training

Another Saturday another long run, this time to Rowville and back. While I know the route like the back of my hand I have never ran it on foot before and as such never experienced the gradient first hand. It's not the most precipitous terrain in the world but the hill up to Jacksons Road from Eastlink will make you work for it.

Stretching on the grass out in front of the Mulgrave McDonald's is not something I've ever thought of doing but it is nice to enjoy the more inconsistent moments.

As the kilometers stack up so does the time. I left at 9am and didn't arrive home until 3pm, while I wasn't running for the entire time that much time on your feet does take a toll.

At least it didn't rain.

After another week of riding into the office my legs are feeling sore but strong. When I first began cycling I needed to shift gears for almost all inclines, now I barely touch the shifter. I couldn't understand how road bikes only had one set of gears - it's now very obvious why.

The Gold Coast marathon is just over a month away and every day is now a calculation to optimise my performance. Cutting to much protein increases the risk of injury and fatigue while too many calories will mean excess weight on race day. It's an intense optimisation problem that will be the main factor to weather I meet my goal of 3:45:00 on the day.

One thing I've found that helps after a long run is to do a fast (<4:00min/km) speed session the following to squeeze all the lactic acid out of your legs.

At least that's what I wanted to believe on the treadmill this morning.

After that my recovery continued on with an excursion to South Yarra's Pound Cafe - I have and always will have a weakness for a Ruben.

Training for the 2026 Gold Coast Marathon is well underway as more and more of my Saturday's are being consumed by long runs.

The challenge now is to find a way of making each long run "fun". This week I decided to do 15 laps of Caulfield Park, with each lap being approximately 2.2km it was going to be a mind numbing experience. There is some comfort in a repetitive course as it allows you to enter a meditative trance as you try and remember what lap you're on.

The fun parts of this run were the pullups I did every lap which is why lats now hurt more than my legs.

The first week of commuting with a bike has been both challenging and rewarding. From 5am starts in the rain to vibrant afternoons the spectrum has been wide, perhaps cycling to work at the beginning of a Melbourne winter isn't the warmest idea.

The being said I have already felt my fitness improve over the last week, this hopefully will translate into an improved pace in the next few weeks.