am: 40 mins easy + strides
5.5mi
I slept like a log last night even though I was on a very suspect matress. I got up around 0930, had some cereal and then took the dog over to Deptford Park for an easy run. I tried to see this morning's run in a positive manner as it is good that there is a grass park less than 200m from my Grandparents house - the fact the perimeter is probably only 800m is the drawback. It was a beautiful day but roasting hot! Luckily I was in the shade of trees for almost all my run so I barely sweated despite the temperature. I felt fresh and bouncy today; a nice change from yesterday. Still, I felt tired when I stopped despite running at such an easy pace although I think the heat had a lot to do with that. Running with Molly the Labrador was an experience as she is no Wilson, that’s for sure; I think she hit the wall after 2mi or so! Both Achilles were really stiff when I started jogging but ok after a couple of minutes. I didn’t take an anti-histamine pre-run out of forgetfulness which was a bit silly as I was sneezing like buggery last night when I took the dog to the park. I did a few strides just to stretch my legs. My Grandad had been at work this morning so he had a nap until about 1300 and I just watched some TV. After lunch we went to visit my Gran in hospital and it took us forever to get there. Thanks to some protestors in Trafalgar Square some of the roads were closed but on the upside I got to see the sites as we had to cross the bridge and go around Parliament Square before doubling back. After finally getting to St Thomas Hospital I was astonished at what I saw. It was like bloody Meadowhall on the ground floor! An M&S, a splattering of restaurants and a souvenir shop. The latter really takes the biscuit. Come on now, who buys a souvenir at the hospital? Every time you glance at the mantel piece to see a hand-held replica of Westminster Abbey there is the reminder of when you tried in vain to shit those kidney stones out, culminating in the Doctor having to getting them out for you. Anyway, rant over. Back on topic. I wasn't at the hospital to buy Percy Pigs, some of you will know that my Gran isn't very well. I didn't think I'd be hugely affected but when I saw her sat in her ward I found it quite distressing. She looked incredibly frail and as awful as it sounds part of me thought she'd be better off passing away. She was jsut staring at the wall when we got there but came around a lot and was chatty enough. I think when it gets to the point of just sitting in a ward all day, medicated up to your eye balls then it is not really living. We left about 90 mins later as she had to go for a scan; I won't bore you with the details of the conversations in this hour and a half. Seeing what my Grandad was like in the hospital makes me glad that I happened to be down on a weekend where he would otherwise have been lonely in the house as he was so drained after we left. We got back to the house and listened to the end of the play-off final astonished that Blackpool are going to be in the Premier League next year; hats off. I made some dinner when my Grandad and Aunt went to Church and then headed off to get the tube to St Pancras International. People were passing out in the Underground due to the heat! I was mightily impressed by the new EuroStar terminal and killed time by looking around it and its various shops. I bought 'The Winning Mind' by Seb Coe and read the first 30 or so pages on the train to Loughborough. Despite being in First Class there was no wi-fi so I missed the Champions League Final! Strangely Lewis and Peersy rocked up at Loughborough Station in a posh Passat Saloon; it turns out it was Lewis' girlfriend's company car. It was gone 10pm when I got to their house - an incredibly nice one for students! I slept in Singhy's room - a Burnley fanatic - in a comfortable bed that I was grateful for.
Saturday 22 May 2010
Friday 21 May 2010
A Very Short Post
am: Easy 40 mins on canal trails
pm: Travelled to London on train
5mi
I'll keep this brief as I achieved very little on Friday and I'm currently catching up on blog posts. I got up, packed for the weekend ahead, did a run and then got the train to London. I got lost on the tube a bit for eventually reached my Grandparents' house in south-east London at around 7pm. It was great to catch up with my Grandad as I haven't seen him more than a year. We has fish & chips and just generally caught up until about midnight. My Aunt Jill told me the next morning how much brighter he'd been for having me around so that in itself has made the trip down here worthwhile. Here's my training log entry for today's run where I felt terrible:
I ran through Millennium & on the canal trails. I felt quite shit today, very ploddy. It was stiflingly hot & humid which didn’t help but I was just uncomfortable. I made myself run very slowly as my HR seemed to be escalating if I ran a bit quicker. I was a little worried about this but Dad reckons it’s nothing to worry about as long as I was running well into my easy zone. The dog struggled in the heat even more than I! My calves were a bit stiff, not tight or sore, to begin with but eased quickly. I was down to run an hour but cut it down as I saw little point in running that slowly, feeling shit and having to keep tabs on my HR.
