Monday May 06th. HRV= 59 Red.
Expected after a good weekend. Rested for most of today and then hit the Track for a short but intense Interval session of 3*1K off 5 min Recovery. Splits were: 3:15, 3:13, 3:12 followed by a long cool down.
Plan for tomorrow is an early Gym session and an evening recovery run.
Tuesday May 07th. HRV=66 White.
Moving in the right direction. Early Gym session of mobility work & stretching followed by a very short recovery run after work.
Plan for tomorrow is a lunchtime rest day.
Wednesday May 08th. HRV=67 White.
Rest Day
Tomorrow will be spent travelling..
Thursday May 09th. HRV=67 White.
Early start for a long day travelling to The Netherlands. No training and an early night
Tomorrow will be spent preparing for the race and trying to relax.
Friday May 10th. HRV= 72 White.
Higher than expected after a long day of travelling and today will be yet another busy day. While queuing for breakfast I was approached by an IAAF official and then taken away for interview and drug testing. Not a pleasant experience but good to see it being carried out. Busy day with meetings to attend and the Athlete parade with a bit more walking than I’d have preferred. Finished the day preparing race day food & clothing and had our pre race Team meeting.
Plan for tomorrow is a very long run.
Saturday May 11th. HRV= 62 White.
Didn’t sleep to well but woke without an alarm clock which is always a bonus. After a rushed breakfast because of the long queues we made our way to downtown Steenbergen arriving close to 2hrs before the start. The weather seems very unsettled with some light rain to start and I decide to wear a rain jacket to start.
As the race started I settled into an easy pace with my team mates which was slightly faster than planned but in the early stages it can be more comfortable than slowing down and within an hour we had split up and settled into our own zones. The race started cold and wet and soon became very warm and sunny meaning the loss of a few layers to prevent overheating. The change was done quite quickly and for the next 8 or more hours I ran in just my shorts and singlet while occasionally putting on my hat and / or gloves but then it all changed and shortly after starting one of the laps it started to pour rain without warning and I got drenched and very cold. The wind was also starting to pick up and by the time I got back to the support crew I’d taken a weather beating. I quickly changed into some warmer clothes and got going again but could feel the energy draining from my body and my pace began to drop. I kept going but ended up making more stops than planned to try heat up with some shelter and each time it got harder to get going again.
It eventually got to the point where I had to leave the course and go indoors and use a sleeping bag to get warm again but by this time my game plan was gone as too much time had been lost. I returned to the track and got going as best I could but was still shivering with the cold and after checking the Team Rankings and working out my possible quota based on lap times it was obvious that I wasn’t going to help the Team move up the score board. I think at this point I had covered approx 140K but decided to keep going until at least 150K and then when I hit that target I thought that 100Miles would be a semi respectable finishing distance and I told myself that I’d keep going until that distance was covered and that’s when it ended.
Tomorrow is still Today.
Sunday May 12th. HRV= No Reading.
Still running and the race finally finished at midday.
Tomorrow will be spent travelling.
Weekly Summary
Not a great end to my week but I’ll get over it.
Same as last Monday but after a tougher day. Skipped the lunchtime run as I’m running to a meeting with the Athletics Association of Ireland after work. Ran at an easy pace with a slight detour via a running track and did a set of 6*400 at close to my 3K race pace off 60 second recovery. Felt fatigued after each rep but recovered quickly and finished the session with a distance of 12K. Delayed after the meeting and missed my train home which meant a later than planned night. Resisted the temptation to run home by going for a 1hr walk rather than hanging around the train station.
Moving in the right direction. Early Gym session of 4* Walking Lunges with 10Kg Dumbells, Hanging knee raises and a short Interval session on the Airdyne. The Airdyne session was 5 minutes of mostly low intensity with the last 15 seconds of each minute being an all out effort. Evening recovery run of 10.5K working on my race pace and avoiding hills. Early night.
Signs of recovery and a big improvement on last week which was partly caused by a night out. Will try keep my score high while making allowances for some short fast sessions and a 5K race on Saturday. Most sessions from now will be just enough to keep what I’ve got while still allowing recovery from what I’ve done. Decided to skip the lunchtime opportunity to run and did some pre race shopping. Easy 7K after work with 6* 1 min @ 5K race pace to finish and then an even easier 5K at Recovery pace with the club’s Couch to 5K crew. A long day and although the training was easy I’m feeling tired. Finished the night with a decent serving of Cherry Active.
Lower than expected but still ok and an improvement on last week plus my base line is climbing. Feeling a slight niggle in my lower left leg and that changes my day that was being decided as I was going to bed. Took it easy in the gym and did mostly stretching and foam rolling with some light upper body work. Booked a massage for lunchtime and it was torture. Didn’t think I was as bad but luckily I went and got it sorted before I got the final warning. Repeated last night’s session of 6*1 minutes after a long warm up and all seems to be ok.
