Go Hard

Easy 60 and 45 minute runs marked the first two days. Enough to recover from the injury side of things, yet not to the level of a taper. I still carried a few aches, pains and stiffness into the Salomon Trail Series Race 3: Silvan 14.3km.  A long warm up had me race ready, and the 69 minutes of racing over a brilliant mixture of trails and hills had me working harder than I could achieve in a training session. Plenty of good points came out of this race. There was clear evidence of substantial improvement compared to a few weeks ago. Including the warm up and cool down, the day netted about 21km worth of running. Fourth day was designated for an easy 60 minute run. My heart rate and effort was very low, but I surprised myself with quite a fast a pace throughout. Then it was night shift, followed by a day off as I continued the pattern of catching up on sleep. Now for the long run. Kitted and stocked up, out into the hills and trails I went. The legs were feeling pretty good....

The easy days leading in seemed to be what I needed. Not exactly a taper, but enough to get my tendon and leg issues under control. Pre-race I was still aware of a certain level of stiffness and the generalised low grade aches that goes with a heavy training phase. So I gave myself a long gradual warm up of 45 minutes to get everything primed. On the start line I felt more relaxed than usual. My knowledge of the course was based on the info on the race website and the areas around the start and finished I covered during my warm up. I brought my racing flats along in case the surface was more straight forward than the previous two races. After the recent rains, a lot of the tracks had turned to sludge and trail shoes with grip was definitely required. Looking at the times for runners I knew from last year, I guesstimated that if I ran okay I'd probably hit a bit under 75 minutes, and sub-70 would mean I was firing. All runners will gather in the start / finish chute in Sil...

Coming off the tough week of Focus 4, I was hoping to maintain a similar level of training. The first two days involved only light recovery running to absorb the previous long run. On the 3rd day my lower legs still felt stiff and there seemed to be a deep soreness that I probably won't be able shake until the taper in a couple of weeks. Not fresh, but recovered enough for the pace run. Following the trend for this run, it was again better than the previous week. Easier and faster. I followed this up the next day with the hill run. A course change to a steeper circuit with an average slope of 12% and no flat section. Aiming to hit 45min of hard work I only managed 36 before my legs gave in. The terrain alone forced the intensity up. Two hard sessions were followed up with the obligatory recovery runs for two days. On the third I hit the track for a bit of speed work. I chose the flat option this week as my legs weren't handling the down hills and there were plenty of warnin...

An interesting week. Definitely my toughest week of training. Starting with a basic run I was surprised at how easy it felt. The speed was quite high for this type of run, and it felt like I could go forever. A good start. For my hill/speed run I was flying. The plyometric drills and uphill sprints came naturally. Nothing was forced and it felt fast. I got in a few extra repeats since it was going so well. Then some downhill sprints. The plan was for 6 x 15 seconds here, but I called it at 4 when the legs started feeling tight and on that last repeat I really felt each foot strike. Next morning I knew I'd been training hard. Plenty of pain and a bit of swelling of my left patella tendon, especially over the tibial tuberosity. So a day without running and icing was called for. Then I was fresh for the pace run. Into the south side of Plenty Gorge covering the awesome single track. I ran a course that has taken me 2:15-2:20 to cover in the past. This day my legs were definitely m...

Clearly I under estimated how much the race at Plenty Gorge was going to take out of me. Backing up with 2 hours the next morning did nothing to improve the situation. As a result this week started with two recovery runs. My legs were so thrashed that I found myself walking up slopes I wouldn't normally consider hills. Next I felt recovered enough for my pace run. 2.5 hours, with race gear on at a solid clip over a variety of terrain. The spring I had in my legs last week wasn't quite there, but I still felt pretty good and as though I could just keep running for at least another hour. The following day was a different story. For the most part my legs were pleasantly sore. In the way that lets you know you've been training hard. However I there was some swelling across the top of my left foot, extra pain in the tibial is anterior and new level of tightness in the lateral muscles of my left leg. I've learnt in past that's not a group of symptoms to push through...

Clearly a harder week. A few more kilometers over the first few days, plus I had four key sessions, instead of the so-called easier three of the last week. My basic runs were covered mainly at stupidly easy paces, but when I was going up a good hill then I made sure my technique was up to scratch, even if it did elevate the heart rate. The first key run was my Speed  session. Not exactly a few sprints at the track, by similar concept. Incorporated into my commute to work. After a warm up, the backpack was put aside as I performed a series of springing drills uphill, some 30 second up hill sprints, 20 second down hill sprints all on a slightly rough, but non-technical surface. At a guess the gradient was about 8%. With plenty of easy recovery between sprints this session had me feeling fired up and ready for more. Two days later brought me to my Pace run. I had the luxury of fitting this run in the afternoon instead of pre-dawn hours, so I headed into Plenty Gorge for some good ...