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Against Method.

Sacksian

I've toyed with starting a log here many times before but always decided against it because I presumed I'd get injured or ill (or ill-disciplined) as soon as I started one.

I've since seen a few logs that I enjoyed reading disappear and, along with the demise of the middle distance and cross country superthreads, there are very few places left for me to make essentially the same points about training over and over again.

So, here we are.

In terms of background, I've been running on and off for 10 years but only really taking it seriously (in attitude, more than application) since the end of 2012 when I joined a club. Between 2012 and now, I've managed one year of entirely uninterrupted training (2018) and one year above 2,000 miles (in 2018).

2019 has been one of my least fun running years and I'm hoping logging 2020 will make a difference and get me back to training consistently, and enjoying it.

My main focus up until March will be indoor racing (800 + 1500) before getting ready for outdoor track. However, that may change depending on how races go.

I hope to build up to 40mpw+ consistently from early January as the last few months have been a disaster. Apart from consistently doing Saturday sessions and Sunday long runs with the club, I don't have a fixed idea of what sessions during the week will look like - that will also depend on how the races go.

My last four weeks have been:

28.2 miles / 13.9 miles / 17.2 miles / 27.5 miles

Last week's 27.5 miles consisted of:

Mon - off
Tues - 34mins (just over 4miles up to PP and back)
Weds - 19mins (just under 2.5 miles around Grangegorman)
Thurs - 45mins w/20 mins at mar hr in the middle - the 20mins section is run on feel. It's supposed to be based on the HR monitor but if the HR looks a bit low, I'm not going to force it to hit a pace. When I'm fit, this should be around 6:20 or so, but this week it's 6:51 min/m pace (but it felt about right even if the HR was low).

Fri - 32mins (just over 4 miles up to PP and back)
Sat - 38mins (5 miles trails around the PP)
Sun - Attempted (but ultimately abandoned) hill session w/2miles up and down. I was planning to do a few circuits of hills around the Magazine Fort/Munich Hills in the Phoenix Park but I was blowing really hard after the first 3min circuit so I called it a day after the second shorter one. 2 x approx .5 mile with 2 mins rest in between.

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This weekend will either be club session on the Magazine/Munichs on Saturday or Dublin Masters XC on Sunday (unlikely at this stage, due to complete unfitness).

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Sacksian

I’ll write less as the weeks go on...

Monday - 75mins accidentally progressive (9.8miles).

After Sunday’s abandoned session and still in holiday mode, I tried a long run. The original intention was to go slower and a little longer but eased into it without ever going nuts. HRM also suggested the intensity was right.

Tuesday - just over 4miles in 34mins. Up to the Park and back.

Wednesday. Session - just over 5.5 miles in 36mins.

There are two sessions that I’m likely to repeat a lot in any given year. They are:
8 x 3m30s off 60s (or 90s) jog and 20 x 200m off 100m jog (or 2x10x200 off 100m and 300m b/t sets).

This week, it was 8 x 3m30s off 60s jog on the polo grounds in spikes. Cold morning, so the ground was pretty firm.

A classic version of this session would be 8-10 x 1k @ LT off 200m but, at the moment, I’m just getting back into things, so I kept the first 4 reps comfortable and the recovery portions very easy, before picking it up a little in the middle and hitting the last rep hard.

For a session like this, I run it by feel and I don’t look at the watch until I’m home. If I’m targeting LT (maybe on the track), then I’d probably keep an eye on the HR, but I prefer not to watch hr or use pace targets.

I run the same session differently (i.e. changing up the terrain, or the intensity of the work or recovery portions) depending on the stage of the season, how fit I am and what sort of stimulus I’m looking for. It’s a good example of how flexible any interval session can be.

In the first week of January, after a period of interrupted training, it works like an aerobic refresh for me. Nothing too strenuous, but it adds up to around 5.5 miles of a decent pace by the end and I get to stretch the legs for the last rep.

Thursday - just over 4miles in 34mins. Up to the Park and back.

Friday - 20mins around Grangegorman @ 8min/mile pace.

Saturday. Session - 10 x 400m xc

The Saturday Donore session is my favourite run of the week in my favourite place to run. Saturday club sessions are, generally, a fartlek mix over the Magazine Fort/Munich Hills in the Phoenix Park.

