Coasting ...

I've been accused of coasting by my brother. Coasting means not applying oneself, not trying your hardest, taking it easy ... and he's right, in a way. Marathon training is hard work. Not only is the weekly mileage a grind but it's combined with interval training both long and short to increase speed and endurance. Then comes the marathon race itself and when this is over, your body is simply not ready to restart immediately. All the training books suggest that you take between one month and 6 weeks to fully recover and my own experience is similar. This doesn't mean that you can't run during this time. No, it just means that you shouldn't be looking to be competitive during this period and to ease off on the race schedule.

Well, I've done all that and started racing again: Les Flambeaux in mid-November; Conflans in early December; and now Houilles at end December. However, the quality of my training hasn't improved. Apart from a few intermittent track sessions at the club, I haven't been constant with the interval sessions and doing these on a regular basis. This is how I'll improve.

Having stated the obvious, it's confession time. I got up at 6:00 am to go for a run again this morning and some quick thoughts about 24x200m intervals were banished from my mind and I went for the easy option. All of this in the space of a nano-second. Intervals are never easy but at this time in the morning, they are virtually unthinkable. So, this is how I did them: 'virtually' !

I set off at a brisk pace and was a little surprised by how quick I was going. This lasted 150 metres before the effort was felt and I slowed down to my normal training pace. From then on the pace was constant and it was my usual 10 kilometre route by the river, through the park and back through Le Mesnil. My legs felt heavy and I had to push myself to pick up speed several times during the course of the run. My left thigh is particularly sore with the hamstring and the front of the thigh feeling tight. I assume this is the after-effect of Houilles and nothing more serious.

10.3km all up in 46:22 or an average of 4:30 per km exactly. Not the quickest or the best of runs and definitely not the quality training that I need at the moment but it's keeping the mileage up at least.