Maybe Baby

Ended up last week with a rest day as a precaution for a tight calf. Frustratingly I seem able to run on it but doing anything hard and fast seems like it will cause problems.

BMAF 3000m indoors is on Saturday, maybe I can make the start line but I don't really want/need to take unnecessary risks at this stage.

I'll start the week basically just testing things out and make a decision based on how the calf responds as to what comes next.

My calf may not be the issue - my right hammy is tight as is my IT band - seems referred pain in the calf BUT I'll test out.

The plan (Monday, today) is to run easy-ish today. 45-50 mins on the roads and see how it all feels. If OK I'll do a hard track session tomorrow and really get a sense of where I am at. If that's good then it's all systems go for BMAF. If it doesn't look good then I'll sack off indoors and possibly finish out with a standard week and Parkrun hard.

What I don't want to do is cause long term damage that's going to wipe out a weeks training. I have enough in the bag to not worry. Mid term is a bunch of 5k races coming up in 6 weeks and I'd absolutely LOVE to get that 15.xx monkey off my back.

BUT, that said it would be great to get another BMAF medal so that is still the A target.

As it stands I think I could train normally and manage the calf rehab but the fast paces are what's likely to cause issues. And I know if it poulls on a Parkrun I will step off the park but if it pulls in an indoor national champs in contention then no chance I'll be stepping off the track.

Big aim this week is to eat clean all week. Had a shitty food and booze end to last week and it made me feel shit. Not particularly for the race but just want to feel really positive again and being full of sugar never helps me feel that.

Monday - up and calf feels rested. Warmed it up properly and taped it up. Heel lifts and runners loop incoming and I'll see how it goes. Plan is 6/7 mile easy, maybe upper end of easy (145 bpm) and I'll do that around Cambourne on the roads so as not to risk any rolling.

Head to Cambourne. Out the car and ease into run. Legs feel good, don't check pace until it beeps at a mile - 6.15. Nice. Settle in and reel off 7 miles in 6.20/mm avge with each one pretty much consistent. HR is a little higher than expected BUT it feels really easy today. Last mile maybe a bit more like effort but that's where the conditioning is. Calf - both of them - are a little tight. Not ruinous but certainly not quite right yet.

HR avge of 152 bpm and maxed out less than threshold. Really strong run today, that pace felt very comfortable. Feels good being able to run low 6s without pushing, it's been a very long time since that has been the case. Still not 100% healthy and it was windy so a very solid effort today.

Hmm, ok so now the question. I am kinda swayed by doing Parkrun on Saturday instead of indoors. For many reasons. I think the tight calf muscles are really telling me that easing back into strong running is the better option. I'm also less happy about easing in and out of this race and focus on build for 5ks.

I'll def do the track session tomorrow and see what's under the hood but unless that is a really good relaxed session I'm pretty much calling it now. I'll back the session if it starts pulling but I do actually need speed work and I'll likely end up doing a longer threshold session on Thursday to back it up.

Sounds weak pulling National champs for a Parkrun. I could justify it but the honest answer is I'm just not precious enough about BMAF titles. Right now my big big aim is to crack a 15.xx 5k and then move on to 4.1x for a 1500m this summer. Maybe in my 50s I'll get more excited about national titles but I feel like even if I win on Saturday there are guys 30 - 40 seconds faster in my age group missing. Don't get me wrong, I do want to do it but there is plenty going on at the minute telling me not to.

Stretched hammys properly and seems to be a game changer with the calfs. Had considered it may be tight hammys pulling up and certainly seems so. If I can loosen these off the world is my oyster !!

Tuesday - yep, hammy stretching is working. Legs feel good today. Plan is speed work with John. I'll run in Dragonflys to give legs a chance. I'll aim to do more s&c tonight - need to focus on plyos and build that lower leg steeplechase strength.

About 90% set on doing Parkrun. So much running about and logistics with Ange away it'll def take away the stress.

Picked John up and headed to track. Fuck, forgot Garmin lol. Warmed up 4 laps at about 6.40 pace. Few drills and off. Asked John to lead out as he had watch on. 69 first rep, slightly off target (68) but got a feel for pace. Next rep asked John to set pace for first 100m and I would take it up from there (we did this for the next 3 reps). 68, then another 68 and finally 67 (ish lol). Avge 68 for 4 x 400m off 200 walk. Felt OK, not a lot of wiggle room there but could probably do another set and maybe in a bigger group squeeze out 67s.

400m walk and then 4 x 200m hard but controlled. Straight off the bat John pulled up with a hammy so did the set on my own. No idea of time on first 2 but they were faster than last 2 so at a guess 31, 31, 32, 31. Decent enough but they were pretty much max, I just still don't have the leg speed.

2k cool down and back home. 

Calf both feel OK, right a little tight but not concerned. I'm just getting my head around doing these sessions consistently and being disappointed but knowing that the work is being done and improvements are happening.

Short and sweet session but felt very tired at the end so hitting the right areas. I would say I need to be in 65 and 30 shape for this session so not a million miles off that.

Too tired for the strength work. Normatecs, water and sleep are the order of play here !! Not sure if to do 10 tomorrow or just 8 for CC. I'll probably do the 8 as I have a longer session planned for Thursday. Then very easy or rest on Friday and have a hit out Saturday morning.

Wednesday - coke club. Decided against the extra today just to freshen legs up for tomorrow. Fuck that was cold and miserable. 8 @ 8.15/mm or so very easy. 2 days running where I have felt like I've dragged out a day waiting to train. Hate these cold days, just can't get much productive done outside running. Did some S&C - calfs and plyos. Really need to focus on this lower leg strength now. Snow settled so looking like tomorrow will be treadmill session instead of road.

