Track session, 2 x 500m with full recovery. first one in 77 seconds, 15 minute rest, then second in 78 seconds. Very tough work. The first 300 is fine, but the last 200 is hell, everything switches to jelly. Tony set the pace and looked very comfortable. I was heavy breathing most of the way.
Probably means I've pushed the training to the max this week. Will take Friday releatively easy (just some yoga and a cycle to work) and then rest Saturday
Friday, April 25, 2008
Thursday night 500s
Thursday, April 24, 2008
First race outdoor race of 2008
Ran in the Southampton open meet last night. 300m in 41.2 seconds. Second behind 50 year old David Elderfield and ahead of Tony Noel. Pretty slow time, primarily down to the head wind in the home straight. (Tony and I have done sub 42 in training and we were both hoping for sub 40). Good race though, I was on the outside and had a fairly slow start. Tony and David were past me at the 200 mark. Managed to relax into the last 100 and came back into it well.
Update:
The times for our race were recorded incorrectly - looks like we've been given the Senior Womens results. I suspect we did about 39 :) Check out the results here.
Highlight of the evening for me, Mike Smith (greatest 400m coach of all time) used my name in the same sentence as Euan Thomas. Admittedly it was to say "Euan thinks he's the oldest here tonight, but I told him you're much older.....'.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Grass speed session
30 mins of yoga to kick off the day. Coaching in the evening, then my session from 7-8.
Lovely evening, but starting to cool off by the time I started.
Replicating the Harriers' session I did 2x(300,200,100) 100m jog recovery (1 1/2 mins) 6 mins between sets.
Managed 48,32,14 for the first set and 50, 33, 15 for the second. Pretty pleased with it overall.
Heavy day tomorrow, out with Mountbatten school in the morning then racing in the evening, undecided on whether to do 300 or 600 at the moment. Probably 300.
First training session of the summer
Good turnout tonight, 15 people and a star appearance from an extremely fit deer.
Started with some basic warm up and drill exercises, then did some speed/acceleration drills before moving on to the main feast. Two sets of 300,200,100 with 100m walk recovery, and 6 mins between sets.
Split into 3 groups, the first decided 2 sets were not enough and added a third. I think an element of not trying hard enough on the first two!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Harriers' Summer Training 2008
The time has come for summer track training for the Harriers. Imagine now the next 4 months of glorious, sun drenched evenings, a large gathering of fellow athletes and some fun sessions.
The high level schedule can be found here.
First session, Tuesday 22nd April 2008. Then every Tuesday through till end of September (or whenever it gets too dark to train)
We meet at Mountbatten school grass track ready to start at 6pm sharp.
If you need directions, here is a link to Multimap. If you look carefully you can even see the track marked out! No Harriers there sadly.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
World record for my coach
My hurdles coach (Howard Moscrop) smashed the M50 400mh world record today in Walton. 57.68. should put it beyond most people for a few years.
Howard's been chasing the world record for a few years now and finally has one - well done H!
Tough weekend
Not strictly training, more abuse of the body.....
The weekend started with a Friday night 'Silver Stag' night to celebrate the 25th Wedding anniversary of one of the founding fathers of the Harriers. too much beer and too much curry I'm afraid - the body is no longer a temple. I'd meant to get to the track Saturday morning, but opted for sleep instead.
The festivities resumed Saturday evening with more beer and more food. I'm now at least 10 lbs over race weight. Sunday morning finished me off with a 4 egg bacon bap - well no one else wanted the eggs and it would have been unfair on the chickens.
I did manage a gym session this evening. Some squats and dips working on core strength. Moved up to 47kg on the squat, handled it fairly well so looking to go over 50 soon.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Grass session
Good yoga half hour on Wednesday morning then down to the track on Thursday. I joined Tony's group for some 'fast work' (that's fast for middle distance runners) We ran round the top cricket pitch for 20 minutes, with 8 fast runs for half a lap.
Good session this as you choose when to do the fast bits, either get them out the way early or, as I did, do a lap slow then a lap with a sprint in. Good mentality for a race, training you to alter the tempo at different times. Also good doing the session on flat, soft grass, with a bit of spring.
20 mins of quality running, the heart and lungs suitably stressed and some good mental training.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Tuesday speed
Another track session on Tuesday, nice and bright, but a bit of wind and a chill. Tony Noel my fellow 400m relayer turned up and we planned a speed/endurance session. 2 sets of (300, 250, 200m ) with 3 and 2 mins between runs, 10 mins between sets.
