Hurdling in a gale

Well at least the rain held off.
Very windy, blowing across the track, which made any quality work very difficult. Instead Howard had us doing some hard graft.
First set, 3x 6 hurdles with 10 min recovery. The wind hit me hardest from 1-2, then dropped a bit for the final 4. Managed 35.2/34.6/34.9 for the three runs. The first one I tried to use alternate legs but failed dismally. Second two were just heads down and run. Much more my style

After a few minutes more recovery we finished with 2x5 hurdles with 200m jog recovery. (about 2 minutes) First one in 29 second in 30, hard work but a good session.
The key to this session was adapting to the conditions. You can't be elegant when the going is tough, sometimes you just have to grind the yards out.
This will ultimately benefit me as a speed endurance session.

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Rest

I've got a hurdling session planned in Swindon for tomorrow which I want to do well. So today is a rest day. I've had a few tough sessions this week and not sleeping incredibly well. Yoga session this morning and a beer this evening should sort it :)

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Speed hills

Did a few hills last night with Tony's group. Instead of the usual 300m run we did some short sharp bursts. Two hills at right angles to each other. 80m up the first one, fast, 50m down the second slow. Then reverse it.

I ran well for the first few (about 5) really powering it up the hills and flowing well. But my back tightened a bit (probably due to the cold and the lack of warm up) so I eased off and stopped after 15 mins (of the planned 20). Not too concerned at the early stop as the quality and speed were good on the first few.

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How good would Carl Lewis be today?

When we do our Masters competitions I'm often asked how we compare with the guys who were Olympians in our youth. A few keep going (Willie Banks the triple jumper still competes), Ed Moses tried to make a comeback and then disapeared, but what about the huge stars like Carl Lewis?
Well here's the answer:

The race doesn't start for about 5 minutes, so scroll through the fluff.

Bottom line - Dennis Mitchell wins in 11.6, Carl Lewis is at least half a second behind. In the Master's World rankings that wouldn't make a dent. (In fact my best 100m last season was 12.6)

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Morning run, evening gym.

7.30am run with the Mountbatten team. I went with the top group again, slow jog to the letter box on Halterworth lane then a fast 600m run through the meadow. Roughly 2.09 for 600m which is pretty good. Few minutes rest and then 800m back again. All the lads ran well and earned the slow jog home.

Went to the rapids in the evening. Warm up on the cross trainer, few lunges to stretch out.
Strength (S) and strength endurance (SE) session:

• Body weight dips (5x11 dips) (SE)
• Back squats (3 sets of 5 squats, 4 min recovery, 42kg) (S)
• front squats (3 sets of 5 squats, 3 min recovery, 32kg) (S)
• Row (5 sets of 30 second fast row, 30 seconds rest (150m average)) (SE)

Good workout, took about 50 mins.

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Upping the tempo

Tuesday morning, excellent yoga session with my resident yogi, Liz. Plenty of leg focus. I've been slacking recently on the stretching front, so good to get back to it.
In the evening its down to the track. 12x400m 1 min recovery. target time 78 seconds. That's 2 seconds quicker than we have been running all winter. Two seconds doesn't sound like much, but its approaching 10 meters in distance. Started with a 77, which was a bit quick and made a big difference later on. Most laps were in 78/79 although a few slipped to 80. The last one was 76, which was pleasing.

We had a new athlete start tonight. Half marathon PB of 1.39 and relatively new to running. Tony noticed he was struggling over the first 2 400s so he switched him to just running 200s with us. This was a good plan as it gave Peter a longer rest, but still gave him the feel of the pace we were running at.
It shows how important it is to adjust the session to the athlete - no prizes for driving them into the ground.

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Measuring recovery

Nothing much planned for Easter Monday so decided to do a gentle recovery run with Rob and Jack Finch. Also took the opportunity to mark out some measured runs for future rep session. The recovery run was about 5 miles in total - slow jog.
First measurement (using the trusty Garmin) from the letter box on Halterworth lane, down through Tadburn meadows to the climbing wall is 600m
Next one, 800m from the entrance to Tadburn meadow (by the wall again) running on the flat all the way along the stream until the end of the fence (on the path up to Hestia close).

We then jogged over to Fishlake meadows to the start of Robert Whitwoth drive. Its about 2 miles from the clubhouse, so not too far for a warm up.
I've been looking for a flat, well lit, safe area do do reps during the winter and this looks to fit the bill nicely.
If you start at the entrance to RWD and run along Fishlake meadow road its a 300m straight run on a wide flat, well surfaced path. Perfect for high tempo running. Then take a left in RWD and follow it round until you hit the mini roundabout. That's exactly 800m. This is then a short walk back to the start.
This area would be perfect for multiple 800m reps (6x800m with 1 min recovery, running at 5K pace for instance). You could also do a speed session with 300 fast, 200 slow, 300 fast, 1 min recovery (repeat about 5 times) or 10x400m with 1 min recovery.

