Week 2 of solid training (i.e. using a plan and trying to stick to it).
Target mileage of 86.9km (54M) but felt slightly short at 85.4km. The key sessions of the week, first two, 5 by 1km, and 10 by 600m with a 200m acceleration felt good and the paces clicked relatively comfortable but today's long run of 13.5M call pulled at 11.5M. Decided to head out straight from waking skipping those important bodily functions caused an early finish. Dammit!. On the whole, I doubt it is going to really impact to a marathon finishing time three months away, but I'd have liked to have been able to comfortably tick off each session with the objective met.
Diet could use some work. Calories need to be restricted a little more, there are a few pounds I'll be happy running around London without, but the general balance isn't bad. A few too many snack bars instead of real food, but when time is short, it is certainly better than skipping the meal at the important time.
Sleep is about as good as it has ever been. 6-8 hours most nights and although my eyes look a little dark. that's probably workload related. I'll need to keep an eye on this area in particular but this has been a good start.
Injuries. None. Well, one. Odd little pulled muscle in my lower left abs. Only actually noticeable when doing crunches which is just as well. It's been hanging around for a few weeks, its not getting worse but I'm not sure its improving either. Something else to keep an eye on.
And cross training. Largely non-existant. Managed to get to a circuit training session on Saturday however taekwondo and swimming are still absent.
And so I guess a report card for the week would probably be B+.
And so looking forward, next week has the same volume. I'm looking forward to seeing if those paces continue to feel comfortable and with the following week being lower mileage, it may be a good point to move to the next set of paces.
Sunday 13 January 2013
Monday 7 January 2013
Training Week 1, 2013
Frankly I'm tied but only partly through training.
A good week in general but a few gaps in the specifics.
New Year's Day's easy 13 miles around Pitsford turned into something a little more demanding in terms of pace and became 16 miles through the undulating countryside between some nearby villages. Genuinely good fun in places and it wasn't a pace I could have held with this time last year. Well not without making myself good for nothing for a few days afterwards. As ever, Steve was to blame.
The short easy sessions were there-or-thereabouts in terms of speed. Generally the problem was keeping the easiest of miles to a slow enough pace.
The second quality session of the week was interesting. Three miles, first at marathon pace, second at half-marathon pace and third at 10k pace. Repeat another two times. Including the warm up and cool down, 12.5 miles of running around in circles at the track. Before arriving, I didn't think I could finish the session. After the first set and I was pretty sure I'd detonate during the third set. And then it was suddenly finished. Paces were all good, within a couple of seconds either side of the goal pace. And so I'm really pleased to have got in another session that I don't think I could have completed just a few months ago.
That Thursday night session was however the high point of the week as Friday brought with it a leaving party for a colleague and as a result, Saturday morning brought the first heavy hangover I've had for months if not years. Just about pulled myself together enough to marshal at the County Cross Country Championship in Abington Park. Somewhat sobering watching those guys run themselves into the ground for four tough old laps of a sapping course.
And feeling humbled, I managed to crank out a light mile in the evening before completing the mileage for week one with Sunday's easy run which would have been much easier without the ill effects from the excessive alcohol still floating around my body.
So in review, good to have got the two quality sessions in. Happy to have hit the target 42 miles and in retrospect, a lighter end to the week knowing that the following week targets 54 miles may turn out to be a good thing.
15 weeks until London.
A good week in general but a few gaps in the specifics.
New Year's Day's easy 13 miles around Pitsford turned into something a little more demanding in terms of pace and became 16 miles through the undulating countryside between some nearby villages. Genuinely good fun in places and it wasn't a pace I could have held with this time last year. Well not without making myself good for nothing for a few days afterwards. As ever, Steve was to blame.
The short easy sessions were there-or-thereabouts in terms of speed. Generally the problem was keeping the easiest of miles to a slow enough pace.
The second quality session of the week was interesting. Three miles, first at marathon pace, second at half-marathon pace and third at 10k pace. Repeat another two times. Including the warm up and cool down, 12.5 miles of running around in circles at the track. Before arriving, I didn't think I could finish the session. After the first set and I was pretty sure I'd detonate during the third set. And then it was suddenly finished. Paces were all good, within a couple of seconds either side of the goal pace. And so I'm really pleased to have got in another session that I don't think I could have completed just a few months ago.
That Thursday night session was however the high point of the week as Friday brought with it a leaving party for a colleague and as a result, Saturday morning brought the first heavy hangover I've had for months if not years. Just about pulled myself together enough to marshal at the County Cross Country Championship in Abington Park. Somewhat sobering watching those guys run themselves into the ground for four tough old laps of a sapping course.
And feeling humbled, I managed to crank out a light mile in the evening before completing the mileage for week one with Sunday's easy run which would have been much easier without the ill effects from the excessive alcohol still floating around my body.
So in review, good to have got the two quality sessions in. Happy to have hit the target 42 miles and in retrospect, a lighter end to the week knowing that the following week targets 54 miles may turn out to be a good thing.
15 weeks until London.
Wednesday 2 January 2013
Easy day
And so while I work out how regular a blog would keep me on track (and not be too boring), I'm going to write probably more often than I need to.
