Secret Blog for Killing Track and Parkrun PBs

My ankle survived Sunday, a 5km XC handicap on fire trails. It likes fire trails much more than bitumen. The splits: 4:27 (up), 4:04, 3:58, 3:54, 3:48 (down)=20:11. Quicker as I went but 2 minutes off my quickest on the course. Yesterday 6km up and down Mt Painter, around the time I usually do and the ankle pain down to a dull ache. Today 8km out on the Aranda loop. Again the time surprisingly quick given my lack of running for 3 weeks. A niggle barely noticeable today The achilles is getting better every day. I'm giving myself one more day of bludging along with the stretching, ice, tennis balls and ibuprofen (which will all continue into the future). Pumping up the volume will come first with a first session on Saturday morning 3 x 2000m intervals with 1-2 minutes jog recovery It's still 10-15 weeks before my next race, plenty of time to get things right.

Training Overview - Preparatory Period 1 Preparatory Period 1 May1 to June 15 Aims to develop: Aerobic endurance, strength, power Training Goal: Aim to fit in no more than 3-4 of the sessions below each week according to body fatigue LT Runs: steady runs comfortably hard of 20-50 mins at lower threshold, effort =3/10, weekly once Long intervals: 4-6 x 5-8min, 1-2 minute recovery jog at mid threshold, effort=7/10, weekly once 5-6 x 2.5-3min, 1-2 minute recovery jog at max threshold, effort= 8/10, weekly once Race Conditioning: XC races, fun run, BBQ stakes, monthly handicap, effort =8/10, monthly Power: 300m hills on moderate incline, jog back recovery, high hips, effort=8/10, weekly once All sessions begin and conclude with stretching and 4 x 100m strides Plyometrics, strength training, core stability, yoga optional Training Overview - Preparatory Period 2 Preparatory Period 2 June 16 to September 30 Aims to develop: Aerobic endurance, race pace,...

Two runs of 2km today and no pain whatsoever. I still need to keep up all the stretching, ice and so on to keep the progress ticking back to full health. It looks like I will be able to slowly increase the volume over the next few days and resume base training as planned on May 1. Sunday will be a better indicator of progress when I have an easy 5km over the ACTVAC XC handicap at Majura. In coming months I have entered Gold Coast Half Marathon and City2Surf. The latter will be full gas as usual. Gold Coast I have entered only that I am flying out of Brisbane on the same day to France (same as last year). Will see on that weekend if I actually run or not. I'm not fussed. Over the weekend I get to chat with some of those I helped this year. I am looking for feedback and reflection before I lay out plans for the next training cycle. For me in particular it will be an extended cycle out to World Masters Athletics in Lyon, France.

I've been slowly recovering from achilles soreness from the marathon. It has been a sharp pain isolated to one small spot. Not sore at all to walk on and doesn't throb at all in the morning. When I did run earlier in the week I could feel a problem up the leg to the top of the hamstring along the line of muscles that cramped from 13km in the marathon. I suspect they were in partial spasm from 13km to 36km and then full spasm thereafter. The problem up the leg is much better, small spot a little improved. I've done much icing and stretching. Aside from the 8km a week ago it has been just 1km and then 2km a day to monitor the recovery progress. There is no pain riding the bike so I have done some short wind training sessions and rode the bike to work (and back) this morning. I am sticking to my 1 May goal to start running properly again even if not training hard. Official splits from the marathon I received yesterday. Standing still and stretching for 8 minutes in the las...

Ran 8km yesterday but it was painful at first. Today I repaired both my time trial and road bikes ready for some cross training. I am giving myself until 1 May to get my body healthy again. If not??? ASO posted a time lapse of Marathon de Paris the start all in 90 seconds. Awesome!!

Two hours in a hire car to Arenberg for Paris Roubaix cycling. I tested my memory from 2010 to see if I could get there through the back roads without map and excelled. Surprising how good my memory was. We have been to Arenberg twice in 2010. Once for the stage in the 2010 tour de France and the other a few days before to check things out. This time we went exploring and pushed the memory gathering much harder. We took loads of photo and video. I can't describe in words. The day itself just got better and better. It was incredible to see the dust rise from the cobbles and hear the gears clicking, chains rattling. The crowds were fuelled by Belgian biere, some way past happy. We watched the race on the big screen at the forest entrance. Wow, I can't remember a more even Paris Roubaix with suspense until the final kilometres. It was a great day out. We Willie at the same venue come July on our second day of  chasing Tour de France 2014. BRING IT ON.

Second Sunday in Paris means Paris Roubaix. Probably the main reason we came was for this race as it often clashed with the Marathon de Paris. Since ASO now organises both races something had to change for the television to work. Last year Paris Roubaix immediately followed coverage of Marathon de Paris on the same channel. This year we can participate in both live. We moved to the airport for the last three nights. It is here we hire the car for tomorrow and a very easy out directly onto the A1 peage. We will travel to the forest of Arenberg to watch the race and caravan pass. There will be a big screen just before the entrance to the cobbled section of the cobbles. I expect we will be 1km down the cobbled road and hope to catch some carnage although the weather has been fine all week and no rain expected to make things slippery. Today we caught the train to Marches des Puses. It is a huge flea market where an entire section of town (2-3 sq km) has been converted to shonky counterfe...

Great running Jane.

