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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.

---

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

Not much to report.

7 days of running - 59.8 miles. If I’d known, I might have made the effort to hit 60.

Monday - 66mins @ 7:34
Tuesday - 67mins @ 7:37
Wednesday - 32mins @7:38
Thursday - 67mins @7:43
Friday - 47mins @7:40

Saturday - Club session…

First session back on the Magazine loop.

So, today’s was 7 laps of the Munich/Magazine loop broken up as 400 on - 200 off - 400m on - 375 off. The first 400m is a net downhill, usually with the wind behind you, whereas the 2nd 400, is through the Munich dips, a net uphill and, today at least, with a pretty icy wind in your face heading back towards the trees.

You run it as you want. You could hammer the first 400m, hammer the second 400m, and keep the recoveries handy or steady, as you like.

I kept the 200 fairly steady and pushed the 2nd 400m a little harder than the first and ran the whole session fairly progressively. Splits were

82 (56s jog) 87 (1:50 jog)
80 - 53 - 84 - 1:53
79 - 49 - 85 - 1:47
80 - 52 - 83 - 1:46
78 - 47 - 85 - 1:46
76 - 51 - 85 - 1:47
74 - 50 - 79 - 2:06

If you consider the 2 400s and 200m steady as a single k, it worked out something like: 3:45 / 3:37 / 3:33 / 3:35 / 3:30 / 3:32 / 3:23. Which is fine for an honest xc loop.

I really love these fartlek sessions. They’re broken up enough that, if you’re not feeling particularly fit, you can still hammer a couple of 400s and take the recovery nice and easy but if you are feeling super sharp, you can just roll through. I’m probably somewhere in between at the minute. Definitely fit but probably lacking a bit of strength endurance at the faster paces.

Sunday was about 11 miles at 7:51 - miles in the middle were with the club long run and they were clicking off 7:10s or so by the time I turned for home. It’s great to have company for the long runs, always good chats, but I much prefer to run 8min miles when I’m going longer and my legs aren’t usually in the mood for low 7s the day after a session.

I haven’t been doing sessions so everything was a bit quicker this week. I’m going to rein that in next week so that I can up the mileage - sustainably - and still do a decent session.

It looks like it may be a while before there are any races so I’m just going to keep thinking about strength for the foreseeable future. So, I might do something longer/faster midweek rather than Sunday in the coming months.

Sacksian

A down week for no other reason that I started to feel a bit rough on Monday and I decided to run very easy as much as I could and try to navigate the week. So, missed out on Saturday’s club session which would have been back at the Magazine Fort, can’t wait to get back to it. Probably still recovering from last Saturday's hour run too.

Still a good week though. 7 days of easy running (with some uptempo miles on Saturday) and a total of 52 miles, despite not getting into double digits for any single run. Which turns out to be my highest mileage since the first week in July.

Monday - 69mins @7:51 - early lap of the park - ran into a club mate, nice to have some company on the easy runs every now and again.
Tuesday - 72mins @8:14 - a bit under the weather…
Wednesday - 49mins @8:02 - and still…
Thursday - 49mins @8:04
Friday - 50mins @8:05
Saturday - gently progressive 70mins @ 7:05 (started off at 8:20 and the last 6 miles were all around 6:40). A really enjoyable ‘long’ run.
Sunday - 49mins @7:59

And back into sessions next week.

As someone who used to struggle to hit 40 miles a week (and rarely get over 40 more than a couple of weeks in a row), this week reaffirmed to me the lesson from this summer which is that running 50 is actually very easy to do if you run very easy, every day. Even when navigating some sniffles. So, sustainable consistency continues to be my motto!

I also got some very cool running-related post this week, the famed 6 inches to 1 mile map of the Phoenix Park, which is probably the greatest piece of mail I've ever received:

Sacksian

45.7 miles for the week, slightly less than expected due to a few days away.

Monday - 48mins @7:54 - reduced loop in the Park

Tuesday - 27mins @8:13 - away for a few days and got lost on a golf course.

Wednesday - 41mins @ 7:33 - had a go at a few local Strava segments - got one and missed two.

Thursday - 30mins on treadmill - 6k. God, I hate treadmills. Last time before this was 2015. Hopefully, another 5 years before I experience one again.

Friday - 26mins @ 8:05 - went out to have another go at a Strava segment. Thought I nailed it but misjudged the start/end points and failed by 5 seconds. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

Saturday - the Donore End of Summer Polo Grounds Hour Run.

Literally, a 60mins run around the Polo Grounds grass loop (a bit under a k) in the Phoenix Park.

Was thinking of 6:20s at the start but checked my watch after about 3 miles and saw I was averaging around 6min pace so just kept that up until the end. Had started a minute behind main group so intentionally started off a little bit faster and had people to work off the whole way. Worked together with the lead woman from 5-9 miles and then pushed on again.

