T Minus 14

This morning's 15k marked the end of my long runs for GCAM16 and signalled the start of my taper. To be honest, it's been a shoddy training program for me. Coming back from a 2 month rehab due to my meniscus tear and then not having enough days to race day to plan out a 12 week marathon programme, I had to heavily modify my Hansons plan so much so that it's more like a Frankenstein of a plan rather than what the Hansons had in mind.

I've had to tread carefully with my training and preps for GCAM16. Immediately coming back from an injury and starting with marathon training is not really the way to go, especially when you don't have nearly enough time for a proper programme. The gang were already in full swing with their training when I got back on my feet and I was simply way behind but had to go slower, shorter and with a lot less intensity.

I wasn't about to risk another heartache of getting struck down with another injury just before race day. My soul just can't take heartaches like that anymore. My wife has been my voice of reason and kept reminding me to take things easy, not push myself too much and build back what I lost slowly. She of all people knows how much I put into training and saw first hand how damn disappointed and dejected I became after missing out on the Kyoto marathon.

The one in the middle will be popping the champagne this year!

I ran the Gold Coast last year with a stress fracture, not the wisest of decisions I know, and thankfully I survived it without too much damage. I don't intend for that to happen again this year. Like what the article about Meb in Runners World wrote, “I’d rather go at 90-95 percent and be fit and healthy than 101 percent and burned.”

I'm far from being as fit as I was prior to my injury but I'm at least injury free and I can live with that. The most important thing is to toe the start line healthy. Let's hope I've done enough in training to carry me through 80% of the way and my experience along with the energy from the awesome crowd gives me the other 20%. Fingers crossed!

The team for GCAM16 this year is the biggest we've had and everyone is all pumped and ready for the race in 14 days time. They've all put in a tremendous amount of work and I'm expecting to see loads of personal records being broken. I know it's not possible to better my PR but I sure as hell aim to give it a try! That said, I have a much more modest goal and if I achieve that I'll be more than happy with it.

On a different note, I'm all eager to head to the Gold Coast again. This year my wife and me decided to head in a day before race day and spend a longer time after the race to do some sightseeing. The past two years, we flew in early and I had to really watch what I eat and curtail our sightseeing quite a bit to save the legs for the race. That left us so little time for ourselves after the race.

Pic courtesy of Jamie

At least this year, I'd get the race out of the way first before the holiday really begins. The wife has totally planned our itinerary for the trip. Her research and planning abilities are on an entirely different level from mine. If you left me to plan a trip, it'll be morning run, afternoon run and evening run! So best to leave the holiday plans to her.

She's got quite a list of places lined up for us to visit and after going through the list, I really can't wait to get there. I'm already working on creative poses for all my vain shots ... hahaha! Yes, I intend to snap away like there's no tomorrow! I know I'll be having one of my partners in crime with me on one of the days and I'm sure between the two of us, we'd cooked up some shots that would put Kim Kardashian to shame!

Pic courtesy of Andrew