The Rebuild

So friends over last night. The tail end of binge season and I got of fairly lightly i.e I wasn't absolutely smashed. Fun evening though, can't beat a good session on thee gin !! 

Rest day today (Monday) and I feel much healthier than last couple of days. Not 100% by any means but much closer than I was !!  I'd say 97% now, Friday feels like a false start as I felt amazing but pretty shocking by Saturday.

Plan this week is to kick my body back into feeling strong. I feel very well rested and if I can get on top of the aforementioned issues I will be in pretty good shape.

I know I am not going to be in oapb shape just yet but the plan is to get back to basics this week, hopefully race well next Wednesday and push on from there.

So this is the kick towards my summer holiday break now and I have around 7 weeks to get everything I need to tick off. Again, first up is to feel strong again.

This is the rough plan for the week as it stands ....

Mon - rest - like a champion.

Tue - Intervals - track. 5 mins @ 5k, 3 x (3 x 400m), 5 mins @ 5k. Blocks of 5k/3k/1500m pm) shakeout

Wed - Coke club + (10 miles)

Thu - Intervals treddy. 6 x 3.30 @ 18.5 kmph pm) shakeout

Fri - Easy shakeout + strides

Sat - Parkrun Solid Tempo (5.3x pace through the card, Alphafly)

Sun - Club Champs 1500m plus good warm up and cool down

... lets see how that goes.

Session wise that's just getting back to consistency. I want to run the 400m fairly hard for a rep each set but it's basically just a week of lots of 5k work which should get me back moving well. Park Run or 1500m will be a harder effort but for now I am just looking for some solid running. 

I'll push onwards with some speed work later on but I'm just going to get those 5.30/mm blocks feeling relaxed again.

I did really enjoy that 800m and I would love to have a few more cracks this year. I do think 2.10 is potentially do-able looking at the big scheme of things and it's quite a fun target to go at.

Monday - rest

Tuesday - up, not feeling 100% still slight tickle in throat which is FUCKING ANNOYING !!! Kept me up constantly all night FFS. So bored of this now. Wake up, check HR to see how the body is. HR at 47 bpm - 5 bpm too high so cannot do a session today. Really annoying now, it's been since last Wednesday that I've been laid low.  Can't push on though and do a session as it'll just compromise the weeks training.

I rarely get ill but when I do it is exactly like this, just feel under the weather without ever getting really bad for ages and it drags. Just hoping that once this is over I can push onwards towards my big targets.

On the plus side, I seem to have got over my GF issues and my legs are still fresh !!

When you drop a session it's really easy to chase it back. Part of me just want's to do it tomorrow but as a coach my advice would always be to forget it and move on. I'll likely just throw in some small increases through the week but not go chasing.

Tomorrow instead of 10 coke club I may just add an easy shakeout in the morning with some strides and drills.

Thursday I'll keep the session as is BUT may increase length slightly just to get the legs where they need to be.

The good thing with so many races happening is I can just switch focus. I'll likely look beyond next Wednesday now as a key (5000m track) and look more at the Sunday SAL (3000m). Would be nice to get back towards 86% WAVA this weekend (I was 81 for both races last weekend).

Today I'll run just keeping HR in check, probably on the steady side of easy keeping things around 150 bpm and see what drift looks like (that'll give me an indicator of how the heart and lungs are working).

Wednesday - Up and feel better. Not quite there but when you know it's on the last legs now. HR down to 45 bpm so annoyingly close. No coke club tonight so I'll run easy solo later but the good news is it does look like I'll be able to resume with a session tomorrow! 

Looking at things now it does feel like I'm a couple of weeks from decent fitness again (16.40 low) but possibly around 17.15 now maybe? I'll likely use the next few races to train through and hope I get a solid run of form.

Nothing major social planned for a while. The GF guts are much better and the legs feel good so once the body is ready it's just getting the mind sorted. 

Feels like I am rusty after so long being bleugh but fingers crossed it's going to be progress all the way once I get going.

Plan today is a nice easy 10 up and around Cambourne this morning aiming at 7-7.30 pace keeping the HR hovering around 150 ish bpm.

