Monday 50mins (10.24k, 4:53/k) easy, Seaford. Gym Tuesday 35 mins (7.15k, 5:05/k) easy, Frankston reserve 35 mins (7k, 5:07/k) easy, Patterson river Wednesday 90 mins (20.14k 4:33/k), langy flora and fauna jog
Thursday 36 mins (7km, 5:08/k) easy am run Edithvale 60 mins (14.1k, 4:15/k) felt great, Coolstores run. Gym and massage Friday 60 mins (12km, 5:03/k) recovery, Frankston Resevoir.
Saturday 60 min (16.7k,3:34/k) progressive run, La Trobe Uni. 35 mins (7.8km, 4:29/k) easy double with Rob. Sunday: 2hrs 30 mins (31.6k, 4:45/k) Long run, Two Bays Trail.
Week 6 Total: 134.38km, 2 gym session, 1 massage
Hi guys it’s Dane Verwey here back for another week with blog 7 of the Breaking 2:24 project where I detail ‘the week that was’ for the 16 weeks leading into the 2018 Berlin marathon.
This week was a planned recovery week full of recovery runs and jogging; off the back of last Sundays Gold Coast 1/2 marathon. Normally, in the past it has taken me 3 weeks to really feel fully recovered from a taxing half marathon effort. So far, I am pleased to report back that I have pulled up extremely well. So well infact, that by Thursday on my usual 60minute out an back ‘Coolstores’ trail loop I was able to roll along at a nice clip. I hit some comfortable sub 4minute/km splits mid run around this flat 2 minute gravel loop (Mornington’s Narambi station reserve) where I turn. I just felt I had effortless speed. This run for me was a great gauge as to how well my recovery was going. I put this quicker than usual recovery down to doing the 2 marathons this year already and having just done so much running, at the moment with out jinxing things, I am robust.
I have also had a whole heap of good sleeps this week, slightly interrupted at times by our new 9 week old puppy; Remi. However, I managed to go to bed a lot earlier and hit my set 10:30 pm curfew every night; I daresay this also assisted my hasty recovery.
Also of note this week was that I went to a fantastic running symposium with my boss Rob. We learnt a heap from some really esteemed physiotherapy researchers including; Dr Richard Willy, Christian Barton and Ebonie Rio. It opened my eyes; to just how strong we really need to be as runners, I learnt more about ‘the older runner’, end stage tendon rehab and how ‘glut’ focused we can rightly/wrongly become as physiotherapists. In the past month I have also gone to a Craig Harper- motivational short course and completed my Level 2 in Coaching recreational athletes. I look forward to writing a few articles on some of these topics in the weeks to come.
The running physiotherapy course was held on Friday and Saturday at my old stomping ground; La Trobe University Bundoora, where I learnt my craft from 2006-2009. Bright and early before the course on Saturday morning I decided I had recovered enough to roll a light session, so I did a 60 minute progressive run. I really enjoyed this session 2 weeks before the Gold Coast half marathon as I thought it was one of those great ‘Bang for Buck workouts!’. What I like about this session is; you are hovering around aerobic threshold but on the ‘comfier side’ for much of it and it’s not until the last 10-20 minutes that you are dipping into your marathon pace and faster. I ran on the sealed 2.5km Uni loop straight out of the car at 7:20am, I didn’t have much time, so it was straight into 4min/km without a warm up. I then progressively got faster with every 10 minute segment. I finished at 3:15/km for the last 10minutes, hit 16.7 kms in total and averaged 3:34/km for the whole run. I was pleasantly surprised how good I felt and really did it comfortably. It was just another indicator that I have pulled up better than I anticipated from the Gold Coast half.
After the course on Saturday it was out for an arvo jog for 7kms with Rob O’Donnell my boss. We trundled along the infamous ‘Mc- Ver- Mon’ trail that David McNeil, Nick Lemon and myself claim to have founded back in 2006. It’s a nice, peaceful, out of the way creek trail that treks from Latrobe University to the Northland shopping precinct. It was a great run just to get the ‘junk out of the legs’ after sitting all day and chew the fat with Rob. Rob’s a wealth of knowledge on’ all things running’, he was a great runner himself back in his prime, representing Australia at several World Cross Country Champs. He’s been a great boss over the past 8 years and so helpful with the development of my career as a running physiotherapist (haha and I’m not just saying this because I know he’s a regular reader of the blog.)