pm: Travelled to London on train
5mi
I'll keep this brief as I achieved very little on Friday and I'm currently catching up on blog posts. I got up, packed for the weekend ahead, did a run and then got the train to London. I got lost on the tube a bit for eventually reached my Grandparents' house in south-east London at around 7pm. It was great to catch up with my Grandad as I haven't seen him more than a year. We has fish & chips and just generally caught up until about midnight. My Aunt Jill told me the next morning how much brighter he'd been for having me around so that in itself has made the trip down here worthwhile. Here's my training log entry for today's run where I felt terrible:
I ran through Millennium & on the canal trails. I felt quite shit today, very ploddy. It was stiflingly hot & humid which didn’t help but I was just uncomfortable. I made myself run very slowly as my HR seemed to be escalating if I ran a bit quicker. I was a little worried about this but Dad reckons it’s nothing to worry about as long as I was running well into my easy zone. The dog struggled in the heat even more than I! My calves were a bit stiff, not tight or sore, to begin with but eased quickly. I was down to run an hour but cut it down as I saw little point in running that slowly, feeling shit and having to keep tabs on my HR.
Thursday 20 May 2010
First Pre-Race Blog: Loughborough International
I thought it was appropriate to put up how I feel about Saturday's race as I've been thinking about it a lot these past days. I am going to visit my ill Grandmother in London tomorrow which I am actually looking forward to; at the time I booked my train it was a bit of a chore. I think getting away for the couple of days before Sunday should keep me relaxed so I am not obsessing. The start list went up for Loughborough 3k the other day and it is difficult not to be intimidated by such a high class field. I rationalised things as quickly as I could and really nothing has changed just because they put the field online. I knew I was putting myself in a race where I’d be one of the slowest and I still know that if I run my own race and to my form I’ll have no problems, regardless of who is running (to a certain extent anyway!). the feeling of anxiety soon changed to one of excitement as at the end of the day, everyone in that race expects to beat me so what have I got to lose? The negativity that tries to seep in is over fears like ‘I don’t want to get really detached and look a clown’ and/or ‘I’ve been to altitude fir 3 weeks and people are bound to expect me to run well.’ I can honestly say that during a race it has never crossed my mind to think about other people’s reaction to my performance so why should I be worried about it before the race? When the start lists went up I briefly spoke with Phil and I could easily sense his concern: ‘are you going to be ok in that race?’ and I immediately answered ‘it’s about time I was.’ I’ve been to watch this race for each of the last 3 years, every time leaving with the desire to run in it next time. This is that year and I know that come Sunday, when I’m walking along the back straight, every sinew stiffened every sense on edge, that there’s nowhere else I’d rather be. Don’t get me wrong, this race is not the pinnacle of my running career or even my season, but I cannot help feeling the significance of this race trying to escape from inside me in the days leading up. Is this the race where I finally make some sort of breakthrough? I certainly feel a bit more under pressure after the fantastic performances of friends and rivals over the last few days but if they can do it, why can’t I? Anyway, however it goes on Sunday, at least I’ve documented how I’m feeling and maybe it will be helpful to others to see my thought process; I know I feel better for having written all this down. How about that for a first pre-race blog?
