KnockKnocktober

[El Gordo]

With just two-and-a-half men weeks to race day, time to scrap training plans 'A' and 'B' and go into damage-control-mode, aka deep-abiding-panic-stations.

Run/walk it is going to have to be, but how much training can I cram into the last night-shift-addled fortnight? Well, anything is better than nothing, so let's just see what I can cram in there without busting a boiler, or more importantly, a tendon.

I am feeling somewhat better now, though it still takes me a while to get going in the mornings (afternoons when on graveyard shifts). In that regard, run/walk is the perfect compromise, and with it looking like the only feasible option for race day, I kicked it off today with a treadmill run/walk session. Using Suzie's 10:1 formula, I completed nine of these reps, i.e. ninety minutes of running with nine one-minute walk breaks tossed into the mix. The result was a not displeasing 15.6 km covered in the 99 minutes. Given that I barely managed to get through my last half-hour plod some nine days prior, this was a very encouraging result and left me keen for more. I'll still restrict it to alternate days of course, but it gives me hope for completing the race before the organisers pack everything up and give the place over to the tourists again.

Track du jour: A gentle reminder that today's run was flat ... race day has a slight hill to contend with... Bono and the boys at Slane castle.

Good news. One of the hardest things to decide is what the run-walk ratio should be. 10:1 is getting towards the end of the scale from what I've read, but if you're not recovering from injury or a long layoff, then go for it if that seems comfortable. Galloway has formulas based on projected pace -- the faster your pace, the bigger the run element. That said, he claims that switching from say 5:1 to 6:1 has a negligible effect on final time -- maybe because there will be less of a decline if your body is less stressed.

Another approach is distance-based. You quite often see people stop for a walk break at the KM or mile markers in races.

The most important thing is to make a decision and stick to it from the very start. It seems to work.