Racing and Training 2018

pm Speed work - 1 mile warm up. 3 sets of 3 * 200. with 30 seconds recovery and 5 minutes between sets. Walk to cool down. Location: Cold Bath Road, Broadway and the footpath in between. I felt that my heart & lungs were limiting factors as was my leg strength. Core strength not great either. T'was a nice pint of Butty Bach in the Priory though. A bargain at £4.00! cough, splutter.

Wetlands Intervals with group 4B ably led by Chris Davis.

pm I did Lock Lustre... an out and back from 14 locks. down the canal.. turn towards Newport along the canal. Up towards Bettws on the canal. Turn left down Bettws Lane. Turn point at 25 minutes. Met Laura R on this run. It was a struggle for me after yesterday's intervals

pm Still in the grip of a heatwave. I did an interal session on the path in Caerleon. 10 * 200 + 1 * 400 with 1 minute recovery

am I did the Lliswerry 8am session. It was a real struggle to get going. We ran up to the Cross Hands then towards Lliswerry Pond ... we did an extra lap of that. We meandered back through Moorlands estate to finish on Traston Road and the NISV. It was a short run TBH ... just over 7K.

pm I did 6 @ 6 ... we did the Newport 10K route except that we returned via the riverfront footpath which made it a bit longer than 10K

after a rest day I did a 4K recovery run in the morning. My usual Royal Oak loop. pm I did 200, 300, 300, 200 in Caerleon. The distances on the tarmac path were slightly awry thus the split times and distances were as follows 00:44 0.19 01:16 0.32 01:19 0.31 00:42 0.19

pm I did the Lliswerry run from 14 locks. This was Old Faithful (Canal Last). We ran down to Rogerstone, past the Welfare, along the river bank, up to the canal and back to 14 locks. it was about 4.5 miles.

am I did a track session on the outdoor track at the NIAC. 3 * 3 * 200 20 minutes warm up 00:45.8, 00:31.3, 00:46.1, 00:30.5, 00:45.5, 05:00.3 00:44.4, 00:30.3, 00:47.0, 00:30.0, 00:44.5, 05:00.2 00:42.9, 00:30.7, 00:45.2, 00:30.4, 00:46.0, warm down 07:37.2

am Easy run with the 8 am Tennis Centre crew. 9.3 km approx. Lots of chums, several sheep, very warm. There were 20 of us. Can I name them all? We missed Naomi unfortunately. Me, Martyn Jones,  Stu Salvage, Steve Crowther, Neil Sidney, Mike Pobjoy, Jeremy Dickson, (7) Sian Jones,  Mel Shipton, Claire Scott, Rachel Jayne, Louise, Sarah Beach, Tania Phillips, Liz Mounfield, Maria David, Kate Parry-Jones The ones I missed... Kathryn Collins Ian McCrory John Kendall

am The hot weather continues.... I did a warm up session down to the Riverfront parkrun. I ran the parkrun at tempo pace... well as fast as I could really! I was tracking Angela Potter for most of the way but she did actually pull away at the end. I have no finishing kick at the moment. I then jog / walked home. My time of 23:48 was probabaly what could be expected at this stage of my training plan.

pm on a warm evening I ran across to Beechwood Park and did a circuit of the top field. I then did some strides. I did a short sprint session 6 * 60 metres and then jogged home.

am I did the Royal Oak 4 km loop as a recovery run. I also checked the distances near to the two new houses ready for interval work on that stretch of Christchurch Road.

pm I did Lliswerry intervals on grass at Coronation Park. Lisa N & Merv coached the session. We deviated from the plan which was a pyramid on grass to include a relay at the end. I cam away with a sore left heel.

So here's an indulgence... but it was my first "proper" speed session since injury even if it was done delicately on grass. I did a short intervals session on grass in Caerleon. Warm up was one lap of the 1 k circuit made famous by Richard Elgar plus some strides. Then 3 sets of 3 * 200 metres (approx) with 30 seconds recovery and 5 minutes between sets. Did a walk to cool down and took a selfie. I then drove home... and then I stopped my Garmin (oops). I have cropped the end  off the Strava activity so no-one will ever know. The split times should you wish to see them were .... Warm up 13:09 Set 1 51.7, 30.7, 52.7, 30.1, 52.9 05:00.1 Set 2 49.1, 31.0, 51.8, 30.4, 46.9 05:01.0 Set 3 48.8, 30.5, 47.0, 30.6, 49.7 I have been know to expound on the difference that speed work can make in about 6 - 8 weeks. My first race happens to be in 8 weeks time... so lets see! 😀

Lliswery LSR at 8am. Which today was 5 * 2K laps at Tredegar House. Change of venue due to the velothon.

I did the Newport (Tredegar House) parkrun.

Did 6 @ 6. It was an urban trail past Roni's house. a real struggle in warm weather having not fully recovered from Wednesday.

After a week off which included a trip to Glasgow... Pyramid session on the track with group 5. 200, 400, 600, 400, 200    with walk/jog recoveries. Loved it.

Drove to the riverfront (Eton Road). Did some intervals on the two bridges loop with group 5. Fast along the riversides, recover over the bridges.