Ain't nothing gonna break my stride....

career move

Plan up to Indoors:

Week start|Intensity|Mon|Tues|Wed|Thurs|Fri|Sat|Sun
25 Sep 2017 |Light |rest |T&F 2 x 200m |rest |Karate | T&F |rest |xc ynovice A race|
2 Oct 2017 |Medium |rest |A.M Bike P.M T&F 3x (150m @ 80%, 120m @ 90%)| rest |Core |A.M Bike P.M T&F 8 x 20m starts, 3 x 120m @ 70%| Core | T&F 2 x 200m @ 80%|
9 Oct 2017 |Light |rest |T&F Beep test |rest |A.M Fartlek 30/45/60/75/90 x 2 |T&F |rest |Xc intermediate race |
16 Oct 2017 |Medium |rest |T&F |Karate + Core+box x 20 |A.M Fartlek 30/45/60/75/90/105 x 2 P.M Karate |T&F |Core/ Stairs/ Jumps/ Starts to 30m x 7 |Grass 10min wu, 8 x 2min @ 70%, 60s walk |
23 Oct 2017 |Heavy |Core |T&F |Karate + Core+ box x 20 |A.M Fartlek 30/45/60/75/90/105/120 x 2 P.M Karate |T&F |rest |xc novice B race
30 Oct 2017 |Light |rest |T&F |rest |A.M Fartlek 30/45/60/75/90/105/120 P.M Karate |T&F| rest |Grass 10min wu, 5 x 2min @ 70%, 60s walk |
6 Nov 2017 |Medium |Core |T&F |Karate + Core+ box x 20 |2 x (3 x 600m) 2min/4minR P.M Karate |T&F |Core/ Stairs/ Jumps/ Starts to 30m x 7|Hills 5 x 200m |
13 Nov 2017 |Heavy |Core |T&F |Karate + Core+ box x 20 |2 x (4 x 600m) 2min/4minR P.M Karate |T&F |Core/ Stairs/ Jumps/ Starts to 30m x 8|Hills 6 x 200m |
20 Nov 2017 |Light |rest |T&F |rest |2 x (2 x 600m) 2min/4minR P.M Karate|T&F |rest |Hills 4 x 200m |
27 Nov 2017 |Medium |Core |T&F |Karate + Core+ box x 20 |P.M Karate | T&F |100m 10 bounds x 5 |Grass - tempo 1112,1121,1211,2111 50m/100mR |
4 Dec 2017 |Heavy |Core |T&F |Karate + Core+ box x 20 |Grass - tempo 1112,1121,1211,2111 50m/100mR |T&F |rest |xc senior race
11 Dec 2017 |Light |rest |T&F |rest | |T&F | | |
18 Dec 2017 |Medium | |T&F | | |T&F | | |
25 Dec 2017 | ||T&F | | |T&F | |INDOORS race |

I haven’t figured out December yet!

career move

Friday:

Rest. Sick. Had a little dizzy spell in work but it was incredibly hot and the fan was practically useless. Fook why did I sign up for xc :eek::eek:

Saturday:

Rest. Feeling ok. Throat still sore

Sunday:

Intermediate xc 5k

Woke at 7 ish. Still had a bit of a sore throat. RHR was 38 though so I figured how bad can I be! It was raining all the way down to Galbally and when I got there the ground was soft and really hard to even walk through in places. I didn't do much of a warm up. There was 7 of us running and 4 of us were going to run together so my plan was to sit in behind the others for 3 or 4k and then push on if I felt good.
Started off as per plan but within the first 500m I could tell this wasn't going to work. I was finding it hard to find my footing in the group and I was stumbling through the mud. So I abandoned the plan at the next corner and went on from the others. The ground down by the river was easier to get through and I found myself passing other people and running a lot harder than I should have because I'm unbelievably competitive and I was third scorer for the team and I want to be back running like I used to.
The last woman that I passed was from Thurles and I didn't get away from her. I could hear her right behind me. She passed me again after about 3k. I didn't lose too much ground on her and I passed her again at the next corner. I knew I was getting a bit tired but so was she and I figured I'd be fine if I just kept this effort up.
Unfortunately after 4k I died a death. Thurles lady passed me and over the next 200m so did another woman. I remember feeling like I was going to start hyperventilating and then I was walking. I walked till the next woman had caught up to me and just before she passed me I started running again but she soon passed me. It was my clubmate and I just about managed to mumble some encouragement to her. And another woman passed me about 300m from the finish.
Initially I was disgusted with myself for running such a stupid race but on reflection there are a few positives to take from it ...
- I got a good workout. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my watch cause it would have been interesting to see my max HR
- We got team bronze. Even if I had stayed going and hadn't lost any positions we wouldn't have beaten the other two teams.
- The clubmate who passed me is one of my track buddies and I'm delighted for her that she got a medal
- I have improved from the novice two weeks ago.
- I ran a strong race up to 4k. It was a badly paced race considering I wasn't 100% but hopefully it'll stand to me down the line
- I'm fed up of making excuses for myself for not performing in races and in training but I really feel if I can just keep training consistently and get healthy again, I can be better than I ever was.

Annie get your Run

Well done on team bronze! I love (and hate!) the battle element of XC, nothing like a competitor on your heels to keep you honest. I think you're spot on about the consistency, you'll be back better, faster, stronger.

career move

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Well done on team bronze! I love (and hate!) the battle element of XC, nothing like a competitor on your heels to keep you honest. I think you're spot on about the consistency, you'll be back better, faster, stronger.

Thanks love your positivity

Mulberry

Hey there, well done on your XC race. It reads to me that you ran a stonkin first 4K and then you were passed by just 3 women in the last K - sounds pretty good to me!

I've been looking at your (very impressive!) training plan, still trying to digest it in fact! But for now I have two questions:

(1) If you're finishing xc at the end of this month, what is the purpose of the mid week sessions? (The Fartleks and the 400M and 600M reps?)

