Warming Up

Weather is starting to warm up now, this is my time !! I bloody hate running in the cold. I am solar powered lol !!

Last week headed to Lower Mill after Park Run up until yesterday to finialise getting the place ready for rentals. Brave new world as a side hustle now looks like a full time job! It's already going well to be fair and this Friday we have our very first paying guests!

To finish the training week from last blog, Sunday I decided to run a bit firmer. Idea was to keep the effort sub threshold but on the border. 10 miles @ 6.22/mm and HR really nice average and only dipped into threshold for a few minutes. Felt pretty good and enjoyed running quicker again.

Finished week with 38.9 miles and 391 TSS. Lower miles but more value.

Monday - rest. I feel a bit ants in my pants on rest days now. My weight is an issue and I can't stop eating shit or drinking long enough to get that down where it needs to be which is frustrating. 

Tuesday - session. Lifted the session to 7 mins 30 secs @ LT (17.2 kmph). Then almost straight into 1 min @ 18.5 kmph, 1 min rest. 2 mins @ 18.5, 1 min rest, 4 mins @ 18.5. 4 mins or so break to bring down HR then 7 mins 30 secs @ LT (5 mins at 17.2 but reduced to keep HR down last 2.30 as was starting to go way beyond LT).

As I got to the empty gym, I set all my stuff up. Went to toilet and as I was finishing up heard door going. Literally ran to get to treddy just before some old dolly. That's why I adapted the session from last week for shorter jogged recovery so I could do the main part and then wipe down and offer it around. No one took it so I did the last LT section. Air con was off so was really hot and I sweat absolutely everywhere lol. Warm up and cool down outside.

Session was pretty decent. I like those big LT blocks as off a rest day that feels absolutely fine. The 1, 2 & 4 min sections at 18.5 were aiming to get some 3k pace work in off short recovery between blocks. It's actually a really nice session and probably balances out as a 5k session with 22 mins hovering above and below 5k effort. 

Obviously this session kind of merges into the straight km reps or 3 min efforts that I usually do on Thursdays. But that then does give me the option to address the speed issue on Thursday and do a straight old fashioned speed session.

Felt really good post session, just slight ache in hip.

Wednesday - recovery day between sessions. Aim to keep HR below 140 bpm and just get a nice easy run in. Outcome 6.6 miles @ 7.54/mm for 133 bpm. That is seriously low for me. Felt best I have felt running for a very long time. Pretty much ticked every box, hoping that this is the start of finding some form as I really feels like I am ready to kick out a decent run.

Weight is my issue right now. Without going too mad I really feel like I need to be running at sub 10 st 7 lbs. My power is really good but it's just being hampered. Not 100% sure how to address it without moving into obsession area. I train hard, I get 17 mins 18 for 5k, I have fun outside running. I can't get too focussed until I'm knocking on the door or 16 mins !!

I'm feeling a little achey & tired between runs. That's normal I guess once training improves. I do like that feeling that I get on 30 miles per week. I can run hard and (relatively) fast every day and wake up feeling 'on'. As I'm pushing more volume and still adapting I feel heavy and lethargic. Once I get going I am good, I guess I just need time for it all to click into place.

Thursday - session. Ouchy

Screenshot above. Short and sharp! Usual warm up and then 5 x 90 secs off around 2.30 recovery. Aim of the session is to build lactate - lots of it. Was originally planning 60 secs at 20 kmph and then last 30 secs harder but I just don't have the legs (yet). This works out really well as 5 x 500m at 1500m pace really. I think this session can build nicely this year adding an extra rep until it's 8 reps and then bring down recovery to 90 secs. Right now though this absolutely hits the area that I need to work on. In fact I may target this for both sessions next week hovering around this sweet spot. Nether the less I shall see how Saturday goes again!

Power chart moves around as I wore the Takumi Sen for the first 3 reps, then Meta Speed and then Alphafly.

Interesting data comparison -

Takumi sen - 408w, 192 spm, 78w Form Power, 11.5 LSS, 162 GCT, 4:37/mm

Metaspeed - 383w, 191 spm, 77w Form Power, 11.9 LSS, 167 GCT, 4:56/mm

AlphaFly - 392w, 189 spm, 79w Form Power, 12.8 LSS, 160 GCT, 4:50 /mm

HR Max - TS = 165 bpm, MS = 166 bpm, AF = 161 bpm

Looking at the data, the shoes take power as speed so the opposite to what looks correct is true here. The Takumi Sen require way more power to reach same treadmill speed as Alpha and Meta Speed. Also, LSS is comparing stiffness, the Takumi Sen are just too stiff.

The Alphafly come in bang on correct pace of 3 mins per km so the analysis works. I need 392w to run a 15 min 5k.

The AlphaFly are clearly giving a larger VO which in turn leads to slightly less strides per minute (longer stride length) which seems to be giving a huge benefit in terms of heart rate. In fact either the Alpha Fly are massively reducing heart rate OR my treadmill ran slow on that last effort. 

