Today's Training

[Travs]

First club night for a couple of weeks, and a warm one on the grass.

5 x 2 minute reps with 3mins recovery. But in each rep was a random 15 second sprint.

Knocked the first 4 reps off very consistently at a shade under 5:30/mile pace, which is decent for me on grass. Just dropped a couple of seconds on the very final rep as the pace (and especially the unpredictable 15sec bursts) caught up on me.

Really like the organisation of this group.... we know our session for thursday already... some are doing 5 x 400mtrs, 5 x 60mtrs.... those who are racing track at the weekend are doing a 1km time-trial followed by 3 x 150mtrs... i'm strictly instructed to run easy until saturday due to having a 2hr+ fell race.

9.5 miles for the session, 13.5 miles for the day.

[Travs]

The intention today was a very steady 5-6 miles whilst out spectating a local 10km race (GazB might be familiar with the Northbrook 10km in Coventry)

A bit of a mix-up regarding start times meant i ended up on the course way too early and ended up running round more than half the course in the meantime.... total run 9.5 miles in the end.

74.5 miles for the week.

Next week... running the 2km steeplechase in the track league next sunday, but will hopefully train right through with two club sessions... i'm only racing to ensure the club gain points in our promotion chase, and will be just aiming to get round without disaster... rather than tapering down and going for a flat out race, as i would if i was doing the 1500 or 5000.

Next proper outing is the champs race at Old Crown Round in a fortnight.

[Travs]

Club night in the heat and humidity.

We were very low on numbers due to some guys having raced hard at a local 10km at the weekend, and a chunk of the group racing at the BMC meeting in Loughborough tonight.... just the three of us took to the grass.

I was still a bit heavy-legged from saturday, but put up an adequate showing over...

3mins
2 x 2mins
3 x 1 mins
5 x 60mtrs
all with 2mins rests

The first few reps taken at around 5:40/mile pace, and on th minute reps managed to lift to 5:30/min pace.

9.5 miles for the session and 14.5 miles total for the day.

Still don't know what events i'm running at the weekend yet... best case, just the 2km steeplechase... worst case steeplechase, 1500mtrs & 5000mtrs.

But whatever happens, intention is to train through, with another speed session on the track tomorrow night.

[Travs]

Track session last night.

5 x 200mtrs (34, 34, 32, 32, 31)
1 x 500mtrs (92)
5 x 200mtrs (32, 32, 33, 33, 32)

Obviously the aim of the session was to run the 200s hard, put in a good 500 in the middle, and still be able to maintain pace to the end of the session. Think i managed this pretty well, although i was certainly suffering... interesting that i found myself significantly further up the group in the 2nd half, as a number of people went way too enthusiastically at the start and couldn't hold it.

6.5 miles for the session, 10.5 miles for the day.

Sunday's races have now taken shape... 2km steeplechase at 2pm followed by 5000mtrs at 4:30...

I've been wanting to have a proper go at a track 5km for ages as felt i could challenge for a pb. However (getting my excuses in early) i didn't anticipate doing it in the middle of a busy fellrace schedule on non-fresh legs, in hot conditions, and shortly after a tough steeplechase... but we'll have a go and try to keep it respectable.

[Travs]

Midland Track League today... we are (were) currently top of Div2 and looking good for promotion, but a very congested fixture-list for higher-level track athletes over the past week(end) meant a depleted squad headed to Telford for the bread-and-butter of league commitments.

First up for me was 2km steeplechase. I managed to run a good 25secs quicker than my last outing, crossing the line in 7:57, but there were a number of nervy moments... i'd made an absolute hash of jumping the barrier in the warmup and it had put some fresh doubt in my mind, and whilst i still cleared all hurdles, it was a close ran thing.

I think i'll call time on my steeplechase career today, and let some other clubmates step up and have a go.

A couple of hours later was the 3000mtrs... temp was around 33deg and the novelty of there being a water station for a 7.5 lap race.... personally i thought the effort of going out to the outer lanes was not worth the brief respite of a tiny bit of water on such a short race... 11:20 here for me.... had absolutely no expectations, just wanted to get round without feeling too bad.... but it was certainly slow, having ran 45secs quicker just four weeks ago.

