A Slow Journey to Faster Times

Sunday 9th August - 40 minutes Easy (+bonus 1.5m recovery)
5m @ 8:07 p/m average (148bpm avg) + (1.5m @ 8:57 p/m average (120bpm avg)

Just an easy run to shake out the legs after yesterday's MLR. That 'easy' pace became a bit hotter for a while, as I bumped into aero2k and joined him for about 1.5m. I left him to shoot off alone at the Knockmaroon Gate as he was planning on accelerating further, while I wanted to have some sadistic fun watching the cyclists in the Ironman struggle up the hill myself and FBOT01 had scaled on foot yesterday morning. I enjoyed watching some of them walking with their bikes . I then jogged back across the park to watch some of the run. What a disgusting course! Three laps of a route with more hairpins than a Tour De France mountain stage. Not for me. Met Mrs Mc and friend out supporting too. I'd already completed my planned 40 minutes at that stage, but decided I might as well jog back home. That brings the weekly total above sixty miles. Hopefully I can continue that trend.


Splits:

Mile 1 - 8:28
Mile 2 - 7:36
Mile 3 - 7:37
Mile 4 - 8:22
Mile 5 - 8:31

1.5m Recovery - 8:57 min/mile pace

Thursday 13th August - Reality Check
Result: Fail

I've really struggled with training this year. Can't seem to string two decent weeks together. As mentioned before, I'm also a little sceptical about whether my health is 100% at the moment. So why I let FBOT01 talk me into joining him for his LT session today (11m with 6 @LT), I'll never know :rolleyes:

I ran these P&D sessions at my 10m race pace last year when training for Berlin. Myself & FBOT01 have similar 10m pb's (his is 16 seconds faster. I'll get that in before he does :pac:), so that was the target pace for the LT miles (sub 6:10). In my current condition, that's absolutely ridiculous. I had virtually no chance of hitting that pace for six miles today. The last time I ran any way 'fast' was at the Tymon parkrun on the 30th May when my pace was very close to today's target. 3.11m in what was effectively a race. I struggled that day and was in such a state after it, vowed not to race again until I'd put in the required training. Yet here I was on a very warm day off poor preparation doing just that (well, not a race, but similar. The session is probably equivalent to a 10m race). It was a recipe for disaster. Anyway I'm already making this longer than it needs to be.

I hooked up with FBOT01 inside the PP and we got our four warm-up miles in. Not sure of the pace, but it was fairly pedestrian. Even at that speed I wasn't entirely comfortable. We began the LT section just after turning onto Chesterfield Avenue. Hitting 6:00 pace for the first 200m or so I felt ok, but the chat had stopped. Then almost immediately I really started to struggle. I eased off a bit. 6:05 pace is fine I thought. Another glance at the watch. Still only 4.16m ffs. 5.84m more of this ahead of me? I really don't think so. Just hold it. You'll feel more comfortable once you settle into the pace. Another glance, 4.21m, pace now 6:08. It's getting harder, the pace is slowing and I've only covered 0.05 of a mile in what seems like an eternity. Don't give up. Just hold below 6:10. Drfiting, drifting, 6:09 now and only 4.32m gone. There's no way I can do this. I'm not a quitter, but there's quitting and there's reality. As much as I was hurting, I held the pace around 6:05/10 for a little while longer. I didn't want to let FBOT01 down, since we'd arranged to do this together but there wasn't a lot I could do. I honestly felt at that stage that seeing out one mile at that pace was the best I could manage. Despite wearing the HRM, I hadn't looked at the monitor. A quick glance at that confirmed my suspicions. 180bpm (my max is 183). I'm going no further. I told FBOT01 I was sorry but he'd have to plough on without me. He seemed to understand and continued on without me as I came to a halt after the watch beeped for the mile. I sat down on a bench and mulled it over a bit.

I'm disappointed I couldn't give the session more of a lash, but what happened was completely predictable. There's no mystery to it. I just haven't been doing the training. Jogs in and out of work, LSR's and MLR's are all fine, but there has to be something complimenting those to stress the system and make you fitter. I haven't been doing that for a few reasons, the main one being I just don't seem to have the time. My working hours have increased since February and just seem to keep getting longer. This has also affected my sleep, rest, recovery etc. One big vicious circle. I should be doing two steady sessions a week following the HADD system, but I'm so knackered and run down that my HR is hitting my steady state at a much slower pace than it should be. I feel doing sessions at that rate are pointless at the moment as I'm running close to a minute slower per mile than the last two marathons I raced. Even on easy runs I'm struggling to stay around 130bpm, when I was running 8:00 minute miles uphill in the 120's at the beginning of the year. This time last year I was as fit as I've ever been in my life. I ran a half-marathon very close to the pace I couldn't hold for more than a mile today and was speeding up at the end. I'm going to have to make some changes to get back to that fitness level. It's probably not going to happen in the next few weeks though, so New York may end up being a 'tourist marathon'. At least it's not a fast course, so it won't feel like too much of a missed opportunity. There'll be other days. Roll on Boston 2016......:)


Summary:

