18th
to 23rd February
This was a
very good weeks running. Sitting down on the couch in front of the goggle box
reflecting on a satisfying week. I broke no records, achieved no PB’s or any
fast training times but I managed to reach every target I set up in my
spreadsheet. Like most running geeks out there I have all my running plans laid
out in excel format – highlighting each run in green and each missed workout in
red. In each box i write my mileage, pace and heart rate. From the period
December to January there wasn’t a week where I highlighted a workout in red,
meaning I was missing out on least one workout a week. This week and the last 2
weeks before this things have been different. Whether it was post marathon
blues, lack of rest, over reaching, over training or over the hill the
months between December and January were
not happy (running) months. At no point did I feel really relaxed or happy
after a run.
This time
things are different so here’s hoping I am on a good road back. Back is feeling
a lot better. Next week is Ballycotton ten and I would be lying if I said I
wasn’t feeling overly excited about it.
I won’t be pushing for a PB so I might run it as a marathon pace run with a 3
mile warm up before hand. That would be a excellent workout and may set me up
for possible future challenges ahead. I would be very happy with that. I have a
plan in mind and will be keeping it to myself this time – a different tactic
from Dublin where I told everyone my plans by way of motivation. This time each
plan is short term. Let’s keep that spreadsheet
green!!!
Monday – 3
mile recovery run – high HR 153
Tuesday 2 mile warm – 3 mile tempo (7.08, 7.09, 7.15)
– 1.7 jog home at 7.40 pace. Very happy with this. Far from perfect, far from
it but solid stuff. 6.7 miles.
Wednesday –
8 mile jog up in Mayfield. Last 4 miles were very very hard. Running uphill
into bitter cold winds and a ever rising heart rate but glad to get the job
done. Hr for first 4 miles was 141. Hr for last 4 miles was 161.
Thursday –
Club session. 2 mile warm with 10 X 2 sprints (I reached 0.31-0.33 of a mile
between each sprint) and 2 mile cooldown. 7 miles in total.
Friday –
rest
Saturday –
Planned a 9 minute paced run over 12 miles. Never really ran much faster than
that, it was very cold. Was happy to run a typical LSR. This run was all about
the HR. Felt strong enough to run 13 miles at average pace of 8mins52 seconds.
Hr was around 146 which was great. Ran this on my own. Will be busy on most
Sundays for next 4 weeks so no chance of running long runs with the club for a
while. That’s fine as I need to get
strong mentally and physically. 12 miles.
A good week.
Miles for
week 37 miles.
