Training Week 21 Recap

Hi all,

Here is the recap for week 21. I'm still feeling the effects of this week's training with a few sore spots in the legs. I think it's time I booked a sports massage. Trust me, they are good!

Tuesday

Type: Threshold

Time and Distance: 61 mins, 12.6 km.

Detail: 2.1 km warm up. 3 x 2800m (11:45, 11:55, 11:52) with 3 mins recovery. 2.1 km cool down with some strides near the end. Averaging around 4:10 - 4:15 min/km, but definitely getting slower as the repeats went on.

Thursday

Type: Continuous Hills

Time and Distance: 52 mins, 11.8 km.

Detail: 1.1 km warm up. 2 sets of 6 hill reps (400m) with 3 mins recovery. Each set was approximately 20 mins. 1.1 km cool down.

Saturday

Type: Easy

Time and Distance: 98 mins 9 secs, 17.6 km.

Detail: Kept it easy and conversational. Tended to go fast in places, but overall effort was easy.

Total Weekly Distance: 42 km.

Comments: 42 km this week may look like a low volume week, but it's actually been a very tough week in terms of quality. I was quite surprised at how the continuous hill session went. I'm not too sure whether the ascent was 400m (Google Maps told me this!), but 6 reps of 800m would equate to 4800m in approximately 20 minutes. I've never run a 5 km race in under 20 minutes, so to know that I can achieve this would be a great psychological boost.

Improvements: More of the same for next week. Just focus on the quality of my threshold runs and continuous hills, and I think I can't do much wrong at this stage. Continuous hills has added a new dimension to my training, so to do these is only going to make me a stronger runner.

After watching George Anderson's video on Running Technique, I've started to concentrate a lot more on my running form - in particular how to be more efficient when running. When going out for a training run, it's so easy to forget about your running technique, especially when you haven't had any exposure on what constitutes good running technique. If you watch the elites, they make running look so easy. With the right technique and the resulting economy of movement, a runner can run faster, longer and expend less energy when doing so. Check out his video, and make it a point to really concentrate on every footstep in every run.

I have my second marathon for the year lined up in Copenhagen next month. Like Rotterdam, I'm going to take it easy, and perhaps incorporate a fast finish to the race. The time isn't important, but maybe I can go better than the 3:59:22 I ran at Rotterdam with comparatively little effort.

Finally the London Marathon was on today, and the men's elite field boasted a very powerful lineup this year, including the defending champion and course record holder, current world champion, and the second fastest marathoner of all time. However, in the marathon, lofty reputations do not count and none of them managed to win this year, let alone finish the race. It was also the case for the women's race as well, with little-known, relatively inexperienced runners trumping their more experienced opponents. It's amazing to see how, on the day, a great runner with a wealth of titles and records could perform way below standard. From what I've seen I think there are two things that will carry runners through to victory. A lot of preparation, and a little race-day magic (or maybe a lot)!

Cheers!

Aaron