TRAINING - PHASE 2

It was good to have a low mileage week, last week, and to be able to go out and have a run because I wanted to run and enjoy it rather than because I had a planned training session to complete. Only ran just over 20 miles in 4 sessions. Back to high mileage weeks and phase 2 of my training.

The last few months have been base training i.e. gradually increasing my mileage but running at a slow steady pace, based on my heart rate at endurance levels. Had some tests done by an exercise physiologist and for me that is a pulse rate of between 130 and 140 per minute, which equates to about 10 minutes per mile.

Am now moving into the next phase where I will gradually increase my mileage but include some "quality" sessions with a pulse rate between 150 and 160. Am hoping to gradually increase my mileage to a maximum of 100 per week and most still at a slow steady pace. Might be difficult to get so many miles in, and may need two training sessions per day on some days, as also want to try to continue to get 2 rest days per week. The rest days are as important a part of training as the running, allowing my body to recover and rebuild to move on and gradually increase my training. Having hit 58 today they are also important to reduce the risk of injury or illness, either of which scenarios could be a real problem at this stage!

In terms of the quality sessions I want to add one per week initially but move onto two per week. These will be either:

• a tempo session of 4 to 5 miles at a pace 20 seconds per mile greater than my 10 K race pace - so for me that will be about 7mins 35 secs per mile (with 1-2 miles warm up and cool down at beginning and end)
• a hill session - fast pace up hill (heart rate 150-160) and recover when running down hill - repeated over planned distance OR
• interval session - variable planned distances at same heart rate as for hills with recovery jogs depending upon how far the faster intervals are and again with warm up and cool down

I am also planning, as one of the slow steady sessions, if possible once per week to do a really long session with a pack on my back. This will be mainly walking and is aimed to get me used to being on my feet for a long time and carrying a pack on my back. It will not be possible to run all of the MdS so walking training is going to be important. So plan to start this week with 7 to 8 hours and about 12 lbs weight and increase to about 12 hours and whatever weight I am likely to be carrying in the Sahara, which I estimate at present will be about 22 to 25 lbs (plus water supplies).

It would be much easier if it wasn't winter with very limited hours of daylight!