Thursday, February 12, 2009

Training Log for the Past Few Months

Hey guys - apologies for the delays in posts- I've been busy with postponing academic work but that normally means I feel bad about blogging. Gonna have a more interesting post up tomorrow but for right now just my training diary for the past month and a half or so. In future will do it weekly. Enjoy!

I've been diagnosed with Sinusitis which isn't serious but does explain why I've had some really bad headaches and such a crap cold for the last week and a bit. Hopefully it should clear up soon as I have some nose drops and also prescription for anti-biotics if I need them.

Recent form has been a bit dissappointing. After Herts County I was running really well and at Oxford for first two weeks. Since then seems like I've gone a bit downhill with dissappointing runs at Southerns and to an extent BUCS. Very frustrating to have done a 3 week block of very good training ( e.g. 3 x 70 mile week) and to be running worse. That said Southerns we know why and BUCS I already had the sinusitis. Also I'm sure that the 70 mile weeks will have tired the body and I probably would be reaping the rewards now apart from the sinusitis. Also- both BUCS and Southerns and the poorer "sessions" I've done have been on the country which doesn't appear to suit me. For what it's worth even though the 70 mile weeks probably don't do a huge deal more than 60 mile weeks now stepping back down for a 60 mile week mentally it seems much easier.

I also think that my body does go through natural "peaks" and "troughs", at Herts and first few weeks of the term I was feeling fantastic but now feel horrendous. General trend remains upwards through the hard training but the peaks and troughs do make a difference! For instance I felt incredible going into Varsity IIIrds match but quite badly ill and feeling horrendous Bryn now would still probably kick the ass of feeling great super confident Bryn then. That said if Bryn suddenly gets better in the next week then he will kick the ass of both Bryn right now dosed up on Lemsip and Bryn from last term. Bryn should also stop referring to himself in the third person.

Regarding sinusitis I am cleared to train and to race though my races will probably not be great. Drops should have me cleared up in 3-4 days. Way I felt this morning there was no way on earth I could run (was struggling to walk the headache was so bad) but has gotten much better over the day and right now I feel pretty good and could probably go out and train.

Following is the past training block finally typed up from my calendar...enjoy!

Begins 22/12/2008

2nd Week of Base Block 1
Mon: 100
Tue: 40 AM Session PM 8 x 1000 (60-75 200m jog) av. 3:11/12 comfy
Wed: 70 easy w. Lee
Thu: Rest
Fri: 20 w.u. Witham 5 26:19 PB, 20 w.d.
Sat: 44 easy
Sun: 72 w. 12 strides (one every 5 mins)
Total: 450 / 60 miles

3rd Week of Base Block 1
Mon: 105 mins av. 6:19 - felt relaxed and comfortable - was dropping 6:00s at the end. Perhaps slightly motivated by reading Running with the Buffaloes a few nights beforehand...
Tue: 15 w.u. Sess 3 x 5 x 300 [100 fast jog] [400 slow jog] very cold and kept top on, av. 53s but conciously easing up as target 54s
Wed: 40 easy
Thu: AM 33 easy Hyde Park (just missed Noel), PM 40 steady
Fri: 60 easy
Sat: 80 inc. 12 x strides (o.e.5)
Sun: 20 warm up and down (wund) Harlow XC, got 2nd place, bad fall 800m in and just got narrowly outkicked by John Clarke, should have gone earlier as aerobically stronger I felt but trusted in my kick too much!
Total: 480 minutes / 65 miles

Taper Week:
Mon: Rest
Tue: 42 @ 6:20 (very icy so possibly worth more)
Wed: 15 wund 8 x 700 [75/100 jog] 2:13,7,7,7,6,8,5,1 av. 2:07 (2:25/800 pace!) with Noel
Thu: Rest
Fri: 20/ 10@tempo/ 20
Sat: Rest
Sun: 15 wund Counties 12km, 8th, 39:38- got 8th place beating some awesome athletes such as Neil Miller and being right on the heels of Dom Easter and Paul Adams, clearly a breakthrough race. Annoyed as fell twice and the second time was quite bad as just before that I was feeling fantastic as if I was barely working. After that fell off the pace of the group quite badly and had to work hard to catch up and was still recovering when the break came. Was level with Matt Grant until he did his ankle in pretty badly.
Total: 226 minutes / 30 miles

Week 1 of Base Block 2
Mon: 75:37 easy/steady with Sean Ledger, Martin Bell and Sean Renfer. Quote the next day from Sean when I suggested running at easy pace "Is this the same easy pace that dropped Renfer at halfway?" I totally blame Martin for pushing the pace though.
Tue: AM wund 3 x 3 x 2:30 [60,120]. Ran mostly with Matt Hawcroft, good session as we worked well together with me pushing on towards the end of the reps PM 43 easy
Wed: AM 64:31 easy w. Anupam and Becky, Anupam going completely over in the Nature Reserve and the two of us planning a mini-athlete resort in the centre. PM 40 easy
Thu: 20 wund, 30 tempo, ended up doing this by myself from Uni Parks, out through Mesopotamia and Headington Hill Park to the JR, pace wasn't that fast but was a bit sore and was uphill lots of the first half
Fri:Rest
Sat: 80 easy
Sun: 105 easy/steady
Total: 543.9 / 72.5 Miles (highest since Portugal Easter 2006)

