Top athletes, and top coaches, MUST HAVE THE MENTALITY OF AN EXPLORER : they have to go in a DARK AREA, still unknown, in order to give new stimula for overtaking their current limits. With a conservative training there is no stimula, and at the end there is no training - Renato Canova (Italian coach of a multitude of top, mainly Kenyan, runners).
Ok, first things first. This week was supposed to be week two of my 'hill' phase, however I had a bad reaction after the first session, the previous Friday, as my back stiffened up after it, and it was still affecting me up until I managed to loosen it off during Tuesday's 80% run (see the linked explanation of paces: http://russells-vs-amsterdam.blogspot.com/2013/06/keith-training-paces.html).
The end result was I had to rethink my plans for the next couple of weeks as I can't afford the possibility of loosing time or getting injured from it.
Monday: 23.06m easy.
Tuesday: am: 8.19m jog with 6 x {15s stride, 45s jog}.
pm: 20mins warm-up, then 12m @ 80% on a mildly undulating loop (6:12 per mile), 5mins cool-down (15.22m)
Wednesday: 20.12m jog.
Thursday: am: 8.22m jog.
pm: 3m warm-up, then 3 x 3mins 'fast'/3mins steady, then, on a treadmill: 3m/2.5m/2m tempo with 0.5m jog recoveries on a treadmill, cool-down (15.71m).
Friday: am: 5m jog, 2m easy, 3m jog (10.08m).
pm: 6.62m jog.
Saturday: 3m jog, 10.24m steady (6:34 per mile) - (13.24m).
Sunday: off.
Total: 120.43m
So, a good weekly volume. On it's own the biggest mileage I've done in years, however....... the swap of rest day from Saturday to Sunday (Father's Day lie-in :-) ), meant that I ran for 7 consecutive days (i.e. including the previous Sunday), for a total mileage of 133.99m, which is up there with some of the biggest weeks I used to hit before my knee accident over 3 years ago.
I was particularly pleased as I seemed to get stronger as the week progressed, and, indeed, I have been feeling stronger week on week (bar the food poisoning week) for the last few weeks which bodes very well for when I get to doing the 'proper' work for Amsterdam in about 10 weeks time.
Tuesday's 80% run was pleasing. It was very smooth despite the stiffness in my back and the pace was more than acceptable for the fact that it was both windy and quite humid.
For Thursday's workout the initial plan had been for 10-12 x {3mins @ 10k-HM effort / 3mins steady}, but the wind was so ridiculous (mid 20mph range with gusts in the high 40mph range) and affecting the quicker running so much that when I was passing home at the end of the 3rd quick rep I decided to go in and get on the treadmill to be able to get some effort in without being buffeted by the wind.
I then proceeded to run:
3m @ 10.6mph (16:59 - 5:40 per mile), 1/2m jog,
2.5m @ 10.7mph (14:01 - 5:36 per mile), 1/2m jog,
2m @ 10.8mph (11:07 - 5:33 per mile).
Overall, including the original 3 x 3mins, the quicker running added up to 9.08m @ an average of 5:38 per mile, which is probably about current Half Marathon effort. Basically one big-ass session!
Recovery from it was good though, as indicated by the steady portion on Saturday morning feeling nice and relaxed.
All in all a pleasing week. As the quote indicates, sometimes you have to be willing to take a chance to improve. Though I have done this mileage, and more, in a 7 day span previously (personal highest weekly/7-day mileage is 148m), it exceeds my biggest week since my knee problems in early 2010 by over 15m.
Add in the large treadmill session at the end of the week and I take it's safe to say I have begun to regain my mentality to explore my body and it's limits. Additionally, being several years older, and more experienced, I think I have the perfect balance as I now have a very good understanding of what my body tells me in reaction to what I ask it to do and it should allow me to work harder and get the best result I can (longer-term, not just Amsterdam) from whatever small amount of talent I have.
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