Quest for a 4.19 - Weeks 3 & 4

The thought for this week is relaxing at faster than race pace. The plan is to build a strong week to start moving towards my B target times.

I've progressed all my OAPB times this year from 400m to 5k to the point where I am close enough now to really target some races. In fact I need to start making a call on races to really take opportunities when they come along.

Up until now I have raced hard each time in the hope I will get times but realistically only the 800m, mile and 5k have been good conditions for times (legs, weather, and racing). From now onwards I need 2 out of 3 of those to run flat out.

Coming up I have the mile next Wednesday and following that I'll run the 1500m on the Sunday at the SAL. I do have opportunity to change that to 5000m or 2k chase but right now I see these two races as chances to run quick and nail those ones.

Following Sunday I know my speed is good enough to hit my B targets which are my minimum season aims. With that in mind I will do a stronger session on Tuesday for confidence. Thursday I will do some hard 400s at roughly 1k pace and then a long run Saturday. Everything else rests or easy!

Monday - woke up feeling tired and tight. Blood test today also so made the decision to rest rather than run. At my age, there really is no point pushing when you don't need to. Right now I need to take on board the adaptions that I've made from training and racing and move forwards. There is no benefit to tomorrows session from running today, I am too tired and I don't need junk miles.

I'll spend the day getting the legs freshened off and eating well. Tomorrow the plan is 6 x km on the road and I'll be looking to go close to what I did previously (3.10 avge) but in the 3.10 - 3.15 range. The aim is to run the session relaxed and build in confidence in my strength ability.

Surprised how tired I was today but at 48 I guess you will have days like this. If tomorrow goes well, everything before it is irrelevant !!

Tuesday - wake up feeling much better. Legs good, feels like rest was very wise. Out to Stories Field to do 6 x km. Think this session is correct in weeks I don't have races as it keeps me in touch with that 5k tempo so that it's never too far away (hopefully anyway lol).

Warm up at a decent clip. 8 minutes or so for just under 2km I'd guess. What's noticeable today is that my hay fever allergy is playing up. Have had Piriton and nasal spray but already throaty. Feels like I have had a pint of milk, not good.

Lots of drills and stretching as knee felt weird but dissapeared during session and cool down so all good.

Onto the session. 

Rep 1 settle in, feels about right effort. 3.20. Hmm, caught sleeping there a little too relaxed.

Rep 2 off we go, build in and start a little harder. Work slightly more in the second half but not too much. 3.11. Much better. No idea where I lost 9 secs on rep 1 but back in the game. Caughing fit at the end, throat is closing up. Sound terrible. Even I am embarassed.

First 2 I did PR start to gate but last 4 reps I switched to gate to PR start as slightly better wind for this.#

Rep 3 feel hard work and lots of coughing during the rep. 3.13 so landing in the right place at last. Feels like hard work now. Take an age on recovery as I am just not breathing right and coughing up everywhere.

Rep 4 feel much more relaxed here, much more like 5k effort. 3.14 finally feeling right. Bit more coughing up after and still too much reocvery but I can hardly breath.

Rep 5 much much better again for another 3.14. Feels like this is the right goove. Finish and no extra coughing. Recovery probably way too short on this one as no extra cough stops.

Rep 6 relax into it. Push on slightly and 3.11 finish. 

Pace wise 3.13 / 3.14 avg - no idea what happened rep 1 but pace overall was perfect. Run wise, felt way too hard 1-3 but last 3 reps actually felt like they should. The coughing / hocking fits just made things extra tough and my throat was tight at all times. Business like, if there had been no throat issues I reckon this would have been really comfortable.

Need to look at changing anti-histamine tabs tomorrow as they aren't cutting the mustard this season.

Good cool down and about 8 miles banked. No double today, may do some S&C but only light effort. Decent day banked, not a million miles off where 5k fitness needs to be. Just want to keep this close to hand so I know on a good day a low 16 is in the tank.

Wednesday - achy today from weights. 3 shakeout first thing followed by coke club with Rich & Wayne tonight. 8 @ 8.50/mm shelling peas. Legs heavy afterwards but some tlc tonight. 11 miles banked nice and easy.

