running towards

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Like many people, I've been running a hell of a lot more in the past few weeks than I have in a few years and I think starting a log here will help maintain my momentum to work towards some goals I have in mind to reach over the next year or two.

I'm hoping the process of logging and interacting with the other runners here will help with maintaining motivation and give a little extra accountability in the medium to long term.

Seeing as I mentioned goals, I might as well state them for the record:

1. sub 18min 5km
2. sub 5min mile
3. sub 2min 800m

I'm hoping the first one will be possible to do in a TT inside the next couple of months. The second I'm not sure about as I don't know how far I am away at the moment. The third is much more difficult and is for the long term but it's also the one I care most about.

I've been getting a real buzz out of running over the past month or so, it's been a great release and distraction from the madness that has been 2020.

Let' see where the journey goes from here!

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March 23-29: 38.1 km w/ 1x workout

March 30 - 5 April: 29.3 km w/ 1x workout

April 6-12: 33.6 km w/ 1x workout

April 13-19: 58.1 km w/ 2x workouts [yes I know this was a bad idea]

April 20-26: 58.1km w/ 1x workouts [legs were destroyed but no injury thankfully]

April 27 - May 3: 52.6 km w/ 1x workout [handled volume much better]

The last 3 Sundays I've completed long runs of 70mins, 80mins, and 80mins over hilly ground and I've definitely noticed the most recent one was much easier. In general I've been varying wildly day to day between feeling great and feeling crap. My legs seem to be getting used to the extra work I'm putting them through which is nice to see. On easy days I'm doing my best to stay on grass and trails where possible. I've taken 1 day off in the past 3 weeks when I felt I genuinely needed a rest, other than that it's been every day.

Yesterday I did 8 x 60s on / 60s off and felt like I had an extra couple in me at the end.
Plan for the rest of the week (subject to amendment based on how I feel):
W - v easy (<30mins)
T - moderate ( 40-50mins)
F - hills
S - easy (40mins)
S - long and slow (85 mins)

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Wednesday: 4.2 km @ 7:28/km. Did this with OH.

Thursday: 8.3 km @ 4:54/km. One of those runs where you have to drag yourself out the door but you feel great once you get going. Had to hold myself back from going too fast.

Friday: 2x(3x2 min hills) off jog-back (3-3:30) & 5mins active rest + 20 mins easy after. Total 11.5 km.

This was tough. I wanted 3 sets of 3 hills but I was struggling after the 4th rep. I'm trying to avoid going past 8/10 effort in any of my sessions at the moment as I build the mileage up so I left it at 6 reps for my first hills session in a long time.

Saturday: 6.2 km @ 5:46/km

Sunday: 16.2 km (82mins) @ 5:04/km. This one was mentally very tough to get through. The route I wanted to run was flooded so I just did laps of my local park. The wind was high and it was blowing dust all over the place which was quite annoying. I will be returning to the route I did my previous 3 long runs on next Sunday.

62.4 km weekly total is my highest ever. My legs are feeling sore in the heavy, weary sort of way that I know means they're adjusting to being asked to do things they haven't before. I'll aim to hit 70 km this week, and 75 km the following week before cutting back for the week of the boards Mile TT. I'll do this by bringing the long runs up to 90 mins+ and going a little longer on my easy days.

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Monday 11th: - off. Didn't feel like running. I did do a bit of stretching, foam-rolling, and some push-ups and pull-ups.

Tuesday 12th May: 6 x 1 km off 90s

20mins warm-up
a few stretches and a couple of short strides
6 x 1km off 90s walk recovery
3:22
3:22
3:22
3:22
3:19
3:17
10 mins very easy once I got my breath back.

---

This went MUCH better than I expected. I was amazed to be so consistent across the session. I did a comparable workout of 4 x 1km off 2mins on the 14th April using the same circuit in a local park and was more than 10s slower per rep. I remember it also being quite difficult from the second rep on.

Caveats are that I think the distance may be slightly under-estimated (max 30m) but it's an imperfect grass surface and on some of the reps I was dodging around trees and people.

I think the session shows I've come on a fair bit in a month so I have to be pleased with that. I do need to keep an eye on the condition of my legs as I was feeling a bit creaky during my warm-up.

I'll be looking to take down my 5km PB (parkrun) of 19:03 the same week as the Mile TT.

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Wed - 10.1 km @ 4:41/km (47:42)
Thurs - 6.7 km @ 5:08/km (34:37)
Fri - 12.7 km @ 4:28/km (57:11) - Felt great on this one, cruising in the evening sunshine.
Sat - 7.5 km @ 5:07/km
Sun - 18.6 km w/ 15 mins tempo from 30-45mins. 4:53/km avg (90 mins) Hilly route in Richmond park, enjoyed the glorious evening sunshine again. Longest ever run.

---

Overview - Total 66.5 km in 5hrs 23mins
Another solid week, highest ever volume despite a rest day, and faster average pace than previous weeks. Kept it to one workout plus a long run instead of two to hopefully stay on the good side of over-training. I was feeling fairly drained yesterday energy-wise but still got out for a handy 30 mins. My legs seem to be adapting to all these kms. Appetite has gone through the roof, I'm having a great time stuffing my face.

I think for this week I'll aim to hit 70 km with one workout and a long run. Next week will be lower volume and at least 1 time trial, hopefully a 5km as well as the mile.

