22 Mile Long Run

Todays run is the longest run of the schedule and I had to plan to do it early in the day as I'm off to see The Police in concert this evening. This is not ideal for me as I'd usually prefer to run later in the day once I'm fuelled up. I seem to "operate" better once I'm up for a while and warmed up and fed.

In any case, off I went. The overall pace was ok I suppose but still not exactly inspiring. At this stage I'm nearly thinking that I'll have to rely on race day adrenaline to attempt to meet my objective. I don't want to keep sounding negative here but I expected to be feeling more comfortable at pace at this stage in the schedule. Not so :-( at the end of this run I felt "done in" and didn't have a whole lot left in the tank. I used my Camelbak to provide hydration during the run and filled it with Lucozade Sport.

Average HR for the run was 153bpm and just over 3 hours for the 22.1 miles. I'm not convinced that I'm doing enough of the faster stuff I had previously been doing, consequently I've lost pace. This programme seems to rely on the build up of Aerobic physiology to "fuel" the faster stuff. True, it certainly provides a good base for the faster runs. But for me I think I need a bit more in the way of speed. Speed is a hard earned quality for a forty something like me especially as I'm not naturally blessed with it. I really can't afford to lose my hard earned speed.

Anyway, I suppose I've never been aerobically fitter. I'm racking up a lot of mileage, and to be honest all the Long/Medium Long runs are becoming a bit monotonous. I think I'm really looking forward to getting the race done with. Cross Country season is coming up soon so I can begin to focus on that instead. I think I'm more "mentally" tired then I am physically tired. I'm thinking of taking it a bit easier next week to try to "reboot" the system and get into more of a positive mood.

It all sounds a bit negative as I read this back, but its not meant to. Just how I'm feeling at this stage in the training schedule. I'm still focused on completing the schedule and then we'll see what we've learned doing the Pfitzinger & Scott schedule.

Ever onwards.......

Todays Long Run.......