Run Week....

I'm a day late writing this weeks post, why? well yesterday I was tucked up in bed at 8pm, so I didn't get the chance to write. Following a fun (but rather late) Halloween Party on the Saturday night, and a 3.45am interruption from Evie, and an early wake up call from Ellie, Sunday afternoon became a matter of survival! No sooner than the girls had gone to bed me and Sarah followed. We had a fun fancy dress Halloween Dinner Party on Saturday, I went as a Mummy. Try explaining that to your 4 year old, "daddy is dressing up as a Mummy?" Ellie wanted to know if I needed a wheel chair or to go to the hospital after I got all the bandages on, cute! My body clock seems to tick until 10.30pm then it stops, doesn't matter whether it's Friday night, Saturday night or a rather important late night party, doesn't matter if I'm in a club (can't remember the last time that happened!) at a concert, at the cinema or on the sofa watching a film, 10.30pm BODY SHUT DOWN! In the late evening I am officially Rubbish!!!!

This week I had put a run focus on my training. I wanted to complete 4 or 5 runs and make my Thursday afternoon session (I only work 1/2 day) into a run rather than a long bike ride. I still rode my bike to work and home on 6 days so I guess thats 12 x 30 minutes of riding, or 60 minutes each day, or 120 miles over the week. My riding is really my mode of transport and as such I often don't see it as training. However, I have to remind myself that although it is only a 30 minute journey it is time on the bike, at an elevated heart rate, this deffinately has a training effect. So my running for the week is as follows;

Tuesday; 4 miles at 7.30min/mile

Wednesday; 6 miles at 7.37min/mile, but with a faster penultimate mile at 7.08min/mile

Thursday; 10 miles at 8.01min/mile

Saturday; 5 miles at 8.06min/mile, (this is my technical run that I am trying to do weekly, where my focus is on form and cadence)

Total 25 miles; 3 1/4 hours

Now for many runners and 'triathletes that like to run' this is a very normal running week, however for me it is a very good running week. Putting it in perspective, this time last year throughout October and November I managed to run 3 1/2 hours! Last week was a significant step towards my aim of running to my potential in 2009. I am now running with my Garmin 405. I am finding running with the 405 really motivational. At the moment I am getting a feel for my running pace, but even just using it as a training review tool, it makes me focus on each mile. I have it set to 1 mile lap splits. This gives much more focus to the run, every mile it shows your pace, whether are you on target pace, faster than or slower than it doesn't matter, what happens is it makes you adjust and focus on the next mile. In the next couple of weeks I will use it much more as a training tool and set out to run with a specific pace or session in mind.

I welcome my friends Tom and Helen back into the world of training following their month of rest during October. With Tom and Helen back in the training routine I have gained another motivational tool, come on guys bring it on.

Next week is a Bike focus week. My aim is to do 11 hours (200 miles) on the bike. I will see you in 7 days......