Week 3 of 12
3 weeks down, 9 to go .........
Week 3 involved working away from home down in Kent. The midweek runs were either in Victoria Park in Ashford or on the country lanes around Battle in East Sussex and as usual were all relaxed efforts in the region of 8:30/mile.
The weekend was the chance to see how much toll last Sunday's tough 30k had taken on the ageing legs. There were two efforts, a trip to a scenic Rother Valley parkrun on Saturday and then over to North Wales for a 10 mile effort at midday on Sunday.
Week 3 (Mon 16th Feb - Sun 22nd Feb)
Mon 16th Feb: 10.0 Miles @ 8:33/mile
Tues 17th Feb: 0.45 Miles
Weds 18th Feb: 10.0 Miles @ 8:20/mile
Thurs 19th Feb: 6.21 Miles @ 8:01/mile
Thurs 19th Feb: 10.0 Miles @ 8:18/mile
Fri 20th Feb: 3.1 Miles @ 8:27/mile
Fri 20th Feb: 6.21 Miles @ 8:58/mile
Sat 21st Feb: 4.0 Miles (incl Rother Valley parkrun 18:15 (3.1 miles @ 5:52/mile)
Sat 21st Feb: 8.0 Miles @ 8:38/mile
Sun 22nd Feb: 11.0 Miles (incl. Rhyl 10 Miles 1:00:38 (13th) (10.0 miles @ 6:04/mile))
Sun 22nd Feb: 4.0 Miles @ 8:34/mile
Total Weekly Mileage: 72.97 Miles
Sat 21st Feb - Rother Valley parkrun 18:15 (5:52/mile)
As can be seen from the pics, the venue was very inviting for a 5K effort before breakfast, a bit sloppy in the second half but overall a run which felt controlled and strong considering the previous 7 days.
Sunday 22nd Feb - Rhyl 10 Miles 1:00:38 (6:04/mile)
The forecast for Sunday had been indicating conditions likely to be wet and very windy, with possibly 25mph gusts along the sea front.
In itself wind isn't really a problem (as long as you can actually stand up and move in a forwards direction) as an equivalent effort should lead to roughly the same training benefit regardless of the time outcome.
As it turned out, the really strong winds held off until mid afternoon, which was sufficient to fit the race (12pm start) in during a window of reasonable conditions although a headwind on the way back certainly slowed things down a little.
The pics below give a hint to how chilly it was on the Rhyll sea front.
The race itself was very satisfying, mainly because it suggested that last week's 30K had been recovered from pretty swiftly. Even on fresh legs in ideal conditions something around 60 minutes would have been at the top end of expectations, so there was nothing wrong with 1:00:38 yesterday :)
Hannah had been unlikely to run this race at all due to a pretty nasty virus lurking around for the last 7-10 days and with that in mind getting to the start line was achievement enough. To then go on to win in a time of 1:02:50 was close to remarkable!
So after three weeks, what could be considered to be the 'marathon building blocks' have started as well as could be reasonably expected with :
15th Feb: 18.6 miles @ 6:16/mile
22nd Feb: 10.0 miles @ 6:04/mile
Leading into week 4, which will culminate in an attempt at a fast 5K on Saturday evening followed by another trip to North Wales for the Anglesey Half Marathon on Sunday.
So far so good on the windy (as in not straight as opposed to draughty!) road to Blackheath on April 26th.
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