Vat_Man Tries The Marathon...

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vat_man

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Well, I set myself a goal for next year - to run the 2003 Sydney Marathon in September 2003.

I drew up a 14 week training schedule (which is attached) which I started this week as a 'dry run' to see if I could actually manage the distances, and also to get my base mileage up.

So, I've done the Tues and Thurs 8km runs (I run the weekday distances the very first thing after getting up), and I can't say I'm looking forward to finding 8km on Saturday (especially with the office Xmas party tonight) and 12 on Sunday (it's meant to be really hot here), but, well, ya gotta do it.

I'm a little stiff from yesterday but I'm actually better than I was on Wednesday - I was actually a touch stiff when I headed out on Thursday but freed up surprisingly quickly and was actually a shade quicker than on Tuesday.

I'll keep contributing to this thread as a bit of a diary. The target is to run a training 42.2 km in mid March, take a week off and then head into a two month half marathon program for the Sydney Half Marathon in May.
 

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Ha ha! Sweet! Perhaps I should do this with you - we could be trans-World running buddies or some junk.
 
Originally posted by LoudMusic
Ha ha! Sweet! Perhaps I should do this with you - we could be trans-World running buddies or some junk.
Click to expand...

'Some junk' will probably be an apt description of my legs on Sunday night.

I figure it's probably going to be a good way to burn off those last couple of layers of fat I've been struggling to shift - I could always stop drinking....nah, that's never going to happen.
 
Hey at least you're honest with yourself.

I need to get back to my routine, but it's been hard for me to find a consistant person to run with. I should probably just join the local running club and get on with it ...
 
Well, it's the end of week two, and thanks to Xmas and the heat here, I'm a little behind schedule, but I did do my kilometres today (16) and only finished 1 km down for the week (although my long run from last week was carried over). Still, covering 39km in 5 days was pretty good, and with things settling down next week, I should be right for the distance, although 20km on Sunday is pretty daunting!

Good thing so far is that backing up isn't as bad as I thought it would be - the day after backing up's tough though!
 
The end of week 3. The lesson this week is that a high fat/high protein mexican meal (which was lovely) and 6 margaritas is not an appropriate meal the night before a 20k run. I managed 16 today, but I got to the bottom of a particular hill on the way home, and in the face of another uphill section, the legs said 'enough' and that was that.

It was also pretty warm, and I probably should have taken water on earlier than I did.

Oh well - lessons learnt, and I did manage 40km for the week over hillier terrain than I had been covering previously (and yes, I am searching for positives!).

So - next week, it's 10km on Tues-Thurs-Sat, with 24km on Sunday. I have an alternative venue to run at (Sydney's Centennial Park), which is a 20 minute drive, and involves laps of a 3.6km circuit - the course is much more gentle in its hills than the one I tried today.
 
Nice One Vat_man ;)

I really must start running again, I used to do 3x per week, then as winter months started once a week and now shockingly I haven't been out for 2 weeks :eek:

Is it really the ice, snow and cold, or am I making excuses?

Anyway you sound planned and focused so stick at it and I'm sure you'll achieve that goal.

And my goal to run 3 times next week :D
 
Well, of course the wheels came off this week when I picked up a bug going around at work - I'll ease back into it this week and try to get back up to 40km a week quickly.
 
Im new to running. could you pls tell me how someone could run 26 miles straight, without resting or walking any? (or do you rest?).

I am currently 210lb 6'2" with around 23%bf, and in the process of getting in better shape. (dropped 7lb and more importantly from 27%bf in the past 4 weeks[....gained the weight after recovering from a very bad car accident]) And I could not imagine running that length, no way possible!! I can currently run/jog for 2 miles (3.2k) at the most. Is this because I am pretty out of shape or that I have the non-endurance type of muscles(I heard about 2 types before, explosiveness, and endurance. You may know more about this).

I am walking about 5 miles a day now on a treadmill, because it is winter(walking seems to burn fat, while running burns energy? has worked for me). But when I get under 18-20%bf and spring comes I will run outside daily. Anyway, I hope to understand how people can have such endurance, and possibly improve mine.

BTW, I have total respect for what you and other people are doing. Getting in the kind of physical shape to endure 42km is amazing.
 
Well, I don't know yet. I've run half marathon distance (21km) a couple of times, and run for two hours, without any particularly focussed training.

You should look into some running programs to start building your mileage - it will come up quite quickly.

Maybe try running 2-3 miles on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and a little longer on Sundays - maybe 5. Ease the mileage up for the following three weeks, and then ease back in the fourth week.