(2) What is this mystery session?! - Grass - tempo 1112,1121,1211,2111 50m/100mR

By the way, I'm asking out of curiosity, not criticism. Most of the time I just do what my coach says, as I don't understand the science behind many of the sessions. But I've never done sessions like your mid week ones when sprint training.

career move

Mulberry wrote: »

Hey there, well done on your XC race. It reads to me that you ran a stonkin first 4K and then you were passed by just 3 women in the last K - sounds pretty good to me!

Thanks you're very kind but it's always a bad day at the office when I have to walk in the middle of a race :mad:

Mulberry wrote: »

(1) If you're finishing xc at the end of this month, what is the purpose of the mid week sessions? (The Fartleks and the 400M and 600M reps?)

The plan is on google drive
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hYotI-TMHJIHGqsLxrYh8tmoAI_uukwKrOvI-VPtO6s/edit?usp=sharing
because I'm constantly changing it depending on the feedback I get from my coach and the races I want to do. I like to think of it as my sprinting evolution

I've used this plan that I posted a while back as my basic template.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andrew_Maclennan/publication/237673285_A_16_week_training_plan_for_a_sprinter/links/555c295908ae91e75e76d009/A-16-week-training-plan-for-a-sprinter.pdf
It's a 16 week plan so starting from when I came back from India, that should have me peaking late Jan/Feb. The 16 weeks are divided into
General Preparation 4 weeks
Main Conditioning 3 weeks
Specific Preparation 3 weeks
Competition Specific 1 2 weeks
Competition Specific 2 2 weeks
Peak 2 weeks
I took the first two weeks after I came home as sort of a combination of recovery/transition weeks.
Weeks 3 - 6 are the general prep weeks. These weeks include the fartleks and the grass sessions that I'm replacing with xc races. The purpose of these is to improve my aerobic base while keeping the injury risk low because they're supposed to be low intensity.
I seem to be recovering quickly from the xc races. They mostly stress my lungs more than my legs so I don't think I'm going to increase my risk of injury by racing 5/6 weekends and I think I'll improve way more by doing them instead of doing grass sessions on my own at home.
Being aerobically strong is especially important for me I think because I don't think I have a lot of fast twitch muscle fibres so I need to play to my strengths.


Weeks 7 - 9 is the conditioning phase (hills, 600m reps)
Goals here are to increase the training volume and intensity and to improve my acceleration. The track sessions will be focusing on skill work, plyometrics and maximum velocity work. I've included a trip to the Dublin track meet for some fun. I'll do some strength training but coach doesn't want my lifting a lot of heavy weights because I'm very muscular anyway

Weeks 10 - 12 is the specific prep
Less volume but more intensity. More skill work. Another track meet

Weeks 13 - 14 is supposed to be competition specific phase to improve max velocity, lactate tolerance and explosive power but I've kind of run out of time because I want to do the county indoors at the end of week 14 so the plan is a mish mash of competition specific and peak sessions.

Mulberry wrote: »

(2) What is this mystery session?! - Grass - tempo 1112,1121,1211,2111 50m/100mR

Ha that's an interesting session
1 = 100m, 2 = 200m so 50m rec after rep and 100 after the set of 4. It doesn't seem like a lot of recovery!! That session is to improve acceleration and strength and you're supposed to focus a lot on technique

Mulberry wrote: »

By the way, I'm asking out of curiosity, not criticism. Most of the time I just do what my coach says, as I don't understand the science behind many of the sessions. But I've never done sessions like your mid week ones when sprint training.

Ask away I'm delighted to answer your questions as it makes me question myself so instead of me just filling the boxes, I have to have a specific purpose for each session so thank you!

Chivito550

career move wrote: »

Thanks you're very kind but it's always a bad day at the office when I have to walk in the middle of a race :mad:


The plan is on google drive
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hYotI-TMHJIHGqsLxrYh8tmoAI_uukwKrOvI-VPtO6s/edit?usp=sharing
because I'm constantly changing it depending on the feedback I get from my coach and the races I want to do. I like to think of it as my sprinting evolution

I've used this plan that I posted a while back as my basic template.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andrew_Maclennan/publication/237673285_A_16_week_training_plan_for_a_sprinter/links/555c295908ae91e75e76d009/A-16-week-training-plan-for-a-sprinter.pdf
It's a 16 week plan so starting from when I came back from India, that should have me peaking late Jan/Feb. The 16 weeks are divided into
General Preparation 4 weeks
Main Conditioning 3 weeks
Specific Preparation 3 weeks
Competition Specific 1 2 weeks
Competition Specific 2 2 weeks
Peak 2 weeks
I took the first two weeks after I came home as sort of a combination of recovery/transition weeks.
Weeks 3 - 6 are the general prep weeks. These weeks include the fartleks and the grass sessions that I'm replacing with xc races. The purpose of these is to improve my aerobic base while keeping the injury risk low because they're supposed to be low intensity.
I seem to be recovering quickly from the xc races. They mostly stress my lungs more than my legs so I don't think I'm going to increase my risk of injury by racing 5/6 weekends and I think I'll improve way more by doing them instead of doing grass sessions on my own at home.
Being aerobically strong is especially important for me I think because I don't think I have a lot of fast twitch muscle fibres so I need to play to my strengths.


Weeks 7 - 9 is the conditioning phase (hills, 600m reps)
Goals here are to increase the training volume and intensity and to improve my acceleration. The track sessions will be focusing on skill work, plyometrics and maximum velocity work. I've included a trip to the Dublin track meet for some fun. I'll do some strength training but coach doesn't want my lifting a lot of heavy weights because I'm very muscular anyway

Weeks 10 - 12 is the specific prep
Less volume but more intensity. More skill work. Another track meet

Weeks 13 - 14 is supposed to be competition specific phase to improve max velocity, lactate tolerance and explosive power but I've kind of run out of time because I want to do the county indoors at the end of week 14 so the plan is a mish mash of competition specific and peak sessions.



Ha that's an interesting session
1 = 100m, 2 = 200m so 50m rec after rep and 100 after the set of 4. It doesn't seem like a lot of recovery!! That session is to improve acceleration and strength and you're supposed to focus a lot on technique


Ask away I'm delighted to answer your questions as it makes me question myself so instead of me just filling the boxes, I have to have a specific purpose for each session so thank you!

