Thursday, December 22, 2011

Time to dial it down and listen

As I feared, efforts to build up distance have not been viewed favourably by my body. I did a 'long run' on Sunday of 14.2K around Mt Ainslie (shhhh don't tell anyone I ignored those signs ....). It wasn't a flash pace ~6min/K and the last few Ks were a bit of a challenge.  Sleep quality wasn't good on Sunday night, so Monday was a day off. Despite that day off, I knew straight away when I started my run on Tuesday, that it wasn't going to be a good one. I wouldn't describe it as feeling like it did during my time with iron deficiency, but there was definite tiredness and fatigue. Tuesday was a scheduled intervals day, so after a 3K warm up jog I gave some 400m intervals a go. These were slower than recent weeks and I also cut the number short doing 6 instead of 8 as they were really tough going.

Bring on Thursday and it seems that listening to the body pays off. I took Wednesday off and had a great Thurs run. It was the usual Little Black Mountain Loop from work - 9.2 K. Today it was run as a LT/aerobic run and without really trying it was 2.5 mins quicker than the best time I've had for that circuit. Hence, I am optimistic that with some careful 'dialing' progress will continue to be in the forward direction.

Latest training:
Saturday - 300m hill intervals x 5; 200m x 1; 100m x 1 (the last intended 300m interval got divided up!)
Sunday - 14.2K long run at easy pace
Monday - day off
Tuesday - 6 x 400m; 99, 94, 96, 95, 95, 94 (1 -1.5 min passive recovery/rep)- aborted intended session of 8 reps
Wednesday - day off, unable to run @ lunch time and based on Tues thought another day off might be beneficial.
Thursday - 9.2K as a LT/aerobic run around the Little Black Mountain loop 6 min/K pace (15 sec/K quicker than recent efforts)


Here's a link to a video I made of the Runner's Shop 3000m Track Classic for ACT Masters Athletes.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xn5ekz_runners-shop-3000m-track-classic_sport



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5 comments:

  1. I'm going to write something because Google have let me, finally. Rest does cure, and listening to your head instead of your heart may help. Ease back during the break, hopefully the new year will be a good one.

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  2. Thanks Steve. Yes I will take it a bit easier over the break. 2010 and 2011 weren't very good years so it's time for a good one :o). I hope 2012 is great year for you too.

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  3. I won't tell anyone... I can't - they're all at church!

    You did well with the dialing. That's always a tough call - there's a plan, which you want to follow, but on a particular day the body says you can't do such-and-such a session. Listening to it and making appropriate adjustments is one of the big secrets.

    P.S. In future I'm only going to run races you're in. Don't want Jim White outsprinting me at the end of a 3000 immortalised on celluloid.

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  4. Hey ET, I only ever set foot in a church if it's for a wedding and even then I feel like such a hypocrite ;).

    I do like running to a plan. A lack of plan means lots of aimless running that doesn't necessarily achieve much. I don't like showing up to a training session not knowing what's going on. Yes, many coaches advise starting your session and then dialing it down if the body doesn't feel right. I've started some sessions thinking it won't be good and then surprised myself. But yeah, others have clearly needed some adjustment.

    You have now set me a challenge to seek you out and capture you on film .... you can run but you cannot hide ;).

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  5. Yes, give me a wedding in a park with a celebrant for relaxation. I set foot in quite a few on our US/Canada trip (for the architecture). The Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal is amazing.

    I was the 1970 Wagga hide and seek champion so I wouldn't bet on that.

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