Quest for a 15 - week x

Can't remember where we are now. Either way, I'm a lot closer to it (12 secs) than I was when I started this block (52 secs) !!

Really getting into a good training rhythm last week, plan is close replication this week. In theory it a faster course so just need to match execution and it could happen. You never know what legs are going to show up in running - guess that's what makes it so exciting!

Monday - Rest. Long walk with Tomasz around Wimpole. Felt tired today, not surprising. Get calories in and eat clean, make sure I get some good stretching and Normateccing in! Refreshing PO10 all day. Looking forward to seeing this one go live!

Tuesday - legs a little heavy still. Quads feel lazy. Head to track. Mile warm up easy and legs still not a million %. Loads of drill and strides and into the session.

Feel heavy on rep one but strong if that make sense. In fact, through the card I just feel heavy and unresponsive but manage to hit the paces absolutely fine.

3.15, 3.13, 3.14, 3.10 call it at 4 as it's borderline hard work and I don't want to dig myself a hole. Finish up with 8 mins of 1 min jog / 1 min 3k effort. Well over 300m for the minutes at effort and run just over 2.1km by about 5 secs.

Strong today, no doubt I can run those paces comfortably but legs were just still not fully recovered from Friday - Sunday.

2 mile cool down to bring 7.5ish for the day.

I'll go CC tomorrow night and rest Thursday and that should be enough to keep the taper going. Not sure how the legs will be for 3 x 5k in a row but certainly think I can keep glowing through this next race window. Fitness is good, just need legs to be fresh again like last week.

Plan today was to do 5 reps but about 2 in decided to just straight replicate last week. I think this session on track is quite demanding mentally sometimes and really didn't get any pop from the Metas. Alphafly on road would have been far more comfortable but I'm cool with that!

In the Normatecs tonight and I'll probably do a very light hip opening and strength set on the basics.

Still no PO10 update.

Planned out Friday's journey today. Looking forward to it. Road trip with Dan, will be nice to do it with company. Was hard flying solo last week I must admit. Always great when it comes off but lot of hours to stew with your own thoughts. That's what training is for

Ahh, almost forgot. I had planned to do a 1000m tonight at Corby. Club record of 2.56 is fairly comfortable but with Friday in mind I just couldn't realistically get both done. Had to take a view of getting the right work done and it seemed a bit flagrant to try and do both. Ultimately the 15 min 5k means a hell of a lot more.

Wednesday - up and atom. Feel food this morning. Legs fairly responsive, need a good roll as little tight but feel good at this stage. Coke club + tonight then full rest tomorrow. Feels like I'll get back on to a regular routine next week and have a good think about what that will be this weekend.

Ange was out with friend who tested positive for covid (is that still a thing) so hopefully I don't catch anything that'll slow me down for Friday !

Coke club + tonight. 3k ish steady on my own. Felt really good then into the run with Rich. He had a stormer and we clipped along at low 7s. 1hr 9.55 for 9.7 ish miles. Have to say even though fatigue is there I really starting to move well.

Confident for Friday if I can get my body in same shape as last week. Just need to recover Thursday and then get my head in the game on Friday and bury myself.

Thursday - aaaannnddd rest. Total rest today. Stretching and rolling those aches and pains. Good sleep and see what happens tomorrow. Looking forward to doing more S&C in next few weeks and getting those legs strong again. 2 week race block in cotton wool has been nice tho! Far too easy to slip back into bad routines.

Friday - up, couple of weird aches on my arm and by left big toe ?? Legs feel alright. Standard race morning mobility and usual breakfast. 

Easy 2.5 miles jog then off to meet Dan. 

Here's my pre-race notes from Thursday evening...

*****

Just for me, looking back to see where I need to add speed in to find close to a minute on the course. Basically hold the start, push up the hill, empty the tank !!

Analysis for Mid Chesh from last years run. 

Start to bottom of the hill (all down). 1.06 miles at 5.09/mm. 349w 158 bpm (167 max). Through km (finish line) in 3.05

Main climb. 0.77 miles at 5.42/mm. HR stayed at 168 bpm (max 169) so relaxed here. 351w

False flat of climb. 0.56 miles (3m05s) at 5.31/mm. HR 169 max 171. 346w.

All of climb. 1.32 miles at 0.7%. 7 mins 27 secs at 5.37/mm. HR avg 169

Finish. 0.74 miles at 5.12/mm. HR flat out (171 avg 173 max). 3 mins 52.

