Winter 2024 - Week 3

Last week was all about getting back into a full routine and closing in on mileage. This week it's about starting to get on top of things.

Main issue last week was starting to create and then carry larger amounts of fatigue through the week. Didn't help I had a lot on over the weekend as well as 2 tough volume sessions so finished the week incredibly knackered.

Monday

Wake up today and my left hip flexor is very tired and sore. Andy messaged overnight to say probably best to miss the speed work tonight and that makes sense. Rest day in order, I need to recover and feel fresh for the week ahead.

Lots of rehab and a full recovery today. Good nights sleep and hopeully I be ready to go at it tomorrow. Fingers crossed if I get everything right the paces should feel slightly easier each week now and I have around a month to really relax on those paces.

Again, as an older athlete listening to your body is key. When I was younger I could ride the lightening for weeks feeling exhausted, nowadays it'll quickly escalate to something that knocks me out for a while and I don't have time to stagante!

Tuesday

Good night sleep and feel much much better, starting to recover better now. Hopefully stay on top of this now it all gets easier lol. Left hip seems settled and right calf slightly naggy but I'll do mobility and assess.

Lots of mobility and ROM and seems pretty good. I think hurdle drills with weights is going to target my weakness pretty well and need to start to factor this in to prehab routine.

Track. Wet & windy. 

Mile tempo, 8 x 400 off 200 jog. 2 x 200 (to help Andy out).

5.36, 78, 77, 77, 77, 77, 76, 76, 74, 35, 35

Felt very bleugh. Not feeling the love and just not recovering. HR is actually on the money for pace - mile tempo was 153 avge and maxed at 164 (went 87, 83, 82, 82) so even paced would be pretty much correct for 10k. 

Back in a slump (similar to late Dec / early Jan) so plan now is to monitor nutrition and make sure weight and health is nailled. Most concern is lack of mojo but that will come back once I get consistency.

Stopped on cool down as right foot had a weird issue.

Wednesday

Took J to sort his car tyre and ran 2 miles back to check foot. Something in there but not overly concerned yet and I'll try out at CC tonight.

Meet Dan at 5 and into cc, nice and relaxed 8 @ 7.09/mm. HR 141 bpm which is decent. Feel alright tonight. Maybe feeling better.

Thursday

Wake up and feel light headed and dizzy. Bizzare. Drink loads of water, have breakfast and hit Eddington to try a session. Plan was to do something light, mix up HM and 10k pace for 3/4 miles with recoveries.

Warm up and feel alright. Head not completely in it but give it a go.

Mile at HM in 5.53. Feel pretty fatigued but HR is correct. 100% something is not right. Can the session, jog back to car and home. 

Just need to rest this out. I'm not going to get shit in a week but the last 7 days have been pretty pony in terms of quality. 

I'll call it today and rest tomorrow and see what Saturday brings. I have no idea what is wrong with me, this morning was strange and everything feels much harder than it is. All vitals (HR, resting pulse and blood pressure) are good but I just feel like I am working harder than I am. An extra bit of recovery won't make much difference so I just need to wait it out and hope that I feel better soon.

Away next week so it's a bit of a natural place to break. Either way there is nothing I can do while I feel like this. Easiest way to sum it up is it's just not right.

Friday

Decent sleep. Sawyers birthday today x

Hit the gym and do a light workout. Bench to 50kg descending reps as weight increased. Did some ROM and some other arms and core and finished with calf raises.

Still not 100% so not running. Hoping that tomorrow I wake up ok.

Got the bones of a new training plan, focus around quality recovery and just moving things about. Long way to go, just preying that I feel back on top soon as hate to feel low like I am right now.

Trying to stay on top of diet and hope that helps. Not sure right now, just feel a little wiped out but surely can't last forever.

Plan for Sunday is to stay as a hard tempo. I'll hope to feel sprightly and all being 10% the target will be 5.35 pace but if it's not good I'll just settle back to around 3.40 per km and try to relax. It's not great but no point draining and empty well.

Saturday

Up and feel better. Parkrun, bit tight as I'm post weights but not terrible. Settle in with Dan and aim to run 8s. We run 7.05 pace and HR is nice and low. Jog to cafe afterwards and coffee and cake. 4.8 miles nice and easy. 

Mentally starting to feel better. I have got my head more around it. Basically I have to stop trying to push too soon, accept it and enjoy the process. If I'm having fun I'm going to improve.

Feel somewhat better about tomorrow now. I'd rather just be doing a session than a race but looking back over my best 10ks (when I was quite focussed on them) 

34.50, 35.22, 35.50, 36.30, 36.37

5.36 -> 5.53/mm

I'm actually not that great at 10ks - lol !!

So today I feel mentally much more refreshed. Physically, I do feel better but like I am getting over something. Throat a little tickly so another good food and sleep day and I reckon I'll be OK tomorrow. Main thing is that I actually enjoy it!

Afternoon - finally feel like whatever is in my system is making itself known. Not sure what that means but feeling it a little this afternoon. Tickly throat etc. Hopefully this is the exit. If I wake up rough it's full blown steady tempo run tomorrow.

Sunday

Up and atom. Meet Dan, wear the Alpha 1s. 2.5 mile jog into town, fart around at the start area and then into the pens. 

Into the race, genuinely no idea how it's going to feel. 

Click off the first few miles nicely and feel pretty solid to about 4 miles. Last couple there is a big drag into a solid headwind and start to fade slightly. Decide once my average overall pace drops to 5.40/mm to relax more and bring it home in 6s. Finish up just outside 36 mins and pretty happy considering I have felt so off for so long.

5.32, 5.36, 5.35, 5.53, 6.03, 5.56 and 5.36 last bit. HR 161 bpm avg (threshold) and 166 max. Hit 161 at 2km in so very solid HR stats. Actually shows HM effort but tbf was closer to 6s from 3 miles so probably fair assesment to say HM pace is just under 6s.

Just under 3 miles back to the car and a Herbies breakfast with Dan.

11.25 miles for the day.

Strange week, started so much worse and improved by the weekend. 37.2 miles for the week. Happy with where that landed up in the race but a lot of work to be done from here BUT I'd say good indicator. Next up is Wolverton 5 so I'll be eying up a sub 28 which isn't terrible.