2025 Phase 3 - Speed

Or more correctly - getting faster and recovering better !! 

Coming off the race block - Phase 2 - everything was aimed at preparing me for getting ready to run fast. Building conditioning in the legs and then racing twice to confirm that it is working. Time wise those were both at the bottom end of what I wanted but right about in the middle of where I realistically am.

So now the aim of this block is to start making myself faster. Currently my training paces are roughly - 1500/3000/5k - 73/76/80. The 1500 pace is considerably slower than the other and 3k is probably a little ambitious. 5k is bang on 80.xx so the ball park is there.

So now the aim is to get myself running faster and bring that top end down so I am cruising again at 70s for 1500 pace which in turn with the conditioning I have done mean that paces come down in line to 74 (9.20) and 78 (16.15). The plan for this is to recover before, between and after sessions to maximise adaptions and add in hilly runs and some hills at tempo at the weekend along with keeping the weights. 

Doing this should add that speed that I am completely missing right now. If I get on top of my niggles also then there is no stopping me!

Right now, at the start of this block, I am at a decent V50 level. Last year my current fitness would put me roughly 16th / 15th / 46th in the rankings. By the end of this block I aim to be 5th / 8th / 30th. At that stage we are moving into May and time to start looking at really lighting things up.

Week 1 - 17th to 23rd February

Monday

Rest. New plan, new me. Few speed bumps in terms of life in this block but not before Watford.

Tuesday

Session day. Plan is easy shakeout then Eddy later. Last Eddy of the winter. Spring has sprung!

Legs feel decent, plantar issue just below foot pad on left foot is still there to some degree and tendon above ankle bone. Nothing to report on achillies. Feels like we are in the niggle home straight.

Will wear the Pumas to test tonight. New paces are locked in, time to start putting the work in to go from knocking at the door to seat at the table.

Easy 2.5 shakeout to start the day. Nice and relaxed. Left foot ache and slight on the achillies on the right. Need to roll out.

Foot issue most likely perenial tendonopathy (?) basically the routine is to strengthen the foot / fascia so back to the drawing board with morning routine. Think best plan right now is glute bridges, single rdls, calf raises and foot rehab (towel grab). Lets see how that works. That and a shit load of ibro to take the swelling away.

Frustrating as it delays the plyos BUT I am never going to get to that step without curing this. Will likely physio at some stage but not yet.

Think it's important to take a step back and be happy with how much time I have put into my strength work. My legs no longer gets DOMS - I am 6 weeks consistently in and no doubt getting stronger. I think once I can iron these niggles out I will be ready to push towards that 2.04 800m !!

Eddington. Last one of the winter as we move to track 2 x per week now until October.  Standard warm up. Feel pretty good, legs no issue. Maybe it's the chopper socks?

Session is mile threshold into 3 x 3/2/1 off 90 and 3 mins between sets.

Mile feels great, pace comes in at 5.23 but feels short. Can’t believe that effort was 5k pace. Heart rate 150 avg and 160 max. We went through 1k in around 3.25 so def sub 17 pace and felt all very much under control.

All sets the 3 mins feels really comfortable. The 2 mins bites at the last 40-50 secs and the minutes feel quick but realistic 1500 pace.

Paces come out as 5.26, 5.14, 5.11 for the 3 mins (5.17/mm avge)

5.05,5.05 & 4.52 for the 2 mins (5.00/mm avg)

4.40, 4.44 & 4.40 for the 60 secs (4:41/mm avg)

Wore the new Puma Deviate Nitro Elite 3s and have to say they felt absolutely mint. That felt well within the wheel house tonight, at no point was I on the rivet. They are definitely coming out to play at Parkrun when I hit it in a couple of weeks.

Confidence building session there, really happy with that. 10.43 miles for the session, 12.93 miles for the day.

Feels like a pickup in form but right now I'll just keep chugging along with how I am going.

Wednesday

Tired start to the day as struggled to sleep last night. Legs feel bang on to be fair but bottom of left foot under pad is sore. Iced it early and headed out to run 40 mins on grass around the MUGA and trails in Cambourne. Felt good, very relaxed but foot letting me know it's there. Latest one to watch. Will ice again and do toe grabs which will strengthen it.

Plan is to get out and go gym later to focus on core and muscles I miss on Saturdays. Good routine. Feel pretty healthy, only nagging doubt is foot right now.

Entered Jacob and myself for Watford - that's the next one up. If I hit that, Parkrun and then Battersea I'll have my updated 5 for Runbritain rankings and I'm hoping to get down to 0.5 by the end of that which will put me top 100 in v50 UK.

Gym in the afternoon. Nothing crazy, full range squats. Bench hit 40kg for 5 x 3. core and triceps.

Thursday

Feel pretty good this morning. Seeds of improvement on the foot. This cannot come quick enough as a really good session incoming tonight (4 x 1000m @ 5k / 400m @ 1500m). Target paces starting at 3.21 & 73 but ideally work those down towards the end.

