The Romsey 5 normally marks my transition to fast work, so I was a bit concerned when Tony's track session involved several 800ms. However, Tony had cunningly combined 800s and 200s to give the sense of speed after the grind of the 800.
So the session was:
5x (800 + 200), with a slow 200m jog between each run (about 2 1/2 mins recovery)
We did all the 800s in 2.50 (aiming for 80 sec laps, but degrading on the second) and all the 200s in under 40 sec (the last in 35!).
The key to this session is the ability to feel a bit sharper on the 2s and simulate either a sprint finish or perhaps a change of pace during a race.
Wednesday evening I did a strength session in Jon's gym (my garage).
Warm up with lunges, 3x5 chin ups with legs raised at right angles, 5x5 squats raising weights from zero, 20kg to 40kg. With some swiss ball balancing during the recovery periods. Session took about 40 mins. Ideally would have done an hour, but had to squeeze the session in before ferrying the girls from swimming to guides to brownies to home.....
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Back to grafting
Romsey 5 Recovery
This is part three in the Romsey 5 series. You have had the tapering, the race it self, now here's the recovery.
Three halves of Guinness on Sunday as a reward followed by an afternoon of footie on the box.
Monday lunchtime, spent an hour in the gym at work doing stretching, some balance work on the swiss ball and some light squats.
Tuesday morning did 30 mins of yoga with Liz. The legs are now back in shape so should be OK for track session in the evening
Sunday, January 27, 2008
The Romsey 5
Fantastic morning, about 10 degrees, clear blue sky and no wind.
For the first time I can remember they stopped taking entrants on the day so the Kaputins missed out. Fortunately the other 20 Harriers got in and performed admirably.
PBs from Ian, DaveA and DaveK and great first runs from Thelma, Jean and Frances.
I was aiming for sub 31 and got pretty close with 31.04.
First mile 6.00, bit slower than planned, but fairly comfortable
Second in 6.21, feeling OK, but about 10 secs off pace
Third, 6.29, mostly uphill, again a bit off the pace
Fourth, 6.06, downhill, put please to keep the pace up
Final mile, 6.08 on the flat - pleased to keep going!
Overall I'm pretty pleased with that, well outside my PB or 30.09, but better than last year.
Now I can move on to some speed work in preparation for the British indoor at the end of February.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Tapering for the Romsey 5
The Romsey 5 is one of my favourite road races of the season, not just because it's local. It marks the transition for me from mainly endurance training to more speed based work. I use it as a marker for what sort of shape I'm in and then adjust the training accordingly for the next phase. All my endurance work is designed to give me a strong base ready for the more explosive work in the next few months.
Because it's one of my key runs I treat it like a proper race. Building up to it with specific training for 5 miles, then tapering down in the last week.
This week has been deliberately light. I skipped the heavy gym session on Wednesday and then did a couple of slow 4 to 5 mile runs on Thursday and Friday evening.
This morning I swapped the usual club run for 40 minutes of yoga. My heart rate has dropped down below 50 so it's just a matter of loading up on pasta tonight, then getting a good nights sleep in preparation.
Ian and I cranked out sub 33 last week in a trial run. My goal is to go sub 31 tomorrow. This will mean averaging about 6.10 each mile. The key will be the first two miles. I'll aim to be dragged along to the first mile marker in under 6 mins, then get to 2 miles on 12. Mile 3 is tough, so target is over 18, but then aim to make it up in the last 2 which are either down hill or flat miles.
Burn's night tribute
Having spent a brilliant week in the Highlands last year I can't understand why so many Scots leave there?
When we lived in North Carolina we found half the population had Scottish blood somewhere in them (Now its about 75% Mexican as well). Each summer we visited the Grand Father mountain Highland games for the gathering of the clans.
The picture shows me with the leader of the Gunns. He wouldn't lend me his socks :(
Its only now that I've noticed the gun pointing at my head.
The first year I took part in the sprints, picking up a couple of silvers and a bronze in the 100, 220 and 440 yds races on a cinder track. The seond year sadly the sprints were rained off so I entered the Famous Kilted mile. I went round the clans and borrowed a kilt from the 'Gu
nn clan' (Their moto I think is 'The right to bear bums').
With my high knee lift I opted not to run as a true Scotsman. Even so the kilt was a little restricting. Fortunately the competition wasn't too strong, I had a conversation with a guy most of the way round about how much beer he'd drunk the night before. Kicked for home with 200 to go and ran off with the trophy.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Culture of amateurism
Steve Cram, commentator and former 1500m World record holder, says from his luxury mansion,
There are too many white, middle-class volunteer coaches in athletics.
