It's Been a While Since My Last Post

 ... but I have still been running and riding. Honest. Still putting in 6-8 sessions a week. I've built up a good endurance base. Shifting my focus to speed work from here. Probably should have shifted a month ago. Won't be neglecting the longer runs though. Most important of all, I am still enjoying it.

Nice Run in the Sun

So, today I went for a loop of Flaxley in the sunshine. My legs felt pretty good, despite a full-on Bike session yesterday. I felt so good, I decided to change route and take another crack at the 'Blaisdon Hill Climb from Velthouse' segment. A couple of weeks ago I missed out on setting a PB (from 2013) by just 1s. At the time, I wasn't trying for a fast time, just to run it without stopping. To go so close was a surprise.

Today, as I approached the climb, I started to feel more fatigued and less confident but went for it anyway. During the climb I was really struggling, feeling slow but I kept grinding. If I was going to run a slower time, I sure wasn't going to be beaten to a walk. In that aspect, at least, I succeeded. I looked at my watch to see 11s down on the segment time. I wasn't too disappointed (I was really). I really thought I had a better time in me today. Ho hum and on I went to complete the run.

It was only later, when I looked at the segment on Strava, that I realised the 11s down, was down on the KoM not my PB. I actually destroyed my PB by 49s, improving from 4:47 to 3:58 and I'm now only those 11s off the outright 3:47 KoM, in third spot.

Those few weeks ago, when I managed to run the entire climb without a breaking into a walk for the first time since circa 2016, I'd pretty much ruled it out as a potential KoM target, being 60+ seconds off but now it's very much game on...

Building Distance

It's been a few weeks of fairly low-key training, although I've been building my long run every other week. I'm up to around 15k now. I'm still on six to seven runs/rides per week but I've been a bit lacking on the treadmill interval sessions so I'm going to make that a focus for the next few weeks as well as continuing to extend my long run every other week.

Still Progressing

 I rounded out the final long stage of the Tour de Zwift the week before last, with a cracking ride. 90mins at threshold. Beautiful. Finished the run version the following day with a ramped effort, 6.7km. The final short route of stage 6 was also a cracker. Absolutely NOT a zone 2 ride. I was on the limit for the 40-minutes of the 27km virtual ride. 247W average earned me an FTP increase of +6W, to further extend my highest ever FTP.

The Sunday before last I was over to the mountains to do the race timing for the Pen Tir fell race. I got there early for a jog out and back along the race route beforehand. Only 7k but 350m so a decent little workout.

This Saturday, I completed my longest run of the year so far, just under 15k. I'm looking to keep building to about 20km. Sunday was some zone 2 before a rest day Monday - and I needed it.

Up today was a banging 51km Zwift at not full throttle but still my best 1 hour 45-minute power for goodly while - and I managed 90 minutes on the piano and day 2 working on the second of the ABRSM Grade 1 pieces - which went even better than the Zwift.

There Probably is Something to Zone 2

I've been cracking on with the Tour de Zwift. I've now completed the long, medium and short courses of stages 1 to 5 with stage 6 incoming next week, where I will earn the badge of honour for completing all 18 stages/routes. It has been good training as I've 'raced' hard on the long course and zone two'd the medium and short each week. On the running side, there's only one route and I used it for a threshold each week and that's been good training.

As to the zone 2, I'm starting to build my long run back up and yesterday's 12k was steady. I worked on the hills and inclines but wasn't pushing for PBs. Now I've re-conquered the hills around these yer parts I'm aiming not to be reduced to a walk ever again, so I worked hard enough to get up the hills but without bleeding through my eyeballs. On the flat my effort was more towards steady. It was a surprise to find I'd beaten my previous best on the 'legs or lungs' climb by 21s as I wasn't "trying". All of which, I think, means I shall be keeping on with the zone 2 training.

I Hate This Cold Weather

It does not make it a very attractive proposition to get out for a run. I have been out a few times but most of my training over the last couple of weeks has been indoors with the usual mix of intervals and zone 2. It's currently Tour de Zwift season in the virtual world, a set of six stages, run and rides. They're not technically races but generally attract loads more people than normal and a lot of people do race.

There can often be 1000+ riders or 50-100 runners and do make a really good place for some hard time trial action. With lots of people ahead it allows for some really solid efforts to try and bridge across to the next group in front. I've treated the runs as time trials and pushed reasonably hard but not all out. My speeds, not directly comparable to running outside, are up there and a bit beyond what I've run before in these events. I've not pushed to the limit yet but will try and edge a bit nearer the limit in some of the upcoming stages.

