Thursday, September 06, 2012

Poland World 24

Sitting and laying around waiting for the big race to start. The German team has arrived (they are very strong) the French are here too, they are virtually unbeatable (by us at least). The Canadians are here (we should have them covered) and I've been reading Scott Jurek's book. Nothing much to do.

For nearly 7 weeks I've been waiting for a chance to put my feet up and relax. Now I'm a bit bored. Been here a bit long. Maybe it's because I don't travel much but I usually find myself hyperactive whilst overseas. At least at the beginning. Starting to lose that. I do favor my 3 nights before strategy I used before Wales.
It's interesting being surrounded by runners, talking about running, waiting, buying special foods and hoping for miracles but worrying about ailments.

If truth be told I may have overdone it in the mountains a few days ago. We climbed from 1000m to 2000m then I went for a 30 minutes run then we walked down. We were going to catch the cable car but we got sick of waiting. We waited 40minutes and we would have waited another 40 so we walked. Absolute highlight was seeing a sign warning about bears. Probably the only time I regret not travelling with a camera. I tried to imagine that there were bears about and I should be scared. I wasn't (see previous post FEAR).

Anyway this morning I ran near the hotel. I can find trails even in cities. It was amazing. So despite feeling quite sore yesterday I'm recovering and felt great running. Still a little sore sitting around. Also when we arrived I walked about a K with my backpacks and it really hurt. We walked from the station to the nearest accomodation. We thought it was too much. After walking around for 45 minutes it no longer seemed expensive. Wish we'd stayed there originally. Strangely when we left despite cramming more in my heavy pack it felt heaps better. I think I was severely weakened from the 40 hour trip.

So putting things into perspective. My back is a bit sore, my hips are a bit sore and we have one teammate with gastro. (He was my roommate so I moved). I have had a great time so far but I need to get into the right frame of mind to hurt and hurt bad. It's a shame everyone is down on form or fitness. We're ranked 12th of 23 countries who have sent full teams. Quite a way from my long term goal of a medal and short term goal of top 5. The underdogs from Down Under need to take out some tall poppies.

Saturday, September 01, 2012

Poland Here We Come!

Had my last shave this morning before the big race next Saturday and Sunday. (Yes that's right the race spreads across 2 days or half of each.) Kind of reminds me of my thoughts in the final few minutes that we're about to face the executioner. Emil Zatopek said before his first marathon, "Men today we die a little".
Next Saturday and Sunday we die a lot.
Looking forward to it though :)