Friday 7 August
Mileage: 7.5 miles
AM: 3.75 miles; PM: 3.75 miles
Friday as always was as near as I get to a rest day with just a gentle jog to and from work. I was tired on Friday. This was the first time this week I have felt that way and probably a combination of the two hard interval sessions on Tuesday and Thursday and the high mileage. I decided against a visit to the gym and just ran home. In the evening I went for a curry with my brother and Simon and I ate loads, which seemed to do the trick making me feel a lot better and less heavy in the legs.
Saturday 8 August
Mileage: 11.5 miles including Saturday session
After feeling tired yesterday I was really pleased to wake up feeling fresh and strong in my legs. I took the dog out for an early morning walk and as we moved through Inverleith Park I could feel that most of the heaviness that I had felt yesterday was gone. Setting off to get to the Meadows for the Club session I knew I was in good shape.
The session was made up of 4 sets of one short loop of around 0.3miles and one long loop of a 2/3rds of a mile with a minute recovery between the reps and two and a half minutes recovery between each set. There was a mixed group at the session today, but Robert Riddle was there and he his pace is very similar to mine, so we paired up. We did the first two sets together, which was great as I am not sure I would have gone as quick without the company. Despite feeling fresh and lighter in the legs than Friday they didn't feel amazing on those two reps. It was as if they needed the first two reps to get really warmed up, as the last two they felt really great and I could feel my legs really stretch out and go fast. The good thing was that the session wasn't a huge one, so despite working hard I didn't feel as though I had ruined myself for my long run tomorrow morning.
My session broke down like this:
1)
i) 0.31 miles - 1 mins 36 secs at 5.11 minutes per mile pace (mpmp)
ii) 0.66 miles - 3 mins 37 secs at 5.29 mpmp
2)
i) 0.30 miles - 1mins 35 secs at 5.15 mpmp
ii) 0.65 miles - 3mins 31secs at 5.24 mpmp
3)
i) 0.29 miles - 1mins 32 secs at 5.16 mpmp
ii) 0.66 miles - 3mins 29 secs at 5.17 mpmp
4)
i) 0.30 miles - 1mins 28 secs at 4.57 mpmp
ii) 0.66 miles - 3mins 24 secs at 5.11 mpmp
After training I met my friend Jo and we went to the gym at Portabello. The gym and swim centre there has a Turkish bath, which a number of people at the club have used in recent months and keep telling me how great it is. After doing my usual gym work out we went to the baths. Basically you sit in the steam room for about 5 minutes or for as long as you can take the heat and it does get really hot in there. From the steam room you submerge yourself in the cold plunge pool, which is quite a shock to the system as it takes your breath away. Thankfully you get used to the cool water quickly and it feels really refreshing. You then repeat the whole thing again and do this three times. Apparently it is meant to help ease muscle stiffness and aid recovery after a hard session, which coming after the Saturday session and ahead of my long Sunday run has to be a good thing. I guess the real test will come when I line up for that long run and how fresh my legs feel. We'll see.
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