Tuesday - 10km Easy

Finally, an easy run in cooler weather. I forget how much more enjoyable it is to run when it's not so hot. I was able to keep my heart rate and effort much lower than I previously have in warmer weather.

My average heart rate for this run was 155, although it would have been much lower if my last 1500m was not uphill.

My one concern I had for today was that I would not be fully recovered from the weekend of high intensity running. Thankfully I felt completely fine.

This week I have slightly modified my schedule because the weather is forecast to be 38ºC on Sunday––far from ideal running conditions. I have instead decided to move this long run forward to Saturday so I can hopefully run in much cooler weather. I've also moved my Thursday tempo run to tomorrow, with an easy 12km now on Thursday.

I'm really looking forward to taking my training up a notch in February. If all goes well, I will soon add in regular speed/interval sessions, and every other run will progressively get longer. In February I will enter into uncharted territory, running my biggest month to date. Each month after that will take it up again.

Wednesday - 10km Tempo

1.5km warmup,
7km tempo,
1.5km cool down.

I guess I'm back to hating my tempo runs. They always seem to take a lot out of me.

I think I might be running too fast for a tempo run. I know it's hard to measure but I should be aiming for around 7-8/10 effort. I'm probably putting closer to 9/10, which isn't sustainable for my tempo runs.

I sometimes find it hard to settle into a pace that isn't too hard but also not too easy. That way I can still get the benefits of a higher intensity run, but I'm not having to slow down to catch my breath (like today).

In future tempo runs, I will aim to stick with a more reasonable pace (4:10-4:15/km) instead of 4:00/km like I was trying to hit today.

Thursday - 12km Easy

Very happy with that run.

That was my longest easy run of my training so far, and the longest time I've been able to maintain a zone 2 heart rate in any run.

For the most part of this run I felt quite comfortable. I didn't feel like I was pushing too hard or needing to slow down at all––I found a comfortable pace and stuck with it for most of the run.

Although in the second half of the run I felt some stiffness or fatigue in my lower calves and knees. Nothing to be concerned about, but worth keeping an eye on as my load increases. I'm just getting used to the high volume.

What also hasn't helped with managing fatigue this week has been running three days in a row. I usually would avoid that but as I've mentioned, this week I've changed my plan around a little bit.

From now until Saturday, I will be focusing on my recovery so that I'm ready for Saturday's 18km long run.

Saturday - 18km Long

Plan for this run:
5:00am: Maurten Drink Mix 160 + Sodii Electrolytes.
6:00am: Coffee (you know why).
7:15am: Started running.
8.5-9km in: Maurten Gel 100.
Post-run: Maurten Solid C.

I consider these long runs to be my most important runs of my week. They are often my most enjoyable too. It's hard not to enjoy a run by the sea on a beautiful sunny morning. The experience makes getting up early 100% worth it.

Yesterday I felt some soreness in my legs so I was a bit concerned I would have to take it easy on today's run. Thankfully the pain went away as I was running (or at least I forgot about it), and I did not have to change up my run at all.

Similarly to last week, I had aimed for a progressive increase in pace throughout the run. The difference today was that rather than a gradual increase, I had a pace goal for the first half, and one for the second half. My first half goal was 4:48/km (~20% slower than goal marathon pace), and my second half goal was 4:24/km (~10% slower than goal MP). My actual paces were 4:34 for the first 9km, and 4:09 for the remaining 9km.

See my splits below:

Yes I went all out in the last kilometre. I was feeling daring.

I found this kind of pacing plan for a long run much easier to follow than what I did last week. Splitting the run into two longer segments rather than one segment per kilometre made the run more manageable because I did not worry too much if one split was slower, as long as it did not affect my average pace too much for that segment.

It's very interesting to my to look back at my half marathon training from last year and think how a 19km long run was my peak training run 2 weeks before the race. Now I'm doing 18km in preparation for a full marathon, 21 weeks out, with much longer long runs to come.

I'm also encouraged by how my body is feeling at the end of my first 50km week of training since November last year. Hopefully I can stay this way. Next week I'm taking it a little bit further.

Weekly Summary:

Total Distance: 50km

22 Weeks Out.