2.5 shakeout nice and slow first thing pre-breakfast. Ice foot as slight ache still but all in all feeling OK for tonight. Need to remember gels and bars for pre-post sessions from now. Got to start getting those gainz.

Track, warm up as usual. Foot ok-ish. Not million percent but I'll take it.

Into the session and it's tougher than advertised but get it done.

4 x 1000m [60] 400m [lap jog].

[3.20, 71] - [3.19, 73] - [3.17, 73] - [3.15, 70]

Felt OK on the km reps. Paces never felt insane and held on but the short break and 400s at 1500 pace bit hard. Very suprised to get quicker as it went on but helped that Andy slowed down last few km reps so I could try and bridge.

Getting closer, that's a tough workout but held it together. Did not think I'd be able to rally the last 400m but weights are paying off as arm pump carried me through. All in Takumi Sen too so worth some time.

I'd say off that realistically those paces are right. 4.49 mile (just under 4.30 for 1500m) and 3.18/km for 16.30. 

Solid session. Another big day banked and rest tomorrow. Weights yesterday made legs heavy today. Foot does ache so I'll need to rehab that tonight before bed but fingers crossed all heading in the right direction and wake up Saturday morning feeling A1.

11.2 miles for the day. 29 in the last 3 days.

Friday

Rest day! Time to see how this new approach pays off. Rest and rehab today. The legs are battered! My achillies was properly sore waking up and plantar made itself known. I'll focus some time on these later this morning but improvement on waking up. It feels like I can get myself in shape to run on them but I have to deal with the after effects right now which I can live with. The main point is that it doesn't feel worse - it's just not improving as quickly as I like.

Maybe I'll never be completely pain free - who knows - but I can keep improving on them as they are (as long as I take enough rest) and I'll take that. If they improve to the point I don't feel them I will 3000m steeplechase this year whatever happens!! There, that is the deal.

Lots of icing today. Feet are pretty battered. Hard training hitting them and the extra recovery is much appreciated. Making gains, that's all that counts.

Saturday

Dropped Lola at Parkrun. Feet were really sore and achillies playing up. Wore Evo SL and warmed up 2 miles back to car. Everything was very sore.  Switched to Peggy Plus but gave myself a 3/10 chance of doing session. Got to Maddingley and was just about clear to run.

10 x 25 sec hill rep with jog back recovery. Very untidy. Felt shite, foot still hurt and form was non existent. A lot of gains to be had by getting on top of these. Clear to see why my legs fold under pressure.

Jog back to get Lola and 6/7 for the morning.

Bit frustrated as feet are really battered. Need some severe work doing to get back on top of them. I will persevere though. Probably 10 min dip ankles in pool later as it's ice cold. Need to loosen of calfs too.

Gym later for standard session.

Hills - yep these are really needed and it's 100% where I am going to make some big improvements on strength and endurance. If I can keep on top of my low leg issues I think these will really ramp up but right now they are probably as important as sessions. the plan is to slowly add in more so 10 x 30 secs next week and build up to where I'm on to 20 x 30 secs. That plus longer hilly runs plus strength should build me up to where I am really hitting some strong numbers.

Gym went well. Squats to 85kg and deads to 75. Got all the right work done and worked hard. Sled push to finish. That is tough, I need to crack on with those as that will help my push off.

Sunday

7am at Wimpole with J & Matt. Bloody hell tough morning but lovely day for it. Legs were very heavy but last hill was weird as legs almost felt full of helium and started pushing. These hilly and strogn weekends are going to really get me where I need to. Head down, solid and hard focus from here and the end of this block will be absolutely ready to rhumble.

Around 48 miles for the week in 5 days. 2 sessions, 1 hill session, 1 hilly long run, 2 gym sessions. Hard yards. Starting to feel the benefit of recovery between sessions. This block is going to put me right on the edge of serious fitness. This is getting to one stage from pb shape. Speed work is developing, I'm getting stronger and I'm cruising at 5k pace. The niggles are still there I just need to iron those out but thankfully nothing else is causing me concern right now.

Really looking forward to racing Watford and Battersea now.

Week 2 - 24th to 30th February

Monday

And just like that, another week bites the dust. Legs smashed to bits this morning so not just recovery today but some TLC. Get those feet and legs back ready for another load week. One more week as per last week and then we head into Watford for a 3000m. Hopefully I am getting into sub 9.30 shape as that is really the start of time to start taking notice !! It's amazing how much standards have increased at depth in vets rankings. I think I will need to go  2.07/4.20/9.20 to go top 10 for rankings this year. Those are not far off all time lists (except 3000).

First up though, need to correct these foot issues and that means rehab along with the pre-hab I am already doing. Confident I'll keep active but unless I clear these up I'm not sure how I generate enough force to run really fast.

