2022 Season Pt 1 Lap 1 Done

2022 for me is a season of two halves. I have just had my first break of the first half so back on it now with a solid push up to my big summer break.

Trip to Barcelona to watch the grand prix was awesome. Ended up on a big 4 day booze streak with very little sleep. Today is a reset as I try and detox my body back into life and start back training to get back into shape.

I have a massive block of races coming up through June so I really need to start moving. No point training hard in April and being stagnant through the best racing months.

Session today to reboot is 12 x 75/45 on the treddy. I'll drop back to 19.3 to give the legs a chance and see where they are at. It's going to be a tough session but once it's in the can I think the body will readjust to training mode.

First big race is Watford over 3000m next Wednesday and a chance to get a decent time in the bag. Some hefty targets in mind coming up and plenty of opportunity to race myself fit. At my age I need to box clever though and use some races to train and some races to race!

Changes to training plan from this week ... 2nd session will be a 5 mile tempo at and around threshold. Long run will be coke club with a few extra miles. I WILL try a mona fartlek. Racing is priority session and I'll adjust and adapt around that. I will get an 800m and a 1500m time in. Easy runs will be crazy easy from now.

This week's plan ...

Mon - rest

Tue - 12x75/45 + shakeout (8)

Wed - Coke Club run and back (12)

Thu - 5 progressive tempo (7)

Fri - recovery 6 plus strides (6)

Sat - Parkrun tempo plus cooly (7)

Sun - 800m race long cool down (5)

Tuesday - changed session to 10 x 60/30 at 19.5 kmph. Stomach and head are still hanging. Legs felt fresh and pace was good. If everything else settles down over next day or so I'll be golden but feeling shite overall. Added an easy shakeout around the cricket pitch whilst waiting for J to finish Karate but only 2 miles. Decent start back

Wednesday - Coke club with Rich and Wayne. 10k around Cambourne just under 8s. Feels like shelling peas BUT I feel like I am coming down with something.

Thursday - feel pretty ill. Solid 9 hours kip but I don't feel good at all. Frustrating with everything coming up. Don't panic, eat well and drink plenty. No running today, need to recover.  I can get this back if I do everything right. One of those things, sore throat and feel fluey in head. Not dying, could run if forced but just need to chill.

Covid test is negative, checking back on the blog I get things like this occasionally. It's a few days then back on it. Give the legs a chance to recover and hopefully I haven't lost too much. 

Friday - wake up and feeling much much better. Sleep helps, who'd a thunk it. OK, so decide to just go out and run and move through the gears a bit to check how things are.

Jog first mile in 7.55. HR 129 bpm feeling nice and relaxed. Open up mile 2 aiming for 7.30 but end up running 7.02. HR little high at 149 bpm but it's into a wind so can allow that.

Mile 3 ramp up to 6.20. Was aiming at 6.30 but just bouncing along. Feel good to be fair. Stop to tie shoes (and not take HR too high too soon). Everything is going OK. HR 153 bpm for the mile maxing at 161

4th mile decide to wind it up. Aiming at 10k effort but get carried away. It's downhill and wind behind. Legs feel astonishingly good at this pace. 5.23 for the mile at 167 bpm avge with a max of 173 so roughly where it would be in a solid 5k.

Ease down to a 7/mm on the way home and then last half mile at 6.30 pace without feeling like I was pushing at all.

Happy with that! Feels like legs are coming round and have enjoyed some time off. Breathing / heart not quite 100% but hopefully tomorrow should be better. Feel much better about races coming up after that as conditioning isn't nearly as bad as I had worried it would be.

Plan now just get some consistency back and race myself fit.

Will run easy tomorrow at Park Run and add a few extras in. 800m race Sunday to get one on the po10 but it won't be pretty.

Saturday - Park Run. Had a terrible nights sleep. Was planning to trot round in 20 mins with Monkey so up at 7.30, no warm up, no breakfast (just had a banana and coffee), no usual prep. Arrive late. Jog the 2km from car.

