Awesomeness never comes cheap…!
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Recovery phase. Week 3/4
started off weirdly. No exercise Monday and Tuesday and yet a “new” issue came up. Felt like osteoporosis or whatever that is called. An issue I dealt with for years in the past but didn’t have since 2018 (thankfully) due to keeping up exercises and strength work. Seems like by resting up so the body can heal, that part of the body did the opposite. At least that’s what I thought.
physio on Wednesday (not because of that) to get the body checked up and see what the next step is.
Answer: strength work. 7 exercises to be done twice a week. Decided to do them Mondays and Thursdays. Starting with A1 and working the way down the list.
so a bit of structure been re introduced:
wednesday: 7k easy jog lunch time and 35min easy cycle evening. Funny enough that “new” niggle started to disappear the moment I started the run. Still there but a lot less sore.
thursday: 35min strength work followed by 45min cycle. Legs were gone. Sore, fatigued etc. oh I missed that feeling! Walking up and down the stairs saying “ouch ouch ouch ouch”. 😁.
meant to do an easy jog during evening. No way… couldn’t walk and hence didn’t. Just picked up the little one from training. A typical sprinter session (for an u16 girl with no Supervision and hence not really bothered despite wanting to improve). She did 15min warm up (I think) a total of 10min workout (more rest than anything) and 5min cool down. Sprinters are weird. Decided to offer my help to the club and now supervise her group 2-3 times a week. Her reaction when I told her “what? Please don’t be as you always are and push us!” 😂 oh that will be fun!
friday: 8.5k easy jog in the morning and 30min easy cycle late afternoon. Legs even more fatigued at this stage and even more “ouch ouch ouch” when getting up or walking. Never mind climbing up and down the stairs. Wife already asked “when is your next strength workout?” With a smile on her face!
saturday: 13k easy including parkrun (did that a bit too fast but still on the easy side. Went with the flow. Think 4:25 avg pace for that). Enjoyed that and definitely going back to do Saturday sessions as part of a parkrun.
Sunday: can’t look into the future so no idea what I will really do but for now 10-15k easy jog and 30min cycle. Will depend on the little one and if I supervise her on a hill sessions.
one more recovery week to go then before it is “back to the future”. Looking forward to it!
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Base Building has begun. Back to the future. The return of the Jedi. The empire strikes back. Jay and silent Bob strike back. Halloween II. Name it what you like. 😁
week 1/8
Monday: strength/ 55min cycle
Tuesday: 6.5k easy/ 9k easy
Wednesday: 12k easy
Thursday: strength / 2k up 30min prog (4:55-3:55) 2k down
Friday: 12k easy
Saturday: 3k up 4*(40-30-20sec @ 3:00) (120/180) 3kdown
Sunday: 40min cycle/ 19k easy (mainly on grass and mud)
total:
running: 82km
cycling: 1:38hr
strength: 1hr
week started out ok. Strength session started to feel easier and less of a chore. Not saying I enjoyed it but definitely hated it less. Spin in the evening got a bit out of control. Plan was 40min easy. Ended up 57min moderate. 🤦♂️
tuesday legs been a bit tired. Plan was 12k in total but somehow didn’t fancy doing it in one run. No motivation non whatsoever so did a double instead and ended up with more than planned. Was certain I will pay for that on Wednesday.
wednesday comes around. Planned to go out early (after school run) but then decided to sit down on the sofa and turn on Netflix instead. Just didn’t fancy to go out for a run. Netflix on (stranger things) and 30min in to the episode I got bored, got up, put on the running clothes and went for the run. Legs tired and heavy. Picked a slight lumpy route and got around just fine. No issues apart from the tiredness in the legs. Back on the sofa after the run (had a day off 😉) and pizza in the oven.