Garmin gave me 60mins @5:55 pace (10.13 miles). Unfortunately, our coach had accurately km / mile markers set out over the loop so we knew exactly how far we’d run. So, I was actually around 9.8miles or 6:06 pace.

Sunday - 71mins @ 8:06

Very creaky after yesterday as demonstrated by a 9 min opening mile.

Really happy with Saturday’s hour run as a baseline heading into xc training. And it’s evidence that the mileage over the summer was doing its job. I also really felt the benefit of the track season in that 6minute pace feels bio-mechanically very easy at the moment. Just have to keep in touch with that over the next few months.

The plan for the next month or so is to go back to what I was doing in April/May. 70mins most days and club session on Saturdays (would also like to add the odd marathon hr longs run midweek as well in a while). Just keep adding to the existing base and get stronger over winter.

Sacksian

MY BAD wrote: »

What app did you use for that graphic or did you draw it yourself?

It's a slightly adapted version of this python script: https://github.com/OGladfelter/run-heatmap

The text and arrows were just added on afterwards.

I'm hoping to make a very simple version of it that I can put online and people can just generate their own maps.

MY BAD

What app did you use for that graphic or did you draw it yourself?

Sacksian

This was the week that wasn't.

To save the suspense, I ran the same race I did in the 1500m at the Graded in July (but slower), got caught up with a battle that was happening much further down the field than I thought it was and ended up with too much left.

I'll spare the details of the race but the time for the mile was 4:42.65 - about 7-8 seconds slower than I was expecting.

Other than that, there were 38 miles of mostly easy running (my highest weekly total since the first week in August!)

It's been a good summer in terms of consistency and discipline even if the times haven't been what I had hoped for. I do want to write a review of what went right/wrong even for my own sake. Only 5 days missed since lockdown started on March 28th and three potentially awkward niggles managed in that time.

Looking forward to xc now. And getting the mileage back up.

Here's what summer was for me...

dna_leri

Sacksian wrote: »

Are you laid up or just sitting it all out at the moment?

Recovering, sorry to have missed the masters. Would not have won the M50 1500m anyway but the 800 was there for the taking...

Sacksian

dna_leri wrote: »

Well done E. Might not be the time you hoped for but tactical races are always fun.

I did enjoy it - the only possibility of running a fast time would have been with the 035s - and I don't think I could have done better than 2nd with any strategy. Even afterwards, I was still walking around going through the permutations thinking how it would never have even crossed my mind to go for it at 500m out...but the only way I *might* have beaten someone who is as fast as that over 800m would have been to go for it from the gun!! Which I was never thinking of doing (although that's fairly much how I ran it in 2018 when I won). Anyway, new category next year - just hoping to keep the body in one piece and build on this summer's training.

Are you laid up or just sitting it all out at the moment?

dna_leri

Well done E. Might not be the time you hoped for but tactical races are always fun.

Sacksian

Dubh Geannain wrote: »

That's super time on the last 800. Congrats again and best of luck in the mile.

Cheers - looking forward to seeing you out on the track next year!

Dubh Geannain

That's super time on the last 800. Congrats again and best of luck in the mile.

IvoryTower

Well done m8

Sacksian

KSU wrote: »

With all the talk about not racing I am expecting an epic race report after that run. Well done man great running

Beaten by the better man is the whole report!!

National Masters Championships - 1500m M40 2nd

If I had been taking closer order at the front instead of running most of the race in 4th, it might have been a bit tighter but I went through 700 in about 2:16 and then ran 2:10 for the last 800.

So, it was a really classic tactical 1500m race. We were tripping over ourselves for the first 100m and through to about 400m in, it was very funny but then there were a couple of surges and I think the last two laps were 67s/63s!

Looking at the video, it looks like I was barely moving on the last lap but that's because the guy who won must have closed in 59-60s. He went for it at 500m and I can see from the footage that I didn't think that was "the" move because I was still sort of looking at another guy. And I still didn't think at 300m that the race was over, because I thought he'd come back to me. Of course, he didn't. I didn't realise that my last lap was actually reasonably fast - until I saw the clock on the video - because I was making no inroads on his lead.

It turns out that he ran a sub-2 800m last week so, while I thought the tactical race would suit me, he would have beaten me any which way I ran. The thing about a tactical race is that you have a poor time next to your name but I really enjoyed it, the nip-and-tuck of those races is something different. And given how I felt on Monday when I couldn't even walk properly (at one stage, I thought that I was going to miss the entire winter with another of my unresolvable niggles), it's nice to go home with a silver medal in your pocket!

Here's how the week went, training-wise. About 12 miles?

