Poor week & Cambridge Half
So Monday was hangover day and true to form felt god awful tired all day. Had the best intentions of swimming but meetings at work overran, swimming lessons with the kids, Ange out, kids to bed and only headed out for a very tired late run. Went OK considering, couldn't push myself bur 8 miles at about 6:50 pace.
Tuesday woke up with a stinking sore throat. Really bad and had to go into work. Came home and monged on the sofa before going to bed at 7pm.
Wednesday was supposed to do a good days training including a chaingang ride with St Neots CC. Bike lights ordered from Wiggle but didn't turn up so went out with Mr T for a 20 + 4 brick. Felt shit all day but got out for the session. 20 miles @ 20mph on the bike with some good pace segements, followed by a 4 mile tempo @ 6.20 avge feeling OK once the jelly legs had gone. Not bad considering how I'd been feeling. Weather pretty good and I remember thinking 'wouldn't it be nice if it warmed up now'. #wishfulthinking
Thursday stayed off work as I was still not 100% but did 4 miles easy in the morning. Run was OK but felt shattered after and slept most of the afternoon on the sofa. Monster swim session in the evening. I was bricking it because I hadn't swum for ages and I was still dog rough. Session was 400 warm up followed by 4 x (400m pull & paddles, 6 x 50m free off 60 secs). Jesus that was a monster. Worked out 3.25km after warming down. Curry and a beer after with Mr T and a good chat about training and shit. That's the way training should be every day !!
Friday, didn't train. Can't remember why not but glad I didn't bike in that fog and I was still hanging.
Saturday, National Space center with kids for the day followed by 3.5 mile jog & drills in prep for today. Wen't really well and I felt like I was on a heater for Cambridge Half.
Sunday - Cambridge Half Marathon. Woke up feeling good. Look outsite and bollocks it's been snowing. Just what I don;t need coming off a sore throat which is still kicking about. Get to the course at about 8.30. Big poo then a jog. #StIvesElite are couped up in relations houses and cars. Do my own thing, actually warm up well and cold isn't a problem till I get my race shoes on. Being light they soak up half of Jesus Green on the walk to the bag drop. Feet cold and wet is not a good start but amazingly it manages to go downhill as I get to the start with 5 mins to go and realise I've forgotten to attach my bollocksy-shoe-chip-sticker thing. Bollocks.
Decide it's a lost cause, if I have a stormer I'll speak to someone, surely it can't be only me !!
Plan (decided with Mr T and later approved by Monkey boy) is 6/mm from the off. Tell Dan to stick on it as the others will probably go faster on mile 1 :) Mystic fucking Meg me !!
Gun goes off, Dan sticks to my sweet arse and Lee & Ian are off. To be fair the boys both ran really well. Ian a monster time off of racing yesterday. Actually believe the kid is a freak with all the travelling he does. Lee got a small PB on a long course which is just deserts for the good streak of training he's put in the last 6 months. The other StIvesElite guys ran well too - Dan a pb just the over distance that stopped him getting a sub 80, Stevie B a nice pb for the vet 40s and Rodger should have come past me on the last couple of miles!
Long story short, I stick to my game plan (6-6.10/mm) for 9 miles pretty much. Up till about 8.5 miles I actually felt pretty easy but my legs pretty much seized up. Pace dropped considerably but so too did effort level. Told Dan to stick on a big group that passed us at 10 and I held 6.30 pace all the way home for 1:21.30 on my watch (official time DNS obviously !!!) and 6.09/mm avge for 13.22 miles. Solid training run :)
I have had plenty of bad races in the past. Anyone who knows me will know I am either flying or just plain shit. When I have a shit race, the engine goes. Cardio is always the limiting factor. Today was the complete opposite. I felt fresh as a daisy at the finish but my legs were in agony. Honestly worse than after any marathon. I could barely walk/hobble to the car. It was like the first 10 mins after a 5k race when your legs are shot. Never had anything like that in a long race before, blow up has been down to not being fit enough.
So, got to be happy that the engine is in good shape. Just need to get the legs right. Maybe illness this week or a general lack of running?
Not going to piss about moping about it. Shit race but move on. Big week next weekend and first proper test of how things are going. Time to start getting serious, 6 1/2 hour traning weeks are not going to get me to Zurich in A1 shape.
Comments
Post a Comment