Training Log Archive: Thumper

IW + HFW together.

Sadly, although I thought I was ready, I wasn't. Despite feeling great yesterday from all the sleep and rest, I felt knackered when I woke up.

That meant no long ride, cycled the direct route in and felt shit when I got there- nothing major but felt warm all day, probs a combination of bit of fitness loss and coming back too early.

However, i was hoping to do the park run and run for North Derbyshire on Tues so stopped off to see how I felt running at Queens park. I did half a mile and realised quickly that the muscle spasm from being ill hadn't gone and that any more running would just bring all the issues back with a vengeance.

So...thats it, the season I never thought I'd have is over and theres no point pushing to reach bonus races.

I need to be sensible with the build up now, with LOTS of regular rehab and a sensible easing in to running.

The biggest conundrum for me is when exactly to start training. The rules of the Reniassance state not to put any focus on a particular race to avoid the stress I used to put myself through, however I do have goal races...

Dont want to start too early, but also want to start earlier than I have done before!! Decisions!

Much better today and made it into work. Fever/chills and muscle aches have gone but have an ominous sharp pain deep within my abdomen. With recent UTIs I thought I should visit the doc yesterday.

He duly made me feel like a hypochondriac. I must be a marked man after the whole fatigue saga. Im the patient that causes the GPs shoulders to drop and a despondent exhale as I walk in the room. With his manner I feel it is important to document that he is a cock. I'll show him when I give birth to my pseudo kidney stones.

Did think about running tonight as I feel great in myself (aside form the abdo pain). But, alas. When I wrote my new rules for the runaissance, rule 3 was give yourself an extra day after you feel ready to run when returning from illness.

With 36 hours sleep banked in 48 hours I feel fresh as a daisy, need to find how to feel this energised near a big race as it has never happened.

I think I will bin Sedbergh :( But I will try a very light session tomorrow and if it feels ok I will do the park run on Sat and the club league race on tues before having a few more days off.

Tentatively I shall then begin my first proper running plan for 2 whole years. It would quite literally be a dream come true if I managed to get to the end of it

Still rough, slept pretty much 24 hours.

Its looking like thats it for this training block. Pretty frustrated as felt like the Sedbergh race would have been great fun. Amazing how one day you can feel strong and the next day you cant even train!

Off to the docs in a bit to see if I can get to the bottom of it

Damn it. Turns out I have been coming down with something. Felt progressively shocking yesterday and shite today. Called in sick which I hate doing.

Bit paranoid about what it might be as I felt like this when I ended up having four months off (that wont happen again). The last time I had these symptoms it was what triggered the back and leg issues. Fingers crossed.

The mistake I made both times in the past was training too soon, so I wont be doing that again, I'll be gutted if this leads to me not doing the Uphill race though as I've really been looking forward to it.

Grrrr...

Been harbouring a sinus infection for a few days, it seems training and drinking has brought it on a bit. Figured a rest day would be the best option- hate wasting days off work!

Slightly longer ride to pick up the car following wedding celebrations last night.

Feeling a bit ropey but DOMS very significant now following thursdays session, so sacked off the planned tempo effort.

Really need to get the weight down ready for the race, so that is the focus for me next week.

Not really sure how to structure my training this week with the tempo being put back... do I go for 3 or 4 sessions

Done a bit of geeking about the Uphill race. The main reason was to see how people prepare for it. The answer is... everyone has completely different approaches, very interesting.

Having done hard efforts on a similar gradient,looked at who normally competes and what their standard is like on the road/XC, I think I have an understanding of where I should be aiming to be in this race.

There is a blend of good road/XC guys going for a GB vest and then some hill specialists who may not be as fast on the road, but are clearly very good going uphill. I dont have a chance of being amongst these guys, so I guess my goal would be to try and compete with other people for title of "best of the rest"

There tend to be about 40 entrants, so I think a good run form me, looking a who has placed where would be top 25. Thats the goal. Its quite nice having a goal that is completely alien with no frame of reference.

Pacing is the most important thing and form the session I did last week I think my aim will be to run at "get up it" pace, hopefully others will go off hard at an unsustainable pace and I might be able to get one or two of them in the latter stages. I dont think its worth having any other plan as think I'll be hanging on for grim death!

My biggest concenr is how much am I going to lose on the downhills...