On a Saturday morning, this area of the Park can sometimes feel like Ireland’s equivalent of Iten; loads of different groups about the place doing sessions. This week, DTC are doing threshold laps of the 15 Acres, Crusaders are split between laps of the Acres and their Munich lap and the MSB juveniles are being put through their usual paces. I think Dunboyne are in there somewhere too. DUHAC are normally over by the Magazine Fort but I guess they’re still on holidays.

For us, it’s laps of the Dublin Novice / DH Slater Cup course split into 400m on / 200m off / 400m on / 370m off. Like the Wednesday session, you can decide how you want to run it, to hit the ‘on’ parts hard and take the recovery easy or keep it steady-ish throughout. Or you can change your intensity depending on the length of the ‘on’ section (which is what I normally do). Our coach generally prescribes an amount of laps to do but you can do fewer (or more) depending on how you’re feeling.

I do 10 x 400m over 5 laps, the stronger lads do 6 or 8 laps, others do 3 or 4. The splits are up and down (odd reps are downhill with the wind and even ones are over the Munich dips into the wind), with one obvious outlier: 82/84/77/84/75/81/70/83/78/82. But it was snappier and shorter than I had anticipated, generally, so I’m happy enough that I don’t need to overdo the speedier stuff the first week in January and, right now, I'm thinking I'll do Ks on the track on Tuesday (maybe 6-8x1k @LT) instead of the planned 2 x 10 x 200m at mile pace. That might change.

A lap of the Acres to cool down. I was late for the session so I cycled up and just jumped into the first rep. Have to watch this sort of stuff if I’m going to stay injury-free.

Sunday - club long run. I was a few years in the club before I joined up with this institution but there’s usually a good crowd doing varying lengths at a sensible pace. I hope to go longer than my usual 9-11 once indoor is over. Today, it's a smaller group than usual due to the Dublin Masters XC. I do 10.5miles in 83 minutes, so just under 8min/mile pace.

The main event next week is the guest 1500m in Round 1 of the Indoor National League in Abbotstown on Saturday - no target but I’ll probably be disappointed with anything too far over 4:20. 4:22 will be okay, depending on execution.

Murph_D

Interesting log, look forward to reading more as it develops. Can you tell us a bit about the title - Against Method? I assume this refers to your training philosophy?

Sacksian

Murph_D wrote: »

Interesting log, look forward to reading more as it develops. Can you tell us a bit about the title - Against Method? I assume this refers to your training philosophy?

Nothing too deep (somewhere between Feyerabend and Magness) but, yes, I think experimentation in training is good and, for me, trying out different things helps me keep learning about my own strengths and weaknesses as a runner and, more importantly, keeps me interested.

Dubh Geannain

Looking forward to following and good luck with the year.

KSU

Delight to see this one up and running been a very long time coming

Sacksian

*Disclaimer* At the moment, I’m trying different things and seeing what sticks so it’s probably a bit different to what I’ve been doing for the last 6 months or so, or what I would usually do. Once indoors is over, it’ll likely be just easy running for a while.

Monday - 35mins up to the park and back.

Tuesday. Session - 10 x 600m off slow 300m jog (2mins).

Warm-up

It’s hard to get your mileage up when every run over 6 miles feels like a long run, so I try to squeeze something into the warm-up and cool-down on session days to get a little bump. Today, I do 2.5m before getting down to work.

I was originally thinking of doing a nice relaxed 5 x 1k @current 5k pace off 2mins and I probably should have.

Instead, due to the wind and with the 1500m on Saturday on my mind, I had a go at 100 x 600m off 2mins. I was half thinking of going out to the NIA to do it, but I opted for the club track. Ironically, the club session 2 hours later in the same place was identical.

This is a fairly standard session, but I’ve always struggled with it whenever I’ve attempted it. And, when the wind is blowing as hard as it was on Tuesday, it’s even worse. Wind is my Kryptonite. I also realise after two or three 600s that, wind or no wind, I don’t have the base right now to be doing sessions this hard.

Anyway, the rough target I had in mind (if wind wasn’t a problem) was reps in the region of 1:55, which is around 9:40 for 3000m pace, but I’m going by effort and instead they go: 2:05 / 2:02 / 2:01 / 1:59 / 2:00 / 2:02 / 2:02 / 2:00 / 1:59 / 1:58.

Reps 8,9 and 10 were very hard and the effort was beyond what it should be.

Immediately afterwards, I started to think that trying to get into track shape this quickly is a bad idea. But the session’s done, and 6k worth of 3k effort work with another 3k of active recovery is probably never going to be easy.

