20 Days to race

Just under three weeks or precisely 20 days till my first race of the year. I went out for my long run this morning and during the second half of the run I felt that I was ready for this race. It’s been a long road back from a disappointing last year and rebuilding my body and confidence to run long distances again, so to have this thought that I am ready is very pleasing to say the least.

My run this morning was less than pleasing though, in fact I cut it short by an hour and still felt great afterwards. I woke up this morning with a mildly sore throat and got ready for my run. Almost on queue for my run to start so did heavy rain which lasted for all of my run. I managed to get through 24km or just on two hours of the planned three hours before the weather sapped my motivation to continue. The feeling that I have done the work and will be ready when I race in 20 days made this decision easier as most of the work has been put in, this run was more about icing on the cake than building the foundations of endurance.

The race I have entered is a unique in itself, 45km from Red Rock to Coffs Harbour on the NSW Holiday Coast. Mostly run on the beaches which separate the two towns, there are ten headlands and five creek crossings to navigate over the course. Heavy rain this far south from Queensland’s Cyclone Marcia will have the creeks up and running fast but there should be enough time for these to subside over the next 20 days.

Over the next 20 days I plan on one more long run, in the area of 3 – 3 1/2 hours just to top off my training and a some faster interval work intertwined with some slower recovery runs and a few strength and conditioning sessions at the gym. The last week will be a short taper with a few light runs and plenty of rest before the race.

I’m looking forward to running this race, it’s been too long between events for me a good chance to test the work I have done over the past 6-9 months in getting myself back running consistently.