Wouldn't worry about trying to peak for every race. Run the county champs but I'd recommend not tapering much for that, or changing the plan, and basically just train through. Old coach of mine said to me once "only freshen up for important races". The rest I'd just train through. I suppose what's important depends on the person and the goals. But I foresee very poor turnout at county championships, not really the type of meet to be focusing on IMO, but rather a nice dress rehearsal for the Nationals etc.

Mulberry

Thanks for the detailed response. I'd forgotten about that paper which formed the basis of your approach this year. One of these days I'll get time to read it, and to study your plan in more detail, there's a lot there to absorb. Also I've just realised that the sessions I'm seeing detailed on your plan are the aerobic/endurance ones, and the max speed ones aren't in there yet. That might account for the sense of imbalance I get when I look at it. But of course that does change as the weeks go by.

+1 to what Chivito said. I'm not sure what your county is like but the numbers of masters women doing 60/100/200 are very low here in Meath, unfortunately, so it just doesn't make sense to interrupt the training schedule for that. What's your club if you don't mind me asking?

I think it's hilarious that you've put 'T&F?' in on 25th December!!!! Is there really a need for the question mark?!

Finally, re the weights - are you sure you're strong/muscular in the right places? E.g. I've a very weak upper body so have been working on that in recent weeks, and will do for another few weeks yet, whereas up til now I've only worked on the lower body. So my glutes and hammies and quads are quite strong from squats and deadlifts. Are you confident that you're well balanced?

Hopefully I'll see you at the NIA in Dublin in November btw!

Mulberry

Quick update - I've now finally read that paper, it seems really good. My only question would be to wonder what kind of athlete he's starting out with and if the plan should be adapted in any way depending on whether it's for, e.g. a novice sprinter, coming from an endurance background, or a novice runner, or an experienced sprinter? I learned a lot from it about when to lift heavy, and when to lift light or fast, and why - all really useful, so thanks for sharing.

career move

Mulberry wrote: »

Thanks for the detailed response. I'd forgotten about that paper which formed the basis of your approach this year. One of these days I'll get time to read it, and to study your plan in more detail, there's a lot there to absorb. Also I've just realised that the sessions I'm seeing detailed on your plan are the aerobic/endurance ones, and the max speed ones aren't in there yet. That might account for the sense of imbalance I get when I look at it. But of course that does change as the weeks go by.

There's a lot to sprinting in general. The more I'm researching it, the more I'm realising how many different elements there are too it especially if you include the relays. You could spend every night on the baton change overs and never get bored!!!

Mulberry wrote: »

+1 to what Chivito said. I'm not sure what your county is like but the numbers of masters women doing 60/100/200 are very low here in Meath, unfortunately, so it just doesn't make sense to interrupt the training schedule for that. What's your club if you don't mind me asking?!

Ya it's pretty poor in Tipperary too but that's in most of the age groups. We have a good few juniors training with us and they were saying how poor the competition is at county level for them. My club is Moyne AC. I've taken that on board what Chivito said but considering it's xmas week as well it might end up being a light week anyway

Mulberry wrote: »

I think it's hilarious that you've put 'T&F?' in on 25th December!!!! Is there really a need for the question mark?!!

Well they do a timed mile at the club on xmas morning but I was unsure if we'd still have our coached sessions that week so I might need to improvise

Mulberry wrote: »

Finally, re the weights - are you sure you're strong/muscular in the right places? E.g. I've a very weak upper body so have been working on that in recent weeks, and will do for another few weeks yet, whereas up til now I've only worked on the lower body. So my glutes and hammies and quads are quite strong from squats and deadlifts. Are you confident that you're well balanced?!

I'm going to trust coach with this. He said to me a couple of times "do not be lifting heavy weights" so I took that to mean that it was ok to continue with my usual core work with light weights and the bodyweight stuff. I'm finding it takes me a long time to recover from the track sessions at the moment because it's so different to what I'm used to doing so it's probably no harm for my first season to err on the side of caution. Its not like I'm short of things to work on anyway with all the technique stuff. The problem really is trying to fnd enough days in the week to allow me to recover.[/QUOTE]

Mulberry wrote: »

Hopefully I'll see you at the NIA in Dublin in November btw!

Yes!! That would be great to meet you. I'll probably have my Moyne AC singlet on anyway. It's green and gold and I'll probably stand out like a sore thumb as the sprinting newbie

Mulberry wrote: »

Quick update - I've now finally read that paper, it seems really good. My only question would be to wonder what kind of athlete he's starting out with and if the plan should be adapted in any way depending on whether it's for, e.g. a novice sprinter, coming from an endurance background, or a novice runner, or an experienced sprinter? I learned a lot from it about when to lift heavy, and when to lift light or fast, and why - all really useful, so thanks for sharing.

I was working on the assumption that he was catering for experienced sprinters. The paper is good but it kind of seems incomplete to me or maybe just not really well explained. It's like he presumes you know what you're doing!! My coach wasn't too keen on me following it to the letter

Annie get your Run

career move wrote: »

Yes!! That would be great to meet you. I'll probably have my Moyne AC singlet on anyway. It's green and gold and I'll probably stand out like a sore thumb as the sprinting newbie

What date is that ladies? Will hopefully get up to support again (Mulberry am assuming the usual crew from the club will be competing??).

Mulberry

Hey AM AKA AGYR AKA Top Class Supporter, it's this: https://www.nationalsportscampus.ie/nialive
So it's on twice a month for 3 months, all thursday nights I think.

Practice races basically, which we are sorely lacking, and with a bit of atmosphere and fun thrown in so looks absolutely brilliant. Hoepfully we'll get a few from the club. It's not far after all!

The next 'real' race is the Leinster Indoors in February. I think you should guest at that actually Career Move, the nationals are just a few weeks later I think.

career move

Annie get your Run wrote: »

What date is that ladies? Will hopefully get up to support again (Mulberry am assuming the usual crew from the club will be competing??).

