Sore quads

Funny training week this week - suffered a viral gastro in the first half of the week which didn't really affect my running but left me with fatigue the rest of the time, and i had nasty quad soreness persisting all week, which seemed out of proportion to my flat fast finish 30k last Sunday - not sure if the virus exacerbated this.

Monday 12k easy @4:47

Tues am 16k with 8k at tempo (3:49)

Tues pm 7.25k recovery @ 4:41

wed 21.3k@4:29

Thurs pm 10k recovery @4:48

Fri am 21k@4:35

Sat am 14k@4:36

Sun am 31k@4:39

Nothing much to remark on the runs beyond the first paragraph. All were dominated by sore quads but I was able to run through this. This mornings long run with Rob was along part of the Perth marathon course and a nice comfortable pace.

In the end, 132k for the week - getting it done

American vacation

Reduced mileage this fortnight thanks to a flying visit to the US for my brother's 40th and a once-in-a-lifetime wine tasting. Only managed 4x1-12k treadmill runs in my 8days away.

Week 1

Mon am 12.25k @ 4:40 recovery

Mon pm 6.6k@4:51 treadmill recovery

Tues am 16.16k including Mona 5.3k in 20 min, overall @4:23

Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sunday - treadmill runs mainly at easy pace with a bit of MP thrown in

Week 2

Wed pm 18.57k@4:34 - jetlagged recovery medium long run

Thurs am 11.26k@4:35 recovery

Fri am 12.16@4:27 - last 3k MP

Sat am 14.17k@4:26 including 10x100m strides

Sun am 30k with last 10k@ MP (4:00) riverside run with Clown - struggled to hold form in last 3k of the MP section

I know it's only mental, but i feel i've lost some momentum with the trip - need to get back to the plan this coming week

Bought 4 pairs of shoes in the US - 2x Kinvara2, 1x Mizuno Elixir, and a pain of Brooks Pure Flow. The Brooks Pure series is their Kinvara equivalent with very little heel-toe drop but still more cushioning than a true minimalist shoe. I quite like the stability but there is too much of a 'platform' feel to the shoe and a loss of feedback from the ground to foot - Kinvara are far superior for me and I'll keep these for easy and recovery days.

Week 1 Training - Reaching new heights

A very satisfactory start to my formal Perth marathon Program this week - I ticked all the boxes and the body held up well

Monday 12k recovery @ 4:39

Tuesday am 16k with 8k tempo @ 3:49min/k - ran around Herdsman and felt like the correct tempo effort

Tuesday pm 8.3k recovery@ 4:36

Wed am 19k@4:34 medium long run. This was definitely the hardest run of the week - all mental. The whole way I ran an inner discussion about needing to finish early to get to work, and took it pretty much a km at a time to push it out to the planned distance. This was where having a program helped as it was the potential shame of not sticking to the very first week of the plan which kept me out there

Wed pm 7.4k@4:44 - on the treadmill to slow my recovery down a bit (this second run wasn't on the program but i couldn't fit in the pm Thursday planned run)

Thurs am 12k@4:47 recovery - this one felt like a true recovery run

Fri am 20k@4:33 - pleased with this effort around lakes monger and herdsman

Sat am 13.3k @4:36 - did 10x100m strides towards the end of the run. Am I supposed to stop and do strides/walk back or should they just be incorporated as very short fartleks in the run? ( I did it the latter way).

Sun 30k@4:37 - Cott run with DB, Braddles and Chris Letts. felt a bit fatigued and the knee was hurting early on but gradually loosened up and DB&I pushed the pace in the last 5k 4:22/4:16/4:11/4:07/4:04.

Ended up with 138k for the week - my longest week ever. I did the sessions as per the program (planned 126k) with just a few extra km here and there to make that bigger distance.

I know it's probably flirting with danger a bit to increase the mileage that much, but I'm flying to the US early Wed am for a quick one week trip, so I'll have an enforced lower km week to recover.

Increasing the mileage was less of a big change in my week than I'd envisaged, and I'm far more confident than a week ago that i can 'go the distance' with the training plan