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Mon - 5.4 km @ 5:25/km easy in 30mins - legs in bits
Tues - OFF
Wed - 10.02 km @ 4:48/km in 48mins - easy effort
Thurs - 6 x 350m off 60s (7.5km total with warm-up/cool-down)
Messed this one up by going too fast. I didn't want to go too deep in the well so I stopped at 6 but I probably could have gone to 8 if I really really pushed it. Consistent 62s per rep. Next time I will aim for 65s and try to get 8-10 reps.
Friday - OFF
Saturday - Mile TT reconnaissance mission to Battersea Park. I wanted to scope out my route for the TT. Ran there and back. Total 15.9km at easy effort, 5:00/km
Sunday - OFF

Not a great week. Weather was very hot which was uncomfortable to run in in the early evening I had been doing the previous few weeks.

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[This is copy & pasted from the Mile TT Thread]

I wasn't sure what to target for this as I've only ever raced 2 miles before, one of which was a beer mile, and even at that it was a good few years ago.

I had done a 2 x 350m off 10s rest (turn-around) yesterday at target race pace, but I completely messed it up by going off way too hard and was struggling badly the last 50m. So confidence was not too high going in.

The venue was Battersea Park, London, which offers a dead flat and wide tarmac path, but it is lined on both sides by trees which is not great for GPS. I had done a reconnaissance mission last Saturday to measure out the course and eye up some landmarks, and I was pleasantly surprised by the GPS tracking so I decided that would do.

I don't have a GPS watch so was running with my (fairly hefty) phone strapped to my arm. Manually started Strava as I started running and had run announcements tell me at halfway and when I had completed the mile.

To the TT:
Started off smoothly, definitely easier effort than my botched trial-run yesterday and was feeling good. Checked my watch roughly 400m in and was in or around 5min pace so happy with that. Started feeling tougher to keep the pace in the second 400m, I lost confidence and definitely slowed here.

At halfway Strava told me I was on for 5:20 which I was happy with and I found some extra energy to pick up the pace and was feeling good. I had landmarks to look out for and roughly 300m from the end I really pushed the pace out and surprised myself that I had that much left, however when I got to the point that Strava had told me was 1 mile on my warm-up, the finish announcement never came... I kept going. 10m... 20m... still nothing and I was completely knackered and demoralised to the point I considered quitting but I managed to keep moving although I slowed to crawl. Eventually about 50m after the point I was expecting to finish the announcement came through saying 5:20. I stopped moving - which wasn't difficult as I was barely jogging - and pretty much collapsed in a heap.

All in all I'll take the 5:21. Definitely more there with better pacing and a track so I don't get duped by the GPS again. It turned out the GPS tracking was much better on my TT effort than either of the warm-up runs so that explained why I was fooled. Also, I really should invest in a Garmin...

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Monday - 10.46 km @ 4:28 / km (45 mins) - I was feeling good on this one
Tuesday - 6.15 km @ 5:13 / km (32 mins)
Wednesday - OFF (legs destroyed)
Thursday - 5.15 km @ 5:12 / km (26mins) - Legs still fairly sore. Was getting worried about the TT at this point.
Friday - 6.47 km @ 4:49 / km (31 mins) - Did some dynamic stretching and strides. Legs still not 100% but better than the previous few days.
Saturday - 1 Mile TT in 5:21 plus 3.2km warmup, total 5km
Sunday - 19.5 km @4:33 / km (88 mins) - Felt great on this one after about 3-4 kms

Overall: 52.7 km - not a bad week despite the tapering for the TT, although I need to keep an eye on keeping my legs healthy. Yesterday's run was my longest ever, and it felt pretty good overall despite it being 22 C out there. I was very dehydrated by the end.

In general I think I need to do more foam rolling and stretching to keep my legs loose, and I should probably be going slower on my easy days. Target for this week is 65 km with 1 Tempo and 1 Hills session, plus usual Sunday Long run.

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Update

So it turned out I was running with shin splints for the last couple of weeks leading up to the mile TT (medial tibial syndrome). From reading up on it, it's very common for people who do what I did, i.e. a massive, sustained ramp up in mileage without enough rest.

I had experienced shin pain before but this was different and came on fairly mildly so I didn't recognise it until too late. I initially took 2 weeks off and tried building back up slowly but it flared up again last week.

Am giving it a complete rest from impact for the next couple weeks and will try go again. In the meantime I've been working more on flexibility, foam rolling and circuit type exercises. Also doing some foot and Achilles strengthening work to try and be best prepared for when I can get back running.

Unfortunately my road bike was stolen a few months ago so I have no real option for aerobic training other than walking at the moment.

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This morning I did my first run of week 3 since beginning to run again.

Week 1, 20-26 July: 2 runs, 70 mins total

Week 2, 27 July - 02 August: 3 runs, 121 mins

Today, 03 August 30 mins with 5 mins dynamic stretching after 7 or 8 mins. Will aim for 4 runs this week, 150-180 mins.

Will keep building gradually for the time being. Unsurprisingly, I lost a lot of fitness after 6 weeks of pretty much no running. I will try out easing into some strides this week, leading into speed-work before the summer is gone. The shin splints are completely cleared now.

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I want to start getting into a habit of updating this more. Since my last post I dealt with a niggly achilles issue that I'm fairly certain began when I was developing the shin splints in my other leg. I was favouring my right side and as I'm a forefoot striker this put a lot of pressure on my right achilles. Silly looking back at it but hindsight is great.

So I had to carefully manage my running until the achilles settled fully about 3 weeks ago. I'm still doing the rehab exercises, I think they're gonna be a constant going forward.

My preferred running time is in the morning but I found the achilles was always worst at that time so I had been avoiding that. Delighted that I can now get back into that habit.

Anyway...