I might not get to all of them but I’ll definitely be there Nov 23rd

Mulberry wrote: »

Hey AM AKA AGYR AKA Top Class Supporter, it's this: https://www.nationalsportscampus.ie/nialive
So it's on twice a month for 3 months, all thursday nights I think.

Practice races basically, which we are sorely lacking, and with a bit of atmosphere and fun thrown in so looks absolutely brilliant. Hoepfully we'll get a few from the club. It's not far after all!

The next 'real' race is the Leinster Indoors in February. I think you should guest at that actually Career Move, the nationals are just a few weeks later I think.

Can I do that? My schedule looks light on races in Feb so that would be great

Mulberry

career move wrote: »

Can I do that? My schedule looks light on races in Feb so that would be great

For sure! There are always guests in all these provincials. I will give you the nod when entry opens

career move

Mulberry wrote: »

For sure! There are always guests in all these provincials. I will give you the nod when entry opens

Excellent thanks a mill. You’re a star!

Annie get your Run

Mulberry wrote: »

Hey AM AKA AGYR AKA Top Class Supporter, it's this: https://www.nationalsportscampus.ie/nialive
So it's on twice a month for 3 months, all thursday nights I think.

Practice races basically, which we are sorely lacking, and with a bit of atmosphere and fun thrown in so looks absolutely brilliant. Hoepfully we'll get a few from the club. It's not far after all!

The next 'real' race is the Leinster Indoors in February. I think you should guest at that actually Career Move, the nationals are just a few weeks later I think.

Oh yes I spotted that on the main forum, those are for everyone yes? I might get down off the supporter bench if they really are graded....

Kate, let me know which one you're coming to and I'll make sure to get to it!

career move

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Oh yes I spotted that on the main forum, those are for everyone yes? I might get down off the supporter bench if they really are graded....

Kate, let me know which one you're coming to and I'll make sure to get to it!

Cool I'll definitely be there on Nov 23rd and possibly on Dec 14th if I can round up a team for relays!

Chivito550

Re the weights. It's probably no harm for your first year sprinting to just focus on core and light weights. My first season sprinting I actually only did bodyweight stuff. Though I was focusing on 400 which is far less power focused than the 60.

I think long term (second year onwards), in order to continue to improve, you'd have to look at a gym routine. Starting off with low intensity high rep (adaptation phase), then higher intensity, lower rep (strength phase), then converting that strength into power with introduction of plyometric expercises (power phase), then easing it off to less volume during competition (maintenance phase). Repeat again for summer but with shorter adaptation phase.

Something to look at down the line once you are comfortable handling the volume of track work.

It can gradually replace that cross country work.

career move

Chivito550 wrote: »

Re the weights. It's probably no harm for your first year sprinting to just focus on core and light weights. My first season sprinting I actually only did bodyweight stuff. Though I was focusing on 400 which is far less power focused than the 60.

I think long term (second year onwards), in order to continue to improve, you'd have to look at a gym routine. Starting off with low intensity high rep (adaptation phase), then higher intensity, lower rep (strength phase), then converting that strength into power with introduction of plyometric expercises (power phase), then easing it off to less volume during competition (maintenance phase). Repeat again for summer but with shorter adaptation phase.

Something to look at down the line once you are comfortable handling the volume of track work.

Great thanks for the info

Chivito550 wrote: »

It can gradually replace that cross country work.

Haha you don’t approve?

Chivito550

career move wrote: »

Haha you don’t approve?

Not even a little bit.

career move

Monday:
Rest
Felt better today. Throat was much better and I had no muscle soreness from the xc. I signed up for Munster novice xc on Sunday mainly because I didn’t want to do 8 x 2 min off 60s R on the grass on my own but also to make up a team

Tuesday:
Run: track session
Wu x 1200m jog
Drills
7 x 100m increasing pace gradually from 50% to 100% over last 20m
Cd x 1200m jog + stretches

Coach said I looked to be running well. He was watching us for the last 20m to make sure that when we were at full effort, we were still concentrating on technique so I’m pleased he said that. We used the bend for this and rotated the lanes. Noticed my calves getting sore for the last couple. The right one was still bothering me when I got home so I put a hot water bottle on it for a while. Ice would have been better but I was cold anyway.

Wednesday:
Core: circuit x 3
Chin ups x 5
Box jumps x 15
Press ups x 15
Side lying hip adduction x 20 ea
Plank f/r/l 30sec ea continuous
Glute bridge x 10
One legged glute bridge x 10ea
Sit ups x 20

Right calf still sore this morning. I wore compression socks to work and I did the core in the afternoon and then iced my calf. It had improved a lot by evening but I skipped karate to give it a bit more rest.

Thursday:
Karate
90 min class

I didn’t do the planned fartlek run. I was still worried about my calf and why did I sign up for a race at the weekend????????? I was feeling a bit guilty about not running but I did a little test jog ~100m after work and I could feel it, so I’m glad now that I did miss it. Karate was good but I did star jumps and squats instead of a run for the warm up.

Friday:
Bike turbo
40 min. High cadence and low resistance = a fast turnover on the bike which is supposed to help improve stride frequency so that’s what I aimed for

Run: track session
ahr:131 max:175
Wu x 1200m jog
Drills
Tempo: 1600m steady pace, first 400m surge for 15sec, second 400m surge for 20sec, third 400m surge for 25 sec, fourth 400m surge for 30sec. Five min R
2 x 100m increasing pace, last 20m @ 100% Walk 300m R
10 x 40m increasing pace, last 10m @ 100% Walk back R

Good session tonight. L calf was a bit niggly surprisingly, R calf I didn’t notice but it’s a bit tender to touch now. I wore spikes for the 40m sprints. I tried not to pull up too quickly because I think I was doing that on Tuesday. When we’d finished I told coach about my calf issues. I waited till we’d finished cause I thought he wouldn’t let me do the whole session otherwise and I was right!! He said not to run Sunday and that he’d sort it out with the other coach who’s in charge of xc. I’m happy about this because I think I’d be pushing my luck with my calves the way they are, to get through 4K in really boggy conditions. Best of all, one of the girls who was entered but wasn’t going to run has decided she will run, so they’ll still have a team

Chivito550

Some heel raises and skipping with skipping rope are 2 ways to build calf strength. Need to be careful with those calves and build up slowly. Sprinting places demands on the calves way more than distance running does, given you are running on the balls of your feet.

career move

Chivito550 wrote: »

Some heel raises and skipping with skipping rope are 2 ways to build calf strength. Need to be careful with those calves and build up slowly. Sprinting places demands on the calves way more than distance running does, given you are running on the balls of your feet.

