Year 4: "It's a game of inches"

shotgunmcos

Mellow Yellow 26.2 wrote: »

I'd definitely agree with you on your musings. My coach subscribes to the same philosophy. Generic plans out of a book or the Internet will bring you so far but you'll never reach your potential or could be counter productive.

I'd agree to a point.

Coaching is probably most effective when you plateau. When you start anything and are motivated you will make progress. Running, Losing weigh, boiling an egg. A book plan, youtube , google can help you along and if you are self aware, realistic and honest with yourself you can make real gains. Its when you hit obstacles, get stuck, life changes or a spectrum of variables effect that progress that a Coach can really help.

+1 on real coaching becoming a dying art with the digital age

Testosterscone

shotgunmcos wrote: »

I'd agree to a point.

Coaching is probably most effective when you plateau. When you start anything and are motivated you will make progress. Running, Losing weigh, boiling an egg. A book plan, youtube , google can help you along and if you are self aware, realistic and honest with yourself you can make real gains. Its when you hit obstacles, get stuck, life changes or a spectrum of variables effect that progress that a Coach can really help.

+1 on real coaching becoming a dying art with the digital age

While I do get the point you are making and agree at the beginning you will make gains etc but I think the point of coaching should be to try and make the changes to pre-empt that plateau. Obviously progression is non linear thing but I still think changes can be made early on to ensure that the building blocks are there to come out the other side without having to make dangerous and dramatic changes to try and stimulate adaptation and ensure continual progression.

The digital age point is one that definitely has rang true for me in recent years. I have made the point previously that with the abundance of information available often we have an answer without truly understanding the question we are asking.

Someone made the point to me recently that I thought was very interesting. In years gone by coaches more often than not were teachers by profession, perhaps that tells a lot.

Swashbuckler

Testosterscone wrote:

To any aspiring coaches - don't be afraid to put yourself out there or be afraid of making mistakes, they make you better in the long run.

Where would you start? Is there any Bible for coaches to begin with?

Testosterscone

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Where would you start? Is there any Bible for coaches to begin with?

List of books I have found useful over the years;

- Healthy Intelligent training by Ken Livingstone
- Road to the top by Joe Vigil
- Running Formula by Jack Daniels
- IAAF: A Scientific approach to the marathon by Renato Canova
- The Science of Running by Steve Magness
- More Fire : How to run the Kenyan way by Toby Tanser
- The Lore of Running by Tim Noakes
- Periodization Training for Sports by Tudor Bompa


Majority of these have an overview on training as well as there own twists. In terms of Bible I would actually avoid recommending just one for the reasons I mentioned before. You can't just copy and paste an approach but rather use that as your starting point on from there learn, try new things and make new mistakes

As long as you base your approach on common sense (don't prescribe something you would struggle to not get injured with yourself) modulate the hard with the easy and know why you want the athlete doing that session you will grow and develop.

We all make mistakes but remember that a coach making a mistake based on sound principles is no worse than an athlete not listening to their body following a plan so that fear of failure is something both the coach and the athlete need to try and work through. A coach should grow with the athlete and vice versa.

The difference between an average coach and a good coach is monumental but influences might be subtle as such with general majority of runners in Ireland even an average coach will get very good results but as you grow you will be able to unlock that extra 20-30%. With this in mind people shouldn't fear getting into coaching.

Testosterscone

Mon 4 miles easy (7.29 min/m)
Supplementary work: N/A

Tues AM 6 miles easy (7.16 min/m) PM 5 steady (6.40 min/m)
Supplementary work: Compression boots

Wed AM 4x500(40)/3min/4x300(40)/3min/4x500(40) PM 4 v.easy (8.06 min/m)
Supplementary work: N/A
Thurs AM 5 easy (7.05 min/m) PM 7.2 easy (7.19 min/m)
Supplementary work: N/A

Fri OFF
Supplementary work: N/A

Sat 9.1 easy (7.22 min/m)
Supplementary work: N/A

Sunday National Leagues - 3000m Walk - 19.48 and 3000m Steeplechase - 10.58
Supplementary work: Weight Training + Compression boots

Total Weekly Mileage 55.2

Tipping along this week trying to get back into it after a down week last week. Mileage took a bit of a hit with a late call up for the National Leagues. Was down to do the walk as per usual so figured I would get long run in before and get through with minimal fuss but a call friday meant that I was also called up for the steeple chase so accepted that I was gonna take the hit and push the long run back a day.

Session Wednesday was an early one. but not early enough to get to the track. Instead opted for a great little tarmac loop in UCD. Normally impassable with students at 6 am during the summer break I went for it. Was done on empty stomach so paces probably a small bit off but the effort was there and was definitely working with the short recoveries despite the short enough volume of the session.

Sunday and even though I have taken a step back from organising team for this with the baby this year I found myself in an all too familiar place. Our two steeplechasers were away so I was gonna plug a gap here plus as the clubs resident race walker was gonna be a long day with that heat.

