Positive Vibes. Negative Splits.

Sacksian

Well done - sounds like a really good run. Don't underestimate how much the fall took out of you - even down for a second will knock you out of your rhythm and take up energy (it's like getting winded during a race) so 9:4* is definitely there for you.

The 3000m is such a funny distance, I think it's one of the hardest distances to get right and possibly the most physiologically demanding when you do (the Irish men's and women's records are probably two of our strongest records). That 2nd k is always a bit of a twilight zone for me as well and I don't think I've ever been happy with any 3000m race. So, if you ever figure out the secret, let me know!

By the way, it's great to hear such a positive experience with the track. Trying it out opens up a whole new world of competition and events for you!

I don't know how much xc you've done in the past but it's a similar buzz to track in terms of atmosphere and competition - probably not much going on this season but if you enjoy the track, it's definitely worth a lash.

Well done again!

MY BAD

I've done a few xc races I prefer the track, probably because I'm more used to it. In normally times I'd be doing one session a week on the track. With covid 19 starting to spread a bit more again I'm absolutely delighted to have gotten those two races in. Doing time trials are good to get you ticking over but nothing beats the buzz of actually racing

MY BAD

Not much to report this week. I took 4 days off after the 3000m race hoping that pain in my foot would clear up. At the start of the week I had it in my mind I'd take it easy like I did in April, don't rush it and I'll be back where I was in time. I had written off all races for the next 2 months with the new covid regulations. But during the week when some clarity on races became public, a local 10km for mid September announced they are going ahead. Of course my plan of taking it easy and not rushing my come back nearly when out the window. Friday should have been a rest day but I went out and had to stop because of discomfort in my foot. I need to watch that. If I get to race in September great but if not it's not the end of the world but the main thing is not to rush it.

Monday: No running

Tuesday: No running

Wednesday: 30 minutes easy on grass no issue.

Thursday: 30 minutes easy on grass again.
I wore my Salomon trail shoes which are don't have as much cushioning as my NB1080s. I had a slight bit of discomfort after a mile but it was gone after 2km

Friday: This was supposed to be a rest day but I thought I'd be okay even though I had a slight niggle that day. Unfortunately I had to pull the plug after 3km. Grass again.

Saturday: No running

Sunday: 30 minutes on grass again. I thought I could bring it up to 40-45 minutes but I decided against it and be sensible.


On non running my diet is pretty good at the moment and I'm doing my standard core routine every day which I find beneficial. Also one of the young lads won the national junior 5000m championships on Saturday in 15:56 so all positive vibes with the BAD crew . I'll take tomorrow off and aim for 40-45 minutes on grass for Tuesday and see how it goes.

AuldManKing

MY BAD wrote: »

Also one of the young lads won the national junior 5000m championships on Saturday in 15:56 so all positive vibes with the BAD crew . I'll take tomorrow off and aim for 40-45 minutes on grass for Tuesday and see how it goes.

A super run by him. Big things in his future.
A major Plus for Mr. Dunleavy.

MY BAD

AuldManKing wrote: »

A super run by him. Big things in his future.
A major Plus for Mr. Dunleavy.

Dermot is coaching him

AuldManKing

MY BAD wrote: »

Dermot is coaching him

Amazing that - I read a number of articles crediting Dunleavey.

MY BAD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

AuldManKing wrote: »

Amazing that - I read a number of articles crediting Dunleavey.

I think there is Connacht training camps every so often with Emmett but Dermot is with him and the rest of the crew twice a week on the track. Even organising lifts to races and accommodation if needed and much more that goes under the radar. What he has done and is doing for development of athletics in the region is phenomenal

MY BAD

Not much to report. t I took some more time off with this foot issue as it wasn't getting any better, in fact it was getting worse. Then I tried to make another come back but could only manage 1km or less. So I booked appointment with my physio in the Sports Clinic here. He is confident it's not PF and believes it's the tendon from my big toe that's inflamed. I'm confident this is the issue. I think this last flared up in late March when I was last injured. Anyway I took two days off after my appointment as directed and did the rehab he advised. On Sunday just gone I ran 5km on grass completely pain free, which was very promising. I've another appointment next week. In the mean time I'm told to run every other day and keep doing my rehab. If it doesn't respond I'll have to go for a MRI. I should have been racing at the weekend and again in two weeks but I've pressed the reset button and I'm going to build it up again however slowly it takes.

