The year of the target by kizzi10000

See Pete W, you're not the only one who can use that as a blog title :)

Have a slight proble with fitting everything in tis week, and not helped by ending up having to do last weeks long run on Sunday, which meant Monday off to let the legs recover a bit, and then fitting 4 runs into 3 days. Wasn't going to go.

Also I pledged the wrong distance long runs for Febulous, and was too late to change. Thought I'd kept this week as the step back week with a 10 miler, and increase to 15 next week. Nope. 15 THIS week.

So the only thing for it was a double day.

Now I've found I can run 4 days in a row now without TOO much trouble, apart from weariness, so I felt I could manage it ok. If needs be the club run would just have to be taken easier as it's not the main session.

Started this morning with intervals on the mill. 6 x 1m @ 9:40, with 0.25m recoveries. 9:40 will get me a 59:58 10k, so I need to get the legs used to the speed over the distance. Working pretty well so far, it's a comfortable pace to run at over a mile, and it upset the rhythm to keep slowing down for the recoveries. Covered 9m in total, in 1:33:44 for a 10:35 average.

After lunch I thought I would curl up on the settee with the cat and a dvd. 2 hours later I wake up! With just over an hour before having to leave for club. Hoped the dinner would settle quickly as I prefer to eat before I go.

The schedule said we were doing continuous hills, though I'm sure I heard Thursday's coach say something abotu it being just a run. Wrong. Schedule was right.

Just 2 of us in the steady group, and we set off chatting. He complimented me when we got to the meeting spot by saying it wasn't like the usualy steady group running lol. He's usually in the middle group, but not run in a while through injury. We had a giggle about one of the women in the middle group telling us her 10k times - only did 3, fastest was 1:20 ish, and she just got slower. And there's me with 4 marathons under my belt, and a 10k of 1:5 in the steady group. He decided we should really swap round lol.

Legs wondered what the hell was going on at first, but soon settle dinto it, and the run out was a steady 11:08 involving a little bit of walking at the end. A little bit of a mix up ensued as we walked round trying to find where the rest of the club was. WE were in the right bit of road, but it loops round and rejoins the main road, and the others were in the other bit - where it changes name! I knew whwere to go as it was on the old post round I used to do, and we made that clear when we found them :).

Missed the first rep, but as the steady group was down for 3 and the others 4 it didn't matter. So straight into 6 mins of running up and down the hill. Not massively steep, but a 'good' incline. Managed 4 climbs each rep, and the first lot (0.6m) was done at 9:59. Two mins recovery, and the next rep was a pretty consistent 10:00 pace. Last rep I decided to concentrate on putting the effort in the down rather than up, and clocked up another consistent 10:00 pace. Then it was a mile back to base at a good 10:18.

Considering I'd already done 9 miles I was very pleased with how the legs felt. I could feel they'd already worked, but the were still going strong. Not sure I could have covered much more than the 4.34 we did, but it's a FAB feeling to be able to run at 10:18, feeling it's a steady pace, and still be able to chat. Something is most definitely paying off! :) :)

So part one of the experimental week is complete. Now I have the small matter of 15 miles tomorrow. I'm thinking I might sticl with the mill. Not through any problem with running outside any more, but because it will be slightly more gentle on the legs with the softer impact. With another club run Thursday I want to be as kind to the legs as possible!

For those who have expressed concerns on FB, I have taken them on board, and fully understand, and had thought about it fully before I thought I'd go for it. But this level of training is all new, and I need to push limits to see what I CAN do. It's only a one-pff week (I hope!), but it's already a great feeling to have run twice in one day, when not so long ago I wouldn't have run twice in two days! I feel I am taking thing sensibly, I have 3 days off after Thursdays run, and next week is a step back week with a shorter long run, so I have recovery time. And will always monitor the situation in case I need to change things depending on how I'm feeling. I certainly don't want to get injured now, but I feel I can push thinsg a bit. My sessions don't feel like hard ones, so it's a feasible thing.

Even with 2 hours on the sofa earlier, think I will sleep well tonight!