Training Log Archive: Lexc

Easy pentlands :) pretty windy!! And wet but a nice temperature.

East district XC 1 - Stirling.

Wtf where did that come from. Rule - if I complain about being slow, tell me to shut up. Clearly taking every session to literally rather than looking at the overall picture!

Anyways, onto the race write up. Had a plan, Stirling, that’s my home race pretty much. Been running it since way back when. Knew that the primary aim for the race should be not to pop to early, and to use the hills and the turns to my advantage.

Started steady but slow. Letting the faff of the front pack sort itself and sitting just off them. Got into a couple of mini battles with some guys who kept overtaking me on the flat, then when the hills came, I’d catch them on the climb and drop them on the down. Keeping the effort easy and comfortable, and also safe away from the fighting going on with the front pack.

First lap ended and I was feeling good, kicked on from the boys who kept annoying me and overtaking me - see you later boys - it’s been fun. Jack was about 20m ahead at this point and used him as a marker to try reel in. Got onto the back of Aberdeen, passed him on a nice descent and suddenly bam, on the back of Jack and a Central boy. Kept the momentum from the descent and kicked up the hill, goodbye Central. Hit the last lap and Jack was still sticking in pretty well - a couple of little climbs and a burst and I just got a little gap, time to try keep the gas on.

Was struggling pretty hard by this point but needed to keep the pace good to keep away from Jack, was hurting quite a lot by this point! The good news was that James Donald had been dropped by the front group and was in the middle of no mans land and struggling quite hard - tried to forget about Jack, still really close behind, and focus on reeling in James. Finally got onto his back just before the last two key climbs - tried to burst past him hard on this and it seemed to work. He had a lot of support on the top of the hill though and came back quite strong - had to well and truely put the burners on on the final descent and climb to get the important gap on him.

Just about managed it, could see the fastest Aberdeen guy ahead and was pushing hard to try catch but just didn’t quite have enough in me to get him properly. Stayed about 10m ahead of me and when I looked behind and sensed some fresh air and a nice gap I took the mentally weak option and chilled out.

Still, jobs a good one, really fun, really good race and positive feeling. Happy with that bring on the rest! Finished 6th, about a minute behind the winner (Ali Hay) and improved on my time from two years ago by about 1min30s, or 10s quicker per kilometre. Nice!

Eaaaasy peasy nice miles with a squad

Easy to GYM then to FWTN then home.
Started hard on FWTN but once the initial pace had died down I eased off slightly to stick to my plan. Ran a wee bit longer today than anticipated so will cut tomorrow slightly.

beef

Little bit of hills with the boys.

Interesting.

So the previous fitness that was possibly beginning to show at relays - is it fact or is it fiction? That’s the question. I don’t know.

The planned session was:
3km @3:10/km (rec, 1km @3:40/km)
2km @3:10/km (rec, 1km @3:40/km)
1km @3:10/km (rec, 1km @3:40/km)
1km @3:10/km (rec, 1km @3:40/km)

I managed the first rep, survived the first recovery, started the second rep and there was nothing, couldn’t get up to speed. Was running in no mans land, jack caught, ran with me and then I popped, bailed to a nearby bench. Sat down, saw Oskar coming by, got up, joined in, slowly faded, popped, sat down again.

Contemplated what this meant. I’ve been feeling on the edge of illness but am I still just on the edge? I think the answer is I’m not ‘that’ fit. Training has been purposely irratic recently, I’m just beginning my training plan now. Don’t want to pop like last season in February, I want to build into the season nicely, hit form right at the end when the races actually matter. Also I needed a bit of time to get a lot of bad running and training out of my legs post JWOC and needed time to refocus.

This is stage 1, the start of rebuilding. Trying go straight in with stage 3 boys who are aiming for Leeds 10k and Liverpool all in the next month or so wasn’t ideal, they’re on a different level currently! Was running with the haries as all the orienteers are broken post skyline, next week will definitely be back with them.

C • hard luck 2

Easy morning with Tim x

Pre and post gym combineddd

Gyyym started the real stuff now.