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Hurricane hurdling

Saturday morning I decided I needed some more speed work so headed off to the track. Great conditions, strong winds, cold and trying to snow. Arrived not sure what session I'd do (thoughts of 54321 and hurdling (but not together)). Tony's group were doing 10x200 with 200 jog recovery. So I decided to do the 200s with hurdles (the last 4). Fortunately the gale was behind us.

Ideal session as I used the pack to pace me round and it gave me that little spur on. I just did alternate runs, so 5 set with about 3 or 4 mins recovery.
31/29/29/32/32
Slow start, excellent next 2 then degraded dramatically over the last two. With the strong tail wind I found I was being pushed onto the hurdles for the first 3 which meant I could keep left leg lead all the way (17s?) but as I tired I should have switched to alternate legs but didn't. Too long out of hurdling and lack of confidence to try it. This meant I was slowing up on each hurdle and that cost me a second or so each rep.

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Squabb wod and Farewell to JK & Elspeth

Good Friday - good day for a run!
I decided that to get back into it again I need some fast miles - preferably over my favourite cross country course. Set of at 7.45am with rob, DaveA and Ian at a good pace. Plenty of water on the way but we finsihed in an excellent time of 65.40 - close to our best for the 8.3 miles. I think sub 60 is possible, but probably in the summer when the track has dried out.
Got back to the clubhouse with enough time to get a drink in and let the legs stiffen up before heading off on the Harrier's farewell to the Kaputins run.

Great turnout, lots of Academy runners. We set off around Crampmoor and Baddesley common at a sociable pace. Reached the common and Martin produced a bottle of champagne and I brought out the hot cross buns. Very socaible - very Harriers.
An even gentler trot back, including dropping the JKs in the biggest puddle we could find.
Good luck in Oz Elspeth and JK - set up the Perth wing of the Harriers!

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Back to the gym

Went down to Romsey Rapids for the first time in a while and did a good strength, strength/endurance session. Started with 5 minutes on the elliptical trainer, then did some warm up exercises (lunges mainly). Moved on to supersets of squats and dips. Three sets of 3 squats, 42kg on the shoulders, with 3 minute rest. In each rest period I did 10 full dips on the dip machine.

That was the strength work, for the strength/endurance I did some rowing. Set the machine to do one minute hard, 30 seconds rest. Goal was to do 5 sets at about 1.45/500m pace. First 2 set were very tough and I had convinced my self that 3 sets would be enough. Fortunately saw the light and kept going to complete the 5. Only a slight degradation on the last 2. In the first 3 mins I was covering about 290m, the last set I covered 275.
Good session, I'll do this again.

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Coaching dilema

OK, I'm back feeling more inspired. Wednesday morning I took the top group of Mountbatten students out running. All six highly motivated, no moaning about the cold or how far we were going, they just got on with it. We did a couple of miles interspersed with 3x100m sprint (15 second recovery) and a sprint up Seward rise. Finished the run with some Indian file, sprint to the front work.
Coaching a group like this is easy and fun, but a philosophical question, where should I invest my coaching effort?

With the top group who respond and improve or the slower group who are much tougher to coach and don't seem to improve? The top group will reach a decent level without my help, the slow group will probably stop running. Tough call.

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Catch up

Nightmare training week - work trips to Exeter and London, plus a weekend away in Devon. Long winded way of saying I only managed one run in a week. Poor excuses. Fairly good run on Saturday morning. 7 miles in total. Did the first half slowly with the marathon guys. Peeled off on my own at Knapp and ran home through Ampfield wood. Fair pace - round about 7 minute mile. Overall covered the 7 miles in under an hour.

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What's the point of it?

Don't panic - I'm not losing the faith. Just read an interesting article in 'The Coach' magazine. It was basically saying that its every athletes right to ask, and every coaches responsibility to articulate, exactly what each session is for. If you don't know what a session is going to give you then why are you doing it?

Every session, ask the question, 'what is this work out doing for my body?'. If you can't answer that (coach or athlete) then you've got a problem. Training is all about doing the right things at the right time, so what might be the perfect session one day can be junk the next. Don't just train because you think you have to, junk miles just wear your shoes out.
Think quality, quality, quality - all the time.

In future I'll try to remember to blog why I did a session and what benefit it was meant to give me.
Please comment if I haven't.

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Adapting to the conditions

Great storms starting Sunday night and going through to Tuesday! Nearly blown off my scooter on the way to work.
Monday night spent drying the conservatory out after it was flooded during the down pour. So just a quick session in Jon's gym. Chin ups 9/8/7 interlaced with squats. Upped the weight to 45kg which was tough and difficult to handle in such a small space. I really need room to drop the bar.

