POST MARATHON BLUES!
I had a really good tempo run on Wednesday and I felt so good on Saturday my big sandhill route turned into my 2 nd fastest time for this course! But come Sunday I felt tired and flat as I did an easy run with Tess! More bad news was I had to work overnight which left me only a couple of hours of sleep before setting off for the clubs Waterloo 15k trail race. Strong wind and light rain greeted us at the start, which put a damper on my hoped for sub 6 pace. Adrenaline got the better of me as we set off on a lap of the playing fields before heading across the cow fields, 3.36 was the result at 1k, I did not feel good and I had to slow as my body rebelled at the prospect of going so hard only a week after London.
My mind was playing tricks with me, trying to slow me down, looking at my Garmin didn't help, I just felt disillusioned with my pace and how hard it felt, I felt like turning it off or throwing it away!
I pulled in behind the first and second lady as we went round the army riffle range , I seemed to get my second wind on this tarmac section [ maybe the sound of gun shots helped increased my pace!] , slowly pulling away from the group, one lad came with me and we worked together into the strong wind, next we turned onto a dirt path reaching 10k in about 37.48. We jumped over a grass mound and then ran along side a field, I started to lose it here as I bogged down on the soft ground [ thoughts of losing 11lb of upper body muscle flashed through my fatigued mind!] the lad pulled away leaving me on my own in 'no man's land' to battle the rising winds! The last few k over the dirt paths seemed endless and it was a relief to get back on the road for the final k, I picked my pace back up to over 10 mph into the cruel headwind, a final corner and I was back at the playing fields with a wind assisted 100m sprint finish to cross the line in 58.02 and 21st place [ out of 432], dam that was hard, a race to forget! I felt some what disappointed with my result, am I being to hard on myself!
Going hard on Saturday was not clever and most probably left me drained for Mondays race!
I am now planning for the summer evening races, the question is will I follow Mike Grattons 10k training program or Arthur Lydiards continuation of racing program [ I got good results with this in 2007]. Road (Non-race week) Monday: Repetitions 1 mile by 3 or 880 yards by 6.
Tuesday: Aerobic running 11/2 hours.
Wednesday: Time trial 3 miles.
Thursday: Aerobic running 11/2 hours.
Friday: Fast relaxed striding 100 meters by 6 to 10 times.
Saturday: Time trial 3 miles.
Sunday: Aerobic running 11/2 hours or more.
Road (Race week)
Monday: Wind-sprints 100 meters by 16 to 10 times.
Tuesday: Easy fartlek 1/2 to 1 hour.
Wednesday: Time trial 1 mile.
Thursday: Fast relaxed striding 100 meters by 4 to 6 times.
Friday: Jog 1/2 hour.
Saturday: Race.
Sunday: Aerobic running 11/2 hours or more.
RESULTS AND REPORT
9.38 miles in 58.02, 6.11 pace, 9.7 mph