Go Hard

I've the use of technology in my training. Back around the turn of the century I had the bees-knees in heart monitor and cycle computer combination. Since then training has always been tracked electronically. The amount of data accumulated is enormous, but what happens when that technology fails? What are the best strategies to handle this? How can we still get the best out of training without functional technology? So here I present the ultimate guide to running when technology fails... GPS stops working: Whether it fails to lock onto the satellites, just doesn't work or is completely inaccurate the solution is the same. Don't use it. Run anyway. Stopwatch fails: The battery may have died, you forget to press start or accidently hit stop during the run without realising. Don't use it. Run anyway. Pedometer carks it: Don't use it. Run anyway. Power meter has no power: First we'll go beyond the arguments of what a running power meter is really measuri...

A week? This is quite a foreign concept to me. Years of rotational shift work of varying rosters that could be 8 or 9 day, or even 6 week cycles with the added fun of often been being swapped around every month has absolutely no link to the traditional 7 day week. There are pros and cons in this. Having a family throws the typical 7 day week at me, but that seems to serve to eliminate any sort of pattern or routine I could otherwise develop. It certainly creates plenty of challenges to training. It doesn't necessarily make it harder, just a different set of challenges than those working Monday to Friday. Over the last couple of years I've been having trouble holding down structure in my training. Sticking to something fairly strict keeps leading to problems with over training and fatigue or injury. Backing off and being comfortable with taking recovery as needed has led to a lot of skipped training. It's been difficult finding the right balance. Sleep and extra hours at w...

With my first week more of a struggle than I hoped, the following week was a big step up. The running felt so much better and easier. I made a conscious effort not to push the boundaries, but the improvement was substantial.   The most important change is I am finding it easier to maintain proper technique throughout all my runs. Of course I am still having moments when I fall back into the habits of the last few months, but it isn't a battle through most of a run. The pace on my easy runs has consistently fallen into the faster end of the range, plus feels easier. The weakness in my hamstrings and glutes is highlighted on the hills. I have to fight my body's attempts of looking to what it thinks is the easy way out, which is to cut out the last push of the drive on each stride. Consistency here will bring big returns after a few months. On that note, I have already experienced improvement in holding that technique through a long run. This week's long run covered 2...

Back on it. Unfortunately for my ego I'm not as good as I like to be. Missing is any sort of tolerance to a consistent workload. Backing up running each day is more of struggle than I am used to over the years. However, I'm at where I'm at. Hoping to hit a minimum of about 10km each day turned out to be slightly too high a level to start with. When put against my running background this appeared to be a reasonably conservative starting point. So why wasn't it? Of course basic deconditioning plays a role here, but that doesn't explain the level of difficulty I've through the first week. It stems from technique problems that I've developed over the last six months as a follow on issue after hurting my hamstrings. Basically I became a lazy runner. The body is amazing at finding what it thinks is the easiest and most efficient way of doing something. It also tends to be pretty good at protecting a part that is already injured. At least in the short term....

Finally back into this blog. Unfortunately I feel like this is a bit of a cliché, but hopefully this is a new beginning. 2014 was far from my best year in running. It started with the big goal of running a sub-3 hour marathon. I chose Traralgon in early June and tried to hit the training hard. Unfortunately I struggled to get the mileage up and couldn't seem to absorb the training I needed to. On the day I ended up injured with some hamstring issues that had me essentially out for three months. Since then I haven't been able to get back to the level of running I enjoy and am used to. Part of the reason is that a lot of my time was taken up in other activities, in particular was the ongoing industrial dispute at work. For the most part that is settled and has already seen some historic changes. That leads into now. Right now I almost like I'm starting from scratch. Over the last couple of months I've had trouble stringing together runs. Each run takes a lot more recove...

Looking back through my years of training and racing, I've attempted to sort out the common elements that have lead to my successes and the also the what has been a feature of my failures. Unsurprisingly the elements leading into my better races were mostly the opposite of my not so successful events. The usual standards of consistency, good volume and long gradual progression featured. That's all well and good, but very generic. Could I zero in on a certain run or type of training session that was consistent with my better races? Surprisingly I could. That training session is what I tend to call my Threshold Run . Looking back through my training logs it is clear that this particular training session is a consistent leading into my best races. With hindsight, it is also noticeably lacking leading into races that were well below par. So what is my Threshold Run ? First up I will say state it isn't an exact pace or an exact intensity. Over the build up of training the se...

With a week of not much running post 49km of the Surfcoast Century I feel somewhat rested and ready to start my next training plan. There are still a few concerns following on from the hamstring, but it's at a level that can be dealt with as part of training. The next phase will focus on the basics and what I know works for me. What works? First up is having enough time to build up. I am targeting the Two Bays Trail 56km in January which gives me a bit more than 3 months to prepare. Next on the list is a gradual progression with in built recovery. Finally is to focus on the blue collar training. The result is the following weekly template. Importantly my week is usually a 9 day affair, but every now and then may be 7 or 8 days, usually depending on my work roster. Easy 60min Easy 40-50min + hill sprints Threshold run 10-26km Easy 60min  +  Weights (basic) Easy 40-50min + hill sprints Long 3:00-5:00 Regeneration Regeneration Hill reps   +...