1 Month To Go

September in a nutshell was massive… 454 kilometres!

I usually receive my program the Friday prior to the next week, but as I was coming of a big week, David decided to let me get through that and start my rest day Monday without thinking about what laid ahead. Upon receiving it, I thought yes, that was well played by him. Every run was bigger and my weekend long runs were events!

Saturday was to be a 4 hour run followed by 7 hours on Sunday, funnily enough it was the 4 hour run that played on my mind the most. I almost never do my long runs on the road but as I would spend all day in the hills Sunday, I thought Saturday needed to be flat terrain, therefore near home.

I ticked of all my week sessions, plus my strength sessions and started Saturday with 50km’s already in my legs. I decided to run to the Linear Park Path just near West Beach and follow that along for an hour then turn around. Aside from the head wind it was actually quite pleasant running somewhere new that did not totally feel like road running. I felt quite good and by the time I got back to West Beach, stopped for a coke at the servo… yes you read that right, coke is your friend on days like this, I had about an hour to go.

I managed to tick of 38km, feeling a little sore in the hips by the last couple of kilometres, but happy that session was done and I could sit in the Normtec’s, kindly supplied by Good Physio, and eat, recover and prepare for Sunday.

Sunday, mentally I was feeling good as I was heading to my happy running place, the trails. I woke feeling ok and not feeling any effects from Saturday’s run.

I was fortunate to have a bit of a tag team for the first half of my day to keep my company (Photo Incl.). First up was Ambo and Rach, who embraced the loop I put up, even though there were some nasty climbs and even nastier downhills that in some instances are slower than the ups. We ticked of 11km and met back at the car for the changeover team, being Jase and Karmen, who have joined me often during my training.

I may have given them a false sense of their 2 hours as it started with a nice flowing downhill, however Karmen soon clicked that we were going to have to go back up at some stage! We headed down Chambers Gully and then back up Winter’s Track, a nice little 2-3km climb, but then I enticed with a little 200m bite to see a fabulous view of the city! This was not the end of the climbing for them though as we still had another 3km to get back up to the car. I know secretly they enjoyed it!

Back at their car 3.5hrs down, 25km in the legs, I did a quick change of clothes, topped up nutrition and then headed on my way to finish the next 3.5hrs. I spent the next 27kms making my way through Cleland National Park, onto Pioneer Womens, past a snake, to Burnside and then weaving through the suburbs of Adelaide towards home.

7 hours and 52km’s, bringing my weekend total to 90km’s. It was such a good feeling to get the past two weeks done, and to come out the other side unscathed. It has given me a real insight into how I am tracking and what the challenge of running to Port Melbourne will be like, for 20 days.

This week I am on a very light week, with a few rest days. It is getting so close now that my emotions change daily from excitement to fear, but that is to be expected.

Thank you everyone for your support and thanks for reading.

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