I started off week three of my twelve week block of marathon training with a bit of a rare day off on Monday. Despite feeling good enough to run, with it still being relatively early doors in the training and being concious of the fact that my body will still be adjusting to the recent increase in mileage, I stuck to my original plan of having a rest day at the start of this week.
Originally I had intended to have a go at a 5000 metre race in Trafford on Tuesday. However, a combination of work getting in the way, as well as a few second thoughts, meant a change of plan. Eventually, I decided that at this stage of my training block, getting as many miles in my legs as possible and concentrating on longer efforts is my main concern right now.
So instead I ran a decent paced 12 miles. It wasn't a particularly hard effort, but a steady and consistent run at 6:18 pace.
I doubled up on Wednesday, with 4 miles before work and 8.5 miles in the evening. My evening run was supposed to be gentle paced, but as I tend to run on feel rather than by my watch, I actually clocked 6:10 pace. My heart rate recording suggests that I was indeed running well within myself anyway, so perhaps I just ran a bit stronger due to the day off earlier in the week.
Thursday was, as usual, my progression into a tempo run. This week we did 11.2 miles, starting at 6:04 and working the way to a 5:23 final mile. The average pace throughout the run was 5:39, which in comparison to the previous week's 5:48 pace, again shows some nice progression week to week. Hopefully this is an indication of my endurance and fitness improving, as well as the rest day doing me a lot of good.
I doubled up again with two easier runs on Friday of 4 and 7 miles. On Saturday, I did a bit of a tempo session, I did 5 miles at 5:19 pace. I had intended to do some shorter, sharper two mile efforts around Cottam cycle track, but due to getting out a bit later having got distracted by the Lions rugby match, I settled for one longer effort instead as the track was already in use by the time I got there!
I finished my week with a long run of 20.5 miles on Sunday. The first half of the run went very smoothly, but I encountered some stomach problems from about mile 11 and felt sick through to mile 19 - when I eventually did throw up! I actually felt good once I'd been sick and the last mile and a half was much easier. I don't know what caused the sickness, but in spite of it I was actually pleased with how I went about the run. Despite not feeling great, I held 6:16 pace throughout, slightly quicker than my two previous 20 mile runs of this block. Mentally, this was quite a tough one, so it was very pleasing to come through it fairly strongly, and it makes for good preparation for the challenges I will no doubt encounter on race day.
Total mileage for the week: 79.5
Average pace for the week (m/pm): 6:15
Total mileage so far this month (July): 108.5
Total mileage for 2017: 1859
Average miles per day 2017: 9.84
