Taper time
Been a while since I blogged. 4 weeks out from London finished a 70 mile week off with a nice easy off road 24 miler at 7.18/mm and a good solid 10 miles with DC @ 6.23 pace along the GBW.
3 solid weeks of 66, 60 & 71 miles with long runs of 24 & a 20 was a really positive block of training since my last race (27.10 5 miles) so last week the plan was to ease up for the Victoria Park 5.
Monday I was feeling my old thigh injury. It always makes me paranoid after finishing off my 2010 London campaign and needing 8 weeks out in 2009 when I got into good shape.
Tuesday just ran an easy 8.3 route at work feeling controlled. Little tired but around 7/mm feeling relaxed.
Wednesday did a short, sharp marathon pace ish run - 5 miles @ 6.17/mm. Calves ached but thigh was fine. Whole hip area is a little achey but this is a decent clip for me. 977 beats per mile I think is a record - certainly a training run record :)
Thursday I did an 8 mile recovery run at just under 7/mm. Really good heart rate stats, feeling very easy. Happy days looking good for Saturday.
Friday rest.
Saturday - Victoria Park 5. Didn't prep as well as usual for this race, had a glass of wine and sweets the night before. Also had lots of coffee and 3 pro-plus tablets to test out the caffine test DC & I had heard about.
So, excuses out of the way! We set off with a plan of 5.20 for the first mile. I wear the Garmin to keep it right. Feel OK, bit quick but usually takes a mile in a race to get my head into it. Through the mile marker in 5.13 and Garmin beeps for 5.19 down the road - grr too fast!
From here on in, mile markers and Garmin are way off. 2nd mile DC starts to get away from me a bit. I hang in but can't tie my pace into someone - always overtaking or getting dropped. 3rd mile back around the club house is a similar story. Hit the half way line in 13.35 - 27.10 pace and feeling like hard work.
4th mile feels very ragged. Form all over the place. Start working closer with people, overtaking and getting taken at roughly the same speed now. Feel like I am working hard, very hard but not quite at 5 mile pace. DC is way up the road and having a good one. We discussed running at 5.20 pace but feeling like 5.35 pace. I got the right feeling but it's 15 secs a mile too slow today :)
Last mile goes by in a bit of a blur, get to the last corner and run hard to the finish to take a couple of guys that tagged me towards the end. Finish with 27.51 - 41 secs slower than a month ago and not a great performance.
2.5 mile warm up and 2.5 warm down make it a solid 10 for the day.
Once I get home start to think that it's better than I first thought. It's nice to run pbs in every race but it's not realistic. I am running 5.3x pace now regularly in tempos and races and if push came to shove I could have run an extra 1.2 miles today that would have given me a sub 35 so got to be happy realistically. And where I ran 30.54 for 5 miles in October - this is a hell of a big step up !!
Sunday - got out very late for a run. Plan was 12 easyish miles. Getting dark so made the most of the trails early. First 3 miles were 6.57, 6.53 & 6.51 - Garmin beeped pretty far behind where it usually does so knew I was feeling good. HR little higher than planned but trails are bad underfoot and hilly. Hit the road for the next mile and it's 6.32, back on the trails for next 2 in 6.31 & 6.35 then back onto the roads back home at just under 6.30. Decided to do my general 5.3 mile route to finish as it was dark. Avge around 6.24/mm for the 5.3 and then jog a mile or so at 7/mm to give 13.36 miles @ 6:38/mm. Happy days. Last medium long run done at a good clip and now just need to get a very easy long run in before London.
Plan for this week is - 18 miles @ 7.15/mm, 3 x mile reps, Park Run. Everything else recovery HR including an easy, easy 12 on Sunday. No risk taking this week !!
3 solid weeks of 66, 60 & 71 miles with long runs of 24 & a 20 was a really positive block of training since my last race (27.10 5 miles) so last week the plan was to ease up for the Victoria Park 5.
Monday I was feeling my old thigh injury. It always makes me paranoid after finishing off my 2010 London campaign and needing 8 weeks out in 2009 when I got into good shape.
Tuesday just ran an easy 8.3 route at work feeling controlled. Little tired but around 7/mm feeling relaxed.
Wednesday did a short, sharp marathon pace ish run - 5 miles @ 6.17/mm. Calves ached but thigh was fine. Whole hip area is a little achey but this is a decent clip for me. 977 beats per mile I think is a record - certainly a training run record :)
Thursday I did an 8 mile recovery run at just under 7/mm. Really good heart rate stats, feeling very easy. Happy days looking good for Saturday.
Friday rest.
Saturday - Victoria Park 5. Didn't prep as well as usual for this race, had a glass of wine and sweets the night before. Also had lots of coffee and 3 pro-plus tablets to test out the caffine test DC & I had heard about.
So, excuses out of the way! We set off with a plan of 5.20 for the first mile. I wear the Garmin to keep it right. Feel OK, bit quick but usually takes a mile in a race to get my head into it. Through the mile marker in 5.13 and Garmin beeps for 5.19 down the road - grr too fast!
From here on in, mile markers and Garmin are way off. 2nd mile DC starts to get away from me a bit. I hang in but can't tie my pace into someone - always overtaking or getting dropped. 3rd mile back around the club house is a similar story. Hit the half way line in 13.35 - 27.10 pace and feeling like hard work.
4th mile feels very ragged. Form all over the place. Start working closer with people, overtaking and getting taken at roughly the same speed now. Feel like I am working hard, very hard but not quite at 5 mile pace. DC is way up the road and having a good one. We discussed running at 5.20 pace but feeling like 5.35 pace. I got the right feeling but it's 15 secs a mile too slow today :)
Last mile goes by in a bit of a blur, get to the last corner and run hard to the finish to take a couple of guys that tagged me towards the end. Finish with 27.51 - 41 secs slower than a month ago and not a great performance.
2.5 mile warm up and 2.5 warm down make it a solid 10 for the day.
Once I get home start to think that it's better than I first thought. It's nice to run pbs in every race but it's not realistic. I am running 5.3x pace now regularly in tempos and races and if push came to shove I could have run an extra 1.2 miles today that would have given me a sub 35 so got to be happy realistically. And where I ran 30.54 for 5 miles in October - this is a hell of a big step up !!
Sunday - got out very late for a run. Plan was 12 easyish miles. Getting dark so made the most of the trails early. First 3 miles were 6.57, 6.53 & 6.51 - Garmin beeped pretty far behind where it usually does so knew I was feeling good. HR little higher than planned but trails are bad underfoot and hilly. Hit the road for the next mile and it's 6.32, back on the trails for next 2 in 6.31 & 6.35 then back onto the roads back home at just under 6.30. Decided to do my general 5.3 mile route to finish as it was dark. Avge around 6.24/mm for the 5.3 and then jog a mile or so at 7/mm to give 13.36 miles @ 6:38/mm. Happy days. Last medium long run done at a good clip and now just need to get a very easy long run in before London.
Plan for this week is - 18 miles @ 7.15/mm, 3 x mile reps, Park Run. Everything else recovery HR including an easy, easy 12 on Sunday. No risk taking this week !!
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