Training Week 11 Recap (& Happy Year of the Tiger)

Hi guys,

Firstly, I want to wish you all a Happy Year of the Tiger, and bid a small farewell to the Year of the Ox. As I mentioned before, I'm not a follower of horoscopes, but let me give my interpretation on how these animals have shaped my approach to running.

To me, the Ox symbolises hard work and perseverance. 2009 in general was a year of hard yards to get my running up to a solid level. I think that has allowed me to set a solid foundation for myself to achieve my sporting goals. Now it's a new year, a new animal and a new set of characteristics. The tiger symbolises boldness, courage and confidence, and I'll need this in order to raise my running to even higher levels, the level I need to be at to break three hours.

But anyway, let's cut to the chase. Here's a recap of week 11.

Tuesday

Type: Intervals.

Time and Distance: 60 mins, 12.7 km.

Detail: 10 mins at 10.5 km/h pace. 6 x 1600m at 14.1 - 14.6 km/h pace, with 2 mins recovery at 8 km/h pace.

Thursday

Type: Intervals.

Time and Distance: 25 mins, 5.2 km.

Detail: 5 mins at 10.5 km/h pace. 10 x 1 min repetitions. 5 x 17 km/h pace, 2 x 17.5 km/h pace, 3 x 18 km/h pace, with 1 min recovery at 8 km/h pace.

Saturday

Type: Long.

Time and Distance: 133 mins 48 secs, 26.2 km.

Detail: First half at 69 mins. Second half at 64 mins 48 secs.

Sunday

Type: Easy.

Time and Distance: 48 mins 4 secs, 8.7 km.

Detail: Recovery run after Saturday's long run.

Total Weekly Distance: 52.8 km.

Comments: Despite the drop in weekly mileage, this week picked up the intensity in most of my runs, with only one easy effort done this afternoon. I'm very happy with my long run effort, picking up from my 18 km last week. 26.2 km is the longest distance I've run since Berlin last September, and it was pleasing to get through that long run without any problems and in a solid time too. I'm also quite happy with the intervals as well. So I'm looking forward to upping the ante next week!

Improvements: Same as before, just harder, faster and longer.

There's only five weeks to go to the Reading Half Marathon on Sunday 21st March, so I'm eager to pick up the training from now on to peak for this event. However, with Reading and Berlin being the races to peak for this year, it's easy to lose focus on the other races I'll be running, like the Rotterdam Marathon on Sunday 11th April, which is only 8 weeks away!!! Though I'm only running Rotterdam as a glorified training long run, I'm glad to have picked up my long run this week to give me some degree of reassurance that I can complete Rotterdam! :-)

Because of this momentary lapse in focus, I've been busy the past few days trying to organise my annual leave for this year, as well as organising itineraries. This includes searching for the best deals in flights, accommodation and activities to do in these cities. So if you've been to Rotterdam or anywhere in Holland, I would appreciate any suggestions on worthwhile activities or sights in the city. At the moment I'm only looking into Rotterdam (still haven't booked the flights and accommodation yet), but I know that I should pull my finger out and finalise the rest of the cities as soon as possible. Now I know why elite athletes have managers and a team of people behind them, so that they can handle this kind of boring stuff while the elite athlete concentrates on their training. I wonder if my parents would be able to take on some of this for me! ;-)

Slightly panicky for now,

Aaron