MY BAD

The past few weeks I've slowly been building up the miles again. Exclusively running on grass. Last week I ran

Monday 30 minutes easy
Wednesday 40 minutes easy
Friday 45 minutes easy
Sunday 35 minutes easy. I had hoped to go longer but it was getting quite painful so I stopped.
33km last week

This week
Tuesday 45 minutes easy
Wednesday 30 minutes easy. This was my first back to back running successive days pain free in quite some time.
Friday 45 minutes easy
Sunday 60 minutes easy
40km this week

This week was mainly pain free. I hope to experiment on gravel a bit this week coming and maybe road towards the end of the week

OOnegative

Great to see you back S.

dna_leri

Good luck with the injury recovery S. I'm on similar path - comeback from foot injury, probably related to overuse during initial lockdown. I'll be watching your progress. Think there are a few others with similar injuries around here also.

MY BAD

I think it was a combination of things that caused this injury. I missed 5 days in a row with a chest issue in early July. I rushed back and continued more or less where I left off instead of taking a week or two building up again. I was anxious to be good shape for my first race since lock down at the end of July. I did a session on the track that was wet with new shoes. Unfortunately they had no purchase. I think all the slipping on that session plus a sudden increase in load in the days leading to that session inflamed the tendon from my big toe. I noticed it straight away during my cool down. That was July 25th. I've been suffering with it since and it progressively got worse because I didn't rest it. I got PB in my 5000m on July 31st and had a few 3000m and mile races coming up. I was in great shape and with races few and far between I was anxious to keep going and see what I could do. Until eventually I had to press reset button

MY BAD

dna_leri wrote: »

Good luck with the injury recovery S. I'm on similar path - comeback from foot injury, probably related to overuse during initial lockdown. I'll be watching your progress. Think there are a few others with similar injuries around here also.

Hopefully you'll be back soon. Look forward to trying to hang on to you in races again

MY BAD

The last two weeks have been going good. I'm slowly building my weekly distance and gradually moving from grass to road. I plan to keep it mixed up over the winter months of road, gravel, trail, and grass. But road is the most accessible where I live. If I feel a pain greater than 3 on a perceived pain scale of 1 to 10 I'll stop. But luckily the past fortnight has been going good.

The previous week

Monday: 30 minutes easy on gravel

Wednesday: 55 minutes easy on the road

Thursday: 40 minutes easy on grass plus 5x 15 seconds strides on the road

Saturday: 60 minutes easy/moderate on roads

Sunday: 35 minutes recovery on a mixture of roads and grass

Weekly distance 48km

This week I've trying to build back towards my usual running weekly routine.

Tuesday: 45 minutes easy plus 5x10 seconds hills

Wednesday: 30 easy on the road. Would have gone further but a slight niggle so played it safe and stopped after one loop instead of doing two.

Thursday: 60 minutes easy on the road included 1km steady all uphill. I intended to do this on Wednesday so it was basically swapping today and yesterdays run. No issues today. 3 days running on the roads in a row

Saturday: First bit of a session since August 9th. 10x 1 minute with 1 minutes float recovery. I did it on a gravel trail. On the 8th and 9th repeat I thought I felt a bit of discomfort coming on but it went away. All good on my cool down.

