September 30th
to October 6th
More of the
same really but happier each time I review my weeks running. I seem to be able
to complete each of my targeted workouts at a more acceptable slower pace
(between 8.30 and 9 minute pace). The Hr still remains unacceptably high in
that I would prefer it to be under 150 rather than under 160 but then again at
the start of September it was well into the high 160’s for nightmare jogs of 10
minute pace. Looking back on that entire period of June to September is like revisiting
some sort of waking nightmare. It’s a place i am not happy to revisit ever
again. Simply put i had burnt my mind and body out. I reacted very bad mentally
to the disappointment of the Cork marathon and then made the mistake of not
simply concentrating on rest, recovery and base building.My sub 3.30 last
year and the training involved took a
lot of time and effort and I probably stupidly assumed it be easily repeated
again. Anyway i won’t be in a position (for various reasons) to tackle another
marathon PB attempt for 12 months so best to put it aside. All the same I am
happy i have showed the guts to slowly pick myself up.
As i said I
will be concentrating on building base, leg strength and a good solid base of
medium slow “long runs”. I wont be doing any speed work either, at least not
until after the marathon mayhem of October and November dies down. By then I
hope I will be in a decent place to able to hold my own with the medium pace
runners in the club.
Monday was a
2.5 recovery walk with my wife. Tuesday was a 5 mile run up the hills of
Mayfield. This was done at 9 minute pace with a average pace of 9 minutes. It’s
a tough run with a hefty 2 mile hilly at the finish. I repeated the same run on
Wednesday. I was a bit quicker this time with a average pace of 8.47 but the
effort was still high 159 Hr.Thursday was a snappier 4.3 run around
Charleville. Average pace was 8.17 with the fastest mile being the last mile
clocked in around 8.05 pace. No Hr reading for this one but the sweat on my t
shirt and the *HOK at the finish was enough to tell me all I needed to know.
Rest day on Friday and a one hour slow jog around Charleville on Saturday. I
wanted to run this on the acceptable side of slow which ended up being 8.57
pace and a distance of 6.7 miles covered in the hour. Hr was 156 which is high
but again in the context of the last few months is reasonable. Last year
running at that pace would have produced a HR of `140.
In terms of
race i don’t plan to enter any races for the foreseeable year but I did send
off my entry for the Dungarvan 10 mile race on at the end of January. A long way
away but it’s a race I really want to get even with after the trouble of
previous years doing it. It’s funny how
runners develop a dislike of some races and a love of others. Dungarvan falls
into the previous category while say the
the Mallow 10 and Midleton 5 falls into the latter.
Any readers
of this blog would know I entered the Connemara marathon for April last year
but deferred it because I had no proper training done for it. I don’t know if I
will end up racing it but maybe that could be a plan when I set myself some new
years goals later on in the year. It isn’t a PB course but it could be a
different sort of challenge (second fastest marathon perhaps or maybe just get
around and use it as a sort of long run). My head is also being turned by the
Rotterdam marathon a week after the scheduled 2014 Connemarathon but it isn’t
really practical to expect to be able to do both. All ideas just floating about
in my head. I have a definite plan worked out for the period April to December
2014 but i won’t be revealing that to anyone. Lets just get some consistency done there....
Mileage for
the week 24.4 miles. Monday 2.5 mile walk, Tuesday 5 miles, Wednesday 5 miles,
Thursday 4.3 miles, Saturday 6.7 miles.
*HOK – Hands
on Knees
No comments:
Post a Comment