I was excited about starting the endurance phase, but also a little apprehensive.
How was I going to cope with the heat and the sunshine? Running longer distances on a more regular basis with a backpack on?! The only way to find out, was to give it a go!
Week one kicked off on 4th January!
Training Plan
M - Rest Day
T - 10 Mile Easy Pace
W - 5 Mile Speed work - Fartlek Training
T- 10 Mile Easy Pace
F - Rest Day
S - Run for 1.5 hrs
S - 4 Hour Walk
Plus I decided on Saturday to do a weight lifting session.....
Only one slight issue which happened at the very start of the week. I smashed my left foot, and broke my little toe….the pain was intense! I was thinking it’s not that bad! However, it was that bad! Lots of bruising around the toe and the foot. But there’s nothing you can do for a broken little toe apart from strapping it up and getting on with it! Which is what I had to do!
Tuesday - 10 Mile - Easy Run
Setting off with a broken little toe was not ideal and not how I wanted to go out on my first day of endurance training. However, there were some positives, it really did make me slow right down and running slowly can sometime be harder than running fast! It was a beautiful run along the coast, not hilly but having the beach and the ocean on my right hand side was stunning. I headed south running towards the iconic beach huts on Brighton Beach. I obviously had to do the touristy thing and get my photo taken outside with Blake.
Wednesday - 5 Mile - Speed Training
Speed training with a backpack and a whippet proved to be a bit of a challenge!
I was out on the St Kilda promenade, which is lined with palm trees, beautifully spaced out all the way along to the Port of Melbourne. Which proved to be ideal for fartlek training - walk, jog, sprint.
I started by using the distance between one palm trees, but by the time I’d done the 2.5 miles to the end. I still felt fine, so on the return journey I decided to mix it up and do the distance of two palm trees. Much more of a challenge and it got my heart rate up! It was also easier to get into stride and we could smash the sprint sections. I arrived home pretty knackered but pleased with how it’d gone.
Thursday - 10 Mile Easy Run
Same coastal route as Tuesday heading south towards Brighton Beach.This time I had a blister to add into the mix! I never suffer from blisters, but after a few hours I got one on my left foot. Which is probably a result of the change in my gait because of my broken little toe!! Oh well, these things happen and much better they happen now in training, rather than during the race.
Friday - Rest Day!
Lots of hot baths, sunbathing and relaxing. Which is so easy to do when you know the weather's going to be amazing. I’m listening to loads of great podcasts at the moment and reading a wonderful book called the Slight Edge - Which I’d highly recommend. I'll do a book review on the Slight Edge as I’m getting so much value from it and think it’s an awesome book which everyone should read!
Saturday - 1.5 hr Run
I headed out with Blake to Albert Park and we had a beautiful early morning run, managing to join in with the park run that was happening at 8 am. I hadn’t singed up, so I just headed to the back of the pack and then off we went around the lake with the stunning views of Melbourne City in the background.
Sunday - 4 hour Walk
Today it's all about “time on feet” one of the most important aspects of training that people overlook. I wanted to set off a little later than normal to get the midday sun when it was at its hottest! I’m fully embracing running in the sunshine and the heat! I also decided to add a bit more water weight to my back pack, so I added a full bottle of 1.5 litres, and a mini bottle of 500 ml. I’ll gradually start adding more and more weight into my pack over the coming weeks.
Key learning from this run…always put sunscreen on the back of your legs…. which I totally forgot to do!! I now have very sunburn stripes - not the most attractive look to carry off!
All in all, my training this week has gone well. I’ve felt good, pretty tired and I’ve had a few power naps to get me through the days. But it's gone better than I expected.
My training for the next three weeks will be the same with slight increases on the weekend times e.g. On Saturday an increase from 1.5 hrs to 2 hrs and on Sunday an increase from 4 hours to 4.5 hours.
The traning will be upped on Week 4 - the 25th of Jan!