Lined up along side an old familiar face (Lougheee who used to frequent this place) a handy walker I knew but barring that I figured should get around with a fairly high placing within the division and a good few points for the club. Went aggressive but unlike last year there was no early cards (got a warning after 100m in League final last year) slotted into 2nd place and worked from here. Went through the 1km mark well under 7 minutes which meant that I was well on course for a club record I had made my own the last few years (almost by default due to never having any walkers but I was chipping away at it to make it semi respectable)

A lad from Louth stuck firmly on my shoulder from about 1800m in and even though I tried surging (well improving technique to try moving faster) he seemed happy to settle for 3rd though I never got too far away from him. Coming down the home straight however he blew by me leaving me completely deflated at being toyed with as I could not respond. Crossed the line with 19.48 which is the best part of 50 seconds quicker than I have ever done this (to give comparison my first attempt a few years back was 27 minutes)

To make things all the more sweet your that "sprint finish" that left me in his wake was his undoing as I was elevated to 2nd when I crossed the line due to ha DQ.

Kinda interesting looking back on the walk the HR was up around Threshold level for the entire race as well as the hip strengthening workout it would make for a great addition to a marathon training plan to be honest once ever few weeks.

The Steeplechase is one I have managed to get away from the last two years, the addition of a guy who can do steeple chase to the club as well as the emergence of a Junior who has represented Ireland in Steeplechase meant that I was firmly off the hook however with both away I was called up.

Legs were heavy from earlier, coupled with the heat I was under no illusions about going aggressive for a time, aim was gonna be to race smart.

Again Meath had fielded a strong competitor while others looked handy runners but not too much experience over barriers. Settled into a good rhythm early on but when we got to barriers there was a good bit of flailing and erratic positioning so I decided to back off the pace slightly and stay out of trouble.

After a few laps I was sitting in 3rd in the division just behind a guy from Laois. a 1500m guy without a background in steeple I figured endurance was gonna get to him (judging by his breathing anyway) so let him take it on for a few laps before making a little surge to go around him (just to ensure rhythm coming to barriers wouldn't be thrown off going over side by side.

A little weary of it coming to a kick I decided to stretch things out a little with 600m to go but truth be told didn't really come out of 3rd gear and there was no response. Ducked in just under the 11 min mark for another second place finish.

Finished up the day with a bit of weights but truth be told failed early on so left it at that.

National Leagues always a good day out and one of the few competitions that bring athletics clubs and athletes of all disciplines together.

RayCun

Testosterscone wrote: »

Kinda interesting looking back on the walk the HR was up around Threshold level for the entire race as well as the hip strengthening workout it would make for a great addition to a marathon training plan to be honest once ever few weeks.

Do it, do it, DO IT! :pac:

Testosterscone

RayCun wrote: »

Do it, do it, DO IT! :pac:

Could be incorporated into the Boards Graduates plan v2.0:P

Looking like we cruised into the final though so probably not the last one anyway

skyblue46

Testosterscone wrote: »

Could be incorporated into the Boards Graduates plan v2.0:P

Looking like we cruised into the final though so probably not the last one anyway

Eh no....try another plan. My auld hips wouldn't be up to that weird walking! :pac:

Testosterscone

Mon OFF
Tues OFF
Wed OFF
Thurs OFF
Fri OFF
Sat Day of Irish PB's pacer (22 min and 17.30*)
Sun OFF

Mon 5 miles easy (7.52 min/m)
Tues OFF
Wed OFF
Thurs OFF

Yep not great reading at all however rather than just write it off as a bad patch I felt I needed to try and learn from it and get some positive outcome from it.

The What
Coming off the leagues and the gym session I was a little tender the Monday so was making sure that I would recover so was not too worried if I needed a day off however this snowballed due to getting some news at home that basically turned things upside down so alot of stress (thankfully not health related for ourselves or the little one). Trying to figure things out coupled with a stressful week in work I did not handle very well and was very anxious, drained. There was also a bouquet of flowers in the house which seemed to do a number on me somewhat I was basically in a terrible place for running.

Got out to Lexlip to help out as a pacer 1st round was fine (took a bit of getting used to dialing in an alien pace on the track but managed fine) for the 17.30 I dunno whether it was a long day on my feet in the sun between the races or what but I felt I was working from the off. Rattled off pace very quickly but I knew by about 4km I was done so rather than slow the train down I called to sidelines and thankfully someone saved my bacon and I was able to skulk out with 800m to go (thankfully it didn't impact on anyone's race as 2nd place thanked me for the pacing job and the next two were my own athletes with big pb's so everyone was happy out bar myself) Looking back on strava data though I can see that it wasn't just in my head as the HR data was north of 190 which I don't even hit in my best races.

The Why?

It would be easy for me to put this bad stretch caused by a stressful period but digging a little deeper there are a few warning signs. I think that last weeks events were a trigger rather than the cause and if it wasn't that it was gonna be something else.

- Paces. I have definitely been running my runs a little harder not overly hard however with the sleep (the little guys schedule is definitely not as forgiving as it was initially and I haven't adapted) I have probably not taken this into account.

- Mentality. With the marathon on the horizon my mentality shifted. I was trying to force getting back to where I was mentally the last 2 years to a point where I am working back from target trying to have training week match that. It is becoming a perfectionist approach - i.e I am telling myself I have to hit X miles, Y sessions and Z supplementary works and seeing it in black and white as a success/failure approach. This is something I had moved away from previously and definitely something I don't see as positive long term. Some people do need this to instill good initial training habits but I think you need to progress from this; to go from what is a good training week in a vacuum to how do you ensure that obstacles don't completely derail you.

