Sunday, April 25, 2010

Rolling with the punches...

…well I ran just over 31:20 for 10km at the Times Colonist 10km in Victoria. I cannot say it was a great race, but then again I don’t think things seem as bad… ( back in the day this would have been an unmitigated disaster). It’s funny how (a good word choice???) I still need some reason (based on some semblance of pressure/emotion in my case) to be able to run well. No matter how hard I try I cannot get up for many of my races and instead only pick a few to focus on during the season.

I’ve said this before how jealous I am of guys who can run the same day in day out. I can training that way, but I have never really been able to race that way. I have always needed that extra nudge to get to my potential. In today’s race such a situation occurred. Well sorta….. I don’t think I am really physically ready to race well yet, but also being a masters means I can win a division (and hence some $$$) without really pressing myself. Yeah, I know an easy way out, but in the past I never would have run such a race unless it meant something emotionally. So in this case I simply get a chance to see what I need to do, where my fitness is and how things are progressing.

Today showed that in some respects I am much closer to where I want to be, but that I also need some things to work on. I think most of us from the mainland who train with Richard Lee were fatigued and this explains some things. In my case I could feel the fatigue, but more so I could also feel the lack of any real willingness to lay it on the line. But I also think much of this has to do with not having that emotional edge (too relaxed!!!) and also in my hips/back.

The early parts to the race were difficult til about a mile and then I really relaxed. I felt great, until we hit some longer hills and then I felt as though it was a real struggle and I slightly fell back. Unfortunately, I couldn’t gain on the gap although the pack never really opened it up on me til I really packed it in around 8km. But, as always I try to take the positive out of this (and the negatives). In this case I really need to work some mechanical issues (my right hip was killing me on the warm down and throughout the day), but I also split 24:50 through 8km and running around 3:05s for the first 5km felt pretty easy. 31:20 may not seem like much, but I can tell I am much closer to breaking one than this race indicates
Training since my last post
Sat: AM 42 mins good run with Kao PM: tempo planned 20min-60s-10min-60 sec-5min, but a couple of mins into the 10min I swallowed a bug and my asthma went into over drive. I ended up shortening things up a bit felt terrible after
Sunday: 1 hr 56 mins good run
Mon: 56 mins ..it’s a down week and I have essentially had three 90+ mile weeks in a row.
Tues: 6 x 800m off 3mins ….I avg’d 2:14, but began at 2:16 and the last there were 2:13s…felt like I had some jump
Wed: 72 mins…legs banged up from tues, but still a decent run
Thurs: monofartlek at Mundy park…..decent considering how my legs felt on Wed. Maybe a bit quick (15;40 for a loop) considering racing on Sunday
Fri: 58mins..felt much better
Sat: AM 30mins at Mundy with the dog PM 20mins plus drill, strides and even some core work
Sun: 31:23 (split 15:2?? High for 5km and 24:50ish for 8km…then packed it in the last km as I was in no mans land and my main goal had been achieved…..’collect a paycheque’…

Saturday, April 17, 2010

....My 'Magical Place'...

….the term I use when training finally hits a groove. I’ve always said (to anyone who would listen), be patient, put in the volume and let the workouts come to you, not the other way around. I am finally starting to see the results of said action over the last few weeks. Even with my ‘meltdown’ session a few Tuesdays ago I knew that training was coming around (especially my tempo run a couple of weekends ago where I was running longer and quicker and easier than at any time all year).

Due to an ‘experiment’ when I first moved up to 5 and 10km I knew I had to get in more volume, I decided to put any semblance of ego aside, take my lumps in training, not force things and see what happened. The end result was what I referred to as ‘magic’. Of course ‘magic’ is defined as when one gets to the point in training where training recovery days and workouts drop noticeably (and in my case the drop is very noticeable). Now if the patience isn’t there then that ‘magic’ can go backwards (read overtraining). Bit also going through that period where your workouts suck because you are simply gaining fatigue (or the ‘calm before the storm’), when finally recovery catches up fatigue and then training becomes a daily joy.

The ‘magical place’ is also when any mental issues are taken care of. There is no I am tired, there are no bad days on running (well maybe every 3-4 weeks, but those tend to be more medium days rather than the bad ones that may have occurred in the early stages). There is simply having gotten beyond the mental and physical fatigue of earlier training.

The ‘magic place’ doesn’t yet mean I am race ready, but it does mean I am close. It’s simply the one quick, yet huge step, to racing at one’s best. I love the ‘magical place’…..
Last week:
Mon: AM 43mins PM 55 mins
Tues: 5 x 1600m off 3mins (around 4:50 +/-)
Wed: 80mins
Thurs: 30mins of 45-50 sec hills
Fri: 65mins
Sat: AM 30mins, and then spent all day at a track meet in the US PM 25mins tempo. (Actually quite good considering the long day)
Sunday: 1 hr 45min (shockingly easy and quick)
Mon: 70mins
Tues: 2 x 1600-1200-800 (off 3mins) 1600s – 4:41/2; 1200s – 3:30/1 and 800s – 2:17/18 (I think…as I recall, but in every one I dropped it down on the last lap and to say this was a controlled session is an understatement. I just hope this is the trend and not the exception)
Wed: 85 mins...too easy of a run considering Tues session
Thurs: monofartlek plus 5mins hills…once again it felt too controlled considering the paces I was hitting)
Fri: 70mins cruisy, very relaxed, yet quick

Monday, April 5, 2010

Deja Vu....

..so last week i talk about how emotion I am in my running (or at least need it) and then I go out and have an absolutely mess of a planned workout due to emotions (or better described as the wrong emotions or running on empty) of having a very long day and week mixed in with some bad sleep and probably lousy eating as well.

Tuesday was supposed to be 8 x 1000m off 2mins and after the way training has gone I was expecting a bit of a jump in workouts. Instead i went about 10 steps backwards. I did 2 at below goal pace and walked off the track less than half way through #3. I was spent from a long Monday at work, another even longer day with some long parent meeting, not eating and going directly from work to practice and even getting there late. Never mind my back felt terrible and I ran as tense as I possibly could. All in all a running mess. So off I went for an easy 40-50min run and about 20-30mins in I began to see 'black' spots, but I was on the other side of the river from the track and couldn't even cut it short.

Fortunately, by the end of the week I felt much better (had both Fri and Mon off, relaxed and running became substantially better. Even a tempo session I did two weeks ago (of 2 x 20mins off 90 sec, which i thought was pretty good) was surpassed by an even longer tempo style session of 20-15-10-5 off 1min in which i ran quite a bit faster (and the last 5mins i let it loose the last 2min and felt great).

So where to from here.....well back on the track for Rues with hopefully much better results...for now it's the final final four......

Mon: 66mins
Tues: arrrhhhh......
Wed: 82 mins...felt much better
Thurs: monfartlek
Fri: AM 38 mins PM 72 mins
Sat: AM 37 mins PM 20--15-10-5 at tempo effort off 1mins
Sun: 2hr 1 min in Bellingham