Gun goes bang and settle off at 6/mm pace which I decided on the line. Get in a groove. Push on a bit. Feels very manageable but feel sluggish. 5.30 first mile.

Push forwards to next group, harder work than I want but relaxed. Not checking Garmin, all to feel. 5.46 next mile. Weigh it up, roughly 18 flat pace (I think).

Last mile just run aiming to keep it consistent. Not pretty, feels a lot harder than it should. 5.47 for the mile. Finish up without pushing too hard.

Final scores on the doors - 17.45, 7th place, 345w, 164 bpm (170 max)

OK so finishing up, I have no idea how I've run a minute faster this year lol. But on analysis, yeah, it makes total sense. In fact off of everything happening it's not a terrible workout.

Comparatively to last year whilst in similar shape I ran 17.45 off same HR and max with a slightly higher pace fade (5.35 first mile). So the data just suggests that PE was higher today (it felt harder than it should) BUT I've had so many mitigating factors that's not a shock. Last year i bounced back with a 16.49 the following weekend BTW.

Lack of sleep really killed me today, I think that was a huge factor. Not being 100% healthy too is a big one. I felt pretty rough out there, it'll get out of my system but it's just not gone.

Not preparing as I usually do too and going in to a run ready to go as hard as I can V today looking for an easy run cannot be overlooked. Mentally and physically preparing to run hard OR actually seeing through my 20 min target would have felt much better. Fragile ego alert !!

But tomorrow is the bigger race this weekend. Ideally in the 2.15 range to get me a good spring board.

Watford Wednesday is still a big target but I know I won't be sharp which is frustrating. Big block of races coming up that will be fast so I need to start moving through the gears.

So for tomorrow, focus tonight is eat healthy, drink water and sleep and hopefully wake up with good legs!

Sunday - up and at them !! Woke up feeling ok-ish. Not 100% that much I knew! Out for a jog to wake the legs up 2 ish miles around 7.50 pace feeling pretty ok when I got going. Head to Peterborough. I will say I had very very low expectations. Would love to go 2.13-2.14 but thinking anything under 2.20 would be pretty good considering how I feel.

Sawyer boy is racing before me and he smashes it with a 2.17.4 pb (I thought he'd run 2.15).

My race goes off quick. I settle in off the back behind a non scorer. Go through 200 in 32 and then try to relax but keep the pace high. 65 at the bell. Not terrible but I know I'll slow. On to the back straight I actually try to work to move up to the non scorer. Not happening. Glance at watch at 600m and 1.40 which is actually pretty decent. I start to feel like it's really hard work but with 150m to go I start to feel strained and with about 90m to go it's all I have to keep moving. Stagger across the line in 2.18.4 which in fairness is about where I would expect.

It's actually not too great BUT I do have positives. First race, not feeling 100% actually moving well to 65 at the bell, no real speed work block. These are great signs that I can get that down over the coming weeks.

If I can get healthy I think that's 2 secs right there and just off having a race in my legs that's another 2 secs so around 2.14 already, I can hopefully move closer to 2.10 by the end of the season which would be amazing.

Recovering now, I am certainly coming through the worst of the illness BUT we have friends over and we are on the piss today so going to be a write off unless I can control myself (I can't !!)

Next week I will pull the plug on Watford and hope to get healthy again and just resume 'classic' training plan.

Race wise it's either Park Run or club 1500m (or both)

REview

OK I basically ruined myself this week by getting smashed in Barca last week. It's not critical, I actually feel like I am in decent shape I'm just waiting to get healthy again and then back into the groove.

I'll swerve Watford which is annoying but right now I need no illness, lots of sleep and a return to a training routine and my legs will come good.

On a very positive side the last few weeks of 'down' for various reasons have pretty much cleared my niggles. I'm starting a rebuild now from a pretty solid position so if I can get on top of my health, nutrition, s&c & sleep it may be very good next week !!