Back on board with 100 days to go so time to revert back to what made last year a good year and focus on consistently getting out rather than ensure I do everything perfect.

paddybarry

Testosterscone wrote: »

Mon OFF
Tues OFF
Wed OFF
Thurs OFF
Fri OFF
Sat Day of Irish PB's pacer (22 min and 17.30*)
Sun OFF

Mon 5 miles easy (7.52 min/m)
Tues OFF
Wed OFF
Thurs OFF

Yep not great reading at all however rather than just write it off as a bad patch I felt I needed to try and learn from it and get some positive outcome from it.

The What
Coming off the leagues and the gym session I was a little tender the Monday so was making sure that I would recover so was not too worried if I needed a day off however this snowballed due to getting some news at home that basically turned things upside down so alot of stress (thankfully not health related for ourselves or the little one). Trying to figure things out coupled with a stressful week in work I did not handle very well and was very anxious, drained. There was also a bouquet of flowers in the house which seemed to do a number on me somewhat I was basically in a terrible place for running.

Got out to Lexlip to help out as a pacer 1st round was fine (took a bit of getting used to dialing in an alien pace on the track but managed fine) for the 17.30 I dunno whether it was a long day on my feet in the sun between the races or what but I felt I was working from the off. Rattled off pace very quickly but I knew by about 4km I was done so rather than slow the train down I called to sidelines and thankfully someone saved my bacon and I was able to skulk out with 800m to go (thankfully it didn't impact on anyone's race as 2nd place thanked me for the pacing job and the next two were my own athletes with big pb's so everyone was happy out bar myself) Looking back on strava data though I can see that it wasn't just in my head as the HR data was north of 190 which I don't even hit in my best races.

The Why?

It would be easy for me to put this bad stretch caused by a stressful period but digging a little deeper there are a few warning signs. I think that last weeks events were a trigger rather than the cause and if it wasn't that it was gonna be something else.

- Paces. I have definitely been running my runs a little harder not overly hard however with the sleep (the little guys schedule is definitely not as forgiving as it was initially and I haven't adapted) I have probably not taken this into account.

- Mentality. With the marathon on the horizon my mentality shifted. I was trying to force getting back to where I was mentally the last 2 years to a point where I am working back from target trying to have training week match that. It is becoming a perfectionist approach - i.e I am telling myself I have to hit X miles, Y sessions and Z supplementary works and seeing it in black and white as a success/failure approach. This is something I had moved away from previously and definitely something I don't see as positive long term. Some people do need this to instill good initial training habits but I think you need to progress from this; to go from what is a good training week in a vacuum to how do you ensure that obstacles don't completely derail you.

Back on board with 100 days to go so time to revert back to what made last year a good year and focus on consistently getting out rather than ensure I do everything perfect.

Sometimes real life adds stresses that make it difficult to get runs/sessions in etc. When you have a big goal race, missed sessions/runs etc can just compound that stress.

At the end of the day, running is just a hobby. There are times when life goes smoothly and achieving goals is very attainable. Other times this is not the case.

You are a young man. Maybe at this point in your life, you should just focus on running for running sake. Just get out for a run/do the odd session when life permits.

I mean this with the best intentions.

Kurt.Godel

Luke it sounds like life is throwing a few challenges at you (and very glad the immediate family is ok) so I hope all is manageable in the bigger picture. You're a good guy and obviously a lot of people willing positive vibes on your behalf; kharma goes around and you've passed a lot of good kharma to others.

I was going to butt in with some unasked-for advice re kids/family/training but then read this part:

Testosterscone wrote: »

focus on consistently getting out rather than ensure I do everything perfect.

Nothing I can add. Succinct, precise, and very useful; probably the best sentence I've read here in 10 years.

Testosterscone

paddybarry wrote: »

Sometimes real life adds stresses that make it difficult to get runs/sessions in etc. When you have a big goal race, missed sessions/runs etc can just compound that stress.

At the end of the day, running is just a hobby. There are times when life goes smoothly and achieving goals is very attainable. Other times this is not the case.

You are a young man. Maybe at this point in your life, you should just focus on running for running sake. Just get out for a run/do the odd session when life permits.

I mean this with the best intentions.

Appreciate the comment's man. I think you are right in the compounding stress. It's kinda funny I posted the reasons behind the marathon here and ironically the point about putting pressure on producing a big performance is the trap I think I have fallen into.

In terms of running for running's sake I feel I always work better with some accountability this was half the reason I stopped self coaching but I think I need to get back to a mantra that I had developed last year and that was;

"Enjoy the process, not the outcome"

I need to stop focusing on October but rather focus day by day on enjoying getting out for the release that running has for me in my every day life

Kurt.Godel wrote: »

Luke it sounds like life is throwing a few challenges at you (and very glad the immediate family is ok) so I hope all is manageable in the bigger picture. You're a good guy and obviously a lot of people willing positive vibes on your behalf; kharma goes around and you've passed a lot of good kharma to others.

I was going to butt in with some unasked-for advice re kids/family/training but then read this part:


Nothing I can add. Succinct, precise, and very useful; probably the best sentence I've read here in 10 years.

All okay just upheaval (if Karma has it's way there are a few letting agents and landlords that should hopefully get there's haha)

Plans made - we adjust, we adapt and we survive

Testosterscone

paddybarry wrote: »

You are a young man. Maybe at this point in your life, you should just focus on running for running sake. Just get out for a run/do the odd session when life permits.