The Captain is Back
am: Easy 30 mins on trails
pm: 8 x 200 stride/200 jog(75 secs)-30, 30, 30, 29, 29, 29, 30, 28
11.5mi
I slept until I woke up this morning, which was 0840, as I could go into work a little later (I got there about 0945). Today is the first day that I have felt back to normal totally when performing simple daily tasks although I had a restless night’s sleep last night. I had a simple morning at work and then went to meet the Kid for an easy 30 at 1130. This morning I saw the results of Watford last night and was delighted to see Captain Craig Gundersen had obliterated his 3k PB despite a winter of injury - great job skip. The last couple of days have seen some great performances from BUAC guys but special praise should go to Gundo and Josh Gorecki (3.50) for putting months of injury trouble behind them to record huge personal bests. So, I met the Kid and we ran on some twisty trails and then around Kirkstall Abbey. I am now pretty sure I am hay-feverish as I felt really good before I ran but as soon as I went outside and started to jog I felt heavy, had a tight-chest and was generally sluggish. My HR was higher than it should be and the temperature was close to 20 degrees. I presume the pollen count is high because of the heat and humidity so I’m going to start on my meds this evening. For some reason, I usually suffer from hay-fever at the start of summer and then it is ok after 2 or 3 weeks. Last summer I benefited massively from the tablets so I’ll use them again and see the impact. So, I ran with the Kid at a very easy pace but felt poor. I suppose the main positive is that I had no niggles but I felt rubbish and had a higher HR than usual. I enjoyed this run still as I haven't seen much of Nick for 2 months or so and it was nice to have a general catch up. It is good to hear he is stepping his running up again after injury and he seemed genuinely positive about his progress. We said our goodbyes as I split off and he carried on. I had a shower and some lunch and then cracked on with some work. I managed to finish all my separate pieces for the Pakistan vs Australia Test match except for one that needs finalising. I was delighted to find a new route to the train station and so I didn't have to do the last minute downhill sprint to make the 11 mins past train. As has been the case for the last week I once again didn't have to buy a ticket from Burley Park along with a young lad on his way to join the army. He seemed like a good guy and I wished him luck and said I hadn't the courage to be a soldier as I'd be shit scared. He said 'best place for me, can't get a job!' Fair enough! I watched the last ever Friends episode so any of you that have seen it will understand why I was in such good spirits on my way to training! I had the pleasant surprise of seeing 800m star Lil Mikey Salter when I got to training despite rumours that he'd be back in Birmingham for big sesh. This lifted my spirits yet further. I presume I have this a bit from McLeod and a bit from Ali, but I seem to start my warm up jogs very, very slowly now - me and Ali were about 50m behind once we'd been through the car park! I felt bouncy on drills and quickly got on with what was really a glorified session of strides. I felt much better this evening but I still do not feel fresh. I trained in my cross spikes and didn’t suffer from tight calves at all. I felt very comfortable running 30s which I can churn out like clockwork at the moment, but I ran a lot harder off the bend on the final rep without being able to go much quicker! That was a little concerning but I really haven’t done any 15-specific stuff so I can’t argue with that. I don’t have much else to write really. It was very warm and pretty windy tonight, but generally nice for running. I did a bit longer warm down as I was waiting around for the boys and then headed off home. I just missed out on getting Fish & Chips as my mum phoned whilst I wa sin the queue to say she had made dinner; gutted. After dinner, a couple more episodes of 'Strike Back' and ''Question Time' I was ready to hit the hay, though yet again I did not feel tired in the evening.
pm: 8 x 200 stride/200 jog(75 secs)-30, 30, 30, 29, 29, 29, 30, 28
11.5mi
I slept until I woke up this morning, which was 0840, as I could go into work a little later (I got there about 0945). Today is the first day that I have felt back to normal totally when performing simple daily tasks although I had a restless night’s sleep last night. I had a simple morning at work and then went to meet the Kid for an easy 30 at 1130. This morning I saw the results of Watford last night and was delighted to see Captain Craig Gundersen had obliterated his 3k PB despite a winter of injury - great job skip. The last couple of days have seen some great performances from BUAC guys but special praise should go to Gundo and Josh Gorecki (3.50) for putting months of injury trouble behind them to record huge personal bests. So, I met the Kid and we ran on some twisty trails and then around Kirkstall Abbey. I am now pretty sure I am hay-feverish as I felt really good before I ran but as soon as I went outside and started to jog I felt heavy, had a tight-chest and was generally sluggish. My HR was higher than it should be and the temperature was close to 20 degrees. I presume the pollen count is high because of the heat and humidity so I’m going to start on my meds this evening. For some reason, I usually suffer from hay-fever at the start of summer and then it is ok after 2 or 3 weeks. Last summer I benefited massively from the tablets so I’ll use them again and see the impact. So, I ran with the Kid at a very easy pace but felt poor. I suppose the main positive is that I had no niggles but I felt rubbish and had a higher HR than usual. I enjoyed this run still as I haven't seen much of Nick for 2 months or so and it was nice to have a general catch up. It is good to hear he is stepping his running up again after injury and he seemed genuinely positive about his progress. We said our goodbyes as I split off and he carried on. I had a shower and some lunch and then cracked on with some work. I managed to finish all my separate pieces for the Pakistan vs Australia Test match except for one that needs finalising. I was delighted to find a new route to the train station and so I didn't have to do the last minute downhill sprint to make the 11 mins past train. As has been the case for the last week I once again didn't have to buy a ticket from Burley Park along with a young lad on his way to join the army. He seemed like a good guy and I wished him luck and said I hadn't the courage to be a soldier as I'd be shit scared. He said 'best place for me, can't get a job!' Fair enough! I watched the last ever Friends episode so any of you that have seen it will understand why I was in such good spirits on my way to training! I had the pleasant surprise of seeing 800m star Lil Mikey Salter when I got to training despite rumours that he'd be back in Birmingham for big sesh. This lifted my spirits yet further. I presume I have this a bit from McLeod and a bit from Ali, but I seem to start my warm up jogs very, very slowly now - me and Ali were about 50m behind once we'd been through the car park! I felt bouncy on drills and quickly got on with what was really a glorified session of strides. I felt much better this evening but I still do not feel fresh. I trained in my cross spikes and didn’t suffer from tight calves at all. I felt very comfortable running 30s which I can churn out like clockwork at the moment, but I ran a lot harder off the bend on the final rep without being able to go much quicker! That was a little concerning but I really haven’t done any 15-specific stuff so I can’t argue with that. I don’t have much else to write really. It was very warm and pretty windy tonight, but generally nice for running. I did a bit longer warm down as I was waiting around for the boys and then headed off home. I just missed out on getting Fish & Chips as my mum phoned whilst I wa sin the queue to say she had made dinner; gutted. After dinner, a couple more episodes of 'Strike Back' and ''Question Time' I was ready to hit the hay, though yet again I did not feel tired in the evening.
