Normal Service Starting to Resume...

So finally, my resting heart rate returned to normal yesterday. I'm still a bit nasally bunged up but otherwise heading back to normal. I wasn't that unwell with COVID. Headache, a bit achy and the mandatory chesty cough but I wasn't going to be silly about it. Better to ride out the storm and come back fighting...

I ran a very gentle 5k on the treadmill yesterday, and my heart rate remained as low as normal - if not even a little lower! Today I headed over to the woods for a tentative first proper run. I took it easy, pacing a slower than normal. Definitely not 100% yet, but it won't be too many days before I am and then I can gauge the fitness hit I took this last week.

A take away from the week, is just how well my Garmin watch predicted the illness - if I'd bother to check it. Its data for stress levels, body battery and resting heart rate perfectly mirrored my bodies battle with the virus - and if I'd been paying attention last Saturday/Sunday I'd have known my immune system was under attack. How those magical algorithms do their thing is beyond me, but do their thing they do. It knew before me that my immune system was under attack.. Must pay closer attention in the future.

Well, I Might Not Be Doing the K Reps this Week After All...

And this explains my elevated resting heart rate since since Saturday despite not actually feeling unwell - until today. And I honestly don't feel too bad. Bit of a headache, bit of a cough and slightly achy. But overall, not too bad and despite the elevated resting heart rate, I almost took a hill segment PB on Zwift yesterday, and I wasn't going eyeballs out. I was even contemplating a crack at the Hope Wood East Side climb segment this evening as I felt so strong but not now. The curse of Covid has finally struck. After avoiding for almost four years (at least that I know of). Normal service will resume once the resting heart rate comes back down.

I have a feeling I am going to go stir crazy waiting to get back running not to mention the physiological feeling that my fitness will ooze away.

Missed a Week

 ... on the blog but not the running. It's been a mix of bike sessions, treadmill sessions and some 9/10k time trial-esque real world runs. I need to hit some kilometre reps this week as it's been over three weeks since my last set, but other than that it's all good on the running front.

Definitely Gloves Weather

It took slightly longer than expected to get over my unexpectedly knackered legs from last Saturday's Blorenge marshalling - or more accurately the run-jog decent back down. The first part of the week was recovery, followed by a short interval session on the treadmill Thursday.

That led to yesterday's crack at a fast time on the local Longhope-Blaisdon loop, 8½km. I was rewarded with over three minutes off my time from August and only two minutes back from my best (which was 2016 and probably not my absolute best but if it's not on Strava it doesn't exist). I don't think it will be too long before that mark is surpassed.

Today? Well, yesterday was cold but today was colder. Too cold for a pu... - southern softie - like me, so I bottled it and ran a recovery 10k on the treadmill instead.

Nice Trip to the Hills

Yesterday I was on Blorenge fell race duties once again. And what a day for it. It was a cracking weather. Not wanting to miss out on a run I headed over early so I could get out for a little pootle along the canal, and depending on the timing, run as far or not within the time window. Ended up just over 8km at close to 10k race pace. Happy with that.

Then after a bit I headed up to my marshalling spot, counted the runners through and then ran back down. I didn't go berserk on the way down as I was wearing walking boots, but I was more than jogging - and today my quads are sore from the pounding.

The rest of the week has been pretty steady mix of runs and rides and a solid Zwift race (bike) on Friday. It was one of my most competitive although I mucked up the finish and dropped from the front to 29th. I should have blasted into the finish climb as I'm strong on the climbs but instead I went in with the group, who all started hitting the power from the bottom, and I got caught sleeping and it was all over. I managed to claw back a few places, but the horse had bolted. Definitely need to hone my Zwift race craft.

Saved It for the Long Run

The body battery has been a little low this week, so I eased back on the speed work although I still completed the second of the Zwift Academy training sessions on the bike and that was pretty solid. Today was long run Saturday and I extended my distance out to 13½km. A slightly flatter route this week but not without some 200+m of ascent, mostly at the front end. That allowed me to get into a solid rhythm through the middle section where I was pacing around 4:50 pace before feeling the extra distance in the last few kilometres on the run for home. Happy with the run, completed in 1hr10.

I'm aiming to extend the distance little by little over the winter. Interspersed with keeping the speed work going, ready to hit the spring and break some records...

Continued Focus

Today was long (for me) run day and I covered 11 hilly road kilometres in an hour. Pretty happy with that as it's been another week of focussed training. Early part of the week I ran my fastest set of 6 one-kilometre reps at 4:10 pace, followed midweek by the first of the autumn Zwift academy bike training sessions and yesterday I ran three sets of 5 by 1-minute reps at 3:45 pace off 30s recovery.

What still stuns me, when I think about yesterday's session, is that at my peak, I was able to string 18 of those one-minute reps together - without the recovery for my 5k PB. I can't imagine how that was even possible! But then it was a decade and a half ago and I ain't getting any younger.

With that said, back eighteen months ago when the reboot began, when I couldn't even run a single kilometre without stopping to walk, I didn't imagine I'd be running kilometre reps at 4:10 or even thinking about making my legs move at 3:45 pace. I've come a long way in a relatively short time. It's been a bit of a journey to get here, with a few injuries and niggles along the way and the journey is far from over....