Well That's Christmas Done and Dusted

Absolutely cracking ride on Zwift, the Tuesday before last. Zone 2 it definitely was not! It was a full gas hill climb on the Epic KoM and I went for it. It was neigh on perfectly ridden if I say so myself. Almost perfectly consistent power for the 26 minutes of the climb and 90s quicker than I've ridden it before at an average of 11 more Watts - pardon. My power only started to drop very slightly in the last 2 to 3 minutes and that was more from looking for the finish and not concentrating rather than actually fading. The result was another FTP increase, of +6W to 238W. That's a 4.5% increase in under 3-weeks. The rest of that week was a mix of indoors and outdoors running and some more Zwift.

The near flat-line power pacing on the Epic KoM climb

Last Saturday, I was sent to the naughty step to marshal and record the runners atop the Skirrid. It was a bit blowy but at least the rain held off.

Training this week, has been a mix of zone 2, a solid treadmill interval session Wednesday, and a zone 3 ride (with a short, all out KoM segment PB and new 3min power numbers). Today's zone 2 was a good marker of my improving fitness. 90-minutes on the treadmill with no decoupling of pace vs heart rate. When I first started on Zone 2, my heart rate would start to creep up after 45-minutes, so I'd reduce the pace slowly to counteract. The time has been slowly improving, and today I there was no decoupling for the full 90-minutes.

Almost Time to Say Goodbye to Another Year

It's funny how things change. When I was at my running best, almost 20 years ago, I hated training and loved racing. I once ran 30 races in 3 months. Roll forward to today and I love pushing myself in training. Yes, I do the odd race here and there, maybe a half-dozen a year and yes, I do love the challenge of pushing to the limit but pushing myself to run a training loop just that little bit faster...

It's a fortnight of ups and downs. Last week I put in a decent set of 6 x 4min reps at faster than 5k pace off 90s. I also rode some solid bike sessions, mainly hill climbs - I bloody love hill climbing. The highlight was a new PB on the volcano climb and a surprise FTP increase of 5Watts. Of course, there were the usual zone 2 sessions to round things out.

This week hasn't gone so well. The first part of the week through to Thursday was marred by inner thigh muscle soreness. I managed a couple of very gentle sessions initially on the bike and then on the treadmill. I can only think I picked up the 'injury' clearing up and bagging all the leaves from the storm, where I was doing a lot of bending. I managed to get out for a decently paced 13.5k yesterday and some solid zone 2 today. Rest day tomorrow and then back on with some interval sessions. 

The Zone Two Experiment Continues...

There was no long run last weekend, blame Bert. Instead, I got out for shorter 9k blast Friday. Not quite a PB but I guess my legs weren't totally fresh - it was meant to be an easier week, but I can't help myself. Around the harder efforts it's been much ado about zone two. The other higher intensity session for last week was Tuesday's Zwift hill climb. The 14km 780m Trollstigen - and a PB.

This week, I started with a shorter Zwift hill climb Tuesday but full gas nevertheless, and, yes, another PB with some decent power, evenly laid down for once, as opposed to my normal go too hard and fade.

Zone 2 Wednesday ahead of the old down and up ladder intervals on the treadmill Thursday. I'm almost on the cusp of admitting that there might actually be something to all this zone 2 malarky. The ladder intervals felt easier than normal, to the point I increased the speeds on the way back up just get my heart rate somewhere near 160.

Today I headed out for a solid 10k tempo effort, focusing on steady efforts on the climbs. I followed that with a thirty-minute warm down on the Zwift. Up tomorrow is.... I wonder?

Up and Over in One

It has been a long time since I've run up and over May Hill starting from the A40 at Barrel Lane all the way to the top - without stopping for a walk. Oft it's only been a brief walk here and there, to recharge the legs and lower the heart rate, but there has unequivocally always been a bit of walking action. By my records it's been over eight years since I last scaled the south face of the Eiger - or May Hill as it is otherwise referred - without stopping to walk. Eight long, arduous years and the ravages of time have taken their toll. In truth, it's not the highest hill nor the longest route, but its 210m of ascent spread over 3.5km still holds a challenge, especially when 170m of the ascent is condensed into the last 2.2km. Not exactly a fell climb, it is nonetheless, a challenge I did not think I would defeat again. (The run was 11km total).

