3/11/10

Thursday’s Training – Am: 60 mins Aqua Jogging

Today was all about precaution. I could feel my achilles quite a lot as I walked around so I decided it was no time to play heroes and decided to take the day off running. I contemplated doing absolutely nothing but I find it very hard to do that so I waited around until 11.30am for the NAU swimming pool to be open to the public so I could aqua jog. As I waited to get into the pool I watched a Japanese swim team massage and stretch each other after they had finished the mornings workout. I thought about what I great idea that was wondered if it would work in our team environment. If we all took some basic massage classes and massaged each other after every workout it would a) help us all with recovery and b) save us all a lot of money. Anyway, jumped into the surprisingly warm pool and started aqua jogging. It was taking me about 5 mins for me to do 100m so it actually didn’t seem like a long time in the pool. I have aqua jogged a lot in the past so I don’t use a belt any more and all the studies I have read have stated that you get much more of an aerobic workout without the belt. At around half an hour into the workout I was joined in my lane by 8.10 steeplechaser Jukka Keskisalo from Finland. He was cross training on the elliptical that is on pool side then he came into to do 20 mins of aqua jogging. I would find it incredibly frustrating to travel all the way out the states for an altitude training trip only to be relegated to cross training the whole time. It’s bad enough when I do it for one day! I thought that the hydrostatic pressure would be great for my achilles but as I got out of the pool after an hour (I was going to do 2 hours but visions of running on the Alter G later on in the day came into my head and decided to cut it to just the one hour) and walked to the showers, there was quite an ache coming from my achilles. I got changed, went home, iced and then slept for an hour. I woke up and decided not to run on the treadmill and let my leg rest as I wanted it to feel ok for Saturday’s 15 mile tempo. I filled up the bath with cold water and then shovelled a few heaps of snow from outside into the bath and had a nice cold ice bath. I quickly showered and went to pick Julie up from work where she treated me again with some ionto but doubled the time that the electrical charge was on for. My achilles felt great after that and after icing again when we got back to the house, I made some burgers that my dad had taught me to make (with a few additions of my own) and spent the rest of the might patting my full belly and watching Friends with Julie.

3/10/10

Wednesday's Training - Am: 16*400m with 400m rec. Pm: 48 mins

Mileage: 22 Miles

Today was going to be a test to see how my achilles was going to react to hitting the track and getting my racing flats on. The weather in Flagstaff wasn't going to be very good so the whole group headed down to Sedona to either do a track workout or a tempo on the road. We met at Late For The Train and got into 2 cars to head down the mountain. The ride down was pretty awesome because there was snow covering all the cliffs and the red rocks were still showing through so it was quite the sight. For about 30 mins of the ride down I loosened off my calves with my massage stick. This helped a lot as when I got out the car and started jogging as my achilles didn't feel too bad. I was also wearing different trainers with a higher heal so that was also helping. I didn't warm up with the rest of the group as their route was going to be hilly and I didn't want to aggravate my achilles anymore than I had to so I just stuck to 3 miles around the track.

As you can see from the picture of the track, the surrounding areas where looking stunning but it did mean that it was very cold. It was one of those mornings where you were just going to have to wait until half way through the session to feel thoroughly warmed up so I started the 400s as it was going to be a long morning (8 miles on the track). The times of the reps were as follows: 67, 66, 66, 67, 65, 65, 65, 64, 64, 65, 64, 64, 65, 64, 64, 63. As you can see it did take me a little to warm up and the times weren't stunning but I was happy with it and my achilles didn't really hurt. I could feel it but no pain.