I was still limping on Tuesday but on Wednesday I ran 6 x 1 min jog (starting at 11min pace working down to 8min pace) with 1 minute walk in between. I realised I would probably need a bit more of a test if I was going to race today so on Thursday I did 8 x 2min off 1min walk and the last rep was 5:35 pace with no feedback. Friday I jogged to the track and did 4 x 100m at 16/17 pace and then on Saturday I did 30mins jog with 6 x 8s Hill Sprints. So, at that stage, I knew I was going to be fine to race. No excuses on that front - I could have run that race a thousand different ways and still lost today!

I also did Yoga with Adriene every night, which made a huge difference. I'm much more proactive with injuries/niggles now so I do as much as I can in terms of stretching my back and all the muscles around the injury - do as much strengthening exercises as I can with the muscles around the injury and that has worked with 3 niggles (knee, achilles and hamstring) this summer.

Mile race next Friday evening where I am expecting a new PB!

Current pb is 4:37.53 which is 4:19 1500m pace. 4:32 is 4:14 1500m pace. At this stage, I'd take anything under 4:37!

KSU

With all the talk about not racing I am expecting an epic race report after that run. Well done man great running

Sacksian

A week that begin with me the most positive about my running since about 2014…but ended disastrously…

Monday

68mins @ 7:43 pace - back to the grind and my old Phoenix Park loop. Ran into a club mate who I hadn’t seen since before lockdown so it was nice to have an easy run with company for a change.

Session Tuesday - 6 x800m on POLOS off 180m brisk jog (45-50s)

Windy and wet night on the polo grounds. Was hoping for something a little gentler but got it done.

First 5 800s were around 2:49-2:52 and last one in 2:46. This was supposed to be at self-directed “tempo” effort. Probably slightly faster for me because I was only doing 6 whereas the full session was 8 and one of the lads did 10.

This was tough as there was a very strong headwind for the entire second half. I just rolled into and ended up with a total of 3.65 miles at about 5:55 pace.

Wednesday 34mins recovery/easy at 7:58min/m

Thursday 60mins @ 7:25min/m

Was wearing the Hyperion Tempos and just ended up running 7min/pace in the middle of this. It’s too fast - could probably be legitimately considered “junk miles”. I don’t mind doing that pace when the mileage is way down and sessions are easy but it’s not sustainable for me to do easy days at the pace when there are hard sessions to be run on other days. Maybe that’ll change in the future but at the minute I don’t think there’s any benefit from that pace if it just means greater recovery is required, especially when sleep is always at a premium.

Friday - 31mins @ 8:16 easy with 6 x 8s hill sprints in the phoenix park.

Saturday - SESSION 2 x 4 x 400m off 100m jog + 5min b/t sets on Polo Grounds

Just me and another guy doing this. I was really rolling on these but, unfortunately, something went in my left hamstring on Rep #6 and that was it. I pulled straight up and stepped off. Didn’t feel that serious and it’s definitely not a tear. Dr. Google tells me it is at worst a grade 1 strain but I wasn’t able to run Sunday, couldn’t run today, and not sure when I’ll be back at it. Walking isn’t sore but I’m walking with a limp. I’ve never had this particular injury before so I’m not really sure what the best approach is. Might and try get into the physio on Wednesday if it’s no better tomorrow.

I suspect it was some stuff I did with the resistance band might have made the glutes overly tight and a combination of that and tiredness caused my hamstring to spasm but it’s about getting better now anyway.

I was looking forward to next Sunday’s race after last Saturday’s experience but my chances of racing are about .01%. And no idea if I’ll make the following Friday. Was very optimistic Sunday morning. Not at all optimistic today about any running in the next couple of weeks.

Even though Sunday wasn’t a goal race, I was really looking forward to getting involved in the front of the race - which is really the most enjoyable part of track racing, where you’re actually competing to win!

The standard in this year’s Masters is very, very high for some races and middling for others. I suspect the 035s will need to run under 15minutes to medal in the 5000m (Tom Fitzpatrick has a pb of 13:58) and possibly 15:40 could be required for the 040s and 045s to get on the podium. Probably under 16:30 or so for the 050s. Obviously, it will depend on conditions and the tactics involved but my gut feeling is that a lot of the road guys are just going to go after it like a road race, which will mean good times in the 5000m.

There’s a guy with a 1:50 pb in the 035s 800m and one of the 035s in the 1500m has run around 8:40 for 3000m in the last couple of years. So, there are some class athletes in the middle distances too.

The 15s at the masters are sometime torturously tactical, farcically even, but I think with so many capable of 4:05-4:10, I was hopeful the 035s would be very honest. There are a few 040s with pbs in or around mine (with definitely at least one a bit faster that I know of) but I would probably be in or around the front.

However, I was less focused on that than the Mile the following Friday in Morton but both could have been chances of a pb, given my current level of fitness (at least up until Saturday!).

There may or may not be any running to update next week.

Sacksian

In the end, I ran just over 36 miles this week.

