally have started this aspect of the journey and will be going to a session. and the movie screening by Grahak Cunningham of the 3100 Transcendental run doco called Run and Become 

 

A new Adventure ....2020 the year that wasn't meant to be

 “Without courage, Life is a path Without progress.” -Sri Chinmoy

 

 

 

Sunset in January doing a 12 hour walk overnight .

Cottesloe Beach with Jonatham Smith

    Margaret River Break and run weekend

with Molly

Margaret River Cape walk start 50km

All animals remain in the moment.Their focus is in the now.

Night Run in October at Kalamunda 25km

Start of feral .No Preparation .just learning the importance of both physical and mental and nutritional preparation for a 100 miler

Sun Rising over Mt Cooke highest point on the Bilbulman trail

The training blog and my training regime ,like 2020 has been tumultuous. There are lessons to learn but many twist and turns both in the world and in my life.But as we turn the corner and the end of this year, like everything  in life there is a future and light at the end of a dark tunnel of a year.

 

I started the year full of hope and expectation. Signed up for Ironman 2020 at Busselton and carrying my Feral 100miler over to 2020 after the 2019 race was called off because of the 40C temp. Started to put a plan of training together.Started running whilst in Sydney for the New Years and enjoyed several runs across the beautiful iconic Harbour Bridge. Swims at the pool at the base of the bridge at Milson's Point and even a cycle with my childhood friend Marc at Centennial Park. 

Those early days of 2020 seem a lifetime away, as was those beautiful Sydney summer days running along the harbour and the quiet paths dotting the  salubrious suburbs seeping with modern apartments ,beautiful houses seeping with the history of the harbor and Australia's oldest  colonial settlement . There was that luxurious cruise liner parked along the port next to the bridge unloading its human cargo and hundreds of  trucks carrying provisions for the nest cruise to nowhere .Little did anyone know in 2 short months they were the incubators for the Corona Virus hitting Sydney and the wider Country .

Back in Perth the world was closing down .It seemed at times like the end of the world.The market and the economy were all heading south.Training seemed like the last thing on anyone's mind. I recall  having a chat with Ross my previous coach re my plans.I was coming back to swim training .He had a shocking time regarding the loss of his dad earlier in the year . Within a few weeks my plans were all put on hold .I had a regular ride round the river with the CRT group and rode home for a 90km ride. Nothing strenuous.My brother had been in hospital with a suspected heart attack and had a stent in one artery but had been released that morning. I sat down to a sandwich for lunch and within a few minutes had an uncomfortable pain in the chest which would not go away. I decided to drive to the doctors. At the first surgery  they were not able to see me.The second surgery were alarmed and suggested I go straight to a hospital .In the end they got me hooked up to an EKG machine and called an ambulance. I got taken to Royal Perth Hospital where bloods were taken and confirmed there was a likely mild heart attack . Incredulous. I was fit and had no issues. More uncanny my brother had one 3 days earlier. No family issues to confound the case. Ended up having a angioplasty and 4 days in hospital. Then 2 weeks of avoiding any strenuous activity .Perth was in a lock down with everyone encouraged to stay at home and work from home .I chose to work in the office as there was no one and it was quieter .I rode in everyday and the street were eerily quiet . There was the unease of the uncertainty for the world and the country and the state. It is in these times that there fortitude of calm and resilience become so critical. We managed to dodge much that hit the world. Yet there was the panic buying .

The next few months were a blur of riding to work , short runs and no consistent training plan. I thought there would be time to knuckle down to some hard training in the back half of the year .There were many excuses including no regular cross fit and I was not training with anyone and had no plan or coaching program to follow and I was recovering from a serious enough health issue. I did stop eating all meat .My Blood test a month later were great and continued to be good. I was on medication  which was not good and for the first time ever. A trip to Margaret River in September for some training wasn't that good as we managed a 50km walk with 2.5l of water (very dehydrated)so the next day just did a 20km walk /run .After that ,training really was scattered and before I knew it I was at the start of the Feral100.

That was on 7 November at Midnight. I Started and pulled out at the 42km mark just after watching the spectacular sunrise on Mt Cooke. Failure was not doubted but I realized that I had to start to be consistent .Get my weight back to race weight and start a training plan. Both physically, nutritionally and mentally. 

So starts another adventure. This one will be at least 12 to 18 months in the making.Nothing hard comes easy ? Next year will be hopefully the year of redemption after the winter of failure in 2020 .But in everything lessons are learnt.The year was full of twist  and my mental frame was not helped losing my Dad in May.He was  91 and the comfort was he had a long good life but the end is never easy or planned or expected. But we have to as others do ,live our lives moving forward. 

As I lay in Hospital I had to cancel a meditation course I was suppose to attend at Sri Chimoy . I am going again . I am also attending a movie Grahak Cunningham is showing on Friday 27 November 2020 on the 3100 transcendental foot race. I have a coach and start a training program towards a 100km race next year with the 100 miler after that.

The mantra moving forward is PRAEPARAT ANIMOS meaning Preparation with courage in Latin .