Wednesday 19 May 2010
A Day At Home
am: Easy 75 mins on the golf course and canal
pm: Drills
10.5mi
So the plan was to sleep in as late as I could. I went to bed about 2230 and was woken up by my Dad at 0930; that's a pretty long sleep. I felt ok, a lot more refreshed than when I've been stumbling around the house, tripping over dogs and knocking over vases for the last week. I got some breakfast and tried to work out if there was a way of recording the Daegu grand prix but there wasn't as it was online/red-button. I was planning on absolutely shuffling this morning so running with Phil & 'Mad' Martin Sanders was good. We were out of the door at 1115 and I was not looking forward to negotiating 75 mins (I've moved my training around a little this week due to a Sunday race). I felt terrible immediately today, just pretty tired. I got going after a mile or so and then felt ok just moving along at an easy pace. I had a long discussion with Martin about marathon running as he wants to get back to 100mi a week and have a good go at running 2.25-2.30 next April; fair play to him. I split off after 30 mins or so and headed for the canal. After about 40 mins I made the commitment to do at least 70 mins by going out to the far bridge near Methley. When I got to the apex of the hill just before it I felt very tired and the rest of the run I had to concentrate on running slowly enough to keep my HR down as it was harder to control than usual. It was pretty windy today and quite hot and humid so I think that is why my HR was a little higher. Phil was unconcerned by it so I am too. Didn’t do strides as I had to eke out the last 5 mins as it was; strides would have been worthless! I watched some athletics and did a bit of stretching over lunch as I had to wait for the plumber to come and go. Once he'd left I ran a hot bath and set up my laptop so I could watch '1968: Black Power Salute' on iplayer. I didn't know half the stuff that was on the documentary so it was a really interesting watch. I watched a couple of old One Tree Hill episodes, put dinner on and then went to do drills. The plan was to jog down or walk down to the canal with the dogs, let them off so they could run around a bit, do my drills session for half an hour or so and jog/walk home. It didn't quite turn out that way. The dogs were very excited when I asked if they wanted to go out but this lasted just a minute or so. Alfie, my King Charles Spaniel, decided after 30 secs of jogging that he wanted to go home so he dug his claws in to the ground and coughed like he was being choked. Embarrassingly this was in front of someone I knew, their helpful input was 'I don't think he wants to go!' I kept trying and for a brief period of 15 seconds Alfie started sprinting down the hill, only to slam the brakes on and begin yelping. I carried him for a bit and tried again but he got worse! I gave up. When both dogs realised we were going towards home they sprinted flat out for the entire 3 mins, so proving that it was pure laziness that caused their behaviour. I did the same drills session from Font Romeu on the drive in my back garden instead. I felt pretty good doing these and had expected to be a bit tired from this morning’s run but I was ok and think I did them pretty well. I had a beef dinner and then watched a new show on Sky One called 'Strike Back' and was very impressed. Writing this blog I have realised that essentially, all I did today was train and watch TV; it was a good day. I went to bed for 1030 to try and get back into a sleeping pattern.
