Still ticking along nicely. Covered 82 miles this week and the legs are feeling pretty good considering. My 10K track session went well on Wednesday, and I hit very close to goal pace on each of the reps. I also had a very positive long run on Sunday despite the humid weather and breezy conditions. My last couple of long runs have been the fastest pace I’ve ever done for a long run, despite the high mileage in my legs, which hopefully bodes well for marathon training when that gets started next month.
I’ve been considering how to taper for the 10K at the end of the month, and I’ve decided I want to be quite aggressive with the mileage cutback to ensure the legs are as fresh as possible. I’m therefore aiming to do one more 80 mile week next week, then I’ll drop the doubles and cut back the longer runs to come down to around 60 miles. Then in the five days leading up to the 10K I’ll stick to 5 miles or less, with some strides thrown in to stay sharp. Hopefully that will get me to the start line in the best condition possible.
I’m also continuing to do my yoga and strength sessions, managing to do something most days. I’m surprised how much I enjoy the yoga sessions, and I’m definitely starting to nice improvements in the strength sessions too. I purchased a barbell to go with my dumbbells, so I now have a pair of 5 kg dumbbells, a pair of 7.5 kg dumbbells, and 20kg on the barbell. The barbell is much better for doing single-leg deadlifts and weighted squats, and while I know 20kg isn’t much, it’s plenty for my weedy arms at the moment!