This last week has been another quiet week. With Paris just seven days away now, my priority has seen been on recovery and getting myself ready for the race ahead. My mileage for the last 7 days has been just 51 miles. Funny when you think that only two weeks ago I did that in one day! Paris is a race that I love. Of course I know the roads well and have raced this course several times before, but I know consider this course my 'home' course. Niandi's apartment is almost 'on the course' and so therefore it always has that special appeal.
Last year I raced 3 weeks after EcoTrail and PB'd with a 2:55. This year I hope to do the same.... it is not going to be easy. Running hard presents a whole series of different problems in comparison to running long. For Ultra one must be patient. It is an event that can last hour upon hour and therefore many different aspects come in to play. For the marathon though, one needs an approach of patience at the start but then ultimately you just have to get on with it and race.
As I have aways said, even pace produces the best results and I am therefore going to try an push along at 6:30's. I am unsure at this stage if my legs and aerobic system will be able to maintain this.
I have done several test runs over the the last 2 weeks and on the whole the indications have been good. Yesterday (Sunday) I ran just over 8 miles in 52 min broken down as: 1 mile warm up, 2 miles at 6min pace, 1 mile recovery, 1 mile 6 min pace, 1 mile recovery, 1 mile 6 min pace and then a run down. This session went really well. The 6 min miles were manageable and relatively comfortable so when you think I can run 30 secs slower per mile for the marathon, all I need to do is grit my teeth and hold on. I am convinced that providing my legs don't fail due to fatigue this is possible. What is the worse that can happen? Every now and again you have to lay it on the line and be prepared to hurt yourself. I have run 8 marathons in 2010 already, so another one at a comfortable 3:15 pace won't achieve anything other than 'another marathon'.
Heading out to Paris for the race are 'runwild runfree' clients Richard Fluck, Julie Deadman and Cat Archer. All three have been working really hard over the first 3 months towards this race. Julie Deadman has PB'd twice this year over 10k and half marathon, Cat was first lady at the London Ultra and got a 3rd place in category at the 80km EcoTrail de Paris, so Paris may very well be a really good race for her. Richard also set some new personal records at the 'Kilomathon' going through the half marathon distance some 7 mins quicker t
han his previous time. Richard is going for a PB at Paris so I hope you will all get behind everyone and wish them well for the coming challenge.
April 11th also sees Richard Whitehead looking to set a new World Record at Rotterdam. Pretty sure that everyone who reads this blog and who knows you are passing on some serious best wishes for your coming race. I have seen you racing and training over this last few months and buddy you really deserve the plaudits. You are quite an inspiration.
Promotion
I was contacted recently by 'Audiofuel' - http://www.audiofuel.co.uk
Clare from Audifuel asked me if I would help promote the music that they provide via my Newsletter. Of course I am always keen to cross promote as this also helps to push the runwild runfree name. However, I must believe in what I am promoting. To be honest, I was initially cynical of the Audiofuel concept as I thought it would be just generic dull music for running; NOT SO!
I am really impressed with what I have listened to. I have been using a 2 hour track that is 'high intensity'. It includes a seemless 2 hour piece of music that is designed around BPM (beats per min). This does not relate to Heart Rate but to foot strike. It starts at 160 bpm and builds. You can either have the music with 'voice over' or without. Actually, I quite enjoyed the voice over. Every now and again you hear a coach talking to you, he reminds you of your foot strike, breathing, pace and run strategy. I really do feel that this has a place in training and it is certainly a useful tool to help people understand pace. Try it with a free sample: http://www.audiofuel.co.uk/free/audiofuel.html
No comments:
Post a Comment