A PB?

My training since the start of the year has been pretty heavy. It's entirely possible that I'm putting in more sessions now than I did in my heyday. Definitely not more in terms of total volume, but in terms of the number of sessions, I think I'm doing more now than I ever did! And of course, it's split between running and riding these days, but considering for the last few years - and if I'm honest, much of the last decade - if I managed one run in a week it was a big week.

Today, I hit 30 sessions this month and there will definitely be another couple to round out the month. A PB by my reckoning. I'm managing to stay injury free, if I exclude the legs feeling a little heavy or sore here and there, so I don't feel I'm overreaching.

This week I completed a set of kilometre reps on the treadmill along with my Thursday run - a little slower than last week. I worked hard but I was 13s slower. I must temper my expectation. I mustn't expect to go quicker every week - and I have been training pretty hard, after all. On a brighter note, today I improved my time for the Long Flaxley loop and there'll be a gentle recovery treadmill session tomorrow.

In between the runs - that came out wrong - and so did that! - I've completed a number of Zwift rides. They've been mostly solid efforts, not all out but I've definitely not been pootling. The only negative is that I can't help myself on the scheduled easy recovery rides. They always seem to end up being nothing like recovery.

I'm Stopping Counting Now...

Another run complete, far from the safety of the treadmill. It's getting beyond silly. What's next, entering a race? No, this is all getting too crazy.

Anyway, it was a solid run in chilly conditions today. It was very scenic, with a kind of snowy-frost covering the forest tracks of the longer sibling of last week's Saturday run, the aptly named Flaxley CCW Long Loop (9k) - well, that's what I call it. Technically it's Flaxley woods and Hope wood but that's not as catchy.

It's not really fair to compare today's run to my last outings as I wasn't capable of running the hills back then, so I'll call this my marker for future attempts. That said, I was reduced to a short section of walking on the long grind back up. It starts steep and flattens out and I was reduced to a short walk towards the end of the steeper bit. I marked where I got to though, so I'll get further up on the next attempt.

Yesterday was a 45-minute tempo-ish ride on Zwift and tomorrow is an easy jog recovery and a steady 45-60 ride.

I actually Still Own a Strava Segment!

Yes, I know, crazy! While out on my third - yes, third, real run of the year on Saturday, I put down a marker on my Flaxley short loop. It was while studying the data I realised I still own the downhill out of the woods. I've been stripped of everything else but I still have that one. That said, I'm getting my Flaxley segments back - and you can take that to the bank.

Moving forward to today, I got out for my fourth real run of the year. What is going on! I repeated last week's route and set off looking to go a little quicker. And a little quicker I did - by about a minute. Pleased with that. Not a bad improvement in a week and I very nearly broke the 5:00 minute kilometre pace barrier, clocking an average 5:01.

Continuing a Pace...

Since my last update I've completed some good training. The Christmas ease down is most definitely fading in the rear-view mirror. It's been a mix of treadmill sessions, easy Zwift recovery rides and some full-on Zwift races. I'm hitting new levels on the power curve both on foot and in the saddle.

Highlight of the year so far - if you can have a highlight just 13 days in - has been my second real world run yesterday. It was only 6k. I wasn't trying to go fast. Just running. Not paying any attention to my watch, so it was a nice surprise to see such a decent pace. Not far off my comeback target 5k pace. Without being too cocky, I'm pretty confident sub 25-minutes is there for the taking when I decide to pull the trigger...

A Good Start to the Year

So it's been a while since my last post, and it's been a mix of the promised easier training with a few harder efforts thrown into the mix. From here the rest is over and it's time to get back into it. That started with a really good run on New Year's day and not only that it was a real-life run, not the usual treadmill affair. It was a hilly route, which I wasn't expecting, as I plotted it without paying much attention to the contours, but I ran it all and felt pretty strong. It was a far cry from my runs in the summer where I couldn't manage more than a few metres climbing before being reduced to a walk.

Having said I was staring back into the solid training, the last couple of days haven't been due to sore legs from Sunday's run. The legs are recovered today - or at least I thought they were and I went at it a little too hard on the Zwift. I tried to go with the fast, power start and soon realised I wasn't ready for it. I put out good power for twenty-five minutes though but knew I couldn't sustain it.

Off now, to programme in the next week of training...