Time to Taper

I can't believe it - the main part of my marathon training is done and dusted!!
I'm excited that I've made it this far, I remember looking at my plan all those months ago now and freaked out about 3 hour + runs and now I've done it and it's all over! Phew!

Saturday 14/06 was my peak long run. Unfortunately Lisa is still nursing an ITB injury (please cross your fingers and toes that she'll still make it to the start line!) so I was to run this one alone again.
I figured I should run somewhere different and scenic for my last super long run, so I decided to start from Mordialloc Beach and run along Beach Road to Brighton Beach and back. And somehow I convinced my lovely husband to ride along with me...the entire way!
Rain was forecast for the morning but I was so lucky to be blessed with clear, dry weather again. I have really been very lucky with the weather on all my long runs!
I wanted to hit 32-34km's, hoping to get it done in about 3 hours 15 mins. 
I found this training run mentally tougher than the previous week, even with Ronnie there motivating me along the way (he was amazing though, snapping plenty of pics and videos along the way). In the end it was long, slow run but I finally got out 33km's in 3 hours and 20 mins (approx. 6 min per km) which is slower than I'd anticipated but still only roughly 20 seconds per km off my goal marathon pace.

I was initially disappointed with this last long run but at the end of the day, I have to be happy that I was able to do the distance and am injury free! 
One of the many things I've learnt during marathon training is that there's no need for me to 'smash' out my long runs, this is something I have tried to do in the past when training for shorter distance. The body takes time to recover between long, endurance runs and the harder you go, the more time your body needs to recover so you can't back it up the following week or possibly cause injury. I've been advised by my coaches Mel & Bec as well as doing abit of my own research that long runs during marathon training should be at a pace you can hold a conversation at or 10-20 secs per km slower than marathon pace. So I'm trusting that and hoping I'll be able to step it up a bit on race day.

I've also decided to re-assess my goal in regards to time for the marathon, not due to my pace in my training runs, although it did play a small part but as I am by no means an elite or naturally talented runner, therefore I shouldn't be too hard on myself for my first marathon. 
(I know I said originally that I was going to do one and one only....but I'm not ruling out possibly running another one day!) 
So the goals I have now are to run the whole distance at a fairly even pace (ie. not slow down too dramatically in the last 10-12km's) enjoy it as much as possible (ie. not hit the wall!) and finish the race with a smile (ie. not collapsing in pain and exhaustion!)
I'll still follow a race plan that should get me to the finish line in under 4 hours which will be a bonus if all goes right and I get there! But I know if I focus on a time goal and things unravel (as I'm assured they often do in a marathon) and I don't get it, I won't enjoy the feeling of actually finishing my first marathon as much as I should!
So I'm now going with making it to that finish line - with a smile on my face!

Following my last long run, I started the taper phase of my training. Last week I started reducing my km's, and will continue to reduce it this week and into next week (Marathon Week!) but will be keeping the intensity of my shorter mid week sessions as per advice from coach Bec and including in short periods of marathon pace in my long runs. 

Last Saturday 21/06, Ronnie and I headed back to Anglesea for the weekend and I was lucky enough to do a 90 minute long run along the Surf Coast Trail in Torquay, mixing it up with some trail and sand running finishing with 5km's at marathon pace along the Torquay Esplanade. It was the most fun I've had during a training run, I just listened to my body and went for time (except for the last 5k's obviously) and as I said on my Instagram page (@bec_heskes) it was 90 minutes of pure bliss running along the cliff tops above Bells Beach on a perfect Winter morning! 

This weekend I have a 60 minute long run planned...I'm not going to know myself! And my last massage and dry needling session before the marathon following that.

So that brings me to today - 12 days to go and feeling good!!

Bec xx

Countdown is on!

Countdown is now officially on, can't believe it's less than a month to go now!
Since my last post, things have definitely improved, training is on track and my body is feeling as good as can be expected at the moment!

The recovery seminar which Mel ran a couple of weeks ago now was fantastic! Amongst a wealth of knowledge presented by both Mel and Ross Kinsella (sports physio from www.free2run.com.au), on recovery and injury prevention, we were shown how to use massage balls and foam rollers to effectively release tight muscles. I found, in particular, using a spiky massage ball to release my glutes have been amazing and I've been feeling the benefits in my long runs which is awesome!! I would definitely recommend getting your hands on one!

My new bestie - the spiky massage ball!

