Week 29, 2012

Last training week before Lakeland 50...

My last running week, as next week tapering and then the big day - Lakeland 50! 50 miles through mountains, duh, did I really sign up for that??

The timing was quite unfortunate as the 2 weeks that I should be working really hard on my running I went for a bike trip. I was hoping to do some running there, but that was naive; just wouldn't work (btw. I'm aware that I'm missing weekly summaries for those two weeks, but I did almost exclusively cycling and still have to figure out how to fit 500km of cycling into my weekly exercise diary interface ;). Now it's two weeks when I have all the time in the world for running... but I should be tapering instead. Oh well.

Anyway, this week I decided to still train pretty much regularly and only start proper tapering next week. First an easy run on Monday and then a long run on Wednesday. I was planning this run for some days; I initially wanted to make it ~60km long but the longer I was postponing it the shorter I had to make it (with less time for recovery before the big day). I was still thinking of doing around 40K, but the weather beat me. It was raining all the bloody time. Extreme even for Amsterdam. After 25K I was completely soaked, cold and I just called it a day. I know the Lakeland area is famous for its rains; I do hope they will spare me the next weekend though!

On Thursday I did my usual "Amsterdam hills" (sometimes also called the Nescio bridge). I was happily surprised that I could still shed 5 seconds per kilometer from my times three weeks earlier - maybe all my training efforts were not wasted because of the bike trip after all?

On Friday I got a private invitation from Jan for a run. I should have sensed trouble. I did not. Oh silly me. We went fast. Faster than I was ready to run that day. We did 10K one way, doing 1.5 passes through Nescio on the way (yes, again, my old friend Nescio) and then we turned around to do the same on the way back... by which time I refused to cope with this speed and stayed behind. Then I did join the group on Nescio again. I'm not sure what our average pace was during the fast 10K as my Polar is not calibrated at all at the moment, but it felt as 4:30min/km (probably closer to 4:45min/km in reality). Tough, tough training! At the point where I slowed down my heart rate reached 180; the same as during the finish of the Amersfoort half-marathon!

But as I was on a roll I decided to hit Nesco again on Saturday. Instead of the usual 5 passes (back and forth) this time I did 10, though admittedly at a much more leisurely pace.

And that was it. From Sunday on - rest. I was hoping to hit the gym a few times but I injured my wrist while biking so I'll probably let it rest instead. Looking forward to Lakeland next Saturday!... well, kind of...

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