Marathoning, taper and the Amalfi Coast

It has been a busy two weeks of flying around the world whilst tapering for the last event of the season. 

The running has been plentiful and the efforts hard. The scenery has been ever changing. The first of the last long two runs that remained on the dwindling calendar was in the adopted home town of Minneapolis. With a few last minute changes, the venue flipped from a monotonous high paced trip around the track to a fast paced training run with Napoleon. How else would it have gone?? With time tight and opportunity slim, with gently bashed out loops around the lakes in the mid morning, we smashed out the miles in a surprisingly enjoyable time, despite our fast flagging energy stores. It was a good rehearsal for a showdown come Oct 5th. It's going to be a lot of "fun". 

Seven days later and the scenery flipped to the English countryside for a hilly and very picturesque run with my lovely wife in tow on the bike. 18 miles looping around the rolling and sometimes harsh hills of the English country. 

It was a perfect ending to the short marathon specific training that has lasted the last six weeks. We couldn't have picked a better day for it and the 18 miles ticked by and with the accompaniment of  my wife, before I knew it the final climb up Frieth Hill was upon us and we were in the house for a well earned cuppa. 

The following week after we flew down to the never ending steps of the picturesque  town of Positano nestled in the seaside mountains of the Amalfi Coast. Just a couple of short runs on the calendar, but what a view! 

Presented with a last medium run of six miles, we elected instead to climb 1,750 steps up to the mountain town perched above us. A perfect replacement and a final view that made the steps all that much more worthwhile. 

What a great ending to the taper and now back to the United States for the last week and the season finale - the most beautiful urban marathon in the world. 

Good luck to us all!!

Temporarily retired, but still dreaming

Even though we are now entering the off season and temporary iron distance retirement, the dreaming season is beginning to sneak in to my thoughts. So often my mind wanders aimlessly around the mind's garden wondering about how I can make iron distance races that much better. This year the body didn't fail me at all. The legs felt "fine" to the end. Yet, my thoughts are clouded with idealistic dreams of how it would feel to glide along on a wave of fully fuelled euphoria. They say it is simply a case of practice. I thought I had. 

This year's dreams are also dominated by faster times and shorter races. The half iron distance races have the greatest draw, like a bee to a sunflower. I like the idea of powering through that distance in under 6 hours. I'm beginning to feel that the length of race is where the body will find itself the happiest and most balanced, not to mention the reduced time consuming nature of it all. I just have to learn to let go of the leash of moderation and caution and trust in the training and simply go for it!

I'm hoping the first test of my body's speed will be the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon in a few weeks. A marathon is still just that. 26.2 miles of gruelling effort when, no matter what distance you body has experienced previously, you still fatigue and feel the pain. Hopefully, the 4 hour barrier can be broken and the first brick of the winding path laid towards a sub 6 hour half iron. 

After that effort, I will look to a more local feel. Work schedule permitting, which is rarely does, I hope to find myself in the town of my youth. Gliding around it's hills and valleys competing in the Frieth Hilly 10k. This very hilly and heart maxing 10k hill-fest really is a fantastic race through the english countryside. It's popularity has boomed since it's inception a fews years ago, gaining reputation as one of the best 10k races in the south of England. Plus, it provides funds to the elementary school I attended as a young scallywag, which is an apt choice for my entry fee. I have only managed to secure the weekend off once before, but I truly hope to get out there with my wife and break my previous time of 50 minutes, making the Hilly an international affair. The last hill, a hill I have walked a thousand times through the middle of the village, is the "home stretch" and a lung buster at that. With the draw from the smell of the bacon butties dragging you magnetically up the hill to the finish, you'll be sure to finish.

After that, perhaps some down time to let the ankle improve and do a  little rehab. Yes, perhaps I should be doing that now, but where's the fun in that?? With a winter full of snowy tempo runs, perhaps the body will make it out the other side quicker, faster and stronger. We shall have to wait and see.

Good luck to us all!