here's a snap-shot of what's planned for the coming week. The week's got an off-road marathon on Saturday in Devon. Normally, if trying to run well, I'd be resting more, but as the mara's prep for the May ultra, I'll be only tapering back slightly. Mid-week's not big anyway, due to work, so not a big diff.
Mon: Spinning (45min) + weights circuit
Tue: Easy 45min run
Wed: Tempo 45min run
Thurs: Spinning (45min) + weights circuit
Fri: Easy 4mile run + travel to Devon
Sat: Devon Coastal Marathon
Sun: REST!!
Sunday, 21 February 2010
21 Cross-country
After a pretty light week of training (mon to fri), Saturday called for a 21 miler over mud an' hills. Was great when I started out as the ground was still frozen, but within an hour, the sun was up. Beautiful blue-sky day, but mean that the frozen trails were muddy and wet. So a couple of hours of wet, cold feet. Great!
Felt pretty good throughout - tired in the last couple of miles and the hills were a challenge, but was very pleased to get a >20miler done. Next weekend's going to be tough though - 26.2miles over the Devon Coastal Trail. Will treat it as a long training run and just try and get around in something around 5-hours. The average men's time for the course is 4:59:16, so if I nip in under 5-hours, I'll be chuffed! The 3:41 record (close to a 4-hr marathon is the record, so tells you how gnarly it is!) is a little out of my reach, I think, so 5 hrs will do just fine!
Today - Sunday - I'm pretty still. Although that may have something to do with the 90-min of snowboarding I did last night?! Was a Level 1 session, but I'm def going to be going again!
Felt pretty good throughout - tired in the last couple of miles and the hills were a challenge, but was very pleased to get a >20miler done. Next weekend's going to be tough though - 26.2miles over the Devon Coastal Trail. Will treat it as a long training run and just try and get around in something around 5-hours. The average men's time for the course is 4:59:16, so if I nip in under 5-hours, I'll be chuffed! The 3:41 record (close to a 4-hr marathon is the record, so tells you how gnarly it is!) is a little out of my reach, I think, so 5 hrs will do just fine!
Today - Sunday - I'm pretty still. Although that may have something to do with the 90-min of snowboarding I did last night?! Was a Level 1 session, but I'm def going to be going again!
Monday, 15 February 2010
Run down...
Monday's always a tough day...back to getting up while it's still dark. Felt particularly tough today though as I'm feeling very run-down. Not through volume of training, but just after Saturday's exertion. Was a big jump up and I was feeling pretty tired beforehand.
So, I'm being very sensible... TWO rest days! Feeling much better this evening for it too. Tomorrow's an easy 45min run, Wed's 60min AT session, Thur's 45min steady pace, Fri's rest/weight circuit, Sat's 21 miles and Sun's 45min slowwwww... a loosen out after Sunday and just to start getting me used to running on really tired legs.
So, I'm being very sensible... TWO rest days! Feeling much better this evening for it too. Tomorrow's an easy 45min run, Wed's 60min AT session, Thur's 45min steady pace, Fri's rest/weight circuit, Sat's 21 miles and Sun's 45min slowwwww... a loosen out after Sunday and just to start getting me used to running on really tired legs.
Sunday, 14 February 2010
Saturday is the new Sunday
Yep, Saturday is def the new Sunday for the longest run of the week. Problem with Sunday is, you go out for a 3+ hour run, you're pooped all day and on Monday, when you've to get up at 6/6:30am as I do, you're still wrecked! So, Saturday's now my long run day. You can stay in the getting up early routine of Monday - Friday, then you're out the door by 7:30am and the run's all done by 11am!
Yesterday was 19-miles of the usual hilly, muddy cross-country. Met with Chris Wilson, an old mate from my days at Tri London but who now runs 'Team Bodylab, for about 6 or 7 miles of it. Makes the miles go by much easier when you're out with someone. And as Chris is an experienced athlete and isn't one of these guys that needs to be half a stride in front, it makes for a nice even paced and sociable run.
After doing the middle few miles with Chris, I had the 6 miles back over the country field between Hadley Woods and Crewes Hill. Olly had nabbed himself a nice chunky rabbit on our way out, but so he didn't have to carry it the whole way, I got him to stash it and we collected it then again with about 4 miles to run to home. Once we were out of the countryside (where everyone was complimentary of his self-service lunch) and back into Enfield Town, a lot of the townies were looking at him in horror as he ran along, head held high with pride, and with a large rabbit flailing from his jaws. As he's moulting and there are clumps of fur on him, he looked pretty wild, so it did look as though I was running down the street with a wolf with a rabbit in his jaws. Quality moment!!
