Trainsitioning

Easing between finishing base and starting track work for indoors this week. Plan is to arrive on Saturday morning Park Run feeling pinging.

Monday - rest - first in 10 days. Didn't actually feel like I needed it but good to let the legs recover at my age.

Tuesday - am) speed work - treadmill. 2 x (4 x 60 / 60). Done as 2 sets are changed trainers half way through. Calf started tweaking in Takumi Sen so work the Metas and no issues. Done at 21 kmph. Felt very comfortable by the end - good sign of progress. Probably up there as fastest session I have done which is a great sign. pm) 4 miles recovery @ 8.25/mm. Legs pretty battered

Wednesday - 9.7 miles coke club. Felt very easy, relaxed at a slow pace and great time on feet. Cold and wet.

Thursday - am) low tempo. 5 @ 6.12/mm feeling very comfortable and easy. These sessions are great for confidence. HR max 159 bpm and 150 avge which is really low at this pace. Strength has improved for these to feel so casual. Took an easier session so as not to burn any more matches before Saturday.

These runs are getting up there with best pace for effort ever, Great sign however I'm not marathon training so really hope the top end work is also improving !!

If Sat does not go to plan, once indoors is over I need to return to 5k specific work  for longer stuff as that's an area that's not been addressed. If it does go even close to plan then shorter faster + slower volume works incredibly well lol Still not confident enough to put a time down on paper - even for me. Weather check is removing excuses as well !

pm) easy 4 with DC. 7.20 pace chatty. Legs a little tired

Friday - easy shakeout & strides. Felt lethargic

Saturday - Park Run. Warm up - met everyone and warmed up slow. Rolled Ankle badly - was actually worried I wouldn't start but seemed to run it off.

The race started and instantly struggled to settle down. Started too relaxed and settled by a km. First mile up in 5.25 and was instantly disappointed. HR was at 161 bpm so very low for end of first mile but felt leggy and didn't feel like I had any snap.

Picked up into the 2nd mile. Group of 4 about 5 secs up on me but can't make inroads. 2nd mile up in 5.28. HR still low at 164 this is way below 5k effort and more like 10k. 

Last mile feels like I'm working for pace but still very relaxed for this. 5.28 again and HR hasn't been above 166 bpm.

Pick up last bit for 5.07 pace.

16.57 for 9th place. 315w and 160 bpm. Numbers are crazy low for this and reality is this was not a hard enough workout. Rolled ankle is sore afterwards - that can't have helped. Think mistake was not warming up as per usual and maybe needed a rest yesterday. Legs felt unresponsive but in honesty 16.57 running that bad is a very good result. 85% WAVA and dissapointed. Good to have something in the bag tho and probably need to race a few times to get my legs flowing again.

Plan now is to ice foot and hopefully be OK tomorrow.

Sunday - Muddy Fun Run tail runner. Do this every year. Half marathon trail run with a bit extra to make 15 miles. Avge 8.50 pace but bloody hard work. Took a big gamble on ankle - really silly to go ahead with it but really wanted to give it a go. Looks so far like it was all ok. No pain and just aches as per previous. Did similar pissed up and dancing in 2009 and wasn't actually a problem as it was turning that was an issue and not running in a straight line.

54.2 miles for the week. CTL up to 61 again which is great. 6 day week, obviously can't do much strength on this ankle so def rest up tomorrow.

Feeling strong. Saturday was incredible HR data and possibly affected by blood test Friday, poor warm up and lack of racing (plus rolling ankle).  Possibly the best 'bad' run I've had in career 2.

I think the basic elements are there. Big thing now is to push towards better speed endurance (1500 - 3000m training) with paced training plus some proper speed work. The volume stuff for 5-10k will go on the back burner as I get the next 3 weeks out of the way. 10 days until the next race and then 3 races in 11 days following that should put me in good stead.

Really tempting to Parkrun next weekend (actually really want to) but need to keep eyes on the prize there. Volume will be fairly stable through this next week as I will taper down from Mon - Weds for the mile race.

In terms of where I am at, the flat speed is biggest concern. I simply cannot run 30 flat for 200m at the minute and I need to run that 'cruisy' which is around 33 I'd guess right now so quite a lot of work there. I'm fairly confident I could run long tempos at 5.3x high pace and be pretty relaxed so I am strong. Mile effort stuff - 70-72 sec 400m pace feels a stretch but not a million miles off so those 2 parts will be key right now. The good news is that in this small block I can give up a lot of volume but gain a lot of speed and not loose the endurance.

100% I'll be on track twice next week as I need that feedback. Moving forward to the following week the 2 races will be the sessions. Then a week prepping for nationals and that's the block over. Easy, volume and then track again following that. Really want to get that Runbritain ranking back down to 0.0 and below as it's been stagnant at 1.2 ish for years now.