Sunday: 10 miles of a hilly route at a easy pace. All good no issues

This weeks distance 57.5km

MY BAD

My shift at work has changed a bit I'm on days one week then evenings the following week. This week I'm working evening shift so I'm making the most of it getting my runs in the morning. Fantastic weather all week and things going good from a running point of view which has me on a high. Along with my runs I'm out walking and hiking with my Dads dog every day. I posted some photos from my walks and hikes this week in the photos from where I run thread but I'll just add them here too








Monday

No running

Tuesday

50 minutes easy on the roads including 6x20 seconds strides at the middle point of my run. I normally do them at the end of my run but I was reading some bits from Schwartz at Tinman where he recommends them mid way point.

10.95km @4:36/km

Wednesday


7x3 minutes with 45 seconds float recovery

Broken tempo session. I did the session on a gravel trail and about half my warm up and cool down on the road.

Warm up 3.2km I only did a few of my drills and activations today.

For the session itself; the 1st 3 minutes was at 3:53/km pace but the rest of them were between 3:47-3:50/km pace. I was expecting to be working more than I was but it was quite relaxed. Afterwards I only noticed my float recovery constantly increased in pace from a slow jog down to 4:34/km. Ideally I wanted to keep this at 4:40-4:45/km pace for every recovery. All good except on my last rep where I got a sharpe pain in my foot again on the last 30 seconds.

Before my cool down I did a little rehab work and then just like that no issue on my cool down or after my session 3.54km cool down

Thursday

Chilled out recovery 30 minutes on gravel trail. The intention was to do this on grass but the football pitch wasn't available. No issues with the foot today.

6km @5:11/km

Friday

45 minutes easy plus 6x10 seconds hills on the roads. No issues again today.

11km @4:41/km


Saturday

6km steady
My brother was doing a tempo run this morning so I hoped in with him. I say steady but its probably better to describe it as a light tempo. We did this on gravel trail.

Warm up was almost 3.6km with about a mile on the road. Following by the activations, drills and a few strides. I hurt my foot on my 3rd stride. Not so much to make me cancel the session but I was aware of it during the session.

6km steady splits

4:06, 4:02, 4:03, 4:06, 4:01, 4:04

It was a decent workout, it was all very controlled. I was able to chat away during the session. Probably why the splits are all over the place as I wasn't concentrating fully. For the cool down I did a few of my rehab exercise before jogging home 2.7km. It was getting quite sore during the jog home so I cut the cool down short.


Sunday

I wasn't sure how this would go so I decided to run loops. It was all pain free thankfully. Hilly enough route, my legs were heavy enough on the 1st 8km loop but on the second one all was good.

16.2km @4:47/km


Total distance the week up to 70km with 6 days running

MY BAD

After reading back on my log last Sunday evening I thought last week was a bit too much too soon. That steady run last Saturday wasn't a good idea or on my original plan.


Monday

No running

Tuesday


45 minutes easy including 4x10 seconds hills
9.3km @4:58/km

I had planned 50 minutes with 6x10 seconds hills but I ate too late and a hurry for loo so a it was cut short.


Wednesday


4x1km @tempo with 1:30-2:00 jog recovery

Broken tempo session, just a bit longer than last Wednesday. About 1km into my warm up my foot started to hurt me. Looking back I should have cancelled the session straight away and jogged home but stubbornly I pushed on. My plan was 6x1km but I had to stop after 4x1km. Except for the pain in my foot those 1km's felt very comfortable.


Warm up 3.3km plus and my usuals

Splits
3:50, 3:53, 3:53, 3:53

Before my cool down I did a little rehab work jogged the 2km home painfully

This is my conclusion on what went wrong. Like I said at the start of this post I over done it last week. I should have left it at just one session last week. It started to hurt during my warm up so I think the shoes are definitely a issue. It was a miserable night at the start so maybe I started off my warm up too fast. And finally I did most my warm on concrete footpaths and on the 500m loop so lots of tight bends leaning in on my foot.



Thursday

No running.

