Salisbury 5-4-3-2-1 50k Trail Race 10th August 2014

I entered the 50k race of the Salisbury 5-4-3-2-1 trail running/walk event this weekend just gone as a debut for me to dabble with a couple of ideas. Firstly that, based on my relative short to long distance PBs, I might do better at longer distances and secondly that it could also provide good training due to my apparent predisposition to endurance running. It would also be nice to run an event which is much less time/pace focused. 

My initial plan had been to run the first 5-6 miles with the leaders (assuming similar times to recent years of c. 3hr50ish) and see how I felt and then decide whether I could push on, based on my recent 50k run-commute I did in 3:40. I had purposefully had a light taper week and bit of a carb depletion (mostly to try and get my weight down a bit) and load the day before. I fitting in a sneaky Parkrun jaunt the dat before too, just to keep the legs fresh for Sunday.

On Race morning I filled up with a big bowl of banana porridge and honey before leaving the house and took 6 gels with me as a precaution (wise choice), as I didn't really want to be testing my fat burning capacity in an hilly ultra for the first time too!

Weather was looking ominous, but actually turned out to be reasonably good, got a bit wet at times, but the sun came out in the last 6-7miles and it got fairly warm. Milling around at registration I bumped into local Commonwealth Games marathon runner, Steve Way, who had decided to enter the race late instead of a solo 35 mile Purbeck Hills run. Don't say I blame him given how windy it was on the coast on Sunday! So then the plan changed a bit and I opted for the run with Steve for as long as it felt comfortable option.... 

We were off at 9am and the first few miles wound up the river valley north of Salisbury with a few stiles to navigate (good time being at the front, no queuing to get over!), followed by a very scenic lap of the Old Sarum Castle overlooking Salisbury. At about 7 miles we were suddenly joined by a third Italian sounding guy, who was clearly up for stretching things out a bit, so at that point I let him and Steve go on. I was fairly sure I wasn't going to be able to keep up with them going up the hills ahead! From then to around 15 miles was quite pleasant, a bit up and then a long descend down over a river and past a stately castle. Some-where around 15 miles I came into a field with no route arrow marking the exit which resulted in a moment of panic as I wondered which way to go, thankfully I was rescued by the guy in 4th place who caught up and had the route loaded into his GPS and we got going in the right direction again. Less than a mile later we came into a field to find Steve and the 2nd place guy in the same predicament, the cause was a herd of cows standing in front of the gate with the route arrow on it! A bit of cow shooing ensued and we were momentarily running in a group before the two leaders started to pull away again. I then lost touch with 3rd place going up the second major climb of the day, to compound things I started getting worrying twinges from my right ankle. Worried about a potential retirement I eased up a bit and tried adjusting my gait to try to alleviate the problem. Thankfully it eventually passed, but I did have an wife-and-car based escape route at 22 miles which would have come in handy if it hadn't.... At this point I was just in 'long training run' mode, no pressure to catch 3rd place (still in sight though) and just get to the finish.

Pretty wet at around 12 miles!

Last climb up to Salisbury race course actually felt good and I was glad to turn downhill at mile 24 for the run home. The last 6 miles are flat tarmac, but before that we had the entertainment of some low hay hurdles, where wheat had been harvested and the straw left in tall piles across the race route! Getting on to the road at Wilton I could see 3rd ahead of me, but my legs were starting to hurt pretty badly, so I wasn't trying to catch him. Never the less I slowly reeled him in and then nipped past as he stopped for a drink. It was then just head down and get on to the finish, the pace was decent on the road (comfortably sub-7 miling), but my legs were struggling with fatigue. The energy levels were good (thank you gels!) and with a few miles to good 2nd place came into view. Given that only a couple of miles earlier I had been told that 2nd was 7mins up on me I realised he must be slowing a lot, so tried to maintain my pace. He gradually inched closer, but even as we dodged passed ambling tourists outside Salisbury Cathedral with under a mile to go he was still holding a good 50yd lead. I finally got to him coming up the river footpath with under 500m to go and then gave it as much kick as I could muster into the finish straight to hold him off by 2secs at the line . Finished in 3:35:07 with legs shredded, the walk to the leisure centre for a shower was not much fun!

