Training Week Commencing 20/07/2009 til Week Commencing 24/08/2009

Week Commencing 20/07/2009
Fri: Did massage + drills PM 20 minutes cycling
Sat: massage + drills 40 minutes cycling
Sun: 60 minutes cycling
Mon: 60 minutes cycling
Tue: 64 minutes cycling (32.18@56:03)
Wed: 70 minutes cycling (16.1 @ 26:30,40 in 70)
Thu:Rest
Fri: AM 5 minutes running- no pain but still didn't feel quite right PM 40 minutes cycling outdoors got soaked.
Sat: AM 7:39 running 1 mile. Groin still not right and little bit of pain at half way but better on way back PM 90 minute cycling 53km including 5 x 2 [1] hard.
Sun: AM 4:30 running better PM 90 minute cycle (50km)

Week(ish) Totals: Running: 13 minutes Cycling: 444 minutes Glad to get some decent work on the exercise bike done- looks like it'll be my main method of training for a while!

Week Commencing 27/07/2009
Mon: 90 minute cycling 48.8km
Tue: Rest
Wed: AM 8 minutes running , relatively pain free bar one short period 90 minutes cycling (45km), PM 10M TT on exercise bike (23:45 PB), 45 minutes total
Thu: AM 10 minutes running - actually pain free (aside from tripping up over a style...) best yet by some way. PM: 90 minutes 50.50km
Fri: AM 12 minutes running- again best yet and didn't feel anything but a tingle - stopped to stretch briefly at 6 PM 2:03 65.55km on exercise bike
Sat: Rest
Sun: 10 minutes totally pain free running with decent form! 120 minutes cycling inc. 3 x 5 hard (165-170), 5 rest

Total Running: 40 minutes Total Biking: 658 minutes
Total: 698 minutes

In terms of total training minutes, bar my 104 mile week, this is probably well up there.

Week Commencing 3rd August 2009
Mon: 18 minutes running
Tue: 23 minutes easy running 90 minutes cycling
Wed: AM 15 minutes easy running
PM 15 minutes easy running felt very tired so didn't cycle
Thu: AM 5 mins v. easy running
PM 135 cycling exercise bike (74.52km) inc. 5 x 2k (0.5k rec.), 2:47,45,41,40,29 all recs just over a minute. Last effort close to flat out.
Fri: AM 30 mins running, 60 mins cycling (32.22) PM (90 mins cycling 52.21km - interesting that this didn't feel too hard as my fastest steady ride yet over 90 minutes)
Sat: AM 40 mins running 60 mins cycling (32:22)
Sun: 120 minutes cycling (66km)
Total time running: 146 minutes Total Time Cycling: 555 minutes
Total time : 701 minutes

Week Commencing 10th August 2009
Mon: 38:30 running w. omega (5.3 7:15mm few light twinges), 90 cycling 48/9km
Tue: 40 easy/steady - couple of twinges but not too bad.
Wed: 45 steady - First 25 minutes v.good, next 10 minutes some twinges, last 10 fine.
Thu: 9 min warm up, 10:30 2 mile meant to be at 2 mile pace 5:13/5:17, 9 min warm down. No real twinges or problems. 100 mins cycling
Fri: Rest day
Sat: AM 30 minutes (4.2 miles) - 7:08 pace at reasonable clip PM 30 minutes at similar pace with 3 strides in. 90 minutes cycling (48km)
Sun: AM 35 minutes running at easy pace PM 32:30 with 2 miles at steady pace (6:00/5:40) very easy and relaxed. 75 minutes on exercise bike (40km)
Total Running Time: 279.5 Total Cycling Time: 355
Total: 634.5 minutes

Week Commencing 17th August 2009
Mon: 15 warm up and down, 12 x 400 (100 jog ~30 secs) 2 77s, 5 78s, 4 79s and a 72 to close. Felt good in first session back- was moving relatively smoothly and not struggling aerobically. Target was 80 so hauled self back in. 90 minutes cycling 51km
Tue: Really bad DOMS on inner hamstring area which struggled with.
Wed: Slightly easier but still in a lot of pain
Thu: 20 minutes recovery pace- in quite a lot of pain
Fri: 40 minutes easy/steady pace- moving well and no pain
Sat: 10 min warm up 10 x 750m grass loop (1 rec.) 2:25,24,23,23,22,23,24,21 Moving very easily and could have done quite a few more but kept it short so as to not aggravate groin, 10 min rec. PM 30 minute cycle (16.1)
Sun: AM 36:30 steady 5.7 miles avg. 6:24 but pace varied - very hot and legs just felt clumsy PM 36:30 recovery @ 8:14- 4.45 miles through forest around chickney and back by rugby club. Saw two foxes. Felt Wmuch better than earlier.
Total = 242 minutes running 120 minutes cycling

Week Commencing 24th August 2009
Mon: AM 39:30 easy to steady run 5.7 mile loop. Very hot. PM 36:30 easy running @8mm with OMEGA club - kicked in over final 150m to test groin and was absolutely fine.
Tue: 12 x 400 (2 minute loop) averaging 73s with a few 71 and 72s then a 1600 in 5:22 - all fairly relaxed w/u of 8 minute w/d 10 minutes
Wed: AM 42 minutes easy 7:42mm warm with a strong wind up the Valley and back by Rugby Club. Relaxed run and felt good. Left hamstring and right calf very slightly sore after session yesterday. After this run in the afternoon I felt a pain at top of my left groin so cancelled second run.
Thu: Rest day- just did 8 minutes to test groin and was fine. 40 minutes cycling 21.1km
Fri: Tempo run, 10 warm-up, 6k avg. 5:49 but dead on my feet almost from the start with last few k around 6mm, 8:30 warm down
Sat: AM 50 minutes easy inc. 8 x Canova Hill sprints PM 40 minutes easy @ 8mm
Sun: Progression run- 15 warm up, 2k@6:30 pace, 2k@6:00 pace, 2k@5:30 pace, 15 warm down
Total: 40 minutes cycling 354 minutes running (check total)

Week Commencing 31st August 2009
Mon: AM 40 easy @8mm inc. 8 x strides, 30 minutes cycling (16.77) PM 40 recovery @9mm ran with the lads from Omega but with Peter now living in Switzerland pace is much slower!
Tue: PM session at a very windy NR - 11 @ LT and was about 2 miles (82/lap) followed by 9 x 600 off 70 seconds averaging about 1:51/52 with a 1:46 chucked in the middle for a bit of fun 41:30 cycling 22.70km
Wed: 52 minutes easy with Martin avg. 7:58mm
Thu: 15 minutes warm-up + drills/strides, Cambridge 5k, 2nd place 16:15 - meant to be at tempo pace but probably ran too hard in the middle, sat back in the first k then started to take closer order and caught leaders at about 2k when Diarmont pushed clear- ran with him till about 4k with him consistently breaking and me closing the gap then over hte last k let him go. Could possibly have tried a little harder but with race on Sunday and knowing this was already too fast didn't want to do too much. Measuring on gmaps I got the race at 5.1km. 15 w.d. with Nick, Ian and Chris. Rumours of a Hereward team emerging...
Fri: Rest
Sat: 40 minutes easy around Cardiff inc. 8 x strides and then some drills. Surprised at how much of a valley Cardiff seems to be in - ran most of it uphill through some housing estates
Sun: Cardiff 10k- 15 warm up and then about 5 minutes of strides and drills. 33:14 - struggled to keep up over first 2k with Ben Paviour then dropped back slightly and ran with a Coventry Godiva runner for most of the way reeling in two Bristol runners. 11 warm down with various runners all much better than me! Not very pleased with the time- as fast as was possible given the amount of time I had to train but nowhere near where I wanted to be. A few months hard training will get me there I hope though... PM 20 minutes recovery and then drills

Week Commencing 7th September 2009
Mon: AM 38:30 2k warm up, 4k steady (4:07,4:24,3:52,3:53), 2k warm down + Drills
PM Meant to be 40 at recovery pace with jogging group but turned out to be 3 seperate handicap efforts. Took first one of 2.2 miles v. easy at 7:5x minute miling. Second one of 2.7 miles I started at around 6mm till halfway where I eased off and ran in at 7:30mm. Last one of 1.6 miles I hit relatively hard at around 5:20 minute miling over undulating terrain. 43:01 avg. 6:36mm followed by a pint from the local brewery.
Tue: AM 40:40 avg 9:27mm (recovery) + Drills
PM 44:13 Easy/Tempo/Easy run k splits (4:50,4:32,4:40,4:24,3:29,3:10,3:01,3:36,3:43,4:30,3:32,0:40) avg 6:24mm Went out very relaxed with Nigel's group watching Chris/Nick disappear into the distance and at the dog leg roughed out they had about 2 minutes on me. Accelerated to catch them and splits show how I ran to reel them in then gradually eased off once I caught them with the last 2k relatively easy (3:32 is very very misleading for last k as it's a very significant descent for the entire k)
Wed: AM Drills!
PM: 15 wu and wd + drills and strides 3 x 3.6k @ 80/lap [3 minute one lap jog] 11:57,11:59,11:57 - hard work on the track but thankfully had Noel and Richard dropping in and out (apart from a superb effort by Noel on the second). Really pleased as these were very under control.
Thu: Rest day- AM Drills PM 38:00 cycling (21.8km)
Fri: AM 52:28, 2k warm up, 8k @ LT (3:35-3:40), 2k warm down. (3:40,3:35,3:39,3:31,3:35,3:32,3:16*,3:31) Mum decided she wanted to come along on the bike so got her to carry some water but didn't have cap on right so she lost most of it! Felt good for most of it- not totally smooth but not bad either. AVG: 3:32 (aka 2:29:26) in trainers
Sat: 15 min warm up 3 sets of 5 x 20 second hill (jog down) with 3 minutes inbetween. 10 min warm down
Sun: 90 minutes 20km averaging 7:35 split into 30 easy, 30 steady, 30 easy. K splits of Easy (5:14,5:35,5:06,5:16,5:05,4:35) Steady(4:13,4:18,3:44,4:21,4:13,3:27,3:41) Easy(4:53,4:52,4:59,5:24,5:14,5:03,0:41).