Very quiet day. Recovery from yesterday's effort is coming along fine. Legs a little heavy and lower quads aching a little but not too bad once warmed up. And of course running with Steve means the Easy Pace I'm supposed to be sticking to (5:51min/km) were pretty much shot by 30 seconds per kilometre. No big issue but I will need to be more disciplined at some point in the training plan.
And after 18 months and extremely limited success, I think I am ready to give up on my heart rate strap. I regularly get consistent readings over 220 bpm and it means the good intentions I had to train with heart rate zones or use heart rate to track improved efficiency at a set pace have to be pretty much thrown out of the window. I've worked through all suggestions offered thus far, adjusting the position of the strap (many, many times), licking the strap, multiple replacements of the battery (to check the various positions also being tried) and most recently, a heart rate gel to improve connectivity. I'm giving it to the end of the week before looking for a replacement HRM. Life is short and I'd like to be able to concentrate on something more useful.
Very quiet day. Recovery from yesterday's effort is coming along fine. Legs a little heavy and lower quads aching a little but not too bad once warmed up. And of course running with Steve means the Easy Pace I'm supposed to be sticking to (5:51min/km) were pretty much shot by 30 seconds per kilometre. No big issue but I will need to be more disciplined at some point in the training plan.
And after 18 months and extremely limited success, I think I am ready to give up on my heart rate strap. I regularly get consistent readings over 220 bpm and it means the good intentions I had to train with heart rate zones or use heart rate to track improved efficiency at a set pace have to be pretty much thrown out of the window. I've worked through all suggestions offered thus far, adjusting the position of the strap (many, many times), licking the strap, multiple replacements of the battery (to check the various positions also being tried) and most recently, a heart rate gel to improve connectivity. I'm giving it to the end of the week before looking for a replacement HRM. Life is short and I'd like to be able to concentrate on something more useful.
Tuesday 1 January 2013
Starting to move forward
And as the first day of 2013 ends, my thoughts turn to the plans for the rest of the year.
Three key races for the year are booked, VLM, TR24 and Snowdonia. There will be other races slotted in around these where they can fit within the planned training without any serious impact and my NYE hangover was pretty much beaten out of me while running around the countryside with Steve Green (good friend, work colleague, sadly much more talented runner) with the planned easy 13 miles turning into a relatively fast effort wandering around the villages for 16 miles. So I've gone off plan 100% of the my training days in 2013. Dammit! The damage doesn't feel too bad as the legs stretch out on the sofa now and frankly I've got used to being half-lost when following one of Steve's routes and I tend to add VAT (Garmin Connect Activity). As the year progresses, Steve's name is likely to appear being a regular running partner during work breaks and he'll also be running VLM and Snowdonia (probably Shires and Spires too) but I'm unlikely to see him during the races unless there is a massive out-and-back.
And to compound the possible problems of those extra miles and that extra pace, we stood around chatting in the cold. No stretching until the legs were already covered in goosebumps and food on the same timeline. After the late morning jaunt, a second short run in the evening of a couple of kilometres with my actual partner who is coming back to running for fitness (Garmin Connect Activity). Enough to warm the muscles sufficiently to stretch them a little more thoroughly. And then come basic body weight exercises for the upper body as I'm increasingly aware that the recent increased focus on running has impinged heavily on any cross-training, particularly taekwondo and weights. Frankly the upper-body-of-a-small-child look is not something to which I want to move too much closer.
So one day down. Completely off the marathon training plan (I'll come back to the details of the plan another day) already. Two runs though but unfortunately too early to be any use for Jantastic.
Blast!
Three key races for the year are booked, VLM, TR24 and Snowdonia. There will be other races slotted in around these where they can fit within the planned training without any serious impact and my NYE hangover was pretty much beaten out of me while running around the countryside with Steve Green (good friend, work colleague, sadly much more talented runner) with the planned easy 13 miles turning into a relatively fast effort wandering around the villages for 16 miles. So I've gone off plan 100% of the my training days in 2013. Dammit! The damage doesn't feel too bad as the legs stretch out on the sofa now and frankly I've got used to being half-lost when following one of Steve's routes and I tend to add VAT (Garmin Connect Activity). As the year progresses, Steve's name is likely to appear being a regular running partner during work breaks and he'll also be running VLM and Snowdonia (probably Shires and Spires too) but I'm unlikely to see him during the races unless there is a massive out-and-back.
And to compound the possible problems of those extra miles and that extra pace, we stood around chatting in the cold. No stretching until the legs were already covered in goosebumps and food on the same timeline. After the late morning jaunt, a second short run in the evening of a couple of kilometres with my actual partner who is coming back to running for fitness (Garmin Connect Activity). Enough to warm the muscles sufficiently to stretch them a little more thoroughly. And then come basic body weight exercises for the upper body as I'm increasingly aware that the recent increased focus on running has impinged heavily on any cross-training, particularly taekwondo and weights. Frankly the upper-body-of-a-small-child look is not something to which I want to move too much closer.
So one day down. Completely off the marathon training plan (I'll come back to the details of the plan another day) already. Two runs though but unfortunately too early to be any use for Jantastic.
Blast!
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