Week 5 - (Mon 11/2 - Sun 17/2)
Mon: 10.0 Miles @ 9:13/mile
Tues: Rest Day
Weds: Rest Day
Thurs: 10.0 Miles @ 9:19/mile
Fri: 10.0 Miles @ 8:08/mile
Sat : 8.0 Miles incl. Dewsbury parkrun 19:14 (5:57,6:11,6:21)
Sun: 15.5 Miles @ 8:28/mile
Total Mileage: 53.5 Miles
This week became an unintentional cutback week, which in the greater scheme of things wont do any harm.
Tuesday was an appropriate rest day, coming two days after the 3 hrs 39 mins of hilly running around the Spen 20 course but Wednesday just became a non starter due to a blizzard of icy snow.
Dewsbury parkrun
Each week seems to be surpassing the previous one at the moment in terms of the overall event.
There was another post inaugural record attendance of 79 runners for Jason Newell's debut as Run Director, and with 11 being first timers the 25 PBs out of the 68 eligible runners gives a good indication of how favourable conditions were in the Spring like sunshine.
Matt Pierson lost his share of the course record last week when Kev Ogden set the new mark of 16:52 but it didnt take him long to get his name back in the record books by getting round the hilly course in 16:10 in the middle of a 100 mile week.
Hannah Oldroyd lowered her own mark of 19:50 down to 19:28.
This has come after taking all speedwork, except races/parkruns, out of her training for a while to concentrate on getting some decent mileage into the legs. The recent long runs, followed by a week of just steady running, is clearly feeding through into increased strength. This 19:28 is a another improvement on her 18:55 at Huddersfield last week based on the added difficulty of the Dewsbury course.
And another impressive PB from Tom Howard with his first sub 19:00 run with 18:55. Three weeks ago his PB was 19:23 but again concentrating on mileage for his VLM build up has fed through into the added strength that produces stronger 5K times.
There seems to be improved fitness everywhere you look at the moment amongst those running the course on a regular basis :)
My own run was a run of the mill 19:14, worth around an 18:30 run on a flat course but the legs were feeling tired, more of which in a minute, and I am more interested in trying to get a 17:xx clocking for the distance next Wednesday on the track.
Sunday LSR
A beautiful sunny morning for a long run around my hilly countryside route.
The original intention was to get 18 completed at a relaxed pace and then pick the pace up over the last 4 miles for a fast finishing 22.
But of course this was dependent upon the legs being willing............ which they werent! So at 15.5 miles the quads really had had enough and that was the end of the run.
There is a difference between ploughing on for additional training benefit and ploughing on when the only likely result is strains and tears, so in the interests of keeping on the right side of the overtraining line again the sensible option was taken.
In terms of long runs, there have been runs of 18, 20, 23, 20, 20.5, 18, 23 and 15.5 in just over 5 weeks, so it feels like the back has been broken of this part of the training and it is no surprise that the legs are feeling it a bit.
I'm happy to space them out a bit more now and let some speed start developing as the weight comes down.
Next Week:
A fun filled week coming up with no less than 4 races involved. This should work well in kick starting a bit of speeding up as the last 9 weeks of the VLM build up approaches:
1. Weds - Dorothy Hyman Winter Series 5,000m.
Hopefully will go close to a 17:xx time for the first time since last October.
2. Sat(am) - Dewsbury parkrun
3. Sat(pm) - National XC Champs, Sunderland.
Probably the highest quality mass participation event on the calendar where a top 500 position would represent a big performance, but is probably a bit out of range at the moment.
4. Snake Lane 10 - This will all depend on the state of the legs after the previous day but would like to use it as a progressive session in maybe 62-63 minutes. We will see!
9 weeks to go..................................
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