Friday

30 minutes easy
6.3km @4:47/km

Almost all good. At the 2km mark I noticed my foot but a minute later it didn't bother me for the rest of the run.


Saturday

50 minutes easy

All good, like really all good


Sunday

Easy 10 miles again no issue. I kept it on a fairly flat route compared to last 2 weeks

16.1km @4:43/km


Total distance the week up to 53km with 5 days running


I was on the phone to my team mate who ran a marathon distance on Saturday. His PB in Frankfurt was 3:28 and he ran a 3:00.27 on Saturday. I'm buzzing for him. The plan for before covid was a 2021 marathon for me. Who knows now but wow, I do love the buzz of marathon season and I haven't even trained for one since 2016

healy1835

Mellow Yellow 26.2 is returning! Great run from your mate... Although those 27 seconds, agonisingly close.

MY BAD

Monday

No running

Tuesday

Easy in the roads including 5x10 seconds hills
11.3km @4:44/km

Wednesday


6x1km @tempo with 1:30 jog recovery

Broken tempo session. Just repeating last week's session with a different shoes. Using my Adidas adizero pro for the my first proper session in them. I normally use Nike Zoomfly FK but I thought last week they might be the one of the causes of the pain. Unfortunately I had the same issues again but unlike last week it didn't happen in my warm up it started to hurt when I started the session. Early days yet but I have to say I like the adizero pro I know it got poor reviews. Anyway I had to cut the session short as the pain increased. So just 4x1km. I don't have issues running easy but when I try tempo stuff it brings on pain. Maybe I need a few more easy weeks and then when I go back doing sessions just regular shoes instead of carbon/nylon plate shoes.


Warm up 3.4km plus and my usuals

Splits
3:51, 3:52, 3:51, 3:51

Before my cool down I did a little rehab work jogged the 2.4km home painfully just like last week


Thursday

20 minutes recovery on grass
4km @5:00/km
My foot was getting sore after 2km I continued for a bit longer but I had to stop. I probably shouldn't have ran today and took a rest day like last week but I wanted to experiment with it.

Friday

No running. Nice day so I decided to go for a hike. Not far, maybe 4km total I didn't record it. Just up one of the hills in our parish. I noticed going up hill my foot getting sore but no problem going down hill. It was rough terrain which would have my foot working more. Nice views of the parish from the summit. You can see the other hill and mountains where I normally go off road




Saturday

No running again. Fast 4km walk with the pooch on the road. No problems


Sunday

I did another 4km walk with the pooch to see how my foot reacted, all good so I went on for my run. Bit of experimenting moderate and easy stuff all good to be honest. I left it at 40 minutes which was plenty after the week I had
9km @4:34/km

Overall a bad week I'll have to take it easy for the next fortnight

Swashbuckler

Sorry to hear the woes are continuing but hopefully turning the corner isnt too far off.

I presume thats the adizero pro and not the adios pro you have? The adios being the one with the thicker sole.

May or may not interest you but if you like the adidas boost technology then the Sub 2 is going for 84 quid on M&M direct.

MY BAD

Yes I was using the Adidas adizero pro not the Adidas adizero adios pro. Talk about confusing names! Thanks for the heads up but actually I still have a pair of the Adidas adizero adios 3 with about 300km on them so I think I'm good for non carbon plated faster shoes

Swashbuckler

MY BAD wrote: »

Yes I was using the Adidas adizero pro not the Adidas adizero adios pro. Talk about confusing names! Thanks for the heads up but actually I still have a pair of the Adidas adizero adios 3 with about 300km on them so I think I'm good for non carbon plated faster shoes

I'm probably well set too....... Doesn't seem to stop me buying tho. Lol

I was surprised at the difference between the sub 2 and adios 3. The lightest shoe I've ever worn.

