Since I ran 35.37 for 10k and 17.10 at parkrun I’ve been going through a bit of a mental and physical malaise. I’ve probably just lost my running mojo a little bit.
For me personally it’s probably more mental than physical. Just mental tiredness.
Its easy to forget the improvements you’ve made with your running over the last 12mths or whatever. But with that it’s easy to start getting unappreciative of what you’ve got and what you’ve achieved. They say you should celebrate your achievements. I think I’m guilty of not doing so. Because I feel I’m capable of so much more it’s sometimes difficult to take a step back and celebrate the successes along the journey.
But for whatever the reasons I’ve not been enjoying the runs and with that comes a bit of a slip in terms of discipline. Things like nutrition, hydration and other areas get sloppy and confidence starts to fade a little.
So this week I wanted to try to re-focus and not let things slip…
Training Diary
Monday
Plan – 45 min recovery
Ran a quite hard recovery with 6.9 miles in 45mins averaging 159bpm. Quite pacy and hoping it wouldn’t adversely impact the two nights of harder threshold running I had in the plan this week.
Tuesday
Plan – 45 min threshold
This was a gym treadmill session and to be fair it was very strong. From 30 minutes to 45 were tough as always but logged 7.8 miles with an average HR of 169bpm. Tough but good.
Wednesday
Plan – 45 min threshold
Busy at work with meetings and was out on the evening for a meal with colleagues so had to cut this down to a 5 minute warm up and warm down with a 20 minute threshold sandwiched in the middle.
Struggled pretty much from the off. I was using a 800m loop and it was pretty windy against on a ~200m incline on each lap. Stuck in but each mile got slower and ended with 3.4miles and an average HR of 169bpm.
On finishing I felt exhausted. Was disappointed but on reflection I’m running much faster (10-20s/mile) at a much lower HR (>10bpm lower) than June/July 2014.
Thursday
Plan – 50 min recovery
One of those weird runs where you feel like you are hitting the wall after about 20mins but then you realise your heart rate is very low (for me ~150-155bpm) and you are ticking off miles pretty sharply. And then after halfway all of a sudden I felt strong again. Overall ran 6.7 miles in 45mins at an average HR of only 151bpm.
Friday
Plan – rest
Rested up and tried to get in some sort of mood for a decent parkrun but in all honesty knew I wasn’t in the mood for a sub 17 attempt.
Saturday
Plan – Parkrun tempo
Got up and had a glass of beetroot juice. Decided not to have the recently customary shot of coffee.
Picked up Michael and made our way over to Riverside parkrun. Was glad to see it wasn’t as busy as last time. Overall was planning a different strategy. I was going to work with the Garmin with the plan to go through the first mile in 5.25-5.28 and then switch to heart rate and try to push to 185-190bpm to the end.
Got underway and deliberately didn’t go as hard as last time. As a result was hemmed in coming to the first corner. Got into 3rd place and checked the watch. I was around 5.30-5.35 miling. So I was aware I wasn’t quite on pace. The first mile was done in 5.34.
First mile...had a plan but not the motivation to carry it out...today
Unfortunately I wasn’t feeling it and ditched the plan to even look at my HR. Despite not feeling it I had 2nd place in sight so focussed on him and probably had him about 5 yards ahead coming along the river the second time. But the resurgence was short lived. I’d actually slow 10s/mile in the second mile and let him go third mile.
It was hurting. I tried to deal with that by deliberately smiling. It does help but didn’t help me speed up.
Clearly it was hurting today
Coming to the last half a mile I sensed 4th place was gaining on me. It was enough to help me hold on for an ok finish. The 3rd mile was done in 5.46 and managed a little spurt to finish in 17.24.
I was a little miffed with the run but then again it was a little lacklustre but still sub 17.30…
I just need a kick up the arse for the final push.
Sunday
Plan – Recovery Run 1hr 20
Woke up quite early. Could hear the wind and then the rain started against the window.
Strangely, rather than put me off I felt really up for it. Sent Michael a quick message and arranged to meet in 10-15 minutes.
Got suitably attired and headed down Kenton Lane. Michael said he had a good route for around 1hr 20mins and off we went. We chatted about the parkrun a day earlier. Michael had won in 16.35 and me 3rd in 17.24.
The miles were being ticked off easily. Some sections were particularly windy and rainy but I was loving every step.
We ended up running around the grounds of Newcastle racecourse which turns out to be a great place as the traffic is minimal.
We bumped into Ross Floyd of Morpeth who was doing a quick 30mins and was good to catch up.
Coming back for home I wasn’t sure how far we had ran. I said goodbye to Michael and had about a mile and a half for home… The 12th mile ticked off and I realised I was on for my longest ever run and also had the half marathon distance on so decided to do that.
I felt really strong and my last two miles were 6.20, 6.21 and heart rate was around 158-160bpm which is below top end of my recovery zone.
Ended up with 13.8 miles in 1hr 35. The HM was done in about 1hr 30. Felt like minimal effort and the kick up the arse I needed.
Time to get the finger out…
Weekly Totals
Running – 45 miles
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