Gold Coast Marathon - 8 Weeks Out

Life is pretty crazy busy at the moment! I was prepared for this to happen but sometimes it feels frustrating and the stress can sometimes get the better of me! In reality, I’ve only really increased to one extra training session (Friday’s 30 min easy run…funny that, it actually feels like the hardest session of the week!) but I suppose I’m starting to notice the extra 20 mins tacked onto my 2 weekly running sessions and the minimum 15 mins I try to allow for daily stretching. 

And I’m not complaining at all, I love my life and the way I’ve chosen to live it but with the constant food preparation for a minimum of 6 meals a day, a full time job, finding time to study, doing my best to keep our household running plus all the training, some days it feels all too hard and the motivation starts to waver. I try to visualise myself crossing the finish line and how I’ll feel once I get there (pic below is the new background on my phone) and I'm able to find my mojo again. It's not always going to be easy so sometimes you need a good vent! 

Last weekend was my first Puffing Billy Great Train race and despite a freezing cold morning with a bit of rain, I absolutely loved it! I’m so glad I finally got the chance to do it and I think it’s knocked off Run for the Kids as my favourite race. The course was fantastic and never boring, plenty of rolling hills and amazing scenery to keep things interesting. I was pleasantly surprised that the hills were definitely not as bad as I’d heard/anticipated and it was a great confidence booster passing quite a few walkers on the 2km incline between Selby and Menzies Creek. After a brief discussion with Mel on the Saturday afternoon, she convinced me that I’d get more out of the run by giving it a good crack rather than holding back as I discussed in my last post. So I ended up finishing in 70 mins, which is a pace of approx. 5.10 mins per km and I’m pretty happy with this result, considering the hilly course. Definitely a race I’ll be hoping to do every year from now on!

Monday’s session ended up as a recovery session, I was happy with how I pulled up and did a steady 7.8km’s while the group did a fartlek session. That’s when I noticed that the new Asics weren’t feeling the best. I’d been slowly transitioning into them, running in them on Mondays and Fridays and they hadn’t been feeling amazing but I figured I was just getting used to them. I wasn’t ready to wear them for Puffing Billy and I’m glad I didn’t! I wanted to give them a crack on a long-er run just to make sure it wasn’t me still getting used to them, so I ran in them on Saturday for a 60 min run and that’s when I conceded defeat…the Asics weren’t for me.

I was able to exchange them thanks to our friend Steve so now I’m back in Mizuno’s – the Wave Inspire 10’s. They are definitely not as pretty as the brightly coloured Asics I had for a total of 3 weeks, but they feel amazing and after running in shoes that felt truly crap, that’s the only thing that matters! Will be giving them a good test with 1km reps tonight.

The week ahead will be the biggest one yet with the Great Ocean Road Half on Sunday (distance is actually 23km’s) and will only increase from here so I’d better get used to it! Stretching, nutrition and sleep will be a big focus for me this week.

Thanks for reading!

Bec xx