Week 13, was that the wall?

Week 13 has been relatively normal. I had 3 shorter runs, 2 x 8km and 1 x 12km, I did my 12 km run at a bit of faster pace, 5:22/km and felt really relaxed. It was a nice mild morning so that really helped.

The weather is certainly staring to get cooler, which makes for ideal running conditions. Although there has been a bit of wind and a bit of rain, luckily I've managed to avoid this!

My long run this week saw me break the 30km mark for the first time, I ran 31km.  I normally run Sundays, but I'm going to see the Lion King musical tomorrow, so did not have time to do my long run on a Sunday. It was good to get it out of the way this morning.

And, to make things a little bit different today, I had some running buddies! Barto and Tim from work joined me for my run, they ran 29km as are not quite up to the 31km distance yet. It was nice to have someone to chat to for a change! They did really well and certainly killed me on the hills, I think the hills on this marathon will not be my friend.

As far as today's run goes though, it felt really good. I did not have any real issues pain wise, my quads felt a little tight towards the 18km mark. I am wondering if this has anything to do with the fact I ran yesterday, I normally rest before my long runs. I took my gels at 1hr, 1:45 and 2:30, and this seemsed to work, although I am not sure if I did experience the wall, or perhaps the start of it? I had a strange wave come over me at the 28km mark, although I did not feel too bad, it certainly made me feel like I was losing all my energy, but I managed to get through it and kept going, my pace did not drop.

Talking of pace, today's pace was a little faster than my 29km run two weeks ago, I finished on 5:58/km. so not too bad. But I wonder if this is why I felt strange around the 28km mark, where as when I did 29km at a 6:13 pace, I felt as fresh as a daisy. I think that may explain things.

So, getting over 30km was another achievement for me. It's exciting seeing the kilometres rack up.

Next week is another recovery week, which will be nice. Although I'm enjoying the longer runs so much, I wonder how I'll feel doing 22km. It will feel short!

Ooh, also forgot to mention after my 31km run, I took a little dip in the wading pool at Eastern Beach! Perfect way to relax those sore muscles. Certainly feel it made a difference. It was pretty cold, but also very refreshing!

Until next time, keep enjoying life folks :-)