Training Log Archive: AC

Had every intention of having a strong interval run, but just never really got going and felt sluggish and slow. Lack of sleep (due to work load) probably the main culprit. Did manage to latch onto a faster runner towards the end and used him to drag me through a 4.30 and then a 4.13 min/km pace. Got out there though. Will try again tomorrow and try to get a good night's sleep tonight.

Meant to get out for a run, but just didn't happen either at lunchtime or in the evening ....

Nationale NE. Much better terrain and a better race. Finished 4th, about 4 1/2 minutes off the leader and less than a minute from third place. No major errors, except for a poor route choice early on that meant I had to climb a few contours to correct and that cost me about 2 minutes. Ran reasonably well, but had no pace on the tracks or up the hills. Really need to work on that. Felt comfortable with the navigation challenges and was able to run okay in this forest. Garmin told me I actually ran 6.78km with 360m climb.

MD race on the eve of the Nationale NE. Disastrous run, if it could even be called a run! Despite arriving a good hour before the start, and the start being right next to teh assembly and parking, i managed to miss my start time by a minute. It was also freezing cold and I had no thermal running gear. Plus they chose the crappiest forest in the area and tehn made us run through the crappiest parts of it. My back hurt after 5 mins of rnuning bent double to get through the forest adn was totally spasming by the end of the "run". So not much fun all round. Basically gave up trying to run after about a km and just jogged/walked my way round teh course, hoping that the enxt day would not be the same. Finished about 10 mins off teh pace - must have been a munchkin to get throug the trees!

Had hoped to go for a run today but was up till 3am working so feeling quite shattered.

Rest after yesterday's hard run.

A HTFU interval session. Didn't feel like it, but forced myself to make the effort. After a 18 min w/up, did 4 x 3min hard/ 1 min easy. Hoped to stick at around 3.50-4.00 min/km for the intervals and kind of managed. Very weak on the "hills" and really felt like I was struggling to maintain any form or speed giong up the relatively mild slopes. Then had an odd episode with the hr where i was just jogging along and my heart rate just wouldn't come down unless I syopped and walked - kept up at around 170-180 even though I was not doing anything. Really eminded me of my heart arrhythmia problems that I thought had disappeared, even though I wasn't as distressed as I had been in teh past episodes, it was still quite alarming that the hr jiust wouldn't come down with gentle jogging. So decided to see what would happen if I cranked it up and so did 2 x 1 min hard / 1 min easy heading home. First one was very high hr, but the second was much more reasonable and as expected - at much teh same pace. So who knows.

Stats from the run (thanks to the Garmin gadget - so cool):

1. 3 min, pace 3.51/km, ahr 147, mhr 154
2. 1 min rest, 7.48, 142, 154
3. 3 min, 3.59, 149, 160
4. 1 min rest, 8.51, 143, 153
5. 3 min, 4.15, 153, 162 - uphill and struggling
6. 1 min rest, 9.36, 144, 156
7. 3 min, 4.06, 161, 173 - just struggling
8. 9 min jog, ahr 155, maxhr 175 - wow
9. 1 min int, 3.45, 176, 183 - hard work
10. 1 min rest, 11.10, 141, 181
11. 1 min int, 3.44, 148, 155 - something odd going on here.

C • HR 2

Easy tourist run around Durham. Beautiful town and just took it easy. Didn't run very fast at all, but had some good hills.

In Durham for a water conference.

Good hill interval run, first for a while. Out to Parc de St Cloud and then 3 x hill sprint (1.00, 1.05, 1.02) with easy jog down (around 1.40-1.45). Could have done a 4th hill, but didn't want to push the injury envelope. Av and peak HR for hills are interesting - 128/146, 138/150, 139/153

Have decided to track my sleep and will try and note each day the amount of sleep I had the previous night ...

Interval session. First warm day of the year (around 18 deg - big change from 2 deg over the last few months). Didn't feel too spritely, but decided to try and make an efficient use of time and do some intervals. Did 15 mins warmup then 6 x 2mins hard / 1 min easy. Used the Garmin to track how I was doing:

1. Pace of 3.55/km, ahr 144, max hr 149
2. 4.06, 147, 164 (slight uphill)
3. 3.53, 146, 155
4. 4.10, 150, 157 (slight uphill)
5. 3.48, 152, 166
6. 3.53, 150, 161

Based on the heart rate, fell off the pace on the last interval. Also don't have much pace on the slight hills as yet. Need to do hill work. Good run all up, but hard to believe that just 10 years ago I was doing a half marathon at 3.50/km pace! The perils of aging ....

And more meetings ....

Meetings

Ile de France LD CHamps. 6th place. Off to a disappointing start this year in the daylight races. Was having a great run up to the 3rd last control and then got completely lost with less than 500m to run. Spent 8.30 searching for a control that should have taken 1.30. Real shame as I was leading by 1.30 when i blew it. Just got myself really confused in some vague rock and didn't read the map very well at all, wandering off in completely the wrong direction. Had a few minor wobbles early on (costing around 1.30 in total). Very cranky with myself as this seems to be a common theme early in the season - exact same thing happened last year in the same race.

Birthday run. Bit longer and a bit faster. Felt good again - bit heavy, but okay.

Easy run to see how the calf was going. Felt okay.

Calf injured. Have decided to not run the half marathon. Need to get over this injury as I have a steady stream of races coming up (one a weekend for a while). A real shame as I was looking forward to it quite a lot. But will have a go, I think, at the Boulogne race in November - supposed to be a good fast race. Icing and massage on calf. Will go to see doctor next week.

C • bad luck 1

Damn, buggar and blast. Got about 10 minutes into the run and left calf started to feel tight and sore. Stopped a few times to stretch, but got worse and by the end of the run it was very sore and clearly a torn calf muscle. Located in the middle of the large calf muscle mass, it is quite hard to reach. Ice, anti-inflammatories to see what happens. Not sure about the half marathon this weekend.

Evening run around the Bois. Took it easy in preparation for the weekend.