Thanks I’ll try some skipping and heel raises later. They’re not bad today but you’re right I need to be careful. I think I need to start swimming as well

career move

Saturday:
Bike turbo: 40 min same as fri

Core: 10 min
AIS
Heel raises 3 x 15 ea feet forward, toes in, toes out
Yoga downward dog, pidgeon, sun salutations

Skipping: 15 min
10 x (1 min skipping, 30 secs R) alternating both feet , leading L foot, leading R foot

Coach said no running and sometimes you have to do what you’re told Following the above I got into a cold bath. Not an ice bath cause I didn’t have any ice but the water was cold and I’ve read that it’s the change in temperature that’s beneficial rather than the cold so after 10 min I got out and jumped into a very hot shower. I think you’re supposed to do this several times but I didn’t. I put compression socks on then for an hour and my calves were definitely less sore and looser

Sunday:
Run: 28 min ~4.1k
10 min wu with drills (high knees, butt kicks, high skips)
6 x 2 min @ 80% ???, 7:36, 8:06, 7:55, 8:03, 7:55

I did this at home. The sheep had grazed down a paddock a couple of weeks ago and I thought it looked like a good spot for a grass session. The grass was obviously not too high and the sheep don’t wreck a field in the winter like the horses do but it was quite boggy down one side after all the rain. The first rep I pressed the stop button by mistake so I don’t have a pace for that but I assume it was pretty similar to the others because I covered a similar amount of ground. I changed direction after each interval and I thought I might get 10 done at the start but my calves were just tightening up for the last couple so I left it at 6. Didn’t do a cool down cause it was raining and cold and I wanted another cold bath like yesterday.

Core: 25 min
Iron strength workout: https://www.runnersworld.com/strength-training/the-ironstrength-20-minute-core-workout?amp

1 min jumping jacks into squat
4 x (10 mountain climbers, 10 legs down)
4 x (10 plank rows 3kg ea arm, 10 weighted sit-ups 3kg)
50 sec L side plank (couldn’t hold any longer)
1 min front plank
1 min R side plank
30 sec L side plank
3 x (15 ea heel drops straight, legs turned in, legs turned out)

Bike turbo: 30 min

Chivito550

15 mins of skipping? Your calves will be in bits.

I do 2 minutes at the start of every gym session and that's it.

career move

Chivito550 wrote: »

15 mins of skipping? Your calves will be in bits.

I do 2 minutes at the start of every gym session and that's it.

No you make me sound crazy!!! 10 x 1 min with 30 sec recovery alternating the way I skip on every rep is not the same thing as 15 min skipping!

career move

Monday:
rhr:40
Core: Circuit x 3
Walk on toes with high knee lift. 6kg 60sec
Eccentric calf raises hold 10 sec x 15
Plyometric jump squats x 15
Downward dog hold 10sec then one leg raised 10 sec ea
Straight leg calf stretch 30 sec es
Foam roller 10 rep ea
Sumo squat 3kg x 15
Chest press with bicycle 3kg x 15ea
Single leg oppositional star 3kg x 15
Goblet squat 3kg x 15
Burpees with press up x 10
https://www.runnersworld.com/injury-prevention/how...
https://www.runnersworld.com/ironstrength/5-great-..

Tuesday:
Run: track session
1600m wu jog
1600m tempo surge every 400m 10,15, 20,25 sec
2 x 100m increasing pace, last 20m @ 100%
Baton changes
Cool down

Calves are still a bit twitchy I’m going to stick to the bike and pool for the next couple of days, do a light session Friday, rest Saturday and hopefully run a good race in the novice b xc Sunday. That’s the plan anyway!!

Murph_D

Monday:
rhr:40

That’s impressive. Has it come down a lot over the past few years?

career move

Murph_D wrote: »

That’s impressive. Has it come down a lot over the past few years?

That’s a hard question to answer with a simple yes or no because it’s so variable. When I was training for my first marathon in 2012 it was mid to high 40’s and for the last 4 years it’s often low 40’s. I’ve given up trying to interpret it but I check it now and again just for interest and if it’s below 42 I’m happy. It’s been as low as 38 but if I took the average for a week when I’m training hard it might average at 43/44. Usually the day after a running race it’s mid to high 40’s but after an adventure race it’ll be mid 60’s

career move

Wednesday:

Bike turbo: 60 min

The back wheel on my bike has been flat for the last two weeks. I really need to change the inner tube but for the moment I’m too lazy and I can just about get an hour out of it, if I pump it up to the max before I start. I mean to do some chin ups and some arm exercises as well but I went for a nap instead

Thursday:

Rest

My last full rest day was 10 days ago so maybe this was overdue?! Or maybe I was just too lazy to go to karate

Friday:

A.M Bike turbo: 30 min

Afternoon: Bike turbo: 60 min

P.M Track session: 80 min
ahr:119 max:164
Wu 800m jog + drills
3 x 40m jumping on alternate legs
3 x 40m running with very high knees
3 x 30m heels-to-buttocks running
3 x 30m bounding
3 x 30m skipping
Baton changes 10 x 30-40m sprints
800m jog - we did this in a group of 4 passing the baton up and down as we jogged
Baton change 40m sprint
Cool down: 400m jog

I went a bit earlier so I could get a good warm up done with all the drills. I was reading the Canova thread on the main forum and I saw this link https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1sY-pbamVwmp6ZUeuSga2XJ-UhBgz42ch7EIJZDyOcFE
to strength work. It never dawned on me that I needed to be increasing the reps and distance to keep improving. I guess you do learn something new everyday

Best of luck to all the marathon runners on Sunday. And the supporters too!!! Have fun

Wubble Wubble

career move wrote: »

Wednesday:



Best of luck to all the marathon runners on Sunday. And the supporters too!!! Have fun

Thanks a million. Can't wait for it. I may have stolen from glanced over your old Novices thread in recent months :pac:

career move

Wubble Wubble wrote: »

Thanks a million. Can't wait for it. I may have stolen from glanced over your old Novices thread in recent months :pac:

Ha Ah the novices thread ..... happy memories Good to see the tradition was left in capable hands! Have a ball Sunday

career move

Saturday:

Rest
I slept until 11 Even my cat was appalled!