pm: Drills
10.5mi
So the plan was to sleep in as late as I could. I went to bed about 2230 and was woken up by my Dad at 0930; that's a pretty long sleep. I felt ok, a lot more refreshed than when I've been stumbling around the house, tripping over dogs and knocking over vases for the last week. I got some breakfast and tried to work out if there was a way of recording the Daegu grand prix but there wasn't as it was online/red-button. I was planning on absolutely shuffling this morning so running with Phil & 'Mad' Martin Sanders was good. We were out of the door at 1115 and I was not looking forward to negotiating 75 mins (I've moved my training around a little this week due to a Sunday race). I felt terrible immediately today, just pretty tired. I got going after a mile or so and then felt ok just moving along at an easy pace. I had a long discussion with Martin about marathon running as he wants to get back to 100mi a week and have a good go at running 2.25-2.30 next April; fair play to him. I split off after 30 mins or so and headed for the canal. After about 40 mins I made the commitment to do at least 70 mins by going out to the far bridge near Methley. When I got to the apex of the hill just before it I felt very tired and the rest of the run I had to concentrate on running slowly enough to keep my HR down as it was harder to control than usual. It was pretty windy today and quite hot and humid so I think that is why my HR was a little higher. Phil was unconcerned by it so I am too. Didn’t do strides as I had to eke out the last 5 mins as it was; strides would have been worthless! I watched some athletics and did a bit of stretching over lunch as I had to wait for the plumber to come and go. Once he'd left I ran a hot bath and set up my laptop so I could watch '1968: Black Power Salute' on iplayer. I didn't know half the stuff that was on the documentary so it was a really interesting watch. I watched a couple of old One Tree Hill episodes, put dinner on and then went to do drills. The plan was to jog down or walk down to the canal with the dogs, let them off so they could run around a bit, do my drills session for half an hour or so and jog/walk home. It didn't quite turn out that way. The dogs were very excited when I asked if they wanted to go out but this lasted just a minute or so. Alfie, my King Charles Spaniel, decided after 30 secs of jogging that he wanted to go home so he dug his claws in to the ground and coughed like he was being choked. Embarrassingly this was in front of someone I knew, their helpful input was 'I don't think he wants to go!' I kept trying and for a brief period of 15 seconds Alfie started sprinting down the hill, only to slam the brakes on and begin yelping. I carried him for a bit and tried again but he got worse! I gave up. When both dogs realised we were going towards home they sprinted flat out for the entire 3 mins, so proving that it was pure laziness that caused their behaviour. I did the same drills session from Font Romeu on the drive in my back garden instead. I felt pretty good doing these and had expected to be a bit tired from this morning’s run but I was ok and think I did them pretty well. I had a beef dinner and then watched a new show on Sky One called 'Strike Back' and was very impressed. Writing this blog I have realised that essentially, all I did today was train and watch TV; it was a good day. I went to bed for 1030 to try and get back into a sleeping pattern.
Tuesday 18 May 2010
ZA-TO-PEK!
am: Easy 30 on road, grass and trails from the Cricket Ground in Headingley
pm: 5 x (600, 200) 200 jog (80 secs) – 1.43, 1.42, 1.41, 1.41, 1.41, 30, 30, 30, 29, 29 at South Leeds
12.5mi
This morning I felt quite fresh walking to the train station and I was thinking about how I know I’m going to do a good session this evening; I sometimes get this feeling, I don't know why, but it is just when my body doesn't feel especially tired. Unfortunately, this feeling lasted little more than half an hour. I felt a bit sluggish and tired across the morning but once I got running I felt good. No niggles really, a pretty standard half hour on the grass & trails at Beckett Park. I ran from Headingley Stadium to Queenswood Drive and ran around the perimeter of the trails at Carnegie for a lap. It was great weather to run in but I soon found out the plague of green-flies is not isolated to Woodlesford. I got back, had a shower at the indoor cricket centre, ate some lunch and got back to my desk. It took 30 mins or so for me to feel like I was back to square one. I am just physically drained. My 'boss' is away these next 2 days so I am not obliged to come in. I definitely am not tomorrow as I feel like I need a day to catch up on some sleep and try and freshen myself up as apart from the first morning back, I've been getting up early every morning. There is a possibility that a bit of hay-fever could be a contributory factor but I consider that unlikely. I went home at 4pm so I could chill a bit before training and try and recharge the batteries a bit. When Phil and I arrived at South Leeds it was uninspiring to see we only had 5 guys turning up for training. This wasn't what I needed as I felt flat and tired so the prospective of taking all the reps myself didn't fill me with optimism. I had hoped to repeat the success with Smithy from Saturday but he is racing 10k tomorrow. I tried to wake up and concentrate on the jog and drills to get myself going. I felt quite crap this evening and I am feeling very drained a lot at the moment. I decided to feel my way into the session and was more concerned with getting it done than flying on it. I felt very easy but a bit shitty. It was weird, I just didn’t want to run any quicker than I was doing on the 6s so it was as if I found my comfort zone and my body simply wouldn’t come out of it. It wasn’t just a question of speed though as I felt fantastic on the 200s. It’s amazing how much difference, probably psychologically, not leading every rep makes as Elliott took over on rep 3 and it felt like we were jogging for the first 200; I expected the split to be 35 but it was 32! On all the 600s I was running through the line smoothly without any real fatigue. On the 5th one I had the urge to stop and walk as I was started to get a bit tired. Apparently I looked excellent tonight and Phil said it was the best my running form has been for a long time; this has to be good. I could have done another set but Phil said I was best to just do 5. I felt fresh as a daisy warming down, a la Saturday. I got home and watched some of Huddersfield against Millwall and then just lazed about until I felt properly tired as I knew I could sleep in tomorrow and I wanted to fall straight to sleep tonight. As a bit of casual toilet literature I read Emil Zatopek's section in the book 'Running with the Legends' that my Mum bought me a while back. I love everything this guy was about and I doubt anyone will ever rival his achievement of winning 5, 10 and marathon in the Olympics as it is a quite ridiculous feat. I'd recommend this book to anyone as there are about 15 different contributions. I'm not really looking forward to the Lasse Viren one mind...
