Rebuilding

So quite scarily 2015 is now upon us, and once again I must apologise for the lapse in my blogging. The main reason for this has unfortunately been due to injury and I didn’t think that a mopy post about how I couldn’t run would be either interesting or exciting! Luckily I now seem to be on the mend and although feeling quite unfit I have been able to run for the last three weeks, albeit at a much reduced volume. The plan now is, just as the title of this post suggests, to steadily build my training back up again, with a longer term view of being in the best possible shape for the BUCS Outdoor Champs in early May. More immediately however I’ll be competing in the South West XC Champs on the 4th of Jan which should give me a nice indicator of where I’m at in terms of race fitness. From there I think it’ll just be a matter of getting in the miles and using the huge number of races that there are at this time of the year to drag me back to my peak. Anyhow, we’ll see how it goes, and here’s to 2015 being another fantastic year!

15/12/14

Monday- AM Gym, PM 30 mins on treadmill at 6:00/mile + 10 mins on cross trainer

Tuesday- AM Gym, PM 30 mins on treadmill at 5:50/mile + 10 mins on cross trainer

Wednesday- 30 mins on treadmill at 6:00/mile

Thursday- 10 mins @6:00/mile, 20@5:30/mile, 10@6:00/mile on treadmill

Friday- AM Gym, PM 7.2 miles steady

Saturday- Rest

Sunday- Rest

29 miles total

22/12/14

Monday- 3.7 miles steady

Tuesday- 8x50s hills with jog back recovery

Wednesday- 25 minutes steady + 4x10s hill sprints

Thursday- steady run including 4x90s hills with jog back recovery

Friday- 35 minutes steady

Saturday- 5×2 minutes uphill with 60s recovery

Sunday- Rest

31 miles total

29/12/14

Monday- AM 30 minutes steady, PM 25 minutes easy

Tuesday- 5×3 minutes with 60s recovery

Wednesday- AM 40 minutes steady, PM 30 minutes easy

Thursday- New years day “Brown Willy Run” which I treated as a long tempo run (~7 miles)

Friday- Rest

Saturday- 40 minutes easy + drills and strides

Sunday- South West XC Champs

56 miles total

Thursday-

The streak of good races had to end somewhere I suppose!

So after months ago deciding to make the Euro XC Trials my main focus for the Autumn, when it finally came around I had a shocker of a race! To start off with everything was going to plan. Never one for fast starts I managed to get off the line in a reasonable position, and over the next lap and a half I steadily progressed through the field. I was picking off quite a few good scalps but when it really started to hurt, at the beginning of the third and final lap, my head just wasn’t quite in it. I knew I still had more to give, but I had begun to daydream, and in such competitive race I soon started to drift back down the field. It got to the point where I just didn’t care that known rivals were continuously passing me. I’d run out of fight and simply wanted to get to the finish line. I reckon I lost at least 30 places on that last lap which gave me a final position of 82nd. Certainly not the sort of result I was looking for (or expected!) going into the race.

Although I definitely did not give a full account of myself in the race, I also feel I’ve lost a little of the fitness that I had a few weeks ago. It’s been four weeks since my last real good week of training (89 miles), with hamstring troubles, recovering from the Leeds 10K and then not wanting to do too much before Liverpool resulting in a meagre weekly average of 50 miles for the last month. And unfortunately it wasn’t just mileage I was lacking, but also any truly good quality sessions.

However now it’s time to move on! Although I do have a couple of races left before the new year, Liverpool was the last “big one” and to be honest I’m very glad. I’ve got about an eight week gap now until the next serious competition (the BUCS XC Champs), and I’m really looking forward to getting back to the grindstone and getting in some good consistent weeks of training. 2014 was a fantastic year in terms of my running and I far exceeded my own high expectations. The most exciting part for me is that I know I still have a lot more progress I can make!

Not going too badly at this point! (1056)

17/11/14

Monday- AM 6 miles easy, PM 5 miles easy
Tuesday- AM 6 miles easy, PM 3x (60, 45, 30s hills) with jog back and and 90s recovery
Wednesday- 6 miles easy
Thursday- AM 2×600, 200m, PM 9 miles easy
Friday- Rest
Saturday- 7 miles easy
Sunday- AM 3×6 mins tempo with 90s recovery, PM 7 miles easy

62 miles total

24/11/14

Monday- AM 6 miles easy, PM 6 miles including 4x10s hill sprints
Tuesday- AM 4 miles easy, PM 6x400m with 60s recovery
Wednesday- 6 miles easy
Thursday- 8 miles easy including strides
Friday- 3 miles with drills and strides
Saturday- Euro Trials
Sunday- 14 miles very easy

60 miles total