Clearly looking at this data the Takumi Sen are the slowest shoe as they require more effort to run fast. The Asics are my benchmark shoe and seem to be second place here. A long way clear are the Alpha Fly. So this Saturday I am turning up to Park Run as that guy haha

Not sure why the Alphas HR was so good here but that may be a huge boost come Saturday. 

Quick and dirty math says 323w = 3.45 per km. 392w = 3.00 per km. That means 360w = 16.45. 354w (last PR in Asics) = 17.05. It will be interesting to see what happens !!

Anyways, enough geekery. 3 mile cool down for fairly OK mileage for the day.

Name of the game next week is to start relaxing at this sort of pace. I know I cannot keep at it but we'll see how that affects things. Need a shake up right now.

Friday - Shakeout day. Felt a bit bleugh, couldn't really get much effort in but just kept nice and relaxed although I would hope legs could trundle along at 7.45 pace with zero effort it was 8.09 in the end. 5 miles, HR 131 which is really low. 

Garmin told me I was productive and in 16.31 shape yesterday decided that over night I had become unproductive and in 16.44 shape !

OK so traditional pre-race (hmm, can we call Park Run that) predictor. I actually feel confident that tomorrow will go well. Weather looks great so far and I'm more confident that the Alphafly will be faster. I think I will go sub 17 but not by much. I certainly don't think it'll be a hard tempo effort it'll take more than that.

Just need to wake up with good legs, warm up properly and get that first mile in feeling relaxed at too quick a pace.

My thoughts today turn to training paces. I'm pushing pretty hard, possibly way too hard. My ideology is to run at a quick pace and then make that pace feel relaxed as the weeks roll by. Maybe I should train at the correct paces and naturally improve off those paces. I guess I'll have to see how next few weeks unfold. My head tells me what I am doing is right but I know it'll take time to adapt. Progression does not need to be more and faster but comfortable.  I know ultimately longer reps (3-5 mins) need to be at 5/mm feeling relaxed. That is where my head is.

Saturday - woke up feeling pretty good. Bit achey but to be expected. Moving day, time to start getting some pace on the board.

Head to Storys Field. Decent warm up and feel ok. Race goes off and it's normal start. Back off slightly and settle. Feel good today. Bit of a wind out there in places and fairly soon (about 1200m in) I'm solo. Pass usual mile marker in low 5.20s but garmin not beeped. Shows up as 5.25 on later inspection. Know i'm in decent shape. Push on as usual 2nd mile. Not sure why (Garmin shows 2nd mile beeps quite late) but 5.35 for the mile. fade a little as I'm isolated in that wind. Push on, hold it together for the last mile. Garmin shows 5.33 so picked up and then have to run fairly hard last turn as someone is kicking behind. Already know I am outside 17 though.

Scores on the doors 17.03 (ouch) from 350w. HR 166 bpm avge 173 max. Comparatively better performance, mainly due to foot wear and conditions. 

Actually 3rd quickest ever Park Run. Pretty annoyed not to go under but that will come. I really believe getting some speed work in will help get me there.

Power wise, I was 3w down on last week which leads me to believe the shoes have different outcomes. HR is a closer test and this week I was slightly higher which shows more effort.

I'd say that puts me better than 17 shape on an evening 5k and fresh. Bit of a way off finding that out and nice to be able to put this sort of effort in first thing.

Key take away for me is I need to find a lot more mile pace. Speed work is key now, I need a block of training where I am getting much faster at a relaxed pace. Train like a miler but do long runs and keep this effort in as tempo.

Once that block is achieved I'll go back to longer intervals but until then I need to focus on leg speed.

Sunday - up and ached quite a bit today. Not a good sign. Marshaled Jr Parkrun and watched sawyer get a new pb and cource record at Cambourne xx

Jogged over to Ian's house and set off for a long run. Plan was Ians 15 loop then run home but we side tracked to do Ian's loop and then head directly back to mine on the road. Finished up with 17 miles @ 7.03/mm for 148 bpm. 

Decent run and will be interesting to see what adaptions I get from this. Longest run since Loch Ness Mara 2018 I think?

Last 5/6 were pretty tough and definitely noticed lack of conditioning as pace never felt an issue. Quite a lumpy route and 100% on road.

Very tired as soon as I got back. Def need a rest day tomorrow.

Finished the week on 48 miles. 2 solid sessions, a Park Run and a Long Run at a decent clip so ticked a lot of boxes this week. Pushing quite hard at the minute, need to see how the next few weeks pans out as for this amount of effort I need to see some decent times. Next week my sessions will be mile focused to see if that brings along the pace. I'm possibly pushing too hard so if next week isn't amazing I may back all paces off a little, run to form and see if that helps.

Either way I need to start looking at being closer to 16.30 than 17.00 at this stage so something needs to happen.