Project 800m

Today was the start of a new target for me. I really needed to freshen things up and going from marathons to 5k to steeplechase I just haven't found something I can really get my teeth into.

If I am honest, I really wanted to chase but the last one just went horrible. To be fair, I will try again this year and I think I'll have to perfect the foot on and see how that goes. 

So I settled on something I toyed with for a year or so in my head. Focus on 800m. Last year I ran 2.13 off 5k training and this year I think I can go sub 2.10 with some focus. That puts me borderline competitive as a V45 (low 2 mins would be national level).

So after consulting super coach Ashy I ran an old session - 3 x 200, 200, 400 off 200 slow jog and 5 min set rest. The idea is to run these really hard but controlled.

Actually I was only supposed to do 2 sets BUT the main command was to warm the legs up so an extra set in Vaporfly before I went into spikes.

Times were -

31,33,67

31,32,65

31,32,67

Then I did some extra stuff with Turner but that's not important !!!

Paces felt solid, I def felt the lactic by the end and top end speed is massively limiting factor BUT it's a good start. Off that 800m pace should be around 2.12 (the avge of the 400s) but we shall see how it goes on Sunday.

Next up I need to do some hard float 400s on Thursday on grass. If I can keep pushing those times down then it'll hopefully be a good push towards low 2 mins.

It's nice to change focus. Less emphasis on miles and more on speed. It's back to my roots to be honest and I'm keen on the challenge.

First Southern League on Sunday and I go in 800m and 400m. The dream target is sub 2.10 and sub 60 BUT I'll take anything very close to last seasons bests (2.13.8 and 62.2).

The main thing holding me back right now is the nerve issue in my glute / hip / back. It's quite painful when it's bad and probably just needs 3 - 4 days complete rest to release so that's frustrating. I'll reasses after these races in the next 7 days but it's been a big hinderance.

Ice on the glute seems to help but stretching doesn't make much of a difference. I'm trying all day today to release my back which is tight. I'll try rolling and stretching the calf and also adding a heel step in my shoe when I run later to see if that affects it.

It's so weird as I can barely walk upstairs but equally I can run 65 secs for 400m !

I'll also swap out my pillow tonight and see if that helps. Last night it was painful constantly so I took ibro to get off to sleep.

I see another daily blog coming up about managing this now !!