Go Hard

It shouldn't take so many times to just get the point through. Again I'm finding some difficulty recovering between sessions and attempting to hold off a sinus infection. The training hasn't been particularly hard with nothing stupid thrown into the mix. The problem is I've been down on sleep. It's been a combination that culminated with far less shut eye than I should get over at least a week. Kids doing their various things from fighting going to sleep, waking during the night and just getting up early. Problems associated with rotating shift work. Foregoing sleep to fit everything in. The main problem is I just haven't been taking it all into account and haven't actively pursued getting better sleep. While most of the elements are just part of my life, I can improve things with a little effort and planning. I know consistent and high quality training goes hand in hand with getting enough quality sleep. Being a couple of days down is ok, but its devel...

This is a long post. Yet, is probably as short as I can be when explaining how I am putting together my training. My aim is to strive for continual improvement. A system that builds upon current fitness and from race to race. There are a lot of elements common between 10km to ultramarathon and I aim to improve my abilities across this wide range. Of course that will require times of specific focus. I'll just always keep in touch with the other abilities required at the different distances. My race plans at this stage include: Two Bays Trail 28km - January Emergency Services Games - April Surfcoast Century - September There will be a number of races in between. I just haven't worked out which ones yet. To give myself an objective guide the basis of my training will be aimed at working towards a sub-2:45 marathon. Even if I don't race a standard marathon next year it should give me the basis I need to then adjust focus for my other events. For a 2:45 marathon t...

It's been a while since my last post. No real reason for that, except there has only been enough time for the staples of training and not the extras. As for my training, it's been going ok. Due to a couple of medical appointments and kids interrupting sleep a lot the training has been stripped right back. The key runs have been all there, a couple of the easy runs were missed and most of the strength training was dropped. To me that's ok if it is short lived and doesn't become a habit. In the short term it keeps running specific improvements rolling along. For genuine long term gains the extras do count. My running is definitely getting better. The majority of my easy runs are feeling very comfortable and natural. The average paces for these runs have migrated from slower than 6:30/km up to around 6:00/km with what now feels like less effort. At the moment one of the key runs is what I term an Aerobic Run. It is run at an effort level that is steady, a fair bit bel...

So the new training plan. It needs some explanation. Best to start with the goals. My racing plans are far from set in stone over the next year. I will be working from the assumption of racing the Surfcoast Century next September and aiming to go considerably faster. Before then I am racing the 28km option at the Two Bays in January. Between these two races I haven't worked out any particular events. However I am likely to have another crack at the Emergency Services Games. So how do I direct my training based on the above? The key component across all potential races is the need for exceptional aerobic capabilities. Whether referring to substrate use, aerobic threshold, anaerobic threshold, speed at certain heart rates, or fatigue resistance, they are all interrelated. Of course there are ways to focus on the individual aspects, but my main goal is to progress my aerobic running capabilities as a package. The aerobic development needs to be supported with a reasonable leve...

Now I'm back into what I consider proper running. Not just getting ready to do the running. Naturally I will build up from here. Both in terms of volume and speed. So without much explanation below is what goes into the training diary (the dates of yyyymmdd format to allow easy searching). 20121027 START BASE am: Very Easy 45:29, 6.44km,  7:04 /km Commute w/ pack pm: Easy 32:36, 5.81km,  5:36 /km Commute w/pack Total: 12.25km 20121028 am: Easy + Tx wu 3.5km,  23:10 ,  6:3 8 /km Tx drills 3.4km in 31:30 30m/70m slow drills 40m/160m fast drills 4x50m cadence sprints/380m cd 3.2km,  21:16 ,  6:39 /km Total 10.1km  1:15 :56 pm: 3km,  16:00 ,  5:15 /km Commute w/pack Total: 13.1km 20121029 Aerobic 8.4km, 41:05, 4: 53 /km DCT wu 2.8km,  17:38 ,  6:17 /km cd 2.8km,  18:29 ,  6:36 /km Total 14km 20121030 Easy 1:02:48, 10.7km, 5:52...

I've been through a couple of weeks of rebuild. Definitely far from high mileage. A collection of technique work, hill plyometrics and intervals with plenty of recovery, plus a lot of tissue manipulation and stretching. Looks like I've ironed a few problems and built back a bit of structural conditioning and strength. Now it's time to get right back into what I consider proper running. Now it's about getting in lots of kilometres. So the challenge is to build the aerobic engine, increase workload tolerance while still keeping development of speed and strength reasonable. Consistency will be the ticket. So the simple goal is get in as much running as I can that leads to improvement. That doesn't mean the maximum I can fit in. That will be a little less. So I'll take it a few days at a time, pay attention to intensity and recovery. Then see where that takes me.

I've felt pretty damn good for the four weeks since my 100km race. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly my legs came good and how easy it has felt to get back into some running. However, underneath all that there is still some damage and weak points that require addressing. Earlier this week I received a good massage. Separate to the massage work of loosening and lengthening out my connective tissues and muscles, the most important element was the identification of the many areas the are damaged. There are plenty of adhesions that will become problems if not dealt with. One example is an adhesion of decent size on one Achilles' tendon that is limiting movement of the tendon within its sheath. It's not causing pain, but will only be a matter of time before it becomes a noticeable problem. Nothing is a true injury at this stage. Just simply part of the recovery process from the damage training and and running 100km causes. The trick now is to have all that rebuild ba...