T 12 miles (6:20mm), 6 miles inc. strides & drills (7:08mm)
W 5miles (7:34mm), 15 miles inc. 8X1mile (1/2 mile float) (5:52mm)
T 12.5 miles HA (6:23mm), 6 miles inc. strides (7:13mm)
F 10.5 miles HA (6:13mm), 5 miles inc. strides & drills (7:06mm)
S 33 miles (6:22mm)
S 14 miles (6:35mm)
Total 136 miles (6:29mm)
Core & Drills 45 mins
Total Training Time 15hrs 25mins Vs 11 hrs 35 mins
Aerobic efficiency 940 Vs 966 beats per mile
Weight 139.97lbs Vs 142.34 lbs
Body Fat 10.41% (14.58ls) Vs 11.11% (15.82lbs)
Lean Body Mass 85.1% (119.11lbs) Vs 84.44% (120.2lbs)
Water 64.57% (90.37lbs) Vs 63.66% (90.61lbs)
I keep telling myself that last week's race was a blip. After this week I am now convinced more than ever that it, sort of, was. Thankfully! Ordinarily after a race I struggle to do anything faster at all the following week, but my running has been quicker and felt much better this week. I also had a bit of an epiphany, not in the sense that the Lord came and spoke to me. I am sure He/She has more important things to worry about. I realised that I hadn't been training hard enough! Of course last week and the prior week I am allowed to be a bit gentle on myself as I was under the weather and recovering from a bug but I noticed my average pace for general runs was not as quick as I have run them in the past. Yes they were easier and I am sure I was getting some benefit from them, but I was wasting an opportunity to build my engine in a relatively low stress way. I am pleased I realised this now as it has given me three weeks to get in serious shape. The average pace of my running across the week has improved from 6:43mm to 6:29mm.I'm not saying that training wasn't going well, it was ok but I was drifting and I don't think I truly committed until this week when I realised I had to really pull my finger out. Thankfully I am fit, so now it's just about adding a bit of icing to the cake I've been baking.
And so to Wednesday's session of 8X1mile with 1/2 mile float which would have been a big no-no generally after a race as I simply wouldn't have been in a state to run that hard. But it went brilliantly well and I felt strong throughout, with the mile splits going 5:27, 5:21, 5:19, 5:16, 5:16, 5:15, 5:13, 5:11 and the 'recoveries' at about 6:30pace. When I did this session prior to Toronto, the average pace of the miles was 5:07 vs 5:16 this time but my recoveries were slightly quicker this time and although I was chuffed with the session last time out ,this one was definitely more controlled with my heart rate not even getting up to marathon heart rate in any of the efforts. It would be great if 5:16s ended up being marathon pace as it would get me in somewhere around 2:18 which would be comfortably under the IAAF World Champs qualifying time. One can dream!!!
Another big factor this week is that the unwanted body fat has finally started to drop off quite substantially and this always gets me feeling better in my running and could be down to the faster pace of my running but also more likely to do with the plant based diet I am on. I'm not missing meat, or dairy, one bit! And I feel much better in myself, my energy levels are higher than ever and it's great getting to make new things in the kitchen. My wife, Hania also seems pretty pleased!
Roasted Sweet Potato, Spicy Vegan Lecho and Spinach, Beetroot, Tomato, Cucumber, Avocado and mixed seed Salad. #plantbased
So to Saturday's long run which was two weeks overdue! I missed it two weeks ago because of my cold but I was keen to run further than I ever have done before and so I set off to do 33 miles. Three 11 mile loops on an undulating course. The first ticked by quite nicely and I felt good with the legs ticking along nicely. The second lap was better and I felt very strong and was running very nicely. It was only around halfway through the third lap that I started to feel quite tired and hungry. I was a touch thirsty by this point too but as it was pretty cold I wasn't sweating a great deal. My watch clocked 33 miles at 3:29:59 which I had thought might be doable without ruining myself. I only lost 4.5lbs in 3 and a half hours of running which was an interesting stat for me to reflect on!
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
Charlie's Footsteps
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