I ran a similar route as the 20 miler I did last week with a few estate roads added on at Cantley and Auckley.

I ran with 1.5l water and three gels setting off at 09:00.  At 1 mile I stripped off my long sleeve top and gloves and hid them in a bush.

I took my first gell at about 3 miles, the second at about 9 miles and the third at about 15 miles.  I ran out of water at 20 miles and had to get some more from Cantley Garage, I had been rationing it for a few miles and was starting to get a headache.

Starting to run after stopping for a couple of minutes was difficult, I tried to finish strong.

This run was tougher than the long run last weekend and I did not feel great.  The pace was quicker though.  22 Miles in 2:38:18 @ 7:12 minute miles) AvHR 151.

1) – 1m – 7:13(7:13/m) – 181bpm avge – 222bpm max – 19cal
2) – 1m – 7:07(7:07/m) – 162bpm avge – 182bpm max – 35cal
3) – 1m – 7:06(7:06/m) – 148bpm avge – 153bpm max – 106cal
4) – 1m – 7:09(7:09/m) – 148bpm avge – 159bpm max – 105cal
5) – 1m – 7:08(7:08/m) – 151bpm avge – 157bpm max – 101cal
6) – 1m – 7:19(7:19/m) – 152bpm avge – 157bpm max – 111cal
7) – 1m – 7:05(7:05/m) – 149bpm avge – 154bpm max – 103cal
8) – 1m – 7:07(7:07/m) – 149bpm avge – 155bpm max – 103cal
9) – 1m – 7:00(7:00/m) – 147bpm avge – 155bpm max – 96cal
10) – 1m – 7:15(7:15/m) – 148bpm avge – 153bpm max – 101cal
11) – 1m – 7:23(7:23/m) – 146bpm avge – 151bpm max – 88cal
12) – 1m – 7:04(7:04/m) – 149bpm avge – 153bpm max – 99cal
13) – 1m – 7:09(7:09/m) – 150bpm avge – 155bpm max – 101cal
14) – 1m – 7:10(7:10/m) – 149bpm avge – 153bpm max – 97cal
15) – 1m – 7:12(7:12/m) – 148bpm avge – 151bpm max – 87cal
16) – 1m – 7:14(7:14/m) – 147bpm avge – 151bpm max – 84cal
17) – 1m – 7:08(7:08/m) – 147bpm avge – 154bpm max – 83cal
18) – 1m – 7:16(7:16/m) – 146bpm avge – 150bpm max – 75cal
19) – 1m – 7:15(7:15/m) – 150bpm avge – 154bpm max – 92cal
20) – 1m – 7:28(7:28/m) – 148bpm avge – 156bpm max – 87cal
21) – 1m – 7:18(7:18/m) – 146bpm avge – 151bpm max – 66cal
22) – 1m – 7:12(7:12/m) – 149bpm avge – 153bpm max – 85cal

Did not feel great around lunch time (bit of a headache), I felt the need for sugar so got some Lucozade.  That seamed to do the trick.

Tough class with the elastic band things followed by Plyometrics, followed by 1.31 mile warm up and 1.95 mile warm down with a steady state run in the middle 6.01 miles in 41:15 @ 6:52 pace AvHR 153.

Felt ok going into this session:

2.68 mile warm up, 2.08 mile warm down and in the middle 12 x 600m with 60 second recovery, last few were tough:

1) – 0.39m – 2:14(5:41/m) – 144bpm avge – 159bpm max – 24cal
2) – 0.39m – 2:10(5:37/m) – 148bpm avge – 166bpm max – 30cal
3) – 0.38m – 2:11(5:42/m) – 149bpm avge – 164bpm max – 29cal
4) – 0.39m – 2:11(5:38/m) – 152bpm avge – 166bpm max – 29cal
5) – 0.39m – 2:13(5:44/m) – 150bpm avge – 163bpm max – 29cal
6) – 0.39m – 2:12(5:43/m) – 152bpm avge – 164bpm max – 28cal
7) – 0.39m – 2:12(5:44/m) – 151bpm avge – 164bpm max – 29cal
8) – 0.39m – 2:10(5:36/m) – 155bpm avge – 166bpm max – 31cal
9) – 0.39m – 2:16(5:49/m) – 152bpm avge – 163bpm max – 30cal
10) – 0.39m – 2:15(5:49/m) – 151bpm avge – 162bpm max – 30cal
11) – 0.39m – 2:15(5:48/m) – 152bpm avge – 163bpm max – 30cal
12) – 0.39m – 2:16(5:54/m) – 152bpm avge – 161bpm max – 32cal

I did the same route for both these runs.

On the recovery run I kept it nice and steady and other than the first 5 minutes where my legs were quite stiff, the run was fine.  7:50 minute minute miles with AvHR 139 (half way into my recovery zone) – total time 47:04.  This was the day after my long run.

Today I did exactly the same route at the top end of my Steady State zone and I got around in 40:49.  6:47 minute miles with AvHR 153 (so not quite at the top which is 155).  This was a fairly tough run.

I entered the Retford Half Marathon yesterday so got that to look forward to in two weeks.  Probably going to run the Norton 9 on Sunday and run it as a tempo run (I feel I am lacking in the quantity of tempo runs at the moment).

Before the run I did a circuit training class at Blizard Physiotherapy which was very intense.

Then we did 1.29 mile warm up @8:15 min miles followed by

4.85 miles in my Steady State zone (overall AvHR was 154 so right at the top end):

1) – 1m – 7:06(7:06/m) – 154bpm avge – 171bpm max – 47cal **
2) – 1m – 7:12(7:12/m) – 153bpm avge – 162bpm max – 109cal
3) – 1m – 6:57(6:57/m) – 154bpm avge – 159bpm max – 106cal
4) – 1m – 6:52(6:52/m) – 152bpm avge – 159bpm max – 105cal
5) – 0.85m – 5:50(6:51/m) – 157bpm avge – 160bpm max – 90cal

Followed by

Overall, this run did not feel too difficult and I could have kept going.  ** Note, my HR had not settled down until part way through the 1st mile.

Did not run on 11th and 12th Feb as feeling really tired.

13th Feb 4.27 miles @ 8:55 min miles AvHR 146. Headache.

14th Feb 6.14 miles @ 7:45 min miles AvHR 145. Headache.

15th Feb 6.94 miles @ 8:02 min miles AvHR 137. Headache.

16th Feb 4.01 miles @ 7:26 min miles AvHR 142.  Tired.

17th Feb 11.19 miles @ 8:12 min miles AvHR 139.  Ok

18th Feb – Rest day (did 15 minutes on rowing machine).

19th Feb – Time Trials, had a good run, 4.87 miles @ 6:15 min miles AvHR 163.  Pushed it quite hard + did extra lap at start and end. + 15 minutes on rowing machine.

20th Feb – 9.77 miles @ 7:49 min miles (off road hilly and muddy) AvHR 139.

Feel like I getting back onto my training program.

Continuing my recovery runs, I went out mid morning to do a 6 mile loop, this ended up being 7 miles but overall felt ok (2 degrees C and rain).

7 miles @7:51 min miles with AvHR of 140.  This was quire a bit quicker than yesterday but was not out of breath at all.

Hopefully my cold is almost gone, I am feeling much better.

So I decided to have a week off running (I was gutted not to have run the Dewsbury 10k) due to catching a cold.

First run back today was very steady – 4 miles @ 8:26 min miles AvHR 130.

Still got a cold but got to keep getting some miles in – keeping it below my recovery zone until feeling better.