multicolored mayhem.

This last fortnight has been characterised by mucus, in many delightful shades.

I simply haven't been able to shake this cold, as it has travelled through my nose, head and lingered in my chest. I've gotten through the hard runs, though many of the recoveries have fallen off., thanks not only to the cold, but to a dramatic inability to get a good night's sleep and the need to get paid work in any form. In short, it's been a pretty hectic and messy time.

The runs that have gone through have, however, been good ones. Here's hoping that these big runs in the bush are making me strong - maybe it's working, because a normal 20km run now disappears without much notice. Speedwork is now pretty routine and the fast sessions are being absorbed without pain or soreness.
Excellent.

There's been two solid speedwork sessions since my last post - 8x1500m and 8x800m, both on the Burswood mile loop. These are now becoming entirely bearable sessions with a sound technique holding throughout all reps, at 5:40 and 2:40 respectively. Interestingly, these sessions, including the long warm up and return out to Burswood, become 23km and 17km in total. Running a 1:35 half-marathon as part of a speed session is quite pleasing.


The big Bibbulmun run for the week was 38km - this takes me beyond the Mundaring Wier, out to a nice little camping spot complete with parrots and the smell of BBQ sausages (extremely dangerous at the 20km mark!). This was in fact a great run, showing a whole new series of faces of the track, due to controlled burns and a period of rain.

Large areas of the start of the track have been burned.

The rain and storms have felled many big trees across the track.

Unfortunately for the Bibbulmun, the hardest section is the very first (and hence the very last) 5km of very rough, hilly country. At the end of a long run, this is really, really tough.
Learning from past mistakes , I took plenty of food and settled into a routine that seems to suit my stomach - water + whole food block (this lot were honey and nut) + clif shot block every 5km. At the 20km mark and 30km mark, I sucked down an espresso gel - I dearly love these little critters, but I suspect each time they give me a bit of a crampy tum for a period afterward - perhaps a bit too strong.
I have a batch of peanut butter, nuts and maple syrup run balls in the fridge now, so I'll see which ones fare best in the next few weeks of long runs.

To help with the food when I'm not wearing my trail vest (this one, from Nathan, which I love!),

I just jumped online and bought a SPIbelt (I was going to make my own in the office, but since I seem to have insufficient time to feed myself, I figure buying one was a smarter option.) This should carry a marathon's worth of food and taxi fare home from the 30km mark.

All this long stuff is giving me plenty of time to think about form and, dare I say it, shoes. I ran the track in my old Nikes, being broad, stable and well-loved. I've been wearing the Kinvaras for all the other stuff, and they are great, though I've been struggling for a few weeks with a "slappy" left foot - I can hear that my landings are uneven, and I get some shin soreness in my left leg, indicating that I am heelstriking excessively and slapping my toes down.
I began to suspect that the Kinvaras are half a size too big, letting me flop about too much, so I tried them with two pairs of thin socks - better! The lovely IW was good enough to rustle up another pair of Kinvaras for me, this time half a size down. I blooded these only today, and they are fitting the bill immediately as the "racing" shoe, needing only a very thin sock. I will get myself down to a running store (rather than the supermarket this time) and get myself a pair of proper cushiony socks to keep the older pair at peak comfort for all the ploddy stuff.

Racers.

6 weeks now till Berlin and 8 weeks till race day. Time with IW in her city will be a fabulous change of scenery, with plenty of rides and runs in the lead-up weeks. Can't wait.