Overall an awesomely organised race in lovely scenery and very happy to bag a good result and training run.

A 'sprint' finish in a 50k,race - 3rd place just out of shot right...

Top 20 Results (full results available online here)

Low Carb (Jamie Oliver based) Fish Pie - Best Ever?

This is a recipe for possibly the best fish pie I've ever had. It's a low carbohydrate twist on a Jamie Oliver original recipe. Beware though it's extremely filling, this recipe serves 4, but could easily do 5 as a quarter left me stuffed!

Ingredients
1 large cauliflower, cut into pieces
2 eggs
2 large handfuls of fresh leaf spinach
1 onion, finely chopped
1 handful of fresh parsley, chopped
1 clove of garlic, pressed or very finely chopped
1 TB extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/4 cups of heavy cream
4 oz of grated mature cheddar cheese, and another 2 oz for later
juice of 1 lemon
1 heaped tsp English mustard or French will do
1/2 pound haddock, cod or other white fish, skinned, boned and sliced into strips
1/2 pound wild salmon fillet, skinned and sliced into strips
salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). 
2. Put the cauliflower into a pan of salted, boiling water. Bring back to the boil for 10 minutes. 
3. At the same time, hard boil the 2 eggs. 
4. Steam the spinach in a colander over the pan that has the cauliflower. This will only take about a minute. 
5. When the spinach is done, remove from the colander and squeeze out excess water. 
6. After 10 minutes remove the eggs from pan. Cool under cold water and peel and quarter them. Put to one side. 
7. Drain the cauliflower in the colander. 
8. In a separate pan, slow-fry the onions in the olive oil for about 8-10 minutes. 
9. Add the cream and bring just to a boil. 
10. Remove from the heat and add the Cheddar cheese, lemon juice, garlic, parsley and mustard. 
11. Put the spinach, fish and eggs in an decent sized casserole dish with a lid and mix together. 
12. Pour over this mixture the creamy vegetable sauce. 
13. Mash the cooked cauliflower - adding a bit of olive oil or butter, salt and pepper. 
14. Spread the cauliflower on top of the fish, cover with leftover grated cheddar. 
15. Place in the oven for 25 - 30 minutes taking the lid off for the last 10 minutes of cooking to brown the top.

Frankfurt Marathon 2013 Video Highlights

Here's a short highlights movie from the Frankfurt Marathon I've put together. Includes bits from the official video, me passing 30,35,40km,at the finish and some footage shot by my very able support crew of one, Jason. Also includes a lot of sections with Ian Habgood from Bournemouth AC as we were traded places a couple of times on the way around the course! It starts with some suitability teutonic audio...

Post Frankfurt Marathon Notes & Thoughts

Now the dust has settled from the race in Germany, I've put together a bunch of extra thoughts & notes on the pre/during/post race stages. There's also some more photos (taken by my very talented support crew of one, Jason Rheinberg!) 

 

Frankfurt in the autumn

The old part of town

 

Pre race nutrition

I switched to a low carb/high fat diet from Monday before to Thursday evening to bring my weight down abit, and off-set for the low running volume in the last week (144 down to 140.5lb). It was then normal carb intake from Thursday evening through Friday and then one-day carb load on Saturday. This was based on 10-11g carbohydrate per kg body weight, so around 650g in total. Carb load food consisted of;

• Banana/porridge & honey/rye toast & jam/OJ for breakfast. 
• 750ml of torq energy drink/mule bar mid morning. 
• Sweet potato soup/rye toast/1xBeet it Sport for lunch. 
• 750ml torq energy drink in the afternoon. 
• Chicken/butternut squash/courgette/mushrooms/Green peppers/onion/brown rice for dinner (plus a small glass of champagne, celebrating our friends new baby!). 