Read some more in today Times, and in one of the BBC's blogs.
Apparently there are only 21 paid performance coaches in the UK.
I'm assuming the cheque is in the post?
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
More recovery
Early morning run with the Mountbatten ladies. Interesting pace judgement by some of the athletes.
Sprint, get stitch or cramp, walk, sprint, get stitch or cramp, walk....repeat for two miles.
Apparently there is no logical explanation for either the stitch or the cramp and obviously no connection with the running pace....
I've decided to skip the usual gym session tonight - two reasons. Firstly, my heart rate is about 55 at rest (more than 10% over normal) which says I should rest, secondly, with the Romsey 5 this Sunday I don't need a tough session. I plan to taper down from now, so just a couple of short light runs between now and Sunday.
Recovery and Rehab
Recovery
Tough weekend, the fast 5 miles and the slow 9er we're pretty challenging. By Monday I just needed a kip, so no training.
Rehab
Tuesday kicked off with a half hour of yoga and finished with a decent track session
The yoga was based around back stretching. That should help with the core stability.
Went to the track after work. I'd decided I'd play it by ear and take it as easy as possible. Worst case, I'd not run and just coach my group.
Fortunately coach Tony had a 400s session planned for us, 12x400 with 1 min recovery. I like these so decided to start and see how far I got.
Target time 80 seconds. Got to 5 all on target. Then did the 6th in 82, so decided to drop out for 1. This effectively gave me 3.20 rest instead of the usual 1. this was enough and I carried on, completing the final 6 on target. Pretty please with the session and feel back in some sort of shape.
Monday, January 21, 2008
The CC (Cross Country) 6
Sunday morning was the Harriers' turn to host the CC6 so none of us were able to race. Not such a bad thing once we'd seen the course around Oliver's Battery in Winchester. A figure of eight course, most of it uphill.
Not wanting to miss a chance of a few miles training, six of us ran home from Winchester. Following the Monarch's way for most of the route, we put in about 9 miles of mud and hills. Fairly slow pace, but since my legs were drained by about 7 miles, I wasn't complaining to hard.
So a couple of good runs over the weekend - one short and fast, one long and slow.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Romsey 5 trail run
7am woke up with the alarm - the Duvet is in control, it's not going to let me out.
The Harriers are meeting out side in 30 minutes. Am I a runner, or a mouse?
7.15am A mouse
7.18am A runner. Duvet lies defeated on the bed. Kit on, down stairs for a quick strong coffee and Ibuprofen. It's dark, but fairly mild.
7.29am Out side with fellow Harriers (Ian, DaveA, Jane, Martin and today's Academy: Simone, Paul, PeteE and Mark)
Plan is to run to the start of the Romsey 5 - about 2 miles, then run a handicapped version of the race, then jog back.
Slow run to the industrial estate with bits of the academy peeling off on the way.
Met DaveK and Frances at the start.
We plan to use the run as a time trial so set off in groups based on our expected finishing time. Frances sets off first aiming for sub 40. Dave, Martin Jane 3 mins later, Then Ian, DaveK and me 3 mins after them.
The first mile is pretty flat and we managed a quick 6.30 pace, then the hill kicks in - remember, hills are our friends! - second mile is about 7 pace and we've caught Martin. More uphill as Ian and I move away from DaveK. We catch Jane at 2 1/2 miles, and DaveA soon after. The 3rd mile is in about 6.30, then its down hill for the 4th.
Cracking pace, 6.15 then a flat 5th to finish. Ian cruises past with 800m to go looking fresh - I'm out on my knees. Fortunately I haven't eaten anything as it would have been making an appearance at this point.
We both finish in under 33 mins (32.50/32.55), DaveK smashes his PB and Frances hits sub 38. So all in all a very good test for next week.
Duvet Days
After tough track and conditioning sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday I opted to rest on Thursday. Good plan.
Then Friday would be either weights or some hills to get back in the swing.
Sadly, after a good 30 minute yoga session in morning, duvet fever continued through the day and despite packing my bag to go to the gym I didn't get out of the house.
I'm not sure if it was the cause of my malaise, or the effect of not exercising for a couple of days, but I could feel the onset of man flu on Friday afternoon.
Time to hit the juicer with three garlic cloves, some ginger and four oranges - tastes foul but is supposed to work wonders.
Will see tomorrow morning when I'm planning a train run around the Romsey 5 mile course.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Weights Wednesday
Went out for the usual 2 mile run with the Mountbatten pupils this morning. It was freezing at 7.30am, but shorts and T-shirts were enough for most of my group. A hardy bunch!
In the evening I went to the Rapids for a 90 minute gym session.
