I sure hope this Valentia holiday won’t be the end of me. Due to the longer commute I have to get up earlier than usual, and since everyone else is on holiday and staying up late I tend to get to bed later than normal as well. For the past weeks I’ve been surviving on 6 hours of sleep each night, and even though I got closer to 8 during the weekend I don’t think that’s sufficient.
As already mentioned in my race report, I kept the mileage up on Saturday and ran 15 miles in spite of the race the day after. It was quite warm to start with, but after a short and sharp rain shower any fears of overheating had dissipated. I did the Valentia loop again, twice, with some out-and-back section tagged to the end of it. The road is becoming very familiar by now.
On Sunday I managed somewhere between 6 and 7 miles, with the race, the warm-up and the cool-down. The race went reasonably well, and with those miles I pushed myself to over 100 miles for those 7 days. All in singles, and all of them at slow pace, apart from the race, obviously. Now, most people wouldn’t recommend running your first ever 100-mile-week on the same week as your first hill training session and with a race as well. I’m perfectly aware that I’m playing with fire here. It just happened like that, I increased my miles each week, and the week where I reached 100 just coincided with the hill training and the race. The thing is, I feel pretty good. I expected to be constantly fatigued on that kind of training, but the truth is that I feel totally fine. The legs are heavy at the beginning of each workout, but always come round after two or three miles.
I’m probably the slowest 100 mpw runner on the planet. That’s ok, someone has to be, and the point of that training is to become faster, and eventually someone else will become the slowest. Of course I’m spending a lot more time on the road than the average runner at that distance. All I can point to is the sentence in my previous paragraph: I feel fine.
I keep reading articles on the Internet and as well as the odd comment here that I’m overdoing things, and that that kind of mileage is counter-productive. I always shrug my shoulders when I come across that. It works for me. I’ve gotten faster with each mileage increase, and my time in yesterday’s race is a clear sign that the improvement is still ongoing. As long as that continues I don’t see the point in trying a different strategy.
I’ll continue with the same mileage this week. I ran 16 miles this morning, slow and steady to recover the legs from the race, especially the calves, which started to complain each time I pushed the pace a bit. I’ll try another double header tomorrow and Wednesday, but may pull out of it if I think I can’t pull it off.
14 Jul: 15 miles, 2:00:28, 8:02 pace, avg. HR 146
15 Jul: 6+ miles, incl. 5k race in 19:16
16 Jul: 16 miles, 2:14:40, 8:25 pace, avg. HR 143
Weekly mileage: 100+ (I’ve been looking forward to typing this for a long time)
Congrats on the 100 mile week. Not many get to write that into their weekly log book. I hope to join you here soon. My only 100 mile week has been when I ran a 100 miler. Otherwise I believe 92 miles is my actual training high without any races involved.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's a great week! No wonder you need more sleep. I think you should do what works for you - you're a smart guy, you'll know if you need to back off. Congrats on the high miles!
ReplyDeleteI am working to get there too. I've been there a few times and had mixed results (injury etc.) However, each time I was injured it was always due to the "too much too soon" syndrome that I'm afflicted with. This time I'm trying to get there gradually. I have a suspicion I might run out of time though. Oh well, there's always the next cycle.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, my marathon PR was after 5 weeks of 100+. So I do have good results too.
Well done on that mileage, if the body's not showing any signs of wear & tear, why not. It's all building up solid a base I guess. Nice 5k on the weekend.
ReplyDeleteI'm still working on a 100 mile month. :)
ReplyDeleteYou know your body better than anyone and you are by far the most meticulous and regimented runner I know, so I can't imagine that you would do something ridiculously stupid - like maybe purposefully trying to break your knee ;) - to jeopardize your training. You're pushing the limits for sure, but isn't that what this whole running thing is about? Everyone's pushing their limits in one way or another.
I'm pulling for you and can't wait until the big race.
Great week, Thomas! Doesn't matter how fast you get to 100--actually, I think you have to be tougher the slower the pace because it takes longer.
ReplyDeleteAndrew mentioned the good results immediately following high mileage, which I think is true, but what I'm finding out is, and what Lydiard has said, is that the full benefits of consistent mileage show up a couple of training cycles later (6 months or longer).
Congrats again on the milestone.
Terrific work Thomas on reaching the 100 milestone. Your consistent training will continue to pay off. And slow? I don't think so, that's just smart running.
ReplyDeleteOMG, that's really something! And if you think you're the slowest 100 mpw runner after posting your averages - think again, and think hard:) Awesome!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Eric. Your 100 miles is probably worth 150 or more in terms of time spent training.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of one reason I like the metric system - it makes it much easier to type '100' in the training diary. Also, km splits come up much faster in races than mile splits :)