Thursday strength session during lunch time. Felt tough (not everything but the single leg squats). Put a lot of stress on the right knee. Didn’t enjoy that but went better after each rep. So sucked it up and pulled through. Though wasn’t looking forward to the run in the evening. Really stressed and worried about it. Will I be alright? Will the leg hold up? What shoes to wear, to ensure I get through? Standard trainer? Workout shoe? Race shoe? Where to go? Track? Lumpy route? Really stressed me out despite being one of my favourite runs and pace no where near a tough pace. So why did I stress out that much? Something is definitely not right these days. Never had that before. In the end decided on the most worn down shoes that I have (Clifton 6 with 1087km on them) and a 2k loop with roughly 20m elevation gain per lap. Why? Simply because 10min prior to the run I said to myself “who cares. Just do that so you have something as an excuse in case it goes wrong”. In the end, the run went well. No issues whatsoever. Worked a bit hard at the end but still a lot less than I would have thought. Really surprised me. Bring on Friday!
decided to change my workstation at home and go for standing at the desk and not sitting down all day. Sure why not putting more stress on the legs? Strength workouts, and running and cycling and plenty of walks isn’t enough. Run went fine apart from the obvious tired legs. Nothing knew on that end. Evening comes though and leg starts to act up. Session after the strength workout has caught up (plus all that what went on in addition). Really started to worry me as it was uncomfortable. No pain or discomfort. Just uncomfortable and worrying.
saturday - no breakfast, leg still a bit meh so decided on hop test before the run. Hop test went well so no injury (bone anyways). So decided on doing the session. Put on the most underrated hoka shoe (evo rocket. Really one of my favourites and still no clue why it went under the radar and got discontinued after one version) and went off to the parkrun. No issues throughout the session. Reps felt fine (all by feel and spot on as spot on by feel can be).
Completed the parkrun in 20:05 as part of the session. Can’t complaint about that.
as the day went on leg got worth again. Again not in a bad, bad way but felt like June or so. No pain going up and down the stairs so that was a good sign but needed to rest it a lot. Had planned a 30min cycle that I skipped.
sunday morning just didn’t feel like running with how the leg felt. Really worried me that I may have done some damage last 3 days. So decided to cycle instead and see how the day goes on and May or may not add 6-8k in the afternoon. Think the spin helped flushing out the muscles. Discomfort improved and as the day went on it felt better and better. Around lunch time when the rain got heavy I felt like “I want to go for a run. I want to enjoy running through puddles. I want to get dirty!” So I put on the shoes. Took the torrent for the first time since august, after I passed the hop test again (think that will be the routine for a while). Last memory I had from that shoe was “ouch, ouch ouch. Screw that! I stop running!” Basically the last run attempt that I had before the break in august. So I needed to get over that too. That fear that the shoe was an issue and guess what, the run was just perfect, no pain, discomfort etc. felt just brilliant. Went through plenty of puddles and mud etc. on the road, on grass and so on. No issues! So 6k in to the run, I decided to just do 13k and go home.
on the weeks plan was 16k. I planned 13k! Met a neighbour on my way back home who just started his run. Thought he would be doing 5-6k so decided to run with him for a bit. Turned out he aimed for 10k. Needless to say I went longer overall than I planned or the plan said. Ended up doing 19k. Think that’s ok though after applying some simple math. 16k = plan. 13k = planned. 19k = done. Average between 13k and 19k is 16k. So I basically averaged out what the plan said. Sure coach will see it the same way 😁
reflecting the week and the runs though showed me a few things.
- I need less shoes. Or at least less choices. Means I will not re stock certain line ups. If they are worn down, they will be replaced with Cliftons
- carbon x2. As good as the shoe is, I think it causes a lot of issues on slow runs. Wore those for all easy runs this week and think that has aggravated the issue as the shoe is just a bit too hard on the legs as the benefit kicks in very late. Means I run per week is fine. 2-3 or more will be an issue (for me)
- I’ll probably skip the single leg squats for a while. That pressure or the knee seems to be a bit too much to handle right now. Will see how the next week goes. If less issues, I’ll keep it out of the plan. If same issues I’ll add it back again and talk to coach to readjust the plan.
good night!