Should have taken your advise

So since my last update here training well and truly went to sh!te. The highlight was a 40 mile week with another 40ish done in total and a handful of gym sessions but was very haphazard. Couple that with a poor lifestyle (not on the piss and takeaways galore but just not looking after myself at all)

Finally I managed to bottom out and get the routine back and generally have a much healthier approach in trying to get back out running. So with this in mind aim for the forseeable is just to not force it and get the good basis for a training week and very slowly build back up fitness

Mon 5 easy (7.49 min/m)
Tues 5 w/ 3 Progressive steady (7.00, 6.58, 6.53) + GYM
Wed 5 easy (7.27 min/m)
Thurs 5 easy (7.25 min/m)
Fri 5 steady hard (7.04, 6.33, 6.39, 6.42, 6.48) + GYM
Sat OFF
Sun 10 easy (7.11 min/m)

* 15 min yoga every morning

Total Mileage 35 miles

Weekly Targets
- Establish Routine - Achieved
- Establish mileage base - Achieved
- Monitor nutrition to make changes going forward - Achieved

A better start than I thought. Guessing the good few walks with herself and the little lad as of late seems to have saved me a little having said that HR still sky high so fitness definitely still struggling

The aim for the forseeable is no sessions as I am not fit enough to get much from them. I am gonna do 2 steady runs and and use that while I am establishing good practices. This week provided a good base to work off. There will be no doubles for the forseeable and mileage will be low and focus on having good well rounded training weeks and slowly build from there. The gym sessions will act as the hard sessions while aerobic strength returns

Next weeks targets
- Move to 7 day week (same mileage 5 miles per day and double distance long run
- Introduce turnover work - 1 max hills session and one strides
- 40 mpw
- Maintain daily yoga

Duanington

Testosterscone wrote: »

Guessing the good few walks with herself and the little lad as of late seems to have saved me a little having said that HR still sky high so fitness definitely still struggling

Welcome back :-)

Question, if the HR is sky high, why not dial the effort back a little for now? Even for a man with your background, some of those paces look spicy enough

Testosterscone

Duanington wrote: »

Welcome back :-)

Question, if the HR is sky high, why not dial the effort back a little for now? Even for a man with your background, some of those paces look spicy enough

Should clarify this, Funny enough the non steady days the highest HR was actually on the 7.49 pace day. These would have all been in the steady range (sub MP effort) but with the short duration that intensity is generally fine. The fact that I am not doing sessions there is a flexibility here

The Long run came in around Marathon effort which was probably a bit hot (as was steady run but dialed that back as soon as I saw) With them being kept short I am focusing on good form and pace was probably influenced by this a bit.

I don't plan on exceeding 50 mpw this side of xmas to be honest but I do want to make the every stride be effective training so I am trying to avoid shuffling somewhat I will definitely try to balance this with effort of the runs though

OOnegative

Good to see you back Coach.

AuldManKing

Testosterscone wrote: »

The aim for the forseeable is no sessions as I am not fit enough to get much from them.

Can you elaborate a bit on this point?

Are you saying that at base fitness, doing sessions is not useful?
Sessions only give you something if there's a level of fitness 1st??

Good to see you back.

Testosterscone

AuldManKing wrote: »

Can you elaborate a bit on this point?

Are you saying that at base fitness, doing sessions is not useful?
Sessions only give you something if there's a level of fitness 1st??

Good to see you back.

Essentially yes. For me the fact that I am not fit at the moment means the the volume in itself is the stimulus. I could add sessions as well but would probably be under recovering or doing sessions which are not long enough in volume to get me benefit or are too long in volume for my body to sustain good form. Essentially I would make short term gains that would level off quite quickly at best that I would need to add a different stimulus. That is fine if I was to add layer on layer but given that my consistency has been an issue I don't think this is the best way to approach it.

2 steadier runs as well as the strides and hill sprints I feel will provide better bang for my buck long term in terms of aerobic benefit as well as turnover. The gym sessions as well provide intensity (doing a high volume rep range style approach as a base to my weights fpr hypertrophy and muscular endurance) and are leaving me a little thrashed so I don't want to add everything in the one go hence the extended base phase from the run perspective.

By tipping away at the easy miles I am hoping that I can really make gains on the diet, flexibility and strength in early stages that will really bring me on longer term. It is a bit of an experiment no doubt as it is training approach that is outside my wheelhouse (reliance on the volume) but it will give me a chance to work on many of my weaknesses without putting too much stress on at home (trying to fit doubles, longer sessions and all the extra bits that often get ignored when mileage ramped up) at the moment I do think this is the best way to train effectively especially with an impending house move as well coming up.

As I mentioned the focus for the next while is to come out in 2019 all guns blazing and as such want to be patient and do things right. There will probably only be one race before then (Intermediates XC) but to be honest I will be making up the numbers there and the training won't be geared towards being in top shape for that.