Have a look around on the internet, there are some quite good running websites that set out programs to get going.

I'm still struggling to get back on track after picking up that cold - I'll start back up this week.
 
Good luck to you vat! I can barely run the 3km in the school cross country. I'd rather ride my bike for 41 kms....
 
Good God! :eek:

Do you ever get a tad exhausted and slow down to walk, vat_man, or is that deemed unacceptable?
 
Originally posted by SandStorm
Good God! :eek:

Do you ever get a tad exhausted and slow down to walk, vat_man, or is that deemed unacceptable?
Click to expand...

I try to avoid it because I find it hard to regain a running rhythm.

That said, in last year's Sydney City to Surf (about 14.4km), the course is quite hilly, and there is a particularly long hill that's about 1.5 to 2 km in the middle, and then the road rolls up and down. It was quite warm that day, so I started walking the uphill sections from about the 8 km mark - heart rate was too high at the end of the long hill in the middle. My time was still pretty sold - I think because I'd gotten my heart rate back to a comfortable level I could run the flats and downhills at a good pace.

I ran the Half Marathon all the way fairly comfortably in May (around the Sydney CBD), but that course is pretty flat.
 
Be lucky to get me to run 5 kilometres on a good day without at least a 200-metre walk. I'm pretty fit, but I reckon you'd have to top it, mate.
 
Well, after a bit of hiatus due to a bout of the flu in January, I've managed to get past where I was before I stopped.

Last week I managed:
Tue 25/3 - 8km
Thu 27/3 - 8km
Sat 29/3 - 8km
Sun 30/3 - 18km - I was intending to run 20km, but quite warm conditions and, on reflection, probably not the best preparation food wise saw me have a little bit of a flirt with the ol' wall - lesson learnt is you can't run on protein only (we've got a bit of an Atkins diet thing going at home at the moment
Tue 1/4 - 10km

So - I'm back on track. Thanks to the new diet I've mnaaged to get about 4kg off, so I'm running a bit lighter, and cardio-wise I'm probably the fittest I've been. I think I know what I did wrong on Sunday (gotta get some good carbs in!), so I'll update this after my run on Sunday.
 
Strewth, mate - slow down, eh? Give us unfit blokes a break! ;)
 
Originally posted by SandStorm
Strewth, mate - slow down, eh? Give us unfit blokes a break! ;)
Click to expand...

Heh - I don't go anywhere quickly when I run...
 
Still, you run - that's the thing. You'll be battling to get me to run more than 4 km on a good day. Not that I'm unfit, I'm just not a jogger.
 
Well, the end of another week. I ran my 10km on Tuesday and Thursday, and ran my 20km on Sunday - but I missed my Saturday 10km, because, of all things, I got hit on the foot by a golf ball playing golf early on Saturday morning!

It's fine now - but when I laced up my Asics on Sat afternoon, it became obvious it was too painful, and on the cusp of needing to complete a 20km run the following day, I decided not to go.

After last week's fiasco I tried something a little different. We've been trying the Atkins Diet at home over the last month, with a fair degree of success. I elected to break the diet with a oat flake cereal based breakfast on Sat and Sun morning, and also ensured I drank water at the 5km mark, and took on Gatorade at the 10km and 15km marks - and it made a huge difference. I was quite fresh at the end of the distance and probably had another 4 or 5 km left in me (well, except for the fact that I was bored - I'd run two 10km routes close to home in case we'd visited Mr Wall again this week, so the scenery was pretty familiar).

So - the challenge this week? Well, it's back to 8km runs on Tues, Thurs and Sat, but I've got to find 22km on Sunday. The other challenge is I'm meeting a friend on Tuesday evening so I'll have drag my sorry backside out of bed at some ungodly hour on Tuesday morning to get my run in. Oh well, probably not a bad thing.

Back on track this week - and we're looking in good shape for the half marathon in 7 weeks time.
 
Well, this week went pretty well. I forgot about the 8km midweek runs, and ended up running 10km on Tues, Thurs and Fri, and managed 22km today (Sunday).

Sunday was particularly pleasing, as I ran an old route I'd attempted back in January (before I got the flu and lost about two months worth of work) which had beaten me - I had to walk the last 5-6km then - it's a run from my place into the Sydney CBD from my place with a lot of rolling hills. Anyone familiar with the inner 10km of Sydney's Victoria Road will know the terrain I'm talking about.

