Heavy week. I’m tired.
Monday: AM 13km easy / PM 12 easy (25)
Tuesday: AM 12km easy / PM grass session 2 laps tempo, 2x30s, 2 laps tempo, 2x30s, 2 laps tempo (29)
Wednesday: 18km easy (18)
Thursday: AM 12km easy / PM 16km easy, strides (28)
Friday: no run, weights, conditioning (0)
Saturday: AM 11km easy / PM Tipton open 10000, 1st in 32:24.8 – 16:24/16:00 (27)
Sunday: 19km easy (19)
Week total: 146km
Taken from my training log.
Number of hours driven in order to race: 4
Number of races: 1
Length of race in minutes: 6
Number of races in which I was disqualified by an overenthusiastic official: 1
Monday: AM 12km easy / PM 12km easy (24)
Tuesday: AM 11km easy / PM Metchley session: lap – 4×400 – lap – 4×400 – lap off 60s/90s. Very hot. (27)
Wednesday: 16km easy (16)
Thursday: AM 15km easy / PM 10km moderate (25)
Friday: rest (0)
Saturday: AM 10km easy / PM Midlands League Division 2 – 2kSc, DQ (2nd over the line in 6:22), 10 mins tempo on grass (20)
Sunday: AM 21km easy / PM 8km easy (29)
Week total: 141km
Training has been going really well recently. For the last 6 weeks I have maintained a decent training volume and have had some excellent sessions by my standards. As a fitness test last week I did a 10km run on the track, exactly two weeks after doing the same session. I was half a minute quicker for no extra effort. If anything it felt easier. On Sunday I did exactly the same long run (hour out, hour back) as two weeks ago and by 57 minutes had already reached the point that took me an hour to get to a fortnight earlier.
Whilst this is a satisfying measure of progress, the only measures that really count are race results. In the past I have always possessed the ability to push myself hard in training and produce sessions that look good in the training log, but have failed to produce race results of the same standard. I have become much better at this recently though; I obsess (slightly) less about the numbers and times in training and am able to see the bigger picture. The longer you train for, the easier it becomes to train according to how your body feels as opposed to just doing what you think you should be doing. Being flexible is important; if you need to cut a session short then do, if you need to take an unplanned rest day then do, if you’re struggling with the pace of a session slow it down. It is easy to rattle off a load of common-sense statements like this but much harder to actually enact them. A few years ago I would have ignored them.
The reason I say all this is partly a reminder to myself. I am training better than ever at the moment. All the key elements seem to be there – sleep, mileage, diet, strength and conditioning, quality sessions and all the rest – I now just need to make sure I cash it all in with a race performance to match. Next week I am racing over 10000m at Highgate and am in shape to run a good time. I just need to watch what I do over the next 12 days in order to achieve this.
Good training means nothing without the results to back it up.
I skipped my planned tempo run on Friday but had a decent run on Sunday morning. This coming week I will taper even more to prepare for the half marathon on Sunday.
Monday: 16km easy (16)
Tuesday: ring road session – 1x90s, 1×3:00, 2×6:00, 1×3:00, 1x90s all off 90s (16)
Wednesday: AM 11km easy / PM 11km easy (22)
Thursday: 16km easy (16)
Friday: 8km easy (8)
Saturday: rest (0)
Sunday: AM 20km progression + 4km easy / PM 8km easy (32)
Week total: 110km
Taken from my training log.
Highest mileage week so far this year at 145km / 90 miles. I was happy with the tempo run even though it was slightly slower than the 5:20-5:25 target I set myself. After all, big parts of it were run on slush, ice and water. Looking forward to racing again next week.
Monday: 16km easy (16)
Tuesday: AM 12km easy / PM ring road session: 1x90s, 6×3:00, 1x90s all off 75s (27)
Wednesday: 19km easy (19)
Thursday: AM 12km easy / PM ran home, easy pace (26)
Friday: rest (0)
Saturday: AM 6 mile tempo in 32:55, slushy and snowy underfoot / PM 9km easy (26)
Sunday: 2 hour out and back, very windy (31)
Week total: 145km
Taken from my training log.