The first recovery run on Wednesday was a pre-breakfast explore with Deb. We managed to find the trail at the back of the campsite, which led alongside a rough riverside path to the network of canal and cycle paths around the marshes near Bude that are basically 'training paradise'. Mainly flat tarmac trails with gentle curves in stunning surroundings with herons, ducks, and kingfishers for company.
On Friday morning I felt pretty bouncy, still benefiting from the two days off at the start of the week presumably. However, with the local parkrun planned for Saturday morning, I decided to just stretch my legs out with a couple of short threshold efforts rather than attempt anything more strenuous. I was pleased with the efforts, and just above marathon heart rate (148bpm) delivered a reasonably relaxed 5:40 pace down the smooth canal towpath. I was pretty pleased with that - about the same pace / heart rate as the week before London Marathon (when I was about 3 pounds lighter).
We were both up bright and early for holiday parkrun on Saturday but the car battery was flat (some hairless idiot left the key in for a few hours the day before). I wasn't too disappointed actually as I wanted to get a session in. We both returned to the marshes, did plenty of core and strength drills (much to the bemusement of some dog walkers) and then jogged to a killer of a hill near Marhamchurch for 10 x 40s hill sprints. Unfortunately, Deb pulled her calf muscle on rep 6 so we cut the session short. I squeezed a couple more in (!) to get up to 8 before catching a limping Deb up and walk / jogging back to the campsite.
When I finally got an internet connection later that day I saw that the running school instructions for the day had been to go and do a parkrun at low threshold, rest for a bit, and then run 1 mile hard. Obviously this was the only excuse I needed to nip out in the evening and do the session as prescribed. Felt good to get a double in again and even better to get to bed early that evening.
Early bedtime meant early wake-up, so my Sunday Run started at 6:50am. I took a direct route through Bude to the coast where I planned to join the coastal path and head north until my watch said '6 miles' before turning round and coming home. At least that was the plan. What I had forgotten about coastal paths is that they basically go up and down A LOT as they dip in and out of coves, beaches etc. The coastal path north of Bude is a particular challenge with stairs cut into a lot of the hills. My legs were not enjoying the increasing amount of stair climbing after just over 5 miles (at over 8 minute mile pace!), so I turned round and headed back - clocking 11.7 miles overall (that felt like 15). When I got back I found Deb nursing her ankle - the silly sod had set out on a 12 mile run thinking she might 'run the injury off'. She lasted about a mile.
We had a 6 hour drive back on Monday but got back at about 4:30pm meaning that I could quickly unpack the car and get out to the running school tempo run round Damflask. The plan was 1 mile warm up - 30 minutes at threshold effort - 1 mile warm down. Young Mike T took us out too fast for the first mile or so but Mike, Andy B, Alex C and I soon settled into a steady pace of around 6:05 minute/miles round the Damflask trails. The session felt good. It never ceases to amaze me how much easier it is to run at a higher effort level in the right company.
Tuesday (4th August) was another running school session. We started with plenty of core drills and then went into 5 x 50m sprints followed by 3 sets of 3 x 300m off 45 seconds. I managed to keep all of the 300m reps at or just below my 50s target (4:35 pace) but it was a HARD session and I felt like I had run about 5 times more miles than we did. I was starting to appreciate why many people believe that short quality sessions can provide equal if not more training benefit than loads more miles. I was also starting to feel up for getting better at this 'short sprinty stuff' - wondering if I could ever recapture that feeling of school sports day 29 years ago when I would have run the 300m in around 40 seconds.
Wednesday brought with it very sore legs and it was all I could do to jog home after work. I am not sure it was the right day to kick my 10 cans of diet coke per day habit either as I basically felt either half asleep or a bit cold turkey. Thursday was a running school easy group run - a trot to training, and then a conversational run to Rotherham and back via the canal with some 200m efforts to finish. I dropped out after five of the 200m efforts because my legs were screaming (I was also late to pick up the kids from their training at Woodbourn!)
Surprisingly, I woke up on Saturday feeling OK (curry power). My legs were a bit sore, but a lot better, and my calf pain had nearly gone. A couple of paracetamol later and I was on my way to meet my running school classmates at the track for the 3000m time trial. We did a mile warm up and then each did our own pre-race thing. For me this means some strides and some dynamic stretching.
Phil W and Mike T took on pace making duties for the first 1600m of the 3000m time trial with Alex P and me following close behind. I felt pretty comfortable at the pace (5:05 mile) but was glad of the guidance as I would have otherwise gone off way too quick. As the pace makers peeled off, Alex and I struck out on our own with the others stretching out over the 100m behind us. I knew that Alex would be quicker than me over 3000m so I didn't panic when he pulled away a bit, and although my pace dropped slightly in the last few laps, I finished in 9:34 (5:08 pace on average) - pretty much bang on my target time. We finished with loads of drills and sprints. The camaraderie and banter amongst the squad was great throughout. Again, a reminder of how much difference good group training makes.
That evening, I suggested a run along Burbage skyline and was pleased that Lola agreed. We set off from Fox House Pub at about 6:30pm and took the high rocky path to Ringinglow Road, returning via the lower path to the pub. I was pretty amazed with Lola's fitness actually - she kept up pretty easily on the way up the rocks when my heart rate was getting into zone 3 and strode along purposefully down the path after 3 miles of hard work at around 7:10 pace (she is 12 next week). Her coach is advising that she opts out of the cross country season this year in favour of additional jumps and sprints training (her strongest events). I am not so sure now!
The less said about my Sunday run the better. Return of the DOMS. I have never run as tired as that in my life. My legs hurt from the moment I set off until the moment my watch beeped to say the 14 miles I was aiming for was up. Normally I would have continued the run until I got home regardless of the target mileage, but I opted for the 'walk of shame' home instead - disguising my shame with a hastily bought carrier bag full of breadcakes.
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