7 miles with strides

Back to my first love today. Getting a run done before anything else, on reasonably fresh legs and over a comfortable distance. This is what I have missed while marathon training. All the easy runs tend to be on tired legs whereas when you have fresh legs you have to make the run count.

Today was just 7 miles with some strides thrown in for good measure.

After 3 miles uphill to the trail I then did 100 metre sprints in every quarter mile section for two miles of trail. Recently, on tired legs, the mile splits containing the strides have barely gone below 8 minutes. Today I did a 6:50 mile. That is the taper difference.

Having said that, I will soon be missing the hard workouts and will be finding another plan to follow after the marathon ASAP. Although marathon training is hard there is something special about being on a quest. It makes me feel alive.

6 miles run commute

As ever the morning runs are much more enjoyable than evening runs. Last night I felt tired mentally and physically. This morning I was fresh and the wind had died down. The pace soon dropped below 8 minutes per mile and felt better as the run went on.

The forecast for London is looking warm. This is not good news! I don't run well in the heat. At the moment it is predicted to be 15 degrees Centigrade at 10 am rising to 19 degrees by 1 pm. Finishing the marathon with the temperature almost 20 degrees is not going to result in a PB. If the temperature is warm I will just have to focus on enjoying the day and forget about the time.

When your legs just shrug

Trying to fit some speed work into my run commute was never going to be much fun. My route home is through town with lots of turns and roads to cross. The best I could hope for was to squeeze in some 400m intervals where I could.

Unfortunately there was an annoying chilly headwind most of the way and I was mentally tired from work. Not the best conditions really. When I did pick up the pace my legs did what they were told but without any enthusiasm. I can almost imagine the conversation between my brain and my legs:

Brain: Go faster now!

Legs: But this is a run commute! Why? Oh alright then.

Brain: Keep it up.

Legs: I am. Chill out.

Brain: OK, ease off.

Legs: I was already.

Brain: Rest over. Fast again now.

Legs: Yeah yeah whatever. What's for tea?

You get the idea. The only time I felt strong was up a hill where the effort seemed to feel a bit more fun.

Anyway this is probably all a combination of having a bit too much fun on the cycle in to work, doing a steady 10 miler yesterday, mental tiredness, life stress and taper madness.

There will be better runs.

The legs return

Well I felt like a runner again today so that is progress! 10 easy miles into work felt decent with the pace naturally dropping to below 8 minute miles. Of course the tailwind and net downhill helped but still, this was a lot better than yesterday.

Tomorrow I am supposed to be doing 3 x 1 mile @ 5K pace. However I only have the 6 mile run commute to play with, and there is no chance of a mile free from traffic obstructions on that route. So I will split the speed work up into chunks of about 800 m and progressively ramp up the heart rate with each one. It won't be what the plan says but it will be something and that may just be enough!

When every step feels forced

Sometimes running feels smooth. Sometimes it feels forced. Today was the latter. My legs weren't particularly sore and even managed some strides without complaining. However they lacked any bounce and just getting the pace down to 8:20 minute miles took some effort. I sometimes wonder if you have to have one bad run after a hard long run and by running on Monday you get it out of the way.

So my 8 mile run today wasn't exactly joyous. But if I can get these bad runs out of the way before race day I am not going to complain.

There are rumours of some warmer weather next week. Now that is a worry. If it is 20 degrees on race day I will have to forget about a PB and just enjoy the day. I just don't race well in the heat.

A run free day

Today I just had no energy. I think I pushed too hard on the long run yesterday and also caught a stomach bug. I managed to cycle in to work but couldn't face the thought of a 6 mile jog home so just cycled home instead.

The problem with following a plan is that I feel compelled to follow it. I hate having to miss runs. However as the taper is fully underway I don't think missing one recovery run will do too much harm. I am trying to avoid these miserable plods on tired legs that I often inflict on myself.

Back on it tomorrow hopefully.

The last of the long runs

So that is it then. The hay really is in the barn. Just one speed session this Wednesday to bank but mainly just ticking over now.

The plan called for 17 miles today which actually felt very doable compared to 22 last weekend. The legs were a bit tired after racing a parkrun yesterday though. However they were willing to do the required pace. 9 miles @ 8:00 and then 8 miles @ 7:20. I felt pretty good in the second half and got the average pace down to 7:38.

81 mile for the week, partly because I did the 22 miler on Monday rather than Sunday. Next week will be significantly lower.