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Sunday 16 January 2011

Excellent

A full week of no blogging or blipping again; a sure sign  that life's brimming with too much stuff. Another mad busy week of work and marathon training has swooshed by. I'm feeling less guilty about the absence of posts or pics though as the time's been well spent with a second week of the most excellent training. Volume and quality have been achieved in fine balance and I'm feeling back on top and in the driving seat. 

The woes of 2010 are now behind me. I've now clocked two full weeks of 80+ miles and still managed to fit in long intervals, a tempo session, some zippy reps and my LSR today. The plan to run an early marathon in 2011 was in part to give myself less time to faff and worry and instead focus on a solid 12 week build up with the aim of just getting round. Fast times are postponed for marathons 2 or 3; just getting to the start line and experiencing the distance would be a fine kick off to my marathon career after last year's disappointments. So, up to 21 miles this morning leaves me confident that my remaining 9 weeks are time still to consolidate, get comfy with the long runs and build more threshold strength as I adjust to the mileage once again.  

It's a bit of a change for the training plan next week with a race pace injection  to replace the Sunday run. The Brass Monkey Half Marathon will provide a great quality training run and a welcome break from 20+ lonesome miles of long slow running. With a fair amount of training left to do there'll be no easing down or hard racing for me; this is a race paced session in preparation for the Bramley 20M in February. I'm both focused and being sensible and making sure neither the miles or the pace get me carried away. It'll be a real test and probably a struggle not to run hard or race it this year, especially when the leading ladies press on for home. But this is about the bigger picture (as both M & coaching guru B remind me dutifully).

I can at least vicariously enjoy the post race glow as M is set to test his fitness at last after a long succession of cancelled races. He's looking lean and mean and did an awesome 400s session on the track yesterday. He needs a race and some feedback is well overdue. Just how fast can Mr RB go...?

7 comments:

Steve said...

I admit I was missing your posts and pics.
The training you are doing is what I will be doing soon - joy!
(well, its a joy once completed)

Antony Bradford said...

This sounds like excellent stuff; doing your long runs at a slower pace and allowing more energy for the quality sessions. Also running long and short fast sessions and some tempo training mixed in too. Focused and sensible seem to be two very good words.
As for Mr RB I think he could soon be Mr PB!

Mark H said...

Hi Sarah.
I predict 1:17 for Marc.(no pressure there then :) )
Good to see things are going swimmingly.
I have a number for BM and planned to just jog round , but not up to that distance in training yet so probs not make it.

Anonymous said...

Hello Sarah,

A thought.

Sounds like you have some natural speed...
so, stop the speed/tempo workouts, slow down your runs
and increase your miles to at least 100 MPW for the next few weeks.
Try to survive the miles and don't worry how slow you run them.

You'll actually get faster when you back off & get down to racing.

I'll understand if you don't agree...most runners have a hard time
breaking out of the mold they've been accustomed to even when
when injury becomes part of the regular pattern.

Also hope no offense is taken from my comment.

FB

ultra collie said...

rah rah and three hoots to brilliant running

Hayfella said...

Wow! Boy are you back in the groove. I'm in awe. Brilliant stuff rb and all the best.

Runningbear said...

Thanks for the encouragement guys, I'm struggling to juggle work, running, blipping and blogging but promise to resurface once in a while..

Hi FB, you're suggestions don't offend though would take a huge leap of faith after being a slave to speed work and a loyal follower of my coach.

The mileage suggestion does make lots of sense but I'm reluctant to take big strides having suffered from that mistake last year. I hope to reach high 90s for this marathon and once happy with that push on for 100+ in the summer. We'll see what rewards the mileage brings. Thanks for dropping by!

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