Training Diary: 26th March to 1st April

Mon, Mar 26, 2012 12:20 PM: 1:09:12 (10.02mi, 6:54/mi) - Run with Neil at lunch time from the office, nice and easy ten miles in the sunshine discussing our respective disasters at the weekend. Felt better than expected but legs stiff.


Tue, Mar 27, 2012 5:13 PM: 17:30 (2.5mi, 7:00/mi) - Normal warm up with John and Neil. John had the better weekend amongst us, running and winning a local 10k then driving down to Milton Keynes to run a long leg at the relays.

Going down the hill at 12 stage

Tue, Mar 27, 2012 5:41 PM: 34:28 (6.06mi total, 5:41/mi) - Session was 8 x 1k off 200 jog, reps in 2:59, 3:00, 3:00, 2:58, 2:58, 2:58, 2:57, 2:53. Legs felt heavy from the half but couldn't turn down a vest off session. Hard work but got it done. To be honest wasn't meant to be doing any sessions at all this week!

Tue, Mar 27, 2012 6:23 PM: 18:01 (2.17mi, 8:18/mi) - Standard cool down, legs very tired.


Wed, Mar 28, 2012 5:24 PM: 1:19:32 (11.74, 6:46/mi) - Run out through Burghley to the Southorpe loop. Lovely weather, but legs felt terrible. Too tired to even do strides.

Thu, Mar 29, 2012 5:21 PM: 20:58 (3mi, 7:00/mi) - Longer warm up as a shorter session, all on the grass.

Thu, Mar 29, 2012 5:49 PM: 25:33 (4.17mi, 6:08/mi) - Light session: 1mi tempo (400), 4 x 400 (200),(5) 4 x 200 (200). Reps in 4:50, 67, 65, 65, 65, 30, 29, 30, 30. Did session on my own in great weather again. Wore spikes for first time and got a little blister, but all in all the session felt controlled and good.

Thu, Mar 29, 2012 6:18 PM: 22:46 (2.87mi, 7:56/mi) - Cool down with Sean in which I ranted about kids jogging in lane one and generally getting in the way.

Fri, Mar 30, 2012 4:05 PM: 44:39: (6.48mi, 6:54/mi) - Easy run on the river loop on my own. Got home early from work but legs felt terrible throughout, once again binned the strides.

Sat, Mar 31, 2012 12:02 PM: 18:45, 2.5mi (7:30/mi) - Warm up around Sutton Park on my own with strides, felt okay a lot better than yesterday, had the standard five or six toilet stops.

Sat, Mar 31, 2012 1:00 PM: 27:00: (5.4mi, 5:00/mi) - Midlands 12 Stage Relays: I got my time slightly quicker than official time, which seems about right considering I also looked at the total time when I came in and it differed from what was in the results. Just ran the leg tempo as never had anyone to run off and after passing the third guy at mile 3 never saw another runner to chase. Felt reasonably good throughout and looking forward to getting in a race in two weeks time and running sub 26:30. Legs a little heavy on the uphill drags but to be honest a lot better than they have felt all week. Finally got my new Streak XCs off Lisgo and was nice doing a race where my feet weren't being cut to pieces. 8th fastest long leg of the day, so not too bad considering how the last week has felt.

Sat, Mar 31, 2012 1:46 PM: 56:15 (7.35mi, 7:39/mi) - Long cool down, first with Blunden then Lisgo after he had finished his leg and a little session. Gave a shout to O'Dowd who was so alone on his leg that he thought he had gone the wrong way until he saw us, shows how lonely and spread out it was out there. Finally received our gold medals for the first English team at Great South Run, only the five months late...

Sun, Apr 1, 2012 10:05 AM: 1:34:01 (14mi, 6:43/mi) - Long run from Thorpe Wood and out through the villages with Neil. Legs felt a little tired again and weather a little cooler than earlier in the week. Pleased to get something done a little steadier though.

Sun, Apr 1, 2012 5:12 PM: 27:12 (4mi, 6:49/mi) - Easy few miles to shake the legs out, out and back on the meadows, felt okay.
 

English 10mi champs winning team (note: Mens team despite how Martin appears on the right)

Total Weekly Mileage  82.26 miles - Easier week after the half, but pleased with the run out on Saturday and hopefully things will be a whole lot quicker at Nationals in two weeks time. Maybe heading to Watford on Wednesday for a cheeky 3000, however if it is -3 like it says it may well be ran in hat, gloves and tights!

Summer is Coming

Out on my own at a North Mids XC

The winter months are finally over and to be honest I can't wait to get onto the track and sort out some of my PBs from a couple of years ago. The winter went pretty well and I managed to win the counties, every north mids xc and get in and around the top 20 at both the national xc and the intercounties (Yes Bowser, the score is still 3-0 in 2012!). The disappointment was that I never really cracked out a decent road race as the Great South, Leeds Abbey Dash and most recently the Fleet Half Marathon all fell short of my desired race pace. This isn't a massive problem, but it is always nice to see some good PBs on the board and for your fitness to be represented by a figure that you know you are capable of. I will try and go into a each of those races and the rest of the winter more in depth over the coming weeks and months, but for now I want to focus on the track season.

Racing O'Dowd last Summer

I speak to a lot of distance guys and for some reason or another they hate the track. I thought I was one of these until I sat down and had realised that I had never really trained specifically for 3000, 5000 or even 10000m for a decent period of time. The one time I did do a bit of track work was back in early 2010 and it resulted in significant PBs and I really enjoyed those dreamy Tuesday nights of banter at Longford Park. So, maybe I just hated the track last year because I didn't do the specific training last year to allow me to run anywhere near what I thought I was capable of. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that I will ever run a 1:50 800m or even a 3:45 1500m, but I know that with a sustained period of speed work following a full winter of miles that I will definitely run faster than last year. Also, if I ever want to run a decent marathon I know that first of all my 5000 and 10000m track times need to be a lot quicker than they are right now. In order to do that I know that I need to work on my basic speed, which many will argue is non-existent, so I may well have the odd outing over my beloved 1500m early on this season. 

I did even have a think about going for a marathon this Autumn at somewhere like Berlin, but I know that I am not quite ready for it yet. I admire the balls of some of the British lads attacking 2:12 at London in a few weeks, but realistically going out at sub 66 pace could cause carnage around the docklands. I hope a lot of them prove me wrong and a host of guys hit the Olympic qualifying standard, but I just can't see it happening. Anyway, what I was trying to say is that I need to have a good summer of track work behind me before I even think about stepping up. I know a lad who ran 2:12 who said the exact same thing, he needed to be in high 28 10k shape and breaking 13:45 for 5000 in order to run a decent marathon. So, there is plenty of work to be done this summer and as long as this weather keeps up, hopefully a lot of it can be done in true Tom Straw style - with the vest off. After all if "you look good, you run good".

Tom Straw and Shane Robinson showing where thier love lies