Week 12 - March goes out like a lamb?

It's really felt like spring might be very close this week.  Warm sunshine, light winds and everything coming into leaf.  So a shock to the system today to be back to temperatures in single figures (and feeling not that far off zero) and windy conditions.

Tuesday's run was an easy five miles with the average pace smack in the middle of my current target range and each mile evenly paced.  Thursday was too nice an evening for running on the roads so instead of going straight out from work I headed home to pick up my trail shoes.  Despite the slower overall pace the uneven surface and steeper gradients put it firmly in the steady to tempo pace effort category for just over 7 miles.

Holly Walk in evening sunshine

Saturday's mileage has really ramped up at this stage in the training cycle.  The day started with a steady 3 miles at Parkrun.  All the fast runners must have been away this week as I finished 30 places higher than last week despite running 6 seconds a mile slower.  Pleased with my pacing on that one as each lap got progressively faster.  This was followed up by a hilly 7 miles at easy pace.

Sunday's long run was 16 miles this week.  Previous 16 mile runs in this cycle have been a real slog with rain, hail and high winds.  So although it was colder and windier today than earlier in the week it was still good conditions for running.  I've been practicing drinking a little every mile in preparation for the marathon in a few weeks time as I don't like chugging down lots of water when you get to the water stations.  I do need to stock up on gels or something similar - going to try experimenting with some Tailwind on the next few longer runs as I find gels hard to stomach in the later stages of a long run or race and cans of coke are hard to carry for 15+ miles.

Didn't do too badly on the strength training this week managing 3 out of 4 of the planned sessions.  Missed Saturday's due to need to let people into the Scout Hut for a coffee afternoon, bake and deliver a cake for an event at church, walk Marley and then finally lock up the hut again.

Stats for the week:

Miles:  38.86
Elevation gained: 716 metres
LeJog: 319.34 miles (half way between Shrewsbury and Tarporley)

Week 11 - Parkrun PB #3

Another easier week in the training programme combined with a dry week weather wise so I took the chance to aim for a PB at this week's Parkrun.  The ground had dried out a lot and apart from a few rabbit holes and moles hills the ground was nice and firm.  In all a very pleasing run with all three laps run at exactly the same pace, a sprint finish and 1 min 11 secs knocked off my PB for the course.  Still got a bit of a way to go to match my best ever age grade score - for now I'm 99th in the Age Graded League.

Today's long run was in complete contrast to last weeks - warm and light winds with clear signs that spring isn't far away now. Lovely to be running in shorts again instead of wrapped up against the weather.

 

View towards Chipping Campden

It's also time for a bit of spring cleaning.  Marley's three teddies have been through the wash and put out to dry in the sun

Mr Ted, Baby Ted and Mrs Ted.  Mrs Ted is Marley's favourite as she's still got her squeak

Next week it's back to the final big mileage grind in the run up (run down?) to the Stratford Marathon.  Need to find time to keep up the strength training or all the good work of the last 10 weeks will be undone.

Stats for the week:
Mileage: 25.68 miles
Elevation gained: 336 metres
LeJog: 280.49 miles (24 miles to Shrewsbury)

Week 10 - More weather disruption and too much to do

As we approach the peak weeks in the training plan for the Stratford Marathon the volume of running goes up quite a bit.  And that has coincided with a week of pretty windy weather and a hectic schedule.  As always the strength training has been sacrificed and some of the runs cut a bit short on what was intended.

The plan this week was for a total mileage of around 37 miles - 4 miles easy on Tuesday (😀 - that went to plan), then 7 miles tempo on Thursday (😐 - only time for 4 miles, but did run it at interval pace rather than tempo pace).  Saturday morning was very windy with gusts of 53 mph.  And because of that Parkrun was cancelled because of the danger of branches coming off trees 😥.  The plan said 8 miles easy on Saturday which is possible if you do parkrun then one of the local loops which is about 5 miles but there isn't a convenient  mile loop.  I spent most of the day watching the weather forecast and waiting for the wind to drop which it did for a couple of hours so managed to get out for a bit.  

Sunday's plan was 18 miles but again windy, cold and hailstones thrown in 😧.  By the time the watch said 16 miles I'd had enough of being blown around so headed home instead of repeating a two mile loop.  Standing under the hot shower after being out was lovely.

Strength training though was well below what was planned with several sessions missed 😖 because of extra Scout meetings in the evenings.

This week's stats:

Miles: 30.78
Elevation gained: 446m
LeJog: 254.8 (just passed Hereford)

Week 9 - Blown Away

The week's training started well enough with an easy 7 miles on Tuesday, despite still being pretty tired from last weekend's camp.  Wednesday was strength training as planned.  Thursday the weather was pretty wet and it's difficult running with an umbrella so I took Thursday as a rest day and ran on Friday instead - 7.5 miles of tempo intervals, including lots of uphill work.