pm: 5 x (600, 200) 200 jog (80 secs) – 1.43, 1.42, 1.41, 1.41, 1.41, 30, 30, 30, 29, 29 at South Leeds
12.5mi
This morning I felt quite fresh walking to the train station and I was thinking about how I know I’m going to do a good session this evening; I sometimes get this feeling, I don't know why, but it is just when my body doesn't feel especially tired. Unfortunately, this feeling lasted little more than half an hour. I felt a bit sluggish and tired across the morning but once I got running I felt good. No niggles really, a pretty standard half hour on the grass & trails at Beckett Park. I ran from Headingley Stadium to Queenswood Drive and ran around the perimeter of the trails at Carnegie for a lap. It was great weather to run in but I soon found out the plague of green-flies is not isolated to Woodlesford. I got back, had a shower at the indoor cricket centre, ate some lunch and got back to my desk. It took 30 mins or so for me to feel like I was back to square one. I am just physically drained. My 'boss' is away these next 2 days so I am not obliged to come in. I definitely am not tomorrow as I feel like I need a day to catch up on some sleep and try and freshen myself up as apart from the first morning back, I've been getting up early every morning. There is a possibility that a bit of hay-fever could be a contributory factor but I consider that unlikely. I went home at 4pm so I could chill a bit before training and try and recharge the batteries a bit. When Phil and I arrived at South Leeds it was uninspiring to see we only had 5 guys turning up for training. This wasn't what I needed as I felt flat and tired so the prospective of taking all the reps myself didn't fill me with optimism. I had hoped to repeat the success with Smithy from Saturday but he is racing 10k tomorrow. I tried to wake up and concentrate on the jog and drills to get myself going. I felt quite crap this evening and I am feeling very drained a lot at the moment. I decided to feel my way into the session and was more concerned with getting it done than flying on it. I felt very easy but a bit shitty. It was weird, I just didn’t want to run any quicker than I was doing on the 6s so it was as if I found my comfort zone and my body simply wouldn’t come out of it. It wasn’t just a question of speed though as I felt fantastic on the 200s. It’s amazing how much difference, probably psychologically, not leading every rep makes as Elliott took over on rep 3 and it felt like we were jogging for the first 200; I expected the split to be 35 but it was 32! On all the 600s I was running through the line smoothly without any real fatigue. On the 5th one I had the urge to stop and walk as I was started to get a bit tired. Apparently I looked excellent tonight and Phil said it was the best my running form has been for a long time; this has to be good. I could have done another set but Phil said I was best to just do 5. I felt fresh as a daisy warming down, a la Saturday. I got home and watched some of Huddersfield against Millwall and then just lazed about until I felt properly tired as I knew I could sleep in tomorrow and I wanted to fall straight to sleep tonight. As a bit of casual toilet literature I read Emil Zatopek's section in the book 'Running with the Legends' that my Mum bought me a while back. I love everything this guy was about and I doubt anyone will ever rival his achievement of winning 5, 10 and marathon in the Olympics as it is a quite ridiculous feat. I'd recommend this book to anyone as there are about 15 different contributions. I'm not really looking forward to the Lasse Viren one mind...