Training Week Commencing 29th June 2009

Week Commencing 29th June 2009
Mon: AM 40 easy PM 55 easy with Will Mackay around Wandlebury- nice run and good to have someone to chat with, even if he is a tab!
Tue: Rest
Wed: 15 minute warm-up, 27:53 5 miles 1st place MWRRL around Welwyn. Drifted clear of Paul Greaves with 800 to go. 15 warm down
Thu: 20 minute warm-up, 17:02 5k @ Haverhill, 1st, big group up steep first hill, pulled clear with another bloke overr 3rd k, he slowed and Harry Fowler caught us at 4k and I went clear with about 500m to go again easing clear, 15 minute warm down bare-foot on grass.
Fri: 40 min AM leg quite painful, 40 min PM leg an awful lot better and generally just a better run, 21 minutes on grass
Sat:AM 40 min easy leg not perfect but much better than yesterday PM 41:34 easy w. 24 minute barefoot on grass , leg better than yesterday but not as good as the morning. PMPM 30 mins cycling (15km) (367)
Sun: AM 60 easy PM 40 easy
Total: 467 minutes running 60 minutes cycling

I felt really good on the Sunday. Took a day off on Monday. When I ran on the Tuesday I struggled to run more than 3 minutes and was in a lot of pain- grade 2 muscle strain. A week later it was no better but then ater seeing a physio it loosened greatly and I was back doing short runs within a week of that.

Injury et al.

Okay so after 2 weeks of fairly successful racing my injury eventually overcame me. I was improving with every run from Thursday to Sunday night. Sunday night's run I was actually okay and almost pain free with my quad and groin a lot better. I took Monday off and didn't run till Tuesday evening with the hope that I would be totally pain free. How wrong could I be? I was in complete agony far worse than anything yet. When I eventually got in to see the physio I found out I had a grade two muscle strain/tear on my adductor magnus.

I've gotten onto my stationary bike and doing an hour a day- will be up to 90 or so minutes next week and just been given the go-ahead to start running and got 5 minutes done today.

The message that comes though is this. When you've got a niggle- stop running. Even if the niggle is getting better in itself the net effect may be negative as your body is a set of links and chains and you'll be overcompensating elsewhere. The quad was due to my right ankle injury and the groin due to the quad.

In the long-term though it will possibly be helpful as I now have a variety of exercises designed to correct my biomechanical problems and hopefully solve the issue long term and make me a stronger runner so maybe there's a silver lining!

Part 2 of "Transition" out tomorrow!

Making the Transition Part 1

So - you've taken up this running lark. You're running a few times a week and you're realising that actually you're not half bad at it! For a bloke you're probably running something around 45 minutes for 10k and for a lady maybe just under 50 minutes (times set for individuals 18-40 in good health generally). You've joined a running club and done a few race. There's a lot at your level and a fair stream of guys up to the local "club elite" who run 36-40 minutes for 10k and usually finish in the top 10 at the local races.

The aim of this series is to explain to the average club runner how to take the steps to not only be running the same sort of times as those "club elite" but to do so in a way that you will be able to out-race a runner of similar ability. More importantly- you'll have a foundation that could seriously take you down to being a sub 35 10k guy. The difference you'll have is that not only will you be running at the level of the 36-40 minute 10k guys - you'll do it in less time and with much more upside.

Step 1: Run more often. Run slower. Run shorter.

The first part is fairly self explanatory as to how it helps but the other two may well be counter-intuitive. The first step in becoming a serious runner is to run more frequently. Ideally you want to look at building up from a few runs a week to running every day but there is nothing wrong with doing this over the course of a fair few months. Most progress to it naturally when they realise they want to get better or more likely start training for a marathon and hit a serious training plan for the first time. Ideally you want to be running at least once a day, 6 days a week, and more likely in the long-run then you want to be hitting two runs a day. For right now in making that first step into being a sub 40 10k guy then just running once a day is likely to be more than enough.

The second part is controversial. Most would assume that if you want to run faster you need to run every run faster. This is dead wrong. One of your first steps has to be slowing down your runs so that you can get an awful lot more time on your feet and more importantly make it a very positive experience. Whilst we can all go out and slog our bodies and actually find it quite enjoyable it's still a tough experience. Maybe tomorrow you'll have a bad day at work or the weather won't be as nice- still fancy going out and working hard? By making it slower you help yourself enjoy the run much more and it becomes a really positive part of your day.

Running shorter is perhaps slightly misleading. For lots of people though running a few times a week they try and get the absolute most out of those runs. Stop it. If you're committed to this then you want to be doing much more frequent runs of a shorter length. I'd opt for someone running 40 minutes a day 6 days a week more than someone running 120 minutes twice a week. I'd say that running 60 minutes per day is a very good level to reach but I'd much rather people ran 30 minutes every day than a huge amount at the weekends. Less than about 25 minutes and you'd be better off doing 30 minutes for 5 days though.

Of course you obviously don't want to just run the same 30-60 minute run every day! Which leads to the next step which is how to start structuring your week and adding in some different elements.

Summary:
+Aim to build up to running 6 times a week with the runs ranging from 30-60 minutes.
+Accomplish this by slowing your runs down and really just enjoying it. At this stage pace is irrelevant.
+Once you've done this for two weeks then move onto the next step.

Right - that's it for now. Catch you on the trails.
Bryn

Part 1 - Easy Running

Part 2 - Threshold Training

Part 3 - Strides

Part 4 - Easy and Recovery Weeks

Part 5 - 5k/10k Training
Part 6 - Mile Pace Training

Index of Training Articles

Two Race Reports! MWRRL Welwyn and Summer 5k League Haverhill

Had a double race week this week (and have just about managed to avoid getting myself into another 10k tomorrow!).

Midweek Road Race League Div. 2

The first was the Midweek road race league division 2 at WGC, 5 miles, 1st 27:53, over the old PUMA 5 course and I think the CR is something like 22:xx! and was a former world record though course didn't seem lightning fast to me.

One bloke went out very hard and I covered him but he had died off by about 1k so by a mile we were back with the pack. Real sign of inexperience by me going with him but he looked like a very serious runner and it was an impressive pace he started at and he looked very smooth at it. Once I realised he was slowing after about 800m I could have tried pushing on and going clear but there was no way I wanted to be running solo from that far out with a race the next day. A pack quickly developed of me, very young team-mate Ed Sheperd, Steve Prosser from Bishop's Stortford who is often a local rival and Paul Greaves another team mate who had won the past two fixtures but had taken third in the first behind me and Dom Easter and by the start of the second lap it was just us 4. Pace was consistent 5:30s. Eventually me and the bloke who'd won the last two went clear though we tried to keep it slowish so that Ed could stay in contact but it was clear that Steve's age and experience was going to keep him clear of Ed. With 800m to go I just drifted clear of Paul and then relaxed for the run-in for a nice win and my first individual win in the league despite a fair few second and third places! Whilst still waiting for team results I'm certain Paul has taken the richly deserved individual title.

Summer 5k League

Having done my best for Herts Phoenix the previous night it was time to don the yellow, black and purple of the Saffron Striders. Despite having twice won the series title here I had never actually won an individual race due to over the years combinations of injury, the wrong competition at the wrong race, peaking wrongly and a lack of marshalls (causing me one year to go storming past the final turn-off through a gate, totally prepared to kick for the gate to get through first the second I saw the marshall but in this case there being no marshall...), getting beaten by a bloke one week and the next taking him apart as I returned to form but Greg Billington (boy wonder) having turned up and taken the win comfortably.

Anyways! I knew that despite my leg being quite painful I stood a very good chance of winning this race. I warmed up with team-mates Anthony Bonelli, Nick White and Tim Ellis. The course consists of a 100m straight before a km vertical hill which eases off into a gradual incline for the next km before very rapidly descending in the 3rd km whereupon the 4th and 5th km are undulating but generally downhill.

I surged into the lead over the first 50m and then slowed down to see if I could convince people to run it slowly as I still wasn't sure about my leg especially with yesterdays race still in it. Unfortunately Harry Fowler of Newmarket Joggers was having none of it and surged into the lead and led us up the hill. This meant I was able to take my customary position of dead on the shoulder of the lead runner as a pack of around 5 or 6 of us was forming comprising Harry Fowler (NJ), Vincent Coogan (NJ), Nick White (Saffron Striders), me and a Cambridge runner. This pack stayed intact all the way to to the top of the hill. As we began the descent though Vincent Coogan pushed through to the front and launched a powerful surge which I stayed with but rapidly broke up the rest of the field with Fowler being the only one to stay with us. Vincent took great advantage of the downhill and we eventually dropped Fowler though we could still hear him behind. I was still cruising and as Vincent slowed I slowed with him still lurking and at about 3.5k I could hear Fowler rapidly catching us before catching us at 4k with now the sound of a Cambridge runner behind as well. I had a quick look back to make sure the Cambridge lad wasn't storming home as Fowler took the lead and started pushing but checking my watch I stayed relaxed until it hit 15:30 and I knew I couldn't be more than about 4-500m from the finish. I then drifted wide, put in a moderate acceleration shifting up to about 10k pace from 10m/HM pace and was clear in about 200 metres whereupon I slowed slightly and relaxed on my way in with a quick glance over my shoulder with about 100m to go to ensure they weren't catching.

Whilst pleased with the win I was also pleased for Tim and Anthony who both shifted up a number of positions to 8th and 12th respectively whilst Nick had a good race to finish 5th considering he'd cycled all the way there! The Striders managed to get second in both mens and womens races behind C&C who to be honest are so much larger than most clubs in this league it should be a runaway victory for them.