Focused

It has been my best week's training for a while. The achilles is pretty much back to normal. Still ever so slightly tight but five minutes of gentle stretching before the off and I don't even notice it.

I've run a couple of solid treadmill interval sessions and a decent session on the bike, culminating in today's treadmill session where I hit 16kph for the first time - and it felt comfortable! I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I feel my current 5k PB isn't going to be my PB for that much longer, if you get my drift. A few more solid weeks of training and then it'll be a park run.... I feel so good I reckon I might even be ready to don the club vest and complete my return from retirement in some actual club events like the GLCL - when I say ready, I mean in the spring when it's not so cold and wet....

Caught a Cold

I knew something was up last weekend. My 'body battery'* was showing a distinct lack of recharge after a night's sleep. The sleep itself was pretty sound but I felt tired. That went on for a few days before Tuesday and I awoke - again, the body battery wasn't recharging as it should - to a sore throat. That explained things. My first cold for almost two years.

I think I'm over it now as my battery was more recharged this morning, so I headed out for a decent run in the forest followed by an easy 30minute cool down on the bike. Despite the cold and feeling a bit tired, I did put in some solid training through the week with a better-than-expected work lunch 5k from the office on Wednesday - setting a new course pb by over 90s. Monday, I ran a some of 800 reps at a decent pace and in between those there was some solid Zwifting on the bike.

Looking forward to a few weeks of uninterrupted training....

* The Garmin watch stat.

Happy With That

It was time for another parkrun and I headed over to Gloucester for the Kingsway one. It was nice to catch up with my old chums Sylvia and Graham albeit I didn't have too much time to chat afterwards as I had to swap in the spare tyre on the car as I had a puncture which I can get repaired hopefully.

My achilles was stiff before the off and I put in a gentle 2k warm up, during which I could feel it loosening up and by the start it felt okay but I wasn't intending to push it just in case. I set off well back down the field to force myself to go slowly. My first kilometre was just inside five minutes and it all felt okay. By then the field was thinning out and I decided to increase the pace a little as it was feeling easy and the achilles remained in good shape.

I wasn't looking at my watch during the run. I didn't need to. I wasn't chasing a pb. Today was just about running comfortably and not breaking down. Turns out I was pacing at around 4:35 pace for the last four kilometres but it felt slower as I didn't feel like I was working overly hard. Yes, I was puffing but I was nowhere near the limit. My average heart rate today was 140bpm (peak 155) vs a ballpark 155-160 (peak 170+) when I'm on the limit. Combine the lowish heart rate with the surprise of dipping inside 23 minutes and it means I haven't lost too much fitness during these several weeks of slight injury. Infact, I might even have gained some!

Steady Week

So, the achilles is still feeling tight but does ease up after twenty minutes. Just walking around the house, I don't feel it at all. I'm doing some stretches and it is definitely no longer in the danger zone. I've managed to put in some decent training without any repercussions. It's a case of having the confidence that it's not suddenly break down again but equally I'm taking a cautious approach. I'm in this for the long run - boom, boom - so not going to blow it now. Slow and steady wins the race....

A Real Run

It's been a week of building. I can still feel the achilles when I run but it's not painful, just sort of a little tight. I've stuck to the treadmill (interspersed with bike sessions) but increased the intensity bit by bit with a couple of interval sessions. Friday's session saw me almost back to pre-injury speeds and it felt almost easy so I'm happy I've managed to retain fitness through the last few weeks. Today I braved a real run and that too was decent. I took it easy but still managed a time equalling my recent efforts on the loop. Very nearly normal service resumed....

The Aches are Easing

It has been a frustrating few weeks. I've been itching to get back out there but my left achilles is only now just about ready. I've consigned myself to the treadmill, so I don't get caught miles from home, and have to limp back. It's been gentle. No real interval sessions. Just steady, easy pace.

After today's 12½km I think I'm ready to resume full training - although I will ease back into it just to be on the safe side. I'd rather complete a week of slightly lesser training and be 100% next week, than jump right back in, guns blazing, and put myself back to square one.

Oh, the joys of managing injury while hopefully not losing too much fitness or speed...

Marshalling Duties

So, the weekend before last I was on duty at the Fan Brycheiniog race and today I was marshalling Bal Bach in the Black Mountains race. Weather today was at best unpleasant. I was off for almost a month after Fan B last year, so I was pleased to get up and down safely and in a good time, somewhere in the region of 20 minutes quicker up and 15 down. Happy with the progress. Today was meant to be up to the summit and along the ridge for a bit of a run before the marshalling, but it was wet and horrible, so I only did 5k before calling it quits. 

In between the two marshalling, it's not been great running training as I injured my left achilles last Friday. It was hot in the forest and my right foot blistered midway through a 10k solid pootle, subconsciously leading me to alter my gait and then knacker my achilles. It wasn't proper knackered, just sore. Luckily, it was okay for the Zwifting but that's not the same as running and I felt things ebbing away. Except I had some really good hard efforts of the ol' Zwift, including a few virtual hill-climbs. I like a good grind - ooh matron. Any there's nothing gindier than several k's out of the saddle at 11% in a 10k climb averaging 6%. When I'm on the climb portal I can't help but push it to the limit. Can't wait for the virtual Tourmalet to come around again, to have another crack at that bad boy, having watched the pros go at it on the real thing in the La Vuelta.