Training Week 2012 B-18: Green

Not a full schedule completed this week but I was pleased enough with what I did complete to nudge this into green from amber. I missed Monday’s session due to an all day work event. As I’d had such a full weekend I didn’t mind an extra day’s rest. My three key workouts: hill run on Tues, trail run on Sat and Long Run on Sunday were all completed and at a faster pace and lower heart rate than previously. I also really enjoyed them.

I completed two resistance workouts, one on Wednesday and a split workout around my run on Saturday. I also started the 100 press up challenge. Apart from Monday I got up on time and did 20-30 mins of stretching, yoga or core to wake myself up each day.

The only negative came in the middle of the week. I did complete my Wed treadmill run but suffered through it. By Thursday I felt drained, hot and tired from a couple of nights with less than ideal sleep. A slightly stressful couple of days combined with my body’s hormones caused me to skip Thursday’s workout and aim for an early night instead. I felt rough! It proved to be a good call though as without that extra rest I would not have had such a great weekend’s training.

This theoretically completes my 18 weeks of base training! In training terms at least winter is over and I’m entering my spring season: an 18 week training block culminating in two 10k races: Bristol and the Bupa London 10,000 at the end of May. Along the way I’ll be taking in another Coastal Trail Series race down in Devon in Feb and Reading half marathon on 1 April. I’m doing Reading because it’s my local half and I enjoy it. There is always a great atmosphere in town, but I won’t be racing it and I’ll be treating it just as another long run day. The only problem is I haven’t yet put together my new training programme yet. Most of it will be trying a training plan from Brain Training for Runners, adapted slightly to suit my preferences and training aims (enjoyment and exploration as much as, if not slightly more than, performance) and the preferred wave pattern of my training week.