Monday was 31mins in the rain @8:10 inc 6 x 8s hill sprints in the People’s Flower Gardens in the Phoenix Park.

Tuesday was a session starting with 3k @MHR (just under mar hr) - 11mins30s approx 6:10 pace.

Followed by a shoe test of 3 x 200m off 100m walk in my old pair of spikes (which I’d run my 1500m + 3000m pbs in) and a new pair of spikes (which I’ve never worn before, but are v2 of my old pair of spikes - Saucony Endorphins).

Old shoes:

32.49
32.06
31.05

New shoes:

30.19
30.33
29.76

So, even though some of it was psychological and some of it was probably due to having warmed up on the first 3 reps, I had to go with the new spikes…

Wednesday

DOMS - 33mins @7:49

Thursday

Bad DOMS - 35mins @ 8:05

Yoga with Adriene…

Friday

29mins @8:15 with two tentative hill sprints.

More Yoga with Adriene…

But I was starting to feel quite good.

Saturday AM

12mins @9:00m

Legs were starting to feel light here.

Running late -

Truncated warm-up

Race - National Seniors Championships 1500m Heat 1 - 9th (of 12) - 4:14.00

I probably should be disappointed. I didn't really run the race I had planned to run. Was set up perfectly at 600 but didn’t go around the guy who finished last quickly enough (as you can see in the video above) and ended up getting a bit detached from the group by 800.

Had no clue what time I had run until I got home but I knew I had left a couple of seconds on the track due to the slow 500-900m section. After the race, I heard one guy say that we went through the first lap in around 64 and slowed right down. There were no splits being called but I caught a glimpse of the clock on 3:0* after I passed 1100m and I knew I had a reasonable last lap (particularly the last 200m). So, I knew it was possible - but unlikely - that I might have squeezed out a pb. Found out when I got home that I had ran the world's smallest pb (of 0.06 seconds!). My old pb was from the first graded race of 2016 (during / or after which I tore my achilles and missed the entire summer - so it was nice to finally put that to bed).

I reckon the splits for me were probably around 65.* / 69.* / 68.*/51 or something like that.

I wasn’t doubled over at the finish line but, in contrast to previous races, on the way home and afterwards I just felt pleased with how I was feeling - being fit and uninjured, being able to run national seniors and not embarrass myself against guys (some more than) half my age. And taking those few places in the home straight - from guys with faster pbs than me - has convinced me that 4:10 is not a pipe-dream, even if it’s not going to happen this year - will need an IMC race. I feel like I’m closer to figuring out the 1500m.

So, even acknowledging that I could have run quicker and even if I never figure out how to run the 1500m properly, I really enjoyed being out there racing and I still love the track!

Also, first race in my new Endorphin 2s with a pb.

Home from race 27mins @ 8:06

Sunday

Very enjoyable 49mins @7:56

----

Still a mile race to come and I'm looking forward to reviewing the whole summer's training. There are things I did right and things I got wrong. On the whole, though, very happy with how I navigated a couple of sketchy moments with niggles to keep the training on the road and get a decent run at Nationals in. I can't remember the last time I was as fit as I am although the hard part is going to be sustaining it, without getting ill or injured. I have some ideas already!

Sacksian

Dubh Geannain wrote: »

The race is around the 1:22 mark below. It was a great finish to the race too.

https://youtu.be/IP87zUhatwU

Heats 3 and 4 are a perfect demonstration of how ridiculous (and self-defeating) tactical heats can be in a 1500m. I was very, very lucky to be in Heat 1.

Sacksian

Dubh Geannain wrote: »

Well done on the PB. Was it windy?

The race is around the 1:22 mark below. It was a great finish to the race too.

https://youtu.be/IP87zUhatwU

Windy on the home straight, with a good tail wind on the back straight - I didn't think it was a massive problem at the time, although it probably did mean I was a bit cautious in overtaking the last guy between 600m-700m when we turned into the home straight. Which is when I lost touch with the main group and the gap opened. You can see in the video how much he had started slowing down even before I overtook him, so he was moving farther and farther away from the group before I went round. I think that error was probably worth a second (or two!).

Dubh Geannain

Well done on the PB. Was it windy?

The race is around the 1:22 mark below. It was a great finish to the race too.

https://youtu.be/IP87zUhatwU

Sacksian

Weekly report to follow tomorrow but race execution didn't go to plan, despite being set up perfectly, but small consolation of the world's smallest pb of 0.06 seconds. Finished 9th of 12 in 4:14.00 (would it really have killed them to round me down to 4:13.99?!) in a heat won by Seán Tobin in 3:58.15.

Finished very, very strongly so there's definitely another couple of seconds out there.

Really enjoyed it tonight. Even if I never figure out the 1500m, it's great to be fit and uninjured!

Mile race to come next month - I'd like a few seconds off my pb, please.

