Start of Torun Specific Block

Race week is done. Lines are in the sand, lessons learned and every other sports related chit chattery in the book. From now on, no time for nonsense it's either happening or it's not.

Race wise I have nothing in the way. In 5 weeks it'll all be done but 5 weeks is a huge amount of time to move forward. This block is going to be 2 weeks build up, then a week backing off into a race, a final build week adding some heavier work and then again a taper into race week.

Last week taper recap

Running was all either shakeouts or races. Probably 30 miles in total. No S&C sessions. Taper wise I felt I nailed the training load for the 2 races arnd arrived in best shape run wise to get the best performances in. Health wise, 100% I wasn't right. Lots of shit going around and I have felt like I have had something in my system that's slowed me down. Not real bad but enough to take the edge off. Social wise it was a nightmare. Out Thursday night until late and out Saturday until late. No drinking but I felt tired all week and the one thing I will need to get right on my taper week next time is sleep.

On Wednesday I was just nervous but on Sunday I had felt very tired all week from Weds and never got on top of that. 

Wednesday was the better performance. I actually raced terrible but ran OK. Sunday I was flat and heavy and always felt off the pace. Race wise I actually ran well though and still beat some good guys. 3.10, 3.10, 3.15 splits but it felt like I was pushing way too hard from the gun.

Race Thoughts on Training

Lessons learned. OK firstly I have to say those are not indicative performances of where I am at. I would say 4.45 and 9.25 would be the best I could have put out based on how I felt it went. So not a million miles off but still more in the tank. Certainly Sunday.

Still waiting on a jump in form BUT I am still lacking in key areas. 

Firstly race pace strength - 75 sec laps still feel too hard. I want these to be 72/73 by Torun but they are 76s. My 1500 paced sessions are still too hard in 69s so I have to get these down to 67s to put me in that ball park.

75 / 2.30 needs to feel easy. It was much better a couple of weeks ago which makes me feel I have stepped back since then which is possible so getting back to the grind is clearly the way to go.

Hip flexors - I need to focus on these to build faster speed. 32/33 is in reality a comfortable 200m cruising speed and this needs to be 30/31. Building strength in these is going to be key.

Strength - this is the only area that I am up but I am waaayyyy up. The problem is that I am just building a base where I can run 5.30s for longer and longer. Need to keep feeding this but it's the 3rd tier of priority.

Plan for Torun

I need 2 solid build weeks now, really good consistent sessions and mileage with no social interruptions. Then look to race maybe 2nd / 3rd March (Eastern AA 1500m) with a mini taper for race specific prep. A good week after that and then into final taper.

Monday 12th February

S&C day. Gym & BJJ.

Decent gym session. Still getting post gym DOMS though so need to increase frequency through to Torun. BJJ was double hard work tonight.

Tuesday

2 mile shakeout early doors just to get some miles in and loosen legs off.

Eddington session. 5 x km, 2 x 400. KMs at 5k pace and 400s at 3k pace.

3.17, 3.15, 3.13, 3.12, 3.13, 69, 69.

Actually moved well from 3rd rep onward. Considering how tired I was my legs were in good shape. Last 200m of the kms was tough with the sharp turn and lost all ground to Andy there. The 400s were mile effort but was a degree of control.

11 miles for the day. Happy with that, still some recovery to go. Definitely will just do the 2 sessions this week and finish with a good long run. Positive place to be, running well tired but need some adaptions to kick in. Mainly gym fatigue to be fair but there's a big area of growth to be had there in terms of speed development.

Wednesday

10 easy around Cambourne. Happy Valentines' day! Left knee sore so wrapped and stretched it. Most likely hip flexors again. Weight at 10 st 1.8 lbs in the morning which is lowest for years BUT ate like a pig at dinner.

Thursday

Knee feels OK this morning. Will do full mobility and not double. Track tonight and hope that there are no issues.

Set up Whoop last night and tracked first nights sleep. Obviously a long way to go with seeing if it is useful!

Night 1 - 100% sleep, HRV - 63, RHR - 47

The sleep data is interesting. It shows a good nights sleep. 8 hrs 12 of sleep with 17 disturbances for 1 hr 24 awake. Sleep efficiency of 87%.

I was tired and I do feel refreshed. Some small fatigue carried over but off a decent amount of training.

Track tonight - no double. 1200 tempo, 4 x 200, 3 x 300, 2 x 400 @ 1500m pace off 60 recovery. Increasing the pressure.

5.33 pace for the 1200 feeling like walking.

33, 33, 32, 33, 50, 50, 51, 67, 69

Absolutely exploded on the last one HOWEVER a big step up as held 68 pace until the very last rep.

Friday

Rest !! Fucked the WHOOP off, couldn't sleep with it.

Saturday

Track. Late start. 3k paced efforts. Plan was to aim at 73s but reality was starting at 73s and fading last 200m.

3 x (3 x 600m) off 45 secs recovery with 5 mins between sets.

