Week 30

Another solid week of training, but an uncomfortable one at times due to lower back pain. Summary as follows:

Monday: 14 km's - 1:07:46 - Felt very flat

Tuesday: 25 km's - 1:39:30 - City to Surf simulator plus marathon paced training.

1 km easy, 5 km's solid (4:00 pace), 1 km @ 8.5% incline (4.25), 1.5 km's solid (4:00 pace), 500 m @ 8.5% incline @ 4:15 pace, 3 x 200 @ 6.5% over 2 km's, 3 km's slight decline in 9:55, 3 km's approx 4:15's, then solid sub 4's down to M pace with 1 km down to 1/2 marathon pace.

Wednesday: 16 km's - 1:13:52

Thursday: 20 km's - 1:32:03 - 4 x 30 secs (Diagonals) / 6 x 1000 hill circuit (200) / 8 x 30 secs (Diagonals) / 1 x 1000

Solid session. Hill Circuit splits: 3:39 / 3:29 / 3:36 / 3:35 / 3:34 / 3:26. Diagonals ran 90%. 1000 flat - 3:21

Friday: 9.3 km's - Recovery

Saturday: 30 km's - 2:01:21 - Long Run including intervals

3 km's easy. 10 x 1500 (500 recovery jog recovery). 3:42 pace splits. Followed by 5000 (18:33). Solid session. Average H/R 147 (Max 164)

Sunday: 

AM - 12.3 km's - Very flat

PM - 10.4 km's - Very flat

TOTAL - 136.8 km's

Week 29

Nothing flash, just a solid week of base style training:

Monday - 15.5 km's easy

Tuesday - Fartlek - 16 km's all up

- 2 sets of 5 x 1 min (1 min) / 5 x 40 seconds (40 seconds) / 10 x 20 seconds (20 seconds)

Wednesday - 24 km's easy (1 hr 44 mins)

Thursday - Hills / LT - 17 km's all up

- 20 mins hills (4 - 6.5%)  followed by 3 km's progressive paced threshold (3:45/3:30/3:20). Hard work.

Friday - 16 km's easy

Saturday - 10 km undulating XC tempo

- 5 km's warm-up in 20:42

- 10 km's in 38:00

- 3.5 km's jog recovery

Sunday - Easy 2 hrs 15 mins - 29.2 km's

Recent races

6 July - Gold Coast 1/2 Marathon - 76:20

As luck would have it history repeated itself and I was sick for the few days leading up to this race. Same story as last year, but at least I finished this year. No complaints though, happy with the time in the circumstances.

13 July - Sydney Harbour 10 - 35:13

Not a great result, but gave my best. Very heavy legs after moving house during the week. Got boxed in for the first km and off to an extremely slow start (3:39 split). Roughly 3:30's thereafter with a solid finish. Pleased to hold my pace throughout despite running on extremely fatigued legs.

Will now knuckle down and put in some solid training mileage. Initially will concentrate on hills and long runs. Might not do C2S despite having already entered. Will make up my mind in early August. I'm keen to give the body a break after a lot of racing recently.

To be frank, I've raced poorly since my marathon PB in Tokyo. No point maintaining the hectic racing schedule. The body and mind need a break and I simply need to get fresh, stronger and hopefully fitter / faster.