Afterwards had a chance to chat to a bloke called Bob Watson who's just short of 50 and having taken up running again is in 35 minute 10k shape. I always make a point of asking the older runners who had run fast in the past (Bob had run low 31s for 10k and 68 for HM) for some advice and he passed on what seems to be one of the most helpful tips around. Find a good training group so that if you let up for a second there's 10 athletes ready to come past you and swallow you up.

Anyways, my little jaunt back into the local road racing scene has been a lot of fun with 4 race wins (Henham 10k, Stortford 10m, MWRRL Welwyn 5m, 5k Summer League Haverhill) all done very comfortably and now I can focus on getting my leg sorted and doing some more serious competition - possibly including getting myself beaten up over an 800...

Training 15th June-28th June and Stortford 10 Race Report

Week Commencing 15th June 2009

Mon: rest
Tue: 64 minutes at a decent clip with Sean, Anthony (met for first time), Tash and Alex.
Wed: 10 minute warm up, Hilly mile- won comfortably
Thu: Rest - leaving OUCCC party - was truly awesome.
Fri: 10 minute warm-up, Champion miler track handicap race- result irrelevant, won champion mier series. Then beer mile, won in a comfortable 6:21 with a double chunder but clear by over a minute. Marstons Pedigree was the name of the game.
Sat: 40 minutes easy
Sun: 10 minute warm-up, Henham 10k, won in 35:10 over very tough terrain, tempoed with 2 others till just before 8k then kicked clear over rthe space of about 400m and cruised it in

Week Commencing 22nd June 2009
Mon: Down with a really sore throat and general grogginess having slept something like 20 out of the last 24 hours. Ran at Omega as was Pete's last night before he moves to Switzerland. 25:56 @ 6:45mm
Tue: AM 38:30 easy as still suffering generally with mum alongside on bike. PM 59:30 at 7:30mm but horrendous terrain and a fair few breaks to ask "where the hell are we?" more like 7mm and closing at low/sub6mm for the last mile and a half.
Wed: AM 40 easy- much faster and easier than yesterday PM 40 easy
Thu: PM: 60 w. 25m warm up, 10m warm down and 10 x minute hills (90 jog down)
Fri: 75 easy inc. 5@tempoish and 10 barefoot around rugby club
Sat: 40 easy inc. 15 barefoot around rugby club, hamstring/groin issue still playing up a bit. Would have done a second run but realised would go over 450 which didn't want to do for first week back.
Sun: 15 easy warm-up, 10 miles, 58:41, worked on the same principle as last week. Race was a 10k and a 10 mile and again just sat in before easily surging clear then relaxing again. 8 minutes warm-down. Would have done more but thought I'd lost my wallet.
Total: 451, first decent week- only bad thing was the hamstring/groin playing up but doesn't seem to be getting worse.

Stortford 10 Race Report:

Race started at a slowish tempo going through first k in 3:30 and first mile in 5:40 but then it sped up going through 2k in about 6:45, 3k in 10:10 and 2 miles in 10:53 though slightly downhill. Shortly after that we went from decent road onto completely awful terrain- mostly tracks and the sides of fields. By this point the race had it seemed been whittled down to 2 of us. Me and Grant Ramsey from Barnet and District- a very enthusiastic bloke who's taken up the steeplechase and regularly travels around the country to the cross-challenge fixtures. I lurked behind him as we went around the country-side (fairly amiably, commenting to each other how how it was etc., I think if someone at this level got annoyed at me sitting behind then I'd just kick on then, might be different in a championship) including a killer hill at 7 miles. At 8.5 miles I surged past and quickly put some distance on him after about 400m and eased off again and ran relaxed in. Unfortunately another bloke from Serpentine that I'd thought we'd dropped caught him in the last 50m and he didn't have time to react. Overall quite pleased with an awesome trophy, very relaxed run on the whole and time must have been worth significantly faster as it was literally a XC course from about 3 miles in and managed to fairly comfortably go past two blokes who ran 2:35 and 2:37 at London this year.

Training Week Commencing 8th June 2009

Monday: Rest (exams)
Tuesday: rest (finishing exams, getting hammered)
Wednesday: 60 minutes at about 7mm with Matt Hawcroft- tipping it down but a really good run- slight tightness in my right hip flexor over the last mile or so.
Thursday: 15 w.u. with about 10 minutes barefoot on grass, session was 5 x mile off a lap jog recovery and started well with Garrett but was soon clear that something was up and I wasn't running right. First two were dead on pace at 5:00,5:00 but needed to go to the loo and was unable to seriously get bacck on hte pace. Did about 600 of that rep then 400,rest,400 of the next before 800, rest,400 of the last one so did a total of about 6k at 5k pace but not good at all. Did a long warm down, about 23 minutes. Really not sure why I struggled so badly this time.
Fri: Rest
Sat: Boars Hill 64 minutes
Sun: 76 minutes with Paddy, Cathy and Andy. Really pleasant run around various parts of North Oxford on a glorious day.
Total: Still don't want to know

Really interesting week starting running again at the same time as getting slightly inebriated most nights. Very difficult to motivate yourself to bash out 60 minutes when it's filthy weather and you've got a ridiculous hangover. Only for a week though. Aiming for closer to 60 miles next week.

Week Commencing 1/06/2009

Another poor week- some athletes only manage to post when doing well but for me it's only when I'm on a shocker!

Mon: Rest
Tue: Rest
Wed: warm up, 5k in 15:52 pacing Michelle with a 66 last lap- pushed too hard on the first 200
Thu: rest
Fri: 45 easy 6.4 miles absolutely tipping it down in buckets.
Sat: Nothing
Sun: Nothing- revising
Total/Review: another piss poor week unfortunately but I'll get a jog in tomorrow- be hopelessly drunk on Tuesday and then hopefully be back into full training by next Monday with next week being a case of just gradually getting my body used to running again.

On the plus side my body's niggles should now be totally gone allowing a serious push towards some big PBs - most importantly usually this period of 3 weeks or so would be spent totally injured most years - as it is I don't think I've had a week with no running since the end of September despite some niggles but I think I'm getting better at managing them.

A few weeks of 20 is better than one more week of 60 and then a month or more (usually more for me) of no running whatsoever. These will probably be the worst weeks of my life in terms of stress so not surprising the running will take a bit of a dip! If it was for longer I would have concentrated more on getting some training in but as it is it's a useful break to get me ready for a push towards the Autumn and Winter with maybe a few track races thrown in as well.

Diet has also gone to pot so I've put about a stone on but that'll fly off when I start running miles again. I work in a very odd (and potentially dangerous) reverse equilibrium in that when I'm running a lot I often don't eat a huge amount but when I'm not running I really big out...

Training Week Commencing 25/5/2009

Week Commencing 25/5/2009
Mon: 54 minutes easy up to Godstow and back through Nature reserve
Tue: Rest
Wed: nature reserve, breathing was totally messed up and not in a good way- really bad run, about 35 minutes
Thu: 15 warm up and down. 3 sets of 300@15,200@15,200@8 [60,300]. Times were a bit quick 46,31,27 45,30,48 45,29,28 but fairly pleased considering in exams.
Fri: One of those great runs - went out for a 40m jog and ended up doing 78 minutes, did a lap and a half around the nature reserve before heading up over th fields toGodstow and coming back down along the river before heading down the south-side of town. Really nice enjoyable run where I started out very relaxed but was really shifting by the end.
Sat: Rest- revising..ish
Sun: OUAC vs. OUCCC FOotball for about two hours. Decided any more running would stress the body out a bit too much seeing as I knocked a muscle in my back anyways.

Total time: Not nearly enough but ticking over just about. Need to get back running a bit more seriously this next week- this week I had 4 exam though so was always going to be a very poor week running-wise.

Training Week Commencing 18/5/2009

Well I guess I'm meant to do this some of the time. Training for this week- been really lax in putting it down recently but going to start again properly now.

Mon: rest
Tue: rest
Wed: Club run Sandford but got blister ~ 6-7 miles
Thu: track - 3 sets of 1200,800,400 [90,60,4 minutes] 1200s in 3:45,40,37 400s all ~65
Fri: 6.4/46:31/7:15 with Anupam- nature reserve and 2 laps- easy pace ~7:15 6.4 maybe 6.5
Sat: 6.4/41:11/6:26, 2 laps nature reserve- steady
Sun: 6.4/38:23/6:00, 2 laps nature reserve- steady, minor blister probably because had been barefoot all day. Left heel blister seems fine.
Weekly Mileage: low 30s.

Exams start tomorrow (today) so not going to get a chance to do an awful lot of running so hte plan is just to run this 6.4 mile loop most days at something like 6:15 per mile though depending on the exam it could be much quicker! 6.4 is the very rough estimate on gmaps but there is a wooded section which twists and turns a lot which I can't measure so maybe 6.5 miles. Great run as only probably half a mile total is on roads and the rest either a canal path or a trail around the nature reserve.

To the exams!

Gradually Evolving Training Philosophy

Someone today on a thread asked me the question "I'm sure I read somewhere that don't you run your sessions flat out and your long runs easy/steady?" To which my response is below - it's just a short abstract of how my own views on training should be structured in terms of LTAD.

Cross13- I did a while back which I guess is where you read it. These days as the article says I generally try and run my reps with a few seconds to spare. They generally look very quick to people (hence teh reputation) because after a few years of experimentation I know pretty much exactly where my limits are and what running at pace "X" should feel like. Also the sessions I do tend to be quite tough sessions which I know are do-able but you most might not realise it. 8 x 1000 off a 60-70 second 200m jog recovery @ 5k pace is a lot more intense than the track stuff most runners do- it's partially a framing effect (I'm only working at 5k pace for around 24 minutes whilst others might be doing up to 50 minutes) and partially the effect of just going out there and doing track-work each and every week.