Dubh Geannain

Best of luck in the race at the weekend

Sacksian

Ok.

Monday 60mins @ 8:09
Tuesday 39mins @ 8:04

Wednesday (SESSION)
6:52 @ 6:43 inc 15mins @MarHR/6:10 (3mins jog) / 8mins @LTHR/5:43 (3mins jog)

Planned to do 6 x 1min on/off at the end but cut session short due to “gastrointestinal” “issues”.

4 years ago, I did a similar session with 10mins @ MarHR and 6mins @LTHR a week before running 4:14 for 1500m so I thought I’d keep the sessions before next week’s race fairly closely matched. I added a bit of extra distance to both the MarHR and LTHR sections because I’m fitter now (although older and so probably not as fast!). Did these on the road around the OS/Furze loop. It’s straightforward and flat, although ideally you have the wind behind you on the OS rather than the Furze (which I didn’t today).

First run in the Brooks Hyperion Tempo. Running feels very easy in them. They get you up on your toes. I felt like they had transferrable benefits to my form in other shoes after my first run with them. They just seemed to make me more fluid. I’m not really sure what to make of them.

They’re not light enough for a 5k or anything faster but I’d say I could do a very decent half-marathon in them. They don’t have a plate but if they’re any indication of what the plate shoes can do, I really can understand how people are running the times they are in the Nike shoes. However, based on my limited experience with the Hyperion Tempo, I suspect the benefits you get are - to some extent - a function of your running style. I don’t think they’ll give the same benefit to everyone.

Thursday - 38mins @ 8:01

Friday - 43mins @ 7:16 - accidentally progressive, starting with an 8:20 mile and with the last 2 miles around 6:45.

Wore the Hyperion again to protect the achilles. I could wear them everyday.

Saturday (SESSION)
5 x (400m / 100m jog / 400m snappier) 85s active between sets

Polo Grounds were in Polo use for once so we were on the Garda Loop. It’s a 1000 yard trail loop directly across the road from the Polo Grounds. Love this loop, first half of it’s uphill so you get a chance to open up on the second half when you get the downhill back. It’s not the most even underfoot and you’re generally running into the wind on the way up so it’s a bit of strength work at the same time.

Splits

(77-33s jog recovery-75)
(76-38s jog recovery-73)
(76-41s jog recovery-73)
(76-44s jog recovery-71)
(78-42s jog recovery-72)

Sunday - 41mins @ 7:55

Another week down. 40-odd miles for the week. Emerged unscathed and it’s the first week under 50 miles since the first week in April. I don’t have a lot of pace work or under-distance speed work done. But I’m reasonably healthy and I’ve got a lot of miles in.

1500m on Saturday. The worst case scenario, which really would be a pain in the arse, would be running the same 1500m race that I’ve run about 10 times since 2016. Which is 800m in 2:15 and then run steadily to a 4:14/15/16 finish.

What I want to do is to get to 800m in 2:13 and have enough strength, and be close enough to someone else to get around the last 700m in less than 1:59. It doesn’t seem impossible and yet I haven’t managed to do it in the last 10 or so 1500m races.

There’s still the possibility of a mile race before the season’s over - I don’t think the National Masters is going to happen, unfortunately - but I would love to go into the mile race off a good race next weekend.

Next week will probably be 20mins @MarHR on Tuesday w/ an easy 6 x 200 afterwards - don’t care about times or recoveries.

Friday I’ll do 2 x 100m and some drills.
 Race on Saturday.

I’ll probably run everyday but I doubt I’ll get up to much more than 30 miles for the week.

Sacksian

The achilles niggle continued to brew this week and indeed threatened to boil over into a full-blown injury.

I managed to get one quality session in on Tuesday - which was more marathon-paced than the 5k session I originally had in mind - and then just ran easy for the rest of the week.

It was getting a bit hairy on Thursday and Friday but I just kept doing my calf-raises and running very, very purposely with a high cadence (which seems to help) and staying on the road (which also seems to help). Saturday and Sunday were definitely better so, in the last 48 hours, I’ve gone from thinking that there’ll be no session for a week to wondering if I’ll get one in on Wednesday.

Monday - 40mins @ 7:48

Tuesday - SESSION

Worried about the achilles, I opted against doing anything faster than 5k pace for the midweek session. The original plan had been to do 5-6 ks at 5k pace on the club track but the archer was there and, like last time, I didn’t fancy getting an arrow in the back at 5k pace.

So, I went back up to the Magazine Fort and considered 1200s, still worried about the calf. Ultimately, I opted for a session that I had programmed into my watch years ago but was never fit enough to try:

20mins @mar hr/effort - 3mins jog - 8 x 80s on / 40s off - 3mins jog - 20mins @mar hr/effort.

This is a big session for me but it went really well.

