Week 1 (1/1/07 – 7/1/07)

Mon (New Years Day)

Ha ha. A committed start to the campaign.

Slept in!

Slept some more!!

Got up.

Went and watched “Guys and Dolls” at the Alex and almost fell asleep because it was so hot and I had caught man flu from the previous nights antics…..honest!

Though I do have to complain about the seating as I spent 3 hours knees bent around my head. Not a good thing for a runner.

Tue

(2/1)

Ok ok. So I managed a run today. I again looked at the Mike Gratton “Hard Marathon Training Schedule” that I’d kept from last year………..and filed it in my new coaching folder ;-). So back to the reality of a well honed sub 3:00 routine which I have been tweaking over the past couple of years. A few more fun and games to come this year.

A nice :5.4M (35:46 mins) steady:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=614516

Oh and first injuries to comment on:

-          patellar tendonitis….aggravated by the Alex last night!!

-          “still got tendonitis near my hip with one of my hamstrings…on going pain the in the proverbial…am I ever going to clear this”

Wed

(3/1)

Really didn’t want to go for a run tonight but Kev and I now have a routine going…….damn. So feeling malicious at not being able to wimp out we did some more hills, including Bell Hill. Oh such fun, especially as it was blowing a gale.

Vv hilly and windy 8.4 M (58:47) slow:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=598238

Worked out Kevs’s sub 3:00 schedule when I got home……“No one expects the Spanish Inquisition”……..”Our weapons are surprise, fear and a ruthless fanaticism to endorphones”

Thur

(4/1)

First cold turkey of the Year!! Boom boom.

Glyn and I were coaching tonight so I couldn’t do my planned session which I instead inflicted on the club. (Have you spotted the trend so far in this diary?)

We ran a pyramid session 400, 800, 1200, 1200, 800, 400.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=618795

Still I did so painful hill work last Thursday as I knew I was missing out so I wasn’t to downbeat…..especially nothing that a pint of Guiness didn’t fix at the club later.

Fri

(5/1)

Rest Day. Yes I should have gone out and made up for yesterday…. but I didn’t.

Sat

(6/1)

Woke up a bit groggy this morning. Am I coming down with something?? Got the usual Christmas mouth ulcer but feeling fine. Cross country training at Cofton this morning at 8am. Checked our new weather station and it says that sunrise isn’t until 8:15…………so what am I doing up?

Oh well nothing like a bracing run on a Saturday morning. 1 lap warm up, dynamic stretches, 1 lap at tempo pace and then 5 x 600m intervals. The rest of the gang did the full 6 but I was well late and had tired on the 5^th so called it a day with tomorrows run in mind. A strange session really as I felt quite good, especially pacing myself with Deano on the tempo lap and also running well on the first couple of intervals but then I the legs sapped very quickly. Its all very bizarre as Kev was the opposite, Deano and I dropped him on the lap but then he got quicker and quicker on the intervals. It’s a funny old game this running lark.

Sun

(7/1)

Read last years diary for this week. Makes interesting reading as I was obviously k******d from stepping up the training and racing Aldrige.

Quote from last years!

“Somehow I got out of bed. I have a second mouth ulcer. Feeling tired and very sore but still went out for 68 min slow (~9 miles) along the canal. The route had to be flat as I couldn’t face anything that involved leg work.”

Today Kev and I came off of the canal and ran 12m on the road, 1h 30min.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=627351

 I deliberately put in a few hills to keep on building the strength. We noticeably slowed down to 7:24 pace but ran well. On the face of it it looks as though the pre- Christmas work is paying off as it was a far better run than this time last year.

Worryingly I had a couple of sharp pains in my right knee where the tendinitis has developed....umm.