So shouted up Bear and ran from his on the old Elsworth loop. Just under 12 miles off road at 8.10 pace nice and easy. Decent miles banked, def not quite right yet but preying to JUST FEEL 100% AGAIN. Bloody hell so frustrating now and trying not to loose my shit about it. Focus well and truely on towards races at the end of June now as I can't even think about resuming sessions until this is completely out of my system.

Decided today to do some s&c of some form later. I'll also aim to drink loads of water and try and flush this shit out of my system any way I can.

Thursday - finally a session. After the sleepover from hell last night and getting no sleep I bit the bullet and did the old classic 6 x 3.30 off 90. Kept pace to 17.5 kmph (5.30/mm) and actually went pretty well. HR still too high and conditioning not quite right but it's a good start if I can progress from here.

Plan now is to continue and see how things go.  Either track 5000m on Weds or SAL 3000m on Sunday will be a good target from here. Need to be careful how I plan things as lots of racing and quality in the diary.

Friday - up and finally a solid night sleep but must admit still have that nagging feeling I'm still not quite 100% - ffs :( Still a little throaty but maybe antihistamine will work ?

Did coke club with Monkey, felt a bit harder than it needed to but good to bank some conditioning.

Saturday - Park Run. Wow, what a difference a week makes. Woke up not feeling amazing but better after another good sleep. Prepared properly at home in the morning with stretching and rolling. Plan was to sit at 5.3x pace (the closer to 5.30 the better) but solid tempo effort. Warmed up well and felt good. Into the race, settle quickly and relax in a group. First mile feels good and expecting bang on 5.30 - was 5.20 and feel good. Settle back, mile 2 just keep effort where it needs to be and try to relax. Didn't see but was 5.26. Last mile, time to get disciplined. Ideally wanted something around 17.15 today but expecting 17.30. I know I am way under that so keep it controlled! Switch to HR and I'm at 172 bpm so just aim to keep it there without it climbing into full on race HR. Mile is 5.29 on my Garmin which is perfect. last bit coast home, the work is done. 

Not a terrible effort today, I've been 17.0x bingo this year hitting 4 of them (plus a 16.49) so the consistency is there. This was by far the most controlled 5k of the year, never felt under pressure in that or like I was going to pop. I'll definitely do the track 5000m next Wednesday now, hopefully the evening kick off will help plus by then I'll hopefully be 100% healthy. After that it's just getting the pacing right. First up tomorrow is club 1500m where I'll just run as hard as I can. Hopefully split 72 first lap and keep that going to sub 4.30 which would be a great start.

From now on it's race after race so most of my quality will be there and it'll be a matter of bailling to a solid effort if it's not going well and reloading for the next one. I have all my fav distances and oaps's are on the cards for each and every one if I can keep progressing.

Sunday - up, not feeling amazing. Bit tired, will see how today goes I guess. May be just nerves but need to wake up a bit !

Get to the track, rain but not too bad. Sort little Lola for her first ever race - 100m in 17.6 - boom !!

On to the 1500m. Feel lazy ion warm up, don't really do enough. Fatigue pretty high but could just be nerves.

Start well, too fast but ease up a bit. Through in 72 for first lap so dream pace but too quick for me. 800m I'm a slowing and feeling it but trying to relax. 2.26 so a 74. Get through the km and feeling it but working hard. Pass the bell in 3.22. Phew, wouldn't get lapped in a world record race lol. Slow over the last lap but I'm digging. Through the line in 4.37.8 so a 75 last lap.

Not ideal, probably about what I expected (in the 4.30s was realistic) and actually a solo run (distant 2nd place) it's not that bad. I'm not 100% and I'm off a 17.03 Park Run yesterday. I knew trying to race myself fit would mean some races are not going to be 100%. I have another couple of races in the next 7 days so hopefully just keep getting stronger and faster from using this as quality.

Last couple of track races have been 2.18 and 4.37. I reckon with more conditioning on good days I can get these down to 2.10 and 4.25 by the end of July. I just need to keep the progress happening.

This week, after 3 weeks of not much going on I've hit 42 miles with a session and 2 solid races at hard effort. Obviously peaking and relaxed there is more there so not a terrible spot after some down time.

Plan next week is to race through the 5k (like a Park Run and aim to hit the 3k hard on Sunday.