Realistically, it’s the type of session you need to be fitter than I am currently to pull off at 3k. I may attempt it again at 5k pace next week. Considerably easier, but it'll allow me to do something else on Thursday.

Cool-down of 1.5m at about 10min/m pace is torturous.

Wednesday - 35mins of trails in the park. 4 miles. Much less painful than I had anticipated. Decided not to race on Saturday.

Thursday - The plan was to go up to the Magazine Fort/Munich Hills to do some short hills but, due to the deer cull, the whole area was closed off. Same thing happened last year when I was chased off the 15 acres by two guys with rifles in a pick-up truck. Just did a few 6s hills behind the Tea Rooms café.

Friday - 35 mins up to the park and back.

Saturday. Session - 8 x 3m30s off 60s jog on polos.

Had to miss the club session but got out later in the wind and rain for a standard 8 x 3:30. I did the exact same session 10 days ago on a much firmer, and much less windy, polos so very happy to be just a little slower given yesterday’s conditions. Just under 5.5 miles in 36mins. Cycled up, no warm-up and just straight into it. Not a problem due to the pace. Effort overall a little above marathon hr and a little lower than lactate threshold hr.

Sunday. Club Long Run - just under 10 miles in 76mins. Gang of 12. Lots of detailed discussion of training for various distances.

Another 40+ mile week done. And now currently on my longest running streak since January 2017 (20 days). Progress is being made.

pconn062

Are you doing the NIA live mile tomorrow E?

Sacksian

pconn062 wrote: »

Are you doing the NIA live mile tomorrow E?

No, I was originally planning to do the 800 but I decided last week that if I wanted to progress through the season that I'd be much better off training than missing a session (or two) at this stage to do an undertrained race.

Same with the mile, I think I'd probably be close enough to the 4:48 I ran at the NIA before Christmas but I want to be down nearer 4:42 next time out.

Are you doing it? Apparently, there are 50-odd registered!!

pconn062

Sacksian wrote: »

No, I was originally planning to do the 800 but I decided last week that if I wanted to progress through the season that I'd be much better off training than missing a session (or two) at this stage to do an undertrained race.

Same with the mile, I think I'd probably be close enough to the 4:48 I ran at the NIA before Christmas but I want to be down nearer 4:42 next time out.

Are you doing it? Apparently, there are 50-odd registered!!

I am signed up for the mile alright but a bit of a dose has set in since yesterday so might have to wait for 2 weeks. I'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Good plan re training, a consistent month or 6 weeks will stand to you in the long term.

Sacksian

Monday - 34mins up to the park and back.

Tuesday. Club Session - 8 x 800m off 400m jog (~ 2mins).

I had planned on getting out that morning. Didn’t manage it. Afternoon was horrendous. Could easily have skipped it entirely, and normally would, but this log is encouraging me to make fewer excuses for laziness, so I cycled down to the club for the Tuesday session. One of the overlooked advantages of club membership is the ready availability of good sessions and good company whenever you’re feeling a bit lazy (which I generally am).

On offer tonight was 8 800s along the Conyngham Road with a 400 jog recovery.

Warm-up was the timeless “up to the Red Door and back”.

There was a massive group down, including a few prospective members checking out the sessions, which often involves them learning that the most difficult thing to get right when you start doing interval sessions is pacing.

You want to run fast, but not so hard that (a) you can’t complete the session, (b) your later reps are slower than the earlier ones or (c) you push yourself beyond the desired stimulus for the session. In theory, very few distance sessions require maximal or near-maximal effort at any point. And, when it comes to 8 x 800m with a reasonable jog recovery, enthusiasm is no substitute for endurance.

All of which I considered as one of the new guys checking out the club ran shoulder-to-shoulder with me for the entire session before leaving me for dust on the last one, while carrying his phone in his hand. Reps were up and down with wind, around 2:43 with the tailwind and 2:54 into the headwind.

I’ll be back doing my own thing Tuesday evenings until indoors is over, and when the club sessions move back to the Polo Grounds.

Cool down another timeless “up to the Red Door and back”.

Just over 9.5 miles for the day.

Wednesday - 18mins around Grangegorman. Knackered from yesterday.

Thursday - 35mins up to the park and back. Still tired from Tuesday.

Friday - 34mins w/6 x 6s hill sprints - taking a new route to the Park along the Liffey.

Saturday. Club Session - 39mins Fartlek of 6 laps of a Magazine/Munich Hills Double Loop.

