• March 16th - 22nd

I’m buzzing. Just full of excitement for Sunday. So nice to come into this event feeling strong (hopefully you have fully recovered) with no real goals, expectations or pressure. Just go out there and run a strong race and enjoy the support. Best of luck Sam, any issues with the schedule just let me know. There’s scope to ditch an S&C if you’re feeling jaded at any point.

113 Points Achieved

MONDAY

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25pts | Timed Taper (HM)

25 POINTS

Recoveries: 120 Secs for the 12 mins, 60 Seconds for the 1 min reps.

A really good session to do as a group the week in the lead up to a half marathon. It gives you an opportunity to run a few miles at goal pace and also get some speed in the legs. Be sure to stick to HM pace though, any quicker and it defies the object of the session and you will be tired on race day.

Didn’t do the 10min warmup as was mucking about with filming but did the drills instead. Did a 5min cooldown after too… Main session was fine, just dull going round and round and round ;-) Weird having something glued to me the entire time but it was OK, probably made me go a bit quicker overall.
I think the most important was getting those videos none, in which case, job done. Yeah we rarely do reps that long but important with Sunday in mind. She’s a character that Sabrina, but also a very strong runner. Solid session. Feel a bit half deducting pts but equally want the total to be accurate. As long as your fresh Sunday I’m too worried about missing pts in the build up.

TUESDAY

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Knee niggle – decided best not to push it so close to raceday
Smart decision. And hopefully the knee stops being a dick. Mine finally feels better but my glute has chosen race week to start pinching again. The joys of being a runner.

WEDNESDAY

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10k with Neil’s group – nice and easy, not many hills (except maze Hill which is a shit). kept it super chilled. Knee was a bit sore before so I did a lot of warming up. It was present when running but got better as the hour progressed, but soon as I stopped it was sore again, feels a little swollen. Decided that strides would be a silly idea with the knee playing up still.
Why is the knee being a dick šŸ¤” Perhaps just the busy recent schedule. Sensible again to ditch the strides and important to be cautious, especially with knee pain. Well done on the run though.

thursday

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I did half the session, knee was still sore but I thought I’d give it a go. No niggles for some exercises but the soreness was still present mostly so I decided to cut it short and be safe (just did all exercised once).
Something is always better than nothing. My glute is pinching so ditching my S&C today for some light cardio, so it’s always wise to listen to the body, especially this week of all weeks. Well done Sam

FRIDAY

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Rest Day

0 POINTS

“Rest days are key. Our body adapts and gets stronger when we rest & recovery. Have a good one!”

SATURDAY

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Rest Day

0 POINTS

“Rest days are key. Our body adapts and gets stronger when we rest & recovery. Have a good one!”

SUNDAY

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66pts | Half Marathon (Race)

66 POINTS

Stick to your goal pace early on and it should feel easy. Dig deep in those final 5km to achieve your goal. The biggest mistake you can make is getting swept along in the early stages and going off too fast.

66 Points
ā€œnot my day, but thatā€™s OKā€ sums this one up, they canā€™t all be good, right? If they were then the really successful ones wouldnā€™t feel so good. I didn’t enjoy this race one bit! I knew that beating my PB would be tough but I was hoping Iā€™d be able to wing it somehow, at the very least another sub-90 would have been acceptable. Didnā€™t feel great in the morning, sleep was a bit meh and my knee flared up on the walk down. During my warmup jog I had a heart palpitation and felt a bit sickā€¦ good start! Might have set off a bit quick in fairness but reigned it in pretty quickly and kept it steady, but it was feeling tough early on. I was ahead until the 6th km (about halfway up Queensway) then it started feeling like really hard work and got slower and slower annoyingly, people coming past me ā€“ I just didnā€™t have energy to push up the hill enough so was totally done in at the top, so no energy for a nice fast downhill section. I was slower all along the ridge, even the downhills where I tried to really pick the pace up, then that climb up to the cone was awful, I was so tired and slow at this point it was embarrassing! Managed a bit of a push down Harold Rd but was still slower than October, felt good going a bit quick but I felt worn out. Heading onto the front was OK, the crowd cheered me up a bit and I didnā€™t slow, in fact I picked the pace up compared to Oct (no headwind) but wasnā€™t going to get a good time which was a bit demoralising, but I didnā€™t quit and kept pushing until the end which was quite strong, km 21 was a 4:02 and there was a decent sprint finish as some guy came rushing past and I wasnā€™t having that ā€“ got into the 2s in the last 50m! I had realised I had blown it by the top of Queensway, at halfway I was 1.5mins behind for a sub-90 so I knew that wasnā€™t achievable unless I pulled something amazing out of the bag.. but I left my bag at home so there wasnā€™t much to draw on. Glad I didnā€™t give up and still managed a strong finish, almost 2 mins slower than October. Iā€™m not too sad about it all, itā€™s probably the result I deserved based on the recent illness and break in training. Onto the next oneā€¦
You know what really determines who we are as people. It’s not when things are going well and we can take all the plaudits. It’s how we respond when shit gets tough. It happens to us all. Most people crumble or just are not up for the fight. So the fact you dug deep and kept trying, even when you were struggling really highlights your character and I think this, probably more so than all those good races you have had, shows why you achieved what you’ve had. So whilst the race and day itself wasn’t much fun, you should be able to take as much pride and satisfaction from this effort, than any other run you’ve done. “You know what, he’s right, I didn’t give up, I am awesome, so that was a success”. Dust yourself down go again and just take this as a big mental win, despite the struggles. Well done Sam. Love the feedback as always “Left my bag at home”, I’ll be using that at some stage.