M 12 miles (6:33mm)
T 12 miles (6:39mm), 5.5 miles (7:03mm)
W 16 miles including 4X15mins (5:51m), 6 miles (7:18mm)
T 10 miles (6:52mm), 6 miles (7:12mm)
F 10.5 miles (6:34mm), 6 miles (6:56mm)
S 27.5 miles including Middleton Marathon - 2:37:39 (6:00mm)
S 11 miles (6:45mm)
Total - 124.2 miles (6:31mm)
Aerobic Efficiency 956 beats per mile average
Average Weight 142.4 Lbs
Another big week of training in the bag this week and it's been one with a few ups and downs! I started off the week quite nicely with the usual decent length aerobic runs on Monday and Tuesday. Then it was time for the big marathon session on Wednesday which was to be 4X15minutes at marathon pace with 3:00 jog recoveries.
The session went really well and pleasingly from an aerobic perspective I was very comfortable. The issue was that my legs didn't really like the pace too much. Perhaps this was because I had done the previous couple of days a bit too hard leaving me a touch tired. On completion of this I looked back to the corresponding workout pre-Yorkshire Marathon last autumn and I can see that I averaged c5:31 for the MP sections and 5:25 this time for a marginally lower HR this time out. That has to be encouraging and as the legs freshen up during the taper I can hope that it will all come together for a strong run on the day. I would take a 6 secs per mile improvement now!
This session however did leave my legs, especially my calves in complete bits. They were very stiff. Possibly due to doing the session in a fairly low profile pair of running shoes. I then also had a sports massage on Wednesday evening meaning my run on Thursday morning was quite hilarious. I just couldn't really move! Friday the legs started to improve and I was aerobically asleep for my 10 miler in the morning but there was still some residual tiredness in the legs. Luckily the two very easy days had been helpful in getting ready for the weekend's exploits.
Saturday was mega run day with only one longer in the campaign planned. The plan was to do somewhere around 27 and I thought it would be quite fun to run a marathon split on a flat loop which I do all my tempo work in the hope that I could keep a fairly consistent pace. It meant an early start though as I had to be back to take my eldest daughter to ballet. So I started out at 5:30 on my training marathon. As you can see from the link above I managed to cover the distance in around 2:37 excluding a couple of stops to relieve my bladder! I felt really strong the whole way and in fact lifted the pace quite a bit for the last nine miles. It also gave me the opportunity to try out my proposed marathon shoes, the Adidas Boston Boost. A beautiful shoe with slightly more cushioning and a bit less flat than the Adios make it perfect for me. Its a funny old thing this running lark as my legs felt far better throughout and indeed after this effort than my much slower 24 miler last week. I put it down to the fact that my legs were pretty shot last week due to the step up in mileage.
Aerobic efficiency has improved a bit again and also managed to drop another pound in weight which is good. Now a slightly easier week in terms of miles to try and freshen up for the Wilmslow Half Marathon next week. I'm confident of a PB if I get good conditions.
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