Week of Dec, 23 ~ 29
82.2km / 51 mi.
As of the end of the year I'm running well, with my legs in fairly good shape. I still have a torn meniscus in my right knee, but aside from a bit of pain during the first 3 or 4km of runs, it doesn't bother me. Arthroscopic surgery would probably fix it, although I just read an article on Yahoo with many comments that said the surgery is not infallible, sometimes does not help at all, and in fact some people have gotten worse after surgery. So as long as I stay away from long runs, which definitely stress the knee, I think it will be manageable, i.e., will not get any worse.
Hope to be running some good 10K and Half Marathon races in 2014. I would really like to run some races in the US, as I'm sure I'm near the top of my age group, but of course travel to the US is time- and money-consuming. I do have a tentative plan to go to Portland, Maine in July for the Beach to Beacon 10K, one of the top 10Ks in America…we'll see.
Monday
11:30 - 8k easy in 47:42
3:30 - 12k in 1:04:03 @5:20/k with splits of 32:44, 31:41.
Felt good coming back.
Weather: 7C/45F, 8C/46F
Weight: 57.7kg
Tuesday
Rest
Big dinner - Xmas dinner at home.
Wednesday
7:30pm - Club 5,000m time trial on the track.
19:29 @3:54/k. 3:50/57/56/54/50
Felt ok, but not great. Decent last km. Quite cold, which I don't like.
Weather: 7C/45F…or less? Felt very cold.
Big dinner - Brazilian BBQ with clubmates.
Thursday
1:00 - 12k in 1:08:59 @ 5:45
Friday
12:00 - Gym workout
3:30 - 14k in 1:16:57 @5:30 (5:40/5:20.
Felt ok - good coming back.
Weather: 7C/45F, cloudy with some rain.
Saturday
2:30 - 14.2k with 4k warmup, 4k x 2 tempo, 150m hill x 8.
4k in 19:14 @4:48 and 17:37 @4:24. Walk 4:30 in between.
Sluggish first 4k but then felt surprisingly good on the second one.
Ran up the hills hard. Start of my plan to incorporate some short hills and short sprints into the training week, to try to improve my "speed."
Weather: 8C/46F, felt colder.
Weight: 58.8kg
Sunday
3:00 - 12k in 1:07:37 @5:38
Knee always a bit sore the first 4k, then ok. Felt fine coming back.
Weather: 8C/46F, sunny
Weight: 58.7kg - Christmas and New Year's are for gaining weight. I'll take it off in January.
Thanks for reading my blog. Here's to good running in 2014!
2 days ago
Thanks for your Blog Posts Bob. Very inspiring. People I know ( or am married to) probably get tired of me telling them " what Bob did". :-)
ReplyDeleteHave a great year in 2014. And yes....get to the States and race.
Thanks for your weekly post. Nothing works all the time for all people so i always enjoy reading about your training and nutritional experiments! Have you considered the gold coast 10k (or half) in early july? All age group categories are very competitive... happy & injury free running in 2014
ReplyDeleteYou're certainly in good shape Bob. Wishing you continued success in 2014.
ReplyDeleteHey Bob
ReplyDeleteThe Beach to Beacon sounds good! Happy New Year looking forward to following your exploits again th.is year
enjoyed our meet-ups in 2013, bob. hopefully more in 2014. all the very best for 2014. hope it's fast and injury-free for you.
ReplyDeleteIve enjoyed your weekly updates and look forward to more of the same.
ReplyDeleteThe Beach to Beacon would be a fantastic US goal race Bob. A lot of history with that race, well organised and no doubt competitive in your age-group.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear the knee is holding up well. Stay away from those knife blokes as long as you can! All the best for 2014.