Testosterscone

Testosterscone wrote: »

Next weeks targets
- Move to 7 day week (same mileage 5 miles per day and double distance long run
- Introduce turnover work - 1 max hills session and one strides
- 40 mpw
- Maintain daily yoga

2/4 achieved

Mon 5 easy (7.17 min/m) + 5x5 sec hills sprints
Tues OFF
Wed 5 progressive(6.47 min/m) - 7.12, 6.54, 6.47, 6.36, 6.31
Thurs 5 easy (7.13 min/m) + Gym
Fri 5 easy (7.06) + 5x20 sec strides
Sat 5 steady (6.49 min/m)
Sun 10 easy (7.09 min/m)

* 15 min yoga every morning

Total Mileage 35 miles

Tuesday we were out for the day so I knew that I had one chance to get out for this run, early morning, woke at 5.30 to the little lad staring at me as if to say "where do you think you are going". The one day he decides to to wake up an hour early :rolleyes:

Wasn't too worried though as even though I didn't manage to get a run we did have a 3hr hike so not a complete rest day. Thinking about it and I think for now might leave one non run day for the forseeable to make sure I am taking pressure off getting to the gym with runs etc so I will add mileage for now with a 7th day to be a later progression

Legs a little heavy this week though weirdly I had more energy. I am putting this down to the fact that I am making changes. I had been tracking nutrition the previous week and gave me a good starting point to make tweaks. Since I did change I am eating less calories but eating so much more food, also made tweaks to the macro's as I was seeing where I was lacking a little. I think sometimes it can be good just to take an objective look to make sure we aren't kidding ourselves with some of the food we are taking in as or outside of meals.

Both progression and steady runs were a step up on last week as well as HR being slightly lower run to run.

2nd Gym session had to be pushed back till this morning but managed to get it done so job done overall.

Taking the mentality of "earning my miles" in terms of only stepping up as long as I am getting a well rounded training and staying well on track with nutrition. With that in mind it's graduation day and I am making small increase (1 mile per run) to give it a bump up for the next 2 weeks. This will also give a bit more stimulus from the steady runs.

Testosterscone

Another week down on the road to redemption

Mon Gym
Tues 6 mile steady progression (7.21, 7.09, 6.55, 6.46, 6.38, 6.30)
Wed 6 easy (7.19 min/m) inc/ 5x20 sec strides
Thurs 6 easy (7.36 min/m)
Friday Gym + 6 steady (6.37 min/m)
Sat 11 miles easy (7.35 min/m)
Sun 4.7 easy (8.00 min/m)

*Daily 10-15 min yoga

Total Weekly Mileage 39.7 miles

A small bump in the mileage this week with a mile per run. This is the plan for the next while hopefully bump it every two weeks but again sticking with the mentality of earning my miles with doing the lifestyle stuff right (ancillary and nutrition) and focusing on the other 23 hours of the day.

This week had a bit of extra activity with a bit of hiking Tuesday and Wednesday for the days down around Laragh and Glendalough with the family leaving a little heaviness in the legs

Friday's Steady run surprised me as I had a hard gym session in the morning pace was solid despite the heaviness and HR was solid but feeling it over the weekend

Today was just a handy jog along the course support some great performances and as a coach a particularly good day with some very strong performances well done to all those who ran always great to see people get the rewards for putting the work in day in and day out

Testosterscone

6/10, Slight slip up but bounced back quick enough

Mon 6 miles (7.02 min/m) incl/ 6x20 sec strides
Tues GYM
Wed 10k progression - 41.06 (7.04, 6.51, 6.42, 6.34, 6.27, 6.17)
Thurs 6 easy (7.04 min/m)
Fri 6 miles steady (6.30 min/m)
Sat OFF
Sun OFF

* Daily 15 min yoga

Total Weekly Mileage 24.3 miles

Overall mileage was muck, Saturday was a post wedding one that I had accounted for in the training and while I didn't go too mad we got good news over the weekend which meant a good bit of work and research and long run was also missed. Not too worried with this week though as plan to get back on it. I am focused on being patient and with no major target at moment except eating right, getting strong and aerobically fit again just draw a line under it. The steady runs continue to improve so as long as I keep moving in the right direction it is progress.

Testosterscone

Coming to the end of the first phase of my return to training I felt was the perfect time to reflect and update the training log (for anyone looking for Year 3, line drawn under.) 1st half wasn't terrible (big half marathon PB, Dublin Individual medal and team Leinster Gold Medal) but between 2 house moves and a new baby the second half of the year was well and truly a write off.

Despite mileage not being amazing in the build up (that was by design) I made a conscious decision to build from the ground up with the focus on doing the small little things (inches) that often go overlooked. Keeping them in place I gonna aim on building up the mileage slowly and progressively.

Nutrition
The first thing I went to tackle was nutrition. Never something I really made any huge efforts with. I have not fluctated in weight much in the last 10 years with roughly 3/4 stone put on since I was 18 I was never truly lean. Felt I ate well enough for the most part but the more I looked into it, monitored and evaluated what I needed to change and adjust it became apparent that having health food does not really equate to eating healthy.

2 weeks of monitoring my diet using myfitnesspal was a huge eye opener. Started to make changes I am probably eating about twice as much food as I was previously despite eating roughly 1500 calories less. The thing about this change is that I am getting to the stage where I almost struggle to eat all I have to in a day so never feeling hungry and as such never really getting any sort of cravings, there is still the bit of chocolate but it fits into the overall daily stucture. Better yet what I was spending on lunches for work etc I am now getting nearly a full days worth of food for and all nurtient dense food to the point where energy levels have definitely improved (has become apparent in the pace of my easy runs relative to effort and HR)

Also starting to notice minor body composition changes which I didn't see even at my heaviest training with over double the mileage.

