M 5 miles (8:12mm), 14 mils inc 10.4 miles 3/4 Effort (5:30mm)
T 6 miles (8:17mm)
W 3.5 miles (8:10mm), 10 miles 1/4 Effort (6:57mm)
T Rest
F Rest
S Rest
S 6 miles (8:00mm)
Total 45 miles (7:13mm)
Core 22 mins
Total Training Time 5 hrs 43 mins
Aerobic efficiency 986 beats per mile
So this week didn't exactly go to plan! As I mentioned on last week's blog, I was due to have a cut back week and then a hard race at the Northern XC on Saturday. Early in the week I could feel the onset of a cold and while I thought I would be able to run through it, I had decided by midweek that the Northern's probably wasn't a sensible idea and would just run easy instead. By Thursday I decided that I actually needed to rest to try and get it out of my system. It wasn't until Sunday that I managed to venture out again and although it was clear that the virus had shifted, I was feeling rather ploddy.
All that said, I had done a decent 3/4 effort run on the Monday where I covered around 10.4 miles in 57 minutes at a fraction below marathon effort again implying that the fitness is coming along nicely, unfortunately that run was probably the nail in the coffin to allow the virus to take hold!
I enjoyed seeing the results coming in form the Northern's with Dave Archer having a standout performance (15th) and his good lady wife, Hatti with a strong run for 2nd place behind Leeds City's international superstar, Claire Duck. Fellow club mates Mike Burrett and Adam Osborne told me of the horrific clay like mud that they had to endure and I am reliably informed that all concerned buried themselves, metaphorically as well as literally.
So back to it this week, where I'll be trying to get the miles and consistency back. There's only 11 weeks to go, I will need to start pulling my finger out soon!
As readers will know who read my last blog, this year I am trying to help my colleague Jo raise funds for her son Charlie. Charlie suffers with Cerebral Palsy amongst other severe medical conditions. The long and short of it is that Charlie needs Spinal Chord surgery and this is not funded by the NHS. So Jo is raising money to pay for the surgery and post-op physio herself. This is a mammoth task as she is looking to raise £85,000 so I would be highly grateful if anyone that reads this blog could consider donating to the cause. I and many readers are incredibly lucky to have the quality of life that Charlie can only dream of and hopefully some of you will help Jo with her efforts. I for one will be running my heart out for Charlie on April 23rd.
Charlie's Footsteps
Tuesday 31 January 2017
Wednesday 25 January 2017
Running for Charlie - London Marathon Week 4 of 16
M 1/4 Effort 12 miles (7:11mm), 1/4 Effort 8 miles (6:50mm)
T 7 miles (6:30mm)
W 5 miles (8:02mm), 14 miles inc. 10 miles 3/4 Effort on grass (5:57mm)
T 1/2 Effort 17 miles (6:22mm), 5 miles (8:23mm)
F 1/4 Effort 12 miles (7:23mm), 7.5 miles including 4X2mins, 2X10s sprints (7:30mm)
S 1/2 Effort 22 miles (6:31mm), 5 miles (8:08mm)
S 1/4 Effort 12 miles (7:04mm)
Total 127 miles (6:57mm)
Core 21 mins
Total Training Time 15 hrs 06 mins
Aerobic efficiency 978 beats per mile
Garmin Training Effect Total 36.6
After Brass Monkey Half last week, I wanted to ensure I wasn't too keen to get back on the 3/4 efforts so only scheduled one for this week and did it on the grass which was somewhat boggier than the previous two times I've done it. It was pleasing that it came in at 5:57mm for a heart rate of 84% Working Heart Rate. I then had a couple of decent runs (17miles and 22 miles) at 1/2 effort (70-75% WHR) on the Thursday (a whole 7 minutes quicker than the previous week!) and Sunday over undulating routes. The rest of the week was largely just easy and recovery mileage.
Lydiard encourages a weekly fartlek to stay in touch with top end speed and does this through alactic sprints in one of the runs. These are essentially all out sprints for 5-6seconds. Any more and you start building lactate which apparently is detrimental to the aerobic conditioning phase. I am a little away from wanting to do a lot of sprints, or indeed really hard workouts so stuck a couple of sprints building up for about 5 seconds before going flat out for another 5. I did these in a recovery run after 4X2mins at marathon effort.
After Saturday's long run I did a 12miler at 1/4 Effort on the Sunday and it was really nice to see that the legs felt great after a mile or so and my HR was ticking along at lowly levels (c65%WHR) with the pace not too shabby.
