The wind that has torn at Melbourne these past few days has, at least for the time being, finally abated. Today has been quiet and calm. The birds endlessly call to one another, their minds on Spring hatchlings. The traffic hums pleasantly. Not one siren sounds, the MFB and Ambulance vehicles are cold and still in their depots after a busy night. Even Thor's hammer has been laid to rest, having beat out a few cracks to join in with last night's chorus.
I cannot recall the last time I had such a luxurious morning. The dawn might have called but only noonday was answered. Weeks busy with training and work and not enough sleep between seem to have finally caught up with me and so I slept long and hard as I have not done so in months. I still have a 9k run to warm my legs on this dwindling afternoon and an engagement with that old whoremongerer the 1000 Steps with my new weighted vest tomorrow. But I feel rested and unhurried in a way that I have missed.
I have finally broken my running drought, particularly the long distance one. A few short 2.5 or 3k jogs here and there (most often with my weighted pack down to the car park from the top of the 1000 Steps), 3 weeks ago now I put on my much loved and increasingly worn ASICS Kayanos and took myself on a 2 lap trundle of my old training ground, Princes Park. I spent months acquainting myself to its 3k circumference while training for Nepal last year. I ran my first half marathon distance there albeit broken a few times at the end to make use of its water fountains and to stretch my sore legs. As part of my training for Kilimanjaro, I intend on running (read: jogging) more than one of those bad boys but I also intend on doing it with more finesse and care. I was on a tight schedule last year and so those last 2 laps of the park grew increasingly uncomfortable until it did not matter whether I ran, skipped or walked back to my car, only time relieved the impressive soreness left behind.
I have become much more clever in managing the recovery of my legs also since I discovered that iced calves do not persistently ache the way that they had been when I first started stair training a couple of months ago. I work my legs a lot, knowing how important it is that they be strong and resilient and enduring of the steady work that will be required of them for days on end. That was the second biggest mistake I came across in Nepal after acute mountain sickness. Something that I've heard tell time and again from others also. People taking for granted the importance of their legs to a trek, their knees especially. Persistent downhill is hard on knees. That is a reality of trekking. I have met those with bad knees from trekking trails such as Kokoda as young 20-somethings without prior training. Developing osteoarthritis from a 1-2 week trek competed at age 22 is an absurd and unnecessary lifelong complication. It is ultimately far better and less inconvenient to train.
I recently read an article about a 60-something gentleman who had just competed his 200th sub-3 hour marathon. In all that time, he never suffered a major running injury. He strongly advocated listening to your body when exercising. If your body told you that you werenl not fit to finish your weekly long run as planned, then you did not do so at risk injuring yourself. He advocated also training tired. I do not mean that he recommended training injured or training hard when your legs are tired, but going for a long slow run on tired legs better equips them for what they will experience in a marathon. The same is true for trekking and hiking, I do believe. If I want to spend 1-3 weeks walking in excess of 5 hours a day every day (something that my ordinary life does not provide for) then my legs must have the endurance to do so. They learn that endurance by training until they are tired multiple days in a row. I will endeavor to improve upon this endurance slowly over the next 4 or so months. While I certainly do not advocate doing too many kilometers too quickly (as I may have done), I never experienced the pain or exhaustion in Nepal as I did for every kilometer ran over about 16k. I was grateful for the comparison and preparation it leant me but I need to be fitter and harder for Kilimanjaro, at least for summitting day.