MY BAD

Since my last update on my log I decided to give more time of just easy miles before attempting doing sessions. I wasn't happy how my foot reacted to the last session I posted here. So things were going okay I was managing my injury and gently building again easy runs and strength and rehab stuff. One of the things I do for my rehab is walk on my tippy toes as a warm up. Like a farmers walk without weights. As I started it, all of a sudden I got a really sharpe pain in my heel on my left foot (it was my right foot mainly where the tendon injury that I'm suffering from since July) it felt like an achilles injury but I never got diagnosed. We were in lockdown again so I tried treating it myself from the knowledge I gained from when I had a more severe achilles injury on my right foot back in 2016. So that's where I stand now. I didn't update the log much as it's just easy miles and rehab stuff.
Last week I tried doing "stuff" again with 20 minutes progression last Saturday after 30 minutes easy. This week I did 7x3 minutes tempo with a minute shuffle recovery on Wednesday. Today it was 30 minutes easy then 20 minutes progression again followed by 4x20 seconds hills.

On the 2020 goals thread this is what I posted.

MY BAD wrote: »

Obviously try and stay injury free and run over 3000km for the year. Consistency with my training in running and supplementary work.

I managed to hit 3000km today but I didn't stay injury free the past six months have been fairly brutal. I'm trying to build things up again.

MY BAD wrote: »

5km sub 17 minutes.
5 miles sub 29 minutes targeting low 28s.
10km sub 35:40

If track happens (not sure if it will) 1500m sub 4:40, 3000m sub 10 minutes.

Despite Covid I hit most my race targets. No 10km race through.

I ran 5km TT in 16:59 then a few weeks later in the summer I got a race PB of 16:51. I was really delighted with that one.

I only ran 5mile once this year in Raheney a PB 28:35.

I was gearing up for a few track races but injury put a halt to that. I had three 3000m and a mile race on the cards. I managed to make my 3000m race debut and hit my target set back in December 2019 of 9:59. I had a fall in that race too. I was a bit disappointed at the time how that race went but it's still a goal so can't knock it.

MY BAD wrote: »

Also continue to stay active with my club and the greater local running community, volunteering where needed.

I was in charge of senior training until the lockdown in March. I organised a few virtual 5km races for our members too. Since my injury woes I haven't really been involved or pushing anything. Just the odd bit of logistics helping out some club mates on TTs

On 2020 overall its been a bitter sweet year from a running point of view. I miss racing. I'm a competitive runner, I love the buzz of racing weather it's a good or bad race. I miss the track and training with the group. That can be pacing duties for the young crew or rocking up all confident then getting dropped by the boys eating humble pie and just the general craic. Also seeing everyone progress together. That 16:51 5000m was something special so was Raheney. I learned a lot this year. I'm grateful for everything. I'm really looking forward to 2021

Swashbuckler

It's a strange world. I feel like it wasn't that long ago that you were giving me advice on returning from injury and that I'd be surprised how quickly things would come back. And you were right. So plenty reason for you to be optimistic.

healy1835

Building nicely again Sean. Looking forward to getting back on the start line with you again We'll position ourselves a bit better for Raheny 2022...

MY BAD

Swashbuckler wrote: »

It's a strange world. I feel like it wasn't that long ago that you were giving me advice on returning from injury and that I'd be surprised how quickly things would come back. And you were right. So plenty reason for you to be optimistic.

Ah yeah, every time I've had a set back I've comeback stronger and faster. This time should be no different

MY BAD

As I haven't kept this log very updated lately my target for this week was in around 70km in distance with 6 days running, the same as last week. I've been gradually bringing my long run up 5 minutes every week. So I was aiming for 85 minutes on my long run this week. It was all early morning runs because of work and the week that was in it expect St Stephens day which was around 1015

Monday

No running

Tuesday

45 minutes easy with 6x20 seconds strides included
9.6km @4:54/km

Wednesday

Broken tempo of 6x1km with 1 minute jog recovery

Warm up 3km plus and my usuals

Splits
3:53, 3:523, 3:53, 3:51, 3:49, 3:49

Cool down 3km

All good. I was out before 6am. It was my first early morning session in months to be honest I was delighted with it.


