Week 1 of sub20 5K training

So this week was my first specific intensive training for my sub20 5K attempt which is my current challenge with running buddies Chris and Tony.

Having had a week to recover after my Chelmsford marathon PB, a week to ramp it up a bit this was my first week to really kick on.

Heres what my schedule looked like for the week:

Monday - I was so pumped up I really wen for it!

1K warm up, 5x400m intervals averaging around 1.30, 1K cool down, then 10x stair sprints, press ups, 5x stair sprints, press ups, 3x 10 squat jumps a 1K jog home and then a quick abs blast.

I utilised a local walkway over a motorway for my stair sprints and squat jumps.

Tuesday - Early morning circuits - star jumps, crunches, rowing crunches, press ups and plank work. 

Wednesday - The plan was for an early morning speed session but it was tipping it down, dark and cold I can take, dark, cold and wet was a step too far so I opted for staying inside for a circuit session instead. 4 circuits of 25 squats, 25 press ups, 25 crunches and 15 arm dips within a target time of 20 minutes. 

Thursday - Conscious of not just wanting to focus on shorter runs I thought I would pull out an old session I used to do, run for an hour with the aim of covering 13K. I finished with 12.5 which I was happy with as I knew I wasn't in shape to trouble 13 and I went out far too fast on my first K so knew I couldn't sustain my target pace. In the end the second half was a real struggle and was so tough. 

Friday - Rest day - It was much needed as after a tiring week with work and training a bit harder I was feeling knackered. 

Saturday - The plan was for a benchmark 5K race at Hackney Marsh parkrun to get an idea of where we all were with our times. Earlier in the week Tony had unfortunately had to pull out and come Friday I decided to opt out as well as it had been a really long week and I was out for drinks on Friday night. An early morning start for Parkrun on Saturday morning was never going to go that well. 

As it turned out I rather over did things on Friday night so Saturday was a write off for everything not just running. I dint get out of bed until about 3, not my finest hour but you have to let your hair down every once in a while.

Sunday - Not feeling great I just went out for a 'takin' it easy run', I covered 8.5K in 45 minutes which was a 5.15 min/km

Reflecting on the week

Reflecting on the week I think I overdid it a bit and have over trained, my glutes, hamstrings and groins were screaming at me for most of Thursday and Friday. My feeling worse for wear following Friday night I think was also partly due to being a bit run down and tired from the week as well as from the drink. The thought of also feeling some post marathon fatigue also occurred to me, maybe I had pushed too hard too soon after the marathon?

Reflections of a different kind

With the nights and morning for that matter being so dark I have been wearing my Tuvizo reflective gear.

I am not sure what to call it, a belt, a harness, a vest, nothing quite seems to do it justice. It is however very comfortable to run in and I feel like I am really visible to traffic and it does the job of keeping the wife happy about me being out in the dark.

If you are out running in the dark this winter remember to stay safe, wear something reflective, be seen, be safe!

So after a tough but successful week my next week is going to be slightly more challenging as I am away with work from Monday for four nights in Leeds and Belfast. We are only taking hand luggage so no room for running kit which makes me sad. Maybe the rest will do me good and I will just have to try and squeeze in some circuits in my hotel room when I get the chance!

Today's circuit training workout

After my marathon last weekend I ave realised I need to raise my game in order to give myself a chance of running a sub 4 hour marathon. 

As well as running more mileage I need to do more strength and conditioning training, with that in mind today I opted for some circuit training instead of going for a run. Here is my workout:  

Boot camp cardio circuit workout

I thought I would share the main part of the workout from my boot camp session last night as I loved it so much! 

It was a great session for working on cardio fitness and will have real benefits on my running as it worked on leg strength and speed.

On top of these circuits outlined below we did a full warm up routine to start, a pyramid circuit of press ups, dips and crunches as well as a plank/ab session to finish with.

Hope this article gives you some ideas and motivation for your own workouts. I have included descriptions and video links for all the exercise but I am sure you will be familiar with most of them if you have done any kind of circuit training or boot camp before. 

Cardio circuit – all for 1 minute with a quick changeover into the next exercise

Jumping jacks/starjumps 

High Knees – jogging on the spot bringing your knees up in front of you to around waste height. 

Fly jacks – The same as jumping jacks but instead complete a 'fly' or 'chest press' movement with your arms to work your chest muscles. 

Bum kicks – jogging on the spot with your legs coming up behind you with your heels trying to touch your bum. 

Jumping jacks

Mountain climbers – in a high plank/press up position, keeping your hips low drive your legs one at a time forward towards your chest keeping your abs contracted, think high knee movement with your legs. 

Fly jacks

Twisted mountain climbers – The same as mountain climbers but this time twisting the knee of the leg you are driving forward towards the opposite arm working your oblique and side muscles. 