Thinking on tomorrows session and most likely will be 200s flat out off long recovery. Strength feels like it's in the right place.

Thursday - up and legs ache like bugger today. S&C still giving DOMS. Head to track to meet Geoff. Session up 8 x 200m off 200m walk. Legs feel unresponsive on 2 lap warm up so aim to relax a bit on these.

Session goes - 30, 30, 29, 30, 29, 29, 29, 29 - wow, 29.6 on last rep too. Finally starting to show some speed on this session. This is def fastest I've done these. Decent tail wind but overall feeling much faster and was fairly relaxed. Last couple the lactic bit but that's to be expected.

Didn't quite make the 2 lap cool down as was flooded with lactic. Will jog 2km at home later.

Really pleased with that, block of quality since last Saturday. From here it's time to get the legs back and ease in to Wednesday race. Coupled with the km reps I am in decent shape still.

Thoughts about what's working right now and I guess consistency is the answer to how I have improved BUT the difference from the last 4/5 years where it's been 4-6 months of build followed by injury to now has been the ability to be consistent! I guess that comes down to 

S&C - It's hard to argue that this isn't the single biggest factor. Nothing crazy just simple regular exercises for 10-15 mins probably 3/4 x per week. I'm dead set this is the biggest reason I am still going after 16 months since last proper knock. If I have a sore muscle I have started to immediately strengthen rather than revert to stretching as previous.

Being sensible - listening to my body, extra resting. No streaking. Hitting sessions that I need to focus on at the right time.

Diet - targeting protein and carbs. Trying to find foods that work pre session and post session. Less times on the sauce but definitely not cutting things out completely.

Picking races - I've focussed on target races and then backed off afterwards before picking different targets. It's allowed specificity in training. Indoors was a game changer because it gave me focus in a period of time usually pretty grey with no real targets. I took that speed and moved it to a 5k block and improved that massively.

Backing off - I've increased recovery and decreased reps. It's allowed me to hit faster interval times and built confidence. Over 3/4 weeks of those sessions the start to feel more relaxed at those paces.

I guess that's the main parts. There are loads of other factors but these jump top mind where I really feel like I have made a difference. Have to say the new shoes 100% help with recovery as legs feel better after harder efforts than say 7-8 years ago.

Running to feel - ditch the Garmin. I really benefit from this. No more watch telling me if I am feeling good. No more worrying about how a run looks on Strava. Biggest win - no idea how many miles I have run (OK, some idea) so I basically just do whatever runs I need to do. I know basically whats coming up and what sessions I need but no stupid heading out to round up miles. Side benefit - blog getting updated a whole lot more otherwise I have no clue what I've done outside races lol.

PM) decided to do 10 mins aqua jogging. Going to check how this compares to Normatecs as legs are shredded. This could be a good one for easing aching legs off. We will see, if tomorrow goes well I'll do this and Normatecs after Sunday and contrast that.

Friday - legs feel really good this morning. Reckon the aqua jogging has loosened them off. Feel a bit tired today so may actually try aqua jogging to x train today rather than the shakeout plus strides. I'll see how that looks tomorrow on long run. Before Feb races (Wed & Sun) I did 5 days the porevious week so I'm not too worried about not running. Key today is for the legs to feel good so think it may be a wise choice.

Aqua Jogged (split) total 25 mins. Feel pretty good. Hot today so naturally tired but hoping same effect on legs without the pounding - this may be a game changer. Idea is to see how things are tomorrow.

Saturday - up early for PR. Felt pretty bleugh and tired but once I warmed up felt OK. Parkrun easy, chatting most of it, stopped my watch at 18.20 - jogged in with Adam Tapley so pretty good workout for not a lot of effort. Warmed down on the Coton - Maddingley - Eddington loop with Dan and he bonked pretty bad lol Had to stop ast BP garage to get him some drinks. Finished with 1.20 exactly on the watch so 11-11.5 miles at a guess. Felt pretty good today. Hot one and few people struggled dealing with that.

Relaxed afternoon bbq and beer and sunbathing. Tomorrow morning I will switch back to race mode for next week !

Bad news for me is that Martin Amos turns 40 before the mile race so even though I think I should break the club record I think he'll be right around me. Not much in it, he ran 4.40 last year so it'll be tight. Good news for me is that I'll go again in August lol.

