Week In Brief – 2 October 2016

The week started well, my shoulder was still a bit stiff so I knew when I arrived at CrossFit on Monday night that I’d likely need to make some modifications to the workout. Where I don’t mind scaling exercises during workouts I prefer not to swap them, one of the things I love about CrossFit is the structure around the whole group pushing hard through the same things so I was pleased to see there was no pressing exercises so as it turned out  I couldn’t have asked for a better session to start the week. Worked on deadlift which is another great exercise for runners, really works the hamstrings, glutes and core which is exactly the areas I need to strengthen if I want to stay injury free.

With the first Cross Country fixture of the season this weekend I decided that instead of my planned easy 5k I’d try to pick my pace up each km, starting at just above 10k pace and finishing at hard 5k pace, it felt GREAT to run hard again and I really that my training is paying off.

Back to CrossFit on Wednesday and you’d think that my coaches were designing the session exactly for me, the WOD was very run heavy, various sprint distances from 800m down to 100m with Kettle Bells Swings, Wall Balls and Down-Ups, my hamstrings felt a little tight from Mondays Deadlifts and last nights harder 5k but as my last hard session before weekend it was perfect!

Thursday was supposed to be an easy run to shake things loose for the weekend but after a long day at work and some childcare issues I ended up just spinning for 45 minutes on my turbo trainer, it felt like enough to loosen things up but the turbo is boring at the best of times and an easy spin is mind numbing.

Spent Friday at a friend’s wedding and had a great day but it was strange watching what I ate and drank knowing I was racing the next day, this isn’t the first time I’ve managed to have a social event clash with a race and if I’m honest I did feel like I didn’t enjoy the wedding as much as a should have, I’ll not make that mistake again, as much as I love to race I think I got my priorities wrong here.

So with a good weeks prep done I picked up a couple of my team mates and we headed south to Wrekenton for the race, I really enjoy being part of a running club and having the chance to race as part of the team is brilliant, we have some very good runner so I know I’m unlikely to ever be a “counter” for the team but as our captain continually points out the non counters are just as important as every place they push someone else down the order makes the points we have worth more! You can read my race report here but in short I ran OK, I was caught out a bit by the ground and it’s the first time I’ve ever ran a dry XC, so dry in fact we all wore our road shoes!!

Nice rest day on Sunday suffering watching the Ryder Cup, I gave up playing golf when I started triathlon as I don’t have enough free time to do both but I still enjoy watching and the standard of golf from both teams in this year’s event was astounding, and as much as I hate to say it, the USA deserved the win, France in 2 years’ time is going to be amazing!!

Bit of a strange week coming up training wise, my Gym is moving to a new building so is on a partial close down, I’ve got some work to do to the house before the joiners move in to fit the new bedroom furniture and have a bust weekend of socialising coming up so I’m taking this as an unplanned rest/recovery week.

The loose plan for next week is

Monday – REST

Tuesday – 5m Run

Wednesday  – Crossfit (final session in old gym)

Thursday – 4m Run

Friday – REST

Saturday – REST

Sunday – 6m Run

NEHL XC 1 – Wrekenton

The day finally arrived, my first race since starting my “no hard runs” training plan, having banked a few good weeks training and everything feeling good I picked up a couple of my club mates and we made the 40 mile trip south to Wrekenton for the first fixture of this seasons NEHL Cross Country.

There was a nervous excitement building all the way down, it was Jordans first XC since school and he’s been running really strong the last few months so there was quite a bit of nervous excitement building as we arrived at the venue and collected our numbers. We’d both be starting in the slow pack although he’d be a lot further up it than I would be. I really like this set up, having Slow/Medium/Fast packs really makes the quicker runners work hard and gives the opportunity for faster slow runners to still be in the mix come the finish, the only problem is that in the first race of the season the packs are a bit more mixed as everyone settles into their level.

The first thing that really surprised me was how dry the ground was, almost everyone was wearing road shoes, this is pretty much unheard of as an XC here, most of the time it’s so muddy that by the time the men’s race starts even fell shoes struggle.

I pulled on my vest and did a quick warm up then and wiggled myself into the starting pack at about 2 thirds of the way up as I didn’t want to get caught in the stampede of fast runners at the front but wasn’t too keen on being stuck behind too many people through some of the narrow sections of the course.

As always the men’s race was 3 laps, I’d decided I push fairly hard for the first half of the first lap in the hope of finding a clear space to run in, in retrospect this was probably a mistake, one I wouldn’t have made had I take then time to have a proper look at the route before the start. The first section of the race is pretty much all up hill and the steepest part of the course, pushing hard here meant that I suffered a bit later. I settled in behind a small group that felt as if they were pacing themselves nicely around where I wanted to be, about three quarters of the way around the first lap we were passed by the medium and fast packs and WOW were some of them moving at a pace, I cheered a couple my club mates as they passed then settled back into my group for the rest of the lap.

