July 1st – July 7th
Mon: 66 mins. Complete. 14km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/11784460559
Tue: 15 min WU, 5 x 400 @ 90 (30/90) 4-6 x 1k @ 3:40 (60), 15 min CD. Skipped, ran easy, not feeling good. 9km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/11791613837
Wed: 60 min. Complete. 13km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/11800156594
Thur: 15 min WU, 15 min @ sub T (90) + 4 x 4 min @ threshold (60), 15 min CD. Complete. 15 mins 3:41 pace. 3:32, 3:29, 3:27 and 3:25 for four mins. Felt good motoring. 15.63km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/11809006192
Fri: off
Sat: 15 min WU, 3 x (5 x 400 @ 80 (30)) (90 between sets), 15 min CD. Complete. Windy and in park beside Track. 15.62km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/11819922681
Sun: 80 min easy. Complete. 18km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/11827953195
July 8th – July 14th
Mon: 35 min easy + 5 x 15 sec strides + 5 min.
Complete. Double. 5.42km at lunch and 8.66km (35mins + strides) in evening. 14.08km total.
https://www.strava.com/activities/11836831238
https://www.strava.com/activities/11839148835
Tue: 15 min WU, 5 x 400 @ 90 (30/90) 5-6 x 1k @ 3:40 (60), 15 min CD. Complete. All as prescribed. Twas lovely. 15.44km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/11848018668
Wed: 60 min easy.
Complete.49 minutes (stuck for time). 10.35km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/11855841765
Thur: 15 min WU, 3 x 10 min @ sub T (90), 15 min. Complete on Friday as took Thursday off. . 2.72km, 2.72km and 2.73km for reps. 15.22km total.https://www.strava.com/activities/11871118058
Fri: off
Sat: 100min (steady from 50-75 min).
Complete. Steady section 3:47ish. 23.86km total.
https://www.strava.com/activities/11887065917
Sun: 30 min.
Complete Saturday. 33 mins. 7.13km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/11875747107
Post race, this week was about consolidating and recovering. When I woke up on Sunday, my groins were in a jocker but, otherwise, the body felt good. The groins were giving me bother for a couple of days but, come Wednesday, they were back to normal. I came down with a bit of a bug on Tuesday so ran easy and felt the better for it on Wednesday.
Thursday July 4th was a big day for sub-threshold work and a big day for America. Up the Yanks. A lot of the work I will be doing over the next few months will be below threshold and we began in the Phoenix Park on Thursday. The reps will get longer as the training block ticks along but I felt good throughout. The short 4 minute quicker reps after help in keeping some speed in the legs during the marathon training.
Speaking of speed, I spent Saturday been blown around Griffeen Park doing 3 x (5 x 400m). Paces were all over the shop because of the circuitous and hilly (up and down!) route so did my best to not burst a lung and considered each rep where that didn’t happen a success. The wind was the main factor here, though, and was happy to get away with my life. Not having a specific race in the short term does reduce the anxiety of hitting these 400s bang on pace.
Sunday was a lonely, mid morning 80 minutes where nothing happened. Twice. I seem to have memory holed this run and can’t for the life of me remember anything to distinguish it. I do know it happened and I do know it was 18km with approx 90 metres of elevation. I will also hope that there is a positive training impact from it. But maybe we will never know.
What I do know is that I have begun to suffer from some low level intermittent arse pain. I have a dull feeling right below my right arse cheek that makes my leg feel like it is in a power deficit when I am walking or jogging, but doesn’t present itself as an issue when I am running fast. It is not something that I am too concerned about, and it does not feel like an acute strain due to the dull, dead feeling when it comes on, so for now I am focusing on focusing on it, and being extra diligent when it comes to foam rolling. I will reintroduce some leg bridges as part of my post easy run routine and hopefully that’ll nip it in the bud. Concern levels right now are a 1/10 but feel free to quote this back to me when I don’t make the start line of Dublin Marathon.
With all that said, I had a thoroughly enjoyable session on Tuesday. 5 x 400m to prime the legs and then into 6 x 1K. I took to the Acres on this wet, miserable Tuesday afternoon and was the only person there, which is a rarity. There was no wind and it was quite warm so the mix of driving rain and humid mist was a welcome addition to the session. As with the previous week, the reps were not too quick (the K repeats being slower and with less volume than previously) so there was no point during the session where I was under any pressure. Sometimes you can forget (or at least I forget) that sessions are meant to be done, meant to be completed, meant to be banked and they do not have to be anaerobically taxing. When the warm down post session does not solely consist of a time watching slow death march to hell, it is a good day.
Wednesday was an easy 49 minutes and I took an impromptu day off on Thursday to rest my arse. This was precautionary due to the small discomfort I was feeling and I was good to go again on Friday, where I went to the track for 3 x 10 min @ sub-threshold. I changed the watch so my data screens where just showing heart rate and time so I could keep track of the effort and an eye on the laps. I was delighted when each 10 minute rep rounded out at nearly bang on 2.72km and I was positively bouncing around the track. As with the previous week, these efforts are not too taxing in terms of pace and, while I am building volume, they are short enough to not be uncomfortable in the body. I initially was quite hesitant with seeing the first few weeks of this marathon block, thinking that the volume and paces were short and soft respectively, but as I am going on I can definitely feel the positives of it and I do know myself that I am in no rush. The big days will come.
And the big days (sort of) started on Sunday with 100 minutes (50 easy, 25 steady, 25 easy). I was spectating at the Fingal 10K on Sunday morning so I put off the run until the afternoon, when the mercury was hitting 20 and all that was in my stomach was a bagel, a banana and two coffees. I was rushing around for most of the morning and nutrition got away from me but I was still really excited for this run. I put on some old marathon shoes that don’t have much pop left in them but have decidedly more than my easy running shoes. A welcome treat of a Sunday. I kept the route hilly in the Phoenix Park and started the steady portion near Castleknock. I felt great during this and averaged around 3:47 per K for the 25 minutes but by the end I was pretty overheated and took a minute before doing the 25 minute cool down. I felt a little cooked during the cool down but I feel comfortable attributing this to the heat and not the session itself. The data on the watched showed I was working harder than the perceived effort but I am happy to say that this was a steady effort and not above threshold.
This coming week will feature some new locations as I am going to Rosslare for the weekend and, owing to some life events occurring after 5pm midweek, I will potentially be doing some sessions during my lunch break from work. Will it be the treadmill? Or will it be the Croppy Acre? Contain your excitement; for time will tell.
Buckets of Rain 