Week in review: Another new PB (2021 Week 9)

Welcome back to another post on my blog! After a high-volume training block throughout February, culminating in the 50km run last Tuesday, this week was a lower volume recovery week. I should clarify that when I say recovery I mean that the volume is reduced and I also drop down from 4 runs to 3, but as you’ll see, I still include high-intensity efforts.

Thursday – 9 miles including 10km time trial
The 10km distance is probably the only popular running distance of 5km or more that I’ve never really trained for, raced or cared about. The 5km has the challenge and community you get with Parkrun, while the longer distances from the half-marathon have formed my pathway up to ultramarathons. As an aside, I was very excited to see this week that Parkrun may be returning from June 5^th!

The last time I really pushed for a 10km time was in a training run last February, where my time was 41:22. Since that was 13 months ago, during which I’ve put in a lot of training miles and generally become a much better runner, I was curious to see what I was now capable of. My target was to get below 40 minutes as that feels like a big milestone, but I really didn’t know if that would be possible.

After a gentle 2 mile warmup I picked up the pace, completing laps of my regular 1 mile interval training circuit. A 40 minute 10km means an average of 6:26 per mile, which felt fast but just about sustainable. It was definitely a different experience to do a time trial like this compared to the bulk of my training which has been long easy runs. It felt like I was pushing against the limits of what I was capable of, whereas during ultra training the priority is to try and make sure I never reach that stage!

Despite some weird looks from a couple of families and elderly dogwalkers (due to the looped circuit I can easily pass the same people 3 or 4 times), I was feeling strong until the final mile. I could sense my co-ordination beginning to drop off and I was struggling to get my pace down to the required target, particularly on the one short ‘hill’ of the loop. Thankfully I’d banked enough time in advance that by then I knew I would go sub-40, and in fact with a sprint finish Strava estimated my time as 39:15! Although I know it means very little in the context of a 100 mile race, it’s always a great feeling to set a new PB. This also helps give me more motivation to stick with the regular interval runs that I’ve been doing, as it was probably those which made the biggest portion of this improvement! My next target will be to go under 19 minutes for 5km, although that can wait until after the SDW100.

Saturday – 10km easy

So much fun to run with 
someone for once!

This run was nothing physically eventful at all – just 2 5km loops at a very easy pace. What made this run special was the fact I got to spend the first of those 2 loops running with a friend! It was great to have a catch-up as we hadn’t really spoken since the initial lockdown last March, so there was plenty to talk about.

It was certainly noticeable to me how much quicker the first loop seemed to go, even those that was actually the slower one in terms of pace. It just shows how the social element of conversation can make the physical act of running seem easier. This is something that I see mentioned a lot in people’s ultramarathon race reports, especially towards the end of races when your body is crying "enough". I’m looking forward to hopefully sharing many miles with other runners during the SDW100 in June and experiencing this for myself!

Sunday – 18 miles marathon tempo
When this training plan was designed I was scheduled to race the Newport Marathon in mid-April, and so during low-volume weeks included tempo runs like this to prepare. This year my target is to complete a marathon at 7:30 per mile, but most of my training is either much faster (intervals) or much slower (ultra work or easy runs). It is therefore important to occasionally have runs where I spend an extended period at my target pace, to ensure that it feels familiar on race day. Although that race has been postponed for the 3^rd time and will now take place in October, I kept this run here as I enjoy the challenge of sticking to a faster pace.

The best element of this run was the weather. Although the temperature was only just above freezing, there was very little wind and for the first time all week the sun was out. It was the perfect conditions for running, and I just enjoyed being outside as I ticked off the miles. It had me wishing that I'd taken my phone to capture some photos, but since I wouldn't have it for a marathon I hadn't taken it here.

I did spend a lot of the run
looking forward to my 
brownies!

I actually struggled to keep a consistent pace at the beginning and thought I may be experiencing the effects of the 10km PB on Thursday. Thankfully it seemed to get easier as the miles went by, and it was brilliant to see so many other runners and cyclists enjoying the outdoors as well. There’s nothing like a wave or a friendly hello to give you a little boost, and once I’d passed the turning point at 9 miles it was a big mental boost to know I was on the return leg home.

In the end I finished with 34 seconds in hand which was very satisfying, although I know that during the final hour of a marathon you can quickly lose minutes off your goal! Since the Newport Marathon has been postponed I probably won’t be doing any more long tempo efforts until after the SDW100 in June, but it’s encouraging to know that I have this base fitness already. I just hope that at the 4^th attempt it goes ahead this time!

Nice to already have some
mileage in hand despite the 
lighter week.

Totals:
Week – 33.2 miles
March – 33.2 miles
2021 – 417.7 miles

Thank you for reading! Next week will be the start of my new training block building up to my 50 mile April Fool solo run on April 1^st. It’s also probably going to be a weirdly structured week as I’m away with my netball team at the weekend so will have to do my long runs in the week alongside work.
For more regular updates, you can follow me on Instagram @andrewsultrablog, while to get more detail on my training, follow me on Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/5373701