Monday September 02nd. HRV= 71 White.
A better than expected result and will try make the most of it. Lunchtime run at a forced easy pace due to heavy legs but hopefully it’ll set me up for something later. Busier than expected after work but made the most of a small window of opportunity and settled for a session of Hill Reps. In my head I was thinking 10 but it was more of an effort than I expected and by halfway I could feel fatigue that was effecting my form and core strength. Tried a 6th with a scaled back effort and on the 7th I knew that it might not be safe to continue as i felt the weakness in my core may have meant needing a toilet. Made my way home and managed an extra hill on the way.
Plan for tomorrow is an early gym session
Tuesday September 03rd. HRV= 83 Red.
Unexpected Red and I’m wondering is it because of an enhanced Recovery? Will skip the lunchtime run and retest this evening before deciding if it’s a run or rest day. Easy Gym session of mostly mobility work and a reintroduction to the Back Squat with a 50% reduction in weight. Can feel some discomfort behind both knees and will ice the area later. I’d be more concerned if it was just behind the one as this is more than likely training related overuse. Stress / Rest / Adapt. Retested after getting home and HRV had dropped to 74 which helped the decision making. Hit the road for what was now a recovery run with my legs feeling tired but I soon started to loosen up and the pace increased as the run progressed. Finished with 10K in just under 45 minutes.
Plan for tomorrow is an evening Steady Track Session with even pace and maybe an earlier Recovery Run.
Wednesday September 04th. HRV=71 White.
A great result and as I suspected with yesterday’s result it has since turned to Green as you’ll see from the daily indicator line. Will stick with today’s plan and try make it through the weekend to make the most of my limited time before the next race but I can feel the fatigue building up in my legs although this is how you should feel during times of hard training. Might take Friday off work to fit in an unpressurised long run. Got an offer of a lunchtime run that I couldn’t refuse but probably should have and finished with 11K in under 47 minutes. I’ll know later if this was a good idea. Arrived at the Track and unsure of what I could do but rather than think about it I just let it happen. Similar to last week but rather than a long warm up we went straight into a slower but more even paced run for the full session. The change of pace resulted in one of the lads just missing his 10k race personal best by less than 30 seconds and this is a good sign that his training is getting the results. Finished the evening with my usual coaching duties and today it was a series of 1 mile Time Trials followed by a short Fartlek session and a stretch & mobility cool down. Double serving of Cherryactive before bed
Plan for tomorrow is an early gym session, coaching after work and then a yet to be decided run.
Thursday September 05th. HRV=74 White.
A great result and feeling better than I did on this day last week even though my training has been continuous and intense. It’s all about the timing of when you do what and ensuring that you recover and adapt before moving on. Early Gym session with a slight increase on last week including a set of 3*3 Deadlifts @ 90Kg (+10Kg) plus Dumbell Snatch (12.5Kg) and Kettle bell Swings. Depending on how I feel during the day I’d like to think I can manage an interval session this evening but I won’t do anything that might lessen the possible Training Effect from tomorrow’s run.
Met with Martin for a repeat of last week’s session of 3*1K off 2 minute recovery with the intention of running 3:40 per K but all ended up closer to 3:30 pace. A good session with a total distance of 6K and hopefully that’s just enough rather than too much.
Plan for tomorrow is a day off work to make time for a long Trail Run focussing on distance or climbing depending on how I feel.
Friday September 06th. HRV= 90 Amber.
A good score and yet again I reckon the Amber is down to my enhanced recovery. Dropped the kids to school and then it was off to the hills. Went to a familiar area but with no particular plan except to climb as much as possible and with that in mind I purposely took a few wrong turns to explore new routes. In my mind I was hoping to do 5-6 hrs but 2 near falls told me it was time to call it a day and I settled for 30K with 1000M of climbing.
Plan for tomorrow will include a trip to the hills or maybe 2..
Saturday September 07th. HRV= 79 White.
Slept it out having set my weekday rather than weekend alarm and didn’t have time to for a hill run. Feeling good and with a higher than expected result I went to the Track to make the most of my available time. Would have preferred the hills but motivated by knowing I was in shape made the Track session easier and knocked out a 10K in 37:30 after warm up and with cool down. Went home for breakfast, dropped my daughter to training and then I went for a short hill run concentrating on leg strength. Didn’t feel the effects of the earlier session so all is good. Picked up my daughter with 15 minutes to spare and then it was off to a match.
Plan for tomorrow is a medium distance Trail / Hill run concentrating on climbing.
Sunday September 08th. HRV= 82 White.
Yet another good result but I’m stuck for time as my son was asked to play a match at short notice so yet again to make the most of my limited time I head to the Track after dropping my son to the match. Luckily the Track and pitch are close together and I manage to knock out an almost identical session to yesterday but with a little bit more and make it back to the match missing less than 15 minutes of play.
Plan for tomorrow will depend on recovery.
Weekly Summary:
A great week but yet again would have preferred more time in the hills. Showing good signs of improved fitness and might ease back on the faster sessions next week and use the Parkrun as a time trial to see where I’m at…
Lower than I’d expected but then again yesterday was far from ideal with a long drive and a rushed session before going to a meeting and I’m only now realising that I missed my dinner and snacked instead. An almost repeat of this day last week but the group has grown to 5 as word of mouth is increasing the interest. Started with a 2k warm up at a slightly faster than usual pace caused by the chatting and not concentrating on the session and then kicked off the middle 10K and found ourselves having to always slow it down rather than speed up. Completed the 10K in 38:50 which was 1 minute faster than last week and ended the session with a 2k cool down and a walking lap. Finished the evening with a coaching session and a chance to do some running drills and a reminder that I need to do more.
Unexpected low and it’s back to bed. Might chance something short and fast on the Track after coaching as I find the short fast work usually fatigues my legs before i get a chance to put my heart under too much stress. This is partly down to my ratio of slow twitch to fast twitch muscle fibers. Got a bit lazy as the day went on and felt like going home after coaching but a few others turned up for the session and we settled for 4*1K @ 3:30K off 2 minutes recovery.
Probably should rest today but feeling ok and thinking this could be still the after effects of the weekend. Rested for most of the day and retested with a better result. Went for an evening session on the Track with the intention running at a zone in and around 85% of my HR max for up to 50 minutes but struggled to get into it and cut the session short.
A good result and can feel yesterday’s session in my legs so that makes the Parkrun decision of not running. Dropped my daughter off at her training and went to the hills for a short but intense session on tired legs. Climbed strong and made sure not to stop at any stage and gave the quads a good hammering on the descent. Tomorrow should be interesting as the cumulative fatigue is setting into the legs.
Lower than I’d like but feeling good and I’m putting my recent low scores down to the fact that I’ve missed a few recordings after forgetting to pack ithlete for my trip to Kerry last weekend and it’s resetting a new baseline. Today is a group run so I stuck with the plan but might have erred on the side of caution if it was a solo effort. Met with Aidan & Liam and off we went for a 30K distance over rolling roads aiming for 4:30 per K (7:15 mile). The pace was conversational and we were always falling into a faster rather than slower trot so the effort was to slow down rather than speed up which made it an enjoyable morning. Finished just slightly ahead of schedule after running a 4:25K (7:07 Mile), almost perfect
Low volume but happy with the intensity and finished with a decent distance session although I’m a little bit concerned about my climbing time with the Mountain Ultra so close.