Thinking on race plans I'll hover around 1500m short term and once I get the times I want I'll move on but it's not a bad strategy to keep ticking off more and more of them. Pretty set that I'll need to go to Watford for a 1500m.

Sunday - had a foo too many yesterday, early start with Sawyers Powerlifting and then John M round to chat tactics for Weds so out the door late. 7.30pm start in Cambourne, did help avoid the hottest weather but really enjoyed the heat.

Aim was to run 5 steady, 1 slow and clicked off nicely in 30.45 for 5 miles at shade under 6.10/mm. All felt relaxed enough, lifestyle and heat probably added at least 10 secs a mile so that's a solid run. Clicked off the cool down and all good under the hood.

Decent week banked. Off the back of last week which was Parkrun (hard) on Sat and 2 short races Sun I basically went rest - km reps - 11 miles easy - 200s so 4 hard efforts, a medium long run and rest in 5 days. Lots of quality.

Friday I did my shakeout as an aqua jog and I definitely felt the benefit. I need to investigate how I get max benefit from that this summer.

Saturday was Park/long run and felt crazy easy running 18.20 (I guess it should) and no heat issues then a light tempo on Sunday.

Always feels weird coming in to race week but I would say the sessions and races are showing that I am really fit right now. Legs feel good and I don't have any niggles of concern so that's always no.1 priority.

From here, as I said previously I really need to start picking my races right to nail down the times and get value out of the fitness I've banked.

Blog is getting a bit boring now as not too much happening! This is the only place I'm logging training tho so great for future reference! I'll run this 2 weeks as one blog so hopefully get some pictures lol

Monday - rest day. Race week starting right. Legs feel really good already. I know I will get antsy this week and itching to run. 10 st 4 lbs this morning after water and coffee so good starting weight. Plan next 2 days is to focus on eating right and getting correct nutrition and water intake for Wednesday.

After speaking to John M, he's going to pace me to 68 then 69 on Wednesday so basically 2.18.xx at 809m which gives me a chance to break 4.40. I think off that pace there's no way I'll explode so it's a fairly safe push point.

Undecided on Sunday. Team looks light, I may go down the 800m route to get it out the way early but I'll keep an eye on the weather. Also, check on how Wednesday goes first.

Plan today to really work on mobility and stretching and get my legs absolutely firing. I'll keep tomorrow simple to 5 & strides and basically follow the same path I did indoors. Funny how confidence starts to seep out when you are easing up. Mentally so much easier to keep the legs going in race week but just want to feel that Battersea feeling on Wednesday where they were absolutely bullet proof. Eating incredibly well today and tomorrow and will see the effect that has on race day. Zero booze, pop or shit snacks - everything clean (or clean for me !!)

As day has gone on, started feeling really, really good. Legs have definitely come back. Will keep up the good eating and drinking plenty of water. Not sure I'll even Normatec legs tonight but I'll try and get a really good nights sleep. Best my body has felt for an age.

Tuesday - relaxed run out, 5 miles & 4 x strides. Hot today, felt much better after strides. Need to get my head straight as starting to consider others and get ahead of myself for tomorrow. Plan is to hit the next logical time. 

I ran a solo 4.25.7 in club champs. That's 70.84 per lap. 4.45 pace exactly.

Improved conditions & fitness must mean 1 sec per lap. That's 4:21.91 or 4:41 exactly. Looking at the week I did that I'm easily in better shape and not coming off a long run the day before. Got to be confident. 

Now we are in time to shine mode I would say Par would be a 4.43.xx the A Target has to be 4.39 and anything between would be acceptable. 

I think I'll make a decision on Sundays race once I'm done. If it goes well, I thinbk I would choose to run an 800m on Sunday, enter Watford 1500m on the 28th and then do vets 800m on 26th which would give me big chances to nail all my low end targets by early July and then I'll switch up to 3k / 5k and go for those. It would make things really simple in terms of training focus.

Always an IF but should it not pan out it's wise to stay on the 1500m on Sunday as that's an opportunity to bounce straight back. It does make things hazy and I would probably go 3000m in the vets and miss Watford.

