Mon – 6 miles recovery (7:27m/m)
Tue – 6 miles easy (7:03m/m)
Wed – 8 miles inc 5 x 600m intervals (6:51m/m avg)
Thu – 14 miles medium long (6:52m/m)
Fri – AM 4 miles easy (7:11m/m) PM 6 miles easy (7:25m/m)
Sat – 18 miles long run (7:39 m/m)
Sun – 10 miles inc SEAA 12 Stage Road Relays (6:31m/m avg)
Total – 71 miles
A slight cut back in mileage this week, but with the SEAA men’s 12 stage road relays as a tune up race on the Sunday.
I hadn’t noticed it after my marathon pace session the previous Sunday, but this time it was the turn of my left hamstring to play up. It wasn’t actually pulled, but it felt weakened and as though it might go if pushed too hard. Hence, I took two easy days at the beginning of the week, letting it recover properly.
Wednesday felt better, so decided to do the planned light interval session. The 5 x 600m was over very quickly, and although my form was a bit ragged I did the 600m efforts in 1:56 (about 5:04m/m), faster than the 5k pace called for. As usual the session was bookended by a 2.66 mile warm up and down.
Thursday was a medium long run of 14 miles, which I took at a good steady pace of around 6:45m/m for the last 9 miles. I felt good during this run, but it must have tired me out a bit as I was feeling heavy in the legs the following day and during Saturdays long run, which largely a plod.
SEAA Mens 12 Stage Road Relays
Another big event in the national athletics club calendar, and it was a privilege to take part. With 36 complete teams entered there was a great atmosphere at the new venue of Stantonbury Stadium, with music and barbecues in the club tent village that sprung up on the in-field, and hundreds of keen athletes soaking up the warm spring sunshine.
The relays consist of alternating short (5.053km) and long (7.664km) legs, with the 12 legs starting and finishing on the track and looping round the traffic free “redways” of Milton Keynes. I was down for the 3rd leg, of the long variety, which I checked out on a warm up run.
I wanted to put in a good effort, as my run at the relays last year counted as one of my best ever runs on the Power of 10 web site. Coming towards the end of spring marathon training, it’s a good chance to gauge fitness levels and see year on year progress.
I went out pretty fast (grandstanding to the crowds in the stadium) and almost tripped headlong on a barrier trying to round a tight corner. Once I got that behind me I settled down to a steadier but still fast pace. A young runner from local rivals Hillingdon sped past me after a few hundred metres, I was unable to go with him but chose not to panic and play the long game.
The runners were quite spread out already by this stage, and I didn’t hear anyone else behind me. I just focused on the rival ahead and slowly reeled him back in, finally catching him at around the 4k mark.
Although the course was generally flat there were a few inclines on each lap, and I knew one of these was coming up so decided to put a surge in to see if I could drop him. I powered up the hill and kept going at the top, not looking back once. Soon enough I couldn’t hear him any more, and just tried to hang onto the pace to get a good time.
Soon enough the track came into view and it was all over. My time of 26:44 was satisfying, and the second fastest time for a long leg on the day by our club. At the end of my leg we were in 20th position (good enough to qualify for the national relays in a few weeks), but unfortunately by the end of the day we’d faded back to 29th.
The relay is ranked as my highest age graded performance on Power of 10, with a score of 78.45%, up from 74.04% last year. Closely following this years relay is the Bath Half with 77.28%. All in all, this is a satisfying indication that the winters marathon training has paid off, and sets me up for a good race in 4 weeks 🙂
Stephen Elson 