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Week 1:
Monday: strength work/ 55min cycle
Tuesday: 6.5k easy / 9k easy
Wednesday: 12k easy
Thursday: strength work/ 2k up 30min prog (4:55-3:55) 2k down
Friday: 12k easy
Saturday: 3k up 4*(40-30-20sec @ 3:00) (120/180) 3kdown
Sunday: 40min cycle/ 19k easy (mainly on grass and mud)
Weekly Mileage Running: 82km
Weekly time on Bike: 1.5hrs
Weekly time strength work: 1hr
Week 2:
Monday: strength work/ 9k easy
Tuesday: Up – 3*8min @ 3:45 (180) – down / 34min cycle
Wednesday: 12k easy
Thursday: up – 6*800m @ 3:26 (300) - down
Friday: 10.5k easy
Saturday: up – 3*(4*30sec @ 1mile effort) (90/180) - down
Sunday: 15.5k easy
Weekly Mileage Running: 84km
Weekly time on Bike: 0.5hrs
Weekly time strength work: 0.5hrs
Week 3:
Monday: strength work/ 12k easy
Tuesday: Up – 10-5-10min (3:50/3:40/ 3:50) – down
Wednesday: 12.5k easy
Thursday: up – 2*(4*200 @ 38sec per rep) (120/240) – down / 7k easy
Friday: 12k easy
Saturday: 8k easy
Sunday: 60min steady (4:05 pace)
Weekly Mileage Running: 89km
Weekly time on Bike: 0.0hrs
Weekly time strength work: 0.5hrs
Week 4:
Monday: 11k easy
Tuesday: 3*(4-3-2-1min @ 3:30) (90/180)
Wednesday: 16k steady (4:10-4:20)
Thursday: strength work/ 12k jog (10k easy + 10*(20sec hard / 40sec easy)
Friday: 11k easy
Saturday: 1hr cycle
Sunday: 14.5k steady / 30min cycle
Weekly Mileage Running: 84km
Weekly time on Bike: 1.5hrs
Weekly time strength work: 0.5hrs
Week 5:
Monday: 14k easy
Tuesday: 5*1mile @ 3:40 (90)
Wednesday: 12k easy
Thursday: 4*(400-300-150m @ 3:00) (60/180)
Friday: 10k easy
Saturday: 5*5min @ 3:20 (300)
Sunday: 17k easy
Weekly Mileage Running: 97km
Weekly time on Bike: 0hrs
Weekly time strength work: 0hrs
Week 6:
Monday: 13k easy/ strength training
Tuesday: 25min tempo alternating (10-5-10min @ 3:55/ 3:40/ 3:45)
Wednesday: 13k easy
Thursday: 8*200m @38-40sec per rep (120)
Friday: 15k easy (double day)
Saturday: 5*3min @ 3:30 (90) / 35min cycling
Sunday: 19k easy
Weekly Mileage Running: 97km
Weekly time on Bike: 0.5hrs
Weekly time strength work: 0.5hrs
Week 7:
Monday: 10k easy
Tuesday: Mona Fartlek
Wednesday: REST
Thursday: 12k easy
Friday: 14k easy
Saturday: 13k easy plus strides
Sunday: Leinster Cross Country Masters
Weekly Mileage Running: 76km
Weekly time on Bike: 0.0hrs
Weekly time strength work: 0.0hrs
Got a bit lazy with updating this or better said, just couldn’t find the time. So here is what I remember from week 6 :D
Tempo session:
Plan Said 3:45/3:35/3:40 but based on ideal conditions, fitness etc. since that wasn’t the case and since I know by now how this should feel I went by feel. Glad I did as otherwise I would have overcooked the first rep and suffered from there on.
5min slightly faster but that’s down to more tail than headwind and slightly downhill.
Forgot how heavy Clifton’s feel on those sessions on that ground 😳
Actual splits been: 3:54/ 3:37/ 3:45
8*200m
Got really confused on the day. Didn’t look at the plan closely enough when setting up the watch. Remembered its 8*200 with 2min recovery jog and that the reps should be around 38-40sec each. For some reason I did not calculate the pace and thought it was as usual 3min pace. So that’s what I setup the watch for. Training starts, warm up is fine, first rep starts I hold the 3min pace, watch beeps and shows 36sec. Erm… what? Spent the recovery section then to calculate the actual pace. 38sec that’s 19sec per 100, that’s 190sec per kilometre, which is a 3:10 pace. Ouch… went too fast.