I have rarely had to go to cross training for injury rehabilitation over the last 8 years but this may be an opportune moment with no racing scheduled until August. A few months ago I purchased a Lemond Revolution trainer when I broke my ribs. I only had to use it for a few days so didn't get into a program as such. it is a great machine for training as the harder the strokes, the harder the resistance. This is the program I used when I was a competitive cyclist to good effect, for both myself and Minnie. I know it works. Sessions: For neural training: In the saddle a set of 6-10 × 15 seconds at cadence 120rpm in easy gear (39/19-17 for me). 2-5 minutes rolling recovery. For maximum power: 1km easy, 700m at maximum threshold (53/17), then out of saddle clicking through gears (16, 15, 14) at full gas for 300m. Repeat 4-8 times with 2000m rolling recovery. For speed / power endurance: 6-8 × 2000m on hotdog circuit at cadence 100+rpm. Out of saddle at start clicking through...

I noticed today entries are open and the website is upgraded. I already did my research last year while in France so I can enter and book hotel on my return to Oz. These championships and in Perth in 2016 will be my primary goals from here on in. The program for me: August 5 2015 8km XC ;  9th 5000m track ; 11th 10000m track  ; 15th Half marathon? I will be in the M50 category until 2017. I expect I will view Tour de France as normal in July which will give me two weeks post TDF to freshen up and fine tune. The weather I already know will be very warm to hot (unless it rains). My pre Championships training camp will be most likely in either Annecy by the lake and bike path, Albertville at the other end of the bike path, or possibly in Provence the town Apt (also with bike path). I prefer Annecy. Come and join me.

For the second day straight we caught the metro to Montmartre. Yesterday we just walked and took in the sights. Today we visited all the places we could from the film Amelie and our last destination was the cafe where Amelie worked with Georgette. We sat in a booth, drank two French coffees, went to the toilet (seperately) that included a scene from the movie, took photos and had a lovely moment. It was a great start to the day and a highlight of the week. Minnie went for a brief run today but only lasted a short while before another cramp. Today is the first day I have felt ok in the legs but have a head cold and no urge to run yet. Tomorrow we move away from our nice little home near the Arc de Triomph and out to the airport. On Sunday we take a trip to the forest of Arenberg to see a cobbled section of the race Paris Roubaix. Next day we head home.

Montmatre was the destination this morning. We took the journey up to Sacre Coeur, both inside and outside, then wound our way back down again bagging scenes from Amelie along the way. Our last destination was Montmartre cemetery. I loved the walking this morning, the weather perfect. On the way back we stopped by the Decathlon store to compare the home brand isotonic powder with Gatorade we normally use. The stand out ingredient difference was sodium chloride with more than double the ratio in the Decathlon brand (which explains why it didn't taste sweet). I am no nutritional expert but from my brief reading it is likely we consumed more sodium than we needed in the final 48 hours and dehydrated instead of hydrating our bodies (which explains the cramping). Further I carried two bottles of the Decathlon high salt concoction during the race and when I started to get cramps consumed even more salt. It wasn't until I lost the bottles that I started drinking water from the 5km st...

The legs much better today after some long slow walking yesterday. Today a walk to the Tower and back, maybe up if we are early enough to minimise the queues.

Splits first (only have a 30 split watch): I started on the front wave for preferred and elites, 4 or 5 rows behind the elites. 337, 327, 330, 333, 333, 330, 336, 331, 333, 337 (3532 10km) It was all into a moderate wind, I wanted to catch a huge bunch ahead so did much of the work in our small group, I couldn't get there. 332, 335, 333, 339, 346 (5340 15km) There were some hills, I caught a female elite and we formed a small bunch. At 13km I had my first series of hamstring cramps. I immediately backed off the pace and started consuming gels. I had 4 in the first 25km. 350, 339, 338, 342, 336, 347 (7554 21.1km still sub 232 pace but looking unlikely) 343, 346, 354, 355, 403 (9537 25km) More hills, less wind, running out of carbohydrate already. 410, 404, 416, 415, 416  (116:40 30km) Now out of carbohydrate. Now out of splits. I ran at similar pace for 2km, with 10km to go I made a run for home but not much quicker, splits on 400. I calculated a final 10.2km in 41 minutes would giv...

This morning a 20 minute jog in the park opposite the hotel. There would have been 30 joggers running inside a small park, all running their crazy and different routes. The park was big enough to have a boutique community vineyard and a marionette theatre. We left the hotel near the expo and walked to the metro, caught the train to new and much more fancy hotel very near the Arc de Triomph which is in between the start and finish (around 300m to both). We met a couple from USA, one of which has run 54 marathons since turning 60 and 10 this year. Speaking English attracted an English couple which made for a nice 6 way conversation. Next we walked to a Decathlon store and made some small purchases. On the way back some food at a boutique super marche. Very similar ingredients to yesterday... add a banana and some couscous minus the baguette. I couldn't resist the deep bath which also kept the couscous and petit pea and carrots warm. Of the actual marathon? I have no idea what to...

We made it without drama to Paris. Straight from airport to Expo and discard collection, on to hotel. Yesterday an 8km run to the bus terminal Sydney bound. Today a 2km jog in the park opposite the hotel. Tomorrow will be a longer jog, around 5km. We are straight into our typical eating habits. Looking forward to a good night sleep.

My favourite pre-race effort is a 2000m tempo run no matter what the upcoming race distance (above 5km). It only takes 1-2 days to recover and the longer the race the less the risk. So today in training shoes a jog to the track (4.5km), 2000m (no strides) in 6:45 with first 400m in 85 (3:20 pace thereafter). Jog home. I have a whole lot of tightness issues in the back, hamstrings, calves and ankles to work through in coming days. If I don't work through them enough it means a more conservative strategy early which doesn't necessarily mean a slower time. I am hopeful. Just short runs from here on in...Marathon de Paris bon voyage.