6-week countdown

Starting out

Late Sunday afternoon along the beachfront and plenty of people around enjoying the mild ‘winter’ day, about 15C. Waves gently crashing provide a serene backdrop, interrupted by the occasional speeding motorcyle. Popular pastimes include a barbecue with mates, birthday drinks at the pub, or taking selfies against the backdrop of the gradually descending sun into pinks and oranges. The paths have no shortage of walkers/ runners/ strollers/ cyclists either.

In my quest to train for a 21km run in six weeks’ time, my chosen activity on this day is running 14km. Up until recent times, running predominantly took the form of an individual, solo activity, with the exception of weekly Parkruns. Though even that was really running by myself, surrounded by a hundred other runners. However, the new norm has become running with others, in a duo, trio or larger group. For today’s run, it’s a solo event.

In preparation for the longer distance, my feet are given a trial run (no pun intended!) of a tactic I’ve heard others undertake to avoid blisters: double layering of socks. The theory is that the feet won’t rub against the shoes with extra padding, or something along those lines. Earbuds in, it’s now a choice to listen to podcast or music. And the choice goes to music. Less concentration required and doesn’t matter if there’s background noise or distractions. Getting into the groove I can let my mind wander off into any direction, so long as my feet keep moving in the right direction.

Getting dark by the end

A main advantage of training with other more experienced runners, is maintaining an even, steady pace, and reasonably fast one at that – well certainly faster than I have been capable of thus far. During the course of the run, I feel myself struggling and can tell that my pace is uneven but keep moving forward. Light quickly fading now it’s a push to make back to the starting point.

Checking the stats (ah yes, the handy technology of Fitbit and Strava to tell me all the details) afterwards, I discovered that I had done the distance in the same time as the previous week with Ms T. Indeed the pace was faster and slower in parts, but in the end I made it. As a thirst quencher, I take advantage of my prize – if I have it why not use it – and indeed it goes down smoothly. The double-sock theory doesn’t seem to have made any difference and the same blisters appear in the same places. Next theory, anyone?

This is as close as anyone needs to get to my blisters!

And in other training news this week… 

My efforts were rewarded with a PB at the Kawana Parkrun (my 75th run as well) on Saturday – 25:30 for 5kms. Pretty happy with that – and hope to keep progressing and get under 25 soon…

The regular Tuesday morning Atlas SC marathon training session gave us the thrill of hills again. Nothing like killing your legs before work in the morning! But  I couldn’t resist sneaking in a photo of the sunrise – well it’s blurry because I was on the move, but a nice memory of the morning (nicer than the memory of those hills!).

Boot camp also beckoned, a fresh 9C near the lighthouse at Point Cartwright, but quickly warming up with moving around. Though my legs weren’t greatly afflicted, my arms and abs took the brunt of the morning session that included skipping rope, push ups, planks and
steps.

This outdoor boot camp is just one of many in the area, and rotates the venue depending on weather conditions and the activities. When out running, I’ve often come across these boot camps, with about 5-15 participants. An observation is that the greater majority of ‘recruits’  seem to be female and not many males. Why, I wonder? Seems like a ‘guy’ thing to do – rough, rugged, challenging. Just interesting.