The 40 mile barrier broken...

Since getting the orthotics I've been experiencing some discomfort in my problematic knee. As a result I have only been running every other day, but to be honest I think this approach is a blessing in disguise. When I was running every day my legs were becoming quite fatigued and I think the mindset quantity over quality became a factor. Now I'm trying to focus on longer distance quality runs so I'm still covering the same sort of distances but in a more structured way.

On Monday I found a decent gap in the weather to go for a 9 mile run on a new route; about half of which is in Sutton Park. As you can see from the elevation profile its fairly undulating with the climb from mile 5 to 7 fairly arduous. I went at a reasonable but comfortable pace and finished in 59.15 which is 6.35min/miles. The knee was fairly sore during and afterwards so I decided to have a rest day on Tuesday.

On Wednesday I managed to find another gap in the rain and did the same 9 mile route through the park. I felt pretty good early on so tried to increase the pace slightly and finished 1 minute quicker in 58.15 which is 6.28min/miles. Again the knee felt slightly sore during and afterwards (but slightly less so than on Monday) so I had another rest day on Thursday.

On Friday I again did the same 9 mile route and aimed to go slowly round but somehow misjudged the pace and still went round in just over an hour making it 6.41min/miles. I didn't feel as good on this run but just put it down to a long day at work (was in Bristol that day) and having not eaten properly. However the soreness in my knee was not as profound so perhaps I am now getting used to the orthotics.

On Saturday I just did a 5 mile slowish run on a route near to home. The only problem being my metatarsal (?) by the big toe became very sore for some reason. Today I rounded off the week by doing another 9 miles at roughly 7min/mile pace. The toe wasn't too bad during the run but is still quite sore so will have to keep an eye on it - I've got a rest day tomorrow so hopefully things will be better by Tuesday. On the flip side my knee soreness from earlier in the week has gone! The only other problem with the run today was that it was so hot - 24 degrees and even warmer in the sun. Even though I was running a lot slower than earlier in the week I felt that I was putting in just as much effort - so much for a recovery run! I think that if I go out running in these temperatures again I'll take my Camelbak as I was gasping after just a couple of miles. The amount of effort put in today was shown by my Heart Rate Monitor stating that I spent 18 mins (out of 63) in maximum intensity zone!! (supposedly you're only meant to spent a few minutes in this zone!).

Overall this equates to 41 miles this week and the first time I've exceeded 40 miles! Next week its just another week of training. I have no events planned until the 20th June.

Comments

  1. Steph Cooke3 June 2007 at 16:32

    41 miles, that's really good! I am slowly building my mileage back up and cross training- my ankle seems a lot better so am hoping to build on the running next week. Hope your knee remains problem free!
    Enjoy your week

    ReplyDelete

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