w/c 13 Feb - Not much better, but better...

Another poor week.  I was away on a new client site which means training is nigh on impossible.  Plus I was still feeling pretty poor.  And then away in Nottingham seeing family at the weekend meant being nowhere near any hills.

This though is OK.  I managed to get out a few times and do some leg weights in the hotel gym.  The gym was a soulless place but the quads were burning when I'd done and those four sessions may well have had more physical benefit than I thought.  Mentally though it was dire.  But it was OK because I rested up for the most part and now, after two weeks of enforced low level training, I feel great!

I'm not tired.  I ran on Sunday in Nottingham (on my 39th birthday!) and felt the best I've felt for ages and ages.  What a nice present.  I felt like I was bounding along.  I felt the same today (Monday) as I ran along the towpaths of Birmingham (away again....).  This two week tempering of the training has made a huge difference and I can't wait to get onto the hills.

It's also made me realise that the chances to squeeze in a run are a constant preoccupation and it's not a nice way to live.  Every time I'm home after a few days away with work, it's always on my mind to get out.  This is what running does, especially when training for a round.  It's a great thing when you have time to train like mad, but I don't.  So I'll train when I can enjoy it.  That doesn't mean filling every gap with a negotiated run.  It means going out when there's time to relax and enjoy the run.  It means doing a smaller number of bigger runs.

But rounds demand respect and preparation.  This is why I will do this one differently.  My BGRs were done on quantity.  This one is all about quality.  It has to be.  It's not about the miles I put in, but what I put into the miles.  I like that maxim and it will be in my head until June.

Quality miles often come from races, long races especially.  I usually stop racing for rounds and focus on long solo days at a slow pace, much like the rounds themselves.  This is sensible and right, and I'll do one or two days like this.  But I want to race a bit more.  I love my sport and it's races where it comes alive.  So unlike before, I will use some big races to work bloody hard and get fit.  This means very few mammoth days.  I'll do a 48 hour PBR in April, so 2 12 hour days there, but the focus thereafter will be local runs on Moel Famau and some serious racing in May and June.

I've entered or will enter....

March - Edale Skyline (21miles, 5000 feet ascent)

April - Teenager with Altitude (17miles, 7500 feet ascent)

May -
Great Lakeland 3 day (3 days, each of @26 miles and probably 6000 feet ascent),
Sandstone Trail race (33miles, 2000 feet ascent),
Old Counties Tops (40miles, 10,000 feet ascent)

June -
Ennerdale (23miles, 7500 feet ascent) and...
...Helvellyn (15miles, 4,400) on consecutive days,
Great Lakes Run (13miles, 7000 feet)

Then the PBR at end of June

Looks like a great Spring and Summer ahead!

Week Summary:

Monday - still ill
Tuesday - Gym * 2
Weds - Gym
Thurs - 9.5 miles, 600' hilly road run (felt bad)
Fri - 4 miles (still felt bad)
Sat - Rest
Sun - 9 miles, 1000' - felt fantastic, at last!

Week summary - 23 miles, 3 gym sessions.  5 days feeling crap, 2 days feeling great - bring on next week