With the Ballycotton 10 miler being on Sunday, I did hesitate on the mileage for Monday’s long run. The original plan had said 20 and the revised one 18, but the last thing I did on Sunday evening was to set the alarm for 4:50, time for 20 miles. Things got a bit more complicated when Maia woke as I got ready and I had to spend some time preparing a bottle and settling her back in her cot; I thought I probably wouldn’t have time for 20 miles and would end up doing 18 or 19 after all.
Since I had turned Saturday’s planned easy run into a tempo workout I couldn’t help but wonder how my legs would hold up.
I set off into the very dark night. In marked contrast to all the runs in Cork it was dead still; I did not encounter another human being for the next 2 hours. The weather wasn’t great with plenty of wind and the occasional rain shower, which is never a good combination. But the legs held up much better than they did the previous Monday, and when I reached our driveway after 15 miles I decided to go for the entire 20 miles and to put some extra effort into the final 5. I started that last section at around 7:30 pace but surprisingly managed to gradually increase it until I ended up with an average pace of 7:22 for the last 5 miles, 7:47 pace for the entire run. That’s a decent improvement to last week, but definitely not yet where I want to be.
Cycling to and from work was a chore, with the tired legs and the increasingly strong wind. At times like that I really want to buy a new car, but the journey is over after 20 minutes and then I’m happy enough with my bike again.
I took it really easy today, my first easy run in a few days, and something I really needed. For once I didn’t have to keep an eye on the Garmin to ensure that I wouldn’t speed up unnecessarily, the legs dictated the pace and the rest followed. I should have worn long sleeves though; the temperature of 3C/37 F would have warranted that, especially as the wind was definitely picking up again. One day I’ll learn.
I still haven’t quite decided yet how much I am prepared to compromise the marathon training for Sunday’s race. I’ll definitely do a time trial tomorrow; the question remains how long I should run on Friday. On a normal week this would be 18 miles. I’ll definitely cut this to 15 at most, but I’m thinking about doing no more than 10 or 12. Decisions, decisions.
- 2 Mar
- 20 miles, 2:35:34, 7:47 pace, HR 152
last 5 @ 7:22 pace - 3 Mar
- 8 miles, 1:06:56, 8:22 pace, HR 140
It depends on how fresh you want to feel. Cutting Friday to 10 probably won't make much difference to your race time on Sunday - 30-45 seconds maybe.
ReplyDeleteI remember a mate of mine switched his 20 miler to Wednesday morning because he had family duties on the weekend, and raced his second best 5k time on Friday night.
IF YOU WANT TO KEEP THE MILEAGE UP YOU COULD DO A FIVE MILE WARM UP BEFORE THE RACE FOLLOWED BY 5 WARM DOWN,IF YOU ENTER THE RACE WITH A 20 AND 18 IN THE LEGS YOU MIGHT BE LEFT WONDERING 'WHAT IF,MIGHT I HAVE RUN ON FRESHER LEGS'. IT DEPENDS ON HOW IMPORTANT THE 10 MILE RACE IS TO YOU [ a good time will do wonders for the self confidence].
ReplyDeleteI have my own dilemma, i have a 20 mile race next week, should i run it flat out, and lose a weeks marathon training after it, or run it at my hoped for marathon pace and maybe try to run the last 5 miles faster!