The gym session started with a 5 minute warm up on the elliptical trainer to get the heart rate up, then a few lunges to stretch out.
Then onto the swiss ball - 3 attempts at balancing on my knees, upright with my arms out. Can do this for a good time now, so its not strength training any more, but still good for core endurance. Interspersed these balances with 3 x 20 press ups with my feet on the swiss ball to make it unstable and harder on the shoulders.
Next up 3 V-sits (lie flat on the floor, arms up, then slowly bring arms and legs up to meet, then slowly lower them both) very tiring - good strength work.
Warm up over, onto the heavier stuff.
3 x 5 squats with 42kg
Dips 3 x body weight (15,10,7)
Chins - small number with different grips
Warm down, 5 minutes of speed intervals on the bike
Pretty good session - I'm starting to feel stronger, need to make sure it translates into the running now
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Chariots of Fire
After 9 sessions last week its a good time to take a complete rest day. Fortunately Film4 was showing Chariots of Fire (my favourite film of all time) on Monday evening, so I managed to get some 'mind training. in :)
If you ever watch it check out Nigel Haver's hurdling technique - how on earth did he win a bronze medal?
On Tuesday I did a track session in Southampton. Pouring with rain, so more mind games involved.
The track session was 16x200m with 30 seconds recovery between runs. One of my favourites.
Target time was 40secs for each rep, which is fairly comfortable and matches what we've been running all winter.
We managed all of them in 38/39/40 seconds, with some pretty good pace running.
I think now is the time to start increasing the speed. I may up the tempo and increase the recovery in future sessions.
Fact of the day: Harold Abrahams (winner of the 100m in Chariots of fire) was the chief timekeeper when Roger Bannister broke the 4 minute mile. I think he's the one in the glasses on the right of the picture. He handed the piece of paper to Norris McWhirter with 3 minutes 59.4 seconds on it.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Mind games and the Stockbridge XC
Following the dreadful weather this week, the glooming forecast, the mud, the hills and the early start, the easiest thing in the world would have been to stay in bed and read the Observer sports section in the hope of finding more articles on Paula.
Fortunately I (and 20 other Harriers or all ages and abilities) decided otherwise and headed off to Stockbridge and ran the 'George Skeates' fun run.
Theres' something for everyone with this race. Either the 8 mile course for runners/walkers/riders or the 3 mile fun course.
It's basically two miles up, two miles across, two miles down and then a nice flat two miles to finish.
The ups are tough and a good part of it is real XC.
I ran with Ian most of the way - trying to hold him back most of the time :)
Lots of mind games going on - trying to float effortlessly up hills and picking the best point to overtake anyone in front who looked to be fading. Ian ran very well and came 6th, I came 8th, DaveK 10th and DaveA 14th. A great result for the Harriers.
The important thing for me in a race like this is just getting on with it. There are times everything hurts, my legs cramp up, there's no one watching. It would be very easy just to hide in a bush or walk home. But these are the runs that strengthen the mind as well as the body. Come July when I compete in the European Masters in Slovenia it will be runs like this that will make the difference.
Hurdling in Swindon
Met up with my hurdles coach and a few other masters hurdlers in Swindon on Saturday morning for a great two hour session
As usual in Swindon, the weather was kind to us and kept bright all morning.
Hurdling sessions at this year provide several benefits.
Firstly, the obvious one, they help with the actual skill of hurdling. Its very difficult to train on your own, but when you have several pairs of experienced eyes watching you it really helps.
The second benefit is the stamina aspect. 400m hurdling is all about maintaining technique under fatigue. So we always have a part of the session that stresses us.
Today we spent 30 mins or so doing various drills over various heights with various spacing between. The goal is to get us comfortable hurdling off either leg.
I have decided to get back over proper height hurdles (3 foot) as I've been messing around with lower ones and I don't think they are helping, just lulling me into a false sense of security.
After the technique work we spent time running relaxed over the first 3 hurdles. I was running about 18 strides (much slower than my race pace of 16) which is pretty relaxed!
Finally, we moved on to the stamina work. 4 x first 5 hurdles with 5 minute recovery.
I attacked all the hurdles to try and keep my momentum up.
I was very pleased to run all 4 at roughly the same pace (29/29/28/28) which equates to about 60 seconds for the full 400. Not bad at this stage of the season. What I'm lacking in speed I make up for in stamina. The speed will come.
The good news is that I'm faster than I was this time last year.
Friday, January 11, 2008
More weights, hills and yoga
A review of Wednesday's weight session, Thursday's hill and why I needed a rest on Friday :(
Wednesday evening is my main weights session at the Romsey Rapids gym.