Monday 17 May 2010
Sneaking off early
pm: Easy/steady 50 mins on canal trails + circuits straight after.
8mi
I got up at 0730 this morning but I don't think I woke up until gone 9. I shuffled about the house trying to get my stuff together and have my breakfast; thankfully I was getting a lift as I may have ended up asleep on the train and in some random Yorkshire rail station when awakening. Most of today was spent in meetings and then tweeting for the 1st & 2nd XI games. I felt horrific today and I think I was pretty useless. The article about 'Pakistan clutching defeat from the jaws of victory' I mentioned the other day got deleted in my spell of tiredness and was the final straw for me. My Mum was going back to Woodlesford at 3pm so I knocked off early and got a lift; I figured I would be exhausted this evening otherwise. I got home and had some belated lunch as I'd forgotten to make sandwiches this morning which I am sure was a contributory factor to my cavemen-like state. I then went to sleep for an hour and felt worse for it! I decided to jump in the shower to wake myself up for the 6pm run. Unfortunately, a bi-product of this was that 3 or 4 people arrived whilst I was showering and obviously the doors were locked! I gave my sincerest apologies, took a bit of abuse as the presumption was that I was showering to clean something off myself (which I ferociously denied!) and then headed out for a steady run with a good group of guys. It was a nice evening for running as it was warm but not stifling (until the latter stages). I ran with Deak and Danny at a good pace throughout. We picked it up every mile from down to about 6.10 and I felt pretty decent tonight but never incredibly comfortable. It was an effort to run that little bit quicker as Deak wanted to run a little faster this evening. It was never hard enough that I thought I should back off but it wasn’t an ‘easy’ run. I have a little swelling below my right knee that is a bit sore but Phil thinks it’s nothing. I had slightly tight calves post-run so decided against strides. I felt tired and drained at circuits and I think the humidity of the run played a part. My swelling below my right knee was sore and stopped me doing a few exercises but I needed the rest anyway! I had a big spag bol that I'd prepared for the family before my nap before watching some 24 (this series is fantastic and I definitely recommend it) and then getting to bed for 2230. What I am finding annoying at the moment is that I feel awful in the day and regardless of whether I nap or not I am not that sleepy come 10pm.
8mi
I got up at 0730 this morning but I don't think I woke up until gone 9. I shuffled about the house trying to get my stuff together and have my breakfast; thankfully I was getting a lift as I may have ended up asleep on the train and in some random Yorkshire rail station when awakening. Most of today was spent in meetings and then tweeting for the 1st & 2nd XI games. I felt horrific today and I think I was pretty useless. The article about 'Pakistan clutching defeat from the jaws of victory' I mentioned the other day got deleted in my spell of tiredness and was the final straw for me. My Mum was going back to Woodlesford at 3pm so I knocked off early and got a lift; I figured I would be exhausted this evening otherwise. I got home and had some belated lunch as I'd forgotten to make sandwiches this morning which I am sure was a contributory factor to my cavemen-like state. I then went to sleep for an hour and felt worse for it! I decided to jump in the shower to wake myself up for the 6pm run. Unfortunately, a bi-product of this was that 3 or 4 people arrived whilst I was showering and obviously the doors were locked! I gave my sincerest apologies, took a bit of abuse as the presumption was that I was showering to clean something off myself (which I ferociously denied!) and then headed out for a steady run with a good group of guys. It was a nice evening for running as it was warm but not stifling (until the latter stages). I ran with Deak and Danny at a good pace throughout. We picked it up every mile from down to about 6.10 and I felt pretty decent tonight but never incredibly comfortable. It was an effort to run that little bit quicker as Deak wanted to run a little faster this evening. It was never hard enough that I thought I should back off but it wasn’t an ‘easy’ run. I have a little swelling below my right knee that is a bit sore but Phil thinks it’s nothing. I had slightly tight calves post-run so decided against strides. I felt tired and drained at circuits and I think the humidity of the run played a part. My swelling below my right knee was sore and stopped me doing a few exercises but I needed the rest anyway! I had a big spag bol that I'd prepared for the family before my nap before watching some 24 (this series is fantastic and I definitely recommend it) and then getting to bed for 2230. What I am finding annoying at the moment is that I feel awful in the day and regardless of whether I nap or not I am not that sleepy come 10pm.
Sunday 16 May 2010
'Silly' Sausage
Easy 1hr 40 + 8 uphill strides (JBR). Road, trails and grass.