Anyway, think positive Daz Man !! Ken would tell me to let my hair down. Focus on the job in hand. Start out in 69s and dial in to no more than 70s and hopefully nail a fast last lap. I'm running sub 4.30 1500s in my sleep this year and this one is no different. A cold and windy vets league with no help, I've got to be better with a pace maker !!

Wednesday - easy shakeout 2.5 miles early in the heat. Legs feel good today. Basically chilled pre-race then picked up John at 6.45 to head to St Ives.

Warmed up ok and into race 1. What a race,Jeremey Dempsey on a sub 4 attempt cracks it. 2 pacers, Dempsey and Chris and a CC guy go with the train. Martin & James next group through 409m in 67 and myself and John in 69.

John quickly pulls the gap to James and Martin and we bunch through 809m in 2.19 which is perfect.

3rd lap I move ahead of Martin and onto James shoulder. Pass with 550m to go. Martin comes past hard just before the bell and I try to stop the gap growing too big. Through in 3.31. Martin makes a big kick, at some stage, probably around 200m to go James passes me and I am in 'try to not give too much ground mode'.

Pass the line in 4.33.35. Winner was 3.59. I was in a fucking sub 4 race lol.

Disappointed at the finish. Legs felt pretty flat throughout. I pretty much gave it all I could but I just didn't feel like I had that zip today to push on from the pace. 

Good news is that it's worth a 4.22/4.23 1500m, it's an oapb and there is definitely more in the tank. It's a very good bad race. Still 88.2% WAVA - there are positives.

70.45 per 400m so slowly edging to that 69 !! It was a level par performance. Nothing spectacular and a chance to run a decent 800m on Sunday still.

I live to fight another day. Martin smashed the club record out the park with a 4.38. 5 seconds is doable.

Training thoughts off that. Hmm, KM reps yeah these are needed. 400s in around 69s floaty. 3 x 4 maybe ??

Thursday - woke up legs feeling not too bad tbf. Good chance to let the dust settle and rationalise everything in my head.

OK, so there is no way I can call the race dissapointing in any shape. I am dissapointed that I didn't feel amazing and have that feeling I have had in some races where I can push on but it was all at a decent pace (70.45 per 400m) and it's a stepping stone. I will have breakthrough races but it just wasn't one of them.

I'll race a mile again, probably August at Corby BUT right now the focus remains on a 4.19 for 1500m and I have loads and loads of chances to do that.

I think training wise everything is right. Stick with KM reps but start to introduce 3k paces once for less reps and move from 4 - 5 - 6 per session. Staying with 400m reps is also a really good idea and just get used to getting those down to 67/68 feeling more relaxed.

I have to stop second guessing myself and just keep turning up. That has always paid off.

So the rest of this week I'll just relax and repeat what I did in Feb. Very easy couple of runs today for 8 miles. Sunday's 800m I'll just try and nail a 64 first lap and try and hold on. I'm pretty confident but know now that 2.09 is likely to be as fast as I can go. This will all pay off double once I move up to 3k which I still think should be my best distance.

Once rankings update at this mid point I'll be 5th over mile but right on the group of 3 in front. Need to keep moving forward as I'm more 10-20 than top 10 over the main events and 20-30 on the ones on the fringes (800 & 5k). Frustratingly my fitness is currently just below really jumping up a decent group in front. I just need a fitness boost now and things will really start to happen. Funnily enough this was always how training and racing panned out for me as a kid, decent start then bang - late season bloomer !

3 miles really easy this morning, just a shakeout but already felt was a bit faster than normal. Legs feel good, just need to be sensible.

Did lower leg circuit early afternoon. 15 x 10 plyo jumps and 2 x 60 calf raises. Will be back on these near daily now up until easing into Watford.

5 miles easy in the afternoon. Felt really relaxed, bit leggy after yesterday but comfortable. 35.45. 

Decent days training banked. Back on the Normatecs tonight. Next up, 800m & 400m double on Sunday. Racing snake !! A 2.09 would be nice but realistically anything around what I previously ran.

