Another week has passed and more miles in the bank. This last week saw a similar total mileage as last week but with some added tempo work. Not ‘speed’ work, just tempo. The main reason for this is not to become too sluggish and get used to a really comfortable endurance pace. A key session of the week was Sunday. Last week I ran 23 miles in a real steady 3:40 – this was about time on the feet! However, the plan this week was to go out and run a similar distance but substantially quicker (not marathon pace). This I did over a muddy, hilly trail route in a constant drizzle. Although I covered approximately a mile less the time was 2:57, so, this was perfect.
The weekly schedule was as follows:
Monday – rest day
Tuesday – AM: 7.5 miles tempo. PM: 12 miles steady
Wednesday – 18.5 mile trail run
Thursday – 8 miles tempo
Friday – 13.2 miles tempo
Saturday – 8.2 miles ‘loco’ (getting faster and then a cool down)
Sunday – 22 miles trail
You will see that at the moment I am not doing double days (except Tuesday). The reason for this is to re-build and allow a little more rest. The individual days have been relatively high mileage or have had some pace and so therefore I have wanted to layer gradually. This coming week will see more double sessions. The following week I will drop volume, double session most days and alternate with tempo and easy runs ready to go into the next phase in August.
One particular run this last week was really great. On Wednesday, Bastille Day, a public holiday in France, we were confronted with some horrendous thunder storms. We therefore spent most of the day relaxing and itching to get out. Our patience was rewarded with a brilliant end to the day. So, at 5pm we headed out for a planned 16 mile run (this turned into 18.5). We headed out along the Seine and then up a steep little climb called the ‘Cote des Gare’ which lead to the Observatoire and stunning views over Paris.
The Eiffel Tower and Sacre Coeur clearly apparent on the horizon. From here we headed into the Foret de Meudon. The forest really is a running paradise and much of its trails get used in the ‘EcoTrail de Paris’. Heading out we then ran through some small villages to arrive at ‘Versaille’.
What a great way to go sightseeing; run! From here we re-joined the EcoTrail route and re navigated back towards Paris taking in more woodland trail and some beautiful towns. A nice run around a lake.
Through a park, back to Ville D’Avray and then we were back in the Parc de St Cloud to re trace to the Seine and make our way back to the apartment. Great run.
Always nice to run on new trails or re-run trails that you haven’t run on for some time.... we all fall into the trap of running the same routes week in and week out. If you really want to spice your training up, just head off and do something new. Maybe run a ‘usual’ route the opposite way, get a train somewhere and then run home (a favourite), nothing quite like the incentive of ‘having’ to reach home!
So it has been a good solid week of training. When you add to that some really great Parisian weather, firework displays, Bastille Day and of course some great weather, you realize what a great sport running is!
As I write this, Nick Weston and James Letley are competing at IRONMAN ROTH – I currently know that Nick has smashed his PB and just clocked a 9:54 – bloody great! That was our best case scenario for the race and Nick has come up with the goods. Well done. James was still out on course when I had to leave the transmission so I didn’t get an update. He was on for around 12:30 if he could keep his run pace but I know that James was in many ways dreading the run.... he will have finished though, I am sure!!!
Finally I need to mention Chrissie Wellington. Chrissie is our ‘elite’ Ironlady and once again she set Roth alight with not only a win but another IM world record – 8:19 !!!! Amazing. She was so quick that she would have got 6th place in the men’s race.
Keep training – don’t wait for tomorrow for something you can do today!
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