Monday September 23rd. HRV= 75 White.
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 http://www.runinthedark.org/training/.
Plan for tomorrow is an early gym session.
Tuesday September 24th. HRV= 69 Amber.
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.
Plan for tomorrow is undecided but will try include an early night.
Wednesday September 25th. HRV=64 Red.
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.
Plan for tomorrow is undecided but I’m hoping for an early night.
Thursday September 26th. HRV=61 Red.
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.
Plan for tomorrow is an early start for my flight to the Isle of Man.
Friday September 27th. HRV= 74 White.
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.
Tomorrow is Race Day.
Saturday September 28th. HRV= 61 Amber. Race day!
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.
Plan for tomorrow is unknown but hopefully I’ll get a chance to check out some other local routes.
Sunday September 29th. HRV= 52 Red.
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.
Plan for tomorrow will depend on Recovery and includes the online Q&A.
Weekly Summary
A great week which ended with a very tough, enjoyable and challenging race. I’ll spend the next few days taking it easy and recovering and will wait until my HRV goes above 70 before resuming training. Cross Country next week??…
Perfect as I was expecting lower after yesterday’s long run. I can feel some discomfort behind both my knees and I’m happy with that as it’s the pain from work rather than injury and knowing the difference comes from experience. Stress / Rest / Adapt and my plan for today is now an easy run staying below the discomfort zone.
Lower than expected so it’s back to bed. Took it easy for most of the day and didn’t run during lunchtime. Retested when I got home and the Recovery was good. With a new race in mind I decided to head for the hills and ran an out and back session of 1hr each way for a distance of 19-20K with 680M of Ascent. A good run but would have preferred more climbing but didn’t want to risk going too far just in case my legs weren’t ready for the increased climbing and my pace slowed on the return in fading light. Knowing when to call it a day is an acquired skill.
An excellent result and feeling good but my legs know they did something a little bit different yesterday. Skipping the lunchtime run and will stick with the Track session. I’d like to head for the hills again but wouldn’t make it back in time for coaching at 8pm. Plenty of company on the Track this evening and it’s the usual plan when with a group of running for pace rather than by heart rate and that suits. Started off with 2K nice and easy but getting progressively faster as we ticked off the laps and then it was 10K trying for an average pace of 4 min per K (6:27 Mile) and then a cool down of 1K easy and then a walking lap. Completed the 10K in 39:53 with legs still feeling fresh and a smiling face. Finished the evening with a coaching session and had the opportunity to do my much neglected stretching and felt more energised leaving the Track than I did when arriving over 2hrs earlier. That’s the power of positive energy from being around like minded people.
A great result and feeling good. Decided to head for the hills do a few reps on the Sugarloaf mountain trying to get as much climbing done in the shortest amount of time. Didn’t factor rush hour traffic into my plan and with limited light I ended up making a detour to a location a little bit close and with less traffic. Started off with a gradual climb of 262M over 3K and made my way to a shorter but steeper climb of 94M over 1K and did a few repeats of the shorter climb. Comparing the two climbs they seem similar but descending the longer one to do a repeat would mean too much recovery time. The weather wasn’t great when I started and got progressively worse so I decided to finish after 3 reps as I still had the descent back to the car.
A good result after yesterday’s session but I’m guessing that my leg strength & fatigue prevented working my heart & lungs as I should or could. Was half tempted to head for the hills but decided on the Track with the intention being a repeat of Wednesday’s session or faster. Started off ok and probably went too fast for the working part of the session and began to crash at 5K. Held on at pace for another K and then slowed it back for a recovery K and then called it a day in the hope that I’d manage an evening recovery run when I arrive in Kerry. Finished packing the car and then it was a 4hr drive to Kerry and no time to run.