Training Diary 18th-24th March 2013.

Monday Mar 18th. HRV= 72 White.

Race day and a good result after yesterday’s low score and race day stress can also lead to a lower than normal result.  Up at 8:35am and after a relaxing few minutes I had a cup of coffee and went out for a short pre breakfast run to loosen out my legs.  Felt terrible during the run but past experience means that’s a good sign as it’s the body preparing for what’s ahead.  Didn’t have my usual breakfast as I was out of pinhead oats but instead had 2 slices of Gluten Free toast with Almond Butter and more coffee, followed this with a shower and then got ready and departed the house at 10:30.  All my kit was ready to go from the night before and that allows for a stress free start to the day.

We had a good turnout from the club including my two training partners Liam & Aidan and our plan was to run together and all going well would help each other as we do in training.  Today’s race is the County Road Race Championships for Intermediate & Masters and n a race like this there’s a better chance of a Team prize so you need to be strategic as every position counts.  Our plan was to try start at 3:30 K pace and hold it for as long as possible but a congested start and an incline meant a first Km of 3:39 and although the next 2 K were either downhill or flat I think we had already felt the effort at the start so there wasn’t too much time made up.  In hindsight I’m thinking that to try get a position at the start we may have started too fast and possibly closer to 3:00 per K rather than the planned paced and then paid the price on the long incline. It might have made more sense to start a little bit easier and speed up but that’s easier said than done.

The next Km (2) split was a slightly faster 3:35 but was aided by a decline and for me it felt more of an effort than it should have .  My training partners were still with me at this point but they too were feeling the effort and started to fall back.  By the time we reached the halfway mark they had fallen off the pace and I was on my own in no man’s land ahead of the mid pack and behind the lead pack.  I hit the 3Km in 3:32 and then began chasing down the tail end of the lead pack that had at least 30 Metres on me.  It started to become more of an effort to stay on pace as the course now climbed gradually for the next 2K and although my HR seemed stable I could feel my legs just didn’t have that zip.  I lost a bit of time and hit the 4Km mark in 3:40 but had also closed the gap on the runners just ahead so my guess is they were falling back and that gave me a slight boost.  It was a looped course so I knew what to soon expect and all I needed to do was stay strong until 5K and then it was almost over as the approach to the finish was relatively flat.  Went through 5K in 3:51 which was also the incline that I’d ran for the first Km and by this time I’d made up about 4 positions and caught one of the faster guys from my club and we dug deep and ran the last K together.  We battled it out and made up one more position and on the final approach to the finish he pulled away and crossed the line about 2 Metres before me but that didn’t matter as we were both on the same team and had done enough to earn a Silver in the Intermediate Team event.  I was first home for my club in the Master’s race helping earn another Silver and to top it off I got Gold in the Master’s 40-44 category.  My finish time was 21:49 with an average pace of 3:38 per Km and my last Km was my fastest at 3:27.  I was happy enough with that as it’s showing a return to where I want to be but it’s still way off what I should be doing.  Finished the day with a 7K steady run on the Track in 28mins.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/286043268  Heart Rate spiking at start and First Beat error correction gave a HR avg =155 / max=158

Plan for tomorrow is an early gym session, a lunchtime MAF session and a short evening Recovery run.

Tuesday Mar 19^th. HRV= 73 White.

Better than expected.  Early gym session of mostly mobility work and stretching with a shorter than usual set of 3* Walking lunges and then it was 2 minutes of hell on the Airdyne Trainer.  Didn’t have time for a lunchtime run today and bad weather meant my son’s football training was cancelled and with it my evening run opportunity.  First non running day in 26 days but I don’t mind as i was planning on taking it slightly easier this week in advance of the weekend’s race.

Plan for tomorrow is an evening Interval Session with shorter but faster reps than usual.

Wednesday Mar 20^th. HRV=68 Amber.

Expected higher after rest and maybe it’s the race catching up on me.  I’ll proceed with caution and stick with the planned intervals as the pace will be much easier than usual.  Session was 6*1K @ 3:45 per K pace and it felt effortless but tomorrow will tell.

Plan for tomorrow will depend on recovery.

Thursday Mar 21st . HRV= 79 White.

An improvement and normal service will resume but I’ll be keeping Saturday’s race in mind.  Did my usual pre race session of 6* 1 minute fast / slow with every second rep into the wind and felt strong.  Had a second opportunity to run as athletics was cancelled due to bad weather so I finished the day with an easy 5K on the track.

Plan for tomorrow is rest in advance of race day.

Friday Mar 22nd. HRV=84 White.

Excellent result and just what I’d want during a Taper.  The weather for tomorrow isn’t great so I’m rethinking my footwear and that got me out for a short run to think on my feet while trying out a pair of Salomon S-lab Fellcross.

Plan for tomorrow is the Wicklow Way Ultra.

Saturday Mar 23rd. HRV= 63 Amber.

Much lower than I’d like but I’m putting it down to race day nerves.  Up at 6:15 and had my usual breakfast finished for just after 6:40 and then relaxed for 30 minutes watching TV and drinking coffee. Got a lift to the race that started at 9:30 and was home again at 6pm.  Will post a seperate Race Report but for the moment I finished slower than planned / expected which was partly due to the underfoot conditions and a few moments of self pity.  Finished in 16th position out of 112 finishers in a time of 5hrs28 with a HR avg of 137bpm / max 155bpm.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/287906962

Plan for tomorrow is a Recovery or Rest day.