My training philosophy is perhaps unsurprisingly constantly evolving and these days I'd put forward three key ideas for long-term development aside from the obvious gradual long-term build up of mileage. 1) Whilst slower running is a great introduction to the sport and encouraging participation and for recovery (on some days I do end up running 8/9/10 mm) and easy running (about MP+1 minute) is good for the bulk of your running the thing that's really important (far more than sessions) is putting in lots of runs at roughly LT + 15-30 seconds just as the Kenyans do which puts a really strong aerobic emphasis which pays off in the long term, 2) alactic speed development- this can be strides/drills 30-90m flat out - the ability to run at speed is crucial.

These are quite at odds with lactic tolerance and VO2 max development which are perhaps the cornerstones of "performance training" as opposed to "development training" - whilst there is certainly a case in the medium term for lots of sessions at goal race pace and they are definitely needed to run well I don't think that they necessarily help long-term development a huge deal- that said some VO2 max is essential just to ensure you're training at the correct speeds for your current ability but over the long-term I'd advocate the two above. Running at race pace is crucial and there are some long-term efficiency gains possible but I think these can mostly be achieved over about 2 years.

and some more stuff from earlier in response to Bazza stating that for a young athlete who can run 5:05 right now that he probably already has the speed to run 4:50 but it's is endurance that he needs to work on. Bazza often contributes to threads like this and has very solid opinions.

ore of an overarching philosophy question here. In general I completely agree with your policy for an athlete attempting to run fast this season (e.g. if I was given an older athlete I would tell them hit the endurance very very hard). But increasingly from talking to the top guys and just plain seeing from personal experience having speed is absolutely key. Aerobic endurance can be developed but the ability to have the sort of pure speed to be able to run 60 seconds for 400m comfortably is the sort of thing that needs to be continually developed over the space of about 10 years. Realistically for someone to be a truly serious athlete (e.g. sub 3:50/14:00/29:30) over anything shorter than the half/marathon you need 53 (maybe 54) repeatable 400 speed (as opposed to one-off e.g. benefit coming from start etc or huge lactic tolerance) and something in the low 1:5xs for 800. That sort of speed for most athletes just isn't there naturally and takes a lot of work to bring out if at all.

I guess the point I'm making is that yes he clearly has enough speed to run 4:50 and probably enough speed (without knowing your profile at all!) to run something in the low 4s. The question is if he wants to be a serious athlete whether he has the speed to do so? One of the barriers I'm coming up against right now is that flat out I have we reckon maybe 57 and really stretching it 56.x high 400m speed and have just run a relatively easy 4:11 1500 and 32:15 10,000 - if I long-term wanted to run much under 4 though my current speed needs to be improved realistically and whilst extended strides etc. help a lot the sort of speed needed is very hard to gain (some coming from flexibility etc.)

Is odd training a young athlete as you need to combine improving pure/repeatable speed with the huge aerobic base needed to run very fast 5 and 10,000s whilst at the same time doing a great deal of work at current race pace so that they can perform at their best at the moment. I'm doing a huge amount of my sessions at 72-80 per lap rather than working on 1500 or less pace stuff partially because in terms of a long-term marathon switch next year the very fastest pace I would ever need is 72 and that would be so far beyond my dreams we're in cuckoo land- but the ability to run relaxed at 72 will help run relaxed over the longer distances.

Quick Training Update

Hey everyone,

Just a very quick training update- as I go into my finals I'm going to be under increasing time pressures so am probably going to cut back training to something like an hour each day and pace will highly depend on stress levels! I'll try and include some strides and fartlek work as well but it will be likely a solid three weeks without serious track work so it'll be interesting to see how it goes.

May well be a post or two on here as I try and relieve stress!

Hope everyone is well - please feel free to comment on any of the stories.

Best,
Bryn

Bryn Reynolds BUCS 10,000m Champion!

Bryn Reynolds BUCS 10,000m Champ from Inside the Games

This articles get it wonderfully wrong and has me down as the BUCS winner- wonderful but not quite true! Nice to see it in print though!

BUCS 10,000m Race (B) Report!

After opening the season with a marginal 2 second PB winning the Good Friday Open Meeting 3000m and a fairly respectable 15:59.9 5000m at the British Milers Club 5000m race over the past month or so hopes for a really fast race were low but buoyed unexpectedly with a 4:11, 9 second PB over 1500m on Wednesday at the Oxford University Cuppers for second place.

Entering the 10,000m (25 laps of the track) at the British University Championships on the basis of existing personal bests I was switched at the last moment to the B race 8 hours later. Despite this I tried to stay positive over the day and was hoping to break 33 minutes for 10km for the first time and lower my 33:16 PB.

The race started off with a Sheffield University lad breaking for the front very quickly and gaining a 20m lead over the field with myself sitting in 4th place behind a Southampton and Cambridge athlete. As we gradually reeled in the Sheffield athlete I was feeling remarkably relaxed and actually couldn't quite believe the splits that were coming as the Sheffield athlete was caught and tucked in behind us. The track was quite windy but thankfully I was well sheltered by the other athletes but not for long!

As we went through 5000m in 16:10 I couldn't believe quite how relaxed I felt (many Tuesday runs have felt much harder!). I coudl feel the pace slow as the Southampton athlete tired and when I heard my coach call out that the last lap took 81 seconds as opposed to the 77s we had been clipping through I knew I had to move at the 6000m mark. Moving with a sudden injection of speed I lowered the pace down to 73/74 second laps with a 7th kilometre of 3:07 to put myself clear of the field with the Cambridge athlete attempting to stay with me but dropping backwards. As I pulled clear I knew I had to keep pushing and despite now tackling the wind entirely on my own and having to run hard. Consistent 77 second laps gave me hope that despite struggling meant I knew I had a chance of a good time. With a half lap lead by the end I managed to sprint the final 100m for a time of 32:15- a one minute and one second PB over my best ever time before and for the win in the B-race! My time inserted into in the A-race would have put me in 9th place (the field was 21 strong) of all British Universty 10,000m runners and it is perhaps worth noting that some of the athletes in that race were substantially older than me (the winner was 31!).

Overall the time last year would have put me in the top 50 in the country and top 5 Under 23s though obviously many top runners don't run 10,000m on the track. In conclusion I'm very pleased - especially with a negative split of 16:10/16:05 and for managing to win by a commanding margin.

Best wishes to all!
National Final (Do I really have to mention the B?) Winner Bryn :D.

(Still on a bit of a high!)If I find a photo will post it up!

Dave Norman 5k

Okay- so I went out there with the aim to run 15:30-15:40, to do this I needed pretty much ideal conditions and some strong competition. Unfortunately the combination of a fairly strong wind and poor pacing in the middle sections results in me running 15:59 and closing in 34- whilst this is encouraging in terms of it being my second fastest time ever and faster than I opened last season it is also a bit dissappointing as I know that a month ago I was in the shape to run 15:30.

That said- last year I had someone running ahead of me for a long way before I took it on myself for the last section. This year I was alternating laps with Richard Mann who ran very well for a 16:06, but as the pace slowed I think had there been someone pushing me to go faster and faster then I might have been a touch faster. As it was the group ahead went off at sub 15:30 pace (in retrospect I maybe should have gone with them) and though a couple dropped off and I was reeling them in I was never quite close enough to catch them. I definitely think I was missing a bit of get-up-and-go today. As in the 3k I definitely left it a lap too late to push on with it feeling a bit easy but being an 81 second lap which is really a bit ridiculous as that's getting close to 17 minute pace.

That said- I'm feeling very rested and relaxed and I think the foot is now pretty much sorted. I can now hopefully get a reasonable if not stunning 10,000 done at BUSA (hopefully sub 33). Get my exams out of the way and then try and run considerably faster. I think the potential is there but it's going to take a little while.

Liz Yelling Names Baby Adidas

As regards Liz Yelling not running another marathon this article reckons she will.

Liz Yelling Plans to Carry on Marathon Career Post Baby

"LONG-TERM PLAN: Liz Yelling is targeting next year's London Marathon - but not before she gives birth to her first child (Adidas)"

Looks like she probably didn't read the conditions of her last sponsorship contract properly. Nice publicity by Adidas though considering how much attention Isla gets at the finish line. That kid is going to get bullied like anything at school- though they'll probably be in the latest trainers.

I do hope Liz gets back to her best and runs well as she's definitely our number three marathoner at present behind Paula and Mara. Good luck to her with the pregnancy as well!

Quick Work-Out Posts

Okay, decided that rather than try and make longer posts instead ot make shorter posts and hopefully that'll get me posting more frequently.

Have managed three fairly short sharp work-outs over the past 7 days. Firstly 4 x 400 with 2 minutes recovery. I managed to clock 61,63,64,65 off a fairly stationary start. Obviously this isn't blazing but the aim was to hit 64s rather than absolutely kill myself and in general I would say this workout was a succesful one as the first time I have gone under realistically 68 seconds per lap this year. I'm gradually working down to faster and faster paces and think the work I did last term with loads of stuff at 74-80 seconds per lap over longer distances with short recovery is really starting to pay off now as the transition isn't too painful.

Next one up was 4 x 800 with 10 minutes recovery with the 800s being split into the first 200 at 800m pace, 400 at 3000m pace and then 200 at 800m pace. I reckon for me right now those paces should be roughly 64 (maybe 31.5...) per lap for 800 and 72 per lap for 3000. Of course this should mean that 68 per lap for 1500 should be accomplishable but we'll leave that for another day... First one I was to be quite frank amazed at the finish. First 200 was a bit too fast in ~29/30 then an almost perfectly paced 71/72 before closing in 30 for a total time of 2:11. 2:11- my damn official PB! (2:08 in training) and tbh it didn't even feel that hard- okay yes the last 200 had knackered me a bit but I was on the whole still in fairly good nick and I think if I'd run harder over the middle 400 and eased off a bit in the first 200 a PB would definitely have been doable. It was quite weird with the very long recoveries as to be totally honest I was feeling worse 7-8 minutes in than I was at the start! The rest I concentrated heavily on getting the pace right and succeeded with the reps going 2:11,2:15,2:17,2:16 the third to last rep was poor mostly a I fell away over the final 200 as Anupam kicked away but I redeemed myself on the last one. Overall I was very pleased with this work-out as to be honest I had no idea I could run a 2:11 in a rep session and certainly not with mixed pace. It was also great to really get the lactic acid going.

