Last week I took 5 seconds off my personal best for 3000m but felt like I could have gone quicker. Under instructions from my coach not to throw away time in the first few laps of a race, I went out hard and hung on; my splits were 2:51, 2:54 and 2:57. Although this probably isn’t the optimal way of doing it I was pleased to have held on well after starting quickly. Having strength is reassuring given that my final two races of the season are a steeplechase and a 5000m. Despite leaving the race feeling like I could have knocked a few seconds off with better pacing, my overwhelming feeling was one of confidence in my fitness.
My Week
Monday: 10km easy (10)
Tuesday: AM 6km easy / PM Stretford Open 3000 – 15th in 8:42.21 (15)
Wednesday: AM 11km easy / PM 9km easy (20)
Thursday: AM 10km easy / PM drills and hurdles, grass session – mile, 2 miles, 2 miles off 3:00,5:00 – 5:01,10:11,10:11 (28)
Friday: rest (0)
Saturday: grass session – 10*60s hill reps, 4:00 tempo (14)
I like cross country season. I enjoy the challenge of racing man-to-man over difficult terrain and being unconcerned by the time on the clock. Cross country is endurance racing at its purest and the thing I look forward to most when winter is on its way. But on reflection, it is actually the only thing I look forward to about winter. Now February is here I have well and truly had enough of winter and am looking ahead to track season. I am looking forward to packing the gloves, hats, long sleeved tops, tights and jackets away and not having to dress for an Arctic expedition every time I lace up my trainers. I am looking forward to daylight runs before and after work, to training on grass without having to wear spikes, to lung-busting track sessions that leave me gasping for air, to open meets on warm evenings when everyone is there to run fast, to striding down the canal topwath in a vest and shorts with the sun on my back, to steeplechase, to live athletics on TV, to long days and short nights and to looking forward to every run.
I’ve had enough of winter and can’t wait for summer.
My Week
Monday: 17km easy (17)
Tuesday: AM 10km easy / PM 16km tempo run 56:23, weights (27)
Wednesday: 16km easy, drills and hurdles (16)
Thursday: AM 8km easy / PM hill session – 10*2:30 (29)
Friday: rest (0)
Saturday: 30 min fartlek – 60s on/off, 5*15s hill sprints (17)
When I’m not at work I can pretend I’m a professional athlete. Getting enough rest and recovery between sessions really enables me to get higher quality training in. This week I was pleased with Thursday’s session of 8 reps of 1km with a minute recovery. We did the reps out and back on a straight stretch of road as the track was closed due to snow and ice, with the ‘out’ reps slightly downhill and the ‘back’ reps slightly uphill. I was particularly happy to average 3:09 for the uphill efforts with such short recoveries and in sub-zero conditions.
The week ahead should just involve one hard track session on Tuesday then a few days of easing down ahead of the county champs.