Since Sunday is generally going to be my fast day (especially when there is a race on), I decided that Monday should be my long run day. This week is an exception as my schedule starts taking shape; the 12 miles on Wednesday are going to be the longest run of the week, but from next week onwards I should be set. I also want to start doing the hill repeats. I’m curious how that will work out. I have only ever done those in short “hill phases” of my training, and at least 2 guys are promising great returns from doing them on a weekly basis instead. I’ll give it a try and see.
As mentioned, I did 12 miles on Wednesday. I felt pretty good for most of the run, but suffered from a bit of a low around the 7.5 mile mark. However, I had just finished running up a fairly long incline, so maybe I was merely recovering from that, because I got back into the groove within a mile. The distance didn’t cause a problem, I was still fairly fresh when I got home.
By Thursday we had reached the end of the lovely sunny weather and the usual grey clouds hung low over Ireland again. At least the wind had died down, and I got lucky on my run as it happened to fall in between two rain showers. I almost forgot, but I did eventually remember to include a few strides, which raised the average pace of the run even though I made sure to jog slowly in-between. The legs just feel lighter after a set of strides.
I did notice, however, that I had run basically the same pace (~7:45) for the last 3 days, and for the majority of days before that as well, so for today I decided to change that. I could have slowed down, of course, but decided to go for a stronger effort. In the end it wasn’t a tempo run, but I tried to keep the legs turning over at a good rate while keeping as relaxed as possible. The undulating terrain added a few extra challenges, but I was happy with the way the run went. The HR was a bit high (in fact I’ve had tempo runs with lower heart rates), but that will come down as the recovery from Boston continues and my fitness gets rebuilt. I felt good, I finished the run knowing that I could have run further and faster, and I’m already looking forward to the next workout. As I’ve said, training is fun.
- 13 May
- 12 miles, 1:33:24, 7:47 pace, HR 157
- 14 May
- 7 miles, 54:09, 7:44 pace, HR 155
incl. 6x100 strides - 10 miles, 1:14:28, 7:27 pace, HR 162
Looking forward to the next training session is a great sign Thomas. Consistency is one of the key components of any training program (so Speedygeoff keeps telling me).
ReplyDeleteFeeling a little bit jealous here on the couch of doom. Nice to see you almost back to normal in just a few short weeks.
ReplyDeletestrides, often overlooked but all so important, nice work
ReplyDelete