It's been ten weeks since the intensive training started. The routine has settled in and I'm getting the twitches one the recovery days. It was also the week I upped the anti, trying to bring it back in line with this stage, three years ago.
Tuesday was a warm up, 6.5 miles in a very sensible 64 minutes
Wednesday, 7 times over Church Hill (7.5 miles) I used hazelnuts to keep count
Thursday was a mistake! I thought I would throw in an extra "Lomg" run to boost the mileage. I was aiming for 13.8 miles (three laps) but everything just wound down like C3-PO going into standby after the 11 mile mark. Fortunately I was able to adjust the route home and though I walked on three occasions I completed a 12.5 run just 4 minutes outside the 10 min/mile pace. There was just no energy, my legs stopped pounding and would only stride. It was a bit stop start, but I ran the bulk of the final stretch. The reasons behind the shutdown were, I believe, collective. It was a lot warmer than I have been used to, I did drink on the way round, but I don't think enough. I hadn't eaten well that day, it was the third day of training in a row and it was an extra "long" run, out of synch!
Saturday was another 6.5 to ease back in and then there was Sunday..........
Sunday. 18.4 miles. Preparation started in the morning with a big bowl of porridge and a couple of bananas at 10:30. It was cold and very, very windy. I purposefully set off at a steady pace with no pushing and NO MUSIC or audiobook to keep me company, just me and the road. The first lap was probably the most pleasant outlap I have done to date. I hate the first 30 mins, striking a rhythm, letting the breathing settle down and just easing into it. Today was different. Lap 2 and 3 breezed by. I was zoned in, the running was smooth and there were no untoward pressures. stark contrast to Thursdays fiasco!!!!
Lap 4. I didn't stop. and that's about the only good thing I can say about it! It was a lap of attrition, I FELT my pace slowing. My mind was wandering, I felt colder, the distance I had to go seemed to get longer between each water bottle, not shorter and I was no where near as sociable when I had friends or cars pass me :-)
Another week over, a complete week, 5 runs, 51.4 miles, the long run of 18.4. After 10 days of March I have run 73.6 miles and for total training mileage read 333.1, enough to get me from Lands End to Maidstone in Kent!
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