
Well after the Brecons Ultra it took me a week to recover enough to do anything more than a recovery run and for me not to feel like my quads and hamstrings had been through a mixer! Since then, I have been trying to keep some quality running going and while this hasn’t always been possible, I have managed a mixture of easy and more challenging runs – albeit not in the number I will need to do to get me to where I want to be in terms of fitness.
I have run in a couple of local cross country races and felt very slow and haggard by the end of six miles but having reflected on my performance, I am consistently middle packing in the V1 (40-50) class which I should be happy about given where I was six months ago. I just need to get my head down and work hard and the fitness and speed will improve.
Last weekend, Justin and I did an 18 miler which and I did felt as though I managed to run well from beginning to end. The great thing about running with Justin is that if I need to crank up the pace for the final couple of miles to come in in a particular time, I just give him the nod and off he goes. He dropped our overall pace from 8:40 min/miles to 8:24 min/miles and I was able to lift my game and make the pace as we hit the 18 mile mark. I felt strong, relaxed and not too tired. All in all, a very good overall run at this stage of my recovery to full fitness and a very solid base to go into my winter base endurance training.
I am also reading the Daniels Running Formula http://www.amazon.com/Daniels-Running-Formula-Jack/dp/0880117354 and really enjoying it. Justin has used the calculations for the last couple of years and found them very useful. I will let you know how I get on and if I think they are worth recommending