Le Cheile A.C Novice & Masters Team.
Monday September 30th. HRV= 62 White.
A good jump since yesterday and shows signs of recovery but I know my legs are still repairing and I won’t rush back into normal training. Went for an easy 5K after work and had a relaxing evening which included an online Q&A for http://www.runinthedark.org/training/. I’ll avoid the Gym until next week to allow the race recovery and adaption.
Plan for tomorrow is unsure but I expect to run.
Tuesday October 01st. HRV= 66 White.
Didn’t feel like I had a lie in and woke feeling tired. Took the opportunity for an easy / short lunchtime run and could feel my legs starting to loosen up towards the end, 8.5K in 37 minutes. Got text message after work to ask if I was running and ended up with a second easy run of 9K in 40 minutes. It was an effort to stay slow with the second run and had to watch the pace rather than heart rate as that seems to be back to normal and remained low for the most part. The dark evenings are becoming more obvious and I’ll soon need to work on a winter plan as routes will need to be changed.
Plan for tomorrow is a lunchtime run and I’ll go be feel.
Wednesday October 02nd. HRV= 73 White.
A great result but still feel like my legs are recovering so I’ll continue to take it easy for the next few days which means no Sprinting but may increase the pace slightly. I’m hoping to get back into the hills on Saturday to build on the Training Effect from last Saturday and try hold onto that improved leg strength by maintaining what I’ve got. Easy lunchtime run but finished a bit faster than planned partly because I can feel the legs getting back to normal and sometimes it can be hard to stay disciplined. Out for dinner after work and had a few drinks seeing as it’s an easy week.
Plan for tomorrow is undecided but I’m hoping for an early night.
Thursday October 03rd. HRV=65 White.
Not surprised with the drop after the day I had yesterday and I expect that this is more because of the night out than the training. Easy lunchtime run similar to yesterday and finished the day with 5K on the Track after coaching and included 6* 100M strides to loosen out the legs. Feeling good and surprised to cover the distance in just under 20 minutes.
Plan for tomorrow is undecided as I’m thinking about the Parkrun on Saturday and there’s also the Cross Country on Sunday. Parkrun would be leisurely but the XC is a Race..
Friday October 04th. HRV= 59 White.
Much lower than expected. Easy lunchtime run of 5K with the weekend in mind. Relaxed for the evening and went to bed early
Plan for tomorrow is the Parkrun as I’m committed to volunteering after finishing. Intensity will be decided tomorrow.
Saturday October 05th. HRV= 77 Green.
The early night paid off and I woke before the alarm to a great result. Plan for today is a bit mixed as I’m unsure of what to expect but I’m hopeful of a sub 18 finish. Stood towards the front and expected a fast race as there were quite a few new faces and a lot of club singlets. Started conservatively with the aim of going through the first k in 3:30 but felt the pace was a bit slow so I took the chance and went to the front and pushed it to suit what I wanted. Went through the 2nd K in 3:35 and that’s close to my usual and I’m still feeling ok with an extended gap. Slowed down to 3:39 as I hit the 3K mark and then dug deep to try keep the lead in preparation for the slow drag to the finish. Hit the 4K in 3:32 and from here to the finish I just tried not to slow too much and did just enough to keep the lead. Crossed the line, changed my Tshirt and helped out with scanning the rest of the field. Stayed around for a few minutes after it was all over to chat and eat biscuits and then it was off to the hills for an 8.5K Recovery run while my daughter was training. Probably not ideal prep for tomorrow’s race but the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing and my main thing is a few months away and I can’t afford detours every other week.
Plan for tomorrow is the Novice & Masters Cross Country County Championships..
Sunday October 06th. HRV= 75 White.
