Saturday, July 28, 2007

W4D5&6 - Lock and Load

Have to confess to feeling a little tired after Thursdays sessions, even though it wasn't me doing the hardest work :). So Friday, after a good week, became a day of rest, a way to recharge the batteries. As I have got older, I have become more and more convinced about the benefits of a full rest day in a training programme. As a younger runner, my "rest" days may have consisted of a 3 mile light jog (probably ran it faster then than I could do a speed session today!), but these days a 24 hour rest once a week is, I believe, far more beneficial. So I took the day of from running.

This morning, fully recharged, and with the morning sun shining brightly, I set out for a steady run along the canal and up to Harolds X, before turning back and running the opposite bank, back towards the Liffey and Grand Canal Basin, home. A few other runners crossed my path, pleasantries were exchanged, and I ran around 8:20 pace for a 4.75 mile run. This is a good distance for me at present, somewhere between a speed session distance, and some miles in the legs - remember I am only in Week 4, but with a trip up north today and an easy run tomorrow, I will have completed a 25 mile week for the first time in ages, and running passed all the Locks on the canal, and having reLoaded myself with the rest yesterday, I am prepared for the challenges ahead over the next 16 weeks.

1 comment:

runner26 said...

Rest days are key. I am not a big fan of "junk miles", but some people really like to run every day. It seems like you are being very smart about your training.