The last few runs my easy pace has been down around the 5min/km mark which feels comfortable. I find if I'm going slower than 5:30/km I feel like my form is affected to the point its annoying. Having said that I'm really trying to be restrained on my easy runs as I know that was one of the things that led to my injuries early in the summer.

Anyone interested in following me on Strava just send me a DM. My goal remains to PB in the 5k, mile, and 800m between here and the end of the indoor season next spring. Immediate focus is to up the volume over the next few weeks until I'm back to about 50-60kms.

MY BAD

In terms of goals and achilles issues you probably are where I was in 2017. Consistency is the key. Enjoy the process

Murph_D

Interesting log and goals. I’d say you’re right that the shin injury derived from doing too much too soon. The achilles also followed a similarly rapid planned ramp up from nothing to 180 mins in a few weeks.

What will be different this time?

Are you self coached, by the way? Where are you getting the sessions and structure from? What’s your running background and PBs to date?

Best of luck with this phase. Keep posting!

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Murph_D wrote: »

Interesting log and goals. I’d say you’re right that the shin injury derived from doing too much too soon. The achilles also followed a similarly rapid planned ramp up from nothing to 180 mins in a few weeks.

What will be different this time?

Are you self coached, by the way? Where are you getting the sessions and structure from? What’s your running background and PBs to date?

Best of luck with this phase. Keep posting!

Thanks, appreciate the support and it's good to know that I'm not just posting into the void!

I am self coached, yes. For the time being at least.

I'm new to competitive distance running but have a decent amount of experience with athletics since I was a kid. In summer 2016 I was hitting 52s consistently in the 400m and felt I could go quicker the following season but I badly injured my ankle playing football and the season was gone. Then I moved to the UK in 2017 and wasn't doing any focused training apart from playing a bit of low level GAA last summer. Lockdown this year gave me an opportunity to get back into running, and having new goals has been fairly motivating. I'll be 31 before the year is out so I'm conscious that time is ticking...

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Mon 21st Sept - 6.1km in 30 mins
Tues 22nd Sept - 6.1km in 30 mins


Getting back into the groove of early morning running is great. Still have a few weeks of doing these in sunshine to ingrain the habit before it's all "hello darkness my old friend". I'm lucky to live near the Thames and the trail that runs along the banks is a fantastic running route. This morning the river was at full tide and I had a few rowers alongside me. 5 min k's feeling fairly easy. Will walk tomorrow am before going again Thurs and Friday.

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Weds 23/09 - Bodyweight exercises - pull-ups, push-ups, single leg squats, glute bridges

Thurs 24/09 - 6.2 km in 30-ish mins 5:05 /km

Colder this morning but thankfully the heavy overnight rain stopped about half an hour before my run. Taking a day off was a good idea, the lower legs were feeling refreshed, but my hips and glutes were a bit heavy after the exercises yesterday.

Same again tomorrow morning, then will hit the track Saturday or Sunday depending on how fresh I feel, to give the legs a little whirl with some 200s at 30-35s pace. I'm primarily building my aerobic engine but I think it's a good idea to keep in touch with the sharper stuff.

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Friday 25/09 - 6.2 km in roughly 31 mins - 5:07/km
Sat 26/09 - OFF
Sun 27/09 - Track: 8x200m off 200m jog
34, 34, 34, 34, 33, 33, 34, 31 (jog rest around 2mins)

Weekly total: 31.1km, with 5 x runs, made of 1 x track session, 4 x easy runs. 1 x home bodyweight workout.

Happy enough with that workout yesterday. Consistency was good, and while the speed isn't there yet, it'll come back if I keep at it. Overall, not a bad week. Legs are feeling a bit beat up this morning. Will go for a very easy run and stretch after work to loosen out. I managed to give my toe a nasty bash getting out of the shower yesterday, it's cut up and a little bruised but thankfully nothing more. I can run on it.

This week, more of the same. Will keep the morning runs the same, move the track session to Saturday morning, and run slowly for an hour on Sunday.

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Mon 28/09 - pm 25 mins @5:39/km
Tues 29/09 - am 30 mins @5:30/km


Heavy legs at the moment, and getting out of bed for my run was tough this morning. I've been eating and sleeping more since upping my training. Averaged just over 8hrs last week, hope to keep that going.

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Wed 30th September, pm9.9km at 5:15/km avg, 51mins moving time
15 mins w/u
stretches, strides
4 x 4 mins @4:00-4:15/km off 2mins active recovery (very slow running)
slow run home


This wasn't easy but I got through it and I felt like the 4th rep was the fastest despite Strava telling me I was doing 6mins/km halfway through. I was running in a flat, straight trail but there was tree-cover I guess. Will hope to build on this type of session, the pace and volume will increase as I build through the weeks.

Annoyingly, since coming home and cooling off my left ankle has been stiff and sore. I didn't notice anything on the run but it feels like I've tweaked a tendon in there. So no morning run today. There's no swelling, and seems to benefit from moving around so hopefully some gentle rehab and a day off will sort it out.

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Thurs - Off
Fri - Off
Sat - Off
Sun - Bodyweight Exercises
Mon 05/10 - pm - 9.3 km @ 4:58/km 46 mins
Tues 06/10 - am 5.4 km @ 5:24/km 29 mins

4 days off running with that ankle niggle. It was noticeable enough walking around on Thursday but cleared up over the next few days. I've been rolling and stretching and doing calf raises and whatnot but was fairly pissed off the second half of last week with crap weather and the extent of my banjaxed leg unknown to me. As it turned out, it wasn't too bad at all, and it really felt good to be running again yesterday evening. Morning runs are just hitting dawn at the moment, I think next week I'll have the headlamp on.

