Analysis of the week

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First week of the new schedule done. Wow, I've been through a few this year !!

In fairness it's all just a continuation of a theme but last week I think I actually got it kind of right in some ways, and massively wrong in others.

The plan was (is) to build leg speed by doing fast, short reps. This has paid off previously. Then build in a longer session at faster than race pace to learn to relax (lactate buffer). Add in hills for strength. Finally hard tempo Parkrun.

All of these I did. 

The 60 / 60 session was done at a much faster pace than usual. Starting at 8 reps the idea is to build this session over winter to move from 8 - 12 reps. It's a long game !

The longer reps are probably the weak link right now. I won't be building that up too much for some time as it's tougher but as it progresses this will be key session. Aim right now is to relax at pace rather than just layer on more reps / intensity. But ideally get these to 4 x 5 mins from 3 x 3.30. Right now the session is too easy but I'm not fit enough to build too fast.

The hills were great. 10 miles with 12 x crow hill (45 secs) a great workout to be fair and happy to continue doing this one all winter. Add in an extra rep per week.

Parkrun - as said was frustratingly bad BUT I think I can get that back to low 17s again just by getting the head right. Ideally running hard in 5.2x range is progress from 5.3x but I'll play it safe next weekend and wear the metaspeed and run to power.

Sessions ticked off. Not perfect but it's done which is a big step.

What went wrong was mainly that I didn't have a rest day. I just dragged out the fatigue from Sundays race straight into the week. That meant my easy runs were all recovery runs - even the easy stuff was far too slow (long 7s). Recovered enough to get the sessions done but not enough to build strength and fitness.

Lesson learnt this week - rest Monday and run stronger through the week. Possibly rest Friday if needed and run better on Parkrun. Have to remember the goal is 5k not marathon


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