Hey all,
I'm back from Holland with only 12 or so hours to spare before those volcanic ashes really ground air travel to a complete halt in and out of the UK. Really enjoyed my time in Rotterdam and Amsterdam. More on the Rotterdam Marathon later. Firstly, the training recap from last week.
Monday
Type: Easy
Time and Distance: 46 mins, 8.2 km.
Tuesday
Type: Threshold
Time and Distance: 54 mins, 11.4 km.
Detail: Warm up for 2 km. 3 x 2400m in 10 minutes with 5 mins recovery in between.
Thursday
Type: Continuous Hills
Time and Distance: 40 mins, 8 km.
Detail: 2 sets of 6 hill reps at threshold pace. Recovery of 3 minutes between sets.
Sunday
Type: Marathon
Time and Distance: 239 mins 22 seconds, 42.195 km.
Detail: Kept the pace and intensity easy the whole way. Legs started getting tired around the 25-30 km mark. Still managed to go faster as the race went on.
Splits: 5 km: 30:00. 10 km: 59:37. 15 km: 1:28:35. 20 km: 1:57:19. Half marathon: 2:03:44. 25 km: 2:25:54. 30 km: 2:54:14. 35 km: 3:21:23. 40 km: 3:48:17.
Time between splits: 5 km: 30:00. 10 km: 29:37. 15 km: 28:58. 20 km: 28:44. 25 km: 28:35. 30 km: 28:20. 35 km: 27:09. 40 km: 26:54.
Average pace between splits: 5 km: 6:00 min/km (10.0 km/h). 10 km: 5:58 min/km (10.05 km/h). 15 km: 5:47 min/km (10.35 km/h). 20 km: 5:44 min/km (10.44 km/h). 25 km: 5:43 min/km (10.5 km/h). 30 km: 5:40 min/km (10.58 km/h). 35 km: 5:26 min/km (11.05 km/h). 40 km: 5:23 min/km (11.15 km/h). Finish: 5:02 min/km (11.88 km/h).
Total Weekly Distance: 69.795 km.
Comments: This looks to be a very hard week, with the threshold running, continuous hills and a marathon all in one week. However it actually wasn't too bad. I managed to survive the two hard sessions during the week, then had a full two days rest to get ready for Rotterdam. It's very easy to go into a marathon thinking that it's a race and that you should do well, but I had to keep reminding myself that it's only a training run (only I've never done a long run in training that happened to be as long as a marathon itself). So I forced myself to reign in the pace, and I think I've coped with this week pretty well. No injuries yet! Of course my legs were aching after the race and for a few days after (well 4 hours of continuous foot pounding is going to do that to you), but now my legs are pretty much recovered and I should be able to start running again (slowly of course). I was keen to know my split times, and was surprised that I got faster as the race went on. This indicates that I was just cruising in this marathon, and also had extra energy left in the tank. The weather conditions were ideal so that also helped.
Improvements: After 4 days off running this week (week 20), I'm going to take it slowly this week, and concentrate on the easy stuff. Next week (week 21), I'll get back into the serious running.
Well, that was that, and soon I'll post a race report of Rotterdam as well. I thoroughly enjoyed Rotterdam (and the subsequent trip to Amsterdam). Rotterdam is a must-do event, so for anyone wanting to run a marathon in Europe, Rotterdam is a top choice! Starting with the blast of cannons, running across the Erasmus bridge, live bands playing a variety of music at every corner, and finishing on the Coolsingel (the main street in Rotterdam), it has all the hallmarks of a memorable event.
Finally, out of the top 5 fastest marathon runners of all time, 4 of them got their fastest times at Rotterdam. I would have loved to have gone all out last Sunday, but that would have gotten in the way of the overall goal. So, if you're looking to smash that PB, then run in Rotterdam.
Tot ziens!
Aaron
