Sydney Marathon Training: Week 4

This week has been a bit of an 'off plan' week - as off plan as I get anyway! I looked at what I had planned in my day to day life and what was on my running plan and the two did not really combine that well! Rather than get stressed or try and squeeze in lots of miles I just settled with doing what I could, and sitting here writing this blog I feel completely fine about this - which is a positive for me!

MONDAY: the start of a very hot week in the UK heatwave. After Round Sheffield Run on Sunday my legs were not feeling great; getting out of bed Monday morning was like I had completed a marathon, with my hips in particular bearing the brunt of the soreness. I felt a bit better by the evening and managed my Strength and Conditioning session and a Body Pump class.

TUESDAY: an easy paced 8 miles before going away with work on a conference. It was warm even at 6.30am, and despite keeping my pace in check I was a sweaty mess at the end. It felt good to get some miles in though, and a slower pace stressed my still sore legs a little less.

WEDNESDAY: after very minimal sleep following a late night at my conference I was faced with squeezing in a quick, early run in a place which is virtually in the middle of nowhere! Running with my phone in hand to try help navigate, I ran a faster out and back 5k to simply not get lost and save time; it certainly helped wake me up a little!

THURSDAY: back home and continuing with more early morning miles; 6 miles in the shape of a tempo run - my favourite. It was marginally cooler first thing and this helped with my pace, logging on target splits of 8:36, 7.27, 7.31, 7.27, 7.32, 8.01 min/mile respectively. Body Pump class in the evening.

FRIDAY: a final early morning run of the week, and also my final run before the Lincoln 10k on Sunday. With running the 10k I should really have opted to get my longer run in this morning, but to be honest I did not have time to run 16 miles before work and for me slogging out longer miles in the evening heat was not an option. So I settled for 6 miles instead!

SATURDAY: Rest Day and parkrun volunteering at my home Lincoln event.

SUNDAY: Lincoln 10k - a much delayed race day after the event was postponed earlier in the Spring due to snow! This day certainly had no danger of snow making an appearance, and it was possibly the hottest day of the week - not really ideal running conditions! However, I love Lincoln 10k day and even in the heat I was going to enjoy myself. It was incredibly hot, and on my 6th time running the event, it was certainly my hardest run yet. I stuck with it though and finished in 44:29, not far from my recent 43:57 PB. For me, Lincoln 10k is about so much more than just my finish time though and I will write a full blog soon.