Monday, January 18, 2016

London Training 2016 - Week 3



So continued progress but also a bit of a reality check as to quite how unfit I am.

Monday: Steady run - quite a decent run with some low 6 minute miling at the end (9)
Tuesday: Track - 4 x mile off 2 minutes (5:34, 5:35, 5:36, 5;34) (11)
Wednesday: 6 recovery into work (6)
Thursday: Tempo 2 x medium lap at 5:52mm (8)
Friday: Rest - 5 hours Ski practice at Hemel Hempstead
Saturday: long wu + Surrey XC League 102nd at 6:19mm (12) + 2 hours x-training on exercise bike
Sunday: 16 with absolutely knackered quads around Richmond Park ~9mm

Total: 63.2

After last week struggling a bit this was an improvement and mileage has increased a bit but more importantly my total minutes run has increased substantially. This is often a better measure for me of my training than mileage or pace of runs.

I have however realised that my races over Xmas weren't just an indication of bad racing but perhaps a loss of full fitness - this should revert fairly quickly now I'm back to my plodding. It's counterintuitive that running at 9mm seems to make me faster than running at 7 but it genuinely seems to be the case for me (with attendant mileage increase and increase in total time running).

It is perhaps worthwhile at this stage to note that the body doesn't really record distance per se - it feels time and intensity. So in my first week fo training I didn't run many less miles but I was training (and inducing my body to improve) for 2 hours less. That's a big difference.

Anyways - a reality check of a track session on Tuesday where I really struggled at the start and although I improved through the session I was still a long way from where I would usually hope to be. Thursday's tempo run was definitely an improvement with not much of a slow-down for continuous running feeling good.

The Surrey league was perhaps not quite as bad a race as I thought it was but it demonstrated a quite significant decrease since November - which looking at my overall training load is perhaps not surprising. Some crash (and cross) training between now and the next fixture should get me fighting fit. When the night is darkest the stars shine brightest and all that.

Obviously I was annoyed I'd let myself get unfit so promptly hammered a cross-training session that evening.

My Sunday long run was back to my usual shuffle - I think returning to the shuffle for a while should sort me out. For those interested in this approach it's been really quite well set out in this blog post:-
https://canute1.wordpress.com/2014/08/02/the-training-of-ed-whitlock/

Ed Whitlock ran 2:54 as a 73 year old - not bad!

Good progress on returning to racing weight this week although that is probably more spread over the two weeks than it looks.

So - increased volume and slower pace for the next couple of weeks.

Training Table Week 3

Week Commencing Mileage Time Running Average Pace Key Sessions Longest Run Most Efficient Run Sunday Weight
28th December 2015
55.4
6h 22m
6:54mm
Newport XC
9.1 miles
952 BPM
11 st 13.25 lbs
4th January 2016
54.4
6h 57m
7:40mm
15 miles / 7:21mm
995 BPM
11 st 13 lbs
11th January 2016
63.2
8h 20m
7:57mm
16 miles / 9:12mm
N/A
11 st 10.25 lbs







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Bryn Running

Training diary and musings on running in general.