My last two long runs have been alot better than the last one I posted about, but not without their fair share of dramas!
Week ending 27th May (5 weeks out), Lisa and I had 2 hours 40 planned along the Dandenong Creek Trail from Bayswater to Jells Park and back again. I was intent on getting through this one as pain free as possible. I'd had my massage and needling on the Tuesday, changed some things up nutrition-wise in the days leading up (increased salt to prevent muscle cramping, cinnamon to improve glycogen storage, small meal including high energy carbs the night before etc. More about my nutrition later) as well a couple of small changes to my training nutrition (gel every half hour after 45 mins and Endura in my hydration pack) and had planned to get to bed nice and early. So I may have gone obsessively above and beyond to make sure I didn't have a repeat of the week before! 
Well - the run went well, we ended up running an extra 7 mins to complete 28km's and I was feeling pretty good the entire time, except for feeling a bit sore and tired for the last 5km's which is to be expected. But it wasn't without drama! One of my dogs had to be rushed to the Animal Emergency Centre at 10.30pm the night before after an accident and resulted in emergency surgery and a stay overnight. So suffice to say, I didn't sleep much that night and was almost going to pull out of my run but yet another benefit of having a running buddy - I didn't want Lisa down but she was lovely enough let me sleep in an extra hour and we ended up heading out an hour later than usual. 

28km's for my poor girl, Tarli

I pulled up pretty well and was stoked I was able to run hard on Monday's session and get back into FIRE training that week.

Last weekend (Week ending 8th June - 4 weeks out), Mel had suggested earlier in the week that Lisa and I try running on our own - we were both like 'hell no!" as we had a 3 hour run planned and neither of us were keen on doing that alone! So in the end we decided to keep running together til our shorter taper runs. Well, as fate would have it, Lisa unfortunately was unable to run due to injury so I did it on my OWN! 
Not going to lie, I felt sick about it the night before and almost didn't get out of the car on Saturday morning (it was dark and raining too...) but in the end, I got started, took me 6km's to find my groove and then just kept going! 3 hours later I was 30.74km's down and feeling pretty damn good about myself! It was the best paced run I'd done over 23km's so was very happy and it has been a massive confidence booster. So turns out Mel was right yet again, her intentions are only the make me stronger.
The running crew were running the Warby Trail from Seville that morning so Mel kindly dropped me off at Mt Evelyn half an hour before and I was able to run past some of the guys on their way back. They then all met for breakfast after their run and, almost as if I'd timed it perfectly, they were all walking back to their cars just as I was finishing. I was lucky enough to have a cheer squad help me finish off my last 700m. Was a great finish to a great training run!

I haven't spoken a lot about my nutrition since training for the marathon, I'm still following Metabolic Precision as I have been for the last 3 years, but have had to tweak things a bit around long runs. There's been a bit of trial and error involved to get the balance of high energy carbs right, too much and I start to gain weight, not enough and my runs suffer. 
I'm definitely not a natural born runner so I rely on good nutrition to fuel my runs, especially my long runs. I can always feel the difference if I haven't been putting good food in my body and that doesn't make for a fun time when you're running close to 3 hours or more! That last shocker of a long run was probably a combination of a couple of poor food choices earlier in the week (I recall pizza and cake for my MIL's birthday!), tight muscles and not enough high energy carbs around the long run. I'm pretty confident I have my long run nutrition on track now, as the last two runs have felt good for the most part. Obviously prior to race day, they'll be more emphasis on carb loading but for training purposes, this is what seems to be working for me, so I'm sticking with it! (This is in no way a recommendation nor should you follow what I'm doing, this is only what works for me)

Night before 
- After my easy 30-45 min run - Nuun electrolyte tab with water, small meal of brown rice, lots of vegies and 1/2 my normal serving of protein with himalayan sea salt, omega 3
- Small meal of cottage cheese, berries, omega 3 & cinnamon before bed

Morning of run 
- 2 hours prior - small meal of brown rice, 1/2 normal serve of Chobani yogurt, berries and cinnamon
- Pre-run - 1 banana, 1/2 scoop Bioflex Carbfusion, 1/2 scoop protein powder
- During run - Dextro Energy Tabs, 1 every 15 mins from 45 mins, Endura mixed with water, I've been carrying a maximum 1.5 litres in my hydration pack.
- Post run - 1 scoop Bioflex Carbfusion, 1 scoop protein powder, Nuun electrolyte tab with water
- Meals following run - 2-4 small meals including high energy carbs depending on how long my run was (I like to indulge in a brunch at a cafe if I'm feeling up to it, eggs/smoked salmon with vegies and sourdough bread)

Off for a massage tonight, can't wait! Got my peak long run this week then it's taper time - can't believe it!

