Winter – The Vintage Runner

October 16, 2021October 16, 2021

Winter training – back with a vengeance

Winter is training back with a vengeance. After a few lighter sessions this was fartlek and circuits – 7x150m with 100m in between (I thought I’d run 8, but once the lactic haze had settled I fear I only made 7 so will stick with that). I managed to jog the first three 100m sections then walk 50 jog 50 for the remaining three.

Circuits – thanks @josephaydn for keeping a record of our pain 🙂

12 stations – 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off
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Russian twists with a lift with med ball
Two-footed hurdle jumps
Battle ropes
Crunches
Skipping
Press-ups
Dorsal raises
Two-footed bounds in sand
Tricep dips
V sits
Mini hurdles – lateral jumps
Bicep curl

This was definitely a hard session. Targets – jog all recoveries and 35 on – 25 off for the circuit training

September 25, 2021September 25, 2021

Working Towards Winter Training

Approaching the end of week two of my end of season break (one more to go) it seemed right to start getting active. What better place to start than a Park Run. This had been a staple exercise for Marcus and I. Now that he’s gone to University I thought it would be a good place to start and get used to running without my regular partner……

I should have read the details more closely to see that the run I chose wasn’t operating. Nonetheless, I thought I’d do what I could to recreate the route from the map (having not run this course before).

A lot hillier than I expected and it took a toll on me. My recreation wasn’t quite right and I was a bit short of 5km and only on 6 mins/km. You’ve got to start somewhere I suppose. Lovely views from top of hill though

December 17, 2020January 2, 2021

Tier 3 Training

Well technically it’s still Tier 2 training for me as both the track and my home are still in Tier 2 but many athletes now in Tier 3 can’t attend the training. I suppose it serves as a reminder to us all about keeping our 2 metres and wearing our masks (warm-up and warm-down).

We also collect our new club-themed masks. This also reminds me I have a fairly large head, but not too large. Some people find the mask is a bit big, though I find mine a bit small but entirely usable. More comfortable generally but without the wire nose clip it steams up my glasses faster. That’s not big deal as I generally warm up without my glasses when mask wearing to avoid steaming up. When I say “generally” I mean won’t wear a mask when warming up by myself or just with Marcus, but always in a club setting 🙂

Session tonight is a tough one. It’s weird how some sessions look that way, when they are really all tough as long as you get the intensity etc. right. 1x600m, 1x400m, 2x200m with 9, 7 and 4 minutes recover. Targets 600 – 1:36-54 (16-19s / 100), 400 – 60-72s (15-18s/100), 200 – 28-32s (14-16s/100). As usual Marcus aiming for lower end I’m aiming to keep inside the window.

We often run these in reverse, heading towards the long run or in a pyramid with the long run in the middle. Having it at the start is interesting – 600m goes well but saves up a lot of pain for the following runs. Still need a bit of work on the longer distances as miss the larget for first and last runs – 1:58 for 600m, 71 for the 400 and 31 & 34 for the 200s. For the last 200 I was on track at 100 (in fact slightly ahead of the whistle) then ran into 50 metres of treacle.

December 15, 2020January 2, 2021

Lock Down Looming

Well we get a training session in tonight, but things are looking bleak. Some of the surrounding areas are moving into Tier 3. The track remains in Tier 2 and and it seems under 18s and coaches will be allowed to travel, but others won’t. All getting confusing and looking like things are likey to get worse rather than better.

That all kicks in tomorrow so back to training. Our session tonight is 2 x 150m, 2 x 200m, 2 x 300m. 4, 5 and 6 minutes recovery, Target times are 14-17 seconds per hundred. As usual I’ll be at the tail end of that.

I’m annoyed, I’ve forgotten to note down my times. Session went well and HRM feed out below.

December 13, 2020July 7, 2021

Back to the Track

Once more we are able to return from the track after lockdown. Back to the old drill. One-way system in and out. Masks to be worn on entry, exit, warm-up and warm-down and the rest to keep the 2-metre distance. Still great to be back!!

A bit of agility work to kick off (well after warm-up that is). Zig-zag run around 5 cones followed by 10 lateral jumps over mini-hurdles and running backwards back to partner. Should be in pairs but the numbers were odd so we made it work in a 3 and did 3 sets.

Then onto the serious stuff, fartlek to celebrate our return – 3 sets of 200m and 250m with 150m recovery (walk / jog). The 300m runners skipped the last 250.

