Training Log Archive: ColmM

Event: St. Patrick's Weekend Sprint/Middle
 

Long run.
Got James out, and headed up to Fairy castle, and then back via kilmashogue and marlay park.
Good run, endurance is good. Feeling strong.

Hill reps session on Three Rock.
4 * 5mins, 100m climb.
The classic strength building hill session. Would like to do this once more actually before the JK.
The reps generally take me around 6mins, but they used to take Aonghus around 5. That's serious going.
James and eoinmcc joined me out for company. Both running well. Eoin was a little ahead of myself and James, who were together, but on the last one they had an extra gear.
Times: 5:54, 5:57, 6:04, 6:06.

Felt better than last time, but it didn't show times-wise. Still, felt quite strong, and definitely less wrecked afterwards than last time.

Maybe unnecessary, but sticking to this one a week rule I suppose. Lots of work to do anyway.

Intervals.
5* 1km, rest seemed short enough too. Rathfarnham WSAF.
I was a little late and most were doing 6, but suited me alright.
Felt empty right from the start, and figured this would be a struggle of a session. Possibly last night's 400s, but I didn't think they really affected my legs.
Ran with the masters, and lead reps 1 and 2 by myself. Rep 3 Jack lead most, which was good and got me going a bit. Ran with one of the seniors on number 4 too which kept the pace high. But back leading the masters on 5 meant the pace dropped a bit again.
Inconsistent times, but I didn't really mind. Really nice to see these sorts of times again, it's been too long, especially on what felt like an off-day. Might yet be able to give my speed a turn for the better.
Times: 3:29, 3:23, 3:13, 3:16, 3:23.

Jogged back by Jack McL's house just to catch up, and do a longer-ish warm-up.

Winter Training Review

26 weeks, 182 days, 6 months, ½ year.
208 hours: 125.5hrs Running (60.5%), 69.5hrs Orienteering (33.5%), 12.5hrs Gym (6.0%). + 40hrs cycling (commuting), not included.
1846km: 1335km Running (72.3%), 511km Orienteering (27.7%).

Running: 125h 42mins, 1335km, 13100m climb, average pace: 5:39/km.
Orienteering: 69h 34mins, 511.2km, 14190m climb, average pace: 8:10/km.

Average hours per month / week / day: 34.67hrs / 8.0hrs / 1hr 8mins.
Average kilometres per month / week / day: 307.67km / 71.0km / 10.14km.

16 long runs (2hrs+). ~ 3 every 5 weeks, so slightly over 1 every 2 weeks.

A quick winter training review I've been meaning to do for the past couple of weeks, now that I've finished my base training for the year.
I started my winter training very early, and had a much longer period of winter training then most orienteers usually would. This was solely due to me starting so far behind, with a lot of endurance to catch up.

The training has had definite ups and downs. Missing a week and a half of complete training for exams in December was less than ideal, making it easily the lowest month volume-wise. Otherwise, the training has been relatively consistent, with some niggles in September the only other small factor. Some periods also bettered others just because sometimes I was more up for it.

Overall, in the sense of fitness and history wise at least, this winter training has gone well. I am fitter than ever before, and I feel much more consistent physically. I have rarely had those races where you're just not able for it. My endurance has definitely improved a lot, and I am stronger than before, having noticed my ability to push through tough terrain improve a lot. Also, despite having had some decent training blocks before, this has definitely been the best, and that in itself makes it a good winter's training.

There are negatives though. It has still been a bit less than I would like, and some minor inconsistencies have irritated me slightly. Following an 11hr week with a 4hr week almost feels like it defeats the purpose, and some of my weeks were unnecessarily easy. Even now, despite planning a drop in volume, laziness essentially, has resulted in a much bigger drop than planned. While my volume hasn't been bad, especially considering I only run / orienteer and do some gym work, I would still have liked it to be a bit higher / a bit more. Due to a lack of speed work too, which I will be working over the next few weeks, I am still lacking a lot in the speed department. It shows particularly with the athletics guys, and it will need to be better in the future if I'm to come forward physically. I have considered more athletics training next year, but we'll see.

All of this in general should hopefully be invaluable information for the seasons to come. And for sure, I have at least set a good base for training this year and next winter towards Scotland.

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Speed intervals - 6 * 400m (1:45min rest).
Went down to the dodder to do a fast session.
I need more of the particularly sharp stuff, so I wanted to run fast.
Quickly realised I wouldn't keep the pace if I did 6, and re-evaluated to 4. Halfway through 3 though I could tell my heart was rocketing and I decided to finish on 3, despite still holding the pace, and probably could have managed to keep it for number 4 anyway.
Short session, but no issue, this was all about quality. Too short to be tough on the legs too, which is good.
Long recovery to make it more about pure leg speed. Hope to do a bit more of this.
Times: 65, 64, 64.