23rd - 29th April 2012

M  Rest
T  5.99 miles recovery (7:20mm avge)
W  Rest
T  8.36 miles general aerobic (6:22mm avge)
F  24.16 miles progressive (6:31mm avge)
S 9.8 miles, including Harrogate Parkrun at 5:19mm avge (6:28mm avge)
S  Hungover!

Total  48.31 miles (6:35mm avge)

This week was all about ensuring I had fully got rid of the virus that hampered everything last week so I decided on a couple of rest days, Monday and Wednesday. When I went out on Thursday I felt great, legs were really keen to get moving and I felt aerobically very strong. A good sign that the bug had finally shifted, hopefully it has and I can now crack on with a short build back up to Edinburgh.

I needed to get back to long runs and so managed to squeeze one in on Friday morning as I knew it would be difficult to get it done over the weekend as I was to be best man at my best friend Ian's wedding. The run went really well and I did feel strong, but my heart rate was high relative to what I would expect. I put this down to the fact that it was a tapered long run and so my heart rate was happy to work at a relatively high level. Indeed when I'm tapered for a marathon I see that I can maintain a higher heart rate than I would be able to if I was in full heavy training. I guess when the body is in heavy training, it suppresses the heart rate a bit to stop it from working too hard. I'm not 100% sure on the physiology but know anecdotally of other runners who experience the same thing, so it's a good enough explanation for me.

On Saturday there was the opportunity for a Parkrun in Harrogate, and I couldn't resist. My legs were very very tired on Saturday and I wouldn't normally do a tempo effort (or possibly even a bit harder!) so soon after a long run, but felt it was unlikely that I would be going for a run on the Sunday because of the inevitable hangover, and this turned out to be the case. On showing up at the Stray, (also a little fuzzy from a few beers with Ian the night before) I saw a a few familiar faces, John and Dawn Broom and Steve Darby who are all strong runners and regular Parkrun tourists. I had also been notified by John of a very strong runner Mike Burrett who had decided to show up. Mike and I had a great race with him pulling away and me grabbing hold of his heels then forging ahead, then running side by side as he got back on terms. We put in a 3:09 final km which was rather quick but he still had the sprint on me and ended up 5 seconds ahead as I had little to respond with on tired legs. It was pleasing as the conditions were not ideal and although I felt aerobically comfortable for most of it my legs were hammered after Friday's long run.

It is now four weeks to Edinburgh and I have two weeks of big mileage to get in with some tasty looking sessions included, cant wait.