Once the guys arrived back from their tempo we warmed down on the artificial grass on the infield of the track and then headed into town to grab some breakfast at the Wildflower Cafe. Once we were sufficiently fed, we headed up the road and I spent the whole journey rolling out my calves with the stick. The sides of my calves were still really tight from the long run this weekend so I was glad I was going to be getting a massage this evening. As we got higher and higher up the mountain, the more it started to snow and by the time we got back to the cars it was coming down quite heavily. It was 12.30pm so I headed straight back to the apartment and took an hour nap as I had to fit in my 2nd run before my 4.30pm massage appointment. I never run after massages because I want to get the full benefit from the massage rather than negating the effects by tightening the muscles up again by running on my relaxed and loose legs. I drove out to Greg's to get a 50 to 60 min run on the Alter G and just stopped at 8 miles as it was already 4pm and I knew it was going to take a while to get back into town (Greg lives about 10 miles from downtown). I stepped outside to find that the snow was just dumping down and I couldn't see the road anymore. I did the best I could but had to drive very slowly to make sure I wasn't drifting off the side of the road. Luckily by the time I got to the main road there was a car in front and I just followed their lights.

It took me the full 30 mins to get to the clinic where Dana (my massage therapist) was waiting for me. I told her about the problems I have been having and she got stuck into my calves and IT bands as they were incredibly tight. It was a very painful session but well worth it because I could feel all the knots in my muscles before I saw her. Dana has an amazing ability to help keep me focussed and relaxed while the pain is at its worst. If she sees or feels me tightening up or clenching she will simply put a hand on my back or side and breathe deeply which really helps me to release my muscles off and she can get into them deeper.

After the session I picked Julie up and we went to the grocery store to pick up some ingredients for a filo salmon recipe we wanted to try. We both really enjoy cooking so it was fun to both prepare everything and it turned out really well. It was a great finish to a busy day and we both crashed pretty hard afterwards!

3/9/10

Tuesday's Training: Am: 82.30 easy to steady Pm: 38 mins easy

Mileage: 20 miles

Today was a hard day for me. It was more of a mental issue than anything as my achilles was aching and I was thinking about it quite a lot. I woke up with my left achilles being really tight and the snow coming down heavily outside. This was a worry for me as I didn’t want to slip and do any damage to my leg but there was a route I had in mind that would maybe be clear so I headed over to the gym so I could start from there and get some stretching in before hand. I got there and did a half mile jog on the treadmill so that I could stretch and roll my calves out on the foam roller before I started. I quickly decided to stay indoors and hit the treadmill as when I look outside again, the snow was coming down thicker and I just didn’t to risk anything. I hopped onto the treadmill and started out pretty easily with some minor pain in my achilles but after a few miles the pain decreased and I was able to get into my running. I knew this was going to be a boring run as I was to 75 to 85 mins so I loaded my Ipod with the last few chapters of Iain Bank's new book "The Transition" and also 2 episodes of the News Quiz Podcast. This actually made the time fly by and by the end of the run I was moving along well. I finished at 14 miles and went down stairs to get into some dry clothes before I started my weights. Once I had gone downstairs and into the locker room, my achilles really ached and I debated whether it was a good idea to do any lifting or bounding and decided against it. I wrapped into some warm clothes and headed home to ice my achilles and get a bit of rest. I napped for an hour and woke up to find a text message from Julie saying to come over to her work if I wanted some treatment. I quickly got changed and headed over (its less than a mile from where we live). She treated me with some iontophoresis which I have had some success with before so I went back home and let the medicine do its magic (it takes 3-4 hours).

Our training group has been very lucky to be given a trial of an Alter G treadmill. Greg managed to get the company to loan us one with the hopes of doing some fundraising around town to see if we could permanently keep it town. Greg and Tracy will shortly be hosting a dinner night to attract some of the doctors and PTs from the local medical facilities to see if they would be interested in using the Alter G also and help with the funding of the machine. I still hadn't used it so this was the perfect opportunity to do so as I could still run and take some of the pressure off of my achilles. Julie was really interested in seeing it in action also so I picked her up after work and we headed out to Greg's house to use it.

The machine is awesome and so helpful if you are injured. It takes a little getting used to but it did take the pressure off my achilles and I was able to run almost pain free. I started at 80% body weight and worked my way up to 100% for the last mile as my achilles warmed up. It looks like I may be out at Greg's quite a lot to run on the treadmill while my achilles heals.

