Blaming my tool

 Not sure that my runtastic app is always recording/reporting accurately on two fronts:

1. I've enabled the option to "Auto Pause" activities when my GPS detects that I've stopped moving. Handy when you have to stop, e.g. to cross a busy road or tie a shoe lace. But even though the audio tells me that the activity has been auto-paused, I'm not convinced it is. This is because it auto-paused a couple of times, and in those particular 5 minute segments my pace was relatively bad (i.e. slow). Hmmm...
2. Another couple of times when my pace was particularly slow today it seemed to coincide with times when I doubled-back on myself (e.g. up a street, hit a dead-end, turned around). So perhaps the GPS doesn't "pulse" frequently enough.

Keen to research both of the above.

In other news...

Got the "wicking" shirt! Wife thinks I look like a Star
Trek crew member.

Week #1 of 16 in summary: Monday was 50 mins, Thursday was 60 mins, and today, Sunday was 90 mins. Hard core! Week #2 and onwards gets more serious: 4 runs per week. 

90 mins is possibly the longest time I've ever run continuously. No muscle pain until I hit the 1 hour mark, then my troublesome left calf muscle started complaining. Again. Really annoying! Once again I was on the edge stopping in order to protect it, or running on and hoping it was just fatigue. I decided to run on, cautiously, being really careful not to over extend it. Shortening the stride length helped too. I made it to 90 mins without it worsening significantly. Hopefully no lasting damage. Pace was good: 6:58mins/km, still nicely inside the target range of 6:30 and 7:10.

I assumed that the training program wouldn't ramp up quite so quickly. Wrong! I can't help feeling that the program is designed to scare the crap out of you in the first week. "Can't handle week #1? Quit now!". No deal!

23% towards my fund raising target. Awesome!

Just checked my donations page:

http://www.justgiving.com/Ross-Gerring

$762.60 raised so far towards a target total of $3,000. Awesome! Thanks so much everyone.

I've actually got a special announcement coming up to help "encourage" some more donations... Watch this space...

2 down, 60 to go.

1 hour pounding the not-very-mean streets of Melbourne this morning.

Training session #2 of 62 - so 60 (OMG!) to do. Not sure if that includes the BIG ONE itself.

Put a water bottle in my bum bag this time, but when I went to reach for it, it was wasn't there. Started to question whether in fact I'd imagined putting it in there at all. As luck would have it, the route I took today slightly overlapped on itself, and there was my water bottle lying on the pavement. Sweet!

Must tie up laces a little tighter in future.

Which aches and pains NOT to worry about? Fairly early on I felt a slight tightness in my left thigh muscle. I stopped a couple of times to stretch and rub it a bit. It didn't go away, but it didn't get any worse either. Again, I'm very paranoid about pulling a muscle and totally ruining my training schedule. Part of me wanted to stop and walk, just to be ultra-cautious. I carried on regardless.... and don't feel that I've done any damage. Fingers crossed.

Good news is that I improved my pace from 7:14min/km to 6:54min/km, so nicely within the 6:30-7:10 target pace.

Aching

My legs are still aching after run #1 of 62 last Monday! #2 is tomorrow, 1 hour. Looking forward to smashing it out and getting back within the target pace times. But I know that I can't let my guard down in terms of pre- and post-run warming up and stretching. One slip, and one pulled muscle, and this could seriously derail my training.

Game on!

At last the big day has arrived! Today is Day #1 of my 16 week marathon training program. I've been more than a little concerned about this in the lead up to it...

1. Would my previously injured calf muscle hold out?
2. Would I be able to face getting up at 6am in the dark, or would I just ignore my alarm and go back to sleep?
3. On the great advice of my podiatrist/physio I've got a stack of DIY bits of heel-raising materials in my running shoes for the purpose of protecting my pull-prone calf muscles. Would they swim all over the place, causing me to stop running every 5 mins to put them back in place?

Awesome news - it all went well. I needed to run for 50 mins non-stop at a pace of between 6.30min/km and 7.10min/km. My pace was slightly off (7.14), but I was being really over-cautious to protect my calf muscles, so could have definitely taken it up a notch.

1 training run down.... 61 to go!

Special delivery

A real, physical book arrived today - "marathon and half marathon" by sam murphy. The Independent on Sunday calls it "an essential purchase" and so does my marathon mate Kev, so I really had no choice but to buy it.

Phew!

After pulling my calf muscle 2 days ago while jogging, I went (well, limped) to the local indoor 50m pool today a little nervously, wondering if the nature of the strain was going to stop me swimming. You know, because it's kind of hard to simulate swimming without actually swimming.

Phew! All good. It was like I'd not pulled my calf muscle at all. Awesome! Banged out over a kilometre of non-stop freestyle in under 30 mins.

fyi I learnt bilateral breathing 3 years ago while training for the Rottnest Channel Swim, which really helps me to stay 'balanced' in the water. It also helps with swimming in a straight line if you're in open water.

I love to go really hard the last couple of lengths (to finish on a high) and so I switch to breathing every 2nd stroke so I can really suck in heaps of air. My last 2 lengths are always my fastest. Love it.