Week Ten
March 8th – 14th
Training
Developed for participants entering the 14.5km course
- Mon: 45min run/walk (6km)
- Tue: rest
- Wed: 15min walk/run (2km), 20min run (3km), 15mins walk/run (2km).
- Thu: rest
- Fri: 30min walk/run (4km)
- Sat: rest
- Sun: Run for the Kids race day
Training
Developed for participants entering the 5.2km course
Choose two days (not in succession) of the week Mon-Fri to complete the following:
- 8 laps total consisting of exercising over 2 days.
- 1 x day: 5 laps walk/fast, walk/shuffle or run
- 1 x day: 3 laps walk/fast, walk/shuffle or run
This is it; we have almost arrived at our destination with only six days to go until race day. It is all about freshening up and recovering so your body feels good on Sunday. For this reason we will only exercise on three days this week and whilst you might feel like doing more it is important to stick to the plan. If you want to do something treat yourself to a massage or a spa as this should add to your performance. Also, I recommend that you have a quiet week at work and maybe even take Friday off or if you are at home don’t do too much labour intensive work. To ensure you have enough energy to get through the distance it is vital that you eat meals containing complex carbohydrates in the last few days such as pasta, rice, potatoes as well as other energy foods like fruits and vegetables. Make sure you are drinking lots of water and electrolyte drinks right up until race time to stay hydrated and make use of water stations out on the course.
Speaking of race day, I like to put all my stuff out ready the night before so I am not panicking or forgetting something in all the rush on the morning. Don’t forget to wear your race number and attach your timing chip and carry some spare toilet paper for emergencies. Get there early, be patient and start off casually because it is not really a race but an event to experience with thousands of other like minded people.
I hope the training we have completed allows you to have a truly memorable day. See you there.
Now you have completed the long course race distance and made it through the toughest training week it is time to begin to ease up the workload. This will make sure that your body is fresh and ready to go on race day. Experience tells me that most people train too hard too close to an event so we want to avoid that. I still have a couple of harder sessions with hills on Wednesday and a quicker run on Saturday just to make sure your body holds on to the training effect we have developed over the last couple of months. The idea of the faster run on Saturday (or Sunday if you can find a local race to do) over roughly half the distance is to have a practice run before our big day. Wear the clothes you intend to run in and test out your race shoes to make sure they fit well and feel good on your feet. It sure is better to get it wrong this weekend than next. It would be good to run at a similar pace to what you hope to do in the actual race just to get a feel for it in your mind.
I will be at the Nike training run on Wednesday night at Federation Square just before six o’clock to answer any queries you might have so I look forward to a chat and a run with a few of you there.