5.30 - 7.30 - 4.00 is 17 mins

1.06 - 1.32 - 0.74 is 3.12 miles

To run a 16

32% - 44% - 24%

20 secs - 26 secs - 15 secs needed to be saved on each segment

5.10 - 7.04 - 3.45 is segment target

Segment 1 - 4.52/mm (5.09/mm last time)

Segment 2 - 5.21/mm (5.37/mm last time)

Segment 3 - 5.04/mm (5.12/mm last time)

Go through first km in 3.01 which seems very attainable considering last time I started in 3.05. Start, hold it to turn, run hard up the hill and then manage until the top. Unload to the finish !! In theory effort should remain pretty consistent.

*****

So, arrive at the course 6pm with 75 mins till kick off. 2 miles warm up. Feel shite. Usual routine of warm up and drills. Do not feel good but just put it down to nerves.

Get to the pen - blue start but at the back of reds.

5-4-3-2-1 we're off. As you drop down hill the momentum builds and builds. Feel awful, just heavy but know I am moving at a decent pace. Loads of bodies about, just try and stay on a good line. It's really close racing which I'm happy enough about. It's quality racing so passing is fine and I'm happy enough with position. First KM takes forever, check my trusty Timex and it's showing 3.03 (I started early so 3.02). Hmm, I wanted to be quicker but lets just get to the turn and hope I've saved too much for the hill.

Hit the turn at 5.05 so I'm probably 4.50/mm of so, ahead of pace.

Push up the hill, attack it pretty well. Do not get the split at 2km but I'm moving well enough early stages just feeling a bit bleugh. Pass 3km which seems to come up relatively quick mentally. 9.33 so likely 3.15 and 3.16 for the kms.

From here I'm struggling. The tarmac is shocking so feel like my legs are out of control. Across the false flat, past the toilets and up to the top of the course.

I feel like I've given up if I am honest. Just feel heavy and unresponsive. Nothing like last week. In my head I think I am on 16.2x pace. Pass 4km in 12.53. Need to run sub 5 pace to break 16.

Last km gravity is doing the work. Legs are empty I'm just doing what I can. See 400m to go sign and comes up faster than I expected. Just keep moving. Don't see the clock until I am on it. Stop my Timex after the line on 16.02 ... hmmmm ... this will be close !!

Official time is 16.00 - fucksake haha used up my timekeeper luck last week but in fairness considering how bad I felt the whole race I am over the moon with that. Agonisingly close but I know backing up Battersea is so important for my confidence.

Jog about half mile to the car for 8 for the day

Saturday - up, jog 3 miles to Parkrun. Do a very hilly and long Parkrun in 18.38 and jog mile back for 7.5 miles for the day and travel home.

Parkrun is funny. I have no interest but Dan fancies a crack at it. I start slow and work through the field to win it. It's really hilly and twisty course but tbf I quite enjoyed that. Pushed to hard, was about 5.50 pace for 3.2 miles.

Sunday - was so tired last night. Slept well. Up early to run with Nic but he blew it out so started slightly later. 80 mins really easy over the trails. 10 ish miles. Felt really good today, nice and relaxed. Ready to move on to the next block now. 

Really happy with how the week went on paper. Was 1 sec off my years target so in that respect it panned out perfectly BUT I felt absolutely horrific during the race.

43 miles for the week in 5 days. 

Really think trying to do 2 key races back to back is too hard. Week 1 I felt absolutely bullet proof. Week 2 I felt heavy and unresponsive. Both in the session and in the race. Around that where it was mainly easy running I did actually feel strong.

Enormous amount of confidence from how I felt to how I ran this week. Sometimes it's easy after a big pb to doubt you can run it again but actually feeling that way and running business like gives me a big push for the next one.

Really need now to get back into building over the next few weeks. Train as normal and keep up the strength work. I have really missed that and 2 weeks of no S&C I can already feel where things could fall apart for me.

Great to do an away trip with company. It's hard work solo, just feels so much more work. Maybe pick another autumn one and get a group out.

Focus now is 1500m. Target is to crack 4.20 and I'll run one on raggy legs at club champs next weekend. It'll be a good line in the sand. May really is a mointh for building pace and strength. I'll keep in touch with 5k pace so it's always there but the focus is definitely on that 1500 time.