Saturday was parkrun in the morning.  Very wet and slippy underfoot, torrential rain to start and fairly windy. Not PB conditions but pleased with the pacing with each successive mile 5 secs faster than the previous one and a sprint finish.  Then followed up in the afternoon with a hilly 5 miles of easy running in blustery conditions.  Garmin gave me a badge for wearing out another pair of trainers today (though I think they've still got a bit of life in them for shorter runs).

Sunday - well it was windy, very windy.  16 miles with wind that could stop you dead or push you across the road.  The Met Office site gives sustained winds of 30 - 32 mph with gusts between 51 and 61 mph for the time I was out running.  At one point I heard a tree crash down a few hundred yards behind me.  It also felt very cold.  And I forgot to pick up any gels before I left home - I don't think 2 biscuits at church and a Snickers bar is really enough to run that distance in the conditions we had today.

Totals for the week:
Mileage:  38.73 miles
Elevation gained:  717 metres
LeJog: 224 miles (crossed the Severn Bridge about 25 miles back, 8 miles to Monmouth)

Week 8 - not going to plan

Week 8 turned out to be an even lower mileage than last week entirely due to going to Scout Camp for the weekend.

I'd swapped a few sessions around to move the long run to Friday and a short run to Sunday with Saturday as a rest day.  Up to Thursday it was all going to plan with the exception of missing one strength workout due to packing all the camp gear on Thursday evening.  Then it all went downhill.

A look in the fridge on Friday morning said that rather than going running I needed to go food shopping.  Add in trip to vets to collect wormer and the next thing you know it's 1200 and I need to leave at 1330 for camp.  

I had thought I might get a short run in on Sunday afternoon but by the time I got back, unloaded the kit and put it away and got home it was already five o'clock.  A combination of needing to get out to church and lack of sleep over the weekend put paid to good intentions.

This weeks figures:

Mileage: 14.2 miles

Elevation gained: 120m

LeJog: approaching the Avon Bridge

Week 7 - A short run is better than no run

This has been one of those weeks where you wonder how you'll fit everything in.  With it being half term there was no Scouts on Monday, but we did have a camp planning meeting on Thursday.  Then I had a long trip up north to see family at the weekend (50 miles of roadworks on the motorway didn't make it any easier).  So my carefully worked out combination of short runs on busy nights and long runs on nights I don't have to go out all went to pieces.  

On the plus side I did get to try a new Parkrun this week at Ormskirk.  Very friendly and a nice course with a few gentle slopes for variation and two loops the larger of which is run twice.  The best bit is it's all on nice firm surfaces with just one or two places where there is a bit of loose gravel - which makes it very fast - my best time of the year so far by nearly 40 seconds despite the hills.

This week was planned to be an easy week with slightly lower mileage than last week for recovery.  I cut Thursday's run short by nearly a mile because of being short of time so I upped Sunday's distance from 10 to 11 miles to compensate.  Being away from home meant trying out a new route.  Now not every part of the country has hills and today's 11 miles netted just 20 m elevation gain - I can usually get that in the first half mile!

Cheshire Lines - a flat part of the Trans-Pennine Trail

Looking at the calendar next week looks like it's going to need even more juggling around to get anything like the mileage in.


Totals for the week:
21.98 miles
121 m elevation gained

LeJog: 171 miles ( between Taunton and the Avon Bridge)

Week 6 - Going Further

I miscalculated how far I was planning to run this week when I laid out my training diary and had to add a few extra squares to the graphic I use to keep track of my mileage. 

A good week with all training sessions completed including a rare lunchtime run with a friend.  Not sure it made me any more productive after lunch but it was nice to get out and a glorious day.

Parkrun was a mixed bag.  Course had dried out and what felt like a steady pace run put me 50 seconds off the PB I set a few weeks ago which was pleasing.  Less pleasing was realising I'd forgotten to pick up my barcode 😖 . Lesson learned and a spare barcode is now living in the car.

New shoes are good - ran 14 miles in them today with no problems.  Biggest problem was there are some seriously steep sections on today's run which meant a few bits of walking rather than running.

Garmin actually gave me a badge for today's run - must be a long time since I've run that far in a single session as the badges have been around for a while now.

That's my second badge this week as it gave me one for adding my new shoes on Tuesday.

This weeks totals:
31.53 miles
415 m elevation gained
LeJog: 149.08 miles (between Tiverton and Taunton)