Monday August 05th. HRV= 54 Amber.
Hoping for higher as legs feeling good and guessing it’s cardio fatigue from the long session yesterday. Woke without an alarm as today is a Bank Holiday meaning I can head to the Track at my leisure. My plan now is to repeat last Sunday’s 14K but using a lower heart rate to allow for the unrecovered state. Arrived at the Track shortly after 11:30am and was regretting not starting earlier as it was starting to get quite warm but luckily I’m usually well prepared and had sufficient fluids and change of gear in the car. Started off with an easy 2K warm up with a slight increase in effort with each lap to slowly elevate the heart rate and then I pushed into a pace very close to 80% of my HR max and ran for 10K followed by a 2K cool down. Pleasantly surprised with a 10K split of less than 38 mins which is a big improvement on the session from last Sunday and it feels like the only effort was between my ears. Went home for breakfast and then it was a short trip to the mountains for a hike with my son followed by an evening Recovery run of 5K on the Track.
Plan for tomorrow is a running commute.
Tuesday August 06th. HRV=65 Green.
An excellent result but can feel a tightness in my Hamstring similar to last week so it’s a change of plan and today is now easy running. Lunchtime Recovery run of 6K at 65% of HR max followed by a similar evening session which doubled as a route selection for Cross Country training.
Plan for tomorrow is lunchtime Recovery run and a similar Track session to Monday but running for Pace rather than HR.
Wednesday August 07th. HRV=72 Red.
Not expecting a red and I’m guessing it’s because of a big drop in my resting HR but I know that’s down to the extra recovery as it’s back to a normal level. Can still feel some discomfort in my Hamstring but I know it’s a running related DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) and that’s to be expected and needed for improvement. Forgot to bring a second T-shirt to work so it’s a either a lunchtime recovery run or being able to leave a change of clothes in work to allow a running commute tomorrow. Skipped the lunchtime run thinking I’ll get more from the longer morning run. Met Aidan on the Track and our plan was 2K warm up followed by 10K at 4 min per K for an even 40 mins and then 2K cool down. Session went better than expected with the pace feeling effortless and taking less than an hour. Finished the day with my usual coaching duties and an opportunity to stretch.
Plan for tomorrow is a running commute.
Thursday August 08th. HRV= 70 White.
Perfect and as expected with yesterday’s result it has since changed to an Amber. Feeling fatigued after getting out of bed so I decided to cancel the commute and maybe save myself for a steady state run this evening. Lunchtime Recovery run of 5K around the city centre forcing a slow pace to allow for traffic and can feel the tiredness in my legs. Followed that with an evening session on the Track similar to yesterday but included an extra 1K at my 5K pace. Felt really strong throughout the session and my HR avg is starting to fall.
Plan for tomorrow is undecided as I’m unsure about the weekend.
Friday August 09th. HRV= 62 White.
A good result after yet another quality session meaning I might do something similar again today but more intense. Didn’t have time for a lunchtime run as both my Heart Rate Monitors need replacement wrist bands. The Garmin 610 was needed the replacement weeks ago but I got lazy about getting it sorted seeing as I have the Suunto T6D and now I’m caught out. Can’t do without them both and made a temporary repair on the Suunto with selotape.
Plan for tomorrow is undecided but I’d like to do the Parkrun.
Saturday August 10th. HRV= 66 White.
Woke before the alarm so it’s Parkrun but it’ll be rushed as I need to be home 30 minutes after the race starts and it’s a 10 minute drive:-). Went with the same plan as last week and this time it went a little bit better. From the start there was an obvious leader and I found myself sitting in 4th position and behind a competitor that always finishes ahead of me. Took a chance and went ahead of him within the first 1K and then set my sights on getting into 2nd place. Caught up with number 2 by the 2nd K and could hear from his breathing that he was struggling so I knew it was safe to push on. The race leader had created quite a big gap but remembering how I felt last week I knew there was always a chance that he might fall back and that helped stay motivated. I was almost forgetting about the runner in 4th place but soon got a reminder as he caught up and passed shortly after 2K. I stayed on his shoulder as managed to stay with him as we finished the first loop and was still very close as we hit 4K but then I started to fall back and lose precious seconds and each time I tried to attack he pushed on. By 4K the gap had increased enough that I knew I’d never catch him in a sprint finish so I tried again to make up some ground but the strength wasn’t there. Crossed the line in 3rd place with 18:07 and 14 seconds behind 2nd place. My time was only 2 seconds faster than last week but I felt like I’d had a much better day with my pacing was more even and having someone ahead meant having to stay focused and fight that little bit more.
Didn’t have time for a hill run but instead went for a steady 8K with the middle 6K at close to the pace I ran the Parkrun at…
Plan for tomorrow is a long run of 40-50K.
Sunday August 11th. HRV= 68 White.
Woke before the alarm but a little too early and stayed in bed a little bit longer to try get a little bit more sleep before a 07:00am start. Met with Aidan and our plan was a simple out and back along the canal with a few small detours to add distance without having to think about it. We arrived back at the Track after doing 35K and finished the session with 10K on the Track at a controlled 24-hr Race pace. Could have kept going but finishing knowing that is good enough as it means no breaks in training caused by needing extra Recovery time. Finished the day with a 5K Recovery Run and all is good.
Plan for tomorrow is undecided as there may be a slight change in direction.
Weekly Summary:
Yet another good week with my longest run since the Belfast 24-hr completed without any issues and my 5K time has also improved by a sensible amount.
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