Stacking Blocks

Right, so I have some good data now on where I am at.

The bad ...

I'm getting over flu still, I'm not at 100% yet (probs 95%) 

I'm lacking speed endurance, mile speed basically. I'm fading last 200m of an 800m from being on pace and last 1100m of a 1500m. I need to have that 72 second pace nailed to the board and be relaxed. Just tying up waay too much in the closing stages

Lack of confidence.

The good ...

I'm literally one good sleep away from feeling pinging plus I have a rest day Monday.

I have a great base and 5.3x pace feels comfortable enough over 5k

I seem to have pretty solid flat speed. 65 opening lap of an 800m is fine and I wasn't under too much pressure. Felt like a 59 high, 60 low would be possible for a flat 400m.

Reading this I can see exactly whats needed.

Firstly - strengths - keep building on what I am doing. Slightly longer, slightly faster, slightly more. That's pretty obvious. No major changes to my stronger and longer workouts.

Secondly - weakness - speed endurance. Those 500m & 600m reps will pay off here. Ahh, those are the painful ones but I think they will stanmd me in more stead than 800m. 

I am covered with 6 x km at 5k pace. Reduce recovery on those and it'll be an even better session. Possibly move to 3.40 on, 80 off this week and see how that feels. The idea is just to feel uber relaxed at 5k pace. This session will get a pass this week as I do a 5000m track race and hopefully that will all be at 5k pace lol.

I need to do either 8 x 500m or 6 x 600m all at 1500m pace - those are the sessions that will give me strength to hammer out a decent 800/1500m. I need to kick on the last 200m not dig in.

Monday - rest day. Well needed. Crap coming off chest, good sign. The beginning of the end. Talking of which how pony has this weather been :/ cold out and feeling rough = misery. Seriously debating running Weds evening but depends on how I wake up tomorrow. Might hit track tomorrow if there's time. Thinking of a multi pace session but then again need to get those longer efforts done.

May do 6 x 2 mins treddy as a compromise for 600m reps at mile pace/effort. Bit longer but I need to feel that burn.

Tuesday - decision made. Will sack off tomorrow night. Focus can move to Sunday as I'll be better prepared. Feeling much much better today and ready for a hard session. I'll go for the 6 x 2 mins but may need to take a bigger recovery in the middle as this is a stretch session. Haven't pushed the envelope for a while so it'll be interesting.

The key for this session is getting used to running at race pace for longer. If I can start relaxing at these paces in these sessions my times will tumble down over shorter stuff as I get stronger. That 4.37 at the weekend gave up 8 secs on the last lap against my 4.28 so this is where it will happen. 

The added bonus is with better leg speed and better top end engine my 5ks will feel much more relaxed in the first mile and a half so fatigue sets in later - when you fade with less than a km to go you know you can keep it moving.

Feeling better today. Good sleep, guts seem healthy, flu seems to be out of my system and rest day yesterday so legs are all good. Nice session to start the week and shift focus now to Sunday and a decent crack at a 3k. Finally get down to 9.30 after 4 seasons now in the 40s and 50s

So, the session... warmed up feeling tight in the glutes and achey. Bleugh. Still not quite right. Did drills outside and some rolling.

Session plan was 6 x 2 off 2. Started the first and decided on 19.8 kmph target speed. First one felt as usual. Far too hard ! Second rep underway and started to settle a bit. Decided on Alphafly as calf was aching so wanted to give myself best chance to get through it! Got through 2nd and 3rd rep. Getting tough at half way house. 4th rep started to crack. 5th rep decided now to reduce and settle at 90 seconds. Tough nut but cracked it. 90 secs recovery then ramped to 20 kmph for 60 seconds and then 30 secs recovery and final rep at 30 seconds.

Actually felt ok considering that was a tough session. Mentally I got it done but it's a tough draw. This is exactly what I need to focus beyond 60 secs. I just need to nail the session over the next few weeks now and it'll pay off for my shorter races. Cool down outside at low 7s.

Stryd power gave me bang on for treddy pace. 374w for 3.01 per km. that's just outside 1500m pace so exactly right for this session.