Bec xx

6 Weeks Out - Recovery Week

With six weeks til the big day and three weeks of increasing to my longest run, the theme for this week is recovery.

I was feeling pretty tired and run down last week after Great Ocean Road, but kept up all my sessions, swapping Monday's long interval session to cross training on Thursday. My long run was 2 hours 25 mins and I was hoping to hit between 25-26km's. We ended up getting out 25km's and this was definitely the worst I've ever felt during a run! I felt good for the until the 18km mark, pace was a bit slower than normal but it didn't bother me too much as it had only been 6 days since GORM. By 18km's, my hips were feeling incredibly tight and sore and as I kept going, I could feel the pain all through my glutes and lower back. I'm pretty sure if Lisa wasn't there with me, I'd have given up but I kept plodding along, almost at walking pace at some points, but finally managed to finish it off. I'm expecting to feel tired and sore at some point of the marathon, just not the 18km mark! 
I'm not going to lie, that run affected me mentally as well as physically (my body was tired, sore and I had come down with a head cold), I've had thoughts of chucking in the towel, that I can't possibly run 42km's if I can barely manage 25, it's all too hard etc etc. I guess this is when you need an amazing support crew around you, lucky I have Ronnie to listen to me whinge and moan, Lisa to be there pushing me along during the run (I know I would have felt 100% worse if I'd given up) and Mel to reassure me that I'm doing ok, remind me it's training and not to put too much pressure on myself. Plus the running group to keep me accountable, helped get my ass out of bed and along to sessions this week!

So my recovery week has come at a great time, Mel has given us a forced break from FIRE sessions this week and it's given me a break mentally, extra time to catch up on sleep and mix my running sessions up a bit. I'm in a much better mindset than I was earlier in the week, that's for sure!
I was also way overdue for a massage and dry needling treatment so made sure I had that scheduled in for this week and my body is feeling so much better for it now. My massage therapist seems to think tight ITB's contributed to my hip and glute pain so we'll see how we go this week. 

Yes, that's me with needles in my back ;-)

Mel is also running a recovery information session tonight with sports physio Ross Kinsella so I'm looking forward to finding out some more ways to recover properly from my long runs. Told you it was Recovery Week!

As I mentioned in my last post, I trialled a hydration pack during my long run last week after seeing a few people using them at Great Ocean Road. I can't stand hydration belts as they always tend to ride up around my waist when I'm running and I find it annoying to fiddle around trying to get the bottles back in and out. And while I got away with not really hydrating during training for half marathons, I'd definitely need to have some from of hydration during any 25km+ runs.
So I got my hands on the Camelbak Classic 2 litre hydration pack - it is not specifically marketed towards runners but I read some good reviews on it from runners and was recommended a similar one by a friend on Instagram. 

It's very compact and sits nice and snug on your back once the the straps are adjusted. I filled it approx 3/4 full for Saturday's run as I didn't want it to feel too heavy on my back. It did take some getting used to at first, obviously I'm not used to having something on my back when I'm running but wasn't long before I'd forgotten it was even there. When it came to drinking, it was amazing! The straw made it so easy to get water in, 100% better than drinking from a bottle or cup while on the run. I would highly recommend using a hydration pack! This week we're trialling Endura (the electrolyte drink they'll have on the marathon course) and over the next few weeks I'll make the decision whether use the pack for the actual race or not.

Thanks for reading - sorry for being a bit of a Debbie Downer at the moment!

Bec xx

Great Ocean Road Marathon

What a weekend! I've decided that races are the perfect excuse for a weekend away! 
Friday night Ronnie and I headed down to Anglesea for the Great Ocean Road Marathon where I would be running the 23km half marathon course.

We spent the Friday night relaxing, went out for dinner and had an early night ready for the rest of the weekend ahead. We were up early Saturday morning and Ronnie joined me for my easy 30 min run around Anglesea, nothing better than running by the beach!
After a delicious brekky at an awesome retro cafe (Red Till in Anglesea, definitely worth a visit!) and lunch in Torquay, we decided to head into Apollo Bay along the Great Ocean Road to meet up with some of the running crew. Mel participated in the 6km race earlier that day and one of our members, Kelly, was participating in the 14km race so we'd be there just in time to see her finish. It also gave me an opportunity to see the course I'd be running the next day.

