Training Log Archive: Thumper

Spent a fair portion of the night checking my phone for election results. Knew the outcome would be as was, but can't believe it. Anyway. Adding insult to injury I couldn't wait to run in the snow and was gutted to see zero white, still ran in my trail talons out of stubbornness

Plodded into work, alarmed at slow pace. Relieved on arrival that the new garmin had come up short, then annoyed that the new garmin had come up short

Knackered from a poor nights kip and also one of the most bizarre meetings I've ever been to, which was quite stressful.

Home from work the usual route except again the garmin came up short showing 7.40 pace on very flat sections when I was clipping along ok.

Very frustrating. I'm not at peak fitness but neither am I running as poorly as this suggests (bit of a relief re: last nights session)

Persevere until the weekend then hopefully reset and find satellites under a clear daylight sky, if no joy then I just have to resign myself to the fact that this was a bad purchase

C • In the olden days... 4

Absolutely stunning sunrise run around Linacre. Amazing start to the day, so glad I took a photo of it

Got word that most of the group wouldn't be down and with the forecast being for icey rain I didn't fancy trekking over to pay a fiver then drive bike sopping wet and cold…

So I legged it home and picked up my head torch and went to the lake.

Today was the first run out of the 3rd replacement Fenix, the session was 1 mile M, 5 x mile hard/60s, 4 x 400/60s, 1 mile M.
Except I cocked up when setting the session up on my phone and wondered why my 3rd 400 felt a slog! It turned out I'd set 2 on the watch, so I relaxed into M pace then did an extra 2 400 efforts.

Don't know what to make of the session really. It felt right effort wise but paces were pretty disappointing, I was fairly certain I was running quicker. I can't keep blaming the garmin, so maybe I'm just not that fit…but it is interesting that the final rep was much quicker for the same HR. Also some of the miles started from mine and Andy Cs usual starting point and finished quite a bit further than normal.

Who knows, who cares. Maybe I just wasn't running as quick due to the tricks the dark plays on your speed perception. A decent volume session, so no harm in not completely smashing it anyway.

Light headed after and avoided the rain, so it did what it said on the tin. Looking forward to a snowy run in tomorrow.
5.30 (145)
5.11 (158)
5.19 (158)
5.14 (158)
5.17 (157)
5.07 (157)
70
71
5.28 (154)
72
74

Planned rest day.
Feeling fat post weekend- hoping for a big push next few weeks with some decent mileage and a bit of a weight loss drive

Survived a night out with a big drinker last night and didn't drink too much, which was great.

Felt a bit negative after moaning about yesterday. I really need to start piping down when I'm not happy (which is after most races!) Spent much of todays run thinking about how I might go about changing that.

Todays run was all about just running and I decided to go from home and put together a route I'd been thinking about for a while.

It took in village trails and then headed out along to Rowsley via Beeley woods and back through Chatsworth.

Really enjoyed it, bloody cold at times though.

My final thoughts post run were; "do I continue with the goals I set for myself or do I reign them in?" Presently most of my goals are a bit out of reach and lead to me being disappointed a lot.

I also looked at my training for next week and for some reason I was surprised to see I'd only done 2 decent weeks in this block so I should be pleased with yesterday in fairness-I just wanted to do more for the team.

I decided to keep dreaming and just try to keep my thoughts to myself (but maybe continue to be honest/moan on here)

So…Next goal is Sefton….target top 60 (very ambitious)

National XC relays. One of my fave races of the year, but never really a race I do well at, if I want to run quick over short stuff I really need to get the speed work in and it comes too early for me. Still love it and it is the race where I met my wife so we enjoy it (for now).

My goal today was to run sub 16 (prev. best about 16.25), I wanted to keep us in the medal hunt and I wanted to show myself that my running had turned a corner.

The stars appeared in line, Andy had a stormer coming home in 1st in a strong field. Bertie had opened a gap when I saw him! Better still, I felt amazing warming up and bang up for it.

Berti came back in 6th and I set off with company from Gateshead and Darren Deed to chase. I went out as hard as I felt comfortable and didn't seem to lose too much ground so I maintained pace. Then Shane Robinson who I know well came on my shoulder and we ding donned for much of lap one.

I felt strong and pushed on into the woods on lap two but a classy pack of Scott Overall and Dan Cliffe came past. I decided to go for it and follow them in the heat of the moment I turned to Shane and said, "come on mate, lets fuck overall up". In hindsight, that was a bit gay, but I though it funny at the time.

Amazingly I didn't seem to lose much more ground on overall and despite feeling ready to vom I picked up and ran really strong to the finish. I was so pleased. I think i kept us in the top 10 at least. I then looked at my watch to see 16.22 and I can't help but concede I was a bit gutted, it felt so strong.

This does often happen in this race on reflection…perhaps I need to dive more deeply, but i haven't done much training yet and it is my fastest run, so loads of positives. I just want to be better.

Aside from this we were 8th overall which is so exciting as a Bertie and I are only just back on it, Tommy had an injury last weeks o barely ran and loads of guys were missing today who could have replaced me and even filled more teams.

The other teams also had some cracking performances and the Junior men had some great performances too. A very exciting time for us!!

Pre- work "shakeout". Lots of people not enjoying this term on Strava lol, I feel it important to state that when I use it, I do so with tongue in cheek! For some unknown reason (possibly similar to that of others) the term does annoy me!

Anyway, I did the usual morning loop around the lake with some strides. Felt quite good but my glut is an issue and will be for some time I think, which is frustrating.

I'm super excited for the relays, I've never known such strong teams and we have so many people missing! I wish I was in better shape, but I can't really change that.

Generally feeling knackered at the moment think its just a combo of finding the new job (which amazingly I'm a year into) pretty challenging and getting used to the darker nights/colder weather. But after this weekend I'm hoping to ramp the training and take my weight issues a little more seriously!

Home form work with strides, glut not right all day, but got a bit better as the day wore on.

Did a few strides then headed for a massage. Can't help but feel frustrated that a problem which I thought had finally cleared up, has come back so randomly and feeling much worse. Hey-ho..thats running.

In other news I sent back the garmin Fenix 3 for a 3rd time and received my replacement today…in the shape of a Garmin Fenix Saphire Titanium, worth double the value. Result.

Having said that, its a bit flash for me, I don't need a metal strap and the Sapphire screen always seemed a little overkill to me! Nice to have a treat though, hope it works

C • Lucky you! 3