Warm-up - 10mins jog.

Each lap consisted of a 200m jog, 200m snappy, 200m jog, 300m through the dips back to the start, 400m recovery back around and down the gully towards the Khyber car park and then the big 330m hill from the bottom back up to the 15 acres cycle path. And then you're straight back into the next lap and the 200m jog again.

It’s actually a pretty cool alternative Munich mile lap - will definitely revisit later in the year.

Hard session for me but thankfully had a couple to pull me around and the pace overall, including the recoveries, ended up being very honest for the terrain, covering just over 6 miles in 39mins.

As a nod to my supposed track training, I hit the last big hill very hard, which felt very good, and I was pleasantly surprised to see afterwards the split for the big hill was 16s faster than the average of the previous 5 laps, so there’s some form of fitness there.

But I’m still a long way off 800m pace. So, next week will be a week of experimentation in an effort to introduce speed (quickly, but sensibly).

Cool-down - 10mins jog.

Sunday. Club Long Run - just under 10 miles in 78mins. Good gang. Trying to convert more people to the track.

43miles for the week. Running everyday. 3 40+ miles in a row.

Sacksian

Monday - 33mins - up to the Park and back. Originally not going to run but glad I did. This log is already paying dividends with my discipline.

Tuesday. Track Session - 5 x broken ks (600m@5k/100m float/300m@3k) off 2mins slow jog (200m).

Warm up #1 - to club.

Warm up #2 - Warm-up k. Whenever I’m doing something a bit faster on the track, I like to do a k to warm up somewhere between MarHR and LTHR. I really should be doing 10mins at that effort but a k is a nice leg loosener.

And into the session.

This was an experimental session on a damp track in flats (usual wind). Not a killer, but there are easier ways to run 3:20 ks.

I did this twice in 2018 as a 3k/1500 session - 3 x (600m@3k/100m float/300m@3k) off 4mins and enjoyed it. So, just wanted to see if it would work as a 5k-preparing-for-1500m session.

The idea with the 3k version was that you ended up running a k the same time as your target, but you're starting off with 600m @3k pace and then finish with a 300m at 15 pace off a steady 100m float. I generally managed around 3:10-3:14 for the ks (having already run 9:20 for 3k the previous mpnth), so I don’t think it’s a problem being slightly off target.

This time, the rough target was 3:20 ks and the recovery was halved. Which felt right. And my splits were:

2:01 / 23 / 59 = 3:24
1:58 / 28 / 56 = 3:22
1:55 / 27 / 57 = 3:19
1:57 / 32 / 56 = 3:25
1:59 / 29 / 55 = 3:23

I actually don’t know whether it translates directly as a 5k session, but it was a good stimulus that felt appropriately tough without killing me. There are probably a few more seconds in there with spikes.

What’s interesting in the splits is how much slower the float on rep 5 (32) is compared to rep 1 (23), despite the ‘on’ bits being considerably faster. They should be steady throughout (25-26?).

Progress with a session like this is through the floats getting faster as you develop the strength to hold it so, in terms of 5k fitness, there’s probably quite a bit to go.

Happy enough with the pace on the final 2 300s.

And, hopefully, will have another go soon. Once indoors is out of the way, I might even do a 8-10x version, before returning to the 3k version in the summer.

Also spent about 3 minutes jumping on various boxes in the club gym after I was finished. Thought I might regret that.

Wednesday - 20mins. I didn’t. Not injured.

Thursday - 35mins - up to the Park and back. 4.3miles.

Friday. Track Session - 8 x 100m off jog back (60-70s)— 3m30s recovery - 400m fast - 3m30s recovery - 8 x 100m off jog back (60-70s)

Warm up #1 - to club.

Warm up #2 - Warm-up k.

Into the session. Another experiment. Slightly adapted from Magness session of 3 x 8 x 100m off 75s.

I stick in a fast 400m in the middle because I’ve been thinking that there are some things I never even attempt in training, one of which is anything longer than 200s at 800m pace in training. I rarely even do 400s at 15 pace. And these couple of months are supposed to be about trying a few new things, so in it goes.

The session allays some fears and emphasises others. I do the first 8x100m in my flats. Neither the shoes nor the reps are fast, and I don’t break 15s in any of the 100s. I can’t move that fast at the moment. I’ve run sub-14s 100s on this track before so I know it’s there, just not right now.

