VLM 2013 - Week 4 of 14

VLM - Week 4 of 14
Week 4 - (Mon 4/2 - Sun 10/2)

Mon: 18.0 Miles @ 8:19/mile
Tues: 10.0 Miles @ 8:33/mile
Weds: 12.0 Miles incl Dorothy Hyman 10,000m 38:29 (6:10/mile)
Thurs: 12.0 Miles @ 8:47/mile
Fri: Rest Day
Sat: 6.0 Miles incl Dewsbury parkrun 18:37 (5:58, 5:54, 5:56) (5th)
Sun: 23.1 miles @ 9:25/mile

Total Mileage: 81.1 Miles




After last week's requirement for a bit of easing off to get back on the right side of the overtraining line this week was the bounce back week where the legs just wanted to run and were quite happy to get the miles in.


Monday 18.0 Miles
This run flowed really nicely on the usual hilly route and was going to be a 20 miler. However, coming into the last 3-4 miles a vicious hail storm started which felt like Phil Taylor was using my face as target practise.

The legs may have been keen to finish off the 20 miles but my face certainly wasnt. So 18 miles it was......



Wednesday Dorothy Hyman Winter 10,000m track race

Coming just 3 days after Dewsbury 10K and with 34 miles sandwiched between the two this was intended to be a good hard graft 10,000 on tired legs without too much concern for the time.

I had set it up mentally as 5 blocks of 5 laps and the aim was to run each block slightly faster than the last.

This wasnt necessarily going to be easy to judge on a windy night and on tired legs but it felt strong and controlled as the first three blocks of 5 laps were ticked off in 7:42, 7:41, 7:38. It was therefore nicely set up for a bit of a push towards the finish but the wearing effect of the wind led to the last two blocks being 7:46, 7:42.

But overall a session which consisted of 6 miles warm up + 6 miles @ 6:10/mile is a very positive contribution to the training mix!


Dewsbury parkrun
From an Event Director point of view I really enjoyed this week's event.

There was a record number of new runners (21), an overall record number of runners since the inaugural event (68) and a record number of PBs (21 out of 47 eligible). Those bare stats fed into producing a lot of beaming faces by 10am on Saturday morning! And that is what it is all about :)

From a running point of view, it was also a very positive story with the fastest time since last August. More importantly, the legs felt really strong especially on the uphill drags.

I take the weekly parkrun times with a pinch of salt but the overall pattern of recent weeks since the downtime clearly shows the aerobic benefit of the recent six 20 milers starting to feed through:

1/12 20:14
15/12 19:46
25/12 21:48
29/12 19:51
5/1 20:36
12/1 19:28
19/1 20:06
2/2 18:58
9/2 18:37

Dewsbury is a course which is  about 40 secs slower than a flat course so I've got to be pleased with potentially being back in 17:xx shape already, whilst still being a good 10-11lbs off racing weight.



Sunday 23.1 Miler
The idea here was to add another 20 miler into the mix by doing a dry run of the Spen 20 course, Spen 20 being a race which will be a key part of the VLM training in a few weeks time.

But it became a bit more interesting than planned due to criss crossing today's Liversedge Half Marathon route at several points, a race in which several friends were competing, including:

Kev Ogden (the man who broke the Dewsbury parkrun course record yesterday)
Kelvin Dickinson (the man who recently ran three marathons in 5 days including two sub 3s in successive days)
Tom Howard (Dewsbury Run Director building up to VLM)
Jonny Cartwright (Dewsbury parkrun founder)
Ian Ogden (a brave man running in nothing but a vest in freezing conditions)
Gavin Felton (clubmate who organises the winter track races at Dorothy Hyman).

This mobile race spectating actually added a bit of distance to the run and the planned 20 ended up being 23.1 miles of hilly conditioning work.

But the most remarkable thing about this run was that my running partner, Hannah Oldroyd, has never actually run further than 13 miles in training before the last couple of weeks and yet has now completed a 20.5 miles, a 17 miles and now a 23.1 miles in the last 14 days and seems to be recovering well in between.

This has been during a period when she has run her first sub 20:00 5K and then yesterday her first sub 19:00 5K at Huddersfield parkrun. with an 18:55.

This bodes very well for her VLM build up. A week of nothing but steady running now to consolidate though.....

And since she is likely to read this this, I have to add the standard disclaimer that she is still rubbish :)

For some reason, the run seems to have made her head a little heavy:

Next Week:
Week 5 is probably going to be the nearest that I will get to a standard training week, a rare event.

What that means in practise is probably the following:

1. A progressive 10 miler in something like 63-65 minutes.
2. An MLR of 18 miles.
3. Dewsbury parkrun
4 An LSR of 20-22 miles.

Mileage wise, it will be in the 70-90 mile region but if rest days are appropriate at any point this could drop a bit.

Still very happy with overall progress towards VLM :)