Weekly Training Review: 27 Jan – 2 Feb

by Ben

This post originally appeared on Ben’s old blog, Running From the Physio.

Late yet again for my training review. This week (not the week I’m writing about) has been pretty difficult and tiring, so there was no mid-week topic blog either. Bit gutted, but hopefully I’ll keep on top of it better next week.

Tuesday: 3.09 miles @ 9:07 min/mile
I managed to get out before work again, for the second week in a row, and had a pretty good run. I still don’t find it easy to wake up that bit earlier to get myself out, but it is definitely nice to then have the evening free. On this occasion, it was even more important to make sure I ran in the morning, as I had a sports massage booked for the early evening, and I figured I was unlikely to want to go straight out for a run after that!

Wednesday: 2.20 miles @ 8:10 min/mile
This was one of those odd, and rare, runs in which I felt like I was running slowly, but in fact when I looked at my time, it turned out that I had run pretty quick! The sports massage from the day before only really showed in terms of highlighting how much my calf muscles ache (massage was limited to quads and hamstrings!)

Thursday: 6.35 miles @ 9:24 min/mile
On a cold Thursday evening, I managed to drag myself out, wearing three layers on top, and gloves! I generally don’t like wearing gloves (or a hat) to run, but on this occasion I needed them. I consciously slowed myself down a couple of times during the run, as it felt like I was running away from myself a little. My knee niggled a little bit, but nothing serious. This was my last run in January, and for the third month in a row, I set a new record for distance: in total I clocked up 89 miles during the month.

Saturday: Parkrun, 5km (3.11 miles) @ 7:48 min/mile
For the first time in quite a long time, I ran with someone else at the parkrun. One of my mates from football came along for his first time (though he ran two or three half marathons last year, so he’s no newbie to running). He hadn’t run for a few months over the winter, and doesn’t generally run such a short distance, so it was a little bit slower than I had been running recently, but it was fun to run with someone else. I peeled off halfway through the second lap and finished the run on my own, and given that the time was still under eight-minute miles, I can’t complain that it was slow!

Sunday: 10.20 miles @ 9:25 min/mile
The furthest I have ever run! My previous furthest was 10.1, and when I initially mapped this route out planning it, this was also going to be about 10.1. But, given that I was feeling okay at the end, I added on a small stretch to just give myself that little boost of knowing that it was the furthest! Okay, so the next weekend has 11 miles planned anyway, but still. I was aching pretty badly for a lot of this run, but beyond that I was actually surprisingly okay. Maybe my body is really starting to learn to keep itself together.