Cautiously optimistic

Gratuitous picture of Wellington on a good day- this is from Phil's PHONE, and is one of the clearest shots of the Kaikouras I've ever seen. It is just MINT out there today! (it's seriously so gorgeous I don't MIND being at work, because I can gaze out over the flat harbour and look at the snowy Rimutakas in the distance!)

.. Anyway- onto the substance.

Last night, well- very early this morning, to be precise, I was dictating a note for my boss using the phrase "cautiously optimistic" and it's stuck in my mind.

This week has been all about the run- partly because I have a half marathon in two weeks, and partly because it's the only thing I can manage, working 12-15 hour days! I had a very chilly 30 minute run in Southgate on Monday morning, then a very satisfying aerobic intervals session around the good old bays on Tuesday evening. I'm really liking these runs- they're fun, but not hard, and being able to run "easy" and respectable paces is very gratifying! Tuesdays's was particularly fun, as I got to round the workout out with 4 minutes at TH pace (I ran about 7:33, which I guess is about right).

On Thursday, I did an old favourite loop- Thorndon Quay, Tinakori Rd, Glenmore, and down through Kelburn. It was a slow run, but still very satisfying- partly cos it's a damn fine route, and partly because I am getting better and better at running "easy" up hills. Glenmore's not steep, but it's long, and it basically gets steeper and steeper as you go. By the end, I was still running nice and steadily, and barely noticed the final wee climb.

Today's run was what left me feeling "cautiously optimistic." It was a 90 minute LSD, with a 20 minute "End 2" interval (upper end of aerobic) thrown in. Phil and I started with some rolling hills, basically along a ridge in Southgate, then headed down to Island Bay. I was feeling like absolute arse on toast when we got to the park, so wasn't expecting much from the 20 minute interval. I think I was working at the right level- I was still pretty much keeping up a conversation, just not easily, and watching my average pace gradually pick up over the length of the interval. I finished it with an average pace of 5:11/k, which I'm pretty pleased with! The fact that I held a faster pace for my 20 minute interval than I've been holding for my 4/6/8 minute intervals in my weekday sessions has made me feel very good about my running- it's really coming along again. So, I'm cautiously optimistic about the Taupo Half. I'll obviously raise this with Paul, but I'm thinking I'll try to start out at about a 5:10- 5:20 pace, hold that for the first half, and then pick it up for the way back. I'm confident in my ability to go under 1:50, and while I'd love to run 1:45, I think my ultimate goal will be for a good solid negative split.

Awesome eating

As y'all know, I like to compartmentalise, no matter how much I pretend I don't! So, I've started another wee blog to talk about food- check it out if you're interested!

Weekend training with my man

I tell you what- it's great having my weekend training partner back!

This past weekend was a goodie. We ventured out in the rain and mud for a short but good "day's" mountain biking at Woodhill (see Phil's blog for a more informative report) on Saturday. I took awhile to get going, as usual, but I'm finding that I'm getting into it more quickly as well as getting further each time- it's two steps forward, one step back rather than vice versa, and the forward steps seem to be getting longer, as the backward steps get shorter. In the end it was heaps of fun, and I managed to do a few clever-er than usual things too!

On Sunday, it was "long" run day. Last week I had an hour while Phil had 40, so we went out for 40 together and I plodded through the last 20 while Phil went home and stretched. This week, I woke up earlier than Phil and instead of pestering him out of bed, I thought "hey- I could do the FIRST 45 minutes alone and the second half with Phil." Genius.

It worked really well. I ran our Grey Lynn loop backwards and discovered that backwards kicks forwards' butt so hard that forwards runs screaming away- backwards means we climb College Hill and Richmond Rd, and go down through West End Park, and down the Cox's Bay steps. Much better! I did the first 4.34 miles in around 44 minutes, met Phil outside the apartment for a quick drink, and we headed out again. We did a bit of exploring, and our second loop was a little over 5 miles at 10:19/mile pace, which is slow, but I think about right for this run. I was impressed by how good I felt when we went past the 1:30 mark, as I haven't run "long" for a very long time! I'm not quite sure what to expect from my upcoming half marathon, but at least now I'm feeling confident that I can run the distance strong.

In Wellington for the next two weeks. It's going to be interesting from a training persepctive, but I'll do what I can. Also- it's bloody cold!

Cyclists' playground

I wanted to ride outside this morning, so I set my alarm for 5 and, after a fitful sleep (memo to self: do not read books about violent grisly murders before going to sleep alone) manged to pull myself out of bed at 5:08.

After nursing my coffee for slightly longer than necessary and enjoying a piece of homemade banana loaf (I get hangry if I ride without eating first, as Phil well knows), I dragged myself up, got my gear together and headed out.

Boy, was it ever worth it.

It was a cool, clear morning. But not too cold for my ordinary fingerless gloves. And definitely not cold enough for booties. So, in other words, perfect.

I decided to explore the Western central suburbs, so rode along Ponsonby Road and down Richmond. Richmond would be a great descent, if I could see, but this morning there were too many runners in the road, and too many corners I couldn't see properly to really let go.

I then found myself on Garnet Rd, so decided to head down Meola- just for fun. Coming back along Meola, past Motat, is always the funnest part of the Waitakeres ride- it's really easy to push a massive gear, and move along faster than the cars!