I made a little purchase on Saturday - namely an Asics water bottle belt. It's pretty cool, straps around your stomach, sitting just above your hips, with the bottle held in the small of your back. I ran it Saturday and Sunday - Sunday with a bottle of Gatorade, which was a huge help - I'd take a bit of a drink every 4km or so (about every 20m). I'm a big fan of sports drinks for my longer runs now - they REALLY help.

I've also added a very low sugar muesli to my diet on Fri morning, Fri night, Sat morning, Sat night and Sun morning to build glycogen levels in my legs for my long Sunday runs - you might recall we're on the Atkins Diet here at the moment. This seems to have helped my leg endurance a lot, so I'll be keeping that little alteration to my schedule.

I've also got some special bath salts designed to help muscles, so I'll be taking a nice hot bath tonight to try them out.

Looking forward, I've got the Sydney Half Marathon coming up close to the end of May. I might take a week off after that event (well, I might ride the bike to take some pressure off the legs), as that'll leave me about 15-16 weeks out from the marathon and will be my last chance for a break. There are a couple of little niggles in there at the moment (right thigh's coming up a bit sore on cool down, the perennial lower leg soreness, and so on) that a week off the road could probably really help.
 
Kudos to you, vat! How anyone could run over 40km without pausing is beyond me!
 
Thanks Snoop - not quite there yet!

Just a note - for fellow endurance runners, I can definitely recommend the old Radox Muscle Soak bath salts.

I had a nice hot bath on Sunday night using these, and yesterday I was quite concerned because, although not sore as such, my legs were particularly fatigued yesterday - but today, they've come up as good as new (well, not new as such - more like a well-cleaned up second hand version), certainly much fresher than I'd expect on a Tuesday after a long Sunday run.

Chatting to a few people I think the hot bath and salts draw the lactic acid out of the leg muscles and qucken the process of expunging it from your system.

Definitely worth it, though.
 
Okay, been a while since I posted here.

Hit the first race of the season, and a useful milestone to see where I'm headed today - the Sydney Half Marathon - basically two laps around the Sydney CBD.

It rained for most of the race, so it was the first time I'd run in the rain - definite learning experience, but a good one.

I managed to get under 100 minutes for 21.1km (13.1 miles), which I was very pleased with. This is basically the pace I managed to run 10km in September last year, so it shows the weight loss and additional training is paying big dividends, since I ran that pace for twice the distance. I managed to slice 15 minutes off my time for last year.

So, I'm pretty sore, but pretty pleased.

It's an easy week this week, then down to business for September's marathon...
 
Heh, you ran 21.1km in 100 minutes, when I did the 2003 Round the Bays, we did 9km in 97minutes, go the lazy buggers!
 
If you take out Beer Stoppage, how long would it have taken?

I reckon I could walk 9km in just over an hour!
 
Well, we (Me and my dad) walked most of the way, and ran for about 5minutes, which cut an estimated 15minutes off of our time. Our last years time was 106, so better that was our goal.
 
Jeezes, I can't believe I haven't participated in this thread yet!

The rain must've been quite interesting... I've never been in a race while it's raining, though during a couple of my CC races, it rained right before and after my race... :D

I'm getting badly out of shape. Track season ended about two or three weeks ago, and I haven't run since then (tons of homework and lack of initiative). Come summer break though (two more weeks!), I'll start running again, though that first week is going to be painful. :scared:

In CC, we're going to be going to a running camp in Mammoth for a week. That should be fun. :) And it'll definitely help my breathing to train at 7,000 feet!
 
Good shot of the conditions.
snap-marathon2,0.jpg
 
Just remembered I hadn't posted here in a while.

I've just finished week 3 of my 14 week program, which involved three runs of 8km each and a long run of 20km.

This was fine, except I picked up a migraine and headcold on Wednesday. I took the day off work, but felt a bit better in the afternoon and ended up running my 8km in the afternoon (my reasoning - I'm probably going to feel a lot worse at the 34km point in the actual marathon, so feeling a bit crappy was no excuse not to go out).

So - cold got worse. I was planning to run Friday but elected not to.

Woke up on Sat morning feeling pretty good, so after a solid breakfast and some yard work, I headed out to Centennial Park, which has a 3.7km lap, so I could do a reasonable distance but have the option of pulling out if I didn't feel good.

I ended up running 6 laps (22.2km) at a half decent pace (a little of what I ran the half marathon in), which was pleasing. I paid for it a bit on Sunday, with quite sore lungs, but did the mileage.

So - this week - 3 x 10km, and then a long run on Sunday of 24km....man, this better be worth it!
 
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