Sunday:

Run: Novice b xc 3k
ahr: 167 max: 182

I ran ok. The ground conditions were good and it was a fair course with a couple of small hilly bits in each lap. I got a bit tired after 2k and dropped a position as well as dropping off the lady I was chasing but I finished 7th and we got team bronze. I’m trying to be happy with that :rolleyes:

I only got one core session done this week. Pure laziness! I want to be doing at least 2.

Wubble Wubble

career move wrote: »

Saturday:

Rest
I slept until 11 Even my cat was appalled!

Sunday:

Run: Novice b xc 3k
ahr: 167 max: 182

I ran ok. The ground conditions were good and it was a fair course with a couple of small hilly bits in each lap. I got a bit tired after 2k and dropped a position as well as dropping off the lady I was chasing but I finished 7th and we got team bronze. I’m trying to be happy with that :rolleyes:

I only got one core session done this week. Pure laziness! I want to be doing at least 2.

I'd take that, especially since you're only getting back into it. Silver/gold next time

Annie get your Run

Well done K!! Of course you want gold, nothing wrong with that, not much wrong with bronze either though

OOnegative

Well done Kate, nothing wrong with wanting better, it's what keeps driving us on.

career move

Monday:

A.M: Bike turbo 80 min
ahr:86 max:131
20 min wu
4 x (4 x 1 min sprint, 1 min R) 5 min between sets
12 min cd

I was doing seated sprints with low resistance so it was hard to get my heart rate as high as it needed to be. I’m pretty sure these were meant to be Zone 4 at least instead of zone 2

|MaxHR|Zone5 Speed(anaerobic)|Zone4 Economy(anaerobic)|Zone3 Stamina (aerobic)|Zone 2 Endurance (aerobic)|Zone 1Recovery (aerobic)|
ABCC/BCF
guidelines|174-186+ (94-100% MHR- Zone 6|165-174 89-94% MHR|152-165 82-89% MHR|139-152 75-82% MHR|120-139 65-75% MHR|111-120 60-65% MHR|


P.M: Run Track session 90 min
800m wu jog
Drills 3x50m ea jumping one leg, high knees, butt kicks, bounds, skipping
20 x 20- 40m sprints with baton changes
200m sprint + baton change
600m cd

More relay practice because most of us did xc on Sunday and it’s an easier session and one of the girls on our team isn’t usually able to train during the week. County indoors is in 7 weeks and we need all the practice we can get. I was there early so I could get a good warm up done. I could feel tightness in my calves starting off but they improved after the drills. I didn’t notice them during the sprints starting off but I did for the last few. Coach wanted us to do one 200m baton change at the end to see the difference in the change over when the sprint interval increases. My team mate and I were walking back to the 200m start and we both said the same thing “200m is so fricken far” :eek: Which sounds hilarious when you think of the distances I have been racing over but sprinting is a whole new ball game! Anyway we were both knackered so we took it easy for 120m and then sprinted the rest and the change overs were reasonably successful. My legs were sore at the end so only did 600m cool down.

Tuesday:

Sports massage: 60 min

Coach said I should think about getting a massage this week if my legs were still sore. When I got out of bed this morning I was lame so I rang the PT and luckily he had a free spot this afternoon. I say lucky but I was actually dreading it because having sore calves rubbed out is a torture I could happily do without. This is my favourire PT though. There’s no bullish!t and he always has practical, useful advice. He had a student with him today who practiced on me. He did a good job. He started with the left calf. Bit tight not too sore. Inside of left Achilles was a little tender. Left hamstrings all ok. Right calf very tight but bearable until he got to the popliteus. Sweet jezus that was sore. But that’s exactly where I was feeling the pain and it’s impossible to get into it with a foam roller. The student was delighted with himself because he’d been reading a paper about the popliteus and how it’s commonly strained in 100m sprinters but he didn’t think he’d ever have to deal with it and then I turn up! Right hamstrings all ok.
I’ve iced both lower legs twice for 10 minutes at a time this evening and I’ve just spent the last 20 min with my legs up against the wall. They’re pretty good now but no running until Friday. I can cycle so I’m thinking an easy session tomorrow and maybe some intervals Thursday. I’ve signed up for masters xc on Sunday. I wasn’t going to but it’s only 4K on an easy course and I need to do a grass session anyway. And then that’s xc finished for me this year.

career move

Wednesday:
Bike turbo: 60 min easy

My calves were a bit sore. The PT said I could go on the bike and that I should stretch as much as possible and ice so I did 2 10 min icing sessions which helped a lot.

Thursday:

Core 20min
Skipping x 1min
Squats x 15 8kg
Tippy toe walk 60sec 8 kg
Bulgarian split squat 8kg
Lateral arm raises 3kg ea x 5
Plyometric lunges 10ea

Calves much better. I was kind of lazy and 20min was as much as I could force myself to do. The extra weight added a bit of intensity though

Friday:

Core 20 min
Box jumps 3 x15
Walking lunges 3 x 20
AIS

A.M Run 15min
2.6 km (5:46 / km)

Coach had arranged a timed 4 x 200m relay at the track tonight and I read yesterday that if you’re doing speed work in the evening, a 15 min jog in the morning is helpful as it “opens up the capillaries”. I’m not too sure of the science but I said I’d try it out to see. I was disappointed that my calves still aren’t 100% but I guess that’s asking a lot and I have another massage booked for
next week

P.M Run t&f 1hr 30
ahr:125 max:166
800m wu jog
Drills 3x50m ea jumping one leg, high knees, butt kicks, bounds, skipping
4 x 200m relay TT 2:17
2 x (150m inc speed, 120m @ 70%)
4 x 20m standing start 90%
400m cd jog