Strength Work

Alot more effort put into my S and C research starting to understand the nuances of weight training more and applying them to my specific goals and outcomes. Where in the past had nearly be conditioned to show low weight high rep was bad for runners I am now seeing that you can programme this to really get more from lifting if it is periodised correctly. As such currently I am using a weight lifting approach similar to German Volume training (10x10 reps) and have seen good progress so far. Have also spent a good bit of time working hamstrings which is an area of weakness I have had in the past and area of cramp during the marathon back in 2016 so hoping this will stand to me). This is very much a strength endurance phase to coincide with base phase of my running

Turnover
In the absence of speed work during base phase have been religiously doing turnover work and building week on week just to keep the legs turned over. My training for another while longer won't have too much speed work but the aim is doing this religiously will make for a more seemless transition for a shorter session based block.

Flexibility
10-15 min daily yoga work to deal with flexibility and mobility has been added as a morning ritual. With the mileage being low it is the perfect time to make sure that my strides are purposeful and want to make sure I have as full of range of motion as possible through hip extension to make sure that by the time I do get up to full mileage I am as efficient a runner as I can be. There is also an element of mentally switching off for me here which is a way of combatting stress levels which might impede recovery (on the back of work/lifestresses)


Aerobic Development
As I am in base training at the moment the focus has been on building back up my engine after the few weeks break I had. With mileage still being low though there was always gonna be a limit on how far I could go with this with volume as a stimulus. As such I have had 2 runs a week aimed at aerobic development a progression run and a steady run with both being aimed top end of steady as a max cap. This sessions have been in no way hard and stressed this as a point to myself with good form and sub maximal efforts being key.

Figures hear speak for themselves

1st progression run - 3 miles progressive (7.00, 6.58, 6.53)
Most recent - 7 miles progressive (7.19, 6.50, 6.48, 6.35, 6.29, 6.16, 6.16)

1st Steady run - 5 miles (7.04, 6.33, 6.39, 6.42, 6.48)
Most recent - 6 miles (6.26, 6.24, 6.26, 6.38, 6.32, 6.34)

After next week will start to introduce hills and tempo's but again the aim will be the low end of intensities and volume increase will stall at about 50-55 miles. There will be another building phase in the next year where that will progress up to hopefully about 70-75 but again focus is on maximal mileage while sustaining all other facets so the increases will be gradual over a 10 week period roughly

Testosterscone

Mon OFF
Tues 7 easy (7.30 min/m)
Wed Gym
Thurs 7 progression (7.19, 6.50, 6.48, 6.35, 6.29, 6.16, 6.16)
Fri 7 easy incl 7x20 sec strides
Sat 7 steady (6.38, 6.22, 6.27, 6.28, 6.27, 6.28, 6.29)
Sun 12 easy (7.25 min/m)

* Daily 15 min yoga

Total Weekly Mileage: 40

A better week this week despite a roll over from the weekend. Alot of madness around this week pushing through the housing market and finally sale agreed on a property to bring that chapter hopefully to a close and the move should be sorted fairly soon. Will be returning to some of my older running routes I used growing up as I am moving near enough to where I grew up.

Sunday's long run was a bit of a trudge. Himself decided 5am was an appropriate play time. Managed to get him to sleep again, just in time to get ready for work :rolleyes: by the time I got out it was after 11. Hit a motivation slump at about 4 miles in where my bed was calling and I had in my head "just get to double digits" however thankfully this passed and managed to hit the targetted long run

One more week of this block and then start introducing some sessions

AuldManKing

Testosterscone wrote: »

Nutrition
The first thing I went to tackle was nutrition. Never something I really made any huge efforts with. I have not fluctated in weight much in the last 10 years with roughly 3/4 stone put on since I was 18 I was never truly lean. Felt I ate well enough for the most part but the more I looked into it, monitored and evaluated what I needed to change and adjust it became apparent that having health food does not really equate to eating healthy.

2 weeks of monitoring my diet using myfitnesspal was a huge eye opener. Started to make changes I am probably eating about twice as much food as I was previously despite eating roughly 1500 calories less. The thing about this change is that I am getting to the stage where I almost struggle to eat all I have to in a day so never feeling hungry and as such never really getting any sort of cravings, there is still the bit of chocolate but it fits into the overall daily stucture. Better yet what I was spending on lunches for work etc I am now getting nearly a full days worth of food for and all nurtient dense food to the point where energy levels have definitely improved (has become apparent in the pace of my easy runs relative to effort and HR)

Firstly - congrats on the house, no doubt a huge relief for you both.

Regarding nutrition - I done a similar 'myfitnesspal' monitoring excercise and found very similar, that I wasn't eating enough.
To the point that I found it incredibly difficult to eat the required amount without trying to force 'bad calories' into me.

It did get me thinking about where I shop and the "convenience" of the supermarket for family shopping vrs looking at changing a habit (i.e. buying the same things).
While I've added a lot more 'green' to my diet recently, I'm still struggling to get 'good' calorie dense food with the appropriate nutrition.

This possibly deserves a thread on its own as I think theres more to it than just buying different things - its breaking habit, its ensuring that all the family will eat it - really its about making the change sustainable.

Regarding your observation "it became apparent that having health food does not really equate to eating healthy" - can you say a bit more about that??

