Another low mileage week wasn’t exactly in the plan given that there’s now a mere five weeks left but sometimes, that’s how it pans out. This week was busy and mostly revolved around my (6yo and 4yo) kids. Instead of the weekly club run, I spent Wednesday evening marshalling at my club’s annual Midsummer Fun Run – a great family event that has races for all ages from Nursery/Pre-school upwards. My kids took part in their first competitive race ever over 400m (-ish) around the local cricket pitch and got a medal for their efforts. Then the weekend found me running around in woods at my son’s Beaver family camp which was fun and exhausting at the same time while the highlight of Sunday was my daughter performing her first ballet recital at a local theatre which was an absolute delight.
So running took a bit of a back seat. If I’d planned it better, I would have pushed up the miles last week knowing that I had this week to recuperate but I really didn’t think it through. Hey ho – you live and learn! So, the runs:
Monday 18th: 10 miles (road) – 1h15m
Tueday 19th: Rest
Wednesday 20th: 1.3 miles treadmill + gym
Thursday 21st: 1.5 mile walk
Friday 22nd: 2 miles treadmill + gym
Saturday 23rd: Rest (apart from much heavy lifting of logs!)
Sunday 24th: Rest
Total running mileage: 13.3 miles
Monday nights run was a back-to-back following on from the previous days 8.5 miles. I ran on the road for a change and pushed quite hard, finishing the first 5km in 21:50 and my five mile splits being 38 minutes and 37 minutes respectively. It was fast (for me) and shows a real improvement in my running and fitness.
The main point this week, however, were the gym sessions. Knowing I wasn’t going out on the road meant that I planned some heavy gym circuits in which deadlifts, squats and step-ups featured heavily. In fact, friday’s session included 300 barbell squats (6 sets of 50 with 10kg weight) and 300 step-ups (6 sets of 50). My theory behind this is that the lifting work will build strength endurance in the legs and the type of compound exercises will help with hills. Of course it’s no substitute for actual hill training but some solid 30 minute sessions of working in the gym is better than not doing anything at all. So the low mileage this week doesn’t reflect the training I’ve actually done.
Remind me again – who am I trying to convince?
Next week will be back to normal and I’ve already booked next Sunday off for a long long run, the longest of my training so far. Only three weeks left of training and a two week taper (one of which will involve copious walking around Disneyland Paris!) Gotta make them count!