The above picture is my attempt to bring an element of cool to written blogs again. I think this should probably do it…
Monday 29th April 2024
With my feet firmly planted on old varnished wooden floor boards, carefully avoiding any part of the rug that covers the remaining ninety percent of our tiny little living room, I will cautiously say that I have a good feeling about this, somewhat restrained, segue into summer training. The fitness that I had to claw back after Porto Marathon, which took more than a few weeks, doesn’t appear to have abandoned me this time, and the sense of urgency to return to high mileage weeks has been replaced by a - dare I say it - more mature, birds-eye view of a bigger picture. I feel recovered and somewhat fit. The process now begins in building some shorter distance speed. It’s twenty five weeks until Amsterdam. Marathon training will likely begin at 12-16 weeks out. Until then, my sights are set on ParkRuns, 10k’s and possibly even a half. The Wells 10k on May 26th has 120m of gain - not exactly flat and not exactly a place to test what kind of shape I’m in, but it will be a good hard effort. The local ParkRun, also, is not flat. Realistically, there’s going to be some time spent on a treadmill for key sessions. Weight will likely remain at around the 88kg I’m sat at now (this seems to be my natural set-point) and I’ll continue to lift four times per week using a typical bodybuilder split; short, hard, specific sessions with low volume, high intensity (where possible) and with the goal of stimulating adaptation but not overreaching.
Food.
I enjoy learning about how athletes fuel themselves. Is that weird? It probably stems from my days of massively disordered eating. During my thirties, I was in one of two perpetual states; bulking or cutting. For roughly six months of the year my days would be spent bloated and self-conscious - my normally chiselled jawline replaced by a water, salt and carb retentive ‘moonface’. When you’re constantly full, nothing tastes good. I hated how my athletic physique slowly morphed into a more typical looking 90’s powerlifter - the embarrassment of my ‘hot dog rolls neck’ assuaged only when in the presence of other lifters at meets. The remaining six months I would spend hungry and gaunt, slowly wandering up and down the confectionary isle of Sainsbury’s during my lunch break, drooling over all the delicious biscuits, sweets and chocolate I wouldn’t allow myself to eat. During meals I would sit with my phone propped up on a mug of green tea, watching Youtube videos of competitive eaters such as ‘Erik the Electric’ or ‘Beard Meets Food’. I felt a bit like a POW, fantasising over the foods I was going to eat when finally freed. But at least I had a Sixpack that nobody got to see, unless I posted a shirtless story on IG, which I did occasionally, usually at around three or four o’clock in the morning.
What a life.
These days I understand and acknowledge how much of a difference eating correctly makes to my running performance, but I’m not anal about any part of it. For the longest time, I would complete my morning runs fasted, simply because running on an empty stomach felt good and I was never remotely hungry at 6am. Now, however, I’ll have a banana and a scoop of oats with Whey Protein plus some frozen berries before the super early runs. I started doing this because I had read about some of the well documented effects of L-Carnitine powder (the injectable is preferred because it has a much higher bioavailability but, as far as I’m aware, if you take 3g of the powdered version, you’ll end up absorbing the rough equivalent of 500mg of the injectable stuff- the amount necessary for adaptations to occur) and it requires that carbohydrate be ingested alongside to enhance absorption. Wow, the difference in energy and focus is (for me) so much better with a little food. On days where I can workout a little later we eat bagels with honey and peanut butter or butter and jam. I also make sure to drink 500ml of water with electrolyte. We usually use the Awesome Electrolytes but Holly has just become an ambassador for LMNT (really good, excessively salty, uber expensive). Post-run and post-session are fuelled differently. After a hard session, I like a huge bowl full of Cookie Crisp cereal with 2 scoops of whey. After this, I like to take a little pressure off my pancreas - unless we go for a coffee and pain au chocolat. Lunch is usually either eggs or mackerel on homemade sourdough toast. I like pickled gherkins and spinach with this, followed up a combo of frozen fruits, raisins, oats or supermarkets own special k with berries mixed with bran flakes, more whey and milk/oat milk. Afternoon meal consists of more bran/special k or oats with berries and protein, more spinach (eaten straight out of the bag) an apple a red pepper and a protein pudding. The evening meal is always different, but for example, last night we had trout with cous cous and pan fried mixed veg. Dessert is either bran flakes or a bit of chocolate. I’ve always loved bran flakes, weird, I know. Supplements are very limited but vitamin d and ZMA are regulars.