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Wed 07/10 - pm: 48 mins @5:10/km (9.3km)

Thurs 08/10 - pm: 50 mins @4:57/km (10.1km)

I haven't been as successful in getting up early this week, but have enjoyed my runs. Wednesday my legs were feeling stiff and beat up, but yesterday everything was flowing and I had to remind myself this was just an easy run. First time in a while I've gone over 10km, so that's a nice little box ticked as I keep building.

Today will be very very easy, tomorrow morning a track session. Will probably take Sunday off.

Dubh Geannain

Only finding the log now. Very interesting goals and identical to what mine were for 2020 re the mile and 5k. Sorry to hear about your injury troubles. That 6 x 1k workout where you were running low 3:20s suggests to me you probably could have run very close to 18 mins if not sub 18 minutes around that time.

Getting the consistent mileage in has been and still is my biggest problem to date. I only hit 30 MPW (48 km) 3 or 4 times earlier in the year but thankfully it was enough to get me over the line.

You mentioned you care more about the 800. What's your PB?

I'm actually hoping to maybe start an 800 m plan in the next month or so if my other commitments allow it. No target time yet as I want to do a TT first to see where I'm at with it. I hope I'm at around maybe 2:15 and then would be targeting something like a sub 2:10 at the end of a focussed training block.

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Dubh Geannain wrote: »

Only finding the log now. Very interesting goals and identical to what mine were for 2020 re the mile and 5k. Sorry to hear about your injury troubles. That 6 x 1k workout where you were running low 3:20s suggests to me you probably could have run very close to 18 mins if not sub 18 minutes around that time.

Getting the consistent mileage in has been and still is my biggest problem to date. I only hit 30 MPW (48 km) 3 or 4 times earlier in the year but thankfully it was enough to get me over the line.

You mentioned you care more about the 800. What's your PB?

I'm actually hoping to maybe start an 800 m plan in the next month or so if my other commitments allow it. No target time yet as I want to do a TT first to see where I'm at with it. I hope I'm at around maybe 2:15 and then would be targeting something like a sub 2:10 at the end of a focussed training block.

Thanks for showing interest!

Yes, the injuries have been annoying but hopefully I've gotten them out of my system. It was my own fault really for pushing too hard too soon. I'll be be in the 40-50km range by the end of this week so I'll keep at that level for a couple weeks to allow the body to adjust.

About the 800, I reckon my window of opportunity to PB is less than for the longer distances. I've run 2:03 in my late teens off 400m training but am nowhere near that shape right now.

Right now the plan is just to get back into the swing of injury-free training, enjoy my running, and gradually build the volume while keeping in touch with a bit of track work.

I think you're right that I would have been near enough sub-18 shape around that time but if I stay sensible this time around I'll hopefully be able to reach that level without falling apart at the seams!

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Friday 09/10 - Easy Day - 3.2 km @ roughly 7:00/km (run/walk)

Saturday 10/10 - Track: 2x2x300m off 100 jog, 5mins, then 3x200m off 200 jog

Sunday 11/10 - Rest - went for an hour-long walk in the afternoon but no training. Lovely clear autumn day.

Weekly total: 42km

My partner is doing C25k so on Friday I jumped in with her for Day 2 on fairly tired legs. Was good to get the blood flowing, we were doing about 5:30/km when running, but it was more or less half in half running and walking.

I have to be happy with Saturday's track session. I was in a bit of a rush to get it done early as I had some plans, so I cut my warm-up short a bit and didn't do a cool-down. But it worked out OK, and I felt pretty good. The plan was to aim for 3 sets of 2x300m but on the 4th rep I started going lactic so switched back to 200m after that set. I was happy to keep the same pace I was hitting for 200m reps in my last session over the 300m distance, so I know I'm heading in the right direction. Overall, delighted with the week. Starting to feel somewhat like an athlete again.

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Monday 12/10 - am: 7.2km in 36mins, 5:01/km

First time leaving the house in darkness in a long while, but the sun started to appear after about 10 mins. There were some lunatic rowers on the river roaring as they went by at speed. They sounded like right hooligans, which isn't a word one would normally associate with rowers, but they provided me something to laugh at I suppose.
Anyway, the legs are feeling really good. I had some nice doms in my glutes and hams yesterday after the track on Saturday but my calves were feeling nice and loose this morning. All set for a good week's training. Hoping I can starting pushing the morning runs towards 40mins now to keep building the volume. Requires willpower to leave my cosy, cosy bed a few minutes earlier, but it's always worth it.

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Tuesday 13/10 - pm: Intervals 5 x 4 mins off 2mins active recovery, 13km total, 65mins
Wed 14/10 - pm: 36 mins easy at 5:16/km
Thurs 15/10 - pm: 41mins easy at 5:02/km

Tuesday's workout went well despite crappy weather. Did this on the riverside trail which is mostly flat but the surface is a bit broken in places. GPS tracking was all over the shop - I really should get a watch instead of relying on my phone - so I can't really say what pace I was hitting for the reps. I did feel stronger than when I did the 4x4mins session a couple of weeks ago. Wed & Thurs were fine, the legs were fairly tired on Wednesday but much improved yesterday. I'll take today off and hit the track tomorrow morning. Motoring along nicely now.

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Friday 16/10 - OFF
Sat 17/10 - 8 x hills, 9 km total
Sun 18/10 - OFF

The gates to the track hadn't opened when I got there so I decided to change the plan and go for some hills in the nearby park instead of waiting around. Did a decent warm-up, stretches before getting into it. The reps were all in the 32-34s range. I ran the first 6 with a slow jog-back, and final 2 walking most of the way down. I would have been digging very deep to get the extra 2 that I wanted to bring me to 10, and that's not the goal at this stage of my training. So 8 reps it was.

