Training Log Archive: markg

Circumnavigation of west Stromlo. Nice sunny morning. Coped with the distance okay but right psoas got a bit sore near the end. Didn't feel that strong on the hills but that's not surprising - a fair bit of work to do there. Bit of soreness in the achilles and heel, possibly a combo of the nerve and tight calf. Good end to a solid week for running.

10min warm-up and a short cool down with Tamsin.

Coombs Parkrun, 2nd in 18:58 on a cool, gloomy and soggy morning. Fastest time since an 18:22 Ginninderra Parkrun way back in July 2016 and 57s faster than I ran here 7 weeks ago! Nice to be heading in the right direction again! Tamsin had a great run into 4th overall!

Started pretty fast with a couple of other guys and kept pretty solid through the first km, where I checked my watch to see how badly I'd over-cooked it: 3:38, a fair bit faster than the last one, tried to forget about it and just try to keep it feeling easy. Kept the pace okay through to 2km, mostly downhill, but then started to feel pretty heavy in the legs through the turn-around and started to slowly drop off the winner. Pace dropped 10s/km in the 3rd km. Managed to limit the damage and even pick the pace up again in the final km.

HR average was sort of low for me in a 5km, I would expect high 170's, my legs just didn't seem to be able to drive the intensity up today. I was trying to keep the new running form up later in the race but the hips and quads didn't want to do the extra work.

Gym and back. Isometrics plus some foam rolling and massage on troublesome calves.

Isometrics 3 x 40 s @ 60 kg

Easy run around the XC track then looping back to home via Blue Gums with hill bounding. Feeling sleepy and the tight-calf achilles pain is niggling more than is really comfortable.

Hill bounding 3 x 20 double strides

Squats 4 x 5 @ 65 kg
Chinups 3 x 5
Deadlift 4 x 5 @ 55 kg ↑
Pushups 3 x 12
Low row 3 x 8 @ 33 kg
Reverse lunge 4 x 5 @ 18 kg
Single leg RDL 4 x 5 @ 18 kg

Easy run from work out to Black Mtn Peninsula and back via gym. Muscle tightness induced Achilles soreness is creeping back, the massage on Monday only helped a little bit. The Achilles was stiff from yesterday's run this morning.

Isotonics 3 x 8 @ 15 kg

This ended up as a tempo sorta run from work around Little Black Mtn. Was trying to take it easy on the ups but not really succeeding. Was then running a bit too fast on the downs. Practising my foot lift cue again. It's feeling a bit more natural now but finding it easier uphill than downhill. What surprises me about this change is how I can feel that it has subtly increased my glute activation. I'm also noticing that my back isn't flexing so much - it's more rigid. It feels really good going downhill! Is this what running was always supposed to be like?

Isometrics 4 x 40 s @ 60 kg

Bent side leg raise 3 x 2:30
Side plank 3 x 50 s
McGill crunches 3 x 8
Bird-dogs 3 x 30 s
Theraband ankle eversions 3 x 12
Single leg glute bridge 3 x 8

From work to a massage and back.