The session consisted of:
- Squats 3x5 42kg
- Dips 10,6,6
- Some work on the swiss ball - balancing on knees and some press ups with my legs up.
- Some V sits
- An interval session on the bike - 20 seconds easy, 20 seconds flat out (150 rpm) for 5 mins.
Now I should have taken Thursday off, but stupidly didn't.
Thursday
Went to the track and did some hill work. 17 mins of short fast hills.
Stride and speed good, but would have been better to rest.
Again very tired and didn't sleep well. I really will rest on Friday.
Friday
7am 30 mins of yoga - very beneficial. Seems to have kicked started the body.
No more training today. Hurdles session in Swindon tomorrow and Stockbridge 8 miles on Sunday.
More.....
Mountbatten school early morning run
Wednesday kicks off with the first Mountbatten school 'cross country run'.
For the past year I've been joining Peter Faulkner and Ceri Mitchell at 7.30am and taking the keen runners out for a couple of miles. When I started about 5 or 6 used to turn up. Now its over 30!
Whatever the weather these youngsters turn up in just shorts and tee-shirts to be part of it.
They have a great culture of inclusiveness and encouragement at their school.
Because Poppy runs each week, I get to lead the girls group. This week the squad is a dozen girls ranging from year 7 to 11. Once we'd got over the usual 'Can we stay inside Sir?', 'Can we just run round the field Sir?' We set of on our marathon run to Tadburn.
A few minutes in I had to call in the emergency helicopter to return 2 of the runners to school - it transpired that the broken leg one of them had sustained at swimming the night before had flared up again. Apparently the knee strapping hadn't fixed it. The rest trekked on until a collapsed lung brought the whole group to a standstill. As we were miles from civilization and had already called the helicopter out the only option was to run for it - crawl if we had to...
Fortunately we all made it back alive. In fact most of them managed a sprint for the last 400m. Obviously the desire to get back to school was overwhelming.
Two miles in 25 minutes. Not a bad start to the year.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Weights and Measures
Back to work on Monday (that's the day job that pays the bills). Spent lunchtime in the gym.
The equipment is fairly limited (rower, cross trainer, treadmill, bike, bench press, leg raise, arm press) but there are a few free weights and long bars, plus a couple of swiss balls.
Had a good session doing squats (3 sets of 5, with about 40kg) concentrating on technique.
Also did some balancing on the swiss bar. I can now kneel on the ball for about 30 seconds with my arms out. Very good for core.
Tuesday - up early to do half an hour of yoga under Liz's guidance. I've still got very limited flexibility in my shoulders and hips. I'm hoping this will help over time.
In the evening I got to the track to do my measuring session at last (the one I wanted to do on Sunday)
Cold, wet and a very strong wind down the home straight. Ideal conditions for a speed test - not.
Here's the session:
500m 85 sec (I was aiming for 75, started on the 100m start, so did 2x100 into the gale)
5 mins rest
400m 66 sec (target 60)
4 min rest (I'm starting to hurt now)
300m 52 sec (target 45, it really is hurting now)
3 min rest, the pains gone, I'm just numb now
200m 32 sec (target 30, with the wind, not too bad)
2 min rest (jog back to start)
100m 15 sec (target sub 15)
So my hurdles coach was right, I'm very slow at this point (about 10% out). Even allowing for the strong wind that could account for a few percentage points. However, I've not done this test before, let alone at this stage of the season, so nothing to compare it with. I will use it to guide my training over the next couple of months.
I've spent a lot of time on endurance, now I need to shift towards speed/endurance and pure speed. The next measure will be the British indoor championships at the end of February
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Rest and Recovery
So I had big plans for doing a speed test this morning. A 5,4,3,2,1 (500m, 5min rest, 400m, 4 min rest, 300m, 3 minute rest....100m - aiming for each 100m in about 15 seconds)
However, when I didn't wake up until 8 I decided it was a hint from the body to take a rest day.
Instead, I had a good chance to read the paper. Particularly, some interesting stuff in the Observer Sports Monthly.
First article was a day in the life of Paula Radcliffe
She uses her heart rate to help understand when she needs a rest.
"I take my pulse every morning. It's usually 38-40 beats per minute. If I'm training hard it might be 42bpm, but if it's 45 or above then it signifies that I haven't fully recovered and I'll either modify my training or take a day off. It's so important to listen to your body"
Oh to have a resting heart rate under 40! The key here is that she know what is right and wrong for her. Its a good tip we can all use.
She also talks about how she uses her training journal and the benefits of a cold bath!
The other article was about injuries to athletes and how they handled/didn't handle them.
A common theme of athletes coming back to their sport to quickly after injury and not being physically or mentally ready for it.
