Week in Review: 7 - 13 Mar '16

Started experimenting with polarised training this week, sometimes called the 80/20 approach. In short, approximately 80% of your running it done very easy and 20% is done very hard. For the very easy, I stuck to my usual MAF and for the very hard I introduced intervals. Tuesday I did 4x 8min intervals as fast as I could hold the pace for each (uniquely effective intervals, possibly) and then Thursday I did 10x ~100m all out sprints.

The Tuesday session took quite a bit out of me so I took Wednesday off. I was quite surprised at how well my body coped with the Thursday session with the only signs the next morning were slightly stiff legs and biceps and triceps that felt like I'd been lifting heavy weights. The slight stiffness in my legs didn't affect my running as Friday's run was lovely and Saturday's parkrun was my fastest this year at 18:52. Granted nowhere near my PB of 17:10 but hopefully it's a trend in the right direction.

Today's long run was lovely. I've learnt from my previous mistake so double-checked all my turn points ahead of my run on Google Streetview and did the correct route I'd planned for that week. Ran on nothing but a cup of tea and a dessert spoon of MCT oil.

I'm hoping this polarised training will produce some really impressive results. The theory is all there, and backed by science and elite performances. Whilst I know I won't get anywhere near elite, I'd love to smash my previous PBs in all distances before old age kicks in.

That said, there won't be much all-out training next week. Fleet half-marathon on Sunday and I think I may be able to dip under 80mins.