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The Running Master

Stazza

I’ve decided to have another crack at keeping a log. As I’ve publicly announced that I’m going after the Irish M45 5k record of 15:22, I thought it only fair that I document my training and hold myself to account – publicly; at my age I should know better, especially given the current state of my fitness. Oh well.

So, I was out for about 4 weeks during December – small problem with my achilles, peroneals, soleus, and a bit of P.F. to boot. Although it’s all pretty much sorted, there is some residual discomfort. So I need to be careful.

Rather than just log the boring running stuff, I’m hoping to drop in a few accounts of some of my interesting life experiences. I’ve worked in the UK and Kenya as a physical therapist/business owner looking after many household names. I’ve also worked as a journalist, sub editor and editor on a national tabloid in Southern Africa – some great stuff from those days; I spent a day with Nelson Mandela. I went on to own a rather unsuccessful national tabloid in Cyprus – some great stories from my time there, especially concerning The Cypriot Mafia.

To keep things from getting stale, I’ll drop in some anecdotes. Starting next week with, Linford Christie, Doping, The Banana, and Me - Nuff Respect!

The running this week:
Sunday – 8 miles; last 3 miles picked up the pace.
Monday – 6 miles easy with 8x100m pick-ups
Tuesday – 6 miles easy
Wednesday - a.m. 6 miles easy p.m. 6 miles, incl 4 @ LT
Thursday – 6 miles easy with Paddy the Kenyan – PtK’s training for the Tralee Marathon;)
Friday – a.m. 6 miles easy + p.m. 6 miles moderate progression – picked it up from 2.5 miles to 5 miles. Felt laboured.

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Stazza

barryoneill50 wrote: »

Going by your target hm time of 68 min a 2:25 marathon should be no bother to ya:D

Excellent - I'd have thought sub 2:24 :pac::pac:

Stazza

ecoli wrote: »

Whats the weather like down there? Could it be a reaction to the temp change. I know when I did attempted my session on Tuesday morning I felt very thirsty despite hydration levels being normal (and continued right through the day).

I wouldn't make any knee jerk reactions just yet (especially as you have completed sessions to date at faster paces) just monitor over the coming days and see how you go. Remember a bad night sleep can also impact your bodies hydration levels immensely

Thanks for the reassurance - I read your post from the A&E and it made sense - I've done stuff faster than that pace so it was unlikely to be anything related to the session - relieved.

Stazza

drquirky wrote: »

Ah man!!! If you don't race you won't be able to take on my personal challenge to the Stazza system!

The most important thing is your health though.

Feel better soon!

Thanks Quirky. It looks like we'll still have a chance to duke it out

W.B. Yeats

Glad you're still with us Stazza...... any sort of exertion could tip a man of your age over the edge

dna_leri

Stazza wrote: »

I wasn't sure whether to do the National Masters 5000m or the local 10k. I was going to enter the 5000m and then keep an eye on the weather - didn't want to travel all the way up to Dublin if the it was going to be a windy day. All joking aside, I'm not in the slightest bit interested in titles etc. I wanted to do the 5000m so that I could get a good race in against some of the top Irish Masters, but not so sure I need to spend two days heading to Dublin for a 5000m race.

Now, with that being said, fate has conspire... No, nothing as bad as an injury but something very worrying happened today at the track. Very worrying indeed. I think my track days are over and I might just have to face the fact that I'm going to have to do the marathon.

Glad your feeling better now. If you left us now you would become the greatest who never... A bit like Pre.

By the way the National Masters is in Tullamore. Not particularly encouraging you to run there, more questioning why bother with county and provincial masters - I don't expect you'd get much competition there. Not great competition at Tullamore 5K either - 1500m should be much better. 4:20 won last year but best guy was DNS and ran 4:10 indoors this year.

thewolf_ie

Glad you're ok!

rom

Stazza wrote: »

Wow, what a day - been in hospital having a CT scan and thought I was going to end up having a lumbar puncture :eek:

While I was responding to the Sligo Silver Speedo, I came over all dizzy again. Ended up going to some emergency Doctor thing. Doc referred me on to A&E with suspected/possible/outside chance of a brain aneurysm :eek: The letter suggested a CT scan, possible lumbar puncture and something in Doctor's secret code. Had some tests and a CT scan.

