Sunday 5th February 2012
It was recently brought to my attention that I haven’t written much recently. In fact, looking back through the pages of this blog, I note that that last thing I wrote that wasn’t just a summary of my week’s training was posted on December 22nd. Six weeks and nothing original. But on the plus side, I have been running plenty.
The man who brought this alarming fact to my attention is a friend, training partner and club-mate who goes by the name of Tim. Tim also writes about running. He’s good at it.
Tim is a distance runner who dabbles in the odd bit of architecture (or was it the other way round?) and it seems that his fondness for design has also led him to a very meticulous approach to designing his training. Last October I sat down with another runner-buddy and composed what I thought at the time was a detailed outline of the training we would do for the next six months. I emailed it to Tim who then sent me his. Whilst I had used the ‘that-looks-pretty-impressive’ approach to planning my training, Tim had created a plan using the ‘grounded-in-rigourous-sports-science’ approach, one not previously known to me. This is also a man who rarely deviates from the schedule and sets himself tough but attainable goals; in this case 15:50 for 5000m at the university champs in May.
Beyond the vocabulary I have learned from Tim (still not sure about the difference between a macrocycle and a mesocycle though) I have learned the importance of setting yourself goals and being meticulous in the way you plan your path to those goals.
So here’s my goal and plan. The goal is to break 15:15 for 5k by this time next year. The plan is to train harder and smarter.
Sunday 29th January 2012
Happy with the 5k time considering the lack of speed work. Starting to feel fit.
Monday: 10 easy (10)
Tuesday: 9 mile tempo – track 49:57 (14)
Wednesday: 6 easy. Late. (6)
Thursday: 12 easy (12)
Friday: 10 easy (10)
Saturday: Parkrun 5k, 2nd in 15:48 (12)
Sunday: 25 steady, 2:55 ish (25)
Week total: 89 miles
2012 total: 317 miles
Sunday 18th September 2011
Much better week. Very happy with the 5k and the long run. 2 weeks to Brussels.
Monday: 8 easy (8)
Tuesday: 4x(7mins/2mins) on grass at Metchley. Aim was 5 but had sore stomach. Ran there and back (11)
Wednesday: 12 easy (12)
Thursday: 10 easy (10)
Friday: Rest. Tiring week at work. (0)
Saturday: Cannon Hill Parkrun 5k, 1st in 15:40. Best time on that course. (12)
Sunday: 19 miles alt. hard/easy – 2 hours (19)
Week total: 72 miles
2011 total: 2554 miles
Monday 15th August 2011
A frustrating week. Felt overtrained and lethargic so I took 3 days off. A few easy weeks should do me some good.
Monday: 8 easy. Felt good. (8)
Tuesday: Rest. (0)
Wednesday: AM 5 easy – trails, PM 8 easy – summer route (13)
Thursday: Rowheath 5k, 1st in 16:12. Felt terrible the whole way round and on the way home (12)
Friday: Off. Completely worn out. (0)
Saturday: Still felt rough. Another day off. (0)
Sunday: AM 3 easy PM Midland League 3000m. 1st in 9:12. (11)
Week total: 44 miles
2011 total: 2234 miles
Taken from my training log.
Sunday 7th August 2011
Possibly my hardest week ever.
Monday: 12 miles. Felt sore. (12)
Tuesday: AM 4 miles easy. PM 3x3k all just under 10 mins off 200 recoveries plus 6×200 at 3k pace. (16)
Wednesday: AM 6 easy. PM 8 easy with quick finish (14)
Thursday: 4x6x60m hill sprints with 4 mins jogging between sets, ran to track, 4x(500/300) with 300/100 recoveries in 84/48/80/48/82/47/81/48, ran home. (13)
Friday: AM 6 easy PM 6 easy. Tired. (12)
Saturday: Cannon Hill Parkrun 16:10. Not all out effort, started slow. Long warm down (12)
Sunday: Pope loop – 1:59. Hard. (21)
Week total: 100 miles
2011 total: 2190 miles
Taken from my training log.