It ended up as 62mins/9.58miles @6:28 pace, on grass, which definitely backs up my feeling that I’ve built up a bit of strength the last few months.

I have done LT sandwich sessions before like: 8mins LT either side of 8 x 1min on/off or something similar but I always had the idea that if I was concentrating on strength again, that I would try to do a marathon hr/effort sandwich of 20mins either side of something faster.

This one had 20 mins @6:11 and 20mins @6:18 (with the 8 x 80s/40s in the middle) so, I got a bit of confidence and I didn’t make my calf/achilles any worse, which I definitely would have if I’d done the faster session

Wednesday - 44mins @7:44
Thursday - 47mins @7:45
Friday - 47mins @7:48
Saturday - 58mins @7:47
Sunday - 68mins @8:07

There’s two weeks left until the 1500m at Senior Nationals (if it goes ahead) so I really need to get at least two sessions in to get back into it, sharpen up and settle my nerves about the achilles before then.

If I think I’m okay to do a session on Wednesday, I’d like to do 4 x 1500m with decent rest around 5k pace.

And if Saturday is an option, I’m hoping to do 6 x quality 600s with the club Academy Squad on the track.

Looking at the entries for men's 1500m at nationals, I’m about 10th slowest of 62 entered so far.

Which either means I’ve the chance to be pulled along or I'll be stranded after the first lap.

Sacksian

I think this is the third week in a row where I’ve barely scraped over 50miles for the week. Without a conscious focus on easy mileage, there were a couple of times this week where I had to drag myself out the door or force myself to tag on another few minutes or miles.

Were it not for public commitments to discipline and application like this log (and a 3-4 month running streak), I think this week could easily have been in the low 30s. Maybe that would have been better.

I had the feeling there was an achilles niggle brewing this week (which more likely stemmed from excessive phone usage than excessive training). Things are a bit creakier at the start of runs so I have to keep an eye on it as this is the way my achilles problems have developed in previous seasons.

Monday - 52mins @7:33 easy
Tuesday - club session: 13 x 200m on/off on the Polo Grounds

One of my favourite sessions is 20 x 200m off 100m in/around mile pace on the track, so this looked much handier than that on that. Even if the combination of grass and wind meant it didn’t really seem that way.

We were doing it on laps of the Polo Ground, so there were 3 x 200s on odd laps and 2 x 200 on even laps, I was given 5 laps, so 13 x 200 (3/2/3/2/3). Mostly 36s, which is a little off mile pace and I probably could have done another couple of laps but finished off with a 34s and a 30s last 200 to make it a quality last lap. As usual, nice to have Josh pacing me around - he did the full 20 at that pace.

Wednesday - 39mins @7:40 easy.

Thursday - Experimental strides! 10 x 120-ish strides off walk-back.
(7 miles for the day)
I’d seen these suggested in a Lydiard training manual a while back as a ‘leg speed’ drill. He described it like this:

Find an area that is nearly flat but with a gradual decline and about 120 to 150 meters long. Warm-up for at least 15 minutes and then, run over the course ten times as follows, with a three minute interval. Do not rush through this training and realize that it is important to have a full three minute interval. Each time during the run, think of moving the legs as fast as possible and do not be conscious of stride length. Keep as relaxed as possible in the upper body. The same action can be obtained by going down stairs one at a time as fast as possible. You will find that the legs do not seem to move fast enough. So run with a normal stride, thinking of only one thing: MOVING THE LEGS FAST. This way, it is possible to overcome viscosity in the leg muscles and develop fine speed. After the tenth repetition, cool down for at least 15 minutes

So, I did 5 concentrating on stride length + 5 of the Lydiard-style concentrating on stride rate.

Friday - 19mins @7:27. Purely for the purposes of maintaining my streak.

Saturday - had to get out early so missed the club session and did a fairly perfunctory continuous run made up of 20mins w/up - 20 mins steady - 3mins jog recovery - 4 x 30s hills off jog back - and then home. Ended up around 9miles @7:39 pace.

Sunday - 84mins @7:52 . A no-fun trudge.

Logging this now, I’m conscious that the paces on my easy days are a little faster and I suspect that’s contributing to the creakiness.

I’ve also entered the 1500m at National Seniors. I’ve only done one National Seniors before in 2016, where I ran my second fastest 800m, so I’m hoping it can inspire me to a 1500m pb this year.

The problem with the 1500m at nationals is that the heats are usually ridiculously tactical. At indoors this year, the first heat was stupidly slow for the first 1300m so just the first 4 qualified and the fastest time qualifiers came from the second heat. Which meant that a guy who has a pb of 3:47 ran 4:09 to finish 5th in the very tactical first heat (less than 3/10ths of a second separating 1st from 5th) and didn’t qualify.

If I’m in the first heat, it might be hard for me to run a pb in a tactical heat. If I’m in a later heat, I stand a chance of getting dragged around.

