Week ending 15/4

This week sees a continuation of a build phase, with a slight ease off next week. Positives have seen a good consistency in my pace for my runs. I am in two minds about pacing of my runs. I am absolutely thrilled with medium long runs at the moment, exactly what I want. But it appears tp be coming at the expense of my interval work. However if I have to choose intervals lose at the moment as a good quality 90 minute run outweighs a good quality 30 minutes. Having said that intervals still have there place but speed can take a back seat for a while - they will be about the recovery as much as the rep itself. Also had no choice but to cut the long run short last week but was happy with the quality.

The week:

Mon 9/4 - 10.8kms 44.30. With the benefit of the public holiday I headed over to Centennial Park when the kids went for a sleep at about 2.00pm to run 3 inside loops on the grass. Was meant to be a recovery run but felt pretty reasonable so sat on a nice consistant pace the whole way with the last 2 laps at 14.45 .

Tue 10/4 - 3 * 3kms. Absolute belter of a run. Perfect conditions this evening, cool dry and not a breath of wind. 1km then straight into it with 1km slow jog recovery. Reps were 11.23, 11.07 and 10.37! Bumped into Steve at Rodd Point Rowers near the bubbler as I was finishing my second repeat. He joined me for the last one and true to form we managed to drag a little extra out of each other. I was absolutely blown away to look at my watch to see under 11 minutes. I didnt feel really fast tonight but I felt strong, I was pushing hard but I still felt really solid. Will see how I pull up tmrw. 12.5kms all up.

Wed 11/4 - Medium Long Run 21kms - 93 minutes, hard work felt pretty shabby after finishing work today after the last few days. But the consistency is still there and each time I rack up another run like this is a little extra in my legs. Ran from home to the toff side of bridge, underneath and return. May swap fridays run to tommorow and run it a little slower than planned as the legs are crying out for a spell right now. Will see how I feel tmrw.

Thu 12/4 - 8.5kms recovery. Program asked me to do 8 * 800 but I was a snowflakes cahnce of doing this. I felt absolutely smashed and struggled to get through todays run. No fun whatsoever although I had a quiet chuckle to myself when I thought about what I was supposed to do as I struggled around mainly on the grass.

Fri 13/4 - 10km Tempo Run. Was supposed to be a solid tempo today but again I didnt have in my legs. Ran the uni loop and managed 10.2kms in 41.30 minutes which isnt too shabby but to be honest it wasnt easy. The legs are really noticing a combination of solid kms at a realtively solid pace. Part of the master plan is to do a lot of running at marathon pace or better. I bloody well hope it brings an improvement somewhere because to honest I feel very flat. I am very much looking forward to the end of the long run on sunday as it means 48 hours off my legs.

Sat 14/4 - Slept in and limited my window to 8.5kms over to Sydney Park and back in 36 minutes.

Sun 15/4 - Have been having some issues with my heel again. So trying to be proactive I ran in Centennial Park on the soft surfaces. 4 outside loops and 1 inside loop before the alarm went off saying get home! 30.5kms in 2.17. Just one of those runs that was a slog. Running repetitively is very boring indeed and my legs really disagreed with what we had planned. But I managed to drag my sorry butt around at an okay clip and I am feeling not too bad right now. I like what the uneven surfaces are doing to my leg strength too. Hopefully when I get out onto the bitumen it will all seem so much easier... if only! Actually I think it was Vat who was telling me about the benefits of running on bumpy soft surfaces, less impact but you get a very good lower leg workout, good for strengthening calves ankles etc. Some of the way is bloody awful though hill pinches of very soft sand, really hard work especially on fatigued legs.

Yee-hah tommorow is a day off! Well done all who ran in Canberra, will do some blog surfing to get all of the stories this week. Hopwe it wasnt as hot as it got in Sydney today.

Drum roll kms for the week...102kms! About time. I dont know how others feel but running 100kms a week is hard work, let alone trying to find the time to do it. Will try and keep it up so it feels easier. One very big step forward this week.