Running Training 14/11/2016 – 20/11/2016
After a really nice and relaxing easy week last week…. we ramped it up again in this 7th week with one eye on the final race of the season on Sunday…the Newent 9k. Getting back into the swing of the speedier work was the aim of the game but I also decided at the beginning of the week to swap Thursdays workout with an easy run to ensure I was fresh ready for Sunday.
Monday
Monday morning has become tempo run morning….it seems to fit in well as I get up early and get it done on only an apple for breakfast before I need to get back and get the kids ready for school. This weeks tempo run was the best yet, which seems to prove that consistency is paying off…. a new 5k pb was set at 18:45!
Tuesday
Wasn’t able to get out on our normal Tuesday night rep session so ended up doing 13.1 miles on the exercise bike at a very easy pace.
Wednesday
Normally rest night….this Tuesday was workout night! James and I mixed it up tonight and did a new workout….someone tweeted out an ironman hill workout which consisted of 3 x 10 minutes at threshold pace up and down hills with a 3 minute rest after each rep. After the 3rd rep it was then a 2 mile tempo on flat terrain at the same intensity…so this workout was done moreso on heart rate rather than pace. We gave it a go…it was challenging to say the least and you really felt it through the quads pounding the downhills but overall it was a super solid workout!
Thursday
After the workout the night before, my legs were really feeling it so we stuck to a nice easy run…albeit on a new route! Armed with headtorches…James and I ventured up some nice hills in the dark at an easy pace….I had in the back of my mind that I wanted to go at half marathon pace for the last mile or two just to keep the legs ticking over but actually by 5 miles they were so tired that I decided against that!
Friday
Rest
Saturday
Rest
Sunday
Newent 9 race! So this was the last race of the calendar year that we have booked up….i’d been looking forward to this race for a while as I don’t race too many shorter distances throughout the year and I really enjoyed the course last year. The long and short of it is….its a 9.5k race that climbs up for about 4.5k then comes back down for the last 5k….
Going into it this year…I had in the back of my mind that I finished 15th last year in 40:41 and this year they had an extra 100 people entered, so I simply had two goals:
- Beat last years time
- Finish 15th or higher
The race starts on a local school playing field and heads out to the end where there is a small track leading out onto the road….as expected and as what happened last year…there is a manic burst of people off the start line to try and get through the gate first so when I finally got out onto the road I worked out I was in 15th place.
As the race progressed I felt super strong and whilst holding back a bit going up the hills, I felt like I really could give it my all in the second half. Slowly but surely, one by one I overtook people in front and managed to finish the race in 5th place. Not only was I over the moon by getting a time of 37.31, but I was delighted about my race strategy and how I was patient in the build up.
Finishing the racing year like that really made all the training worth while and although not a big race…. coming 5th out of 260 people really made me feel like the progression I had made over the past year has been worth all the training!
And of course….I managed to get the race on film, I hope you enjoy my Newent 9 video blog!