This week was to start with a long run on Sunday morning but another restless night filled with children's coughing fits and nightmares when the alarm went off at 5:30am I hit stop rather than snooze. At 6am when the first of the children woke for the day I immediately knew my long run plans were cancelled. Not a happy start to my training for the week.
Although I didn't get out for my long run I did however manage to get in two runs for the day. The first was in the rain before lunch which included roughly 16 minutes threshold during a mindless 35 minute run around the streets. The second run was later in the evening with my wife and to say I was struggling would be an understatement.
Training summary
Sunday:
AM: 35 minute run w/ 4.2km threshold (av. 3:48 pace)
PM: 60 minute easy run
Plans for the remainder of the week...
Monday:
AM: 50 min easy w/ strides
PM: 60 min easy to moderate
On a hot day both runs were hard work but enjoyable. By the time I had finished running home I was ready to eat....and that's what I did. I consumed all the fruit and drink that I could stomach before making a start on cooking dinner for the screaming masses.
Tuesday:
AM: longer session with short hill reps
Got up at 4:45am this morning to meet Simon for an easy 10k before heading down to the start of where I run my short hill workouts. Session called for 30 repeats with a fast jog back down recovery. I started out conservatively and although I successfully completed the workout in hindsight I should have pushed myself a little harder. Perhaps knowing that I had a 10km run to after the session to get to work was on the back of my mind and kept me from going harder. I need to work HARDER!
Wednesday:
PM: 90min steady w/ strides
Forgot to do the strides but had an awesome run. I was at a local conference today which meant that I ate lots of cheese, fruits and nuts etc which left me feeling a little full and bloated. Afternoon tea (about 2 hours before I was planning on running) I consumed 2 small pieces of cake - for the energy during the run of course!
At the start of the run I assumed that I would be struggling early but I quickly settled into a good pace with little effort (sub 3hr marathon pace) and found as the run went on that I started feeling better and better with each passing kilometre. By the end of the run I had completed a half marathon in under 90 minutes, it felt relatively easy and I was feeling great. Good enough to keep going - you betcha! I find it always surprising when I have a great run (or workout) when I feel so ordinary in the hours leading up to it and the opposite happens when I am feeling good.
Thursday:
AM: easy run
PM: interval session
Managed to get out for the interval session late in the day which only allowed for 50 minutes of run time. After a short warmup I got stuck into and ended up running 5 x 4min efforts with 90 second recovery. I was scheduled for six repeats but didn't have the time. Speed was supposed to be quicker than 5k race pace and I found it tough. This faster training makes all the marathon training that I have done in the past seem easy. Of course this is where I need to work in if I'm going to improve at the shorter distances.
Friday:
AM: recovery run
I can't quite remember this day but I do know that I did manage to get out for an easy run of sorts.
Saturday:
PM: easy w/ a little threshold
I had no real plans when I headed out the door so just went out and ran. After about 4km I tried pushing the pace and ended up running 3km at slightly quicker than threshold. I felt immediately great when I started working the pace and my form feels like it has improved over the last few weeks.
Summary:
Another good week in the books but still lacking a good long run effort. I will need to address this soon!
Weekly mileage was up around 130km again for the second week running. Coach has told me that I need to build on this. I will try next week...
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