Battersea - T-6 Weeks / T-5 Weeks

Hmm, I think I'm making too much of this with these posts. Note to self - lots of racing in December but ALL of it is fitness testing and on very small tapers and will be back on it immediately after !! This is not a serious race block but it would be nice to get some good numbers on the doors.

Battersea 5k - main one. Want to be close to last summer range (16.00-16.22) because if I am getting there off winter work then things are very positive. 16.30 would be pretty obvious target that says I am there. Sub 17 minimum just to check that box again.

Battersea 5 miles - just a chance to see if the longer reps pay off. The plan is to feel cruisy on this. Interesting to compare to 2010/12 fitness where I was high 26 low 27. I would say just knocking out anything under 27.30 without tapering is very positive sign that I have more strength than I have for many years.

Buntingford 10 - glorified training run just to break 60 on po10. This one is more fun, chance of a BMAF medal maybe and just get that 10 miles monkey off my back. Never gone sub 60 outside of a half marathon.

Indoor 800m - New years day, chance to see if the gym work is paying off. This will be a massive indicator of strength work. If it's close to 2.10 then yes keep lifting as a session but if not then basically go back to strength work being completely preventative to injury.

That's a decent range, after this I'll know where my strength lie and what needs more work for Poland. I'll try from here to pick races based on running quick times as I head into my last V45 year!

Decent week bagged last week. I feel like I have turned the corner now and no longer feel a total fraud when running.

I have everything in place and now the plan is to slowly S_L_O_W_L_Y build from here. Number one key is keeping everything in a happy place and each week knowing there is more to come.

47 ish mile last week with 3 x strength, 2 x sesh and 1 x long is absolutely perfect. Weight OK. From here it's a clear run out to Poland.

Monday - Tired this morning. No double anything just BJJ tonight. Jury is definately out with BJJ however I am running really well thge following day. Not sure if that is maybe purely rest day from running but I'm not keen to mix with a winning formula. The BJJ works core and strength in places weights will not. It's helping with flexibility and mobility so that alone is worth it. It's also cardio but non-loading on the legs so for now it stays. Plus - it's familiy time and Ange, Jacob & Lola all do it too so lots of reasons to keep at it not just running related.

Started tracking food today - mainly to make sure I hit protein, fibre and carb goals PLUS helps me stay honest with food.

Tuesday - sleep in. Needed to catch up and boy I feel much much better this morning. Plan now I am tracking food to get better at meals. Plan today is to swap out sandwich at lunch with jacket potato with some kind of decent filling. Better source of carbs.

Session at Eddington. Warm up - 2.5 miles @ 8s. Then 3 x 7 mins @ 10k (off 90) followed by 5 x 400m hard off 2 mins.

7 mins - 1.3 miles - 5.24/mm 154 bpm (164)

7 mins - 1.3 miles - 5.23/mm 162 bpm (168)

7 mins - 1.3 miles - 5.24/mm 164 bpm (168)

3 mins walk recovery

400s in 73, 71, 71, 70, 69

1.75 miles cool down for 10.5 miles (Garmin missed a mile when forfor to restart on warm up).

Decent session. The 7 mins felt a doddle and very slight increase in distance each rep. Felt very controlled once I had sorted my breathing on first rep. Not quite conditioned yet so I would imagine fairly comfortable to do a 5k at that pace based on HR. Don't think I would go a lot quicker just due to lack of racing and overall conditioning but I think that'll fall quickly.

The 400s felt really quick BUT were under some control. Surprised with pace and accuracy of distance there. Hammy very sore afterwards and felt light headed after session. Still not quite 100% so still more room for improvement which is great.

That's 5 weeks of these longer sessions now and I've gone from 5.4x pace down to 5.2x and now I am starting to feel comfortable at that. Really good sign and the work that I am getting in is firing the engines up. Mentally I still don't feel that I have even got started but I need my body to start gaining conditioning so that I don't feel so tired between sessions.

Wednesday - am) gym. Very light session as I was really tired this morning. pm) coke club with Rich. 8 miles @ 8.08/mm actually felt much better than expected. Improving weekly on Wednesdays on how far I can get. Ideally start to get this session to 10 miles again soon which shouldn't be an issue.

Thursday - Single again today. Head to track. Session today was a complicated one! 1200 - 800 - 400 - 400 - 800 - 1200 - 400 - 800 - 400. 200 jog (90) between intervals and 400 jog (180) between sets.

The plan was threshold (85s) on the 1200s. 5k (79) on the 800s and 1500 (71) on the 400s.