I am starting to see my body really adapt to this aerobic mileage (aerobic efficiency is down to 978 beats per mile). In fact having taken the pressure off myself a bit, I must say I think I am enjoying my running as much as I ever have. It should come as no surprise really given I don't have a fast twitch fibre to my name so any time spent going much quicker than half marathon pace leaves me a little wrecked which results in me a) not being able to get the mileage in to keep my engine strong and b) really inconsistent racing results at shorter distances. It will be interesting to see what happens at Thirsk 10 miler in March as I plan to keep training pretty similar to as it is now until the National XC, after which it's start to look a bit more marathon specific. The only exceptions will be hard races at this week's Northerns (although that is looking highly unlikely now as I am suffering with a head cold and don't want it to develop into anything more sinister - a long lay off could set me back somewhat) and the National which Lydiard would probably disagree with at this stage but sod it!
I let my core work slip a little this week with only two 10 minute sessions, so need to rectify that a little but total training time was over 15 hours which is where I want to be on up weeks. John Cox, a reader of my blog asked me what core work I do and having spent many more hours watching videos of core work than I have ever performed I thought it was about time I just got something into my routine, so use the 'Viking ABC Core' routine (video below). This is a 10 minute routine so nothing massive but seems to activate all the right muscle groups. The motivation to do core post-run is virtually non-existent so for this to come a regular feature I really must try to keep this up prior to my recovery runs.
As readers will know who read my last blog, this year I am trying to help my colleague Jo raise funds for her son Charlie. Charlie suffers with Cerebral Palsy amongst other severe medical conditions. The long and short of it is that Charlie needs Spinal Chord surgery and this is not funded by the NHS. So Jo is raising money to pay for the surgery and post-op physio herself. This is a mammoth task as she is looking to raise £85,000 so I would be highly grateful if anyone that reads this blog could consider donating to the cause. I and many readers are incredibly lucky to have the quality of life that Charlie can only dream of and hopefully some of you will help Jo with her efforts. I for one will be running my heart out for Charlie on April 23rd.
Monday 16 January 2017
Running for Charlie - London Marathon Weeks 2 and 3 of 16
W/C 2nd January 2017
M 16.5 miles TM including 2X35mins (6:03mm) , 5 miles (8:17mm)
T 15 miles (7:08mm), 5 miles (7:56mm)
W 6.5 miles (7:50mm), 8.75 miles (7:07mm)
T 16 miles (7:13mm), 5 miles (7:52mm)
F 12.5 miles including 10 miles on grass (6:09mm), 4 miles (7:57mm)
S 5 miles (8:13mm)
S 20.5 miles (7:01mm)
Total 120 miles (7:08mm)
Core 45 mins
Total Training Time 14 hrs 54 mins
Aerobic efficiency 1018 beats per mile
Garmin Training Effect Total 37.9
W/C 9th January 2017
M 11 miles (7:22mm), 7 miles (7:50mm), 4 miles (7:59mm)
T 5 miles (7:53mm), 13 miles inc. 10 miles on grass (6:04mm), 4 miles (8:20mm)
W 9 miles (6:35mm), 4 miles (7:47mm)
T 17 miles (6:49mm), 6 miles (7:35mm)
F 10 miles inc. 7 miles @ 5:30mm TM (5:47mm)
S 10.5 miles (6:59mm)
S 20.5 miles including Brass Monkey Half in 72:09 (6:13mm)
Total 121.5 miles (6:54mm)
Core 52 mins
Total Training Time 14 hrs 49 mins
Aerobic efficiency 991 beats per mile
Garmin Training Effect Total 47.8
A double-whammy due to time constraints last week!
To be fair it's mainly just boring mileage (isn't it always?!) to report with nothing particularly tasty in the way of sessions but I have managed a couple of decent 120 mile weeks building on the first week of 115.
