Weekly Summary: Sept 12/09 - 18/09 - Keeping it easy

Running Breakdown

Mon - 7 miles easy
Tue - 7 miles easy
Wed - a.m. 3 miles easy / p.m. 5 miles Tempo
Thu - 4 miles easy
Fri - a.m. 3 miles easy / p.m. 6 miles easy
Sat - 8 miles easy
Sun - 12 miles steady

Total for the week - 55 miles

Not much to report this week other than that I am pleased to notch up another 7 days of running without too much of a problem. I was feeling slight fatigue at the beginning of the week however I backed off and ran easy. I felt good again by the middle of the week and threw in a tempo effort and also on saturday during the driving rain despite it mainly being an easy run the body just felt good so I threw in some tempo miles (7.15 min/mile pace for this slow horse).

Of course looking at the running I did this week there aren't too many hard workouts or long runs but that's mainly because I'm focusing on becoming a stronger runner over the long term and without a solid base I won't be able to handle the hard / fast workouts to come. This means in effect just getting out there every day and running whilst listening and responding to the body i.e. when to back off. I will throw in some longer runs as the mileage builds and of course a tempo workout here and there over the coming weeks.

I might change my mind of course and throw some short races if the right opportunity comes along, after all racing is what makes that heart pump faster, the adrenaline pumping and gives you a feeling no training session can provide but I will try not to act on thoughts like this.

I leave you with an inspiring performance from my running hero of the moment. If only I could run like this :-)

Weekly Summary: Sept 05/09 - 11/09 - Back in the Groove

Running Breakdown

Mon - 5m
Tue - 8m
Wed - 6m
Thu - 8m
Fri - 6m
Sat - 3m / 5m
Sun - 14m

So what has been going on.

Since I pulled up at the Adidas Thunder run back at the end of July I took it quite easy on the running side of things as I didn't really know what to do after my key race of the year didn't turn out how I wanted it to as I didn't want to run at all.

Fortunately I went on holiday with the family to Portugal for a much needed break from daily life (with some running thrown in of course). I discovered some great technical coastal trails literally minutes from my apartment and was enjoying running daily on the trails in some of the hottest conditions I have ever experienced. Whilst out on those trails the desire to get out the door frequently to run had grown to such an extent that I was in danger of it interrupting with our family holiday so I kept most of the runs fairly short and took each run as it come.

When I got back to the UK I knew that my appetite for running was fully back and I relished the opportunity to just get out and run for the pure enjoyment of running. I also wanted to review what I wanted to do with the rest of 2011 and also start planning 2012. One thing that I have consciously changed from now on is a real focus on just running consistently day to day.

During the last 3 years I haven't really built a great deal of consistent running and I feel my muscular endurance (much needed for marathon and ultras) is much weaker than I certainly want it to be. The simple answer to this is to get out there and run, time on feet, listen to the body and do this at least for a few months. Of course to stop the feeling of going stale and when things feel good I will throw in the odd tempo run for a few miles and some strides (short sprints on toes) to keep the basic speed up.

The past two weeks have been really solid with weeks of 52 miles and 55 miles this week. My legs felt tired on today's run for the last couple of miles and that is expected as I haven't done this sort of weekly mileage since January! I definitely believe that in time this approach is the right one at the moment because without a proper base adding intervals and reps will limit my development over the long term.

It's all about consistency at the moment. So lets see what this week brings.