Just under 45km for the week with 5 days training including 2 workouts. Plenty of scope to up the volume over the next couple months. This week will be less intense but overall volume may be slightly higher.

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Monday 19/10 - am - 41mins easy, 8.0km 5:07/km


Complete darkness leaving the house. Bright on the return. Legs feeling good.

MY BAD

Are you following a "plan" or are your sessions self prescribed? Or have you a coach/club?

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I'm self-coached for the time being, and not following a prescribed plan. At the moment I'm just working on building my base fitness through easy running while staying in touch with a bit of faster-paced stuff that I will need for 800m or 1500m / mile races. I've been doing either 1 or 2 workouts every second week and building the rest of the volume up through easy-effort running. I looked into joining a local club recently but they're not currently taking new members while Covid is ongoing. I feel comfortable enough to coach myself through the winter, and I'm fairly happy with the progress the last few weeks.

I will look to start incorporating longer runs, tempo runs, and circuit training into the regular schedule but I won't add everything at once.

I think I'll have a crack at a 5km TT in the middle of November. Maybe a mile as well a few weeks later.

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Mon 19/10: am - 41 mins easy @5:07/km (8.0 km)
Tue 20/20: pm - 46 mins easy @5:01/km (9.2 km)
Wed 21/10: pm - 41 mins easy @5:07/km (8.1 km)
Thurs - OFF
Fri - OFF
Sat 24/10: am - 8 x hills (31-34s/hill, 2mins recovery)
Sun 25/10: pm - 70 mins easy @5:02/km (13.9 km)

Weekly total 47.4km


I'm using a pattern of 2 hard weeks, 1 easy as I build up the training, with this being an 'easy'. The long runs will be a weekly staple from here on, Sunday was enjoyable and they should help build up the engine. I'm glad I was able to keep the volume heading in the right direction while keeping things generally pretty controlled on the runs. The hills were an exception - they felt more difficult than the previous week for some reason.

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Mon 26/10: pm - 23 mins very easy @7:32/km (3.1km)
Tues 27/10: pm - 39 mins easy @5:03/km (7.7km)
Wed 28/10: pm- Track 3 x 800m, 2 x 400m (90s, 60s rec) roughly 3:20/km pace

Monday was planned to be a day off but I decided to join my OH on her C25km session, it served pretty well as a recovery run as the legs were feeling fairly battered. Tuesday was in the dark on the riverside trail I've been using a lot. It's become fairly slippery and wet the last couple of weeks and I can't see myself being able to do anything other than easy paced running on it during the winter, which is probably a good thing on balance, to be honest.

Last night I headed to my nearest track for my first midweek track session. The track is free to use for the public and floodlit in the winter evenings, it's a fantastic facility to have for the community and something that you don't see in Ireland. The conditions were fairly cold with a deceptive headwind on the home straight, and it took a good while to feel properly warmed up. I had planned for 5-6 x 800m off 90s, but I wasn't able for it and had to switch to 400s after 3. Good to get a proper idea at this stage of where I'm at; the track never lies, and I clearly have a way to go yet. Positives from the session are that on the warm-up I felt looser and more flexible than I have before now. I added a short plyo circuit of hops into the warm-up that I picked up from Adam Gimili's instagram.

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Thursday 29/10: pm - 43 mins, 4:59/km (8.6 km)
Friday 30/10: - OFF
Saturday 31/10: 50 mins, with 2 x 2km in 8:10, 7:53 (10.3 km)
Sunday 01/11: 80 mins at 4:57/km (16.1 km)

The track session on Tuesday really did a number on my calves, so even on Saturday's run they were fairly sore. Given that I was happy enough with those 2km efforts. Sunday's long run was good, the soreness from the track had completely disappeared despite Saturday's run. I was able to stay relaxed aerobically throughout but my legs were struggling the last 15 mins. This makes sense as I haven't had a run as long as this since the end of May. I was surprised at the overall pace, it felt like I was going about 30s/km slower. Overall delighted with the week. Volume trending up at a sensible rate, fitness is coming along.

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Mon 02/11 - pm - 23 mins v easy recovery, 5:31/km (4.1 km)
Tue 03/11: - pm - 51 mins easy, 5:05/km (10.1 km)
Wed 04/11: - OFF
Thurs 05/11: - 51 mins easy, 5:06/km (10.1 km)
Fri 06/11|: - OFF
Sat 07/11: - Track - 5 x 400m off 2mins walking rec - 78, 77, 77, 77, 73 (8 km) - also plyo hopping drills beforehand
Sun 08/11: - Long Run 80 mins, 4:52/km (16.5 km)

Mixed week of training to be honest. We just got a puppy last weekend and while I'm absolutely delighted to have him, taking the little fella out in the middle of the night to do his business has had an impact on my sleep. I found myself low on energy this week and I would liked to have had a 6th run in there and a second workout. Having said that, I'm still plugging away and getting fitter every week.
The track session was OK, I probably need to slow these down a bit and up the volume but I find it difficult mentally to run slow on a track. Something to work on. Yesterday's long run went well, it was a lovely mild afternoon to be out running. My feet were sore towards the end but aerobically I felt very comfortable and I ended up negative splitting which is a good sign. There were a few kms in the second half that were in around 4:30/km pace.

