16th/17th May: Super easy 10km on Thursday followed by 8 miles on Friday around a grim old industrial estate which I circle to accumulate as little gain as possible. I switch up the route slightly on most days to add some variety. My goal for this block is to run recoveries as recoveries - sub 133bpm. For every other aerobic run I’m aiming to stay roughly around 140-145bpm (over 148 pushes me past my aerobic threshold and into the dreaded ‘Zone 3’). The 8 miler on Friday saw me run 4:45 per k with an avg HR of 141bpm. My best aerobic run to date.
Park Run: After taking Lemmy for a walk, we had our standard breakfast of bagels, a banana and a massive glass of electrolytes, before lacing up the Metaspeeds and jogging one mile to Frome Park Run. The pollen was so heavy in the air it felt as though you were “breathing through porridge” as Holly put it. We both get hit pretty good with hay fever each year.
By 8:55am it was already 15 degrees celsius and 90% humidity. I could feel that this was going to be a tougher run than last time.
The woman on the megaphone yelled go and, after a few paces, I pressed start on my watch and we shot off. As always, quicker than intended. My plan was to stay with Holly on the first lap as the ability to pace myself is non-existent. We hit a 3:41 and with that, I pushed on. The next k brought me down to a 3:33k and the realisation that I had gone too fast. The memories of the pain I had experienced in my first ever ParkRun came flooding back. I was able to maintain this pace on the flats, but the hills put a quick end to the idea of maintaining sub 3:40’s. I hit a 3:47 followed by a 3:46, overtaking a couple of the younger, faster lads which helped to keep me focussed. I could see that I had lost time on k’s 3&4 so decided to fully empty the tank on the final k and try desperately not to throw up. 3:35 for the fifth k, crossing the line and crashing to the floor. Stupidly, I’d forgotten to stop my watch. When I finally got it to bleep, it told me I had gone just over 5k in 18:29, but my 5k split was 18:18. A 13 second pb since 2 weeks prior.
“Life is not work, life is a series of projects.”
How insane does it feel to be approaching your mid-forties and just getting better and better at something? For the sake of my sanity, I need to feel like I’m always improving at… well, anything. Seemingly superficial wants from earlier decades of my life contrasted serious needs; the need to get out of debt and into making money, to buy a house, to cultivate relationships… it’s no wonder that something like improving my physique became a strong focus outside of work. Normally I would consider having a sixpack and a year-round tan to be a superficial want, but how you present yourself to the world as a twenty-something carries more importance than it might to someone of double the age. To be seen as a professional is to (hopefully) be judged as competent. For a young person without a decade or more of experience, you must do everything within your power to be seen as professional. As a coach, being out of shape would probably not have helped to grow my business. Now, at an age where my business is established and I don’t have the financial hardships or relationship worries that I used to, I have more bandwidth to focus that same energy into other things that bring genuine feelings of return on investment. Maybe sustaining a just-manageable level of stress is a learned behaviour from my twenties and thirties… whatever it is, I can never fully relax. I actually don’t like being in bed. When I do turn in, I am just waiting to jump out of bed as soon as my eyes open to get the day started. These aren’t hard times, they’re good times, yet I know that hard times will return, sooner rather than later, and perhaps this focus, determination and dedication to improving as a runner will help me to navigate the inevitable storms on the horizon. I believed in my thirties that Powerlifting would do the same thing. Turns out being strong in the gym doesn’t remotely translate to how you handle the stresses of real life.
Sunday long run was just 10 miles at 5:30 per k to cap off a week of somewhere around 55-57 miles. As the mileage and intensity has increased, I’ve started to notice a slight drop in my energy levels outside of training. Normally north of 50 miles isn’t an issue, but I’ve been running faster than I ever have before twice per week, and I think that might be the reason the feeling of wanting to lie on the couch and not move is becoming more familiar to me again.
Week beginning 21st May 2024.
Monday: 8.5 miles at the fastest pace I have ever ran at an aerobic heart rate. 4:39 per km at an average HR of 141bpm. Since I began my ‘speed project’ in June of 2023, this last month has brought the biggest, most tangible fitness gains to date.
Tuesday: 4 miles recovery at 5:16 per km, avg hr 124bpm, followed by a 2 mile easy run with my client, Jane.
Wednesday: Session day. A day to see where I am in terms of how fast to run at the Wells 10k this Sunday. For some reason I’m going through a bit of a bad patch with sleep. I woke up at 5am on this day feeling like a total zombie. Three bad nights is what it takes to really affect my energy and performance. Luckily, the session went well but I felt like shit, went home and passed out - and I NEVER nap in the day! The workout was 15/12/9 minutes off 90 sec jog recovery @ threshold - 3:53 per k. My threshold hr is 165bpm. The first 15 mins saw me climb to 164bpm. The 12 mins went to 165. The 9 mins took me to 166bpm. A ‘whatever’ kind of workout is how I’d describe it.
