Aqua Track

A repeat of the session of late - 1 x 1600 followed up with 12 x 400.

I was dreading it - conditions were pretty bad. Very wet and track covered in puddles. Plus a nice breeze to deal with.

After all the usual stuff I ran a decent 4 lapper in 4:53. Then I just couldn't get going on the 400's and no matter how hard I tried, I failed to break 67 (except the last one). Finished up averaging 67.3 which in those conditions wasn't half bad...

All up 13.0kms for the day.

One more decent week required

12.6kms in 48:45 (3:52's). Plus a few strides at the end.

The plan is to have a big week this week and then race the following week..

Long Threshold 3 x 6km

A 2.2km warm-up. Then 3 x 6km threshold off 2 minutes. Finishing up with a 1.1km warm-down.

Paces for the 6km efforts were:

3:25 / 3:27 / 3:32

Knackered at the end and struggled the last few clicks.

All up 92.9kms for the week.

A run

Recovery run 14.8kms in 55:54 (3;47's).

Recovery run and massage

11.1kms in 41:49 (3:46's). Heart rate a little on the low side and need to be nearer 3:40/km to get a few beats into the recovery zone.

Massage after. Bloody agony. I've no pain threshold and was crying like a baby.

Another track session

A repeat session of the last couple of weeks. Warm-up (pitches), then some strides on the track, then the mile primer which I ran quite hard (4:52). Then a 3 minute break before the 12 x 400's.

I do dread this session. The track was damp and greasy and there was a bit of breeze to contend with on the top bend. Just get it over with...

Times were fairly consistent and I was getting the heart rate much higher today and at the same time I felt a little more in control. Average time was 66.2 and I'll take that given it was a little slippery.

Warm-down around the pitches and job done. I think pushing the initial mile helps spike the HR higher during the 400's. I'll use that strategy again. All up 13.4kms for the day.

45 mins in zone 2

Warm-up of 2.3kms, then started my threshold run. A 6.5km outward section, then turned at the castle, running back another 6.5kms. I finished the 13.0kms in 44:44 (3:26's). Felt slower than that so a little surprised by the pace. An improvement of around 45 seconds when I last did this session 2 weeks ago. They may be due to fresher legs though I didn't feel that fresh today.

Finished up with a 2.2km warm-down to give me 17.5kms for the day.

Back training proper like

A 14.8km recovery run in 55:45 (3:46/km). Finished up with a few strides. I'd been a bit lazy on the knee rehab exercises in the last few days and I was getting a few reminders today...

Happy birthday to me

Woke up with another hangover....43 years young...

No run today. My first complete rest day in over 8 weeks. Instead it was the long trip back to Galway.

Takeaway curry and a couple of beers in the evening. Back into it tomorrow!

More pubs

Another run just to turn over the legs and sweat out some of the night before. A total of 11.3kms in 52:37 (4:39's). It certainly didn't feel any easier running slowly today...

Out again in the evening to celebrate by impending birthday. In the pub by 4pm and home just after midnight. Nice.

That's 91.kms for the week. A good start to the week but just going through the motions over the weekend. Nice to have a bit of a 'rest' though.

Round Norfolk Relay

I didn't do much during the day. I had a quick look around the city in the afternoon and I was just making my way home from town to prepare for my relay run when I got a call from our team manager to inform me of some tragic news. One of the City of Norwich runners had collapsed towards the end of an 11 mile stage and despite the best efforts of the medical staff he could not be revived.

That completely knocked me for six. All 3 City of Norwich teams were withdrawn from the race so there was no 18 mile relay leg to run. I got home and decided to go out for a run to clear the head. I didn't know the guy personally but it was very upsetting news. I ran for just under an hour and then met up with some mates for a few beers. RIP Darryl Davis. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

Travel and easy 30 mins

The long journey to Norwich today. Finally got there about 6pm and decided to do an easy 30 minutes just to turn the legs over. Not in the zone - just really easy.

All up 7.4kms in 32:05 (4;20's).

Then out in the evening for a few beers. I have to say I love the real ale scene in Norwich. It's absolutely brilliant and you're simply spoilt for choice.

18 mile relay leg tomorrow...

Recovery run

I really struggled to get going today. The first half of the run I was struggling to get into my recovery zone and that's hard to swallow when you're running well under 4 minute clicks. At halfway I made the decision to push it for 5km to see what it takes to get into the zone. Well the answer was sub 3:40 kms. Clucking bell. That's a tough pace to keep up on a recovery run.

All up 14.8kms in 55:46 (3;46's). My recovery pace has dropped a lot in the last few weeks and is starting to work down towards my threshold pace. A sign I'm finally getting fit...

