Hunger knock is not fun!

I am not sure whether I like Greg McMillan (McMillan Running) or not. Which is odd since I have decided to "follow his teachings" as it were for my long runs. And Mr McMillan is no fun-freak. In fact, I think his methods are designed to introduce you to new levels of pain and misery during your training. Which is pretty neat, since chances are that race day will bring more of the same so at least you'll be used to it. Which is his theory ... or at least that's how I explain it.

He has two basic tenets which I am overlaying on the general distance/pacing from my Furman program. The first of these is on your "regular" long runs you should not consume any carb's (gels, sports drink, etc). The idea is to deplete your energy stores (about 90+ minutes) then get used to running beyond this when you are tired. This is what I did today. His other principle is the "fast finish" long run which I'll introduce later in the program.

So today was a 24km run at target pace of 5.06min/km. I ran down South Rd to the beach then along the path to Point Ormond and return. At this pace it felt pretty easy from the outset (as it should) and I cruised the outbound leg in 58.49min (4.55m/km pace).

On the return it was a little harder, first into a bit of a headwind then on the rise up South Rd to home. Of course, as expected, the final half hour was very hard. Not only did my right calf begin to get very sore, but I suffered big time hunger knock. I tried just to focus on every kilometre at a time, but by the last one I was nearly tripping over my shadow. The return journey was in 61.22min (5.08m/km pace).

Overall it was a very good result. I covered the journey in a few seconds over two hours at 5.01m/km pace. Perfect! Had some food, iced my calf and watched the Tour de France. All is good now!

Weekly total: 3 runs for 42.09 km in 3:33.07 hrs