T 6 miles (6:31mm), 5 miles (6:57mm)
W 17 miles including 24, 18, 12, 6, 3 mins (all off 3mins rec) (5:45mm), 4 miles (7:12mm)
T 8 miles (6:33mm)
F 7 miles (6:32mm)
S 5 miles (6:57mm)
S 17 miles (5:43mm) including Vale of York 1/2 Marathon
Total - 82 miles (6:19mm)
Aerobic Efficiency 972 beats per mile average
Average Weight 144.7 Lbs
Average RHR 33 bpm
As I mentioned last week the aim of this week was to cut back on the miles in a big way to let all the decent training of late soak in. I still wanted to get a big marathon session in on the Wednesday as well as the race today but other than that it was all shorter than normal runs to try and freshen up a bit.
The weight has stayed static this week which is pleasing as it's been hard having to cut my calorie intake a bit given the much lower mileage. I've still been trying to run at a slight calorie deficit so I feel like my body composition is probably very marginally better than last week even though the weight is the same. The reason why I think this is because as the runs have been a touch shorter this week pre-weigh-in I am likely to be very slightly more glycogen and water loaded which can make a bit of difference in weight terms. I guess we'll find out shortly when I return to the similar structure I was running the previous three weeks.
HR has continued to drop with all runs up until the race averaging below 1000 beats per mile(except warm up and cool down of the race - adrenaline?!?!). And the week coming in at 972 (drop of 15 beats per mile) which for a week with a still pretty decent volume is my best ever. One of the things I've been reading a bit about this week is running economy and how it can be the biggest determinant in how much quicker one can get. For me it appears that just running lots of miles with high consistency is the way that I get more economical.
So to Wednesday's session which I was really excited about as it looked on paper another challenging run. I planned to do the first 24 mins at 5:35 pace and get quicker by 10 seconds per mile for each interval, meaning I should theoretically finish at roughly 4:55 pace. As it turned out it ended up being quite a bit better than that with average aces of 5:30, 5:15, 5:09, 4:59, 4:50. This was an incredibly satisfying session as it didn't break me and I finished feeling tired but strong and not like I was absolutely hanging on. On reflection I think it is the best session I have ever done, pointing towards me being in the best shape of my life! This obviously left me very excited about Sunday as I thought I must be in with a very decent chance of a PB and decided that I would try to avereage about 5:16 per mile given that had been the average pace for the effort of the Wednesday session it wouldnt be too far away.
The two days leading up to the Vale of York Half I knew I was in fantastic shape given the Wednesday session but what this did was make me anxious and a bit stressed (it was probably excitement more than anything) about the run meaning I only slept a total of nine hours across Friday and Saturday night. I felt tired and nowhere near completely rested on the start line. Sod it, I still felt I was going to crack 70 and that I could beat my PB with a fair wind! As it turned out, I couldn't really have gone any better on the day and I am pleased to say that I lead from gun to tape with a guy from Otley AC sticking with me for the first three miles before dropping off. I kept the pace really even and felt in control for the vast majority of the race. In fact I probably felt too easy for the first six miles. My concentration lapsed a bit in the 10th, 12th and 13th miles which meant I drifted away from a sub 69 clocking. That said I am delighted with the 20 second PB of 69:26 from what was a pretty solo run feeling I hadn't completely gone to the well. I am sure my mind was telling me that I had a marathon in 5 weeks so I wasn't to completely empty the barrel. Of course it could just have been my inner chimp getting control of me as I still manage to muster a pretty decent sprint finish (for me anyway!).
It was lovely to see a few familiar faces at the start and at the finish and hear about others who had great runs. This was the inaugural running of the race and it was pretty much perfect. A brilliant course, great execution from the organisers and one of those where you go home thinking life is good! Also great to see was my mate Rich Horner run a PB of 96 minutes, which for a guy who only runs once or twice a week is not bad if you ask me! It was then back to ours with Rich, his wife Anna and little boy Benjamin for a lot of BBQ'ed Polish sausage and quite a bit of beer.
I'll take it easy for the next couple of days to make sure I'm OK to crack on but now need to get in three decent weeks before freshening up for Yorkshire Marathon. It is all looking good at this stage and I am pleased to say my injuries have turned into slight niggles. Onwards!
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