Valencia Marathon Week 5/12

Thankfully I appear to be feeling much better this week and happy to get another 50 mile plus week (85K) in the bag.

Monday - 8 miles easy (13k) autumn again playing the most confusing game of hide and seek, a warm one 19 C.

Tuesday - 9.5 miles easy (15k) with 4x20 second strides at the end, just stretching the legs out and using it as a primer for tomorrow's session. Legs beginning to feel alive again, maybe 7/10.

Wednesday - 10 miles (16k) with 6 miles (10k) of those at 155 to 160 heart rate (HR). No fade in power or effort pace. The faster miles were on a favourable course, practicing turnover and stride length. The picture below gives you an idea of parallel lines when you compare effort pace and power with heart rate, although it did take me some time to get heart rate up and into correct range. Needed this one to boost the confidence.

Thursday - 5.5 miles easy (8.5k). The run included 4(600 meters) + 1x400 meters at my running partner's 5k pace, off a 60 second standing recovery. Really enjoyed this, more bounce in the legs and the pace was close to my goal marathon pace.

Friday Morning - 6.66 miles (10k) at recovery effort. The devil's numbers on Friday 13th. Heart rate was nice and low, assisted by cooler temps 10 C, and the early start combined with lashing rain meant I had Marlay park mostly to myself.

Evening - 7 miles (11k) on the treadmill conducting a lactate test. Pleased with the numbers. The test confirms I'm a little ahead of last year's Valencia Marathon fitness, 3:18. I still have a lot of miles to cover if a sub 3:10 is going to be a realistic dream come true.

The test was performed in the Mizuno Rebellion Pro, a fine shoe but when I compare them to the Adidas Adizero Pro 2, which I wore the last time in identical testing conditions, I seem to get a little more power out of the latter. So that's my shoes decided upon for next week's half marathon.

Saturday - 5 miles (8k). The most enjoyable run of the week as I got to run Parkrun with my daughter, we shared an earpod each and listened to The Greatest Showman soundtrack, not my idea but lovely all the same. She ran a personal best, so the music clearly helped!

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