London Training Week 5 - Building Up

As I said last week - the aim was to build up my running time this week (despite a challenging work week) and so I'm really pleased with the progress this week clocking in just short of 12 hours. Close to double what I was hitting when I started. Whilst the pace has noticeably slowed compared to late December this has still resulted in an 80 mile week and one where I actually felt strong and had to resist heading out for an extra run on Sunday evening.

I've also kept up with the cross -training although work has meant this was mostly focused on the weekend. Pleasingly my cold symptoms also seem to be finally disappearing which is excellent news providing they do properly go...

Running started feeling easier as I incorporated a few more strides and (gradually) started to feel a bit lighter on my feet during the week. There were still a few very slow runs but generally the pace improved quite a bit.

I was particularly pleased when my legs started to feel a bit stronger on the Saturday. After an hour on the exercise bike I headed out for my run and decided I was actually going to try and do a bit of a session.

On a muddy field I bashed out 4 x just over 900m off a minute for a typical VO2 max session in 3:27, 3:25, 3:23, 3:20. I know I need to get the VO2 max work in but with my achilles / ankle issues I just can't do it on the track (or more worryingly I CAN do it but then can't walk for the next few days). By switching this session onto the grass I manage to get it done with no ill effects and get just as good a work-out in.

A few years back over a summer home from Uni I had a job washing dishes at a local pub. I was pretty awful at it but it meant on Sundays I started doing my interval work-outs after finishing. I headed straight up to my local rugby club and did a session of reps of about 700m around the rugby pitches. Each week I progressed the number of reps until eventually I went from 5 up to 10 at a significantly faster pace. That will be the plan this time as well with this session progressing each week.

Hopefully I'll get into a similar routine with this session. As many runners do I can get way too much into my head about a set session and what I "should" be running. Doing reps of an indeterminate length around a muddy field is far better for this mindset to just get the session done rather than overly focus on it.

The plan for this week is to carry on with building up the easy running with a tempo-ish effort on Tuesday and intervals on Saturday morning.

My focus on my diet has been a weaker this week with a few less than optimal days in a row for mostly very good reasons - it's good that the focus is still there though so I can continue to get down towards race weight by race day.

The table below is helping as well - it's useful to be able to see the bigger picture.

Training Table Week 5

Week Commencing	Mileage	Time Running	Average Pace	Key Sessions	Longest Run	Most Efficient Run	Sunday Weight
28th December 2015	55.4	6h 22m	6:54mm	Ely NYD -10k Newport XC	9.1 miles	952 BPM	11 st 13.25 lbs
4th January 2016	54.4	6h 57m	7:40mm	Tempo - 4.5 miles Long Run	15 miles / 7:21mm	995 BPM	11 st 13 lbs
11th January 2016	63.2	8h 20m (+2h XT )	7:57mm	Track (4) Tempo (3)  Mitcham XC (5)	16 miles / 9:12mm	N/A	11 st 10.25 lbs
18th January 2016	61.8	9h 30m (+ 6h XT )	9:13mm	None	9.7 miles / 8:36mm	N/A	11 st 8.5 lbs
25th January 2016	79.8	11h 40m (+4h 45m XT )	8:46mm	Intervals	10.8 miles / 7:57mm	N/A	11 st .7.5 lbs