I've never driven the entire length of a course prior to a race and I don't think I'll do it again! The marathon course is actually 45km's and starts from Lorne and finishes in Apollo Bay - respect to anyone who takes that on for their first marathon, the first 25km's are some pretty hardcore rolling hills and not to mention the extra 3 km's added to the standard marathon distance.
The half marathon starts from Kennett River, finishing in Apollo Bay with two fairly big hills at the start. The drive along the course left me feeling very nervous as the hills seemed bigger and longer than I'd anticipated as well as the distance feeling very....well, long! Suffice to say I was pretty much shitting myself that afternoon and I wasn't too much fun to be around!
I tried to calm my nerves (and my calves) with a quick dip of my legs in the surf before heading out to dinner with the running crew.

I didn't sleep well that night at all, I honestly think it was the most nervous I'd been before a race, but by the time morning came, I was ready to get it over and done with! Ronnie dropped us off at the start line about 7am, which gave us plenty of time to line up for the toilets and warm up, with the race to start at 8am. Lisa and I decided to try and stick together for the run, she was feeling pretty nervous as well so it would be good to have each other there. We promised that if either of us was struggling at any time, the other would go ahead.

And so we were off! There was about 200m of flat course before the first incline began and by the time we'd reached the top and started on the decline, I was feeling more confident, that wasn't so bad! We started the climb up the second hill, which I knew from the drive the day earlier was the longest, and I was surprised once we'd made it to the top - those two big hills weren't so bad after all!
The rest of the course was undulating with spectacular views and a cool sea breeze which provided some relief to the (unusual for May) very mild and humid conditions.

At the 18km mark, Lisa told me to go on ahead as she wasn't feeling the best. It was a hard decision for me but we'd both made to promise to run our own race so I went on ahead. I crossed the 21.1km mark at 1:51.33 - approx. 5.18 min per km pace which I'm actually pretty happy with considering the course and that I'd planned to use this as a training run. It was then abit of a struggle into the unknown for those last 2km's, pace dropped dramatically and I was close to being physically spent, my glutes and legs were sore and I remember wondering how I could possible run another 19km's on top of this is 7 weeks time!

I heard Mel yelling at me with about 500m to go and saw her, Ronnie and the crew all cheering as I ran past. I somehow managed to sprint to the finish line and finished the entire 23km course in 2:05.01 - 5 minutes under the time I'd initially allowed for myself. 

Despite all my nerves, I'm so glad I did this run, I have no doubt it's made me a better runner and I will benefit from it on marathon day. I pulled up pretty well, just general soreness so decided to rest on Monday night and will make up the session later this week. Legs are feeling pretty good now and ready for our track session tonight.

So now starts what I guess would be the hardest part of my training, 4 big weeks building up to my longest run on 14th June (hoping to hit 32km's) with 3 weeks to taper before the big day! Bring it on!

In other news, the new Mizuno's are feeling great, I wore them for all my shorter sessions last week and might transition them over for my long run this weekend. Also doing some experimenting this week on my long run, testing out some gels and a hydration pack so will see how I go with those! And yay - excited that we have finally got a cleaner who will be cleaning our house once a fortnight starting this Friday. One less thing for me to worry about, woo hoo!

Bec xx

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

Entering Races for Training

The past week has been good, another short working week with Easter Monday and Anzac Day on the Friday so a perfect week to start increasing my weekly kilometres. 
Easter Monday I tagged along with Mel (who was making a race comeback after a stint of injuries and bad luck) some of the running crew who were participating in the Anzac Run. The race started at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne with 5km and 10km courses around the Tan. I didn't enter the race this year, but wished I had, it was one of the smaller runs with a great atmosphere and all for an amazing cause. Instead I did 2 laps on the Tan, one easy lap and one hard to finish, so about 7.6k's all up. We then headed out for brekky all together, we all know how much I love food, so no guesses as to why my favourite thing to do after a run!  

Post run brekky on Easter Monday

Wednesday night track session included an extra 2km warm up and I also added in a 30 min run on a Friday, the day before my long run to fatigue my legs a bit. This will hopefully get me used to running on tired legs. I had sleep in on Friday morning (Anzac Day) and headed out mid-morning and out for a post run brekky again.
I also hit the longest run this year, 20km's in approx 1 hour 50 mins with Lisa which took my total kilometres for the week 41km's....still 1.2km's shy of the full marathon distance, a scary thought!

