This was going to be the first heavy week of training of my last 2 months before the North Downs Way 50 and I could not wait to start.
My plan was to run more than 100km by going for a run every day except Monday and do 2 long runs back to back during the week end.
Tuesday I started it easy with a 12k run at 4:40.Nothing to report.
Wednesday I went to Richmond Park armed with the Brooks Cascadia. I did 3.5k of warm up run to get there and then did 5 repeats of 400m each going uphill and then resting for the 400mt coming down. Quite a killer. Then 4k of cool down to get back home.
Thursday for various reasons I could not go and do the 15k I had planned. That meant I had to ass more kilometers to the other runs.
I started by doing 4k more than planned on Friday, the day that was set out to be a “tempo run” day. I ran 5k at an average/slow pace as a warm up and then did 5k at around 3:50 min/km average. The first 3 were quite tough, but once I got into the rhythm it felt good to run faster again. I finished the run off with 5 more km to get back home. Overall, 15k at 4:19, not bad.
Then the week end arrived and it was time to run for longer and try to run slower than usual. I am not really good at that but I tried very hard. I also took advantage of the slower pace to think more about my running form and to get used to drinking and eating gels even if I did not feel like it.
On Saturday I did 35km at an average pace of 5:06. I explored a new area along the river and saw some very interesting places around Sunbury, Walton-on-Thames and Weybridge. As soon as the hot weather arrives there are some very interesting pubs on the river where I have already planned to cycle to with the family. At the end of the run I was pretty dead with very stiff legs and I could not imagine running again the day after.
Contrary to that original feeling I woke up on Sunday full of energy and went out straight away for another run even if it was raining and very windy. I did 27km, but slightly faster than Saturday, at 4:48 min/km. I got home pretty happy about my performance and how quickly I seem to be able to recover after a long run.
I managed to make up for the kms I did not do on Thursday and ran a total of 101km (62k on the week end alone).
Good start for the final training push!
Next week will be big too! Especially for my special friend Manu who will be running the South Downs Way 50 on Saturday. Sorry I cannot come and support you!