Wednesday - bleugh. Train run on the Eltisley loop. Really tired today so very slow and easy but just felt tired and weak. Thinking back today, I think with a harder session targetting fatigue resistance for 800/1500m and a solid race each week I really need to make my longer interval session much more tempo effort. Tomorrows I'll dial back paces to closer to 10k effort with some hadrer sprints at the end. Need to focus on recovery today.

Entered the 3000m on Sunday so this week I'll do bigger volume session tomorrow, go very easy on Friday. Repeat on Saturday with strides and then Race Sunday. Even though I'll only taper for serious A race efforts from now on, I'll give myself chances in these lead up races.

I need to start dropping from 17 ish solid 5k effort to 16.30 fairly soon. That'll give me a shot at sub 16 at some stage.

I do think a stretch session at mile pace - 6 x 2, 8 x 90 type of sessions will really help with my track work but I do need to keep that tempo style effort in there just bringing the pace down so I'm getting 8k of volume at way under 6/mm overall without breaks. Maybe I'll dop the 2 x 5k hill session tomorrow? Hmm, good shout that one, keep HR under control and compare paces to previous efforts.

Plan today tho is RECOVER and gain all those wonderful adaptions.

Thursday - up and feeling better. Decide on session (this changed about 15 times over the week). Longer tempo effort in Cambourne. Mile warm up, 2 miles @ just under LT, 3 miles just over LT, rest then 3 x 60 on, 60 off and cool down.

Outcome - mile warm up. 6.59/mm feeling bullet proof. Piss break then into the tempo. Immediately notice the wind, just takes the edge off pace. Hit target HR (158 bpm) too early and just try not to give away too much too soon. 2 miles up in 6.12 and 6.08 - avge 156 bpm so on target. Stop to allow HR to drop and stretch glutes as they are already lighting up. Into 3 just over LT. Average is 6.00/mm for 163 bpm and 319w which is pretty bang on stats wise BUT last mile is a real struggle. 50 secs stop to cross road in that at half way due to traffic (stopped Garmin). Afterwards went to do the 3 x 60/60 on cricket pitch but stopped at 30 secs as was too tired. Actually felt OK at 4 miles but last mile took a lot out of me.

Short cool down.

Basically I'm not recovering from the weekend racing and Tuesday session and that fatigue is just piled too high. Need to recover and a rest day tomorrow would probably be wise now just to get the body back in balance.

That plus the fact that the wind at the start just pushed HR too high just left things harder than they needed to be. Got a bit found out by all of the above PLIS not doing these longer sessions. Maybe a tempo each week now for a block will improve things.

Friday - rest. OK, lets get over this fatigue.

Saturday - easy run to stretch the legs. Strides and drills. 4 miles. Pretty low but just feeling my way back.

Sunday - up, 2 miles shakeout pre-breakfast. Off to the Races. SAL 3000m. For the 3rd time in 3 races as soon as the gun goes bang I am distanced from the fast starters and way ahead of slower runners. Frustrating to have to solo TT again but work pretty hard today and a solid hit out. Start a little to fast with a 74 and through 1km in 3.12. Relax a bit too much in 2nd km, start to ease into head wind and push tail wind. 3.19 for the km as through in 6.31 which is a bit lackluster. Rally a bit in the last km. some 80 laps a few out have slowed things but a decent last lap effort and a 3.17 km to finish with a 9.48.3. A slight seasons best (from 9.50) but completely solo on a hot windy day so can't complain. That would be 9.3x range on a better day.

Stryd really doesn't like the adidas spikes. It was way off today, all over the shop. Have to admit though I much prefer these to the dragonfly. 

HR was 169 bpm (177 tops) and air power a whopping 5% (max 14%) which tells me with drafting in a race and better conditions I'll be faster.

Comparing it to the indoor 3000m (9.50) with no wind and proper drafting I was 1 bpm higher across the board today. The outcome seems to be ... patience. The right race will happen!

Low volume week - 29 miles but a race, a tempo and intervals leads to lots of quality in there. 

In spite of everything I am retaining that 17 min flat form. I've tried several things now, I think maybe just go back to what I enjoy and try to relax a bit and see what happens!

Park run next week. Time to bag a course best !