Perfect and all is good. Went out for a short run before breakfast to loosen out the legs and work up an appetite as the best time to consume carbs is post exercise because glycogen uptake is an exercise induced response and the muscles are more responsive post exercise. Finished with a walking cool down and then it was my usual porridge mix of a volume relative to the time to race. Got a lift to the venue and arrived in plenty of time to watch the junior athletes put in some great performances while still having time to check out the course and watch the Novice & Masters Ladies race start. Had a quick Team chat and then found my position close to the front and got into a good position quite quickly. Shortly after the first straight I found myself bunched in with a group of 5 and struggled to break free and when a gap presented itself I sprinted through and forced the pace a bit too much and felt the pressure as I tried to recover without losing my position. The course was 2 3/4 laps with a few sharp hills and tight turns and on the start of the second lap I remember thinking how glad I was that it was only 1 more full lap before the short lap. It’s a bad sign when these thoughts enter your head so I tried to focus on improving my position with the limited time available rather than wishing it to end. I started to close the gap on a pack up ahead and knowing that I’m always caught on the sprint finish I made an attack on one of the hills, recovered at the top and attacked again on the next hill to really push it out. Made up a few places and before I knew it I was heading down the straight to the finish. Conscious of how many times I’d lost ground at this point in a race I tried to put in a finishing kick and managed to hold it to the end. Crossed the line in 5th place (I think) and led my Team to Silver in the Novices Race, Bronze in the Masters Race and an individual Gold in the Masters 40-44 category.
My son was watching and he later told me that I was in 11th place starting the last lap and he was hoping I’d make up a position to get a top 10 finish and was surprised to see how strong I was towards the end but he also told me that if the finish line was 10-20 meters further away then I’d have been caught as the gap was closing fast. Must do more speed work!
Plan for tomorrow will depend on Recovery and includes the online Q&A .
Weekly Summary:
A great week and finished with 2 good races. Low volume but high intensity and Recovering really well.
Taper time and this is a good start. Short lunchtime run of 8.5K at an easy pace that picked up towards the end. Rested after work and had a relaxing evening which included an online Q&A for 
Lower than expected and will be cautious today. Early Gym session of only mobility work consisting of Foam Rolling & Stretching. Didn’t run at lunchtime as i needed to stock up on supplies for the race a pick up a pair of running shoes thanks to Salomon Running. Managed to fit in an after work 10K while my son was training and ran a flat route with one of my training partners recovering from a recent half marathon. Finished the day with a spinach & onion omelette and a double serving of Cherryactive.
Much lower than expected or would like but then again it could also reflect my training Peak. Today will be rest with attention paid to Recovery and it’s my first day off in 63 days and a total of 943K. Didn’t get to bed as early as planned due to some unexpected tasks that needed doing.
Not good and totally unexpected after resting yesterday. Will take it easy again today but might do a short easy run this evening with a few short sprints depending on how I feel after work. Went out for a short run of less than 10K and threw in a few 150M sprints and happy with the leg turnover. Was careful not to get carried away. Early night with a serving of Cherryactive.
An early start for a flight to the Isle of Man. The plan is for an easy enough day and will try for an early night. Got picked up by ‘Mark Murphy’ of Manx Fell Runners and took the opportunity to see part of the route from the roadway while junctions were being marked and then went to the hotel feeling like I needed to study the map a little bit better as visibility today was quite poor and I needed to work on a few escape route before they were needed. Met with the editor of Trail Running Mag and went for dinner before retiring shortly after 10 pm.
Bad start to Race Day but the show must go on. Early start yet again for a 5:00 am pick up to the start line and a 08:30 am start. Started off conservatively keeping an eye on my heart rate knowing that I’m not fully rested and it’s a long way with some tough climbs. Tried to keep HR below 150 bpm as knew this would be very economical and reduce my needs to refuel. All went according to plan and ran well with strong climbs but made a few mistakes with route selection when leaving more than 1 of the peaks and this cost time and effort but never did I feel the need to stop although I was forced to walk on a few occasions. Found the last climb extremely tough as I’d miscounted and thought the second last was the last one and this was tough both mentally and physically. Made up a few place at the start of the last climb so it wasn’t just me that was suffering and that gave me the incentive to stay strong. Had a clear unchallenged run to the finish and crossed the line in 14th place with a time of 6hr49min and that’s 1 hour longer than I was predicting but having ran the course it’s a time I’m happy with and it’s only 2 months after the 24-hr Irish Championships. Crossing the finish line we were handed a bottle of the local beer ‘Okells’ and that in itself was worth the effort.