Here's how the wife summed it:

"Only you could go into hospital with a suspected brain haemorrhage and come out with a mucky ear.' I think she was really p1ssed that her shopping trip had to be curtailed to rush me to the Doc.

So, apparently, my right ear is clogged up with wax - lovely.

I'll live to fight another day.

Getting that sorted will mess up your balance for a month and your stride also. Just a fyi.

AuldManKing

Thank God it wasn't Man Flu.

Stazza

dna_leri wrote: »

Glad your feeling better now. If you left us now you would become the greatest who never... A bit like Pre.

By the way the National Masters is in Tullamore. Not particularly encouraging you to run there, more questioning why bother with county and provincial masters - I don't expect you'd get much competition there. Not great competition at Tullamore 5K either - 1500m should be much better. 4:20 won last year but best guy was DNS and ran 4:10 indoors this year.

Thanks - feel great this morning. My granola, raw organic cocoa powder, whole chia seeds, milled flax seeds, maca powder, and low fat milk ended up all over the keyboard when I read that about me being the 'greatest never been' - that was very funny.

Thanks for the info about the races. I've had a look at the previous results and I think you are right. I'll have a re-think about the races. Didn't realise that the National Masters were in Tullamore

that changes things. I saw the 5k results and again, you're right, it doesn't seem to be much of a race. But I'm not sure about the 1500m as I'm looking to make Charleville my main race. Needs some more thought...

'The greatest who never...' - I really like that

Stazza

AuldManKing wrote: »

Thank God it wasn't Man Flu.

It still might be - keep you're fingers crossed that it isn't/is

Stazza

rom wrote: »

Getting that sorted will mess up your balance for a month and your stride also. Just a fyi.

:eek: Why would it take so long?

Stazza

Saturday 19th April

a.m. 6 miles ez. Felt a bit stiff from not cooling down after the single 800m on Friday. Head felt ok.

p.m. 6 miles relaxed. Everything find and dan-day.

(12)

Sunday 20th April

a.m. 13 miles. Started off nice and ez and eased through the gears so that I was moving steady enough by the end of the run. Head felt a little thick towards the end of the run, but nothing serious.

(13)

Stazza

Monday 21st April

a.m. 6 miles ez with Paddy the Kenyan; he’s flying at the moment…
p.m. 6 miles steady.

(12)

Tuesday 22nd April

a.m.10 miles, incl 4 LT. Warmed up 4 miles, incl 4x30 sec strides and then did 4 miles at what felt like LT effort. Focused on staying relaxed and smooth. Felt pretty quick. Head/ear was fine. 2 miles cool down.
p.m. 4 miles shakeout – pretty tired.

(14)

Wednesday 23rd April

a.m. 6 mile recovery run – tired.
p.m. 6 miles moderate progression. Felt tired to start off with but by the third mile I was moving along at a good clip.

(12)

Stazza

Meanwhile…

Thursday 25th April
a.m. 10 miles incl 4x30 sec strides 6 miles at Aerobic Threshold.
p.m. 5 miles ez

(15)

Friday 26th April
a.m. 6 miles ez
p.m. 6 miles ez.

(12)

Saturday 27th April
a.m. 3 miles w/u incl drills and 6x100m strides, 10x300m off 100m in 60 secs, 2 miles c/d

I was against the clock for the Aerobic Threshold session, so I didn’t get the 14 miles in that I wanted, and I ended up running 2 miles less than I wanted for the Ae T segment, plus, I suspect I ran a smidgeon quicker than Ae T.

Now, in the ‘safe’ surrounds of MY Log, I’ll give you some info on Aerobic Threshold as it seems that some people don’t get it and some want more of it.

Brief explanation – Ae T is the pace you can hold for 120 mins. By definition, after 2 hours at Ae T pace we transition to anaerobic respiration. If Ae T is the pace that we can hold for 2hrs then once we get beyond the 2hr mark we cross the threshold and in order to maintain that pace we have to rely on anaerobic respiration. Also, blood lactate levels start shifting over 2 mmols. Simple. And as was astutely pointed out, Anaerobic respiration is less efficient than aerobic respiration.