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Mon - Off
Tues - 39 mins, 5:03/km (7.7 km)
Wed - 51 mins, 4:46/km (10.6 km)
Thurs - 40 mins, 4:50/km (8.1 km)
Fri - circuits, bodyweight exercises
Sat - Off
Sun - circuits, bodyweight exercises

Definitely a 'down' week. Good to fit in the circuits but could have done with another run in there.

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Mon 16th - 52 mins, 4:53/km (10.7km)
Tue 17th - 42 mins, 4:44/km avg with 2x2km in 7:26, 7:25 (8.9 km total) - Lunch Run
Wed 18th - 53 mins, 5:10/km (10.2 km)
Thurs 19th - off
Fri 20th - Hills - 5 x 20s, 5 x 35s, 2-3 mins active rec + 5 mins between sets (9.5 km total)
Sat 21st - 39 mins, 4:39/km (8.45 km)
Sun 22nd - 79 mins, 4:57/km (16.1 km)

Good week, highest volume since March/April. Birthday was in there too. Taking inspiration from Ciarán Ó Lionáird's comeback attempt and that I've a few good years left. He's a little older than me so hopefully I'm not dead yet either. He does a lot more training that I do, however.

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Mon 23rd - off
Tue 24th - 41 mins, 4:38/km (9 km)
Wed 25th - off
Thu 26th - 60 mins, 4:48/km (12.6 km)
Fri 27th - 43 mins, 5:08/km (8.4 km)
Sat 28th - 40 mins, 4:50/km (8.2 km)
Sun 29th - 79 mins, 4:51/km (16.2 km)

An OK follow-up to a big jump in volume the previous week. Struggled for energy and to find time to run, I should have had a 6th training day in there. I do think keeping all the runs easy/moderate was worthwhile as towards the back of the week I was starting to feel a bit beat up. This coming week will be a 'down' week again - but will still aim to get a good 40km in as well as some circuit type strengthening and maybe a cycle. The track has been closed recently but with the covid rules changing again this week I'm hoping it will re-open so I can use it from next week. I'd like to stay at the 60-70km volume in the next mini-block, try and get the legs used to handling that regularly with 2 sessions in there. I also want to start doing my long runs on a hillier route as almost all my runs are dead flat. Requires more planning as there aren't too many hours of daylight at the moment and I don't want to be doing all my long runs in the dark if I can help it.

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A poor enough week, only 3 runs. On the Saturday I did a 13 km run with 2 x 10 min efforts at about 4:00/km.

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5 days running, all between 4:30/km - 4:50/km. No sessions, no long run. Not great.

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Only 4 days running but 1 x hills session and a nice 18.1km long run on consecutive days.
I haven't had access to the track lately with Covid restrictions and with work being really hectic I had fallen into a habit of doing too much easy running and not enough of anything else. For some reason I decided to use a ridiculously steep hill for the hills session. I picked a section that took about 30s on the first one. I walked back in between, second one was 32s and the last 20m were a real struggle to keep the legs moving. The breath came back OK on the walk down so off I went again. This one was 34s and again it was very tough to get to my arbitrary finishing point. And that's when the trouble started. A wave of lactic the likes of which I hadn't experienced in years hit me all of a sudden. I sat down on a log. I wanted to lie down but I was still on the hill and it was pissing rain and mucky. A family walked past with their dog. I tried standing up. Not happening. I couldn't catch my breath. My glutes were so full of lactic it was sore to sit on them, so I stood up again and started walking down the hill, but I realised after a few steps that I was too knackered to get down to the bottom. I leaned up against a tree and decided I needed to sit down again. I spotted another log I could sit on up, but it was about 20m up the hill. I decided to go for it, but halfway there my vision started to go blurry and honestly I thought I might faint. But I made it and eventually my heart rate started to calm down and I started feeling a bit better. I cursed myself for trying to take on such a beast of a hill having done no lactic work in a month. 15 mins after finishing that 3rd rep I jogged the 4km or so back to the car without any trouble.

Felt fine the next day and managed a nice long run - 18.1km.

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5 days running, no long run. All runs between 4:39-5:10/km. Yesterday I did a simple 40mins easy but added in 6x10s hills to keep in touch with some turnover work. I think I'm going to keep that as a regular run because I found myself deliberately running slower during the run knowing that I had the hills coming at the end. The hills themselves were good. Nice and smooth and not very difficult.

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It's been a mixed year! The first lockdown got me into the habit of taking running more seriously but I did too much and ended up injured by the end of May. The injuries didn't completely settle down until September, by which point I was starting again from a fairly low base of fitness. I steadily increased the volume between September and November but have plateaued in December as I struggled with motivation, the lack of sunlight and decent weather, and not being able to access decent running routes as easily with the track closed and short daylight hours. I was also promoted at work in November and have a fair bit of extra responsibility which I found has been leaving less mental energy to put into the running the past few weeks.

Having said all that, I've been able to avoid injury the last few months and have been listening to my body any time niggles have started to surface. And thankfully so far they haven't progressed to anything serious.

In 2021 I want to do some races again. For a start, even just training on a track would be nice. I intend to plan my training better and get back in the habit of morning runs when the light comes back. I've been mostly doing 5 day training weeks the last while but I want to get that 6th day in there on a regular basis.

I'm not going to set goals for the year right now because I can't predict when I'll be able to train on a track which has a big impact on being able to prepare for 800m. Let's reassess that at the end of March.

So, for the first 3 months of 2021:
- Sub 19:00 5km TT
- Sub 5:20 mile TT
- Averaging > 60km weeks (sensibly!)
- At least 1x circuits / bodyweight workout per week

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Week of December 8th to Jan 3rd '21

Looking back on my Strava log, my legs were feeling fairly beat so I decided to make this one a recovery week of sorts so I could start January off in a good position. I say of sorts because I was eating and boozing away the disappointment of Covid Christmas away from family and friends. Ah well. I still had my partner & our little pup, so plenty to be thankful for.

