Another solid week getting the volume in with just under 65kms of running. Nearly 60% of that was completed on the weekend with the combination of the Lake Wendouree 15km and the Sunday marathon pace run.

This week

Tuesday 10km effort session with 4 x 1600 reps on the track. I was a little off the target times on the last two reps but it was tough out there in the rain and wind.

Wednesday I had an 8km easy run. In the morning I had a workshop to attend down in Docklands so I parked my car down there. So I did my 8km evening run from one side of the city to the other via Southbank along the river. Again I got rained on!

Thursday evening back to Princes Park for 4km threshold effort.  This is becoming one of my favourite locations for longer efforts. Good surface, no stopping, minor elevation change and easy for me to get to from work.

Saturday we were out at Ballarat for the Athletics Victoria 15km road race around Lake Wendouree. While others raced I did my 3 x 5km effort session. It was surprisingly difficult to hold back – I felt like I was going as slow as I could but was 10 seconds faster per km than my target.

Sunday getting into longer marathon pace runs now with a 23km run around the You Yangs including Great Circle drive. I felt good for most of the run but hit a wall with 5km to go. Probably the combination of the big weekend and at this duration of a run is where you tend to burn through glycogen stores and switch to fat.

Running

1%-ers

Nutrition and Vitamin D

I started reading Fast Fuel Food for Running Success this week which has been a useful read. Making some small adjustments to my food to make sure I’m getting the right amount of carbohydrates in at the right times to support and recover from training.

Additionally it brought to my attention the importance of Vitamin D. Low Vitamin D levels can lead to chronic fatigue, musculoskeletal pain and viral respiratory tract infections. Supplementing athletes with sub-optimal levels can have beneficial effects on athletic performance.

When I was tested around this time last year my Vitamin D levels were at 66nmol/l. I didn’t realise until now but this is considered an insufficent level. The Australian Institute of Sport recommend supplementing if below 75nmol/l.

I have started supplementing now so it will be interesting to see if it makes a difference. Thinking back I had fatigue last year during winter, then ran well through summer, and had fatigue again this winter. Which may just be a coincidence but it could make some sense since my Vitamin D levels would be lower during winter.

Coming up

Next week will be a lighter week for some pre-programmed recovery. Long marathon pace run steps up to 25km – this time I’ll be testing out race day nutrition.

• 12 August – Anglesea Surf Coast Ekiden Relay
• 10 September – Burnley Half Marathon
• 16 September – Princes Park Relays
• 15 October – Melbourne Marathon

Summary