August 19th – August 25th
Mon: 40 min easy + 5 x 15 sec strides + 5 min.
Complete. 51 mins. 11.48km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/12188275530
Tue: 15 min WU, 5 x 400 @ 90 (30/90) 6-7 x 1k @ 3:40 (60) stay at paces, 15 min CD.
Complete. 84, 86, 85, 85 and 84. 3:36, 3:34, 3:35, 3:34, 3:39, 3:33 and 3:29. 16.75km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/12198261778
Wed: 90 min easy.
Complete. 19.34km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/12207176121
Thur: Am: 30 min PM: 30 min.
Complete. 8 miles total. AM treadmill. 12.89km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/12212722553 + https://www.strava.com/activities/12215099993
Fri: 20 min WU, 5 x 200m @ 40 (200m jog) 3 x 5 km @ 3:45 pace, 3:50 pace, 3:40-45 pace (2 min easy jog) + 5 x 200m @ 40 (200m jog), 20 min CD.
Complete. 40, 38, 40, 38, and 38. 18:27, 18:57 and 18:16. 39, 40, 39, 39 and 39. 26.23km total.
https://www.strava.com/activities/12223521701
Sun: 2 hours 10-15 min easy.
Complete. 2 hours 4mins. 28km. https://www.strava.com/activities/12236795842
If it hadn’t started before, it has definitely started now. This week, there was a marked shift towards the marathon block. I had expressed to Seán that I was antsy to get going earlier but he quickly, yet politely, put me back in my box. It wasn’t ideal coming into the marathon block off the back of a shit race but it’s also important to contextualise how the year has gone to date. So far this year, I’ve PB’d in the 5K, 10K and 10 mile so the consistency of 7 months of good work won’t be undone by one bad race.
The week couldn’t have started any better, with Barry venturing to Lucan for an easy run and let him shake the holiday out of his legs. We pottered around Lucan in what was an absolute gale wind – unfortunately, this wind did not abate all week. I was planning to do my Tuesday session on the track but the wind was still poor on Tuesday evening so I opted for the park instead. Not because it would be sheltered, but at least the variety of scenery would make it a little more bearable. I was told strictly to stick to the (more sedate) paces after the 10 mile on Sunday and I largely did this, with a little quicker towards the end. Other than the wind, it was great to immediately get back to some work and knock the badness of the weekend out of the legs.
Wednesday was 90 minutes easy, again in the Phoenix Park, where I spent the entirety of the run listening to Michael Darragh MacAuley, across two podcasts, discuss his new role as CEO of Sanctuary Runners. He also spoke about his goal of being able to run under 20 minutes for the 5K again, which I have no doubt he will be able to achieve. The 90 minutes was the first increase in easy mileage for the block and was good to have that time on feet. I suspect most Wednesday’s will be something similar for the foreseeable.
Thursday was an easy double – 30 minutes in the morning on the treadmill (avoiding the wind) and 30 minutes in the evening (full frontal into the wind). The whole week was leading towards Friday’s session of 3 x 5K at varying paces around 3:45. When I seen this in the plan, I was immediately taken back to late August last year when I had a 4 x 5K session ahead of Berlin and I was unable to get through one of the 5K’s without basically collapsing. That was the beginning of the journey for a diagnosis for the anemia that, thankfully, seems to be at bay for the moment. However, seeing a 3 x 5K on the plan, and so early into the block, was cause for thought. I spent most of the week thinking about the 5K reps that I basically forgot they were bookended by 5 x 200m reps, a nice way to open up the legs pre 5K reps and a cruel and unusual punishment post 5K reps. I parked the car on the Furze Road and left out two bottles of water so I could stay hydrated. The day was quite warm, and still very windy, so I opted for doing the loop on the Furze Road, Ordinance Survey Road to Castleknock, loop the Ashtown Visitor Centre and then back to Furze Road. There isn’t really much to say about the session as it basically went exactly as it should. My heels got turbo cut up from the Puma shoes I was wearing but that only really became a problem when I stopped. Seán had said the first and third reps were to be quicker and the second somewhat of a reprieve. In truth, the second rep was the hardest mentally as I found myself constantly surging with the wind so as to not be too slow and then having to slow down as I was gone too fast. The reps came out at 18:27, 18:57 and 18:16 and, with the 200’s, rounded out a 26km day.
Without even doing my long run on Sunday, this week was already the middle/higher range of my mileage for the last couple months, a true sign that you’re entering the desolate hellscape of the marathon block. Sunday’s long run was to be 2 hours 10/15 minutes easy that ultimately ended up being 2 hours 4 minutes, due to a slight on the fly miscalculation of my route. I averaged 4:27’s for the run and got in plenty of hills, too. I practiced gels every thirty minutes and also took on 250ml of water that I had on the car and picked up after 13K and carried with me to the end. The wind was out in full force again for this run and there was no respite any way you turned. The HR was a little higher than I would have liked but the effort was always easy. Next weeks long run is a session so there is a little bit of respite mid week. The next two weeks of long runs are sessions and then there is Ratoath Half in three weeks. On the week of the half, I’m also jumping into a 5K race with some from work and that’ll hopefully keep some speed in the legs. It’s all happening.
Buckets of Rain 