(1.54, 1.50, 1.52) (1.52, 1.51, 1.53) (1.54, 1.53, 1.53)

Actually tried to relax last set to actual 3k pace. Very tired session, just still feels like I am working slightly too hard for pace. It'll come though. Still waiting for form to pop. Right now I am grafting for everything.

Easy 3 mile double to make just over 11 for the day (39 for the week)

3 quality sessions at 5k, 1500 & 3k effort.

Enjoying this block, long run tomorrow. Really on the edge though and it's going to be make or break 100%.

Sunday

Melotonin to sleep last night. Slept pretty well but absolutely gash day today with heavy rain and wind. Headed to Cambourne at 8.30 for 16 with Dan & Matt.

7.43/mm avg. Felt heavy which is to be expected and unresponsive. Slight ache on knee which is annoying.

Banked the run then a nice pub lunch with my 80 year old auntie Dawn. Home and time to slob out.

55 miles for the week plus 1 gym session. Dialed back very slightly with knee in middle part of week.

Think that's biggest week for a long time and good miles off 5 days per week.

Pretty easy to get up to 60 from here. 

Heading to Chiropractor tomorrow as I need to start looking at getting my tight back right. Worth a look at what's going on and hopefully easing this up will help me move better.

Plan from here is to continue with another build week. 3 sessions which is risky but backed off long run (18 with Wayne). After that I'll be sharpening all the way in to Torun.

Aim is to make 76s feel like 75s and then 74s. Shoot for the stars and all that!

Monday 19th February

Rest day, ached like hell and had DOMS in my quads. Aghhh frustrating for a recovery day as just wanted it to be relaxed. Went to chiropractor in the evening and finally getting on top of my back issues. Neck and upper back cracked with extra range of motion.

Tuesday

Quads still have DOMS - very frustrating.

2.5 easy miles pre-session to get some volume in. Then Eddington for session. Usual warm up / cool down. Short & sharp 1500 pace session tonight. 400 / 800 / 800 / 400 off 3 mins recovery. Added 1200 tempo at the start and to finish.

5.32/mm - 71 - 2.20 - 2.20 - 66 - 5.28/mm

Really good session tonight and hit paces bang on. Was a little windy but felt really good to hit 2.20s on the half mile reps as that's slightly sub 2.20 for 800m.

Wednesday

Xray with Chiro first thing. Then some more cracking. Always feels good. Results of Xray next week and will hopefully see a plan and benefits going forward.

Coke club. Did not double today but got the extra bit in and did 8 with Rich. Tired after yesterday, DOMS subsiding. Just under 10 at about 8.10-8.15 avg. Took melotonion for sleep as very very tired today.

Thursday

DOMS have finally passed, tired today and feeling like I am really ready to get past this block. I know fitness is really improving but I am struggling with fatigue.

Head to track, cold and windy. Session is 1200 tempo, 3 x 600 @ 5k, 3 x 200 @ 1500, 3 x 500 @ 3k, 3 x 200 @ 800.

Go way too hard on the tempo. No Garmin tonight. 3.57 for the 1200m (79 sec laps). That's about 5k pace lol

Holly and Max are running with us tonight. I ran Garminless on the longer reps and they are targeting 75s so plan to back off 3 secs per lap per rep. The 600s are in around 1.52 and the 500s in around 1.31 so paces are 75s and 73s. The 200s were plenty quick, prob 30-32 for all of them. This type of session is exactly why I bin the Garmin (it was actually a mistake this time tho!) - I could have been running 28/29s for those 200s as much as 34/35 but I'll never know !!

Tough session that, actually very strange as it didn't feel that quick. It also didn't feel like is was that hard it was just the heavy and unresponsive legs that made it tough. Either way nailed a tough session at faster than target pace on massively fatigued legs.

With warm up / cool down was probs just over 9 miles so about 29.5 for the week so far.

Friday

Wake up after a mega sleep and actually don't feel too bad. Plan for today is to hit the gym and maybe do a very light shakeout which will purely be to punch up some mileage.

Legs / DOMS has subsided through the week. Nice that it's gone. Hoping that it was just muscle being built but either way I feel less leggy today than Monday morning.

Paces have been good in this block. Last 2 weeks off the back of racing have definitely moved the needle forward. As always my ability to recover is the limiting factor in old age !!

I am fairly happy with where I am at. By no means have I jumped in fitness (yet) but grafting at the level I am at until then is all I can do.

At 49 I am happy to be running as well as I am and mixing it with the kids at training.

Thinking to next week I think going sub 4.25 is a move in the right direction. If I can ease my legs off I do believe I'll have half a chance.

Big weekend coming up but next week the plan is to strip back to the basics. Monday rest, Tuesday Eddington, Wednesday 8, Thursday some 200s, Friday rest, Saturday shakeout and Sunday go. It's a tried and tested taper week that's seemed OK in the past and a good chance to run on fresher legs and hopefully paces that are under fatigue feel comfortable.

Gym - hit a standard session. Nothing too crazy but 5 x 5 @ 50kg on chest press is a pr! 35 x each leg box drive with 20kg on the barbell needs to stay constant.

Saturday

Decent sleep but feeling the lethargy. Right now I feel on the edge.

