“The long run puts the tiger in the cat.” - Bill Squires.
Having done a long run on Sunday at the end of last week I wanted to use the opportunity to do back to back runs to test my endurance as the only concern I have had with the Bill Squires approach to training which I have been following is that the long runs are typically only 20m.
The 'test' was a success.
Monday: 34mins steady, then 10 fast / 10 steady / 10 fast / 10 steady / 15 fast, then ~40mins steady to finish - (20.02m @ 6:27)
Tuesday: 6.1m, jog out, steady back - (7:21)
Wednesday: am: 6.01m jog - (7:50)
pm: ~3.8m warm-up, then 3 x 2m (2 lap rec jogs), ~2.4m jog, ~2.8m steady - (16.28m @ 6:59)
Thursday: am: 6.12m jog - (7:47)
pm: 10.02m easy - (7:16)
Friday: am: 2 jog, 4.16m steady - (6.16m @ 7:10)
pm: 3m easy, 3m tempo (16:16), steady to finish - (7.09m @ 6:28)
Saturday: ~3m jog, then 4 x 15s strides, ~0.5m jog, then 6 x {15s hard sprints, 45s float}, easy to finish - (6.06m @ 7:34)
Sunday: 3m very easy, then 7.2m brisk (6:29) - (10.2m @ 6:49)
Total: 94.06m @ 7:01
Monday's long run: More focused on longer surges given that race day is approaching. I was very pleased with this, especially as the 2nd long run in 2 days. The 2 x 10min steady in the middle averaged 6:43 pace, and the fast sections came out as: 10 @ 5:25 / 10 @ 5:24 / 15 @ 5:23.
On Tuesday morning my groin was a little tight, so I played it safe and took the rest of the day off.
Wednesday's track session: I was running this with a clubmate who suggested the session as an alternate to what we had originally planned as I wanted to play it a bit safer given the tightness in the groin, plus I was still tired from the back to back long runs. This inadvertently ended up being a cut-down session as the 2m reps came out as: 10:54 / 10:44 (76s last lap) / 10:29.
Friday's tempo: My usual modus operandus now when racing on Sunday's involves doing some quicker running the Friday before (though usually with a hill session on the Thursday to boot - obviously not done this week because of the track session on the Wednesday). I was quite pleased for the 3m @ around half-marathon effort coming out at 16:16. Before Maidenhead HM at the start of September the same workout came out as 16:44 (and I ran marginally quicker at Maidenhead).
As things developed though, I opted, for various reasons not to race the 10k on the Sunday and just kept a lid on things.
With 2 weeks to go I am in pretty good shape, though, at the same time, there are various things I would like to be better, not least is the fact that my blister* from the New Forest HM a few weeks ago still hasn't healed.
To be filed under 'bloody annoying' is the fact that Amsterdam messed up my entry and have me in the second pen back. Attempts to rectify this are proving fruitless so far despite the fact that the error is the organiser's fault, rather than mine.
* it has turned out to be not so much a blister, but more that I somehow managed to gouge a chunk out of my heel. It's improving, but has made running a little uncomfortable at times.
Still, almost there now, so onwards and upwards.
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