It's been some time since I posted my training details and lately I have been inundated with requests for me to continue where I left off last year . (OK, no requests, I made that up, but one enquiry - really)
After the Brampton race I had a week or so away from training. Following that I had an easy week of fast but short runs (5m in 30mins). Then we were off to New York. I didnt take any trainers with me. I expected to buy some whilst there, then go running in Central Park. That didnt happen though, and by the time I got home and got over jetlag then got back into work routine etc I had had nearly two weeks off. Not ideal.
I did get a decent spell of training done over Christmas - mainly long stuff, including a superb day on the Fairfield Horseshoe where we took 4hrs+ in the deep snow to cover a 2hr route. After christmas I succumbed to a bit of a cough and cold that lasted 4 days (unknown for me to ever be poorly so 4 days felt like a lifetime).
I am pleased to say that Milly is now right back into the thick of things, doing 6 runs per week.
We have done 16, 14 and 19 miles over the last three weekends. It's been a struggle to run properly in this snow and ice though. The track has been closed since xmas eve so we haven't been able to do proper, fast interval work at all yet. The marathon pace run due last week was supposed to be 7 miles. We only had a 2.5mile 'black' section of road to run on so we just covered that then retraced. It felt quite steady, never hard, but we managed 6:27 pace which was very pleasing. Thinking about what pace to aim for in the upcoming weeks, when the ice has gone, we have decided that 6:20 per mile will be the target, and hopefully the result will be nearer 6:15's. Thats at least 10 seconds per mile faster than last year.
I have a place in The London Marathon (25th April). Milly is also doing it. He is hoping to run around 2:48. I am looking at sub 2:45. My training from now through to the marathon will be mostly road based. I may make the occasional trip up the fells (like yesterday).
May, June, July and August, like last year will include lots of long days in the fells. There's also the small matter of our wedding on July 31st. Our honeymoon will be a few nights at Langdale Country Club and Hotel, followed later in the year by a trip to America for the Chicago Marathon - extended to take in the West coast and Vegas.
Yesterday I set off to Keswick with the dogs. Struggling up the steep road through Applethwaite and beyond up to the the Gale Rd carpark (AKA Latrigg carpark) we drove to within 100yds of the top where 6ft drifts blocked the route. Once on foot we made our way to the bottom of Jenkin Hill, the main path up Skiddaw. The wind was blowing fierce and very very cold. So cold that I decided against going any higher. (I was already wearing a hat but felt it would be wise to don the extra one I had in my backpack, hence the post title.) Instead we took the path around the side of Lonscale Fell, up the valley toward Skiddaw House. After a while we darted right, down to the valley floor and up onto the high level path that skirts Blencathra back around to the field centre, from where we dropped down again to the river then up onto Latrigg and back to the car. An easy couple of hours. Not much running. The snow was mostly too deep or the paths too icy.
No comments:
Post a Comment