Om mani padme hum

Picture at KalaPatthar 5545m - Clown, Me, Dad

Back from Nepal, and spiritually re-energised. Physically, not so much...

Another great trekking experience.

I even managed to do a couple of treadmill runs in Kathmandu (1400m) after the trek - Friday am 10k in 5x2k at 4:00, pm 7k easy

Sat am 6.5k mainly easy

Unfortunately it's been a struggle so far upon return. After no sleep overnight on the plane I tried to go for a run Sun afternoon. I lasted 8k then had to lie down on the grass by the river for 10minutes as I felt faint, and walked about 4k home. Since then I've been a bit off colour, resting HR up to about 60, and have run twice 10k very easy.

So it's a little over 3 weeks til Six Inch and it's definitely going to be a training run. I hope to put in some medium long runs the next couple of weekends, no point going too long aqnd damaging the legs, no real point tapering more than a couple of days. I really have no idea what to expect - might have a better idea in the next few days as my body returns to normal. I should have great oxygen carrying capabilities, it dependsa more upon whether my legs pick up quickly enough.

I definitely want to go back to Nepal again - tentative plans Mera Peak (6461m) 2011!

Off to Sagarmāthā

Quick update post before flying out tonight.

Not much going on running wise in recent weeks. Once I realised that the John Gilmour 10k track was postponed until after I'd left, there was no event to prepare for.

I ran 250km in October - mainly 10-15k runs - easy, medium, fartlek. On Friday I ran a 6.5k tempo at 3:50s which felt a little harder than it would have 2 months ago.

If we can find somewhere nice to run, and I can throw off yet another niggling virus, Clown&I might do a couple of light jogs in Kathmandu, before the trekking starts in earnest.

My Boston Marathon confirmation has come in the mail and they've taken my money, so that's well and truly in my thoughts already. I've downloaded some elevation profiles from MapMyRun (each a little different as the Garmin altitude function isn't that great) and also of Perth runs, to find some corresponding hills to train on. I was surprised to see the significant overall altitude drop at Boston, and that the gradient of the hills doesn't match the two in the City to Surf Marathon, although they do come later. I'm sure Sugar and Biscuitman can give me a blow-by-blow of these hills!

Anyway, back in 3 weeks relaxed, fit, and ready to launch a short but concerted training block for SixInch