My training for my first 100K race is progressing nicely. With my last long run I saw an improvement in pace (-24 seconds average pace per mile) and average bpm heart rate went down by 4. Of course those numbers could be deceiving as there are a lot of factors that influence heart rate or average, but I want to believe that this is because of my training.

I am doing a lot of speedwork (hill sprints) and 1,000 meter interval runs (5 x 1,000 intervals) which accounts for a total of two speed training sessions per week. I had done some sprint training before, but not the intervals, so I think it will take at least another week before I can honestly confirm that my performance is improving significantly.

I think I will do at least another run on my Saturday long run route before switching things up. For one it will help to compare numbers better + at the moment I am more concerned about miles as in distance. I have enough hills on my runs during the week – at least for now. Come January I will shift some of my trail running towards more hilly trail runs to build up more strength and distance.

I am still above MAF target heart rate. I am mostly following the Phil Maffetone MAF method for my running, but switched temporarily into speed building mode. Come mid-January that shift will reverse back to plain MAF.