Week 2 of Base Block 2 (70s)
Mon: AM 60 easy with Ian and Pete. Was going past Christchurch and out pops Ian so run with him for 30 minutes, going back out for the next 30 minutes and at the same place out pops Pete. Boring run was actually good fun! PM 65 easy/steady first section with slow group, second section a bit faster
Tue: AM 15 wund Session 3 sets of 2 minutes, 4 minutes, 2 minutes with relatively short recoveries, kept with Ian which I was really pleased with with Tom, Oz and Chris a bit behind. Last rep Tom came flying through and we finished fast "Jogging with Tom" PM 40 easy w. Jan
Wed: 73 easy/steady did Nature Reserve and then Godstow and ended up being about 10 minutes longer than intended
Thu: Rest
Fri: 37 steady w. Anupam
Sat: 15 wund, Southern 15km, for once in my life I've started getting up earlier and ended up by being "prepared" with "nutrition" totally overeating and ended up with a stitch and wanting to throw up up on the start line (BLT a bad idea...), was going okay the first lap but dropped off badly the second lap, came through well on the third lap with the fourth again okay. Second lap really killed me off as it was veyr slow. Really struggled in the mud and it definitely didn't suit me. 3 months ago would have been very happy with this results but now annoyed as know I can do better. Still beat some very good runners. 94th 59:08 (15km ish)
Sun: 90 easy/steady. Did most of it with a lad called Rob from London Holloway and then Andrew Hennessy, Darren Fowlie and Rob Joy. Really nice run along the Lee and some great banter from the guys I was running with. Nice to run with them as guys like Darren and Rob are clearly better than me, but I hope that with a few more years strength that's the sort of level I can hit. Strength and Conditioning session in the afternoon + Q and A with Paul Evans/Adrian Marriott and yourself!
Total: 524 / 70.5 miles

Week 3 of Base Block 2 (70s)
Mon: 80 easy, hamstrings very sore from the S+C
Tue: AM 15 wund club session- again with Ian but this time Tom stayed with us for most of it. 3 sets of 4,3,2,1 minutes hard with shortish recoveries. Was running very easily on the 4 minute reps and was pulling away well on the 1 minute reps but the 3 and 2 minute reps were definitely hardest for me PM 41:20 easy, hamstrings still sore but slightly better.
Wed:AM 61 easy PM 41 easy inc. 9 x strides
Thu: AM 35 easy felt horrendous as I didn't get any sleep that night and after this conked out for a few hours nap but hamstrings better PM 15 wund, session of 2 x 3 x 800 [200 fast jog, 400 fast jog], with first and last in each set at 5k pace and middle at 3k pace. Track was icy and I was running pretty much alone with garrett just behind to keep me honest, coming down with cold. 2:32 (80 first lap), 2:24,2:29 then 2:26, 2:24, 2:24 and felt I still had one or two more in me so a reasonable session but wasn't that pleased. Last set I think was a good effort though.
Fri: Rest
Sat: 61 inc. 5 at tempo. Did the 5 with the guys at South Parks (only second time made it there whilst at Oxford) I really struggled today, it was only meant to be a very easy almost tempo-lite for about 10 minutes but they were doing a session of 4 x 7 @ tempo with 2:30 rec. and it seemed at more like 10k pace. First session at South Parks and on the country and think I am much stronger on the harder surfaces
Sun: 78 easy/steady.
Total: 525 / 70 miles

Taper Week for BUCS
Mon: Roads completely iced over and hip still nagging- didn't run. During my "block" weeks I'm religious about not missing runs but in a taper week it really doesn't bother me
Tue: 15 wund, session at South Parks, 4 x 2 x 2:00 hard [30,150]. First set felt fantastic and was running with Blackledge comfortably. Second set all energy seemed to have gone and I was running just behind Ian and Brucey. Third set I was dieing on my feet and just sitting in with Oz. Left the last set as something was clearly up with my system and some sort of cold. Hip was twinging before start of reps
Wed: 40 easy
Thu: Rest for hip
Fri: Travel to BUCS- absolute disaster, got diverted to Edinburgh and then huge wait for the coach to take us to Aberdeen during which we found out BUCS had cancelled it way too late. Was planning on doing 30 minute stretch out but by the time we got there it was past 10 and very icy. Cold much worse and sniffing the whole way
Sat:15 wund Not the BUCS Championships 2009, 35th 20:53, had a horrendous nights sleep woke up completely bunged up with an awful headache and feeling horrendous so skipped breakfast for an extra few hours kip (though Charlotte and Claire brought me some toast and yoghurt which was very nice of them!), got to the course and was feeling a bit better so decided to give race a chance. Wore flats instead of spikes. Set off a bit slowly as got caught out at the start. Was running okay but just wasn't able to push myself at all. Also misjudged finish as for some reason I thought it was about a km uphill from where it was so was just about ready to start a surge when two athletes went past and I looked up and realised it was 50m away! Got one (Harvey) but the other stayed clear. Again- 4 months ago would have been amazing- right now just dissappointing.
Sun: Rest and travel home- still felt horrendous.
Total: 185 minutes / 24 miles



Me in the middle of Not the BUCS XC Championships 2009 where I finished 35th. Had a horrendous cold on the day and just didn't feel like I ran very well at all.

Photo was taken by Ian Kimpton's parents so all copyright etc. goes to them I just stole it off facebook.

2 comments:

Oz said...

My reading this blog to see if I get name-checked has finally paid off. Albeit I am mentioned as managing to keep up with you only when you are `dying on your feet' :]

BrynRunning said...

Lol- that set of reps was fine but I was putting everything in just to stay with you- next rep I'd have been way off the pace.

Am looking forward to racing you this term when I'm over the sinusitis.

I think most people got a mention in here somewhere or other!

Bryn Running

Training diary and musings on running in general.