Thursday Christmas eve

60 minutes easy
12km @ 5:01/km
Heavy legs after yesterday plus I'm always a bit sluggish before 7am

Friday Christmas day

35 minutes easy
7.15km @4:54/km
Had a bit of a wobble on the trail it was just before dawn, I didn't have my headlight on. No damage done thankfully.


Saturday St Stephens day

Light 5km tempo

My club normally puts on a 5km run for a local charity every year on St Stephens day. This year it was virtual. I decided to run the route as a light tempo. Its about 3km mainly up hill then 2km mainly down hill. Except for the strong headwind from storm Bella for the first 2km I found it not to bad I thought I'd be working more. Hard to know really how fit I am as the last 2km were down hill and sheltered so I'd like to do a more even tempo soon to see how I feel.

Warm up 4km

5km tempo @3:54/km in 19:47

Cool down 2.6km

Sunday

85 minutes easy
Nearly 17.6km @4:51/km

My longest run since July 5th. Again sluggish getting going but once I got going I was grand.

Overall that was a very good week. Nothing extraordinary but it all went to plan. Just over 70km and running 6 out of 7 days. I hit 3100km for the year.

MY BAD

Monday

No running

Tuesday

60 minutes easy with 6x20 seconds strides included 12.3km @4:54/km

I had only planned 50 minutes I miscalculated the route.

Wednesday

Broken tempo of 3x 10 minutes with 2 minutes jog recovery

Warm up of just over 3km including all my usuals.

Average pace per 10 minutes
3:51/km, 3:52/km, 3:51/km

Cool down 3km

All good. I'm enjoying these broken tempos that I've been doing the past few weeks. Building confidence and strength.


Thursday New Years Eve

35 minutes easy/recovery
7km @ 5:01/km

Like last week heavy legs after yesterday's session plus a very busy day at work. I'm using Brooks Glycerin 17 for these easy/recovery runs. I dunno I'm not loving them.

Achievements for 2020 3134km/1947miles, 5km PB 16:51, 5mile PB 28:35 and 3000m debut.

Friday New Years Day

50 minutes easy with 6x20 seconds strides
10.8km @4:37/km

I had a few kilometres hike on the hills with Mrs MYBAD before this run so I was feeling nice and fresh for the run. I started my strides around 4km into this run. I normally do my strides towards the end of my easy runs but occasionally I'll start doing them in the middle of my run depending on the route.


Saturday

3km tempo, 3x30sec, 2x 1minute, 3x30sec hills, 3km tempo

Warm up 3km with my usual drills and strides.

3km tempo @3:46/km in 11:18

Hills
3 x 30sec
2x1 min
3x 30 sec

3km tempo @3:50/km in 11:30

Cool down 2.1km

I definitely went out a tad too fast on the first 3km I could have held off a bit as on the 2nd 3km I was suffering a bit after the hills. I did enjoy the hills but as they went on I was fading a little. But again I hit the first 3x30 seconds a tad too hard. All going good there will be plenty of hills and tempos on the cards.

Sunday

80 minutes easy
Nearly 17km @4:46/km

I was feeling fresh on this run. I had planned 90 minutes but I cut it back due to the intensity of the session on Saturday along with the extra 10 minutes on Monday I was mindful of increasing my weekly distance.


I'm doing my sessions in Nike Turbo 2 and Adidas adios 3 and its so far so good. On previous come backs this winter once I started doing sessions with carbon plates shoes it aggravated my injury again. Another solid week again nothing spectacular. Just over 77km and running 6 out of 7 days in 6 hours.

MY BAD

I had a few mild covid symptoms early this week, nothing major. I went for a test but no covid found on the swab. My symptoms are gone again. That put a halt to any running this week. I'm been extra cautious about covid as I'm caring for my Dad.