This was an easy run... DOMS were hurting, but it was no where near as easy as the garmin was saying! Luckily when I got back the trace suggested I had run to Harrogate, so god knows what was wrong with it.

I would wager the route was closer to 8.25 miles.

BAKING HOT!!

Decided to take an easy day of just cycling in case the legs get sore from yesterday.

Felt ok in the morning but certainly had now "oomph"

Slightly longer HFW (very slightly).

Pre wedding celebrations.
So, so hot.

Had a chat with Alan about what to expect at Sedbergh. He sad a decent sessio would be to run up and down Lose Hill a few times. So I did.

3 reps. Quick gasp of breath at the top then run back down. Quick drink on Edale Road (it was 27.5 deg) then turn around and do it again.

I decided to use the Accelerate Losehill challenge segment to capture the time of my efforts. The main reasons for this session were 1- a hard session, 2- to get used to the gradient, 3- to suss out how to ace such an alien event.

It was brilliant for all of the above. The first effort was fresh and relative hard whislt the latter 2 were more "getting through it" yet there was only 30 seconds in it time wise.


My thoughts are to jsut set off at a "get up it" intensity in the race and see wahts left at half way. However looking at the segments I will be signficiantly handicapped by the downhill segments

1. 12.00
2. 12.33
3. 12.32

C • sounds like great fun! 1

IW
Sweaty humid morning.
Stuggled to get out of bed but enjoyed it when I got going

HFW via Holmebrook Valley Park, Linacre and then through the fields home

Lovely run. No niggles whatsoever, little bit tired, but very enjoyable.

Difficult to get out of bed, but made easier by the sunlight which kept me awake form 5 am.

I do wish I started work an hour later- i guess this would have worse repercussions in relation to my finish time however. So I will stop moaning.

A very lovely ride in, but felt unfit

Cycled to Queens park for a session of 12 x 400/400 jog.

The idea was that with my impromptu running season coming to a close I would increase the recoveries and work on my speed. Sadly, it felt a real hold slog and I was hanging on to finish from half way.

This could be a number of things; feeling flat since a couple of days before Donny (possible urine infection..again!), the horrible working conditions on the ward today, fatigue from the hill session on Friday.

Or..and more than likely, its just the fact that I have no speed. Recovery from 400 jog turned out to be between 1.45 and 2 mins. I'm quite rubbish at taking long recoveries and dont like sanding still.

However, mental note next time I do this session I will take it even slower and aim for 3 mins for the recovery period. Speed is the major of my many weaknesses. I need to accept it and work on it.

69,68,68,67,68,68,69,70,70,70,70,72

Recovery and warm up

Planned 60 mins but woke up at 5.45 and couldnt get back to sleep. Felt knackered so pootled in.

Made slightly more difficult with a super heavy back pack..

Feel soft and wimpy for not doing the hour

Had planned to do a session on the way home but legs felt heavy all day on the stair at work which is a good sign of fatigue (learned the hard way).

So decided to just pootle home and go for a walk and a pint in the village with Hatts at Soph... I feel this was the right decision.

Nice ride out to Hathersage to met everyone for Hannah' birthday.

Kept it honest

Nice run out with Pete, Sprotty and Tom Edwards as part of Hannah's bithday celebrations

Great route up to Stanage that I haven't run before. Felt a bit shit running, mainly I think as it was so hot. Was also a bit embarrassed about my shite descending.

Led me to contemplate the point in driving up to Sedbergh to "race" something which may be completely out of my depth/ comfort zone. On the flip side it could be loads of fun.

I definitely want to end my "season" on that weekend and the only alternative is Askern 10 miles, which may be a bit stupid seeing as my longest run is 11 miles..

Decisions

Lots to do on the house today so no time to train really, plus cant be arsed trying to cycle in this weather so switched the rest days around

Nice ride into work. Funny morning, not the forecast weather. Amazing what a difference the backpack makes. Road with a bumbag today and was few minutes quicker

What a fantastic evening.

Headed out to Hope and ran along to Castleton to do some hill reps on Winnats.

2 x 3mins reps on Arthurs way then 8 reps from the cattle girds to where my watch beeped for 3 minutes. All off equal recovery

Planning on having a run at the Uphill trial (for fun-dont worry I dont have any big ideas) as my plan when returning to running was to do hill work to strengthening my gluts but avoid aggravating my back at the same time.