Watch beeps I head off. Into the wind, thought I need to push a bit so I don’t slow down too much. Watch beeps… 35sec… I am in trouble! Next thought…coach sees that, he will be mad!! Tried to pay a bit more attention to the next few reps but then again I didn’t. Most by feel. In hindsight I should have slowed down as knee started to act up a bit due to overstriding. Pushing too hard is never good.
Splits in the end: 36/ 35/ 37/ 39 (full on headwind :D)/ 35/37/36/38sec. Recovery pace between 4:25-4:55, depending on the section of the course.
Texted coach afterwards…response “recoveries were generous enough to get away with it”…puuhh… that was close!
5*3min
Strava comment on the run: “Legs very, very heavy. Wanted to stop and turn around 2k into the warm up. Surprised how decent session went. Warm down been a struggle. Lactate seemed to build up a lot and got slower and slower. Felt like never ending.” – think that says it all.
Splits:
Week 7. Went to germany for a few days. Business trip combined with visiting family. Meant I wasn’t really able to follow a structure that week and more or less fit in what could be fitted in. More on the road than anything else. Mona Fartlek went ok. Did that in the dark. Pitch black with headlight on. Didn’t really help. Splits were slow (on garmin and strava) but effort was there. I think some GPS issues caused that. Anyways, didn’t really bother about it. Main goal for the week, been the race on Sunday. And what a race its been :D.
I’ll take the liberty to quote @Murph_D here: “which is pretty much the same as you've just done, in reverse, including a b*tch of a hill over rutty ground”
A female dog it’s been indeed! 😫
Start at the beginning.
Didn’t know the course (funnily enough most runners I spoke to on the day didn’t know the course) but knew someone from county wicklow who raced there for county champs before. She mentioned “thank good we only do 1 small lap and then 1 big one. So we only have to deal with that climb at the end once!!!”.
Ok I was prepared…so I thought. Arrived on the scene. Look at the finish line, turned left and saw a downhill section. Enough to put fear into any runners mind considering that’s the finish straight. I thought to myself “oh…that’s a hill indeed! And we will do that twice… ok… bring it on”.
On my own from the club, so no one really to sit down with and by then didn’t see any other runner I knew, so I saw a few Raheny gents heading towards a tree and just decided to follow them (turned out one of them been @Murph_D 😀). Got changed into my warm up gear and headed off thinking, just do an easy 3k loop and get to know the course. So off I went…
Up the finish straight thinking it is tough enough alright (remember I am just back from germany… visited a place where you will hardly cover 40m of elevation in marathon!!!!), came to the top and then downhill. Nice and slow..thinking this will be fun. Muddy but not too muddy. Just stay controlled. Then up and right turn… out of breath and I am going slow… yep..will be fun. Turn around… 1.49k done “oh ok, so here is the halfway mark…good to know”. Back to the second short out and back…downhill again and “what da flying fish is that…..” up a wall. This is going to be hell! And at that moment I realized which hill she meant! Fook….
Race itself. With the knowledge of knowing it will be painful especially since you can easily overcook it the first k or so, I decided to go out slow. Afterall I didn’t go here to get a great time or massive placing. All I wanted was a nice workout and to have fun. And man…I did have that :D.
So we start… everyone sprinting off like lunatics and I am thinking “don’t they know the course????”. Top of the hill before the first downhill section, I would guestimate my position been 70s or 80s. Definitely somewhere at the back of the field (124 runners in total I think). Plenty of pushing and fighting for position, so I slowed down a bit to not get involved especially when I saw 1 person actually falling on his butt and one almost breaking his leg getting tangled up in loose roots! First downhill part done and I started to pick up the first few places. First out and back..a few more places gained. 1.5km even more. Some runners started to drop like flies (it felt like) already… “ha…defo overcooked it” I thought to myself. And yes I admit…I smiled :D.
Second out and back “get ready for the wall”. Took it easy on the downhill just to recover enough for the wall and then straight into it. Man my legs were burning! I think walking wouldn’t have been much slower than me running! Top of the wall… 36th position overall (yes, I gained plenty of spaces between 500m and 2.3km – that was fun, like in a parkrun when you start 30sec behind the field and work your way through :D). How do I know my position? Thankfully myrunresults been so kind posting a “first lap” video on facebook. So I just counted the runners infront of me.