Given the focus is a bit Lydiard style at the moment for the week of 2nd Jan I did two 3/4 effort sessions. One on the Treadmill of 2X35 mins keeping my HR below 85% Working heart Rate and then followed that up with a 10 mile run on grass at 6:09mm. The week also had three other runs of over 15 miles including a 20 miler in Middleton Park. Middleton Park is set on a decent hill and about 2 miles around, so I did 8 laps bringing in a decent amount of vert. (I think that's what the trail runners call it!?!?). Aerobic efficiency was 1018 beats per mile across the week which isn't great but seems to reflect that I am starting at the bottom of the training pyramid again! With a bit of core work I totalled just under 15 hours of training. One thing I have noticed that is quite interesting is the Garmin Training Effect figure after each session which is supposed to give you an idea of what effect the run will have had on your overall fitness. It essentially goes on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being little improvement, 2 maintaining, 3 improving, 4 highly improving and 5 overreaching. The theory is that if you have too many in the 4s and 5's you'll soon be a crumbled heap of running mess! I plan to tot up the total weekly figure to give me an idea of the training load over any given week. It's more data so happy days.
The second week, Sharon Barlow Hamilton had transferred her number to me for the Brass monkey Half Marathon. Sadly she couldn't run due to a stress fracture, a runner's worst nightmare! As I said on my previous blog, at the mo I just want to enjoy my running so didn't want to race it hard and so it would form one of my sessions of the week within my long run. Tuesday saw me run 10 miles on grass again, this time at a slightly quicker pace than the previous week in worse conditions. I then had another decent run of 17 miles at 1/2 effort and a cheeky 3/4 effort on the TM on Friday. Then to Sunday and the Brass Monkey half where I planned to run at Marathon intensity, so for me a touch harder than Lydiard's so-called 3/4 effort. After 5.5 miles pre-race I got myself on the start line. Off we go and I have to say it was a most tedious race from a pacing perspective with every mile between 5:25-5:35mm and I finished feeling very comfortable in 72:09 and 8th place for another good week's training. This was quite a bit quicker than I had thought I would run but as the effort was what I wanted I am very pleased with the result given it's 14 weeks to London.
Charlie's Footsteps
M 16.5 miles TM including 2X35mins (6:03mm) , 5 miles (8:17mm)
T 15 miles (7:08mm), 5 miles (7:56mm)
W 6.5 miles (7:50mm), 8.75 miles (7:07mm)
T 16 miles (7:13mm), 5 miles (7:52mm)
F 12.5 miles including 10 miles on grass (6:09mm), 4 miles (7:57mm)
S 5 miles (8:13mm)
S 20.5 miles (7:01mm)
Total 120 miles (7:08mm)
Core 45 mins
Total Training Time 14 hrs 54 mins
Aerobic efficiency 1018 beats per mile
Garmin Training Effect Total 37.9
W/C 9th January 2017
M 11 miles (7:22mm), 7 miles (7:50mm), 4 miles (7:59mm)
T 5 miles (7:53mm), 13 miles inc. 10 miles on grass (6:04mm), 4 miles (8:20mm)
W 9 miles (6:35mm), 4 miles (7:47mm)
T 17 miles (6:49mm), 6 miles (7:35mm)
F 10 miles inc. 7 miles @ 5:30mm TM (5:47mm)
S 10.5 miles (6:59mm)
S 20.5 miles including Brass Monkey Half in 72:09 (6:13mm)
Total 121.5 miles (6:54mm)
Core 52 mins
Total Training Time 14 hrs 49 mins
Aerobic efficiency 991 beats per mile
Garmin Training Effect Total 47.8
A double-whammy due to time constraints last week!
To be fair it's mainly just boring mileage (isn't it always?!) to report with nothing particularly tasty in the way of sessions but I have managed a couple of decent 120 mile weeks building on the first week of 115.
Given the focus is a bit Lydiard style at the moment for the week of 2nd Jan I did two 3/4 effort sessions. One on the Treadmill of 2X35 mins keeping my HR below 85% Working heart Rate and then followed that up with a 10 mile run on grass at 6:09mm. The week also had three other runs of over 15 miles including a 20 miler in Middleton Park. Middleton Park is set on a decent hill and about 2 miles around, so I did 8 laps bringing in a decent amount of vert. (I think that's what the trail runners call it!?!?). Aerobic efficiency was 1018 beats per mile across the week which isn't great but seems to reflect that I am starting at the bottom of the training pyramid again! With a bit of core work I totalled just under 15 hours of training. One thing I have noticed that is quite interesting is the Garmin Training Effect figure after each session which is supposed to give you an idea of what effect the run will have had on your overall fitness. It essentially goes on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being little improvement, 2 maintaining, 3 improving, 4 highly improving and 5 overreaching. The theory is that if you have too many in the 4s and 5's you'll soon be a crumbled heap of running mess! I plan to tot up the total weekly figure to give me an idea of the training load over any given week. It's more data so happy days.
