Day 5
Halfway through the camp and its fair to say my legs are
really feeling it now. It was a couple of easy runs today. The morning one was good,
I am still working harder than I would do at home. But I didn’t feel the need
to keep up with the front pack, settled into a good pace and had a good stretch
with my own thoughts. The beach was lovely again. Later in the morning we had
another strength and conditioning session with Phoebe. They are really useful
as a recap and we added some variations to the exercises. Medicine balls and
kettle-bells making the exercises that bit more challenging. All those circuits
I’ve done over the years, and I wasn’t getting as much out of them as I could
have done.
I’m making sure I try and stretch outside of the sessions,
its something I really need to keep up when I get home. Its easy out here as
all you’ve got to do is eat/train/sleep, but add back in the whirlwind of
work/everyday life and things will get a bit tougher. Another short gentle run
in the evening preceded a training seminar with Nick and Phoebe. I was amazed
at how much I got out of it. Normally at these things the same three questions
are asked, which if you ‘follow’ running you are generally aware of. However, I
think due to the experience of the people both asking and answering, it was a
treasure trove of detailed info and advice.
I’ve really been getting my nutrition so wrong! The 4pm
flapjack monster comes along because I’ve not been eating correctly through the
day. There’s a lot for me to mentally process here, to do with my emotional
relationship with food, and its going to take some time to get right. It’s a
scary thought when someone is telling you to eat more to lose weight! This week
has made me realise how important nutrition and hydration are, especially when
you are putting the miles in.
Also, I twigged that my evening runs on Mondays and
Wednesdays should have been morning runs. Nick and Phoebe explained exactly
why. That will teach me for reading the plan as I wanted to read it, not as
written. My given myself a little slapped wrist. Added with the fact it would
give me back two evenings a week, this could be nothing short of a small
revolution. Does mean a few more early mornings though!
I think it’s getting to the information overload stage now.
You get so eager to learn everything, and you realise how much you have got to
learn!
Day 6
Hard Session day rolls round again, Track Work this time. I
woke up stiff as a board in my hamstrings and hip flexors. The session was
starting at 9.30am, so the sun was going to be up. The hotel has a track right
next to it (Iucky lucky us) and we trooped down loaded with the extra water we
were advised to bring. There was far more warming up than I normally do on my
interval sessions, including the drill work we did the other day. Still, it only
took 15 minutes or so, so I need to remember to do that. Apparently Nick always
starts his Tuesday sessions with them. I think I’ll be using the Estuary Square more
often or possibly even try and use Wavertree track.
The session was going to be longer and harder than any
intervals I’d done before. 6 min tempo run followed by 3 min recovery then 5 x
300m with 100m/1min jog recovery, all done twice. The tempo run began and I
tried to lock in on my Threshold pace, although instead of going for 6:30-6:50
as usual, I tried to do it by feel. The pace was quicker than normal but you
couldn’t analyse it too much as the heat was such a big factor. There were one
or two experienced people I knew were slightly quicker than me so I hung on to
within earshot of them. Nick was shouting out lap times as we went round, I’ve
always wanted to experience that. I would have made a little internal squee,
but I was working hard enough already. I mentally made the calculation that it
would be about 4 laps, that was good as it me some boundaries to work with. I
heard my Garmin beep a mile and we weren’t yet finished. so I knew I’d done a
sub 6 mile. I couldn’t believe it, I’ve never done that consciously before. I
remember doing a mile test with Mo at LRC a couple of years ago. and clocking
6:29. It’s nice to internally acknowledge how far you’ve come at times.
Everyone was performing great and working hard. The collective atmosphere was
amazing. For the 300m reps, we set off together and then Nick grouped us by
roughly equivalent finishing time at the end of the first interval. This was
great as you knew you were running with people roughly the same speed. Off we
went again, the group dynamic pushing everyone. Round and round we went,
banging out times with surprisingly good consistency and also quick and quicker
with each rep. By the time the fifth interval came round I was done in. The
heat felt horrific and my legs wanted to drop off. Only we had to do it all
again.
It was time to start digging deep and see what the
fairy-godfather can do.
The 6min Tempo sucked the energy out of your legs,
especially on the bends, but I was trying to run tall, trying to stop plodding
along with the daintiness of an elephant. My contemporaries were within sight
but I was struggling to stay with them. I couldn’t tell if they were getting faster
or I was getting slower. It didn’t matter really as I was working as hard as I
could. Nick was shouting helpful comments and keeping me focused. “Focus on his
back, Mitch”. Right, this was just like a Parkrun, a very hot Parkrun. I could
do this. Soon it was over and there were just the other set of 300m repeats to
do. I broke it down and took them one at a time. It was hard, really head. The
times were coming round, not much slower than the last sets, although the
effort seemed greater. I kept pouring water over my head to try and cool down –
everything was screaming, but we were a team and just like in Rowing, I wasn’t
going to drop off and let myself or the others down. We’re in this together.
Eventually, finish line number 5 arrived and we could rest. I was bent double
but it had been work it. My Intervals in Liverpool
had never felt like that, I think I’m going to have to up my game. The Garmin
data was great, 5:44-5:49 pace for the Tempo sections and 4:40-5:00pace across
all the intervals. Bear in mind that was the final-push pace that I sprinted
across the line at Capenhurst only a few weeks ago and now I was doing repeated
reps with it!
I love Nick’s track sessions, the grouping idea is great as
you never feel like a donkey at the back, and we all got through it together,
pushing each other on. Would like some of the PLS guys to join me on my Square
intervals so we could try that.
But something more profound changed for me in the course of
that session. It stopped being about ‘me’ and started being about ‘us’, the
encouragement everyone was giving each other managed to melt away even the most
hardened bits of my Ego. I’ll admit, I’ve got the Ego the size of a planet, and
it has got me into trouble on more than one occasion. However, when you’re
working that hard for that long, it gets stripped away, leaving just you and
the next placing of the foot in front of you. If I can be so bold to speak for
others, all the sessions we’ve done this week have challenged us all in many
different ways. One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learnt on this camp is
that whilst it’s important not to big yourself up too much, it’s also just as important
not to put yourself down all the time. There is strength in acknowledging your
achievements and remembering that there are people who would kill to be able to
run at your speed, whatever that is. We’re all only one step away from an injury
and being on the sidelines.
The rest of the day was spent, as usual, eating and recovering
by the pool. It is amazing how quickly you can form a routine. For dinner, we
had a lovely meal on the Terrace of the nearby Honey Farm, gossiping and
toasting everyone’s health as the sunset. Beautiful, and ended up being a bit
of a late night.
I have a (well earned!) rest day tomorrow, I’ve done my
usual weekly mileage in 5 days. Plan to do as little as possible, resting
before the final long runs on Saturday Morning. 6.30am start *gulp*.
Day 7
zzzzzzz...…nomnomnom…….zzzzzz…
No comments:
Post a Comment