Marcus, James and I do this together. Again it would usually be pairs but I can lane share with Marcus as we live together. Doing it together is probably stretching it as they are quicker and fitter and I’m soon running solo. However it’s my first track outing with the heart rate monitor so that gives me something to work with. Quit happy with the result. I do manage to jog 5 of the recoveries, but the last one proves too much and I do walk at least half of it.

I need to research a bit more about what the heart rate zones mean but this is the readout.

November 25, 2020November 29, 2020

Nasty New Hill

As lockdown training continues Marcus and I realise we need to catch up on the missed hill sprint session from the weekend. It’s already dark so the park venue is a non-starter, not enough light to safely run up our usual patch.

As it happens we live on top of a hill so we decide to have the training equivalent of a staycation and use part of our own hill. We find a stretch that’s reasonably lit. At first we balk because one street light is broken in the middle, but after jogging around a bit we decide this is our best bit and having acclimatised a bit more we realise it will be light enough to be safe. The photo is taken at the same time but the camera makes it look much lighter than it does to the naked eye.

Our bold plan (with hindsight) was to do the planned session of 2 sets of 4 sprints with walkback recovery between sprints and 7 minutes between sets. We pace out 100m up the hill, altimeter says a rise of 17m.

It’s interesting running on the pavement rather than wet grass and the first run feels easy. The second run starts well but about halfway up everything is burning far more than usual. We finish the third run and in a mutual collapse of exhaustion, we decide 2 sets of 3 will be more than enough.

On the last run, as with the second, I have to check my pace at about 2/3 of the distance when an approaching car’s headlights turn everything to black and I’ve no idea where my feet are landing. Re-accelerating adds a certain pain.

Hard, but a hill we’ll probably use again.

November 19, 2020November 29, 2020

Lamp Post Turnabouts

Coach Deb has set us some good lockdown drills and we are enjoying our lamp post turnabouts. No need to measure anything and you’re guaranteed a decently lit track at any time. And even better the track is just outside the house!!

In fact we forgot the details the first time so made it up a little and enjoyed the variation. Not forgetting the usual warm up and form drills that must look slightly strange to the occasional dog walker and pram pusher.

For the turnabouts we run fast between 2 lamp posts, pause 30 seconds, turn around for a fast return. Repeat so you run 4 x 2 lamp posts followed by 1×3 lamp posts (all with 30 seconds). Take a 7 minute break for a good recovery then repeat, but in reverse – starting with the 3 lamp post run.

With home being across the road we forget to cool down and head straight indoors. But on remembering we head back out for a cool down.

Definitely one to repeat, we both liked this variation (having confirmed it was a definite variation on what had been set).

November 8, 2020November 29, 2020

Life in the Local Park

Sunday is usually park day at this time of year, though we’d normally travel to Gadebridge. Now we’re in lockdown it makes sense to try out our local Lowndes park. Well, I shouldn’t really say “try out” as it’s far from our first time – just been a while…..

We start with the usual longer run. I’m still in two minds after my calf has been playing up. It feels a bit tight during warm-up and form drills but nothing bad so decide I’ll give it a go. The first hill is horrible, has this deceptive dip that makes the top look visually closer and physically lulls you into a false sense of security as you ease into the dip and then the next part of the hill hits you!! I’m just about walking by the top, but I make it. There are some dog walkers standing and chatting at the top. I turn onto the flat hoping pick up the pace, my legs think otherwise. The dog walkers look at me like I’m mad, at this point I think they are right but don’t want to show it so push past. Actually “push” is the wrong word and “wade” is probably better as I might as well be waist deep in treacle.

Things improve after that and I get a good head of steam going down the hill towards the duck pond. Then I see a bit of a dip in the ground , actually more of a hole with what looks like a bit of concrete covered in grass and sadly right in my path so immediate evasive action is needed and my calf rebels on landing after the sudden change of direction. Not major but enough pain to let me know it’s time to decelerate gracefully (?) and give up the run.

Marcus completes the run at a good pace and I have to settle for giving him moral support as he does the hill sprints – 2 sets of 4×120 with 7 minutes in between. This is up the bit of hill with the deceptive dip. Very painful, half of me is glad to be watching whilst the other half is desperate to be running with him.

November 5, 2020November 29, 2020

Lockdown Conditioning Commences

Starting with good intentions Marcus and I set out our mats for a quick workout. Starting with a range of press up variations – 20 of each. These really kill me, I’m fine with the standard press ups, but the variants really kill me. I should probably put some of these up as resources here. I no there is a wealth of stuff online already, but we have adapted for ourselves.

Finish with a bunch of abs exercises, 50 of each. We’ve decided to focus on these two areas a bit until we get more comfortable with them and then start to mix it up.

Category: Winter