Here’s Mark Hadley on Aerobic Threshold. Ecoli is a fan of Mark Hadley and it’s fair to say that Hadley is a well respected distance coach.

Here’s Joe Rubio – Quirky’s a follower – on how to use Aerobic Threshold in the ‘Endless Season’.

Here’s Brad Hudson on Ritz and a great example of Aerobic Threshold utilized as a progression.

Magness also covers Ae T – everybody knows where to find his stuff.

Here’s Canova using the term Aerobic Threshold:

If you control, for ex., the level of AEROBIC THRESHOLD (using the conventional limit of 2 mmol), and the ANAEROBIC THRESHOLD (using 4 mmol), you can see, in a marathon runner well trained, that the difference is about 5%, that means, if 3' is Aer. T., that 2'51" in An. T.

So, when you run at 3' (that is for some athlete Marathon Pace) you are in a total aerobic area, if you go at 2'50" you run over the threshold, and is no more possible, running in a competition, going down under the threshold itself. THIS IS THE REASON BECAUSE IN THE MARATHON WE MUST USE EVEN PACE, OR NEGATIVE SPLIT.

Also, some fella called Snell (he was quick) has done some good work on the subject.

If anybody wants to read some good research on the subject of Aerobic Threshold, here are some of the groundbreakers on the subject and the relevant dates of their studies:
Aunola & Rusko, 1996.
Kindermann, Simon, & Keul 1979.
Skinner & Mclellan 1980.

The guys above are the ones where you’ll find the ‘true’ definition of Ae T with empirical data. Many of the coaches play around with Ae T and slightly distort the ‘true’ meaning. But for me, Hadley and Canova have it bang on as their definitions and usage marry with the scientific studies.

I have loads more if anybody wants them…But to be honest, it really isn’t that important – the definition sums it up. The pace you can maintain for 2hrs.

So, above, you have Canova, Hadley, Hudson, Rubio, Snell, and Magness talking about Ae T. Some serious guys. Hadley probably gives the simplest explanation and some good sessions. Also, you have some of the many studies. Beyond that, if you don’t get it, I can’t help anymore.

I’ve changed the 8x400m off 90 secs to 10x300m off 100 jog in 60 secs in the hope that I’ll a) get the necessary speed and b) so that I can recover quicker – the 400’s were taking a lot out of me. By cutting them down to 300’s and reducing the recovery I hit the speed (68 – 400 pace) and felt strong and relaxed. And still had a great workout. I’ll stick with the 300’s for a while.

The target for the 300's was, keep them quicker than 53.

1. 51:00
2. 50:88
3. 51:62
4. 52:91
5. 52:00
6. 51:88
7. 51:53
8. 51:52
9. 52:40
10. 51:32 Av - about 51 =68's for 400's; although I suspect I would have dropped to 69/70 if I were doing 400's.

p.m. 4 miles shakeout.

jakek

Nice summary of the AT and good workout!

Stazza

Sunday 27th April

a.m. 6miles recovery run.
p.m. 6 miles ez.

(12)

Monday 28th April

a.m. 7-8 miles ez with Paddy the Kenyan. Good run and good chit-chat.
p.m. 6 miles ez. G came with me on her bike. Had to keep telling her to slow down.

(13)

Tuesday 29th April

a.m. 6 miles ez
p.m. 6 miles steady.

(12)

Wednesday 30th April

a.m. Planned on doing 5x800m off 90 secs but when I arrived at the track there was a meet about to start. So when I got home, I decided to switch things about and opted for 10 miles - 4 w/u, 4 @LT with the final 1k progressing down to 10k-5k-3k effort, 2 miles c/d. Great little workout – felt wonderful.

Now then, in other news –some cheeky little rapscallion tried to play a prank on The Running Master. It backfired. Thank you :P.