Finally tonight I did a "test" session for Saturday where the target is 15:30 or 74/lap which right now seems a big ask but I know I was in the shape to do it a month ago so I just have to hope. My "test" or "pace" session is 5 x 400 with a fast 100m jog at race pace. I hit the paces fine and in fact was a little bit quick with 74,72,72,73,74 but I did feel more tired than I should at 5k pace though the 100 jogs were fast (~25). Hopefully Saturday will be a little better.

Ankle situation is pretty much unchanged with no pain since Sunday. In general I'm hoping that the relaxed approach over the past few weeks with not much mileage but hitting the sessions is going to work-out. Realistically if I'm back running at full capacity soon then 3-4 weeks at 40 or so miles a week is not going to kill me and might even help.

I've just seen a pair of the Wave Creations on sale for £70... am sorely tempted despite blowing money on shoes just last week but that said having 3 or so pairs alternating could only be a good thing.

Will update on Saturday with race result. Good luck to the lads and lasses going to race at RAF Cosford.

Apologies for Lack of Updates and a PB!

Hey,

Apologies for the lack of updates- in future I'm going to try and update more frequently but possibly with less though a full training break-down will be coming...

I've unfortunately managed to pick up a quite bad ankle injury. I could feel some problems on the outside of my foot on my last day at Oxford but still had a good weeks training the following week. Deciding to play it cautious I then took a week off with only two work-outs- unfortunately over that week my ankle got significantly worse. Thankfully after one disastrous Tuesday run the next week I have been on a relative improvement since then and haven't missed many days running but quantity is way down. Quality-wise I missed two work-outs that week and a fair few steady runs. This week I did a "half" session on the Wednesday with 3 x mile (2:30 easy lap jog) with times of 5:05, 5:01 and 5:03 whilst easing off a bit for my training partner.

Then on Friday I decided with my ankle not particularly playing up on the Wednesday and just the residual soreness to chance a 3000m race. Shorter than I normally race well at but not quite as bad as the 1500m I thought it'd be an interesting race as rather than go for a fast time I decided to race it a bit more tactically. It was at the Herrts Phoenix Good Friday Open Meet and therefore my home meet! Having put down my PB and it being the fastest time there (though 3 more had predictions of 9:10-9:15 so it wouldn't be easy!) the pressure was building...

With 13 in the race it was going to be a scrum and unfortunately my clubmate Paul Greaves ended up getting shoved directly into me with my clipping the back of his shoe- thankfully no serious damage was done. By 150m in mark I was still boxed in at about 8th place with a girl and 2 young lads of about 13 or less ahead of me together with all 4 of the more serious threats. Adam Searle from Phoenix's long time rivals Stevenage and North Herts, a Enfield and Harringey athlete, a Southend athlete and clubmate Greaves. As we came up to the 400m point in around 72/73 seconds I went past the two young lads and moved comfortably into 5th place.

This brings me to something I just majorly do NOT understand about young athletes. Those two lads went on to run something like 10:30 or more than 84 seconds per lap and they went through the first lap in 72 seconds??? That is probably as fast as their 800m pace. For any younger athletes out there reading- if you get the pace right you will run a MUCH better race.

Anyways- I was settled into the group and sitting along quite comfortably as they towed me along at 9 minute pace and as this was meant to be more of a tactical race with hopefully a reasonable time I was quite happy! I felt very relaxed just sitting at the back of the group with the Southend lad up front. We went through 800m in 2:24 and I went past Paul on the home straight on the third lap as he dropped off the group. Now we were down to 4 and no-one looked like dropping off or particularly kicking on with Searle, E and H (Adam Jones) both happily sat behind Southend (Matt Clarke). We went through the km in 3:01 and then the 1200m split was 3:37/8 Still dead on pace. Unfortunately as I stayed lurking at the back I could feel easier and easier whilst normally this would be a good thing I knew it meant the pace must be slipping. Sure enough 1600 came in 4:53 or about 4 seconds lost on that last lap. I decided to make my move and on the home straight go into position and then kicked on with 3 laps to go (but still 200m more at the slower pace) and swiftly put enough distance on the group that they couldn't sit on me (far too often I see athlete make a break and not get enough distance to be clear of the group). The 2km split of 6:06/07 showed I'd made up a touch of time but still no chance of the sub 9! As I continued to try and break away I could hear supporters cheering for Jones apparently in pursuit of me and that he was catching. I kept on working whilst keeping a bit in reserve in case he caught me with the wind definitely tiring me out and the new faster pace making the lactic kick in. As I went through the bell still clear in 7:58 I could feel myself slowing and tried to kick on a bit and as I came down the back straight I thought I had it. Coming around the bend I could hear renewed cheers for Jones but held back until the straightaway where I left everything go for 9:07 and one of my faster 3000m finishes yet together with a win! Then looking down at my watch I realised I may have run a PB albeit only 2 seconds! This was very unexpected as I thought from the 1600 and 2km splits of 4:53 and 6:06 that it was out of the window- if I'd realised I was on for a PB I think I'd have had maybe a touch more in the final 400m because as it was I was thinking more about kicking on if Jones caught me. Eventually Jones was second in 9:11 with Searle in 9:14 and Clarke in 9:22. As both Jones and Searle are 2 dead or sub 2 800 guys pulling clear of them is great.

Splits of 3:01/3:05/3:01 are encouraging. I felt very relaxed through the first km. The second km the group slowed by around 6-7 seconds and my hard last 200m sped it back up before the final km being hard work on my own. I think sub 9 can and will happen very shortly provided my ankle heals and I can start doing some lactic work. Most important will be getting into the right race! I think I'm most happy about at 1600m being 4:53 and finishing in 9:07. In lots of previous races I go through 1600 in 4:48 and fade fairly badly- today I was kicking on and finishing strongly. I have little doubt that if the group had carried on at 9 minute pace I would have a sub 9 right now.

So good news for the summer provided this ankle heals up!

Teddy Hall Relays - Race Report!

Race was good but slightly odd- on first leg and ended up in about 20th place going up the road from the sports centre but by Magdalen bridge was sitting right on the lead group of 5 of us with a Southampton guy, Dom Easter, Matt Grant and Ian Kimpton. Stayed on the back of that group through Christchurch Meadow and right at the end they just got away. Then on the section on the main road they pulled away but then through a narrow section came right back again and was very slow for a second so I got to join on again. Then we hit the towpath and they really shifted away from me. I was starting to die a bit and just not moving very fast and I could hear guys catching me up very gradually from halfway up the towpath. Managed to scramble up the bank just ahead of them but they almost immediately came past at the top and it was Cheggers and Andy Weir (looking very lean!). As they went past I movedd in behind them and all of a sudden no longer felt tired but like I was jogging and in a few hundred metres had caught my breath and up for the race again. We could see Matt Grant having just fallen off the back upahead. Cheggers started pushing the pace slightly as we came up to Jackdaw Lane and when we hit hte top I put a small surge in which Cheggers immediately covered. Then as we ran down to the stadium Cheggers eked out a metres advantage and entered the track first and then started to pull away on me creating a 10-15 metre gap by the 100m to go point, but the second I rounded the bend and was 60m from the finish I massively turned the afterburners on just to get a better time having already given up on catching Cheggers. Then I realised metre by metre that he was being reeled in!- Went past him with about 15m to go with no way for him to really react.

Really pleased as that was the first time in the last year I've really felt that I had my "sprint" finish and it has been a while! and a real pain to lose out races in the last 100m. Time was good and I think that I ran much better than I have since Herts County. Actually going off and trying to hang with the leaders (despite not working!) definitely made me feel much better and in a fairly tight (but small) race it meant that after they broke clear when the next runners came along I was ready for another fight to stay with them! Some of my best races seem to come this way and mentally I deal with it much easier than moving through an entire field I think despite the moving through the field way feeling much easier physically this way I actually work hard as opposed to just drifting and not really getting involved...

I think body is full recovered now anyways from the illness and this was the first race performance after it. Time was 18.17 which for the 3.59 mile course (gmap) works out that I probably went through 5k in around 15:50 which would be a PB. Quite enthusiastic for Dorney Lake on Sunday now.

Of course- the other part of the race going on with me and Cheggers was the Keble/Brasenose rivalry with two of the strongest college teams in history going head to head. I was fairly certain that myself and Tom (running a second time for his 4th leg) could cancel out Hawcroft (same as Tom) and Chetwynd and that roughly seemed to be true. The real race was on between Martin Bell (an 800m runner going fantastically well this XC/Road season) and Crispin Hetherington (the veteran warhorse who remains a constant for Brasenose whilst the rest of us pass by from year to year) of Brasenose and Garrett Ash (injured most of the term) a Blues runner and Nick Leach (triathlon captain). As it was Crispin taking off literally half a second before Nick managed to run away to a substantial advantage of a good minute and a half. Martin was then able to old off Garrett but for a few seconds leaving Tom Samuel, despite being on antibiotics and suffering with a bad foot (and exam pressure!) to cruise home for Brasenose.

Amazingly Brasenose also took 6th (I think) place overall beating a Cambridge B-team stoked by Kelly and Pattison and several top university sides with UCL refusing to believe that a college team had destroyed a major university team. The only teams to beat us were Oxford, Cambridge, Birmingham, Bristol and Birmingham B which for a tiny college is an amazing result- Keble also performed valiantly and must have recorded one of the top college results of all-time.

