The last two weeks have not been too exciting, so they did not deserve an individual blog post each.
After the high of having finally run 50km I started taking it easy for a three week tapering before the North Downs Way 50.
On Monday I did an easy recovery run. I ran 10k at 4:58 min/km. I recovered quite well from the 50k run but felt pretty tired.
On Tuesday I tried to get some speed in. I ran 12km at an average of 4:24 min/km. The temperatures are finally improving and it is again time to run in shorts which is a boost.
On Wednesday I was too tired (I should not have accelerated the day before) so I did 12km at the easy 5:00 min/km pace.
On Thursday I did 15k at 4:43 min/km and felt a lot better. 15k is my new favourite training length. I now find 10k being too short and I start enjoying running after the first 8k so 15 is perfect.
In the meantime I have also read Eat and Run by Jurek which I enjoyed very much. I am going crazy. If I am not working, I am running, thinking about running, reading running books or listening to running podcasts. I am surprised my family has not complained yet.
Friday I did another 15km run. This time I did it almost as a progressive run. The first k at 5:00, the last k at 4:00. I felt good.
We then left for a long weekend in Paris where I planned to rest and have some quality family time.
Overall in the week I ran 65km as planned for my tapering.
I came back from Paris rested but with a cold. Too much rain on the Eiffel Tower. On Tuesday I ran 12.5k at 4:47 min/km on heavy legs. I felt strangely tired even if I had rested for three days.
On Wednesday I woke up with a killer cold and flue which explained why I was not running well the day before. I decided to skip running for the day.
On Thursday I went out for 15km at 4:38 min/km and felt a lot better. Even if still with a heavy cold.
On Friday I rested again (it’s tapering time after all) and Saturday I did 15k again (I told you, 15k is my favourite length). I did them at 4:35 min/km. I tried to keep it easy, but accelerated a bit at the end. Then I did a 2k run with my daughter Elisa, which made me happy. She hates running but maybe in time she’ll change her mind.
On Sunday I did 13k at 4:30 min/km. Maybe I overdid it in the last kms, but me and a guy started racing each other in Bushy Park. I like winning these short impromptu competitions. I finished the week with a 1.5k run with my other daughter, Chiara. She seems to be more into running. We’ll see.
And this is it. It was a week of 60km. The next one is race week so I will take it very easy and will try to sleep more. The excitement is too much to handle!
Have fun!