I put on my spikes for the 400m and run 62s. Admittedly, I’m tying up badly for the last 80m but, it’s January and I don’t need to be able to run much faster than 62s for 400m in the middle of a session. I do the second set of 8x100m in my spikes and it’s the same as the first. I can’t break 15s. In essence, I can run 400m at 800m pace, but not 100m at the moment.

And I can only run 400m at that pace because I’m overstriding massively on the long rep, versus a choppier stride on the 100m. And overstriding has consequences.

I learn two things from this. Firstly, I don’t think that I have too much to worry about in terms of speed endurance. If I can run a 62s 400, whatever I’m doing aerobically is working. I don’t need to compromise the aerobic stuff by doing too much specific 800m work at this stage. Races (if I get to any) will help.

Secondly, if I want to get faster, I need more power - 30-60m hills and things like that. If I can turn that 62s 400 into a 61.5s 400 and even the 15s 100s into 14.8s 100s in the next 6 weeks, then I’d expect to be closer 2:03 for 800m by the time the National Masters come around.

Saturday - 34mins up to the Park and back. 4.1miles.

Sunday - 9 miles at 8min pace and the 5 in the middle with the club long run.

After the session (and some furniture removal stuff) on Friday, my sciatica has been playing up for the past two days. This generally expresses itself as referred pain and a restriction in my hamstring - a consequence of the overstriding in the 400m and, more than likely, towards the end of the second set of 8 100s. I also have bad DOMS in my quads.

Racing on Tuesday is looking very unlikely, but I’ll do a final systems check and shakeout on Tuesday morning.

Otherwise, it’s a good week: some experimentation, another 40+ miles (barely) and 7 days running.

Sacksian

Feeling a bit banged up on Monday especially with the sciatica, so broke my running streak and took a day off.

Started to feel a bit ropey on Tuesday with a cough and took the day off.

Reluctantly, ran around 6 miles in over 50 minutes on Wednesday. Up to the park and back. Sciatica still at me.

Ran around 6 miles in under 50 minutes on Thursday. Up to the park and back. Sciatica less at me and some of the miles were surprisingly fast for how I felt I was moving.

Took Friday off. But on the understanding that, if I ran 28miles over Saturday and Sunday, I could still make my 40mile target.

I have not run over 13 miles in a single run since February 2019, so that seemed unlikely. And so it proved.

Headed out on Saturday, still a bit ropey with my chest but with the intention to run 14-16 miles. I got to 6 or 7 and felt that a very easy 10 miles would be fine. Just under 10 miles in 80mins. But a lovely 10miles around the trails in the park.

The last while I’ve been thinking that, in terms of progressing over 5k or even 1500m, I should just do a couple of months of 8-10miles on the park trails every day. I basically haven’t run enough since I took it up, and especially with amount of running I've missed through injuries the last few years. And if I want to improve, that’s where the most obvious gains will come from.

Sunday club long run. Motoring from the start. Felt very easy but we were about 30s faster per mile than normal the whole way around. Just under 10 miles in 75mins.

So, where to go from here?

Won’t be doing the AAI Indoor Games next Sunday. Or the NIALive on the 11th.

While it might be too soon for a hard session, the next two weeks are all I have to get ready for two races the week commencing the 17th, which will give me an idea of how sensible National Seniors might be.

Which will give me an idea of how sensible National Masters might be.

I still think I’m fit enough for an 800m race and just need a bit more strength for a 1500m but, honestly, I’m already thinking of how to get fit for the summer.

32 miles for the week. Disappointing after a few good weeks but it's more mileage than I did any week in December and the same as my biggest week in November. 40 miles next week will do fine.

overpronator

Only stumbled on this one now, great to see it started.

IvoryTower

Wahey! Great stuff saskian, will enjoy this!

Sacksian

Another middling week.

Monday - 20mins.

Cough is still lingering so couldn't do anything too long or taxing. I've been trying to figure out how or where to do hills for the past while.

I used to always operate on the Henry Rono "any hill" principle but my usual hills (Khyber car park to acres path - 280m approx on grass or Khyber bollards to bollards - about 900m) are not short and steep enough for what I'm looking for.

On Tuesday, I found a very short and steep grass hill around the Munich Hills. I did 20 of these off a walk-back recovery - alternating between bounding (11s) and sprinting (8s). Not long enough, I could have kept going.

Wednesday was 34mins.

Thursday off.

Friday was 18mins.

