I ran 43 km this morning, feeling better than in any of the recent long runs I’ve completed. It still required an effort in the very humid and warm conditions, but I finished strongly. The marathon distance took me 4:43 – certainly not fast, even for a training run. But I’ll be ecstatic if I can maintain anything like that pace for the 150 km I’ll be running in the Anzac Ultra next week.

This weekend we’re off to Coonabarabran for Easter. Besides lots of socialising with friends, I’ll take the opportunity to do a moderate length run in the shadow of the Warrumbungle Mountains – as nice a region to run in as you can find. It will be my last run of any reasonable length, as I’ll be starting the taper after that. Better to err on the side of freshness for a long race than on the side of being overtrained.

I’ll be posting another item on the blog tomorrow, announcing some exciting news regarding the book about my world run. Tune in tomorrow to hear about it.

On This Day

Apr 1, 2012

Distance today = 43.52 km; Total distance = 4351.75 km; Location = Cahone, Colorado – 37 39.196′ N, 108 48.495′ W; Start time = 0831, Finish time = 1501

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/163909185

The weather today was atrocious. I was greeted by a cold gale-force wind this morning, which was in my face all day. When trucks passed me, they would whip up a mix of small gravel rocks and dust, which would sting as they hit me at high speed. I’m glad I had planned a shorter day than usual, as the wind appeared to be increasing as the day progressed.

However, despite all this, I had a good day, both physically and mentally. And it was also only the second time I’ve run the whole day at over 2,000 metres in elevation. With all this altitude training, I reckon it won’t be long before I’m fit.

I am now in Colorado, although not for too long. In a few days time I will reach New Mexico, where I’ll run for the following week or two.

No photos today, as the excessive wind gusts made it difficult and dangerous for Carmel to be handling a heavy camera and trying to keep it still enough for the shots.

Remember, while the tracker is temporarily out of action, you can view where I am by clicking on the Garmin link above, or by copying the latitude and longitude coordinates at the top of this page and pasting it into Google Earth.

Apr 1, 2013

Distance today = 51.61 km; Total distance = 18,817.59 km; Location = Affecking, Germany – 48 54.376′ N, 11 53.763′ E; Start time = 0908, Finish time = 1735

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/291840049

Finally, we awoke to a genuinely sunny day. It was still reasonably cold, but it’s much better for one’s mood to see a bit of sun for a change.

Last night we were the only people staying in a hotel that had 85 rooms. We felt a bit bad, having staff working just for us. And for the first time since Lisbon, they were serving scrambled eggs for breakfast.

Unfortunately, there were not many cycle paths today. Most roads weren’t too busy, although I had the occasional “moment”. I did get to run through a very nice forest, although it too was on a road, and not a path or trail.

I always know when there is a MacDonald’s nearby, as I start to see their packaging strewn along the road. I don’t know what it is that makes people think it’s OK to throw their MacDonald’s rubbish out the window. As there was nothing else we could find open on this Easter Monday, we ended up having MacDonald’s for lunch too, but our rubbish went in to the bin.

There was one town I ran through today, Abensberg, that had some very interesting architecture. Have a look at the photos to see what I mean.

The new shoes are doing well. Pity they can’t stay new forever!