M - off
T - 50 mins @ 4:57/km (10 km)
W - 35 mins @ 5:01/km (7 km)
T - off
F - off
S - 23 km cycle
S - off

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M - 50 mins, 4:35/km (11 km) - steady effort on trail
T - 40 mins easy + 6 x strides, 5:20/km avg, (8.5 km)
W - 52 mins, 4:57/km (10.5 km) - easy effort
T - 31 mins, 5:00/km (6.2 km) - easy
F - 40 mins, with (1, 2, 3 mins) x 2 off 1, 3 mins, 4:47/km avg (8.1 km) - this was hard
S - off
S - 98 mins, 4:45/km (20.8 km) - flat trail by the river, possibly my longest run ever. Last 20 mins were tough.

A solid start to January.

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M - 31 mins, 5:09/km (6.1 km) - easy
T - 51 mins, 4:34/km (11.3 km) - steady effort - this was a memorable one, more on that below
W - 40 mins easy + 6 x grass strides, 5:15/km avg, (8.5 km)
T - 41 mins, 4:47/km (8.6 km) - in the dark and cold
F - off
S - Shlippery Intervals on grass, 64 mins, 5:08/km (12.6 km)
15 mins easy warmup
6 x 2 mins, 2mins jog rec
15ish mins easy warm-down
S - 87 mins Long Run, 4:51/km (18.1 km)

Another solid week. In December I was really struggling for motivation to head out in the dark, cold, and/or wet before/after work so I decided to try running at lunch-time during the work-week so at least it would be light out. It's been a massive success so far, and even though it means I have to plan my work around it in that I start working earlier, it's made running easier and generally improves my mood in the afternoon. I also find I'm not as stressed about having to work later when it happens, because I don't have a run to worry about afterwards.
That Tuesday lunchtime run was a memorable one. Even though I'm writing about it more than a month later it's very clear in my mind. It was on one of my usual routes on the riverside trail - I can either go upstream or downstream - but as the tide was fairly high I decided to go east and upstream as the downstream path can get flooded by the high tide fairly easily. I was feeling good and the weather was sunny, clear and not too cold. The first half passed without incident although I could see the river was higher than I ever remembered seeing it. Beautiful. At the halfway turnaround point 26 mins in, I managed to arrive exactly at Twickenham Railway bridge, but the path under it was flooded. OK, no problem, I was planning on stopping here anyway. I did a little stretch, which I often do at the halfway point of my runs, and started back towards home. Unfortunately for me, the tide had continued to come in on my outward journey, so where I had previously been running on a dry trail with beautiful scenes of high-tide reaching the river-bank, the river had now breached the banks and there were long sections of ankle to mid-shin deep water blocking my way home. I had work meetings after lunch to get to, so there was no option but to plough on. It was actually pretty fun, if a little cold. An interesting running experience.

The Saturday session was good, even if I could have done with cross-country spikes instead of trainers. I did it around the local cricket pitch (field?) Because I'm only using Strava app for GPS, I can't track pace during intervals. But some of my km splits were well below 4 mins, which indicates I was moving well for the 2 min intervals, because the recovery pace was verrrry slow.

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M - 30 mins, 5:31/km (5.3 km) - everything sore
T - off
W - off
T - 50 mins with 2x2km hard ~3:30/km pace, 4:37/km avg (10.3 km)
F - off
S - 65 mins, 5:38/km (11.7 km) - easy easy
S - 88 mins Long Run, 4:52/km (18.1 km) - Cold, slippy, icy

Middling, 6/10 week. Hard to remember exactly but with the 3 rest days I think I was listening to the body. I've been bordering on the first stages of shin splints at a few points in the last couple months and I don't want to go down that road again in a hurry.

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M - off
T - 50 mins, 5:30/km (9.2 km) - keep the easy running easy
W - 6 x 2mins off 2mins rec jog, 44mins, 4:51/km avg, (9 km) - mucky trail
T - 42 mins, 5:18/km (8 km) - easy again
F - 46 mins, 4:38/km avg, with 2 x 10 mins tempo efforts (4:05/km, 3:55/km pace)
S - 62 mins, 4:43/km, (13.1 km) - steadier effort than the pace suggests. It was cold.
S - 90 mins Long Run, 5:20/km ( 16.9 km) on hilly, very slippy trails in Richmond Park. I could really do with trail shoes going forward, took a slide in the muck at one point but luckily no damage except my to my pride.

Another solid week. At this point I'd started learning the value in taking the easy days very easy.

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M - off
T - 51 mins, 5:41/km (8.9 km) - lunch run
W - 58 mins, 4:50/km (11.9 km) - evening run
T - 42 mins, 4:50/km (8.8 km) - very mucky and wet, lunch
F - 51 mins, 5:07/km (9.9 km) - lunch run
S - off
S - off

Everything was feeling OK for another solid base-building week but after the run on Friday evening my left ankle was not feeling the best. Not sure what was going on there but when I was still slightly limping on Saturday morning getting out of bed I decided to pull the weekend runs. Retrospectively giving myself kudos for this move because there hasn't been hide nor hair of this niggle since.

