That Time Of The Year

I've reached the point where I wish winter would just pack it in and fuck off. It's been freezing for way too bloody long and constantly running in the dark is getting old as well. We've had one storm after the other, and I'm actually perfectly aware that I'm getting away lightly here in Dublin; those weather systems are a lot worse on the Atlantic coast.

This is definitely the coldest winter since the two Big Freezes in a row several years ago. I don't think I even used my running tights last year at all, this year they are the only thing I would even consider wearing. And I did see that picture of a lot of my mates in shorts in the snow up the mountains on facebook the other day - though I merely regard it as proof, if ever one was needed, that machismo is fucking stupid.

Enough of the swearing.

My mileage, which I deliberately reduced when I introduced faster weekly workouts, is starting to creep up again but that's mostly down to the fact that I re-started running twice a day on occasions (ok, only one occasion so far, but there will be more to come). I am slowly coming to the conclusion that I seem to increase fitness much better on higher mileage than by doing a few workouts. However, I'll still try and get some faster miles into the legs and that parkrun idea for the weekend is still valid.

I did one workout so far this week, which was a new kind of workout in this training cycle, namely long hill repeats. There is that tasty little road towards Puck's Castle, about 1 km long, with the additional evil feature of getting steeper the higher you get. Running there from my apartment and doing 4 repeats would add up to exactly 10 miles, which seems far too round a number to pass up the opportunity.

Wednesday morning actually was the worst day of the week I could have picked due to the snow on Tuesday evening and the freezing temperatures the following night which made for tricky road conditions the next morning, especially on higher grounds. However, the frozen snow provided just enough traction to keep the workout a possibility and I got through it without slipping once, so I got away with that one.

The workout itself was interesting enough. I was sure the first repeat would be the slowest because for me that is usually still part of the warm up. Running the repeats I could have sworn the second and third ones were the fastest while I started to feel the effort during the fourth one and was tempted to pull the plug, but got a surprise when looking at the numbers afterwards and the fourth had actually been the fastest and the third the slowest! I'll probably do that workout again in the coming weeks, I like what hill repeats do to my legs.

15 Jan

10.65 miles, 1:25:39, 8:02 pace, HR 134

16 Jan

9.7 miles, 1:17:11, 7:57 pace, HR 136

17 Jan

10 miles, 1:23:20, 8:19 pace, HR 141

   4 x 1k hill repeat

18 Jan

am: 9.7 miles, 1:17:31, 7:59 pace, HR 139

pm: 9.75 miles, 1:17:07, 7:54 pace, HR 141

19 Jan

10.3 miles, 1:23:47, 8:08 pace, HR 135

Stormy Christmas

It's been a stormy few days, but so far I have managed to get a run in every day.

Sunday was reasonably okay, but I preferred the somewhat sheltered road past Ard-na-Sidhe to the totally exposed Caragh Lake one. Then I had the brain wave that I could a full loop on the Devil's Elbow, which might be as exposed as it gets up in the hills but the wind would be mainly at my back. I managed the steep climb well enough but then I heard a loud thunder coming from somewhere behind me and got a bit scared as I was far away from any shelter and being caught in a thunderstorm out in the hills isn't a good position to be in. Luckily, this one single thunder turned out to be the only one of its kind and all I had to deal with was a hail storm, which was painful but not dangerous. I was very pleased by how well the legs felt and how easily they had managed the long steep climb.

Monday morning was very dark but the wind was manageable once more, at least in Ard-na-Sidhe. I ran the out-and-back route twice, which added up to 10 miles. Conditions changed every five minutes, from calm, to very gusty, with rain, hail and even sleet all making a few appearances. Once again, the feeling in the legs was by far the best part of the run.

When I put out my running gear on Monday evening I somewhat doubted that I would be able to run the following morning as the weather forecast was quite frightening with the weather already rather wild and a bad storm on its way. However, things were much brighter in the morning - well, it was pitch dark, but the wind was definitely a lot calmer than what I had feared and running was never in doubt. I did the same route as the day before, and once more, even though I'm sounding like a broken record (wait, do people still know what a broken record actually is/was??),  the best part was the feeling in the legs as the entire run was completely effortless. The HR was a bit high (I eventually remembered my ancient hard plastic Garmin HR strap and dug it out, it seems to work), though that was not really reflected in subjective effort which was entirely comfortable and, you know, just ... right.

I guess I have reached that point in training when it doesn't feel like training any more because running is becoming so easy.

The contrast to Wednesday, Christmas, could not have been greater, with a lovely crisp blue sky greeting us all. I ran later than usual because obviously Santa took precedence, and I was astonished by the amount of presents on display; the kids must have been much better behaved throughout the year than I had realised! Anyway, around 12 o'clock I managed to get an hour for myself that I used for some hill repeats. It was my first workout of that kind for a long time and I decided to err on the side of caution. You should always leave it be with at least 1 or 2 more repeats in you, and I followed that advice. Besides, I am still concerned about my Achilles, while it has been fine for a good while now I really do not want to aggravate it again, so the rather modest number of 9 repeats, 1 minute each, was all that was on the menu. Obviously, this is going to increase in the coming weeks.

Happy Christmas everyone. I hope Santa has been good for you.

