The Point of No No Return

Feeling like I am in good shape, but putting down a poor marker is always a sticking point for me.

Start to second guess my training and generally revert to doing something different which eventually nets out with worse of similar results. In fact looking back at training logs and matching up to po10 it's so easy to look and wonder why I stopped doing things when results were good.

I'm there right now. Saturdays 16.57 is actually a poison challice. It's a quick time BUT it's not close to what I wanted. The effort was low, in the past I've had races where I just couldn't get the effort out BUT the problem this time is it's not an outlier - I've run 17.45 last year and a week later 16.49. This is the point I usually start Strava stalking and then doing sessions and runs other people do.

Not this time. WWtGD - what would Ken say to me ?? He'd wobble my head and make sure I stuck to the plan. 

I have to have confidence in what I do - there are a million way to train for a race but sticking to your plan is always going to give you more confidence and more chance of hitting those targets.

The plan right now is to train like a 1500m runner and get those legs used to running waaaay under 5k pace - so much so that 5k pace feels waaay to easy.

Last weekend was a reminder that things are going in the right direction but you can't take it for granted.

Few aches and pains at the minute. Ankle that I rolled isn't quite 100% and left glute is tight. Back is aching a little and right knee little sore. Pretty short injury list for me. Main issue is the hernia and not being able to do traditional s&c to strengthen. I've got to get innovative with that work and make it fit around my body.

2 1/2 weeks of 1500m training now, it's actually quite a small block. 3 races in fairly short succession. Really want to get my Runbritainranking at 0.0 by the end of that. Not sure what results I need but I'm at 1.0 now with a 17.26 Parkrun on the end so that should get knocked down fairly close barring disaster I would say.

I'm pretty sure I am the only person I know that looks at Runbritain and compares it but I do find it pretty interesting. Good way to see sort of times people at the sharp end put down. Target for end of summer is top 1000 of all runners in UK and that's around -2.5 

Tuesday - track. 8 x 500m off 100m slow walk recovery. Avge 1.30 for reps and 1.49 recovery. Solid session, was really windy and solo. Actually moved well for first 4 and then started to struggle. Went through 400m probably 71/72 most reps which is really, really solid at this stage. I would say off of that I'm probably in 4.32 shape (last 3 reps). Bit away from where I would like but a positive start. 

Legs shredded after this, first lactic dance for a while !!

I really think getting those 200s down will pay off. Mentally this is a tough session, 8 reps seems quite a lot solo but that's a step up on what I have been doing. 

Fastest rep was 1.27 with a 68 lap so signs of speed there. That's really where i would consider moving really well, knocking out reps in 68s without too much damage. Very unlikely I will get there in this block but it's a long summer ahead of me. Right now I am probably 63-64 shape for a 400m race so it's heading in the right direction. I'll be very happy trying to knock out 59s for fast intervals when it's warmer. 

Looks like close to 4.50 next Wednesday at this stage so a little way off but plenty to be done before then.

Now I am doing these types of session I'll not double on these days. They really need some recovery, they are tougher than you realise, especially at my age!

Wednesday - up and at 'em. Legs felt really, really good today. Can't believe that they're that refreshed after track but shows that resting last night plus good food helped. Only downside is tendons in rolled ankle are alerting me to the fact they are there !! Coke club later, with couple added on. Great conditioning day for me and really enjoy the easy miles.

Looked at Strava today, eyeing up Simon Fell who is in my race for Nattys in couple of weeks. Simon has been around for a while. Consistently quicker than me pretty much every year and trains in a similar fashion. Big headline - he's got more raw speed than me. Can knock out 30 flat for 200s and down to 64 in winter at the end of a session. Other than that there isn't really a huge diff in paces, times, sessions etc. Really does hammer home the limiting factor for me is my speed reserve. My advantage is my lifetime history has a 53 sec 4 x 400 split in there and some 23 high 200s so I know I have a way to go but it's not completely hopeless !! Have my training block pretty much lined up for now but once it's over I'll def try to incorporate some fun sessions where I can hammer out a quick 400 at the end.

Actually pretty set on keeping the 1500m type sessions in now through summer. Maybe rotate speed / volume / tempo through but these 3-5k of 1500m work will really pay the bills if I can stay healthy.

Mind you, I'm getting carried away as ever and I need to make sure this ankle doesn't develop into anything serious. Not 100% on doing speed work if there's tenderness tomorrow so may switch that out for more tempo work but I'll see.

Coke Club - 9.4 miles @ 8.44 pace - slower this week as we had Turner on board !! Not many times I've said that. Nice and easy time on feet and pretty good miles. Everything this week is about the sessions and tomorrows speed work is another step towards finally hitting some form.