Sunday Mar 24^th. HRV=52 Red.

Up at 7:15 and felt good to go but when I got out of bed my feet felt slightly numb but that’s not an issue.  Looked out the window and looking like a nice day so it’s so far so good.  Did my HRV test and the almost expected result meant it was back to bed and with a clear conscience as it’s good to get a Red line after a Race or tough session as it show’s you worked.  Feeling ok as the day progressed but starting to feel some pain in my hamstrings & quads and that confirms the wise choice this morning.  Will take it easy for a few days to help with adaption to the recent stresses.

Weekly HRV Summary

A good week bookended with 2 good races and some quality training that I think will be of benefit as I prepare to get more event specific for my next 24-hr Race.  Next week will be recovery orientated and I’ll reduce the volume but keep some intensity and if I can fit it in I’ll do a Parkrun next Saturday and more than likely I’ll be running a local 10K on Easter Monday and I’d like to be on form for that.

Training Diary 26th Nov – 2nd Dec

Monday Nov 26th. HRV=60 Amber.

Probably should be a rest day but did the next best thing with a recovery run keeping my HR between 120-130bpm.

Plan for tomorrow is an early strength session of mainly squats and an evening run with the intensity depending on how I feel and available time.

Tuesday Nov 27th. HRV=72 White.

Early morning strength session consisting of 5 sets of 3 (1 ¼)Squats with 52.5Kg, 3 sets of 3 Deadlift with 95Kg and finishing with some foam rolling..  No time to run but I probably need the rest anyway.

Plan for tomorrow is a pre race 6-10*400M @ 75-80 seconds which I’ll do during my lunch break. Number or reps will depend on how long it takes to warm up as time is limited.

Wednesday Nov 28th. HRV=70 White.

Rested yesterday and expected a higher result which has me thinking that the strength session took more out of me than I thought.  Started my interval session and could feel a tightness in my right hamstring but thought it safe enough to continue.  The recent lack of speed work was another limiting factor in the session and I couldn’t move my legs fast enough or run hard enough to put myself under any real pressure.  Not a great session but finished knowing I’d worked hard and no further complaints from my hamstring.  Splits were: 82, 80, 76, 78, 80, 79.  The DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) from yesterday’s strength session started to kick in by evening time so I decided against a second run and only because I have a race at the weekend.

Plan for tomorrow is an early strength session of mostly Power Clean and a lunchtime recovery run of 40 mins max.

Thursday Nov 29th. HRV=66 White.

Didn’t think yesterday’s interval session would cause this drop as it was relatively short.  Early morning strength session of 5*3 Power Clean with 45Kg and 3*3 Strict Press with 40Kg.  This was a very tough session and I’m still struggling with the Power Clean technique and should be lifting 47.5Kg comfortably at this stage.   Easy lunchtime run doing just enough to get a training induced response without hampering my recovery.  Managed to fit in a short Interval session of 4*600 during a club coaching session, splits were; 2.07, 2.05, 2.05, 2.05 with a long recover and focusing on quality over quantity.  Finished before I needed to finish

Plan for tomorrow is an easy lunchtime run with 6*1 minute fast / 1 minute recovery and might include a second evening run depending on HRV score.  If higher than 66 I’ll aim for a double day.

Friday Nov 30th. HRV=75 White.

Much higher than expected and the perfect result ahead of an interval session.  Lunchtime run of 6K which included 6* 1 min fast covering an average of 298M per rep and finished comfortably.  I wasn’t looking forward to the race on Sunday but I’m now feeling a bit more confident.

Tomorrow is a forced rest day due to a running related meeting that involves a 10hr round trip.

Saturday Dec 01st. HRV=78 White.

Expected lower even though it was a short enough session yesterday but the accumulation of the faster sessions made me think I’d be in the red.  Early start for a rest day and I’ve 10hrs of travelling today for a 3hr meeting.

Plan for tomorrow is a 10K Cross Country Race.

Sunday Dec 02nd. HRV=66 White.

Surprised with this low score after a day off yesterday and maybe it’s only now that the fatigue is kicking in? Could it be a training response similar to the DOMS?  Feeling ok so I put in down to pre race nerves and less than 1hr later I had a dodgy stomach which confirms I could be right.

Jogged 7K at an easy pace to the race start and arrived with 15mins to spare and got changed and completed my warm up in the rain.  Lined up and took off just behind the lead pack and more or less finished in that position having lost maybe 2 places and close to 1Km behind the race winner.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/248581768

Weekly Summary

A slight dip in my blue line which I was expecting as the result of some quality sessions but I expected to do better in today’s race as I’ve been running as fast in training but then again I need to factor in the cross country conditions when making the comparison. 

Looking at my low Heart Rate I know I should have been running faster but the power wasn’t there and I put that down to the fact that I trained through rather than tapered.

Plan for next week is a few longer Tempo / Steady runs and if time allows I’ll head for the hills on Sunday.  Nothing is cast in stone and it’ll be day by day to make the most of what I’ve got.