Once in a Lifetime....for now

Thanks J. Any chance you might join a few of us for a run on Sunday next?

Monday 2nd: Rest day. This will stay for the entirety of the plan as will an easier week every 4 weeks.

Tuesday: As I mentioned in my last update I have been getting reminders from the injury and have decided to ease back the intensity a little. To that end I did an EIM session of 4*2k rather than the planned session.

Wednesday 4th: Easy hour

Thursday 5th: 65 mins easy/moderate. Continuing with these as part of trying to run at a broad range of paces including those which some may see as grey zones.

Friday 6th: No run. As planned I went to the physio, or should I say a new physio. Generally positive as she was very complimentary about the way I had managed the past 6 months and particularly for backing off this week. She feels the origin of the injury could be neural and I couldn't argue with the painful spot she found at the lower part of my spine. Got a good going over and was ordered not to run after it. Was sent a set of hamstring strengthening exercises and some for the neural aspect.

Saturday 7th: was meant to be an easy hour but after doing EIM for so long I'm finding these very boring. As a result I upped the pace for the second half of it.

Sunday 8th: I joined Lainey for this one in and around the Phoenix Park. 75 easy, 15 HM, 20 easy. The HM still feels too hard but there's 8 weeks to go 🙏

This week coming is a down week so hopefully a return to exercises and the relative rest will do me some good.

On another note... following on from my thread about a run meet up I have set up a WhatsApp group for anyone who might be interested in meeting up for the occasional run. There are 9/10 so far and all are welcome. It's definitely not a clique 🤣👀 Simply PM me your number if you think you might make it to a run some day.

They are one and the same so current. In fairness they have been two windy days and it was tricky to balance the effort into the wind. I slowed but probably not enough.

Monday 9th: Rest Day

Tuesday 10th: I have really been finding the easy day trundles a bit of a chore so I decided to bring back a few EIM 1k intervals. 3 seemed like a good number to replace a 45 minute easy run. Really enjoyed it.

Wednesday 11th: Today's plan was for 6*half mile @5k pace off 90 secs. I have settled on 6:15 as my 5k pace which is based on converting my 19:10 Jingle Bells time to a 19:30 to allow for the generous nature of that course. Splits were 3:07,3:06,3:06,3:07,3:07 and 3:07 😁 All pretty much bang on the money and effort levels managed pretty well considering the strong wind offering different levels of assistance/hindrance around the 810m loop I used in Poppintree Park. Finished off with 4*161m strides 😉

Thursday 12th: 30 min recovery jog.

Friday 13th: Nothing horrific about this very enjoyable EIM 3*1k

Saturday 14th: Back up to Poppintree Park for this. 20 mins HM,off 5 mins, 15 mins HM. I have really been enjoying using this park. There is a slight incline on one side which is balanced on the other side...logical really considering it is a loop 🤭 Normally it's not an issue but with the strong wind blowing into my face on the uphill and behind me on the downhill it made it difficult to balance effort levels. I failed the challenge and found myself really having to coast along the easier side of the park. Target pace was 7 mins. The 20 minute section came in at 6:53 and the 15 at 6:52

Sunday 15th: Over to the PP for a very enjoyable 11 miles in the company of a few Boardsies. It was great to be able to move around a group and have little chats with everyone. Some chats were very brief as supporters of the best team to ever win one league title have proven themselves to be less than good losers. 🤪 A chilly morning (not as cold as Brighton) and C once again managed to run in a short sleeved shirt. Hard as fookin nails that man! For the record I wore a base layer, a long sleeved top and a rain jacket 🤣🤣🤣 The plan is to organise another group run on February 12th, all going well.

So that's the down week done. All went well even though I am very definitely in a phase of upper hamstring tendinopathy management. That will continue to be the priority and if I feel the need to reduce/amend any of the sessions I have planned for the next few weeks it will be done. Getting to the line in Den Haag is the priority. Any targets will have to wait until then.

Weekly Miles: 42

YTD: 101

Hmmm...very difficult. Just as I couldn't explain the basis of Hanson or Daniels in a paragraph I can't really explain the basis of EIM in a post. Paces are to be 92-95% of threshold which for most people falls between full and half marathon pace. Recoveries are a very sedate 800m bookended by 20secs of walking. The average pace and HR of the whole run is normally very close to that of an easy run.

The method has its roots in the teachings of Igloi and Verhuel and is very much of the type that Zatopek used. It is against long periods of running at a single pace and encourages good form and a concept he translates as reactivity...a sort of lightness of foot.

It is a very flexible concept. For example one of the world class marathon runners does up to 20*1k as his long run.

I have changed my current plan purely to get used to a bit of hurt again, running at or slightly beyond threshold. I fully intend to return to an EIM based plan for Amsterdam marathon.

Yes, with the exception of an endurance run which is moderately paced with 30-60 sec surges every 6/7 minutes to reset form. The intervals every other day vary from 200's up to 2k, all slower than you would usually do for those distance intervals and with more generous recovery. It's not that you do them to replace easy days, it's every day.