40 minute threshold

Today was a test to see if it was easier to run a threshold run on tired legs. I should clarify, being tired it should be a little easier to get into the threshold zone...

A 2.2km warm-up, then a few strides and straight into it. I had the benefit of the wind for the outward section and was running sub 3:20/km pace. Then turned and it was a lot tougher. Overall I managed 12km in 40:48 (average 3:24/km).

A 2.2kms warm-down to give me 16.4kms for the day. Was it easier to get into the zone? Maybe a little. Good running that on tired legs.

1 x 1600, 12 x 400 take 2

The same session as last Tuesday. Dreading it I was.

Perfect conditions. Track to myself.  Warm-up of 3.5km on the pitches, then strides, and straight into it. The legs didn't feel as good as last week and I was a little disappointed with the mile primer in 5:00.

The fist couple of 400's were also not great. But then I got going and was running each lap basically as hard as I could. I'd like to have gone quicker but I'm not sure my body has much more to give. Times were as follows:

68.7, 67.1, 65.4, 66.2, 65.2, 66.1, 65.8, 65.6, 65.2, 65.4, 65.5, 64.7 (average 65.9)

That's 0.3 seconds per lap quicker than last week - progress! But I wasn't elevating the heart rate as much as last week which is a little disappointing as it felt like I was on the red line.

A 3.5km warm-down and 13.4kms for the day.

Recovery struggle

A total of 14.8kms today. Legs felt very heavy and just couldn't get going. At one point I dropped in a 3:30 km but just couldn't settle into my zone. By 10km I'd had enough and backed off a little.

Not a great start to the week. Time 57:06 which equates to 3:51 per km. So not sluggish by any stretch of the imagination.

Long run mixed zones

I started off with a long loop in my recovery zone of 11.1kms in 41:06 (3:42's). Then a quick change of shoes into the flats and out for 9kms at threshold pace. I felt pretty good and it was easy to lift the pace (time 30:56 @ 3:26's). Then a slow romp home to give me 22kms on the knocker.

That's 108.7kms for the week and another good week in the bag. Things going nicely but just knackered all the time.

A similar week again next week with a slight difference being that I'm back to Norwich to run a leg of the Round Norfolk Relay. Great fun and this year I have an earlier, shorter stage of 18 miles starting at around 8pm on the Saturday. The plan is to run this all in my recovery zone and the way I'm going at the moment that should be sub 6 minute miles...

4 x 10 minutes threshold

I was determined to put in a good session after yesterday. Perfect conditions for running and did my 2.2km warm-up, and then 4 x 15 second quick strides and it was time for the off. I ditched the top and took off as if I was starting a race.

I felt good straight away and was cruising today. Easily into my threshold zone and was running at a good clip. I did 2 outwards 10 minute segments, then turned at the castle for 2 x 10 minutes coming back the other way. The recovery was a huge 3 minutes which was used for a nice little walk.

Paces per km were: 3:15 / 3:13 / 3:21 / 3:19 (average 3:17/km).

A 2.2km jog home and that's 16.6kms running for the day (ignoring the walking segments).

Failed threshold segment

The plan today was 30 minutes recovery and then 15 minutes threshold to finish with....

I did 8.5kms recovery to start with averaging around 3:50/km pace, then lifted the pace for the threshold segment. I ran hard for the next 15 minutes and was running 3:31/km pace but couldn't get into my threshold zone....

Feeling a bit dejected I walked/jogged home to give me 13.8km for the day. Those 400's on Tuesday seem to really knock me and had nothing in the tank today...

45 minutes borderline threshold

A repeat of the session from last Thursday. A 2km warm-up, then 45 minutes threshold, then 1.9km to finish with. Struggled to get into my threshold zone and I was borderline for the first half of the run. Very frustrating as every time I looked at the watch the heart rate was always a beat or two lower than where it needed to be. I finished up running 13kms in 45:30 which was exactly the same time as last week.

Recovery run and strides

A recovery run. Legs a bit heavy but nothing compared to this time last week. All up 14.8kms in 57:35 (3:53's). A few strides at the end - not sure why but did them without thinking.

1 x 1600 then 12 x 400 off 60 secs

Out to Dangan on a glorious sunny morning. I ran a lap of the pitches to warm-up (3.6km) and then down to the track. A quick change into the flats and a few strides and it was time to get started.

First up was a 4 lapper just to get some lactate in the system. I ran fairly hard and clocked 4:54.6 and didn't even get out of my threshold zone....then 3 minutes recovery and then into the 400's (after first removing the top).

