Last Saturday’s session was my first poor one in quite a while, it could have been the build up and tiredness of weeks at mid 80 mile a week together with some tough sessions, or it could have been that I was trying to do a tough grass session at 7.30 in the morning. Either way it made me sit down and go over my diary and after looking back I decided to have an easier week. I didn’t plan on missing my sessions, just cut back on my miles so that my sessions would be better quality.
This week’s sessions were mile reps on the track Tuesday, hill reps on Thursday, drills, conditioning and strides on Friday and a Fartlek session on Saturday.
I had a good session on Tuesday, one of my best mile rep sessions that I’ve ever done, I felt good and ran strong, even on the last lap of each effort I kept pushing hard, in the past I’ve faded and felt like I was running in sand. I like to run mile reps faster than 10k race pace with a lap jog recovery, by doing them at this speed I should feel comfortable at the start of 10k races.
The Thursday session is one of my least favorite sessions - hill reps on Red Hill in Durham. I normally like hill reps, but Red Hills is a killer of a hill, anyone who knows Durham will tell you this. The hill starts just under the Viaduct then starts to climb straight away, civilized at first, not too steep but then it sweeps to the right and the gradient increases, round one more bend and the gradient once again increases, but this time you can now see all the way to the top, not a sight for the faint hearted.
The last sixty meters of the hill is so steep that there is actually a hand rail on the wall to help pedestrians walking up the hill, but also comes in handy on your last effort, I usually end up grabbing it to stop myself from falling over from sheer exhaustion.
This week’s sessions were mile reps on the track Tuesday, hill reps on Thursday, drills, conditioning and strides on Friday and a Fartlek session on Saturday.
I had a good session on Tuesday, one of my best mile rep sessions that I’ve ever done, I felt good and ran strong, even on the last lap of each effort I kept pushing hard, in the past I’ve faded and felt like I was running in sand. I like to run mile reps faster than 10k race pace with a lap jog recovery, by doing them at this speed I should feel comfortable at the start of 10k races.
The Thursday session is one of my least favorite sessions - hill reps on Red Hill in Durham. I normally like hill reps, but Red Hills is a killer of a hill, anyone who knows Durham will tell you this. The hill starts just under the Viaduct then starts to climb straight away, civilized at first, not too steep but then it sweeps to the right and the gradient increases, round one more bend and the gradient once again increases, but this time you can now see all the way to the top, not a sight for the faint hearted.
The last sixty meters of the hill is so steep that there is actually a hand rail on the wall to help pedestrians walking up the hill, but also comes in handy on your last effort, I usually end up grabbing it to stop myself from falling over from sheer exhaustion.
On Thursday’s session, I had 4 reps to do, each effort being under 2 minutes, so it’s a toughie. The only way that I could fit my session in was to do it at 7.30 in the morning, so I was really pleased to have run PB times, I did however get the strangest looks off people walking to work, one lady couldn’t believe her eyes, she opened her front door to put her rubbish out and saw me running past dressed in lycra, I was running and breathing as if my life was on the line, I’m sure she must have had a second glance to see who was chasing me.
I’m trying something new on Fridays, now after a good warm up run around Houghall woods myself and Clare go onto the track where we do some drills. We work on our running style, then I run a few 150’s. I run them fast and relaxed, without straining, the plan is to try and remind my legs how to move quicker, years of 10k running seems to have taken some of the sharpness out of my legs. I feel as though this is helping as my Tuesday reps are getting faster.
Saturday was a hilly fartleck from home, it is a good mix of working hard on the hills and fast and relaxed down the hills. I felt good and was bouncing all over the road. Where I live there are very few footpaths, no streetlights, hill’s and winding roads, which isn’t easy running conditions but suits me as its never boring. My efforts vary from 1 minute to 5 minute long and I tend to do about six efforts.
I finished the week on 67 miles, my lowest mileage in quite a while, I cut out some of my junk miles and kept the quality sessions, I also managed to get a sports massage, I feel good today, fresh legged and ready for another good week.
I’m trying something new on Fridays, now after a good warm up run around Houghall woods myself and Clare go onto the track where we do some drills. We work on our running style, then I run a few 150’s. I run them fast and relaxed, without straining, the plan is to try and remind my legs how to move quicker, years of 10k running seems to have taken some of the sharpness out of my legs. I feel as though this is helping as my Tuesday reps are getting faster.
Saturday was a hilly fartleck from home, it is a good mix of working hard on the hills and fast and relaxed down the hills. I felt good and was bouncing all over the road. Where I live there are very few footpaths, no streetlights, hill’s and winding roads, which isn’t easy running conditions but suits me as its never boring. My efforts vary from 1 minute to 5 minute long and I tend to do about six efforts.
I finished the week on 67 miles, my lowest mileage in quite a while, I cut out some of my junk miles and kept the quality sessions, I also managed to get a sports massage, I feel good today, fresh legged and ready for another good week.
For about ten years now I’ve been having problems with my Achilles tendons, the first five years I tried everything to sort it out, I went for massage, Physio, Chiropractors, Osteopaths, Acupuncture and even tried soacking my feet and Achilles in a very strange Chinese tea which was made up of what looked like the worlds worst smelling pot puri. I eventually found some eccentric lowering exercises in a Physio book, after 3 weeks of doing these I was pain free. The last four or five years I’ve had flare ups but always managed the problem with the exercises. I’ve had another flare up recently and I’ve been having real problems shaking it off this time. I’ve been doing my exercises religiously and it’s very slowly getting better, but this week I ran into a friend who owns an outdoor clothing and equipment company, part of his company is Accapi clothing.
Accapi clothing has three metal elements woven into the material, these elements emit infra red which increases blood flow and speeds up recovery. I first met George over ten years ago at Eldon square climbing wall, our paths crossed again two years ago and he gave me some Accapi clothing to test and I’ve been wearing it every day since. I’ve been really impressed with the results, I find that I recover quicker, need less regular massages and when I train in their clothing I usually have better sessions.
I told George about my Achilles flare up, the next day he turned up with some Accapi socks and recommended that I sleep in them. After three nights I can now walk down the stairs without sidestepping my way down them first thing in the morning.
I have a few races coming up, I know that I’m in good shape, I just need to keep the quality sessions going, look after my achilles, get another couple of massages and cut down on the miles a little and hopefully it will all come together on the day.
Accapi clothing has three metal elements woven into the material, these elements emit infra red which increases blood flow and speeds up recovery. I first met George over ten years ago at Eldon square climbing wall, our paths crossed again two years ago and he gave me some Accapi clothing to test and I’ve been wearing it every day since. I’ve been really impressed with the results, I find that I recover quicker, need less regular massages and when I train in their clothing I usually have better sessions.
I told George about my Achilles flare up, the next day he turned up with some Accapi socks and recommended that I sleep in them. After three nights I can now walk down the stairs without sidestepping my way down them first thing in the morning.
I have a few races coming up, I know that I’m in good shape, I just need to keep the quality sessions going, look after my achilles, get another couple of massages and cut down on the miles a little and hopefully it will all come together on the day.