Sunday Monday

Sunday’s Training – Am: 60 mins recovery

Weekly Mileage Total – 146 miles

Today was a complete recovery day. I woke up 7.30am and sat down for a coffee, toast and crossword before I got ready for my run. It was pretty cool outside but I still just wore a vest as I knew it would be the last time in a long while to wear as little clothing as this. I actually had to take it off after a mile because I was getting some nipple rub. It felt good just to go really easy on the run. I can really feel myself recovering on these runs as I’m going slow enough for it to take hardly any energy. I finished up the run and again had to get ready fairly quickly as Julie and I had to get on the road back up to Flagstaff as we had a class to take at 1pm. As we left Phoenix it started to pour with rain and the higher we climbed into the mountains, the cold and snowier it got. We were met back in Flagstaff with horizontal snow coming down (or should I say across). The rest of the day was pretty lazy and with both my achilles tendons feeling a little tight and with my mileage been high enough for the week, I took the evening off and started getting some chicken, sweet corn and ginger soup ready for the two of us. We also polished off a whole loaf of sheephearder bread as we settled down on the coach to watch Up In The Air.

Recovery Days – For me, I usually always take Sunday as a real recovery day. I run really slowly and try to use as little energy as possible. It usually doesn’t matter how much running is involved on that day whether its 30 mins easy or two runs of 60 mins, I intend to fully recover from the previous days workout. These are more prevelant in the track season when the hard days are really hard and the easy days are really easy. There is a difference between recovery days and easy days also. I usually just have one recovery day and either three or four easy days. The easy days are usually run between 6 min and 7 min mile pace and are meant to be more about aerobic development than anything else. Recovery days are about letting my muscles recover and get ready for the next weeks training.

Monday’s Training – Am: 90 mins easy, Pm: 60 mins easy

Mileage: 23 miles

Today started off with me dropping off my car at the shop to get some body work repaired (I skidded into a snow bank last month when I was going 20 mph in a straight line and the wheels just lost traction on the ice). The mechanic’s was a little out of the way so I left the car there and ran from there over to the indoor dome where the rest of the crew were doing workouts. I was actually going to do my run outside but after nearly getting hit by a car 15 mins into the run and soaking my feet (I had to jump out of the way of a car skidding off the road and landed in a snow hidden puddle) I decided to stay a little warmer by doing the rest of the run on the indoor track. This was a little mind numbing as it meant I ran with the guys for the warm up and then spent the rest of the 90 mins running around a 300m track.

After this, Martin dropped me off at the Summit Center where Julie works so I could pick her car up as I needed to head to work later on. I got home, had a good breakfast and took an hour nap. I woke up feeling refreshed, had a coffee and headed out for my second run at 2pm as I had to get to work for 4pm. I felt great on the second run and got up to a good pace. It looked like I timed it just right as when I was running down the hill for the last mile of the run I could see the snow clouds closing in.

I got to work only to be met by an empty restaurant and plenty of snow coming down outside. I stayed at work until 7pm and was then let off as there were no customers and they could handle the rest of the night without me. This was great as I got home just as Julie was heading to the mini gym that our apartment complex has so I got changed and joined her in there to get some stretching and foam rolling done. My achilles were still feeling a little funny today so it was great to work on my legs and loosen off my calves to help ease my achilles.

Saturday's Training -

Pm: 26 miles - 2.35.45

Today was a long day. We woke up early this morning (this inevitably happens whenever I want to sleep in) and I had a good breakfast of cereal with a banana, toast with peanut butter and honey, and a large cup of coffee. After finishing this all up I quickly got ready for Julie and I's engagement photo session that was included in our wedding photo package. We drove out to Mesa and after a quick consultation with the photographer we headed out to Freestone park and got lots of photos taken. This took a little while and after coming back and having another meeting with another photographer, we got back in the car and went back to the house to get ready for the run.

