Week 7 of 13 (11th - 17th Feb)

WEEK 7
Mon - Conditioning work
Tue - Track session (15 x 1000 off 1 min c. 3m38 per rep, 5:50 mpm)
Wed - 8.5m XC (8:25 mpm)
Thu AM - 7.5m (7:55 mpm)
Thu PM -"To failure" Track Session (5 x 800m off 3minutes, 2:24, 2:24, 2:28, 2:34, 2:38)
Fri - 3.1m (7:30 mpm)
Sat - 7.5m (8:00 mpm)
Sun - Rest
TOTAL MILEAGE - 39.5

So time is ticking away and I seem to be struggling to string together two good weeks of training on the bounce. On paper this week looks quite disappointing with yet again low mileage. I've been a little unfortunate that the tight calf I was struggling a few weeks ago seems to have come back. Friday's run was uncharacteristically short for this reason. I guess this little niggle can be of no suprise. After what must've been a depressing read on last week's blog I had a number of e-mails and messages from friends basically saying "chin-up lad". Low morale, fatigue, injury risk, all these things are related.

So on the positive side, the two key sessions I did do this week were pretty good. 15 x 1km on the track is tough going but I managed this pretty comfortably. Cardiovascually I was in the best shape I've felt for a while doing that kind of session. Thursday night's track session was a "to failure" session. The aim of the session was to run the 800m reps in 2:23. I would continue trying to run 2:23 until my average rep was above 2:32. The idea is that the 2:23 are very very hard, the session pushes me beyond my current limits and then my rep times fall off the clif. The result a lot of lactic acid. Unfortunately my average didn't go above 2:32 so I probably should've done a few more reps, but I tried to run the 6th rep and had to step off the track after 300m. The lactic acid was absolutley brutal. Not something us ultrarunners usually have to deal with. We are hoping that by the summer the 2:23 per 800m will be extrapolated up to 3000m. Something to look forward to after the ACP.

This week I'm feeling quite relaxed about the missed training. I'm not injured as such, as I ran for an hour on Saurday hassle free. A lot of hard work has been done (but not as much I as would like has been evidenced on the blog) and this could easily be undone by just plodding on with the training and pretending it's all okay. So I have to try and be mature and manage this in a way to maximise my training. Which is why I decided that rest was the course of action for the day. The only shame is that I am due to be running the Barry 40 next week and this kind of preparation is not as ideal. I have a couple of options for Barry but I guess it is all dependent on how I can deal with the calf this week. If the calf recovers quickly I just treat this week as a bonus taper week that I wasn't expecting. If the calf takes a little longer, I will still head down to Barry and run this as training event. I would like to run long next weekend anyway since I haven't done so in the past two weekend. So it's just a case of whether or not it will be easy or it will be hard. Let's hope for the latter! As my wife said "let's not do any that will jepodise Perth". For a non-runner she obviously gets it more than I sometimes credit her.

Plan to get me in best shape for Barry is a second trip to the Osteopath (seen already on Friday evening), sports massage on Wednesday, easy week of running, early nights and the next. I've not had any rehab treatment was almost a year now, but with this niggle raising its head twice in the period of a month it's time to take some more serious action. As I said I want to be at Barry regardless if I am to race or to plod. I missed the race last year and just want to experience what is one of the classic events on the UK circuit. Maybe it's just a cursed event for me and my body's way of avoiding running 161 laps of the track!

On the England team front, I received some more official confirmation this week. The kit order has already gone in. All exciting stuff. I've been scouring the internet for news on the other teams but am yet to see any information. I'm sure you will all let us know when you find out.

Mileage so far: 39, 73, 102, 31, 29, 76, 40