w/c 30 Jan - Time to go long...

Typical Long Mynd slope

Well the plan last week was to hit the Long Mynd hard and see if I could beat my pb on that course of 2:13.  I missed it by quite some way, taking 2:26 to complete the course.   I was 76th from 210 runners, which was ok.

There are 3 reasons for this.  One - a stinking cold which had me feeling pretty ropey after half an hour's strong running (i stopped, expelled an alarming amount of snot using the fell runner's favourite 'one finger on side of nose and blow' technique and ran on feeling a bit better!).

This has now turned into a horrible virus and i'm pretty poorly now, 2 days later.  Strangely, this is reassuring as i now know why i couldn't get close to that time.

Two - plenty of snow to make the going a bit slower (i did 2:32 last time it snowed) and Three - I'm just not as fit as i hoped to be, nearly, but not quite.I've also adopted a John Wayne style walk.  Part of it is the satisfying tiredness one gets after a race.  The rest of it is the fact I now have an arse injury because i had no choice but to bum slide down three of the descents in that race - the ground was too unsafe to run down.  So I have a new injury to add to the list!

I'll keep the quality going, but now it is time to go long.

The last few weeks have been great as I've gone from a low base to a reasonable standard and feel that I have a platform to move onto bigger, better, longer things.  If I'd have gone to long days from nothing, I'd have really suffered.  Now, I think I'm ready for some bigger days out.  And it is these big days out change the rate of improvement.

This week, sore legs after the Long Mynd, a sore arse after the sliding descents and a stinking cold mean I'll be running less often.  But a gap in my work diary means I can get two log hill days in.  So, I'm going to run the Edale Skyline route on Thursday (21 miles, 5000 feet ascent) in order to recce the new route (including the down-and-up option at the end) and the long leg of the PBR on Sunday (20 miles, 7000 feet of ascent).  This will be my first 10,000'+ week of the campaign and the start of longer, harder runs.  This is where the training starts to look towards a 24 hour round and not simply a return to fitness.  It's about time.

Improvised descending

The Long Mynd was all about confirming that the low fitness ebb of 2011 was over, which it just about did.  The Edale Skyline in March will be the next test.  I should be running well there, well under four hours.  My pb is 3:42:52, set in 2006 when I was training for the London Marathon (where i went on to break 3:15).  I would really like to beat this, which means some serious training because I was pretty damn fit then.

The plan is to keep on doing a couple of quality sessions each week, but to try and do two good hill runs. One will be a long day, over the mountains with loads of climbing and at a slow pace and the other being more runnable an done at speed.  The two runs this week fit this perfectly.  The Skyline is a runnable joy of a route, esp if the bogs are frozen, and the PBR leg is a long and slow march over many mountain summits.

So I'm looking forward to some real mountain running, as soon as I can walk properly again.

Week Summary:

Mon - Rest
Tues - 9 miles, 1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1 minute efforts - hard session 9 miles
Weds - Rest
Thurs - 4M tempo during the day, 9M hill efforts (eve)
Fri and Sat - Rest
Sun - Long Mynd Valleys - 11M, 5000'

Totals - 33 miles, 6,500' climbing