Having not run Teddy Hall in my first two years due to injury in my first year and organising the damn thing in my second year this was a fantastic debut and to see our college side run so well was perhaps the most exciting thing!

Training Past Two Weeks

Training for the past two weeks has been slightly sporadic. Following the down week with the 1500 indoors I've had two really good quality training weeks. The racing has been less than spectacular but I think this may well be the long-term effect of being ill for so long this term that whilst my body is now able to take training again that extra few percent and lack of recovery has meant my racing has been (in my opinion at least) slightly poor.

Anyways!

Week Commencing 23/2/2009

Monday: AM 30 steady. Mile warm up then rest at 5:43 pace
PM 65 easy

Tuesday: PM 10 warm up, Hilary Term Cuppers 16:20 for 5.1k 4th place (managed to get Dane for revenge for the Sunday!) 37 w.d. inc. 4 x strides

Wednesday: Rest - did some haring for Tortoise relays but not enough to be log worthy.

Thursday: PM Track 15 wund, 2 sets of 2 x 1000 with 45 between reps and 120 between sets- went out fairly hard and ran 2:58, 3:00, 3:00, 3:04 with last one at roughly 3k PB pace and the first 3 quicker.

Friday: PM 61 easy- really really didn't want to do this run as felt sleepy and tired but managed to force myself out.

Saturday: AM 12 wund Hills 20 x 1 minute (90 second jog down to same place) , "hammer" reps on the 10th and 20th. Really pleased with this session as I was moving well and very comfortably - took it fairly easy as my first serious hills session in a long while and definitely a case of slightly slowing it down leading to a better aerobic effort.
PM 31 recovery run with Anupam, did some S+C work in evening

Sunday: AM 74:18 - short long-run this weke but week already looking reasonable and quads sore from hills/S+C

TOTAL: 459 minutes / 61.2 miles

Week Commencing 2/3/2009

Monday: AM 31:01/4.75 miles- enjoying this run at the moment, after mile warm up 6:08,6:01,5:31 then last bit at 5 pace again as finishing through town.
PM 61 recovery

Tuesday: AM 8 wu, 2 sets of 1,2,3,2,1 [60, 4 minutes] short sharp session. Ran first set with Oz and then as he was moaning that I was forcing him to run too fast moved up to the quicker group with Blackledge, Bruce and Kimpton for second set. Moving well on most of them. 39 wd
PM 25 recovery - don't usually do runs this short but just felt like it!

Wednesday: 66 inc. 4 x strides. Club run up the river and then went around uni parks and did some strides with Anupam. Really trying to include strides as often as possible.

Thursday: PM 15 wu 4 sets of 1000, 100 jog, 400 harder with 2 minutes recovery. With intercounties started off very slowly whilst McGurk bombed it off. Just sat in with Johnson and Ledger for first two then me and Sean started the work. Very pleased with how I was moving on the 400s with comfortable 68s through-out. Ks were 3:13,08,06,03 23 wd and then some light work on steeplechase barrier (trying to work out how to push off one and land without shattering my back!)

Friday: 28 recovery.

Saturday: 15 wu, Intercounties 173rd 42:53 (see race report), 10 wd

Sunday: 1:30:39/14.78 miles/ 6:08 pace. Was too hungover/sleepy to make morning run so instead went out on my own in the evening along the canals. Unfortunately towards the end got pretty dark and couldn't really see my footing. Mile splits... 6:39, 5:44, 6:13, 6:18, 6:06, 6:13, 6:19, 5:44, 6:07, 5:47, 6:18, 6:19, 6:24, 6:23, and then the last 0.78 miles were at 5:08 pace.

WEEK TOTAL: 509 minutes / 68 miles

Two very good weeks of training. Got some very nice kms in the previous week as that's the first time I've run sub 3 since last summer. Hilary Cuppers was a very reasonable performance and the hills session I was especially pleased with as hills are definitely my nemesis. Second week I've just been absolutely loving my running and really struggling not to go out for lots of extra runs (kept it down to only an extra 8 miles!). Also to run fairly comfortable 68s off short recovery from the kms was pleasant. Nicer weather and losing the cold (finally!!!) has just generally massively improved my mood. Plus after a dip in race performances some sort of stability is a bit more positive. Trying to do lots of strides at the moment and hamstring stretching to be in reasonable nick for fast running in the summer.

First intercounties- 173rd a reasonable if not great run. In a couple of years I think I can make the top 100 and to be honest I was one of the younger runners in the field. I think I can move a "minute" up the field for next year at least and looking at the runners in that sort of bracket (Paul Adams and Pete Tucker sorts) my possible debut marathon target could well be achievable.

Full winter review up shortly.

Race Report- Wollaton Park

UK Inter-Counties Championships & IAAF World Trials Senior Men 12km -7/3/2009

It's always a little bit different when an event is televised as you have a weird start time (2:38!), and they always hold you up for ages before the gun goes for the camera to pan along the field, though whether it saw me in the depths of the Hertfordshire pen I have no idea. Sky Sports 3 is a big deal though as this is pretty much the only domestic televised XC race.

The race is roughly 4 laps, with each loop going up a hill near the start, continuing on uneven ground until you open up to a flat straight where you charge down until you hit a very muddy corner and turn into the wind. Whereupon you loop back on yourself into a short wooded area, before returning more or less back to where you were and cutting back towards the finish. On most laps you then cut left again on a long loop over fairly solid ground, with only occasional sand put down for the roads, before going back up the hill - but on the final lap you continue onwards into a 200m finishing straight.

My race was slightly poor, in that I started quite far back and didn't really get involved. I was actually in last place very near the start! I quickly moved through the field though and made up a great deal of places. (Unlike some races like the national, where everyone can enter everyone in this race has been selected as part of their 9 man county team, and so the field is much smaller but a fairly high quality - one chap who was 30th from last is a UK Ultra Representative with a sub 2:40 marathon to his name!).

Whilst I don't think I ever really committed to this race, I certainly didn't slow down much on my 4 laps and was pretty rapidly moving up the field and gradually reeling athletes in. Unfortunately looking at the results afterwards, there are a lot of names that I would really like to have beaten only about 30 seconds ahead of me! Unfortunately by moving my way up I didn't realise who was ahead of me until I saw the results afterwards - especially with everyone in a different coloured vest to usual!

Not an amazing result but certainly a very solid one for my debut senior intercounties, finishing in the top 2/3rds of the field and hopefully quite promising for the future.

Easy, Steady or Recovery- Which is Which?

Commonly when I turn up to a club steady you can hear people, all of similar ability, discussing the upcoming run. "Well I just want an easy run tonight", "Well I raced at the weekend so I really want a recovery run", "hopefully it'll be a good steady pace".

Perhaps more worryingly after the run someone will comment "it was a fairly steady pace today" to which someone else will respond " do you mean too fast or too slow?"

I think there's a huge amount of confusion present as to what exactly is a steady run, what is an easy run and what's a recovery run and I certainly know that in my mind I've been guilty of mashing all three up together mentally. It is only now that I think I'm coming to an understanding of what each three mean.

You can say "well does this really matter all that much?" but to my mind it is one of the key things in the Lydiard approach which thousands of runners across the word follow which is majorly misconstrued.

Okay so looking at each term one by one and I'll put my view with it.

Firstly, recovery running, this is the slowest pace around. For me it is only one step short of walking and is generally from 8:30-10 minute miling. Maybe 8 minute miling on a good day. If you've seen me out on a recovery run then you'll be amazed that I can actually run considerably faster as I'm usually totally wrapped up to stay nice and warm and just generally taking my time. I'll regularly stop for a quick look around and just enjoy myself.

The purpose of recovery running is to loosen up the muscles slightly and get the blood flowing back through the muscles. It seems to get rid of a lot of soreness and just generally make you less prone to injury. It also must have some cappilarization effect and the like and obviously still burns off a fair few calories. In fact if you do need to lose some weight running at this pace is often the most effective as you can generally cover a lot more distance and it burns a higher ratio of fat. Aerobically it probably contributes something but generally not a great deal to my mind.

Easy running for me goes from 7:00-8:00 mm. This run should have an aerobic component but it shouldn't feel too difficult or hard. I think a lot of people run into the trap of using a pace like this for their "steady" runs without understanding that the aerobic and LT benefits that come from a steady run are actually at a faster pace and that currently there is a definitely underused area for development. The purpose of this pace is for limited aerobic development and for the general benefits of getting the "miles in" as it is a convenient pace to work at that stays conversational but I do worry that it isn't the most effective pace to run at. Are we in danger of running at a comfortable pace as opposed to an effective one? For an athlete in good shape whilst these runs do indeed have a use they do seem at times just fillers in a schedule but perhaps the most use they have comes when doing them in large quantities and using them to boost a schedule from a comparatively light 50 miles a week to 70 or more? Certainly even in the athletes who run 100 mile weeks the general sessions seem to be broadly similar in terms of distance covered with the bulk of the difference being more of "these" miles which may have long term cumulative effects.

So now onto the final one. Steady running itself. For me this is a term that seems manifestly misused and for a given athlete can seem to mean anything from sub 6mm to 9mm! Basically anything that isn't "race" pace (well apart from marathon) or walking. To me steady (or at least whichever term you like to use to describe it - part of this piece is I hope to establish (if only for myself!) a more consistent vernacular (is that word made up??? possibly) implies a strong aerobic effort. You shouldn't be wheezing or killing yourself but you should certainly be aware that you're moving at a fair clip. A full blown conversation about life, death and taxes shouldn't be possible but the odd few words should certainly be there! For me steady running mostly comprises of running between 5:45-6:30 minute miling. 6:30-7:00 generally tends to be an easy run where I'm going too fast by mistake. This pace has strong aerobic benefits and starts at literally just a touch slower than tempo running. I've only recently started trying to do a run at this pace more regularly and hope to long-term include a few more of them. They stay relevant as at 800m/1500m they help you with aerobic conditioning which is potentially a weak area whilst as a marathon runner they get you conditioned at close to race pace. This is the strong aerobic pace that I believe Lydiard was talking about.

