Making a strong start to 2019
Making a strong start to 2019 is just what I needed. Having struggled with injuries and motivation at the end of last year, this week has been a good one.
A solid week
The first of week of training in 2019 has been a solid one. I was given a rest day on Monday after a weekend where I went hard at Parkrun.
That run was a good gauge of where I’m at with my fitness. I wasn’t far off my Parkrun and 5k PB’s but it hurt. A lot. I enjoyed pushing myself though and its always good to take yourself out of your comfort zone.
Tuesday was an hour easy which was done after a 12hr shift on New Years Day. That’s sometimes what I have to do to get my runs in each week. It’s not ideal as it often means I don’t eat until nearly 9 o’clock at night but it is what it is.
If its not on Strava, did it even happen?
Wednesday was an interval session. I ran just shy of 1.5 miles up to the seafront, saved that run and went to load my workout.
My watch however, had other ideas. It decided it was still saving and would continue to do so until I got home and turned it off while on charge.
So, my session was 5x 1k reps with 90secs recovery. As I couldn’t use the workout I’d programmed on my watch I thought I’d use Strava on my phone.
I didn’t want carry it in my hand so locked my phone and put it back in my Spibelt. I now wasn’t sure if my reps were accurate for both distance and recovery times but I just got on with it.
Once finished I checked my phone to find that Strava had only logged the duration of the workout. There was no distance covered. I was raging!
It then did the same thing for my warm down run home. I was not amused. Its good to run on feel sometimes but for a session like that, its nice to have the stats to analyse. Still, I got it done which is the main thing.
Finishing the week strong
Following the speed session I had an easy 40min run on the Thursday followed by a rest day on Friday.
Saturday I had a tempo interval session with Simon. This consisted of a 12min tempo, 2x 7min tempos and a 5min tempo, all at 10k pace. It was a good session and it ended with 6x 75m sprints.
While doing the sprints, Simon looked at my form. He noticed I was leaning forward and that I needed my upper body to be more upright. This would then bring my hips forward and I’d strike more on my forefoot rather than my heel.
On today’s (Sunday) run I tested this out. I had an hour steady on the plan and paced it perfectly to round off 8 miles. I could feel the difference in my foot strike while running more upright. It’s definitely going to take a bit of getting used to but its a habit worth changing and I felt strong.
Now its just 2 weeks until my first race of the year. I will be returning to Gloucester half marathon where I got my current PB last year. I don’t think I’m ready to better that yet. Like Parkrun, it’ll tell me a lot about where my fitness is and I can’t wait.
