Saturday 2nd Mar
Strava
An easy Sunday recovery run around the block. For the first time in a while I could tell my legs had some pretty decent kilometres in them for the week. But, take it easy I did and after a 25k on Saturday, backing up with 7.3k was a decent enough result.
The end of a pretty big week for me, finishing up with a touch over 54k. That's also the end of my three week "block" in which I managed 51, 50 and 54 kilometres per week. I also added more hills to my longer runs so I'm very happy with my three weekly progress. A bit of fatigue, but no signs of any ITB issues flaring up again which is pleasing.
An easier week next week, then starting my next three week block.
Month to Date: 32.4km
Year to Date: 367.7km
Saturday 1st Mar
Strava
Long run Saturday! Best day of the week!
Today's goal was 24.5km which would be my longest run since July last year. So up at 6am and get a coffee and an English muffin with peanut butter on it into me as early as possible. Wait an hour for my body take care of what it needs to take of, and out the door.
I thought it was going to be freezing, but was a very nice 15 degrees, and it never really got much warmer than that. Almost perfect conditions, if it wasn't for the cloud cover increasing the humidity a bit, it would've been spectacular!
As is becoming the norm with my long runs at the moment, the first 5 or so k's are nothing but a grind. It takes a good half hour for my legs to warm up and feel like they're working anywhere near optimal performance.
The flow started to come after I knocked over the first of the small hills on this route and as I entered the loop around Lillydale Lake I was feeling pretty good and considered doing a Lillydale Lake (2.5km) effort. But I knew there was an ordinary hill coming after the loop, so decided to just keep my pace nice and even.
I started to get pretty hungry around the hour and a half mark (about 16-17km) so I tried a new mid-run snack. Rather than using a power bar which is my normal mid run fuel, my wife had cooked up some oats, dates, dried fruit and chia seed almost muesli bars. They taste good and are pretty easy to get down with a bit of water and are full of all the good stuff! 10 minutes after the small feed I felt absolutely brilliant as I started to knock out some 5:05 min/km and decided to push it a bit more than usual up to the half marathon mark. The halfie came in at around the hour 50 mark, which is five minutes quicker than the same run I did last July.
The last hill is a bit of a pain in the ass after 22k running. But I battled up it feeling like I'd probably pushed too much in that last 4-5km of the halfie. But crest the climb I did and then all downhill to finish up with 25.1km @ 5:15/km pace.
These long run distances are definitely feeling like they are just that, long.
Month to Date: 25.1km
Year to Date: 360.4km
Thursday 27th Feb
Strava
Run commute day today. From Richmond Station, up Anderson St, around (most of) The Tan, then along the Yarra - dodging the boats outside the boat shed - to Docklands.
Off the train at Richmond into a very slight drizzle and quite cool conditions. Quick warm up, feeling good given yesterdays tempo + hills session and off I went for an easy pace run. As usual I was passed early on the Tan Track, but to my surprise, I caught and passed most of these folk toward the end.
I didn't wear my heart rate monitor today so just went with feel. I checked my Garmin at the top of Anderson St and I was sitting at 11.7km/h average, good start. Kept going along feeling fresh to finish up my almost Tan loop. Check the Garmin, hmm, sitting at 12.3km/h average. That's unusual, that's quick for me! And still feeling absolutely fresh as a daisy. 4.5k to go so thought I'd slow it down a bit and just cruise to the Exhibition Building. Got to the exhibition building, average speed up to 12.4km/h! Only 1.5km to go so decided to push it.
Finished with 7.9km @ 4:47/km pace. Incredibly happy with that given this was a supposed "easy" run. I did feel fresh and strong for the whole run. I haven't run that pace over that distance since I did a 10k TT about 8 months ago! And after that I was completely shot!
A good session like this just builds confidence and really boosts motivation! After 2-3 weeks of consistent results, it's nice to see a spike every now and then just to confirm that the training is working!
Month to Date: 171.3km
Year to Date: 335.3km
Wednesday 26th Feb
Strava
Today was a tempo session followed by hill repeats.
5:45am
start with 3km @ around 4:50/km pace taking me to the bottom of the
designated repeat hill. 1 minute rest then 4 x 60 sec repeats up hill.
Then a nice easy slow jog back home, 10 minutes on the foam roller and
off to work.
All up 5.9km @ 4:57/km pace.
An excellent strength and tempo combination workout. Highly recommended!
Month to Date: 163.4km
Year to Date: 327.4km
Tuesday 25th Feb
Strava
8k not quite tempo run through Chirny & Croydon North this morning. 5:30am alarms are absolutely terrible when they go off, but they're so worth it when the sun is coming back just as you are finishing off the last 1-2k of an early run.
8.1k @ 5:07/km pace
Month to Date: 157.5km
Year to Date: 321.5km
Monday 24th Feb
My normal gym strength routine today. Nothing special.
- 15 x Lunges
- 60sec Modified Bike
- 15 x Free Weight Squat
- 60 sec plank
- 25 x Single Leg Bridges
- 60 sec Left Side Plank
- Single Leg Deadlift
- 60 sec Right Side Plank
- 10 x Pistol Squat
- 60 sec Supine Leg Lift
- 5-10 mins on the foam roller
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