How much is too much?

I was looking at my calendar recently and my mum was wondering when my next race will be, when I realised that between now and November I’m going to be very busy. And the question that arose in my mind, is it too much?

In a space of 3 months I am racing 7 times, with one of those races being ‘4 Peaks’, which has 4 days of back-to-back races. In the space of these 4 months there is an occasion where I am racing 3 weekends IN A ROW. That means I get 1 week to recover, is that enough? I guess the good thing is that 2 of those races are a bit different then usual. I’m participating in the ‘Melbourne Half Marathon’, but I’m not looking at doing a PB; instead I’m going to be a pacer running at a pace that is well below my PB time. I’m also going to be competing in a ‘short’ distance race, the ‘Maffra Mile’ that will be over and done with in under 6 minutes (hopefully).

Another good thing is that the longest race of these 7 is only 23km, which is comparatively short in the world of trail running. This still doesn’t alleviate any of my fears of being injured due to my hectic schedule though; chronic fatigue is well heard of due to over-training but can it be caused due to over-racing? I don’t know, I’ll just have to do my best to properly rest and recover between each race.

All this racing does have an immediate side effect though, it significantly reduces the days I can work behind the bar at a local hotel, and make money. The reason I entered so many races is because I’m moving north to Queensland next year for Uni, and I wanted to enter all the races that sounded good as I don’t know the next time I’ll be able to compete in Victoria. Let’s hope it’s worth it!

Racing Dates for the Rest of the Year:

Rapid Ascent Trail Running Series: Anglesea- September 4 (23km)

Walhalla Wound Up- September 11 (21.5km)

Rapid Ascent Trail Running Series: Studley Park- September 23 (15km)

Melbourne Half Marathon- October 16 (21.5km)

Maffra Mile- October 22 (1.6km)

4 Peaks- Melbourne Cup Long Weekend (>40km over 4 days)

Dinner Plain Half Marathon- November 20 (21.5km)

The TRN

Race Report: Silvan Trail Race 2016

The beautiful park in which the race started

Along with the dam that is also a part of the park

Since I ran in a trail race yesterday, today’s blog post is going to be a race report and the race report begins last Thursday, with a killer migraine. I went to bed that night hoping that a good nights rest would cure it; I get migraines once in a blue moon, but I get headaches a little bit more regularly and sleep always cures those, but this time it didn’t. I woke up on Friday with what felt like no energy at all, feeling lethargic. I still went to work that morning against better judgement, but got sent home pretty much as soon as I arrived, for which I’m grateful for. I then spent the rest of the day in bed hoping that all this extra rest will set me right for my race, I was worried that if I felt like this come Sunday I wouldn’t be able to run. Lucky for me all that extra sleep on the Friday was the only doctor I needed and I felt fine on Saturday, and then again on the Sunday morning. And what a morning Sunday was.

Here you get to see that when I ran up a hill my pace dropped off the charts

This race was Race Number 3 of the Hoka One One Series, which was held in the Dandenong Ranges National Park, near Silvan. It was about 20km in length with 750m of elevation (according to the website). I reckon this race was probably one of my best races yet this year, sitting alongside Puffing Billy. I got there nice and early so I could do a proper warm up. This meant when I got to the start line I was ready to go. I also did my homework for this race, which meant I knew what I was in for and was mentally prepared for hills that I would have to climb up, and also knew that I would most likely have to power-hike up some of them.

I honestly reckon that was the biggest difference between this race and the last trail race I did in Plenty Gorge, I don’t think I’m much fitter between now and then but every time I had to walk last race I was mentally beating myself and I wasn’t in a very good head space, for this race I was in a good head space the entire race.

 

Some of the amazing single track I got to run on

The final hill I had to run down

I started off with the leading pack for the first 4ish km’s because; to my surprise, they weren’t going that fast. I also knew though that I wasn’t going to be able to keep up them for the rest of the race, but running with a group like that put me in a good position to try and beat the time I set myself. This meant by the time I got to the ‘hill from hell’ at about the 5km point I could still see the race leader, and that the race leader was power hiking. As soon as I saw that I thought that there was no point in trying to run up it at all, so I didn’t. To my surprise I even managed to pass someone whilst doing this, which was a great feeling. From this point onwards, until about the 8km mark I was running by myself and getting into a nice rhythm on some beautiful single track, when the major hill started. This was the point when I managed to catch and pass the leading female (who apparently is heading to some mountain running world champs later in the year) and when a battle with another runner started.

Just a little bit of the beautiful scenery

This other runner is named Owen and he caught me and stormed past me running up the hill, only for me to pass him at the water point (10km in) as he had to stop for a drink and I didn’t. He passed me again towards the top and got a good lead on me by the time we reached the top, but I must be a much better downhill runner than he is as I was able to catch him and beat him, and on it went for the rest of the race. Unfortunately for me on the flatter sections and for the last remaining bit that was uphill, Owen was much, much faster than me. So by the time we got to the final hill about 18km in he had a good lead that I just couldn’t claw back with the final downhill. This meant I crossed the line in 9^th place overall and getting the time that I wanted. I wanted to achieve 1 hr 40 and I was so close, coming across the line in 1 hr 40 min and 32 secs (15 seconds behind Owen). This also meant I won my age group, beating the next person by 15 minutes.

I also wish to make a quick mention to fellow Sale and District Runners who also ran in Silvan with me, but competed in the short course. Well done to Mel for beating her friends and to Kym for getting 3^rd in her age group!

 

Well done to everyone out there, it was tough!

The TRN

Food Part I

I was wondering what I should write about today and was looking for inspiration, when at lunch time I looked at my food. So that is what I’m going to talk about, as it’s a fairly major component of any athlete’s performance. I think I’ll do in 2 parts. This first part will be on my day to day nutrition and the second part will be on what I try and eat during my longer runs and races.

For breakfast in winter, nothing is better than a hearty bowl of oats

Food, an integral part of life and most Instagrammers feeds. It’s also what allows sports nutritionists to stay employed. I know because at the beginning of the year I used a sport nutritionist to try and sort out my eating habits. I’m exercising more now than I ever have before in my life, which means I need to try and get all the nutrients and energy I need to remain healthy and improve my performance. Hence the Sports Nutritionist.

Throughout the day snacks start with a tub of yoghurt.

Then some fruit

It turned out I was no-where near eating healthy enough last year, not enough fruits and vegetables and I was eating too much of saturated fats and sugar, but not enough complex carbs. The reason why I didn’t gain weight was because I still was highly active (and maybe genetics, who knows about that one). Improving on these baseline nutrition factors, according to the nutritionist, can help improve my overall sporting performance.

And a muesli bar

And some more fruit

So improve I did, I’m now eating a lot healthier and do genuinely feel better. I usually have more energy throughout the day and tend to bounce back from training a lot faster than I did last year. I guess the hope is to continue on with my good habits and; fingers crossed, will allow me to continue to perform and race better and better.

And some not so healthy snacks, gotta treat yourself right? And besides, it's balanced out with everything else

I also usually have a roll which has ham, cheese, tomato and salad mix; along with Salada's with cheese and tomato.

For dinner is usually something delicious that is pasta or rice based that my mum makes. Tonight's dinner is pasta, chicken, pumpkin, mushroom and spinach.

Followed with some steamed veggies that I usually eat while learning Deutsche!

The TRN