Jumping jacks

And rest! 
________________________________________________________________________

Running circuit

Run x 1 minute

Kettle bell full body squats x 1 minute – Gripping a kettle bell to your chest squat all the way down, as you come back to a standing position thrust the kettle bell upwards above your head extending your arms.

X2

Run x 1 minute
Kettle bell lunge x 1 minute -  Gripping a kettle bell to your chest squat, complete lunges with alternate legs keeping the kettle bell still and firm in your grip. 
x2

Run x 1 minute

Kettle bell rockets x 1 minute – Again gripping the kettle bell to your chest squat down and as you get to the bottom of your squat drive upwards jumping vertically off the ground.

x2

Running off my Easter chocolate

Easter weekend; 4 days off work and lots of chocolate.  

I started out the weekend by thinking I could do some kind of experiment into how many calories I burned off from exercise over the weekend in comparison  to the amount of calories I consumed from chocolate over the weekend and see how that worked out.

However upon realising that a cadburys creme egg has 180 calories I quickly realised I was going to need to be running sone serious miles every day to work off all my calories from chocolate especially when I had 6 creme eggs on friday morning in addition to other chocolate.

So not wanting to depress myself by counting all my chocolate calories I abandoned this idea and just concentrated on getting some good training done instead.

Good Friday

So friday I did a 45 minute circuit training session in the park including jogging to warm up, skipping, press ups, planks, tricep dips, kick throughs and body weight resistance machines.

Saturday

Saturday I had decided to make my return to my local parkrun. I thought this would be a good way of incorporating some speed work into my training as well as getting a sense of how I compared to my times last year.

I gave the race a good go and pushed it pretty hard and although my legs felt string my lungs struggled which I think fairly represented my recent training of boot camps but not a lot of running.

I was really pleasantly surprised with my time of 22.12 as I was aiming to go under 24 minutes and would have been very satisfied with that. 

I was even more surprised when I later realised this time was my second fastest out of the 7 times I have completed parkrun.

I know 7 times isn't a massive amount of runs but I have always pushed for a PB at parkrun and never just turned up with the aim of getting round so my times are all competitive. 

I also did a jog/walk there and back so covered an extra 6K in addition to the 5K parkrun.

Sunday

Again I headed over to the park for some circuit training this time mixing up skipping and star jumps with body weight resistance. I was all set for a long session when the heavens opened and my session got rather washed out so I headed home and did a mixture of legs and upperbody exercises. 

Sunday afternoon I also cooked up my own lamb kofta meal with cucumber&mint yogurt and my own cous cous.

Monday

This is the day my training for my 3 marathons in 3 month challenge really offically started. (See previous post http://idratherbeoutrunning.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/3-marathons-in-3-months-pre-30-challenge.html?m=1 for details)

I headed out early doors for a there and back route to Ingrebourne hill about 12km.

It was the most beautiful sunny morning for a run and although I found it quite hard going I thoroughly enjoyed the run, the weather and the scenery. 

Its the first time I have done that kind of distance since my half marathon in early march other than my commute run home which is a different league as running through the city is so stop/start with all the traffic and much slower paced because of carrying my rucksack. 

I am somewhere off my best pace as I conpleted 12.5K in 1 hour 8 minutes when prior to the half marathon I was almost clearing 13K in under an hour.

I am not too fussed though as my big focus for my training for my upcoming marathons is to run more at a slower marathon pace rather than at threshold or sprint pace.

The weekend was finished off with a delicious turkish meal out. Lamb Iksender  awesome!

Weekend report 12th&13th April

Long weekend this weekend as I had Friday and Monday off work.

However I had quite a lot of plans so knew I wouldn't get much running in.

With this in mind I decided to make time for a long run by running part of the way home from work on Thursday night.

http://idratherbeoutrunning.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/a-running-commute.html?m=1

It was a 12K run which was the longest run I had done in a while so I figured it would work out well that I wouldn't be running at the weekend and could therefore rest and recover from the longer run.

I managed a 30minute circuit session in the park on Friday including a core circuit, an upper body circuit and a circuit using some body weight resistance machines.

I didn't get the chance for any running at the weekend as I thought but did have a bit of a stretch and loosen up.

Then Monday again I made the time for fitting a run in by going out soon after 7am. I was rewarded with a brilliantly sunny early morning with the birds singing which was really enjoyable and has set me up nicely for the week ahead.

I did a shy under 7K and found it challenging as early morning runs first thing in the morning always are. But they are always worth it as it is better to have gone out early in the morning rather than not at all.

My other highlight of the weekend was our first BBQ of the summer as the weather so so nice on sunday, delicious!