This kind of gradient prob isnt the most specific gradient for the race but its still hard work and I figured "Winnats" would get the juices flowing enough to get a good effort out.

Difficult to know how to pace and the latter reps were just a case of getting up. Need to find a steep slope for the next session. I'm thinking Lose Hill.

Planned to cycle in this morning but got 5 hours sleep due to the adverse effects of an emergency red bull pre-race.

So...drove in and did a cheeky plod home via Linacre. This run was the best run I have had since 2011. No pain and pleasant from start to finish. So much so that I forgot my planned route and would have ended up running 12 miles from the point where I was when I realised my error.

I almost threw caution to the wind, but my balls had chaffed so much I couldn't run another step, so called the 4th emergency service and Hatts picked me up..

Was looking forward to this race in order to finally find out where I was at with my running: relays are always funny old things particularly ones like Dam Flask which is very easy to pace wrong and difficult for runners on later legs. I felt Dam Flask flattered me a lot, similarly with the recent fell races.

So I had a nice taper. As I mentioned yeterday everyone at work is rough as anything, its like the plague village, I'm ok touch wood but have been knackered and ravenous the last 2 days which often is a sign I'm coming down with something.

Aside from tiredness though, I felt good, legs fresh etc.. I did a warm up with Tom and Ben and it was obvious that the course was windy on 3 of the 4 directions of running and bloody hot on the wind behind section!

We set off and it was a funny old start where many people went off hard, meaning I was jostling (like many others) to maintain a decent position. My plan was to get in the strongest group I could comfortably go with and then kick on the final lap with 1k to go.

2 main groups formed, up front, long time hallamshire rival Phil Hoole took two Donny lads and a Lincoln kid who looked rapid, and back from there was myself, Phil Williams, Tom, Will Beauchamp and a few others. I decided to settle in to this group and to be honest, felt like I was hanging on for dear life... So just went with it and kept things as hard as I could.

Positions changed constantly due to wind, people blowing up and those who were less strong dropping on the slopes. The two who had kept Phil Hoole company came back to us at the start of lap 2 and as we worked round more and more people fell off the pace.

This left myself, Phil Williams, Tom, Beauchamp chasing Hoole...who blew spectacularly at.. 1k to go.

Game on... Except I didnt have much so I elevated my exertions from hanging on, to slighty more pain and discomfort. I saw Will and Tom work forwards and tried to stay in touch, I couldn't go any harder and held on to 3rd to Toms 2nd and Wills 1st.

Pre race I was really hoping to be in 15.30 shape. Any thing else would have been a big surprise and bonus. So I'm delighted with that with the training I've done.

lots more things I coudl work on and nice to jsut enjoy racing the best out of myself regardless of how i feel and not worrying about times. Worth the trip.


Also..pretty special that there was a women who jogged round escorting an old chap with dementia in his running kit. He kept running off in the wrong direction and she kept getting him back on track. He obviously enjoyed running back in the day. Pretty lovely and special really. More special as he was in last place and when he passed the congregation, awaiting the start of the main race, he got a massive cheer (not sure everyone knew he had dementia) Bless him (and her). Got to love running.

C • Fantastic 4

Warm up/down

Nice easy plod with Sprotty along Rivellin, nice and easy putting the world to rights and moaning about my hamstring.

I was in the area as i had to take apart the wardrobes, desk and bed that Pete broke when he first got with Hannah, the ANIMAL!

Lef hamstring tight..everyone at work ill, very paranoid about the inevitable

Rest day

Cheeky little explore from Shilito woods.

5miles were great the rest was a bit of a skirmish. But lots to work on and a lovely view coming up to Baslow road

For those at the BBQ
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/28180336

Session with Tom for the first time in 3 years. Blimey. Its been a long time!

12 x 70s/90s walk/jog recovery. Taking it in turns at leading reps. Looking at the pacing sadly, it appears I was slowing Tom down when I led, which is as I would expect with him being in 15.30 shape at present.

Session made more difficult with scorching heat and me being massivley hung over from a hen do last night.

Great to be with the old training partner again.

Warm up/ down

Ride home after a cracking BBQ at the Thakes house.

Still felt rough from beers and felt stuffed from good food, but a nice pootle nonetheless

Ride over to the house in Crookes to take photos of everything to put on e bay

Pootle back

Headed out to Hope with the brother in law and ran Hope,Castleton, Winnats Mam Tor, Lose Hill Hope.

