Tuesday 30 October 2012

29 Oct - Gym & Run

20 minute run in the morning followed by:

Evening:

8 min warm up on X-trainer

20 mins at 14-15 (260 - 310 watts)

3 * 20 of:

Cross body pull
body twist
weighted stomach crunch
lunges
single leg squats
leg squats
hip flexor

plank - 2 * 1 min
side plank - 4 * 30 seconds

27 Oct - The Gibb

3 mile run to set up some of the course, nice and slow.

5 mile Gibb cup.

Went off relatively hard with Stuart, Jason and Rich Phillips. Feeling fairly on the limit but no where near out of control. Stuart went off with Richard on the Valley bottom, I felt that Jason is always the better pacer and so I would rely on him to pace me up the hill and then we would reel them back in.

Felt fine up the hill and as the gradient reduced I realised that Jason was not on form, at this point we had allowed about 150m to develop, I realised my mistake just before John Mattison and upped the pace dropping Jason.

Felt strong and relaxed and so opened up the pace to try and reduce the gap. By the end of the ploughed field the gap was down to about 100m and I was still feeling OK.

Maintained pace up through the woods to the tea rooms and got the gap to about 75m. Off the tope of the tea rooms I opened everything up and went way over threshold witht he view to holding a 5 minute effort (as practiced in training sessions lately). I kept reducing the gap but was fighting into a horrendous headwind, Stuart was behind Richard ahead and so I knew I was fighting a losing battle.

Managed to reduce the gap to about 40m by the end.

Very cross with myself, I made the wrong tactical decision, I have definitely learnt that I can maintain a higher pace than I first thought, the key is to start off slower and build into my pace. Also an easy pace on the hills allows me to run much harder off the top.

3rd palce (2nd SLH)
27.45 mins (12 secs behind Stuart)

Was a minute quicker than last year when the ground was completely dry, so very pleased with that.

Friday 26 October 2012

25 Oct - Run

Slow jog up to Riddlesdown

Stretch

Jog back.

ITB not too bad, prob running for 35 minutes so pretty pleased with this.

24 Oct - Gym

Run to the gym (1.5 miles)

3 * 20 of:

cross overs,
tricep pull down,
upper body twist
One arm pull
full body lift dumbells
bicep curls
hip flexor
chest fly
3 minutes of plank


Run home (1.5 miles)

Wednesday 24 October 2012

23 Oct - Run (mile reps)

SLH session at Silverlane (from Woodcote Green).

1.5 mile warm up

4 * 1 mile reps with 2 minutes recovery:

5.01 mins, 4.50 mins, 4.55 mins, 4.58 mins

Went with Stuart and beat him on each, feeling strong.

1.5 mile warm down.

ITB tight as usual but no worse.

Tuesday 23 October 2012

22 Oct - Gym

25 mins on X-Trainer (15 mins at 260 watts)

3 * 20 of:

single leg squats (max 12.5kg each arm)
lunges (max 12.5kg each arm)
deadlift squat (max 45kg)
hip flexor
bicep curl
straight arm front lift

8 minutes of various plank.

Tough session.

Monday 22 October 2012

21st Oct - Run

Morning XC run with Kirsty, recovery run more than anything, ITB still playing up but not horrendous. about 4 miles.

20 Oct - Surrey League 1 - Roehampton

ITB been bad lately so fairly dubious.

Warmed up one lap at walking and slow running pace (40 mins) 4km
Few strides and some stretching closer to the start.

Found this really helped my nerves and preparation to get away from the crowds, plus useful to have a practice run of the course.

Course was extremely muddy for 50% and gravel for 50%.

Went off reasonably easy, found my own pace/rythm which felt OK, behind pat and Kristian. Allowed my legs to build into it and started to open up a bit on the flat gravel, all felt really good. Found I was a very comfortable tired, especially on the hills, leg strength work is definitely working.

Was around 40th at the halfway mark but felt good and strong with breathing relatively under control. One thing to think about is that I got more out of breath on the downhill, perhaps implying I could work on efficient running downhill.

Second half I kept strong and steady on the uphill and then really opened the stride on the flat, cadence felt good and form, just slightly droppped onto my heels but I think this was mainly because of the spiks on the gravel was painful on the feet.

Final 1km was downhill and I really opened it up on this. Caught Will Cockerall and Ben Paviour right at the end, I have never beaten either of these before.

20th Overall.

Extremely pleased with the race, although place is not the best there were 6 kent in the top ten which technically makes me close to equivalent 14th. Going to carry on with the strength work and up the mileage on the mud. My most enjoyable race to date.

