It's a long way there!

When I think about the Rotterdam Marathon on 10 April, I can't help but think about the long road ahead. I'm nowhere near peak shape and am really struggling with the summer heat and rebuilding my mileage & finding some pace. I can't remember who said that "training builds you up for racing and racing breaks you down" and this is so true in my case. Prior to the Fukuoka Marathon, I felt strong and confident. I was really enjoying training and my motivation was fantastic. Following the Fukuoka Marathon, my confidence has been dented a lot and training wise I'm really struggling to put some decent runs together. I haven't lost any motivation or determination for that matter, but much needs to be done to rebuild my confidence.

It's always hard to guage where your fitness is at over summer and whilst you're in the early stages of base building, but I do feel that my endurance is well down and so is my pace. I still haven't been doing any VO2 sessions and continue to concentrate on tempo runs, leg turnover sessions and aerobic runs.

Summary of last week's training is as follows:

Monday
AM  - 5 x 1 minute (off 1 minute) @ 3:20 pace. - Total 13:00 km's - 1:02:26
PM - Easy 10.1 km's - 49:42

Tuesday
AM - 5 km jog - 26:03

Wednesday
5000 m track race - 17:03 - Struggled with the humidity. Well below PB of 16:37. Wasn't really expecting anything special though. Total running 13.6 km's - 59:20

Thursday
AM - 20 km's - 1:31:17 over rolling hills
PM - 12.6 kms - 1:00:00

Friday
AM - 10.1 km's - 53:32
PM - 6 km's - 30:01

Saturday
AM - 9.8 km tempo - 36:20 - Sound run in very muggy conditions but felt drained afterwards. Preceeded by 4.5 km's warm-up, drills & strides in 23:27. Followed by 7.3 km warm-down in 41 minutes.
PM - 5.2 km jog - 25:39

Sunday
AM - 16 km's - 1:18:34 - felt tired & legs heavy. Decided to abort planned long run and go home and rest/sleep. Will do long run tomorrow.
PM - 11.2 km's - 56:39 - Felt better after a few hours nap.
Evening - 5.8 km's - 29:21

Total running - 150.2 km's - 12:03:25 hours.

Will do 3 hour long run tomorrow some time to make up for today.