Time to take a break

I'm spent! Tried an easy run this morning, but it just wasn't right. Going to take a week of complete rest, then slowly rebuild. Can't remember the last time I have taken more than two or three days of complete rest. It will hopefully do me the world of good, so I can come back better and stronger.

Saturday - Rest needed....

Should have listened to my body. After a subpar session on Thursday, on top of a couple of poor race performances in recent weeks - today was the final nail in the coffin; pulling out of Parkrun! Warming up with Scotty, I felt heavy and lethargic. Stubbornly put it down to 'heavy legs' which is not too unusual for me on a Saturday morning. But after a few strides, I knew that Parkrun was going to be a struggle. A first kilometer in 3'07 feeling comfortable and control suddenly gave way to running out of spark just meters into the second kilometer. Scotty and another guy started opening up a gap and I couldn't respond. The pace started slowing a lot, falling to low 4's at the start of the third kilometer. Decided to begin the recovery process early by crossing the bridge and finishing early. Stood around with the volunteers as we all cheered Scotty home for a sensational 15:50. Made even more remarkable by essentially running solo, and into a headwind for the final stretch. A slow trot back home for at least something this morning. I've been in this situation far too many times before, so I really should know what to do. I think the plan is to completely rest tomorrow, followed by an easier week next week. I probably need to evaluate my double runs - after all, my best run to date was the 2015 Gold Coast Half Marathon which was run on daily single runs. Sometimes less is more.

Thursday - 2km (5' rest), 3 x 1km (off 3' rest), (5' rest), 5 x 200m (off 1' rest) (am)

That was brutal, depressing, yet enlightening. Couldn't get any starters (have no idea what Dicky we doing???), so solo I was. Tossed up whether to run the session at Passmore (650m loop), Graham Reserve (400m grass) - but location won the day - the beachfront is hard to beat. Started at Manly LSC for the first rep. Went hard - knowing I had plenty of rest between the first and second rep. This is where looking at the clock is depressing. 6:22! But this is honestly where I am at at the moment. I've got the aerobic endurance, I have the general speed - where I am severely lacking is the aerobic power. In other words, I am red-lining way too early on in races these days. And this session certainly highlighted that. The good news is that this could be the solution. Anyway, the 1km reps went 3:05, 3:11, 3:08. The legs were like burning concrete during these - that feeling where your mind is telling you to run faster but the body won't respond (that feeling of helplessness). The 200's highlighted that the general speed is not the issue - 33, 32, 33, 32, 33 seconds. A nice and easy 5km cooldown. I'm absolutely shattered now. I've got some serious work to do between now and Melbourne - my saving grace is the length of the race being 21.1km.

8km easy this afternoon in the (unpredicted) light drizzle along the beachfront. 5:02's.

Wednesday - 20km easy + strides

A very slow and steady 20km all along the beachfront and Nolan's this morning. Joined Justin for the first half (he had aleady run 11km or so before he joined me). Really felt the lingering fatigue from yesterday and Sunday. But as usual, felt better after finishing off with some strides. 4:57's.

Tuesday - Mona Fartlek (am) + 8km recovery (pm)

Today was always going to be tough, backing up from Sunday's race. Pre-session predictions were for a much slower than usual Mona fartlek. And I definitely felt it! Warming up felt ok, but as soon as we started the session, the legs were still heavy. I was lucky to have Scotty there, as I don't know if I would have pulled through the session solo this morning. In the end, we were just shy of four laps of The Spit Loop - about 6.19km. This was much better than expected. Happy days! Quite cold out there, and a bit of a headwind in places. A nice and easy cooldown for about 15km all up. Just happy to get through it to be honest. Planning for another easy run later today.

An easy 8km around the streets of Randwick. 5:00's.

Monday - 16km easy + strides

Out by myself this morning for an easy three laps plus a kilometer along the beachfront. Felt quite good, apart from soreness in the hamstrings. This was most noticeable during the strides at the end, with the first one being run a fair bit slower. 4:49's.

Bridge Run - 6th in 29:47

While I was initially disappointed with the result, upon reflection it wasn't too bad. Finished 6th in 29:47 - didn't get chicked either. Went out hard and hung with Scott and the other guy for the first kilometer over the bridge. However, the pace was just beyond my limit, so I was dropped. Held onto fourth for the next few kilometers before two young guys came past at the end of Macquarie St. Then it was a matter of survival and ensuring that Vic didn't 'chick' me. Got to the finish line in one piece. Congratulated Scotty, had a quick chat to Rachel, before Erika and I slowly jogged back to my car at Neutral Bay. My initial disappointment was overcome when looking more closely at the results once I got home. The fact that Scotty was so far in front was more or less down to him having an absolutely phenomenal run - holding 3:10's!!! I kind of wish the race was an extra kilometer as I would have loved to have seen him join Tom as the second sub-32 runner this year. He will surely do that in Melbourne if all goes to plan. My average pace was 3:21's, which is roughly 33:30 10k pace. And in all honesty, I'm happy with that at this point in time, given that two weeks ago I was far slower than that. The frustrating thing I guess is comparing the pace to what I was running pre-injury. But I simply need to stay consistent and I am sure the results will come. Eating more, taking my recovery seriously (by slowing down on the non-session runs), and racing more will help me get there. Keen to start doing some more ParkRun's - especially if I can get Scotty and Tom down there (although I won't be pushing them at the very moment). Might try and do this next weekend. The other good news is that I am hungry to keep racing, which is a massive change in mindset to my previous fear of it. I've got nothing to loose and much to gain. Well done to everyone else out there this morning, especially to those who ran the half and full marathon. Great PB's by Burkey, Darren and Renee in the half! I heard that Burkey cried as well! Sounds like he didn't bother Tom (pacing the 80 minute pack) with thousands of questions throughout the race.