T 115 mins inc 4X18mins (6:03mm), Recovery 40 mins (8:14mm)
W Easy 105 mins (7:23mm), Recovery 40 mins (8:05mm)
T Easy 90 mins (7:02mm), Recovery 40 mins inc 5X30s Strides (7:51mm)
F 90 mins inc 10X2mins(90s) (6:33mm)
S Easy 90 mins (7:20mm), Easy 50 mins (7:17mm)
S Easy 30 mins (7:04mm), 60 mins inc Northern Relays Short Leg & 4 mile Easy Tempo (5:51mm)
Total 125.1 miles (7:00mm)
Aerobic Efficiency 994 beats per mile
Weight 142.92 Lbs Vs 142.83 lbs last week
Body Fat 11.18% (15.98lbs) Vs 11.37% (16.25lbs)
Lean Body Mass 88.94% (127.12lbs) Vs 88.63% (126.4lbs)
Fitness 87.2 Vs 83.4
Fatigue 100.7 Vs 100.6
Form -15 Vs -18.7 (Optimal)
A bit of a breakthrough week for me this week. Confidence has gradually been growing as I can feel myself nearly ready for London. I knew there would be no long run this week as I had the Northern Road Relays on Sunday but I was keen to keep the mileage high as there is no point backing off at this stage of the game. My midweek session went well with 4X18 mins at cMarathon Effort. The efforts went 5:32, 5:30, 5:28 and 5:25 with only the last one feeling like true marathon effort. It's such a nice feeling to do these sessions feeling like you have something in reserve as frequently I have finished them grunting for Yorkshire.
It was then onto a short Friday session of 10X2mins within a 90 minute run. The aim was to keep these really controlled and something around 10k effort. I was shocked to see the pace averaging 4:53 pace. I'm not daft enough to believe that this is a true reflection of my current 10k pace, considering I don't think I've ever run a mile in 4:53! That said, the important point is I wasn't straining for them, they came naturally as I focused on keeping a high turnover. I'm now really looking forward to the Salford 10k on Good Friday as I will be a few days into my taper by then and it'd be nice to finally get a time that is closer to my actual ability for the distance. Looking back, I haven't broken my 10k PB (32:05) since 2013!
Then onto Sunday! We had stayed at my mother in law, Bozena's in Manchester Saturday night to celebrate her birthday so I had done a nice easy run to Heaton Park where we won the northern relays in 2014. It was nice to remind myself of the bumps on that course. The relays this year were at Birkenhead Park however so we nipped down the M62 for a morning in new Brighton with my family in tow. It was bloody windy and the tide was in so we didn't really get much time on our deck chairs. We did pick some shells and scrabble around on the rocks for a bit though, being careful not to twist my ankle. I thought I'd save that for my warm up!
By the time I arrived the A-Team were flying on to victory and had an unassailable lead. Leeds City legend, Mike Burrett took the anchor leg. I was in the B-team and also anchoring. Despite my best efforts I managed to miss the changeover by about 10 seconds though. For some reason, I just wasn't expecting another Leeds City Legend Alan Buckley to be finishing so strongly! I soon got my skates on though and got my head down. Leeds City coach, Phil Townsend informed me there was a Tyne Bridge guy about 15-20s up the road so I made him my target. I soon reeled him in. I felt so strong, but inside absolutely cursing myself for not being at the start on time. That would mean I'd have to run even faster to beat my team mates' times! As many readers will know anything shorter than 26.2 is a bit of a struggle for me! But today, I felt great absolutely brilliant. I pushed on, running strongly and seeing that there was a couple more people I could over take before the finish. I had no idea whether they were on the same leg as me or not, but it didn't matter, use them as a target. Focus the cross hairs and pop them off one by one. I crossed the line taking the B-team up to 9th overall and first B-Team! Official time was 12:03 which was good enough for second fastest Leeds City B-Team runner. Having done a bit of Strava Analysis it seems I missed the start by about nine seconds so worth an 11:54 which I'm actually really chuffed with. I then quickly did a four mile Easy Tempo to get some more miles in before the trip back across the Pennines.
Coming into the finish.
I don't want to sound or even feel smug as there's still a long way to go. But I honestly feel this is going to be a special year for me. I think I can finally start to be the runner I always dreamed I would be.
It was interesting to see that my weight actually went up this week despite losing some fat. That means my body has built some lean body mass which is no bad thing. I think my nutrition is in a really good place and although I doubt I'll get down to 9% BF before London I actually feel stronger, maybe not fitter just yet, than I ever have before.
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