Week 9 (76 Miles)

A good week: my first 40 mile running week for ages. Kept the intensity fairly high on 3 runs, finishing with a good effort in Sunday's cross country. Things are looking promising for the Abbey Dash, provided that I organise my training and nutrition properly next week. I weigh about 68kg at the moment and would like to race off 66kg, but can't afford to sacrifice carbohydrate intake to lose weight...

I am still in the middle of nowhere, heading along Highway 95 with Death Valley to the South and Nellis Air Force Range (where US pilots learn how to shoot each other down) just to the North.

Mon: 22 miles (exercise bike; 60 minutes on 'heart rate hill' programme, a form of interval training really. Didn't push too hard, but still had a good workout)
Tues: 7 miles (run, steady run with Abbey @ 7:20 min/mile)
Weds: 9 miles (3 miles easy bike; 6 miles easy run with DL @7:55 min/mile)
Thurs: 6 miles (run; Abbey track session - 8 x 3 min with 90s recoveries. Averaged about 880m per effort. Tough session, but good fun)
Fri: 8 miles (exercise bike, steady)
Sat: 10 miles (3 miles easy cycling; 7 miles run @ 6:55 min/mile pace. A reasonably hard run, pushed a bit harder in the middle)
Sun: 14 miles (2 runs: 7.5 miles very easy recce of Calderdale Way Relay Leg 5 in the morning, West Yorkshire Cross Country race in the afternoon - much better effort than my last performance in this series; finished 127th in 38:40)