On the back of a successful first race of the year at Trafford 10k, this week was a mixture of making sure I recovered sufficiently from the efforts of that race, whilst also making sure I got through enough work to make sure I am sharp ahead of another big race at Wilmslow Half Marathon next weekend.
My hamstrings were feeling a little tight during the days after the race, so I made sure not to do too much high end pace work in the first couple of days. That said, I did manage to some decent paced steady runs under my belt as I trained with my clubmates on Monday night which helped me get down to 6:13 pace for 8 miles. Then on Tuesday, I replaced my usual pace work with a bit of a tempo run instead, incorporating 5 miles at 5:40 pace into a total run of 9 miles.
On Wednesday I reigned things back again and had an easy 8 mile run at 6:40 pace.
Thursday's session with Affleck was our usual tempo, this time we reduced it back down to the 4 miles, and I managed to hold my pace steady at 5:08 pace, which was pleasing considering I'd had a hard race days previously.
Friday was a really easy paced 7.5 miles at 6:55 pace, as my legs were feeling a bit heavy from both the race and the previous day's speed work.
As I wasn't at the Intercounties this year, in its place I managed to do an extra hard training session with the ever improving Joe Monk. We did 7 miles around the docks and Joe looked strong and relaxed throughout. I held my pace at 5:40 throughout as I kept next weekend's race in mind, but Joe ran away from me in the final miles as he grew into the run really strongly.
I finished my week off with 13 miles on Sunday morning with Luke Minns and an easy 3 mile recovery run with my dad in the evening.
The next week now will be all about tapering correctly for Wimslow and trying to ensure I get to that start line in the best shape possible in order to give myself as much of a chance as I can of setting a new pb.
Total mileage for the week: 75.5
Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:36
Total mileage so far this month (March): 126
Total mileage for 2017: 682
Average miles per day 2017: 9.61
