Stability Through Motion

Too much too soon. I tried two experiments this weekend. A ten mile slow run on Friday followed by an 18 mile slow run on Saturday. I also tried the Saturday long run with no fuel on the run, and not much beforehand. The result - complete knackered-dom. Compounded by a lack of sleep. I haven’t been so tired at the end of a run since 2006 I don’t think. I won’t be doing that combination again in a hurry. My time for the 18 miler was 15 minutes slower than when I did it last year.

Off to Brighton this weekend for the Half Marathon, my first real test of any improved speed. I’m aiming at 1:30, or 6m50s pace per mile, but I’ll be happy with 1:32 odd, still 5 minutes faster than my PB.

The run: 21.5 miles, Princes Risborough to Wallingford along the Ridgeway.

The time: 3h 20m.

The shoes: Saucony Jazz Grid (now at 450 miles - time for a new pair, oh joy!)

A great run, accompanied for the first hour, then P turned back to collect the car to pick me up from my destination - Wallingford. There were no coffee shops in Wallingford! What a crazy town, half occupied by a posh and empty Waitrose, but almost everything else was shut.

Inevitably I got lost at one point but was put rightly by a horse person near Nuffield. I finally followed the path below the dramatic chalk cutting along the M40, between Watlington and Chinnor, miles of muddy quagmire (quaggy mudmire?) near the quarries, red kites circling above, then quiet beech woodlands near Christmas Common, and lost in the Swyncombe Downs, finally over the golf course and downhill to Wallingford along Grim’s ditch.

So it seems I’ve given up on speed for the moment, and am reverting to distance. I did push myself on Tuesday to six 800 metre bursts on the treadmill, at 3m12s each. They call those Yassos, after Burt Yasso who came up with the mad idea you run 10 x 800 metres with jogs in between, then average your times. If you’re aiming at a 3h15m marathon, you should be running each 800 metre segment in 3m15s. Sounds crazy? Apparently it can be a good indicator, but that’s alongside actually putting in a lot of running the rest of the time ;-)  Anyway, it was damn hard work on a treadmill.

I think as a result of the extra long run last weekend, combined with this speed session, and a lack of sleep, I felt absolutely knackered by Thursday and took two days off training. It really worked, as I was full of beans again on Saturday, and Sunday’s long run was excellent.

Here’s my current schedule :
Monday: cross-train, 1hr biking usually
Tuesday: intervals or hill work (speed) running
Wednesday: cross-train, 1hr biking
Thursday: tempo run - increasing mileage each week
Friday: rest day
Saturday: easy run, 5 miles or so
Sunday: long run, keeping around 20 miles, or race day

The first 20 miler of the year, and the first since September last year.

Route map below, although we ran the route in the other direction to these markers, from Ewelme to Sutton Courtenay. The first half of the route was fine - tree lined hills, and of course it was cooler nearer 9am. By 11am along the treeless riverside, things were getting seriously tough and monotonous. But, felt much better than last week wierdly, and no serious ill effects the day after. This gives me a bit more confidence for October, though I still don’t sleep too well the night before a long run like this, I still get quite nervous.

Today - an easy-paced 45 minute run from Ditchling Beacon on the South Downs Way - out and back - with Bob. A fantastic start to a sunny day out in Brighton, overtaking the mountain bikers as they struggled through the clarty clay. I’m heading for the hills whenever I can now, gearing up to the Snowdonia ascents.