M AM 6.08 miles recovery (7:14mm avge), PM 4 miles recovery (6:55mm avge)
T 10.09 miles general aerobic including 10X100m strides (6:26mm avge)
W 15.13 miles progressive (6:11mm avge)
T 7.15 miles recovery (7:06mm avge)
F 9.00 miles general aerobic (6:38mm avge)
S 10.02 miles, including 5.3 miles @ 5:53mm avge XC (6:59mm avge)
S 22.12 miles progressive (6:23mm avge)
Total 83.59 miles (6:36mm avge)
I'm pleased to say training is still going in the right direction although I have felt quite tired this week but I suppose Sunday's run was my 56th day of running on the trot - I think my longest 'streak' ever. I guess also now is the time when I should be feeling my most tired as the training the schedule is calling for is both plentiful and being P&D fairly nippy! I shall however take a rest day if I feel I really need one but just now think I'm ok.
The schedule did call for me to do a 6 mile lactate threshold session on Friday within a 12 but I had the last Kent League cross-country race on Saturday so thought I would use that as my tempo run instead. This meant doing a bit of a swapsy with the schedule but I still got the miles in and got the right sorts of sessions in so all good. I also squeezed the strides that I missed last Saturday into Tuesday's run.
The cross country race was supposed to be roughly 10k, but when I arrived it said the course was 5.73 miles but then on the start they said they had had to shorten it yet further so that we didn't plough through the remaining women finishing their race! The intention had been not to go all out as it was again just a training run. I stuck to the task for all of about 1.5 miles when my competitive spirit kicked in and I started picking off runners. I moved from about 30th after the first lap of three up to finish 15th. I also managed to beat the V50 that beat me in the County Cross Country Champs at the beginning of January. I'm pretty sure it was him that made me run it harder than I was supposed to but knowing his devastating kick I had to make sure I dropped him about a mile out from home. Although the pace looks relatively poor the conditions underfoot were quite honestly atrocious with snow still on the ground in most places above a permafrost of deeply rutted tracks, fields and trails. I wore trail shoes rather than spikes which in hindsight was definitely the right decision and ensured I didn't end up with chewed up feet like last time. I know I could have gone a bit faster had I started a little more aggressively but all things considered I'm pleased with how it went. This was a little picture race and provided a slightly tougher workout than a lactate threshold run on my own and I have to keep my eye on the ultimate goal of going sub 2:30 in ten weeks time.
And so to Sunday's run which was scheduled to be a 22 miler run progressively. I was expecting to have to take it fairly easy given Saturday's tough run but things just seemed to go very well. Despite being caught in a hail storm and it being rather slippery (maybe I was ice skating?) I felt really quite strong from the off and indeed all the way, with my legs a bit tired but not too bad. Aerobically it was comfortable with my heart rate averaging not much over that magical 1000 beats per mile showing it was rather efficient.
I'm really looking forward to next week where there is yet more challenging runs in store but the highlight (depending on how it goes!) will be on Sunday when I'm running with a few local guys who are all shooting for a similar sort of time at London. The plan is 18 miles with 12 at marathon pace. And then it will be a cut back week to let my body absorb the hard work of recent weeks.
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