Frustratingly Delayed Adaptation

am: Easy 30 mins on grass & trails
pm: 3 (3 x 500 @ 3k pace) + 5 x 200 @ 8-15 pace, 100 jog (45 secs) & 5 mins btw sets - 83, 82, 83, 81, 83, 82, 81, 82, 82, 29, 29, 29, 28, 30
13.5mi

I saw today as another day to tick off at the cricket ground and I’m looking forward to a bit of time without working as I’ve decided to go back to Brum after Sports City on Saturday. So many of the guys will have finished their exams on Friday that it feels like the right time to go back; I didn’t want to be a bit of third wheel while everyone was revising. There is only so long you can go without being around your friends and really my whole life is in Birmingham. When the guys were going back to University on Sunday evening and I was going with my parents I just felt pretty shit and flat. Today: I was set to do an easy 30 with the Kid at 11 but had to cancel as I got stuck in a very dull meeting about IT so had to run on my own at 12. I felt so much better again today, as I did yesterday. I found my HR monitor this morning and it was encouraging to see that my HR echoed how my legs felt as it was super-low on flat sections and dropped down very quickly once I finished. Both achilles were stiff again and my calves & hamstrings are still a little tight. I was hugely pleased that I am finally feeling a lot better easy running. In the afternoon I did a bit of planning for the match day YCM and soon enough it was home time. Now these past few weeks, for some reason I've had a nostalgic urge to get a strawberry and cream Frappuccino from Starbucks in Leeds Rail Station. The nostalgia is attached to the fact that between the ages of 13 & 15 my best friend was current GB decathlete Dan Gardiner and most our weekends were spent trying to look cool in the coffeehouse (during holidays replace most with all and weekends with days). Frustratingly, every day I have been too time for time when I’ve wanted to abate the stifling humidity of the train station and give into to my craving. Today was different; I had bags of time. Time was not an issue, the issue was the fact it was bloody freezing and it just was not the right time. The one day I can is the one day I choose not to. Tomorrow's another day I suppose. I had a good conversation with my pal Alex Davy as I called to see how his exams are going. He seemed pleased enough though a bit stressed out, understandably. I hopped on the train, tapping my feet to the sound of Buble and thinking about dropping a great session in a few hours time. I had a snack at home and watched some very old ‘Friends’ – I felt for Ross when they let slip his baby was going to be a boy. It was very muggy tonight but pretty still so good conditions for a big session. Today was one of those days where I knew going into the session that I was going to train well for some reason. However, I almost postponed until tomorrow. My legs were still a bit sore today, mainly my calves, so I decided to see how I felt warming up. They weren’t that bad so I thought I’d be much better training with a group when I felt in the mood rather than waiting until tomorrow evening and hoping for the best. I trained in my XC spikes, a bad idea given the state of my calves and one I’d pay for later. I felt very good tonight and the target times were 85 and 30 but I had no intention of running any slower than 83. I shared the pace with Smithy for the majority and felt within myself. My calves got progressively sorer but I just had to get on with it. I had to ice my calves afterwards as I was in considerable discomfort walking around! I was very pleased to bank this session and if it means sore calves for a day or two then so be it. Phil said that although I trained faster this week, I looked better last week but I am not sure why. I can’t wait until I combine both! My chest was very tight tonight but only on the recoveries. I didn’t take any hay-fever medication today so I reckon that could be why. It was such a relief to train well tonight and having spoken to Phil I am pretty sure I know why I seem to have struggled these past few weeks compared to where I'd like to have progressed to. Having spoken to a lot of the guys who also went to FR I am the only one who was able to do a session the first weekend back. I happened to train well that day but unfortunately I think it has meant I hav adapted a few days later than everyone else; almost all the other guys have run a PB or close to already. The other consideration Phil was keen to stress yesterday when I was being overly analytical was that I should wait to feel like there's some altitude benefit and maybe even post-testing before drawing conclusions. Everyone is individual and it is impossible to predict altitude response. Maybe my excellent performance has been delayed until the BMC 5k then! I got home, had some dinner and tried in vain to find something half-decent on TV. I realised just before bed that I have not spoken to my housemate Matt for literally months so I called to see how his life is going and tell him the good news that I’d be in Birmingham on Saturday night. This was a relief to him as it coincides with Wilko going back to Leeds for a few days next week and Midge can barely cook toast.