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Moraghan Training - Stevie G
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I dare say you didn't do all hilly offroad miles when you were a racer.
Bus - I took that exact footpath. That one must be really dodgy in the dark as it's fairly long and has gates and fences either side with perhaps just one set of steps out midway.
It seems a very light incline too, so I was delighted it took me so high up Hamilton Hill.
I was tempted to have a little wander into the woods next to the golf club, but thought I best not mess about too much, as I hadn't checked the map at all to see how deep and where they go.
Will add it to the wanderlist list. I'd never run through that field near the bottom into Gomm Valley until today in fairness. Not sure how much running there is round and through there. Until they put 100s of houses there of course.
Long time, no post. Probably a good thing as there is only so much injury whining a forum can take! Hopping back in after a catch up of this page. Hope everyone is enjoying their running.
Things are progressing here. I worked my way through 3 x (9 walk, 1 run), then 3 x (8 walk, 2 run) with a day off after each. I eventually made it to 30 minutes continuous - and thought this warranted a post!
Horrendously slow pace at first, but obviously delighted to be out there. Really felt it muscularly - especially in the calves. But this seems to be getting better now. Will now try a fortnight of two days running, one day off, still capping it at 30 minutes.
Continuing with smashfests on the WattBike on other days, so retaining a degree of overall cardiovascular fitness. A 25W improvement in FTP for the keen cycling stattos out there. And fitting in a little bit of S&C, whether it is a quick look in to the school gym or whilst holding a child (one I have fathered rather than teach).
My running continues to be enjoyable and I'm loving the mild weather at the moment. It's mostly easy/aerobic miles and sticking around the 40 mpw level now. Notable effortful bits last week were 8.5m at 6.20 min/mile pace, which came out substantially less than marathon effort on the heart rate front. A similar pace for 10k over a hilly route too, with the same kind of effort. Both workouts that would have left me needing much recovery 2 years ago. (I wasn't in too bad a shape then either)
I'm signed in for the MK Winter Half mid December. Not sure it will be much of a race as I'm starting 16 minutes behind the first wave of 30. Would prefer to have a little race phase ahead of that one to sharpen up too ... but not much happening this month for some reason ...
I had a very sore glute so had three days rest now and probably won't run until Wednesday at the earliest. Might end up going for Mont Blanc instead. We'll see. For some reason I can't work in feet for elevation, just seems ridiculous when you need to start relating it to miles.
Nice improvement on the FTP SQ.
Muddy, very optimistic to think that race will be on! The gov keeping furlough going until March seems a hint that they'll continue this lockdown. Hope they don't though, obviously!!
🙂
4x1mile again this week. Last week was a threshold job, this week a progression.
6.04, 5.52,5.45,5.32
Roughly, that's HM pace from windy Wokingham, through to faster than current 5k pace. So a decent mix.
Just to go back on the routes to improvement question. For some time I added in more miles and improved very marginally along the way. I was running a lot of my longer miles really quite slowly. I made bigger gains when I switched to running my 'general ' mileage and long runs a fair bit quicker. This might have worked as I'd got a few years of (modest) miles under the belt at easier paces but it defo worked for me. That's contrary to most advice I read where fingers are pointed at us for training too quickly and racing too slowly. I suppose the moral of the story is that this thing is VERY individual. Hints and tips are great but everyone responds differently.
The most positive thing I've done on the running front in recent weeks is to order a few pairs of trainers. hmm.
You'd soon know if you were overdoing the training paces as the answer would be no to the former, and the answer would be a big "yes" to the latter.
I'll put in 7.15 type pace for long runs right now and often slower for shorter. You just warm up and you get into a rhythm.
It's offroad trudging I personally don't feel much benefit from - only the little bit of mental relief
Today was a 9.5miler, probably came out around 7.35 or so as there was some woods trudging and finding that funnily enough the smooth path to the woods from the summer has now become a boggy heck hole!
I did throw in a cheeky burst for a segment locally that some cheeky dastard had nicked off me the other day. In fairness it was one of my skimpier ones that I'd taken at about 6.55, but I couldn't let it sit at the 5.50 he'd taken it to,so it's down to 4.45 or so pace now.
His half(1:45) looks a bit soft.
Personally I made massive gains by reducing my average pace for all but my twice weekly racing sessions. I was able to handle plenty of mileage that way without exhausting myself. I do think the quantity & frequency of runs is very important when deciding on training paces. If you're only running 3-4 days a week they need to be faster as your days off allow for plenty of recovery.
Speaking of injuries, my foot is still not good. It appears the left arch has collapsed causing me to over pronate, placing extra stress on the ankle ligaments. Anyone had any experience of this? If so what rehab worked?
You do like a quickie.
Jools - I have a post. tib. issue that I manage in some shoes with a home made insole that incorporates two separate insoles and quite a bit of gaffer tape. Together all this provides a much higher arch support. I'd post a picture but I don't know how on this forum tbh! It looks as horrific as it sounds but I think if you understand a little bit about form as you clearly do then you can find ways to look after yourself. Could something similar, maybe more professional, be a way to support the arch while you fully recover?
ie 6:25 pace for HM vs 8:45ish in training. 5K-5M pace was 5:5x-6:0x
Thanks for the advice. I was thinking about doing something similar Wool. I have some temporary insole stuff the podiatrist gave me 5 years ago when I had chronic PF. He had me some custom orthotics made but it had cleared up by the time they finally arrived. I used them whilst walking (but not running) till they disintegrated through use!
Then risked a lunch run today, went to Wargrave to get the hills in and did two 5km loops. 276 metres accumulated, felt ok running but a little soreness after. Went past a group of 4 walkers that included Treason May. I wonder if there'll be a Maidenhead 10 for her to attend.
