T 10 miles HA (7:05mm), 5 miles (7:34mm)
W 9 miles structured fartlek (6:05mm), 6 miles (7:23mm)
T 8 miles HA (7:03mm), 7.5 miles (6:43mm)
F 8.5 miles HA (6:46mm)
S 10 miles including 4X1M (90s) (5:55mm)
S 18.5 miles (6:21mm), 5 miles (6:51mm)
Total 102 miles (6:39mm)
Aerobic efficiency 1000 beats per mile
Weight 144.2lbs
Following on from last week's 10 mile race I was keen to step up the mileage a touch along with a couple of decent sessions as well as continuing with the occasional Heat Acclimatisation runs.
Naturally after a race you never know how quickly you are going to recover but on Monday I felt great. Yes the legs were a bit tired but I felt good to crack on. Tuesday was a slightly different story though and I felt very fatigued but still managed to get some ploddy miles in. Indeed when I woke up on Wednesday, I decided to put off the structured fartlek Mike had set me until lunch time as I still felt pretty tired. I was to be honest dreading the session a little given how tired I felt and how tough it looked to be on paper - 2X1Mile (3mins), 3X1/2Mile(2mins). The miles were to be run hard and the 1/2miles were to be run even harder. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the miles came in at 4:51 and 4:50 and the 1/2s at around 4:40 pace. Whilst the Garmin can be a little optimistic on occasion these were as quick as I have ever run before. I looked back at when I did this session last year and remember struggling to break 5 minute pace for the miles and the 1/2 miles slowing from 4:50 pace to over 5:00pace by the end and feeling like I was dying in a sea of lactic. So a massive improvement. Maybe this shorter distance work is starting to click?
Saturday's session would be a good check to see whether Wednesday had been a fluke or not. Thankfully it didn't seem that it was! The plan was 4X1Mile off a short jog recovery of 90s. Mike had suggested that I run these at 5:05-5:00 if feeling good. I think it's fair to say I felt good because they came in at 4:59, 4:55, 4:54, 4:54. I came home with a big smile on my face as I now feel I genuinely am finally ready to give a 5k a good go! Luckily I have one booked in on Wednesday at the Doncaster 5k which tends to be a pretty competitive race so I should have some people to drag me around. I'll reserve myself from saying what I am targeting in terms of time, but with those two sessions this week I have to be confident of a PB! Mike reminded me that when I did this session in early April I averaged 5:08 for the miles and found it very hard. So an improvement of 12.5 secs per mile is massive and very encouraging.
About 7 miles in and starting to feel it at Eccup 10 last week. Photo Credit: David Owen.
Sunday's long run was also a pleasant surprise after the hard session on Saturday with me ticking the miles off at a very decent pace under not a great deal of stress.
It's nice to be running strongly at this stage but I'm not kidding myself, there is a long way to go in the training yet. Thankfully though I am not suffering with any significant niggles at the moment. I put this down to occasional trips to Martin Anderson of Morley Chiropractic Clinic. He's got quite good at straightening me out given my dodgy pelvis! Running freely and pain free is a such a pleasure!
It nice to see my weight has dropped another couple of pounds due to a sensible diet and tick up in miles this week and I am visibly looking leaner so that is positive. Aerobic efficiency has improved a notch too.
So this coming week will see a reduction in miles due to the 5k on Wednesday and a planned hard parkrun at Fountains Abbey next Saturday when I make a visit to my Dad's.
Been following your blogs for a while Jason, really inspiring to see you efforts paying off. Have a great race on Wednesday.
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