That get’s us to Sunday morning and of course the traditional Sunday long run! Over the next two weeks, I ‘ve penned in some cruisy, ‘just time on the feet’ long runs over hilly terrain. I hit the Two Bay trail down on the Mornington Peninsula this week from Greens Bush to the Cape Shank lighthouse and back. It’s a great course where you can just immerse yourself in the scenery and let your thoughts go. Littered with rolling hills, sand, steps, roos and roots; I finished the 2.5 hours covering 31.5kms at 4:45/km with 884 meters net elevation gain. I’m going to do the famous ‘Ferny creek long run’ next week to compare the net elevation gain. Ferny offers less frequent but longer climbs while two bays offers a lot of regular subtle hills. Both of these long runs interrupt your rhythm and make you work late in the piece when your are tyring. The sandy, uneven surface and regular steps at cape schank also adds to its difficulty. Both are great venues for building the physical and mental strength required for the marathon.
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Above are a few snaps of my Sunday long run on the Two Bays trail:
The other development for me in the coming weeks is that I’m actually going ween down to 4 days a week at work (Parkdale’s Southern Suburbs Physiotherapy Centre). I’ve realised I’ve been a bit burnt out in a way for a little while now. This is no blight on my job at all, I love my job and what I do, I’ve been at SSPC for 8yrs. I feel it is more due to the way I am wired; personality wise. I can devote myself whole heartedly to something and work on it with unparalleled focus often losing sight of the bigger picture. So, I’ve chosen to do this just to freshen up and get a bit more life balance. I am actually really looking forward to it. It will free up some brain space and make me feel like I’m living a life less cluttered and not trying to take on too much. When you are a compassionate physio it really is hard to turn off:) The change will mean I’ll have more time to write blogs, articles, get run culture up an running, look after the new pup; Remi, get on top of the house renovations, plan for Jess and my wedding in December and of course allow more time with; family and friends. Having a bit more time on my hands will ensure I’m living for now rather than always planning for the future. Once you are a full time compassionate physio it is pretty heavy hours and quite a burdensome occupation. In terms of sustainability if I want to be in this caper for the next 30 yrs then I felt like I needed to take this step.
What else happened this week? I still still got a recovery massage and two strength sessions done. The video detailing my workouts in the gym that I promised is still to come…I feel it will be more complete with Rich Willy and Christian Barton really confirming the doses and loads us runners need to strive for with the ‘heavy strength training’.
Excitingly, Brady Threlfall and I have been in touch booking domestic flights and our Air bnb accomadation in London and Berlin this week. As I finish this blog there is just 9.5 weeks to go, so it really is coming at us fast now. It’s all getting a bit more real! The aim at the moment really is to continue to just take each day as they come and tick of all the 1%ers I can, now really is the important time to be building the health and fitness I’ll need to pull from come September the 16th.
Ok and what’s instore for the week ahead? So, the aim is to get back to a more traditionally structured marathon training week for myself. Aim to get 2-3 mediocre sessions done, to get the legs going again. In saying that I’ll continue to respect that in the past, half marathons have really worn me out, so I’ll ensure there are no specific marathon workouts in there as yet. I’ll continue with my heavy strength program and plan to do so for another 3-4 weeks before I’ll modulate it into a rehab/preventative/pilates session as my marathon training load spikes.
I’d also just like to say a huge thanks for all the supportive emails I have had, as well as the huge interest in the blog and the Run Culture apparel. Infact it’s taken me off guard how much interest I have had in the apparel. I certainly will have to bolster my stock of singlets and long sleeves as the orders keep coming in. Thanks again to everyone for the support, it means so much, this is a venture I started out because talking all things running/physio has always been an ongoing passion of mine. To have people that I have never met before reach out to me and explicitly state that they are enjoying what I am doing is so powerful. Thanks again everyone!
Alright, that’s me done for the week, I’ve rambled on long enough, until next week guys, that’s me wrung dry!
As always enjoy the process!
I hope you all continue to Run. Live. Grow!
Dane