Yesterday, I was contacted by a journalist (no ordinary journo). For some strange reason, a certain somebody on here sent the well known journo my way. In terms of distance running, this journalist is known across the globe. But as it transpired, he knew many of the elites that I’ve advised and all of the elites I still advise. He was aware of some of the sub elites I advise, including Jake. Unfortunately he hadn’t heard of Ososlo. But that’s all different now…

Anyway, the interview went ahead and lasted ages. We went off topic and talked about literature, film, life, boxing, fora :P, and many more subjects. Bottom line: he’s filing the story until…But, for your entertainment, I will post snippets of the interview – he’s cool with that.

Keep your eyes peeled for some juicy stuff about life, running (incl rucks on marathon training) and some other interesting things like, why The Running Master…

drquirky

Stazza wrote: »

Now then, in other news –some cheeky little rapscallion tried to play a prank on The Running Master. It backfired. Thank you :P.

FTR I had nothing to do with this, though it sounds like a pretty funny prank- and truth be told isn't far off my style. I look forward to the International expose and the impending biography

ecoli

drquirky wrote: »

FTR I had nothing to do with this, though it sounds like a pretty funny prank- and truth be told isn't far off my style. I look forward to the International expose and the impending biography

Was gonna ask you about this, first thought was - since when does quirky know any running journo's? Now had it been a meteorologist I might well have believed it

pa4

Right Stazza spill the beans, we all want to know who it was! I thought it was DQ too at first.. maybe it was TRR :pac:

Stazza

pa4 wrote: »

Right Stazza spill the beans, we all want to know who it was! I thought it was DQ too at first.. maybe it was TRR :pac:

I don't know who it was. I 100% believe DQ - if he did it, I'm sure he'd be happy to say so. I'd be very surprised if it were TRR - he's got more about him than that.

It doesn't really matter 'who did it'. But it was funny and it did catch me with my guard down. Fortuitously, even though it was uncomfortable at times, it turned out to be good fun and beneficial...

Stazza

drquirky wrote: »

FTR I had nothing to do with this, though it sounds like a pretty funny prank- and truth be told isn't far off my style. I look forward to the International expose and the impending biography

No international expose or biography/autobiography - the irony cracks me up. And like I mentioned in response to P4, I should have made it clear that I didn't think it was either you or TRR.

pa4

Stazza wrote: »

I don't know who it was. I 100% believe DQ - if he did it, I'm sure he'd be happy to say so. I'd be very surprised if it were TRR - he's got more about him than that.

It doesn't really matter 'who did it'. But it was funny and it did catch me with my guard down. Fortuitously, even though it was uncomfortable at times, it turned out to be good fun and beneficial...

That's mad haha, what were they even talking about?

TRR

Stazza wrote: »

No international expose or biography/autobiography - the irony cracks me up. And like I mentioned in response to P4, I should have made it clear that I didn't think it was either you or TRR.

I heard my name was been taken in vein! Definitely not me. I wouldn't be known for my tact or ability to do anything sneaky without getting caught! ANyway if I had your phone details I'd probably just ring you up and tell you to fcuk off over the phone

Returning to a point you made about you not believing I hadn't heard of AeT. Of course I had heard of AeT, for the last 10 years I've had physiology tests at least twice a year to calculate current LTs and VO2 max amongst others. Just use these as general guides for training paces and eventually race paces. Haven't had one this year yet though. I was just making a point regards the definition of aerobic to anerobic switch and technically how in theory should be governed by available oxygen levels. The fact that additional lactate is produced after a certain time point even though oxygen is readily available is interesting. As I said I'm not a sports scientist and don't claim to know any of these mechanisms so won't pretend I do! That's were I'm going to leave that!

The rest of the stuff regards my rut is actually funny in hindsight. I take it you weren't talking about rutting season? I haven't had sex with a four legged animal since the turn of the millennium. Long may the rut continue!

So come on, are you going to name any of the elites you advise? And define advise! If Jake is a sub elite than the majority of us posting here as subhumans

digger2d2

Stazza... Are you Newbyrunner and/or Newbygirl...

OR

Are you actually The Stig?

