August 26th – September 1st
Mon: 40 min easy + 5 x 15 sec strides + 5 min.
Complete (didn’t do strides). 11.39km
https://www.strava.com/activities/12247703152
Tue: 20 min WU, 7 x mile @ 5:40-45 (75), 20 min CD.
Complete. Skipped last rep as tired, hot and calf sore. 5:34, 5:40, 5:40, 5:40, 5:39 and 5:38. 17.07km total.
https://www.strava.com/activities/12257723083
Wed: 90 min easy.
Complete on Thursday. 84 mins. Calf felt ok. 17.78km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/12275272913
Thur: 20 min WU, 3 x 12 min @ 3:50 km pace (min float ), 20min CD. Complete. Reps at 3:49, 3:47 and 3:44. Calf felt ok, not 100%. 17.53km total.
https://www.strava.com/activities/12283133180
Fri: OFF. Rest day moved to Wednesday to rest calf.
Sat: AM: 30 min PM: 30 min.
Complete for AM. 6.02km. Skipped PM.
https://www.strava.com/activities/12287217844
Sun: 2 hours 15 min ( steady from 60 min-2 hours/ practice gels or drinks). Complete. 60 easy (13.87k)
60 steady (10k – 40:05, 5k – 18:50). 31.88km total.
https://www.strava.com/activities/12296112293
A sore calf; an arthritic toe; a random flare up of gout on my left foot; tiredness. It is the marathon season and, with it, an all manner of things to fuck with the body and mind. There were times during this week where I felt like I was hanging on by a thread and then thriving on some of the best fitness I’ve had in a while. The irrationality of the long distance runner has come to the fore.
The week started pretty well with an easy run around Lucan with Barry. He was off the back of a big session/random race so was looking for nothing more than a trot – a request to which I duly obliged. This would set me up nicely for my session on Tuesday. I had noted here a few weeks ago about my right toe being sore and that had subsided for the most part but it did rear it’s ugly head again this week when I was having some pain in my left calf. This manifested itself initially during the 7 x 1 mile session on Tuesday that quickly became 6 x 1 mile due to the calf pain. It was also a scorching hot evening, which didn’t help things. My pacing was a little off and I felt myself running too fast even though I was struggling. Ultimately, I called it early and this was mainly to do with the calf pain. The pain came on slowly and was a 6/10 by the end of the 6th mile and a solid 8/10 when I finished the ill advised cool down. It was hurting to even walk on it so I moved my rest day from Friday to Wednesday to hopefully be in good shape to keep training.
I spent all of Wednesday doing calf raises on random ledges, stairs and curbs in an effort to quicken the recovery. I have no doubt this huge influx in calf raises did nothing for the calf itself but it was great for the brain rot. Come Thursday evening, I was able to run 84 minutes in the park without any real calf issue. I spent the entirety of the easy run waiting for the pain to kick in and thankfully it never came. I considered this a sign from the God’s to plough on ahead and session on Friday, a light enough sub-threshold session in preparation for Sunday’s long run. Aerobically, I felt great for this whole run with the obvious caveat that the pace was relatively chill for 12 minute reps. The calf did start to give me a bit of bother throughout but never enough to contemplate stopping. There wasn’t much pain, per se, but a level of discomfort that means you’re checking your stride to alleviate that discomfort. I finished up and was worried that I would need to take another day off running; or worse and shelve the long run on Sunday. Saturday was an easy double so I made peace with testing the calf on the morning run and making a call then. I ran 6k around Lucan village and had no reaction but I was still tentative about Saturday. Fortunately, I didn’t have to do too much bargaining with myself and just said fuck it, I’m doing the long run. This wouldn’t be usual for me as I would be well known as being conservative with these decisions but I felt that the time is nigh to get this shit going.
Long runs wait for no man – and neither does Barry. Two men both known to never compromise somehow found common ground to match up long runs on a Sunday. Part of his run was too slow for me; part of his run was too fast for me. We did the best we could and met in the middle, which equated to 15k or so of the run. I set out on my own for an easy hour before meeting Barry for the cut down. I was paying attention to the time more so than pace and distance and the kilometres kept ticking off quicker than I expected, ranging from 4:10 – 4:20. The caveat here being that I had a pair of the Puma Fast-R Nitro carbon plate shoes on my feet which definitely made the easy portion easier. I stayed around the top of the Phoenix Park where it is most flat for this portion as Barry and I had planned to hit some hills for the steadier portion. I circled back to the meeting point to collect Barry and we both arrived at the same time. A quick loop of the cars for water and we split the watches and were on our way for the 10k steady portion at approx 4:05’s. Barry and I had joked about leaving one or the other behind if we were late but, in truth, this was never going to happen. I am never late. Barry is never late. There was one time when I was meeting him in Clontarf, at a place he did not know, and his phone died on the way over and he didn’t know where he was our where to meet me and he still arrived 5 minutes early.
Back to the run – we set off down Chesterfield Avenue and settled into a pretty good rhythm. The steady pace for me is being able to chat for a couple minutes but needing to take a talk break on the hills. This is what we wanted and this is what we got. The 10k portion flew by and we were back at the cars in 40:05 and ready for the cut down. I was going to do 5K at around 3:50’s and we came in a little quicker than that with the 5K being 18:50. This section was a bit more forgiving as we looped the Acres twice and again found a good rhythm with each other. The last mile was a bit of a drag for me but I think that was mainly because I knew the end was in sight. Breaking up the long runs into sections like this (easy, steady, a little quicker) plays wonders on the head as it negates you focusing on the overall distance you are running for the day and breaks it down into tangible, achievable goals throughout the run. Once the 5K section was done, I bid Barry adieu as he finished his final 5K.
I did a 3K cool down and assessed the body. The calf gave me no bother; I had no issue with the toe; the gout was gone; I was not tired (I was sort of tired). The start of the week was but a distant memory and all of a sudden it felt like a great week of training banked. Due to the nature of the calf pain, I would not say I’m out of the woods with it yet but I am confident enough to keep a full training schedule up until the point where I need to adjust. The week after next is a big one with two races – a 5K in Dublin City and a half marathon in Ratoath. You don’t like these races then neither do I!
Buckets of Rain 