We set of fairly briskly on the 300m, Aiming for about 42/43 we clocked 41.9 which turned out to be too fast for me. Managed the 250 in 36 seconds, then the 200 in 30, not enough recovery to do any quality speed. I decided that discretion is the better part of valour. Or put simply one set was enough!
Tony battled on and completed the second set, but it looked like it really hurt.
The aim of the session was to maintain a very fast pace over a set of run, building up speed as well as endurance. In reality, I think my base speed is OK, my endurance is OK, but the two together aren't working yet. Still time to sort this, but I'll need to change my sessions to cope with this.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Saturday track
Inspired by my Thursday ride I decided to ride to the track. Only 6 miles, so nothing strenuous. It took 23 minutes, which compared to 15 in the car is not bad. Joined Tony's quick group for the session. They were doing 10x300 @48 (100m jog recovery), so I did 5x300, running alternate reps and taking a longer rest.
Managed all 5 at 46 second pace which was very pleasing, felt fairly comfortable, with no drop off at the end. Will need to drop the number of reps and increase the speed fairly soon.
Pleasant ride back, not so quick, but got home just before the rain arrived
Friday hills
Kicked off the morning with some yoga with Liz, getting back into the swing now.
In the evening joined the Harriers for a hill session.
2x campion for a warm up in 20 seconds. 2x Richmond flat out. 65 and 67. Really pushed it and very please with the speed. I think that's the fastest I've done Richmond. The hill is about 400m long with a steep rise to finish, just when all your energy is gone.
The recovery is just a slow walk back to the bottom of the hill, which, to be honest is not enough for this kind of intensity. Managed a second at another credible time, but that was pretty much it for the evening. Slow jog to the next hill. a sharp 20 second up Durban (not too shabby) but then the tank switched to empty. Managed a very slow walk home with both legs cramping up!
Overall, very pleased with the pace.
On yer bike
Thursday: Got back late from Exeter so didn't have enough time to get down the track for some hills, however, took the opportunity to get my new bike out for the first time and race it around the country side. Brilliant fun with the bike just whispering 'go faster, go faster' all the time.
Managed to squeeze in a 40 minute ride around Braishfield and Farley church, plenty of hills, up and down. The calves were very tight by the end!
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Back to training - speed endurance
Great session last night. 16x200m, 30 second recovery, target 37/38 seconds for each run.
The goal of the session is to raise the heart rate to a high tempo, giving it just enough time to recover slightly then pushing it again.
Through the winter we have been doing these runs at 40 seconds, so 37/38 represents a considerable speed increase. This is training the body to go at 5 minute mile pace for just over 2 miles. Quality stuff.
The first run is always the hardest to get right and I led off with a 34 second 200. Much too fast! and everyone in the group felt it. However with that as a marker we were able to judge the rest just right. averaging high 37, low 38s for the next 14 reps. The last one is always a bit of a sprint. £ of the group cranked it round it about 34, I did a fairly comfortable 36 - but was glad we were only doin 16.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Hampshire Sports Awards 2008
A couple of weeks ago I received and invite to the the Hampshire and IOW sports award dinner at the Rose Bowl. I'd been short listed for the veteran sportsman category.
Unusually I didn't do any research on the event before hand so was amazed to arrive along with 200 top sports people from Hampshire. Roger Johnson (BBC South today) hosted the event and did a superb job, interviewing every nominee on the stage and then presenting the awards. I was very chuffed to share the vets award with fellow 400m world champion Dave Elderfield.
For me the stars of the show were Steph Twells (destined to be the next Paula) and her coach along with the disability awards - very inspiring stuff.
Such was the calibre of the nominations that England Flanker Tom Rees and the Waterlooville & Havant FC both missed out.
Here's a couple of links that detail the event:
Daily Echo with a picture of us
more details and a quote I'm sure I didn't make :)
Listen to your heart
Unusual for me, I'm actually taking my own advice. After the tough hurdles session at the weekend I could feel a cold coming on and my heart rate was up 10 beats a minute. So rather than try and train through it I've taken a weeks rest and I feel much better for it.
9 days without any form of training, (apart from a light jog with Poppy on Wednesday morning). Now ready to get back to it again.
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