Week 12: 5th - 11th March 2012

M AM 6.18 miles recovery (7:20mm avge), PM 4 miles recovery (7:08mm avge)
T 8.02 miles general aerobic (6:21mm avge)
W 15.19 miles progressive (6:19mm avge)
T AM 6.16 miles recovery (7:13mm avge), PM 4.1 miles recovery (7:06mm avge)
F 12.11 miles, including 7 miles @ 5:22mm (5:56mm avge)
S 8.27 miles general aerobic (6:14mm avge)
S 24.21 miles progressive (6:15 mm avge)

 Total 88.24 miles (6:27mm avge)

This week started as I expected, painfully! Monday and Tuesday were spent getting over the exertions of Saturday's race which had been backed up with the shorter long run on Sunday.

On Wednesday I'd spent the day in Belfast so there was no run to work which meant I had to do it when I got home which was a little hard to motivate myself for. Nevertheless my legs were a bit happier but I still found it quite difficult to get in a rhythm so was pleased when the run was over. Not sure why I found it so tough but it was probably something to do with the long day.

Thursday was a couple of recovery jogs which loosened the legs up ahead of what I was expecting to be the hardest session of the whole campaign - 12 miles with 7 miles at lactate threshold. Although I knew the pace was going to be marginally slower than the pace I had kept at the race last week it is so much more difficult to do similar pace in a training run on your own when you don't have the benefit of a number pinned to your vest and people to run away from! It was also done at 5:30 in the morning without the benefit of breakfast. Anyway, the run went pretty well and I hit the pace I was expecting although my heart rate was a touch elevated towards the end but this probably just reflects the fact that I was working very hard and general fatigue is starting to kick in as I get towards the end of the big training blocks.

Then to Sunday which was my longest run I will do this whole campaign. 24.2 miles in a fairly zippy 6:15mm average pace. I felt really strong in this run as I gradually picked up the pace through the run and averaged the second half in just over 6:00mm. I completed the run in 2:31 and bits meaning had I continued to do a full distance 26.2 I would have done a time somewhere in the region of 2:43. This is not bad at all as it was not a flat route that I took and my heart rate behaved all the way round. I do feel like I have a slightly niggly glute though which I will have to keep a watch on and make sure I stretch it out as much as possible.

I now enter the final mesocycle (race sharpening phase) before I start to taper down the training before the big day. This weeks training looks exciting and will culminate with a big marathon pace session next Sunday.