Friday, February 26, 2010

Sweating on a long run

Tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn I plan on running 30k with friends around beautiful Lake Burley Griffin. We'll be out for around 3 hours 15 minutes — afterwards, hopefully I'll be feeling normal enough to enjoy coffee and breakfast. I've been sweating on this run. It's a good bit longer than the 23k I'm used to on Saturday mornings. It's a bit of a test to see whether I'll like marathon training.

I'm slightly worried because my races haven't been going well. Thursday a week ago I started in the 5000, but reached 5 laps feeling very ordinary, so decided to bail out at 3k (12:47.4). Last night my legs were totally dead — was lapped by Speedygeoff, Brett and Nadine. Janene, Jim and Bronwyn were out of sight. I ran 13:59, which is more like half marathon goal pace. The heart-rate monitor told me I was running at tempo effort (86%), but the legs just wouldn't go faster! Anyway, my fingers are crossed for tomorrow's run.

Speaking of sweating, I've posted a couple of David Appleby's photos from the 10,000. You can see the sweat pouring out of me! In the second photo I'm being lapped by the third-placed female. There's also a link to a YouTube movie of a mystery run with the Wednesday Wiggles group. The quality isn't great — I need better video compression software, so if anyone knows of a good program, let me know.

Sweating up a storm in the 10,000
Sweating in the ACT 10,000m Championships

Being lapped by the 3rd-placed lady
Being lapped by the 3rd-placed lady

View Movie at YouTube
Wednesday Mystery Movie

17 comments:

Girl In Motion said...

Good luck tomorrow!! One thing I was thinking about, you do so much short fast stuff that maybe the marathon is exactly what you need right now. Perhaps switching it to longer distance will leave you free from worrying about speed and let you concentrate on endurance instead, which might just give you some great results. May tomorrow be a wonderful run. Looking forward to the details.

strewth said...

That battery ran out at exactly the right time!! Pity about missing the kangaroos though. All that sweat proves that you were running hard! See you tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn - just focus on the coffee afterwards.:)

Thomas said...

Longer long runs might be just the thing you need.

Could you be dehydrated? It might explain why your times have worsened all of a sudden.

Robert Song said...

Have you tried taking your resting HR in the morning. If that is up then that is an indication that something is not right.

Grellan said...

I agree with Thomas. A long easy paced run with friends may be just what you need. Hope the marathon bug bites.

Ali said...

When I distance training it takes me 5 - 7k just to warm up and feel normal.

Coffee and breakfast are the best reward after a 30k ... enjoy and have a great long run.

Love2Run said...

So what is the early dawn temperature? Lots of fluids surely will make it easier to handle. Good luck!

Joe Garland said...

Enjoyed the video. Seems so foreign, given the warmth when there's two feet of snow here today. Remember, when you get to the States, we keep to the right on trails.

As to recent races, i suggest that you just let them come to you and keep them in perspective. Hope your 30K went well.

Also, it's nice to see that Flo is now pimping for marathons.

Janene said...

I hope your run this morning was as beautiful as the morning was. It was a stunner in nice cool conditions :-). I wish I could manage 30 km, we did 17 km and that about killed me. Bring on marathon training I say ;-).

Ewen said...

Well, ran 30k with friends (old and new) this morning. The run went pretty well. 3 hours 6 minutes (not including foreseen and unforseen stops) so a bit quicker than expected. It was a glorious morning. Lots of hot air balloons floating above the lake.

Flo, your luck was with us - thanks!

Strewth, I'll get the kangaroos next time. I was focussing on coffee, coke and not doing a CJ climbing through the dump this morning.

Thomas, I'm not sure why I was useless Thursday. Dead-leg syndrome I think.

Robert Song, no I haven't tried that. I'm thinking it's some slight overtraining and not being rested enough for the races.

Grellan, I'm tipping towards running one. Hope it's not a bug though ;)

Ali, thanks. The coffee was the best!

Mike, it was a beautiful morning - from 12C to 21C, so getting a tad warm at the finish. Go Canada!

Joe, I'll remember to do that. Don't want to have a head-on with an oblivious iPod runner. I think Flo is pimping for marathons because she wants less competition in the short stuff.

Janene, it wasn't that cool by the time we finished... but yes, stunning early on. I'll swap you a 30k for a 12:26 3000 ;)

Samurai Running said...

Wow Ewen,

you're not kidding about sweating alot when you run. Have you ever tried "Neoprene" I heard that stuff "wicks away sweat" ;)

Anonymous said...

I do not think you should worry too much about the two recent 3000m races. I think that 10,000m two weeks ago and the 23 Km run two days later took quite a lot out of you. You noted on Sunday 14th that your legs shouted ‘no way’ when faced with the Pete Magill drills. The following Thursday you had a difficult time in the 3000m and then the next day your RS score was 817 during an easy paced 6km. Despite the fact that RS score varies with circumstances, but that sequence of events suggests you were probably still quite significantly stressed at the end of last week. The disappointing 3000m this week was not that surprising. However it is great that you felt good during today’s 30K run. I suspect you are recovering well, but do not push yourself too hard over the next week.
As for setting your sights on a preparing for a marathon over the next few months, I think that would be a great thing to do.

trailblazer777 said...

nice pics and vid. keep at it, the results will come when the time is right...

RJR said...

Glad to hear (from your comment) that the long run went well. It seems strange to see so much sunglight in the video this time of year. Glad it's still winter up here. :-)

Stephen Lacey said...

Good analysis by canute1 ...

Glad the long run went well. I would also like to see you enter a marathon or two. Why should the rest of us have all the fun?

Anonymous said...

wannabecoach said:

I concede to canute1.....perhaps my aspirations of ever coaching you are futile.

Ewen said...

Scott, no I haven't tried it. Might try "Neoprene" arm warmers in my next marathon if they're good for a 2:30 ;)

Canute, thanks for that analysis. In retrospect, I think you're right in that I started tipping the see-saw the wrong way by not recovering enough from the 10,000. Pretty sure I will prepare for a marathon now.

Thanks Jonathon.

RJR, the sunlight usually continues into June - great months for running coming up. No snow blizzards at all to look forward to though ;)

Stephen, not sure after your Tokyo disaster that you were having fun! Canute is one of my paid consultants. His rates are much better than those of wannabecoach.