My Progress
last week’s target 100 km, achieved 75 km
this week’s target 110 km
weight 64.5 kg, weight loss -0.5 kg, total weight loss 2.5 kg
song of the week Mountain's High, Delirious - World Service. "This mountain's high, too high for us"
My week
I could only shuffle around this week, with a very sore muscle in my right calf. However, the masseur said I could still run the half marathon yesterday, so I gave it a go despite considerable discomfort. I backed well off from my target pace. What I have found is that, when I am injured, it is just as hard running slowly as it would be running faster. I kept having to ease back, especially down hill, but it seemed just as hard as if I had raced down the hills. Anyway, the calf only got a bit worse during the run, and I ended up passing a few people up the hills in the second half who were suffering more than me. Despite all that, I was very pleased with my final time of 93.40 for the Weston Creek course, still within the range of times I was hoping for; I now know that Canberra Marathon at over a minute per km slower should be no problem; and I am confident of running 87:30 in the Canberra Half in May, more injuries permitting.
My form over the years
This graph shows how I rate my form over the years I have been running. It is "seasonally adjusted" for age, so for example a 2:30 marathon at age 30 would be equivalent to a 3:00 marathon at age 60. The X axis is year from 1962 to present. The Y axis is percentage fitness. I estimate I have improved to about 70% fit this year so far. A 100% fitness now would be about a 37:30 10k. "Zero percent" was when I could "only" run about 46 minutes.
The interesting thing about the chart is the plummet from 100 to 0; the change was overnight, the reason was never discovered.
I was at my peak for about fifteen years, an achievement I am proud of. Most people can expect about ten years. It was probably mostly luck considering my high mileage through that period; being light on my feet may have helped. I had almost no injuries.