4m @ 8:08 p/m average (146bpm avg) + 1m @ 6:12 p/m average (176bpm avg)


Splits:

Mile 1 - 8:33
Mile 2 - 8:02
Mile 3 - 7:55
Mile 4 - 8:04

Mile 5 - 6:12

Friday 14th August - 60 minutes Easy
7.44m @ 8:04p/m average (141bpm avg)

This felt like a complete waste of time. I'm not sure I want to run at all at the moment. I'm wheezing like a 70yo who's smoked all his life. Except I'm a 33yo who's never smoked


Splits:

Mile 1 - 8:18
Mile 2 - 8:10
Mile 3 - 8:14
Mile 4 - 7:48
Mile 5 - 7:56
Mile 6 - 8:12
Mile 7 - 7:50
0.44 - 3:34

annapr wrote: »

You're very hard on yourself, P... surely if you're getting out and putting the miles in, even if easy, it's not a waste of time? have you had slumps like this before during your training or is this a new thing for you?

I don't know. Just doesn't feel like it's doing anything for me sometimes :rolleyes:

I went 2/3 training plans in a row without missing a day/session, so this is very new to me.

Tuesday 25th August - Rest

Had great intentions for today, but unfortunately none of them materialised. I began the morning by arranging a running date with FBOT01 for later in the evening. After sorting that I finally bit the bullet and headed to the doctor's surgery, something I've been putting off for weeks. Turned out they had no room to fit me in until this morning (Wednesday), so I made an appointment and left. Had a few errands to run, so decided to get them done while I was out and about, leaving me free to enjoy my run with FBOT01 later in the day. I then remembered I'd already got plans for the evening, which had completely slipped my mind when making the original arrangements. I'd now be going solo earlier in the afternoon and letting FBOT01 down for the second time in a fortnight. Everything seemed to get on top of me after that and by the time I got back to the apartment I was very tight for time and already exhausted. So I canned the idea of any run and went for a nap instead.
What a pro!

Daily total: 0m


Wednesday 26th August - 70 minutes Easy
8.05m @ 8:42p/m average (134bpm avg)

Second trip to the surgery in two days, except this time I got to see the doctor. We had a chat and he asked what the problem was along with a few more questions. Having listened to what I had to say and taken my heartbeat & blood pressure, he came to the conclusion that there's nothing actually wrong with me. It's more a case of my body behaving normally for someone who works the shifts I work, sleeps the hours I sleep and runs the miles I run. He re-iterated the fact that professional athletes run two marathons a year, yet I will have run seven in 2.5 years this coming April. It's probably a bit much to ask (for someone who generally tries to run a pb every time). Like a few others (on & off boards) he thinks I'm suffering from delayed fatigue from completing cycle after cycle of marathon training and my body needs a bit of a break. The job/shifts definitely don't help and although they are a factor, he didn't seem to think they were the root cause of my recent running issues. I said I'd like to get my bloods done, just for peace of mind if nothing else. He agreed and got the nurse to take a sample afterwards, but said he'd be amazed if they came back with anything amiss (Fwiw I agree with him, but just want it ruled out). To be honest, what he told me this morning is what I suspected myself and a similar opinion has been voiced by a few other knowledgeable people. He's not entirely happy that I'm still going to run New York & Boston, but understood why I want to do so. He did ask that I forget about trying to run a PB (in NYC anyway), which again is what others have said to me. The one thing he asked is that I do less miles in my current situation. He said he didn't think circa 60mpw was sustainable for me. I know there are others here who probably do more miles while working more hours, but considering how I've been feeling the last while I have to agree with him on that.

So basically, run less.

On to today's running. Eight miles in the sunshine taking it easy and enjoying myself . Didn't put a time/distance limit on this and just ran until I felt like stopping. Took a scenic route into town and stopped to grab a bit of lunch when the sun started to get really warm. Jumped on a train home and did some strides on the way back to the apartment from the station. Might get out for some very easy recovery miles with the other half later too. We're heading to the rugby on Saturday, but she's looking to do a parkrun that morning, so I might pace her there as I'm in no condition to go flat out myself. I'll take tomorrow & Friday off as I'm working long.


Splits:

Mile 1 - 8:48
Mile 2 - 8:33
Mile 3 - 8:50
Mile 4 - 8:45
Mile 5 - 8:37
Mile 6 - 8:24
Mile 7 - 8:54
Mile 8 - 8:42
0.05 - 0:28

Sunday 30th August - 5m Easy
5m @ 7:22p/m average

Never got out at all in the end yesterday. The way it turned out I would have been under too much time pressure, so not too worried. Got out for a few miles after work this evening though. I feel I've become a real slave to the HRM recently, with some of the runs being a real slog plodding along trying to stay below a certain bpm. So I went out and ran by feel, bringing the Garmin for reference afterwards. Enjoyed this and the time flew by. Threw four strides into the last mile back along the canal.


Splits:

Mile 1 - 7:34
Mile 2 - 7:27
Mile 3 - 7:30
Mile 4 - 7:25
Mile 5 - 6:52