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M - 46 mins, 4:38/km (9.9 km) - Lunch run in the cold
T - 52 mins, 4:38/km (11.34 km) - Another cold lunchtime run by the river
W - 39mins with 1 x 2km hard (3:25/km pace), 4:44/km avg (8.2 km) Tried a second one but had to stop with a stitch. First one was a PB on that stretch.
T - 51 mins, 5:15/km (9.74 km)
F - 48 mins, 5:08/km (9.42 km)
S - Hills. 6 x 10s + 4 x 20s, with 20ish warm-up + 20ish warm-down, 75 mins 5:21/km avg (14.01 km)
S - 68 mins Fartlek, 3x1km efforts (3:39, 3:34, 3:37), 4:52/km avg. (14 km) - this one was in the dark and fairly mucky in places.

Good training week, highest distance I've ever covered despite no long run. I guess if you're chasing volume then running 7 days a week is the way to go, but for me I think 6 days is better for a lot of reasons. I had swollen throat glands for the whole week and a slightly elevated RHR so I must have been fighting some low-level infection, but no temperature, low energy, or any other symptoms. It wasn't covid, I checked.

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M - off
T - 41 mins, 5:27/km (7.6 km) - stiff and sore, recovering after previous week
W - 56 mins, 5:03/km (11.1 km) + 6 x strides - still a little stiff, strides felt good
T - 46 mins, 5:04/km avg (9.1 km) Fartlek: 1, 2, 3, 3, 2, 1 min off 60s rest. Felt strong here. Much more controlled than the last time I did this session, despite less rest.
F - 50 mins, 5:06/km (9.9 km) - started slow but progressed through to sub 4:30/km pace towards the end
S - Gimme 1000 Challenge:
10 sets of the following:
20 x Jump Squats
20 x Jumping Split Lunges
20 x Press Ups
20 x Mountain Climbers
20 x Kick Sits
49:37 in total - DEAD
S - 90 mins, 5:29/km (16.5 km)

A good week's work despite the lower distance covered. The swollen throat glands I'd been dealing with the previous week cleared up and my RHR went back down towards normal so I'm pleased I got through that while still training steadily. And in more positive news, I really feel like I'm starting to get the hang of this easy running concept. I've been keeping an eye on my HR plots after runs, and lately have been mostly staying in zone 2 territory for the easy stuff. Reading about how slow Farah and Kipchoge and these elite guys/girls go on their easy days made me focus on it. Strava has helped with that too. It can be a great learning tool when you know what to look for.

Saturday's thing was a fitness challenge in aid of Pieta House and The Irish Cancer Society. One of the guys on the gaa team I've played with in London organised it, so I decided to do it and help the lads raise a few quid. It wasn't like I had too many plans for my Saturday afternoon. I also had a notion that as I had been neglecting circuit type training recently this might be just the trick to get me back in the swing of it and make up for a few missed weeks (months really!!). I was not expecting what was to follow.
After 2 sets, 5 minutes in I was already struggling. By the end of the 5th set I really wasn't sure I would be able to finish. The two jumping exercises in a row were destroying my legs and the kick sits - no I'd never heard of or done them before either - were awkward, slow and despite not seeming to do much, simultaneously worked my trembling legs, arms, and core. I definitely suffered from a lack of upper body work in the past year since the gyms shut. The press ups were actually the hardest ones to get through towards the end. But get through it I did, eventually. However, now, more than 24hrs later, my entire body is in throes of the worst DOMS I've had in years. I'm walking like a cowboy after coming out of Coppers at half 3 in the morning.
Despite the complaining, I do think it was all worthwhile. Our club raised 1500 quid yesterday and the whole event raised more than a quarter of a million, so I feel pretty good about that, as the two charities are fantastic organisations.

Given what I put my unsuspecting and unprepared body through yesterday, today's long run was a tough, strange experience. My calves and feet felt fine, but every muscle higher than my knee was aching with every step. Aerobically the whole thing was very comfortable, and I kept below 140 bpm almost the entire run, but OMG THE DOMS!!! I had to navigate flights of steps a few times and coming down especially towards the end was a real struggle. I'll be feeling the after effects of this challenge for a few days I think. Definitely deserve my day off tomorrow.

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M 22/02- off
T 23/02 - 45 mins easy, 5:03/km (8.9 km) - very stiff and heavy-legged
W 24/02 - 60 mins progressive - technical difficulties means no gps data (~12.5km)

On Monday I was genuinely struggling to walk after Saturday's shenanigans. Heavy DOMS tend to be worst on the second day I've found. Since then they've gradually started to clear but I'm still getting regular reminders during the day that I've put my muscles through the ringer when I go to stand or sit down.

Tuesday's run started fairly gingerly but I loosened up somewhat as I went. Most of my runs are out and back affairs, and often I'll take a couple mins to stretch at the turnaround point. Not a chance on this one; me with the range of motion an arthritic penguin. Still, three of the later k's were down around 4:40/km without much increase in effort. Weather was gorgeous - Spring has arrived in London.

Today - Wednesday - brought with it some noticeable and welcome improvements in my aching muscles, but not enough to attempt anything too difficult in training. I headed out again at lunchtime in glorious weather again with the goal of a 1 hr progression type run, without working too hard. I was on the riverside trail again and could feel immediately I was moving more freely than the day before. I gradually started to up the pace from 'easy' without going beyond what I could maybe hold for an hour. On the way back I hit the lap button on my trusty old Timex as I passed under Chiswick Bridge, so I could check my split from there to Kew Bridge, exactly 2km upriver. Lucky that I did, because my phone had stopped GPS tracking shortly after I'd left home. I came in at 8:03 which is faster than I expected for the effort level. Maybe the training is working. The GPS fiasco is annoying though, I really should just bite the bullet and buy a Garmin; I've been talking about it for ages. To myself.