Second lap started. I was now with a runner who seemed to be doing the same as I did. Slow start and then picking up positions. So we more or less went together. Him a lot faster on the downhill (I just couldn’t take any risk), I am faster on the uphill and straights. And to be honest I could write a lot now but in all honesty the only thing I remember was that clane jersey roughly 10-15sec ahead of me that I picked as a target for the wall. So every downhill I went steady, inclines slow (but not easy) and straights hard… came to the wall, picked up the clane runner and a few others and then just tried to stay on my feet til the end. Picked up 1 more runner I think and got overtaken 10m before the line by 2 others. Nothing left… 24th overall! Not bad! Meant I gained a further 12 positions on the 2nd lap! And man I enjoyed that. A brilliant race, brilliant course and soooooo much joy. Couldn’t help but smiling all the way back home and even now. Been a while since I had such a great race experience. It wasn’t about time, it wasn’t about ranking but about having fun!
A few things to take away from it though:
1. Only negative about the course… too much grass! My legs weren’t muddy enough :D. I was hoping to be covered in mud which wasn’t the case. Ah well…ya cant have it all!
2. I can see without glasses just fine (I do wear glasses though) on a normal race. Uphill and flat..no issue. Downhill on a rolling, flat surface hill…no issue. Downhill on a tricky one… not good. If I have had glasses on, I probably would have taken a bit more risk running downhill, which overall would have gained probably a further 20-30sec, but that’s just guessing.
3. So close to scoring for the county. 15sec behind the 4th county runner. Considering county came 2nd a medal was there and I know where I lost those 15sec (looked at his splits… his last k been 3:55…mine its been 3:46. Means if I had been closer to him on the wall… I would have picked him as a target (nice clane singlet…always a good target if Celbridge isn’t there :D).
4. Leinster and Nationals are great! You meet runners you otherwise wouldn’t as most like we do different races and obviously have different county champs. Met a runner for the first time in person although following him on strava since I follow @Swashbuckler and @AuldManKing. And that’s what.. 6 years now? 😊
1 more week of base building and then the next phase. Can’t wait 😊. Seriously enjoying this training circle so far.
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Week 1:
Monday: strength work/ 55min cycle
Tuesday: 6.5k easy / 9k easy
Wednesday: 12k easy
Thursday: strength work/ 2k up 30min prog (4:55-3:55) 2k down
Friday: 12k easy
Saturday: 3k up 4*(40-30-20sec @ 3:00) (120/180) 3kdown
Sunday: 40min cycle/ 19k easy (mainly on grass and mud)
Weekly Mileage Running: 82km
Weekly time on Bike: 1.5hrs
Weekly time strength work: 1hr
Week 2:
Monday: strength work/ 9k easy
Tuesday: Up – 3*8min @ 3:45 (180) – down / 34min cycle
Wednesday: 12k easy
Thursday: up – 6*800m @ 3:26 (300) - down
Friday: 10.5k easy
Saturday: up – 3*(4*30sec @ 1mile effort) (90/180) - down
Sunday: 15.5k easy
Weekly Mileage Running: 84km
Weekly time on Bike: 0.5hrs
Weekly time strength work: 0.5hrs
Week 3:
Monday: strength work/ 12k easy
Tuesday: Up – 10-5-10min (3:50/3:40/ 3:50) – down
Wednesday: 12.5k easy
Thursday: up – 2*(4*200 @ 38sec per rep) (120/240) – down / 7k easy
Friday: 12k easy
Saturday: 8k easy
Sunday: 60min steady (4:05 pace)
Weekly Mileage Running: 89km
Weekly time on Bike: 0.0hrs
Weekly time strength work: 0.5hrs
Week 4:
Monday: 11k easy
Tuesday: 3*(4-3-2-1min @ 3:30) (90/180)
Wednesday: 16k steady (4:10-4:20)
Thursday: strength work/ 12k jog (10k easy + 10*(20sec hard / 40sec easy)
Friday: 11k easy
Saturday: 1hr cycle
Sunday: 14.5k steady / 30min cycle
Weekly Mileage Running: 84km
Weekly time on Bike: 1.5hrs
