5 Weeks Out
I haven’t sat down to write this on a daily basis as I normally would and, honestly, I can’t remember if I ran or not on Monday. Tuesday was 8 miles easy and Wednesday was session day, which consisted of 6x6 mins off a 2 min jog recovery. The first 2 mins of the 6 min block was at 4:12 per k, followed by 2 mins at 4:09 and then finished with 2 mins at 3:50 per k. On Thursday morning I ran another 8 miles but definitely noticed the ‘pelvic burn’ again. Luckily I was due to see Claire at midday, after which I felt like a new man. Friday was 9 miles easy and then Saturday was one of the best sessions I’ve completed in a while.
I drove to the canal path in Bradford on Avon simply because I’m tired of running on constantly undulating roads or the treadmill. It’s definitely not road but it is flatter than any roads close to where we live.
The packed path was water logged and I knew that I would need to run at marathon pulse, not pace, because MP would put me into LT running and that wouldn’t be sustainable for the 18 mile long workout.
Or so I thought.
The first 8 miles were to be run at the upper end of my aerobic threshold and for this I kept between 4:45 & 4:53 per k. Hr sitting at an avg of 143. The first ‘rep’ followed and consisted of 9 miles at marathon race pulse. We determined that this would probably be 155-165. Unbelievably, I averaged out at 4:13 per k at a HR between 157-160. After a mile cooldown, the workout was done but I felt pretty good.
Holly advised that I take Sunday off and thought it was best to listen for once, so I totalled 51 miles for the week (not including Monday). We have a 20 mile undulating road race next week. By no stretch of the imagination is it flat, but I’ll think of it as a good long run session on which I can practice picking up and drinking out of cups. I would LOVE to have a pair of the new ASICS Metaspeed Edge Paris by then, but it seems that ASICS has had a brain fart and either misplaced the Uk’s supply or forgotten to make the shoes live on the website…
That aside, we’re exactly four weeks out and all I have to do is stay in one piece for 28 days. How hard can that be?