The relay was useful. I thought we would have been faster though. I went 3rd but coach is going to put me first in future. I was happy enough with my leg. I was maybe a bit slow getting going once I had the baton and I could feel myself tying up over the last 30m but it’s the first timed 200 that I’ve done. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get individual splits but coach was saying at the end that he wants to do a 200m race in the near future so he can get our times and the 100m split as well.
I could feel my calves all night. After the sprints but not during them. The last 120m was not at 70%. It was more 90 - 100% because one of the juveniles was annoying me and I wanted to beat her. Which I did but I did have an advantage cause she was in lane 4 and I was in lane 2. I know how old am I again but you have to keep these young whippersnappers in their place! Iced my calves when I got home and they feel fine now

career move

Saturday:
Stretching: 25 min
Ice bath: 15 min

I used to be very sceptical about ice baths but I find the cold water so helpful for my calves. I weighed myself and I’m 2lbs lighter. Not brilliant cause it was a good few weeks since my last weigh in but I haven’t been very strict with my diet either so it’s a start. Next week I need to cut down on sugar so for me that means white bread, chocolate, biscuits and fruit yoghurt and some fruit. I am not going to come back here next week and say I have failed on this and it should be pretty easy for me because if I don’t buy it, it won’t be there.

Sunday:
Stretching: 10 min

Run: Masters xc 4K
ahr:167 max:182
Av pace 4:34/km

I ran slightly better than last week but was much further down the field. Masters is ridiculously competitive. You meet people that you wouldn’t see all year cause they’ve already won novice and intermediate years ago.
My Vdot was 42 compared to 40.6 last week over 3k. The HR stats were exactly the same. I wanted to stop after 1k and that feeling stayed with me until about 400m from the finish. I was thinking a couple of times that I would just stop and say my calves were too sore but that would have been a lie and I wouldn’t be able to cope with the guilt so I just kept plugging away. I was passed by a couple of people after halfway but I made a good effort at a sprint finish which coach was happy with. I was 2nd scorer on the team but no medal this week cause we finished 4th.

Mulberry

I was told a little gem once (are you listening Happygoose?!) when I was preparing for a particularly scary XC race: all the best XC runners really want to stop at least 3 times during a race - but keep going.

Well done!

RayCun

I'm still sceptical about ice baths. They reduce swelling but inflammation is not a bad thing.

career move

Mulberry wrote: »

I was told a little gem once (are you listening Happygoose?!) when I was preparing for a particularly scary XC race: all the best XC runners really want to stop at least 3 times during a race - but keep going.

Well done!

Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind if I’m feeling brave and decide to do national novice

RayCun wrote: »

I'm still sceptical about ice baths. They reduce swelling but inflammation is not a bad thing.

Well this is one of those ones where it’s easy to find articles and papers to support either opinion. My personal opinion is that a little inflammation is helpful but excessive inflammation is damaging.

career move

Monday:
Stretching: 25min
Legs were sore especially the right calf

Tuesday:
Track session: 75min
ahr:130 max:165
800m jog
Drills 4 x 50m ea jumping one leg, high knees, butt kicks, bounds, skipping
12 min Tempo ~ 2400m with baby hurdles and ladders for 50m every lap
3 x 200m @ 80 - 90%
800m cd + stretches

Calves still sore. Had a hot bath before I went training. It was freezing out. I had two jackets on for my warm up. Noticed the calves a bit while I was warming up.
The tempo was fun. I ran with one of the girls from my relay team. Her hamstring was at her so she skipped the hurdles and the ladders and didn’t do any sprinting. I don’t have any pace recorded for the tempo but if I was guessing I’d say 4:30 - 4:40/km.
I was in lane 4 for the sprints. The others were complaining after the first one that the track was slippy, so coach said if we wanted we could do increasing speed. I had inov8 trail shoes on and I didn’t notice the track so I kept going at 90%. The girl in lane 3 is super competitive with me. She runs in disabled competitions. I’m not sure what category. When she was a junior she was on the short list for the special olympics and she’s on a Munster squad this year for Nationals I think. Anyway she was complaining most about the track and she was not happy with me for the last for the last two. “That’s not increasing speed!!!!!!!”

Wednesday:
Rest

Calves sore. I was busy all day and on call for the evening and I didn’t have any motivation to do any core work

Thursday:
Run: 40 min
ahr:145 max:175
10 min wu incl drills
2 x (3 x 600m) 2min btw reps, 4 min btw sets
2:17, 2:22, 2:38, 2:36, 3:15, 2:23
5 min cd walk

This looked so easy on paper. I thought it would be a doddle. Why do I need so much recovery?! Coach gave me a set of starting blocks so I can practice and I was going to go to the track after work and use them but I didn’t have enough petrol in my car to get me to and from the track and then into the petrol station. The joys of living in rural Ireland!! So I did them on the road around the ring. I had the 600m reps set up on my watch and for the first one I couldn’t believe how bloody long it was! I had to walk all the recoveries. The second last one was mostly uphill and the last one was mostly downhill. I was really surprised how hard I found these. Jumped into an ice bath for 10 minutes when I’d finished.

Sports massage: 60 min
Back to the PT. He asked how I’d been after the visit last Tuesday - bit sore wed, much better thurs, track session fri, sore sat, raced xc sun, very sore mon, track session tues, sore wed, bit sore today but got through my run ok. Hmmm ok he said so basically you haven’t given your legs any chance to heal. I’m going to need you to stop training because there is a high risk that you will tear a calf muscle sprinting The student was still there so he rubbed out my calves, hamstrings and lateral tibialis muscle at the front and then the PT needled both calves. Surprisingly my left calf (the good one :rolleyes: ) was much sorer than the right. So no running tomorrow or Saturday. I can do a 20min jog Sunday and the usual track session Tuesday. I never asked but I presume I can do core work and cycling as well.