Weekly total 66 miles.

Next week... assuming i've recovered from today i'll try and do another undoubtedly hot club session on tuesday... then take it easy ready for the Old Crown Round on saturday.

[Travs]

Club night didn't happen last night. We were instructed to do our run either early or late to avoid worst of heat. I elected to take an extra good nights sleep/recovery and do a session this morning instead, as was still feeling a little sore from my weekend exploits.

Also did the session on the treadmill instead, to lessen the impact on my legs with only 3 days until the Old Crown Round.

5 x 5mins hard/5mins easy. A good sweat-out, was incredibly humid and felt very warm pacing it out in the garage.

7.5 miles total.

[Travs]

For a change today i went over to the coast at Silloth for a very bracing run on the beach... the plan had been to include a refreshing dip in the sea, however the size and quantity of jellyfish which had washed up put me off, so i stayed on dry land.

76.5 miles for the week.

Something didn't go right yesterday. Whether it was a tough race too far, or should i have not tried to squeeze in that session on wednesday, i don't know...

i'm more of the opinion today that it was a fuelling issue... it didn't feel like the general fatigue from training/racing... it was the completely empty/dizzy feeling which coupled with being 3000ft up in the rain and wind in a vest, had initially made me think it was a cold issue and to start protecting myself against any possible hypothermia... perhaps fuelling myself during longer races is something i now need to give more thought to, rather than bunging in a slab of Kendal Mint Cake and hoping for the best.

Next week.... well i'm looking at the next three weeks now... Bradwell Champs Race in 3 weeks time... the week before Bradwell i'm planning to tune up with Corndon Classic, and a midweek 1500mtr race... so that leaves me a fortnight in which to recover from this weekend and get moving on some short sessions again... certainly there'll be no hard running until at least thursday of this week, if not next weekend.

[Mike T]

For a change today i went over to the coast at Silloth for a very bracing run on the beach... the plan had been to include a refreshing dip in the sea, however the size and quantity of jellyfish which had washed up put me off, so i stayed on dry land.

76.5 miles for the week.

Something didn't go right yesterday. Whether it was a tough race too far, or should i have not tried to squeeze in that session on wednesday, i don't know...

i'm more of the opinion today that it was a fuelling issue... it didn't feel like the general fatigue from training/racing... it was the completely empty/dizzy feeling which coupled with being 3000ft up in the rain and wind in a vest, had initially made me think it was a cold issue and to start protecting myself against any possible hypothermia... perhaps fuelling myself during longer races is something i now need to give more thought to, rather than bunging in a slab of Kendal Mint Cake and hoping for the best.

Next week.... well i'm looking at the next three weeks now... Bradwell Champs Race in 3 weeks time... the week before Bradwell i'm planning to tune up with Corndon Classic, and a midweek 1500mtr race... so that leaves me a fortnight in which to recover from this weekend and get moving on some short sessions again... certainly there'll be no hard running until at least thursday of this week, if not next weekend.

Proper carbo-loading before long events does seem to have gone out of fashion - or - at least - it is barely mentioned. A low fuel level combined with a low temperature is not a good combination - a low fuel level by itself usually responds at least transiently to that quick slab of mint cake, but when combined with a low temperature it may not. It is of course difficult to work out what is going on during a hilly event - one minute too hot, the next minute too cold, one minute steeply uphill, the next minute downhill. It makes it tricky to train for.

[Mike T]

I see from his race report that Ben Abdelnoor is also taking a real interest in his carbohydrate intake in long events:

"Over the past few months I've been working on my race nutrition, having realised I'm not taking on enough carbohydrates in long races."

[Llani Boy]

First run for 2 weeks following Covid and Toothache/Abscess. Five steady flat miles on the High Peak Trail at 8.30 minute mile pace. Felt good but don't think I'll be ready for Brecon Beacons on Saturday so it'll be Gun Hill, a week Wednesday, and Corndon 3 Peaks Classic the following Sunday.