On Friday 18th March I turned 31 and to celebrate the occasion, I squeezed in another training session on Saturday in the form of golf at Moors Valley. I was joined by my Dad (Paul) and brother (Tom), who came down to visit us for the weekend along with my Mum and fund raising gem, Heather.
The weather was great for golf and there were some hilarious moments too. One involved Tom using his shadow to “stretch” and conveniently disturb my Dad when attempting to get his ball out of a bunker. This resulted in 3 shots from the sand, the 3rd flying across the green and into a load of leaves where he was unable to locate it!
At a later hole (the 17th), Dad returned the favour with his shadow and put Tom off a birdie putt. So on the final hole of the day, Tom who was putting for a par decided that rather than sink the ball, he’d smash it into my Dad’s shoe instead. Unfortunately, the connection was so good that it came of the ground, hit his shin and his face turned red in agony. The temptation to wrap the club around Tom’s head was clear to see, but after a pint in the clubhouse afterwards all was forgiven and we all found the funny side.
On 17th March (1 month to the big day) my Mum sent out an email to all her work colleagues and friends, and this has already brought in over £100. Great work.
The first 5 training sessions of the week were great preparation for the 20 mile long run on Sunday, where I really noticed the difference in my performance.
Here are the key details from the training as follows:
- Tuesday – Cricket Nets for 2 hours. COMPLETED.
- Wednesday – 45 minutes steady. COMPLETED 8.2km @10.93km/hour. 168 BPM.
- Thursday – 46 minutes relaxed hilly fartlek. COMPLETED 7.625km @ 9.95km/hour. 165 BPM.
- Friday – 45 minutes steady. COMPLETED 8.28km @ 11.04km/hour. 171 BPM. (Slightly under the weather, so I think my heart rate was up)
- Saturday – Golf. COMPLETED.
- Sunday – 20 Miles (32km). COMPLETED in 210 minutes (3 hours 30 minutes) @ 9.14km/hour (5.7125 MPH). 160 BPM.
This was a massive improvement on last weeks long run, and still not at full capacity. I was also carrying around 2 litres of fluid (water and lucozade energy) in my camelbak, which I’ll not need to do in the marathon as it is provided.
IS SUB 4 HOURS STILL POSSIBLE?
Schedule for this week is as follows:
- Tuesday (am) – 45 minutes steady.
- Tuesday (pm) – Cricket Nets for 2 hours.
- Wednesday – 4 x 15 minutes hard, with 2.5 minutes rest in-between efforts.
- Thursday – 35 minutes slow.
- Friday – 50 minutes steady.
- Sunday – 20 miles at close to marathon pace.
Have a great week.
Ben
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