22 Dec

13+ miles, 1:38:12, 7:30 pace, HR 152 (est)

23 Dec

10 miles, 1:15:33, 7:33 pace, HR 147

24 Dec

10 miles, 1:14:16, 7:26 pace, HR 148

25 Dec

6.59ish miles, 54:51, 8:22 pace, HR 150
   incl. 9 x 60 sec hill repeats

Up And Down

I checked my logs from last year what I had done between Dublin and Sixmilebridge, and my first thought was that I had done a lot. Then I remembered what I had done last week, immediately following the Dublin marathons and realised that I was already doing a similar number of miles with a few workouts thrown into the mix - sometimes the weeks might look tough but the body is holding up fine.

In fact, I felt fantastic on Monday; I ran what I thought was a fairly slow pace, it certainly felt very easy. It was not until I had come back home that I realised I had averaged 7:35 pace. It's great when 7:35 pace feels so easy. That kind of thing started to happen two years ago, when I was being coached. After a few months, the same pace that had always been challenging suddenly felt easy. It's always great when that happens.

I followed that up with a set of hill repeats on Tuesday. I wasn't exactly looking forward to that, the last time I had done them, just before Dublin, they had felt rather tough. I got a nice surprise; the first few once again were tough, but once I got into the rhythm of the workout I was doing them on autopilot, even though I was definitely breathing hard at the end of each repeat. I did not count them - on previous occasions I went back home when I got tired. Not so this time. I could have done a good few more, I went home only because I was out of time. Counting the spikes on the HR graph afterwards I came up with 14 - one more than last time while feeling much better. There is definitely progress being made.

In contrast to all the good things, today's midweek longish run felt much more like hard work than fun. I guess the hill repeats were still in my legs. The fact that a stone found its way into my right shoe and almost caused a blister did not help. Maybe the early hour had something to do with it as well, I had gotten plenty of sleep but 5:30 in the morning is still pretty damn early, no matter how you look at it.

I guess it's a sign to be careful. I am amazed how quickly I seem to have recovered from Dublin, but that was still only just over a week ago. The legs might feel fine but I know that deep down they are still being affected. Let's have an easy day tomorrow and take stock afterwards.

5 Nov

8 miles, 1:00:44, 7:35 pace, HR 140

6 Nov

8.1 miles, 1:12:17, 8:55 pace, HR 150
   14 x 60 sec hill repeats

7 Nov

15 miles, 1:54:57, 7:40 pace, HR 147

Evaluating Again

I already knew from Friday's faster run that my shape has gone up a notch or two, so I was quite looking forward to Tuesday's evaluation workout. I knew the numbers would look good - at least the pace numbers. I wasn't quite sure what to make of the excruciatingly long recovery time two weeks ago and was curious what it would look like this time round.

I always do the evaluations the same way. The warm up is 4 miles long. The first 2 miles are easy and relaxed. During the third mile I pick up the pace a few times to get the legs spinning and to raise the heart rate. During the fourth mile I steadily increase the effort until the heart rate reaches the 161 target. Ideally I want to be running the last quarter mile of the warm up at HR 161 to ensure it is well established by the time the evaluation proper starts.

It was windy again, but not quite as strong as it had been two weeks ago. I can try and keep all the other variables as constant as possible. I run the same course in the same shoes at the same time after the same warm/up. The weather is the one major variable I cannot influence, and the wind especially can cause problems, but it wasn't too bad.

I always run the same half mile back-and forwards 4 times, which ensures that all 4 miles are done on the same course, and running that way also lessens the wind effect as you end up with half a mile of tail- and half a mile of headwind each time. A track would be better, and a treadmill might work very well for that kind of test, but I have access to neither. My flat stretch of road will have to do.

I end up using the Garmin's display a lot during the workout because of the need to keep the HR constant. I always avoid looking at the pace, though. It might wreck my head if I did.

Anyway, the numbers were as follows: (The number in brackets is adjusted pace, 7 seconds for every 2 heart beats off the 161 target):

       
        Mile 1    6:36   HR 161    (6:36)
        Mile 2    6:37   HR 161    (6:37)
        Mile 3    6:36   HR 162    (6:39)
        Mile 4    6:41   HR 162    (6:44)
        Recovery to HR 130: 36 seconds

That's remarkably stable, especially after such an improvement in pace compared to last time, and the recovery time is worlds better. I got these kind of numbers towards the end of my Vienna training two years ago. Seeing them now is either a sign that I am running at a higher level or that I am getting into shape too early. I'm not entirely sure which, but I definitely prefer these figures to the ones from two weeks ago.

I took it easy the day after the evaluation and did a hill workout this morning. I changed from hill sprints to 60-second-repeats, jogging back slowly each time, doing 14 repeats (I didn't count them, but checked the Garmin file later on). Next time I'll take a headlamp because I could barely make out the road going up the woods and got surprised by low-hanging twigs on more than once occasion. I did one repeat too many because I got very nauseous at the to of the last one (there's definitely a benefit to doing these sessions on an empty stomach. It would not have been pretty). The reason why I changed the workout is that Canova says you stop getting much benefit after doing the same session three times and should always vary training. On the other hand, I would probably have been better off doing those hill repeats on Wednesday because right now my legs are sore and I might not be able to do a faster run tomorrow, Friday. I'll see how I feel in the morning, but might have to substitute the session for an easy run.

16 Oct

12 miles, 1:25:42, 7:09 pace, HR 154
   4 mile eval: 6:36, 6:37, 6:39, 6:44 (adjusted figures)
   36 seconds recovery to 130

17 Oct

10 miles, 1:16:50, 7:41 pace, HR 142

18 Oct

7.8 miles, 1:09:57, 7:09 pace, HR 145
   14 x 60 sec hill repeats