By Paul Lacey
Second Place, a PB, but the old boy awaits me…
Wow! I couldn’t have asked for a better first week to my training. I may be sat here with mild cramp hitting my hamstring every five or so minutes but, I did it. Training plan? Kept to it to the letter. Mileage? 55 big Ms.10km race? It went better than I could have ever dreamt. A massive PB AND…..2nd place waaaaahhhhhh!!! My first ever trophy in a race. I’m over the moon! Had you asked my opinion on how the race was going at about 8km, through the grunts, dribble and gurning, you may have been able to pick out me attempting to communicate that the pace was absurd, and that I harboured genuine concerns about my health. But as with all flat out, 100% effort, soul searching races – it was so so so worth it!
Now, let us not get carried away here Lacey. You did well. Give yourself a pat on the back….but you’ve got much bigger (and older) fish to fry. Next Sunday I will race the Lidl Kingston Breakfast Run 20 miler. Yet another fantastic test race – my goal is sub 7 minutes per mile, slightly slower than (UK) target marathon pace. And who is going to be there? THE OLD MAN!!!!!!! That’s right he’s racing too. The first race between us since he marginally beat me (destroyed me) at the Brighton Marathon last year.
“So Dad, what’s your target?”
“You”
“Oh good”
Game. On. What a race this is going to be. Lacey vs Lacey. Youth(ish) vs experience. Speed vs Endurance. 20 miles of tactical games and hard running. Will redemption be mine…..?
Six Day African Adventure
I almost dropped my phone with excitement when I saw the Facebook post that the UGM team posted on Saturday – the 6 day UGM schedule! And what a schedule. A perfect balance of activities and relaxation if you ask me (we will have to run a marathon at the end of this epic week!). Highlights for me? The trip to Lake Nabugabo to watch the sunset, marshalling the kids race (carnage), and of course the after race celebrations around a bonfire. Wow. Just wow. All while being camped in a fantastic Athletes Village (feel like an Olympian). Food, drink, tent and banter included. Perfect.
The Altitude Centre
I said last week I’d give a quick insight into a rather amazing discovery I made a couple of weeks ago – The Altitude Centre:
A sealed room at a simulated altitude of 2700M in the heart of the City of London. Ouch. Treadmill interval sessions that make you really appreciate our oxygen rich sea-level air. I’ve read various articles about altitude training, but never actually tried it, and with our race being at 1200M I will be fascinated to see the impact this has on my performance. I’ve only had a couple of sessions but will keep you up to date. If you’re interested, this link goes to the website. Be prepared for lung burn!!
Plan this week (Week 2):
This week I will continue to ramp up the mileage in this Foundation Phase. A large chunk of my mileage is at an easy to steady pace (i.e. a minute or so per mile slower than mara pace). All of this helps build up my aerobic capacity to allow me to really take advantage of the marathon pace specific training in the later weeks.
Next week I’ll give you a blow by blow run down of the showdown. Who will be King at Kingston? I also have some rather exciting news to share with you….