ThebitterLemon

career move wrote: »

Monday:
Stretching: 25min
Legs were sore especially the right calf

Tuesday:
Track session: 75min
ahr:130 max:165
800m jog
Drills 4 x 50m ea jumping one leg, high knees, butt kicks, bounds, skipping
12 min Tempo ~ 2400m with baby hurdles and ladders for 50m every lap
3 x 200m @ 80 - 90%
800m cd + stretches

Calves still sore. Had a hot bath before I went training. It was freezing out. I had two jackets on for my warm up. Noticed the calves a bit while I was warming up.
The tempo was fun. I ran with one of the girls from my relay team. Her hamstring was at her so she skipped the hurdles and the ladders and didn’t do any sprinting. I don’t have any pace recorded for the tempo but if I was guessing I’d say 4:30 - 4:40/km.
I was in lane 4 for the sprints. The others were complaining after the first one that the track was slippy, so coach said if we wanted we could do increasing speed. I had inov8 trail shoes on and I didn’t notice the track so I kept going at 90%. The girl in lane 3 is super competitive with me. She runs in disabled competitions. I’m not sure what category. When she was a junior she was on the short list for the special olympics and she’s on a Munster squad this year for Nationals I think. Anyway she was complaining most about the track and she was not happy with me for the last for the last two. “That’s not increasing speed!!!!!!!”

Wednesday:
Rest

Calves sore. I was busy all day and on call for the evening and I didn’t have any motivation to do any core work

Thursday:
Run: 40 min
ahr:145 max:175
10 min wu incl drills
2 x (3 x 600m) 2min btw reps, 4 min btw sets
2:17, 2:22, 2:38, 2:36, 3:15, 2:23
5 min cd walk

This looked so easy on paper. I thought it would be a doddle. Why do I need so much recovery?! Coach gave me a set of starting blocks so I can practice and I was going to go to the track after work and use them but I didn’t have enough petrol in my car to get me to and from the track and then into the petrol station. The joys of living in rural Ireland!! So I did them on the road around the ring. I had the 600m reps set up on my watch and for the first one I couldn’t believe how bloody long it was! I had to walk all the recoveries. The second last one was mostly uphill and the last one was mostly downhill. I was really surprised how hard I found these. Jumped into an ice bath for 10 minutes when I’d finished.

Sports massage: 60 min
Back to the PT. He asked how I’d been after the visit last Tuesday - bit sore wed, much better thurs, track session fri, sore sat, raced xc sun, very sore mon, track session tues, sore wed, bit sore today but got through my run ok. Hmmm ok he said so basically you haven’t given your legs any chance to heal. I’m going to need you to stop training because there is a high risk that you will tear a calf muscle sprinting The student was still there so he rubbed out my calves, hamstrings and lateral tibialis muscle at the front and then the PT needled both calves. Surprisingly my left calf (the good one :rolleyes: ) was much sorer than the right. So no running tomorrow or Saturday. I can do a 20min jog Sunday and the usual track session Tuesday. I never asked but I presume I can do core work and cycling as well.

You can borrow my vibration therapy machine Madame Dora

TbL

career move

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

You can borrow my vibration therapy machine Madame Dora

TbL

Thanks, you’re so kind but I have my own

ThebitterLemon

career move wrote: »

Thanks, you’re so kind but I have my own

Ah Jazus. Lol. Touché.

Good luck with it

TbL

Younganne

There's such variety in your training K, its great to see you back logging in this forum. Best of luck with the sprinting and all the training. Mind the calves, nothing worse than having something niggling the whole time.

career move

Younganne wrote: »

There's such variety in your training K, its great to see you back logging in this forum. Best of luck with the sprinting and all the training. Mind the calves, nothing worse than having something niggling the whole time.

Thanks Anne it’s good to be back. Ya niggles are a curse. I’m minding them as best I can! Are you looking forward to your Donadea training plan? Any races planned before then?

Younganne

career move wrote: »

Thanks Anne it’s good to be back. Ya niggles are a curse. I’m minding them as best I can! Are you looking forward to your Donadea training plan? Any races planned before then?

Ye I prefer to be in the training mode as otherwise I'd be inclined to let runs go for no reason, so having Coach to report back to is a great incentive.

Gingerbread 10k next Sunday and 5k in Navan at the end of December.
Trim 10m is the week before Donadea so it will be a training run, but wouldn't miss it as its local and the Tshirt is fab!!! It's my favorite tshirt from the past few years!!!:D

career move

Friday:
Icing and stretching

My calves were not as sore after the PT as they were last week. I think I heal quickly. Coach has me doing this exercise every day to strengthen up my quads when I’m in the blocks. It’s really simple. You sit in a chair with your arms tucked up and crossed and then you stand up and sit down as many times as you can in 2 minutes. Your bum has to touch the seat each time. 63 for me

Saturday:
Nothing. Except my chair stand ups. 60

Sunday

Run: 2m in 20 min
No soreness in my calves but after about 15min I could feel the right one getting a bit tired.

Core: 60 min
Chin ups 6,5,4,3,2,1
Chair stand ups 68 in 2 min
Reverse lunge with rotation 4kg x 15 ea
Push up 3 sets of 10
One legged glute bridge x 15 ea
Plank sweep x 15 ea
Scorpion x 15 ea
Weighted hip thrust 4kg 3 sets of 10
Modified single arm row 4kg 3 sets of 10 ea
Half kneeling overhead press 4kg 3 sets of 8 ea
Single leg deadlift 7kg 3 sets of 15 ea
Goblet squat 4kg 3 sets of 15

Bike turbo: 30 min slightly harder than easy

My diet has been good this week. No white bread, chocolate, biscuits, jam. Not too much fruit. Lots of protein - milk, eggs, fish, steak twice. Lots of salad - lettuce, tomatoes, beetroot. No snacking in between meals. I made carrot cake twice using this recipe but without the cream cheese frosting. I never use low fat milk either.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/spiced_carrot_cake_with_04420
The first time it was a bit dry so I added in a grated apple the second time. I make two small loaves and I give one to my Dad.
I haven’t had any chocolate cravings all week except today I would have liked some chocolate after all that core work. I had a nap instead
Next Tuesday coach is going to time me over 150m and 60m using the blocks and we’re doing another beep test