On Saturday, I found a much longer and much steeper grass hill around the back of the Magazine Fort. I did 5 and took about 2 minutes in between. The first 2 I went up about 70m and the last 3 to the top, for about 80m. The difference the last 10m made was everything.

Up to 60m, I was able to maintain reasonable form on all 5.

Up to 70m, I was still able to muster up some sense of forward momentum.

From 70m to the top, I no longer had control of my limbs.

Would love to keep doing these more regularly, just to see if there's a point at which you are strong enough to just keep running up them like you would with the 8s hills.

On Sunday, I got out for the usual club long run. Was drenched by the time I met up with the group (NCR was completely underwater at points). Turned out to be a lovely morning for a run, once we got through the challenge of staying vertical on the 15 acres.

So, I only managed 31 miles for the week, but I got out 6 days and the gap to the target of 40mpw is almost entirely down to the two hill sessions this week.

A typical mile or 3k session will get you 4-5 miles and a 5k session even more, but the two sessions this week (including walk-back) amounted to a total of about a mile of activity per session. So, two standard sessions would have had me up around 40 miles for the week.

I'm really not sure where to go from here. My chest is still not 100% and it's entirely possible that I may have abandoned spring xc to target an indoor season in which I do not do a single indoor race. The plan is still to try and get to the NIA on the 18th and then do the Leinsters. Seniors might be a bridge too far, but I'll make a decision on National Masters based on any races I do get to. I think I'd have to hit 2:04 for 800m at Leinsters for it to be a possibility.

I'm not going to have enough training done for 1500m.

Will try to do a 800m/1200m pace session and possibly a not very taxing mile pace session this week.

Sacksian

Still not recovered from my dodgy chest but a solid week under the circumstances.

Monday - 32mins - up to the Park and back
Tuesday - off
Wednesday Session: 15mins @mhr then 5 x 80-90m steep hill sprints

15mins @MHR to warm-up - for whatever reason and given the day that was in it, this turned out to be 7min/mile pace. It should be about 6:20min/mile pace.

Then 5 x 80-90m hill sprints off about 90s-2mins/ back from the park

This is a not very taxing workout but it seems to be helping my cadence and from. And I'm thinking it could be useful to keep up in the future, perhaps as a Thursday mini-workout once I get back to the Tuesday club sessions when they move to the Polo Grounds.

Wednesday - 34mins
Thursday - 23mins
Friday - 30mins
Saturday - lots of miles in terrible weather.

3 miles to the club and 3 miles back.

Standard k to warm-up in 3:59. Some fecking about with hurdles and bounding then:

3 x 8 x 100m off jog-back with 300m in between sets.

I tried to keep this as relaxed as possible - mostly 16s and 17s with the odd 18s when the wind got too crazy (and a few 15s at the end of the 3rd set).

And then another k to warm-down in 3:39. And a good illustration of some of the bio-mechanical benefits from strides and any faster stuff; my cadence was in the 190s on the warm-down k. I've been trying to improving my cadence over the last while, for injury prevention reasons.

The accepted wisdom is that you shouldn't change your cadence - and I wouldn't if I didn't think it was causing me problems - but my natural cadence is in the low 160s and I have a very loping stride, which means both a degree of overstriding and longer than ideal loading when I'm being lazy. It takes effort but I feel less beat up when I concentrate on a higher cadence and better form seems to follow. And my achilles seems to agree.

Sunday - club long run. Just over 8.5 miles in 68mins.

Sciatica at me - I had hoped the last similar session of 100s would have provided some sort of inoculation against soreness this time but still bad enough this morning.

Next Saturday's Leinster Championships is probably more likely than Tuesday's NIALive (looks like there'll be some amazing line-ups for the miles).

Last time I ran the indoor Leinsters Championships was in 2015 and I won the 800m and 1500m in my category but, if I make it, I'll just be doing the 800m this year and I'm unlikely to medal.

35.7 miles

Looking forward to getting fit for the summer.

IvoryTower

Hopefully see you Saturday. I'd say you're always in with a chance. The indoors come and go so quickly, one minute you're building a base, then you get a race and then its just about to end!

overpronator

All the best for Saturday

Sacksian

This week was all about the Leinsters on Saturday and whether I'd run or not.

If it wasn't for this log, I don't think I would have run the race. I don't know whether that's a good or a bad thing.

The last 3 weeks have been a bit sketchy between my chest and sciatica and so I just decided to give myself the best chance of making the race by not running a lot.

So, 20mins on Tuesday.