Spent the afternoon clearing out the garage. I've now got enough room to do squats with my six foot bar. So I'll be working that into the schedule next week. Also need to reschedule the speed test as I'm seeing my hurdles coach again on Saturday.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Harriers are back in force
Great turn out this morning for the 7.30am club run.
The planned route was Squabb wood (8.3 miles)
The academy, at fully strength (PeteF, PaulG, Mark, PeteE), ran to the canal and back (about 3 miles). Rachel and JaneH cut off at the top of the canal and did a fiver, JonV took a left on the Stockbridge road.
This left me with the marathon boys (PeteH, Martin, Neil, Ian, DaveA, DaveK) to do the full, soggy courc in about 80 mins.
I make that 14 hardy Harriers for the first official run of the year. Well done to all.
Then it was back to the clubhouse for the London marathon planning session. The idea being to level set everyone and get the squad thinking about their own training schedules. I'm not a fan of fixed shcdules (i.e the Runner's World specials) as they aren't athlete centered enough (something we have banged into us as coaches). Hopefully this will give a good base and at least some ideas on how to progress.
After the meeting Liz coached me through an hour of yoga. Good session except I could still feel this mornings run (and the hills from last night).
Planning to do a time trial at the track tomorrow. My hurdles coach says I'm too slow at the moment. I need to find out how slow and see how my training needs to change over the next few weeks to rectify it.
Friday, January 4, 2008
The Hills are alive....
Couple of sessions today.
The first a sociable 5 miles around Green lane/straight mile with the 9am Friday morning crew. Ten of us in all. Talking pace.
The main one in the evening at 6.30. The notorious Romsey Hill session.
As I keep reminding people, "Hills are our friends". Pound for pound I believe hill sessions are the best single work out you can do. Great for speed and speed endurance, they can benefit any athlete no matter what your distance.
There are plenty of variables you can play with to create a great session:
- The length of the hill
- The steepness of the hill
- The speed you run up
- The number of repetitions
- The recovery time between repetitions
The last 50m of the last few reps are hell, but fantastic for training your legs to cope with lactate.
Tonight we went on our usual run around Romsey - about 4 miles in total, taking in four of our favourite hills. Starting at the clubhouse, tipping down with rain, Ian and Graeme along for company. The whole session lasts about an hour.
- The wiggly path off Campion drive, x2 as a warm up.
- Richmond hill (about 300m, three sections, gentle slope, flattish, hard slop) x 2
- Durban hill (about 150m, hard climb for 100m, then gentle) x2
- Botley road (Cemetery hill, 200m, gentle start, gradual increase) x1
My times tonight:
Richmond 74/74 secs
Durban 21/21 secs
Botley 35 secs
Pretty pleased overall. Richmond was slow, I'm lacking the speed endurance at the moment, Durban fairly quick, Botley average. So plenty of work to do.
Enjoyed my fish and chip supper afterwards - the food for fine athletes :)
Plan to be up tomorrow at 7.30am for an 8 mile slow run around Squabb wood (Cross country). After that we'll have a Harrier's marathon planning session for all those taking part in the London this year.
More.....
Thursday, January 3, 2008
The theme for 2008 - Core stability
My theme for the year is 'Core stability'.
Much neglected in all sports, core stability should be everyone's starting point. Your core is basically the bits of your body between your neck and just below your knees.
Get this right and your body should be in really good shape for the rest of your training, as well as helping reduce injuries.
I plan to use two routes to get my core stability up.
- Strength and conditioning training (Weight training)
- Yoga
As for yoga, I'm going to enlist my resident yogi to coach me through at least two early morning sessions each week.
More.....
First run of 2008
Ideal preparation for the first run of the year. A fine feast, more alcohol than I've consumed in the preceding 364 evenings of the year (which granted isn't a huge amount), and to bed at 3.30am.
Despite that majority of the Harriers dropping out, PeteF arrived on the dot at 10am. We set off for a pleasant 3 miles around Crampmoor. Nothing to strenuous, but you've got to start somewhere. Well done Pete - you're on your way now.
Now I don't want this to be some Brigit Jones diary - but I did stumble onto the scales this morning and was horrified to find I'm a stone over my racing weight. Action required.
Welcome to the Harriers' coach blog
So here it is at last, my first blog - my first blog entry. Great start to 2008.
I'm going to use this blog to talk about coaching type things. Hints, tips, sessions and anything else I think might be useful. I'll try to keep some sort of record of the sessions I've done and how useful they were.
Feel free to add your comments :)
Cheers
Coach
Thank you to this Dummies guide for their help in setting up the template
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