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.
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.
