Welcome to my training report for week commencing 8th December 2014. Part of a series of weekly reports, briefly summarising my training during that week and plans for the following week. You will find the vast majority of my workouts published through my Strava, Runkeeper and Movescount accounts. Where applicable I have provided direct links to specific workouts on Strava below, should you wish to see more detail on them. OK so lets get into it…

Last week (commencing 8th December 2014)

So this week was all about consolidation and again pushing on the run mileage.  It also marked my returned to run coaching for Ely Tri Club, which was great fun.  I managed to drop in two hill work-outs and a tempo, although my long run plans were adjusted so I could spend more time with the family.  The one black spot was my total lack of swimming, in part due to work commitments but also my lack of motivation to get into the pool.  Something I need to work on on in the coming weeks!

Monday

Chilly hills run (16+8), Ely

Monday night and time to start introducing some intervals, so headed out on a ten miler with mix of road and trail, throwing in 8 hard hill efforts across the run as intervals. Great workout for both speed and ultra, focussing on good form during hard efforts and recovery between. Very cold and starting to get a little icy towards the end. Right hamstring a little tight as approach final effort but a quick stretch soon sorted it out.

Tuesday

Didn’t make it to the pool due to work commitments but did manage to squeeze in an easy core session

Wednesday

Endurance turbo session, Ely

Simple easy endurance turbo session, laced with technical issues and working with online support to try and resolve. Got the workout in and fixed the issue. Who says blokes can’t multi task!

Thursday

Back coaching the Tri Club run sessions, for the first time in over a year.  Headed out early to get my own tempo session in before coaching a hill rep session for the club

Short tempo run (3,1.5), Ely

Headed out for my own tempo session before coaching Thursday night club run. Work delayed departure so had to stop second section at 1.5km. Felt good, pounding stress of day out on pavement and also running with pack for club session to add to the load.

Coaching hill run session, Ely

First session I’ve coached for a while, so took them for a hill rep session over by the bypass. Warm up and drills on playing field before easy run out for 5 reps. Tempo run back home from Paradise so Mrs T could get out on here run, another 2km to add to the 3 and 1.5 in my earlier session. Felt pretty tired by time I got home but a good couple of workouts ahead of weekends long run. 6 °C, WC: 2 °C, 22km/h SW, 81%

Friday

Tired after yesterdays efforts, work and poor sleep so took a days rest

Saturday

Ditched the planned pre-dawn long run to spend time with the family.  Managed a full core session to make up for lack of effort in this department so far this week

Sunday

Long trail run, Ely

Was supposed to be a three hour pre-dawn run, but after a rough night with the kids plans were quickly changed and headed out for a 2 hour trail run. Took the opportunity to load running pack with full winter ultra kit to get used to load. Also tried out a couple of new nutrition products and cooler weather hydration strategy. Basically run was one big experiment! Still pretty cold and frozen when headed out but it soon warmed up and trails were soon pretty squiggy under foot, making it hard on the legs when combined with the pack. Great workout non the less. , 3 °C, WC: -1 °C, 24km/h SSW, 82%

Weekly summary:

9 hours and 10 minutes of training, with a TSS of 535.7 and total distance of 86km broken down as follows:

  • Run: 61km in 5h 30m
  • Cycle: 1h 16m easy endurance spin on turbo, covering 25km
  • Swim: None
  • Core work: 1h 35m

Plan for next week (commencing 15th December 2014)

The main aim for this week is the four hour long run at the weekend, and pushing the weekly run mileage closer to 70km before backing off over Christmas.  Will again use swim and bike for cross training but don’t hold you breath on the former!

Monday

  • 60 minute easy run

Tuesday

  • Quick core session

Wednesday

  • Lunchtime swim
  • One hour tempo run

Thursday

  • One hour endurance session on the bike

Friday

  • Lunchtime swim
  • Easy 8km run

Saturday

  • Full core and flexibility session

Sunday

  • 4 hour long run

So that’s  the plan!  Feel free to follow my progress through my Strava, Runkeeper or Movescount accounts.  Will be back next week with an update on how it went and plan for the next training block.