Race morning started at 6:15, the weigh-in (post abulations) revealed the carb-load had added a few pounds, up to 146lbs from 141.5 on Saturday morning (likely due to all the extra fluid retained to store the glycogen in my muscles/liver - 3g of water for every 1g of carbs). Breakfast consisted of a small banana, a small bowl of porridge with honey and a double expresso black coffee. 1 double expresso gel shot gel 1 hour pre race and a citrus Clif gel 10 mins before the start. I also drank most of a bottle of lucozade sport before the start, but stopped drinking 1 hour pre-start (and made use of the start line portaloos!)

Race strategy

The plan was to keep the pace between 5:45 and 5:55 per mile, while monitoring my heart rate to keep it below marathon HR (165bpm). I'd estimated that somewhere around 2:32 pace would likely be achievable, so was aiming for 18:00/5k. As I said in my race report, the pace was difficult to track in the first 5k due to tall buildings, my heart rate was averaging a bit too high (~168bpm) and as a result I clocked a 17:38 for the first 5k. From 5k to 25k I ran to heart rate, sticking with a good sized group and trying not to work too hard into the wind and rain. From 25k onwards the wind & rain became less of an issue. Going down wind from 30-35k and with plenty of energy in reserve allowed me to put the hammer down and put in a 17:30 5k. The negative split was a bit of an accident really, but having done it I can see the benefit of controlling the effort in the first half and then pushing on in the second half. Physiologically it was great reeling in so many people on the run back into the city centre!

A normal sight on a early Sunday morning...in the African rift valley

The Race Leaders

Race nutrition

I umm'd and err'd about the gel strategy, at London there is lots of flexibility with a water station every mile, but at Frankfurt they are more widely spaced. I don't get an gastric issues with gels, so aim for the optimal 75g of carbs per hour that the body can digest. In the end I opted for a gel every 5k up to 35k and then an optional one for around 37.5k. I took all 8 in the end, although I'm not sure the final one (at around 37/38k) was really worth taking. Only took sips of water to lubricate the gels & wash my mouth out. I was using a combination of GU Roctane (caffeinated) and Clif Shot Razz (non-caffeinated) gels

Gel Plan & Water Stations -  splits based on 2h32'

 

(21/24g of carb per Roctane/Clif gel - aiming for approx 75g/hour (recommended caffeine intake of 3mg/kg body weight  = 195mg max  recommended limit of 390mg)

• One hour pre start - GEL Clif Double Expresso (24g/100mg)
• Hour 1
• 10mins pre Start - GEL Clif Citrus (24g/25mg)
• 5k (3.1M) - 00:18:00 - GEL Clif Razz (24g/0mg)
• 10k (6.2M) - 00:36:01 -  GEL GU Roctane (21g/35mg)
• 12.5k (7.8M) - 00:45:00 
• 15k (9.3M) - 00:54:02 - GEL GU Roctane (21g/35mg
• Hour 2
• 17.5k (10.9M) - 01:03:00
• 20k (12.4M) - 01:12:02- GEL Clif Razz (24g/0mg)
• 22.5k (14M) - 01:21:00 
• 25k (15.5M) - 01:30:03 - GEL GU Roctane (21g/35mg)
• 27.5k (17M) - 01:39:00
• 30k (18.6M) - 01:48:03 - GEL GU Roctane (21g/35mg)
• 32.5k (20.2M) - 01:57:00
• Hour 3
• 35k (21.75M) - 02:06:04  - GEL GU Roctane (21g/35mg)
• 37.5k (23.3M) - 02:15:00 - GEL Clif Razz (24g/0mg)
• 40k (24.9M) - 02:24:05

 

