Vilamoura 5th-11th Nov

Mon, Nov 5, 2012 1:04 PM
6.00 mi, 42:04 (7:01/mi) - First of the faster runs, with Aaron just before we got the train to EMA. Shorts and T-Shirt weather, little bit windy. Nice to get out of Peterborough as well, we headed off out to Burghley House for a lap and a half. Almost stacked it with a well placed hand in the mud somehow managed to stay on my feet. Had a good chat about how bad our flexibility was, something definitely to work on whilst we're away.

Airport
This was the first session of the week ... when the LWAC boys turned up to the airport with a 20kg suitcase instead of 15kg AND an extra bag! After a good 45 minute work out we managed to distribute the weight between all the cases, with the expense of my moisturiser, although this was put to good use beforehand. We then landed to find Dave had been stung with a £60 charge for not having his boarding pass for the flight out!

Tue, Nov 6, 2012 10:25 AM
11.01 mi, 1:14:50 (6:48/mi) - First run in Vilamoura, weather couldn't have been better, sun was shining, but not too hot. In the shade there was a really refreshing breeze as well. Tops were off, getting the tan done. We set off on a nice trail route which Dave had done before, started along the marina and then headed past the most expensive hotel in the area for all the golfer snobs. Pace was a lot faster than what I normally do at home, making me think making we should step it up from the 8:30 miling back in Pboro. We had a quick lap of the European Cross Course which looked quite tough and then headed back onto the trail route. Even from the end of this trail, we had about 1 mile of road before we managed to pick up another one. Ended up being a little longer than what we aimed for, 10 miles so when we hit 11 mile we walked in and looked for a nice place to eat this evening.

Tue, Nov 6, 2012 4:54 PM 
6.01 mi, 44:58 (7:29/mi) - Headed off to the cliffs tonight, perfect weather again with the sunset on the horizon, good some really good pictures tonight as well. Steadier pace, but there was a fair few hills. Really enjoyed the route and will be a handy one for the second run of the day for the rest of the trip. Today was also my biggest day with 17.02 miles, start of things to come for the week.

Wed, Nov 7, 2012 9:12 AM
5.01 mi, 36:50 (7:19/mi) - Up nice and early this morning, getting it done. Went on a long route of the marina, similar to the evening run yesterday. Still a lot faster than what I'd be running at home, but was nice and comfortable, ready for the session this evening. Hit 5 miles again and then we walked it in, got a nice bit of stretching in as well. Not quite as hot this morning as it was yesterday but still great tanning weather.

Wed, Nov 7, 2012 4:41 PM  
2.27 mi, 17:57 (7:55/mi) - Warm up for the session, just ran to the track and then did a few laps on the ring road on the outside, garbage miles really, although still faster than what I'd run at home for a long run. Got a good set of strides and drills involved.

Wed, Nov 7, 2012 5:14 PM 
15 minute tempo, 5 x 800m, 5 minute temp. 
First 15 minutes was meant to be at HM pace, but as my watch auto lapped as I forgot to turn it off I was running blind (at 10k pace) so at the end of the 15 minutes, just as Aaron was about to lap me I hit 4600m. It made it quite tough as I couldn't keep with the lads at the front. After the 15 minute tempo we had a lap jog recovery and then started the 5x800m, these were at 5k pace which I aimed for 16:00 pace, which worked out at 76 lapping (2:32). 2:33, 2:37, 2:35, 2:35, 2:34, these were really tough in the wind and were off 200m jog. Not quite at 5k pace but I was still happy with them times as this was a long session for me and I haven't really done any sort of speed work in a while (if you can call that speed work). After these we had another lap jog and headed into the 5 minute tempo at 10k pace of 33:00 which was just under 80 second/lap. My calves started to feel a bit tender in this but still carried on and managed to hit exactly 1500m, which worked out at 80 second lapping which was perfect for me really. Dead happy with this session, shame I wasn't quite fast enough for the 4 lads at the front.

Wed, Nov 7, 2012 6:12 PM 
1.91 mi, 17:40 (9:15/mi) - Warm down, ended up doing a few laps around the track and then ran home (stopping to get some playing cards for a heavy poker session later). Massive stretching and foam roller session afterwards. Calves really did feel tender to be honest.

Thu, Nov 8, 2012 10:12 AM
6.00 mi, 42:55 (7:09/mi) -  Woke up a bit late this morning and felt awful. Paul, Shane and myself were unsure whether to get 10 miles done this morning with the hardcore mile munchers or split it into two runs. Paul and I ended up just doing 6 miles as we felt pretty shitty. Although we did improve a lot after descending past a huge Hilton hotel. Good pace anyway, got to flush the crap out of our legs from last night and then we planned to go out for another run in the evening. Beautiful morning for running again, nice and hot, got the vests off. 

Thu, Nov 8, 2012 5:22 PM 
5.07 mi, 37:31 (7:24/mi) - Went out this evening with Aaron, Samways and Dave just along the seafront. Within 1/4 mile Samways went off on a mad one so we let him go and ticked over around 7:20/mi's. Felt a lot better than this morning, glad I didn't do all the miles today in one run. We ended up going the opposite way to the other days and then just double backed on our self to the parallel road, which looked like a ghetto section of Vilamoura. Perfect conditions, nice cool breeze but still nice and hot, just started to get a bit dark as we came in as Rich and Shane had cooked us tea. 
Then we all got ready and headed off to the pub to watch some football game.

