Tuesday evening straight after work we headed up Blencathra (me, Penrith Stu and Steve Bennet)
I didn't want a hard run after the previous days 10 mile effort but was keen to run up the ascents however slow. From the carpark to the summit is a long long drag and I was pleased to finally drop back down to the tarn. From there we then made a direct beeline to the summit of Bannerdale - very very steep - zero possibility of running. This was enough to see off the two young pretenders with Stu seemingly coming up with a new leg ailment for every metre he fell behind!
Bannerdale summited we had a short tussocky downhill section before the second climb to Blencathra summit via Foule crag. This I ran ALL the way up, apart from brief stops to let Steve catch me up to instruct him NOT to take the racing line across the scree (whats the point in missing some climbing out when you are training?)
As we came away from the summit plateau a Seaking search and rescue helicopter made an impressive sight below our elevation as it flew along the A66 corridor from the direction of Keswick/Borrowdale.
90 minutes after setting off we were back down at the vehicles and heading for home. A tough run in the bag, Good craic with Penriths 2nd and 3rd best runners, and scarcely a drop of rain. A midsummers day to remember.
Wednesday evening straight after work we headed to Rickerby (me, Scotty and Darren) and ran the 3 mile circuit in 5 reps of 3 minutes. I definitely ran faster being with other good lads than if I had done this session alone. I was tired though, My legs had nowt in them. I was pleased to manage the 3 miles in 5:23 average pace (16:09), but I think I have made an error in shortening the recovery on this session to just one minute.
Here's why;
I'm a long distance runner but know the importance of needing to run a fast mile to help run a fast marathon. being just 3 minutes long though, these reps are all about leg speed. So the most important thing to gain from the session is to run fast, ideally as close to 5 pace as I can get. If this means having 90 seconds rest between reps to get faster then that is what I should be doing. Short recoveries would be ideal training for someone concentrating on 5 k events.
It's not always the case of course. For mile reps I believe it's possible to run at approx the same pace as I can in a 10k race, so a session of say 5 or 6 by a mile is about enduring that high but possibly just sustainable pace/effort level with minimum (and reducing over weeks or months) recoveries.
Todays news - Despite a decent 3 days training my left calf feels better then it did on Sunday so Im confident it will be fine now.
Todays other news - just found out Milly won the Abbeyttown 10 mile race a couple of weekends back. well done soft lad.
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