Less Speed To Go Faster.

The day before my Good Friday 26 miler I dropped the speed training session in favour of making the long run much more of a quality session rather than a long old sluggish slog. It worked that well last week I decided to opt for the same idea this week as well, so instead of the speed session yesterday I did one hour 20 minutes of jogging and cycling. I set off on my 21 miler today and straight away I felt alot better and in the first 10 miles (approximately ) I managed to take 8 minutes off compared to last time I ran this route in early March. The route is really flat so although your not putting in hard uphill efforts your also not getting an easy ride down hills so it does need metal toughness knowing your never going to get an easy section. Miles 10 to 15 was a case of keeping the pace fast but at the same time realising my energy and legs were fast diminishing. The last six miles is the same route I use to run home from work so I know exactly how long each each short section takes to run, even though I was absolutely knackered and felt my springy stride had deserted me, I was pleasantly surprised that I wasn't loosing much time compared to running it with fresh legs and when that happens you know your ready for a marathon.
I have the Paris Marathon to watch which I recorded this morning and also this afternoon the best cycle race in the world is on which is the Paris Roubaix world cup race which is better than the Tour de France. Then to finish the evening off the Moto GP is on. So it looks like Sky+ will be earning it's money today as I don't want to be missing out on any of this long awaited sunshine.