Tuesday you could join the team if you wanted. Steve G has been doing the evening sessions for a while now and Sam D is down to run too, so some good company. It’s short hill reps between 30-60 seconds. But the continuous hills, especially if you found some trails would be good prep for Sunday. The volume has increased now as we enter the plan proper with 140pts the target this week. Any problems let me know.

140 Points Target

144 Points Achieved

It’s been a good week aside from poor footwork early on.
I’m enjoying the extra work (mainly because I can eat more food again).
Training load is good and the body feels in good shape.

😂 I love that reason for the enjoying the extra training. Felt like you took the extra pts on well, without too much trouble which is really pleasing. Great work Paul!! Onwards and upwards.

MONDAY

15 Points

No aches from yesterday so we are all good.

Glad to hear that and good to start the week in the right way. Well done Paul

TUESDAY

36pts | Continuous Hills

36 POINTS

10 Mins WU @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)
40 Mins @ HM-Marathon Effort (RPE: 6)
10 Mins @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

Find a hilly route and push the pace a little. The uphills will naturally make the RPE increase. Try to attack the downhills as well, then ease off a touch on the flat. This is a session though so effort should be quite high during the 40 mins on.

36 Points

Went to the local woodland and opted for the spikes for XC practice. Went out hard and had a breather after 20mins then did 2 more laps one at a time hard to round it up to 30mins. Got a hard ankle roll on a root through being tired so stopped there and jogged home. I think the ankle is good (minor swelling) but I didn’t want to risk another lap.

Sounds like the RPE was at a level where you’ve hit the targets without quite managing the full time, so that’s cool, and obviously sensible to stop when you did given the ankle. I guess that’s the only issue when doing these harder sessions on the trails, there is that risk. But great work Paul.

WEDNESDAY

18 Points

Took the 5 mile group tonight so nice and easy. Couple of strides mid run to remind/demonstrate looping back. I did also manage to demonstrate a Roly poly as we left Horntye too. I kicked a tree stump and went over. The ankle is now a little more sore along with the toes on the other foot 🤣 3rd time lucky eh

😂 What is going on. Please stop hurting yourself. Thanks for leading though and good to get some extra pace in the legs given the group you were leading. I’m a little bit concerned what you might do to yourself on Sunday though 🤦‍♂️

thursday

15 Points

Suffering a bit from being a bit unsteady on the feet of late. Still I know the power of consistency and what it will produce. Really excited for tomorrows run as I have another new pair of shoes to test and some new to me trails to run

Good to see the energy levels and high. Just need to stop falling over now. Hope the new shoes bring you as much joy as is anticipated. Great work Paul.

FRIDAY

22 Points

No slips, trips or falls! Given the terrain and weather I’ll take it. Beautiful solo run, enjoyed every minute. It was 40mins over but it was easy pace and the extra was due to wanting to finish at the bakery for lunch (priorities). Sunday ill be fine, the spikes will look after me

Bonus. No worries. In truth Wednesday was probably lighter due to the group you took so I’m not worried about the extra here. Especially as it was easy. Hope you’re lunch was good as well. Sounds like a great run though. I’ll be at parkrun tomorrow to test the leg and hoping I’ll be good to go from next week.

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

38pts | X Country (Race)

38 POINTS

10 Mins @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

XC Event @ Varied Pace (RPE: 8)

10 Mins @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

XC is hard, but that also means it can be great for improving your fitness if you work at the right intensity.

38 Points

That went well, took it sensible and got caught up early on but passed about 50-80 people in the first lap (I started in the top 50 3 rows back????). Ran behind Sam D for the first lap and tried to encourage him to push lap two but he sent me off to chase down Lewis Parsons. I took the challenge and went with it. Spikes possibly not the best choice but the grip in the mud was amazing. Slightly different course but 21s per mile faster than 2 years ago. I have honestly missed these so much

So pleased you enjoyed this and sounds you had a fantastic race. That’s a huge improvement on 2 years ago, especially as you were running well back then as well. Good to find what you enjoy. I promise one day I’ll do an XC season. Just need to get stronger first. Fantastic running Paul.