I tried a session on Wednesday on the Polo Grounds in muddy and windy conditions, which was supposed to be 20mins @MHR and then 8 x 80s/40s. Given the way I was feeling physically, I decided to make it 6 x 80s, but I managed 2 in the end - which were around 6min/mile pace. The 20mins @MHR was faster than the previous week but still a bit off being fit. The 80s on / 40s off just didn't happen. I knew pushing myself would not help with Saturday's race (probably make it less likely), so I pulled it at 2.

Took Thursday and Friday off.

To Saturday. Normally, I just wouldn't race in this condition but I've skipped xc to run indoor and I was in danger of going the whole indoor season without actually racing.

This was my 3rd time running Leinster T&F, I won the 8+15 outdoor in 2014 and the indoor 8+15 in 2015. This year, judging by the entries and with the clear favourite out of the race, I wasn't sure what I wanted: an easy win just to get the first race out of the way or a proper battle that could bring me on in terms of fitness and race readiness but also potentially push me over the edge into full-blown illness.

In the end, they ran all the 35s, o40s and o45s together in one heat. It was a solo run from the front for me so no one to chase and no one particularly close. I don't like running from the front and I find it hard to push myself when I don't need to, but still a disappointing time of 2:10.

Video of the race:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6CxgxG7wUQ

It's my slowest time since 2013 and slowest time apart from my first ever 2 800s. It's also the first time I’ve run the 8 entirely from the front from the gun. Watching the video back, my form is not that of an 800m runner, but it's something to work with.

The other highlight from Saturday was watching IvoryTower run a brilliant PB beforehand in his race, with more to come.

Sunday - just under 9 miles with the club. I don't know what's happened in recent weeks but we seem to have dropped the 's' from our LSRs, with a couple of 7:1*s in there.

A total of 19miles for the week!

The plan is to get to the doctor and get my chest cleared. If I can do that, I'll go to Athlone for the Masters and get closer to 2:05, I think. I'll be running for - at best - 2nd place but I'd prefer not to end the season on such a slow time.

I think the experiment of the last few months has decided, once and for all, that concentrating on 800m is too limiting in terms of general fitness and that, for me, my 800m is better served by more 1500m + 5k work. I ran an SB of 2:02.7 outdoor in 2018 off more 1500m training and my feeling from yesterday is that, contrary to what I had been thinking, I'll get more by concentrating on strength rather than speed.

I miss the feeling of being fit too.

I've still learnt a couple of things from the experimentation and I'd like to incorporate some of the hill stuff I added in the last few weeks into general training (as a light Thurs workout, for example) and see how that pays off in the summer, when I'll be targeting 5k, 3k and 1500m pbs.

Sacksian

Solid week, 39miles.

Monday: 40minutes hunting bin bags in Dublin 7

Tuesday: XC Session: 16 x (35s on / 25s off) over the Novice Lap. It was a bit mucky and a bit windy. Snappy ons and relaxed offs. Massive difference in pace over this lap between the soft ground of spring and the solid ground of autumn but it's 2.5miles in 17mins.

Wednesday: off

Thursday: Light Session: 20mins xc @marhr on the grass around the 15 acres (just over 5k), followed by 6 x 8s HS. Good hill.

Friday: 35mins pretty jaunty after the hill sprints.

Saturday: Aerobic Session: A relaxed 8 x 3m30s off 60s jog around the Polo Grounds. Usual wind on the polo grounds. This is just a bit of an aerobic refresh. But I noticed my cadence was really up - again a combination of hill sprints and bodyweight squats seems to be getting me out of my usual toilet bowl of doom gait. Just under 5.5 miles in 36mins.

Sunday: Club Long (no 's') Run. 10miles with the now standard - as of the last month - 7.1*s down the North Road. I'm only doing 10 so it doesn't make a huge difference to me, but a steady long run is a session, not ideal the day after a session.

800m at the National Masters next weekend is this week's focus. I've entered the 15 too but I don't have the remotest chance of winning either (I haven't even trained for the 15) but a good tactical race could get me a silver across the two.

Looking forward to getting back to club sessions on Saturdays and returning to the club Polo Grounds midweek session in Spring.

IvoryTower

Kieran is still sick so he can't make it, I will see you on the start line

Sacksian

IvoryTower wrote: »

Kieran is still sick so he can't make it, I will see you on the start line

I presume this is a sneaky D&DAC tactic to try and lull me into a false sense of security ahead of Sunday. Nice try, dude.

