A Bit Up and Down

The week started okay with a good set of 800's on Tuesday and a solid Duathlon, which was somewhat spoilt by an intermittent drop-out during the run, which cost me a new best 20-minute distance (duathlon) effort. Need to get to the bottom of the interference, as it wasn't exactly intermittent. It was almost exactly every two minutes, which suggests interference from some other device, sending out a beacon or similar. Never had that before, so a bit odd.

Thursday's and Friday's training was a bit of a right off due to an emergency at work that I had to attend. After getting a good night's sleep last night, I was back on it properly today with my best Flaxley Long loop of the reboot. I got further up the long climb than I have before, and I closed in another few seconds on the east side climb segment, beating my best from 2016. Only another ten seconds to go and that one will be mine....

The First Pound is the Heaviest

Well, actually, the first kilogram. Which is even better. Yes, the first kilogram has left the building. A few more still required to exit stage left but it's a good start.

On to the training and it's been a good week. Speed reps Tuesday followed by the Zwift duathlon league race Wednesday, of which I managed to get transitioned to the treadmill in time this week. Still haven't quite got the running down but I know where I need to focus. The first five minutes I couldn't run for toffee, then I got going but didn't have the courage to increase the speed more rapidly and ended up having far too much left in the tank as the twenty minutes elapsed. I fractionally exceeded my best previous run, but there is much more to come. Next time I must be braver...

Thursday was treadmill tempo hill reps and Friday an easy-ish Zwift bike with a few hard efforts - to set some short climb PBs. Up today was a hilly road run. Not overly long and I'm glad of that. It was so humid, I was dripping. Still managed my best time round the loop and homing in on my best from pre-reboot.

Probably an easy something tomorrow...

Bit of a Recovery Week

It's been an easier week. It didn't start off that way as I put in a really good set of six 1-kilometre reps off a 200m recovery on Tuesday followed by the Not Zwift Duathlon on Wednesday. I say not Duathlon because after hammering out 35 minutes on the bike - and it was hard work - I didn't managed to get transitioned to the treadmill in time, I was so close but by the time it loaded in, it was past the start time and that was my race over. Was quite disappointed and didn't feel like doing a twenty-minute run to get no points. I'll try again this week. After that it's been a few easier sessions as to be honest I've been feeling a bit jaded. So, I've listened to my body and taken it easy. Full rest day tomorrow and then I'll be refreshed and back on it...

Top of Leaderboard...

I finally claimed my first Strava Segment of the Running Reboot 2.0 and in fact, my first for what must be over a decade. It was only a local one in Hope Wood, so unlikely to see any super athletes attempting it but you can only target what's been set and that's what I did. 

So, on the back of my Parkrun success Saturday my legs felt okay. It took me a few minutes to loosen up and I didn't set out to attempt it but by the time I got into the woods I thought, hell, let's do this. I learnt from my previous attempt - that and the fact I've worked out how to set up auto-segments on my watch - and started the effort from, well, the start this time. There wasn't much science to it. Just run at as fast a pace as you can that'll get you to the end. I was hurting as the final stretch came into view and emptied the tank, but it was worth it to get the record by 7s. The first of - I'd like to say many - but it'll be more like one or two...

Not Gonna Lie...

I went for it... but in a controlled manner. Based on my training. All very scientific...

Anyway, despite a strong week's training, I felt I had a decent shot at a new 5k Parkrun time this morning. I was meeting up with one of my running compadres from times gone by for the Monmouth one, which I've not run before. It was a course suited to fast times, with a short lap followed by three big ones and pancake flat. It's safe to say it wasn't the most pleasant conditions but at least I wasn't going to overheat!

I had my pace, locked and loaded,4:30/km, and off I set. I managed to not get carried away at the start (for once) and held a pace around the target. Up a bit here, down a bit there, up a bit, down a bit, everywhere and round a bit but that doesn't paint the true pacing picture as my three big laps (1.5km/lap) were all within 5s of each other, so I'll take that as consistent.

Crossed the line in 22:29. A thirty second improvement on my Mallards Pike time from a couple of months back and a good steppingstone towards a time starting with 21...

It was good to catch up with my old buddy and his wife and hopefully I'll get out and about to do a few more Parkruns further afield. Oh, and I should say it was nice to see the Ashton's. Sue's encouragement at the switchback was most welcome.

Early Days in the Zwift Duathlon Series but....

...the signs are promising.

Last season I was sitting somewhere in the top 50 to 55% (age cat) for the Zwift Duathlon races. Can it really be the 'top' so many percent, when you're actually in the bottom half? Anyway, I digress. They've tweaked it a little this season, adding an extra five minutes to the run and taking five minutes from the transition. So now you it's a 35-minute ride, 5 minutes transition and then a 20-minute run. I hammered the bike, claiming a new 35minute power best and then wobble legged my way to my best 20-minute treadmill effort (in the Duathlon series).

Now it is very early days and with just one race out of the six complete (wall almost complete, as there are a few time zones still to complete) but the early, non-statistically important, results are in... I am sitting in the top 22% by age category. I'm confident, even if I drop a little, as the rest of the results come in, that it'll still be a huge improvement on last season. Looking forward to next week's race already...