Race Recovery

My legs have been radically different post Frankfurt compared to previous PB marathons. After the last two London marathons (2012 & 2013), my legs have suffered from serious muscle fatigue for a good week or more, my legs were also very painful in the last 6-8 miles of both races (lots of damage being done!). This wasn't the case during or after Frankfurt, my legs were pretty much pain free throughout the race and I only had relatively minor delayed onset muscle fatigue (DOMS) for a few days post race. One suggestion I've heard for this is that running a negative split helps, conserving energy in the first half of the race (and limiting muscle damage), which allows you to push harder in the second half. I guess it would maybe be due to the overall duration at a set effort level being lower (one half lower effort than the other instead of 2.5 hrs continuous)? The week straight after the race, I took it easy and only ran twice, but surprised myself on both occasions with how easy and quick my runing was! So now I have been back into typical running for nearly two weeks and things generally feel good, although I think I may find out at the Gosport Half this weekend that my legs still have a bit of the marathon in them!

 

Made the killer mistake of sitting down post race...now how do I get up?

Training Plan/execution recap & thoughts

Due to a niggling issue with my left shin (which never caused me any running pain) I had regular physio sessions during the training period. The upside of this was that, in the course of investigating the shin, I ended up finding quite a few muscle imbalances/weaknesses which could be worked. So I was doing regular (1-2 times a week) core/stretching sessions and got into the habit of doing dynamic stretches pre-run (my glutes and hip flexors in particular) and stretching post-run too. I also did a couple of running form tune-up sessions with The Running School in Southampton, which nicely served to jog my muscle memory and also helped identify tight/weak muscle groups to work on.

In general the marathon specific training went ok, the preceding 'speed' phase hadn't gone very well, possibly partly due to the hot summer lingering right to the end of August. My half marathon PB attempt at Maidenhead at the start of September was a bit of a flop and I only managed 1:14:43 (30s outside PB from Wokingham in Feb). The first couple of marathon specific sessions (copied from the previous spring training plan from Bournemouth AC) didn't go very well either, the first one was very warm and the second was very windy! The breakthrough came at the New Forest Marathon, which I ran as a target MP +20s training run. Probably did this a little fast as it then took about 10 days to recover from before I was ready for the next hard session. But i feel that the marathon distance in training did me good, so I'll aim to do this again for London 2014, just a little slower, relative to MP, next time. The other key run was the "marathon special block" a Renato Canova (coach to the Kenyan elites) workout. Basically 6M steady followed by 6M marathon effort, twice in a day (and a few more miles to get home in each case!), when that went to plan I was much more confident of being able to hit a decent PB in Germany....

 

Below is a summary of the key sessions I did in the last 6-7wks before Frankfurt

Marathon Specific Phase Key Sessions & Mileage

• 6 weeks out - Total Mileage = 69
• Thurs AM Specific Extensive Endurance 5M Easy/4x3M@6:14/5:55/6:55/6:15 (1M rec @ 6:47/6:51/6:40) Total 21M@6:35M- hot on the prom even at 7am!

• 5 weeks out - Total Mileage = 81.3
• Tues PM 24'@5:58/M-(3')/18'@5:59/M(3')/12'@6:01/M(3')/6'@5:59/M(2')/3'@5:37/M Total 15.8M @ 6:25/M (windy solo prom run) 
• Sun AM Long even continuous paced run - NFR Marathon (tMP +20-30' 6:10-6:20) - 02:41:37 (6:09/M) 1st place overall

• 4 weeks out -  Total Mileage = 70.1
• Sun AM 18M @ 6:45/M inc 2x0.5M (6:01/M & 5:54/M)/ 1M (5:36/M)/0.5M (5:34/M) and 4M progressivre (6:44-5:55/M)

• 3 weeks out - Total Mileage =81.5
• Tues PM 30' av.5:53/M(rec 3')/4x5'av.5:39/M(rec 2')/(rec 3')/30' av.6:02/M total 18.3M 6:18/M (windy solo prom run)
• Sun AM 5M Easy/15M MP effort (av 6:00/M)/3M Easy Total 23M @ 6:24/M

