VLM Training Week 1

The stats...

The week went broadly to plan.

Mon: 9 (ran 10)
Tue: 10 long reps (ran 9.8)
Wed: 7 (ran 9.7)
Thu: 10 progression (ran 9.4)
Fri: 8 (ran 9)
Sat; REST (rested!)
Sun: 18 @7:00 min/mile (ran 18.5 @ 6:45 min/mile)
Total: 62 (ran 65.3)

I tend to run to feel most of the time - judging effort by my breathing pattern. I have tried to use a heart rate monitor regularly, but I find it pretty unreliable - especially on easy runs in the cold when I don't get sweaty enough to make it work!

The week felt fairly well balanced between endurance and quality - and this is supported by analysis of the gradient adjusted pace that Strava works out (below). I am not sure I agree with the categorisation of the pace zones that strava uses (I would use threshold to describe hard effort - about the same pace range as Strava's 'tempo'). But, it's a helpful guide nevertheless.

How did it feel?

Monday: split the run 2 morning, 7 evening. Felt nice and easy - conscious of need to save legs to get the most out of Tuesday's long reps session.
Tuesday: Long reps day - 5 x 1500m on trails with 90s rest. Averaged 4:55 and felt strong. Added on a hard 800m at end when some club mates doing a different session came past me during the warm down
Wednesday: Split the run again - 2 / 7.7. Felt nice and easy again - used heart rate to keep it that way (120bpm)
Thursday: Went out to do 3 easy / 3 steady / 3 hard - got a bit excited on the 1st steady mile (5:33) and failed to get much quicker in remaining miles (although headwind played a part)
Friday: Took it dead easy again - knee was sore (more on this later) so avoided any descents
Saturday: Had a nice rest day. Went to a mate's house for the evening determined to limit alcohol to a couple of beers - failed miserably (there was even whisky involved).
Sunday: No knee pain at all in morning (due to rest day?) but had to go out at 6:30am as kids were getting dropped off at 9am and I needed to fit 18 miles in before that. Felt hungover and tired and was disappointed with tired legs during miles 9 and 10. But, got a second wind on the way back to town and then a third wind after a 5-minute toilet stop at the 24 hour Mac D's on Penistone Rd (top choice - toilets in foyer). Dropped a marathon pace mile in at mile 17 (6:09) and felt good. Happy with that. I should have probably had some fuel or water at some point but I was pretty carbed up from a night of beer and crisps. Knee was sore after run. Had a cheeky snooze by the fire whilst the kids were entertained by each other.

Healthcheck

A bit of spare time over Xmas meant I managed 80 miles in a week round New Year. However, about 30 miles was on snow and hard ice, in fell shoes. I think this has contributed to a sore left knee, which is going to get some physio attention tomorrow (Monday 12th). It isn't getting better or worse when I run - but it aches afterwards and it isn't going away. Hurts most when I go downhill so I have been limiting myself to runs along the bottom of Sheffield's valleys.

My longstanding PF in my right foot is still with me, but apart from being a bit painful first thing in the morning, it's manageable.

Struggled a bit this week with 'over-compensating' for calories lost. And the booze blowout on Saturday after a sober week was disappointing. I know that food control will give me more performance gains than hard training. Isn't it funny that most people (including me) find it easier to train hard than eat well!

Planning for the big day

Booked a swanky river apartment in Greenwich for the Friday and Saturday night before marathon day (apple apartments). The apartment is about 10 minutes walk from the start line. Not cheap, but worth it to avoid the stress of traveling across London on the morning of the race. Thanks to Gareth Lowe for the tip!

Completed Deb's training plan for London. Deb has finally committed to running it and the 54 mile week she has just put in would suggest that she isn't planning on jogging round either!

Signed up for an email alert when the saver train tickets become available for the 24th April.