15mi
WEEK: 70mi - I’m pretty pleased with this week. I knocked the mileage down a bit as was recommended by George and Barry last week and also kept it generally easy. I was always going to be happy this week if I could do all my runs properly and get a quality Saturday session in the bag.
I had my best night of sleep this week and felt pretty refreshed though a little groggy whilst eating my breakfast; consequently I spilt my tea and burned my leg! After a great night last night it was good to hook up with a big group for the 9.30 long run. After a slow start we picked up gradually but it always remained easy. It is so straightforward to run on days like this when the sun is shining and the company is so good; I can’t wait to lead these guys next year. We did one of our staple routes (‘Church Hill) slightly altered, which is mainly trails and grass with some road. It was an easy pace; I don’t see much point in running particularly quickly on a Sunday in the summer although I am a big advocate of 6-minute miles in winter. I felt a bit tired in the first 4mi or so but after that I felt fine and could have easily kept running for longer. We split into three groups that one could label ‘moderately-fast’, ‘moderate’ and ‘moderately-slow’ quite early on – I fell into the middle group. My hamstrings were a little tight all run but only for brief moments. I got tripped and kicked on my right Achilles towards the end and it was a bit stiff & sore afterwards. I finally felt decent on strides but in the couple of mins after the run I really didn’t feel like doing them as my legs were a bit heavy! I quickly watched the Great Manchester 10k in fast forward and biggest credit from a British perspective should go to Mark Warmby who had an excellent run in sub 29 mins. A traditional Selly Sausage post-long run breakfast followed and we had the pleasure of 1.50 800m man Michael 'Silly' Salter arriving as Bugs Bunny and BUCS Indoors silver medallist Andrew Stanton as Robin Hood. This is par for the course if you happen to live at 186 Dawlish Road as these boys are undertaking forfeits willy nilly! I think Salty genuinely enjoyed the experience whereas as Andy seemed totally unaffected; just eating his food as if he was in regular clothes. I got my stuff together and headed back up the M1 so Wilko could get on with some revision and I could spend most of the afternoon with my parents as my Dad arrived back from Portugal late last night. The evening consisted of a classic Sunday Roast, England giving the Aussies a deserved towelling and Tyson Gay breaking the world best for a straight 200m. I went to bed at 11pm to try and get myself back into a nice routine.
15mi
WEEK: 70mi - I’m pretty pleased with this week. I knocked the mileage down a bit as was recommended by George and Barry last week and also kept it generally easy. I was always going to be happy this week if I could do all my runs properly and get a quality Saturday session in the bag.
I had my best night of sleep this week and felt pretty refreshed though a little groggy whilst eating my breakfast; consequently I spilt my tea and burned my leg! After a great night last night it was good to hook up with a big group for the 9.30 long run. After a slow start we picked up gradually but it always remained easy. It is so straightforward to run on days like this when the sun is shining and the company is so good; I can’t wait to lead these guys next year. We did one of our staple routes (‘Church Hill) slightly altered, which is mainly trails and grass with some road. It was an easy pace; I don’t see much point in running particularly quickly on a Sunday in the summer although I am a big advocate of 6-minute miles in winter. I felt a bit tired in the first 4mi or so but after that I felt fine and could have easily kept running for longer. We split into three groups that one could label ‘moderately-fast’, ‘moderate’ and ‘moderately-slow’ quite early on – I fell into the middle group. My hamstrings were a little tight all run but only for brief moments. I got tripped and kicked on my right Achilles towards the end and it was a bit stiff & sore afterwards. I finally felt decent on strides but in the couple of mins after the run I really didn’t feel like doing them as my legs were a bit heavy! I quickly watched the Great Manchester 10k in fast forward and biggest credit from a British perspective should go to Mark Warmby who had an excellent run in sub 29 mins. A traditional Selly Sausage post-long run breakfast followed and we had the pleasure of 1.50 800m man Michael 'Silly' Salter arriving as Bugs Bunny and BUCS Indoors silver medallist Andrew Stanton as Robin Hood. This is par for the course if you happen to live at 186 Dawlish Road as these boys are undertaking forfeits willy nilly! I think Salty genuinely enjoyed the experience whereas as Andy seemed totally unaffected; just eating his food as if he was in regular clothes. I got my stuff together and headed back up the M1 so Wilko could get on with some revision and I could spend most of the afternoon with my parents as my Dad arrived back from Portugal late last night. The evening consisted of a classic Sunday Roast, England giving the Aussies a deserved towelling and Tyson Gay breaking the world best for a straight 200m. I went to bed at 11pm to try and get myself back into a nice routine.
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