Paces went - [4.16, 2.41, 71] - [71, 2.37, 4.16] - [71, 2.36, 69]

The 1200s were very easy. The 800s felt like a push, slightly harder than 5k but maybe easier than 3k. The 400s did feel harder than 1500 but it didn't feel quick, it was just that my legs are not used to going like that and still need some adjustment.

Really pleased with how it went. Finishing with a 69 in October is way ahead of where I expected to be. 

Camp tomorrow. Bit of a hip flexor issue to look at but all being well will close out the week 55/56 miles in the bag.

Feels a really positive place right now. Ticking off 2 sessions per week. Physically it's demanding whist my legs and fitness play catch up but mentally I still feel like I am starting out. Focus is on rest and recovery between sessions. I'm going to be hitting 60 without the need to double so big volume in there.

Friday - training camp day 1. Easy 5 around the estate and Somerford Keynes. Nice and easy to set the scene for the weekend. With Rich, Wayne & Dan. 5 @ 8.13/mm 133 bpm. Made a big dinner and early night for big day on Sat.

Saturday - Up early and headed to Lydiard Park. 13 miles total Parkrun sandwich. 8.50 pace for the first 5 ish miles. Wayne struggled massively. Was 20 min pacer for the parkrun. 3.1 miles in 19.46 (6.20/mm) 155 bpm. Decent HR that on a hilly trail course. last 5 ish miles @ just under 9/mm HR 131 bpm. All conditioning stuff. Poor old Wayne was absolutely fucked lol. 

2.25 extra miles with Dan to make up the 15 for the day. Night out at Swindon Nandos / Weatherspoons then back for Netflix and sweets!

Sunday - late start, 10 miles on Thames path. Loads of puddles, felt pretty relaxed. HR 122 bpm for 8.30 pace and never over 138 bpm. 

Finished up with around 58 miles for the week (some missed Garmin miles) with 2 sessions and 2 strength. Very relaxed weekend running but all great conditioning work to build from. Fitness creeping up. Plan is to hit 60 next week and then come down to a cut back week to help the body recover.

Did a total of 9 x 400m at 1500m pace which was a shock to the system and tore up a few fibres so keeping an eye on those.

Need to get back to good eating habbits this week and just keep sessions under control as those 400s were pretty much flat out and the legs were not ready for that !! Everything else was really good though.

Monday - no running. Lots of mobility and controlled eating. Legs very tired so need some TLC. Will go BJJ but keep that very easy tonight. On the roller until I get my leggings back.

Today I got ready to return couple of pairs of Nike. Ordered Vape 3s again and I'll simplify my rotation. Easy Runs - Vomero (non plated), Long Run - Vape 3, Road Reps - Alphafly, Track - Adidas TS8, Trail - Zegema. No spikes until January. Need to clear out my shoe collection and stop trying to get complicated !

Aim for this week is to get everything nailled, iron out niggles, get on top of weight / health and start cut back week ready to roll feeling good. 

pm) BJJ class. Light effort tonight. It's something but not a lot, still a decent strength workout and some mobility.

Tuesday - wake up feeling much better after rest. Think I def need a very easy cutback week next week with some total rest days. Considering strength work, that needs a boost too this week. Back to the 3 x 12 for 2 sessions per week I think. Road reps tonight, end of a 6 week block. 

Picked up Baldy and headed to Eddington. Legs felt pretty good but still wary of niggles.

2.63 miles warm up @ 8.13/mm nice and easy.

Main set was 8 x 3 mins off 90 and 4 x 60 off 2.30. Garmin died after 7 reps ffs doh !!

5.19/mm - 5.12/mm - 5.04/mm - 5.11/mm - 5.10/mm - 5.13/mm - 5.20/mm - 5.10/mm

Guessed the last one but that's 5.12 average or exactly 16 flat pace.

The 60 secs were 0.21 miles or 4.46/mm. Tried to keep these under control so my glutes didn't explode!

2.63 miles warm up

5.1 miles main set. 1.6 miles of 60s on/off. (6.7 miles)

1.34 miles cool down

Total = 10.67 miles - phew

Really pleased with this. Possibly best session I've done for many years. Definitely stronger than I expected to be at this stage. Really feels like it's risky pushing so hard but i just need to be strong enough to relax through the week now.

Really, really important that I stay on top of the rehab stuff and just keep making sure I'm not going to break.

The fitness feels amazing at current weight. The plan from here this week is maintenance and just keep rolling. Thursday I need to stay on top of paces and not get drawn in on the quick stuff. That'll happen in time but right now just keep rolling those 5.1x pace sessions through November and a 15 will definately happen at some stage.

Just over 4 weeks to Battersea so plan now is to increase strength so these paces feel relaxed. I'm not running to pace at the minute, that's just happening and it's mainly coming from the volume I'm whacking out.