I quickly got ready but wasn't sure what to wear as it was close to 80 degrees outside and I would be sweating a lot. T shirt or no shirt? I went with the shirt so I would get some protection from the sun and so I slathered myself in Body Glide so I would get no chafing. I also put on a lot of sun block because I knew the shirt would come off at some point. I filled up my water bottles with, one with Shotz electrlyte's and the other with flat Coke. I also put some gel's out to try on the run as I have not used them in a long time and felt it was time to try them again. Everything got packed in a bag as Julie would be joining me on the run on her bike. She wasn't quite ready yet so I ran a 4 mile loop on the reservation before I came by her house and met her again. I took some Shotz as soon as I saw her as I was already sweating a lot and knew I would get through

all the fluids I had packed. I had grand idea's of heading out a long the trails at the base of South Mountain but that quickly went out the window as I had to take into consideration the fact that Julie had to be able to ride a bike close by and the trails are rocky and pretty hard to navigate through on a bike. We also could have headed out to the reservation but it was pretty windy and I wasn't looking forward to something I call the St Andrews Affect (When running a track session in St Andrews, you will be running int a strong headwind down the back straight only to be met by a stronger headwind when you hit the home straight! Its very strange but happens all the time there). The Rez was too exposed so we headed through some neighbourhoods and just resigned to the fact that the majority of the run would be on asphalt. It wasn't much of a problem as I need to get my legs used to the pounding. We got through 14 miles of the run with no problems and the fluids were going down pretty easily so I continued the 6 min miles that I had been running from the start of the run. This pace wasn't hard as I was at sea level and aerobically I felt very easy.

Right around this point, the sun went in behind the clouds so I took off my shirt and tossed it to Julie to put in the bag for me. I ran ahead as she tried to wrestle with the bag to put it away and suddenly I heard a crash. I looked behind to find Julie on the ground with the bike all tangled up between her legs. I guess she had picked up speed (we were on a downhill) and realised she was about to go into the back of me and yanked the breaks and headed straight over the handlebars. She had grazed her knee and slammed her hands on the ground and got a bunch of stingy cuts on her hands. She was tearing up and I was just trying to get her to take some deep breaths as she was in a little bit of shock. All she was saying was "I'm sorry i've ruined your run". This is a typical Fisher reaction, always thinking of others first so I told her to stop worrying about me and we grabbed her water bottle and cleaned her cuts up. She got

right back on the bike and followed me through a rough trail as we headed over to Pecos Road for the last part of the run. Once we got onto the road (Its a long straight road thats about 5 miles long) I switched to using the flat Coke and what a surprise I got. I haven't had Coke in years and it tasted amazing at this point in the run. My training partners have all used it on their runs and Liz McColgan told me she would use it towards the end of her marathons for the caffeine so I figured it would be a good idea to try it. I also gulped down a gel pack which went down smoother than I thought it would. I think I will stick to just fluids during the marathon as its a bit fiddly trying to open the gel pack with a bottle in one hand. The next few miles were pretty boring but I still had to concentrate as we were out on the rez at this point and the wind was whipping up in my face. I actually had to stop at around 22 miles to quickly stretch out my achilles as it was tightening up a bit but I quickly got back onto the run and did a couple of loops of Pecos Park before we headed back to Julie's house to finish up. Julie had called ahead to get her dad to open up the side gate so I could jump straight into their pool as my feet were pretty hot by this point. Now was the hard part - we finished the run at 4.40pm and had to be ready, changed and at church by 5pm. We got there 5 mins late after I chugged down a bunch of fluids and ate a balance bar. I also checked my weight and the great thing was I didn't lose any weight on the run. This meant that I had hydrated well and would help a lot with my recovery from the run.

After we got out of church, Julie and I picked up her big brother Mike and we headed to My Big Fat Greek Restaurant and filled up on some great grub. Needless to say I passed out when we got back to the house and watched some mind numbing tv programs!