Thursday - yup it's absolutely dog shit outside. Snow, sleet, ice and rain. No fun so stuck to indoor session on treadmill. Not terrible idea to be fair as it gives my legs something else to think about as I haven't done a treddy session for a couple of months.

Warmed up OK, legs - hammys - tight still so need some tlc. Felt a bit bleugh, out of routine but did usual warm up - 8 mins @ 14 kmph with 3 sets of 20 sec strides (16,18,18). Piss break then into the session.

2 x 10 mins @ 17.8 kmph. The aim being that 5.25/mm is threshold.

First rep - wow this feels flat out. Legs take some time to get used to treddy. Settle down and HR gets to 164 bpm quickly and raises to 166 by the end. Decent as that's nicely top end of thresh.

2 min recovery. I was going to extend it to 3 but just decided to stick to the plan and get it over with. 

Second rep - feels easier as I acclimatise. Pace same, HR avge 164 bpm and maxes out at 168. 

Conditioning is good, that was pretty solid.

10 min cool down outside in the shite for about 6 miles total.

Garmin paces were comically off. 17.8 on treadmill came in at 6.10 pace

Happy with that, think the two sessions of faster stuff and longer stuff wil really pay off. Plan now is either rest or easy tomorrow and hit Parkrun hard on Saturday. Feel good, 5.25 pace feels nothing special so confidence is growing. Just hope weather isn't shitty on Sat so I can roll up to the start feeling confident.

Deciding to can the 3000m is probably not the right racing descision but in terms of what's going on in life sometimes you have to do these things. It's going to make life 1000 x easier and I can get my long run done as part of Parkrun again before the kids even get out of bed !!

Friday - up early to do a few bits and absolute disaster - big willow tree outside front of house collapses into the brook (which is already high and bordering on flooding). Jesus fucking christ what a mare. After some head scratching I call Sam Dellar tree surgeon who amazingly gets out and removes it. God knows how but by lunch it was gone and just left with a bit of a mess but - importantly a flowing brook. Decided to take house of market after house fire opposite 2 weeks ago and tractor tracks over lawn the place looks like something off shameless.

Decide on rest day, too much stress and worry for one day. Hopefully get myself in order for Parkrun but it's looking likely this isn't meant to happen for me right now.

Saturday - up early and check reports to see if PR is on. Cool, thumbs up. Get out the door and head to PnR. Quick piss then warm up at a solid 6.30/mm. Meet few bods at the start and head out. Quickly end up in front on my own - wft !! Pace is decent - 5.15 ish and holding. Pace seems to drop off a cliff and first mile is 5.21 - weird but just assume GPS error. Just before 2nd mile guy catches behind and latches on. Push on expecting him to come past but work around the mile. First half I'm on 5.15 pace and again drops off a cliff. FFS - ignore garmin from here. 5.29 apparently for the mile. I'm clear but traffic on course is insane. Loose a bit of focus and motivation, half expecting to be caught. Have to go onto grass loads on mile 3. Mile 3 comes up in 5.34 which seems bizzarly off. Run fairly hard to finish in 16.51 and first Stories Field win. GPS was way off today but then again so was I.

Actual pace was 5.25/mm. HR avge 166 bpm (173 max). Didn't breach 170 until 14 mins.

Really dissapointed with this today. OK, so the easy excuses are ...

Course was too busy - insane amount of overtaking from about 3k

Solo effort from the gun

Crazy day yesterday left me feeling demotivated

Cold weather, hard to breath. I did struggle. In fact everyone struggled, this may go down as a high SSS on runbritain rankings.

One of thise things. I'm pissed with a 16.51 then that's not a bad spot. Def think 16.30 in better conditions is there but no point talking. I just need to get this shit cold spell over with.

Training wise I think it hammers home the 2 sessions do need to progress. 1 - volume intervals, switching between 4 x 2k and 2 x 2m all at 5.20 pace and cruising. 2 - mile paced efforts. 4.40 pace stuff on the track, these are not improving and that's possibly the sticking point.

Reality is I am much better than this. Just need to keep turning up and getting the work done. Will see out the week with an easy one tomorrow. Possibly return for another crack next Saturday but Thorney 10k in 2 weeks is next on the list.

Confidence - a topic I need to consider here. So the elephant in the room is - I need to run hard to feel confident. So today, yeah it's Parkrun BUT I need to go easier than I think in the week leading up. I warm up at 6.20 pace for sessions to feel good and I need a fix of close to 5k effort. This week I have actually run 8.4 miles at 6.22 pace, 20 mins of 5.25/mm (3.7 miles), 6 mins 40 secs of 4.26 mile pace (1.5 miles). That's a 1/3 of my weekly distance at sub 6/mm.

The building blocks are there BUT my confidence is not enough to relax and just ease into a race. I think I need a test week into a test race before my 5k block starts.

Sunday - woke up hanging. Had a few last night but feel shocking. Mornign and early afternoon of running around after the kids then head out just before 2pm to meet bear. 11.5 on trails, just under 8s but feel pretty crap. Laster on feel so so tired and throat starting to show signs of something in my system. 

49.5 for the week. Lots of stuff getting done, a real 'character building' week with zero spectacular in there but lots of work being done. Possibly have something in my system but this is a do and move on block at the minute.

Main work to be done - get those threshold volume reps down to sub 5.20 pace and from there it'll come together.

2 weeks until next race and then a week practicing easing off. Definitely in need of some extra sleep right now.

On the positive side fitness is building, just need form to raise and results will happen. Do not fold now Daz Man