The program for the GC Marathon had a 2 hour run scheduled for yesterday. Unfortunately I couldn’t complete it because we went to Benalla to see my mother – who, as I mentioned earlier in my blog posts is the main reason I am running the GC Marathon this year (go to About my blog).
So yesterday’s run, was rescheduled to today. It has been a while since I’ve run for 2 hours so I wasn’t really sure how I would fair. Luckily, it was a perfect autumn morning, cool and only a slight breeze. Even the hills didn’t seem so bad on such a good day.
The run I chose was a combination of road and trail with some good sized hills. My target time was to average 5min 30second kms, and I missed it by 10seconds averaging 5minute 40seconds for the 2hours. Total distance was 21.16 kms – so at least I’m half way to the marathon distance – even if the half marathon was well off my PB.
You can see the run on Endomondo at the link below:
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/oApXkGXjw0Q
One of the longest hills on the run is Warrandyte Rd which is about 3km mostly up hill – (check out the photo)
Not quite as steep as Puffing Billy but still good for the preparation.
A large part of the run is along the Mullum Mullum Creek trail which is a great run that leads right up to the Eastlink Trail. Some parts of the run are very picturesque and make morning runs that little more enjoyable (see below).
When heading off for a long run I normally have a piece of wholemeal toast with jam (no dairy) and a cup of green tea for breakfast. About an hour or so later I’m ready to head off. When the distance is over 14km I like to run with a camelbak filled with at least 1 litre of water and some soft fruit pulp pack (even baby food works well) to take at about the 13km mark or when the energy levels are waining.
Any suggestions on what food is a good running partner or good for pre long run preparation, received gratefully.
Pleasing thing is I pulled up without any real soreness except in the calves, and cooled down with a 1.5km walk and then 25 minutes swimming and wading. With half the distance now behind me and still more than 2 months til the marathon – I’m starting to feel a confident about putting in a pretty good time… but there’s still a long way to go.
My top 5 running songs from today’s Playlist are:
Shut Up and Dance – by Aerosmith
Are You Gonna Be My Girl – by Jet
Better Than You – by Metallica
Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment – by The Ramones
Highway to Hell – by ACDC …. particularly good for those extra long runs!!!!
Happy running!
gpontherun 
It looks so beautiful…and green! I’m eagerly awaiting the return of green to Minnesota!
I eat toast, peanut butter and a banana pre-run (about an hour before) and energy gels en route…but I don’t really like them so if anyone has a great alternative, I’m all ears!
It does look great at the moment. We’ve had quite a wet summer compared to other years and a stellar autumn so far.
As an alternative to gels try (and this may sound strange) baby food soft packs of pure fruit. They taste a bit better and I find they provide good energy without the big hit you get from gels. I reserve gels for the “omg I think I’m dying” stage of a race – which is usually (and hopefully) right near the end of the race when you need a kick.
A friend of mine put me on to them from his brother who competes in those insanely long endurance bike races. Apparently the baby food packs are used regularly by him and others in the big endurance races.