Building Begins

With the weather improving.. I mean, with the weather as $#!7 as ever, I can't put off building the long run any longer. I'm aiming to build my weekly long run by one to two kilometres per week with the aim of getting towards 20km by June. With that in mind, I headed out for 12km today and came home just shy of that, clocking 11.6km.

It was a good run. I tried to force myself to run nice and slowly - but as usual, I ended up steadily putting in more and more effort. It culminated in a crack at the Hope Wood East Side Climb KOM. I missed the target but only by 3s, down from 10s on my previous attempt. It won't be long until it is mine... Looking on Strava, I actually think my watch beeped for the finish too soon, as Strava has my pace tailing off before the end of the segment where in reality I actually picked up the pace in the last 50m. Suffice to say I shall be running through the line for an extra 50m next time to be on the safe side. I thought my days of vying for KOMs ended a decade ago, and I know they're only local ones, for the locals but having claimed one last year I'm definitely going to claim a few more.

The rest of the week has seen a couple of good treadmill interval sessions. Medium reps Tuesday and shorter, faster ones yesterday. Zwift-wise I destroyed my virtual Cheddar Gorge climb time on Wednesday and it was a medium pace ride Thursday.

Roll Out the Barrel...

For today's run out and back along Barrel Lane. It was meant to be a steady run of about 10k. It started off that way. The first couple of k's were solid but comfortable. I started putting in little efforts and before I knew it, I was churning along at a good pace. I wasn't on race effort but I was certainly no longer cruising. As I hit the halfway turn around, I decided to see if I could get inside 50 minutes without redlining. I sustained the effort on the way back.

I completed the 10k in 49:08 which is only a minute 20 off my PB from Blaisdon and today's route was 50% hillier. I was running hard by the end but nowhere near my all out, edge of oblivion race effort. I feel pretty confident that my current PB is only going to last until my next road 10k race...

Other training, after my two rest days, was a solid speed pyramid Wednesday on the treadmill, ramping FTP intervals on the bike Thursday and a steady 5k 4% inclined treadmill run yesterday. I am definitely recovered from the fatigue that caught up with me last weekend.

Gonna Pull a Double....

Because sometimes you need to. Monday is absolutely a full rest day and Tuesday too. However much I'm itchy on Tuesday I'm not going to scratch.

This week has been solid training, the highlight was Tuesday's 6 x 4:15 kilometer reps but I don't think I gave myself chance to properly recovery culminating in a bit of a tired run yesterday and today. My legs are proper tired. Hence, I must enforce two days rest - which, on the plus side, means more time for piano and guitar practice.

In other news, I've another race on the books and looking for others...

Not Exactly the Pro Way...

It's been another solid week of training. A steady run Tuesday followed by a couple of more focused interval sessions on the bike and treadmill on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. They were medium to high intensity rather than at the limit as I was mindful I was hitting the Parkrun today to gauge where I am on the 5k front. A course PB maybe? It's not an ideal route for a PB but stranger things have happened...

I have to admit it went a bit wrong yesterday. It was meant to be an easy recovery ride completion of Stage 7 of the Tour de Zwift (bike) but I royally ballsed that up. The start came - and then it went... My virtual avatar refused to move as the field of 652 left me alone to my thoughts. Thoughts like, f~*% why aren't I moving? Cue twenty seconds of faffing to realise I was connected to my footpod - not a lot of good in a bike ride.

So, I got connected and set off, dead last. I almost got off as it's a bit boring with no other riders around, but I continued, thinking I'd catch up if I pushed a little, but I didn't want to go too hard. After a few minutes I was at the back but no longer last. Even at an easy effort I was moving through the field. I didn't really realise it at that point, but the racing part of brain had kicked in and I was little by little putting down more and more power. Suffice to say, by the end I was up to 175th and eye-balls-out, hitting pretty much my PB 30-minute power average. Doh!

Anyway, I decided to get up and do the Mallards Pike Parkrun knowing I was probably going to fail but I didn't think I'd be far away as my legs felt surprisingly good considering the hammering I'd given them yesterday. I had my course PB pacing worked out and decided to stick to it. Lose time to the first half climb and then gain it back on the descent home... I hit the halfway point, puffing like a bastard. Heart rate 178 but importantly, inside the schedule by a few seconds. I then hit the accelerator and nailed the descent to hit home in a new course PB by 48 seconds but better yet, a new PB by 19 seconds. 22:11. It is not going to be long before it starts 21..,..