T 12 miles (6:29mm), 6 miles (7:04mm)
W 16 miles (6:24mm) 6 miles (6:56mm)
T 11 miles (6:46mm), 6 miles (7:12mm)
F Rest
S 6 miles including Northern 12-Stage Short Leg
S Rest
Total - 75.4 miles (6:48mm)
Aerobic Efficiency 946 beats per mile average
Average Weight 142.5 Lbs
So a delayed blog for last week with the only reason being I've been feeling a bit sorry for myself! After the half marathon last week I was keen not to overdo things too much but like the numpty I am probably did which resulted in me feeling completely smoked by half way through the week. With the Northern 12-stage looming on the Saturday I could feel a dreaded cold coming on too. This is exactly what I didn't want at this point which is supposed to be my peak mileage, peak session time.
I took the rare opportunity to take a rest day on Friday in the hope that it would keep the cold at bay and although it did enough for me to run on Saturday I found the race incredibly tough. I was on our 9th leg which was a 2.4 mile short leg and my team mate passed over to me with us in second place with a short lead over Morpeth in third. Despite setting off quite strongly and feeling quite comfortable it only took me about a kilometre before I really started to blow! I grimaced (literally, see below - photo credit Simon Deakin) my way around the rest of the course averaging around 5:06miling absolutely all out. I hope that was down to the underlying virus rather than my ability or current underlying fitness! The Morpeth guy who was chasing me came past and so I unfortunately left the team in third with some work to do with three legs to go. Somewhat fortunately on the last leg we had got back into second place and the leaders Liverpool went off course, meaning we were winners by default. It was of course an undeserved victory but one that enabled us to retain our title as Northern Champions. It is the National in a couple of weeks time and I wont be able to make it due to holidays unfortunately. That said, not sure I'd make that team anyway given the performance on Saturday!
I was lucky enough to have some input from Leeds City and former international star Mike Baxter (28:16 for 10,000m!) who suggested quite rightly that I should back off a bit if feeling so rough. Sometimes it helps to hear it from someone else as I know what I'm like and I would have talked myself into going out and doing 20 miles on Sunday morning had he not suggested it. In a way I was quite relieved as it allowed me a day to recharge the batteries.
It is now the middle of Week 5 and although the beginning of this week has been far from what I had in mind about a week ago I feel like I'm coming out the other side of the virus. Full details should follow on Sunday/Monday.
Aerobic efficiency had gone down a bit, possibly due to the onset of the cold but weight remained constant.
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