Fitness is bubbling along nicely now. CTL is 59 but fatigue is only 62. Even on Sunday my ATL was 75 but TSB was only -14 the day after (a rest day). TSB has been much lower previously when ATL is that high and it's only been down to -15 and the trend is that it's getting freshed constantly.

I've previously suffered with illness when it's been higher and I'm operating at a much fitter level than I have since adding TP. Now my fitness is high it's time to capitalise on that and add in speed to take it to the next level.

Thursday - track. Speed Work. Aim of the session - 400m pace efforts and increase maximal pace (OK, so I know not maximal maximal but for a 5k runner this is short enough!). Woke up and right knee had a weird pain. Warmed it up at home and slight improvement. Got to track, warmed up and zero issues. Garmin was fucking up but 4 laps in lane 6 probs 6.40 pace feeling very easy.

Session - 8 x 200m off full 200m slow walk recovery. This session is to get used to relaxing at fast pace (it's as flat out as I can run with a molecule of relaxation). Target was 32 which I assumed was soft enough to hit but still not slow.

Reps in - 31, 30, 30, 30, 30, 30, 30, 30 - roughly 30.5 avge. Wore spikes so was obviously best possible chance. 

Happy with that. Wasn't easy but lactic was delayed until 4/5 reps and recovery was handsome (2.40 - 3.10). Considering it was solo I think that's a decent return. Really need those to be 28.5 avge before the magic happens but this is a very solid start and a big improvement on where I was.

Short cool down and I'll double tonight for volume.

Sooo, Sawyer not training tonight. Legs a little tender so went for a walk instead of doing a double. At this stage no point overdoing the risk. Pretty much at full tilt for last 2 sessions in spikes, operating a little beyond where I am at. Key now is staying in the game. Less worried about the knee but the swollen ankle is still there. Once these 2 issues settle down I'll resume the S&C work as that's a worry missing it out in itself.

Friday - knee pain is still present. K Taped it up, not sure if to rest or run easy today but I'll keep an eye on it. It's much better than yesterday morning but at this stage I'd rather miss an easy run than an important session. We shall see how the morning pans out!

OK, so chilled and done some chores. Think I need to rest, few aches and pains and I'm coming into a race block. This weekend have 2 decent runs (progressive and a long run) that are important so plan is ease out the aches and pains and hopefully start afresh tomorrow. One extra rest day is not going to kill me !! It does feel like it will tho and this is the attitude that stops seasons in their tracks.

If I were a coach I'd advise resting up and letting it settle. Why is it so hard to follow your own advice! In the last week I have really pushed way beyond and now is the time to accept and relax. Saturday - rolled ankle badly and still did Park Run. Sunday - ankle swollen and did a 15 mile trail run. Tuesday and Thursday 2 hard track sessions. Really need my head tested lol BUT I have likely escaped the worst of it so rest today and come back stronger tomorrow.

Saturday - out early as had a couple of viewings on our house. Decided to do something a little steadier as rested yesterday and legs are feeling restless. 2 blocks of 20 mins of 5 min progressives. Started 8/mm up the hill. After 5 mins watch went haywire so stopped to reset GPS settlings to GPS + Gallileo. Next block 7/mm (could not slow to 7.30 so just lifted it here and felt really easy) then 6.30/mm - this felt a little harder but do gain a lot of elevation here. Last 5 mins I did a lot firmer. Plan was around 5.40 but ended up at 5.33/mm which was nice. Straight into block 2 and easy pace felt ridiculously slow so settled on 7.15/mm and HR dropped to 145 avg. 6.41 for the next block again feeling too easy. HR settled down to 148 bpm which is still easy range so recovery powers are really good. Next 5 mins at 6.13/mm and HR climbing now as a good uphill section over the flyover. Felt this one a bit! Onto last section and finished up at 5.45/mm HR well into threshold as headwind was pretty solid. Garmin pace was not accurate here this felt a lot quicker but hey ho. Cooled down at 6.50 pace so full session was 8.56 miles @ 6:38/mm @ 149 bpm. Decent session and shouldn't take too much out of me for tomorrows long 'un.

Sunday - long 'un. With Monkey Dan & Gemma. Came out stronger and Gem pushed last few miles. 15 miles @ 7.24/mm @ 136 bpm. Solid, legs very tired now and need rest & protein before Wednesday. 

Pretty solid week banked to be fair. 2 sets of intervals. 

4km @ 1500m pace (4.50/mm)

1600m @ 400m pace (4.04/mm)

A good progressive session with blocks of 5 mins down to 5.32/mm and 5.45/mm

2 decent volume runs - 9.4 & 15 miles. 

43 miles for the week with loads of top end quality and not a lot of easy type running to make up miles. Very tired at the end of that and definitely ready to race.

CTL is reduced BUT I have started using HR for CTL instead of Power / Pace so I'm actually much much fitter but numbers are lower as this will adapt.