My ‘Down Week’ of 45 miles after clocking consecutive 72/72/66 mile weeks was a bit of a disaster. Mainly because I ended the week feeling tired and broken after burning the candle at both ends during our last ever ASICS FrontRunner meet up in Scotland. The prescribed ParkRun session on Saturday morning in Carlisle was called off due to blizzard-like conditions, so, in her wisdom, Holly suggested we find a hill to do reps on. The hill she found was in the middle of a waterlogged field. The temperature was 0. The session was as follows:
5 x 1 min @ 5k effort/jog down rec
5 x 45 sec/jog rec - harder
3 x 30 sec - all out.
I made a massive school boy error and attempted to keep up with our 2:28 marathon runner, Tom. ‘5k effort’ became ‘fucking destroy yourself pace’ - which I promptly did.
The next day was a 13 mile ‘easy’ run with the gang. My HR was immediately elevated to higher than it would normally be at the kind of pace we were running, and the whole 21k just felt like a total slog. We’d had 2 nights of little sleep and less than stellar nutrition. It really shouldn’t have been a surprise. On the Sunday we drove home from Scotland to Frome which took around 6 hours or so, leaving us stiff and, well, not as recovered as a ‘recovery week’ should probably leave you.
Monday November 25th was my final full-on week. A planned 72 miles ended up being closer to 76, and, my biggest week of training to date.
It kicked off with a double. 6 miles in the morning at way too fast a pace. I decided to wear my Alphafly 2’s for recovery, but it is seemingly impossible to run slowly in these shoes. 4:49 pace came with a 142bpm HR - higher than it would normally be on the same route. I slowed it right down for the afternoon run. 5 miles at 5:49 with a 127 HR. 5-7 beats higher than normal.
My first session of the week was scheduled for Tuesday and consisted of 12 x 1k @ 3:42 per k off 75 sec jog rec. My Alphafly 1’s had arrived the night before and I was keen to try them out. After a 2 miler warm up I slipped them on and knew instantly, “Oh yeah, these are the ones”.
The reps felt surprisingly comfortable, with my HR averaging out at 155bpm across the entire workout. This should have been a good sign, but I am one of those people who finds treadmill running easier than on the roads, and they are therefore not a good predictor (for me|) of road-racing potential. I’ve been correcting this recently by ensuring that nearly all of my sessions have been outside. My long runs with MRP have been on a canal path and on an industrial estate in Westbury, about 20 mins from home. My second session of the week was performed here. There’s a good, flat, one mile loop to run around, and this is where I hit 2 x 6 miles @ MRP off 1k jog recovery on Thursday Nov 29th. I was keen to see if there was a difference in running economy between the AF1 and AF3.
Last time I trained here, I ran 2 x 5 miles with an avg pace of 3:59 and an avg HR of 158bpm in the AF3’s. Today called for an extra mile on each rep, and, a seemingly constant headwind.
Truthfully, I wondered whether I could even hit MP during the first k.
“It must be the accumulated fatigue” I convinced myself. “Just run to heart rate”
For the remaining 9k, my HR reached a high of 161bpm (MHR is around 165bpm), but the pace picked up to just under MRP. I won’t lie though, it felt hard.
I gratefully jogged the one kilometre recovery, dreading the next 6 miles.
When the next rep began, I felt good. Like, really good. I felt sure that this would subside fairly quickly, but the pace picked up and my HR just kept dropping. If you check out my strava data, you can see that I sat in the mid 150’s for the final 6 miles. My final few k’s were around 3:56-3:58 with a HR picking up from a low of 152 to 157/158.
My finishing data confirmed an avg pace of 3:59 and an avg HR of 157. The same pace as my 2 x 5 miles but with a HR 1bpm lower over a longer session. It might not seem so significant, but I’d also packed in the miles leading up to this workout, to the point of feeling pretty cooked.
As a side note, I’ve been nailing my nutrition within training. I’ve settled on 110g of carbs per hour, tested running at MRP and HMRP. 2 x SIS Beta Fuel 40g gels and 1 x Precision Caffeine Gel - all taken at 20 minute intervals. Fluid is trickier. I could carry water, but the extra weight and awkwardness might counter the benefits. Luckily, it’s likely to be cold in Pisa, so fluid loss won’t be as big a concern as it would be somewhere warmer. They use cups rather than bottles though, which means I’ll drop half the contents of the cup in the handover and then near enough water board myself by attempting to down the remaining fluid.
Kit will consist of the Nike Alphafly 1’s, Soar half tights and their racing base layer, Yes, Soar garments are HORRIBLY expensive, but I managed to find my entire wardrobe on Vinted for much less than you might pay from the suppliers. Also, their kit is so comfortable. Really. I questioned the hype, but after wearing both the half tights and base layer for my MRP stuff, with no chafing and really no feel of wearing anything, I’m sold. I’m definitely not buying any more kit for as long as I can possibly hold off, but what I have, I love. Also, I’m a horrible sucker for good marketing and a bit of an idiot in general, so I won’t flagellate myself too brutally for looking exactly like the kit wankers I used to roll my eyes at.
Friday was another 10 miles or so, I don’t recall exactly. Saturday was a full on rest day which I was incredibly excited for. I spent the day working online, eating, trying to snooze (which Lemmy wouldn’t allow) and preparing to face my final long run of 18 miles on Sunday.
At an avg pace of 5:24 per k, this has to have been my favourite long run of the training block. The one run where I felt no pressure to do anything. I cruised along, vibing to London Grammar and enjoying being able to run the full length of Colliers Way (which has been closed for some time). This was the kind of easy run where you actually feel ‘easy’. The ‘I could run all day at this pace’ kind of easy. I wore the Saucony Endorphin Pro 3’s, which were the perfect long run shoe on this particular day. Very light and comfortable to run at slower paces.
What a way to finish a longer than planned marathon block.
Just over 75 miles to cap things off and my highest volume training week to date. The time to taper is now. Volume will drop by 20% next week, then a further 20% during race week.
The hay, as they say, is in the barn. Now I just have make sure I don’t burn it down.