Thursday and Friday were 8 & 10 miles respectively. My Thursday run at an avg HR of 127 was kept at 4:59 or less throughout. Not to beat a dead horse here, but my fitness is improving quicker than it ever has done before - and I turn 44 on Wednesday!
Saturday was an off day since we had the Wells 10k to race on Sunday. I have to admit, I had a lot of self doubt going into this one. The second 10k I’ve ever raced and a target pace of 3:53 per k (it was supposed to be faster but we pulled it back, taking into consideration the half-mile long hilly hills). Whenever I am required to run a pace that starts with a ‘3’, my head tells my body that this will be a 3 minute effort or quicker. My first ever session back in June 2023 was 6x3 mins @ 3:55 per k, and I physically collapsed on the final rep. How could I possibly maintain a faster pace for nearly 40 minutes?
Even though I been slightly quicker than Holly on recent ParkRuns, we both know she is a diesel engine, which is why she dominates Ultras. She sets a pace and she doesn’t deviate. It’s impressive. She was laughing and joking when we crossed the finish line at Manchester, whilst I was trying to concentrate on vomiting before passing out- not the other way around.
Could I stick with her for most of this race? That was my plan. Hang on as long as possible.
After a mile warm up and drills/strides we met with our mate Adam. He had just raced the 5k in 15-something and was now joining us for the 10k. I don’t know what to tell you, except that this guy is from another planet. Believe it or not, he had raced TWICE the previous day. His Marathon pb is, I believe, 2:23 and he has never been coached or even followed a plan. He runs when he feels like it and uses races as his sessions. I first met him last year in Lake Orta where he was running 10 marathons in 10 days. The average daily temperature was around 43-44 degrees celsius. Absolutely baking. His average pace for each marathon was mid 2:40’s. This was not a flat, smooth course by any stretch of the imagination.
I digress…
The fog horn blew and we were off. 2 laps of an undulating course. Adam disappeared into the distance, not to be seen again until we crossed the finish line. He had warned us to watch out early on for the path around the farm yard as it was ‘a bit slippery’. This turned out to be the understatement of the century. It was almost funny. We managed to make it through in an upright position at least and then hit a trail path which, as far as I recall, turned into a very slight but long incline not long after. There were a couple of guys who stuck around us, desperate to get past. I could hear their breathing - a good indicator of how hard someone is working and I believed that, this early in the race, they might pay later on. Nevertheless they managed to push past and we continued at what felt like a solid clip. I noticed my heart rate was riding between 167-173, depending on the gradient. It felt hard but manageable. Then we hit the hill. Half a mile of straight up. Our average pace dropped from 3:50 to 4:20. I remembering trying to comprehend running this hill for a second time- and couldn’t. The thought hit me that I was going to have to run two sub 20 minute 5k’s, on a not-easy course. I dwelled on this thought for a minute before my focus quickly shifted, as we began to crest the hill. I knew Holly was going to run fast off the top, and she did. We went into a nice downhill section heading into the final kilometre but my HR jacked up as she pushed the pace. My watch beeped to alert me that we were 5k down and, before I knew it, we were once again circumnavigating the farm yard. Puddles, cow shit, corners - all made for slow going and the occasional slip.
As we hit the trail again, I saw a couple of familiar looking runners up ahead. The guys who had bolted early on had begun to slow. I knew exactly what was going on in Holly’s head. As we began to reel the nearest one in, it occurred to me that I wasn’t feeling any more battered than I had in the first half, and we only had a couple of miles to go. We approached the first man and Holly put her foot down - I quickly followed suit. I was all too aware that the final hill was just up ahead, but I made the decision to stick with Holly and take the hill just as we had the first time. At around half way up, I felt ready to go. We gained and gained on the next man who had passed us earlier on and then, once we had crested, I took off. As I passed the guy (who was now breathing doubly hard) I felt like I was wearing rocket skates. I pushed as hard as I could, but I was aware that Holly was chasing me, which only served to make me run faster. I looked down at my watch; 200m left. I opened up and pumped my arms as hard as I could, running the final kilometre in 3:18 and passing the finish in 38:39. Holly was just seconds behind.
No collapsing on the floor this time. I suspect that, to some, I might have even looked fairly composed. Hiding behind a large pair of sunglasses undoubetdly helps to conceal the look of being totally and utterly smoked.
The decision was made to find a coffee shop for a latte and a large slice of Guinness cake, which we did, happily ticking off another week of speed training.
50 miles done and dusted.
