5/26/10

I've had some really good training since the last blog. Saturday morning was a 15 mile long run down in Phoenix which meant that I could run at a faster pace than usual. Julie wasn't going to be out on the bike so I used a running belt with 2 bottles on it so that I wouldn't get too dehydrated while I was out there. NEVER AGAIN!!! Although I had never run with a belt before, I always made fun of them because I always see people wearing them for short runs (when they won't lose a lot of sweat) and the bottles are always full. The belt was terrible. If there is any difference in the weight of the bottles, the belt swings around and becomes very uncomfortable. I ended up getting back to the house at 10 miles so that I could drop the belt and get on with some good running. I had actually had to dump all the water out of the belt bottles so that it would stop swinging around my body. I guess it wasn't designed for the pace I was running. I got to 14 miles in 80 mins and jogged the last mile to finish in 87 mins. I jumped into the pool right away as it was starting to get really hot outside. Julie and I spent the rest of the day walking around IKEA and seeing if there was anything we would need for the house. We also met with our mortgage broker and signed a lot of paperwork.

Sunday was a nice recovery day with only one run of 6 miles in the morning. It was good to just turn off and let my legs just tick over. It was pretty windy so it didn't feel that hot. After church we headed over to Mesa were we are having the wedding and checked out the hotels that we can recommend to our guests.

I had the track in Sedona on Monday morning with a session of 1 mile threshold, 12*400m with 200m jog rec, 1 mile threshold. It felt really good to be doing some speed work and to get the spikes on. Both of the miles were run in 4.40 and I averaged 63's for the 400m's until the last 3 when Greg said that I was to run under 60. I ran 60, 59, 58. I think this was the first time in a year where i had broken 60 secs for a lap as we have been staying away from the track. I love getting aggressive in track sessions as I always feel that these help me to get fit and my confidence level high. I knew my calves were going to be tight as I wore spikes but it was worth it. I wore my new Mizuno Chrono Distance spikes nd they were amazing. It felt like I was running barefoot and I gripped to the track more than any other spike I have use before. Mizuno have really got the spike thing down with these shoes so I'm looking forward to racing in them some time. The rest of the day was crammed as I got back and had a quick nap before heading out for a second run at 1.45pm. I had to run really early because I was having a meeting with Greg and then heading straight to work. The meeting went well as we planned my racing and training plan. The races I will be racing are: Steamboat Classic 4 mile, Peachtree 10km, Beach to Beacon 10km, Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach half marathon and then a marathon in October some time. We will be doing a lot of track and speed based work during the next few months to get my legs ready for the fast races and to have the leg speed to go into the marathon phase of training with the ability to run quickly. Work was pretty boring as there weren't a lot of customers in but it meant that I could get home a little earlier than usual.

I met up with the everyone on Tuesday morning out at Cheshire to run the trails. I ran on my own most of the run as I was wanting to run a little harder than the others. I finished the 10 miles in 64 mins and did some drills before we all headed into town to meet at Pro Formance Personal training gym who have been kind enough to let us use one of their rooms to do our core and circuit work. I got a quick nap in after this and again headed out early for a second run as I had work at 3.30pm.

This morning I had a session of 2*4 mile Steady state reps with 3 mins recovery at Buffalo Park. I was feeling pretty tired but once I got going I was fine. Nick was doing a 6 mile tempo so I joined him for the first 4 miles of that and ran 5.03, 5.19, 5.15, 5.15 (20.52). The first mile is always fast as we are running with the wind for the first half mile and then when we turn back into the wind, we are running downhill so it evens out. The second mile is pretty exposed and we were getting hit hard with the wind and then of course you have to run the steep hill right before you finish the loop which usually slows you down by about 10 seconds for the mile. The second rep went well and I ran splits of 5.02, 5.20, 5.05, 5.05 for a total time of 20.32. I was happy with the way it went and at no time did I feel like I was working really hard to hit the times so that was a good sign. The rest of the day I am going to be relaxing and then moving a lot of my stuff out of Martin's garage and moving over to Julie's parent's new townhouse which is just a couple of blocks away. Its going to be good having a night off of work to relax and not be rushing about. We're heading down to Phoenix again this weekend as Julie has a long weekend off of work so i'm looking forward to having another fast long run in the heat!