• 2 weeks out - Total Mileage =83
• Weds Special MP Block 
• AM 6M(6:34/M)/6M(5:48/M)/2.75M(6:40/M)  
• PM 6M(6:28/M)/6M(5:47//M)/3.3M(6:45/M)
• Sun AM 3.7M(6:56/M)/MP Rhythm - Solent Half(1:15:34-5:46/M)/1.6M (7:32/M)

• 1 week out (Taper) - Total Mileage = 50
• Tues PM 1.7M / 5x5min(rec3") av 5:16/M / 2M Total 10.2M@6:36/M
• Sat AM 2M inc strides(6:38/M)/Poole Parkrun (16:59 5:27/M)/1.6M(7:22/M) & 21M Bike (av 14.2mph) - by accident, missed the train home!
• Sun PM Medium Pace Progressive Run 12.1M inc 11M progressive (6:45/6:35/6:28/6:33/6:19/6:12/6:05/5:56/5:48/5:53/5:52/7:09) Av6:19/M

Frankfurt Marathon 2013 Race Report

The whole race weekend was quite an experience, as we drove from the UK to friends in Brussels for Thursday night, where my wife, Milly and son, Cameron stayed for the weekend and I drove on down to Frankfurt with an old uni house-mate (road trip!). The autobahn proved to be quite an entertaining experience. Although it was busy and lots of roadworks/variable speed limits limited the amount of car top speed testing that could be done (record was 206kph and still accelerating, not bad for a Honda!). The friends we were staying with in Darmstadt near Frankfurt where expecting a baby fairly imminently, low and behold we got a text message on Thursday to say labour had started and the baby ended up arriving later that day! This changed the plans slightly and we ended up getting a hotel room for Saturday, but we got the added bonus of meeting the new-born and helping out with running errands/do shopping etc...

We stopped off at the race expo in the Frankfurt Messe exhibition centre on Friday afternoon to get number/chip business done and dusted. Friday night involved wetting the baby’s head with (for me) a very modest amount of local 'Landenbier' and some top quality German grub. Saturday was combination of wandering around Darmstadt and an afternoon trip to the 'Jungenstillbad', which are the town's public baths. This had a great range of saunas/steam rooms and thermal pools, a great way to relax before a race, although there was a strict no trunks policy in the saunas ... We had an early dinner at our friends flat and then got back to the hotel to sort out race kit and get an early night.

Market Day in Darmstadt

Race day dawned with clear skies but fairly windy. The temperature was mild and forecast to rise up to 18/19C, but this didn’t turn out to be a problem as it clouded over (and rained) just after the start. Getting to the start from Darmstadt turned out to be a painless 20min drive to the main parking for the Messe exhibition centre and then a 5min shuttle bus ride to the start itself.
I had plenty of time to sort my gear out go for a jog/dynamic stretch in the small park adjacent to the start line and managed to meet a fellow runner that I've been swapping training notes with. We had a good chat before the start while waiting in the pen ready to go..

The final section of the course into the Festehalle (left of shot)

0-5km – (17:38)
I got a reasonable position in the pen about 4-5 rows back from the front, but it didn’t really matter as there was a sizable gap to the elites in front and we weren’t brought forward before the gun, so I crossed the line around 20secs after the start. My plan was to aim for 18 mins per 5k which would put me on for a 2:32. The first 1km was a bit hectic as I had to navigate a fair number of slower runners. The combination of that and the tall buildings playing havoc with the Garmin meant judging the pace was difficult. I was keeping an eye on my average heart rate (HR) which was coming out a bit high (168 vs marathon HR of 165bpm), but it does have a tendency to spike at the start of a run. Probably a bit of a fast start, but I don’t think it limited me later on in the race too much.

5-10km – (18:30)
As things started to settle down I had a choice between two groups to go with, both with female elite runners and pacers. As my HR was still a bit high (av 166) I opted for the second group, which turned out to be the Brit ladies Emily Wicks and Hayley Haining, as I figured the group in front was on more like 2:30 pace (leading German ladies). As I tried to rein in my HR (and keeping in a group) the pace dropped, but I wasn’t worried as I wanted to keep things under control given the fast first 5k and the prospect of a strongish headwind for 13 or so km from 14k onwards.

