Week 2 of 13 (7th Jan > 13th Jan)

WEEK 2
Mon - 11 miles easy (8m28 pm)
Tue - Track session 9100, 2300, 1800, 1400, 100, 800, 500
Wed - 7.5 miles trail (7m57 pm)
Thu - Track session 22 x 450m (30 sec walk rest), c. 1m40 per 450m.
Fri - Rest
Sat - Surrey League XC - Div 2 Mitcham Common - 4th Overall
Sun - 30 miles (7m53 pm)
TOTAL MILEAGE - 73.3

Last week went so badly that whilst I did actually write the blog I didn't really actively publicise it. After spending 5 days ill and 5 days really lethargic I was starting to get a little annoyed and feeling negative about the whole thing. The lethargy of last week probably wasn't helped by my new year's resolution to give up caffeine during the week so I am certainly partly to blame.

Anyway as the old saying goes what a difference a week can make. The return to a full working week and the routine that brings has made a lot of different. A solid if not spectacular week. Having had two good track sessions during the week I feel a whole lot more positive and this running business. November and December had me doing quite a lot of mileage and adding weights and conditioning to my program. This has left me feeling I've lost a little bit of zip, so these sessions where the confidence booster I needed. Now whilst these sessions are particularly speedy, they represent some much faster running than I have been doing and I handled them comfortably. I believe sessions like Tuesday's will form a fundamental part of my build up. I really enjoy these monster sessions on the track and this is probably going to help me with my preparation race at the Barry 40 miler.

Saturday saw another decent performance in the XC league, and whilst it is dangerous to draw comparisons to the runners around you it is nice to see I beat a number of solid marathoners. Maybe I'm just good at XC, but I somehow how doubt that. I only run up hills once every 4 weeks! But pleasing to see my summer speed hasn't totally eluded me.

During today's run an attractive young cyclist came last me and said "Hey, what are you doing around here?", she stopped to say hello. I didn't recognise her as she had helmet and glasses on. I apologised for not knowing her at all and it did indeed turn out to be a case of mistaken identity. As I ran off I joked in my head she was hitting on me (look I was over 20 miles into the run). However, on returning home and seeing the state of me covered in snot, energy gels and over bodily fluids I am convinced that was not the case. Really who looks good after 4 hours of pounding on the road.

Next week is looking a cracker, mileage will be big (for me at least) and the track work will be fast (for me at least).

Mileage so far: 39, 73
Weight (kg): 68.6, 68.5