An Unexpected PB – Week Beginning 12 February

Sunday 18th February 2018

I have done 51 parkruns now and yesterday was the quickest of the lot. I hadn’t planned a Saturday morning blast but felt good at the start and decided to test myself. Although 15:36 on its own is not a particularly spectacular 5k time and nowhere near my best, I was pleased to run a relatively quick time on tired legs in the middle of a 90 mile week before I had really woken up. My fitness is good at the moment and I am excited for the next couple of races.

My Week

Monday: AM 10km easy / PM 12km easy (22)

Tuesday: AM 10km easy / PM 16km tempo run 56:31 (28)

Wednesday: 17km easy, drills and hurdles (17)

Thursday: AM 9km easy / PM 17km moderate (26)

Friday: rest (0)

Saturday: AM parkrun in 15:36, strides / PM 9km easy (26)

Sunday: 25km easy (25)

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If Only… – Week Beginning 05 February

Sunday 11th February 2018

Athletes have a strange tendency to ask ‘what if…’ at the end of a race or competition.

The process of analysing your performance and thinking about everything that you could have done differently doesn’t start the day after the race or even an hour after the race; it starts the moment you cross the finish line. Yesterday my club finished 3rd in the Birmingham League, winning the team race on the day, and I achieved my highest ever Birmingham League position. Or at least, this is how most rationally minded people would look at yesterday’s race. My take on it was slightly different; as I saw it I could have finished much higher on the day if I had judged the course better and not thought we were at the start of the final lap when we were in fact on the charge towards the finish. I could have pushed on much earlier than I did and would have caught the two runners just ahead of me. Not only would this have given me a better result but the team would have scored well enough to make up the measly two point deficit to the club who beat us into 2nd place overall. My competitors were probably creating their own monologues in their heads at the same time.

This way of thinking isn’t just limited to one race though; I do this kind of thing all the time. Last summer I ran a personal best for 5000m and within minutes of crossing the line was considering everything I could have done to break 15 minutes in that race: ‘if only I had pushed on in that 4th kilometre I’d have been on track at the bell’ It amazes me how quickly you forget the pain and discomfort after a race and assume that you could have just pushed a little bit harder, when in reality you were giving everything you could.

This eagerness to analyse performance and adapt accordingly is undoubtedly a trait that enables athletes to improve; it is also the exact same trait that means we are never entirely satisfied with a performace.

My Week

Monday: AM 10km easy / PM 12km easy (22)

Tuesday: AM 10km easy / PM road session – 5 sets of 90s/2:00, strides (27)

Wednesday: 15km easy, drills and hurdles (15)

Thursday: AM 9km easy / PM 10km with 2 miles hard (19)

Friday: rest (0)

Saturday: Birmingham League, Wolverhampton – 12th (15)

Sunday: 25km easy (25)

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The End of Winter – Week Beginning 29 January

Sunday 4th February 2018

I like cross country season. I enjoy the challenge of racing man-to-man over difficult terrain and being unconcerned by the time on the clock. Cross country is endurance racing at its purest and the thing I look forward to most when winter is on its way. But on reflection, it is actually theĀ only thing I look forward to about winter. Now February is here I have well and truly had enough of winter and am looking ahead to track season. I am looking forward to packing the gloves, hats, long sleeved tops, tights and jackets away and not having to dress for an Arctic expedition every time I lace up my trainers. I am looking forward to daylight runs before and after work, to training on grass without having to wear spikes, to lung-busting track sessions that leave me gasping for air, to open meets on warm evenings when everyone is there to run fast, to striding down the canal topwath in a vest and shorts with the sun on my back, to steeplechase, to live athletics on TV, to long days and short nights and to looking forward to every run.

I’ve had enough of winter and can’t wait for summer.

My Week

Monday: 17km easy (17)

Tuesday: AM 10km easy / PM 16km tempo run 56:23, weights (27)

Wednesday: 16km easy, drills and hurdles (16)

Thursday: AM 8km easy / PM hill session – 10*2:30 (29)

Friday: rest (0)

Saturday: 30 min fartlek – 60s on/off, 5*15s hill sprints (17)

Sunday: 26km moderate (26)

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Going to the Well – Week Beginning 08 January

Sunday 14th January 2018

This week, whilst idly waiting for the clock to tell me to leave for my latest cross country race I listened to Steve Magness’ latest podcast. This episode, entitled ‘Everything You Need to Know About the 5k’ was a fascinating conversation about preparing athletes to race 12.5 laps of the track. One of the most interesting comments made was to do with athletes’ tendency to want to have a great session a few days before a race as a confidence booster. However more often than not, they argue, the confidence boosting effect is negated by the damage, both physical and mental, that such sessions can do. The two coaches discussed some of their athletes’ best races and how the training that immediately preceded them was often unimpressive on paper. The real work came not days but weeks and months before the target race. The ‘going to the well’ sessions designed to create large adaptations were planned to take place at least 10 days before the race, with everything between then and race day a matter of maintaining fitness rather than trying to increase it.

I found this interesting as it echoes my own experience as an athlete, albeit one at a lower level than those described in the podcast. Maybe I need to stop looking for clues that I am going to race well in the days leading up to a race and trust that all the work done prior to that will pay dividends.

Yesterday I finished 13th in a Birmingham League race, my highest ever finishing position. It feels like the training I did a few weeks ago is starting to take effect!

My Week

Monday: AM 10km easy / PM 12km easy, hurdle drills (22)

Tuesday: AM 9km easy / PM road session – 6 sets of 90s/2:00, strides (25)

Wednesday: 13km easy (13)

Thursday: AM 8km easy / PM 10km with 2 miles hard (18)

Friday: rest (0)

Saturday: Birmingham League XC, Warley Woods – 13th (16)

Sunday: 24km easy (24)

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GOHAHO – Week Beginning 01 January

Sunday 7th January 2018

Get Out Hard And Hang On

I decided to adopt a new strategy yesterday at the Warwickshire Cross Country Championships. With no team points at stake and with the race solely about individual performance I decided to just go for it. I won the race to the first corner, I won the race up the first hill, I even won the first lap. It’s just a shame the finish line was at the end of lap four.

As it turns out, the top three would have beaten me whichever way I had chosen to race. I probably would have hung on to fourth had I raced slightly more conservatively and sat in the pack for the first two laps, but sometimes you just need to get out there and go for it to really know what your limit is. Mine seems to be 5th in Warwickshire at the moment.

Next week we’re back at the same course for the third Birmingham League of the season. I might try this strategy again; I might revert to type and try and pick people off in the second half of the race, such is my normal cross country strategy. Either way, I am looking forward to it.

I love racing.

My Week

Monday: AM 12km easy, hurdle drills / PM 10km easy (22)

Tuesday: AM 9km easy / PM track session 16*400 with recoveries of 5*60s, 5*45s, 5*30s – all 66-68 (22)

Wednesday: 11 km easy (11)

Thursday: AM 8km easy / PM 10km with 2 miles hard (18)

Friday: rest (0)

Saturday: Warwickshire XC Championships, Warley Woods – 5th (15)

Sunday: 19km easy (19)

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