Full Throttle

After a couple of weeks of intense running but not for long distances this was the week I wanted to go back to running every day. It was also the last week of The Cool Impossible training part 1. So even in the rain and the cold I managed to run 6 times this week.

Monday I took it easy, 10km of recovery run (at 4:37 min/km). I needed it after Saturdays’ race.
Tuesday again, 10 easy km at 4:28 min/km. The legs were recovering and I felt full of energy again.
Wednesday it got serious. 15 minutes of warm up and then 5 four minutes repeats at 3:45 min/km (or faster) with 3 minutes rest. Quite tiring.
On Thursday I was really sleepy but managed to go for a 10.5km run at 4:33 min/km and then Friday I went for another interval training. This time 8 twenty minutes sprints with 2 minutes rest. I enjoy those quick sprints. Actually I enjoy any type of running, from long slow runs to 10 seconds sprints. I did most of the sprints under 2:50 min/km which feels very fast for me.

Then the big day arrived. Saturday is the long run day. I wanted to run at least 3 hours and maybe aim to beat my 38km records. Unfortunately I had to be home at 9 to take my youngest daughter to an event. So I had to leave home very early and that meant I could not run in any park for most of the run as it was too dark. I ended up doing a long road detour so that I could get on the river side by the time there was some light and then went into Richmond park so early that I almost met no one. Which is a good thing. On Saturday it is always packed with runners while at that time in the morning it was just me and the deer.
Everything went fine until the 20th km. I started having some really bad cramps then but managed to run them off. They re-appeared a bit later again but I was already on the way home and as I really had to arrive by 9 I could not stop. I ended up doing 34 km in 2:45. I whished I could do more, but the race the week before and the 5 training days really sucked all the energy I had left in my legs. I had one gel sachet and drank most of my pint of water (with added salts), but I should have had a bigger breakfast. Well, you always learn something.

I am happy of the week as a whole. I ran a total of 87.6km which is my weekly record.

Next week I will take it easier and probably do the Cool Impossible tests to fine tune the second part of the training and maybe take part in the Bushy Parkrun on Saturday. There is also th eoffice Chirstmas party, that will make me less sporty.

Have fun!