4 weeks out:
Mon - 6.1 mile (6:50mm)
Tues - 10.1 mile (6:12mm inc 6 mile @5:49mm)
Wed - 7 mile (6:40mm)
Thurs - 10 mile inc 6 mile tempo (5:27mm)
Fri - 10 mile (6:12mm)
Sat - 3 mile (7:12) , 7 mile (6:48mm)
Sun - 18 mile (6:29mm)
Total miles: 71.3 mile
This week was all about recovering from the previous weeks 81 miles and Hoad Hill Trail 1/2 marathon, while still keeping a fairly respectable volume and between a 12hour a day, 7 day shift at work - nothing too silly! Strictly speaking, I perhaps should have still ran easy on Tuesday, however the legs didn't feel too bad and so I decided to have a high steady workout to keep the engine ticking over - there isn't much time left to get the training in! The plan was to run 8 miles at a high steady pace (5:50-5:55 pace) but the brisk Walney wind made it much tougher to run that pace than it should have, and therefore to prevent sapping too much energy from the legs, I cut it short to 6 mile (averaging 5:49 pace) and ran the rest steady.
Thursday I wanted to get a little bit of time running at Half Marathon Pace (HMP) with a 6 mile tempo session (plus 2 mile w/u and c/d either side). The wind again on Walney made it difficult and saw me taper off the pace considerably when running into the wind, taking my average pace 7 seconds above revised HM target pace. The important thing is that the session hit the right zones though and so allowed me to benefit from the workout. 5:27 pace in that wind isn't a bad thing so soon after Hoad Hill 1/2 anyways!
Sunday brought my long run, which after my 6th consecuative 12 hour shift at work, I didn't really feel like doing if I'm honest. I got some good company though since Dave decided to come along. The run felt great aerobically and the legs felt back to normal, despite a slight niggle in the opening half mile (more on this later!). After leaving Dave at 16 mile to head home, I decided to stretch the legs a little bit with a 5:30 minute mile to teach the legs to push the pace in the latter stages of a race. This felt really comfortable and left me in a good place. Week no. 4 out from GNR and I felt recovered and in a good place ready to attack the next 2-3 weeks of specific training.
3 weeks out - Niggles! Ups and Downs:
Mon - 7.1 mile (7:06mm)
Tues - 5 mile (6:59mm), 10.7 mile inc 2 x (5 x 800m off 1min) off 5 min
Wed - 10 mile (6:26mm)
Thurs - 7 mile (6:59mm)
Fri - 12.5 mile Eliptical (6:43mm) inc 3 x 3mile off 1mile, 8 x 30sec off 30 sec
Sat - 6 mile (6:48)
Sun - 18 mile (6:29mm) inc 5 x 0.5mile @ HMP
Total miles: 76.4 mile
The aim of this week was to get some specific HMP sessions in whilst boosting the volume up ever so slightly to an 85 mile week. I felt good about this week after recovering fairly well last week, my only concern was the slight niggle I was getting in my left leg towards the end of that week. I was getting a deep dull ache in my leg for the first 100-200m of my runs but after that it felt fine, so I just shook it off and got on with it. My leg would feel fine for the rest of the day afterwards too.
I ran Tuesdays session which was a 10k paced session of 2 sets of 5 x 800m and my leg didn't bother me 1 bit, other than the 100-200m at the start of my warm up, so didn't think much else of it. The session went fairly well despite slight gut problems for the last 3 reps in the 2nd set where I tapered off slightly. I kicked myself a bit for this but Helen reassured me it was still a good session considering gut issues and the volume and I just need to stop being too hard on myself. The reps were as follows: (2.30, 2.29, 2.31, 2.31, 2.35), (2.31, 2.31, 2.35, 2.37, 2.36) I put the 2.35 of the first set down to lack of concentration.
I ran Tuesdays session which was a 10k paced session of 2 sets of 5 x 800m and my leg didn't bother me 1 bit, other than the 100-200m at the start of my warm up, so didn't think much else of it. The session went fairly well despite slight gut problems for the last 3 reps in the 2nd set where I tapered off slightly. I kicked myself a bit for this but Helen reassured me it was still a good session considering gut issues and the volume and I just need to stop being too hard on myself. The reps were as follows: (2.30, 2.29, 2.31, 2.31, 2.35), (2.31, 2.31, 2.35, 2.37, 2.36) I put the 2.35 of the first set down to lack of concentration.
Wednesday and Thursday my leg started to get a bit worse and it was taking longer for the pain to wear off at the start of my run, and it started to hurt slightly even when walking, which is when I knew something wasn't right. I was due to see the physio on thursday luckily so I got it looked at and he diagnosed the problem to a tight soleus muscle. I was worried about stress fracture! So he performed some acupuncture on it and told me not to do another hard session for a couple of days and stay away from hills in the interim and then go back for a follow up and more acupuncture next week.
After the physio, I decided to miss that nights and the following mornings recovery run and accept the fact that I wasn't going to hit the weeks goal milage. I would much rather let the acupunction do its thing and try speed up the recovery with a bit of rest. The next day however, my leg didn't feel any better and there was no chance I was going to get a HMP session in. Instead, I reverted to the eliptical trainer at the gym. I did the session (or similar) I had planned on this instead and wore my HR monitor to ensure I was hitting the right zones, while accumulating a pool of sweat around me. All in all it was a good aerobic session however wont do any wonders for my stride!
After the physio, I decided to miss that nights and the following mornings recovery run and accept the fact that I wasn't going to hit the weeks goal milage. I would much rather let the acupunction do its thing and try speed up the recovery with a bit of rest. The next day however, my leg didn't feel any better and there was no chance I was going to get a HMP session in. Instead, I reverted to the eliptical trainer at the gym. I did the session (or similar) I had planned on this instead and wore my HR monitor to ensure I was hitting the right zones, while accumulating a pool of sweat around me. All in all it was a good aerobic session however wont do any wonders for my stride!
After fridays Eliptical session, my leg was starting to feel much better so I had a short tester on the grass along Walney coastline and it felt ok - not right, but ok! It felt better again on sunday and so I decided to get my 18 mile long run in - seemed a good idea at the time. My leg took a short while to loosen up but didn't really bother me at all on the run. I managed the 5 x 0.5mile efforts at 5:13mm pace too, after 10 mile of steady running, very comfortably with no upset of the leg. Again this left me feeling in very good shape despite the slight leg niggle and if the injury wears off, I feel i'll be able to get some good sessions in next week!
The unfortunate news is, on Sunday night my leg started to feel worse again and as Monday morning came, I was struggling to walk on it. Not Good! It looks like more rest/eliptical trainer for me this week! Its just so hard when GNR is fast approaching and I am wanting to give it my best shot possible. I should be looking forward to the big day but now, all im really looking forward to is my weeks recovery in Tenerife with Amy the week after! Fingers and toes crossed for a rapid recovery!
Lets hope I'll be wearing this in 3 weeks time!:
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