Monday 5th - Friday 9th November

Training Report:

Having trained really hard for the last three weeks, upping both my mileage and the intensity of some of my sessions, this week's training was cut back. It's important to let my body recover from all the training I've been doing, especially as I've increased my mileage and it takes time for the body to adjust to this. The theory is that after three weeks of increased mileage you cut it back by half for a week, keeping the quality speed sessions as they had been in the previous weeks. Then next week I go back to the same mileage as before and then up it again for another two weeks and then we start the cycle all over again.

It was a really interesting week, each day my legs began to feel fresher. I noticed a real difference during my Tuesday session of 8 x 800 metres. As well as feeling strong and smooth throughout my leg speed was really good. My coach decided to make me run my first and last reps four seconds a lap faster than the rest. This was in order to simulate race conditions in which you go off hard at the start to gain your position, then slip back into your race pace, then quickening the speed to ensure a strong finish. The rest of the week was a breeze and by Thursday I had to keep telling myself to ease back on my easy runs as my legs just really wanted to run fast!