I do generally adopt the 'keep the easy runs, easy and the hard runs, hard' approach. I usually (in fact, almost always) hit the correct paces in sessions but I do seem to have a propensity to injury. Currently I've been having pain in the top of my tibia and have now had a couple of physio sessions in which she has diagnosed patella tendinitis. It doesn't stop me running, but does leave me a bit sore afterwards. Physio advice of course is to rest, but that's not happening!
A former PM breaking the lockdown rules by being in a group of 4 Reg? If you'd had a phone on you, you could have taken a photo and picked up some cash from the tabloids no doubt.
Even when I raced a half at 5.47 I was still doing a lot of miles sub or very low 7s so racing a (windy!) half at 6.05 versus 7.15s or slower for shorter runs isn't too much different. But it all does depend on how much you're doing, how much you're used to doing, and we can admit it - liking to run a lot! It's long since moved on from just being about racing hasn't it? Basically a long way of saying what Wool said.
I could disguise it more with massive elevations and longuns (like today actually - i was traipsing up this muddy hill like I was about 139, not just 39!) like some guys do and I dare say a lot of these extreme elevation and distance runs aren't actually that slow on the elevation leveller outer (or whatever strava call it!)
Now what IS certainly too much is what a local lad does. I clocked him doing 4 sessions last week!!
He'll do a 10k tempo and then call a 10miler with high elevation in the 630s "steady" and then have 2 other sessions in there too. Labelling each run "tired legs" and always trying to convince himself probably that the "36hours recovery" should be ok until he goes again. All the time barely racing quicker than he runs these sort of efforts.
Of course at the moment it's all a bit maintenance mileage isn't it. Same old weekly miles with a couple of sessions for entertaining. When proper races are on the agenda again there would be more of a semblance of a build and then freshening with a couple of taper weeks. Roll on that time. Maidenhead 10 would be great to do again - a lot of races would be!!!
ps Reg there's one chap in Slough who has pinched a couple of segs recently. If he pinches a 3rd I'll make a session of it and get back over there and pillage him.
The seg was one of the softest in England when I first picked it up. It was something like 7.30 pace for the 0.17miles and only about 8 people had run it!
It was like a Purple Patch race!
Did I mention that embarrassingly when I asked where my "prize" was for coming 1st male (they'd moved the actual winner to V40 trophy), they basically said it was such an outrageously bootleg field they wouldn't dream of issuing a prize to me and instead were just using the overall winner to cover 1st overall and V40
Saved me having to do another Dorney race I suppose. Although right now any race would do!
I suppose a lot is terminology. Moz would call my 3milers the day after races "recovery", as being a separate zone entirely from "easy", but I know a lot of people think they're the same.
So when I see people putting in 8-10mile "recovery" runs with tonnes of hills it jumps from the page
Wool - you could change your training method back to slower miles after the boost from quicker miles and you'd improve again, anything which causes variety will give gains imo. Its then a matter of finding what you like and works and doing enough of it to keep training consistently...........if you were to get a coach they'd make you do what you need to do rather than like to do, that's why the arrangement usually works well.
Most people defo run the easy miles, and even the hard miles too quick. Have a listen to a couple of the early inside running podcasts that feature an interview with Sean Creighton and he talks about getting smashed by his training partners in training, but always beat them in races. He held back in training.
If you have a super disciplined group and a goal pace that works for all it could be great.
But in my experience it just makes a session become a race type effort, with wildly inconsistent reps!
Anyway, I fancied a pyramid job today. 200 up to 1000 then back down
Went almost ideally actually, and on the way "up" I wondered if I was setting a bit too much of an ask for the way down. But went spot on, with perhaps just a "relaxed" 1k comparative to the others.
34
1.16
1.58
2.39
3.26
2.38
1.57
1.14
33
(all taken as per watch split at time - ignoring the xx)
1min after/before 200s, 90secs for the rest
Lucky enough the heavy rain only started just after the last rep too!
If I go out and run hard for an hour hard then that damages the microstructures of my muscles and after the training, I am actually in a worse place than I was before. I then take some rest and during that rest process, the body repairs the damage to the muscles and also it may add a bit more "just in case". So the actual training itself is not where you make your gains but it is the recovery afterwards.
You cannot, therefore, train too hard but you can recover too little.
Training has other aspects, and what needs to be appreciated is that as age, work rate and volume accumulate, there's the goal posts which seem destined to never stop moving. Because they don't. Much of the skill is determining where the damn things are and where they are going at any point in time.
I'm sixty years old and the running diaries which I referred to for years are now gathering dust as the information contained within, as regards the thirty year old me, are no long valid or appropriate. This is despite being able to train way more these days, same weight or less, no aches or pains anywhere or damage either.
It's just the sessions and the like simply don't work anymore for reasons of an aging physiology.
That's a fact of life whether I like it or not. All the pb's which at the time of their making I assumed would be beaten, will never be. I had a 'speed' peak as a runner (1997/98) and it's gone. And it ain't coming back.
Within two or three years of a performance I think it's possible to use the information which at that time, worked. But only up to a point. A decade on, there's a whole different you to work with. That's because every cell in your body is different from the cells ten years before.
It's taken a couple of decades to realise training is only as valid as a moment in time - which is today.
🙂
Hardly surprising really. I'd let things slip diet wise during the summer and ended up adding a few pounds of flab. Back on the regime, I've cut out all junk food and convinced the old bod I'm not starving. I eat a lot but exercise more. How about four or five hours per day on the bike indoor or out?
It works. From 138lb's down to 126lb's. Technically speaking I could knock off another 6lb's. Since hill climbing on the bike is my department, it has to be worth the effort. It'll take at least six more weeks to get there
https://www.strava.com/activities/4331623599
🙂