30 mins of yoga on Tuesday morning, then down to the track in the evening. The rain had cleared up, but it was still fairly windy. Tony set us the challenge of 25 mins of 'bends and straights'. Slow job on the bend, stylish sprint on the straight. I averaged 17 seconds for each run which I was pleased with. This is an ideal session in poor conditions because you have to keep moving. Key focus is on style during the sprint rather than absolute speed.

Wednesday morning was brighter again so did a couple of miles with the Mountbatten girls.

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Sunday 'recovery' run

Spent Saturday watching the girls competing in a 'Sportshall' event in Portsmouth.
Poppy won a couple of medals for the 2 lap run and the speed bounce, Jess ran her first sprint since she started training properly. Her technique was good, couple of things to work on. A quicker start and running on her toes.
Unfortunately got back in time to watch the England- Scotland game - enough said.
Anyway, needed a recovery run on Sunday to shake the legs out. Did 10 miles slowly with the Harriers.

Lovely run, got caught in a brilliant hail storm. At the moment I'm stuck between upping the speed and keeping the endurance going - not really succeeding at either, but over the next few weeks I'll adjust the speed work to be in shape for the start of the season.

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Weights, yoga and hills

Thursday was a bit of a rush - guitar lesson at 7.30 so I had to squeeze a weights session in Jon's gym (my garage). Decided to do some 'super-sets' to cut down on the time. So 3 sets of chin ups (9/8/7) with squats of 4okg during the rest period. Finished up with some step ups onto my bench. 3x1 min with 1 mins recovery, holding 8kg in each hand. I'd like to up the weights and drop the reps over time.
Very tired on Friday...

Started with a 30 min yoga session and ended the day with a hill session. First two hills were fine, then really caned the Richmond hill 400m run. 69/68 sec for the two runs. Best combination so far.
However, legs completely blown out so didn't do any more sprinting. Pleased with the base speed though.

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Ice cold pensions

I guess this is where the life of a masters athlete differs from that of an international athlete.
I was back with the Mountbatten school early morning runners - 7.30am and the car claimed it was -4 degrees Celsius. My group was slightly down in size, but still not a bad turnout. This week at least two of them have realized that T-shirt and shorts won't keep you warm in this weather. The rest undergo yet another practical lesson in thermodynamics. Good run though - couple of miles around Whitenap and Halterworth.
Now that pension...

I had a gym session penciled in for the evening, but I've realized that time is running out to get my pension stuff in for the end of the tax year and sort out all those tax breaks I'm being offered. Does Paula have to worry about all this?
The good news is that its now all sorted and I've managed to secure a tax free bike for the year so even the most boring tasks can have silver lining.

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Back to full training

Right - I'm back home and back to full training again, no messing about trying to peak for the indoors. Plan is to go back to some core strength training and rebuild. The indoors say that I'm on track, just need to keep healthy and improve strength and speed until the track season starts in May.

Monday night - back in Jon's gym - my garage. Did a circuit with 3 sets of chin ups to exhaustion, some squats, 3 sets of 5 with up to 40kg, 3x1 min rounds on the punch bag (with 1 min recovery) and then some step ups on to the bench. Took about 40 mins. Good all round strength session although I need to start to up the load.

Tuesday - yoga in the morning and track in the evening.
12x400m 1 min recovery. We have been doing the 4s in 80 seconds, but Tony said its time to up the tempo and aim for sub 80. Cranked most of them out at between 77 and 79, but a couple of the later one went to 81. Its amazing how much harder it is to maintain the speed at just 1 or 2 seconds faster. We had been very comfortable at 80. Reps 10 and 11 were very tough, but pushed the last one in 75 so very pleased with that.
Key thing here is that training has to be progressive - If you do the same things you get the same results. To get better you have to push yourself outside of the comfort zone.

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Final CC6 of the season

After 10 hours sleep on Friday night I overslept and missed the chance of a hurdling session in Swindon. Body knows best in this case - so a good call in the end.
Sunday morning was the last CC6 of the season at Manor farm. Decided to run just to get some miles in the legs.

Most of the Harriers opted for a longer run so the team was reduced to Rob Finch, Liz and me. I opted to run with Rob and try to push him to a quicker time. Pretty good course, mainly dry with a few slippery patches. We kept a good pace around 7.30 per mile and Rob finished in his best placing so far (26). Good fun, but the legs were very tired. Got home and fell asleep in the bath!

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Cold weather training in Arkansas

Had a week in Arkansas visiting Bentonville (the home of Wal-Mart, the largest company in the world). Having visited 3 time zones (UK, Raleigh, Arkansas) in two days I was pretty shot away so training went out the window.

To be fair it was a good week to miss anyway - I'll call it a recovery week after the British indoors.
I did manage a bit of yoga, a light jog on a treadmill and a swim, but that doesn't really count.
Bizarrely after a week of American food my weight has dropped a couple of pounds...

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