Friday's Training -

Am: 90 mins easy + Weights

Pm: 60 mins easy

I was greeted on Friday morning by a glorious sunshine but again the wind was going to be pretty significant. I had my usual cup of coffee and toast and had a little chit chat with Lorie (Julie’s mum) before I got on my way. I wanted to try out a new run along the canal that I had found online but after taking the exact directions to the start of the run, there was nothing there and I wound up in a Lexus fore court! I got back in the car and drove to the gym and decided to start the run from there. I ran to South Mountain (5miles) and hit the Mormon loop (5 miles). This is a great loop but it is a steep climb up and then a steep descent down so you have to be really careful. It actually didn’t stopped me from hurtling down the trail and it reminded me of my hill running days. I always enjoyed the technical descents as I had learned very early on in my running days, running with my club back home that you can’t be scared on these trails as you’ll only slow down (I got over my fear of falling by being chased by the older runners when I had either tripped them up or thrown mud on their head). Once I got back to the road though my quads were burning but at least I had the wind behind me the whole way. I finished off the run and did a bunch of drills and strides in the car park before heading into the gym to lift. I was a little more energised today so it was easy to get through it all but it still took a long time and I didn’t get back to the house until 1pm. I thought I would pass out after this and sleep for a long time but I only nodded off for about 10 mins and I was wide awake.

After cleaning my car in the lovely 80 degree weather and catching a few rays while I was at it, it was time to get my 2^nd run done so I laced up and got out the door. I felt pretty tired but after taking it pretty easy for the first 4 miles I almost suddenly felt good and started to pick the pace up and cruised the last few miles home. That brought my days total to 24 miles. I spent the rest of the night eating dinner with Julie's family and waiting for Julie to get down from Flagstaff as she was travelling down with a co worker. I was still in 2 minds about when to do my long run the next day as it was going to be a long one and I would be needing a lot of fluids on the run. The dilemma was to either run at 6am before our 10am engagement photo shoot and run with a camelback or wait until after and do it when the temperature would be peaking for the day. I decided on the latter as Julie arrived in late and I felt that getting a good long sleep and a good breakfast would be better for my body.

Thursday's Training -

Am: 80 mins easy

Pm: 40 mins easy

My second run on Wednesday felt good and my legs didn’t feel any ill effects after the steady state in the morning. This was a great sign because my calves were really tight after the last time I did the workout. There was also no soreness the next day which I guess means that my legs are getting used to the 20+ mile days I’ve been putting in and will be continuing with for the duration of my marathon training. I was a little tired the next morning at the bagel run for my 80 mins easy and that run was more about will power than anything else. I was going to cut the run down to 60 mins and do 60 mins in the evening (I had down 80 mins and 40 mins for the day) but the way I got around this was constantly thinking about the last few miles of the London marathon. Imagery like this really helps on those long tiring days when it is cold and miserable and its hard just to put your shoes on to get out the door. The run finally ended and I drove to the gym with the intention of doing my weights and circuits but I only got through my core and upper body circuit before I called it quits. I tried my hardest by blasting a live set of Tiesto’s but to no avail, I just wasn’t up for it. This wasn’t a huge problem as I could either do the workout later that day or the next morning. I settled for getting back to the house and making a breakfast burrito and taking a nap. After waking up and having a coffee and a long shower to try and get of my sleep inertia I quickly packed and got on the road to Phoenix.

The drive to Phoenix takes just over 2 hours and its quite scenic but I tend to zone out on the trip now as I have done it so many times. You pass by the red rocks of Sedona and then as you get to the steepest part of the road (just after Sunset Point) you get a gorgeous view of the mountain range just north of Phoenix (I’m not sure what they are called). And then I hit something that I didn’t take into consideration when I left Flagstaff – Rush hour! I thought I had missed it as I had got through a good portion of the trip through Phoenix with minimal traffic but as I turned the corner by the airport we came to a stand still. This added an extra hour onto the journey but the sunset was nice and I found a radio station that was playing Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci. This was the first time I had tried out some Opera on my cars stereo (I have a Mitsubishi Eclipse that came with a Rockford Fosgate stereo which is incredible) and I really enjoyed it. This got me through the end of my journey and I was warmly greeted by Julie’s parents when I arrived in Ahwatukee.

I quickly got changed and headed out the door to get my second run in before it got colder (the sun had set and the wind had picked up). If I had any thoughts of running quickly this evening they quickly disappeared as when I got out to the reservation I had to face 3 miles one way into a strong headwind. This was just what I needed as my legs and glutes were tight from the drive down. I got back from the run just as Greg (Julie’s dad) had started making some lovely Ribeye’s for the 2 of us. After that we just settled down in front of the tv for a few hours and then I headed to bed as I knew the next mornings training was going to be long.