"On a given day, a given circumstance, you think you have a limit. And you go for this limit and you touch this limit, and you think, 'Okay, this is the limit.'. As soon as you touch this limit,
something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and your experience as well, you can fly very high." - Ayrton Senna.
Monday: 5m very easy, then surges of 10/1/6/2/10/3/2/1 mins off of 5min steady recoveries, 3m+ steady to finish - (20.1m @ 6:31)
Tuesday: am: 10.19m easy - (7:16)
pm: 6.12m very easy - (7:38)
Wednesday: 2m very easy, 1m steady, 4m brisk (6:33), 1.25m steady - (8.25m @ 6:54)
Thursday: am: 6.1m very easy - (7:33)
pm: 4.4m very easy, then 6 x ~420m hills, followed by 3m @ 6:19, 1.16m @ 5:34 - (11.58m @ 6:53)
Friday: am: 20min jog, 1m fast (4:55), easy to finish - (6.2m @ 7:05)
pm: 10.26m steady - a bit tired but incredibly relaxed - (6:47)
Saturday: 3.6m jog, 8 x 30s stride/30s float (5:38 per mile for the 8mins), easy to finish - (6.16m @ 7:20)
Sunday: 1.27m 'warm-up', New Forest HM - 1st in 72:10, 6m+ easy to cool-down (20.64m @ 6:06)
Total: 105.6m @ 6:48.
Monday's long run was the best long run I've done in this campaign, possibly any campaign. The surges were: time (pace): 10mins (5:23), 1 (4:58), 6 (5:18), 2 (5:05), 10 (5:23), 3 (5:18), 2 (4:54), 1 (5:04) off 5min steady recoveries (6:53 avg, all sub 7). I was very pleased with this.
Thursday's hill session was essentially a repeat of what I done the Thursday before Maidenhead.
Friday morning I had initially intended to also repeat the 3m tempo from the Friday before Maidenhead but felt that I was too tired for it to be productive, though I somehow ended up running a mile in 4:55 instead.
Saturday's 8 x 30/30 workout is one I've run before. A great way to get some anaerobic work in in a short space of time as well as good fun.
New Forest Half-Marathon
Come Sunday I managed to execute a lesson in how not to prepare pre-race as I took a wrong turn on the way, had hassle picking my number up and dropping my bag off, and eventually ended up having just enough time to do a very small warm-up, with a stop in the middle of it whilst I queued for my number.
0 - ~2.5m: I started solidly, but didn't push as I wanted to use the first few miles to warm-up properly. Another runner immediately opened a small gap but it never became any more than 5 seconds. Meanwhile the rest of the field started to drop a bit behind me, which meant that after ~1.5m I was clear in 2nd. In the meantime I noticed that the leader was ever so gradually coming back to me, so I just kept running the tangents and continued to close. As we turned into another road somewhere between 2-2.5m he ran a bit wide and I decided that that was time to go, closed the gap in a few strides and put my foot down (if you're going to pass somebody for position then don't hang around).
~2.5m - 12m: I could feel the gap start to widen and kept pushing. Soon enough I had clear air and kept my head down. The course profile map showed the biggest hill (and there were some nice! climbs) between 9-10m. When it came I used the time I had in hand to take it a little easier up it; I got to what I presumed was half-way up the hill and spent the next few minutes waiting for the rest of it. Eventually I realised that was it and pushed on. I hit 12m in 66:26, a pace that had me on for a pb of about 7s over Maidenhead 2 weeks ago.
12m - finish: I realised I still had quite a bit left in the tank and put my head down and pushed harder, covering from 12m to the finish in 5:44 (a pace of 5:09 per mile), hitting the finish line in 72:10, a pb by 31s on my 2 week old pb, but this time on a tough course that has to be worth somewhere in the region of 60-90s on a flat course.
I ended up clear of 2nd place by 3:18 (the same runner I'd passed at about 2.5m), and now have the privilege of having won both the New Forest full and half marathons (I won the full 5 years ago). A very nice double to have :-)
I was reading a biography of Ayrton Senna recently and this week's quote stood out to me as particularly relevant to my current situation. I am aware that, especially as I am starting to get a grip on my asthma and my back is greatly improved that I am on a very significant upward trend. A lot of this is down to moderation in my training. I am doing less mileage than I have tried to do previously. If I have any issues I opt for the sensible approach to deal with them and am getting closer to consistency in my training and am definitely starting to see the rewards.
With 4 weeks to go to Amsterdam it is all there for the taking if I get the next few weeks right.
No comments:
Post a Comment