Friday - up early to drop Ange at the airport. Back then out for a light session. Ran to cricket pitch in Cambourne then 8 x 1 min 3k ish effort and 1 min walk. Worked out great little session as the walk was slowed to be exactly a lap. Would say slightly sub 5 min mile pace on grass but felt very relaxed. Jogged back afterwards so 5 miles at 7s with 8 mins of 5/mm. Feel good today, need to stay hydrated and eat well today / tomorrow and be ready for Sundays speed work.

Runbritain rankings updated and slight improvement to -0.6. Seems highly skewed for longer distances and cross country.

Saturday - early start and fairly late bed with few beers and lots of crap food = bleugh. Jogged 40 mins on busway to nature park and looped round and back. Sawyer was power lifting with his coach at 8am. Felt easy enough but just a little flat. Eat well today and stay on top of hydration and tomorrow will be fine.

Probs shade over 5 miles. Need to do plyo and calfs today to stay on top of body.

Mind is drifting to the next phase (it always does as I approach the end of one !!). All being well by Watford next Wednesday I should have my seasons targets for 400m, 800m & 1500m nailled. I'll come back to each later BUT I'll shift towards 5k training for the next block which will be 3000m & 5k aiming to go sub 9.15 and finally the magic 15.xx.

Thinking towards what I'll need to do I think it's just to keep it simple and loop back on what got me close last time. Long most weeks of 15 miles. KM reps - I need to be running 6 x km at 3.07 avge feeling relaxed like last time. Just floating and not feeling like I am on the rev counter. 400s in 67 avge off good recovery (8 off about 90 walk). I think being in shape to run those will get me there. It's a process but in theory I can drag this one out longer although it would be nice to nail these in July leaving August free to revisit shorter stuff and September a chance to nail a Parkrun ! Loft goals haha

Sunday - Fathers day. Miss you dad and mum too. xxx

Off to Southern League at St Albans. Absolutely decimated team. It was warm early doors, I did a very light warm up. Felt a bit shit which is usually a good sign. 800m B race up first. Start and settle inside immediately. Bit boxed but happy with position. First place is clear but decent group of kids with me. Through 300m feel insanely good. On the shoulder of a kid and consider taking but settle back. Feels like i am racing. Pass bell in 62 something so way up on pace. Kid kicks and feel others on my shoulder. Start to feel grippy at 300m and at 200m it's like an empty tank. Through 600m in about 1.34 and slow dramatically. Just focus on form and try not to explode. Through the line in 2.10.7 and another OAPB.

Feel really unwell at the finish. It's hot and I'm a sweaty mess. Spend the next 45 mins or so just trying to recover. Pour loads of water over my head in the toilets and even consider a cold shower.

Get to start of 400m, feel slightly better. Temp dropped very slightly down to maybe 26 degrees. I'm recovering and every minute helps. No specific warm up, no point jogging and muscles are already relaxed. Just need to not add any fatigue to them as they were 100% spent after the 800m. 

Up in the A race unfortunately so few minutes less recovery. Start pretty relaxed, not killing it and I'm alread miles behind but Cambridge Harrier pops on the back straight and Dartford guy ties up on the bend. Run a lot harder on to the last bend and actually feel pretty good. Finish strong, much much better than expected and finish with an =OAPB of 61.6.

Pretty solid day. 2.10.7 exactly a second improvement and good enough for top 20 V45. The 400m was much better than expected.

Feels like I am chipping away and still just waiting to move on to another level. It does seem like I am starting to relax at these paces, I just need it all to come together. The 800 I reckon with better pacing I think a 2.08 is 100% doable but I am not sure how many chances I am going to have. I'm pushing the envelop with races a bit already.

I think I am going to either use a Garmin alert for time per 100m or try a tempo swim trainer to try and nail down race paces for these efforts.

Good week, clearly about level par on where I am fitness wise. A 4.43 mile, 2.10 800m and another 61 400m is a decent return. I'm hovering top 10-20 on most events.

I do feel like it's time to put some longer efforts back in like I did this week and definitely missing the longer run.

I have to stay patient, that's probably key right now. Any races I pick from here have to be PB attempts with decent focus and no more banging effort after effort and hoping it pans out.

I'm ready to run a 4.19 at Watford in 10 days I just have to see the job out. Next week training week is important and the sessions have to have real lazer focus.

After that I really need to start eyeing up the longer events and probably an end of season steeplechase.