Lower than expected and left leg feeling tender since massage. Will rest today and don’t mind as I’ve a race tomorrow. Took delivery of the Team Kit
Expected and would have liked a higher score but it’s a slight improvement on yesterday and a big improvement on last week. Woke well before the alarm and took my time getting up. Had a quick cup of coffee and went out for a short easy run before breakfast. Home for breakfast and then took my time getting ready for the race as hosted by my club. Arrived an hour before the start and relaxed into my usual pre race warm up before lining up just behind the start line. My goal time was 17:30 with a worst case finish of sub 19 minutes. Started of at a relaxed pace and this suited as the first Km included the toughest hill on the course and it would be very easy to do too much too soon and pay the price towards the end. On the descent of the hill I got caught amongst the pack and found it hard to make a break and by the time i did it was straight into a headwind and I’d lost contact with the group up ahead. I tried to make up some ground and slowly pulled away from my pack but failed to make up the lost ground. Hitting the last Km I felt very comfortable and tried to get uncomfortable but the extra gear wasn’t there. Crossed the finish line way off a Personal Best but it’s my fastest 5K this year and I’m not a 5K runner. Having said that I won my age group category which was a nice surprise and a confidence boost for next week.
An excuse to take it easy but it’s a beautiful day outside and a shame to waste it. Used the opportunity to practice my pacing for next weekend and had a great run. Took about 10 minutes to get into a rhythm and then I was locked on. Ran for 1.5hrs and confidence has increased that little bit more.
Not sure how the Taper is going as there’s always self doubt at this time but on the plus side my base line is creeping upwards. Felt a slight niggle in my lower left leg towards the middle of the week and a massage to loosen out my legs was a lot more painful than I’d expected.
First day of Taper. Resisted the temptation to run during lunch and spent the evening coaching a group of beginners as part of the club’s Couch to 5k programme. This was ideal as it forced an easy pace and meant I had to stretch while demonstrating. Finished the evening with 2 glasses of wine thinking I deserved it and then realised I hadn’t eaten a dinner but snacked instead.
Lower than expected but could be down to my lazy attitude yesterday. Revisited a Deadlift PB of 117.5Kg for a 1 Rep Max and only stopped there because my PT noticed I was losing form and called an end to the exercise. The weight isn’t anything special but it’s all relative to the sport and it’s enough to bring on a training induced response with enough time to recover in time for the race. Lifted close to 1300 Kg for this session. Lunchtime easy run and my plan was to run by feel expecting my legs to feel lethargic and stiff. Surprised at how easy I was moving and went through the first 1k in 4:10 and without any extra effort I dropped under 4 mins. Decided to stay as I was and finished the session with 10k in 39:40. Finished the day with a big dinner, dessert and 2 glasses of wine.
Much lower than expected but then again yesterday was an intense day with an overindulge rather than recover. Today is now a rest day and although it’s not what I wanted it could be what I need as forced rest can be guilt free.
Almost stayed in bed after looking out the window and seeing the rain but knowing that you train your mental strength on the days you don’t want to helped with the decision. Early running commute to work in the rain keeping the pace nice and easy with a low heart rate.
Feeling good today and I’m guessing it’s partly because I didn’t have a gym session yesterday. Lunchtime recovery run of 8K at my planned 24-hr pace. Finished the day with an Interval session to loosen my legs out and decided on 5*1K without any pressure to hit a specific pace. Session went better than expected and my splits were 3:19, 3:18, 3:20, 3:20 & 3:17. Haven’t ran this fast in a while and may feel it tomorrow. 
Much better than expected, woke without an alarm, the sun is shining and my legs feel fine so it’s back to the Track. I haven’t really got a plan in mind and decide to just run steady and test my mental strength. Started with 2K at an easy pace and then increased it to a working pace just outside my comfort zone and held it for 16K before finishing with a 2K recovery. Total for session was 20K in 1:20.31 with a middle 10K split of 38:30 or thereabouts. Finished the day with a walk in the woods. 
Reduced volume with high intensity as planned but I’d prefer if my base line was climbing a bit more. I’m back on the Cherry Juice (
A good result and I’m now glad that I took the weekend off as it’s better to miss 2 days training when needed than to miss a week of training recovering from illness or overtraining. Early Gym session testing my 1 Rep Max for the back squat, lost concentration and stopped at 75kg before finishing the session with 3 sets of walking lunges with Dumbbells. Easy Lunchtime 10K with legs feeling tired and heavy and a similar evening run of 10K with tired legs. Looking forward to starting the Taper.
Early Gym session of Power Clean with 40Kg and 5 sets of 3*5 Strict Press @ 30Kg + 4 chin ups. Shorter than planned run of 8K as my legs are still feeling tired and I’m still recovering from the DOMS and don’t want to slow the recovery too much.
My plan for today has slightly changed and instead of the longer run I opt for a shorter but faster session of just under 20K with 14K at Tempo Pace which included a 10K split of under 38 mins. Added in a second recovery recovery run a few hours later of 6K. A good day.
Expected and rather than run early I postpone the run until the afternoon to extend my recovery. Went out at my planned race pace over a hilly route and picked the pace up halfway through even though I knew I shouldn’t.
Not what I wanted but knew it was possible. Today is the end of my peak week and tomorrow is a rest day so my plan for today stands but I limit the distance to 20K and keep my HR at lower end of Aerobic and my pace will be no faster than race pace. This is planned over reaching.
A good comeback from last weekend and overall a good week with a mix of sessions / distances & intensities. Tomorrow is a rest / recovery day and the Taper begins.