Last week I completed my schedule sucessfully. 7 miles on Wednesday - 4 miles steady, then just over 3 miles doing intervals. On Thursday a straight 6 miles, steady.
Saturday I did an 11 mile walk, which turned into a 50% run as I was running late for a physio appointment. We are having a heatwave here, especially warm in the West Midlands, with temperatures up to 32C. Walking and running is pretty punishing. I had also picked a challenging route. Not just the elevation profile, but the terrain was tough. Long grass, thorny thickets, and plenty of brambles and stinging nettles. I ran out of water about 2 miles before the finish. There was no problem with that, and I felt fine as I finished, but it's useful to gauge how much more I use when it's warmer. I walked/ran with a 3.5kilo pack, 1.5 of that was liquid.
Yesterday I completed a 12.5 mile run at easy pace. I set out up a a steep bank and my average pace was 10:10 minute miles. I decided to run to that pace for the whole run. It was very comfortable throughout, so much so that I picked up the pace in the last 1.5miles and finished the whole route with an average of 9:59. I wasn't trying to run particulary fast at all, it was just easy pace, but I wanted to prove to myself that I had plenty left in the tank, despite a very steep climb about 2 miles before the end of the run, as you can see from the map and elevation profile (The run is the first map that goes through Talke, Alsager, then Audley). I ran in the evening, about 7:30 finishing just after 9:30. I did this because of the heat. I fully realise that the Des Sables is twice as hot, but for now I'm marathon training, not trying to give myself heat stroke. I ran with a 2 kilo pack, 1.5litre of liquid again. I finished it, about 2 miles before, more or less deliberately to ensure I had plenty of energy for the climb near the end.
Next week is week 3, the longest times for everything in this phase. Speak to you next week.
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