Eventually, it only took two and half weeks!
Jo and I finished the last section of Trailwalker today, for some closure and for Jo to be sure that her recalcitrant legs would not have carried her over the last section had she made the decision to press on.
Having never done that section with fresh legs I was unsure how long it would take and thought maybe 2 hours, I was way off, GPS clocked the distance as 9,7km and it took us 80 minutes, I reckon we probably ran about 6km and walked the rest, remember there are a few hills in this section.
It was very satisfying to finish and I even had a flutter in my stomach as we came out on to the oval. There were some horsey people doing horsey things nearby, not sure what they thought of a couple of women bursting from the bush, running on to the oval and doing a victory dance.
So, I can draw a line under TW ‘09 now, the cross country and road racing season is about to start. April and May is also my danger period, the work I have done during this time in the last two years has lead to stress fractures in June. So, careful, careful, careful is the mantra, I wish there was a magic way of knowing when one is forming so I can back off but experience tells me that by the time you know it is sadly too late. All I can do is curb my enthusiasm, train conservatively and hope for the best 
The one thing that I am going to do that is different is keep the long runs down under 15km until June, I have a half marathon in early September and I am hoping I can get away with slightly lower mileage until about 3 months out. Well, it’s gonna have to do, I would rather be slightly off my best that risk breaking down again.
And that’s another Easter long weekend done, I have really made the most of it this year, the weather was perfect, I got some enjoyable runs done and my garden is looking great ahead of winter. What a shame I have to go back to work tomorrow, I was getting used to this relaxed lifestyle and to add to the pain Tuesdays I have to get up at 5am!
Well done on finishing TW – a mental battle won, I bet.
Which HM do you have your sights on in September, or is it one of your competition ones ?
Comment by Andrew(AJH) — April 14, 2009 @ 10:05 am
That sounds like a good plan regarding the long runs.
Comment by jojo — April 14, 2009 @ 10:42 am
My humble advice would be to only have one type of stress at a time. If you’re building up the mileage, cut the speedwork, hills etc *until* you have the mileage where you want it. Just do the winter races for speedwork (and very short hill sprints, which are good for strength/speed). When you have the mileage stable, bring in the hard workouts.
Try ‘doubles’ or ‘back-to-backs’ for a long run substitute. For example, 12k morning, rest 6 hours, 8k evening. Back to back could be 15k evening, 15k next morning.
Comment by Ewen — April 14, 2009 @ 7:57 pm
Congratulations on banishing that demon! And good luck with the plan for June.
Comment by morseyruns — April 15, 2009 @ 1:36 pm