Weekly time strength work: 0.5hrs
Week 5:
Monday: 14k easy
Tuesday: 5*1mile @ 3:40 (90)
Wednesday: 12k easy
Thursday: 4*(400-300-150m @ 3:00) (60/180)
Friday: 10k easy
Saturday: 5*5min @ 3:20 (300)
Sunday: 17k easy
Weekly Mileage Running: 97km
Weekly time on Bike: 0hrs
Weekly time strength work: 0hrs
Week 6:
Monday: 13k easy/ strength training
Tuesday: 25min tempo alternating (10-5-10min @ 3:55/ 3:40/ 3:45)
Wednesday: 13k easy
Thursday: 8*200m @38-40sec per rep
Friday: 15k easy (double day)
Saturday: 5*3min @ 3:30 (90) / 35min cycling
Sunday: 19k easy
Weekly Mileage Running: 97km
Weekly time on Bike: 0.5hrs
Weekly time strength work: 0.5hrs
Week 7:
Monday: 10k easy
Tuesday: Mona Fartlek
Wednesday: REST
Thursday: 12k easy
Friday: 14k easy
Saturday: 13k easy plus strides
Sunday: Leinster Cross Country Masters
Weekly Mileage Running: 76km
Weekly time on Bike: 0.0hrs
Weekly time strength work: 0.0hrs
Week 8:
Monday: 12k easy
Tuesday: 30min Tempo Alternating Pace (10min @3:45/ 10min @3:35/ 10min @ 3:40)
Wednesday: 12.5km easy
Thursday: 10*30sec hill sprint (120)/ 6.5k easy evening
Friday: 12.5k easy
Saturday: 4*5min @ 3:25 (150) / 30min easy cycle evening
Sunday: 20k easy / 25min strength work + 5k easy evening
Weekly Mileage Running: 108km
Weekly time on Bike: 0.5hrs
Weekly time strength work: 0.5hrs
Strange week. Started of tired and fatigued (wonder why 😊). Tempo run felt tired during warm up. Didn’t think I had it in me. First rep was a real struggle. Worked really hard to get anywhere near the goal average. Thinking “how am I supposed to go even faster”. Beep beep beeeeeep the watch says and off I went trying to go faster. To my surprise I did. Felt tough yet manageable. Really surprised. Last 10 were then a bit of cheating since the last 500m been slightly downhill. Mentally that helped but legs were still working!
Hill sprints. One of my favourite yet most hatred but loved sessions! Decided to do it on easy drag thinking it will easier and faster when really sprinting. At least so I thought. For some reason, I thought that incline wasn’t much. Maybe 4-5% gradient and I should fly up there and manage 160-170m per rep. So first rep I went hard… watch beeped after 30sec. Distance covered 140m.erm… ok. I was slow. I held back..yea..that must be the reason. Second rep…140m…I am dying. Third rep 130m and 4th rep 120m…I am in trouble! Couldn’t go any harder. Gave it my all yet distance wasn’t anywhere near what I expected to reach. Settled into it though and all remaining reps been around 120-130m.
Went home – in bits yet delighted to push through. Uploaded to Strava and check the gradient. It starts at 3.4% and had a max percentage of 11.1…. Not bad… for some reason haven’t realized that before and this had been the third time I did a session on that drag but first time going hard hard.
Saturday… oh how I was dreading that session. Last time I had to do 5min reps the pace was supposed to be 3:20-3:25 and I ended up with 3:37 avg. So here was me thinking “fook. I am going to collapse” especially with the legs still being fatigued from Thursday. To my surprise it went well. Really well. Avg in the 3:26-3:29. Not much to say to that other than “I am starting to be back” and that’s a good sign! What I realized though (not the first time and wont be the last time), it is easier to start a rep slow and pick up the pace than hard and hoping to hold it. First 3 reps I did that. Went out hard thinking I need to back some time. Struggled then to hold the pace at the end. Last rep knowing that it will have a tough slight uphill finish, went out slower to ensure I have something left. And in the end as fast as the first 3 reps yet more comfortable. Need to remember that (though I know I wont!).
Phase 1 (Base building) is over now. Phase 2 begins this week 😊
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