Stazza

TRR wrote: »

I heard my name was been taken in vein! Definitely not me. I wouldn't be known for my tact or ability to do anything sneaky without getting caught! ANyway if I had your phone details I'd probably just ring you up and tell you to fcuk off over the phone

Returning to a point you made about you not believing I hadn't heard of AeT. Of course I had heard of AeT, for the last 10 years I've had physiology tests at least twice a year to calculate current LTs and VO2 max amongst others. Just use these as general guides for training paces and eventually race paces. Haven't had one this year yet though. I was just making a point regards the definition of aerobic to anerobic switch and technically how in theory should be governed by available oxygen levels. The fact that additional lactate is produced after a certain time point even though oxygen is readily available is interesting. As I said I'm not a sports scientist and don't claim to know any of these mechanisms so won't pretend I do! That's were I'm going to leave that!

The rest of the stuff regards my rut is actually funny in hindsight. I take it you weren't talking about rutting season? I haven't had sex with a four legged animal since the turn of the millennium. Long may the rut continue!

So come on, are you going to name any of the elites you advise? And define advise! If Jake is a sub elite than the majority of us posting here as subhumans

I suspect, soon enough, you'll get a chance to tell me exactly what you think - face to face. But by then, I'll probably be advising you about your training

(that's a joke).

Agree to leave the threshold thingy and all talk of ruts and rutting.

I don't do the whole coaching thing. If people ask me to help them with their training and I think I can, I make suggestions/give outline schedules with specific sessions and in some cases more detailed work but just so we're clear, I never charge. Often, like I've recently done with Jake, I'll tweak the sessions during a block of training if I think that's what's necessary to get the desired results. With inexperienced runners I tend to add things as they develop (like you favourite, AIS; and my favourite, hill blasts).

On Jake being a sub-elite: he will soon move to the elite ranks.

At the moment, in the 'Stazza Stable' there are 5 elite men and 2 elite women. Sub elites: 11 men and 3 women. After this, I help about 30 people.

With regards to naming names and all that stuff, I'd have to speak to the runners first to see if they mind. But again, I don't understand why that matters. I hope, when the time is right, that some of them will come on board in a similar way that Jake has- I haven't asked any of them to join and give input: I'm trying to keep my own head above water, never mind having to worry about other people:)

Stazza

digger2d2 wrote: »

Stazza... Are you Newbyrunner and/or Newbygirl...

OR

Are you actually The Stig?

No and no - I haven't passed my driving test.

theboyblunder

Stazza wrote: »

With regards to naming names and all that stuff, I'd have to speak to the runners first to see if they mind. But again, I don't understand why that matters. I hope, when the time is right, that some of them will come on board in a similar way that Jake has-

ahhh c'mon Stazza. Unless your help involves a cheap way to make recombinant EPO involving yoghurt, a drop of thewolf.ie's blood and uncooked Linda McCartney sausages, why would they mind?

A boards poster advising a number of elite athletes is a pretty big deal.

This is a game changer. Youve posted it - back it up and we are all listening......

TRR

theboyblunder wrote: »

ahhh c'mon Stazza. Unless your help involves a cheap way to make recombinant EPO involving yoghurt, a drop of thewolf.ie's blood and uncooked Linda McCartney sausages, why would they mind?

A boards poster advising a number of elite athletes is a pretty big deal.

This is a game changer. Youve posted it - you back it up and we are all listening......

+1. Can totally understand why you wouldn't want to name or detail peoples training without their consent but get a couple of them on board! Would be interested to find out how you hooked up with them. Was it through a club etc?

theboyblunder

There is also this from the forum charter:

'........Be aware that if you do post times - and in particular fast times or remarkable improvements - you may be asked to provide some proof. Likewise if you claim to have coached elite athletes. So please stick to the facts!'

Would it help if you provided proof to someone well known on here but discreet. Say a mod? You could provide proof to them that you coach these people, and they affirm to us without mentioning names on a public forum?

Stazza

theboyblunder wrote: »

ahhh c'mon Stazza. Unless your help involves a cheap way to make recombinant EPO involving yoghurt, a drop of thewolf.ie's blood and uncooked Linda McCartney sausages, why would they mind?

A boards poster advising a number of elite athletes is a pretty big deal.

This is a game changer. Youve posted it - back it up and we are all listening......

Zeus give me strength.