Really great week this week loved it and put together some really solid sessions. Confidence is high and really putting in some good and CONSISTENT sessions in to the build up to the West Lancs Summer Tri on the 25th August.
Only session I missed this week was the long bike on the weekend. I simply couldn’t fit it in as volunteered for the local half marathon race which had a massive turnout of over 2,800 athletes. Endurance sport is getting big in the UK. This was by far the most athletes I’ve seen at a race! I really enjoyed the day despite the 5 am getup. This event attracted some serious local talent and the winner came in with a 1 hour 10 min half marathon. Absolutely rapid and I think I would have struggled to keep up for a mile never mind 13, haha.
Despite missing the long bike, which will not be happening for the future! I have put in some great sessions this week.
First of the long run on Monday I executed perfectly. I actually took a drink with me (500ml) and still had a SIS energy gel at the 1 hour mark and I felt great, really good consistent pace then put in some 20 second efforts in the last 20 minutes as Ray prescribed. Below is a snapshot of the session. I highly recommend this session, really boosts your endurance and great for the mental aspect of the long run as you know after 90 minutes you have the 20 second efforts every 5 minutes. Really helps you get through the end of the session and boosts confidence no end! Here’s the link to Rays session notes on this one, give it a go, you won’t regret it.
Other sessions this week was I had the interval session on Wednesday which was the same as last week but 6 reps of the efforts instead of 4. If any of you have done this session, it’s pretty brutal! I’ve put a link to the session below. I completed the 6 reps in zone and loved the session. According to the session notes I’m going to be doing 8 reps of this session next week so that could be interesting, felt pretty tough this week, haha.
So what’s on the cards this weekend! Well I have got my usual session this week, My hill bike, easy pace brick and my long ride. Absolutely adamant I’m having a full green light week, its 7 weeks till the next race and with a 10 min reduction in my PR I’m really going to have knuckle down and put some really quality sessions in to achieve it! Thanks for reading as always and I look forward to next weeks blog.
– Mike Catton
Check out last weeks article here:
All his previous articles are stored here
http://www.coachray.nz/category/client-stories/mikes-middle-distance-magic/