A few of you asked what was different about my training that resulted in a breakthrough in Dungarvan last Sunday.
The primary reason I think is that I continued to train after Dublin in October and my body did not break down (i.e. I remained injury free). After my injury last April I scaled back my running until the late summer before ramping up for Dublin. Therefore I have been able to train beyond Dublin without my body requiring a long break. If I can get through Barcelona in 4 weeks time I will give my legs a bit of a break, especially from speedwork, before Connemara.
The only thing that I can think of that has changed in my training is that I am doing less speed work. In particular tempo runs have all but disappeared from my schedule, the very session that I would have thought would be crucial to improving times from 10k to 15 miles. After all tempo pace is anything from 10k to HM pace. I read somewhere that us Master runners could do with less speedwork as recovery takes longer and the risk of injury is greater. Certainly, a fair number of my calf strains/tears happened during tempo runs. I also have strengthened my calves adding calf raises to my gym session.
One more thing – I am not following a program out of a book. I am loosely following a programme given by the Club coach – i.e. I follow the track session every Tuesday and the coach keeps an eye on my log and advises me if I am doing anything wrong.
Mon 1st Feb
5.11 miles in 43:11 (8:28 pace @ 119 HR) Recovery run
Tue 2nd Feb
8.17 miles in 1:13:31 (9:00 pace @ 126 HR) with 5 x 1 mile @6:40 pace
Wed 3rd Feb
15.04 miles in 2;00:56 (8:02 pace @ 128 HR)
Fri 4th Feb
7.04 miles in 53:49 (7:39 pace @ no HRM) Vibrams
Sat 5th Feb
23.29 miles in 2:54:17 (7:29 pace @ no HRM)
Sun 6th Feb
10.03 miles in 1:25:05 (8:30 pace @ 116 HR) Vibrams
Training Week # 11 68.68 miles.
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