10-15km – (18:24) & 15-20km – (18:30)
By 15k my average HR for the last 5k was down to 165 and I was ticking along nicely in the middle of my target pace band of 5:45-5:55/M. At this point I wasn’t pressurizing myself to push the pace down, I always felt that 2:31 would be a big ask and the conditions were far from ideal for an optimal run. So I kept in the group and kept tabs on my HR. At 20k my average HR had dropped to 164. We got pretty wet along this stretch and the wind was strong enough to take a bit off the pace.

20-25km – (18:05)
With hindsight my conservative approach in the first half started to pay off from halfway onwards. The average HR for 20-25km was still 164, but now I was back to sub 5:50 pace. At some point in this section me and a couple of other guys drifted off the front of the group we were in as the pace increased. I went through halfway in 77:02. Around 22k a familiar yellow and blue strip vest of Bournemouth AC pulled up alongside, worn by Ian Habgood. I was a little surprised as Ian has a sub 2:30 PB, but he’d arrived late at the start and had had to work through a lot of course traffic to get up into clear space. I let him carry on as I didn’t fancy my chances of being able to maintain his sort of pace. Unfortunately he took the two guys running with me with him! So I was left to run solo, although I managed to keep them in sight…

25-30km – (18:06)
Things continued to pick up as we finally made the turn at the far end of the course and started to head back towards the city centre. I was maintaining the pace but my HR was now down to around 163bpm. Realizing I was probably running a bit under MP effort now, I started to push on.

30-35km – (17:35)
This was definitely the best section of the race; with 20M bagged I was really motoring and passed a lot of people. Looking back I probably went too fast (averaging sub HM PB pace!) a bit too soon. My lap HR average spiked up to 167bpm, so I think it would have been better to put in progressively faster 5k’s between 30-35 and 35-40. Also the wind was now working to our advantage with the whole 5k, straight, flat and dead downwind!

35-40km – (18:03)
As we returned to the city centre with swirling winds and lots of corners my pace dropped back down to the original target level. It was starting to get tough by this point and my HR was still up at 167 despite the drop in pace. I was into head down and get on with it mode! Caught up with Ian from BAC and we swapped positions a couple of times in the final few km. unlike all my previous marathons, I hadn’t got any pain in my legs this time (at VLM this year it was my quads that nearly ceased up), but my general fatigue levels were very high by now. Physiologically it was very hard work too, being unfamiliar with the course, the multiple twists/turns and the blustery winds which made some sections easier and others much harder! We hung on, along with another Brit in a light blue Bideford AC vest.

40-42.2km – (8:06)
The last 2.2k was not pleasant. Ian pulled in front and helped drag me along, but the look on my face from the photos at that point says it all! We ran into the wind for the final km along a street which acted like a wind tunnel. Then as we made the final turn by the Messeturm tower to the Festehalle finish, we got hit smack in the face by gusts of wind which felt like it almost stopped you dead! I was very relieved to get inside into the finish straight and down the red carpet to the line for 2:32:57 and a 3 minute PB!

Finish Straight gurning!

Post Race Refeeshment

Training Notes - 30/08/2013

No serious running for me at the weekend (in line with my more relaxed training approach for the autumn), but did round 4 of the Salty Seadog sprint tri at Boscombe pier on Saturday. It was my first ever and I learnt 3 things 1) my swimming is terrible 2) my bike fitness is only marginally better 3) my running is reasonable (3rd best 5k time in the field ). Happy to get through unscathed in 29th place in 1:2x:xx

Having a more speed orientated week this week before a little taper to Maidenhead HM a week on Sunday (8th Sept). I joined the Tuesday night BAC session doing 8x800m on the Littledown grass loop and discovered that my speed work has been sorely lacking over the summer av of 5:16/M, which is only a tiny bit better than my last 6x1M session average.... 11.3M in total.