17 Oct - Gym

1 hour session

Run there
X-trainer w/u
Various legs and upper body.
Run back

16 Oct - Run

Session with SLH round woodcote green

2 mile w/u

2 * 6 * 300m (100m recovery)

First 6 were at 49-51 seconds

Second 6 were:  48, 47, 46, 45, 45, 45

Jog back to the clubhouse.

ITB felt a bit crap today, jog home helped but then tight.

Monday 15 October 2012

15 Oct - X trainer

Run to gym (1 mile)

5 min w/u

40 mins max effort, couldnt get going today, average was around 210 watts (compared to 230-240). Final 5 mins was between 290 and 350 watts.

5 min w/d

Run home (1 mile)

Morning hard sessions do not suit me, going to use the am for longer runs and easy recovery runs (not efforts).

13 Oct - Bike - ACC

Ride with ACC.

Went out with training group but not feeling it and ITB tight so backed off and waited for group behind. 20mph group, sat on the back with Iliya and was able to chat, felt strong and easy.

Back via boxhill so total distance around 65 miles

11th Oct - X Trainer

Run to gym (1 mile)

5 min warm up easy

40 mins at max effort, kept resistance at 13 for first 25 mins and was able to increase power to close to 240, then upped to 14, lost power and cadence. final 5 min blast at 15.

5 min w/d

Run home (1 mile)

Wednesday 10 October 2012

9 Oct - Gym and running

Gym

10 min rowing warm up
Various upper body and core strength exercises for 1 hour.


Run

Session with SLH.

1.7 mile run easy

2 * 1km efforts @ 2.56 with 150m recovery

4 min rest

2 * 1km efforts @  2.56 and 2.45 with 150m recovery

1.7 mile easy run home.

Missed the middle set but very pleased to be running at all, total distance covered was around 10km, ITB very very slightly tight but has had a hard time lately so hopefully not too much of a problem. Day off tomo.

8 Oct - Gym and X-trainer

X Trainer

10 min warm up
40 mins max effort - ave HR 180bpm, held at resistance 15 for 20 mins, then 14 for rest with 7 more mins of 15. Really suffered.
5 min warm down

Gym

Usual legs etc.

6th Oct - Gym

50 minute Gym session, legs, all feeling OK.

Friday 5 October 2012

4 Oct - X Trainer and Run

10 min warm up slowly increasing resistance.

40 mins at full effort. Average heart rate 183 bpm, 14 resistance (upped to 15 between 27 and 35 mins)

Really suffered.

5 min warm down.


Running

Run with SLH at Ullswater. jogged there with ITB slightly tight. loosened up and so decided to give a couple of reps a go.

Long route: 4.05 mins, 3.50 mins (first with Stuart, second 15 seconds ahead)

Had much more in the tank but decided to take it while I could, no itb issues.

3 Oct - Swim

200m w/u

3 * 2 * 50m kicking only (front and back)

100m - 1.40 mins
200m
300m
400m - 6.45 mins
300m
200m
100m - 1.30 mins

100m w/d

Wednesday 3 October 2012

2 Oct - X Trainer and Bike

Trip to the gym. All on X-Trainer.

10 mins building from resistance level 8 to 14.

40 mins tempo effort with high resistance, summarised below:

10 mins @ 14 (175bpm average)
10 mins @ 14 (180bpm average)
8 mins @ 14 (180bpm average)
7 mins @ 15 (182bpm average)
5 mins at 14 (185bpm average)

10 min warm down at 10-6 resistance

A really really killer session. The resistance level was very high so more focused on strength endurance.

3 * 2 * 20 hip abductors weighted

Bike

Cycled out to SLH run session. 6 * 1.20 mins hill efforts on web estate, feeling good.

Tuesday 2 October 2012

1 Oct - Gym

ITB still tight after running less than 1km on Sunday (30 Sept).

Down to the gym for GYM SESSION 1.

1 hour 45 minutes non stop of legs and core. slightly increased weights lifted and felt a little easier this week.

Monday 1 October 2012

29 Sept - Bike

Missed ACC so went out on my own.

Reigate, Brockham, Box Hill, Tadworth.

35 miles, average 19-20mph

No ITB and right leg was definitely tracking better.

N.B.

Ran around 1km on the following day flat out and ITB immediately flared up, unsure why but will ignore it.

28 Sept - Swim

SLH swimming session, shoulders were in bits from Wednesday and so took it fairly easy (7 out of 10). around 2.5km.

27 Sept - Core and conditioning

Training session at happy valley,

10 * walking steep hill climb, trying to improve hip strength uphill and foot speed on descent.

45 mins of various core work and squats etc.

Finished with 5 * 30 seconds foot speed work, really tough.