***General Thoughts***
Last week was an interesting one. My office moved from individual offices to open plan. Not great in and of itself, but it has meant that I now have an adjustable desk which lets me stand whilst I work. I've been quite an enthusiastic adopter of this but need to carry on remembering that actually spending an additional 6 or so hours standing each day on my feet is quite hard work. I've now gotten a couple of massage balls for my plantar fascia and a nice foam pad which is much nicer to stand on and far more comfortable.
I have noticed the difference in both a bit of tiredness generally in my legs but also, by using the foam pad, I'm working my ankles a lot more, doing more time standing on a single leg etc. I think in the long run this will be more beneficial than sitting down for hours at a time but I do need to remember to switch it around at the moment.
As we moved to open plan I also tried to get in a bit earlier for the first time which meant doing a run with the Bastards (so called because we run up a Bastard of a hill, Banstead Road South) at 6:15 followed by heading back home, picking up my bag and running the extra 5 miles in to Morden along the Wandle for a nice 8 mile commute. Still getting used to this as it is an earlier start but its good to get a big chunk of daily mileage done first thing.
Generally, this week felt good. I was getting back into a bit more a running routine and the "oh god I'm just starting running again" feeling and wheezing has gone. I'm starting to feel fitter and moving better.
***World of Running***
More widely in the sport, it was interesting to see some fast times last week. Bowerman track club knocked it out of the park at their own custom meeting with the fairly unheralded Woody Kincaid bashing out a sub 13 5000m with his two more illustrious team mates, double US champ Lopez Lomong and reigning Olympic 1,500m champ Matt Centrowitz clocking 13.flat.
This race was a fantastic example of where top quality pacemaking from their team-mate until 2 laps to go and good, quiet conditions led to a fast race. It's amazing how much of a difference this can make.
Separately Geoffrey Kamworor set a new WR in the half with 58:01 (initially reported as 57:59). With this WR, we are starting to see the prospect of a sub 2 in IAAF race conditions look more likely. Double and add 4 minutes is a very challenging and difficult conversion (usually indicating underperformance over the half marathon) but is not totally unfeasible.
On that same point, some of the most exciting news has come out of Team NN (https://www.nnrunningteam.com/en/2019/09/03/team-building/) where it was announced that Bekele has been forcibly removed from Ethiopia and forced to eat right, run lots and do physiotherapy.
Kipchoge has been nigh on unbeatable in the marathon in recent years. There aren't many who can standa toe to toe, let alone genuinely have a chance. Even as dominant an athlete as Farah on the track has been found unable to close that gap.
If you were looking at athletes who might actually be able to race him at his best, and win, Kamworor is probably second on the list with the first a fully fit Kenenisa Bekele. After all - how many of us can run 2:03:03 whilst unfit and out of shape?
***The Training***
Monday Morning: 8 miles at 9:04mm - Bastard warm up followed by commute run in, 1156 BPM.
Monday Evening: 5 miles at 9:21mm - Easy home with Gabster, 1234 BPM.
Tuesday Morning: 8 miles at 8:47mm - Awful start to the run with socks and shoes combining to rub something fierce and create a lovely little blister, felt better after changing shoes and socks, 1145 BPM.
Tuesday Evening: 5 miles at 9:27mm - Sutton Runners: 4 * 200, 4 * 400, 4 * 200, 1321 BPM.
Wednesday Morning: 3 miles at 10:09mm - Bastard with the bastards, didn't run in afterwards as I was feeling a bit knackered from 3 eary 1262 BPM.
Wednesday Evening: 5 miles at 10:03mm - Shuffle home stopping at the kebab shop, 1301 BPM.
Thursday Morning: 5 miles at 9:49mm - Easy in with Rob I guess? I don't remember a thing about this run, 1250 BPM.
Thursday Evening: 8 miles at 7:09mm - Sutton Runners - 1000 then 5 * 1400, 2ish minutes recovery 3:13, 4:48, 5:00, 5:00, 5:08, 4:39, 1098 BPM.
Friday Morning: 8 miles at 9:20mm - Long Morden loop as on the train in the evening, 1205 BPM.
Friday Lunch: 5 miles at 9:34mm - Canal plod followed by picking up a wedding present. Impromptu trip to McDonalds as well, 1205 BPM.
Saturday Morning: 6 miles at 7:55mm - Pre Wedding run going up a big hill midway and trying to catch Gaby on the way back, 1146 BPM.
Sunday Evening: 15 miles at 7:40mm - Warm up, 7 times a mile thresholdy off half a mile recovery jog, warm down, 1135 BPM.
Totals: 82 miles / 11 hours and 57 minutes with an 8:45mm average
I joined Sutton Runners for a couple of sessions this week as my local club. The short session was good on Tuesday giving me a little bit of speed in my legs in Rosehill park and Thursday was a great tempo session. Top group was doing 6 * km off about 3 minutes recovery so I tucked in with them (everyone taking 200m in the lead) through the km then added an extra 400m. Didn't worry about pace but it was comfortably threshold. Maybe a bit too fast.
They seem like a really friendly lot so I'll probably join them for more sessions going forward.
Sunday I incorporated another threshold session into my long run. The paces weren't great but I started around 6:40, got down to about 6:20 then went back up again. Nothing special but gave it a bit of variety.
***Next Week and the Future***
This next week will be focused on getting a decent little hill session in, followed by some tempo / MP efforts on Thursday and Saturday. I need to get racing again at some point so will have a think about that. I've penciled in the Kingston Half now which might be a good one to try and knock out a sub 75.
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