The day after and a lot lower than I expected but guess the post-race prize giving celebrations have added to it. Legs feeling good and no hint of the DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) although I always prefer to feel sore after a race as it shows the effort was made. Two members of the Manx Fell Runners offered to do a sight-seeing tour and today was spent touring the Island and this ended a perfect weekend and I’m very grateful to the warm welcome and hospitality offered by the Manx Fell Runners and I’d highly recommend this race as it’s a hidden gem. I plan on doing a more detailed race report shortly.
A good start to the week but I can feel the fatigue in my legs and some tightness around my ITB (illiotibal band) and have booked a massage for Thursday. Easy lunchtime run of 8.5K and that’ll be all for today as I’ve an online Q&A later for 
Early Gym session of mostly mobility work and a slight increase in lifted weight with the Back Squat and improvements is always good, 5 sets of 5 @ 47.5kg (+2.5kg). Squat weight has increased by 7.5Kg over the last 3 weeks and feeling more manageable which is a good sign and although 47.5Kg might not sound like a lot my lifted volume from this session equals 1187.5Kg. Legs starting to feel much stronger again and there’s no signs of any discomfort around the knees or lower body. Didn’t have time for a lunchtime run as I was stocking up on some items for next week’s race and when I got home it was raining quite heavy which meant overdressing and having to change my run plan. Went for a local hilly loop and included some fast paced reps along a forest trail but fading light and the bad weather meant having to cut it short as I didn’t want to risk a fall or twisting an ankle. I was starting to enjoy picking up the pace to try beat
A great result but I can feel the DOMS from yesterday’s strength session and although that’s good as it show’s I’ve lifted enough to stress the body it also means altering my run plan for later as I don’t want to slow down my recovery and adaption to the strength work. Took the opportunity to do a lunchtime Recovery run and stayed slow and flat for an easy 6K with a walking finish. Climbing a set of step towards the finish had me feeling like a newborn giraffe. Legs started to loosen up as the day went on and only noticed the improvement when I started to think about my next session. Made a slight alteration to the session and instead of the usual steady state run I went for an easy to steady warm up followed by 5*800s at an average of 2:45 per rep. Finished with a long cool down and then it was coaching for an hour with an opportunity to stretch.
A great result and makes me want to run later so I’ll make sure to be prepared if the opportunity presents. Early Gym session and it’s a repeat of last week with a set of 3*3 Deadlifts @ 95Kg, 3*3 Strict Press @ 25Kg (-10Kg) plus 3 sets of 5 Pull Ups (+1). It felt very manageable compared with how I felt last week and that shows improvement on me without having improvement on the bar. Stress / Rest / Adapt. Lunchtime massage and not half as bad as I was expecting which is good but my left leg was much tighter than my right which is the opposite to what I was thinking and that’s not so good as it means there was a possible problem developing that I was unaware of. Won’t leave it as long before next massage. Managed a short run between Athletics finishing and the coaches meeting starting and made the most of my limited time. Did a quick but easy warm up of 2K and on every lap after than I threw in a 100M sprint with a 300M recovery for 5 laps before finishing with a cool down to end the session with 5K in 21 mins.
A great result and I’m putting this down to last night’s session followed by a good night’s sleep and waking without an alarm. Feeling good but legs still recovering from the strength training and the tenderising from yesterday’s massage. Easy lunchtime run of 6K with very low heart rate and with that a very easy pace.
Managed to wake without the alarm and started the day with a 
A great result but feeling like I could do with a lie in. Ran as planned and did 18K with almost 780M of Ascent over one of my usual routes with some good climbs. Took my time and made a few stops to take in the views and refuel with wild berries. Finished the day with a short recovery run of 5K.
A good week finishing with a first place in a tune up 5K race and a medium distance Trail Run. Noticing the results of my reduced volume in my HRV scores and the Taper proper starts tomorrow.