Unbelievably its already been a week since the ridgeway. I haven't suffered any major post race blues mainly because I have a half marathon to train for in just 5 weeks time! And secondly because my post race recovery has gone so well. Normally I couldn't even think of running in the week following a big ultra, however remarkably I was out with the local running club on the Wednesday. And whilst I was firmly at the back of the club running pack at least I was there. It was a nice slow six and half miler around the roads and trails of Leighton Buzzard, Ledbury and Wing. And even with just 4 days off from running it was nice to get back into it.
Clearly it's going to take me a while to get back on pace, and it will be interesting to see exactly how long. On today's (Sunday) 10 mile run I didn't try to push the pace as it was mainly off road but in the last mile and back on the road I tested the legs and run a quite unfamilar 7mpm pace (the pace I need to be running at the half marathon in 5 weeks time) and I managed only 200 metres before it felt far too much!! So there's evidently a lot to do to both sufficiently recover whilst also getting in the speed training.
With this brings the realisation that if I want to run a good time in the half then I've got to hang up the trail shoes and dust off the roadies! This is actually strangely appealing (at least for a short period anyway). And luck would have it that in the latest Runners World magazine they have a feature piece on 4 week training plans for 5km up to mara distance including the half. Perfect!
So for the next 4 weeks I shall return to all the fun and intensity of fartleks, interval and tempo runs. Nice. And another bonus is that I now have an excuse to buy a new pair of roadies :-) with some birthday money that needs spending. Any suggestions people? I'm thinking perhaps the Brooks Green Silence, which fits with my green ethics and is the first running shoe to really embrace Sustainability! Plus it's a no thrills flat racer :-) It bloody ugly though but for this very reason is actually quite appealling -http://www.brooksrunning.co.uk/11/903/en/Green-Silence.html
Thats a quick return after such a long event, I tend to come back within 4 days usually too - though dead steady.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of that shoe and really is stripped back. Have you seen that thinmg on the Inov8 site 100 extra gram has the same performance effect as an extra 500g on the back. I'll also be going lightweight and maybe looking at the whole barefoot concept.