Interestingly reading pieces by Marius Bakken (which partly inspired me to write this) he claims the Kenyans do a substantial amount of training at just below their LT which pretty much exactly agrees with my 5:45 pace and there are apparently a great deal of benefits to be had from working at this sub-LT pace compared to working at substantially above or below it. The link to the articles is here... Marius Kenyan Principles and I would strongly advise everyone to have a browse through as it is interesting stuff.

I do feel that there is the temptation when putting a training schedule together to include "Tuesday and Thursday rep or tempo sessions, Sunday long run and the rest as just steady or recovery running". This means that whilst you are likely covering very effectively 1500-10 mile race paces with repetition running at a faster pace and a tempo run and you are likely running a great deal at a much slower pace, certainly for me, there is a big gap between 5:30(tempo) and 7:15 (most easy running) where I do little training in and for a distance runner this is perhaps the key area. Relatively long, extended and entirely aerobic efforts. With reps lasting often a maximum of 5 minutes then there is often a real gap where strong protracted aerobic efforts are and I think that may be the reason why some athletes "train" so well, whilst racing poorly. Whilst regular tempo runs close this gap to a great extent, they can often be taxing on the body and equivalent to a "rep" session. Steady running at an appropriate pace is a vital ingredient to training that is often misunderstood and results in a significant pace bracket being ignored.

Training Week Commencing 16/2/2009

Well with the disastrous Sunday run last week this was always going to be a bad weeks running. The aim for me this week was just to "maintain" my endurance hopefully with around a 30 mile week and hopefully add some faster stuff in towards the end of the week. Also I was reading some interesting material on Kenyans and their steady runs (I'll do a longer article on this shortly) and wanted to try running a faster "steady" for once as I currently feel I get bogged down too much in the middle steady/easy pace which isn't really recovery or a good aerobic effort. For me this is about 7-8mm.

Monday: Rest day (was still clearly not well)
Tuesday: Rest day (and again)
Wednesday: 51:54 club run around Oxrad with a slightly faster finish with Alex and Martin. Legs were turning over well but still struggling with the chest.
Thursday: 16 wund Club Track Sess of 4 x 4 x 400 @ 10k/5k/3k/5k [45/lap jog] this session can I think be done all at 3k pace or faster but I tried to stick roughly to the paces. First 3 sets were all roughly 77/74/71/74 with the final set me working a little bit harder and doing 74/69/69/71 (added a sprint 100m finish afterwards). Relaxed session to get me back into it.
Friday: 32 steady. Faster run with the first 5 and last 7 minutes easy but the middle 20 at around or just below 6mm. (see above)
Saturday: 60. Probably around 20 minutes of this run was at 6mm but was much more broken up with slower patches of running as didn't want to tire myself with the race coming up.
Sunday: 20 warm-up, 1500m Indoors at Birmingham 4th 4:22. 47 warm-down/steady. Also managed to get a 15 minute massage for £4 subsidised by midland athletics.

Totals: 270 minutes / 36 miles (ish)

Considering that I entered this week fairly ill and with an annoying hip and quad niggle and am leaving it on the road to recovery (though I think body is still weak from illness) and niggle-free (as much as any runner can be) I'm generally quite pleased. Also the mileage is perhaps slightly deceptive as normally I divide by 7.5 to get a mileage estimate as despite sessions being fast I do a lot of "recovery" and "easy" running at about 8-9mm and the slowest I ran this week was about 7:30 so probably more like 40 miles.

Race report: 1500m was always going to be a stretch having not run anything faster than 68 for 400m and nothing faster than 70/lap for anything longer than 400m. I set of with a target pace of 68/lap or 4:15. I was running reasonably well but unfortunately most people started off too fast and were just dying so no sooner did I catch someone then I had to go round them with no chance for me to draft at all (in retrospect I might have been better going with the lead group and trying to hang on). I wasn't far off at 800m but struggled over the final 700. No problem with breathing, lactic acid build up (surprisingly little in fact!) or tiredness I just couldn't get my legs to move fast enough. Whilst a bit dissappointed this is a second faster than I opened outdoors last year about 2 months down the line and I can tell there is an awful lot more in the tank. I'm hoping the illness is a factor as well.

If I want to run a faster 1500m I need to:-
A) improve my base speed [strides and 150s],
B) Improve my just general work at paces below 70 seconds as right now 68 is about as fast as my body knows how to run [200-800s @ 66-70]
C) Learn to generate some lactate and run hard with it in the system [400-600 HARD]

Will post a longer bit on thgouhts about steadies, easy running and recovery running tomorrow hopefully...

Training With Illness

Okay, I'm officially sick of being sick. I've been diagnosed with sinusitis and as I swallow another antibiotic with my beer (Leffe Blonde is fantastic stuff, not as good as Leffe Brune but still good!) as I finally start to feel better after nearly 3 weeks of feeling like hell I'm left to reflect on what it's been like training whilst ill.

Thankfully I've had nothing serious (only Sinusitis and a mild case at that by some of the accounts I've read!) but even so it's clearly taken a toll on my body. Oddly enough I haven't raced badly at all but this mays imply be a funciton of me being in very good shape and it feeling like I'm racing okay despite actually racing badly because of the shape I'm in. Does that make sense? Possibly.

What it's really hit me on has been the steady running. Those who know me know tha ti am a massive proponent of lots of very slow running and that has been fine on me. Similarly whilst some interval sessions have been poor provided I haven't tried to push myself they actually haven't been too bad as long as I accomodate for an extra second or two a lap. The steady running however has been horrendous with me hobbling around like a drunken imbecile. Going on the club run on Sunday I was falling badly off the pace at something near 7 minute miling having previously raced at close to 5 minute miling the previous day!

Despite symptons being fairly easily masked by vast quantities of Lemsip and later Sudafed and me actually feeling okay over the weekend I could definitely tell that something wasn't right. Running unfortunately reveals all the problems, aches and pains in your body that you'd like to pretend weren't there. In some ways that's what I love about the sport that it strips you bare, but sometimes I really would like to just hide!

Okay. So having run through the sickness more or less (one additional rest day) a few pointers that I think may well help someone else with a bad cold or the like. Not something as minor as a headache or the sniffles but something not quite as bad as the flu!

1. Don't do steady running with groups. Even if it normally feels at an easy pace for you either run with just one other person or on your own. Trying to force your body to run with others (especially if a lot of talking is required!) can cause a lot of problems. Just relax and run your own pace.

2. Interval sessions: temper them down by another second or two a lap if you have to do them. Understand that your body won't be able to take the strain and if you're "fighting" to stay on a pace then drop off. Accept that you won't be able to run withthe people you usually would.

3. Keep runs short and preferrably once a day - even if you usually hit big mileage with double runs you will still maintain fitness and I now believe that illness is something you need to "get through" rather than be trying to improve still within.

4. Think about whatever else you could be imporving right now that isn't aerobic. Whether that's core, balance, drills, light weights etc. Even strides will probably not be too bad. Concentrate on all the subsidiary areas of training that we usually ignore.

Best,
Bryn

Flotrack Work-Out Wednesday - Thoughts

Okay, so this post is based on after just watching the flotrack "Wednesday Workout" (always a great watch) and seeing the session they were doing.

It is definitely worth watching below...

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

For those who haven't watched it the workout is 12 or 16 x 400 at a target HM pace of 68/69 per lap and a fast 200m jog recovery.

Now unsuprisingly I saw a reasonable degree of similarity between this and my own work-out last week! 10 x 400 with a fast 200m jog av. 69. (for a list of excuses as to why this wasn't faster see below!)

The differences were (aside from my illness, running solo, not in spikes didn't think you'd escape that easy did you!)...
A) They are at a very significant altitude
B) They introduced a "Hammer Interval" for every 4th interval.
C) They were meant to be operating at HM pace whilst I was at mile pace.

All of which I think introduce a very interesting element of training.

The first is the sheer effect of altitude training which I don't intend to dwell on at length here but the simple fact is that altitude and the amount of time you spend at it seem to produce the best runners by far. Whilst to some degree there is a selection bias (all best runners are from Kenya and Ethiopia and they are at altitude which therefore means that people assume altitiude creates great runners and so the best runners go to altitiude, particularly when trying to break into "the best") the evidence does seem to be on the side of altitude training as a very useful tool. Altitude does however slow you down on runs considerably, particularly it appears when trying to operate at anything much above a walk.

The second interesting part is the "hammer interval" which is an interesting device in two ways. In the first it concentrates the athlete on not racing the other reps but keeping them consistent with their competitive juices being allowed to flow on the hammer interval. It also introduces significant levels of lactate to the blood stream (yes I am aware that lactate isn't the direct cause of the "rigging" up you get and that there is a complicated process that leads to it but that is unimportant I think for the purpose of this) and so giving the body an introduction to the high level of lactate concentration in the "off" season keeping the system "maintained". It also then allows the body to get used to running with higher lactate levels at a HM pace and whilst a HM will rarely use the lactate levels being able to switch from HM pace to a faster pace is very important and particularly when looking at covering mid-race surges (partly possible due to lower lactate levels whilst ina flat out 1500m it is near impossible) it could be very useful to get preparation done at experiencing that lactate levle and then settling back into HM pace. Particularly the pace the athletes had on the final rep was very impressive. I still need to think a bit more about exactly the benefit that hitting random(?) intervals hard in the middle of a session has but I'm certainly interested.

The third interesting part was the work-out itself- particularly in reference to my below post about running work-outs slower sometimes. As a fairly respectable work-out they were considering doing 12 x 400 @ HM pace with 200 jog. Altitude and hammer intervals excepted that really isn't a particularly difficult work-out and I'm not saying that as a bad thing at all (even pushing it out to 16x400 it still isn't that difficult as it's roughly the same amount of work @ their tempo pace as a 20 minute tempo run)! It's the sort of work-out that gets the legs turning over a bit whilst not pushing the body amazingly hard aerobically allowing for long-term continued development. They could undoubtedly hit that workout week-in, week-out and come race-day they will be able to race significantly faster. They're training not racing and that is a great thing.