With the battle unexpectedly won, my thoughts turn to winning the war. I was, after all, only 60s shy of my 2016 best. There is life in the old dog yet...

Away from today, it's been the usual mix of zone 2 and targeted sessions. A fifty-minute, threshold, hill climb on the bike Wednesday and a threshold run Thursday. I'll finished with some more zone 2 tomorrow and then a rest day Monday.

Finally Set a New PR on the A4136 Climb Segment

It's been steady progress on the training front. More of the Zone 2 - obviously. Intermingled with some good interval sessions on the treadmill. Although I've been a bit slack on the Zwift bike sessions, only completing zone 2 training and no interval workouts. I need to put that right in the coming weeks. Overall, it's been a solid couple of weeks.

The highlight was today's PR - or PB in normal, non-Strava, speak - on the A4136 Climb segment. I've been threatening it and finally nailed it, at the back end of today's 14k run. Mission accomplished - although I do expect to push it further on future attempts...

That's Torn It

Well not really but I have slightly done my foot. Today's medium run ended slightly shorter than planned because I turned my foot on a stone - a big stone, not some tiny pebble. Practically a rock. Set in the path to booby trap us runners...

The forestry has been laying gravel on the tracks over the last few months, to fill in a some of the bigger holes. That's a good thing but the range of size varies from fine to proper lumpy. That's not been a problem until now. There's been a lot of leaf drop and it's now almost impossible to see what lies beneath - and I didn't see what lay beneath and turned my foot. It was instant pain, but it did ease within a minute, and I carried on.

It's feeling sore now so I'm not sure there's going to be any zone 2 running tomorrow and possibly none for the next few days. Hopefully I'll be okay for Zwifting on the bike.

Other than today's mishap, it's been a good couple of weeks training. A mix of zone 2, intervals and bike sessions.

Well That Was a Turn-up for the Books

So, after about eight years out of the orienteering game, I stepped back into the ring. I've kept my membership live in the hope that one day I would be lured back. That luration - not a word - was today as the orienteering quite literally came to town - or more accurately, my neck of the woods, Flaxley woods. It would have been rude not to...

It's been so long I've forgotten what the map symbols mean, what the map scale is, what the contour height is - and I forgot to check all that, caught up in the excitement [sad bastard] but hey, oh, I gave it a go. I decided on the Green course with its full technicality but shorter than the blue or brown. Flaxley woods are rough as a badgers ar** when you go off-piste and I didn't fancy being out there all day.

So, I set off and it wasn't long before I had completely lost my way. I was flapping around like a headless chicken by checkpoint 2. Yes, the second checkpoint of fifteen! - I thought, this is going bloody well, as I threshed around in the bracken... I probably spent the best part of 15-minutes not finding the control. Mind you, I wasn't the only one. It was like a police search over a crime scene - but with less organisation and no actual crime - other than impersonating an orienteer. Thankfully, from there I got going and actually navigated pretty accurately for the rest of the course. If I'm honest I've never been any bloody good at it, but it is fun - in a sadistic, evil sort of way.

It was a bit of a surprise to see I was actually 8th of 34 finishers/41 starters! I'll take that. Till the next time...

Training has been the usual mix of treadmill sessions, zone 2 and some Zwifting. The highlight was a new PB on the virtual Col des Aravis climb on Zwift and a solid tempo nee threshold run yesterday, almost culminating in a PB on the A4136 climb segment - and I wasn't even going for it. Honest. I was on tempo/threshold run and didn't see any chance of bettering my recent best time. I didn't want the mental disappointment of trying and failing, so I just took it steady - but still with some effort. It did not feel quick. It was with some sadness, as I analysed the Strava data, as you do, to see I missed my PB (set in 2015) by just 2 seconds. On the plus side, I know I'm going to smash it sometime soon.....

The Weekly Update

It's been another solid week of zone 2 but I did miss Wednesday's bike session. Tuesday's treadmill session was hard work as I went for the extended version with more reps. Yesterday I repeated last week's feat of running the full Velthouse Lane segment again - I'm making it sound like it's bigger, steeper hill than it really is, but it's challenging enough for me.

Now I've broken it and got my marker, I pushed a little harder this week. I'm going to keep applying a bit more effort each time until I get close to my old time from 2013. I'm not sure how achievable that is but we'll see...

Around the focused training there's been three 'zone 2' hour+ sessions, one on the bike, the others on the treadmill. Looking forward to my rest day tomorrow.