Week Starting 12th Nov

If you read my blog last week then you would know that I'm currently in Vilamoura, Portugal training with Aaron Scott, Dave Norman, Rich Brown, Shane Robinson and Paul Samways. Last week I hit my biggest week of 85 miles, but with Leeds on Sunday I will be tapering down this week.

Mon, Nov 12, 2012 10:14 AM
​2.91 mi, 22:04 (7:35/mi) ​ - Warm up to the XC course today for a session, with racers in hand. Arrived there and some sort of Russian Athletics Team were stretching, some doing the most fantastic exercises. Strides and drills after this as well.

Mon, Nov 12, 2012 11:01 AM
​8 min, 7 min, 6 min, 5 min, 4min. Off 90 seconds
​ Session as above on the Euro XC course which if you haven't run on before is a reasonably hilly, sandy course, completely different to a UK cross course but still very tough. First effort was probably a little fast, through a mile in 5:35 and then the last part average pace was 5:33. Off 90 seconds slow recovery Paul caught me back up and we headed off for the 7 minute effort together. There wasn't really a pace guideline to run these, other than just running them hard. Went through a mile in 5:48, and then through the rest of the effort at 5:40 pace. Already my legs felt a bit tired and I was definitely feeling a bit sorry for myself in the recoveries. After finishing ahead of Paul in the last effort, I was so slow in the recovery I was out of touch starting the next rep where I also took my watch off auto lap for a mile (so I knew when each effort was up more accurately). 6 minute effort was the slowest at 6:09 pace, something I need to work on badly is my mental strength, I knew I didn't feel great and was off the back of the group running on my own and I was just running slowly. 5 minute effort saw me pick the pace up, especially when Aaron and Dave started closing on me in the later stages, this was 5:43 pace overall. Last effort for the 4 minutes was 5:58 pace.

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 11:48
​3.17 mi, 25:01 (7:54/mi) ​- Warm down, ran back to the apartment, slightly different route hence the different distance.

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:06
​10.00 mi, 1:06:26 (6:38/mi) ​ - Great run today, got gradually faster throughout the run and ended with a 6:18 mile. Last run on the trails of this distance so we really made the most of it. All of us present, Aaron and Rich ended up going to 12 as they weren't running at Leeds.

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 9:58
​1.36 mi, 11:18 (8:19/mi) ​- Warm up for the session with Dave, we were doing less for the session so we left slightly later.

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 10:25
​1 mile + 6x30 second efforts ​ - Did the mile on my own, ended up being a little bit faster than I had wanted, 5:08 but still felt good. Calves a little bit tight but other than that nothing else. The other guys did 4 miles and then 8 x 60 seconds. In the 30 second efforts I did I just tried to focus on my form.

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 10:54
​3.00 mi, 24:13 (8:04/mi) ​- Warm down, stretched afterwards. Went straight out afterwards for an amazing breakfast on the marina.

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 17:03
​5.00 mi, 38:03 (7:36/mi) ​ - Last cliff run of the holiday, Dave got some great pictures. In the end we stopped so many times it was a dead easy run. All of the guys out again.

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 8:41
​8.01 mi, 56:18 (7:02/mi) ​ - Last run of the holiday, tried to maximise the running this week so we didn't have to do much when we got back to England. Shane and myself stopped after 4 miles for an almighty stretch as we both felt a bit tight. Pace was quite fast overall, a bit slower after me and Shane came back on our own but we had a good chat and the pace came back down, nearly under 7:00 mi.

​Fri, 16 Nov 2012
Had a day off today ready for Sunday.

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 18:51
​3.89 mi, 29:00 (7:27/mi) ​ - Went out for a shake out run with Chris Wright, was good to get back running with him as I hadn't seen him in a few months. Amazing how much hillier it is in Leeds compared to Peterborough. Started off around 7:40s and gradually got faster. Feel really good, excited to run tomorrow.

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 8:52
​1.37 mi, 11:44 (8:34/mi) - Warm up, was so cold, had the gloves out. Feeling good, strides and drills.

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 9:29
​6.22 mi, 33:17 (5:21/mi) ​ - Leeds Abbey Dash 10k. First k a little bit fast, 3:03, but I just wanted to get out of all the business of the start as I was a few lines back. I much preferred having the kilometre markers as to mile markers, they just seemed to come up so fast. 2km 3:17, starting losing a few places but didn't slow massively. 3km 3:22 again just ticking off the ks, I didn't have my watch on average pace as I have recently been cautious of going too fast/slow. 4km was my slowest k, slightly uphill 3:26, I did feel a bit tired in my quads and hamstrings, just from the big mileage from last week. At the turn around point, 5km I saw Michael Moore who kept me pushing on in the 2nd 5k. Turning around there was a massive amount of sunlight which didn't really help. 6km 3:19, another just ticked off. 7km consistent  again, 3:19 again, overtook Matt Blunden which was great for my confidence although mid way through 7k I got a small stitch, nothing major just annoying. 8km, 3:12, Mickey still not far behind which was pushing me on. Same time for 9km. Last k I really tried to push, especially over the last crest and managed to overtake a few people. Coming into the finish I managed to beat Susan Partridge in a sprint finish as well. Last km, 3:19.
Happy with the time, pb for me. Bit of a shame I felt tired from Vilamoura but I think in the next few weeks I'll benefit massively.

​Sun, 18 Nov 2012 10:24
​1.01 mi, 9:14 (9:11/mi) ​- Junk mileage really, just jogged back to Chris' halls with my bag.

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 16:34
​4.57 mi, 32:53 (7:12/mi) ​ - First run back with Edgars which was cool, just wanted an easy shake out run on the legs as I didn't really get much chance of a warm down. We will be doing more of our runs faster now as well, starting with this one.

​Total Mileage - 57.41
​Good amount, I did a good amount, a lot less than what I did last week. I'll be looking at keep between 60-80 miles in the next few weeks and aiming for my next race to be the Nene Valley 10 miles 2nd December.

Big news to announce as well this week is that I'll now be coached by James Lawler, after a few chats recently I think we can both work really well together. I'll be looking at some good races to target in the next few months and we can sort some training around these races. Dead excited about this, hopefully I can get a car soon again and get into some good training sessions with bigger groups as well.