Personally I think incorporating more work-outs like this (maybe at sea-level dropping the pace down to 10k pace?) could well be a very interesting addition to a training program and definitely worth thinking about hammer intervals and their use in keeping speed topped up.

Great video by the flotrack guys and keep up the great work. Same to all the guys with McMillan and especially our own Andrew Lemoncello.

Training Week Commencing 9th Feb 2009

Hey people,

Before this weeks training just to say that if you are reading you can leave a comment below- always interesting to get people's feedback!

Mon: 60 easy. Still had the bad cold so I took the slow group as usual on a Monday night but due to the ice we ended up running with the fast group. Nice relaxed pace with a bit added on the end for those of us who needed more.

Tue: 20 wund 10 x 400 [200 in 60 sec recovery] Av. 69. Rather than do my first speed endurance session outdoors on a cold and icy track I decided to head into London and do it indoors in Lee Valley. Met old training partners Horse and Carlisle doing their warm-down after their session (our minibus trip took forever) and had a good natter with them. Session was generally okay given the cold was pretty bad. 10 x 400 @ PB 1500m pace with the fairly short recoveries is not a bad start.

Wednesday: AM 65 steady/easy - headed out to the golf course on club run and then did some extra felt pretty bad. PM 40 easy with Mike and Sean on Marston Ferry really struggled at points and clearly not well.

Thursday: Rest- was meant to be doing a session today but woke with a splitting headache and could barely move. Went to nurse and she diagnosed me with sinusitis and doctor promptly prescribed nose drops and antibiotics for if it got any worse

Friday: 60 easy with Jan. Lot better than yesterday but still in pain. Did a nice run up to Godstow and through the ruins.

Saturday: Hyde Park Relays 4th leg 16:44 unofficial Started in about 6th place overall I think as 4th leg on the B-team (would have been on A team but for the sinusitis). Breathing still screwed and didn't run particularly well. Didn't help that I was totally isolated apart from lapping runners and overtaking Stuart Brill from UEA who is an awesome 2/4 guy who to his credit always has a go at the longer stuff. Team of Jonny Pearson(-Stuttard?), Jamie Darling, Matt Hawcroft, Me, Anupam Das and Matt Johnson managed to get 4th place overall only being beaten by Ox Uni A team, Filthy Tabs and Bristol and the C team got 6th place! Considering we were missing Tom Samuels, Joe Mercer, Nick Howarth, Chris McGurk, Garrett Ash, Matt Simms (sorry anyone I've missed out!) we could feasibly have managed to put 4 teams in the top 6! Quadricep was sore on warm-up but didn't notice it during race but did during warm down so cut it short at ten minutes

Sunday: AM 80 steady/easy PM 25 easy Went on club run to SHotover in the morning and was really struggling badly despite a fairly pedestrian pace. Nose running like anything and getting dropped up Southparks Hills. Got lose on the way back and 70 minute run turned into 80 minutes. Evening run was much better all round.

Weekly total: 437 minutes/ 58 miles

On the whole a slighty dissappointing week but given the sinusitis I'm amazed I only dropped 13 minutes over the whole week. Could have made it up on the final run but decided that would be stupid. Whilst not particularly pleased with the session or the run at Hyde Park considering the illness which really is making me feel pretty bad, they are both satisfactory if not great. At least I know there's more to come!

Onto the Boards

So. It's cold outside. Cold, wet and miserable. And icy.

With these thoughts in my mind and with my first speed endurance session of the year about to begin (and with a horrendous cold that has since been diagnosed as sinusitis) I opted to travel to London to run my session indoors as opposed to messing around on a cold and icy track.

WIth only sprinters, jumpers and misguided distance runners doing short sessions and Dane being ill I was left to run the session entirely by myself.

Session was 10 x 400 with 60 seconds recovery but covering 200m in that 60 seconds which isn't that slow! Target was around or just under 70 which is my 1500m PB pace. I'm in the shape right now I think to run much faster but this cold is really taking a hell of a lot out of me.

Anyways, running solo, with cold, in flats, indoors (trying to think of more excuses here...) I managed to average 69 seconds which whilst not great definitely hit the necessary areas.

But on a more wider view- it was fantastic to be training in a shorts and vest comfortably in the middle of winter. I really enjoyed training on the indoor track and think that particularly when you're trying to introduce speed work in then doing it indoors drastically reduces the risk of you pulling something. It's just a good idea and makes a really nice mental change.

I'm now hoping to race a bit indoors and hopefully run some PBs and just generally get back into a track mentality. My endurance has always been great so it's the speed that will make progress for me. When I get closer to my target event I will be doing sessions like 5 x k @3k pace or 8 x k @ 5k pace but for right now working on the speed will hopefully bring greater benefits later.

Also great to catch Horse and Carlisle warming down from their session and have a good natter.

No photo this time unfortunately!

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.

Stuck in the Mud

I had an interval session today. Usually we go to University Parks and run on the relatively hard dirt path there. Instead due to the ice we went to South Parks an altogether grassy and muddy affair. To put it frankly I sunk.

I tend to have a very heavy and direct footfall which is extremely helpful when running on the roads. My stride is exceptionally short (in the middle of a track rep a training partner once turned to me and asked how I was taking two strides for his one!) and usually creates a very wasteful "slapping" noise but in a lot of ways this seems to help me on the roads. Each step I slam down comes back up with almost as much force which is fantastic and helps push me onto the next stride. The track gives a bit less response but still reasonable. Unfortunately when I then transition onto the grass and the country I end up losing all of that energy as it is directly absorbed into the ground. It is noticeable that in my best XC running this year it has been on courses which were mostly frozen over and often allowing me to run in even my road racing flats! Given a choice I choose my flats every time as can be seen in the picture below in the middle of a XC race.

So what does this tell us? Unfortunately not a great deal that we didn't already know. Some runners will run better on roads, some track and some XC. What it does perhaps suggest is that when training with other runners that sometimes you need to adjust your pacing and take the ego out of the equation a little. Yes when it comes to a road 10k I can beat runner Y by a minute but when it comes to hilly muddy and tough work-outs (Runner Y's speciality. Runner Y is a bit of a monster) then perhaps I need to step back a little and run with Runner Y rather than straining to keep ahead.

It also suggests that before running a succesful XC season, unless you manage to plan all of your races to be on fairly hard courses, you should be doing specific work-outs on the mud and the country rather than just roads, tracks, trails and light grass and that hopefully you will become more adapted to it. On the other-hand whilst I am sure you can improve on the country by training extensively on it the question remains as to whether this will improve your performances on other surfaces or remove some of the "advantage" you had on them.

I'm hopeful that the additional strength I gain by training on the country will pay off in terms of longer stride length and the like and that it will turn out to be very useful in the long run but for the moment I remain depressed that I go rapidly backwards when I start running on anything grass-esque. I am quite willing to accept this however if my main focus (the roads and then track) aren't affected at all but I do intend to keep an eye on this. Provided the gains are in addition rather than instead of I will be veyr happy. All I can hope for is that my XC courses remain frosted over for the forseeable future otherwise!




Racing in the Hertfordshire XC championships in racing flats. Thankfully the course was fairly frozen over and I was able to race to 8th place in my Herts Champs senior debut after taking second the year beforehand. I'm currently running with people in around 20th place. Without noticeably increasing my pace I ended up moving up to 8th within the first mile fairly swiftly as a lot of other runners were already dying but that's a matter for the next post...

Running Slower Makes You Faster

The most common advice given to new runners by the grizzled veterans is "run more, run slower". Whilst this is invaluable it is the next step in the progression that I think there are benefits available. Once you're running more and slower, then go run some intervals.

There is nothing quite like a well run interval session. Whilst a race has it's own feel and experience you always need to keep a little in check for that kick or to cover a move by another athlete with a constantly "forward" goal. An interval session can be relentless in it's intensity. Often covering 8 or 10,000 metres of running at 5,000 metre pace with relatively short recoveries. Unfortunately to many athletes these intervals often become races in themselves. Whether this takes the form of them racing their training partners or just trying to run each rep or the whole session faster than they've ever done before.

When you see people straining flat out and watching their form totally disintegrate you have to ask "how much is this helping"? How often in races do we see someone in this kind of distress (Neilson Hall and Tom Cornthwaite excepted!) and being able to race succesfully? They're taking advantage of being able to generate a level of lactic acid in their body in order to finish reps quickly and use the breaks to let the level go down. Whilst there's certainly room in training for developing lactic tolerance it shouldn't be in long reps in which the primary aim is aerobic development.

Far better instead to take just one second, maybe two per lap which is really not a great deal and all of a sudden instead of straining and overstriding you're running at a relaxed powerful cadence which you can keep up for a entire race. Whilst there is a point available in that you should train at your current 5k pace people train at their "5k pace" were they in a race and fully tapered whilst in the middle of a training week having done a session two days before hand and a large number of miles, that second a lap is probably getting you closer to your actual 5k pace on that day.

Since becoming aware of this and trying to take my ego out of the equation interval sessions are more consistent, relaxed and I can see the effects in my racing.

Train don't strain.

Racing at the South of England XC Championships in an absolute mud-bath. I took 94th place in my senior debut which was a slightly disspapointing run but a very high quality field. Whilsta dissappointing run I beat a fair few runners I had never beaten before and it's a mark of the progress I've made in the last few months that this was a "bad" run for me. 3 months ago I would likely have been delighted!

Just behind me is Dan Thompson of Hillingdon AC who I actually got narrowly outsprinted by in one of my first ever XC races in the Met League U17s. I misjudged the finish, kicked clear and then realised I still had 300m to go!