On Monday I headed out with Simon J, Aaron and Graham for what was supposed to be an easy recovery run. I had run 17 miles and Aaron had smashed his 10 mile PB at Wimborne the day before so we were both wary of pushing too hard, however I have come to realise that telling Simon you want to take it easy just spurs him on to run further and faster. He took us on a hilly meandering route around Lower Parkstone, Canford Cliffs and Branksome Park. It ended up as just over 5 miles at a little over 8 minutes per mile. 
Tuesday was the usual evening club run. Plan was to run 10 miles and around 9-930 a mile pace. The run was spiced up a bit by storm Barney blowing a gale in and around the South of England. Due to the weather we decided to run in land. We headed around Meyrick Park, through Tolbot Woods and up to Bournemouth University. We then ran back through Alder Hills and down to Coy Pond. We then ran a long lap of Bournemouth Gardens before heading back to the office. The pace for the first 8 miles was quicker than usual (especially with the hills) and averaged out at about 8:30 a mile and this was just too strong for me. By mile 9 I was struggling and mile 10 was more of a shuffle than a run. It was an enjoyable run but I think the last two miles were my bodies way of saying "look pal, you aren't there yet, don't be stupid". 
Wednesday and, due to work, I was once again up early to do a morning 10km. I couldn't drum any company up though so ran on my own. I decided to do the usual route that Simon and I tend to do, but finishing up The Avenue instead of Alum Chine. I was pleased that less than 12 hours after the struggle the night before I was able to keep up a steady 9 minute pace for the majority of the run. The tail end of storm Barney helped by pushing me along the front but overall a very pleasing run. 
Friday ended up as a rest day. This was mainly due to me travelling up to Birmingham for a weekend break with Sarah. I did manage a short stint in the swimming pool, although it was so cold I just went and sat in the Jacuzzi and the steam room. It felt like exercising but in reality was just sitting around doing nothing. Bliss.
Saturday saw me parkrunning in Wolverhampton (the closest one to the hotel). I headed out at around 8 am and soon realised that the cold snap that we had been promised had finally arrived. It was FREEZING!! After negotiating the many many many traffic lights and roundabouts between Dudley and Wolverhampton I reached West Park. I parked easily and headed into the park. In such a built up and fairly commercial area it was lovely to find a park that was so pretty. It had everything a "classic" park should have. Lovely treelined path ways, expanses of green, a bandstand and a lovely little lake at one end. The park also had plenty of free parking in the surrounding roads and a clean set of toilets (10p to use them though).
It was almost a perfect parkrun location, with a concrete path around the perimeter that was a mile in length and nice and wide to fit all the eager runners. It was slightly uphill from the start before dropping downhill (not a massive amount, but enough to enable you to speed up) to the lowest point of the course (just beyond the lake) and then all the way back up to the top of the course.
I made my way over to the event team who were just starting set-up and they were so friendly. They took time out of the set-up to ask me where I was from and what Winchester parkrun was like. They explained how the run had come about and took me through the course and what the run was like. It was really good of them and made me feel really welcome. I went for a short warm-up before congregating at the start with the other brave runners. It was so cold that I had decided to run in my Westbourne RC hoody, which I planned to take off after the first lap but ended up wearing all the way through.
At the gun I started running but wasn't feeling particularly warmed up so took the first lap fairly steadily. I then pushed on the second lap and was amazed to be lapped 3/4 of the way round by the eventual winner (he ran 16:05). As soon as I started the final lap I decided that I would not let anyone pass me, so I pushed and pushed my pace and ran my fastest lap to finish in 24:24 (although my Garmin had 24:00).
All in all a throughly enjoyable parkrun and one I would like to revisit when fully fit as I think it is a potential PB course.
Sunday and originally I was due to be up at friends in Stoke but unfortunately they were not well so I was back home. I stuck to my plan of 10 miles, despite being tempted to go further. The intention this week was to give my legs a bit of a rest following a few heavy weeks of running so I had always planned a shorter long run. 
I therefore once again headed down to the sports centre to do a couple of my normal loops. It was a bitterly cold morning and the car thermometer said it was minus 3 when I set off to run. Luckily I had dressed appropriately and was sexily dressed in my running tights, 2 t-shirts and a sweatshirt. I also added a buff to keep my massive ears warm and gloves to keep my delicate fingers roasty toasty. Despite this I was still FREEZING!!. 
I took the first lap fairly steadily and tried to push it a little more on the second. My fastest mile was mile 10, which, given my performance on Tuesday, was really really pleasing. I felt strong and comfortable at the end and could've easily gone further.
Another week towards my target ticked off! 11 weeks to go until The Thames Trot!!
Summary
I had aimed for the week to be lower intensity and a lower mileage than the previous weeks. I ended up running further than planned and faster than planned, but I was really pleased with my performance and have ended the week feeling strong and raring to go for next week.
| MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | SAT | SUN | Total | |
| Target | 4.5 | 10 | 4.5 | 6 | 4.5 | 3.1 | 10 | 42.6 |
| Actual | 5.16 | 10.00 | 6.34 | 11.36 | - | 3.10 | 10.07 | 46.03 |
| Time | 42:44 | 1:31:04 | 57:41 | 1:38:34 | - | 24:01 | 1:34:02 | 6:48:06 |
| Pace (Min/Mile) | 8:17 | 9:06 | 9:06 | 8:40 | - | 7:45 | 9:20 | 8:52 |
I have now hit 160 miles for November and am averaging an hours running a day!
Next Week
The plan for next week is basically what this week was supposed to be...a lower mileage, lower intensity week. I have a massage on Friday so may take that as a rest day and double run on either Wednesday or Thursday. On Saturday I will be at Winchester parkrun for my birthday parkrun, I'm hoping that Olivia will join me but suspect she may want to stay in the warm with Sarah!! Sunday I will be running a shorter long run (10 miles or so) and hoping that turning 38 hasn't had a negative effect on my running ;-).
MON
|
TUE
|
WED
|
THU
|
FRI
|
SAT
|
SUN
|
|
23-Nov
|
4.5
|
10
|
4.5
|
6
|
4.5
|
3.1
|
10
|
Have a good week everyone, see you next week!
No comments:
Post a Comment