Tuesday

Wake up after decent sleep. Legs recovering but left foot slight ach just before shakeout after zero yesterday lol

Easy 2.4 miles with Jake first thing. Start of double track tonight. Hoping the Tak Sen work OK tonight after the aches and pains of last Thursday otherwise I'll need an alternative track shoe.

Hit track, warm up fine. Session is reverse of usual 3k specific. Mile [400] 2 x 800 [400] 4 x 400 [400].

First mile start too quick but settle and actually roll around ok-ish. Feel pretty strong and not on the limit. 5.08 - really pleased with that.

800s go 2.33 and 2.33 and I'm moving well. Calfs are getting tight in spikes though so switch to Tak Sen on recovery.

Into the 400s and first one in 74 trying to relax as we started too quick but straight after achillies is sore so can the session.

Frustrating as I would have worked through those under pace (the 400s are so much easier and effort is all really done by then). The 1600 and 2 x 800 were paced 77s and 76.5 - on the money to be fair.

Can't take chances at this stage so binned it and try to fight another day. The spikes were probably better than the Tak sen. Right now I need to sacrifice either the Adios of Pumas on track I think. Will most likely be the Adios as they are softer but may irritate the left foot.

From the shins up I am a god. From the shins down I am a fucking mess lol 

Session last time was 74s for the 400s, 2.30, 2.31 for the 800s and 5.07 for the mile. Roughly where I am tonight - maybe very slightly faster. I was 2 weeks out from a 4.48 mile and 9.35 for 3000m. If I can get on top of these issues I am in the right ball park but aches and pains are really fucking me off right now.

9.5 ish for the day.

Wednesday

Achillies is sore. Hour gunning it to free up some movement. Not really sure on this one but for sure sessions are taking a hit. Will judge today later but not running may be wise so may switch out bike at gym and do weights as normal with focus on calfs.

This shit is tedious now! Pretty much set that chasing won't happen this year as I very much doubt I will ever get ankles, feet and calf strong enough to do it.

Ho-hum. Down but not out.

Plan is to hit gym and do bike rehab - 30 mins with middle 10 of spin ups. Thne I'll do standard weights. Very frustrating but at this stage it's early. First step is to get it back to workable and then stop it happening. It's only been sore on track sessions - either the footwear or the surface. This is going to take some work and patience. Main focus is do not loose what I have already built. I cannot go to zero.

Hit the Gym, pretty standard routine but bench to 45kg, tried nordic curls and rdls to 40kg (20kg each dumbell). Also did 15 mins on the Watt bike but gooch started to ache (as expected). Dipped feet in water for 10 mins and eased off. Possibly doing this through the day will benefit. Either way need to sort this lower limb issue before I can proceed.

I feel like I've strengthened the major muscles enough that they are now firing correctly. It's the feet, calf & tib that are getting left behind. The focus needs to now be on getting them up to speed. If I can address these then I will be k in the game. Patience young boy !! I think Watford is pretty much off the cards as is any kind of session for a while. Get over the initial pain. Run easy, regroup and re-start. Frustrating but I have just run a 5.08 / 2.33 / 2.33 / 74 session yesterday - it's not all lost yet. Just need to stay active.

Thursday

Still not right. Pain is very localised. 

Hit gym today. Pull day with Ange. Full rehab routine completed - single leg rdl, ankle band mobility, tib raises to failure, calf raises to failure, towel toe drags.

Plan later to dip feet in pool as that really eases pain. On the positive side I feel like these are really going to address and fix the weaknesses I've always had. Other muscles are all firing correctly and there's no concerns above the shins.

Looking back it's usually 2/3 days of zero running followed by slow return. Protocol in my head now is 

1) Clear up pain

2) Jog for a week with no sessions finding which shoe / heel stack combo works all on softer surfaces

3) One session for a week but on grass

4) Return to training

Plan is to keep pounding calfs, tib and feet strength work in the meantime.

Friday

Tried to run, not there yet. Anger stage is fast approaching. Think the line in the sand is that I have to stop doing these rapid comebacks. This all needs to heal correctly and not become an issue. As frustrating as it is I just need to take the hit, address the issue and then restart.

I cannot tell you how much I just wish I could walk away right now.

Obviously speed is the wrong title now. I can't really see any point blogging it whilst I'm injured. The achillies felt OK yesterday evening, there is hope - I actually thought Watford could be possible - but right now I just need to crack on with strengthening.

My only aim is to get all muscle groups strong enough to take the load. I have total confidence my upper legs, hips and low back are fine. It's going to take time and patience. Not a lot of point worrying or moaning, focus is on getting the strength work in as quickly as possible.

I think that a return to training will also be slow. I can't face turning up shit again so I forsee a lot of solo sessions on the horizon until I am ready to restart. It's going to take a lot of mental power to get back.

Blog ends. Don't even know if there will be another post after this.