The second week, Sharon Barlow Hamilton had transferred her number to me for the Brass monkey Half Marathon. Sadly she couldn't run due to a stress fracture, a runner's worst nightmare! As I said on my previous blog, at the mo I just want to enjoy my running so didn't want to race it hard and so it would form one of my sessions of the week within my long run. Tuesday saw me run 10 miles on grass again, this time at a slightly quicker pace than the previous week in worse conditions. I then had another decent run of 17 miles at 1/2 effort and a cheeky 3/4 effort on the TM on Friday. Then to Sunday and the Brass Monkey half where I planned to run at Marathon intensity, so for me a touch harder than Lydiard's so-called 3/4 effort. After 5.5 miles pre-race I got myself on the start line. Off we go and I have to say it was a most tedious race from a pacing perspective with every mile between 5:25-5:35mm and I finished feeling very comfortable in 72:09 and 8th place for another good week's training. This was quite a bit quicker than I had thought I would run but as the effort was what I wanted I am very pleased with the result given it's 14 weeks to London.
Finish at Brass Monkey Half - Photo credit Ben McNeilage
The overall aerobic efficiency has dropped below the 1000 mark again which just goes to show that lots of easy and steady running can bring improvements in economy.
I'm now going to have another big week of miles before a slight cut back week, which will include the Northern XC Champs and I will probably run that quite hard.
As readers will know who read my last blog, this year I am trying to help my colleague Jo raise funds for her son Charlie. Charlie suffers with Cerebral Palsy amongst other severe medical conditions. The long and short of it is that Charlie needs Spinal Chord surgery and this is not funded by the NHS. So Jo is raising money to pay for the surgery and post-op physio herself. This is a mammoth task as she is looking to raise £85,000 so I would be highly grateful if anyone that reads this blog could consider donating to the cause. I and many readers are incredibly lucky to have the quality of life that Charlie can only dream of and hopefully some of you will help Jo with her efforts. I for one will be running my heart out for Charlie on April 23rd.
Charlie's Footsteps
Saturday 7 January 2017
Running for Charlie - London Marathon 2017 Week 1 of 16
M 10 miles TM (5:47mm), 4 miles (7:42mm)
T 10 miles (7:23mm), 5 miles HA (7:52mm)
W 16 miles (7:25mm), 4 miles (7:50mm)
T 8.5 miles (7:25mm), 5 miles (8:14mm)
F 12 miles including 10 miles TM (5:54mm), 4 miles (8:01mm)
S 20 miles (7:15mm)
S 10.5 miles (7:01mm), 5.5 miles (8:13mm)
Total 115 miles (7:12mm)
Core 45 mins
Aerobic efficiency 1059 beats per mile
First things first, what happened to Ribble Valley? Well, I didn't run. I made the decision about a week before the race that mentally I wasn't in the right place for such a hard effort. Sometimes life has a way of getting you down and I was, if I'm honest, in a bit of a dark place. I had lost a bit of focus on whether running really mattered that much for various reasons and it all seemed a little pointless! Having suffered from the blues many times previously, I knew the fog would lift eventually, I just had to be patient and I would come out the other side. So with decision made, I wanted to enjoy Christmas as much as I could with my wonderful family and get back to training on Boxing Day but with the one condition that I wouldn't be training particularly hard for a while. With that in mind I agreed with Mike that I would just run as I felt but look to build a decent base ala Lydiard. Essentially in the base phase Lydiard calls for plenty of miles, most at an easy-moderate pace with a couple of harder workouts each week but still a lot easier than I would be doing if in training for a half or full marathon. So exactly the type of running I enjoy!
So, this was my first week back and as one can see, a decent amount of mileage was covered without too many headaches. I get a sense of satisfaction from covering high miles so this should help me find my mojo again in the not too distant future. It should also prepare me well for the stresses of the marathon specific phase when it finally comes around. In the meantime, my weeks will follow a similar structure to the above. I plan to run the Brass Monkey half marathon at a sub maximal pace, just to get back into the type of environment I enjoy so much. I suspect I will be running no quicker than around 75 mins albeit I could probably run around 71 all out right now.
It was a tricky decision to forfeit the Yorkshire XC champs this week as I enjoyed it so much last year but I simply don't feel ready for such a competitive race (and I cant trust myself not to race hard!) nor am I ready for it having only done one XC session all winter. I shall be doing one of my harder workouts (mainly 10 miles just below marathon effort) on grass each week to at least bring me back into touch with the surface. I then hope to run at the Northerns just as a bit of a fitness check at the end of January. I will be taking a similar approach with the National at the end of February.
