Speed work

After Tuesdays fartlek session the plan was to do my first session of speedwork on Friday. This was after a month of easy and steady running. I do my speedwork on Friday evenings which allows me to feel relatively fresh for Sundays longer run. After not doing any faster work for a while I was not looking forward to it as it was going to feel hard. Working at an intensity that hasn't been used for a while was going to be hard and I was realistic about the session and target times. A colleague asked me what my plans were for the weekend. He had a very exciting time planned involving supporting his pro-footballer mate and I thought 'Good lad! Enjoy it!' My Friday night was going to be spent doing 6 x 800m reps followed by 6 x 400m reps off short recoveries. Straight home from work I had a quick espresso threw my kit on and was in a race to beat the dark. Warm up, strides and off we go. My breathing was working and I was 'opening the pipes'. My splits surprised me and I was consistent throughout. The 400s were getting quicker and by the end I was running down a canal path in pitch black darkness. All done...it can only get easier from here. Many people make the mistake of thinking the only way to improve is to do them faster, which doesn't work for me. I use short recoveries and build up the volume which seems to be more useful than going anaerobic for me. We're all different. Some people like to do 10 x400m as quick as they can but for the marathon this does very little for me. This morning I did my longer run, which is currently only at 12 miles. This will extend to 20 miles by the end of December. I run with a heart rate monitor to make sure my heart rate stays around 150ish and I don't want it creeping into the 160s. I can see from this that I am getting fitter (image below) going 23/mile quicker for a similar HR. The HR might seem elevated for this pace but I use a very hilly course to develop strength. I'm looking at doing a race in a months time to see where I am at as I build to London. It's a long way away but the seeds are being sown. After todays run I don't feel too tired but will have an enforced recovery. The plan now is to spend time with family and collect some holly in the woods.

Major highlights this week:

Eating lots of fruit, drinking more water (I've been very good), My family being awesome (as always), Ireland beating All Blacks and … I'm currently injury free.

Right off I go. Sunday afternoon trip to the woods to get some holly and kids can play in the park :)







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