The reality is that this couldn't have been further from the truth. For whatever the reason, I have found myself straight back into training how I was prior to my illness and feeling great within myself and my running once again. Last week was a set back, but I am confident that I have still taken things away from it and will continue to learn and grow from that particular experience.
I skipped training with the club on Monday and took myself out on a steady longer run, to give myself time and space for me to go through the motions and think over the weekend's race. I actually really enjoyed the run and it made a nice change to be able to escape back down the country lanes and take everything around me in - it was very therapeutic!
Despite taking another week off from track training, I wanted to ensure I didn't just plod round doing junk mileage that I wasn't going to gain anything from. So as an alternative I set myself up a fartlek session in order to try and still throw in some faster speed work, whilst listening to my body and not pushing it beyond what it is capable of. The session went extremely well, with a structured 1.5 mile warm up and cool down, but with 7 miles in the middle seeing me run at various intensities and paces, as I pushed it for spells and then held back and let my body and lungs recover. The actual 'work' part of the session wasn't exactly measured or structured so I can't tell you what distances or paces I was reaching. What I do know though is that I completed the 10 miles overall in just under an hour, with an average pace of 5:59 m/pm.
Wednesday brought some easy mileage as I allowed my body to recover from the previous day's efforts. Then on Thursday I did a shorter, sharper tempo run around the docks. I did 2 x 2 miles, off a 5 minute recovery and recoded 10:10 for the first rep and 10:08 for the second - I was pleased with both the pace and especially also the consistency of my pacing throughout the run.
On Saturday, I got to experience something quite different, as I found myself running around the Preston Park Run with Molly for the first time! I have to say I thought she did brilliantly for her first attempt at what is not exactly an easy course. She seemed to enjoy it too, so hopefully we will be doing a few more now, and I'm sure she will go from strength to strength and improve as we do more too. Well done Moll!
Sunday saw me finish off my week with my long run, and it was great to have some company for a change too, as Luke Minns joined me for the majority of the run. It is always so much easier to run alongside company, and as I was carried away chatting I completely ignored my watch for the first 5 miles of our run, when I eventually did and saw that we had just put in a 5:50 mile I almost had a heart attack as we had only intended on running around in 6:35-6:40s! But once we reigned it back in and the pace settled back down to normal it started to feel much more comfortable and we finished up with an average pace of 6:18.
Another bonus from this week came via a special delivery from a certain Paula Radcliffe. I finally managed to get around to writing to her in order to thank her for the hand in hand finish down the Mall at London last year. I took the opportunity to send her my Wesham vest as a thank you from me to her, as well as a club one which I hoped she may sign. I also wrote a hand written letter about what the moment meant to me, as well as asking some questions about running and training that I thought she may be able to provide some advice on. Her response was first class - just as you would have thought it would be from a lady that seems to be a top class person as well as the complete athlete.
Paula posted back with a signed Wesham shirt, along with returning my personal 'Rob' shirt from the marathon signed with a personal message, a signed photo of the finish and also her own hand written reply. Out of everything I think it is he letter that impresses me most and is possibly the most special of the souvenirs and momentos that I now have to cherish, as she obviously took time in considering her reply and writing it out. Some of the advice she gave surprised me (the amount of recovery time after races), and some of it seems very sound advice too (her best ever piece of advice she herself was given). Reading it inspired me and I hope it will continue to do so. I have learned and improved so much in the last 11 months since that day, and know how fortunate I was to be in that position and to gain that experience and confidence it gave me.
"Dear Rob,
Thank you so much for taking the time to get in touch and to write down everything so well.
Thank you also for being a part of a day full of so many special and happy memories. You are so right about the camaraderie and strength and beauty of the running community. Also about the importance and value of the clubs - I am so glad if the publicity helped at all to raise the profile of your club.
I have signed the photo and your club vest - I have also signed the club one for your club to have (it was a kind thought/gesture but I'm afraid I can't wear it due to my Nike contract).
For the questions - I find the optimum block for a marathon is 12 weeks and for shorter races like cross country or 10km - 6 weeks.
After a marathon I take 3 weeks complete rest and then another two weeks easing back into training.
After other hard blocks or races, 2 weeks complete rest and two weeks easing back.
After a disappointment - I find the fire and hurt helps fuel harder and smarter training and creates motivation to get back to what I enjoy doing and want to do better at.
I think caffeine and chocolate in moderation are no problem. Dark chocolate is good. The key is eating well and balanced and within 20 minutes of finishing training.
The best advice I was ever given
"Dare to dream. Think big and work towards goals. If you don't achieve them all you still achieve more than if you never dared to dream and aim in the first place".
Also
"Treat others always with the respect you would want to be treated yourself"
Good luck in all your races and aims
Best wishes
Paula
How good is that! And advice that I am sure we can all agree with. The size of training blocks and recovery spells recommended will give me plenty to consider in the future seen as previously I rarely take complete weeks off and trained for London 2015 off an 18 week block!
Total mileage for the week: 81
Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:36
Total mileage for month of March: 310
Total mileage for the month so far (April): 32
Total mileage so far 2016: 972
Average miles per day 2016: 10.24