The Western-central burbs turned out to be perfect- like a playground for cyclists! The roads are wide and oh so veeery smooooooth (I'm from Wellington, ok? Wide and smooth are not in our vocabulary). Things are well-maintained; after all, rich(ish) people live there. They're well lit, and busy enough that they didn't feel deserted, but quiet enough that I didn't meet too many cars until I got back to the Marina. There's big, sweeping corners, fast fun descents, and wee grindy climbs that are just hard enough to make you work, but short enough that they're easily manageable. Well- easily manageable for me after 3 months of long standing intervals- they were pretty ghastly the first time!

I came back via Curran Street and around Westhaven. Curran St was pretty horrid- way too dark! I could barely see the marks on the speedbumps until I was just about on top of them, and it was hard to tell where the road stopped and the footpath started in places. But well worth it for the fun of swooping along Westhaven Drive in the morning- past the marina, with the light slowly rising, and over the speedbumps, which are that awesome kind that slow cars down but are roller coasters for bikes.

Got home just over an hour after I set out, though with stops and starts along the way ride time was around 50 minutes. But all in all, a nice morning's work, and getting home to a heater, a hot drink and a hearty breakfast made it a marvellous start to the day.

I've made no secret of my political leanings...

...but occasionally the PM and I find ourselves on the same page.

Doesn't that picture just make you want to ditch work and grab the bike?

Car v cyclist

I was surprised to see that more than a quarter of bike/car accidents are caused by the cyclist.

Obviously the fact that 73% are caused by motorists is far more significant, especially considering that inconvenience and maybe a dented door for a motorist probably means death or serious disability for the cyclist. But still- 27% is quite a few.

Please, be careful out there.

On slowing down

Slowing down. It's counter-intuitive. It's nigh on impossible for the ego of an amitious, competitive, type-A endurance athlete to handle. It's sometimes boring.

It WORKS.

I've believed in the philosophy for quite some time, but if you look back at my old blogposts and old training data, I said I was slowing down a lot more than I did. How many times did you hear me say "I kept my long run easy- you know, about 9:00/mile". Right- so "easy" is "marathon race pace"?? I was espousing aerobic training, but most of the time I was only doing it half-assed at best- meaning I got none of the benefits of slow training AND none of the benefits of fast training!

So, since I started with Paul, I've been trying to actually do it- to let go of my ego, and the fun of running fast and just do it right. It's been hard- especially as my HR strap's conked out (I'm waiting on the new Garmin one before I replace it), so now I have to trust myself not to pick up the pace and "pretend" it's easy. Especially when I sneak my GPS on and see how slow I really go.

But let's look at the evidence:

In December 2008, when I was in tip top, post A-race, plenty of speed-endurance work, shape, I ran a standalone 5k in 23:18. Then I had 2-3 months of patchy training, wedding planning, moving, working and weight-gaining. I started training again in around March, and from 1 April to 30 June I ran a total of 162 miles, at an average pace of 10:00/mile. My average run time was 40 minutes, so it's not like I've been running "long". I did one "speed"work session (supposed to be two, but the second turned into a goss session with Anna), which is probably more aptly described as relaxed fartlekking- 45 minutes of flat aerobic intervals, with the "fast" bits run at about 8:55 min miles.

Then, at my duathlon on Sunday, I ran a "5k" at 7:29 pace, roughly equivalent to... a 23:18. I ran without music, and, instead of kicking it to the finish line, I eased off at the end so I'd have a relaxed transition. Then I got on my bike and raced for another hour.

If this doesn't prove it, I don't know what will. But wait, there's more...

My husband ran an EIGHTEEN minute 5k last year (that's 3:39/k, or 5:51 a MILE). Right now he's injured and his easy runs are around 9:20-9:45/mile pace (up to 5:50ish ks), but even when he was fit, his easy, aerobic runs were generally around 8:00/mile pace, sometimes a little over or a little under.

And we're not done yet. Check out this quote from our coach's blog:

"What stood out the most was his belief that you should never push yourself too much whether by doing hard /anaerobic training or lots of mileage. Again he advised steady aerobic training as the key to long term success in endurance sport, every session should be 'quality' so you should always train well with good technique... and without pain or "Strain"... he actually told me to slow down, me who runs slower than many agegroupers out there?? "

Paul is a pro-triathlete, who ran a 3:02 marathon in IMNZ '09. Yet he trains slower than some age-groupers out there, and people are still telling him to slow down.

The last thing is blogging. I read so many running blogs, and unsurprisingly most of my favourite bloggers (apart from my team mates) are people who are a bit like me-25-35 year old women trying to go from breaking 4:00 in the marathon to getting that elusive BQ. Trying to or going sub-6 in the half. Getting the half-marathon time from the 1:50s to the 1:40s (or even, hope beyond hope, the 1:30s...girl can dream!). I read about people's training times, and I think "my god, chick's amazing. she's gonna whip my ass next time she races." But nine times out of ten, it doesn't happen. Most of the time, we're all training too fast, so of course our races are disappointing.

Now, this may all come back to bite me. I have a couple of half marathons coming up, and maybe I won't feel as "proven right" as I do right now. But I'm willing to keep believing.

PS- Phil and I did a quick check and found that this calculator is pretty consistent with our actual training and racing paces. Give it a go- it's interesting! And make sure you read Mr Daniels' advice about training at a higher Vdot value you haven't yet achieved!

PPS- Don't think for a second that I'm against hard training. Not at all. What I'm advocating is keeping easy runs EASY, and being honest with yourself about what "easy" really is. And not trying to PB your easy runs- that's just asking for trouble.

PPPS- Every coach is different. I'm not your coach, I'm no expert. Maybe the experts who read this will differ (if so dudes, please comment!) But if you're self-coaching, don't you think the "too easy" option sounds safer than the "too hard" option??