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with how I've pulled up after last week and looking forward to tackling the next 10 weeks.

This weekend my long run will be on Sunday as I'm running in the Puffing Billy Great Train Race. This is a run Mel has done a few times before I started running and it's one I've always wanted to do. I missed the cut off for registrations last year (it's capped at 3,300 participants), but made sure I got in for this year. 

Apart from Puffing Billy, I entered a couple of races that will fall during my training program to change courses up to keep long runs interesting and challenge myself a bit.
Run for the Kids was my first race in the program I've also entered the Great Ocean Road Half Marathon (which is actually 23km's) in a couple of weeks. 
I did Run for the Kids with the intention to run hard and hopefully get a PB. Still being 12 weeks out, it wouldn't affect my training during the week too much if I pulled up sore (which I did!).
The next two races I plan to use strictly as training runs, so I'm going into them both as I would any other long run and try my best not to get too caught up in the atmosphere and push too hard! I doubt it will be too hard to pace myself as both Puffing Billy and Great Ocean Road are hilly courses and hills are definitely not my strong point! Both runs will be good mental and physical training so bring it on!

Bec xx

Recovery Week, Sore Calves and New Shoes

The past week was a short working week with the Easter long weekend. It was also a recovery week after Run for the Kids so my normal training routine was changed up abit.

At Monday night's session I was still pretty sore from the race the day before. Lower back and hamstrings were pretty tight so I decided it was best not to attempt a recovery run, but walk instead to get my legs moving after sitting all day at work. I like to think I'm pretty in tune with my body these days, can listen to it and know when to pull back a bit. With 11 weeks to go, I'm also being pretty cautious - I want to make it to that start line! 

I usually alternate my running days with FIRE/weight days but my three FIRE sessions were packed into three days earlier in the week because of the short week, with most of my running later in the week.

Friday morning was Good Friday, so running crew session was scheduled to be something a bit different. We headed to the property of one of our crew member's in Kangaroo Ground. He's on 33 acres with the most epic driveway I've ever seen! From the house to the front gate, it was about a 600m steady hill climb. I'm not a hill fan at the best of times but have a few training races coming up with hilly courses so was keen to take it on. 
The session was 25 mins - as many reps of that hill as you could do. Well, I managed 2 reps before my calves started to seize and cramp up while on the third incline. 
I've had issues with painful calves since my second half marathon training, they fatigue easily and pull up sore and tight - it's been nothing major that's ever stopped me running, it's just annoying and can slow my pace down when it's really bad. 
I do my best to minimise it as much as possible, I wear compression socks EVERY time I run, sleep in them the night after a run (I know the jury is still out on whether compression garments actually work, but they work for me so that's all I care about!), stretch, take magnesium supplements, regular epsom salt baths and have recently been having regular dry needling. The dry needling in addition to everything else has been amazing, I was convinced they had been improving over the last couple of weeks too.
I think Friday's epic hill reps was such a steeper, longer incline than what my calves are used to, so after the initial two reps, I scaled it back and finished the off with hill sprints on a shorter section of the driveway. They held up over the shorter incline and I was able to finish off the session that way.
Even after stretching and an epsom salt bath later that day, I pulled up with the worst DOM's I've ever felt lower calves and was hobbling around in pain while walking for 3 days! So the calves are still a work in progress, especially when it comes to hills.
I definitely wasn't confident I'd be able to run on Saturday when I was struggling to even walk but went along anyway. Surprisingly, once I started to run, the pain wasn't affecting me at all. I did an easy 60 min long run on the trails around Lysterfield Lake with the running crew and rested on Sunday.

Saturday I also went down to Active Feet in Heathmont to get fitted for new runners for race day...EXCITING! It's always fun getting fitted for shoes, our friend and fellow running buddy Steve is the manager so he always looks after us and we get to test out a few pairs of shoes.
I'm currently in Mizuno Wave Inspire 9's which have been good to me. Mizuno changed them recently so Steve suggested a shoe with a slightly higher heel drop might help with my calf issues. So I tested 5 or so pairs and ended up settling on Asics GT-2000. I've never run in Asics before but they felt great so I'm looking forward to slowly transitioning over to them.