(looking at the number of entries, the 040s might actually get their own race)

IvoryTower

I assumed we'd be in the same race so I was relieved there would be one less giant to deal with

Sacksian

IvoryTower wrote: »

I assumed we'd be in the same race so I was relieved there would be one less giant to deal with

Yeah, not sure how it's going to work out on Sunday - I've seen them mix the 035s + 045s if there are good numbers in the 040s but I guess they'll see what the numbers are like on the day.

I think I would prefer to be in with yourself and Denis to get dragged around if Kieran's not there to do it!

The only target for the 15 is not to be beaten by Shane. There'll be a couple of guys running away with it and then I think it'll be up for grabs for the minor medals.

overpronator

I think you're (very) safe in the 15!

Sacksian

overpronator wrote: »

I think you're (very) safe in the 15!

Well, I don't think so! Anyway, assuming I'm good to go after the 8, we should have a good few people around us for the bulk of it which will hopefully mean a decent race for everyone. I'm checking the pbs of the 040s to see who I need to sit on for 7 laps to get a medal.

IvoryTower

Shane is gonna smash all of you, we're going for the 800/1500 double

Sacksian

As long as I beat one DDAC runner this indoor season, I don't care who it is. The running gods demand a sacrifice.

Sacksian

20miles.

So, this week was (again) just about making it to the race on Sunday. There's almost nothing to report, apart from the race. Apart from the fact that I finally figured out how to run properly on Tuesday. It's been bugging me for a few years that running easy really takes it out of me, especially when I run with a low cadence. But various cues that I've been trying out finally clicked and I think I'm on the way to running the way my body is supposed to. Which would be great.

Tuesday - 32mins.

Wednesday - Session 6 x 200m off 100m walk. I was originally planning to do 8 x 200s and then I thought I might throw in a few 100s but what's the point of risking injury or DOMS for a few extra reps. So I did 6 x 200 at around 31s average and that was it for indoor season.

Friday - 20mins

Saturday - 20mins

Sunday - National Masters 800m - 1st 040 - 2:06.72

Bit of a wild race. I knew going into it that I had a good chance of winning the 040 category with the clear favourite out sick.

The plan was to keep behind the two 035 favourites - Boards' own IvoryTower and Denis Coughlan from St. Finbarrs) for as long as possible, presuming that they'd be well clear of the pack, and that I could tuck in. Instead, one of the O40s flew off leading the race. And about 7 others followed.

No idea of splits, but in the first lap or two, there were a lot of people about and I was trying to hold a position that I could make a move from if the other O40 didn't start coming back, so I ran most of the first 500m-600m in lane 2 (and some in lane 3). I actually couldn't figure out what was going on. My plan had been based on Denis and IT stringing us out, so while they were comfortable watching each other, I wasn't sure who else I needed to keep an eye on and ran wide for far too long. I think it was after about 400m, the early leader was reeled in (I'm terrible at remembering race details so I don't know that for sure).

Another thing I had forgotten was what it's like to actually race an 800m when there's a big pack. There was a lot of back-and-forth compared to my usual sitting in, and definitely a lot more moves, compared to the Leinsters. I was in fourth overall with about 200 to go just watching the 035 race ahead as IT made his big move. I wasn't sure whether the guy directly in front of me was an 040 so made sure to pass him before the line (he wasn't). So, finished 1st of the 7 O40s, about two seconds ahead of 2nd.

Happy enough with the performance given the messy run-in, and training, especially with February being a bit of a write-off and it being my last indoors in the category (and first time I've done National Masters Indoor!). Didn't do the 1500m because it wasn't a massive priority but mainly because it would have meant another 4 hours in Athlone.

Looking forward to getting fit again. 1500m and 5000m probably more the priority this summer. I want to put in sufficient mileage between now and summer that will allow me to race a lot more often once the season starts.

I've missed a lot of track running through injury since I started but, over every track distance, I still need to race more when I'm fit. The 800m is by far my favourite distance and I probably think of myself as an 800m runner yet I think this was only my 4th ever 800m race indoors - 3 of which have been Championship races (2015 +2020 Leinster Indoors) and the 4th was in the National Indoor League (2016). I really like racing the 8 indoors and, despite the times this season, I think with a bit more application, I could get close to my outdoor pb indoors (next time!).

This summer, the goal is pbs over 1500m and 3k and as close to my 5k pb as I can get.

dna_leri

Well done again.

I'd be interested to hear more about "how to run properly" ?