It’s not the most balanced diet, but it’s not bad. We’ll have a takeaway pizza on the weekend or a meal out. No counting calories, no force feeding, no starving - who would have thought that eating according to hunger could feel so good? I have no guilty feelings about ordering a pastry with my take out coffee or eating some chocolate if I want it.
I don’t generally drink. I’ve had two beers since August 2023. I have to be careful with anything that can potentially lead to addiction (whoops running). I do, however, love coffee. I’m as obsessed with coffee as I am with running and I am horribly addicted. My 6am morning pour-over is without doubt my favourite time of the day, closely followed by our regular people watching sessions on Catherine Hill, sat outside Moo&Too drinking more of the brown stuff and eating some kind of baked good.
I almost feel like a normal-ish person.
Training this week, so far, has consisted of two 10k easy runs at the slightly higher end of my aerobic threshold. Avg pace 4:49-4:59 with a HR avg of 141.
On Wednesday I completed my first session since Manchester. A 2 mile warm up followed by drills and strides, then 6x10 second hill strides. After a short recovery, I went in for 3x1 mile at 3:53 per k off 2 mins jog recovery. I felt great. HR avg was 154bpm including recovery, with the reps sitting around 163bpm. Cadence 188.
I have previously talked about using the ASICS Metaspeed Edge Paris as my training and racing shoe of choice. However, I’ve had a pair of the Metaspeed Sky Paris sat in our closet (we’re lucky enough to receive a generous discount on ASICS shoes) which I had written off, thinking they didn’t suit my running style. Today, I thought I’d give them a test (essentially just to confirm that the Edge were still my favourites). Boy, was I wrong.
The Sky Paris felt so much better. Easier to run slower in and just perfect for faster than marathon effort paces. In my mind, I’d already written them off when I received them - biased by the many reviews online, my decision was made before I even pulled them on. I’m not sure the ‘cadence’ versus ‘stride’ runner recommendation for selecting which shoe might work best for you is really any sort of guide. You just have to try both and make your own decision.
No running on Thursday, just a core and lower body workout at the gym followed by 7 miles easy on Friday, but still at the upper end of my aerobic threshold.
Saturday: My first Park Run since 2019 and my third ever. Frome PR is undulating, on narrow tarmac paths. Three and three-quarter laps. Average showing is between 150-200 people. I’ve never run this course before, but when we recce’d it 20 mins prior to starting, my confidence dropped. I had half-joked about trying to stay with Holly, but after a single jogged loop, I reigned in my expectations.
It was decided we should go out at 3:50 pace and pick up speed later, depending on how we felt. The starter horn blew and we got sucked into the slipstream of a few eager frontrunners. I was surprised how comfortable the first lap felt, considering my two prior experiences. I told myself to remain patient - there was a good chance I would feel a whole lot worse in a couple of laps. As we approached the big climb at the end of the first loop, I had passed a few of the leads and positioned myself to sit in behind Holly. We were in the lead pack with another two guys and, once again, my brain was niggling at me… “should we push harder?”
I glanced at my watch to see that we had come through in 3:37. Too fast. I accepted that I should just stick with this pace until it turned around to (inevitably) bite me on the ass. The second lap felt much the same as the first. Our pack reduced to three, with one man pulling ten seconds ahead of us. We finished lap 2 with another climb, cruising into the third full lap. I contemplated suggesting to Holly that we push ahead, but at the same time I didn’t want to sound like a dick and then promptly blow up, only to have the piss taken out of me at the finish line. As we hit our final lap, Holly passed the guy leading our pack and I followed suit.
“Do you think we should kick?” I asked.
“No” came the reply. “But you go ahead if you’re feeling strong.”
I hesitantly put my foot down but was happy and surprised to bang out a final K at 3:32 - the fastest K of the 5.
Time: 18:31
Considering the pain I’ve felt at all previous attempts to run a fast 5k, this one was surprisingly less hard than I had imagined it would be. I think the downhills more than make up for the climbs and would suggest this is probably one of the faster Park Runs. I mean, I don’t know; I’ve not experienced many PR courses, but it wasn’t as bad as it might look to most.
I definitely believe I had a faster time in me today and I’m keen to bring it down before marathon training begins.
Sunday consisted of a 2 mile warm up followed by 40 mins, starting at 4:30 per k and working down to 4:11 by the final 15 or so minutes. My ability to pace is, apparently, an absolute joke. Here are the splits for the 40 mins:
4:16
4:23
4:20
4:13
4:18
4:08
4:07
4:08
4:09
4:08
Useless.
42 miles for the week.