I wanted to keep the effort level constant and was hoping for similar lap times. After around 5 I was feeling the pinch and 12 seemed a long way off. But I kept battling on with each one getting slightly tougher then the previous one. Here are the times:

67.7, 66.2, 66.1, 66.1, 65.8, 66.3, 66.8, 66.4, 65.6, 66.1, 66.0, 65.2 (ave 66.2)

Looking back through the records that looks to be my best ever set of 400's - so happy with that. Heart rate-wise it would have been nice to push it a bit higher but I couldn't have done much more today. I was staggering around like an old soak at the end of the set...

A further 3.5km warm-down for 13.5kms for the day. I expect the legs will be destroyed now for a few days...

345

Another recovery run. A similar effort level to yesterday but much easier to get into the recovery zone today. All up 11.1kms in 41:39 (3:45's). A nice slow trot...

A few strides at the end (4 x 15 seconds).

Back to the track tomorrow for some more 400's.....

Long recovery run

A long run from Claregalway to Oranmore via the city to pick up my car which I'd ditched the night before. I was pushing hard but was always struggling to get the heart rate up into my recovery zone for most of the first half of the run.

Very happy to have this one over with. A total of 22.3kms in 1:24:19 (3:47/km). When I look at the splits I only managed to get into the recovery zone for 12 of the 22 kms so in that respect it was a bit of a fail. Certainly not a slow run for recovery....

That's 109.1kms for the week. A good week but stuffed up my 400's but apart from that not too bad. I find it much easier when the threshold running is broken up into segments so more of that please.

8 x 5 mins threshold

More of the T word stuff today. This time broken down into 8 x 5 minutes off 60 seconds. Usual 2km warm-up and then ran out-and-back along the Claregalway 10km course turning after the 4th rep (close to the castle).

All went well. Run hard the first minute each time and then settle into the rep for the remaining 4 minutes. Looking at my splits I was very consistent distance-wise covering just over 1.5km each time. Average pace was around 3:18/km so happy with that.

A 2.3km warm-down to give me 16.6kms for the day.

Out in the evening for a few beers and a curry.

8km Recovery / 6km Threshold / 2km recovery

An hour recovery run today with a 20 minute threshold segment. Legs felt a bit better but still not right. I was having to run the first 8km quite hard to get into my recovery zone which had me worried (I was averaging 3:49/km). Then into the threshold segment - I managed to lift the heart rate okay and knocked off the 6kms feeling pretty good at 3:30/km pace. Then another 2.1km in my recovery zone to finish with.

All up 16.1kms (10 miles) in just under an hour. Not bad running that!

Out in the evening for a table quiz. My general knowledge is fairly shocking but there was decent Guinness so all was good.

John Wayne Threshold Run

Legs not happy today (still). After a 2km warm-up, it was straight into it. Took a few kms of hard running to get the heart rate there or thereabouts - and I didn't really settle into the run until about 7km. I was running an out and back course and after turning I felt a bit better but that was short-lived and I struggled the last 3-4km into a stiff wind. All up 13kms in 45:30 (3:30's).

A 2km warm-down to give me 17.0kms for the day.

In bits

Recovery run with Fintan. Lots of chat so the pace suffered a little and I was borderline shopping zone/recovery zone for most of it. All up 14.9kms in 58:47 (3:57's).

Legs got gradually worse as the day went on. Those 400's have destroyed my calves...

A photo of the recent Claregalway podium courtesy of 77edenhill:

12 x 400's plus bonus 2

I had planned to make the track for this session but time was against me. So instead I used the treadmill like I did last time I did this session 2 weeks ago.

Same routine, a 2km warm-up, then some very quick strides to spike the heart rate and then into it. Recovery was only 45 seconds compared to 60 seconds previous so I thought 21.8kms/hour (66 seconds per lap) would get that heart rate up for each 400m. After the first 3 I was only in my threshold zone and from there on in I was playing catch-up. I kept upping the treadmill by 0.1kms/hour each rep and by the time I reached no 10 I still wasn't in my tempo zone...

Speed was very quick by this stage and managed to get into the zone on reps 11 and 12. Feeling guilty I decided to do a couple more (still increasing the speed each time) and again I was up into my tempo zone. I should add that I was still running 66 seconds each time even though I was down to 63 seconds for the 400m by the end of the session.

So a big improvement on 2 weeks ago but I wasn't putting the heart rate where it needs to be so a fail as far as the session goes. A 2km warm-down and that's 9.6kms for the day.

Start of another week

Recovery run 12.6kms in 49:26 (3:55's).

Plenty of lactate threshold test appointments so that's good to see. A really nice feeling to help people with their running and I'm getting some great results with people who were in a few months back.