The Blog from Vlad at Runlab is back!

There have been a lot of changes here at Runlab over the last couple of years, in summary though they are good changes and from a small running group created around the 2XU Paddington shop in Sydney (which was then rolled out nationally as a model for creating a better experience for 2XU customers) to now a couple of years on, offering the dynamic interval running groups "My Group" in many locations, the Runlab model is growing and expanding, delivering a service to runners to meet your needs via a professional entity hat is Runlab.

We look forward to 2014 but in the meantime I will once again start sharing my thoughts through my blog to you which really are only my thoughts specific to my training and to give you an insight into what I do to try and achieve my goals. Your motivation is very important (see further down for my thoughts on that!)

The week started off with a 10k fun run down in Sydney. For me this was only about supporting and promoting  our new Rozelle group, and its starting to grow which is great. Very tough little 2 lapper course full of hills and turns, 32:30 and only a few seconds behind Harry was a good end to racing for this year and means I was allowed to have a trophy on display for another week at home (thats all I get :))

The most pleasing thing however was bringing back he quantity and as I now focus my training squarely on a Sun2:20 marathon in Paris in April next year, my training has to be hard, specific and controlled. I had 14 sessions this week, 12 runs 160kms and the best thing is the body feels good, so Im off to a good start there.

Saying that getting out of bed this morning I felt like an old man and as I headed out for my Long run it took a couple of Km to warm up, probably 6-8k before i felt normal. This was my longest run back in about 8 weeks. 34k average 4:14 with a fair few hills at the start and end. I really enjoyed the run this morning and never have a problem running by myself and pushing myself where needed. Incorporating the Fernleigh track into a lot of todays run allowed me to run a steady pace on 4min k's or so on the flats. I must say though that the toilets up at Redhead came at just the right time, yeah maybe too much information but it could have ended up much worse.

From 24k especially today I felt pretty satisfied, its like the Bank for Marathon runners, going in and making a deposit. These are important runs to build that muscular endurance and twice weekly long runs will now become a regular part of my training. One around 22-23k and one over 30. They will also have structure to them, you cannot just run long and expect to race at the level I want to.

I also had a great 8*1k with my mate and Runlab coach Josh Hilliard at Mosman on Tuesday afternoon before our Mosman Runlab. Although we are both very self motivated, I appreciate just having someone around me on the key sessions, to help keep me focussed. The pace wasnt lightening this week but an average of 3:05 on a 90 second recovery was good considering the return to volume and the race on the Sunday. So Ill check in again in a fortnight or so to report on how im going, but the other thing I really wanted to discuss today was Motivation.

Yes its the end of the year, but good races take time to prepare for. A lot of you have key races in the front end of next year dont you? I guess I thought about it a lot these last couple of weeks when there were a lot of cancellations at Runlab due to other commitments, but also in myself trying to get into the best form of my life ahead of the Paris marathon. Good races take time to prepare for, so if you need a few weeks off hard training, do it but dont let it all fall apart - Keep it at a spot that allows you to kick off again soon. Doing no running or little running for a few weeks now will take you a couple of months to recover from. Remember what you love about running and it wont feel like a chore at all, it should feel like living!

I must say moving to Newcastle this year has really helped me too, the people mostly followed by the environment has given me an additional reason to push the boundaries again. I have so many runs where Ill run past friendly faces or amazing scenery, which makes it easy for me and on my key sessions Im organised! So i guess Summer school was the brainchild of me wanting to make sure your 2014 didnt get off to a slow start and its looking like a cracker! It will give you the environment to launch your new year Running surrounded by other aspiring runners, coached by Athletes and supported by many fantastic organisations. If you know someone that may be interested then please do them a favour and pass this on. We do have a few spots left but not many.

Later
Vlad