Although my right hip, which saw me out of action for 8-months in 2008, was stiff after last weekends 5k-country race (where we ran hard and came 5th), it is fine now (Sunday, 24-hrs after the run). I'm going to be very cautious though...I can't afford a problem with the hip/glutes at this stage of preparation for an ultra in 3-months! Got to stay healthy and injury-free in order to have consistent training. Consistent moderate weeks are better than sporadic weeks of mad training, followed by a week off/easy to let an injury heal or to get over a feeling of utter exhaustion. Today, for example, I'll be going for a long walk, a short weights curcuit and core stability training and that's it. Tomorrow; massage, spinning. So two days of no running. Then 5-days in a row with a 21 miler next Sat, then taper for the Devon Coastal marathon on 27th Feb. Looking forward to that, but I know it will be tough - I don't have enough long runs in my legs to do it and feel comfortable!
Right... time to build new dog crate for car.
Yesterday was 19-miles of the usual hilly, muddy cross-country. Met with Chris Wilson, an old mate from my days at Tri London but who now runs 'Team Bodylab, for about 6 or 7 miles of it. Makes the miles go by much easier when you're out with someone. And as Chris is an experienced athlete and isn't one of these guys that needs to be half a stride in front, it makes for a nice even paced and sociable run.
After doing the middle few miles with Chris, I had the 6 miles back over the country field between Hadley Woods and Crewes Hill. Olly had nabbed himself a nice chunky rabbit on our way out, but so he didn't have to carry it the whole way, I got him to stash it and we collected it then again with about 4 miles to run to home. Once we were out of the countryside (where everyone was complimentary of his self-service lunch) and back into Enfield Town, a lot of the townies were looking at him in horror as he ran along, head held high with pride, and with a large rabbit flailing from his jaws. As he's moulting and there are clumps of fur on him, he looked pretty wild, so it did look as though I was running down the street with a wolf with a rabbit in his jaws. Quality moment!!
Although my right hip, which saw me out of action for 8-months in 2008, was stiff after last weekends 5k-country race (where we ran hard and came 5th), it is fine now (Sunday, 24-hrs after the run). I'm going to be very cautious though...I can't afford a problem with the hip/glutes at this stage of preparation for an ultra in 3-months! Got to stay healthy and injury-free in order to have consistent training. Consistent moderate weeks are better than sporadic weeks of mad training, followed by a week off/easy to let an injury heal or to get over a feeling of utter exhaustion. Today, for example, I'll be going for a long walk, a short weights curcuit and core stability training and that's it. Tomorrow; massage, spinning. So two days of no running. Then 5-days in a row with a 21 miler next Sat, then taper for the Devon Coastal marathon on 27th Feb. Looking forward to that, but I know it will be tough - I don't have enough long runs in my legs to do it and feel comfortable!
Right... time to build new dog crate for car.
Friday, 12 February 2010
The damp makes it worse.
Ok, it’s not the damp weather that causes my hip to hurt, but whenever I think of dodgy hips, I think of older people complaining that the damp’s the cause. In late 2007/early 2008 I was training hard (maybe too hard) and started to suffer with piriformis syndrome, where a deep gluteal muscle causes the sciatic nerve to be compressed, resulting in pain/discomfort in the butt, back of leg. This can become worse and travel down the leg, but fortunately I’ve just got a pain in the ass!
It was tight around the area after a few hard runs and last night it started to really hurt from the first step. Solution – I’ve to rest today (well, by rest I mean ‘not run’, butu there’ll be a spinning session and weights circuit) and then in the morning (7:30am!) we’re out for a 19-mile x-country run. I’m actually quite looking forward to the long run, but I am concerned about the hip causing probs, or it getting worse after the run.
Oh well, I collect my new car tomorrow and fortunately the bucket seats are so damn comfy that my ass could be totally numb ,and I reckon I’d not notice. (wishful thinking).
Ok...butt pain’s all the the head. 19 in the morning.
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Weekend: Feb 6th/7th.
The weekend saw no long run, but a good result at a Cani'x' race. I ran angry after the stupid organisor requested that I move my number - to a place it still couldn't be seen. Anyway, 'nough said about that; just gets me going again. I clipped off a 6:10 first mile and wrapped up the 3.2 miles with that last 0.2 of a mile in 51 seconds. All in, 5th place was ok and I came across the line and threw my number back at him, which I'd run with in my hand throughout!! Could've run faster if not for the too fast first mile, but shows that I just need to keep working on the speed endurance - more tempo runs and long reps then.
Was good to have a lower mileage week after a few weeks building up. Now I'll settle down to two very tough weeks before having a week backing off for the Devon Coastal marathon on 27th Feb. Right... no choice but to do some long runs this week and next then!
Was good to have a lower mileage week after a few weeks building up. Now I'll settle down to two very tough weeks before having a week backing off for the Devon Coastal marathon on 27th Feb. Right... no choice but to do some long runs this week and next then!