Sacksian

Yup, that's the plan for the next race!

Chivito550

I've run a couple of 100m races so far and have been much closer than usual to guys running well into the mid 11s. I took this to be a good sign, but the reality is that they're just in terrible shape this year.

Probably best to throw the form book out the window this year and don't give any athletes such respect based on prior year performances. You've no idea if they trained away or just shut up shop during the lockdown.

Sacksian

Return of the Track + Back to the Grind.

The week started with bad quad DOMS and sciatica. I cycled up to the Park and just did 5k on both Monday and Tuesday. Was stretching and doing my usual sciatica routine all day Monday and Tuesday (I even did two Yoga with Adriene sessions!) and there was a definite improvement on Tuesday. Quad DOMS were still there. By the time I finished my 10min shakeout on Wednesday morning, I was tired but knew I would be good to go that evening.

Monday - 24mins @7:59
Tuesday - 23mins @7:35
Wednesday AM 12mins @ 8:33

Wednesday PM - Dublin Athletics Graded Meeting 1 - 1500m AB1 4:17.6 (5th of 13 finishers)

Very different atmosphere to a normal graded with all the safety protocols, but really well organised by Dublin Athletics. I was in the AB1 race, the ‘A’ race was won in 3:52, so dodged a bullet there.

In my race, I recognised a couple of people - one a Masters athlete who ran 4:09 a couple of years back - and a young guy who finished 10th in the National Novice last year. The guy who won has PBs of 1:53/4:06. So, I presumed that sitting off them would mean a good run.

The gun goes and, after a few gentle elbows exchanged, I get into a good position on the rail. At this stage, I’m thinking I must have got out well. I’ve got the Masters guy a few metres ahead of me and I feel pretty comfortable (in about 8th or 9th position). Which was essentially the end of the PB pursuit.

One of the club coaches had sent me a text on Tuesday advising a 65-66s first lap to get into the race and that was my plan going into it: to hit 800m in about 2:14.

Ultimately, I overestimated how fast the leaders would be/were going on the first laps and mistook my sense of comfort on the first lap/600m as evidence of incredible fitness rather than evidence of going too slowly.

Usually, there’s someone calling out splits at 400/800/1200 for the Gradeds which was missing on Wednesday, but I presumed staying within a couple of seconds of the leaders on the first lap would set me up when I should have been right up with them at that point.

One of my club mates clocked rough splits for me: 70/69/68/50.

So, I ran a negative split 1500m, which isn’t the optimal way to run a PB at this distance and, as with other 1500s in recent years, I continued my recent habit of thinking that sitting off someone who I presume is faster than me will get me a PB.

Disappointing time but great to be back on the track and the finishing 300m (which is 4:10 1500m pace) is evidence of decent strength. Hopefully another couple of races this season to put it right.

Lessons learnt from the race are, again, about mentality.

1. Turning up isn’t enough.

I’m fit and I’ve trained well for the last few months. Physically, I’m prepared to run a good time for 1500m. But the training is pointless without a similar level of performance on the night.

2. I need to get back to racing, rather than pacing, middle-distance races.

At no point before the race, or during the first half of it, did I think I should be racing to win or even challenge. But, even if I had completely blown up trying, it’s the only way I might have learnt something about what shape I’m in.

3. PBs should be hard to break.

I ran most of my pbs in my first few attempts at each distance and I guess having run a lot more and (I think) now training smarter/harder, there’s probably a part of me that’s been thinking it won’t be much of an achievement to beat them. But I’m realising now how hard they will be to break, which makes breaking them all the more motivating.

Thursday - 69mins @ 7:52min/m
Friday - 69mins @ 7:52min/m

Saturday - SESSION - 16 x 400m off 30s (100m)

I was given the option of doing the Academy lads’ pyramid session or the distance squad’s 400s (up to 20). And I really wasn’t up for the injury risk or the 5 days recovery involved with the pyramid session so I went with the endurance session on the Polo Grounds.

Also, after the race on Wednesday, I didn’t want to fry myself too much this week. So, staying safe while topping up the stamina levels felt like the best option. And the addictive thing about getting fitter is that, once you actually arrive at a point of feeling fit, you want to get fitter.

Anyway, this was a tough session without ever getting close to redlining. The prescribed pace was 10k for the first half and 5k for the second half, but it ended up being a bit slower than that. The hard part about a session like this is the recoveries - 100m in 30s is trivial for the first 6-8, but as you pick up the pace and the 400s roll on, the short recovery starts to pinch a lot more. A 76 into a headwind on the final rep was about as speedy as it got.

16 @ 84 avg off 100m (avg. 100m recovery in 32s)

Average 86 for the first 8 (avg. 100m recovery in 32s).
Average 82 for the second 8 (avg. 100m recovery in 32s).

