Another 50 miles...
At the start of the week I went for a 6 mile run on one of my newish winter loops and took it fairly easy. The following day I was down in Bristol with work and by the time I got back at 8pm I really couldn't muster the energy so took a rest day instead. As a result on Wednesday morning I decided to try make amens by running the 11.5 miles to work which I haven't done for a while. Its a bit of an early start setting off at home at 6.45am and arriving at work just after 8.15am. I didn't particularly go hard, partly because I have a day of work ahead of me but also because I was carrying a fullish rucksack with work stuff inside. In case you were wondering, yes work do have showers!
On Thurs and Fri evening I went on the same evening loop but with a tiny extension to make it 10km. On the Thursday loop I went moderately fast in the second half to do the 10km in 44.40 which isn't too bad as there is a fair bit of climb.
During the week I've still been getting the foot pains and I've been wondering whether the orthotics have got something to do with them. As a result on Friday I did the loop without the orthotics for the first time in months. Even though I only went fairly steady I was surprised to see that I only went slightly slower than the day before. I have been wondering for a while whether the orthotics slow me down because of the harder inserts and it seems to me that there is something in this theory. The other good news is that the foot pain is already a lot better than it was before I took the orthotics out.
Yesterday I had a rest day because I was out all day. Today I went out for a minimum of a 12 mile run but with a target of about 16-18 miles. I went fairly steady throughout with an aim of about 8 minute miles. In the end I went a bit faster at an average of 7 min 24 sec miles, but the key for me was that at 14 miles I still felt ok so continued on and just about managed 20.2 miles in total so is easily a new distance record for me. I am absolutely shattered though and the deterioration was significant over the last 5 miles. I reckon I could have just about gone on for the remaining 6 miles to make it a marathon in about 3hrs 15mins but didn't see the point as I achieved everything I set out to do. In the end I did 20.2 miles in 2hrs 29 at an average pace of 7.24min miles including 250 metres of climb. My plan is to do one of these runs every couple of weeks over the winter so hopefully I can condition my body to the distance. Runs like this make me realise how hard events like the Thames Meander must be at over 54 miles!
Although I've only just realised I've also set a new weekly record by a whopping 300 metres! A grand total of 50.2 miles for the week!
I plan to have a slightly easier week this week as I have a cross country race on the 8th Dec so I need to be fully recovered for that. After this race is over I have no further events planned so I can get some real quality training put in before making a decision on the Thames Meander.
On Thurs and Fri evening I went on the same evening loop but with a tiny extension to make it 10km. On the Thursday loop I went moderately fast in the second half to do the 10km in 44.40 which isn't too bad as there is a fair bit of climb.
During the week I've still been getting the foot pains and I've been wondering whether the orthotics have got something to do with them. As a result on Friday I did the loop without the orthotics for the first time in months. Even though I only went fairly steady I was surprised to see that I only went slightly slower than the day before. I have been wondering for a while whether the orthotics slow me down because of the harder inserts and it seems to me that there is something in this theory. The other good news is that the foot pain is already a lot better than it was before I took the orthotics out.
Yesterday I had a rest day because I was out all day. Today I went out for a minimum of a 12 mile run but with a target of about 16-18 miles. I went fairly steady throughout with an aim of about 8 minute miles. In the end I went a bit faster at an average of 7 min 24 sec miles, but the key for me was that at 14 miles I still felt ok so continued on and just about managed 20.2 miles in total so is easily a new distance record for me. I am absolutely shattered though and the deterioration was significant over the last 5 miles. I reckon I could have just about gone on for the remaining 6 miles to make it a marathon in about 3hrs 15mins but didn't see the point as I achieved everything I set out to do. In the end I did 20.2 miles in 2hrs 29 at an average pace of 7.24min miles including 250 metres of climb. My plan is to do one of these runs every couple of weeks over the winter so hopefully I can condition my body to the distance. Runs like this make me realise how hard events like the Thames Meander must be at over 54 miles!
Although I've only just realised I've also set a new weekly record by a whopping 300 metres! A grand total of 50.2 miles for the week!
I plan to have a slightly easier week this week as I have a cross country race on the 8th Dec so I need to be fully recovered for that. After this race is over I have no further events planned so I can get some real quality training put in before making a decision on the Thames Meander.
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