‘The Run to Melbourne’: November 1 - 7
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1
Rest day.
I fought the urge to sneak out in sublime conditions.
Surprisingly enough, work moved at a glacial pace when at any other time it’d have been heaving prior to a public holiday.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2
Following the recovery, I was eager to put the foot down in conditions similarly pristine to yesterday’s.
My program called for a tempo, though I took the cue from the Yarra Bend Melbourne Cup day Vigor session to have a crack at a threshold.
A 3:17 first kilometre was promising enough, yet I quickly realised that it was unsustainable - particularly with a moderate northerly in swing.
After sliding to a 3:23 and 3:30 past the turnaround outside the Elwood SLSC, I felt cooked and considered ending it early.
The tail assistance allowed me to wing it to the line with a 3:27 and rounded out with a 3:23, to clock a lick over seventeen minutes.
It was another quiet afternoon at work, with many ostensibly countryside after the easing of restrictions the previous Friday evening.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3
There was nothing special about the ten mile midweek toil.
Even so, it was a demoralising slog into a warm and strong wind.
An average of 4:39/km felt much harder than it should have, leaving me lethargic for the balance of the day.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4
A blink and you’ll miss it 6 x 15 second strides shake to sharpen the legs ahead of the evening’s Vigor track session commenced the day.
The trip across town was the polar opposite of the previous week, as I enjoyed a clean run in ideal conditions of under forty minutes, and arriving at Clifton Hill in plenty of time.
Even so, the carpark was as busy as I’ve ever seen it, consigning me to the narrow grassy knoll adjacent to the ravine!
My heart rate strap frustratingly decided to go to the fritz pre session, so I was stuck with the ever unreliable optical/wrist HR.
The track was heaving with runners, perhaps cognisant of the promised post session pizza and beers…
On that note, it was great to have Liam back on hand following his lockdown enforced metro Melbourne exodus!
Having made it through the warm up phase without drama, I felt a slight tightness in my left hamstring during the grass strides which caused some reservations, though nothing came of it.
Nevertheless, I was looking forward to a first massage since July from Liam’s caring - and occasionally scream inducing, hands afterwards.
The session called for as many as 8 x 800 metre efforts on a rolling 400 m float.
A first rep of 2:34 didn’t inspire much confidence so much as blowing out the cobwebs, whilst keeping on the same part of the track with Mitch Wilson was a daunting prospect.
That pursuit dragged the pace down to a 2:25 second rep and an awareness not to overdo it.
I enjoyed some handy company from Hamish McClean and newcomer Tom, which helped to maintain the pace over subsequent reps.
A 2:26, 2:27 and 2:26 were pleasing in their consistency even if it felt like much harder work than in previous times. I was undoubtedly red lining and running on empty being just the second track session post time trial, so I decided it would be six and out.
Another 2:26 and an unbroken 24 minutes at 3:19 pace was a nice way to sign off, whilst a few of the keen ones, including Simon Hanns and Xavier Meade, bravely knuckled down for the full prescription of eight reps.
A combination of feeling gassed after the effort and the sight of the pizzas and beers - of the non alcoholic variety for yours truly - hurry up Melbourne…, meant that a solitary cool down lap was registered before drawing a line through proceedings.
It was a slightly surreal sensation to see so many people standing around laughing alongside each other with a slice of pizza and coldie in hand following the lockdown, just as it was twelve months earlier.
After a short trip to Liam’s apartment, the ‘fun’ of discovering what shape the body was in was afoot.
There were several extremely tender spots that had definitely been placed through the wringer over the past months, but the relief afterwards was instantaneous!
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5
Despite the late return, my legs felt spritely for the treatment and it was an enjoyable 10 km recovery @ 4:45/km.
My only grievance with the heart rate strap remaining MIA was the Garmin cadence lock, which has been an issue as long as I’ve used a smartwatch.
It wasn’t particularly cool out - when the problem usually surfaces, so a reading of 160 something bpm for several km around a leisurely 4:50 pace was bemusing!
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6
It was a similar story to Wednesday insofar as that it was humid and gusty out, thus a steady progression towards tempo pace proved trying.
Once more, the relief on the tailwind return leg wasn’t as pronounced as ideal, with the energy rapidly sapped even as the pace only briefly hovered below 4:00/km.
15.27 km @ 4:14 felt closer to flat 4:00 pace in those conditions.
It was an uneventful evening at work, though it was bustling on the streets of Elsternwick as I headed home, a stark contrast from previous months.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 7
After catching a glimpse of the first session of F1 qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix, I headed out after making a late call to head south.
Guided by the wind forecast as is so often the case these days, this would encompass some elevation on the journey towards Mordialloc, which hasn’t been as prominent a feature of my running as it should have been in recent times.
Another belated decision was reached to throw in some faster 5 km blocks - which I settled on floating off 1 km, with the undefined pace informed by the conditions and terrain.
Despite an immediately testing southerly, I knew I was set for a decent morning based on easing into the initial kms just under 4:15 pace with relative comfort.
The first rep commenced at 5 km and though I felt sharp, the wind resistance and rolling climbs through Sandringham to Black Rock cut my work out. 19:16 wasn’t a bad effort even if the effort felt faster.
The second - starting prior to the Rickett’s Point climb in Beaumaris and concluding at the Parkdale SLSC, was a slog as I struggled to remain in the low 3:50 territory, registering 19:30 for those five km.
Pleasingly, the heart rate strap which I’d successfully revived, having disassembled and reassembled it over the previous 24 hours, indicated that I wasn’t cooking myself too severely - hovering around 160 bpm.
Finally reaching the turnaround midway through the second float at 16.5 km was gratifying, aided shortly beforehand by a passing salute to Cameron Hall, Dion Perry and co. as they did justice to their own Melbourne preparations.
The relief of the southerly tail was instant, even if respite from the elevation wasn’t so forthcoming!
Surely enough, the pace steadily dropped, with mid 3:40’s arriving much more readily and culminating in an 18:54 rep.
Whilst the legs were beginning to tire as I observed the final float, I remained keen to bring it home, and particularly to tackle the Two Bays climb just past Black Rock. A 3:51 km coinciding with that rise was as much as I could have hoped for that late in the piece.
Once that hurdle had been cleared, the worst of the elevation was done and it was nice to put the foot down a little with some relative descending. A 3:39 into a 3:35 to round out the final rep - recording 18:39, seemed like a good note to sign off.
I couldn’t resist a final fling with a solitary kilometre effort following another km off along the pancake flat run towards South Rd. 3:22 for the 30th km - around the mark for goal Melbourne pace, was a confidence boost on tired legs, though I was absolutely ready to draw the line by then!
Easing home for 33 km in 2:10 and change at 3:56 pace, there were many positives to be drawn from the hitout.
An 104 km week was right in the sweet spot. I don’t envisage that we’ll be venturing much higher than 110 km leading into a taper which is already approaching at an alarming rate!
For the first full week after we’d committed to Melbourne, it was timely for the post TT malaise to have been shaken.
Five weeks out, it all feels very real at this point!