Sunday - 76mins easy @ 7:53m

Good week - 51miles. Probably won’t go back up to 60 again until the end of the season.

Will probably do club sessions (whatever they might be) on Tuesday and Saturday and hoping to get down to the track for a few 100s or 200s with lots of recovery on Thursday.

IvoryTower

Numbers look good pal best of luck

Sacksian

Big mileage drop, two truncated sessions and fingers crossed for next week.

As I said in the posts above, I was feeling very tired heading into this week after last week’s exertions. I really wasn’t jumping out the door on Monday and ended up cycling up to the park to run (which I also did on Friday and for the session on Tuesday).

Similarly on Tuesday, I was not feeling the love for getting out so - because I wanted to do something fast this week - I decided to go to the Tuesday club session rather than rely on my powers of motivation. As it happened. I got a text from one of the coaches earlier in the day suggesting I could customise the main distance session, which was 10 x 800m (@ ~10k pace) off 200m on the Polo grounds, for my own purposes.

Instead of the main session, I was doing 2.5 sets of 2 x 800m (@ ~3k pace) off 200m. The way it worked out was that I would run the first 2 800s with the guy leading out the session and then take additional recovery for however long it took him to do his third 800m + 200m recovery. Then jump back in with him for another 2, take additional recovery when he was running his 6th rep, and then lead out my fifth (and his 7th).

So, it turned out to be

2:32 (66s jog) 2:33
2:34 (63s jog) 2:36

And then 2:27 for my fifth. I was so worried about not being able to keep pace leading out this rep that I basically bolted it.

Not ideal conditions on Tuesday evening, particularly for the 2nd 400m, so the times are solid.

Wednesday was a gentle 44mins @ 7:46m.

And Thursday was 55mins @7:45m/min with 4 x 8s hill-sprints at the end.

Friday was a very brief 38mins @7:25.

Saturday session: 3 x 4 (or 5) x 300m (1 lap between reps / 2 between sets)

I jumped in with the club’s Academy squad (u17-u20) for this session. I am, literally, more than twice their age but our distance squad was doing a 5k time trial and I wanted to do something faster than race pace ahead of Wednesday.

Thankfully, there was another guy from the distance squad also doing the session, so at least I wouldn’t be out the back on my own.

This was to be done slightly faster than 1500m pace (which for me would usually be 49.5s-50s). They were doing 3 sets of 4 (or 5) x 300m with a 300m jog between reps and 600m jog between sets.

In the end, I just did 2 sets of 4. While I could have eked another set, it would have meant putting pressure on my achilles and also putting the chance of toeing the line on Wednesday at risk.

The reps were:

Set 1: 48/48/47/47

Set 2: 47/48/48/47

47s and 48s convert to around 62-64s for 400m (about the same pace I ran the 800m in March). Our club track is a tight 300m one, so happy with both the pace and the consistency.

As I was putting on my runners to go home, the young lads were doing their first rep on the 3rd set in 42s for 300m (about 56s pace for 400m). I was wondering if they’d be able to see that sort of pace through to their 15th rep (the lead guys were doing 3 x 5 x 300m). By the time I got home, one of them had uploaded their splits from the session, including an eye-watering 38s for his 15th 300m, which converts to approximately 50s 400mm!! (There is obviously a big difference between 38.0 and 38.9 when you get down to those paces, but still...)

The future is bright…

Sunday was a creaky 78mins @ 8:00min/m pace.

It’s hard to know if I got this week right. I’m more banged up than I’d like after yesterday’s session. My quads are sore and my sciatica, which had been *okay* on this morning’s run, has been worsening throughout the day. I’ll just keep doing my usual routine and see how I’m fixed on Wednesday - I’m already checked in!

Normally, the first race of the season is just a chance to blow some cobwebs off but with the restrictions tightening, it feels like this could potentially be my only race this season. So, I’m hoping it goes well.

68s per lap all the way around doesn’t seem crazily aspirational and anything under that would bring me close enough to a pb. I know I went out pretty hard (relatively) when I got my pb so, if I don’t manage to execute that part, I’ll be disappointed. Now is the time to see what difference a bit of strength makes.
The only potential flies in the ointment are a) the sciatica not clearing up in time or b) that there’s no one to pull me around (which seems very unlikely). Fingers crossed for both!

—-

Separately, one of the things that occurred to me - based on how I felt by the end of the week - is that, for a proper down week, rather than tapering, it’s possible to maintain volume and simply reduce intensity. I think a week of v. easy running - even 60+ miles would be more restorative than mid-40s with two sessions. Which seems very uncontroversial written down but not something I would necessarily have committed to before this past few months of training. Something I’m going to keep in mind following races when xc comes around.

Sacksian

UNPOPULAR RUNNING OPINION:

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A RECOVERY RUN.

I will provide no evidence to support this claim.