Beautiful day for it, think he enjoyed it. Stunning views on a clear day. Relaxed pace, planned a cycle later but felt tired in the only window of the day that I had the opportunity to go, so sacked it off.

Still tired now so hopefully a good decision.

Even going at an easy pace my HR was 150 on Winnats. Such a great hill

Dear experienced fell guys/orienteers...

What do you recommend as the best head torch that would allow winter off road interval work?

Dont know where to start :)

C • headlamp 8

Same route as every morning this week with the same lovely sunshine, but more wind.

Legs really sore from Monday night now, so felt much more effortful

Legs a bit sore still but struggling to fit things in with the in laws up. (Core has gone out of the wind as has injury prevention stuff)

Decided that with the DOMS, headwind and fear that I shouldnt be doing a session that I would just cruise the session and see how it went.

Has it happens Loads road is harsh enough that I got a decent workout anyway. Felt pretty shamoeed by the end.

On my warm down jog back down harewood road I did a 20 sec downhill sprint every 3 mins.

The out for stodgy food and some beer

HR on efforts ave 163, pace varying as I worked up the hill

10x3mins/90s

Nice and easy same route easy yesterday in stunning sunshine, lovely way to start the day.

No soreness et, but it will come.

Took a break in family activities to drive over to Over Haddon and explore Lathkill Dale, never been here before, just kept to the river side and loved every second. Beautiful

Aside from DOMS from yesterday it wasn't until afterwards that I realised this is probably my first pain free run in a VERY long time. But I won't get too excited.

Then legged it back to take Sophie swimming

C • Yes you have 2

Quick spin around the block- stunning morning for a pootle

The whole family in law has descended upon us for a week, my brother in law Ben expressed an interest in doing some fell running. Not knowing many true fell routes I decided a fell race may be the best option. With only one to choose from, we decided on Hathersage..although we weren't sure whether we were doing it until this evening.

As we arrived there was a light rain shower, we got sorted and discussed our relative nerves. Then we headed to the start. It was a fairly fast start but somehow found myself feeling good and a little frisky. I headed to the front and started to make my way up the climb. Then I had a decision to make with the tracks and realised no one had followed. Frantically I switched course and got back on the right track.

I was still just in front but lost a bit of ground, we then exited the wood and again there were options and again I took the wrong one, luckily a spectator shouted me. I ran through some rough stuff and found myself in 3rd.

Luckily in time I found myself sneaking to the front again and maintained it just to Owler Tor to bag the KOM award. I then ran as well as i could over the rocky tops, but knew Little Rob was coming. Again I went wrong as we approached Higger Tor, Rob sportingly called me, but he wasn't sure either, so the pace dropped as we sussed it.

I jsut came out in front on HIgger Torr before Rob took off on the descent. I probs lost 30 deconds to him down the muddy rocky bit, such is my shitness and lack of bollocks. Luckily a few more uphills gave me chance to make inroads and he was in sight. Funnily, Rob had slowed with a cautious approach to a road secition which had a tight greasy corner. He told me about it after and I coudlnt work out how he could be aggressive on slippery rocky mud but allow me to gain on the road bit through his caution!

We had an exciting sprint where I tried in vain to catch him, but his damage was done and I rolled home for second.

Really enjoyed it. Brother in law did too. Great way to spend a bit of time together. Bit of a shame though as I've been really looking forward to running for North Derbyshire all month in the next in the road race series tomorrow evening- but dont tihnk it would be sensible. Looking at the recent results of the Heanor boys I dont think I'd get anywhere near them anyway, they are flying!

C • You joined the Brown Vests? 4

Token warming up

Tour de France rest day. What a fantastic job the team did. Very proud to be from Yorkshire. The festival atmosphere in Bradfield was amazing- and great to catch up with old friends!

Headed over to Grassmoor country park for a cheeky mile rep session. My new approach to training is to concentrate on bigger recovery- I have no speed yet rarely did quality sessions.

So i opted for 4 x 1mile/4mins. Not sure what I expected, but the pace was tough. Forgot how hard mile reps were. Couldn't have put another one out.

Frustratingly the back and hamstrings were a feature after just 1 reps so that was an added problem. Don't know what else i can do to try to alleviate this.

Decent session to get in the bank, regardless of pace

1. 5.00
2. 4.56
3. 4.58
4. 4.59

Warm up/ down

Nice easy pootle stunning evening .