Testosterscone

AuldManKing wrote: »

Regarding nutrition - I done a similar 'myfitnesspal' monitoring excercise and found very similar, that I wasn't eating enough.
To the point that I found it incredibly difficult to eat the required amount without trying to force 'bad calories' into me.

It did get me thinking about where I shop and the "convenience" of the supermarket for family shopping vrs looking at changing a habit (i.e. buying the same things).
While I've added a lot more 'green' to my diet recently, I'm still struggling to get 'good' calorie dense food with the appropriate nutrition.

This possibly deserves a thread on its own as I think theres more to it than just buying different things - its breaking habit, its ensuring that all the family will eat it - really its about making the change sustainable.

Regarding your observation "it became apparent that having health food does not really equate to eating healthy" - can you say a bit more about that??

Has definitely been an area which has really appealed to me over the last 6-8 weeks. I went through a phase where I let stress envelope me and nutrition was easiest thing to disregard between stressing about my spending with the mortgage (became paranoid to an extent that the banks were watching every transaction negatively) in the end though looking back I was probably spending enough loose change in work vending machine and on crap to offset that.

At the worst of my diet 3 things dawned on me

1) OH had been doing Slimming World and in supporting here it opened my eyes a little about awareness; awareness of portions and daily accountability

2) I was stressed, tired and generally irritable. Stress definitely played a role but ultimately I think the diet really did compound that. If I wanted to have the energy to keep up with himself, work and everything else it was gonna have to change

3) My own personal choices on diet will influence the son in the coming years. I want to be able to give him the best opportunities possible in life what ever he wants to do. While financial security etc is one aspect; his health and energy levels are just as important in getting him there be it sport, academics or what ever.

Quickwins

Before I start on this I want to clarify; This is what is working for me personally. I waded through alot of research as well and broscience etc but ultimately my formal education on nutrition little more than rudimentary introduction enough to understand how nutrients impact body for injury treatment so this opinions are not to be taken as gospel in any way.

The 1st thing I did was start to break habits and initially focused on the quick wins

1) Stopped bring change into work so couldn't use vending machine
2) Stopped putting sugar in coffee in work (the wholesale freeze dried stuff so was trying to hide the taste)
3) Cut out the habitual snacking
4) Cut out soft drinks almost entirely

"it became apparent that having health food does not really equate to eating healthy"

This comes back to awareness. Meals were relatively decent but the odd packet of crisps here or there, bits of chocolate here, a fanta there while all in moderation in isolation add up and it took me a bit of time to acknowledge this.

This was the easy part though as most of us can "cut out the crap" in the short term but this is where the effort was needed to make changes a lifestyle. I needed to start filling the gap that the crap had been filling. In the past a bit of greens etc would have been added but it left me hungry and there were usually the odd foggy patch on a run or tiredness. Looking back I think the absence of health carbs to normalise blood sugars from contributed to this a bit.


The Math
Came across a great saying regarding weightloss/nutrition.

"It's math and willpower"

Oversimplistic but exactly what was needed I think nutrition, diet etc we tend to get into a state of paralysis by analysis. A research paper says do/eat X, don't do/ eat Y and we get to a stage where we are so afraid of making the wrong choices that we don't make minor adjustments that can affect the whole situation positively. Rather than using the general rule of 80/20 in terms of treats I brought it into the overall diet so that something which might not be perfect can fit well with an overall meal.

With that in mind I then started looking at the math

I was in calorie maintenance for majority of my adult life meaning that I was consuming enough calories on a daily basis but counting up my usual choc/crisp consumption etc I could see that it was not nutrient dense

So looking up what I needed to be taking

Protein - roughly 1g per lbs of lean body mass for protein synthesis
Carbs - Min of 225g
TDEE (calories burned) approx 2700

Target aim then was intake 2300-2400 calories and the breakdown between fats and carbs would come from that as well.

1 lbs of body fat is 3500 calories so when you think of it like that you start to realise how slow the process of either putting on or shedding weight healthily is without compromising recovery. so effectively my aim was to reduce a pound of body fat roughly every 12 days a bit longer if I exceed for what ever reason (celebrations etc) but ultimately my target was to be in around this level while hitting my macro's with health food (this is where MFP was a good reference to learn about best foods to hit this)

Making plans fit reality

While the theory was simple enough making it fit life is the hard part, making it suit every day life so that it is sustainable.

1st thing was making sure I didn't have cravings. Loading up on low calorie high nutrient foods is a handy way to do this. First thing on my plate for most meals now is about 100g of Spinach or leaf Greens. Add the likes of Cucumber or Beetroot to this to give a bit of substance. In the past this would still leave me hungry so started adding some health beans for fibre and a few extra carbs.

Non cooked protein sources for work have been important also. Tins of Tuna, Cottage Cheese and Skyr Fat Free yoghurt have worked here. Funnily enough I tend to be on the upper end of recommended protein intake without any need to protein shakes or the like. Probably combats any underestimations in consumption of calories though due to the thermogenic effect of protein (our body uses roughly 30% of the calories consumed in protein to actually digest the food and roughly 10% of our overall caloric intake daily)

Some of the carb sources I have been using have been vegetable cous cous, wholegrain rice, pesto pasta. remember seeing a video of a guy who basically said you can do only manage 2 of the following three: Good, Fast or Cheap. Approach food by asking which is it to my situation as helped. As such some of these while not perfect fit and there is a tendency to pick these up for cheap in Lidl on the way into work.