It will then be a move to focus on London which is my main goal for the Spring but with an added personal dimension.
This year I have been asked by a colleague if I will help her with her fund raising for her son, Charlie who suffers with Cerebral Palsy amongst other severe medical conditions. Ordinarily I decline such requests as running is something I truly love and don't need a reason to do it! But this case is different, Jo has been a colleague of mine at Raymond James for over eight years and not only is she a great colleague I cant imagine the stress that such a situation must bring on her family. The long and short of it is that Charlie needs Spinal Chord surgery and this is not funded by the NHS. So Jo is raising money to pay for the surgery and post-op physio herself. This is a mammoth task as she is looking to raise £85,000 so I would be highly grateful if anyone that reads this blog could consider donating to the cause. I and many readers are incredibly lucky to have the quality of life that Charlie can only dream of and hopefully some of you will help Jo with her efforts. I for one will be running my heart out for Charlie on April 23rd.
Charlie's Footsteps
T 10 miles (7:23mm), 5 miles HA (7:52mm)
W 16 miles (7:25mm), 4 miles (7:50mm)
T 8.5 miles (7:25mm), 5 miles (8:14mm)
F 12 miles including 10 miles TM (5:54mm), 4 miles (8:01mm)
S 20 miles (7:15mm)
S 10.5 miles (7:01mm), 5.5 miles (8:13mm)
Total 115 miles (7:12mm)
Core 45 mins
Aerobic efficiency 1059 beats per mile
First things first, what happened to Ribble Valley? Well, I didn't run. I made the decision about a week before the race that mentally I wasn't in the right place for such a hard effort. Sometimes life has a way of getting you down and I was, if I'm honest, in a bit of a dark place. I had lost a bit of focus on whether running really mattered that much for various reasons and it all seemed a little pointless! Having suffered from the blues many times previously, I knew the fog would lift eventually, I just had to be patient and I would come out the other side. So with decision made, I wanted to enjoy Christmas as much as I could with my wonderful family and get back to training on Boxing Day but with the one condition that I wouldn't be training particularly hard for a while. With that in mind I agreed with Mike that I would just run as I felt but look to build a decent base ala Lydiard. Essentially in the base phase Lydiard calls for plenty of miles, most at an easy-moderate pace with a couple of harder workouts each week but still a lot easier than I would be doing if in training for a half or full marathon. So exactly the type of running I enjoy!
So, this was my first week back and as one can see, a decent amount of mileage was covered without too many headaches. I get a sense of satisfaction from covering high miles so this should help me find my mojo again in the not too distant future. It should also prepare me well for the stresses of the marathon specific phase when it finally comes around. In the meantime, my weeks will follow a similar structure to the above. I plan to run the Brass Monkey half marathon at a sub maximal pace, just to get back into the type of environment I enjoy so much. I suspect I will be running no quicker than around 75 mins albeit I could probably run around 71 all out right now.
It was a tricky decision to forfeit the Yorkshire XC champs this week as I enjoyed it so much last year but I simply don't feel ready for such a competitive race (and I cant trust myself not to race hard!) nor am I ready for it having only done one XC session all winter. I shall be doing one of my harder workouts (mainly 10 miles just below marathon effort) on grass each week to at least bring me back into touch with the surface. I then hope to run at the Northerns just as a bit of a fitness check at the end of January. I will be taking a similar approach with the National at the end of February.
It will then be a move to focus on London which is my main goal for the Spring but with an added personal dimension.
This year I have been asked by a colleague if I will help her with her fund raising for her son, Charlie who suffers with Cerebral Palsy amongst other severe medical conditions. Ordinarily I decline such requests as running is something I truly love and don't need a reason to do it! But this case is different, Jo has been a colleague of mine at Raymond James for over eight years and not only is she a great colleague I cant imagine the stress that such a situation must bring on her family. The long and short of it is that Charlie needs Spinal Chord surgery and this is not funded by the NHS. So Jo is raising money to pay for the surgery and post-op physio herself. This is a mammoth task as she is looking to raise £85,000 so I would be highly grateful if anyone that reads this blog could consider donating to the cause. I and many readers are incredibly lucky to have the quality of life that Charlie can only dream of and hopefully some of you will help Jo with her efforts. I for one will be running my heart out for Charlie on April 23rd.
Charlie's Footsteps
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