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Wildmen and dogs
Here's a snap of Olly and I coming in to finish the Merrell Wildman 10k x-country race. Despite starting a minute after the main field, Olly needing to stop for a vomit and a poop, we still finished 18th. Not a bad morning.
From Feb. onwards...
After my last post in November where I was ‘feeling groggy after flu vaccine (seasonal)’, I came down with ‘piggy flu’ and then that led to a bad cough. In short, I was out of running for almost a month. The over xmas I started rebuilding, slightly nervous all the time that I didn’t have enough time to build up the mileage for my key early 2010 goal of running the 24-hour challenge and getting 100-miles done in that time.
I’m pleased to say that January went quite well. Just getting back into the routine again and getting miles in even during the snowy period – I wore my track spikes! Mileage still isn’t that high though – work hrs often make it difficult to get much in during the week. But I’m getting good x-country long runs in at weekends. Last Sunday was a good 2 ½ hours over a hilly, muddy route. Got to build these runs up a couple of miles a week and then in mid-march and throughout April, do what I think is the key training for ultra – back-to-back long runs. You need to get used to running tired, so running 2hrs+ on a Saturday followed by 4-5hrs on a Sunday (or vice-versa if you really want to make it hurt!) is really the key to running a strong ultra marathon.
Previously when training for ultra, I had much more time in the week to train. I would run from work (c.10-miles) and also get in lunchtime sessions. As I’ve not got much time during the week to get mileage in I’m trying to make the mid-week runs count more. This means that I’m running more fartlek (unstructured/semi-structured interval sessions) and tempo (anaerobic threshold) runs. The thinking is that if I add more quality, then running 9+min/miles in the ultra should feel relatively slow and easy. Most week in February look like this:
M: rest or x-train
T: steady 5 miles – usually still sore from weekend
W: fartlek or tempo 6 miles
T: steady 7-8 miles
F: steady 5 miles
S: fartlek or tempo 6-8 miles
S: long x-country 17, 19, 21 miles with the Devon Coastal Marathon on the 27th.
So the weekly mileage is only around 50 miles a week at the moment, but it’s of pretty good quality. In March the long runs will increase up to 30 miles every other week and from mid-march, the Saturday fartlek/tempo will be replaced with a 2-3 hour x-country run. March will also see an intensive week of training as I’ll be taking annual leave to set up my own little training ‘camp’, which will probably be here in the UK.
Ok, for now...I just need to get psyched for the steady 7-8miles tonight. Also, on Sunday I’m running a race in Surrey, so mileage will have to be tagged onto that to make up the assigned 17 for the day....I hate having to do that! Running 10+ miles after a short race ain’t fun!!!
I’m pleased to say that January went quite well. Just getting back into the routine again and getting miles in even during the snowy period – I wore my track spikes! Mileage still isn’t that high though – work hrs often make it difficult to get much in during the week. But I’m getting good x-country long runs in at weekends. Last Sunday was a good 2 ½ hours over a hilly, muddy route. Got to build these runs up a couple of miles a week and then in mid-march and throughout April, do what I think is the key training for ultra – back-to-back long runs. You need to get used to running tired, so running 2hrs+ on a Saturday followed by 4-5hrs on a Sunday (or vice-versa if you really want to make it hurt!) is really the key to running a strong ultra marathon.
Previously when training for ultra, I had much more time in the week to train. I would run from work (c.10-miles) and also get in lunchtime sessions. As I’ve not got much time during the week to get mileage in I’m trying to make the mid-week runs count more. This means that I’m running more fartlek (unstructured/semi-structured interval sessions) and tempo (anaerobic threshold) runs. The thinking is that if I add more quality, then running 9+min/miles in the ultra should feel relatively slow and easy. Most week in February look like this:
M: rest or x-train
T: steady 5 miles – usually still sore from weekend
W: fartlek or tempo 6 miles
T: steady 7-8 miles
F: steady 5 miles
S: fartlek or tempo 6-8 miles
S: long x-country 17, 19, 21 miles with the Devon Coastal Marathon on the 27th.
So the weekly mileage is only around 50 miles a week at the moment, but it’s of pretty good quality. In March the long runs will increase up to 30 miles every other week and from mid-march, the Saturday fartlek/tempo will be replaced with a 2-3 hour x-country run. March will also see an intensive week of training as I’ll be taking annual leave to set up my own little training ‘camp’, which will probably be here in the UK.
Ok, for now...I just need to get psyched for the steady 7-8miles tonight. Also, on Sunday I’m running a race in Surrey, so mileage will have to be tagged onto that to make up the assigned 17 for the day....I hate having to do that! Running 10+ miles after a short race ain’t fun!!!
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