Outside of this I tend to pad my calories with healthier fats (nuts in particular walnuts can be a great way to do this as well as making sure getting my Omega 3 and 6) Humus, nuts and seeds and if I have a bit more I tend to try and add a bit of a treat snack (fan of cheese on crackers)

Dinner
Since I have started a more regular work routine I am getting home same time most nights as such dinner with herself is becoming routine. This is where the 80/20 comes in somewhat. I am lucky as with her SW she is eating relatively clean at the moment. As such I don't really restrict this and go with the flow as the meal is generally substantial and I am not overly chasing micro nutrients

To give you an example of how I am eating most days I have attached a typical day

OOnegative

While on the subject of healthy eating and weight loss, what probably is a very naive question but i’ll just ask. Can eating breakfast help with weight loss?

I am not a breakfast eater going back to my smoking days when breakfast was a cup of tea & a cigarette, I have never changed that habit despite being off the smokes nearly ten years. Is breakfast as important as is stressed?

Testosterscone

OOnegative wrote: »

While on the subject of healthy eating and weight loss, what probably is a very naive question but i’ll just ask. Can eating breakfast help with weight loss?

I am not a breakfast eater going back to my smoking days when breakfast was a cup of tea & a cigarette, I have never changed that habit despite being off the smokes nearly ten years. Is breakfast as important as is stressed?

From what I have read despite what many claim Nutrient timing as a stand alone doesn't have any bearing on weight loss vs overall caloric intake. Brad Schoenfeld and Alan Aragon are two of the nutritionists I have seen dealing with this topic quite well(and nutrition in general on a more overall view rather than myopically trying to promote one approach)

That being said it could probably lend itself to less of an appetite and as such eating less. This is why IMO Intermittent Fasting can be seen to work as there is very little science to explain why it works in isolation.

Personally I don't eat till between 11-12 at the moment and find it to be beneficial for the simple reason that I am not overly hungry in the morning, glass of water and my hands full with himself takes care of that.

I am effectively eating 3 big meals in a 7 hour period in work, leaves very little time for cravings to kick in as I am feeling fairly full and going from meal to meal. As a result I feel better fueled for training in the evening's. This may change when doubles come into play but for me morning time I spend with the little lad so morning training is not something i do too much outside of Gym sessions

Kellygirl

Thank you for all that information. My nutrition is probably my biggest downfall. I did Slimming World for a few years and found it great but I used abstain from nuts / avocado etc as they were so high syns yet they are good and healthy fats in moderation obviously. Do you mind me asking did it take you long to get over the craving for the crisps / fizzy drinks etc when you cut them out?

Testosterscone

Kellygirl wrote: »

Thank you for all that information. My nutrition is probably my biggest downfall. I did Slimming World for a few years and found it great but I used abstain from nuts / avocado etc as they were so high syns yet they are good and healthy fats in moderation obviously. Do you mind me asking did it take you long to get over the craving for the crisps / fizzy drinks etc when you cut them out?

This is definitely a downside to SW as the weighting scheme can tend to be more based on caloric density of foods so while there are a large number of positive overlaps it doesn't take into account the necessity of fats for hormone regulation.

I do think that people over consume fats a bit and forget that portions would need to be just under half the size gram for gram that carbs or protein would.

In terms of the crisp's didn't take long at all the wholegrain crackers were used as substitute snack at first which helped the sodium craving. Drinks was something moreso done in work and the fact that I have condensed the meals helped this. There is the odd can with dinner at home but outside of this coffee and water took focus with Lemon, Ginger & Manuka Honey tea in the evenings just for a bit of sweetness while watching tv.

For me I think the cravings more came at times out of boredom moreso than anything else and it was a habit that I broke out of filling the time with other foods etc moreso than anything else.

Took a few weeks so that it didn't feel like a concious choice every single time

El CabaIIo

It's interesting stuff. Personally, diet is never something I gave too much thought to mainly because I was always thin and lean during my life and I never really thought about calorie counting and such or diet even though I know there is much more to it than weight management. You've obviously delved a lot more into than me so I just have a few questions from my very basic knowledge.

Is it not a bit of balancing act for distance runner to cut body fat? The reason I ask is that weight is looked at as a calorie in/calorie out in it's most simple form but it's probably a lot more complex than that. Most runners need a high level of carbohydrate intake but that also comes with an insulin response which does limit your body ability to burn stored fat. Calorie restriction itself won't necessarily cause weight loss if insulin levels and carbohydrate intake is high. The starvation study is the one that comes to mind showing that basal energy usage levels dropped supplying the heart, brain and vital organs but body fat remained stable when calorie intake was in deficit but carb intake remained high.

I think that's a fairly well accepted opinion on cutting body fat. I'm not going full blown keto or atkins on this:pac: but it confuses the crap out of me when it comes to endurance athletes. What is the actual difference between eating 2400kcal with 225g of emptier carbs(soft drinks etc) than 2400kcal with 225g of nutient dense carbs on insulin response? Is it just as simple as the height of the insulin peak? One being absorb faster and higher? I know the myth of carbs being the villian isn't true and is more driven by most carbs being empty(sweets etc) which means you eat more.

And how do you strike a balance as a distance athlete trying to lose bodyfat?i.e calorie restriction and lowered insulin while maintaining a fairly rich high carb diet.