Training Diary 4th – 10th Feb 2013

Monday Feb 04^th . HRV= 72 White.

Short Trail run of 11K with the same 6K climb as last Saturday’s run. The purpose of this session was leg strength and to get the most from it I checked my kilometre splits from Saturday and aimed to run each of them harder. All my splits were faster except for the. 6th K up the steepest section when I paid the price for the earlier pace. Recovered on a 1K downhill and then pushed it all the way to the end. I was half tempted to do a second loop but decided it best to leave it and was happy knowing I could keep going. Rehydrated with coconut water and after getting home I had a glass of cherry juice concentrate (Cherrygood) before dinner. Rested for a while and then it was time for part 2 which included 7K steady state on the track as part of a 14K run.  Felt tired during this run and the headwind on one side of the track didn’t help.

Body Weight: 73Kg

Plan for tomorrow is an early strength session.

Tuesday Feb 05^th . HRV= 67 White.

Early strength session of some basic core exercises,  2 sets of walking lunges with dumbbells (24 per set) 3*5 reps of Box Squats (Deep) with 47.5Kg and 3*3 Deadlift with 100Kg. Tough work and felt strong when it finished.

Recovery run at lunchtime of 7.5K keeping my HR under 125bpm.

Plan for tomorrow will depend on HRV but I’m hoping to be on form for a Tempo run.

Wednesday Feb 06^th . HRV= 78 Green.

A great result but I’ve a mild case of the DOMS so I may not be on form to make the most of it.  Recovery run at lunchtime to try loosen my legs out for a Tempo or Interval Session later.  Feeling much better as the day went on and did a quick turnaround after getting home from work, got changed and drank a serving of Cherry Juice (Cherrygood) and was on my way to the track within 30 minutes.  Extended my warm up as it was quite cold and then did a session of 5*1K with 2 mins rest between for a total of 14K.  The session was very manageable and my heart rate never reached into my 5K race zone.

Plan for tomorrow is a runmute (running commute) to work.

Thursday Feb 07^th . HRV= 64 Amber.

Alarm went off at 6am and took a quick look out the window to check the weather, cars covered in ice and footpaths look slippy so it’s back to bed.  After checking my HRV I don’t feel so bad about missing an early run and will settle for a recovery run today.  Lunchtime recovery run in the rain and no problem keeping the heart rate low at a comfortable pace.  That’ll be all for today as I’m coaching this evening and dropping / collecting my son from soccer training.

Plan for tomorrow will depend on HRV and how I feel but I’m thinking it’ll be either a Medium distance MAF session or a shorter interval session with longer warm up.

Friday Feb 08^th . HRV= 73 White.

A good result and I’m now thinking that I’ll run hard today.  Lunchtime run didn’t happen as I ended up meeting a friend of lunch and something else after work meant today became a rest day.

Plan for tomorrow is an early run over an undulating route or an interval session.

Saturday Feb 09^th . HRV=  56 Amber.

Unexpected so I’ll keep it easy today.  Had a 45 minute window of opportunity while my son was warming up for a soccer match so I hit the track which just happens to be decide the track.  Ran a few easy laps and then tested the engine by running a little bit faster.  Got carried away after my unplanned rest day yesterday and did 5*1k intervals without stressing myself.

Plan for tomorrow is a Trail Run along the Wicklow Way with some friends preparing for the Wicklow Way Ultra.

Sunday Feb 10^th . HRV= 62 Red.

Not what I wanted and looks like I’m paying the price for yesterday.  My problem now is that plans have been made and I’ve friends making a 3hr journey from Belfast so the run will happen.  Started the morning with a Beet it shot and an early breakfast of a small bowl of porridge with raisins and coconut oil plus a cup of coffee.  As a self preservation compromise I decided to try keep my heart rate as low as possible.  The run was tough but enjoyable with a lot of wind and rain making the underfoot conditions difficult and there were times that we were running on trails that had become rivers.  Ran strong for most of it but fell behind on the last 2 climbs as I just didn’t have the leg strength to maintain the pace.  In hindsight that might have worked to my advantage as the slower pace on the climbs kept my HR at the lower end of my aerobic zone.  Finished the run with a serving of Cherry Juice which and had the same when I got home as it’s all about the recovery now.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/271689800

I’m expecting a forced rest day tomorrow but if the signs are good I’ll run.

Weekly Summary

A good week and if I feel good early next week I’ll be running a 50K trail race on Saturday.  With the race in mind I’ll leave out the gym sessions to avoid having the DOMS.

Tom Byrne Memorial 5K 2012 / Lucan Harriers

 

 A perfect day for a race and even though I'm still in recovery mode I knew this would be a good one.  The started the day with my usual pre breakfast run and I arrived at the race headquarters well ahead of time to allow time for a warm up and more importantly meet and chat with the usual suspects.  My plan for today came in 3 parts, 1: to run a PB, 2: to run sub 17 min if I started well,  3: sub 18 as fallback.  I hate including a fallback in my race plan as I believe you're either in or you're not and sometimes a fallback plan can give you a mental escape route but my way of preventing the cop out is to declare your plan to those you respect.

On the start line I spotted Eoin Brett from Newbridge AC and he regularly finishes ahead of me so I picked him out as a target and checked out his planned finish time which fitted in with my plan.  We ran together as part of a group with Eoin leading the way up to 2k and I then took the lead to give Eoin a break and we then stayed together up until 3K before splitting up.  I don't know if Eoin fell back or if I pushed on but by 4K I was out on my own and when you're on your own the incentive to push on isn't the same.

I can remember seeing the 4K marker and even though I knew in advance where it was I was thinking to myself that 1K is a long way to go and the voices in my head were telling me to slow down.  I tried to push harder and don't know if I did but when I reached the home stretch on the Lucan Harriers running track it felt like my pace was slowing.  In the distance I could hear my name being called and that pulled the trigger for the final sprint before the bend to the last 100M and I crossed the line in a new PB time of 17:20 which was enough to get me a category win in the O40.

     

During the few days before the race my training included a heavy squatting session that resulted in a bad case of the DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) and I don't think it had cleared by race day which has me thinking that when I can afford to rest and taper I'll really surprise myself.

Photos thank to:
Tony Brennan.
Peter Mooney.

Race Results.

Kildare Senior Road Race Championships 2012.

And they're off!

Hosted by my club Le Cheile for the second year we had almost perfect conditions for this 10K Race even though I felt like I was in less than perfect condition for racing as a result of my recent training volume.  Keeping my eye on a more important race I couldn't afford to Taper or miss one of my weekly gym sessions and I've been suffering with the DOMS since Friday caused by a cumulative effect from strength training on Tuesday & Thursday.
Not expecting a peak performance but still feeling like I should run sub 37 mins which was slower than my PB (Personal Best) I decided to throw caution to the wind and run with the lead runners for as long as possible and then try a little bit harder rather than just pace myself as I would if running for a PB.
The race started and thats what I did.  All went well until almost 6K when my pace started to falter and I'm not sure if I fell back or the lead runners increased the pace but I could feel my legs were heavy and I was unable to push harder and stay with the pack.  The distance started to increase and with so many twists and turns in the last stages of the race I lost sight of the pack and the gap started to increase.

Approaching the last 2 K they were back in sight and with a target to focus on I managed to make up 2 places and even managed a sprint finish over the last 200 M.  Not sure of my position but I finished in 36:19 which after checking is only 2 seconds slower than last year so all in all I'm very happy with the result and still have the DOMS...

Well done to John Canning from Newbridge Athletic Club for a super win.

Photos thanks to Willie Murphy.