M 10.5 miles HA (6:40mm), 3.5 miles inc. strides (7:43mm)
T 15 miles inc 24mins, 18 mins, 12 mins, 6 mins (6:00mm)
W 7.5 miles HA (6:47mm), 5 miles (7:08mm)
T 5 miles (7:49mm), 10 miles (6:47mm)
F 10.5 miles HA (6:47mm), 5 miles inc. strides & drills (7:28mm)
S 5 miles (6:36mm), 3.5 miles (7:00mm)
S 20.5 miles including Thirsk 10 (6:24mm)
Total 101 miles (6:43mm)
Core & Drills 19 mins
Total Training Time 11 hrs 35 mins Vs 9 hrs 42 mins
Aerobic efficiency 966 Vs 949 beats per mile
Weight 142.34 lbs Vs 142.3lbs (avge over the week)
Body Fat 11.11% (15.82lbs) Vs 10.86% (15.45lbs)
Lean Body Mass 84.44% (120.2lbs) Vs 84.71% (120.52lbs)
Water 63.66% (90.61lbs) Vs 64.06% (91.14 lbs)
A tentative start back this week after missing last weekend due to a cold. In fact most runs until Friday felt pretty bleurgh. My Heart Rate seemed to be behaving itself but the legs just felt like they didn't have much strength. I was still keen to do a session and on Tuesday I did a session of 24 mins, 28 mins, 23 min, 6 mins with the intention of speeding up throughout the session. As it turned out I clearly wasn't fully recovered as there was no 'top gear' and even getting close to marathon heart rate was impossible, so I kept it as high aerobic as I could without pushing myself over the line. The efforts came in at around 5:33mm avge so it was pretty slow and I know that it was sensible that I didn't try to go any quicker. In a way it reminded me of last year's Dewsbury 10k which was just after recovering form a cold. That day, I just really couldn't get to the level of effort I wanted without my legs saying 'no'!
So this week was a bit weird as I had been planning to taper down for the Thirsk 10 on Sunday but as I had missed last weekend's running thought it'd be sensible to just get the training back to sensible levels and train through the race. Of course I planned to give it a full effort if the cold had fully evaporated but I went in no longer thinking of a PB but just to have a solid outing!
There was a very strong wind the morning of the race with gust of over 40mph and it looked like this would be a headwind for the first half of the race so actually made me relax even more about the chance of a PB.
Off we went and I didn't feel too bad initially but it didn't take long before I felt like I couldn't really push to my max. I guess a combination of post-cold race syndrome and fatigue from marathon training meant it was going to be a struggle. I would go through spells of feeling great then 30 second slater would feel like I was coming to a standstill. I was running in a nice group until about 4 miles when I started to drop off the pack and from there just tried to keep going. I was happy that I managed to pick off one guy with around 2.5 miles to go but I was very conscious that John Hobbs of Valley striders was hunting me down so had to keep working to make sure I stayed in front. I managed it, just about! I crossed the line in seventh place in 54:16 and my initial feeling was one of disappointment as I had been hoping this would be my sharpener race for London and give me the confidence that sub 2:20 was on! Of course the pace I ran wasn't even what I hope to be able to run come April 23rd (5:18mm-5:20mm hoped for target) so I felt a little 'meh' about it. It didn't take long for me to come to my senses and realise that a) the conditions were pretty poor (maybe worth 45 seconds), b) I was fatigued from 100 miles in the week, c) I had just got over a bad cold and d) considering Tuesday's session where I couldn't run any quicker than 5:30mm, 5:26s was actually not a bad effort! I also feel like I wasn't quite at max and couldn't 'go to the well' as I have done in previous tune up races. Comparing this to the effort I put into running at the Vale of York Half last year, I should put it down as a tempo run really even though I genuinely don't think I could have gone much quicker on the day. It was nice to catch up with a few running buddies too, especially Andrew Challenger (cool name!) making his return to racing after 10 months and recording a solid time of 53 and bits. I met Andy at Berlin in 2015 and although we didn't run together that day enjoyed some(!) post-race beverages and shenanigans together.
Photo Credit: Karen Newton. Trying not to be hunted by John Hobbs
As I inferred last week when I'm ill I seem to put on weight rather than lose it so it was a bit of a relief that by the end of the week it had returned to where I was pretty much.
I now have three weeks of big training to put in to get in serious shape and condition before tapering off. I'm somewhat relieved that I don't have any races now until London as I can just focus on my training. I know come the big dance I will be ready to go.
As readers will know who read my blog, this year I am trying to help my colleague Jo raise funds for her son Charlie. Charlie suffers with Cerebral Palsy amongst other severe medical conditions. The long and short of it is that Charlie needs Spinal Chord surgery and this is not funded by the NHS. So Jo is raising money to pay for the surgery and post-op physio herself. This is a mammoth task as she is looking to raise £85,000 so I would be highly grateful if anyone that reads this blog could consider donating to the cause. I and many readers are incredibly lucky to have the quality of life that Charlie can only dream of and hopefully some of you will help Jo with her efforts. I for one will be running my heart out for Charlie on April 23rd.
Charlie's Footsteps
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