Fri, Nov 9, 2012 10:17 AM
2.34 mi, 17:44 (7:34/mi) - Wow, felt awful on this warm up. We jogged down towards the marina after Shane came up with a good circuit for a mile loop to do our session around, but my calves just didn't want to move. This had nothing to do with the dirtiest burger the night before or the Jagerbombing. Standard strides and drills before the session as well.

Fri, Nov 9, 2012 10:48 AM
1x2mile 2x1mile - This was meant to be 3 x 2 mile, but after dropping off the pace on the first 2 mile I thought it would benefit me more if I kept the quality up and the distance down, kept the miles down a bit as well as I didn't want to over do it so early into the trip. Off the first rep we went off quite fast, in comparison to the times we should have finished with but as we settled into it Aaron, Dave and Rich flew off which left me trying to chase Shane down and Samways in close pursuit. I went through 1 mile in 5:34, which was about the right pace for me but I really felt like I was working harder than HM pace and at this point Shane was long gone. Second mile I finished in 5:39, so 11:13 for the two but still felt really tired so I decided at this point just to do one mile for the next two reps. I shortened the recovery to start the 2nd rep and went off with Shane and managed to stay with him for the first 3/4 mile but then he dropped me. Finished this one in 5:28, and then had the 2 minute recovery but most importantly got the vest off to work the tan. Last rep was 5:27, loosened up a bit by this point but I was glad I made the last 2 just one mile. The other boys had some impressive last miles with the faster at 4:47 I think from Aaron.

Fri, Nov 9, 2012 11:37 AM
2.30 mi, 20:10 (8:45/mi) - Steady warm down as we all felt rough followed by a dip in the sea as an ice bath. Highlight of the week so far when Aaron gets knocked over by a wave which pulled his shorts down. It was amazing how much difference my legs felt after getting out the sea so hopefully in the run this evening they will feel quite good. Especially as we have the long run to do tomorrow. 

Fri, Nov 9, 2012 5:49 PM 
4.54 mi, 35:03 (7:44/mi) - Started off dead slow for the evening run tonight. Slightly later than planned as everyone was asleep. Even though it had started to get dark it was still nice and hot so maximised the amount of tanning potential. After we hit about a mile I had to stop to try and stretch my achillies as it was really tight. Caught the other lads up after not long, not having to go any faster than 6:30/mi but my achillies was still tight and got slightly painful around the marina. It didn't get any better/worse up to 4 miles and then as the other guys went on I stopped as I didn't want to cause any injury.
After talking to Dave and Shane it looked like the reason it was tight was just due to my calves being extremely tight after the session. Now I was in for a treat ... AScott gave me a calf massage with some moisturiser, in the most none gay way. I used the foam roller a lot tonight as well, during the poker game (just to clarify, I won), so hopefully I can get some running in tomorrow, but I'll see how I feel in the morning as I am already on big mileage and don't want to ruin my chances to run well at Leeds.

Sat, Nov 10, 2012 9:39 AM
16.01 mi, 1:47:56 (6:45/mi) - Absolutely perfect weather this morning but after last night my calves felt dead ropey. After Dangerous Dave managed to go the wrong way from the start we managed to spot a mad Manchester lad with no top on in the distance and headed off in pursuit. Just dipped 7:00/mi for the first mile and I really did feel awful. Gradually ticked the miles off and we got to the Euro XC course where we did a few laps and I was getting dropped off the back my legs felt that bad. I said to Dave 'I think I'm going to bin it and walk back' but for some crazy reason decided to carry on for a few more miles. A few more miles in they were gradually loosening off and then we crossed a road and me and Dave waited for a car so we had to catch the rest of the group up, uphill. This was what I needed, the downhill on the other side helped as well, and then I was back in the game.
It was amazing how fast the miles were passing really, we went the same route as we did on the first day with a slight alteration nearer the end. We got back towards the apartment and a few of us were going to just do 13 but we all decided to carry on until 16. As a whole this was a lot faster than I'd have gone at home but I'm really glad I carried on, legs felt great afterwards! 

Sun, Nov 11, 2012 5:21 PM
5.13 mi, 40:11 (7:50/mi) - After a heavy heavy night, me and Shane decided just to do the one run today and let the other boys go out in the morning. It was a bit windy tonight, but I took my phone out to try and get some good pictures.... Which ended disastrously as I managed to drop it and it crashed into a rock and smashed my screen. Although I did get a fair few good pictures of the sunset running on the cliffs. We ended up heading back on the beach which was really good, got a few more pictures as well. Felt good tonight after a long rest, pace doesn't really represent the run as it was on sand and I kept forgetting to stop it to take photos.

Total Weekly Mileage - 85.07 miles
Amazing first week here, really enjoyed the place in general and got some really good running in. I'll end up doing less miles next week to taper down for Leeds where I hope I can break 33 minutes. Massively my biggest ever week, I could have got a few more runs in there but I think it was wise that I didn't rush and go up the mileage too soon.

Thanks for reading guys!