Sri Chinmoy 24hr turned 12hr.....GRRRRRRR!!!!!

Thats the way the cookie crumbles. Sometimes thing work out and other times they slap you in the face. For me this race slapped me in the face real hard!

I've learnt with races like this you need to treat them with respect and with each race comes a new learning experience.

I thought I was running well but now I think about it the more I realise how disrespectful I was with this race.
2 things that went wrong

1 - I need to work on my nutrition side of things. I can get away with 100mile trail races and 12hr races on what I do but this is a whole new ball game

2 - I need to start off slower! I should've stuck to my race plan, included regular walk breaks where I eat and STUCK TO IT!

Anyway this was my first attempt at this thing so its a great learning curve.


Quick summary of how my race went

We leave home at around 6am and get to the track a bit after 7am. We set up tent and relax until 10am.
First thing I notice is how quick some of these runners start off! One guy was running about 4:30/km pace I reckon! I just settled into a nice rhythm but was still way too fast at about 5:15/km pace.
The morning was going quite quick and before I know it the 6hr race was on it's way.

I really didn't feel like I needed to slow down as I felt so comfortable for most of the time I was out there.
I moved my way up from 6th position at the start to 1st position and kept that until I stopped.
At 7hrs20min I'd covered 80km and decided to slow the pace a bit
The first sign of fatigue came about 10hrs in but I still felt great.
It was about this time Mick, Jess, Jono, Charlie and some others came by to watch on thier way home from Nowra. That was a nice surprise. It must've looked funny us runners going so slow around an athletic track after racing the state x-country champs!

Anyway 11hrs40min I started to feel sick and had trouble eating. All of a sudden One minute I'm feeling in control and the next I'm feeling in trouble

15min later I have a toilet break and start to see everything spinning. I stumble out of the toilet and my hamstring that was handling everything so well decided to get really sore. All of a sudden I'm thinking "how am I going to get through another 12hrs of this?"
I ran back to the tent have a seat and within 5min all my legs seized up. Another 5min and I decided to pull the pin

I ended up with 120.8km in 11hrs55min
Anyway 11hrs

Trotters - Gerry's run

Easy 11k run with Levi, leg was good at our pace but could still feel it this time more laterally which we started off mega slow and just picked the pace up as we got going. Still easy the whole way through though. Finished in around 56min (5:09 pace)

After trotters went to gym and did some glute strength work and used the steamroom. Leg felt much better after that.

Just about to head off to Sth West Rocks for an easy run in the marathon tomorrow

Thurs and Fri

Thurs I felt pretty good. Still a long way off but had a pretty good run. Ran 24.2k in 2hrs5min (5:10km) Did a few sub 5min and leg held up good

Fri was different. Went for 15k and from the start I could really feel my hips. The 15k was slow from start to finish. Bit annoyed. 1hr21min

Goes to show we can have a good day and a bad day. Hoping tomorrow is a good day!

Day off work = A run, swim, run, Body balance

Put on the rain jacket some long tights and headed out the door for another slow run. 13k this morning at around 5:22 pace. Did a couple of 5min k's but the hammy didn't like that so I settled down.

A few hrs later it was I was in the pool for a 2k swim then off for another run. This time easy 11k around 5:20 pace then I did a body balance class. Just being careful with the hamstring work

Thats me done for the day. Now I've got a blocked nose from the swimming

Tues and another nice slow run

Got up and for the first time in 5 weeks my hamstring felt good! Off I drive to the gym thinking ïs this the turning point? Could it have healed through the night? Could I be back to normal running? some speed work maybe?
Well I get to the gym get out of my car and the feeling was back. Ohhh well slow running again.
I decided I want to do a cycle class to do some heart rate stuff but the stretching of the leg with the pedal was bringng on the hamstring pain. So I still finish the cycle class but will give them a miss for the time being.
After cycle I went for a run from the gym to Adcock park and did 6k on that running a nice slow pace getting use to the feeling of running slow on a track. I guess I did the first 4k about 5:25 pace then thought I'd slow even more to see what 6min k pace feels like on the track. Did 2k best I could do was 5:48 then slowed again thinking this has to be 6min or over and it's 5:53. I then made my way bak to the gym to do a bit of strength work and steamroom
23.3k done in 2hr3min (5:18 pace)

Sun and Mon 42.6 and a 5

I tell you what..this hamstring thing thats not letting me run my normal pace and forcing me to slow down is a bit of a blessing! If I was wanting to do a race like a marathon or shorter then I'd be a bit pissed but since what I'm really training for is total endurance and 6min km pace is considered fast I'm now really enjoying running long at a slow pace and still finishing quite fresh.

Yesterday (sunday) I got up and ran around the bay plus some extra and in the end it was 42.6km in 3hrs49min (5:22 pace) I was running slower at the start and somewhere there I ran into Greg Brown so I ran with him from PT Claire to the Rip bridge. I was happy how I felt in the legs since it was only the day earlier I ran 53km
Today (mon) I went to the gym to do some strength work and use the steamroom but also ran another slow run. This time only 5km. Calves were tight but other than that I felt ok. Hamstring was good but I wasn't striding out at all. I think my fastest pace was about 5:27 so pretty cruisy

Nice long 53km

Started off at trotters but went off and did my own run to Norah Head and back. Again just like the rest of my runs this week I kept it at an easy pace. Pretty much held onto 5:30 pace most of the way. Hamstring was really good running. I could feel it and the hip felt tight but as far as running went it was good. It got pretty sore when I finished and spent quite a bit of time putting the ice pack on it.

All in all I was happpy with todays effort

Thurs and Fri

Thurs
Off on a slow 21.8k. Really taking my time and making sure I don't put any stress on that hamstring. It was feeling good running slow and every now and then I caught myself speeding up to my normal easy pace and had to force myself to slow down. Ran it in about 2hrs. Pace was about 5:40km. Good news my hamstring didn't get any worse all day but I tell you what......my feet were so tired by the end of the day. I guess being on my feet from 7:30am when I started running to when I finshed work at 9pm is good endurance training!

Fri
Today I just went for another easy run without putting any pain on that hammy. 12k in about 1hr2min 5:16km pace. Still slightly slower than my easy runs.

Later had a massage that I'm glad to say was much less painful than the one last week!.

Tomorrow I'm planning a 50k-60k run at about 6min/km pace. That should put me in a good frame of mind for the 24hr and I guess it will give me an idea how my legs will feel after running nice and slow for that long. I'm hoping they will feel pretty good.