The second half of the lap was definitely easier than the first, although the total climbing was about the same the hills weren’t as steep so it was easier to find a rhythm. Then as we reached the start of the second lap the group began to slow so I eased around them and made my way back up the first climb pretty much on my own, I could see a couple of runners cresting the hill as a turned the corner half way and set my sights on catching them before the end of the lap, having someone to chase definitely helped me hold on, my pace was slower then the first lap but significantly more measured, I was consciously holding back a little so I had enough in the tank to push hard on the final lap.

I eventually caught the last of the group I’d been chasing as we hit the start line and tucked in behind them to catch my breath, it was unseasonably hot and there being no drinks stations was playing on my mind as my throat was starting to dry out, I’ve a feeling this was less to do with the lack of a drinks station and more about the drinking I’d done at a wedding the previous day, but at the time I was just thirsty and distraction mean my pacer had gained a little gap on me which I was struggling to close. Having helped out at events before I make a point of thanking each marshal as I pass them on the final lap, it’s a long day in what is usually awful weather and without them none of us could be competing. This took my mind off my thirst and looking back at my stats I ran the second half of the last lap at my fastest pace of the race, I’d like to say this had been the plan all along but I’d be lying, I managed to catch and pass my pacer on the way up the final climb and as I hit the last 400m stretch I could see 3 runners up in front and set my sights on chasing them down as hard as I could, I was running hard as I made the turn for the final 200m straight and could hear at least one runner gaining on me, I pushed again but the tank was empty and with 20m to go he sneaked past me.

So that was it, the first XC of the season done, the men’s team did amazingly well, after gaining promotion last year we managed to finish 3^rd in our new division and Jordan had finished as a counter for the team, all in all it was a great day, just a bit of a shame there was no mud!!

Week in Brief – 25 September 2016

The sun was shining on Monday and as the nights are gradually getting darker I took the chance to head into the parks for a bit of a longer run on the trails, my shoulder was stiff again, just uncomfortable though rather than painful so I ran through it and as always the stunning surroundings kept me distracted! Just over 7 miles at a nice easy pace was a great start to the week.

That’s where the greatness ends, the ache turned into a throbbing pain overnight, stretching and painkillers didn’t help so I was pleased when the physio could fit me in at short notice, 45 minutes of agony later and although I could feel the bruises already starting to grow the pain I had gone in with was much improved, he did try to explain what was wrong (something about a trapped nerve) but to be honest I was concentrating hard on not screaming so didn’t really pay much attention, no lifting for a couple of days but other than that no restrictions.

That meant a change of plans for the week though as no lifting was going to mean no crossfit, took the rest of Tuesday easy as I was a bit tender, it did give me a chance to do some food prep for the rest of the week though so not a complete loss.

Feeling a bit better on Wednesday and decided that if I couldn’t lift then I’d try some running efforts and after receiving a reminder that the Cross Country League starts in a couple of weeks I decided those efforts would be up-down hill repeats on grass. This was a mistake, all my training has been built around easy runs with CrossFit filling the speedwork gap, what I should have done was hill repeats at an easy pace, driving up hill requires a lot of work with your arms and even though I only did 5 repeats (about 1 mile of efforts) I could feel my shoulder tightening.

No surprise what Thursday brought with it then, nowhere near as much pain as Tuesday but my movement was definitely restricted, still psychologically I felt good about the session even if I knew deep down it was probably a mistake, no training though, not risking it.

I spent a bit of time on Friday working out a route that would mimic some of the common parts of the local XC races, one of the things I’ve found with XC is that mentally it’s tough, all the courses we use are structured around laps, the mens race is usually 3, so whatever part of the course you find tough you know that you have the exact same thing coming again and again. I wanted it to be all on grass though as this was going to be about running the gradients and more importantly getting used to laps again, I eventually settled on a strange route round the schools playing fields, each lap would be 1.2 miles and have a couple of hills of varying gradients. 4 laps would take me nicely to 5 miles, not that surprisingly even though I ran at a pretty even pace for each lap this was a really tough session, in all honestly I found it way tougher than I’d planned and now I’m really nervous about how I’m going to manage next weeks race.

That was all the training for the week, only 3 sessions but each one felt worthwhile even if they were all a little off plan!

The plan for next week is

Monday – CrossFit

Tuesday – 5k Run

Wednesday – CrossFit

Thursday – 4m Run

Friday – REST

Saturday – Cross Country – NEHL Race 1 – Wrenkton

Sunday – REST