Coudlnt work out how to fit a ride in so took a risk that there would eb only one goal in the ARG/BEL match- delighted it paid off!

What a weekend of sport!

IW

HFW

Warming up/down and sussing out gears

Wow. So many thoughts, how to get them down without being more boring than normal.

Descended into Bradfield in the car and was taken aback at how quiet it was and how little "touriness" there was around. I did my warm up and got chatting to a guy I ding dong with on Strava, but have never met. Nervously I approached the start where there must have been 10 people watching.

Sadly I got bollocked for "performing u-turns" before the start whilst trying to sort out my gearing for the start by the commissiare. I apologised and said the last thing i want o be is a trouble causer- but everyone did the same. He said well now Ive given you something to think about to spoil your ride. Prick.

Anyway...5..4..3..2..1 GO! Not a great strt but got upto speed wuickly and contmeplated being ambitious with gears but decided against. The weather had made the course slippy and many had decided ot ride seated for grip- I decided against and leant back pver the rear wheel for traction- this worked well, only slipping once.

Sadly, twice my gears skipped taking my momentrum and nerve, but I still felt I was going ok. Then I rounded the last corner..

Bugger me! The noise was deafening, there was a funnel of people easy 4 deep and easy 40 people ling which gave no choice where to aim for- I wanted ot change gear to a harder gear as I felt I was floating and could go harder, but i didnt dare as I wouldn't be able to hear if the gear had change smoothly and if it jumped at this point I would have been off.

Caught by the catchers at the top I stopped the clock.

My time put me in 4th with 15 riders to go... Then the pros came through not sure where i finished but it was about 15th. Im pleased to be part of such a fantastic event and pleased not to have a disaster, but I really do think I have a big hill climb performance in me, I'd love to see it all come out some time.

If the gears hadn't skipped and I had been brave enough to go to my limit I think i could have been right up there- but its a case of shoulda, woulda, coulda. Next time I'm going for broke.

At the end of the day it was the best thing I've done on a bike and I wasnt shit, so thats the main thing...



http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=Ui6K...

C • Awesome 4

IW boring but great to get an hour in

Even though I'm trying to learn from my mistakes of old its still a fine line between being lazy/soft and being sensible. Be interesting to see if I'm coming down with something "(probs am its my week off next week!)

Felt flat as a pancake today, planned to cycle in and cycle straight home before heading out on a nice easy 5 miler. But I felt so lethargic I figured I should just rest- at the same time I'm trying to build up to 6 consecutive days of running.

Having seen the start list for tomorrows hill climb (stacked with lots of pros) I decided early on in the week to abandon going for it, train through it and jsut enjoy the experience.

I think I forgot how uch a hard 10k effort takes out of you. Lesson learned. So added to my list of lessons is no sessions, even if relaxed until the legs feel recovered from races of 6 miles or over. 3 miles ish seems to be quickly recovered from

IW

Pretty rough day at work today with a patient collapsing and dying whilst we were treating her, in front of her daughter, total stress for about 2 hours and cant stop replaying it. Prob not the place to moan on here, but needed to get it off my chest.

Also knackered from staying up for the football last night, so was in two minds whether to run at all. (It was either this or drink beer) Decided to get out to try and clear my head/ reflect and went easy, but was sore and tired the whole way.

Probs should have rested in hindsight. Hopefully a better day tomorrow.

IW

Work to Queens park for run session, then Queens Park to the Tap Hose Pub for a cheeky pint (2) then home

Run warm up

Thought I'd shake things up with another 12 x 400 session. Met up with Je for the fortnightly 400m session and pint.

Since the Queens park track is now out of action we headed to the Queens Park cricket oval which is tarmacced the whole way round- Dickie Birds favourite cricket ground dont you know. Brilliant for training.

The oval is .26/.27 of a mile not exactly sure. In future I'll set the garmin to 400m reps but today it was starting and finishing at the same point. Legs still sore from Sunday and generally a bit tired too so just cruised round the sessions with no aims but to run faster than normal running pace.

The time and distance on here is according to the garmin used(my bike garmin) and looking at the paces is completely wrong. I reckon I was repping at about 72-75 pace per lap- no where near what the garmin suggests- but cant be arsed working it out.

Nice to ahve another run session banked even if it was a cruised one