After the Race, More Goals

by Bill Wallace on September 4, 2009

Last Sunday was the City to Surf and, unlike last year, I don’t want to fall in a hole and stop training. So I have set a couple of goals and this has been week 1.

The first thing was to join the World Running League (sounds a bit like a Marvel Comic, huh? :) ) As I’ve stated before this is set up by a guy call Dave aka Building 429 and here are 20 teams of 3 people. Each week we compete, score points and Dave has  done a great job setting it all up with ladders, statistics and getting everything in order.

What it means for me is that I have to run between Wednesday and Friday to clock up miles/kilometres to help my team (Team 8 ) compete against whoever. So far this week (round 1) we are winning, but we’ll see. It ends lunchtime tomorrow (Saturday) for me due to the time zones. I think that works to my advantage.

The other plan is Hal Higdon’s Novice marathon training plan. Setting a goal of a marathon is a bit daunting but the plan at this stage is just to do the training without worrying about the 42-odd km that comes at the end of it.

This week started really well. Monday was a rest day. That went well. I think I really hit that one! :)

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were 5km days each day. Not as easy I have to say.

Tuesday night was cold wet and windy.

Wednesday night was ok but I got home and thought “oh yeah, hmmm, meant to run tonight.” But run I did and completed my 5kms.

Thursday night (last night) was almost a shambles. I tried out my new Brooks Dyads with orthotics and made it about 500 m before the arch pain in my left foot was unbearable. Right foot was “happy as Larry!” But, off came the shoes, walked back home and really didn’t want to head out again in the good old Brooks Adrenalins.

Anyway, princess here toughened up and headed out and did my 5kms. :)

So Week 1 almost done. I have a 10km (6 miles) to do Saturday which will complete Week 1 of the Marathon training as well as add a further 10km to my World Running League stats.

HELP!

I need some help if anyone has any ideas. After my 12km City to Surf, I really was cactus for the rest of the day.

  1. How do you recover from long runs?
  2. Is this just because I was out of shape?

I notice that Andrew at Andrewisgettingfit.com can run 30km to an Easter Breakfast!!! What the??? I’d be buggered!

So, any help anyone can give, I know not everyone’s a medico, but I’m just looking for any common sense tips, ideas that you do to keep you going prodictively after a long run.

Thanks :)

  • http://ajhblog.wordpress.com Andrew(AJH)

    I’d say, make sure you warm down properly, stretch for 15 minutes, drink plenty (water that is), have something “clean” to eat and try not to “collapse on the couch”, that just makes me feel worse, so keep moving around.

  • http://www.billstrainingblog.com Bill Wallace

    Hmm, good thoughts, I kinda like the couch idea though! :) I guess “keep moving” and re-fuel huh? Thanks Andrew.

  • David

    Hey Bill,
    I don’t know what you think about the idea, but you could put the challenge widget for the weekly World Running League match on your sidebar. It might be pretty neat for everyone to see how your team is doing :)

  • http://www.billstrainingblog.com Bill Wallace

    Hi Dave, absolutely! :)
    How do I get the code?

  • David

    It has to be done through the old nikeplus website (http://nikeplus.com)… But you view the challenge and then in the top right, click on “Share” and in the drop-down, select “Add To Your Webpage” This will give you some html code to put wherever you want and in turn, it shows the challenge widget.

  • http://www.billstrainingblog.com Bill Wallace

    Done, looks cool, though the nike site also adds some text that I may need to configure (e.g. undefined3undefined)

  • David

    That odd about it showing the undefined stuff… the ones on the Matches page are fine. It could have something to do with the fact that your’s is in km and mine is done in miles…

  • http://www.andrewisgettingfit.com AndrewE

    I make a point of keeping active on my long run days even though the temptation to blob out is pretty high!

    I only wish there was an easter breakfast at the end of all my long runs!

  • http://www.billstrainingblog.com Bill Wallace

    Thanks Andrew, looks like I have to just keep active after long runs. Both you and Andrew (AJH) support the same thing and both allude to “re-fueling”, as well. Good thoughts.

  • http://www.billstrainingblog.com Bill Wallace

    Hi Dave, yes, I may revert my measurement to mileage (that would be weird for an Aussie! :) ) but might make the widget look better!