Thursday night's 6 x 1 mile reps session turned out to be a bit brutal.... due to a co-incidental spot of email/facebook organisation we ended up with a good bunch out on the track, fired up for a good session. Did 4:59/5:10/5:15/5:19/5:13/5:13 off a 400m jog recovery (c. 2-3min) average of 5:11/M. First rep was definitely over enthusiastic and I paid for it subsequently! Still very happy to be 7"/M faster than the equivalent workout at the start of July. Ran 4M to the track with 5x20" strides and back 5.3M which was a bit progressive in pace from 9:37/M to 6:22/M (my legs were fairly well shot straight after the reps), for 17.2M @ 6:50/M overall.

Managed to break my mile PB by less than a second in the 1st rep, but at least it's now the right side of 5:00 

Just a 7.2M @ 7:14/M easy run first thing around the Rheinfield Drive area in Forest this morning, but the legs felt surprisingly good given the intensity/distance from the previous evening.

Turning out to be quite a big week, hit 60+ miles by Friday and still have a 15 miler with 10M tempo planned for early doors on Sunday, looking forward to tapering with a few fast 400s and a cheeky fast mile on Wednesday. If you're in or around the New Forest check out the Magic Mile event being held at Woodside in Lymington on Weds evening, details here .

Training notes - 23/08/2013

Wednesday night was the final round of the local RR10 summer XC series, 3 laps (4.3M) of the park around IBM Hursley near Winchester. Had a good first mile and then faded a bit, with a stitch threatening. Thankfully had no-one in close proximity behind (probably contributed to the slow down by letting me slacken off) and managed 17th in the end. Think I just about squeezed a top 10 place for the series. 

I seemed to have gone backwards a bit compared to those I was racing against earlier in the series, but I figure this is probably down to my lack of speed/track work compared to a lot of them! Mentioned the stitch issue to a club mate afterwards and he suggested getting my iron-levels checked to see if I have any deficiency as this can cause them...

Day off from running Thursday, so did 3x750M in the pool this morning as a bit of prep for the spot of multi-sport larking about on Saturday morning I'm signed up for.

My intended progressive 10miler this morning didn't really go to plan.... Went down to Bournemouth prom for a traffic free flat route. Started with 3M easy which felt pretty good and then got on the prom the start the 10M out and back section. Set off a bit quick and clocked 6:09/6:04/6:00/5:58/5:56/5:55 for the first 6M, although I was struggling to get a good rhythm going. It was very warm already and I was going downwind, which was helping the pace, but I was getting pretty hot. Turned around at 6 miles and hit a cooling but surprisingly stiff breeze. Mile 7 was not pretty, managed only 6:08 and canned the effort at that point as it felt the quality was only going to go one way! Looking back at my heart rate data, it was really too high (av176bpm) for the pace I was doing, my marathon HR is normally 165bpm give or take a beat....

 Ran the rest easy for 15.3M total@6:42/M. Overall an ok run, as a 7 mile tempo. Wind/warmth didn't help and I felt my glutes were refusing to play ball this morning (I could feel my calves getting a bit sore/tight, good sign they're over-working). But also I've been playing around with more low-carb/high fat eating this week (except for Weds when I had a decent amount of carbs in prep for the race) and I really felt drained at the end of the 7M effort today. Usually if I struggle in a session and it's down to muscle soreness/fatigue or conditions, I find I can pick it back up to a good steady pace after a mile or so recovery. But today the whole run back to the car was fairly hard work (~7:30/M!). So think I was a bit carb-depleted, good learning experience on fueling.... Also should factor in that I've fitted in 60M in 5 days, which won't have done my glycogen levels much good either 

That's pretty much it for running this week apart from the small matter of the 5k at the end of the Boscombe Sprint Triathlon I'm having a crack at tomorrow...