MY BAD

This week I was just easing back in after taken 6 days off. It was all easy runs except for Saturday where I did a small progression run.

Monday
30 minutes easy

Tuesday
35 minutes easy

Wednesday
No running

Thursday
40 minutes easy

Friday
45 minutes easy

Saturday
30 minutes easy then straight into 20 minutes progression which broken into 5 minutes each. Starting at 4:20/km for the first 5 minutes and and finishing the last 5 minutes at 3:50/km. Then 10 minutes cool down. So 1 hour running total

Sunday
80 minutes easy
75 minutes was the plan but I randomly met a few runners on this run which was nice as I don't think I've ran with anyone since summer.


6 days running 63km/5 hours

MY BAD

Monday

No running

Tuesday

50 minutes easy with 6x20 seconds strides included 10.5km @4:47/km


Wednesday

20 minutes tempo , 10x20 seconds hills, 1km steady

Warm up of 3km including all my usuals.

I broke the 20 minutes tempo into a continuous 4x5 minutes. The average pace on each 5 minutes was 3:53/km, 3:51/km, 3:54/km, 3:49/km. I would have liked to have kept the pace more smooth to be honest. It was a out and back route that wasn't very flat. Then 2 minutes off recovery before starting 10x20 seconds hills at around mile effort, with about 1 minute walk between each. After the hills I took 90 seconds off before finishing with 1km steady in 4:07

Cool down 2km

Enjoyable session on a good evening for a change.

Thursday

35 minutes easy/recovery
6.9km @ 5:06/km

Surprisingly my legs were really fresh today but I kept it nice and slow.

Genuinely shocked by the passing of Jerry Kiernan today. I've only met him twice. Dermot speaks so highly of him and all the lads I know who he coached. May he rest in peace.

Friday

50 minutes easy with 6x20 seconds strides
10.4km @4:49/km

The low parts of this run were fine but on the higher level there was a nice dusting of snow which made it a bit dodgy.


Saturday

6-8 x 1km @ threshold

The roads weren't great after the snowy night and the footpaths were worse. I've a nice 1km stretch that I knew would be clear in the 50kph zone. So I headed down but unfortunately traffic was just too busy. The final straw to pull the workout was one jeep doing 86 in the 50 zone (there's a flashing sign that tells your speed coming up to the school) He didn't give me any space, I had to hop onto the icey footpath to avoid getting clipped. So that was about 4km. I was wearing my new Streak 7s for this run. They were great for the bit I done, looking forward to running faster in them.

I got in the car and drove down to the gravel track but it was very busy with families walking. Instead of doing km's I put on my Salomons and I just did hills on the trail beside the track. Nothing planned for this so just decided for roughly 10x 1 minute. I went waaay too fast on the first one and really struggled after that. I didn't give enough respect to that hill at the start its close to 12% grade and a rough surface with snow too. It humbled me very quickly. Terrible session, really brutal stuff. At least I got some miles with the poor conditions and a good elevation of 300+ metres elevation gain. Just on elevation gain, it has been creeping up recently to where it normally is and the fact I had hills on Wednesday which meant I probably should have done something different other than hills today. I was only about half way up the trail but before my cool down as I caught my breath the views below on the snow covered landscape with clear sky and a low sun was something special to enjoy. Then around 3km cool down with just over 12km in total today.


Sunday

75 minutes easy
15.3km @4:55/km
Legs quite heavy after yesterday's session on the hills. I deliberately avoided as much hills as possible today. I did most of this run on the road were I intended doing yesterday session as the council have it clear from snow.

I've been playing it my feel the past few weeks with no real focus, just seeing how the body reacts to tempos and hills. I can't see much changing in terms of getting back training with the crew for a while yet so I've a 12 week base building plan in place that should leave me in good shape for 5-10km training.

This weeks totals 69.5km, 5hr 40 mins and just under 900 meters elevation gain.