21 days to go!
On Sunday, 3 weeks from today, I will be running
my first ever international marathon – the Berlin Marathon.
My training plan for the last 2 weeks required
re-planning.
Hiking
Last weekend (Thurs-Sun) I had planned to
do the Prospector’s Trail 3 day hike in Mpumalanga (close to Pilgrim’s Rest). A
group of us arrived at the check-in reception late the Thursday afternoon only for
them to tell us that that the next day the chances of hiking looked slim due to
high temperatures and winds, which had a high risk of veld fires. We were told
we could walk to the overnight hut (Morgenzon Hut), but had to check-in at
reception again the next morning.
The rest of our party arrived a little
later … in the dark, but safe!
After a good evening braai and a decent
night’s sleep we headed back to the reception early the next morning to hear our
fate.
The hike was cancelled!
Phlllip, Lionel, Moipone, Rachelle and
Gavin (and those that couldn’t make it – yes you Suzie Q and Ms BJP) … don’t
worry I will reschedule this hike for early 2014!
The Komati EcoTourism people were kind
enough to give us a free permit to visit the various waterfalls in the Sabie
area and allowed us to stay another night in one of the huts (President Burger
Hut) on the Fanie Botha hiking trail. Fortunately the trip was not a total
disaster – managed to see a few of the waterfalls, had another AWESOME braai
and then headed back to Gauteng the next morning … and I even managed to get in
a little 7km trail run in Sabie.
My mileage for the week was supposed to be
made up of a lot of hiking, but due to the cancellation I found myself having
to run a 30km long run on the Sunday – pleased to say I ran it in a decent average
pace of 6’35”. And finished feeling good!
That brings me to this past week.
Gauteng Marathon...just the half
The start of my pre-marathon tapering …
planned to do 60km, but cut it down to 51km.
My training was going great … until
Thursday’s speed session. After a 12km
speed workout – fartleks and a 3km tempo run – I could feel pain that wasn’t
the normal pain I felt after a tough workout.
I then did the responsible thing by resting for 2 days, which resulted
in a cut on my planned weekly mileage as well as only running a 21km today
instead of the planned 25km.
Ran today’s Gauteng Marathon (the half)
with the aim of finishing in sub 2h10 and feeling good … I managed both, ran it
in 2h05 (my second fastest half marathon time) and felt good at the finish.
 |
| Trying out my Zulu warrior dancing. |
My training plan to-date:
|
|
PLANNED
|
ACTUAL
|
COMMENT
|
|
Week 1
|
42.00
|
42.64
|
Over target
|
|
Week 2
|
46.00
|
0.00
|
Damn Flu
|
|
Week 3
|
44.00
|
10.29
|
Still the damn flu
|
|
Week 4
|
38.00
|
64.60
|
Over target
|
|
Week 5
|
49.00
|
50.35
|
Over target
|
|
Week 6
|
54.00
|
49.94
|
Under target
|
|
Week 7
|
62.00
|
63.45
|
Over target
|
|
Week 8
|
51.00
|
52.62
|
Over target
|
|
Week 9
|
58.00
|
49.48
|
Under target
|
|
Week 10
|
62.00
|
63.61
|
Over target
|
|
Week 11
|
63.00
|
65.13
|
Over target
|
|
Week 12
|
69.00
|
70.68
|
Over target
|
|
Week 13
|
67.00
|
67.61
|
Over target
|
|
Week 14
|
60.00
|
51.46
|
Under target…tapering
|
With just under 3 weeks to go to Berlin Marathon
day and even less than that before we fly out, Zena and I better start
packing!!!
Happy Running Folks!
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