Track. Warm up and cool down as standard. Session was 1200 tempo into 2 x (3 x 800) off 45 and 5.

1200 in 4.16 - much more where it needs to be. Felt faster than it needed to.

800s in 2.33, 2.34, 2.35 - through in 74/75. Not feeling the love. At. All.

5 mins rest then decided to knock back to 600s in 1.54, 1.53, 1.51.

Opposite direction to the 800s. Same story, through in 74/73 but faded last 200 except on the last rep. 

Got home and added another 2.5 shuffle loop to get me just over 40 for the week. 18 tomorrow gets the mileage where it needed to be.

Session Thoughts for Whole Block

OK, so I really knew that this would be a bridge too far. I've played (deliberately) free and loose with effort against recovery. Kind of like in Deadpool just forcing changes to happen and see what comes out the other side.

The rambling part is this - I came off a couple of C+ races and then pushed through a very very tough block. Fatigue has been consistently high and I have had trouble sleeping and recovering. I 100% feel right on the edge. I knew that this block would pressure me massively. I have always been unsure of training 3 quality sessions with plenty of volume per week. That's 6 sessions of well under 5k effort on average in 2 weeks.

The outcome is that I am pretty far from a shell of a man. I am absolutely fucked BUT I have improved through the block and my legs feel strong. I actually feel that paces are very comfortable it is just heavy unresponsiveness that's holding me back. All in all, I have put myself exactly where I wanted to be. My legs will either come on strong like the golden days or they won't !! Worst case I'm slightly faster than 4.48 and 9.35 BUT I have given myself all the stimulus needed to achieve that.

Session Breakdown

Specifically to this week. My 1200 was at a peak of 158 bpm and average 145 bpm and it felt shite.

The 800s peaked at 168 bpm in the last 50m of the 3rd rep. the first rep at 2.33 barely pushed beyond threshold from a warmed up state. The three 600s peaked at 167 bpm off 60 secs recovery.

Long story short I couldn't get the effort out. Physiologically that session wasn't THAT tough.

For comparison, on Tuesdays faster session I pushed way above 170 bpm. A month ago I was cruising at this HR around Eddington on longer reps.

Long story short, I have achieved my goal of frying my legs. I could not run hard enough to build HR as residual fatigue kicked in and slowed me down before lactic could. This is exactly the box I want to be in. From here if I recover well in theory the age old philosophy of progressive overload + recovery = fitness. I should get the boost in fitness that I have craved. However getting form is another matter and that one is critical to me hitting Torun ready to do damage.

What Now?

OK. Lots of ways to answer this. 

* 3 sessions of Q per week is too hot for me to handle. In any long term way anyway. I absolutely love track and I love racing but I need to be sensible this year. The risk / reward is incredibly high on this approach especially the way I run. 

* Looking at a longer term view then an 8.5x for 3000m is still an achievable goal. Right now I would say that anything 9.10-9.19 is the target for Torun. It's doable and it would mean that I wouldn't be doing anything stupid. I know from the outset that it rules me out of a medal which is hard to take but I think it does give me the best bang for buck. That's 73.33 -> 74.65 per 400m which on fresh legs I think is the ball park I am in. That means close to 4.20 next weekend for 1500m.

* Huge recovery week is required. That does give a potential flattening after next weekend BUT it also gives a potential cementing of existing strength. Bring it all back. Trust Andy to work his magic and keep the faith. Right now confidence is on a knife edge because of how I am after that session BUT I have to believe it has achieved it's goal. This 2 weeks has been daily chipping away at my strength and form. The next 3 weeks is about building it back up again. Every day I need to feel faster and fresher than the previous.

* I feel the need, the need for speed. Saturdays back to long run but Sundays are speed work. Back to 6 x 200m off LONG recoveries. Floating fast and finally get into 57-58 shape for 400m that will pay off massively.

* STOP overthinking. Go out and have fun!

Sunday

18 miles with Wayne @ 8.13/mm for 127 bpm. Got through it pretty well, few grumbles but to be expected.

Finally ground out the 2 week block and daily built fatigue to a point where I am absolutely battered. Have to say, enjoyed that. Longest run for 5 1/2 years!

Around 58 miles for the week, off 55 last week is a good return. That's a big 2 weeks block. I've said over and again on this blog I've basically emptied the glass over this 2 weeks to the point I am laying in a very deep hole. Right now I have the chance to fill that hole with recovery juice or cement based on what training and life choices I make.

I have completed 3 hard sessions (2 road, 4 track) totaling 31 km of quality all moving faster than 5k pace.

2 long runs totaling 35 miles

2 gym sessions

2 easy 10 mile runs

The ability to get faster, stronger and better is down to my ability to recover.

Every day now I need to do the opposite. Every day I need to wake up the next day better and fresher.

Plan for next week is to back the fuck off !!! Monday 100% recovery day and I won't do anything until I arrive at Eddington on Tuesday night outside rehab and mobility.

I need to clean up my diet, can't sack miles off without eating clean.

I need to get sleep well up to scratch.

Good spot right now. Need to be confident in what I have done!