Weekly summary – 17/02/13

Mon – 45 mins easy (8:15m/m)
Tue – AM 45 mins easy (7:24m/m), PM 6 mins threshold, 5 x 800m, 10 mins MP
Wed – 45 mins easy (7:42m/m)
Thu – REST
Fri – 1h15 with 5 x 5 mins threshold (5:40m/m efforts)
Sat – 45 mins easy (7:20)
Sun – 2h long hilly trail run (8:16m/m avg)

Total – 55 miles, 7h, 7:35m/m avg

This weeks report is a bit late, as I was away in Mallorca from the Thursday. I’ll keep it brief…

Tuesday was another 45 min easy run in the morning, then over to the New River stadium in the evening for the coached session with Nick and the gang. We started with the usual 6 minutes threshold (5:40m/m) then went into 5 x 800m (2:34 to 2:37), finishing up with 10 minutes at marathon pace (6:06m/m). Felt pretty good, considering the Sunday before was the Wokingham half, which was a marathon pace session.

Rest day was switched to Thursday as we were flying out to Soller in Mallorca, for some welcome warm weather. Soller was amazing, a beautiful town nestled in the Sierra de Tramuntana. It is a very popular destination for road cyclists, the climate and fantastic mountain roads drawing quite a few pro teams that we spotted on their training rides.

The first run of the holiday was a 5 x 5 min threshold session along the harbour front of Port de Soller, following a nice warm up along trails from the main town. Session went perfectly, paces held and a great setting.

Saturday began with a 45 min easy run in the morning, then in the afternoon we went on a 50k ride on some decent road bikes we’d hired. The ride was pretty hilly, but I felt comfortable on all the ascents which was a surprise as I rarely cycle. Overall I enjoyed it enormously, and am considering buying a road bike after the marathon…

Sundays long run was something I’d been looking forward to, a chance to explore the trails around Soller and soak up the mountain views. I set off with a vague idea to do a 2 loop route, but couldn’t resist exploring more freely and wandered around the trails instead. Some sections were very rocky and it was impossible to go much faster then 10m/m, other sections were on gorgeous hard packed dirt, but all of it was in a balmy 11c and with the smell of pine permeating the air. It was quite hilly too, with 480m of ascent and 460m of descent. Simply the most enjoyable run this year, and the end to a great week.