Wednesday - good sleep. Lots of aches have subsided but still not out of the woods just yet. Weight back down to 10 st 5 lbs (from 10 st 8 lbs yesterday).  Swerved gym this morning. Will def get a good walk in this afternoon and then CC+ tonight. Just need to keep the legs moving and recovering. Big mobility session this morning.

Starting to think that we may be heading towards a decent 5k at Battersea. If I continue to progress then I can dream big but either way I would be disappointed not to be looking anywhere in the range I was at this year. 

Speed is not quite there, not too fussed as strength clearly is but maybe ease back on the steadier stuff and hit the faster reps hard on Thursday?

Looking good to hit 60 this week. Just need 10 per day and I think 15 Saturday and 12 Sunday is on the cards with just under 10 tonight which leaves 12.5 for Thursday and Friday which is pretty straightforwards. 

Will def hit a proper gym sesh Friday.

Think my calorie deficit is being affected by not walking so much so will look to address that however i am getting the house chores knocked out the park lol.

Coke Club + tonight. 1.65 easy then 8 with Wayne. Nice and relaxed, finally feels like my legs are getting conditioned. Easy running starting to pay off. 9.65 @ 8.18/mm @ 126 bpm.

Thursday - tight legs getting up but I guess that's 40 miles in 5 days for you! Good mobility. Hammys are tight and require some work. Right low back tight making right glute tight. Not panic stations yet but need to stay on top of that.

Storm whatever in town but risk it for a chocolate biscuit. Hardly any leaves off the trees ffs lol.

Hit track with John boy. Decent group out tonight considering it is cold and wet and slightly windy. 2 mile warm up.

Continuous 200s - 200 @ 3k pace (37/38) into 200 float. Total of 5000m.

Started and felt instantly horrific first 3/4 reps. After 6 started to get into it and worked to pull back Kieron who had gotten about 50-60m up. Just about got to him after 11 reps and he moved well away last one. Jogged it in on last recovery to make the distance.

Averaged 37.xx for the 200s and 49 for the float. Basically 5.00/mm and 6.20/mm

Felt pretty bleugh but not 100% flat out. Obvs conditions affected slightly but overall moving well.

Annoyingly thought it was 17.35 for 5k but it was 12 laps ffs so 18.10 pace for 5k.

2 mile cool down and legs feel pretty good. Conditioning really hitting home now. Get niggle free and after this weekend I'll have a cut back week next week so a lot less pressure with 2 run rest days.

Friday - legs definitely recovering under pressure now. 5 miles with Mr Morley @ 7.30/mm feeling easy. 32.2 miles for the week so far. 60 may not happen.

pm) gym. Quick sesh as running late. Chest press to failure. 45kg (8,8,7) then dropped to 40kg for 8 (just made it) and failed trying 8 at 30kg. Hammy curls . Warm up set for 20 then 8,12,12 @ 45kg. Leg extensions exactly the same. Did box step up 3 x 10 each side with single 12 kg dumbell and done!

Saturday - early long run with Dan. Not biblical but pretty shite conditions. 8 out was a grovel but on the way back pretty comfortable.

Didn't bother with HRM as was layered up. Got wet but nothing I couldn't handle. Glutes / hips tired as expected. 1 more day then time to back off for a week.

14.9 miles @ 7.38/mm [47.1 miles so far this week]. 

Couple more of these before I find them easy but definitely improving at them. 

Sunday - late start, finally a lay in! 8.1 miles over the trails in 8.03 avge @ 139 bpm. Was windier than Thursday FFS. Nice and relaxed, didn't push but felt good by the end. Last few miles free wheeling.

Decided to cut it to 8 so I can get a quality gym session in this afternoon. Then take a total rest tomorrow and start a cut back week.

pm) GYM. Hit arms and basic legs. End of a strength block.

55.2 miles for the week. Less than I wanted BUT still got 2 quality sessions and a long run in. Legs really starting to come good. Finally feeling that conditioning. Just a few aches and pains around the hips so focus on recovery now for a week before I go back up the distance again.

That's been a solid 3 week build up now of 46,56,55 miles. Consistency is key.

Focus has been on strength work, time now to start looking to get some real pace in the legs.

Plan now is to prioritise on the speed parts of sessions so track will be very much under control unless it's 1500m pace then it's hard so sacrifice stamina for speed.

Gym work I'll now try and work on some explosive stuff so toe taps, box drives and leg extensions and hammys I will focus on drive from static to build that explosiveness that I need to get moving quick.

Also I will add in doubles over longer singles and incorporate strides at least twice a week.